Colts' Brian Mason Provides Latest Update on Kicking Battle

But Grupe's recent preseason performances have warranted concern. Grupe is 0-of-2 through two contests, including a missed 36-yard attempt that would normally be a chip shot. While he has been steady throughout the summer, Grupe needs to make his kicks in game situations.

"I think Grupe has been really consistent throughout all of training camp," Mason stated. "Obviously, he had an unfortunate miss that is uncharacteristic to him in the game, and we know that he's kicked at a really high level both in games and in practice for us."

Shrader's journey this summer has been the opposite of Grupe's. Working his way back from a torn ACL and MCL, Shrader started off camp with shaky performances, pushing his kicks to the left. At one point, Shrader was only making 69% of his field goal attempts.

However, Shrader has been steadily improving as training camp has progressed. The accuracy issues have subsided, and he is striking the ball very well. Shrader is 4-of-4 in the preseason, including makes of 53 and 61 yards.

"We knew that it wasn't going to be smooth for (Shrader) to start training camp," Mason admitted. "I think you saw him make some improvements. I think he really finished the week strong in joint practice against the Falcons. He had two opportunities to have two-minute kicks, which he hit both true right down the middle. Did a really good job with that. Obviously, he made his two kicks within the game."

While Grupe still holds the edge in overall percentage, it's quite feasible to believe that Shrader has the edge in the competition. Mason previously stated that the kicks in live situations would mean more when determining who will be the Colts' kicker this season. Shrader has been far superior in this category so far, and Mason echoed his earlier thoughts on in-game kicks.

“In-game kicks carry the most weight," Mason said. "So, I don't have a formula that's sitting here with a magic answer. We have two really good kickers, and it's really – like we said two weeks ago, hey, we're not going to judge somebody on one day or judge somebody in the first two weeks. We're going to see how do they progress through training camp, and who do we believe can be the best starting kicker for us for 17 regular season games, and then hopefully into the playoffs."

The Colts must trim their roster to 53 players by 6 p.m. ET on Sunday. That gives both kickers one week to make their final push for the job. Both will receive plenty of reps this week to prove it, and one more preseason game against the Detroit Lions to show they can be the guy.

"We have a really good situation to be in, where I think we have two talented kickers," Mason remarked. "Shrader's starting to kick to the ability level that we kind of expect him to be able to kick at. Grupe's been really consistent throughout training camp.

"We're going to put pressure on those guys and kick a little bit more this week than we would in a normal game week, and obviously we'll still split their reps in the game, which will be determined based on how they kick throughout the week in practice on Tuesday and Thursday."

If the decision had to be made today, Shrader would be the likely pick. Luckily for Grupe, there is still time to show he can overcome his recent struggles.

The result of Saturday's game will not matter, but how these two kickers perform certainly will.