This Shane Steichen stat lets fans know what to expect from the Colts offense

Shane Steichen is preparing for his first season as a head coach. After years of being a successful offensive coordinator, Steichen hopes to make the Indianapolis Colts a promising team once again. While he’s now a head coach, he’ll still be hands on with Indy’s offense, as he has already made it clear that he’ll be the play caller.

The Colts can certainly use some of Steichen’s magic on the offensive side of the ball. Last season, Indianapolis’ offense was terrible statistically and also hard to watch. The offense is a big reason why Indy had the fourth-overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Fortunately, the Colts were able to get rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson with that pick. Now, Richardson is being developed by Steichen, who has a great history with young quarterbacks. The hope is that Steichen and Richardson can make Indy’s offense a much more productive and exciting unit.

As the regular season approaches, everyone is anxious to learn what the offense will look like. Despite watching the preseason games, it’s clear that the Colts won’t really get into their bag until the regular season. However, one thing is clear: Shane Steichen will lean on Anthony Richardson’s legs.

Anthony Richardson will likely have a lot of designed runs under Shane Steichen

In a recent ESPN piece, their experts highlighted some key intel for all 32 play callers. For the Colts, the focus was about how much Steichen likes to use designed quarterback runs. ESPN highlighted that, “With Steichen serving as his OC in Philadelphia, Jalen Hurts led all QBs with 99 designed rushes last season, 21 more than the next closest QB (Justin Fields).”

Philly’s offense was great across the board. Elite receivers, elite offensive line, good tight end play, the whole nine. However, having a dual-threat quarterback like Hurts really catapulted the offense to another level. The Colts saw that first hand, as they were on the opposite side of Steichen’s designed quarterback run equation last season.

When Indianapolis played the Eagles last season, Hurts had 86 rushing yards on 16 carries. No run was bigger than seven-yard quarterback draw, with just over a minute left in the fourth quarter, winning Philly the game.

Now, the Colts have Shane Steichen and their own athletic quarterback in Anthony Richardson. It’s safe to assume that there will be a ton of designed quarterback runs in Indy’s future.

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