Facing the Houston Texans in their Week 1 matchup, it was a quiet game for the Indianapolis Colts’ tight end room.
Kylen Granson and Mo Alie-Cox each finished the game with one target and no receptions. The target that went Granson’s way also turned into an interception after he slipped on his route. Drew Ogletree wasn’t targeted at all.
So between the three tight ends, they played a combined 55 snaps and had two targets and no receptions.
Now, of course, when it comes to the tight end position, there are other ways for this group to impact the game, specifically as a blocker. And for what it’s worth, PFF did grade out all three fairly well in the run-blocking category.
However, at the end of the day, what matters are results, and the Colts were largely ineffective in the run game, with Jonathan Taylor totaling just 48 yards on 16 carries.
To state the obvious, Taylor’s 3.0 yards per rush figure certainly doesn’t fall solely on the shoulders of the tight ends. But with that said, if there’s going to be minimal impact in the passing game, you would hope to see more results on the ground.
As GM Chris Ballard described before training camp, the Colts are taking a strength in numbers approach at the tight end position. While there isn’t that one go-to option like some teams have, internally, they do like the variety of skill sets that are in this room.
In theory, that can be advantageous, particularly from a game-planning perspective for Shane Steichen. But again, it all goes back to the results and impact, which were minimal in the first game.