The Indianapolis Colts offense ranked among the worst in time of possession per game this season, which created a vicious cycle that they often were unable to escape from.
For the 2024 regular season, the Colts’ offense held the ball for an average of 27:44 per game out of a possible 60 minutes. This was the third-lowest mark in football. In fact, it wasn’t uncommon to see the Colts’ opponents holding the ball for 10 or even 15 minutes more than the Colts did.
The trickle-down effect of that is the opposing offense running quite a few more plays–sometimes 20-plus more plays than what the Colts did.
That’s not easy to overcome, especially when it’s happening regularly. The limited possessions that the offense does have in these instances force them to be extremely efficient–something the Colts didn’t have the ability to do.
The time of possession struggles for the Colts started with offense, who had issues sustaining drives. If the run game wasn’t working efficiently, the passing game was far too inconsistent to overcome any long down-and-distance situations. The offense’s inability to protect the football didn’t help things either.
The result of this are quick and short possessions, putting the Colts’ defense back on the field and often in a bind.
Over the course of the game, asking the defense to be on the field for 15 or 20 more plays than the opponent can wear that unit down. To some degree, this had to contribute to the fourth quarter struggles we saw from the Colts’ defense at times last season.
That effect is then magnified by the Colts’ own struggles defensively when it came to stopping the run, which led to long, sustained drives for the opposition.
And from there, you can see how this turns into a vicious cycle. The Colts offense goes back on the field, they often can’t put together long drives, the defense is then back out there relatively quickly, and the process continues as things spiral.
Without question, the Colts defense has to improve in 2025. However, their offense can help them out a bit by being able to stay on the field consistently by extending drives, and hopefully avoiding these drastic time of possession deficits.