After a 28-point performance last Sunday vs the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Indianapolis Colts offense heads south to face the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football.
With a team like the Saints and their high-powered offense, the Colts must be able to keep up with them on the scoreboard. New Orleans is fifth in the NFL in points per game (26.5) and with Indianapolis coming in on Monday Night Football, they will need to more than likely put up 30 or more points to win.
Let’s take a look at some keys for the offense in this week 15 primetime matchup:
1. Stick with the running attack
Last week the Colts were not good at running the ball against a top-10 unit in the Buccaneers. Indianapolis rushed for 40 yards on 18 carries from their running backs.
With the Saints, they’re top-5 in the NFL in rush yards allowed but allow the 18th-best yards per rush at 4.3. Teams run the ball on the Saints the second-least in the NFL, at only 21 times per game, mostly due to the fact that teams fall behind so early and have to pass to catch up.
If the Colts can keep it within one possession, maybe even score first, they can try to lean on the run game a little more than teams have prior to this week.
2. Complete game
The Colts are currently on a three-game losing streak and that’s in no small part because of the lack of offense in the fourth quarter. Indianapolis has been outscored 31-0 in the fourth quarter in the last three games, and in all three of those games, they had a lead going into the fourth.
Looking at the quarterback, Jacoby Brissett’s fourth-quarter lows as the starter, the Colts have lost roughly 25% (7/27) of games when they had the lead going into the fourth quarter with Brissett as the quarterback.
Now, this doesn’t fall completely on Brissett, there are the other 10 guys on the field that must perform, and if the Colts want to upset the Saints on Monday Night, they must play a complete offensive game.
3. No costly turnovers
In road games, if you’re able to win the turnover battle you give yourself a good chance to win, that will be the case this week for Indianapolis.
Going into New Orleans, where they will be celebrating the 10-year anniversary of their Super Bowl victory over Indianapolis and it being a prime time game, that crowd will be fired up.
The Saints are 13th in the NFL in takeaways per game, forcing 1.5 per game. Any turnover in this game for the Colts will be back-breaking and will flip any momentum the Colts have. Indianapolis must play a clean game in the turnover department to come out with a much-needed win.
