Indianapolis Colts enjoy benefits of a balanced attack

The Indianapolis Colts dismantled the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, winning convincingly 27-7 at Candlestick Park – and moved to 2-1 on the season.

Defensively, the Colts held the 49ers to 254 yards of total offense – 139 yards passing and 115 rushing.

Offensively the Colts had 336 total yards – 179 rushing and 157 passing.  While the numbers aren’t staggering, it is still impressive to go into another team’s stadium and outgain and all around outplay them.

Gone are the days in Indianapolis when they were a pass first, run later type of offense.  The word is “balance” these days for the Colts.  With the acquisition of bruising running back Trent Richardson from Cleveland last week, and with incumbent Ahmad Bradshaw performing well – 41 carries for 186 yards in 2013 – the pressure doesn’t all fall on the young Andrew Luck to do everything.  So far the Colts rank 4^th in the NFL in rushing yards per game at 146.3.

In an interview with the Associated Press, head coach Chuck Pagano discussed the confidence his team has gained this season, and the benefits of his team buying into the balanced attack.

“It builds confidence throughout the locker room, throughout the organization and obviously on both sides of the ball and special teams,” Pagano said. “Like you said, they (the players) have bought in from Day 1, but it just lends credence to what you’re doing philosophically. When you lay out a blueprint, it doesn’t matter what venue, if we’re home or away, it shows that if you stick to the process, it comes to fruition and you go win a game like we just won, you can build on that.”

With a victory in the defending NFC champ’s backyard, that confidence must be at an all-time high.