The Colts lost a tough one on the road to a very good Rams team. Before we get into some of the key plays from the game, let’s just state the obvious. The Colts had every reason to win that game. They beat themselves, which we’ve unfortunately seen too often with this team.
But it’s also Week 4, and I’m a glass half full kind of guy. There were a ton of positives from that game. Let’s break it all down.
This is the Jonathan Taylor run that unfortunately called back. This is 21 personnel Wide Zone (It’s technically 12 personnel but I’m going to classify Warren as a fullback on this play).
Watch Drew Ogletree kickout the force defender and create a massive hole. The Rams have a pirate stunt on and the offensive line does a gorgeous job playside picking that up. A pirate stunt is a DL movement that allows defenses to clog interior gaps and force runs to bounce outside or allow secondary players to fit exterior gaps. Both Fiske and Verse will stunt into the nearest interior gap. That can create a lot of weird angles for lineman and make it hard to execute combination blocks.
AD Mitchell gets flagged here for holding. My explanation is that after the touchback he felt like he needed to press. The reality is that the corner didn’t want any part of tackling Jonathan Taylor, so he didn’t need to grab him like that.
The Colts love to get into 3x1 formations and isolate AD Mitchell on a corner. This allows them to utilize Mitchell’s route running prowess to feast on corner matchups.
As soon as Jones sees that deep safety creep toward the three receiver side, it’s on. He knows he has AD Mitchell 1-on-1 with no safety help. AD Mitchell then proceeds to catch the ball one handed and then SPIN MOVE away from the corner and run by the defense for a would-be touchdown
It’s a special play. It’s also ridiculous not to run through the letters and logos and finish this play. Two things are true here.
I love AD Mitchell. I think he’s the most talented WR in that room, and it’s not really close. The Colts need him. With Pierce coming back, it’s likely he’ll be relegated to a much smaller role. But the reality, is that he’s too good to bench for long periods of time. I still believe he’s the future of the Colts WR room. I think we’ll see him bounce back in a big way. He’ll be much much better for this.
Now to some positivity. This is absolutely awesome from Daniel Jones. The Colts are running an offset FB dive and Daniel Jones pushes the pile. This is the little things that winners do. I promise you NOBODY expects a QB to do this. The fact that he did it shows how badly he wants to win. This is what winning players do.
This was a really nice run fit by the Colts. They are in their 5-2 Bear front. A Bear front is when the Center and both Guards are covered up by defensive lineman. The Colts are playing “gap and a half”. Each DL has a primary and secondary gap. Their job is to get their hat in the primary gap and control the blocker, while being ready to shed and fight into their secondary gap if that’s where the ball declares.
Watch DeForest Buckner. He gets his hat into the primary gap and then sheds the Trey (TE-OT gap scheme combo block) to make the tackle in the backfield.
It’s so rare to have an interior DL that’s essentially scheme proof but that’s what you have with DeForest. He can execute almost every technique and do it really well. Just an incredible talent.
The Colts are starting to really find unique ways to get Tyler Warren the football, and nobody loves it more than I do. This is a TE Pop Pass. A Pop Pass is a play action pass where the designed route is on the frontside of the play. In other words that route is on the same side as where the run is going.
The Colts pull Bortolini so they can keep the linebackers from getting depth and that creates the vertical window for Warren to run up the seam.
It’s a very popular play but also a good way to free up your TE. Gronk and the Patriots made a living off of these sort of plays.
More Tyler Warren? More Tyler Warren.
This is a really cool call that I’m mad didn’t score. This is Wildcat TE Long Trap. Long Trap just means the backside guard will “trap” a player but more than two gaps over. The DT does an amazing job fighting through the wash to make this play.
Tyler also probably is kicking himself for not adjusting his aiming point to the outside shoulder of the playside linebacker.
I hope this isn’t the last we see of the TE wildcat package. The Colts are clearly (for good reason) more hesitant to run Daniel Jones, so having Tyler Warren can still be a major asset in these scenarios. If you can make the math work in your favor, you should always do it.
Overall, the Colts had an up and down day out west. Critical self-inflicted wounds ultimately proved to be too much to overcome. The bad news is that the Colts probably should be 4-0 and one the hottest teams in football. The good news is this is an early gut punch that can spring them forward into a special season. The Colts are NOT the 2024 Philadelphia Eagles, but I do remember when they lost a heartbreaker early in the season to the Kirk Cousins led Falcons. You never want to lose, but sometimes it can be the exact thing you need.
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