Breaking down Colts’ offensive, defensive schemes

The Detroit Lions (9-1) will take on the Indianapolis Colts (5-6) in Week 12, as both teams look to continue their winning ways. For the Lions, they’ve won eight in a row and are setting franchise records on a weekly basis, as they march toward the postseason. Meanwhile, the Colts hope they’ve unlocked the next level of Anthony Richardson’s potential, now that he has returned from a “wake-up call” benching. So far, the results look promising, but Detroit’s defense will test them.

Let’s take a look at the Colts’ coaching staff and how their offensive and defensive schemes operate.

Colts head coach: Shane Steichen

Shane Steichen broke into the NFL coaching ranks with the Chargers in 2011, working under head coach Norv Turner. When Turner was let go, Steichen briefly took a position with the Browns for a season (under head coach Rob Chudzinski), but quickly returned to San Diego to re-join the Chargers organization—a move that would have a large impact on his career.

Now working under head coach Mike McCoy and then retained by Anthony Lynn, Steichen crossed paths with influential offensive coaches such as Frank Reich and Nick Sirianni. Steichen would eventually work his way up to become Lynn’s offensive coordinator, before taking the same role in Philadelphia under Sirianni in 2021-22, and then landing the Colts head coaching job in 2023.

Steichen is best known for his work with Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, and you can see how the coach is using that experience to mold his offense around second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson.

Offensive coordinator: Jim Bob Cooter

Most Lions fans will be familiar with Jim Bob Cooter, who was Detroit’s quarterback coach in 2014-15 and then offensive coordinator in 2016-18, all under head coach Jim Caldwell. After departing the Lions, Cooter spent time with the Jets as a running backs coach, then was hired by the Eagles as a consultant in 2021, where he met Steichen. When Steichen got the Colts job in 2023, Cooter joined him as his offensive coordinator.

Zone Read/PRO/West Coast offensive scheme

Steichen calls the offensive plays on game day, something he has done dating back to 2020 with the Eagles. He was widely regarded as a high-level play caller, up until this season. This year’s Colts team has lacked an identity and the offense has struggled because of it. They’re middle of the road in the NFL in the majority of their offensive statistics, and in several cases, below average.

In Week 8, things came to a head. In a close game with the Texans, quarterback Anthony Richardson, tired from running on the previous plays, removed himself from the game to take a breather. The removal didn’t directly cost the Colts the game, but when they eventually lost by three points, people were looking for accountability. Questions surrounding Richardson’s maturity and dedication developed and many wondered if he lost the locker room after leaving the game. Steichen opted to bench Richardson and elevate Joe Flacco into a starting role, hoping the young quarterback could learn a lesson from the sidelines.

Over the next two games, Flacco would unsurprisingly struggle, as the Colts lost to the Vikings and Bills. With three losses in a row, the Colts now stood at 4-6 on the season, and Steichen once again felt like he needed to make a move and elevated Richardson back into the starting role. Richardson returned with a new perspective and the coaching staff instituted a new approach to offense, and they would go on to beat the Jets 28-27 in New Jersey.

Because of this shift in approach to offense, it’s hard to tell how many of the bad habits will carry over for the remainder of the season. But the one thing that is clear is that the offense now has an identity, and that’s where we’ll focus when breaking down their scheme.

Colts’ new identity

Against the Jets, the Colts rededicated themselves to the running game. While not always successful, they showed they were willing to stick with it and build their game plan off of it as their core.

Right from the jump, the Colts deployed a lot more Zone Read and PRO (Power-Run option) elements into their offense. In Zone Read, Richardson receives the snap, puts the ball into the running back’s frame, keys on a specific defender, and then chooses to hand the ball off to the running back or pull the ball back and run it himself, based on the defender’s actions. In PRO, these are designed power runs by the quarterback, where he acts as the running back and the running back acts as an additional blocker. The Colts tried an RPO (a Run-Pass Option is a Zone Read with an option to pass), but Richardson fumbled on the play and they didn’t appear to go back to that play call.

The consistent dedication to the run game helped keep the Colts’ offense in a rhythm and made things a bit simpler in the passing game.

The Colts put Richardson in situations where he would pass while on the run, which helped reduce pressure inside the pocket. They asked him to play more within himself and tried to eliminate the expectations and pressure he put on himself to succeed. As a result, Richardson was more consistent with his throws, was willing to take shorter passes instead of taking gambles deep, and made smarter decisions with the football.

Weaknesses that can be exploited

While the Colts were dedicated to the run last week, they did struggle to find success, gaining just 91 yards on 35 attempts. What is concerning is that this was all they could muster against a Jets team that was giving up 130 yards on average per game (22nd in the NFL) and checks in at No. 24 in DVOA run defense.

