After a strong performance from the offense last week against the Houston Texans, the Indianapolis Colts now have another tough matchup with the Denver Broncos on Sunday.
Denver has a top-10 defense in terms of points (19.4, 8th), total yards (302.6, 4th), and passing yards (195.3, 3rd) per game. While they’re a strong pass defense, they do struggle against the run, allowing 107 yards per game—good for 16th in the NFL.
The Colts will have their hands full on Sunday trying to move the ball on the tough Broncos defense, but here are three keys that could help the offense move the ball and score some points:
Ground and Pound
As mentioned, the Broncos aren’t a stout run defense, giving up 107 rushing yards per game so far this season. What do the Colts do best? Run the ball. And they should be able to do that with great success Sunday
The Colts will come into the game as the 10th-highest rush offense, averaging 128.7 rush yards per game, and around the middle of the pack in yards per rush at 4.2 yards.
After a lackluster performance last Sunday versus the Texans, expect Frank Reich and the offense to focus on the run with that being the weakness in the Denver defense.
Winning the “situationals”
This was the main focus last week against Houston. Limit the other team to field goals in the red zone and don’t allow them to convert on third down. Score touchdowns in the red zone when you get down there, and also make sure to convert those third downs at a high rate. They were able to do that last week.
All season, the Colts have been great in these circumstances. They’re top-10 in red-zone efficiency scoring touchdowns on nearly 66% of the time. That is also fresh off a game where they went 1-5 there against the Chiefs. They’re also great on third downs, converting almost 47 percent of the time—good for 7th in the NFL.
Conversely, the Broncos defense is very stingy in those situations. They’re allowing a 33% conversion rate on third down, good for 6th in the NFL. Along with the strong third-down percentage, they’re third in the NFL at 38% in red zone scoring.
Indianapolis must punch the ball in for touchdowns and convert on third down at a high rate if they want to be successful on offense.
Chunk Plays
One thing the Colts have lacked, up until last week, was the chunk plays on offense. Going into Week 7, the Colts had only six plays of over 20 yards or more. Now what they were able to do last Sunday helped that—having eight plays of over 20 and two more of 19.
The Broncos are a tough defense that doesn’t give up big plays. They are sixth in the NFL in yards per play (5.0). On the opposite side, the Colts are near the bottom of the league in yards per play, just 5.3.
If the Colts want to beat this Denver defense, they must create chunk plays, whether that be through the air or via the running game
