The Indianapolis Colts are officially 2-0 for the first time in a long time. The world asked them to do it against a better defense and they did. A lot of really good plays have been discussed ad nauseam, so in this article, I’ll highlight some less flashy plays the Colts have used to move the chains and score points.
Colts have loved Naked keepers early in the game. It helps the QB get into a rhythm, moves the launch point so elite pass rushers can’t tee off, and lets them get their TE the ball in the flat.
A Naked usually has something in the flat, and over route from the backside, and then a post or deep corner as an alert.
This is a Naked with Slam tag. Slam just tells Tyler Warren to engage with Nik Bonnito and then leak into the flat. Bonitto does an awesome job reading boot and engaging with Warren and preventing him from getting out into the flat.
Jones does an awesome job flipping his hips and delivering a ball right on the body on the Over from Pittman, knowing he’s about to take a shot on this play.
AD Mitchell didn’t necessarily see a ton of action on the field, but he did serve a purposeful role when he checked into the game. Here he is running a Hinge route on Patrick Surtain. The Colts love getting AD the ball in 3×1 scenarios where he can run isolation routes vs. a corner. This is obviously great defense from one of the best corners in football, but sometimes the perfect throw helps.
A random thought, but watching it back, I wonder if that Hinge route is allowed to convert vs. press coverage. I have no way of knowing, but a lot of offenses will convert that route into a Go if they get press. The reason for that is because a jam can throw off the timing of the route and it’s harder to separate with a corner attached at your hip. Normally with a hinge, you want to threaten an off corner early and then generate your separation at the top of the route.
In a 3×1 formation, the QB will almost always read that weak safety vs. any split safety coverage. If that weak safety tries to hunt up any vertical route from the strong side of the formation, well than you know you have 1-on-1 with that X receiver. If that safety tries to bracket the X receiver, than you’ll work the 3 receiver side.
Nonetheless, AD Mitchell is slowly making more plays when he gets his opportunities, albeit still limited. I think it’s a matter of time before he gets a chance to be an every down player.
The Colts run game deserves a lot of credit as well. Obviously Jonathan Taylor has been terrific through two weeks, but I also think the Colts have executed really well up front.
An interesting development is the under center run game that the Colts have used to pair with nakeds and play action passes.
This is Windback Duo Slice, which is a Duo run with a slice block on that unblocked playside defender. The Colts pair this with a windback action from the QB. Watch Daniel Jones extend his arms one way, then “windback” like a hand on a clock the other way. This is supposed to give the LBs something to look at and make them late into the run fit.
The eye candy helps the OL climb to the LBs and it turns into a really nice gain from the Colts.
Motion motion and more motion. This is the most amount of pre-snap movement we’ve seen in a Shane Steichen offense in a 2 game stretch. The Colts are finding ways to use different and unique types of motion to make life easier on everyone.
In this case the Broncos are playing press coverage to the wide side of the field. The Colts want to get the ball to AD Mitchell on a speed out. If they stood static and just snapped the ball as is, it be much harder for AD Mitchell and Daniel Jones since the DB can jam AD at the line and make it harder to seperate.
So the Colts motion Josh Downs into the formation using short motion. For all intents and purposes, short motion just means a receiver will motion tighter to the core of formation while staying on one side of the ball.
As Josh Downs motions into the formation, look at the reaction from the DBs. You can see them communicate with each other to push with the motion and exchange responsibilities. The nickel is tapping his head to get them into a popular adjustment called “Top Hat” (Tap head=Top Hat.. simple enough right?).
Top Hat coverage is an adjustment used vs. Stack formations when playing man coverage, which the Colts effectively motion into at the snap. That tells the nickel, who is pressed at the line of scrimmage, to cover the receiver off the ball in man coverage. The off corner will then cover the receiver on the ball.
Teams like to check to this vs. motion because the guy on the ball can easily create a pick for the guy in motion and that corner would have no chance.
The adjustment allows AD Mitchell to have a free release on his out route, since that corner is now covering him from an off alignment, and it’s an easy pitch and catch for the Colts.
I’m personally not going to crown this Colts team just yet, because there is no real reason to just yet. Right now, they’re just a team that is outperforming some unfair expectations that were given to them prior to the year—That’s it.
This team was never going to be as bad as the national media thought. If you happen to follow me on Twitter, I thought I made a solid case for that. This team was bound to improve on defense, has a really good staff, and has a ton of talent all over roster. That being said, they’ve outperformed my own expectations for them. Nobody was predicting this offense to play this well through the first two weeks of the year. Daniel Jones is playing the best he ever has, Jonathan Taylor somehow looks better than last year, and Tyler Warren appears to be the missing piece to this offense.
But at the same time, it’s still just two games. I don’t think this is the Saints from 2024—far from it actually. But I do know as good as you can feel about yourself after a winning streak in the NFL, it’s very easy for things to flip in a hurry (see the end of 2021). As of now there’s no reason for me not to expect that the success will continue, but more than anything, I’m just excited to see more.
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