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The Ehlinger Experiment: Colts’ QB Gets Schooled by Belichick in Loss to Patriots

Sam Ehlinger found out first-hand why most young quarterbacks struggle when playing in New England.

Andrew Moore

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With all the news surrounding the Indianapolis Colts in the last couple of days, we forget that the Colts just played a football game on Sunday.

Maybe it is a good thing to forget, as the Colts were trounced by the New England Patriots 26-3. While the defense held up their end of the bargain, it was an abysmal showing by the offense. The performance was the final nail in the coffin for head coach Frank Reich, who was fired by the Colts Monday morning.

Quarterback Sam Ehlinger had his second career start against the Patriots, and just like many other young quarterbacks at Gillette Stadium, things did not go well. Ehlinger finished the day 15-of-29 (52%) for 103 yards, zero touchdowns, an interception, and a QB rating of 45.6. On top of that, Ehlinger was sacked nine times by the Patriots’ defense.

“That's an offense that's unacceptable,” Ehlinger said after the game. “Our defense kept us in the game. And we didn't do anything out there to help them out. They were playing their tails off and couldn't get anything going in every phase.”

This is “The Ehlinger Experiment” here on Horseshoe Huddle as we dissect Ehlinger’s performance each week through the rest of the 2022 season. Everyone talks about how tough it is for a young quarterback to go up against a Bill Belichick defense, and Ehlinger found out first-hand how difficult that can be.

Quick Reads

One of the few things Ehlinger had success with was making quick reads. When Ehlinger was given the chance to go with his first read, he executed well.

The first clip shows how Ehlinger was able to deliver when his first or second read was open. The second play shows him calling an “Alert,” meaning he sees something he does not like from the defense and changes the play call. The third play shows Ehlinger move from his first read in Mo Alie-Cox to Michael Pittman Jr.

The Colts also tried to get the ball out of Ehlinger’s hands quicker with crossing routes. Belichick knew this would be coming, and the Patriots covered it well. However, there were times when Ehlinger was able to get the ball to his wide receivers on crossers.

Here are two of the crossers the Colts and Ehlinger hit on Sunday. The throw to Alec Pierce was the Colts’ biggest play of the day. When the Colts could get into their bread and butter on offense, you saw some success.

The best thing an offense can do with a young quarterback is allow him to get the ball out quickly with simple reads. Ehlinger has had success with this concept the past two weeks, and the Colts should make this a focus of the game plan moving forward.

Missed Opportunities

The longest play of the game for the Colts was the 23-yard pass from Ehlinger to Pierce. However, there were other opportunities for the Colts to get chunk plays.

The clip below shows three plays where the Colts picked up yardage, but Ehlinger missed an opportunity for a huge play. The first play shows Ehlinger rolling to his right and has Pierce streaking down the right side of the field, but Ehlinger decides to keep it and run for a short gain. The second play shows Pittman to Ehlinger’s left, sitting down on his route for the first down, but Ehlinger does not use anticipation to throw it earlier and instead rolls right. The third play has Parris Campbell at the top of the screen springing downfield, but Ehlinger decides to tuck it and run, once again.

Ehlinger also had some misses and accuracy issues. The most damning throw is shown here, as Pittman has a step on his man, and Ehlinger completely overthrows him. The play would be, at worst, a huge gain and, at best, a touchdown.

No quarterback will ever be perfect, and everyone misses plays here and there. But being able to make these plays consistently is the difference between franchise quarterbacks and backup quarterbacks in the NFL.

Help Needed from Teammates

Ehlinger was not nearly the biggest issue for the Colts’ offense on Sunday. His teammates need to help him out and failed Ehlinger numerous times against the Patriots.

The tight end group was front and center in terms of the pass catchers who failed Ehlinger Sunday. The group registered three catches for 15 yards on six targets, with three drops. The drops included two would-be first-down grabs by Jelani Woods and a pick-6 from Kylen Granson.

In a game where the margin for error is next to zero, these types of drops cannot happen. They killed drives and caused points to be put on the board for the Patriots. The Colts’ offensive playmakers must do a better job of helping Ehlinger.

Protection Mess

Finally, it is time to dive into the train wreck that was the protection afforded to Ehlinger on Sunday. He ran for his life the entire game as free rushers bared down on him from all sides. The Colts’ nine sacks given up were the most the team has allowed since 2017 when they gave up ten sacks against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The player in the backfield the most was Matthew Judon. The Patriots’ pass rusher came into the game leading the NFL in sacks and extended his lead in that category. Whether it was on stunts or just going up against the Colts 1-on-1, he could not be stopped.

The final clip shows the rest of the sacks given up by the Colts on Sunday. Most of these are on the offensive line, but Ehlinger needs to get the ball out quicker on a few of these as well. Overall, just another abysmal game in pass protection by the whole unit.

Final Analysis

Ehlinger’s performance in Foxborough was like many young quarterbacks before him. Belichick took away the things the Colts did best on offense and made Ehlinger read the defense post-snap by disguising things pre-snap. It made for a very difficult outing.

Ehlinger showed toughness in the pocket and was able to make plays when he could get the ball out quickly to his first and second reads. However, Ehlinger must learn to take shots down the field when the defense presents the opportunity. Without taking advantage of the chunk plays, playing offense will become much harder for the Colts.

Ehlinger also needs to receive help from his teammates. The second-year quarterback is drinking from a fire hose right now, and drops and meltdowns in protection will only make things harder.

Ehlinger will get another shot this weekend against the Las Vegas Raiders. He will have a new head coach in Jeff Saturday and a new offensive play-caller in Parks Frazier after the circus of moves the past couple of days. But the Raiders at 2-6 are a struggling team and will offer Ehlinger chances to make plays with the football. A bounce-back game could be in store for the quarterback.

More Ehlinger Experiment

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Andrew Moore
ANDREW MOORE

Andrew Moore is the Senior Analyst for Horseshoe Huddle and an Indianapolis Colts expert. Andrew is also the co-host of the Horseshoe Huddle Podcast and the former co-host of A Colts Podcast.

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