Colts Need to Use or Lose Trent Richardson

Sep 7, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Indianapolis Colts running back Trent Richardson (34) rushes in the fourth quarter against the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. The Broncos defeated the Colts 31-24. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The Indianapolis Colts came up short against the Denver Broncos last night after making a furious comeback in the fourth quarter. They started the game off extremely shaky in the first half, and ended up trailing the Broncos 24-7 heading into the third quarter. Andrew Luck immediately came out of nowhere to start the second half, and ended up throwing for 370 yards and two touchdowns.

One disappointing aspect of the game last night, was that the Colts didn’t give the ground game a chance. Trent Richardson has been a disappointment since signing with the Colts, but they only gave him six carries. He picked up 20 yards on those six carries, but that simply isn’t enough for the Colts to justify even attempting to get the ground game going.

Denver’s defense is solid against the run, but the Colts didn’t have terrible success when they did hand the football off. Ahmad Bradshaw ran three times for 15 yards, and as a team the Colts picked up 54 yards on 14 attempts. They aren’t the best numbers out there, but they certainly didn’t warrant forcing Luck to put the ball in the air 53 times.

So why does the title say that the Colts should use Richardson or lose him?

Quite simply, if they aren’t going to run the football he shouldn’t be in the game. He did have three catches for 31 yards, but Bradshaw came in as the backup running back and caught five passes for 70 yards. If the Colts don’t want to run the football, they need to have Bradshaw on the field at all times, especially with the ability to make plays that he showed last night.

Offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton went from one extreme last season, to another extreme this year. He showed once again that he has no business calling plays at the NFL level. One of his main issues last year was pounding the football way too much, and he decided that to correct that mistake, he wouldn’t use the ground game at all last night and would force Luck to make nearly every single play with an inconsistent offensive line.

If the Colts are going to win games against legitimate competition, they are going to need a healthy balance of both the pass and run. They can’t afford to focus on doing one over the other, especially not to the extent that they did last night. Richardson actually looked decent on a few plays and a couple runs last night, and they needed to continue putting the ball in his hands here and there to keep his confidence up and see what he could give them.

Indianapolis will face a fairly weak defense in the Philadelphia Eagles next Monday, and Richardson needs to have the football in his hands at least 15-17 times per game. Luck needs to be the main offensive weapon, but they need to try and establish the ground game in order to take pressure off of him. It will be interesting to see what Hamilton and the Colts do, but they need to either use or lose Richardson from this point forward.