Offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton on Colts offense in 2015: "Pick your poison"

The Indianapolis Colts offense in 2015 is loaded with skill position players.  It's all led by Andrew Luck at quarterback, who is one of the league's best players at the position.  At wide receiver, the team has T.Y. Hilton, Andre Johnson, Donte Moncrief, and Phillip Dorsett.  At tight end, they have Dwayne Allen and Coby Fleener.  And then at running back is Frank Gore, along with depth guys like Boom Herron and Josh Robinson.

Simply put, the offensive side of the football looks loaded for the Colts entering 2015, and it will be hard for defenses to keep up with it.  Offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton has said it before, as has head coach Chuck Pagano, but Hamilton reiterated it today: defenses will have to pick their poison.

If you think about it defensively, they know that we have guys that we tend to feature more than others at times," Hamilton said.  "Well I feel like we have a situation this year where you can really pick your poison defensively.  I mean, we have guys across the board that can make plays and win one-on-one matchups vs. man coverage."

That's very true, as most defenses in the NFL aren't going to have the talent to keep up with the number of receiving options for the Colts.  That could lead to a lot of success in the passing game this year, as the Colts have plenty of guys who can make plays.

"I think we have the fortune of having a wealth of talent at the skill positions," Hamilton continued.  "You just talked about Andrew's ability to spread the ball around.  In some cases, what the defensive strategy may be for a game and coming in to defend us may dictate the third and the fourth guy may get more catches than the first and the second guy."

Hamilton acknowledged that the Colts may rotate who the third wide receiver is based on matchups, ones that the Colts will likely be able to win often.  But even if the defense succeds in taking away the Colts' passing game, they'll still have the opponent stretched thin enough that Frank Gore should have some running lanes.  After all, nobody in the league has faced more eight-man boxes than Gore in recent years yet he's still produced, and this year he'll be facing less men in the box as defenses have to account for the passing game too.  And that added dimension of Gore makes the unit that much more dangerous: they have options.

"I think since day one I've talked about our offense being versatile and there's no can't do's," Hamilton said.  "I really feel like that's the case because of the personnel that we have.  We have an offense that has shown that we can adapt to all the different circumstances that come about over the course of a season.  But I think more importantly, we've been able to adapt and adjust our schemes and move guys around to accommodate the strategy that we need to employ to defeat our opponent.  I'm excited that we have guys that have field credibility.  We have guys that have survived and played well in this league for a long time.  We're excited about where we're headed."

With the talent that the Colts have on offense, there's plenty of reason for that excitement entering the 2015 season.  There are areas of concern, for sure (defense, offensive line, etc.), but the Colts' offensive skill positions isn't one of them.