Frank Gore, “beat to crap”

Colts running back Frank Gore has been a great addition to the team’s lineup, but he’s worn down as the season has progressed.

Frank Gore had just 19 carries for 24 yards on Sunday, one of the worst performances of his long career. At times, Gore has looked as good as advertised but the past two weeks he’s struggled. The Colts recently added Ahmad Bradshaw to take some pressure off Gore, but now he’s been sent to IR with a wrist injury.

Speaking to the media, coach Chuck Pagano said that Gore is suffering from the same problem as every other player. “He’s like everybody else,” Pagano said. “He took some shots yesterday. He’s beat to crap.”

Gore has only shown up on the injury report twice this season. He missed one practice in Week 5 with a foot injury and then another practice this past week with an ankle injury. Gore hasn’t even come close to missing a game this year.

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Since the Bye Week, Gore has had 33 carries for 58 yards and a lost fumble against the Falcons. He’s offset that slightly with seven receptions for 59 yards. The Colts run game woes might say more about the opponents, the state of the offensive line, and play calling than Gore however.

Tampa Bay? They rank fifth in run defense efficiency while Atlanta is 14th. This week the Colts were without left tackle Anthony Castonzo, forcing the team to shuffle their offensive line. Without Castonzo, the Colts line lacks the quickness then need to be effective in the run game.

Sep 13, 2015; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Indianapolis Colts tackle Anthony Castonzo (74) against the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Bills beat the Colts 27 to 14. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

“Right when you start to make progress in the run game, then you lose AC, (then) you gotta take the right tackle and move him to left tackle (and) take a guy from Mars (Hill) and fill him in,” Pagano said. “I’ll keep working at it.”

Then there is Rob Chudzinski’s play calling. It is tough to say whether or not he’s doing a better job than Pep Hamilton. Both coordinators have had Matt Hasselbeck for two games each, but missed by the “Hasselbeck is 4-0” crowd is the quality of those opponents (hint, it’s not good).

But with regards to the run game, Chudzinski wants a power running offense. As we saw Sunday, that was less than effective and as soon as the Colts started passing they took the lead. The Colts have struggled for years when they run out of power sets. Opponents don’t respect their ground game, and have no reason to even with Gore in the backfield.

For a long time the Colts and Pagano have espoused the importance of a run game but ignored the strengths of this team. The thing is, they can run the ball just not out of power sets. They’re most successful out of a singleback set, with the receivers spread out.

It doesn’t appear that Gore is “done” or “running out of gas” as the last two opponents sold out to stop the run, figuring the Colts would hit the ground more with Hasselbeck under center.

The Colts were limiting Gore’s carries, but with the injuries to Andrew Luck, that has largely become a thing of the past. Dan Herron will be asked to carry a bigger workload going forward and splitting carries could be the best thing they can do for the running game.