The Indianapolis Colts had to adjust to a new normal, at least temporarily, when they took the field for Week 3 action on Sunday against the Houston Texans.
They’re without star wide receiver Alec Pierce, who is on Injured Reserve with a heel injury. That forces everyone else on the WR depth chart to step up.
And at least as far as final result is concerned, that happened — the Colts beat the Texans, 19-17, doing just enough against a potent defense to score a touchdown through the air along with four field goals.
It’s worth a look deeper into the pass catching, as well, because Pierce still is going to be out at least a few more weeks.
Things could change once Darius Slayton is active, too — he was inactive in Week 3 because he had only joined the Colts in the middle of the week and wasn’t up to speed yet.
But for now, there are some clear trends that showed already.
Colts WRs Without Alec Pierce
The Colts had a clear top-two in their wide receiver pecking order without Pierce.
The slot man Josh Downs led the Colts in receiving yards on Sunday, with 77 yards. He had five catches.
Downs also led the Colts with 11 targets — so the 5-for-11 catches on his targets wasn’t ideal, but it was clear Daniel Jones wanted to get Downs the ball all over the field.
The veteran Keenan Allen joined in with his best game for the Colts. He finished with six catches for 63 yards, including a short-range touchdown. Jones targeted Allen nine times.
Only one other WR caught a pass — Laquon Treadwell for 20 yards on his lone target.
No other wideouts were targeted.
This adds up with what the snap counts looked like, to an extent
The Colts played 71 offensive snaps, and Allen was on the field for 52 of them. Downs played 48 snaps.
Treadwell actually led the WR group with 56 snaps, which suggests he held down a lot of Pierce’s role, which is what he did when Pierce exited in Week 2 with his injury.
The Treadwell role seems the most precarious here, because that’s likely where the Colts would use Slayton once he’s ready to go.
Beyond these three: Deion Burks was on the field for 10 offensive snaps, and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine played a single offensive snap.
Tyler Warren Usage
The other big beneficiary here appears to be the tight end Tyler Warren. He was targeted 10 times on Sunday and caught nine of them for 55 yards.
Warren also added one short-yardage run for two yards.
And as far as snaps — Warren received the most playing time (67-of-71 offensive snaps) of any Colts skill position player.
Clearly, the Colts are going to lean in on Warren’s versatile skillset for as long as Pierce has to be out.
How Colts Used WRs Without Injured Alec Pierce