Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni spoke with the local media on Monday about all the offseason changes to the team’s offense.
The Colts then posted the full conference call on YouTube.
Sirianni has been the team’s offensive coordinator since 2018.
He spoke about Marlon Mack, Jonathan Taylor, Philip Rivers, Michael Pittman Jr., Nyheim Hines, Jordan Wilkins, and T.Y. Hilton during the call.
Running Backs
Sirianni was the San Diego Chargers’ offensive quality control coach in 2013 when Ryan Mathews was a 1,200-yard rusher for the team.
Sirianni might have the best running back tandem of his coaching career with Mack and Taylor:
“We know we want to run the football. We know a lot of the good running teams in this league and in the past have had good one-two punches. It feels like it’s just a one-one punch though because we have two such exceptional backs.”
The offensive coordinator sees the two backs as similar:
“They both have exceptional speed, and they both have ability to make you miss, and they both have the ability to break arm-tackles and run with power.”
Sirianni thinks they can complement each other with different running styles though:
“They have some different running styles, but again they’re both complete backs. I think that’s a fantastic problem to have, is to have two guys like that you can feed the football to. It’s only going to help our running game.”
Hines and Wilkins give the Colts an impressive amount of running back depth:
“With the addition of Jonathan – with him and Marlon (Mack) being able to attack defense – and Nyheim (Hines) and Jordan (Wilkins), we just feel like again, you’re going to see more one-high safety. We know that Philip (Rivers) can make them pay when they have that.”
Quarterback Philip Rivers and the Offensive Line
Sirianni, who became the Quarterbacks Coach at San Diego in 2014 and 2015 with Rivers, likes what he is seeing with the offensive line in 2020:
“I think the big part of Philip being here is Anthony Castonzo, Quenton Nelson, Ryan Kelly, Braden Smith, Mark Glowinski. Those guys are our studs.”
The offensive coordinator sees Rivers’ previous connection with Frank Reich as important for Indianapolis’ success in the upcoming season:
“Frank has called plays for Philip before and that’s a big dynamic. There’s not a lot of questioning going in. Philip knows how Frank thinks. Frank knows how Philip thinks. That’s something to do with it, but again it’s those five guys up front, T.Y. and not to mention all our other weapons.”
Wide Receivers
In 2016 and 2017, Sirianni became the Wide Receivers Coach with the Chargers.
He looks to bring that experience to helping Hilton, who wants to be a “Colt for life,” continue to improve.
TY Hilton, who’s entering a contract year in 2020: “I wanna be a Colt for life, but it takes two sides to get it done.”
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) May 13, 2020
Sirianni discusses the importance of having a healthy Hilton on the field for the full season:
“I expect a great bounce back from a year that he had a lot of injuries with. If T.Y. stays healthy through the year, there is no doubt in my mind that that’s what we’ll see because he’s highly competitive, highly intelligent and he’s going to take advantage of his opportunities.”
The offensive coordinator wants to highlight Hilton in the offense:
“He’s definitely still the main piece of this offense. T.Y. Hilton is who this pass offense runs through. I think about where we’re at – things will be schemed to get him the football. I know he’s worked hard on his body and worked hard through the offseason. He’s our guy. He’s our lead dog. He’s our alpha dog. If he stays healthy the sky is the limit again for him.”
The sky is not only the limit for Hilton, but it also seems to be the same for the Colts offense as a whole with how strong of a draft the Colts had:
“We feel like the addition of Pittman to our group of players and just Chris Ballard and his staff of adding just the talent that he’s added to this with Jonathan Taylor. Then with the addition of our guys that we already have, that we’ll elevate in that area with explosive playmakers that we have. Again, the more you run the ball, be able to run the football, the more they play one-high safeties, and we have one of the best big-play wideouts in the NFL with T.Y. Hilton.”
Sirianni has a lot of tremendous things to say about his offense, and Colts fans should be very excited about what is to come in the 2020 NFL season.
