Originally Posted by JAFF
Insider: Gardner Minshew's limitations exposed in Jacksonville and put Colts in tough spot
Joel A. Erickson
Indianapolis Star
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Colts find themselves back in a familiar position.
A spot they know all too well, although the difference is that this time the Colts didn’t put themselves there.
Indianapolis is going to have to carry its quarterback as long as Anthony Richardson remains on the sideline.
Because Gardner Minshew cannot make life easier on the rest of the offense.
Forced to put the ball in Minshew’s hands by Richardson’s injury and a Jaguars defense that dared the Indianapolis passing game to make plays, the Colts saw their backup quarterback’s limitations exposed in a 37-20 loss in Jacksonville, the place he first made his name in the NFL and a place that has become a house of horrors for Indianapolis over the better part of the past decade.
“I was careless with the ball,” Minshew said. “I didn't do a good enough job taking care of it. I put our team in a really bad spot, you know, and it's not fair to the rest of the guys.”
Minshew typically hasn’t been careless with the ball in his career in terms of interceptions.
Fumbling, the first turnover he committed Sunday, as Jaguars defensive end Josh Allen bore down on him from behind, has been an issue. He’s now fumbled 24 times in 26 career starts.
Interceptions haven’t posed the same problems. Minshew’s lifetime interception percentage is just 1.5%, a reasonable number that makes Sunday’s three-pick performance against an opportunistic Jaguars team seem like an outlier.
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But it’s the reasons for those interceptions, and a few of the other missed throws, that are going to make life difficult on the Colts offense as long as it doesn’t have Richardson, who could end up missing the entire season due to the AC injury he suffered against Tennessee last week.
“The one to (Michael Pittman Jr.), I sailed. The other (in-breaking route), I sailed,” Minshew said. “And then there was a fourth down, Cover Zero (man-to-man), I dropped (back) and tried to lay a ball up there, and I should have thrown it more outside.”
All three throws were down the field.
A place Minshew doesn’t throw often.
A place where his lack of arm strength can be an issue. Unlike Richardson, who has the easy velocity to fire heat-seeking missiles to downfield targets over the middle, Minshew can’t simply turn up the gas. When he does, the ball has a tendency to sail, and it can lead to incompletions or interceptions.
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Gardner Minshew II (10) on the bench during game action at EverBank Stadium on Sunday, Oct 15, 2023, in Jacksonville.
Minshew’s third interception, though, highlighted another limitation in his game. Unlike Richardson, who has shown a natural ability to evade oncoming rushers, escape the pocket and make throws on the move, Minshew has a tendency to speed up his process too much in the pocket, in part because he's not comfortable throwing on the move and cannot create a lot of space for himself with his legs.
When Minshew starts playing too fast, he misses.
He threw the third interception off his back foot, dropping back even though a pass rusher was a few steps away. On a couple of throws earlier in the game, he pulled the trigger early, firing as if the pocket was closing on him when, in reality, he had a little bit of space to operate.
“You know, Jacksonville did some good things,” Colts coach Shane Steichen said. “Obviously, it starts with myself. I’ve got to be better for him in those situations.”
But that’s part of the problem. It’s one of the reasons that Minshew remains a backup and that he was available for a relatively cheap contract in a rising backup market last offseason.
The Colts have to minimize Minshew’s shortcomings.
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It’s a problem Indianapolis has faced too many times since Andrew Luck’s retirement, the reason the Colts drafted Richardson in the first place. For Minshew to be successful long-term, Indianapolis is going to have to run the ball well, allowing Steichen to emphasize the quick, high-percentage passing game that fits Minshew’s skill set.
When Minshew is getting the ball out of his hands quickly — a strategy that keeps him from dealing with the pass rush — he is accurate, and he can put together long drives like the 16 plays the Colts used to open the scoring with a field goal.
The problem is that’s the way defenses want Indianapolis to play, and the antithesis of a Steichen offense that is predicated on creating explosive plays. Minshew completed 33 of 55 passes for 329 yards, a line that looks good at first glance, but ultimately comes up short, an average of just 6.0 yards per attempt, even though Indianapolis completed three throws of 40 yards or more.
Jacksonville was happy to let Minshew play that game Sunday. The Jaguars stacked the box, using a diamond front that puts seven defenders on the line of scrimmage, daring Minshew to throw deep, knowing he probably wouldn’t be able to do it enough to beat them.
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Gardner Minshew II (10) during game action at EverBank Stadium on Sunday, Oct 15, 2023, in Jacksonville.
Opponents hadn’t been playing the Colts that way.
Not with Richardson back there.
“They played a different defense,” center Ryan Kelly said. “They played base defense the entire day. If they’re going to cover up every single one of us, (the offensive line will) not be able to get on double teams.”
Which makes it difficult to get the dangerous 1-2 punch of Jonathan Taylor and Zack Moss going on the ground. Taylor and Moss combined for just 40 yards on 15 carries Sunday, spending most of their day running into a wall of Jaguars.
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The best way to beat that kind of approach?
Throw it deep. Make Jacksonville pay for using a heavy front.
A player like Taylor helps.
Under the previous coaching staff, particularly in 2021, Taylor was nearly able to run the Colts into the playoffs despite facing the same kind of fronts Indianapolis had to deal with Sunday.
But it’s not easy, and it’s going to put a ton of pressure on Steichen, offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter and the rest of the offensive staff to find answers. When Richardson was at the helm, the threat of the rookie’s legs often held the defense’s attention, making it easier for the offensive line to open holes.
“If that’s what teams are going to do, you need to have a counter-plan,” Taylor said. “You need to find a way to match that.”
As long as Richardson is out, the defense can stay focused on Taylor and Moss.
“When they do that, we do have to make them pay outside,” Minshew said. “We'll all take that personally as a challenge.”
Richardson was far from a finished product, but the Colts drafted him because his physical tools freed them from the shackles of the limited offense they’d been playing.
And the flashes were starting to show. Richardson brought Indianapolis roaring back by making remarkable plays with his arm against the Rams two weeks ago, had already opened holes for explosive runs with his legs.
The hard part is the Colts might not have Richardson for a long time.
Richardson is on injured reserve, and the team is still deciding whether he’ll need surgery, whether he’ll miss the entire season.
Minshew’s going to be the guy in the meantime.
“We continue to believe in him, and that’s not going to fade,” Pittman said. “If you look at all the games we have won, he’s had his hand in all those games.”
Minshew can help the Colts win despite his limitations.
But he can’t carry the weight of the offense, the way he tried to shoulder everything Sunday in Jacksonville, and for the Colts, that’s a reality that has been all too familiar.
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