Statistically, there’s no comparison between the Colts’ two running backs, Trent Richardson and Donald Brown.
Richardson has 96 carries for 272 yards, an average of 2.8 yards a carry, and two touchdowns. Brown has 55 carries for 323 yards, an average of 5.9 yards a carry, and three touchdowns. So doesn’t that mean the Colts should be giving Brown a greater share of the carries, instead of favoring the less effective Richardson by an almost 2-to-1 margin?
Not according to Colts offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton, who says he sees no reason to change the way he’s using the two running backs, with Richardson as the starter and Brown coming in for a change of pace.
“We don’t plan on changing our rotation with our backs,” said Hamilton. “We’ve always been a running back by committee bunch, so we’re going to continue to do that.”
Richardson is regularly getting stuffed at the line of scrimmage, but Hamilton says he just thinks he needs to call the right plays to make the Colts run the ball effectively and consistently.
“It starts with me,” Hamilton said. “I got to do a better job of putting our guys in positions to make plays on third downs and we know that our guys will go out and execute. We got to do a better job of just converting third downs early in games.”
But if the plays Hamilton is calling consistently work better with Brown than with Richardson, the problem might be Richardson. And the answer might be Hamilton calling more runs for Brown.