The Indianapolis Colts have made it a point that they want to be team focused on winning through a strong ground game and a stingy defense. In the Week 2 win against the Minnesota Vikings, they showed just what that blueprint looks like.
Though the Colts brought in Philip Rivers to lead the offense and the passing game, head coach Frank Reich knows what their desired blueprint for a win would be. Sunday’s victory during the home opener gave a sound idea of what that looks like.
Dominating in the trenches on both sides of the ball and winning through the ground game is what the Colts want to achieve on a weekly basis.
“Yeah there’s no question that this is a blueprint to what we want to look like. Defensively, as I said, we played such a good game on defense. I can’t say enough about how they played, and how the defensive staff coached it, and how we played it,” Reich said after the game Sunday.
The Colts had several studs on both sides of the ball on Sunday. From defensive tackle DeForest Buckner having a strong home debut in a Colts uniform to rookie running back Jonathan Taylor earning his first 100-yard game, it was a strong effort all around.
The Colts defense deserves a lot of the credit. They made Kirk Cousins looks uncomfortable all day while allowing him to complete just 11 of 26 pass attempts. He finished with a 15.9 passer rating. They also grabbed three interceptions, three sacks and limited Dalvin Cook to 63 rushing yards.
On offense, the Colts controlled the line of scrimmage and had Taylor take 26 carries for 101 yards and a touchdown. The passing game wasn’t explosive outside of Mo Alie-Cox, who notched five catches for 111 yards.
But the offense was stable throughout the day making plays when they needed to even if Reich wants to see better situational football.
“On offense, we wanted to reestablish the run. We still need to clean some stuff up on offense,” Reich said. “We need to be better on third down, and even still better in the red zone. We want to be a great situational team. I have to say that if there is one thing that we could add to that would be, just be a little bit better in situational football on offense. But overall, it was really solid in all three areas.”
We know the Colts want to be a balanced offense with a defense that is tight in the red zone. They showed off what kind of identity they want on Sunday, and it will be their objective to improve upon that in Week 3 when the Jets come to visit.
