Throughout the offseason, the Indianapolis Colts have been praised for the expected success as a rushing offense. With an elite offensive line and explosive players in the backfield, the optimism was palpable.
But in the Week 1 opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the rushing attack was almost non-existent. For a team that prides itself on being a physical unit capable of controlling the game upfront, the Colts struggled to get anything going in the run game.
>>>Stock up, Stock down from Week 1 loss<<<
The rushing attack finished with 21 carries for 85 yards (4.0 average) with only one play going for more than 15 yards. Despite this, head coach Frank Reich isn’t concerned about the outlook of the rung game.
“It’s hard to tell, it’s hard to tell. I felt like we were having success in the passing game so the run game never got into a rhythm. I have said this a million times. There are some games where we are going to throw more. We felt like we had good matchups in the secondary,” Reich told reporters Sunday. “We have a lot of respect for them. I felt like our receivers were running well and we were throwing it to them. We were making plays and moving the ball. I am not concerned about the run game at all.”
It seemed the offensive line couldn’t generate consistent push in the run game. Whether it was in short-yardage situations or on early downs, the consistency that typically defines the Colts offensive line wasn’t present on Sunday.
We didn’t get to see much of Marlon Mack in the opener. He played just 11 snaps while taking four carries before leaving with an Achilles injury, one that should have an update Monday.
Rookie Jonathan Taylor took over the rushing attempts in the second half but struggled to find much to work with. He finished with nine carries for 22 yards on the ground.
“Those guys did a good job at stopping up in the A gaps, forcing us out onto the perimeter and having us create those one-on-ones that we had to come up and try to make sure that we win those one-on-one battles when we’re out there on the edge,” said Taylor after the game. “We have to make sure that we do a better job trying to find our fit in those A gaps when teams are crashing hard in the A gap so just something that we’ve got to continue to get better at, work on, tighten up, and something we’re going to do collectively in order to make sure that next week we’re able to build upon that.”
The Colts have prided themselves on being a team that can dominate the trenches and tempo with their offensive line and rushing attack.
It didn’t show up on Sunday and will have to be a point of emphasis in the home opener against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 2.