Colts vs. Bills: Offense grades

The Colts played their first game of the preseason last night, and didn’t look particularly good. This is how each unit grades out in the first game of the year.

The preseason doesn’t really mean anything. The results don’t matter. It is a good way for coaches to make evaluations on players and fit their depth chart. Last night, that was about the only thing that was positive for the Colts’ offense. Here is how each unit grades.

Jacoby Brissett led the first team offense yesterday, and didn’t do a good job. He only led the offense to 21 total yards, including zero rushing yards. Phillip Walker didn’t do much better and actually threw an interception, although he had a couple of good throws.

The only reason this grade isn’t an F is because of Chad Kelly. Kelly actually had some really strong throws in the pocket in the face of pressure. He also had a nice read option touchdown run. He looked like the strongest quarterback out there for Indianapolis.

Running the ball was a massive struggle last night. The first team offense with Nyheim Hines in the backfield complied zero rushing yards. The best run per carry average was a 3.1 from Aca’Cedric Ware. No one looked good in the backfield, but Marlon Mack was held out. It was interesting that Jordan Wilkins didn’t get a single carry.

The receivers struggled a bit, but that was because the quarterback play was so poor. But the best performer on the offense besides Kelly was Daurice Fountain. He had 5 catches for 63 yards and had some tough ones on the sidelines. He might have played himself into a job.

The only starters who played from this unit was Devin Funchess, and he had 2 catches for 21 yards from Brissett. This position doesn’t need to be worried about too much from a production standpoint, but it still would have been nice to see them play better.

Both Eric Ebron and Jack Doyle sat out of this one, so it was all about the backups. Mo Alie-Cox only was targeted once. Hale Hentges had the only catch from this group, and it was a nice 19 yard gain at the end of the game. They didn’t block very well though.

This might have been the most disappointing group of the night. The offensive line had all of its starters out there except for center Ryan Kelly. Yet they got no push at all in the run game, and allowed Brissett’s passes to get knocked down at the line of scrimmage.

The backups weren’t much better. There still wasn’t a big push in the run game, and they allowed two sacks to the backup QB’s. This unit has a lot expected of them for the regular season. It was just one game, but they need to improve big time.

This is just the first of many games the team will play. Overall, it wasn’t the Colts’ best performance. But there isn’t any need to overreact just yet.