My disdain for the Colts’ offensive attack has never been a secret. Since the early 2000s, the Colts have too often abandoned the running game, focusing on an air-it-out attack that won piles of games, but rarely took them deep in the playoffs.
Now, it seems the Colts are considering a change, for better or worse.
“Well, the time constraints in the NFL are just as challenging as the time constraints in college,” offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton told the media Wednesday according to SBNation. “I think the toughest part of my transition so far is not having the padded practices. We're a physical, downhill running football team, and we just feel like you got to work on hardening your knuckles. That's a big part of who we are and we need to go up there and grind and pound a little bit.”
If Hamilton is serious about the type of team the Colts will be, we’ll see far more running from a team that was built around the passing game. Apparently, that doesn’t bother owner Jim Irsay one bit.
5 KEYS 1) Protect #12 better 2) Stop Run(In Top 10 in NFL) 3) Run the Ball(Top 10) 4) Outstanding Special Teams 5) Win 3rd Down/Defense
— Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) July 31, 2013
Obviously, we won’t actually know anything about the Colts’ identity in 2013 until they take the field in preseason action, and that won’t really tell us much either. The real identifying factors won’t be seen until the start of the regular season.
While it’s never a bad thing to be a physical football team in the NFL, I can’t help but think the Colts would be crazy to try to become a run-first team. That’s not the formula to win in the NFL any more, and that’s not even mentioning that the Colts have one of the best young quarterbacks in the league in Andrew Luck.
[H/T: Stampede Blue]
