Colts already feeling Avery is a 'diamond'

[Nick]

Colts already feeling Avery is a 'diamond'
September, 20, 2012
By Paul Kuharsky | ESPN.com

Through two games, without expected No. 2 receiver Austin Collie in the lineup, the Colts have gotten a nice contribution from Donnie Avery.

I’ll admit I expected very little from him after I watched the Titans bring him in last season when Kenny Britt went down. They got next to nothing from him.

He was a reasonable signing for Ryan Grigson with the Colts as a reclamation long-shot.

He’s got 12 catches for 148 yards and a score, totals that top everyone in the division except teammate Reggie Wayne.

“I loved Donnie coming out,” offensive coordinator Bruce Arians told local media. “I had him rated as the highest receiver coming out of the draft that year. Sometimes hard luck hits a guy, injuries, he’s not in the right system, but ever since he’s been here, his confidence has grown, his speed is back, he’s healthy. It hasn’t been a surprise to me. It might be a surprise to him. I think the sky is the limit for this guy. He’s still young. I think we’ve got a diamond.”

Avery said he always remained confident he’d get back to form.

He contributed to the Rams in his first two seasons before missing his third year hurt and getting released before his fourth, when the Titans wound up picking him up.

“I knew it would come,” Avery said. “Sometimes it got frustrating after the ACL injury, but you got to tell yourself keep on pushing.”

Is he back to form, and can he give the Colts a full season?

If so, Grigson will get even more credit for having the vision to grab him.

I tend to think Indianapolis will be in good shape if Avery and Collie can combine to produce combined numbers that would amount to good production from a No. 2 receiver.

More than that and they’ll really be doing something.

[r8rh8rmike]

It'll be interesting to see how far Avery can take his game. Gotta give him credit for his perserverance, because he's had plenty of reasons to give up.

[bruce4life]

It goes to show you a few things about the devaney spags regime.

1) devaney was a so so talent evaluator. He did miss on Jason smith. But brining in Laurent Robinson and Donnie avery was not as bad as once thought. Both these guy are contributing with their new teams. You throw in the Jame laurnetitis pick and that's decent.

2) spags qa horrible period. Nice guy , I'll rout for him but he sucked a a coach.

[UtterBlitz]

I am happy to see him catching balls again and scoring TDs. I hope he has a good season. I wish I would have picked him up on my fantasy team, but I was too slow and he already got picked up.

[Goldenfleece]

1) devaney was a so so talent evaluator. He did miss on Jason smith. But brining in Laurent Robinson and Donnie avery was not as bad as once thought. Both these guy are contributing with their new teams. You throw in the Jame laurnetitis pick and that's decent.

Well, don't forget that Avery did next to nothing with the Titans, too, after he left us. I'm glad to see things are working out for him, but I'd like to give it some more time to see whether Donnie being a bright spot says more about how well he's doing or how little else they have on that roster. Keep in mind that what we're really talking about here is 37 yards and a TD on the wrong end of a 21-41 blowout and 111 yards in a win over Minnesota. I'm going to need to see more than one 100 yard game before I start singing his praises again. Best of luck, though.

Laurent Robinson has just been maddeningly inconsistent. He showed flashes with the Falcons, but they ultimately traded him away for a song because he couldn't seem to stay healthy. With us, there were times when he looked like possibly the most talented receiver on our roster but also times when he just looked awful.

[sjacksonrules]

Did they mean glass?

[Rambos]

I watched him in the opener he looked really good to me. Hope he stays healthy and has a great career. When we cut him and kept MSW just showed how bad our FO really was.. oh yeah we cut MSW week four.