Colts' Shane Steichen Shows "Run to Win" Mentality vs. Steelers

Indianapolis Colts Head Coach Shane Steichen lived up to his offseason promise against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Indianapolis Colts moved forward into a new era of football this past Saturday, as the team exorcised past demons against the Pittsburgh Steelers in blowout fashion. The Colts handily won this game 30-13 against a team that they failed previously to beat since 2009.

For the Colts, this game was more than just a late season match-up in a tight AFC playoff race. This game was about establishing a new precedent under the now-Head Coach Shane Steichen.

Steichen made his philosophy on offense quite clear this past offseason as being one built around, "throwing to score points and running the ball to win."

My philosophy is we’re going to throw to score points in this league and run to win. We’re going to throw to score points and run to win. Now, that can look different each week. Sometimes I’ve went into games saying we’re going to throw it a bunch and then we end up running it 45 times. Flow is going to dictate that. I know we have some pieces in place to get that done and we should be ready to roll.

Saturday's win over the Steelers was the perfect example of this philosophy in action, as quarterback Gardner Minshew attempted 27 passes in the first three quarters of the game before taking a backseat to the rushing attack in the fourth (he attempted just one pass the entire fourth quarter).

Minshew was on fire in this game, tossing three touchdown passes and having another two near-scores through the air. Despite this potentially career-best outing from the veteran quarterback, Steichen opted to stick to his offseason philosophy late in the ball game.

With the Colts leading by 11 late in the third quarter, the team introduced old school, smash mouth football to the hapless Steelers' defense. The Colts embarked on a 14 play drive that would eat up nearly nine minutes of game clock to put this game away late. The unique part of this drive? The Colts ran the ball on 13 straight plays.

No matter the down or the distance, the Colts were running the ball on this drive. The remarkable aspect in this equation is this wasn't the Colts feeding their bellcow back in Jonathan Taylor or their 2023 workhorse in Zack Moss, this was a drive led by reserve backs Trey Sermon and Tyler Goodson. 

The Colts had a drive in the late 3rd/early 4th against the Steelers that ate up 8 minutes of game clock and bumped the Colts up to a 14 point lead.

The Colts ran the ball 13 times on that drive, including on three third down conversions.

All 13 runs: pic.twitter.com/nPqINcPQxs

— Zach Hicks (@ZachHicks2) December 19, 2023

Behind the tough running of Sermon and the explosive play of Goodson, the Colts were able to produce 70 yards of offense on 13 rush attempts. The Colts faced four third downs on this drive as well, converting three of them on the ground (only failing on the lone pass attempt at the end).

As the dust settled at the end of the drive, the Colts were staring down a two touchdown lead halfway through the fourth quarter. The Steelers were simply smacked around by a Colts' offense that was imposing its will.

"You can see the will being sucked out of them," Colts center Ryan Kelly said to Nate Atkins of the IndyStar in a recent article. “They don't want it. Thirteen straight run plays? They'd rather rush the passer on 3rd-and-long."

This wasn't the remnants of the Frank Reich-led "Run The Damn Ball" era in Indianapolis, this was something entirely different. This wasn't running the ball because it was the team's only option, this was running the ball to reward the offensive line and impose a punishment on a defense. 

The core of Steichen's run to win philosophy is that reward for the offensive line. Give the quarterback enough room to work early to score points and the offensive line will be rewarded with run blocking late in the game. The Colts' offensive line took this reward and ran with it all the way to the finish line. 

Holy moly did the Colts offensive line block their butts off today. I mean credit to Trey Sermon and Tyler Goodson -- great stories, both of them -- but Colts runners averaged 4.15 yards BEFORE contact today per @TruMediaSports

— Jim Ayello (@jimayello) December 17, 2023

The Colts are in good hands with Steichen as their signal-caller for the foreseeable future. Not only is he an innovative, young coach but he is a man that stays true to his word. 

He promised Colts fans in the offseason that he would throw to score points and run to win. Well, the Colts did that on Saturday en route to a massive victory over the Steelers.

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