Matt Ryan, Sam Ehlinger, Nick Foles, None Are a Solution for Colts

Jeff Saturday made one ultimate change. It didn’t work.

With the offense of the Indianapolis Colts persevering with to sputter, Saturday made the decision to carry up Nick Foles because the beginning quarterback forward of their showdown with the Los Angeles Chargers. The decline of Matt Ryan has been apparent over the previous couple of weeks, because the Colts have didn’t push the ball down the sphere. Saturday thought Foles might give the offense a spark transferring ahead.

“Simply didn’t really feel like we made sufficient performs offensively,” Saturday talked about final week. “It’s no secret, we haven’t transformed within the purple zone and finally, you’ve acquired to make performs within the NFL and we’re not making almost sufficient explosive performs and never making performs within the purple zone.”

So, Foles began at quarterback in opposition to the Chargers on Monday Night time Soccer. The consequence? Extra abysmal soccer.

The Colts solely mustered 173 yards of whole offense and failed to attain a landing as they fell to the Chargers 20-3. Foles struggled all night, ending 17-of-29 (59%) for 143 yards, three interceptions, and a QB score of 31.9. Foles appeared like a third-string quarterback for a lot of the night, the position he has held with the Colts for many of the season.

For all of the discuss how Foles would assist the Colts push the ball down the sphere, none of that got here to fruition Monday night time. The longest play of the sport was a 19-yard completion to Michael Pittman Jr. The Colts had been an atrocious 0-10 on third down. The one workforce worse at changing on third down this season? The Colts, after they went 0-14 in opposition to the New England Patriots in Week 9.

“Fairly easy – cannot flip it over,” Saturday mentioned after the sport. “Received to transform on third downs offensively, get them off the sphere and, you understand, cannot go away the protection on the sphere.”

The protection once more tried to hold the load, forcing Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert into two turnovers and sacking him 4 instances. However when the offense is as putrid as they had been Monday night time, it’s arduous to compete.

“I feel we by no means acquired right into a rhythm as an offense,” Foles defined. “I feel the factors present. I imply, three factors, I imply, that is by no means going to be adequate. So, we by no means acquired right into a rhythm as an offense that basically acquired going. And that begins with the quarterback and we’ve got to verify we do job all through the course of the sport to attempt to discover a rhythm.”

The very fact of the matter is Foles was by no means going to succeed beneath these circumstances. You may speak concerning the magical run Foles had in 2017, the place he got here in on the finish of the season and led the Philadelphia Eagles to a Tremendous Bowl victory. However the Eagles had an important workforce round Foles that season. The Colts don’t.

The safety points continued for the Colts as they gave up seven sacks on the night. The Colts have now given up 56 sacks in 2022 and are on tempo to interrupt the franchise report for many sacks allowed in a season. Whereas Saturday talked about that a few of these sacks may very well be attributed to protection down the sphere, the pocket continued to break down rapidly on Foles.

In addition to being beneath stress for almost all of the night, Foles was taking part in with teammates he’s nonetheless getting used to. It was revealed early final week that Foles would take his first snaps with the first-team offense main as much as the sport in opposition to the Chargers. These had been a few of his solely passes to Pittman, Parris Campbell, and Alec Pierce.

“Any time there’s change, you step in, and also you attempt to get acclimated as quickly as you’ll be able to and, you understand, get the timing down and the whole lot,” Foles mentioned. “We had a extremely good week of follow. Clearly, the execution wasn’t on the stage that we wanted to win this recreation and that is unlucky.”

It was a near-impossible state of affairs for Foles to step in and do effectively. Mix that with dangerous selections and inaccurate throws by the veteran quarterback, and the offense appeared just like the worst within the NFL. A minimum of the Denver Broncos, the one workforce averaging fewer factors per recreation (15.5) than the Colts (16.5), scored a landing of their blowout loss to the Los Angeles Rams. And their head coach was fired after the sport.

Not one of the quarterbacks on the Colts’ roster is the reply for this workforce. Father Time has caught as much as Ryan, who has misplaced a lot of the speed on his throws, can’t care for the soccer, and appears slower than ever. Foles could have a stronger arm, however he can’t transfer effectively both and makes poor selections with the soccer taking part in with guys he has hardly even practiced with.

You can argue a return to Sam Ehlinger because the starter would assist, however there may be little optimism he can spark the offense both. Ehlinger was 0-2 in two begins earlier this season, together with the embarrassment in New England that turned out to be the ultimate straw for former head coach Frank Reich’s tenure. Saturday and the remainder of the employees clearly don’t suppose Ehlinger can do any higher, therefore why he stays QB2.

None of those quarterbacks is the reply, partly, as a result of the remainder of the offense is a large number. Safety points stay with not simply the offensive line however tight ends and operating backs as effectively. The passing recreation and play-calling by the Colts are so simplistic that defenses are sitting on each route. Neither of the three quarterbacks can elevate the offense sufficient to compensate for these points.

The arduous reality is the offense can’t be fastened this yr. It can take a brand new teaching employees and new gamers at key positions for the Colts to have a reliable offense as soon as once more. Till that occurs, count on a lot of the identical from this unit over the ultimate two video games.

The offseason can’t come quickly sufficient.

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