Category: Latest Colts News

The Indianapolis Colts made a change to their starting lineup on Sunday, benching rookie Dalton Tucker and starting veteran Mark Glowinski, who was elevated from the practice squad the day prior.

Glowinski is an experienced player, coming into Sunday’s game with 124 appearances in his NFL career, nearly half of which came with the Colts from 2017-2021.

He had just joined the Colts’ practice squad less than two weeks earlier after not being on an NFL roster and provided some much-needed stability, specifically against the run, where Indianapolis was in need of that.

Glowinski was so-so in pass protection, allowing three pressures, but he was quite effective in the ground game, carving out running lanes for Jonathan Taylor.

According to PFF’s metrics, when running behind Glowinski, Taylor averaged 4.5 yards per rush on seven attempts in Sunday’s game.

Coming into this game, the Colts had struggled in the run game for the last month-plus. Since Week 9 against Minnesota, if we take away Jonathan Taylor’s 58-yard run against Buffalo, he was averaging only 2.9 yards per carry during that four-game stretch.

The trickle-down effect of a struggling run game is that the offense then falls behind the sticks, can become one-dimensional and pass-heavy, putting an added burden on the passing game.

However, against New England, that wasn’t the case. While the Colts’ passing game was disjointed and out of rhythm for much of the day, the run game gave them something to lean on, with Glowinski providing an upgrade at right guard.

When meeting with reporters following Sunday’s win over New England, Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen said that there is a “good possibility” that center Ryan Kelly could return from injured reserve coming out of the bye week.

Kelly was placed on injured reserve with a knee injury prior to the Colts’ Week 10 matchup with the Buffalo Bills.

Once a player is put on IR, they have to miss at least the next four weeks, so the Colts’ pivotal Week 14 matchup with Denver is the first game that Kelly is eligible to return to.

Without Kelly, the Colts turned to rookie Tanor Bortolini from Weeks 10-13. Overall this season when called upon, Bortolini has held his own, allowing seven pressures and no sacks on the year, ranking 14th in pass-blocking efficiency among all centers. By PFF’s run-blocking grade, Bortolini ranks 19th.

However, Bortolini entered concussion protocol after the Detroit game and missed this past Sunday’s matchup with the Patriots. So down both Kelly and Bortolini, the Colts turned to veteran Danny Pinter.

Pinter would surrender just one pressure on 28 pass-blocking snaps, and the combination of him and new starting right guard Mark Glowinski helped carve out running lanes to finally get the ground game going for Indianapolis–an element that has sorely been missing over the last month.

Prior to being placed on injured reserve, Kelly had surrendered one sack and seven pressures. By PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency metric, he ranked 15th among centers going into Week 10 and was 26th in run-blocking grade.

Consistency for this Colts’ offense as a whole down this final stretch of the season begins with more steady play along the offensive line, something we saw from this unit against the Patriots.

The Indianapolis Colts escaped New England with a win to improve to 6-7 on the season, keeping their playoff hopes alive.

But what else happened around the AFC South in Week 13? Let’s take a look.

Houston would face the Jaguars on the road and left Jacksonville with a 23-20 win following a late touchdown by the Jaguars.

After the late Jacksonville touchdown, the Texans got the ball back with 3:31 left in the game but never gave the ball back to the Jaguars, picking up the needed first downs and running out the clocks.

The usual one-two punch of Joe Mixon on the ground and Nico Collins through the air was again a powerful combo for the Houston offense. Mixon would rush for 101 yards, and Collins caught eight passes for 119 yards. CJ Stroud, meanwhile, was 22-of-34 passing for 242 yards and a score.

However, the score and outcome of this game isn’t what will be talked about. Instead it was the late hit by linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair on quarterback Trevor Lawrence as he sliding and giving himself up. The hit would knock Lawrence out of the game and Al-Shaair was ejected.

The Titans, after beating Houston last week, would fall back to earth in Week 13, losing at Washington 42-19.

Falling behind 21-0 quickly, forced the Titans to become one-dimensional, as they handed the ball off only nine times, and resulted in Will Levis throwing the ball 37 times. He would complete just 18 of those passes but for 212 yards and two touchdowns, but that imbalanced attack isn’t going to be a recipe for success most weeks.

