Written by Kelsey Smelser at Punch Drunk Wonderland
The 2015 Indianapolis Colts have been a mess. I’ve never seen a team swing so steadily from preseason Super Bowl pick to clumsy bottom dwellers. Yesterday’s firing of Pep Hamilton is likely the first in a number of changes in a volatile situation in Indianapolis. Everyone is accountable. Players. Coaches. GM. Someone had to bite it, and Pep drew the short straw. Now Assistant Head Coach (and Pagano confidant) Rob Chudzynski has stepped into the role of Offensive Coordinator. What does that mean for this struggling Colts team? Right away, probably not much. There probably isn’t enough time to shake things up too much before the Week 9 game versus Denver, but things could be changing after Indy’s Week 10 bye. And, one thing that could be changing is Donte Moncrief’s breakout potential.
Chudzinski has a solid resume when it comes to finding success in an offense. With the Carolina Panthers he ushered Cam Newton into the league and the result was Newton becoming the first rookie to throw for over 4,000 yards in a season and have the most total touchdowns by a rookie in a season. And, don’t think it was easy. Chud is a tough couch who made his young signal caller in Carolina work. He and Cam butted heads plenty. Additionally, Chud produced a 2011 Carolina offense that became the first in NFL history to have three players rush for over 700 yards. He also found significant offensive success during his time as Offensive Coordinator in Cleveland. He’s particularly known for building strong running games and for making excellent use of the X receiver. Chud comes from the Don Coryell school of offense and the “Air Coryell” system is certainly something he’s made use of in the past. Stretching the field and taking advantage of size mismatches and one-on-one scenarios with larger receivers has been a noted identifier in some of his systems of old. Think Braylon Edwards in Cleveland. During Chud’s time as Offensive Coordinator in Cleveland Edwards was a prototypical big bodied and athletic X receiver and Chud used him well. He was targeted 292 times while pulling in 135 receptions for 2,162 yards and 19 touchdowns in two seasons.
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