{"id":618220,"date":"2025-12-21T23:28:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T23:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/618220\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T23:28:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T23:28:16","slug":"colts-get-defensive-boost-for-monday-night-showdown-with-49ers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/618220\/","title":{"rendered":"Colts Get Defensive Boost for Monday Night Showdown with 49ers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/17663474220679.jpg\" alt=\"Indianapolis Colts v Seattle Seahawks - NFL 2025\" class=\"wp-image-820200\"  \/>Source: Steph Chambers \/ Getty<\/p>\n<p>INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 The Indianapolis Colts are taking on the San Francisco 49ers Monday night at Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis.<\/p>\n<p>Defensive tackle DeForest Buckner is ready to return, according to Colts Head Coach Shane Steichen in a press conference Saturday. He says Buckner worked through a neck injury that had his status in doubt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s good to get him back,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll see how the game goes and how it plays out, but we\u2019re looking forward to him getting back out there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tLove Local? Get more! Join the WIBC 93.1 FM Newsletter\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-ione-newsletter-sign-up__privacy\">\n\t\t\t\t\tWe care about your data. See our <a href=\"https:\/\/urban1.com\/privacy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">privacy policy<\/a>.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>However, cornerback Sauce Gardner has been ruled out alongside wide receiver Anthony Gould, though Steichen remains confident that Gardner will return before the season ends. Additionally, tackle Bernhard Raimann has also been downgraded to out because of an elbow injury. With that said, Luke Tenuta and Jalen Travis, a duo that Steichen praised for their resilience during last week\u2019s second-half battle, are set to play on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The game also marks another week of veteran quarterback Philip Rivers leading the huddle. Steichen said Rivers has shown significant progression now that he has a full week of \u201cthe operation\u201d under his belt. He shares a deep history with Rivers dating back to their first days with the Los Angeles Chargers, and that familiarity is helping the offense find its rhythm.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was good to get him back in the flow of another week,\u201d Steichen said. \u201cThe communication, at the line of scrimmage, checks, offensive line, receivers, routes, all those things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Monday\u2019s kickoff is set for 8:15 p.m. Eastern.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Source: Steph Chambers \/ Getty INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 The Indianapolis Colts are taking on the San Francisco 49ers Monday&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[2005,7,2004,392,2381,47542,6,47543,47544,47545,47546,47547,47548,62249],"class_list":{"0":"post-618220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-colts","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-indianapolis","11":"tag-indianapolis-colts","12":"tag-indianapoliscolts","13":"tag-local-news-sports","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sentiment-anger","16":"tag-sentiment-concern","17":"tag-sentiment-informed","18":"tag-sentiment-joyful-happy","19":"tag-sentiment-sadness","20":"tag-sentiment-shocked","21":"tag-topic-local-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115760156848416530","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}