Colts-Titans

[Kid Minneapolis]

Re: Colts-Titans

I never said it was a conspiracy just that it's a difference in play calling

[Since86]

Re: Colts-Titans

On a side note, anyone else watch Luck get the impression that he's probably a pretty good hooper too? Everytime I see the replay of his TD run, I picture him dribbling a basketball doing that inside-outside juke.

[Cubs231721]

Re: Colts-Titans

I never said it was a conspiracy just that it's a difference in play calling

Apologies for the mischaracterization. What are those differences? What types of plays are they calling for Brown that allow him to succeed that they aren't for Richardson? I'm certainly not seeing any difference in how they are used as far as formations or down and distance in recent weeks. They've been used pretty interchangably for those things. Is there something more complicated than that in the plays themselves that are fundamentally different between the two?

[PacersHomer]

Re: Colts-Titans

Richardson should be the 3rd down back. He can catch and pass block, and I think he could thrive running out of the shotgun. Let Brown start, Richardson get the 2 minute offense and 3rd down plays.

[Johanvil]

Re: Colts-Titans

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-h...own-highlights

On several plays you can see the Titans get close to hitting Brown at the line of scrimmage but Brown's speed and agility let him slide through the first line and build up a head of steam. He's able to avoid the initial tackle instead of having to break it, although he did show some good ability to shake off arm tackles (which of course is a little surprising with his reputation).

This. Let's not paint a picture of Brown only having obvious holes that he hit.

As I mentioned before, this happened at least twice that I can recall. Bit of patience, speed and decisiveness.

[Sollozzo]

Re: Colts-Titans

On a side note, anyone else watch Luck get the impression that he's probably a pretty good hooper too? Everytime I see the replay of his TD run, I picture him dribbling a basketball doing that inside-outside juke.

Yeah I bet Luck is good at anything that involves athleticism.

[Johanvil]

Re: Colts-Titans

Would he be a tall point guard?

[Since86]

Re: Colts-Titans

Apologies for the mischaracterization. What are those differences? What types of plays are they calling for Brown that allow him to succeed that they aren't for Richardson? I'm certainly not seeing any difference in how they are used as far as formations or down and distance in recent weeks. They've been used pretty interchangably for those things. Is there something more complicated than that in the plays themselves that are fundamentally different between the two?

You don't see the difference in formations? Last night, they used the jumbo package with Donald, but before then he ever hardly ran out of it. A lot of his runs were out of the shotgun, something I don't think I've ever seen Richardson getting. Richardson's playcalling has been between the tackles on runs. Brown gets some variations of a stretch play.

There are HUGE differences, before last night, about how they were using each back.

[Since86]

Re: Colts-Titans

Would he be a tall point guard?

I was looking for his HS stats last night, and the only thing I found was an interview from his HS bball coach saying he played in the post, and did the dirty work. I bet he was a very good rebounder, with that size in both terms of height and just how solid his core is. (He was pretty stout coming into Stanford) I bet he could be a very good PG though, with his vision, feel, and athleticism.


There are a lot of similiarites between him and Nate Davis, who played QB at Ball St a few years ago. Nate was one of the best basketball players I ever played with. Great passing ability, and he was a little bit shorter than Luck but still had that wide body with sneaky athleticism. Nate could also shoot lights out from anywhere inside the halfcourt line. (If you don't believe me, just google the ohio all time HS scorers)

[Johanvil]

Re: Colts-Titans

A lot of his runs were out of the shotgun, something I don't think I've ever seen Richardson getting.

Ever? He has been part of single back formations cause the coaches at last realized they were telegraphing the runs. Him and Havili are not part and parcel anymore. The last few weeks that is. You will still see them both in but not all the time.

[Since86]

Re: Colts-Titans

I've seen them run Trent out of single back sets, but not running plays out of the shotgun. I may very well be wrong, I just don't remember any. I know Brown gets quite a few out of shotgun though.

[Cubs231721]

Re: Colts-Titans

You don't see the difference in formations? Last night, they used the jumbo package with Donald, but before then he ever hardly ran out of it. A lot of his runs were out of the shotgun, something I don't think I've ever seen Richardson getting. Richardson's playcalling has been between the tackles on runs. Brown gets some variations of a stretch play.

There are HUGE differences, before last night, about how they were using each back.

Looking at the 4 previous games and shotgun runs (I just stopped there for time purposes):

San Diego: Richardson 1, Brown 0
Denver: Richardson 5, Brown 3
Houston: Richardson 0, Brown 3
St. Louis: Richardson 1, Brown 0
Tennessee: Richardson 0, Brown 0

Richardson had 45 carries over that time to Brown's 36 and 7 shotgun runs to Brown's 6. That's pretty close to identical.

Going to their splits, Brown has 19 of his 55 runs graded as middle runs which is the most of any type of run for him. That's where he's been most effective averaging 7.5 yards per carry. Richardson's splits are messed up (presumably because of the trade) so I can't see how his ratio stacks up. But Brown has been running inside the tackles a pretty good amount.

[Since86]

Re: Colts-Titans

Where are you coming up with this? Not that I don't believe it, just that being that specific it sounds like someone has tracked it, or you've broken down film on it.

