New York Giants Week 17: A Look at the Indianapolis Colts Offense

What will the New York Giants defense see when they face the Indianapolis Colts this week?

Brandon Olsen | 14 Hours Ago

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson (5) hands the ball off to Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor (28) on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, during a game against the Tennessee Titans at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. / Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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New York Giants

The New York Giants are set to face off with an Indianapolis Colts offense that’s averaging 21.2 points per game, 21st-best in the NFL. Let’s take a look at how the Colts offense has been built.

Personnel

This Colts offense is led by Anthony Richardson, a second-year quarterback who is a physical freak but has yet to fully grasp the position.

Richardson was benched earlier this year for Joe Flacco, although that was short-lived after Flacco struggled.

The 2024 season has seen Richardson try to use his deep ball more often, but the offense has become far too reliant on running the ball and connecting on those deep shots.

Jonathan Taylor has secured yet another 1,000-yard rushing season and remains a focal point of the offense.

The Colts receivers are a fun group that complements Richardson’s skillset. They have big-bodied receivers who can win all over the field with an underneath outlier.

Michael Pittman Jr, Alec Pierce, and Adonai Mitchell are all at least 6-3 in height and are receivers who can win vertically and make catches through traffic.

Josh Downs is the one outlier who plays almost exclusively in the slot, using his creativity as a ball carrier to pick up yards after the catch.

The Colts are one of the very few teams in the NFL that has a legitimate tight end rotation with Andrew Ogletree, Mo Alie-Cox, and Kylen Granson.

None of the three are anything special, but they all have the ability to contribute as pass-catchers without being complete liabilities as blockers.

Scheme

If it were up to the Colts, they would barely throw the ball. Against the Tennessee Titans in Week 16, Richardson dropped back just 14 times, as the Colts used their run game to get the job done.

Head coach Shane Steichen has expressed before that his philosophy is “throw to score points, run to win the game,” meaning that once they have the lead, they will run the ball to kill time until you stop them.

The Colts operate almost exclusively out of 11- and 12-personnel, using those packages on 94.9% of their offensive snaps.

Steichen has no problem using the athletic Richardson’s legs as the Colts will frequently run RPOs where Richardson can keep the ball and run.

In the passing game, they want to attack all levels of the field to keep defenses from being able to key in on any specific area.

Overview

To give themselves a fighting chance, the Giants need to focus on two things: slowing down the Colts' run game and not falling behind.

The Colts' run game is the foundation of the offense, and if you can slow it down and force Richardson to throw the ball often, you can create opportunities to create turnovers.

If the Colts take the lead, they will try to bleed the clock for the remainder of the game. Even if you could force three-and-outs every drive, they would still be able to take about two minutes off the clock every drive.