Insider: Anything but a normal Friday for Colts in Frankfurt

FRANKFURT, Germany — Blue is playing football.

Or something like it, anyway.

The Colts finally landed in Frankfurt on Friday afternoon, and as the sun begins to set over the German sky, the team is opening its time at Stadion am Bornheimer Hang, also known as PSD Bank Arena, home to a soccer team, FSV Frankfurt, by putting on a flag football camp for local kids.

Only Blue, the Colts mascot, is on the field, tossing passes to kids, who have turned the game into a cross between flag football and ultimate frisbee.

Play never stops. Flags are never pulled. Touchdowns are scored, though, and if Blue is frustrated by this modified game he’s playing, it’s impossible to tell. The eyes are still bright, the smile still there. His face gives away nothing.

Minutes later, Blue is joined on the field by the entire Colts practice squad. Most, if not all, will not play on Sunday against the Patriots.

The kids could care less.

The NFL has come to their city, K.J. Hamler and Darren Hall are dancing, quarterback Kellen Mond is on the field in a red practice jersey, along with members of Germany’s national flag football team. Beyond Blue’s game — ultimate flag? — there are plenty of stations to try the fundamentals, and the kids soak up every throw, light up after every catch.

Heck of a way to spend the early hours of Friday night in Frankfurt.

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Fridays in the NFL are typically reserved back in the states.

The game plan has mostly been installed, the big questions of the week have mostly been asked and answered. Fridays in the NFL are often the lull before the storm.

Colts head coach Shane Steichen would like to keep this week as normal as possible.

But even Steichen has to admit it’s a little different, beyond just the nine-hour flight and the careful calculations about the best way to get over jet lag by Sunday.

For starters, there are 50-plus reporters at his press conference in Frankfurt, and although the usual Friday questions about injuries and backup quarterbacks and the opponent are there, the topic keeps swerving, veering in all directions.

The third question is about the pop-a-shot and the ping-pong table in the Colts locker room back in Indianapolis. The ninth asks Steichen about keeping the players focused in a weekend of entertainment.

Then comes the bait.

An English reporter, Simon Clancy, went viral last week for asking Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel a detailed, in-depth question about the evolution of Miami’s offense, beginning with first-level reads for Tua Tagovailoa into post-wheel routes to condensed routes between the numbers, then a reference to Mike Shanahan, prompting McDaniel to joke that the reporter was flexing in a moment that went viral.

Steichen, famously, does not like to talk about his offensive system.

He’s spent months fending off any attempts by the local media, sometimes with a little grin. The Colts head coach isn’t fond of giving anything away that might help an opponent.

But a reporter is now asking about the mesh concepts in the offense, specifically the plays that “orbit into a wheel route.”

You can almost see Steichen grin.

“I think with concepts, you try to dress concepts up,” Steichen responds. “If you’re good at certain concepts, you try to dress them up and run them over and over, just get different looks to them if you’re having success with them.”

He’s answered the question.

Without really giving anything away. Dive deep into that answer all you want, parse it as much as you like, but he could be talking about mesh or inside zone or four verticals or bubble screens.

Maybe it’s a fairly normal Friday after all.

“Guten nicht,” Steichen says at the end of his press conference. “Schlaf gut.”

Nope. Not normal at all.

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The quarterback takes the podium next.

And it’s pretty clear, almost right away, that this is the highlight of the evening for the international press corps.

Minshew’s asked about the parking situation for his RV. Turns out he sold the RV that made him famous in Jacksonville; he’s building a new one right now. Not an easy offseason project by any means.

That one’s followed by a question about Minshew wearing a crazy outfit to the stadium on Sunday; the man made jorts famous in Jacksonville. Unfortunately for the assembled press corps, he’s only going to wear sweats.

A Spanish reporter informs Minshew he’s considered one of the coolest quarterbacks of all time in Spain. “Muy frio, si,” Minshew responds. “Very cold, yes,” in English. A play on words!

This thing is rolling now, and Minshew senses it, telling the assembled press corps that German-speaking teammates Bernhard Raimann and Marcel Dabo are “bad teachers” when it comes to the language — an accusation poor Raimann will have to answer in a few minutes—followed up by calling his end-zone dance the “Minshimmy.”

Was the “Minshimmy” a thing? Was that the term we decided to use?

Did Minshew just name it himself?

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Raimann’s up last, and truth be told, he’s really the best story of this Colts trek to Europe.

The big, blossoming left tackle is the first Austrian ever drafted into the NFL, the first position player from his country to make it, and he’s got 18 friends and family members coming to see the game, 17 of whom have never seen him play in the NFL.

Raimann’s been answering these questions all week, and it’s a compelling, inspiring tale about pursuing your dreams, about striving for something while missing the comforts of home, about finding solace in German-only conversations with Dabo, out of the earshot of his other teammates.

Five minutes into the press conference, Raimann gets his first question in German, then another follows a couple of minutes later. He brushes off Minshew’s barb, pointing out — correctly — that it’s impossible to teach 70-ish guys to speak another language in the span of a couple weeks.

His junior national team coach, Max Sommer, ends the presser by asking Raimann a heartfelt question about the impact his presence in the NFL can have on the legions of young Austrians playing a sport that is blossoming in both Austria and Germany.

Raimann, always earnest, gets serious and answers emotionally, deflecting praise away from himself and encouragement onto the kids Sommer is addressing. The Colts will leave this practice, get on the bus and leave, while the franchise puts on a Colts Haus Welcome Party for Indianapolis fans in Frankfurt.

Raimann ends up being the one that sticks with you at the end of it all.

After all, kids like him, like the kids jumping after throws from Blue, are the reason the NFL’s here in the first place.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts: Anything but a normal Friday for Colts in Frankfurt