Indianapolis, IN — When Shane Steichen was brought in to be the next head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, he had quite the journey ahead of him. Returning to square one after developing quarterbacks Justin
Herbert and Jalen Hurts into the basis of what they’ve become, respectively, Steichen’s uphill battle as a first-time head coach has been nothing short of lesson-worthy.
From day one, Steichen’s offensive genius has rubbed off on the Colts, for better or worse. His creative, modern concepts have been an exciting change since the jump, and so have his game within the game shenanigans that oftentimes result in the opposing head coach burning a timeout. Regardless of his determined, enthusiastic demeanor, Steichen’s growing pains as a young head coach have been apparent.
Steichen’s fluent coachspeak has rubbed fans the wrong way at times. Most notably, how he and the rest of the Colts handled Anthony Richardson’s early-career development. Given that it has since been revealed that a greater organizational dysfunction played the biggest part in such unpreparedness, we must remind ourselves that there are two sides to every coin, and Anthony Richardson did not hold up his end of the bargain, either.
Regardless of how the first two years had gone, Steichen’s youth as a head coach in other areas, such as clock and/or late-game management, has resurfaced as recently as last week versus the Denver Broncos. The third-year head coach had elected to play for a field goal in the 60-yard range, and although kicker Spencer Shrader hadn’t missed at the time, his career-long to date was 45 yards. It was a boneheaded decision that the football Gods turned a blind eye to, and Shane Steichen has since admitted he was at fault, but the jury is still out, for some fans and analysts, on whether his coaching woes are mere slips up or smaller pieces of a greater issue.
For as much nitpicking that can be done, Shane Steichen has this Colts team, not just the offense, firing on all cylinders through three weeks of the 2025-26 season. Singling out the offense, however, invites a fun exercise in itself. The 2025 Colts offense isn’t just off to a hot start, it’s off to one of the hottest starts in NFL history, and that’s thanks in big part to the mindset that Steichen wanted to instill into the organization when he was hired.
When he was hired, Steichen explained that his offensive philosophy was to “throw to score points and run to win.” So far this season, that mindset has materialized into an all-time efficient unit. The Colts are the best offense in the NFL on early downs (1st/2nd), thus making life easier on themselves on the back half of any downs-to-go scenario, but the red zone has resulted in the offense’s only struggle thus far.
Entering Week 3, the Colts were first in the NFL in average yards to gain on both 2nd (6.6 yards) and 3rd down (5.3 yards), thanks to the aforementioned success they’ve had on first downs. Their leaguewide-best average of 7.7 yards per play on first down has allowed this Colts offense to thrive in its drives, seemingly moving the ball at will at times.
Shane Steichen once again emphasized this priority back in March at the NFL Owners’ Meeting. “Taking those completions is huge,” he explained to the media, even before signing Daniel Jones in free agency. “Just moving the chains instead of being at second and 10 and even taking the check downs, getting yourself to second and 2.”
It’s not solely the success rate, either. A massive factor in such efficiency from this Colts offense has been due to negative play rate: in short, the Daniel Jones-led Colts are hardly ever going backwards. This is new to everyone on the Colts offense, even the quarterback leading the charge. According to Jim Ayello of The Athletic, Jones used to be the face of negative plays during his time with the New York Giants. From 2019-2024, 9.8% of Daniel Jones’ dropbacks ended in an INT or sack, good for 35th of 40 QBs with at least 1,000 passes attempted. After three weeks with the Colts, Jones leads the league with a 2% negative play rate.
Heading into the week, the Colts’ offense was tied with the Buffalo Bills for most red zone trips (11), but sported an uninspiring 36.4 percent touchdown-scored ratio. Against the Titans, however, Indy started to stack together some success.. Although they played themselves into a 24-yard field goal attempt on their opening drive, Indy’s offense would end up scoring touchdowns on three of its remaining four red zone trips. Two of which were 1-yard touchdown rushes by Jonathan Taylor, whereas the other two hardly qualify for red zone designation as the third touchdown scored was a 20-yard pass from Daniel Jones to Michael Pittman Jr., with the last red zone trip — a field goal attempt — coming from the 18-yard line. Even if you were to omit Pittman Jr.’s score entirely, to even the TD:FG ratio is a promising step, regardless if it’s a marginal improvement.
This Colts supporting cast has been touted by Colts fans, media, and personnel alike for years as being a quarterback away from legitimate success. It’s an offense that has had one of the best offensive lines in the NFL, no matter the personnel, an all-world running back who has seemingly evolved his game, and now has the definition of a complementary receiving corps. General manager Chris Ballard has built a top-tier offense by throwing yet another reclamation project at it, as well as some personal side projects coming into their own, yet it has only worked so flawlessly thanks to Shane Steichen’s commitment to Daniel Jones leading it.
Jones’ pre-snap savviness is proving to set the offense up once the ball is snapped, and his calculated efforts in getting his playmakers the ball have been wonderfully executed. He’s not just doing so after force-feeding the ball to Jonathan Taylor on early downs, no, Steichen, Jones, and Co. are utilizing the passing game to open up the playing field as well. Through three weeks, Daniel Jones is 3rd in the NFL in passing (816 yards) and 4th in completion percentage (71.6%) while Jonathan Taylor leads the league in both rushing (338 yards).
Shane Steichen’s use of heavy motion paired with lots of play-action and bootlegs post-snap has allowed Jones to move the ball at will, while simultaneously birthing a newfound comfort level in the backfield. His resurgence as a passer versus the blitz and/or under pressure has been well-documented, but Jones is truly operating the pocket more confidently than ever.
By establishing consistency early on, Jones and the rest of the Colts offense have found a first-half groove through the air as Jonathan Taylor gashes the defense throughout, before eventually pivoting in the second half to a run-heavy affair altogether. This Colts offense is operationally beating opposing defenses down between the ears in the first half so that a fresh Jonathan Taylor run game can wear them down to seal the deal: aka throwing to score and running to win.
The offense broke an NFL record in Week 2 for the most consecutive scoring drives (10) to start a season. Through three weeks, the offense is averaging 34 points and 425.3 yards per game. They’ve also yet to commit a turnover through three games, the first time in franchise history. There’s now a reality where this Colts offense unlocks another level of itself, and that should instill fear into opposing defenses across the league.
Needless to say, this isn’t just unforeseen production from Shane Steichen, Daniel Jones, and company; it’s an outlier of the highest regard. It’s borderline unfathomable that the same organization that was led by Peyton Manning for over a decade has begun rewriting the record books with — checks notes — Daniel Jones at the helm. Then again, perhaps this was Chris Ballard’s vision all along. It’s a testament to all parties involved, but the man running the show, head coach Shane Steichen, deserves his flowers given how abruptly they’ve blossomed. A drought was on the horizon for Chris Ballard, Shane Steichen, and Daniel Jones, but together, they’ve turned in an early-season rebound that could very well suggest it’ll develop into a return on investment for the ages.
