Indianapolis Colts announce QB Sam Ehlinger will start vs the Washington Commanders on Sunday

Matt Ryan is out

Week 8 was supposed to be a showdown between Carson Wentz and the QB that replaced him in Indianapolis, Matt Ryan. That got taken off the table on Saturday when the Washington Commanders officially placed Wentz on IR after he fractured his right ring finger and had surgery in Los Angeles last week. Now Ryan has been ruled out for Sunday’s game as he deals with a shoulder injury (also reports he was benched). The game will now feature new Colts starting QB Sam Ehlinger vs Commanders new starting QB Taylor Heinicke.

Sam Ehlinger was a 6th round pick by the Colts in last year’s draft after playing QB at Texas for 4 years. He didn’t have a pass in a regular season game last year. He did get snaps in 3 games and had 1 rush in each of them for a total of 9 yards. This will be Ehlinger’s first career start, and unless things go horribly wrong, it will be his first time throwing a pass in a regular season NFL game.

The Indianapolis Colts moved on from Carson Wentz after missing the playoffs following a bad loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars to end the 2021 season. Colts owner Jim Irsay went on a campaign to cast a lot of their 2021 failures on Wentz, and was happy to move on to Matt Ryan. That has resulted in a 3-3-1 record so far and a QB who leads the NFL in interceptions after 7 weeks.

Washington is travelling to Indianapolis with a 2 game winning streak and a QB the team is rallying behind. Taylor Heinicke pulled off the victory yesterday, after a truly awful first half. Heinicke and Offensive Coordinator Scott Turner adjusted after halftime and finished the game with a 23-21 win. Washington’s defense was able to shut Aaron Rodgers down for most of the game, and are likely very ready to face a rookie making his first start in the NFL.

Ron Rivera was asked about facing Sam Ehlinger on Sunday.