Colts Still Trying to Fit Square Pegs in Round Holes with Flawed Game Plan

For the first time in many moons, the Indianapolis Colts played a football game that unfolded exactly as they would've liked on offense. It didn't end as they would've liked.

Offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton and head coach Chuck Pagano believe in the power run game, and they watched their offensive line and blocking skill position players bully the Philadelphia Eagles all Monday night. Second-round pick Jack Mewhort showed the power you need to boss defenders around on the line of scrimmage, and tight end Dwayne Allen was a monster winning on the edge.

The best way to put it is that the Indianapolis run blocking was so good that even Trent Richardson could accumulate 79 yards behind it.

But here is the issue the Colts have: Despite having one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL and a bevy of skill position talent at wideout and tight end, Indy insists on staying true to the ground-and-pound philosophy. To be the kind of team that "manages" big leads, the Colts need to be able to run the ball consistently and rush the other team's passer when they're playing well. 

As long as they're married to Richardson, they can't do the former. With star outside linebacker Robert Mathis down and heralded free-agent acquisition Arthur Jones joining him with what is reportedly a high-ankle sprain, they don't have the talent to do the latter.

Look, Richardson bashing has now been around so long that it's a staple of the NFL column. You don't need us to tell you that Richardson is bad. The fact that a 79-yard game with a fumble can be considered the best of his time in Indianapolis tells you all you need to know. 

But there's making a mistake, and then there's continuing to allow the mistake to ruin your life. The Colts are so all-in on Richardson that backup RB Ahmad Bradshaw, the only back who can challenge Richardson on the roster, is too injury-prone to really assume a starting NFL workload.

That kind of roster design creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Colts need Richardson to take the load, because nobody else can. It's like lamenting the lack of healthy options in your kitchen, then driving to get fast food instead of going to the grocery store because fast food is closer.

But for once, that running game wasn't the reason they lost here. Aside from, of course, Richardson's fumble and the brutal decision to run him twice on Indy's final three-and-out of the game. Those are fair criticisms.

The bigger problem in this game was that Indy handed the ball off to a defense with, according to Advanced Football Analytics' win percentage calculator, a 95 percent chance of a win. On two separate occasions.

This was a night where Nick Foles continued to misread the defense and miss open deep shots. Per Kevin Manahan of NJ.com, after the game, Foles admitted that he even struggled on screen passes, saying, "I missed a couple of bubble screens. I threw so many in college, I thought I could throw them with my eyes closed. Now I have to go back to working on that his week." 

But in the end, even Nick Foles is going to find open receivers if you give him seven seconds to throw on each play. The lack of pass rush caught up with Indianapolis. It's not alarming to be exposed on occasion by the Chip Kelly scheme. That's par for the course in the NFL. The alarming part is that the Colts legitimately could've given up 800 yards had Foles shown any semblance of not being the first replacement-level 5,000-yard passer in NFL history. 

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

The Colts didn't deserve this loss. And they are 0-2 more because of their schedule than their talent—expect a rebound against lesser competition in the AFC South. But as long as their game plan remains married to the ideal in their heads rather than the reality on the field, they'll open themselves up to misfortune. 

The oft-cited truism from former Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey is that "luck is the residue of design." The design of Indianapolis seems to be to forget about Luck. The residue is bitter defeats like this.

Rivers McCown is the AFC South lead writer for Bleacher Report. His work has also appeared on Football Outsiders and ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter at @riversmccown.