Colts vs. Broncos: Post-game offense grades

The offense struggled for most of the afternoon, but they were able to do enough at the end when they needed to the most.

This was not a picture-perfect game by any means. In fact, it was more of a slug fest. The Colts were able to prevail 15-13 on a game-winning field goal. The offense had a fantastic drive to set up that late field goal. It was one of the few bright spots for this unit on the day.

Jacoby Brissett struggled for most of the game. He couldn’t find a rhythm or any open guys down field. He had another fumble, this one at midfield. But at the end of the game, he made the play of the game. Brissett spun out of a safety and threw a bullet to T.Y. Hilton to keep the game alive.

Because of that play, they were able to march down the field and get in field goal range to win it. Brissett needs to clean some things up, there’s no doubt about that. But when it mattered most, he came through in a big way.

Marlon Mack had a bit of a bounce back game. He had 19 carries for 76 yards and the lone touchdown for the Colts. He had to make something out of nothing several times. As a whole, the backs had 93 yards on 25 carries, which isn’t too bad. Nyheim Hines also added 3 catches for 34 yards.

The offensive line did not look good today. They struggled at times to open up holes in the running game. They gave up 4 sacks too, which is by far the worst performance of the year. Some of those sacks were on Brissett, which is why this grade isn’t lower. But they have to be better.

This was by far the highlight of the offense today. Jack Doyle was the most reliable pass-catcher the Colts had. He caught 4 balls for 61 yards. Eric Ebron added 3 catches for 26 yards as well. If it wasn’t for the tight ends, the offense wouldn’t have been able to move the ball at all today.

Don’t expect the use of the tight ends to change anytime soon. Doyle is clearly a security blanket for Brissett, and might have the most reliable hands on the team. Ebron is always a red zone threat. Both will continue to get plenty of targets.

Part of this grade is because of just how good the Denver secondary was. But the Colts’ receivers only caught 4 passes. T.Y. Hilton had the play of the game on the final drive catching that pass after Brissett spun out of the sack. He only caught 2 passes for 54 yards though.

The Colts decided to have Deon Cain as a healthy scratch for this one. You can’t help but wonder if he would have had better success separating from the defense. But the whole unit needs to work on getting separation before next week.

In the end, a win is a win. It doesn’t matter how ugly it is. But the offense needs to be more consistent moving forward.