It wasn’t always pretty, but a win over a division opponent is a win over a division opponent. As we always do here, we’re looking at the Indianapolis Colts’ passing game, so let’s get to it.
Not quite as eye-popping as his 359 yard performance from last week, but still a nice day at the office from Joe Flacco. He turned in an ADOT (Average Depth of Target) of 8.5 yards this week (up slightly from his 7.9 ADOT from last week), per PFF.
He also turned in some legitimately nice, tight window throws.
Oh, just Flacco casually ripping a perfect throw on the crosser. pic.twitter.com/mHUnQsrqlW
— Dusty (@DustyEvely) October 15, 2024
Flacco’s average time to throw of 2.32 seconds was the second fastest time to throw of the week (per NFL Pro). The fastest time belonged to Will Levis (2.23 seconds) and the third fastest time belonged to Trevor Lawrence (2.48 seconds). The AFC South In Week 6: Where No One Wanted to Hold Onto the Ball. (C.J. Stroud was 15th with an average time to throw of 2.83 seconds. Who does that guy think he is?)
Part of the reason Flacco was getting the ball out quickly was because of the blitz. The Titans blitzed on 45% of Flacco’s dropbacks, and he handled those pretty well. When blitzed, Flacco was 10/18 for 70 yards and 1 TD, with an average time to throw of 2.26 seconds and an ADOT of 9.7 yards. Get the ball out quick and throw past the blitz.
To the film. Today we’re looking at a concept I’ve been seeing more of. And, while the Colts didn’t hit the big play this time, it’s worth filing away.
I don’t know the official name of this concept, but I’ve started tagging it as “Pinwheel”. It’s a two-man combo, consisting of a hitch route from the outside man and a rail/wheel route from the inside man. Since the hitch route is there to pin down a defender, Pinwheel makes a lot of sense in my head.
Depending on how the defense plays this – or depending on how the offense is aligned – that hitch route can also work as a natural rub.
On this play, the Colts start in a Quads (4×1) look. Andrew Ogletree [85] is split wide to the left as the only receiver. The right side looks like a standard trips alignment, but with Tyler Goodson [31] aligned behind and between the #2 and #3 receivers. He motions behind Flacco before the snap.
The ball is snapped just after Goodson clears Flacco. Ogletree runs the hitch and Goodson runs the vertical rail up the sideline.
Flacco looks but doesn’t throw. They want to throw this against a single-high defense. If the safeties rotate post-snap, Flacco lets this thing rip to Goodson up the sideline. With the Titans staying in a two-high look, there’s not a huge window, so he works back to Josh Downs [11] on the inside-out route from the slot.
It’s a good decision by Flacco, but I’ll be not-so-patiently waiting for the day when they hit this.
Albums listened to: EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints