Frank Reich's Colts have gone from one of NFL's best first-quarter teams to one of its worst

INDIANAPOLIS – The Colts have spent almost the entire season playing from behind, desperately trying to climb out of a deep, dark hole with potential footholds crumbling the entire way.

The one time they scored a touchdown in the first quarter, it was handed to them. The two times they’ve scored first, the Colts ended up on the wrong side of the scoreboard by the end of the first half.

Three times, Indianapolis mounted a comeback, but they only finished one of those games with a win.

The horrible starts sit right at the top of a long list of problems that have weighed the Colts down like a battleship’s anchor in an ugly 1-2-1 start.

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“Your margin for error from that point on is like zero,” starting quarterback Matt Ryan said of the deficits the Colts have faced. “Sometimes you’re there, and you’ve got to find a way, and you’ve got be resilient, but it makes it very difficult to overcome, and … it’s not the intent going out there. We’d love to play from in front.”

Getting out of the blocks to start the season has often been a problem for the Colts under head coach Frank Reich and general manager Chris Ballard, a problem at least partially explained by the fact that Indianapolis has had five different starting quarterbacks in the last five seasons.

But answering the starter’s gun at the beginning of games has rarely been a problem for Reich’s teams.

For four years, Indianapolis has often been at its best working off Reich’s script of plays to open the game, better than almost any team in the league. From 2018-2021, the Colts ranked fourth in the NFL in point differential (+91) and yards per play (4.8) in the first quarter, according to pro-football-reference.com, riding the script to big leads.

Four games into the 2022 season, Indianapolis has scored just 10 points in the first quarter, tied for 22nd in the NFL, and averaged just 3.3 yards per play (26th), all while giving up 27 points. The numbers get worse in the second quarter; the Colts have been outscored 38-13, or 65-23 before the half.

None of Reich’s prior teams in Indianapolis have been outscored in the first half over the course of the season. A year ago, the Colts couldn’t finish.

This season, that’s the only thing Indianapolis can do. The Colts have scored 24 points in the fourth quarter and still haven’t given up a point.

“We have to stop putting ourselves in holes,” running back Nyheim Hines said. “That’s really what it is. We can’t keep coming back every week. … For once, let’s start out in front of somebody and see what they do.”

Fixing a problem that hasn’t been there in the past presents a new set of challenges for a coaching staff.

“You check everything,” Reich said. “We know what our process is as far as what we’ve done and what’s worked for us, but you always have to look to adapt and adjust, and that’s what we’re continuing to do.”

Putting a finger on what’s gone wrong in the first quarter this season — and in the disastrous final two games of the 2021 season — seems hard at first.

“Honestly, I can’t put my finger on it,” Hines said. “I think it’s a missed execution or a miscommunication, one of the two. Some plays, we think it’s one thing and it’s not, then the next play we have a miscommunication.”

Reich’s offense used to be deadly on the opening drives of games.

Indianapolis has received the opening kickoff in every game so far this season. Those four drives have ended in a three-and-out (Houston), interception (Jacksonville), three-and-out (Kansas City) and fumble (Jacksonville).

The Colts are minus-17 in the first quarter so far in 2022, the second-worst mark in the league.

“We’ve had a couple of opening drives that looks like we’ve got it going, we get over midfield and then end up with a turnover or a drive-stopping play,” Reich said. “On defense, we’ve played well (overall), but they’ve scored early, then we’ve been great in the second half. We’ve got to tighten that up.”

Ultimately, the answers to the Colts’ slow starts lie in the offense’s problems at large, issues that have typically been strengths in the Reich era, just as starting fast in games has typically been a strength for Indianapolis under his leadership.

From 2018-2021, the Colts have been fifth in the league in rushing, fifth in turnover margin and second-best in the league at preventing sacks.

Four games into the 2022 season, Indianapolis is 27th, 31st and 29th in those same categories, hamstrung by an underperforming offensive line that hasn’t cleared the way for the running game or protected Ryan in the pocket.

Poor offensive line play has led to a flood of turnovers from Ryan and a rushing attack that has left the NFL’s reigning rushing champion, Jonathan Taylor, slamming into crowded piles at the line of scrimmage in frustration, rather than running with the patience and vision that keyed his incredible run over the past two seasons.

“The two things on offense have been turnovers and poor running game,” Reich said. “To me, it’s primarily about those two factors.”

Four games into the season, the Colts are already behind in the AFC South, in danger of letting the division slip away again to the Jaguars or Titans, the way they did last season, letting Tennessee get so far ahead that the Colts' furious charge in November and December ultimately came up short.

“We’ve got to start faster,” Ryan said. “And we’ve got to figure it out quick.”

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts' NFL football slow starts symptom of underlying offensive issues