RTDB

I’ll be the first to admit Wentz is terrible, as I’ve ranked acquiring him in the offseason near the bottom of my wishlist, but even I can’t do that this season. He has been playing well enough, but the recurring theme week in and week out and the one most responsible for our record is on our head coach Frank Reich. There are at least 1-2 terrible calls per drive that make you go wtf. When we have our tackles either retired or injured, we cannot be 5-step dropping or having receivers run deep routes on early downs. A longer time to throw paired with shorter passing depth gives me nightmares of Jacoby Brissett at QB.

We have a potential home run threat at RB and we need to utilize him, not giving him two rushing attempts in a half or running inside zones for Hines/Mack on early downs. That’s similar to the Titans handing the ball off to McNichols between the tackles or using him to pass block. We need to RUN THE DAMN BALL. This has been such a big issue this season even the hashtag #RTDB had been trending during gamedays in Indy.

After the recent loss to the Titans, Frank Reich definitely needs to be on the hot seat. His game script to start games has been good, and I like his aggressive play calling in going for it on 4th downs (whether we convert or not is a question for another time), but his adjustments and late game head-scratching playcalling is the worst I’ve seen on the Colts since Jim Caldwell (and we were good because, let’s be honest, Peyton was the real play caller there). You cannot call a good drive and then stink it up for the rest of the game.

With Wentz struggling with some of his throws this game, a neutral game script, a healthy offensive line, Mike Pittman Jr. as the only receiver who is healthy or good enough, the rest of the receiver corp not playing well, and a bonafide stud running back in Jonathan Taylor, you would think it was a no-brainer decision to run the ball and utilize your strength and best offensive player. Nope.

4 rushing attempts vs. SEVENTEEN pass attempts in the 4th quarter/OT vs. the Titans this past week. With that kind of balance, you are just asking for mistakes to happen, and that is exactly what happened. Wentz was forced to throw into tight windows, leading to turnovers. You play into the Titans’ game plan with their strong defensive line, and you expect another result? I understand you’re a former QB, but if you want to win, you need to utilize your strengths.

Also, attempting a TE screen with your back to your own end zone…you’re setting a QB up to fail. Only Frank Reich would understand why he called that play. 

Look at the stats. Jonathan Taylor is currently only behind James Robinson and Chubb in the league in rushing yards per attempt and leads the league in rush yards over expected (“next-gen stats”), and will probably lead the league in rushing yards. He is your every down back and you cannot coach like you did in San Diego (finishing 31st in rushing) or in Philly (RB committee with Blount/Ajayi/Clement). 

There is a reason the Titans are atop the AFC South and not us. They had a dominant force in Henry (who’s now pretty much out for the season) and they actually used him and made teams game plan to stop him. Meanwhile, we sit/underutilize our dominant force and use him as a decoy while letting the opponent sit back and play zone defense against our average sets of WR/TE while slightly shading to Pittman. That is way too easy. We need to make teams game plan for JT and not let the foot off the gas pedal when we have a lead. Running the ball with success and mixing it up with the RPO will relieve our swiss cheese Tampa 2 defense and force opponents to move away from their game plan. Carson Wentz needs to check out of the pass sometimes, but it starts with the play calling from Reich. We already have a weak defense and pass rush and now even the play calling has issues. In a game that saw the Colts score the first 14 points and never trail by more than seven, Reich called 52 passes and just 20 runs. That is inexcusable.

With all that said, we’ll probably beat the Jets, Jaguars, and Texans and limp into the playoffs, barely being competitive against a top team and leaving us in mediocrity for the next few years while relinquishing the higher draft pick to the Eagles. If Reich knows what’s best, he’ll either hand off the play calling duties to Marcus Brady or maybe enlist in some help (maybe Tom Moore as a consultant) and run this offense the way it should, by RUNNING THE DAMN BALL.

November 2, 2021 | Categories: Uncategorized | Leave a comment