The Indianapolis Colts played perhaps their most lifeless game of the Frank Reich era in the 26-3 loss to the New England Patriots in Week 9. But left guard Quenton Nelson was anything but lifeless in front of reporters after the game.
Nelson seemed plenty passionate, as he sent his team a direct message following their third straight loss.
“We wanna get this s*** corrected, immediately,” he told reporters. “It’s not, ‘It’s only Week 9, we’re 3-5-1.’ No.’
“We gotta get this done now, and have that urgency around the building.”
Quenton Nelson on the offensive line: “We wanna get this shit corrected, immediately. It’s not, ‘It’s only Week 9, we’re 3-5-1.’ No. We gotta get this done now, and have that urgency around the building.”
Changes to Colts Offense Make No Difference
While it’s great to hear one of the team leaders get fiery after a record-low day for the team’s offense, the problem up to this point doesn’t seem to be a lack of urgency from the coaching staff to fix the offense.
In fact, head coach Frank Reich has pretty much tried everything. In the last two weeks alone, the Colts have benched their starting quarterback and fired their offensive coordinator.
Reich has also tried numerous different offensive line combinations this season and nothing has helped. The Colts allowed a season-high 9 sacks against the Patriots in Week 9.
New starting quarterback Sam Ehlinger showed promise in his first NFL start, going 17 for 23 with 201 yards. But with a vastly underperforming offensive line against Bill Belichick, Ehlinger was overwhelmed against the Patriots.
Ehlinger finished 15-for-29 with only 103 passing yards. He averaged 3.6 yards per pass with an interception.
Moving on from offensive coordinator Marcus Brady this past week didn’t help either. The Colts were shut out in the first half for the third time this season. It was also the third time the Colts didn’t score a touchdown this year.
All blame for this latest offensive performance from Indianapolis will be focused on Reich. He has been the team’s playcaller all season, but he also has even more responsibilities for the Colts offense with the team firing Brady.
How Do Colts Fix Offensive Line?
The quickest way for the Colts to turn around this season is for the team to do exactly what Nelson described — get things corrected along the offensive line.
That’s easier said than done. After Matt Pryor failed at left and right tackle, the team tried to hide him at right guard in Week 9. It ended with Pryor getting benched again.
Rookie Bernhard Raimann and veteran Dennis Kelly shared snaps at left tackle in Week 9. Neither really emerged deserving more snaps as the Colts gave up 12 quarterback hits and 8 tackles for loss in addition to 9 sacks.
Indianapolis is just about out of options in terms of offensive line combinations based on who’s currently on the roster.
One doomsday change the Colts could implement is firing offensive line coach Chris Strausser. There were questions from the media about why Strausser was spared when Brady was fired on November 2. After the offensive line’s latest performance in Week 9, Strausser losing his job would be justified.
But it’s not clear who would replace him and whether such a change would have much of an impact on the offensive line overall.
If the Colts are going to correct things up front this season, they will have to do it with who they have.
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Colts’ Quenton Nelson Puts Team on Notice After Third Straight Loss