10 Colts thoughts on Anthony Richardson, defense in a 29-27 season opener loss to Texans

INDIANAPOLIS -- Ten thoughts on the Colts ’ 29-27 loss to the Texans in the season opener at Lucas Oil Stadium:

1. Another opener has come and gone without a win. This marks every year since 2013 now, and this one happened in some ways that were predictable (secondary struggles) and some that were not (run defense issues, offensive line woes).

We did get plenty to digest about the starting quarterback, making his first start in nearly a calendar year; a pass rush that looks versatile and creative and fun; a secondary that is even thinner than I imagined it could be to start a season; and plenty more.

How did Anthony Richardson play in the season opener?

2. This was the full Anthony Richardson experience.

We saw some smooth running, both on designed sweeps to force good tackling by smaller defenders who often missed and on scrambles when the Texans covered his receivers. His fourth-down touchdown scramble through multiple defenders was just masterful.

We saw the absurd arm talent on the 60-yard post bomb to Alec Pierce, where Richardson slipped on his drop-back and recovered to throw off of his back foot with a perfect rainbow to the end zone.

We saw the spotty accuracy, when he air-mailed a would-be touchdown to Adonai Mitchell in the red zone.

And we saw the risky decision-making, like when he forced a pass across the middle late in a down and was lucky a linebacker dropped it.

Anthony Richardson's stats

3. Richardson finished 9 of 19 for 212 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception and a rating of 101.2 It was every bit as up and down as that line suggests.

This is a rollercoaster, and more of a wooden one with some rickety moments than the steel one you’re just on for fun. The important thing is he made it out healthy, despite some vicious hits on sacks and designed runs. He created plenty to get excited about and plenty more to correct with coaches in the lab.

It’s remarkable that he’s the youngest starting quarterback in the NFL for a second year in a row. This was his 18 ^th start since high school. So get ready for the chaos. But that's more fun than stop-gap options who can't create explosive plays or hope for the future, right?

4. The single most intriguing part of this game to me was to see Anthony Richardson play in the run game with Jonathan Taylor in a scheme Shane Steichen has been hiding all preseason. The two did not get to share a single handoff last season, but they present one of the most physically imposing backfields the league has ever seen with two players who measure at least 225 pounds and can run a 40-yard dash in less than 4.4 seconds.

I have to say it was underwhelming, not because of those two but because of how little movement the offensive line gained, especially for Taylor. I thought Taylor had some nifty and decisive cuts and starts and stops to create space where there was none, and yet he finished with 14 carries for 45 yards and a 3.2-yard average.

The Colts found some explosiveness in their passing game off that run attention. They just never got their in the run game, and they were left playing from behind for far too long.

5. The entire Colts scheme was a mystery of sorts, and that was by design. The Colts didn’t want to show their hand this preseason, and they never got a chance to game plan for a healthy and conditioned Richardson and Taylor, and the Richardson they had last season was the rookie they wanted to insulate and put in simple-to-manage situations.

The game script was about setting a tone with the Richardson-Taylor read-option game and to built explosive shots off that.

The 60-yard touchdown to Pierce was a gorgeous example of this pacing, where Steichen responded to a run-heavy early script by bringing in Ashton Dulin and Drew Ogletree as obvious run personnel to pull the safety in the box, freeze the defensive backs with the play fake and bank on Pierce toasting the cornerback on his favorite route.

Texans run game dominates Colts

6. One thing I did not expect to see at all in this game was the Texans running hog wild on the Colts. They piled up 212 yards on 5.3 yards a carry, and they did it by running Joe Mixon up the middle and off the edges, in generating reverses, in having Stroud scramble. They did whatever they wanted.

I think the Colts rotated too much up front, putting players like Taven Bryan on the field who aren’t equipped to play the run. It also didn’t let their players get into a flow, and the Texans offensive line was handling them on downhill runs, and they just couldn’t recover.

That has to change, because if the only area Chris Ballard is going to invest in this offseason is the defensive line, then it can’t be the weakness that keeps the team trailing for most of a game.

How did Laiatu Latu play in his Colts debut

7. I was fascinated to see how Laiatu Latu would fare in his first NFL game after a training camp and preseason in which he instantly and constantly looked like he belonged. But the real games are always different, and the challenge was massive, literally, against 313-pound four-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil.

His assignment in his debut was mostly to rush on 3 ^rd -and-6 or more, with Tyquan Lewis starting and looking the part against the run and the pass. Latu forced two false starts on third downs out of Tunsil and also beat him for a pressure on his first official rush.

I wonder if this is a ramp-up process for him, where they’ll sprinkle him in more and more as the season goes on.

8. The inactives report was an interesting one this week with the Colts deciding to make Blake Freeland and Dallis Flowers healthy scratches. Both had really difficult preseasons, but the Colts haven’t added any depth to those two premium positions. It made it so that an injury today could have put some young players in some really compromised positions.

That injury didn’t happen, but the Colts still could have used another outside cornerback option once the Texans got to picking on Jaylon Jones. It’s a volatile position in nature, and confidence can ebb and flow, and after Jones gave up a wide-open completion after the Colts pass rush had flushed C.J. Stroud on third down, he came back a few plays later with an illegal contact penalty to negate Kenny Moore II’s pick. That’s a panic play.

If Flowers isn’t physically ready to play on his recovering Achilles (and it seems he’s not), someone else needs to be here to help save these young cornerbacks from themselves.

9. My read on this is that the Colts coaches saw what we’ve been saying here this preseason: Flowers and Freeland don’t look to have it physically for this level right now. It’s just curious that they reached that assessment and didn’t add anyone else on waivers, though they did go after a special teamer in Samuel Womack, releasing an outside cornerback with experience in Darrell Baker Jr. to do so.

This will be a situation to monitor all season. The Colts have 16 games to go, and odds that they never have an injury at two tackle spots and two outside cornerback spots is dreamy.

10. That end to the first half was one of the most embarrassing refereeing moments I can remember seeing. They initially called it a catch to Dalton Schultz when he bobbled it on the way down, but reviewing it negated the spike that the Texans got to preserve a field-goal attempt. After messing the clock up, they put it back to 5 seconds and started the clock seemingly at random, and Houston didn’t get a play off.

Given the way Ka’imi Fairbairn was nailing kicks from 50-plus, the sequence saved three points for the Colts. And it was just an example of how much is rusty and off-kilter in Week 1, including for the officials.

See you next week from Green Bay, a suddenly important game for the Colts to avoid a 0-2 start.

Contact Nate Atkins at natkins@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: 10 Colts thoughts on Anthony Richardson, defense in a 29-27 season opener loss to Texans