The Worksheet, a fantasy football overview by Rich Hribar, breaking down everything you need to know for the Week 8 Washington Commanders at Indianapolis Colts Sunday afternoon game.
| Washington | Rank | @ | Indianapolis | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Spread | -3 | ||
| 18.5 | Implied Total | 21.5 | ||
| 17.9 | 25 | Points/Gm | 16.1 | 30 |
| 22.3 | 19 | Points All./Gm | 20 | 13 |
| 67.1 | 5 | Plays/Gm | 68.7 | 4 |
| 60.9 | 9 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 62 | 13 |
| 4.9 | 30 | Off. Yards/Play | 5 | 27 |
| 5.5 | 16 | Def. Yards/Play | 5.1 | 8 |
| 38.51% | 22 | Rush% | 33.26% | 31 |
| 61.49% | 11 | Pass% | 66.74% | 2 |
| 42.72% | 21 | Opp. Rush % | 48.85% | 30 |
| 57.28% | 12 | Opp. Pass % | 51.15% | 3 |
- The Colts have led for 7.5% of their offensive snaps, the lowest rate in the league.
- The Colts have trailed for 95.0% of their second half snaps.
- 34.5% of the points scored by Indianapolis this season have come in the first half, the lowest rate in the league.
- 36.8% of the points scored by Washington have come in the first half, 31st in the league.
- Washington has scored on 18.6% of their first half possessions, the lowest rate in the league.
- Indianapolis has scored on 23.1% of their first half possessions, 31st in the league.
- Washington running backs have combined for a 32.2% success rate per rush, the lowest rate in the league.
Quarterback
Sam Ehlinger: The Colts are turning to Ehlinger this week and supposedly for the remainder of the season. I don’t view this as a tank either. The Colts' offense is rudderless at this point, having an immobile quarterback behind a struggling offensive line. With the way defenses are playing this season, pure pocket passers have had struggles overall. But when you look at the teams that are overachieving on offense (like the Giants and Falcons), they are doing so with the added element of quarterback mobility.
That is not to say Ehlinger is going to fix things for the Colts, but they are at least trying to add something to an offense that has trying to find something that works. We saw two weeks ago that the Colts added going no huddle at a higher rate and now this. They are trying to find a way to win games now.
As a passing prospect, Ehlinger leaves plenty to be desired. His biggest strengths outside of experience (he was a four-year starter) are that he does have an underrated rushing profile from an athlete you may not expect (ala Ryan Fitzpatrick) while he protected the football.
Ehlinger ran for 1,903 yards and 33 touchdowns at Texas while he is an 80th percentile passer in TD/INT ratio for all prospects since 2000. Outside of those two pros, he checks in at the 41st percentile in yards per pass attempt and 54th percentile in completion rate exiting college.
The past two preseasons, Ehlinger ran five times for 55 yards and three times for 71 yards and a touchdown. As a passer this preseason he was really good, completing 24-of-29 passes for 289 yards (10.0 Y/A) with four touchdowns and zero interceptions.
If you are going to make your first career start, doing so at home against Washington provides plenty of outs.
Washington is allowing a league-high 0.53 passing points per attempt, ranking last in touchdown rate allowed (6.2%) and 23rd in yards allowed per pass attempt (7.4 Y/A).
Despite being vulnerable through the air, Washington is good at getting to the passer. They are sixth in pressure rate (35.8%) and lead the league in hits per dropback (22.6%).
Ehlinger is a wild card this week as a 2QB, but I would rather swing with him over options like Kenny Pickett, Zach Wilson, either New England QB, Jacoby Brissett, or his counterpart in this game to name a few passers if you are that deep in the bag.
