How Colts' Offense Attacked Texans' Defense in 2021: Film Room
The Indianapolis Colts are finally in regular season mode, as the team heads to Houston to play the Texans this upcoming Sunday. While the Colts have struggled in the opening week in years past, they get a prime opportunity to start strong against a fairly weak Houston Texans' team.
Just last season, the Colts beat the Texans by a combined score of 62-3 in their two match-ups. The Colts' offense was quite effective in those two games, as former QB Carson Wentz boasted a passer rating of 117.6 and running back Jonathan Taylor rushed for 288 yards (on 6.2 yards per carry) and four touchdowns.
How was the Colts' offense able to dominate the Texans a year ago? Let's dive into some film and find out.
Deep Passing Game
The Texans' defensive coordinator in 2021 was Lovie Smith, the coach whom they promoted to Head Coach shortly after the season. Smith started out the season with a ton of two-high, cover-two type of looks. Colts' HC Frank Reich noticed this prior to the fist match-up of these two teams, and he understood exactly how to exploit this.
Reich dialed up a few deep shots in the first match-up that were designed to put the Texans' safeties into difficult situations. On this play below, the Colts' drew up an inverted Yankee concept. Michael Pittman Jr ran a a deep crosser while Parris Campbell looped over the top of the play-side safety.
The result is the Texans' safety being put in a difficult situation with two routes attacking his zone. He bites underneath, which gives the Colts just enough room to attack over the top for the touchdown.
Reich wasn't done exploiting the deep safety after that one big play either. He had a few more clever tricks up his sleeve in the team's first match-up with the Texans in 2021.
On this play below, Reich calls a sails concept to the short side of the field. The goal on this call is to have the play-side safety bite on the intermediate out route so the backside slot receiver, T.Y Hilton, can sneak over the top for a big gain.
The play-side safety, yet again, bites underneath, creating a window over the top for a huge gain.
Short Passing Game
Lovie Smith did adjust by the Colts' second match-up with the Texans, and he began running a lot more man coverage calls on his defense in the second half of the season. Reich recognized this and adjusted his own offense accordingly.
In the second match-up with the Texans, Reich primarily focused on the short passing game. He utilized a ton of RPO's and bunch formations in order to free up his receivers against the Texans' revitalized man scheme.
This play below is a nice little two-man concept with Pittman Jr and running back Nyheim Hines. The play-call is fairly simple, as Pittman Jr is running a spot route over the middle in an attempt to pick the linebacker assigned to Hines on the play. The route combo works to perfection, as the natural pick-play frees up Hines for a big catch along the sidelines.
Reich also likes to utilize switch releases and bunch looks to free up his receivers against man coverage looks. While this was more of a run-heavy game for the Colts, he did mix in a few switch releases that we could expect to see carry over to 2022 with Matt Ryan.
This play below is a great example. The Colts are working a backside two-man game yet again, this time with Pittman Jr and tight end Mo Alie-Cox. Alie-Cox's goal on this play is to clear out just enough space for Pittman Jr to sneak underneath on the drag route. Both players execute their role perfectly, and the result is a big gain on the drag route for Pittman jr.
Run Game
The Colts had quite a bit of success on the ground against the Texans in 2022, as superstar back Jonathan Taylor rushed for 288 yards and four touchdowns on over six yards per carry in the two match-ups.
While a lot of this success can be attributed to just how dominant Taylor was a year ago, the Colts did stick to a few distinct run calls against the Texans to find success a year ago:
Split-Zone
The Colts love to utilize some split-zone/wham concepts in the run game. Running the football in the NFL is all about window-dressing and selling misdirection, and Frank Reich is one of the best in the league at drawing up these plays.
This play below is a perfectly dialed up split-zone call against a relatively undisciplined Texans' defense (in the first match-up). Tight end Mo Alie-Cox is aligned on the play side, but his job is to crack back on the backside defensive end on the play. His movement draws the safety assigned to him in coverage back across the formation, so Alie-Cox is essentially blocking two players just by moving.
Quenton Nelson, Ryan Kelly, and Eric Fisher all reach their blocks as well, and this is an easy 80 yard run for the Colts' superstar.
Toss Misdirection
The Colts are blessed with having one of the league's premier skill position players as their running back. As a result, it is always wise to get Jonathan Taylor the ball with as much space to work as possible.
One way that the Colts do this is by utilizing as much misdirection as possible. If Frank Reich can get defenders to hesitate for even half of a second, that can be just enough for Taylor to rip off a big gain. That is exactly what happens here, as Pittman Jr coming in motion freezes the defense just long enough for Taylor to coast up the sideline for a big gain.
Bully Ball
The Colts love to use misdirection and zone runs to catch defenses off guard, but at the end of the day, this is a team that wants to run power up the gut. The Colts' bread-and-butter is duo up the middle with their stud offensive linemen leading the way for big gains.
While the Texans have been susceptible over the years to misdirection, the Colts also have enforced their will on this lackluster defense in years past. In this clip below, the Colts just dominate the Texans' defensive line from the snap as Taylor rumbles up the gut for the score.
The Bottom Line
The Indianapolis Colts have dominated this match-up in recent seasons, winning the last four games in the series by a net total of 72 points. While the Texans have certainly improved this offseason, the Colts should be able to coast to victory if they follow what they have done in years past.
In the passing game, the Colts should stick to short man-beaters, as Lovie Smith has seemed to adjust away from his traditional cover-two scheme. There will be opportunities for shot plays, but stick to quick two-man game route combinations to stay ahead of the sticks.
On the ground, feed the superstar that is Jonathan Taylor. Utilize a ton of misdirection to give Taylor space and don't be afraid to mix in some power runs to punch the Texans' defense in the mouth.
While this gameplan isn't guaranteed to work this upcoming season, it has led the Colts to success in the past in this match-up. If this game goes anything like last year's games, the Colts should be able to find a decent amount of success on offense in week one.
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