Michael Pittman Jr. explains why Colts should be able to start fast under Shane Steichen

Wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. sees the offense of the Indianapolis Colts getting off to a fast start under new head coach Shane Steichen.

When teams get new coaches, there can often be a rough transition phase at the beginning filled with growing pains. Coaches are learning new players and installing a system that’s often foreign to a group of players working to forget their previous system. As a result, it can take time to get in rhythm before they hit a stride. Michael Pittman Jr. doesn’t anticipate that being the case with the Indianapolis Colts in their first year with Shane Steichen.

With defensive coordinator Gus Bradley returning for a second season in Indy, the defense will have a sense of continuity. It’s the offense that will be battling a transition from Frank Reich to Jeff Saturday/Parks Frazier to Shane Steichen. However, Pittman recently explained why learning Steichen’s system shouldn’t be that much of an issue for Indianapolis’ offense.

In a conversation with Larra Overton on the Colts website, Pittman explained that Steichen, in his time with the Philadelphia Eagles, “basically ran the same plays[as the Colts] because they come from the same strain of our offense. So it’ll just help us start fast.” Pittman went on to say that while there’ll certainly be small differences it won’t be like the offense having to learn an entire new playbook.

Colts will be familiar with Shane Steichen’s playbook

This makes sense because Steichen was the offensive coordinator for Nick Sirianni. Prior to Sirianni becoming head coach in Philadelphia, he was Indy’s offensive coordinator under Frank Reich. All three, Steichen, Sirianni, and Reich, also spent time time together on the Chargers offensive staff in the past. Pittman was right to highlight that they all come from the same offensive lineage and how that should be beneficial for the Colts.

However, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee that Indy will be off to a fast start. There’s still some important factors at play. For starters, the Colts don’t have the talent that the Eagles did. Even more importantly, Indianapolis will have a rookie quarterback who isn’t familiar with the playbook. Indy has to further build its roster and also get a first-year quarterback up to speed. If both of those things are accomplished, then Indy’s familrity with Steichen’s playbook should come into play.

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