Eagles vs Colts: Breaking Down Indianapolis' Game Plan

The Indianapolis Colts suffered a disappointing loss to the Denver Broncos on Sunday night. But in the NFL, dwelling on a single game for more than a few days will leave you stranded at the back of the pack.

Week 1 is in the books, and "Hump Day" is now behind us. It's time to move on to Week 2, when the Colts will host the Philadelphia Eagles. While the Colts schedule could be described as favorable, the first two games of the season do not deserve that label. 

After facing the league's most efficient offense in Peyton Manning and the Broncos, the Colts now host the league's most innovative. The man behind the innovation, Chip Kelly, took the NFL by storm last season, powering the Eagles to 10 wins and a playoff spot. The Eagles finished fourth in the league in points scored and second overall in yards (including the most rushing yards) under Kelly, and look to continue that run of offensive success. 

The Colts will have their hands full on Monday night, especially coming off of a season-opening loss in Denver last weekend. If Indianapolis wants to avoid opening the season in a 0-2 hole, they'll need to have their game plan down pat. 

Defense: Defend Read Schemes and Zach Ertz

There are two main focuses for the Colts that I'll be watching for on Monday: Defending the zone read and second-year tight end Zach Ertz. Both factors were huge in the Eagles' win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, and both play against the Colts' defensive weaknesses. 

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To start, you have the Eagles' bread-and-butter: The zone running game and its wrinkles. The Eagles run behind zone blocking as well as any team in the league, but they love to dress it up with "packaged" reads. This can throw a defense off-kilter because while the offensive line gives run cues, the quarterback has the option to pull the ball and take an outside running lane or even throw the ball on a screen/quick pass. 

Controlling read-options are one thing, the Colts have seen it before—and defended it well against Russell Wilson and Collin Kaepernick in 2013. But the element of a passing threat thrown in gives the Colts defenders even more pieces to defend and match up against, putting them at the mercy of Chip Kelly. 

Bleacher Report's Matt Bowen had this to say about the Eagles' read schemes: 

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The Eagles will run their base zone schemes out of Ace/12 personnel (2WR-2TE-1RB) with the running back in the “dot” (aligned directly behind quarterback under center) to maximize McCoy’s ability in the inside zone, outside stretch or split zone.

And that’s a big part of the game plan in Philadelphia.

However, these “read” schemes within the Eagles' packaged plays present major issues for defenses in their run/pass keys and discipline.

And that creates options for the quarterback to target defenses based on the numbers they show before the snap and the technique of the edge defender.

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So how do you attack these reads? For one, it means that defenders must be disciplined in the box, sticking to their gaps and taking quality angles toward the ball-carrier. 

It also means that disguising coverages to confuse quarterback Nick Foles will be key. The Colts don't have the defensive personnel to avoid mismatches altogether, but they can minimize Foles' opportunities to take advantage of them by making it more difficult to identify.

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We talked earlier this week about how Denver took advantage of the Colts defense when Peyton Manning identified one-on-one matchups with Julius Thomas prior to the snap. When the Colts had success is when they moved to more zone schemes against Thomas, or when they disguised quick-landing blitzes on Manning. 

Against the Eagles and tight end Zach Ertz, the Colts will need to disguise those coverages and ensure that Ertz is accounted for in the middle of the field. Safeties and linebackers are the Colts' coverage weaknesses, so expect Kelly to attack them ruthlessly. 

Defense: Take Advantage of Philly's Secondary and be Efficient in the Red Zone

When the Colts have the ball, they need to focus on attacking the Eagles' weaknesses. This includes the entire secondary, which allowed undrafted free-agent wide receiver Allen Hurns and Chad Henne to connect for 110 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday. 

The Eagles secondary got burned by being extra-aggressive on a few plays, which could get them in trouble against Pep Hamilton and the Colts. Hamilton loves to get defenses focused on the wrong element of a play.

For example, on this play against Denver, the Colts had T.Y. Hilton turn and stop for a fake screen before entering his route, forcing the corner to leap forward in anticipation. The corner then overcorrected by sprinting backwards fervently when Hilton went on his route, leaving Hilton with plenty of space underneath. 

NFL Game Rewind

Against the Eagles, both of Hurns' touchdowns came because of members of the secondary being too aggressive. Watch as both cornerbacks bite on the fake bubble screen, giving Henne a wide-open lane to hit Hurns. 

Alongside the efficient throwing will be efficient red-zone performance. The Colts missed out on big opportunities in the red zone on Sunday night, including two trips inside the Denver 5-yard line that netted just three points. Against great offenses like Philadelphia, the Colts need to score points, i.e., touchdowns. 

While I was pleased with Pep Hamilton's willingness to open up the offense and throw the ball when down big in the second half, the Colts needed more variety in their red-zone offense. The team ran 10 plays inside the Denver 10-yard line on Sunday, and just one of those was a run. That included several inside the Denver 5-yard line!

Hamilton's only screen attempt in the red zone was a bubble screen to Reggie Wayne, arguably the least explosive player on the offense. With T.Y. Hilton on the roster and the running backs' success catching the ball out of the backfield, one would think that Wayne would be the last target for a screen in the red zone. 

But some of the responsibility lies on Andrew Luck's shoulders as well. Luck needs to be a bit quicker with his reads at times in the red zone, with the lack of space to work with, and his accuracy will be paramount as well. While Hamilton designs the plays, Luck has an inordinate amount of control at the line of scrimmage this season and needs to improve upon his calls at the line. 

Scoring against the Eagles shouldn't be rocket science, but it will be completely necessary to keep up in what should be a track meet. 

All statistics and snap counts come from Pro Football Focus (subscription required) and Pro Football Reference unless otherwise noted. All training camp observations were obtained firsthand by the reporter unless otherwise noted.

Kyle is an NFL and Indianapolis Colts analyst for Bleacher Report and the editor-in-chief of Colts Authority. Follow Kyle on Twitter for more stats, analysis and general NFL analysis.