The Washington offense, as the 42 points indicate, would do pretty much whatever they wanted, with quarterback Jayden Daniels putting together a very efficient performance while Brian Robinson rushed for 103 yards.

In Week 14, the Colts will be on their bye week while the Titans are at home taking on the Jaguars, with Houston at home against Miami.

AFC South Standings

Houston 8-5
Indianapolis 6-7
Tennessee 3-9
Jacksonville 2-10

With their last second win on Sunday, the Indianapolis Colts keep their playoff hopes alive and will likely be watching the Monday night matchup between the Cleveland Browns and Denver Broncos very closely.

Now at 6-7 on the season, the Colts still find themselves in the AFC playoff hunt. The current seventh seed in the AFC are the 7-5 Broncos.

The Browns are just 3-8 on the season and will be on the road for this game, but if they can win, dropping Denver to 7-6, the Colts will only be one game out of a playoff spot.

And guess what–coming out of the bye week, the Colts face the Broncos, who will be on an upcoming bye week as well.

All of a sudden, a win by the Colts in that game and they then hold the same record as the Broncos and have the head-to-head tie breaker over them.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, I’m getting ahead of myself–and certainly I am. There’s a lot of ifs in those scenarios. However, the Colts’ are still in the playoff mix, and the path to getting there is easier with a Broncos loss to the Browns on Monday night.

According to NFL.com, the Colts playoff odds at the moment sit at 31 percent, but those could increase heading into the bye week depending on the outcome of the Monday night game.

To preview this matchup between Denver and Cleveland, Jon Heath, the managing editor of Broncos Wire, has five things to watch for in tonight’s game.

With their playoff hopes hanging in the balance, the Indianapolis Colts escaped New England with a win on Sunday, thanks to a really impressive final drive from Anthony Richardson.

Now at 6-7 on the season, the Colts head into their bye week on a high note and still in the AFC playoff hunt.

However, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s take a look back at their performance against the Patriots with the good, bad, and ugly of it all.

The Good

The final drive: 80 yards and 19 plays later, Anthony Richardson found Alec Pierce for a touchdown. Richardson then pushed his way into the end zone to convert the two-point attempt, giving the Colts the lead. Richardson did a bit of everything on that drive for Indianapolis: he overcame dropped passes, converted fourth downs, carried the ball when needed, and, most importantly, played his best when the game and season were on the line. It wasn’t a great day for the passing game or the defense, but Richardson wiped all that away by taking control in the final minutes.

Run game: For over a month now, it had been tough sledding in the run game for Jonathan Taylor. However, a change at right guard, along with some nifty play-calling and motions from Shane Steichen from condensed formations–among other things–led to a turnaround on Sunday. Taylor carried the ball 25 times for 96 yards and Richardson was again a factor on the ground as well. While the passing game struggled, the run game gave the Colts’ offense something to lean on.

Red zone: This was the difference in the game. While the Patriots offense moved the ball with ease, visiting the Indianapolis red zone six times, they only left with touchdowns on two occasions, oftentimes due to their own self-inflicted mistakes rather than the Colts making plays. But nonetheless, the defense held New England to just 2-of-6 in the red zone, while the Indianapolis offense was an efficient 3-of-4.

Steichen going for two: I love the play call and aggressiveness. Even if the Colts had failed, I was a fan of the approach. Going to overtime was a huge risk, given how poorly the Colts defense was playing, and in short yardage situations, Indianapolis has the ultimate chess piece in Richardson.

The Bad

Defending the Patriots tight ends: Leading up to the game, I wrote about how the New England tight ends could be an issue for the Colts. For one, Indianapolis has struggled to defend tight ends in the passing game this season. In addition to that, the duo of Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper are featured heavily in the Patriots offense. This just wasn’t a good matchup for the Colts. The two tight ends would finish the game with 11 receptions for 117 yards and a score.

Colts’ passing game: The stat sheet last week didn’t do Richardson’s play justice at all. But this week, it was a more accurate representation of the struggles the passing offense had. Richardson’s decision-making took a step back and the timing and rhythm within the play that he had been playing with often wasn’t present.

