. INDIANAPOLIS – We like Frank Reich, here in the Indianapolis media. Oh wait, was I not supposed to admit that? Sorry. This is not one of those stories where I’ll be writing like a “sportswriter,” whatever that looks like. This story is written by a human being. It’ll read that way.
We like Reich, coach of the Indianapolis Colts. All of us, would be my guess, though I can speak definitively only for myself.
As for you? I feel comfortable speaking for lots of you, because lots of you have spoken to me. Between Twitter, email, my text message group – sign up; it’s free and I won’t bug you much – plenty of Colts fans have made it plenty clear:
You’re not crazy about Frank Reich. At least, not this week, not after that 20-20 loss, er, tie with the Houston Texans.
Can’t say I blame you. Not this week. Not after that. The Colts had no business spotting the Texans, arguably the worst team in the NFL, a 20-3 lead. They did it by making mistake after mistake, from Matt Ryan’s four fumbles (!!) to Alec Pierce’s dropped pass in the end zone to Ashton Dulin letting another catchable TD pass fall incomplete after being hit by a defensive player. Running into the punter in the end zone, two pass interference penalties, Rodrigo Blankenship…
Well, a lot went wrong. And when a lot goes wrong, especially from the game’s beginning, you look at the coach. Understood.
But overall, big picture, Frank Reich isn’t bad at his job. You know what he is? He’s weird at his job.
Why is Frank Reich so aggressive?
To hear people around here tell it, Frank Reich is too aggressive, going for it on fourth down like he’s holding a joystick, not a laminated play card. Well, except for the times when he’s not aggressive enough, running Jonathan Taylor on first-and-10, when only nincompoops would do such a predictable thing.
Reich isn’t perfect. He has a hole in his game. Stick around. I’ll get to that in a moment. But his football IQ is off the charts. Every now and then he’ll open up and let us know what he was thinking before calling this play or that one, and it’s impressive. Remember the play before Blankenship missed that 42-yard field goal in overtime? Sure you do. You hated it.
Third-and-5 from the Houston 19. Reich calls for quarterback Matt Ryan to roll right, similar to a play in the second quarter that became a 28-yard pass to Michael Pittman Jr. Didn’t work this time. Ryan’s rolling right, nobody’s open, and the Houston defense isn’t fooled. He takes a sack, a loss of four yards.
Reich was asked afterward about the missed kick, but eventually his answer veered toward that call on third down. Here’s his answer, shortened where possible:
“We had been running the ball pretty well, so we call a play on third down to try to get Matt out in the open,” Reich said. “I thought maybe they'd play the run and (worst case), ‘Hey, let's take a short sack, run some time off, just in case the worst thing happens.’ Obviously had a lot of confidence that we'd have a 40, 42-yarder, worst-case scenario if we had to take a short sack.”
You can see the wheels turning, right? Compare that to poor Denver Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett, who tried a 64-yard field goal late in that loss Sunday at Seattle and later explained his choice with an answer that suggested he had tumbleweeds for brains. Basically he said his kicker, Brandon McManus, had told him after pregame warmups that he was comfortable trying a kick from as far as the left hashmark, from 64 yards out.
That was the spot,” Hackett said afterward, not realizing what he was really saying:
That was the worst spot McManus still considered a possibility.
That’s stupid. Reich isn’t stupid. Just weird, and people don’t like weird. Not when weird doesn’t work. There’s safety in conventional wisdom, in hiding behind those who have come before you. You want a coach like that? They’re all over the NFL.
The Colts’ last two coaches were that way. They weren’t terribly good, though a great quarterback can hide a multitude of coaching sins. Peyton Manning hid the mediocrity of Jim Caldwell, same as Andrew Luck hid the mediocrity of Chuck Pagano.
Who has Reich had at QB, again? This is his fifth season with the Colts, he's 37-28-1 with two playoffs appearances, and he’s had just one year with a great quarterback in his prime. Just one. And this season isn’t it.
