Colts RPO Game Dices Helpless Buccaneers Defense: Film
The Indianapolis Colts improved to 6-5 on the season with a 27-20 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this past weekend. While the Colts' defense deserves praise for their continued strong play of late, the Colts' offense is the main storyline coming out of this late season victory.
The Colts' offense was in a bit of a rut in recent weeks, only managing to score 23 (offensive) total points across two games against the Carolina Panthers and the New England Patriots, respectively.
The typically efficient Colts' offense hit a dead spot, as they struggled to run or pass with any efficiency whatsoever in those two games. The offense averaged just 2.64 yards per carry on the ground in that two game span, while averaging a measly 5.94 yards per attempt through the air in that same two week stretch.
The Colts entered this pivotal game against the Buccaneers with two major questions that needed to be answered on offense:
How can we make Gardner Minshew more comfortable and more operational in the passing game?
How can we open up the box to allow our running game to find efficiency again?
The answer to both of these questions came with the RPO game.
RPO Pass Option
RPO is a buzzword that has been thrown around for roughly a decade now in the NFL. The acronym stands for Run-Pass option, as it is a designed run play with a passing option built on top of it. The goal of these calls is to give the quarterback a choice on every single snap.
The quarterback is reading 1-2 conflict defender(s) on a given RPO play. If that defender crashes down to defend the run, then the quarterback will take the pass option and pull the hand-off out of the running back's chest. If that defender stays home, then the quarterback will hand the ball off to the running back against a lighter box.
RPO's are an excellent way to manipulate spacing in the NFL. These plays are fairly limited due to NFL rules (linemen can't run block more than one yard downfield so the pass has to come out quick), but in theory every single run design should have a pass option built on top of it in order to manipulate as much defensive space as possible.
Luckily for the Colts, quarterback Gardner Minshew is fantastic on RPO calls. He is a one-read quarterback that thrives when he can rip it to his designed first option, so this type of play call is perfectly suited for what he does best. All he has to do is read the conflict defender and make that one quick decision.
Let's look at a few film examples that showcase Minshew's effectiveness on these calls.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are crowding the line of scrimmage with their base personnel on this first film example. There are seven players around the line of scrimmage, so Minshew likes his odds on the outside with Josh Downs in a one on one match-up off the rub route.
Alec Pierce does an excellent job of clearing out as Downs comes free in the flat for a chunk gain:
The Buccaneers are sitting in a two-high look on this next film example, which means Minshew just has to read the weakside linebacker (WILL) as his conflict defender on this RPO call.
As soon as that linebacker bites inside to defend the run, Minshew pulls the ball out and hits Will Mallory for a chunk gain up the seam on first down:
The other major benefit to attaching a pass option to run calls is countering designed blitzes. If the quarterback feels a slot corner or a safety crashing down to defend the run, it is easy to find an outlet with a numbers advantage on the pass option to outside.
That is exactly what happens on this next play, as Minshew feels the slot corner blitzing off of the edge (which leaves Josh Downs uncovered on the outside). Minshew quickly hits Downs in the flat, and the rookie is able to turn up field for a solid gain behind a strong block by Alec Pierce on the edge:
RPO passing options are their most deadly in 3rd/4th and short situations. Defenses are selling out to defend the run in these situations, so having a passing option attached on top is an excellent way to exploit a defense that is playing aggressive.
The Colts ran a beautifully designed RPO play on a 4th and one early in this ball game. Michael Pittman Jr aligned as the sniffer tight end in the backfield and broke to the flat once the ball was snapped.
The Buccaneers sold out to stop Jonathan Taylor in the run game, which left Pittman Jr wide open for a massive gain up the sideline:
RPO Run Options
While taking the pass option on RPO plays is certainly the flashier of the two choices, RPOs are run plays at the end of the day. The goal on these calls is to hand the ball off against a light box to allow running backs to create space.
The Colts did their fair share of running the ball off of RPOs in this game as well. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers came into this one with one of the league's best run defenses, but the Colts were able to work them out of base defense and lighten the box by adding pass options on top of every run.
The difference is subtle, but the RPO game did help the Colts run the ball with much more efficiency against the Bucs than they did in the previous two match-ups against the Panthers and the Patriots, respectively:
The Bottom Line
The Indianapolis Colts' offensive staff had a lot of self scouting to do during the bye week following two abysmal performances just prior to the break. The solution they came up with for the team's offensive woes not only led to more success on the scoreboard, it also led to a more efficient offense.
If the Colts can continue to lean on the RPO game (and build off of it), they have a good chance to make the playoffs with Gardner Minshew at quarterback. The offense doesn't need to be all-world down the stretch, it just needs to remain as efficient and as effective as it was on Sunday.
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