Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low near 60F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph..

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low near 60F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph.

Indianapolis Colts linebacker Shaquille Leonard (53) works out before an exhibition game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Aug. 27 at Lucas Oil Stadium. Leonard will miss his third straight game to start the season Sunday.

Indianapolis Colts linebacker Shaquille Leonard (53) works out before an exhibition game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Aug. 27 at Lucas Oil Stadium. Leonard will miss his third straight game to start the season Sunday.

INDIANAPOLIS — By all accounts, Shaquille Leonard made particularly good progress this week in his ongoing recovery from back surgery.

But the three-time All-Pro is not yet at a level where he and the Indianapolis Colts feel comfortable with a return to the field on game day. For the third straight week, head coach Frank Reich ruled Leonard out for Sunday’s game during his Friday media availability.

“There’s been incremental improvement every week,” Reich said. “I would say this week was incremental-plus, just to try to give you guys some sense of where he’s at. He remains in great attitude, great spirits, a great teammate. What’s left is he’s got to know he can go out there and play winning football.

“That’s the bottom line. He’s got to know he can go out there and play winning football and be confident in that. That’s mostly coming from him. That’s a conversation with everybody, but deep down it’s the player. Deep down the player has to know he can go out there and play winning football and help this team win. That’s where we’ve got to get to.”

Leonard’s absence obviously is a blow for a defense preparing to face Patrick Mahomes and the red-hot Kansas City Chiefs, and it adds to the challenge for a team searching for its first win of the season.

But Leonard has been adamant about two things throughout this entire process. He badly wants to get on the field as soon as possible to help the Colts win, and he won’t make any hasty decision that ultimately could hurt the team or his ongoing recovery.

“It sucks just not being able to get out there and help the guys out,” Leonard said at his locker Thursday. “Being the competitor that I am, I want to be out there and just make turnovers or whatever the case may be for the team. And standing on the sidelines is not gonna do it, so it definitely sucks to see the team go out there and not being able to help them to the extent that you want to.

“But I’m just doing my part. I’m dialed in on the sidelines, letting guys know exactly what I see and just trying to help somebody every chance I get.”

Leonard played through a tough ankle injury all of last season and underwent back surgery in June to relieve pain associated all the way down his leg.

Indianapolis knew the recovery would be difficult from the start and had discussions about keeping the linebacker on the physically unable to perform list or placing him on injured reserve. The team instead chose to keep Leonard on the roster for two reasons.

There was hope the process might go faster than anticipated, and the Colts wanted the option to activate Leonard at the earliest possible juncture. The team also wanted the ability to evaluate the linebacker during practice, a critical component of the process.

On either PUP or IR, Leonard would not have been able to participate in practice for at least the first four weeks of the season.

Reich said there have been no setbacks.

The team has been watching Leonard’s movement on practice film and comparing it to last season. So far, it’s not the same. And that’s one hurdle that needs to be cleared before the linebacker is activated on game day.

Another is Leonard’s own confidence in his health and ability to play effectively. When those two opinions converge — from the team’s side and the player’s — Leonard will be ready to return to games.

“This injury is a bear, so he’s fighting and scratching every second, every way he can to get back on the field,” Reich said. “I promise you that. He’s doing everything-plus he can do to get back out there on that field. It’s killing him.”

“I was really close. I prepared like I was gonna play. I practiced (on the) non-contact day and then came to take that test and unfortunately did not pass. So I didn’t end up doing my contact day practice. So my first day of contact was this week.” — rookie wide receiver Alec Pierce, who missed last week’s game while progressing through the NFL’s concussion protocols. Pierce was cleared from the protocols Thursday night and will play Sunday against Kansas City.

In addition to Leonard, offensive tackle Bernhard Raimann (ankle) was ruled out for the game.

Defensive end Yannick Ngakoue (back) was a limited participant Friday and is questionable.

Kicker Harrison Butker (left ankle) and defensive end Michael Danna (calf) were ruled out for the Chiefs.

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