Colts’ Week One in Review: The Wide Receivers

Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Indianapolis, IN – There was much optimism for the Colts’ wide receivers to have a big week in Week 1 versus the Raiders, but things didn’t end up quite as planned. With a fairly weak Raiders secondary going up against three very good Indianapolis wide receivers, most thought that Andrew Luck would find his guy and that the offense would be able to march up and down the field. Well, that was not the case last Sunday.

Reggie Wayne was the one receiver who was able to come up with a big game, catching eight passes for a total of 96 yards and also chipped in a touchdown. He’s the #1 target for Andrew Luck, and you can expect to see big numbers from him each and every week. Wayne was able to use his impressive route-running ability to beat the Oakland defense and find creases for Luck to find him. His grade for this week would be an A without a doubt.

Darrius Heyward-Bey had a fairly underwhelming afternoon, catching three passes for 33 yards. He isn’t expected to put up monster numbers on a weekly basis, but he’s certainly shown that he’s capable of being a big play threat. Facing his former team, many thought that he would play with a higher level of motivation and find a way to torch the Raiders’ secondary. That being said, it was his first regular season game with the Colts, so you can’t really pass judgement on him.

T.Y. Hilton turned in the most disappointing game of any of the wide receivers. He’s been hyped up as a guy who’s going to have a huge, break-out season, and he did exactly the opposite against Oakland with just three catches for 20 yards. There’s no doubt he didn’t touch the ball enough, and the coaching staff has made it clear since Sunday that they will gameplan to get him the ball more in Week 2. Hilton has the talent to become a star in the NFL, and has great deep-threat ability as well as route running skills across the field. Don’t expect to see too many of these kind of performances from him this year.

Overall, the Colts offense did not look anything like it has been advertised in their Week 1 performance. There is obviously work that needs to be done, but then again, what team doesn’t have work that needs done after the first week of the season? You can expect to see the coaching staff and players work hard to get to the point that they want to be next week.

Evan Massey is an Editor at Naptown’s Finest. Follow Evan and Naptown’s Finest on Twitter.