INDIANAPOLIS -- Clap, clap. Slap, slap. Frantically at times.
No, that’s not part of a dance routine. That’s what was happening way too often for the Indianapolis Colts during their loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers last weekend.
The clapping was quarterback Matt Hasselbeck giving the signal he was ready for the snap. The slapping was guard Lance Louis hitting center Jonotthan Harrison on his thigh to let him know to snap the ball.
The loud noise at Heinz Field and slow communicating of the plays to Hasselbeck caused the Colts to be called for two delay of game penalties and forced them to take a timeout because the play clock was about to expire.
“We didn’t handle the elements very well,” coach Chuck Pagano said. “Certainly when they make plays and get things rolling it even becomes more of an issue. We’ve got to be better in that because it’s going to be no different moving forward with games on the road and crowd noise and things like that. We’ve got to get that cleaned up.”
The Colts were able to call a timeout the first time the play clock was running low, but they weren’t as fortunate later in the drive, as they were penalized, which pushed them back from having the ball at Pittsburgh’s 4-yard line to having it at the 9. Indianapolis overcame the penalty and scored a touchdown on the drive.
The Colts had the ball at Pittsburgh’s 16-yard line in the third quarter when they were penalized for delay of game for the second time. This penalty ended up hurting the Colts because they went from having third-and-3 to having third-and-8. They picked up 7 yards on third down but turned the ball over on downs after Hasselbeck threw an incompletion on fourth down.
One of the issues the Colts are working through is having offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski calling the plays from up in the booth. Chudzinski gives the play to quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen on the sideline, who then calls in the play to Hasselbeck. Former offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton called plays from the sideline.
That takes time and it’s even more challenging when the Colts are on the road playing in a hostile environment.
“It’s a work in a progress week-to-week,” Pagano said. “They’re slowly but surely being able to function a little bit better. We’re going to have to be able to use some up-tempo stuff. We did that [Sunday] and that’ll continue and has to continue to evolve and get better moving forward. Communication, it’ll get better. It’ll be better. It has to be better in order for us to be successful.”
