While the decision to hire Jeff Saturday as interim head coach of the Indianapolis Colts still remains questionable, there’s one area he certainly can help with down the stretch of the season.
Despite being among the highest-paid units in the NFL, the Colts offensive line has been a disaster this season. They’ve allowed a league-high 35 sacks and 256 sack yards through nine games.
There are few minds who know offensive line play like Saturday does but even though he’s coming into being the interim head coach, he won’t have an immediate influence on the group.
“Not right now. I will – it’s my passion so I’m obviously going to speak. I’ve been working with Strauss (Chris Strausser),” Saturday told reporters this week. “So, we’ll have conversation but he and Kev (Kevin Mawae) and that group, Klayton (Adams) at tight ends, those guys have a good relationship and we’re just trying to find a blend. My principles and thought process – so, we’re having all those conversations now.”
The struggles of the offensive line have been the biggest detriment to the offense this season. The continuous miscommunication on stunts and twists give opposing defenses an easy area of exploitation while players have simply underperformed as well.
Fortunately for the Colts, their Week 10 opponent in the Raiders have just nine sacks on the season, which are the fewest in the NFL.
The offensive line has been the heart of the entire offense throughout Frank Reich’s tenure. That likely isn’t going to change for however long Saturday is running the team, but it seems we shouldn’t expect major overhauls to the unit in the near future.
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