Drops: Once again, drops were a major issue for the Colts, particularly when they occurred, taking place on that final possession. As was just described, Richardson wasn’t his best, but he again wasn’t getting a ton of help from those around him in the passing game.

The Ugly

The run defense: Basically the entire defensive performance was rough, but in my opinion, the troubles all started here, in a performance that looked quite similar to what we saw from this unit in Weeks 1 and 2 of this season. New England would rush for 200 yards as a team, averaging a whopping 6.5 yards per attempt with contributions from Drake Maye. Success on the ground for the offense creates a positive trickle-down effect to the rest of that unit, setting up manageable down-and-distances and opening up opportunities in the passing game. With a run game to lean on, the Patriots were extremely efficient on third downs as was Maye as a passer. Through four quarters, the Colts defense really had no answers.

On what ended up being the second game-winning drive orchestrated by quarterback Anthony Richardson in the last three weeks, the Indianapolis Colts escaped New England with a win in Week 13.

Following that contest, we have Sunday’s snap count figures from Pro Football Focus. So what stood out?

With far more football games behind us than in front of us, there typically isn’t anything too surprising at this stage of the season when it comes to the snap count figures. However, each week, there are a few noteworthy observations that can be made.

So with help from PFF, here are the Colts’ snap count figures from Week 13, along with some quick notes.

Colts snap counts on offense

Mark Glowinski	G	62
Quenton Nelson	G	62
Danny Pinter	C	62
Bernhard Raimann	T	62
Matt Goncalves	T	62
Anthony Richardson	QB	62
Michael Pittman Jr.	WR	57
Jonathan Taylor	HB	55
Alec Pierce	WR	44
Mo Alie-Cox	TE	36
Adonai Mitchell	WR	36
Kylen Granson	TE	32
Andrew Ogletree	TE	32
Laquon Treadwell	WR	7
Trey Sermon	HB	5
Will Mallory	TE	5
Tyler Goodson	HB	1

Quick takeaways:

– Mark Glowinski got the start at right guard over Dalton Tucker who had been struggling, and at least on the initial viewing, looked like he performed quite well. Overall, it was a much better showing in the run game by the offensive line.

– No Josh Downs for the Colts meant a heavier dose of two tight end sets. The trio of Mo Alie-Cox, Kylen Granson, and Drew Ogletree all played between 32-36 snaps.

– Not having Downs also meant more opportunities for AD Mitchell. As we’ve seen for much of the season from him, he has a terrific ability to create separation, but can be inconsistent as a pass catcher.

Colts snap counts on defense

Julian Blackmon	S	72
Zaire Franklin	LB	72
Nick Cross	S	72
Kenny Moore II	CB	71
Jaylon Jones	CB	71
E.J. Speed	LB	70
DeForest Buckner	DI	56
Samuel Womack III	CB	52
Kwity Paye	ED	49
Dayo Odeyingbo	ED	48
Grover Stewart	DI	44
Laiatu Latu	ED	29
Tyquan Lewis	ED	23
Raekwon Davis	DI	21
Grant Stuard	LB	20
Taven Bryan	DI	17
Rodney Thomas II	S	4
Ronnie Harrison	S	1

Quick takeaways: 

– In his second game back, Tyquan Lewis played 23 snaps. Before the injury, he was starting opposite of Kwity Paye, but for this week, snap count-wise, that role belongs to Dayo Odeyingbo. Laiatu Latu went from playing 43 snaps vs. Detroit to 29 this week, perhaps due to the Patriots running the ball so effectively.

– Out of the 72 defensive snaps, Grant Stuard was on the field for 20 of them, telling us how often the Colts lined up in their base 4-3 defense, which was slightly less than what they did a week ago.

– Needing to lean on their best players, Grover Stewart and DeForest Buckner continue to play a hefty percentage of the defensive snaps, with Taven Bryan and Raekwon Davis hovering around that 20 snaps per game mark.

The Indianapolis Colts escaped Foxborough, Massachusetts, with a win on Sunday, defeating the Patriots to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Defensively, the Colts struggled to contain New England’s run game, while the Indianapolis passing game struggled to find a rhythm. At one point, things were looking a bit bleak in the fourth quarter for the Colts.