Reich's too nice, obviously
So what’s Reich real weakness? His kindness, probably. He’s even-keeled, consistent, and that goes great when a season is going great. But it doesn’t exactly spark fear or even urgency in a player’s heart. How else to explain the Colts’ slow starts almost every year, Reich’s teams playing their best only when they’ve backed themselves into a 1-4 or 1-5 corner?
How else to explain what happened after that 20-20 tie at Houston, when three different players told reporters some form of kumbaya nonsense, that “at least it wasn’t a loss.”
Seriously, three different Colts on the active roster of 45 sounded pleased, afterward, that they hadn’t lost to perhaps the worst team in the NFL. Two players weren't speaking to us for attribution, and I'm not naming the third player, hanging him out there alone. My choice. Human being, remember?
This team, like me perhaps, is too nice. Losing, or at least not winning, is too acceptable, especially early in the season. Not sure Reich has a mean bone in his body, but he’d better find one or fake it.
Reich doesn't think he's aggressive!
Now, let’s talk about Reich’s weirdness. And he is weird, often citing analytics for the reason behind this call or that one. Understand, weird doesn’t necessarily mean bad. An example: I’m generally as weird as anyone in any room I’ve ever entered. And I kinda like me. Picture a smiling emoji here.
Reich is weird in ways we’ve never seen around here, analytical, the opposite of the meathead NFL coach who eats turkey legs and drinks from Budweiser kegs. Reich strikes me as a sushi-and-chardonnay guy, and he coaches his NFL team like this is Major League Baseball. Manage a baseball team for 162 games, and math is a smarter muse than the gut.
Reich has just 17 games, though, not nearly enough time – it’s the sample size, people – for the numbers eventually to work in his favor.
I told Reich as much Wednesday. Seriously, find the tape. I’m the one asking him about leaning on analytics like this is baseball, and wondering if that makes sense. In other words, I’m telling him the same thing I told him a few days ago about Rodrigo Blankenship: If you bring anyone in to compete with Hot Rod, go ahead and cut him. Because this will be the team’s third or fourth show of no faith in him in 12 months, and Blankenship won’t be able to come back from that.
The Colts really need to pay me, I’m thinking.
Anyway, Reich hears my question about analytics and baseball and nods and calls is fair and then says something shocking:
“You guys think I’m aggressive? I’m very tempered and moderate in my mind,” he says.
According to the analytics, he is. Reich was telling me later that he has literally never gone against the analytics, if going against the numbers means being more aggressive. Not once, he says. Ever.
However, he was saying “there have been hundreds of times in five years (the analytics) said ‘go,’ and I didn’t.”
To me, Reich’s play-calling isn’t a problem. His kindness, at times, can be. Also, certain elements of the roster. That’s a story for another day, but general manager Chris Ballard is a lot like Reich: Very good at his job, just not perfect. Reich has never had the same quarterback two years in a row, having to make do with Jacoby Brissett’s lack of courage, Carson Wentz’s lack of common sense, and now whatever it is 37-year-old Matt Ryan lacks, whatever reason the Falcons had for trying to replace the beloved local hero with detestable villain Deshaun Watson.
Reich also has been saddled this year, and too many others, with a kicker who wasn’t good enough, a left tackle who wasn’t good enough, and a receiver room not close to good enough.
If Reich were in his 50s, I’d say he’ll win a Super Bowl before he’s done. Here, elsewhere, it would be a matter of time. He’s that good, to me, or he could be with a little more fear factor to his game. But he’ll be 61 in a few months, so this is probably his last head coaching job.
Will he win a Super Bowl here? Not with a revolving door at quarterback. Not with a half-empty room of receivers. And not with a constantly gentle spirit that would play well in the pulpit – or the dugout, come to think of it – but doesn’t inspire greatness from players who say things could’ve been worse than that tie in Houston.
Yeah, guys. After a disaster like that, you could play for a franchise willing to replace more than its kicker.
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09-15-2022, 05:52 PM
Doyel: Frank Reich's play-calling is not the Colts' problem
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