Dopey Report Card -- Colts vs. Texans

I'll give you one guess how I graded the Indy passing game. Oh, boy.

RUN OFFENSE

If the Colts are going to do anything significant this season – doubtful after getting swept by the Texans -- they’ve got to rely more heavily on the running game. Shane Steichen likes to say “Pass to score, run to win,” but it appears he’s going to need to amend that to “Run to score, run to win, run, run, run.” The Colts rolled up 163 rushing yards on 26 carries, a healthy 6.3 yard-per-carry average. Jonathan Taylor, who’s been terrific when he’s been active,  rushed 20 times for 105 yards and Anthony Richardson, who gained most of his yards on scrambles, ran six time for 45 yards. Seems like we say this most weeks, but I’d love to see Steichen use AR more on designed runs. Sunday, he had just two of them. As Nate Atkins of the Indianapolis Star noted, Philly’s Jalen Hurts ran the ball 9.3 times per game in Steichen’s first season as OC in 2021. That’s a nice target for Steichen and Richardson. You’ve got this incredible weapon; use it, especially on early downs, where the Colts struggled mightily Sunday

RUN DEFENSE

Joe Mixon tore the Colts apart in the teams’ first meeting in the season opener, the Texans rushing for 213 gaudy yards. The Colts, who seemed less concerned with defending explosives Sunday – it helped that Nico Collins, the Colts killer, was inactive with an injury – did a far better job of slowing the Texans down. Houston rushed 29 times for 96 yards, a 3.3 average. It makes a huge difference having DeForest Buckner back in the lineup, although he was on a snap count, playing 43 of 71 defensive snaps Sunday. The linebackers, E.J. Speed and Zaire Franklin, typically led the Colts in tackles. The Colts rolled up 11 tackles for loss. This is the way a team built in the trenches needs to perform.

Grade: B+

PASS OFFENSE

Oy. You know the numbers for Richardson, but I’ll repeat them anyway: 10 of 32 for 175 yards, one touchdown and one killer interception late in the second quarter that set up Houston’s gift touchdown. He was, in a word, terrible. I will also grant him this: He was under a massive amount of pressure for the second week in a row. This time, he absorbed nine quarterback hits and five sacks. If he was any less mobile and strong, he would have been sacked far more frequently. He also didn’t have much help. The receivers didn’t come down with any contested passes – save for Josh Downs’ fabulous catch down at the 1-yard line – and the Colts committed nine penalties, including three false starts on Quenton Nelson that consistently put the Colts behind the sticks. On National Tight End Day, the Colts tight ends did next to nothing in the pass game. But the big talk today, like the big talk yesterday, was Richardson’s decision to take himself out before a third-down play due to fatigue. Maybe I’m making too big a deal of it, but again, in all my years of watching football, I’ve never seen a quarterback tap out for any reason other than an injury. That was a bad look, and he’s going to continue to take a public beating. Deservedly so.

Grade: F

PASS DEFENSE

Not bad. Not great, but not bad. C.J. Stroud completed 25-of-37 passes for 285 yards and one TD. The pass rush was excellent, the Colts rolling up nine quarterback hits. It was an especially strong performance from Dayo Odeyingbo, who had five tackles, three quarterback hits, three tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. He ran that recovery all the way back for a touchdown that would have changed the tenor of the game, but upon review, it was determined he was down by contact. Close, is all I’ll say. Very close.

Grade: C+

COACHING

So it’s third-and-3 at the Colts’ own 12-yard line, 34 seconds left in the first half, Indy football, and Steichen decides to get aggressive. There’s a time and a place and normally, I’m all for pushing the envelope. But this wasn’t the time or place, especially given the fact the Colts hadn’t done anything all day in the passing game (besides the bomb to Downs, who was crazy open on the secondary misplay). You saw what happened. A Jalen Pitre interception, followed by a Houston touchdown. Just as Richardson is trying to figure things out, I sense that Steichen is as well. He’s got this incredible weapon, but he doesn’t yet seem to know how to use him to best effect. Too often, he’s got Richardson attempting long, low-percentage passes at a time when the quarterback needs help. Let him throw short. Let him run. Give him a runway to those explosives.

Grade: D

INTANGIBLES

Man, this was a winnable game. If they get anything out of the passing game – anything – the Colts find a way to escape Houston in a first-place tie in the AFC South. But you’re not going to win when you convert just 2-of-13 third downs. You’re not going to win when your quarterback is completing 31 percent of his passes. The defense was more than good enough. The running game was excellent. The special teams did their thing. But this team just doesn’t win big games. It’s been this way for years, it seems. Now, the Colts are two games behind the Texans – well, three with the head-to-head tiebreaker – and are facing the toughest portion of their schedule this next month. If Richardson and this passing game don’t figure it out soon, it’s going to go south, and fast.

Grade: D+