However, all of that was wiped away because, for the second time in three weeks, Anthony Richardson would lead a game-winning drive that included a successful two-point conversion attempt.

So, while that was the outcome, what were the key elements that got the Colts to that point?

With the dust having settled and the game now wrapped up, let’s take a look back at the Colts’ performance and break it all down.

Final Score

It was over when..

…Patriots kicker Joey Slye’s 68-yard attempt came up short. After the Colts took the one point lead following their two-point conversion, New England started with the ball at their own 30-yard line. With the Colts not wanting to risk giving up the big play, quarterback Drake Maye took two easy completions to Hunter Henry for 11 yards and nine yards that set up the really long attempt.

Keys to the game

Colts’ poor run defense: This performance against the run was reminiscent of the Colts’ run defense in Weeks 1 and 2 against Houston and Green Bay. The Patriots would rush for 200 yards and that set up the rest of the offense. Oftentimes ahead of the sticks, New England was operating from advantageous situations, resulting in a very efficient day from Maye–who picked the Colts’ pass defense apart with his tight ends–and a lot of third down success, leading to a lot of yards and long drives.

The red zone: With all those yards and long drives by the Patriots, they visited the red zone a whopping six times. However, they left with only two touchdowns, and it felt like more often than not, that was due to their own mistakes rather than something the Colts did. Penalties ended one possession, another ended in a missed field goal, and what looked like a possible touchdown pass ended up bobbled and intercepted. The Indianapolis offense, meanwhile, was 3-for-4 in the red zone.

Richardson and Taylor in the run game: The run game for the Colts has struggled to get going over the last month, but a change at right guard, along with more designed runs for Richardson, and some nifty play-calls from Shane Steichen with the use of motion from heavy sets finally got this element going. Indianapolis would lean heavily on the run game, with the combo of Richardson and Taylor totaling 34 carries for 144 yards. While moving the ball through the air didn’t come easy, the run game provided needed stability throughout the game.

Anthony Richardson: A lot of those things that went wrong in the first 55 minutes of the game and dictated that the Patriots should win can be wiped away by a player of Richardson’s caliber. On that final drive, the Colts marched 80 yards over 19 plays with Richardson doing a little bit of everything. He was 6-of-11 passing, overcoming two dropped passes. He ran the ball when needed, converted three fourth down attempts, which included throwing the eventual game-winning touchdown to Alec Pierce, and bullied his way into the end zone to convert the two-point attempt. That was an incredibly impressive five-plus minute drive he orchestrated.

Stars of the game

Anthony Richardson: The stat line wasn’t great and he threw two interceptions. But for all the reasons just mentioned, he is the star of this game. With not only the game on the line, but likely the Colts season, Richardson was at his best and came through again.

Jonathan Taylor: As already mentioned, Taylor–plus Richardson–and the run game gave this Colts’ offense something to hang their hat on for much of the game. Taylor finished with 96 yards on 25 carries and hauled in a touchdown reception. Credit to the offensive line for their play in the run game as well.

Julian Blackmon: Not a lot of good from the Colts’ defense overall, but Blackmon came away with a red zone interception and in a game decided by only a point, that obviously had a massive impact on the outcome.

Injury updates

We will see if anything is revealed on Monday, but as far as we now, the Colts got out of this game clean.

What’s next?

The Colts finally have their long awaited bye this upcoming week. They will enter it at 6-7 and still alive in the AFC playoff race.

(This article was updated to provide additional information.)

The New England Patriots offense did whatever they wanted on Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts. Fortunately, thanks to Anthony Richardson and the offense, the Colts were able to escape with the win.

Believe it or not, the Patriots entered this game ranked 31st in points per game at just over 16 per contest this season. They also ranked 31st in average yards per play.

However, against the Colts, the Patriots offense did whatever they wanted. As an offense, New England rushed for over 200 yards and totaled over 400 yards of offense. They were efficient on third downs, controlled the time of possession, and averaged 6.5 yards per play.

This success started with their ability to dictate the game on the ground and for the Colts, was reminiscent of their early season performances against Houston and Green Bay to begin the year.

