The Indianapolis Colts returned to training camp on Tuesday at Grand Park for their first practice in full pads. The message from Matt Ryan, Frank Reich and others were in lockstep after practice ended. “Football starts today,” the first year Colts quarterback said after a week of no pads and 7-on-7 drills to begin the training camp program. Tuesday’s practice was red zone heavy with the offense and defense lining up against each other. Reich said the first full pads day is typically a day won by the defense and this was no exception. Practice finished with a two-point conversion simulation that saw the defense win two of three reps resulting in the offense on the line running suicides.
Purdue and Indiana each began fall camp on Tuesday in two completely different places. The Purdue Boilermakers have a quarterback that finished fifth in preseason Big Ten offensive player of the year voting and are picked to finish in the top have of their division. Boilermaker head coach Jeff Brohm said his team was slower on the first day of camp and didn’t finish plays the way he would have wanted. Meanwhile, Tom Allen and the Indiana Hoosiers have questions at the heart of both sides of the ball without a confirmed starting quarterback and new faces all over the field. On day one of camp, Allen said the focus was to engrain a sense of urgency and intensity into practice with so many new players on the roster.
On a trade deadline Tuesday that saw the Chicago Cubs hold on to virtually every player thought to be on the trading block, the Cubs fell to the St. Louis Cardinals 6-0. Adam Wainwright through seven innings of no-run baseball giving up just six hits in the outing. The Cincinnati Reds won a low scoring affair in Miami despite just three hits in the game. Graham Ashcraft delivered another gem pitching into the ninth inning as he gave up just one run in the 2-1 win. In Cleveland, the Guardians fell behind early to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning and would never recover in the eventual 6-3 loss. On a night where the Twins strengthened their roster for the AL Central race, the Detroit Tigers walked away with a 5-3 win thanks to a 2 RBI night for Riley Greene. The Chicago White Sox got a game back on the Twins in a 9-2 win as Jose Abreu and Eloy Jimenez combined for seven runs driven in.