Stampedeblue wrote an article, which I've quoted a couple times, where he broke down film on running situations, and he came up with what I'm saying too.

Why is it just Richardson Struggling Running the Ball?

One reason is that Brown looks more comfortable. He looks more decisive and seems to stay more "north and south" instead of "east and west", like Richardson has tried to do at times. Essentially, this means that Brown doesn't wait as long to cut it upfield as Richardson does. Brown is also quicker off the cut and accelerates faster than Richardson. Donald Brown is having a tremendous year after having a dismal first few in Indy, and he has been good enough this year that not only do I think the Colts will re-sign him at the end of the year, but I think it would be a good move - something I never thought I would think coming into the season. We can't ignore the fact that Donald Brown is having a really good year and that is attributed to a variety of factors, including (but not limited to) the fact he hasn't had to shoulder the whole load, improved vision and decisiveness, and an increased comfort level.

All of that said, we haven't hit on the main reason for Brown having so much success while Richardson isn't, and this may be the biggest issue that no one is talking about: the playcalling.

It has become somewhat popular to criticize offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton this year, and a lot of it has been justified, but almost no one is talking about this aspect of it. I think that Richardson is actually doing exactly what should be expected of him given the play calls.
I mentioned earlier that almost all of Richardson's runs are straight up the middle. The Colts don't really hide it - they often run in obvious run situations and in obvious run formations - and instead just try to overpower the defense. They just hand it off to Richardson and tell him to run straight up the middle, with the little variance often coming from Richardson bouncing a designed run up the middle outside.

The truth is this: Trent Richardson is a very good short yardage back. Both of his touchdowns this year have been 1-yard scores, and he has done a good job in the other short yardage situations they have given him the ball in. It is probably his biggest strength and he has certainly done well there so far. Here's the problem, though: the Colts are treating most Richardson runs the same way, regardless of the situation. Lining up in a run formation when the defense knows it will probably be a run and then just pounding the football up the middle? That's what you do in short yardage - when you need 3 yards or less. They are essentially running a short yardage running game no matter where they are on the field and no matter how long it is to the first down, and the results have been about what you would expect from a short yardage run game - 3 yards per carry.

This also answers perhaps the two biggest objections to the offensive line failures being to blame for Richardson's struggles: 1) why is Donald Brown doing so well then? and 2) why did Richardson look so much better with the Browns when they had a bad line too - perhaps even worse?

Here's the answers to those two questions:

1) When Donald Brown is in the game, the Colts often are either in a passing situation or a passing formation - at least much more often than when Richardson is in the game. Quite a few of Brown's runs have come out of the shotgun and quite a few of his runs have been when defenses were expecting pass. That is in stark opposition to Trent Richardson, who has gotten most of his handoffs while Luck was under center and quite a few of them came when the defense was expecting pass. While not taking anything away from Donald Brown, a lot of his runs have been made possible because Pep Hamilton mixed up the formations and play calling a bit. He hasn't seemed to do that near as often when Richardson is in the game.

2) After watching tape on Richardson in Indy and seeing the offensive line struggle so much, I too wondered how he rushed for 950 yards and averaged 3.6 yards per carry last year for Cleveland playing behind an offensive line that is just as bad as the Colts's line. It was evident just by watching film of the Browns with Richardson (for the first two games this year, too) that they mixed it up a lot more. It wasn't always the best play calling but they still varied in their calls much more than the Colts have and they ran Richardson outside a ton more than the Colts have. They pitched the ball outside to him numerous times in the games I watched a bit of and they helped mask the problem of a bad offensive line by not running directly up the middle of it every single play.

http://www.stampedeblue.com/2013/11/1/5055152/an-in-depth-look-at-trent-richardsons-struggles-so-far-with-the-colts

[Cubs231721]

Re: Colts-Titans

ESPN's play by play tracks when a team is in the shotgun formation which is where I drew the shotgun runs per game from. The splits are from his ESPN player page where it breaks down runs by down and distance, by play direction, by field position, etc.

I'm guessing if you went further back to the games where Richardson had just been acquired that you would get a different story. Brown was playing more of a change of pace guy role back then (I would say 3rd down back, but the vast majority of his runs and success have come on 1st and 2nd down). The Colts have played 3 games since that article was written which is probably where the disconnect is coming from. I would mostly agree with the article that after running a couple of pitch plays for him against the Jaguars, the Colts basically ran Richardson up the middle for 2-3 games in a row. Since the bye, it's been more varied for both Brown and Richardson, but it's been extremely hard to isolate because the Colts have abandoned the running game so early in a couple of those games.

[Kid Minneapolis]

Re: Colts-Titans

This. Let's not paint a picture of Brown only having obvious holes that he hit.

As I mentioned before, this happened at least twice that I can recall. Bit of patience, speed and decisiveness.

DBrown certainly had a few busted lines on runs up the gut and ya know what? He got stuffed hard on those plays. Just like TRich. They're pounding TRich up the middle on obvious run plays for 1 yard gains where our line gets little to no push. They do it repeatedly.

Whoever linked http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-h...own-highlights

Look at the push and the holes on those plays. There's rarely times when defenders get into the backfield and hit Brown before the line of scrimmage. Conversely, that's about all TRich sees --- handoff and then 2 defenders flying at him, having already popped the bubble.