According to Football Outsiders Assistant Editor Scott Kacsmar, the Indianapolis Colts have fallen behind quite a bit in the ‘Andrew Luck Era’ of the franchise’s football.
While not necessarily because of his own accord, Luck’s teams have often found themselves in a considerable hole, having faced a double-digit deficit 24 times:
Perhaps, most alarming is that 12 of those 24 double-digit deficits have occurred after the Colts have had just two drives. This seems to indicate that the Colts are often entering games seemingly “asleep at the wheel”, falling behind in a hurry.
Taking it one step further from Kacsmar’s initial analysis, the Colts have played in 54 games (including playoffs) with Andrew Luck at the helm. That means that in 44.4% of their games they’ve fallen behind by 10+ points. Digging even deeper, the Colts have had a double-digit deficit after their 1st two drives then in 22.2% of their games.
Both statistics seem rather alarming, especially the latter which means that the Colts have faced a double-digit deficit within the 1st two drives in slightly more than 1/5th of their games.
This could be directly attributable to a lot of things including players not coming out with the right energy and intensity, being outcoached, or perhaps even simply getting outplayed, all of which Kacsmar later alludes to:
The Colts clearly have some work to do as it relates to this season in coming out with the proper preparations needed to come out strong early in games, from the coaching staff to the players, top to bottom. Finding yourself in a considerable hole isn’t a consistent recipe for sustained success.
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