Colts’ stat of the season Part I: Offensive Ranks

First of all, I want to take this opportunity to give a shoutout to a fellow Stampede Blue Writer: T. Troy Russell, who does a much better job than me using statistics to prove just how bad this Colts’ offense is, but at least I try!

• Points per game (31st): It is no surprise that the Colts struggled inmensely to score points this season. No matter if it was Matt Ryan, Sam Ehlinger, or even Nick Foles, the offense scored over 30 just twice this year, and it was held for 10 or under four times. The Denver Broncos were the only team with a lowest scoring output than us.
• Yards per game (28th): Indy was not much better at moving the ball down the field either, ranking 28th in offensive yards per game. There were some especially dreadful games, against the Chargers the Colts amassed just 173 yards of total offense, and against the Patriots a lousy 121.
• Sacks allowed (31st): The regression of the offensive line has been the undoing of this entire unit. The left tackle and right guard position were a mess early on in the season, starting the terrible Matt Pryor and the unexperienced Danny Pinter at right guard. Ballard took a big shot on those two guys, which is okay, the problem was he had absolutely no backup plan in case that shot failed. As a result the Colts were constantly scrambling for solutions and different combinations to try and solve the issue, throwing the continuation they so valued down the drain. Matt Ryan was demolished on seemingly every single play, and he just seemed antsy the rest of the season.
• Explosive passing plays (24th): Once again, another underwhelming stat. With Michael Pittman Jr., rookie receiver Alec Pierce, and a healthy Parris Campbell, the expectations were high for the Colts’ passing offense, who was among the worst in the NFL in generating big plays.
• Yards per carry (26th): With Jonathan Taylor, I did not expect the offensive line’s regression to hold back the Colts’ running game so much, but JT was hurt throughout most of the season and his explosiveness was clearly not the same. We did get some glimpses here and there, but overall it was a disappointing season for the All-Pro running back.
• Explosive running plays (26th): This is where JT’s lack of explosiveness was evident, as the Colts had been the most explosive running offense last season, and relied on Taylor a lot to get those chunk plays. Instead, the Colts ranked in the bottom of the league in running plays over 20 yards this season.
• Turnovers per Game (32nd): And the biggest disappointment of the season, the Colts were the team with the most turnovers this season. This was the most careless offense I have seen with the ball, making dumb mistakes on what seemed like every single drive. The amount of times the Colts had a good drive going, only to fumble or throw an interception in the red-zone was infuriating, and it probably will not get any better with a rookie quarterback under center, so get ready to most likely being worse before we manage to get better once again.

As a result of this terrible rankings, the Colts ranked second to last in both EPA / Dropback and Rush EPA / Attempt, which are the advanced metrics preferred to measure just how good (or in this case bad) an offense really was.