Indianapolis Colts 2020 Prospectus: Offense

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» The passing game, as a whole, was way too inconsistent for the Colts in 2019. While there were some notable performances early on — including 300-yard outings Weeks 3 and 7 in wins against the Atlanta Falcons and Houston Texans — the air attack fizzled down the stretch, one of several contributing factors to the team's 2-7 finish after it started out red-hot at 5-2. The Colts ranked 30th in the league in passing yards per game (194.3) and yards per completion (6.5), as well as 25th in net yards per attempt (5.7). The Colts addressed this area this offseason, however, signing free agent quarterback Philip Rivers. In his first 16 seasons with the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers, Rivers, an eight-time Pro Bowler, has established himself as one of the best passers in league history, ranking in the top 10 in passing attempts (seventh), completions (sixth), completion percentage (ninth), passing yards (sixth), passing touchdowns (sixth), passer rating (10th), first down completions (fifth – 2,913), completions of 25 yards or more (fifth – 455) and 300-yard passing games (fourth – 70). Additionally, his 123 career regular season victories as a starter rank ninth in league history.


» Inconsistency in the passing game, as well as some injury issues at wide receiver, led to an overall lack of explosive plays for the Colts' offense in 2019. Indianapolis was middle-of-the-road when it came to explosive plays via the run; 11 percent of their 470 rushing attempts went for 10-plus yards, ranking 15th in the NFL. But the Colts' really struggled in this area through the air, as just seven percent of their 544 pass attempts went for 15 or more yards, ranking 28th. Three factors should help improve these figures for the Indy offense in 2020, however. In the run game, Taylor's addition is expected to provide a boost considering he was perhaps the most explosive running back in college football the last three years. General availability should help in the pass game, as wide receivers T.Y. Hilton (who missed a career-high six games) and Parris Campbell (who missed nine games in his rookie season) are back to full health after injury-plagued 2019 seasons. And, finally, Rivers throwing the ball at QB should help; he ranked fifth and 14th the last two seasons, respectively, in pass plays of 15 yards or more. Even by increasing the Colts' passing yards-per-attempt average up in the 7.3 to 7.5 range would be a significant improvement over 2019.