Frank Reich's Offense is Sweet for Andrew Luck

[RollerColt]

Just finished reading Doyel's IndyStar. article, and... 

 

It's positive for once! 

 

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/columnists/gregg-doyel/2018/09/10/frank-reichs-offense-sweet-qb-andrew-luck-indianapolis-colts/1251636002/

 

I agree with Gregg on this one, it was awesome to see Reich's true playbook in action. 

 

Mismatches? Check.

Misdirection? Check.

Confused defenders? Check. 

[chad72]

Definitely eye candy, definitely an offense we had been clamoring for. I just hope Luck finally gets some continuity of a few years with the same OC, at least 3 for starters. Luck is smart, he can absorb all that the new OC can dish out. So, bring it and give a few play makers and OL around him to get this O to the next level.

[Dark Superman]

Andrew Luck was made to play in this style of offense. Give the guy some blocking, a consistent and respectable running game, and a few more playmakers and I'll be happy.

[lollygagger8]

Reich's play calling: 

 

 

[smittywerb]

I like it.  Quick hitting offense keeps Andrew safe and masks our OL deficiencies.  Just need TY to open up the field and the running game to improve.

[IinD]

That's why I'm shocked people were somewhat disappointed from Sundays game.

 

That was night and day from the last couple of years of hand off, hand off, 3rd and 6 and Doyle tackled after a 5 yd gain, 4th and 1, punt.

 

Loved the shifting alignments, no huddle, traditional alignments, up tempo, normal tempo.

 

This was all in game freaking one. They'll win games, even if they have to outscore teams once #12 has played a little and everyone gets on the same page.

[Jason_]

39 minutes ago, chad72 said:

Definitely eye candy, definitely an offense we had been clamoring for. I just hope Luck finally gets some continuity of a few years with the same OC, at least 3 for starters. Luck is smart, he can absorb all that the new OC can dish out. So, bring it and give a few play makers and OL around him to get this O to the next level.

 

I'm actually not all that worried about it.  This is Reich's offense..not Sirianni's so like Philly, even if Sirianni winds up getting a HC offer, a new OC will be brought in but the scheme will remain mostly the same.

[B~Town]

What was the average time Luck had the ball in his hands would be fun to compare to previous years .

[Defjamz26]

If Castonzo was out there, you probably have him taking less sacks as well. Ball got out of his hand quick.

[coltsfeva]

Here’s a pretty good breakdown:

 

check out the pocket. Oline did  okay. 

    Getting Castonzo, Mack, Turbin and (hopefully) Good back can only improve the run.

    I understand Good May get replaced by Heag or Clark but either way, having continuity on the Oline will be HUGH! 

[GusFring]

He called a few useless 2nd and long runs 

 

Luck still makes horrible decisions at times. Cincy dropped ints on that last drive before Doyle fumbled

[coltsfeva]

1 minute ago, GusFring said:

He called a few useless 2nd and long runs 

 

Luck still makes horrible decisions at times. Cincy dropped ints on that last drive before Doyle fumbled

  I guess if you look hard enough, you can see a dark cloud for each silver lining. 

[Tsarquise]

Sunday was so promising that it almost felt like we won, even though we didn't. 

[krunk]

1 hour ago, Defjamz26 said:

If Castonzo was out there, you probably have him taking less sacks as well. Ball got out of his hand quick.

Yeah like that sack Braden Smith gave up. Probably doesn't happen with Costanzo.

And that looked like it was going to be a big play.

[krunk]

I think the running game is going to improve with the return of Mack, Turbin, and Costanzo.

[krunk]

I think the running game is going to improve with the return of Mack, Turbin, and Costanzo.  I really love the Nyeheim Hines element in the passing game.  And when Mack gets back that's another guy who can stress linebackers in the passing game.  So with the way we use our backs in the passing game we really have more than one speedy guy out there other than TY.   We've got tight ends who are mismatches, plus backs who are mismatches to go along with possession guys as well.  We've got more than people think we have.

[Colt.45]

On 9/11/2018 at 1:19 PM, Savage21 said:

Andrew Luck was made to play in this style of offense. Give the guy some blocking, a consistent and respectable running game, and a few more playmakers and I'll be happy.

 

In the NFL Top 100 a few years ago, Richard Sherman said something along these lines...."No shots at his current O-Line but give Andrew Luck some proper protection, a few more weapons, and that guy is a very very very dangerous man". This was said when Sherman was probably the best CB in the league, dude had seen it firsthand at Stanford.

 

Luck turned 29 today. It's time for him to become the best QB in this league. The Colts defense is crappy, the weapons outside Hilton are questionable, but I am positive that it doesn't matter and it's time for Reich and Luck to burn this league to shreds. He can absolutely do it. Rodgers has been carrying a crappy coach and roster for years, Luck has done same. I've seen enough to know Reich and Sirianni are smart men, Luck will erupt...just needs to stay healthy.

[stitches]

https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/09/12/andrew-luck-shoulder-injury-indianapolis-colts-passing-game

Quote

 

How Did the Colts Adjust the Passing Game for Andrew Luck?

