Frank Reich: Sam Ehlinger showed 'mental toughness' in preseason debut

It was a rough start Sunday for Sam Ehlinger. The former Texas Longhorns quarterback ended his first drive with the Indianapolis Colts with an interception. It would be his worst moment of the preseason matchup with the Panthers.

After that, he looked the part of a starting quarterback finishing 10-of-15 for 155 yards passing. His final drive of the game he went 3-for-3 and had five carries for 34 yards. He led the Colts into field goal range, where Eddy Peneiro kicked the game winning points.

Ehlinger took over in the second half after Jacob Eason started the game. The two are in a battle to replace Carson Wentz, who had surgery on his foot after suffering an injury in camp. Colts coach Frank Reich said after the game he liked what he saw from Sam Ehlinger in the second half.

“Sam had the rough start with the interception,” Reich said. “We had a mental error on that play, somebody ran the wrong route. I got to see the tape to see how it all played out, still wasn’t a good throw. But then Sam bounced back. That’s the kind of thing we want to see from our quarterbacks, mental toughness. To be able to have a glitch and come back and play good football. I thought both of them did that. They are probably going to grade out as playing winning football at the end of the day.”

Reich said the plan for next game is to play Sam Ehlinger in the first half and Eason in the second. He wants the opportunity to have a thorough look at what both quarterbacks can do before he makes a final decision.

Colts coach Frank Reich says the plan for next week is the same as before: Sam Ehlinger will start in Minnesota.

— Jim Ayello (@jimayello) August 15, 2021

Ehlinger has gained some ground on Eason in the past week when he began taking first team reps. Eason had the better performance of the two Sunday with 183 yards on 15-of-21 passing. He needed that to make this an interesting race.

It’s clear Sam Ehlinger still has work to do if he wants to get his shot in the NFL. Reich said though neither quarterback was perfect, he liked what he saw from both. It doesn’t appear any separation was made after the first week of preseason.

“It was best case scenario for them,” the coach said. “If I’m them, I’m looking at the plays I messed up but they should be proud.”