Published: August 06, 2008 10:31 pm            

Camp Scene: Brock happy to be back at defensive end

TERRE HAUTE — Raheem Brock has always considered himself, first and foremost, a defensive end.

That was his position when he played at Temple University and that was where he began his NFL career with the Indianapolis Colts. Two years ago, however, Brock was asked to move to tackle by the Colts’ coaching staff due to the emergence of defensive end Robert Mathis.

While he enjoyed success playing defensive tackle, starting in Super Bowl XLI, he held out the hope that he would someday be able to move back to the outside. He got his chance when the Colts’ defensive coaching staff approached him earlier this spring and asked if he would be interested in making the switch back. It didn’t take Brock long to say yes.

“I love to play on the outside, definitely. There’s more open space. I like to run a little bit more. Inside, it’s a more quick pace, a lot of double teams [blocking] and things like that,” he said recently.

One of the team’s goals heading into this year’s training camp was to have a more consistent pass rush off the edge.

When Pro Bowl defensive end Dwight Freeney went down with a Lisfranc injury to his left foot midway through the 2007 season and Mathis was slowed by an injured left knee, Indianapolis’ ability to pressure opposing quarterbacks was hindered.

In an effort to improve in that area, the Colts drafted former Georgia defensive end Marcus Howard and signed undrafted free agent Curtis Johnson out of Clark College in Atlanta. Both earned reputations as pass-rush specialists on the collegiate level. And both are spitting images of Freeney and Mathis.

But it was the decision to bring Brock back to play defensive end on a more regular basis that could ultimately prove to be one of the best moves of the offseason. While he will still get some work at defensive tackle as part of the Colts’ defensive-line rotation, he is primarily a full-time defensive end heading into the regular season.

“We have a lot of young guys at [defensive] tackle. We should be fine. The train’s going to keep moving, regardless,” Brock said.

”[The Colts’ coaching staff] asked me about [going back outside]. I’ll play anywhere. I just like playing football. I love football. I mainly just wanted to get to the quarterback. That’s the main thing. So where ever I’ve got to be to get there is where I’m going to play.”

Exactly how the playing time between Brock, Freeney, Mathis, Howard and Johnson — as well as veteran back-ups Josh Thomas and Jeff Charleston — is going to be divvied up hasn’t been determined yet.

“I really don’t know yet,” Brock said. “We’re still trying to figure that out. But whatever happens, happens. I’m still going to give it 110 percent and see where I come out at.”

• • •

• Short week — With a preseason game at Carolina on Saturday night, the Colts have a short week in order to correct mistakes made in Sunday’s loss to Washington and to come up with a basic gameplan for the Panthers.

“It’s going to be a short week, but I think it’s going to be good from our players’ standpoint,” Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy said. “Keep things moving and get ready for Carolina. But so far, the camp, I think, has been good. I like where we are right now.

“Our attitude, our chemistry, the way we are progressing forward. I told our team [Tuesday] that out goal this week is just to get better. To improve this week at training camp and we got off to a good start on that [Wednesday].”

• Roster move — Indianapolis made one roster move Wednesday in an effort to boost its sagging depth at linebacker. The team signed Dedrick Harrington to the roster and waived rookie placekicker Adam Crossett.

• Injury list update — Sitting out all or portions of Wednesday’s two practices were middle linebacker Gary Brackett (groin), strong-side linebacker Clint Session (calf), rookie linebacker Philip Wheeler (knee), middle linebacker Victor Worsley (hamstring) and middle linebacker Brandon Archer (ankle).

It had been hoped that Brackett and Session would be able to return to practice sometime this week, but Dungy said that both probably will miss the Carolina game.

“Gary probably will not [return] this week. He’s doing well. It looks like Gary and Clint both will probably be ready Monday after the Carolina game,” the Colts’ coach said.

Archer had been signed to a free-agent contract last Friday and was hurt in Sunday night’s Hall of Fame Game with Washington. Brackett, Session and Worsley aren’t expected back until early next week.

Wheeler underwent surgery and will miss two to three weeks. He might be available for the Atlanta preseason game Aug. 16. Second-year cornerback Michael Coe underwent surgery Wednesday morning.

Among those who also watched from the sidelines were running back Clifton Dawson (knee), cornerback Tim Jennings (knee), wide receivers Roy Hall (hamstring) and Pierre Garcon (hamstring), cornerback Michael Coe (knee) and Charleston (groin).

Safety Melvin Bullitt (thumb) and defensive end Ben Ishola (foot) saw practice time Wednesday.

• Turning a negative into a positive — With the lack of practice depth at linebacker, the Colts have been spending time working on some of their other defensive alignments.

“It gives us the opportunity to work on our nickel and dime packages a little bit more,” Dungy said with a smile. “And that’s the way we’ve taken this week. We’ll get [cornerbacks] Kelvin [Hayden] and Marlin [Jackson] and [safety] Matt Giordano and some of those guys work down in the linebacker positions in the box.

“You just have to kind of adjust but take advantage of the situations. Just like we’re getting [quarterback] Jim Sorgi a lot more work, we’ll get some of those guys more work and it will pay off in the long run. That’s how you’ve got to approach it. A lot of times you find guys that way.”

• Reebok to hand out T-shirts tonight — As part of Reebok’s “Join the Migration” NFL advertising campaign, the company will hand out free Colts Speedwick T-shirts to the first 250 fans who show up for tonight’s practice at Cook Stadium.

Also, the first 250 fans will be seated in a special bleacher section for the duration of the workout. Center Jeff Saturday and wide receiver Reggie Wayne will pose for a group photo with those fans after the practice.

Fans are instructed to proceed to Colts City in the south parking lot and register for their free T-shirts at the Reebok “Join the Migration” banner. Registration will begin at 6 p.m.



Tom James can be reached by e-mail at TJames1475@aol.com.

        

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