The Indianapolis Colts have one of the brightest minds in the NFL when it comes to offensive play-calling in head coach Frank Reich, but recently the offense has been stuck in the mud.
Early in the season, the offense was able to move the ball, whether that was through running the ball like they did in Los Angeles, or when they beat Kansas City.
They can also beat you through the air like they did in their home wins versus Atlanta and Houston. But the question right now is, “What is wrong with this offense?”
Obviously, the record speaks for itself. The Colts are now 0-7 without their best receiver T.Y. Hilton, and in those games, the Colts offense has been putrid, to say the least.
But there’s something more to the offense than just missing their best offensive player, and it’s something the Colts were strong at last year, and at the beginning of this season. Red zone scoring and third-down conversion rate.
Here is when a lot of numbers will be thrown at you. Indianapolis, in the first five games of the season, was converting third downs at a 47% rate (38/81), while red zone efficiency was at 65% (15/23).
Those are both very good numbers, worthy of being in the top-10, but here is where the offense hasn’t looked so great the past three games.
The Colts’ third-down conversion rate has dropped to 35% (13/37), and their red zone efficiency has dropped to 50% (5-10). Indianapolis was 1/1 versus Denver and 1/5 versus Miami so the results are somewhat skewed due to lack of consistency of getting to the red zone.
While the Colts have been missing their top targets in Hilton, Devin Funchess, Parris Campbell, and they didn’t have Jacoby Brissett for basically two games, these offensive woes have stemmed back really since the Kansas City game, where the Colts were 1/5 in the red zone and 5/14 on third down.
If the Colts want to get back to their winning ways and consistently have a good offense, they have to sure up their once-good third down and red zone offense if they want to make a playoff run.