Will the Colts lean on the same “Pass to score and Run to win” formula again this season?
That was Shane Steichen’s language last year, and it never really sounded like a radical idea. Every team wants to run the ball well.
The question is what that actually means in practice. Sometimes it’s about setting up the pass.
Sometimes it’s about helping the defense by controlling the clock. And sometimes it’s simply about closing out games once you’ve already grabbed control.
For much of last season, especially during the 7-1 start, the Colts’ version of that approach looked like this: throw early, run late. Jonathan Taylor’s usage tells the story.
In the first halves of games, Taylor had 167 carries for 676 yards, which came out to 4.0 yards per attempt. He was also a real factor as a receiver before halftime, drawing 32 targets, catching 25 passes and averaging 9.7 yards per catch.
In second halves, his rushing workload dipped to 148 attempts, but the production climbed to 872 yards and 5.9 yards per carry. That drop in attempts likely came because the Colts were playing with leads and Taylor was sitting out some fourth quarters.
His receiving efficiency fell off there too, with 21 catches at 6.5 yards per reception.
The picture changed once the team was forced to lean on its backup quarterbacks. Over the final five games, Taylor was held to 3.1 yards per carry.
The split between wins and losses is also telling: he averaged 6.4 yards per carry in the eight wins and nearly 10 yards per catch, but in the losses he managed just 3.4 yards per carry and 6.5 yards per catch. Once opponents realized the passing game wasn’t going to punish them, Taylor became the obvious target.
That makes the case that the Colts’ run game benefited from the threat of the pass.
There were also some clear differences in how the offense functioned depending on alignment. Under center, Taylor was productive, handling 157 rushing attempts at 5.4 yards per carry.
He was even more dangerous as a receiver from those looks, posting 10.8 yards per catch. Daniel Jones also had a defined role under center in his 85 snaps.
His completion rate there was 64.7 percent, below his 68.9 percent mark in the shotgun, but he was highly effective in short-yardage situations, scoring 5 touchdowns and picking up 13 first downs on 26 rushing attempts.
The RPO numbers were harder to ignore. According to Pro Football Reference, Taylor had only 20 rushing attempts for 66 yards out of those looks.
Jones completed 39 of 52 passes on RPOs and added 5 carries for 27 yards and 3 first downs. That raises a fair question about how central that element ever really was.
Richardson was expected to fit an offense built around the RPO, but it never seemed to become a major feature, even with Jones’ reputation as a running quarterback.
So what comes next? The hope is that Steichen does not simply run back the same blueprint.
The league had a season’s worth of tape on this offense after the 7-1 start, and the same surprise factor is not going to be there again. The roster may look mostly the same, but the Colts need to show they can respond to the adjustments that were made against them.
One idea is straightforward: use more plays from under center, if Jones is healthy enough to handle it. That shouldn’t be a shocking suggestion for anyone who has followed this conversation.
Only three teams ran more plays from under center than the shotgun last year: the Rams at 65%, the Seahawks at 57% and the Lions at 53%. The Colts were in the bottom half at 29%.
That feels like the kind of shift that could help them stay committed to the run without forcing the issue. The plays are already there.
They just need to be called more often. And if AR or Leonard has to play before Jones is fully healthy, maybe the RPO package gets expanded.
But it’s hard to picture Jones being asked to use the RPO more than he did last year coming off an Achilles injury.
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