Frank Reich reveals why Colts remain unworried about receivers after underwhelming preseason performance
The receivers for the Indianapolis Colts were underwhelming in the team’s first preseason game but head coach Frank Reich remains unworried.
All offseason, everyone has expressed concern for the wide receiver group of the Indianapolis Colts. After struggling last season, Indy’s only move at wideout was drafting Alec Pierce. However, the team felt confident that they had all the weapons necessary. They didn’t do a good job of proving that in the first preseason game against the Buffalo Bills on Saturday.
The Colts’ top offensive unit got four series on Saturday and wasn’t able to produce much. In those series, quarterback Matt Ryan was 6-of-10 passing for 58 yards. While there were a couple of drops and well-defended passes, one of the biggest observations was that Indy’s receivers were struggling to get separation.
Although it was just the first few series of the first preseason game of the year, this brought a lot of worry to Colts fans. The conversation immediately became: what receivers can Indianapolis add to help this group? However, while the worry outside of the building is high, the Colts remain unfazed internally and head coach Frank Reich explained why.
Speaking with the media on Sunday, Reich admitted that he didn’t see the receivers’ inability to get separation as much of a problem because the team wasn’t necessarily trying to scheme guys open. Indy was essentially just calling vanilla offensive plays to get the team some meaningful reps without revealing much of the playbook.
Frank Reich: “We have a new QB, so we don’t wanna show too much stuff. So we’re not going to all the lengths we’d normally go to (with the WRs)” to get them free.
— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) August 14, 2022
This is what I mentioned yesterday.
But… This forced them to have to win 1 on 1s, which was hit and miss.
Colts still aren’t concerned about wide receiver
You never want to put too much on film in the preseason, and Reich is a pretty good play designer, so the receivers will probably be much more open in the regular season than they were on Saturday. While Reich may not be entirely concerned, he did admit that the young wideouts need to improve against press coverage. Scheming receivers is great, but it’s also great to have guys that can win one-on-one.
That’s still a battle for the Colts and something that they will continue to work on. But ultimately, while Indy can still use help at wideout, the team is confident that Saturday’s preseason performance is not a realistic look of what the team’s passing offense will look like in the regular season.
