Worst game yet, for now. Credit to Gus Bradley
Offense
Let’s take a quick trivia to lighten the mood after such a terrible loss. Imagine a completely hypothetical scenario where your inexperienced, mistake-prone quarterback is 2/15 passing. Despite those numbers you are tied 10-10 and will be getting the ball after the half, with just 30 seconds remaining in the second quarter you are facing 2nd and 3 inside your own 20-yard line. Taking all that into account do you: A – Run the ball again a couple times with your All-Pro running back to burn out the clock and go into halftime to regroup B – Just kneel it down, assuming the Texans burn their timeouts, and Rigo punts it 50 yards you have the Texans on their own 40-yard line with 20 seconds on the clock, not ideal but also not terrible C – Call two deep shots, even if one is picked it still counts basically as a punt, said quarterback can easily sling it 50 yards, or D – Call two consecutive short passing plays, even after the first one is nearly picked.
If your answer was not D, then congratulations! You seem to have more football IQ than Colts’ head-coach Shane Steichen. Even if the pass to Downs is completed, that still leaves you needing 45 yards with just under thirty seconds to get into field goal range! The risk-reward ratio could not have been less favourable, and Steichen still made the call. And that call ended up costing the Colts the game.
The second half was better, but not like it could have been any worse. I mean the Texans are missing their starting two linebackers, and you had JT back looking 100% and making two or three Texans miss every single play, yet there was no RPOs, no option plays, absolute lack of creativity. There is a certain paradox regarding Anthony Richardson where he needs to be on the field a lot to reach his full potential, he needs to use his legs to be a viable starter at this point in his career, and if the Colts run him a lot he runs the risk of getting injured because he cannot take proper care of his body, therefore missing out on that much needed game experience. You have JT, you have an above-average offensive line, you have three very solid receivers. The offense should be much better than it is, and while some of the blame definitely falls on AR, most of it is on Steichen. So far, it just seems like the duo is not compatible, which means one of the two should go if this recent trend continues.
Grade: F
Defense
Hats off to you Gus Bradley. I was really critical of you, even considering you were missing half your starting defense, but you called a near perfect game against a talented offensive coordinator and a good NFL quarterback. The blitzes, coverages, awareness, it was all really good, and one has to take into account that the average Texans’ drive started near the 50-yard line. The unit definitely did enough to win the game, and it is especially encouraging given how tough the schedule gets right now, facing several top offenses in the next few weeks.
Look at the numbers, the Colts held the Texans offense to just 363 total net yards, and 4 of 13 on third downs. Having Buckner back was massive, now the only thing left is for the Colts’ coaching staff to realize that Zaire Franklin is not a starting caliber NFL linebacker.
Grade: A –
Special Teams
Sloppy day for the Colts’ special teams unit, with some missed assignments on returns, and a flag on the final return of the game costing the team a much needed 9 yards. This unit has been rock solid most of the season, so we can write this off as just a bad outing right now.
Grade: C
