Colts WR Josh Downs is fighting through a months-long knee injury to make plays

FRANKFURT, GERMANY - Josh Downs knew he was headed overseas, but he had no idea if he was going to be able to play. His knee was crippling him, so much so that with a seven-hour plane ride to get to Germany, he wasn't able to try a single rep in practice.

But Sunday came, and here was the rookie slot receiver, asked to make the play of the game.

The Colts had a 3rd-and-5 from their own 10, protecting a 10-6 lead over the Patriots in the final minutes. Their offense was suffocating, with Gardner Minshew scrambling in and out of invented problems and looking for a prayer.

This one would go to a rookie receiver with one working knee.

Downs ran a slant route and settled in the middle of the field when Minshew bailed right, so Downs cut on that knee and darted at an angle to green grass in his quarterback's eye line. Minshew let the ball fly, and Downs suspended his full 5-foot-9, 171-pound frame like a wooden plank until the tips of his white gloves met the brown leather of the football in mid-air, and he cradled the ball in those fingers as his knee and body hit the turf.

"They always tell me to stop laying out in practice," Downs said, "but I take every ball serious."

Downs' 30-yard catch on 3rd-and-5 became a pivotal play in the Colts' 10-6 win over the Patriots, as it created critical field position to force Bailey Zappe to drive the length of the field. Zappe threw an interception to Rodney Thomas II just past midfield to end the game.

The catch and the process to make it happen offer a window into the fine line Downs is living in an electric rookie campaign. The third-round pick out of North Carolina is trying to perfect a craft in a way that can keep a diminutive body healthy and available for a 17-game season.

Downs first suffered this injury in organized training activities in the spring. The Colts held him out of those voluntary sessions, but the injury never actually healed. Downs has felt it flare up from time to time, leading to regular maintenance with the training staff.

"I'm still adjusting to this longer season. It's a different schedule than it is in college," Downs said. "... It's not anything alarming that I'm going through. Just me having different nicks and knacks in my knee this season was going to happen because of that injury, but it is what it is."

MORE: How Rodney Thomas II grew from a missed interception to beat the Patriots

Downs has been able to put it out of his mind for the most part during a smashing rookie season. His 33 catches in his first seven games are the most by a Colts rookie in franchise history. His numbers in his first eight games put him on pace for 85 receptions and 1,005 yards over a 17-game season, if he can stay healthy and upright.

But he had a setback on the knee during the Thursday practice entering Week 9 against the Panthers. He was questionable for the game, and Downs didn't know until pregame warmups that he'd be able to go. He played but saw just one target, a 10-yard reception, before tweaking the knee once more and having to leave the game.

The Colts kept him out of practice last week, and with an overseas trip before a bye week, they game-planned as if they wouldn't have him. Isaiah McKenzie took all the starters' reps and had a steady role in the game script. Downs made the trip to Germany, but not until he showed up to a Saturday walkthrough did the Colts coaches see a third-down role he could potentially pull off.

"I've seen a lot of toughness. He's said all week he hasn't been able to practice," wide receiver Alec Pierce said. "(Coach) Reggie (Wayne), having played in the league, he can say, ‘Just get ready for Sunday. If we can see something out of you Friday, then we’ll get you ready for Sunday.’ Reggie is more on the cautious side, especially with practice. He trusts us all mentally on what to do out there.”

Downs has earned that trust by playing anything like a rookie so far. It was one of the appeals in a two-time 1,000-yard college receiver who has a father and an uncle who played in the NFL.

Downs has worked seamlessly with two quarterbacks in Anthony Richardson and Gardner Minshew to lead the Colts with 8.7 receiving yards per target. The Colts trust him with option routes to beat man or zone coverage based on a pre-snap read they gain with another player's motion.

But trusting the mind and the body are different, as Downs is more in control of one than the other.

"Especially being one of those young guys, he wants to prove himself," wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. said. "I actually talked to him before because he’s been dealing with that (knee injury), and obviously you don’t want that to nag him throughout his whole career. It’s not that I was talking him out of playing, but I was saying, ‘Hey, we need you down the road in Year 2, 3, 4 and 5.’”

But, after Downs scored the 30-yard catch to help seal a victory, Pittman added, "I’m glad he did play.”

For the Colts, Downs' 14-play workload Sunday was about limiting the collisions to the knee while maximizing his openness on gotta-have-it downs.

For Downs, this was about getting through the stress of the past two weeks, which has become more than physical.

"I didn't know I was going to play at all. It's just a blessing. But it's not my strength. God gave me the strength to go out there and play," Downs said.

"It was big, knowing that I can get through a game again, that I'm possibly past this, that I can go out there and finish."

Downs' plan was always to survive until the bye week. It would come after 10 games, or around the 11-game season he played last year at the University of North Carolina. Then, a full week without practices or games or conditioning could create some breathing room.

Time off didn't solve this issue this summer, but Downs is willing to place that bet again now.

"I'm going to build off this," he said. "I have a bye week coming up. I'll be 100% the rest of the way."

Contact Nate Atkins at natkins@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts: Josh Downs is fighting through a months-long knee injury