Running backs Rhamondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson rushed for 135 combined yards, with Gibson specifically averaging 8.9 yards per carry. Quarterback Drake May also added 59 rushing yards of his own at nearly 12.0 yards per attempt.

When an offense can move the ball on the ground, there is a positive trickle-down effect to the rest of that unit. It keeps the offense ahead of the sticks and in short down-and-distance situations, where the entire playbook is open to them, which can keep the defense on its feels, force them to defend the entire field–thus creating space for the offense to operate in–helping to open up opportunities in the passing game.

From these advantageous down-and-distances, Maye was extremely efficient as a passer, and New England was lights out on third downs. In the game of football, it all goes hand-in-hand.

Also not helping things for the Colts’ defense was the matchup between the Patriots tight ends and Indianapolis’ second-level defenders, oftentimes the linebackers.

The Colts have struggled to defend tight ends this season, and the duo of Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper have been focal points in the Patriots passing game with Maye at quarterback. Combined, the two would total just shy of 100 receiving yards with a touchdown.

You wouldn’t know it watching this game unfold, but the Colts defense had been holding its own for a number of weeks now, and that includes doing so against some good NFL offenses. But today, we saw them revert back to what had plagued them in the early going of this season, which is poor run defense, missed tackles, and what I’m going to assume are some missed assignments.

What saved this Colts’ defense and kept the offense in the game was the Patriots red zone struggles.

While New England moved the ball up and down the field and had six red zone trips, they left with a touchdown only twice. But oftentimes, those stops were do to the Patriots own miscues, which included penalties, a bobbled pass that turned to an interception, and a missed field goal attempt before half.

There have certainly been instances this season where the defense has hung on as long as they could, waiting for the offense to make a play that never ended up happening. Today, it was the offense’s turn to provide some help to a struggling defense, and Richardson made sure to deliver.

In a back-and-forth game with the Patriots, the Indianapolis Colts were able to lean heavily on their run game to help them escape New England with a much-needed win.

Coming into this matchup, the Colts’ run game had been struggling, particularly between the tackles, over the last month.

Since Week 9 against Minnesota, if we take away Jonathan Taylor’s 58-yard run against Buffalo, he was averaging only 2.9 yards per carry during that four-game stretch.

However, Sunday in New England was a different story and outcome for Indianapolis. Shane Steichen leaned heavily on Taylor and Anthony Richardson in the run game, with the Colts carrying the ball a total of 34 times for 144 yards. On the flip side, Richardson would only pass the ball 24 times.

With Josh Downs out, we saw our share of two tight end sets, and with those more bunched formations, Steichen utilized pre-snap movement to help shift and create some natural running lanes. Not to mention that as the numbers above illustrate, Richardson was again getting the ball on designed touches.

In addition to the play-calls and the gameplan, Indianapolis would also make a change at right guard that seemed to pay dividends. After rookie Dalton Tucker would struggle mightily in recent weeks, the Colts started veteran Mark Glowinski at right guard, who they elevated from the practice squad for this game.

Even with an inconsistent passing game in this contest, the success on the ground provided the Colts’ offense with some needed stability, allowing them to string together multiple long scoring drives, including on their game-winning possession where Indianapolis continued to utilize the run game even as the clock neared 0:00.

When the run game is working, there is a positive trickle-down effect to the rest of the offense when regularly playing from short down-and-distance situations. This success helped facilitate the efficiency that we saw from the Colts on third downs–an area they’ve struggled in this season. Indianapolis was also an efficient 3-for-4 in the red zone as well.

On the flip side, oftentimes over the last month when we saw this Colts’ offense sputter, a contributing factor to those struggles were issues on early downs–frequently in the run game–that left Indianapolis behind the sticks and in predictable passing situations.

Coming into the game, the Patriots were surrendering 4.3 yards per rush, which ranked 12th in the NFL. From the play calls to the execution, particularly along the offensive line, the Colts needed this performance, and looking ahead, they’ll need it to be a catalyst going into the remaining weeks.

As we saw on Sunday, a reliable run game can provide the offense with something to lean on and make up for some issues that may be experienced in the passing game.

Also of note, the Colts will hopefully be getting healthier along the offensive line coming out of the upcoming bye week with Braden Smith and Ryan Kelly potentially returning at that time.