Colts mailbag: How concerning are the young WRs? Second thoughts on Carson Wentz?

The Colts have played a real football game at long last. They didn't win, but they also didn't lose. It was an AFC South game, but it was against the team expected to finish last in the division.

It's also Week 1, so hot takes and big-picture questions are to be expected with so much to digest.

So I put out the mailbag question early this week. Going forward, we're going to try to capture questions after games to put each week of the season into context.

(To submit a question, you can follow me on Twitter, where I put out the calls; or you can email longer ones to natkins@indystar.com.)

Question: "Did the 'vanilla' play style in all of the preseason hinder us from coming out sharp?" — Darnell Hattison via Twitter

Answer: Sometimes when an inexplicable result happens, we can look too hard too hard and wind up reading too much into something. But there's something to this.

On defense, Gus Bradley is adjusting to having Pro Bowl players for the first time at the 3-technique spot with DeForest Buckner and at nickel cornerback in Kenny Moore II, and neither was very impactful against the Texans, despite favorable physical matchups.

On offense, the Colts hadn't built chemistry between Matt Ryan and his young receivers with respect to the specific looks they'd see from a scheming opponent. This part is tough to combat without experience, as opposing defenses weren't showing their hands in the preseason. Nyheim Hines and Parris Campbell said the Texans were using coverage disguises that surprised them, and they adjusted and got cooking in the fourth quarter, but by then they were down three scores.

The vanilla preseason is league-wide. Teams use 1-on-1 matchups to evaluate roster and depth chart decisions. But it was telling that Reich leaned on Jonathan Taylor so early against the Texans despite having a new and improved quarterback. Taylor saw touches on six of the first seven snaps, and the Colts ran on nine of the first 14. Reich was playing the odds, knowing Taylor went for 140 in both Texans games last year and a hot start could alleviate pressure on the young receivers, but the Texans were ready for it.

The Colts are still building trust and cohesion in the passing game -- between quarterback and receivers, an offensive line with two new starters and a coaching staff adjusting to what it has. These were natural growing pains we probably should have seen coming.

Question: "Some depth receivers looked useful (Mike Strachan/Ashton Dulin), but it felt like there was only 1 real passing threat with Michael Pittman Jr. It feels like Colts need another weapon. Kadarius Toney only played a few snaps for the Giants, and apparently they want to trade him. If so, should Chris Ballard consider it?" -- Tim Davies via Twitter

Answer: Let's continue that conversation about the receiving corps. We obviously don't have the sample to say what Alec Pierce or Ashton Dulin or Parris Campbell or Mike Strachan can do consistently, but we know something about their readiness to do it now. That's where questions arise.

The Colts are betting on Campbell in a contract year, knowing his injuries have been the product of bad luck. He presents speed and short-area quickness for some key Reich and Ryan pass concepts, and the Colts have some depth in Hines if he were to go down.

At the 'Z' spot, the Colts are putting a lot on Pierce, Strachan and Dulin, who are young, raw and came from lower levels of competition. All three have lots of size and speed, but the lack of a track record makes it hard to know which to trust and when this early on.

MORE: Michael Pittman Jr., Jonathan Taylor are still great. Do Colts have enough else?

Pierce finished with zero catches Sunday. He had the drop in the end zone, and then he suffered a brutal hit to the helmet, which created some concussion symptoms after the game. He's trying to make this climb from the American Athletic Conference, where he could too often beat cornerbacks with size and speed. He'll be best this year sticking to fades, slants and the occasional screen. That can work, if the Colts can find enough production from slot receivers and tight ends and if Pittman Jr. stays healthy.

Ryan helps, but he's really at his best when he has a fellow veteran to create pre-snap synergy with. None of his receivers are older than 26, and none outside of Pittman Jr. have put up 400 yards in a season.

At this point, alternative options are limited. No team is ready to give up on a season after one game, so it has to be a situation that isn't working, which means baggage. That's how Toney feels, and he's also such a specific schematic chess piece type that I fear he'd be duplicating some of what Hines already is. The 'Z' or tight end spots are more likely areas to add, but the options are slim, unless the Colts want to go to free agency to bring T.Y. Hilton back (which a "thanks for the memories" poster for Hilton now hanging on Lucas Oil Stadium now suggests they aren't going to do) or take a gamble on Odell Beckham Jr. recovering from an ACL tear.

