INDIANAPOLIS — The Colts finally found a rhythm.
The first-team offense put together some sustained drives, finally scoring its first touchdown of the preseason.
What they didn’t find was consistency in the offensive line or the running game.
Colts fans expecting to see more in the final major preseason tune-up for the starters should be fairly disappointed in what the team showed Saturday.
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The Colts first run went for a 3-yard loss. The Colts second pass play resulted in — imagine that — a sack of Andrew Luck.
It’s a familiar refrain, one that needs to change fast if the team wants to experience any success this season.
Yes, the Colts won 23-17. Winning is never a bad thing, but the result doesn’t matter as much as what the first-team offense and defense did.
The offensive line is still a work in progress. Anthony Castonzo, the starting left tackle, is still out with a right hamstring injury. But as Indianapolis coach Frank Reich said after a preseason loss to the Ravens, missing players isn’t an excuse. During the regular season, that’s going to happen with even more regularity than it has in the preseason thus far.
What’s there of the offensive line, though, is struggling. The Colts can’t run the ball. They can pass, if Luck has time to go through his progressions.
That’s a big if.
Luck was dialed in Saturday, at least. He felt the pressure multiple times, stepping up in the pocket or scrambling to gain positive yards. He was fantastic both passing and running the football, making plays with his legs when he had to and throwing on-target passes.
He played all but the last minute of the first half, finishing 8 of 10 for 90 yards and 1 touchdown, a beautiful strike to tight end Eric Ebron. He was sacked just once and scrambled 4 times for 27 yards.
It was a great individual performance for the Colts leader.
But with a team that can’t run the ball and can’t hold the pocket for long, Luck’s passing windows will close more and more as the year goes on.
In the first half, with both teams’ starting offenses in, the 49ers ran 18 times for 99 yards, good for 5.5 yards per carry. The Colts, on the other hand, ran 15 times for 32 yards, 2.1 yards per carry.
If you take out Andrew Luck’s 4 carries for 27 yards, the running back trio of Nyheim Hines, Christine Michael and Jordan Wilkins combined to rush 11 times for 5 yards, less than half a yard per carry.
“The run game wasn’t good enough tonight,” Reich said. “There were some good things in the pass game, but the running game, we expect a lot more than that. I know this was a good defense, so I give them some credit, but we need to do better.”
That kind of run game is not going to cut it. Not even close. The Colts are not going to win games if their quarterback accounts for 85 percent of their rush yards.
“I don’t think anybody is going to sit here and say we did that well enough, and it wasn’t just one person,” Luck said. “When it’s a tough day running the ball, the pass rush gets a little bit easier for the defense and you see the quarterbacks running around a little more than you like.”
The quarterback, of course, fresh off a half of running around more than you would like, agreed that he shouldn’t be the team’s leading rusher.
“Yeah, no, I should not,” Luck said.
The first-team defense, energized by the return of Clayton Geathers last week and Malik Hooker this week, was hit and miss.
They gave up a deep pass halfway through the first quarter from 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to Pierre Garcon for 47 yards. They tightened up in the red zone, though, forcing a turnover on downs, an encouraging sign for the Colts.
They deflected several Garoppolo passes, leaving the QB with a 9 for 19 day with 135 yards.
Rookie linebacker Darius Leonard continued his strong preseason, nearly intercepting two different Garoppolo passes. Ryan Delaire, a defensive end, had two sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
The run defense does need some work. The 49ers finished with 126 rushing yards on 28 attempts. Morris averaged 84 yards on 17 carries.
Indianapolis isn’t likely to find many answers before the season starts. Few, if any, starters should see any significant playing time in the final preseason game on Thursday at Cincinnati.
If this was Luck’s final tune-up — and it should be — it was a strong finish for him. He is 20 for 32 for 204 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT in the preseason. The Colts first-team offense ran 11 drives, resulting in three field goals and one touchdown.
The numbers aren’t staggering, but considering how much time Luck missed due to injury, it’s something that Colts fans should be more than happy with.
That offensive line, though? That needs some serious work, and the Colts are running out of time.
