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- Mar 19, 2019
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» Mack returns today just three weeks after suffering a fractured hand in the third quarter of the Colts’ Week 11 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. At the time of his injury, Mack was putting together a dominant performance, with 14 carries for 109 yards and a touchdown in just the first two-plus quarters.
The third-year South Florida product — who today will be playing at his home college field, Raymond James Stadium, for the first time in his NFL career — was able to return to practice this week. He was limited on Wednesday, but was already a full participant by Thursday’s practice, and wasn’t even listed as questionable heading into today’s game.
“He has recovered quickly, yeah,” Reich said of Mack. “I would say from what I was initially thinking he is probably a week ahead of where we thought he was going to be.”
With Mack out the past two games, the Colts have utilized a rotation of Jordan Wilkins, Nyheim Hines and Jonathan Williams at running back. Williams, who also had a 100-yard rushing performance Week 11 against the Jaguars, had 104 rushing yards the following week against the Houston Texans, while Indy used more of a mix of all three backs in last Sunday’s loss to the Tennessee Titans.
Reich said Mack — who sits just 138 yards away from his first-career 1,000-yard rushing season — will not be on a “big pitch count” today, but he expects all four running backs to be involved throughout the afternoon.
“It is a feel with those backs — I mean even when (Mack) is humming we don’t hesitate to rotate those guys,” Reich said. “We know Marlon is going to get the bulk of the carries.
“The way it is going to play I am anticipating all four backs will be up. So it might be a little bit more rotation than normal.”