Dwelling on Hardest Part for Colts Offense
INDIANAPOLIS — There’s something about singing along to Tom Petty & The Heartbreaker’s “The Waiting” that stirs the soul.
Yeah, the w-a-a-a-iting is the hardest part.
If you’re quarterback Philip Rivers and the Indianapolis Colts, Sunday can’t get here soon enough. It seems like a long wait before the Colts (3-2) host the Cincinnati Bengals (1-3-1) at Lucas Oil Stadium.
But here’s the thing about the next game. Considering how the Bengals haven’t protected rookie quarterback Joe Burrow so far, the Colts defense should enjoy a bounce-back, pad-the-stats performance after Sunday’s loss at Cleveland. And as we witnessed in the Colts’ three-game win streak, the defense is strong enough to dominate weaker offenses and, thus, make life easy on Rivers and a head-scratching Colts offense.
No, the real waiting now is for the next time the Colts face a quality foe. Hopefully, after a bye week, a visit to the Detroit Lions (1-3) won’t qualify. But you never know with these Colts. And that’s precisely the point.
What I’m waiting to see is if my hunch about this team after five games plays out as expected. As much as Colts fans won’t want to read it, the prognosis isn’t promising because of Rivers and that offense. The Browns had the 30th-ranked pass defense, yet beat the Colts 32-23, thanks to the Colts offense giving the Browns nine points on a pick-six and safety.
In terms of overall team defense, the best the Colts have faced is Chicago, which is ranked ninth. The Browns are 21st, Jets 25th, Vikings 26th, and Jaguars 30th. Yet the Colts lost to the Browns and Jaguars.
What’s going to happen when Rivers and this offense faces a good defense? Even against the Bears, the Colts scored a touchdown on the opening drive and settled for four field goals the rest of the day.
After facing the Bengals’ 23rd-ranked defense and the Lions’ 28th-ranked defense, the Colts return home to host the Baltimore Ravens, who are sixth. And Baltimore has been humbling opponents, except for the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
The second half of the schedule also includes Green Bay (12th-ranked defense) and Pittsburgh (No. 3).
The blueprint for defending the Colts has been established — load up the box to limit the run and pressure Rivers, who except for a few mid-range pass attempts has yet to stretch those defenses and make foes play honest.
When Rivers gets pressured, well, that’s when anything can happen. On both of his interceptions at Cleveland, he stepped up in the pocket to buy himself more time. Then he made terrible throws.
The first was a pivotal pick-six that gave the Browns a 27-10 lead in the third quarter. The second was just as ill-advised as two Browns defenders were in position to intercept.
Rivers has thrown four of his five interceptions in the two losses. If the offense was clicking on a consistent basis the rest of the time, those mistakes wouldn’t seem so crucial. But that hasn’t been the case.
The Colts are 27th in third-down efficiency and 29th in the red zone. That starts with the quarterback making clutch plays when it counts. We’re about to play a sixth game this season, so making excuses by suggesting it’s still a small sample size is just a rationalization that’s fooling nobody, especially defenses.
The Colts are 31st in rushing yards per attempt, which is skewed somewhat by playing with a big lead in their three wins, but it’s still unacceptable. And the rushing yards per game ranking has dropped to 20th, 13 spots lower than where the Colts were at the end of last season.
Questions have been asked about if the offensive line hasn’t played up to the standard set a year ago. The Colts say they’re confident that will happen, and nobody seems too worried about it.
OK, so maybe the reality is other issues are more disconcerting than that.
If it weren’t for the fact that the Colts have the No. 1-ranked defense, the offensive shortcomings would be more magnified. This team wouldn’t be 3-2, and the one-year flyer on Rivers for $25 million would be scrutinized even more, and that doubt is already receiving headlines after last week.
An optimist will counter with the fact that the Colts are down two injured wide receivers in rookie Michael Pittman Jr. and Parris Campbell, as well as the fact that 2019 leading rusher Marlon Mack was lost for the season in the opener.
But wide receiver T.Y. Hilton’s dubious drought of not having 100 yards receiving in a game has reached 18 regular-season starts. If counting back-to-back playoff games with 100 yards, that drought is 15 games. That’s not going to get the four-time Pro Bowl star paid well after this contract year — his best plays so far have been drawing penalties from defenders. We haven’t seen him do his “T.Y.” TD celebration hand gesture once this season.
It’s fair to say that Hilton isn’t clicking with Rivers. And he’s not the only one.
Tight ends Jack Doyle and Mo Alie-Cox were ignored at Cleveland. Neither had a reception, which is inexcusable. Alie-Cox was leading the team in receiving yards before Cleveland, and was targeted only once, when Rivers was intercepted the second time. Lest anyone forget, Doyle is a two-time Pro Bowl tight end, but so far this season, he has four receptions for 61 yards.
At some point, head coach Frank Reich’s play-calling requires second-guessing. The Colts script their plays to start games, and because four of their eight touchdowns were scored on opening drives, that suggests the offense is prepared at the beginning, but fails to adjust as the game goes along. Or Reich isn’t adjusting well, at least in the two losses, anyway.
Put it all together and, yeah, a Sunday romp over the Bengals should provide a much-needed boost to those discouraging statistics.
But it would be foolish to suggest that beating up on a weaker foe means the offensive ills have been healed. No, the only proof of that comes from performing at a significantly higher level against the likes of Baltimore, Green Bay, Pittsburgh, or even the Tennessee Titans (4-0), who are comfortably ahead in the AFC South Division.
That’s what I’m waiting to see, when the challenge is truly the hardest part.
(Phillip B. Wilson has covered the Indianapolis Colts for more than two decades and authored the 2013 book 100 Things Colts Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. He’s on Twitter @pwilson24, on Facebook at @allcoltswithphilb and @100thingscoltsfans, and his email is phillipbwilson24@yahoo.com.)
