Colts need to open up the playbook

The Colts lost on Thursday night because of a lack of downfield plays. That needs to change moving forward.

The Colts struggled Thursday night in the passing game against Houston. Part of that was good defense from the Texans and part of it was a lack of opening the playbook up. They didn’t try to throw the ball down the field at all. That needs to change.

Jacoby Brissett has a strong arm and the Colts need to use it. Having him throw deep go routes can be beneficial for every member of the offense. It would even open up the run game. The Colts are clearly a run-first team, but the deep passing game can help that too.

That falls on Frank Reich. He is the one that calls plays and he is the one that has the power to change the play calling. He needs to realize that throwing deep, even if it isn’t successful, can open up the rest of the offense so that they can move the ball more consistently.

If the play calling doesn’t change, there will be more results like we saw in Houston. There will be more low-scoring games that result in losses. The defense can only play so well for so long. It’s not fair to them to have to shut someone out for the Colts to win.

The team now has plenty of time to figure out their struggles and fix their play calling mistakes. Hopefully we see the immediate results of that in their next game.