What quarterback Sam Ehlinger can (and can't) bring to the Colts offense
The last time Sam Ehlinger dropped back in an NFL game setting came in the preseason, when he was bailing from the pocket, scrambling near the sideline, sprinting toward the line of scrimmage and launching the ball down the field.
That's what to expect from him as the new Colts starting quarterback. He will live out of structure in an offense that currently has none.
The Colts made a stunning switch at quarterback after a 19-10 loss to the Titans in which Matt Ryan took 10 more quarterback hits and three more sacks, bringing his league lead in sacks to 24. After the game, Ryan was one of the last players to enter the locker room after treatment, and he peeled off his jersey to reveal a right shoulder painted red with turf burn that has a Grade 2 separation.
Ehlinger's job is now to avoid looking like that after games.
MORE:What a Grade 2 shoulder separation means for benched Colts QB Matt Ryan
NEVER MISS A SNAP: Sign up for our NFL newsletter for exclusive content
The role of the quarterback for the Colts has changed dramatically from this spring, back when the idea of Ryan became a hopeful alternative to Carson Wentz, who thrived on scramble plays and not enough else. Back then, they spoke of Ryan's accuracy and 14 years of experience. They installed an offense that operated from the pocket with middle-of-the-field routes built on landmarks and spacing. They wanted to invite teams to stack the box against Jonathan Taylor, the NFL rushing champion, so that Ryan could drop back in a well-protected pocket and hit the defenses in the soft spots.
"We did not hold up to our end of the bargain," Colts coach Frank Reich said.
The offensive line specifically did not. Matt Pryor didn't work as a left tackle, and Danny Pinter didn't work as a right guard, and so they tried four combinations in the first seven games, with the shuffling and disarray causing injuries to Taylor and now to Ryan. They tried to minimize it with a pass-heavy, hurry-up offense that got the ball out quickly, except that became predictable and cost them the tools of a receiving corps they spent three second-round picks to build.
And it didn't ultimately prevent the disaster. Ryan took three more sacks Sunday, giving him a league-high 24. He committed two more turnovers, making a league-high 20. And now he has a separated shoulder, and the Colts rank dead last in Football Outsiders' offensive DVOA.
Ehlinger is the inverse of Ryan. He does not have experience, with zero career passes in the regular season. He does not have a polished arm, as he spent this offseason working with renowned throwing coach Tom House to create a new throwing motion and playing style.
“I’m just scratching the surface,” Ehlinger said after the preseason. “It’s kind of like a two-year plan. There’s a lot of neurological things I’m fighting. When you’re out on the field and the chaos around you increases, naturally you’re going to revert back to whatever your nerve wirings in your brain want you to do when you say, ‘Throw the football.’ So I’m fighting what I’ve been doing for years, in thousands of reps. It takes about two years to get those things down.”
WEEK 8 POWER RANKINGS: How low do Tom Brady's Buccaneers and Aaron Rodgers' Packers go?
What Ehlinger does have is some confidence, coming off a preseason where he finished 24 of 29 for 289 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions to convince the Colts to keep him on the roster. He has a body that isn't yet aching, with legs that could be quick enough to avoid some of the sacks and fumbles.
“If you have a quarterback who can scramble and get out into the open, if you say, ‘Hey, if you can just get us one or two a game, one or two third-down conversions where you scramble,'" Reich said. "... we can still stay true to some of the stuff that we like but we can do a little bit more with some of the movement stuff.”
It's possible that Ehlinger's legs could open up some creative run designs out of shotgun with Taylor, but that is dependent upon some blocking, too. The Colts currently rank dead last in rushing DVOA. If the threat of a quarterback run can create the effect of an extra block, perhaps Taylor can find an occasional crease.
Because of the nonexistent pass protection, the Colts have ditched the parts of their playbook that allow the ball to move down the field. As a result, they've turned second-round wide receivers Michael Pittman Jr., Alec Pierce and Parris Campbell from size-speed threats to mere possession receivers trying to win four yards at a time.
"They've got to trust us," Pittman Jr. said after the Titans loss. "Even though they're playing zone, we'll go out there and make those big-boy catches."
These receivers have gone from the offense' biggest concern to perhaps its only strength. Whether it's Pittman Jr. making jump-ball catches on fourth down against the Titans or Pierce hauling in a game-winner against the Jaguars or Campbell emerging as a high-volume and fast receiver who looks over his injuries, the Colts suddenly have tools in the passing game they can believe in.
They've lost the ability to unleash them. Perhaps a more mobile and fresh quarterback brings some of it back.
The challenge for Ehlinger will be to succeed against defenses designed to make him do what he cannot, which he did not face in the preseason. With young quarterbacks, that usually means more blitzes to speed up the internal clock and force them to win with their arm from the pocket. That's the area where Ehlinger and his rebuilding throwing motion will have to prove himself, in a pocket that currently features the 31st-ranked pass protection in ESPN's pass-block win rate.
The odds are against Ehlinger to make this a long-term plan. Not since Tom Brady stepped in two decades ago, before the transition to the passing league, has a quarterback risen from the fifth round or later to becoming a team's long-term answer. The Colts offense is in a desperate place, and Ehlinger is a desperate option, as they stare down an offseason search for a seventh starting quarterback in six years since Andrew Luck.
But he's here, and he has the legs to run from the disaster. The Colts will ride that as far as he can go.
Contact Colts insider Nate Atkins at natkins@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.