Chuck Pagano hinting Colts will use aggressive passing offense to open up run game
By Mike Dyce
The Trent Richardson experiment with the Indianapolis Colts doesn’t seem to have gotten any better with a full offseason under his belt now. His paltry 2.9 yards per carry average has dropped to 2.4 yards per carry albeit in a very limited amount of preseason snaps not always with the entire first-team personnel.
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The Colts seem committed to getting the Rock to succeed however. Colts head coach Chuck Pagano made some interesting comments about how the passing game could open up the run game for Richardson, suggesting they might be a little bit more aggressive in the passing game to get opposing defenses to clear out the box.
“I think everybody wants this guy to get going and that guy to get going, but there’s some tough sledding right now and we’re working at it,” Pagano said, via ESPN. “I think having the capability to do the other thing is going to open things up in the run game for us.”
Richardson did seem to have success in the preseason running from a formation that had Andrew Luck in the shotgun.
“I think any time for any back, not only Trent, I think any time you spread people out and you’re in one-back situations, you’re in the gun,” Pagano said. “Everything’s dictated on what the defense presents. If they give you a light box, it doesn’t matter who’s in there, you’re going to have an opportunity to gain some yards. … It kind of depends on how the defense decides to defend you. If they go light box and they spread things out, I think for any runner he’s going to have an opportunity to gain more yards. First and second down, you can do the same thing. If they want to drop a safety down like this team likes to do, you’re still going to be, get a hat on a hat, you’re still going to have to get things blocked up and make a guy miss probably on his own.”