Colts trying to get running game off the ground

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)—Indianapolis spent the entire offseason trying to improve its stagnant ground game.

The Colts took Donald Brown(notes) with their first-round pick in April. They switched left tackles. They cut a 2008 draft choice in favor of a lineman who played Arena League football. They heard owner Jim Irsay call for improvement when offensive line coach Howard Mudd came out of his brief retirement.

Seven games into the season, little has changed.

“It’s not like all is lost,” coach Jim Caldwell said Monday. “We just don’t have the numbers we’d like to see.”

The stats certainly illustrate how tough things have been for Indy.

— The Colts ran 21 times in Sunday’s 18-14 victory over San Francisco, with just five going as long as 4 yards, generally the average measuring stick for NFL teams. They finished with 61 yards rushing and a per carry average of 2.9.

— The biggest contributions from a running back came from former Pro Bowler Joseph Addai(notes), who used a 10-yarder to close the third quarter to set up his 22-yard TD pass to Reggie Wayne(notes). Brown missed the game with a bruised left shoulder and Caldwell isn’t sure if the rookie will play this week against Houston.

— Indy ranks 30th in the NFL in total yards rushing (611) and only six teams have a yards per carry average lower than Indy’s 3.7. The Colts have only three runs of 20 yards or more this season, with one coming from backup Chad Simpson(notes) late in the blowout victory at St. Louis.

— And for the first time since 1992-93, the Colts are in danger of failing to have a 1,000-yard runner in back-to-back seasons. Addai has a team-high 336 yards this year.

The Colts (7-0) insist it’s not time to panic. Hey,they haven’t lost a game.

“It’s just being positive, going with it, staying with it, knowing it’s a long season,” Addai said after Sunday’s win. “We know what we can do. We just have to correct the mistakes we made and move forward.”

So far, the struggles have not cost the Colts.

They have opened with seven straight wins for the fourth time in five years and once again are the AFC’s last remaining unbeaten team. Caldwell is the first rookie coach since the 1970 merger to start 7-0. Indy has won a franchise-record 16 straight regular-season games, and a victory at home Sunday over Houston (5-3) would give the Colts a four-game lead in the loss column, a first-half sweep of their AFC South foes and an early chip in the head-to-head tiebreaker with the second-place Texans.

But those in the organization know to be successful in the playoffs, the running game must improve.

“We’ve got to play better,” Mudd said during training camp, referring to the offensive line. “We’re not used to having mediocre performances like last year. Until we play and perform like we used to perform, we’re not going to go any place and we know that.”

The Colts’ track record proves it.

When Manning threw a then-league record 49 TD passes in 2004, the Colts were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs. The next year, when the Colts started 13-0, they averaged 3.7 yards on the ground and again went out in the divisional round. Last year, they lost in overtime at San Diego because they couldn’t convert on third-and-short twice.

But in the 2006 postseason, Manning threw seven interceptions and only three TDs yet won his first Super Bowl in large part because of the Colts’ ability to run. Addai and Dominic Rhodes(notes) combined for four straight 100-yard rushing games in the playoffs, including 191 yards against the Bears in rainy Miami.

The Colts need to get that efficiency back or other teams are likely to follow the 49ers’ script.

San Francisco spent Sunday trying to take away Manning’s deep throws by keeping everything in front of them. When Manning couldn’t convert long, he exploited the underneath routes. But with little help from the ground game, the Colts were clearly out of sync.

The offensive line allowed three sacks after giving up just two in the first six weeks, and the Colts had four three-and-outs after having only 10 all season.

To avoid a repeat, Manning needs a rushing attack that gives him the kind of balance players, coaches and team officials have been talking about since last winter.

“We have to continue to work on it,” Caldwell said. “You can’t get to the point where we stop trying to become effective in that area.”