With Week 1 of the NFL season, there’s a level of unpredictability that all teams come with, given the adjustments made over the offseason to the playbook, the addition of a new coordinator, and roster changes.
For the Colts, while this is Year 2 of Anthony Richardson and Shane Steichen being together, Richardson has just 173 career offensive plays under his belt, which includes only 98 career dropbacks.
On one hand, Richardson is still an inexperienced player and with that there will be some growing pains that exist, as we saw in the preseason finale against Cincinnati. But on the flip side, relatively speaking, teams have seen very little of what the Steichen and Richardson playbook can actually do.
With Richardson’s ability to impact the game both with his arm and his legs, from a play-calling standpoint, Steichen can really stress opposing defenses by marrying running and passing concepts together, which can keep the defense off-balanced and guessing.
Even without Richardson for most of last season, the Colts utilized RPOs at one of the higher rates in the NFL.
This stressor on defenses can then help open up running lanes for the Colts to take advantage of, as well as opportunities in the passing game for Richardson.
Another added wrinkle to all of this is the Colts having Jonathan Taylor in the mix with Richardson. Last season, the duo were on the field together for only two snaps. Adding a high level running back to everything just described only makes things all the more difficult for defenses.
The Texans will, of course, use the film that they have of Richardson to formulate their game-plan, but at not even a year old, some of that from last season could already be outdated.
Although Richardson missed time last year, he is in his second season in Steichen’s system, and that continuity leads to comfortability, allowing Steichen to dive deeper into the playbook, opening up new avenues to exploit.
As highlighted in my latest prediction roundup, the Texans are the overwhelming favorite in this matchup. However, what the Colts have is an added layer of unpredictability around their offense, and when coupled with dynamic players like Richardson and Taylor, those unscouted looks can create havoc for the opponent.
