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Colts' Explosive Offense Needs Some Fine Tuning Going Forward: Film

The Indianapolis Colts' offense exploded for multiple 50+ yard gains this past Sunday, but there is still some fine tuning to be done going forward.

Zach Hicks

Sep 8, 2024; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson (5) throws a pass during the second half against the Houston Texans at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images
Sep 8, 2024; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson (5) throws a pass during the second half against the Houston Texans at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images / Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images
In this story:

The Indianapolis Colts dropped their 11th straight season opening game this past weekend, falling 29-27 to the Houston Texans. It was a chaotic week one game for both sides, but the Texans' dominance in the ground game ultimately was the difference maker.

Despite the loss, quarterback Anthony Richardson had an impressive day throwing the football for the Colts. He finished the week with the second highest QBR league-wide (87), the highest yards per attempt in the league (11.12), and the 6th highest EPA/dropback among all quarterbacks. It wasn't a perfect day, but it was a strong one for the inexperienced starter.

The Colts were able to keep pace with one of the best teams in football this week. That fact is certainly an accomplishment, especially in sloppy early season play, but the team shouldn't rest on their laurels after week one. The offense, despite being a net positive in the game, certainly can stand to be better going forward.

Let's dive into a few aspects of the Colts' passing offense that worked and some that didn't in this week one game against the Texans.

The Good: Vertical Passing Game is BACK

Vertical passing and shot plays were down across the board this past weekend, a trend that has continued with the rise of quarters coverage. Team defenses are electing to sit back and force teams to attack underneath windows rather than leaving the possibility of a deep shot open with traditional single-high schemes.

The Texans rolled out quarters and two-high man on a majority of their snaps this past Sunday but, surprisingly, the Colts offense was still able to pepper them with the vertical passing game. Some of the Colts' success came from the play design and the timing of the calls, but a majority of it had to do with the super athlete the Colts have at quarterback.

This is pretty solid quarters coverage by the Texans on Alec Pierce but a superhuman throw by Richardson makes this 65 yard bomb look easy:

Shane Steichen deserves his fair share of credit for this aspect of the gameplan, as he utilized double moves to take advantage of the overaggressive nature of the Texans' cornerback room. Rookie AD Mitchell is able to break free on this chair route, absolutely dusting fellow rookie Kamari Lassiter on the play.

The connection between Mitchell and Richardson was just slightly off in this one (and for most of the day) but the design was effective to create an open wide receiver. The execution was just slightly off (mainly due to the illegal contact on the play as well).

The Colts used designed shot plays to open up the middle of the field for intermediate throws as well. These play designs would only feature maybe two or three pass catchers in the formation with the other seven back in max protect. On this 3rd and 15 call late in the game, the Colts are trying to free up Michael Pittman Jr. over the middle of the field on this dagger call.

Pittman Jr. doesn't get to his landmark in time, leading to Richardson heaving it up to Pierce on the backside for another 57 yard gain on the play.

These calls, for the most part, worked well for the Colts on Sunday. Even on the plays that didn't hit, the Colts were able to manufacture open looks in the intermediate to deep areas of the field all game long. If the Colts were facing a defense that didn't have a linebacker as good as Azeez Al-Shaair, many more of these plays would have hit for chunk gains.

Some examples include this nice little high-low that would have been a solid little gain without a big play by Al-Shaair to get back into the passing window:

And this design that was clearly inspired by the Miami Dolphins and their use of "cheat" motion. Ashton Dulin gets to his spot on the dagger concept and Richardson hits him with a dart for the 51 yard touchdown:

The Bad: The Offense Needs Quick Answers

The Colts' vertical passing game was superb in this one and they had an excellent plan of attack for the intermediate game as well. The only area of the field where the passing offense struggled was in the short game. The Colts lacked easy, quick answers all game long, and it hurt the team's overall efficiency.

Last season, the Colts were one of the best teams in football at sequencing plays and mixing things up to exploit defensive weaknesses. They led the league in RPO usage while also mixing in a healthy dose of screens and underneath passes to create yards after the catch.

Play designs like this one were common place in the Colts' offense last year, and they were relatively simple triple option calls that got Richardson on the move with quick options to get the ball out of his hands:

Rather than relying on the RPO game or the screen game, the Colts largely went with more static options underneath. They did hit Pittman Jr. and Mitchell for screens early in the game but, after that, the offense started to rely far too much on spot routes and mesh concepts. These stagnant play designs led to a feeling of unease underneath for Richardson in this game.

One of the few plays they hit on was this quick out concept to Pittman Jr., but even this play was far too close for comfort on a cornerback like Derek Stingley Jr. Plays like this one and the fourth down miss to Mitchell simply weren't good enough short yardage calls to keep the passing offense efficient:

Richardson isn't without his fair share of blame in this department either. The Colts did call mesh concepts a few times in the second half, and Richardson looked uncomfortable with his progressions on these calls. Players were getting relatively open on these designs, but Richardson wasn't able to make it work.

The Colts shouldn't abandon these play designs entirely going forward, but maybe a bit more reliance on RPO calls and quick glances could help Richardson get into more of a rhythm, rather than having him progress through mesh traffic on money downs. He seems to be more comfortable at least on those RPO calls at this stage of his career:

The Bottom Line

Overall, this was a relatively positive showing from the Colts' passing offense in week one. There are certainly some areas to clean up going forward, but it is always promising when the chunk plays and the explosives are there early for your offense.

The Colts need to find a way to add more of a rhythm to their short passing game going forward in order to raise their success rate and not become over-reliant on explosive plays. The return of Josh Downs in the next week or two should help in the department mightily, at least.

The Indianapolis Colts have a fun and exciting pass offense so far, and they are only scratching the surface after week one. The half court shots and logo threes look relatively easy for this team, now it's all about working at the lay-up line to be more efficient on the gimmes underneath.

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Zach Hicks
ZACH HICKS

Zach Hicks is the Lead Analyst for HorseshoeHuddle.com. Zach has been on the NFL beat since 2017. His works have appeared on SBNation.com, the Locked On Podcast Network, BleacherReport.com, MSN.com, & Yardbarker.com. 

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