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With Only 8 Carries for Frank Gore, Colts Can’t Afford to Abandon Run Game Again

By Luke Schultheis

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While the Indianapolis Colts fell behind early to the Buffalo Bills, the team simply cannot afford to underutilize starting running back Frank Gore again going forward.

For whatever reason, the team seemingly abandoned the running game prematurely, as Gore had only 8 carries for 31 total rush yards despite a healthy 3.9 yards per carry average.

To be fair, some of Gore’s lost reps can be attributed to calf cramps he suffered in the 3rd quarter which took him out of action; however, he was largely the missing man for the offense in the 1st half when the game was actually still in contention:

Despite signing Gore to a lucrative 3-year, $12 million contract this past offseason, the Colts either forgot about Gore or decided that there were more opportunities to be made in the passing game.

The latter was a sentiment that seemed to be shared by head coach Chuck Pagano in his post-game interview:

"“We had more runs called, but then again, they were loading the box,” said Pagano. “They had a bunch of guys in there and they got us out of it with the looks, but we’ve got to still be able to run the football and try to stay more balanced.”"

What resulted was Andrew Luck throwing the ball nearly 50 times with 49 pass attempts in a game against the Buffalo Bills that was effectively over after the Bills opening 2nd half touchdown drive, which placed them comfortably ahead 24-0.

Even for a potent passing attack like the Colts, that not exactly a consistent recipe for success. The team has to maintain balance and sticking to the run would figure to take away some of the aggressiveness and “legs” of a would-be potent Bills pass rush.

Instead, the team failed to show much of any offensive rhythm all afternoon. While that can also be attributed to a handful of untimely penalties (specifically during the opening drive) and too many turnovers to count, getting Gore going early and often would’ve helped to settle down the offense while giving the Colts offense a multi-dimensional attack.

Instead, the team became a one dimensional, one trick pony with the end result being a 27-14 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

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