This week, they’ll face a Lions defense that only allows 94.8 rushing yards per game (fifth in the NFL) and checks in at No. 5 in DVOA run defense. To make matters worse, the Lions’ run defense is on a roll right now and only gave up 41 rushing yards to the Jaguars last week (on 17 attempts) and just 56 rushing yards to the Texans the week before (on 28 attempts).

Additionally, PRO runs require the offensive line to aggressively fire off the ball in order to gain momentum, but the Colts are currently starting three rookies due to injury, and they’re making rookie mistakes.

If the Lions can stop the run, Richardson will have to throw and be successful this week. While he often plays better against man coverage, he struggles with the blitz (which the Lions do a ton of since losing Aidan Hutchinson), both because his offensive line isn’t picking it up, and because he seems genuinely unaware when it’s coming. Additionally, the Colts don’t seem to have any built-in variables for Richardson for when teams do blitz. Most of the Colts’ routes take time to develop and it can leave the young quarterback without options when the pressure comes, which leads to him being reckless with the football or rushing throws and compromising his accuracy.

Defensive coordinator: Gus Bradley

Gus Bradley broke into the NFL with the Bucs in 2006 and legendary coach Monte Kiffin took him under his wing. He would go on to help create the Legion of Boom with the Seahawks in 2012 as their defensive coordinator. He then used that fame to land a head coaching job with the Jaguars from 2014-16, where he helped mold Robert Saleh, his defensive coordinator. In 2017, Bradley went back to a defensive coordinator position, this time with the Chargers, during the same period that Steichen was the offensive coordinator. After a quick stint with the Raiders in 2021, Bradley joined the Colts in 2022 as defensive coordinator under Frank Reich, then was retained the following season when Steichen was hired as the next head coach.

4-2-5 defensive scheme

Bradley made Cover-3 defense popular from his days in Seattle and has heavily deployed it at every stop as a defensive coordinator. You can see the trickle-down impact of his scheme in several of the Lions’ recent opponents, like DeMeko Ryan’s Houston Texans defense, and now in Green Bay with Jeff Hafley’s Packers defense, as well as with 49ers and Jets.

Like with the Colts offense, the beginning of the season results left a lot to be desired, and eventually, they hit a breaking point where something needed to change. According to SI’s Colts team page writer—and recent PODcast First Byte guest—Zach Hicks, that moment came in Week 5 when the Jaguars beat the Colts 37-34.

“Bradley has changed this defense up a good bit in recent weeks,” Hicks wrote. “A man known for his lack of aggression and for sitting back in cover three all day long has shifted to more of a blitz-heavy cover two defense in recent weeks.”

While the blitzing has scaled back a bit of late, Bradley still uses a larger blend of coverages on defense. He’ll still deploy Cover-3 in run situations, rolling a safety (typically Nick Cross) into the box for run support. Then will drop into Cover-2 and Quarters coverage in standard sets. Overall, the Colts spend around 80% of their time in zone coverage, third most in the NFL.

With a bend-don’t-break approach that eliminates vertical options and keeps things in front of them, the Colts essentially wait for the offense to make a mistake in the passing game while trying to add pressure up front.

The Colts use a standard four-man front with the ends in a wide-nine alignment and rely on their linebackers to do a lot of heavy lifting. Not only are they responsible for filling the gaps between the defenders in the run game, but they also need to drop into zones to cover tight ends and running backs, and will also be used as blitzers. The linebackers tend to play downhill and flow with the movement of the offensive line, but they can be fooled by misdirection and play-action.

Weaknesses that can be exploited

This approach to a defensive front leaves the Colts very susceptible against teams with aggressive rushing attacks, especially those that can operate out of Gap and Duo-blocking schemes. Not only do the Lions excel in both of those blocking schemes, but they also boast the No. 1 offensive line in the NFL (per PFF), and the No. 1 rushing attack in the NFL (per DVOA).

For comparison’s sake, on average the Colts allow 143.1 rushing yards per game (28th), 3.22 yards after contact (28th), and have given up the most 10+ yard rushes in the NFL, with 48 allowed this season. The Lions currently gain 152.2 rushing yards per game (third most), 1.92 yards after contact per rush (fifth most), and have produced 40 rushes of 10+ yards (sixth most).

Where things will get interesting is in the passing game. The two defenses that Jared Goff has had the most trouble with over the Lions’ eight-game winning streak have been the Texans and Packers—who both run a version of the defense Bradley’s original scheme. But with his recent shift in schematic approach, the new scheme actually presents more favorably into Goff’s strengths.

Goff has handled the blitz very well this season and has done a nice job of finding his mismatches vs. zone coverage. If the Colts sit back too much and wait for Goff to make a mistake, Mr. Perfect will simply take the easy throws and allow his skill players to gain yards after the catch (YAC). On the season, the Colts have allowed the seventh-most YAC in the NFL, 1332 yards, including +231 over expectations (eight-most).