The Colts made a statement in Week 1.
Shane Steichen and Lou Anarumo put on a schematic showing in a dominating win vs. Miami. Let’s breakdown some of the best plays from the day.
Every week, the Colts have plays in their gameplan designed to attack a certain scheme. But when they want to attack a certain matchup? They turn to Adonai Mitchell.
Adonai has an “Outback” route. That just means that he has an 18 yard deep out or comeback that converts to a “Go” vs a cloud corner. Obviously, AD is pressed here, and the Dolphins are in a man coverage look, which is just what the Colts want.
The ability for AD to throttle down at that size and that speed is alien like. Only special route runners can do that, and not many corners can cover that.
What is equally as impressive is this throw from Daniel Jones. The ball is out well before AD is out of his break. Not bad for a “Danny Dump-offs”. This was his best throw of the day.
Also worth noting is the pass pro on this play is excellent and gave Jones a clean pocket to make a play.
I love these RPO’s that the Colts incorporated early into Steichen’s tenure in 2023. This is a RPO they call in obvious man coverage situations in short yardage situations. With Pittman tucked into the formation, the DB responsible for covering him has to sort through traffic in order to cover him in the flat. Pittman gets a free release, so to speak, while the DB does not. Pierce’s job is to settle and impede his path to making the tackle and make him take a poor angle.
It’s tough to tell who they’re reading here (I think it should be the DE, but looks like Jones is looking at the Will LB?), but this is a clear keep read nonetheless and they find Pittman for a big gain.
The Colts lived in Max Protection a good bit. This is a really good protection here, ESPECIALLY by the TE’s. But this is another seed by Daniel Jones. Nice job to hold the safety for as long as possible and throw this back shoulder so he doesn’t get Pierce blown up.
Now to the defense. This is a 6 yard gain, sure. But it’s also a really good play from Latu. The Colts are running a Quarters Fire Zone which is a 4 deep-2 under match coverage with a 5 man rush. Peel Rules means that the DE rushing the pass rusher will “Peel” and abandon his rush to cover any route from the RB. Since Achane releases fast to the flat, Latu has to stop his rush and cover him. That’s a touch matchup but Latu makes a great play to limit the damage.
With Achane’s speed he can make you look very silly and this could have easily been a touchdown.
Overall, this was a really encouraging start for the Colts. Last year the Colts struggled to put away games and “leave no doubt” when they were facing teams they were clearly better or more prepared than. This was a step in the right direction. All over the film you can find mistakes Miami made last Sunday, but the Colts deserved credit for taking advantage of every single one.
Offensively, I thought Shane proved why he’s one of the league’s elite playcallers. I thought Lou Anarumo had an excellent plan for Tua and the offense as well. There really was a lot to like.
However, I think they’re still some areas to clean up, as there is every week in the NFL. I thought they need to improve. The red zone touchdown percentage is still at 50%. It’s a small sample size OBVIOUSLY, but that’s been a real weakness for the Colts in the Steichen era. When they get into the red area they have to make it a point to score touchdowns not field goals. Specifically, there were also some RPO reads that could have been cleaner, and some run fits that need to get worked out.
We’ll see how it looks next week against a really talent Broncos team, but in the meantime, you have to be excited about what you saw last Sunday.
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