In all likelihood, the Colts will work with what they have and hope each passing game creates that much more experience and chemistry. This can and should get better.

Question: "Who is our starting left tackle?" — DR Miller via Twitter

Answer: Matt Pryor is the Colts' starting left tackle right now. The plan is to start games that way and to work Bernhard Raimann in for one or two series, as he did for 12 snaps on Sunday. The plan is to work him in the 10-15 snap range in the second and third quarters as a way to further his development with live game reps.

It's also fair to call this an evolving situation, as it's not ideal to play two left tackles. Pryor has had to fight to prove he's nimble enough at 343 pounds to be as creative as they want to be in the run and pass games. Raimann is trying to show he's ready for more playing time after such a steep learning curve from the Mid-American Conference and with just two years on the offensive line.

In the long run, it's smart to bet on the third-round draft pick over the veteran on a one-year deal. But this team is trying to win now and has a 37-year-old quarterback to keep safe, so the most ready and capable guy in a given week will be the one to start.

For now, that's Pryor. But the door is open for Raimann to step in for his second-quarter snaps and play well enough that they don't take him back out.

Question: "Why did the local media & ownership run Carson Wentz out of town? I was under the impression from Jim Irsay & the Indy media he was the sole reason the Colts lost games last year. At least he won yesterday." — D.J. via Twitter

Answer: This is the question I've received the most this week, interestingly enough.

I am honored that anyone thinks the media has the power to influence decisions, but trust me when I say we're really not that important. (If we were, I'd be wielding that power for far more frivolous things like interview schedules and press box food.)

So, what I've reported on Wentz has been primarily based on seeing and hearing how the Colts interpreted the situation. You can read all about it here.

ROAD TO MATT RYAN: How the Carson Wentz experience helped Colts revive franchise identity

The Colts' desire for change was about finding a quarterback who could inspire a roster, a coaching staff, ownership and a city into believing he's the guy in moments of jubilation, chaos and turmoil alike. That's who Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck and Philip Rivers were to them. They saw that in Matt Ryan, who has been to places few quarterbacks have, such as multiple playoff games, a Super Bowl, multiple regime changes and teammate retirements and a franchise-wide controversy.

Like when Rivers arrived, the 37-year-old version they're getting of Ryan was never supposed to carry a mediocre team to victories. That's what the Falcons asked of him the past few years, and they haven't made the playoffs.

In Indianapolis, Ryan's job is to lead a team with eight other All-Pros to the places he's been and where they want to go. When those players don't perform like All-Pros, as nobody but Taylor and Pittman Jr. did on Sunday, it isn't going to work.

Ryan didn't play perfect against Houston, with the interception and multiple botched snaps. But he did throw for 352 yards and a touchdown with two more touchdown tosses that young receivers dropped. He engineered a 17-point fourth-quarter comeback and put the Colts in position to win on a 42-yard field goal that Rodrigo Blankenship missed. That's ultimately all they were ever asking out of the quarterback position.

But it's one game, and a decision as big-picture as this will need far longer for actual evaluation.

Question: "How critical is this next 6-game stretch? (at Jaguars, vs. Chiefs, vs. Titans, at Broncos, vs. Jaguars, at Titans.) To me, it seems like such a bizarre way to schedule those games." — Shawn Michael Zbikowski via Twitter

Answer: The old cliché is that they all count, and that's obviously true, as we saw in Week 18 in Jacksonville last year. Frank Reich teams have pulled out of slow starts before, most notably in 2018.

But this feels like a pivotal moment for him and for this franchise.

We know the Colts haven't won in Jacksonville since 2014. To lose there this week after tying the Texans would create two massive missed opportunities in the AFC South race. With Week 3 against the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, who continue to torch Cover-3 base defenses, you could see a bad start coming if they don't win this week.

The games against the Titans are always street fights, with Derrick Henry and Mike Vrabel's defense giving every blow they have to protect their AFC South reign. To turn around and travel cross-country for a Thursday night road game against Russell Wilson and the Broncos is not an ideal spot.

But the Colts have a tendency to play their best in games where they are counted out, such as against Arizona last year. These moments can create opportunities, too. And the goal is to play difficult and stressful games come January.

We're about to find so much out about what this Colts team is made of.

Contact Colts insider Nate Atkins at natkins@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts mailbag: How concerning are young receivers? Carson Wentz?