Anatomy of a Play: Philip Rivers’ big-time throw to T.Y. Hilton

Philip Rivers threw himself out of a season-long deep passing slump against the Texans. Here’s how his big-time throw to T.Y. Hilton worked.

Through the first nine weeks of the season, only Derek Carr, Lamar Jackson, and Jared Goff had fewer deep passing attempts (20-plus air yards) than Philip Rivers in his first season with the Colts. Rivers was playing mostly quick game in Frank Reich’s offense, and he’d completed just 13 of 27 deep attempts for 372 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 88.1.

From Weeks 10-14, Rivers tied with Goff for the NFL’s fewest deep attempts with just 14, completing seven of those passes for 205 yards, two touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 105.7. So, a bit better in quality, but about the same in quantity. And as Rivers averaged 2.30 seconds from snap to throw, per Pro Football Focus (only Ben Roethlisberger and Tom Brady have released the ball more quickly per attempt), you could say that the Reich-Rivers combination has been fairly reductive when it comes to the deep passing game.

This has led to a reduced role for T.Y. Hilton, the Colts’ best deep receiver. Hilton came into Indianapolis’ Week 15 game against the Texans with just five deep receptions on 12 attempts for 155 yards and one touchdown. Not much different than the three deep passes he caught in 2019 with Jacoby Brissett as the primary quarterback, and a far cry from the 14 deep passes he caught in 2018, Andrew Luck’s last season.

The thought has been that the Colts have not utilized the deep passing game because Rivers is a shadow of his former self from a physical perspective, but it could have been that it took time for Rivers and Hilton to develop the right chemistry. Rivers’ 41-yard pass to Hilton with 2:29 left in the game, which put the ball at the Houston three-yard line and set up the game-winning five-yard touchdown pass from Rivers to Zach Pascal after a Jonathan Taylor two-yard loss, could be a defining point in the Colts’ 2020 season — and a possible shot in the arm for the playoffs.

“We’ve had him running down the middle a few times,” Rivers said after the game, regarding the connections downfield to Hilton. “One that comes to mind is against the Jets or Bengals that I didn’t throw just because there was a little uncertainty. I can say yes but not necessarily, but yeah. I think just each rep, each day that builds you build more and more comfortable together, all of us. That was obviously a huge play after getting backed up there. That was a big-time drive. Everybody contributed.

“Obviously, we get the fourth-down conversion. Jacoby did a good job on the sneak. Trey [Burton had a big third-down conversion. Jonathan [Taylor] made some good runs, T.Y. (Hilton) with the big time catch. Zach gets in the end zone. I think you’re seeing just as you have seen all year what a collective effort it is. What a team effort it is. I think we really exemplified that. What you talk about the ultimate team sport, I think we have shown that to be true all year long.”

So, everybody contributed, but it was the big-time play that made the difference. The Texans helped. Somehow, Hilton wound up with linebacker Tyrell Adams trailing him downfield, as the Colts’ four verts route concept stressed Houston’s defense. Rivers was champing at the bit to get the ball out at that point. Hilton was the inside slot receiver — the “three-read” — with Michael Pittman Jr. as the outside slot receiver and Pascal as the outside receiver. On the right side of the formation, tight end Mo Alie-Cox ran a deep route to the numbers from a “nub” alignment — tight to the formation to give the defense a run look to that side. Although, on second-and-20, the Texans weren’t exactly reading run.

“Yeah, there was a little communication with the backside safety and 50 [Adams] early kind of alerting 50 that T.Y. was the No. 3 receiver, and I did feel like that pre-snap they were going to two but when they started conversating I was like, shoot, they aren’t going to let it happen, but they did.,” Rivers said.

Alie-Cox’s route took A.J. Moore out of the defensive middle, and cornerbacks Eric Murray and Lonnie Johnson Jr. shaded to Pittman, leaving Adams all alone on Hilton through most of the route. Not the matchup you want if you’re the Texans.

“That’s a split safety defense that we have, and we hoped that we could get some overlap from a safety depending on what they see and which way they break,” Texans interim head coach Romeo Crennel said. “But T.A. has a lot of the responsibility of running with that through the middle and then hopefully we can get a safety to come over and help out.”

Again, if you have a linebacker trailing T.Y. Hilton 40 yards downfield, it is time to consider a difference.

“I think our outside guys, I’m not sure if it was Mo [Alie-Cox] or Trey [Burton] who was the nub tight end, did a great job of threatening this safety,” Rivers concluded. “I think it was Zach or Pitt (that did a great job of threatening that safety which put T.Y alone on 50 and it was huge to get down there. And then Zach, unbelievable effort to get in the end zone there on the second-and-goal.”

Reich definitely liked the way it looked, giving credit to his offensive coordinator.

“I really credit Nick [Sirianni] and the offensive staff,” the coach said. “That’s a play that we had put in, trying to get against the coverage that we ended up getting, and unfortunately, we were in a long-yard situation. It was just a gut feeling that we had to make a play and had to take a shot. There was one thought to just try to get back in field-goal range, but I really was just trusting Philip, trusting T.Y.  – ‘Hey, let’s take the shot if it’s there. Let’s see if we can get the coverage we want and get T.Y. isolated like we wanted to and if it’s there, let’s take it and if not let’s work underneath, try to get some yards and get back in field-goal range if that’s what we have to do.”

If the 10-4 Colts can continue these deep shots and still work underneath as they have all season, they’ll be a dangerous opponent once the postseason comes around.