A haphazard offensive performance spoiled a golden opportunity for the Colts to change their season’s trajectory in Houston as they fell short in a sloppy 23-20 defeat.
“At the end of the day, execution has to be better,” said quarterback Anthony Richardson, whose inefficient output severely restricted the Colts offense. No question about it, he struggled mightily.
Richardson finished the game just 10-for-32 (31.25%) for 175 yards, a touchdown and an interception. At halftime, he had recorded just two completions. But he’s not solely at fault.
Head coach Shane Steichen’s play calling failed Richardson from the beginning. When asked about the run-pass balance in his play calling, Steichen owned up to his failure.
“It wasn’t ideal,” Steichen said.
Despite the goal of being a run-first offense with a top running back and dual-threat quarterback, Steichen called more than twice as many pass plays in the first half. It finally came back to bite him when Richardson, who was incomplete on his previous five attempts, forced a throw to Josh Downs from his own 12-yard line which was intercepted by Jalen Pitre.
On the next play, CJ Stroud found Tank Dell to take a 17-10 lead into the locker room.
“We were trying to go score,” Steichen said on the decision to pass the ball in that situation. “And it didn’t work out.”
That wasn’t the only self-inflicted wound that hurt the Colts’ offense. Seven penalties made it a massive challenge to stay on schedule.
“You gotta play clean football to at least give yourself a chance,” Jonathan Taylor said from his locker after the game.
It’s unfortunate to see the offense faceplant when the defense produced an impressive performance.
“I thought our defense played really well,” Steichen said. “Those guys were fighting, and scratching, and crawling like crazy.”
Gus Bradley’s unit gave the offense ample opportunities to take control of the game — forcing six punts, holding Houston to three field goal tries and creating a late turnover, handing the offense a chance to go win or tie the game.
The offense just couldn’t capitalize. By nature of the quarterback position, Richardson is largely to blame for that.
But Steichen bears responsibility too.
“It’s my job to find ways to (get Richardson out of a slump),” he said after the game, with a tone of annoyance in his voice. Visibly discontented, he added, “I gotta be better.”
In the end, Steichen failed to get his offense into a rhythm, making it difficult for Richardson to build up his confidence and settle into the game.
Coming into Sunday’s game, the Colts hoped to alter the course of their season by moving into a first-place tie in the AFC South. But they dropped their chance to make up ground, and now Steichen’s squad is at an inflection point.
They’re 4-4 halfway through their schedule and are about to go through the most difficult stretch of games they’ll have all season, where they will face three playoff-caliber teams in a four game stretch: the Vikings, Bills and Lions.
It starts next Sunday night in Minnesota, with the entire country watching.
Steichen remains confident that the Colts have the unity required to right the ship.
“This thing is together,” he told the media. “This ain’t about one guy, this is about the team. It’s always going to be about the team.”
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