Colts' Pass-Heavy Gameplan Worked Wonders vs Jacksonville

Throwing the ball early, and often, led the Colts to victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars this past Sunday

The Indianapolis Colts made a major change to their offensive gameplan this past Sunday, and it led to their best single-game point total of the entire season.

Head Coach Frank Reich spoke after the team's ugly win against the Denver Broncos last Thursday Night. When asked about the state of the Colts' offense, Reich mentioned numerous times that the team needed to be more effective on the early downs.

"What we’re looking at is, if we can stop the self-inflicted stuff – this isn’t just about the turnovers." Reich stated. "We have to be more productive on first down and second down to stay in phase and I just think that’s going to go a long way to solving some of the issues that we’re having."

Reich was 100% correct about this being the issue, and he stopped short of saying what the real problem was. The real problem was the running game. Let's look specifically at the Colts' games against the Tennessee Titans (week four) and the Denver Broncos (week five).

In those two weeks, the Colts ran the ball 43 times (out of 107 opportunities) on first or second down. Those rush attempts netted an average of 2.9 yards per carry. To make matters worse, the Colts were stuffed for a gain of three or fewer yards on nearly 75% of those rushes.

So, in summary, the Colts were getting negative output production from the run game on nearly 75% of their designed runs on first and second down against the Titans and the Broncos. The Colts also were sticking with the run game on these early downs, rushing the ball on 40% of their first and second down plays in those two games.

Effectively, the Colts were continually running into a brick wall and setting up their already struggling passing game in second or third and long situations. That is how an already bad situation compounded into an even worse one in those two outings.

© Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

So what change did the Colts make to turn the offense around? They simply stopped running the ball into that brick wall.

IndyStar Beat Writer Joel A. Erickson asked Reich about the quick passing game prior to the Colts' game against the Jaguars, and Reich did hint at the team's potential gameplan heading into the game:

What we’ve talked about more than anything is what’s been giving us a problem, is we’ve just been behind the sticks not just on third down but really even on second down – a lot of second-and-long, a lot of third-and-long. When you give defenses a chance to pin their ears back, you’re swimming upstream. We’ve just got to be efficient on first and second down. Some of that, like you’re saying Joel (Erickson), involves quick game but that’s not the only answer.

The goal is to be more efficient on first and second down, and the Colts were not getting that out of their run game. So, the gameplan turned into using the passing game as an extension of the run.

The Colts threw the ball a lot in this one, as Matt Ryan attempted 58 passes. Of those 58 attempts, Ryan threw the ball 43 times on first or second down. Those pass attempts gained the Colts 254 yards of offense, which was good for nearly six yards per play.

I mentioned above how rushing the ball on early downs against the Titans and the Broncos led to just 25% of plays going for three or more yards. The story was completely different against the Jaguars. The Colts gained three or more yards on 53% of their early down passing attempts, and that even factors in the few incomplete passes that netted zero yards.

To further illustrate this pass-heavy gameplan, the Colts threw the ball 73% of the time on first or second down in this one, which is higher than their 60% mark in the previous two weeks.

The Colts supplanted the run game with the quick passing game in this one, and it led to a 34 point outburst against a pretty solid Jaguars' defense.

Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

The question now is if this will be the norm going forward. Reich was as non-committal as ever in his postgame press conference on the topic. Here is what he had to say about the high pass attempts total:

It’s a process whereby you do what you have to do for each game to give yourself the best chance to win and we know who we want to be and have a vision for who we want to be and be balanced – that you trust that over the larger sample size, that it’s going to balance out. I think that’s been our experience here whether it’s huddle or no huddle, where we’re throwing it a lot a game or running it a lot a game. Usually, when you take the larger sample size, it usually balances out.

The Colts still have a lot of work to do to keep this offense on track, but this was the first sign of hope for this unit in this young season. The Colts' offense looked efficient all game long, and they didn't continually run into a brick wall with their ineffective run game.

Hopefully the run game can open up in the next couple of weeks, but if it can't, the Colts need to rely on this passing attack to supplant the run.

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