 

By ANDY BENOIT 

September 12, 2018

 

In his first two seasons in the NFL, Andrew Luck put up passer ratings of 76.5 and 87.0 while leading mediocre Colts teams to 11-5 records both years—enough to be labeled a good, but not great, quarterback by many.

 

But inside the NFL, Luck was already being billed as perhaps the game’s best quarterback. It was only a matter of time before his stats would catch up to his extraordinary film. (Indeed, they did in Year Three, when Luck threw for 4,761 yards and led the league with 40 touchdown passes.)

 

Football people were gaga over Luck’s preternatural ability to extend the action. While many high-level quarterbacks extended plays by breaking them down and conjuring magic, Luck extended them through sheer protraction. Plays that were designed to attack in three or four seconds would be carried out by Luck for five or six seconds—without abandoning the play’s design! Late in the down, Luck would still be in the pocket, eyes downfield, working through his deepest progressions. No defense could hold up long enough.

 

But some worried that Luck couldn’t hold up either. A byproduct of extending plays, especially within structure, is that the quarterback absorbs more hits—Impactful hits, for that matter. Luck might make a brilliant throw with a defender bearing down, but he’d take a thundering body blow in the process. Most alarming was how often his arm and shoulder would be exposed on this contact.

As you know Luck eventually suffered a 20-month shoulder injury, leading many to question whether the quarterback could ever play again. Football people were asking a different question: if he does play again, will he play with the same style?

 

This topic was at the forefront of Indianapolis’s head coaching search—after Josh McDaniels’s spurning, the Colts eventually landed on Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich. At training camp, I posed the question to Reich, as well as to Luck himself.

 

“Andrew absolutely can continue to extend plays,” Reich said. “His career is just getting started. I know he’s already accomplished a lot, but Tom Brady, Drew Brees, these guys are playing until they’re 40 years old. Andrew’s got a long way to go yet. He has elite athleticism for the position, so his ability to extend within the pocket, that’s still a big part of it.”

Luck, however, sounded a touch more pragmatic.

 

“I’d like to think I can continue to do it,” he said. “But I think it’d be foolish of me to not to adjust certain things about [extending plays]. It’s a part of my game that I don’t want to lose, but it’s about applying it in a more efficient, productive way.”

 

One reason Reich got the Colts job was he’d spent the last two years coaching Carson Wentz, the closest thing to a Luck clone. Prior to tearing his ACL, Wentz in 2017 was having an MVP campaign on the strength of his late-in-the-down playmaking. But it was Philly’s offense in Wentz’s 2016 rookie season that’s a more attractive fit for Luck post-shoulder injury. To simplify things for their young quarterback, the Eagles had employed a lot of spread formations and pre-snap bells and whistles. Post-snap, Wentz would drop back three or five steps and get the ball out. There’s only enough time for one or two reads, and more importantly, there’s not enough time for the pass rush to get home.

 

The Indianapolis offense had this dink-and-dunk texture in Week 1 against Cincinnati. Luck completed 73.6% of his passes (his career completion rate coming in was 59.2), averaging 5.4 intended air yards per attempt, which NextGen Stats cited as lower than every QB except Alex Smith and Derek Carr. On average, he got the ball out in 2.49 seconds. Thirty five times the Colts lined up in some sort of spread formation, including eight snaps with an empty backfield—a formation that demands the ball get out promptly. The offense also went shotgun 61 times, which positions a QB to throw quicker.

 

The challenge is to stay committed to this new approach. The Colts started right tackle/guard Joe Haeg in place of an injured Anthony Castonzo at left tackle. It’s easier to call quick-strike throws if you’re unsure that your left tackle will maintain his pass blocks. Will Reich get more aggressive with deeper dropbacks once Castonzo returns?

 

Another concern is Indy’s wide receivers also struggled when Cincy’s talented corners applied man coverage. If wideouts can’t win one-on-one in space, spread formations and quick throws can’t work. You can help receivers through scheme, though those ploys tend to result in more designer downfield plays, where routes have longer to unfold.

 

There’s also the question of how hard the Colts should commit to getting the ball out of Luck’s hands quickly. If extending plays is what makes him special, should they really sacrifice that in the name of precaution? It’s the same debate people have long had about dynamic running quarterbacks. What’s the point of protecting a QB if you’re not going to maximize his strengths? The rebuttal, of course, is what good are the strengths if a QB isn’t available?

This doesn’t have to be a binary decision. Reich’s job is to help Luck find that delicate balance between playing responsibly and aggressively. Luck has enough elite traits—presnap awareness, field vision, precision accuracy—to make it work. How he does will determine his and the Colts’ future.

 

 

[KB]

6 hours ago, coltsfeva said:

Here’s a pretty good breakdown:

 

check out the pocket. Oline did  okay. 

    Getting Castonzo, Mack, Turbin and (hopefully) Good back can only improve the run.

    I understand Good May get replaced by Heag or Clark but either way, having continuity on the Oline will be HUGH! 

HUGHs was terrible for our line a couple years back