Receivers not named Michael Pittman Jr. weren’t consistent
As many feared going into the season, Michael Pittman Jr. was a consistent presence but there was no other consistent receiver after him. The next highest player in both receptions and yards was Nyheim Hines with six catches for 50 yards. While it was great to see Hines’ new role in the offense, the other wideouts left a lot to be desired.
Ashton Dulin was targeted six times and only caught three passes for 46 yards. Parris Campbell was targeted four times and caught three passes for 37 yards. Mike Strachan caught both of his two targets for 36 yards and Alec Pierce went catch-less in his debut with two targets.
One of his targets was a dropped pass in the end zone that will probably give him nightmares and the other was a well-defended slant in the end zone that was swatted by Derek Stingley. Pierce also had another target that he dropped before taking a huge hit but the play didn’t count because the defender was penalized for unnecessary roughness.
Ultimately, this isn’t going to cut it. This has been the concern for the Colts since last year and Frank Reich and Chris Ballard were confident that they had a group good enough. The group did not prove them right on Sunday and that’s part of the reason why Indy now has a draw on the record.