Colts coach Jeff Saturday on new starting QB: 'I think Nick Foles gives us the best chance to win'

INDIANAPOLIS — For the third time this season, the Colts are changing their starting quarterback.

Matt Ryan is out. Again.

Nick Foles is being thrown into the fire this time, tasked with injecting life into one of the NFL’s worst offenses, an offense that has been ugly no matter who’s handling the starting role at quarterback or calling the plays.

“This is never an easy decision,” interim coach Jeff Saturday said. “I think the world of Matt, and he’s a pro’s pro, and I appreciate the way he’s handled it. Obviously, not the season he expected, nor the Colts as a whole. Feel bad for Matt, but ultimately, I feel Nick gives us the best chance to win.”

Ryan, the former Falcons legend Indianapolis acquired to replace Carson Wentz, was targeted last offseason to bring quarterbacking stability to the Colts offense, ideally giving Indianapolis the time it needed to find a quarterback of the future in the draft.

But the Colts failed to give Ryan the protection they promised him, both from an offensive line that has allowed him to be sacked 38 times and a running game that ranks 25th in the NFL, and the 37-year-old’s decline has instead been put on stark display, exacerbating the offense’s problems instead of elevating a young unit.

“His leadership since I’ve been here has been second to none, his demand on others, and he asks things of himself,” Saturday said. “It’s unfortunate when you’re not playing to the level that you want to play to.”

Ryan has completed 67% of his passes and directed fourth-quarter comebacks for all four Indianapolis wins this season, but he also leads the NFL in interceptions (13), fumbles (15) and total turnovers (18). Ryan’s inability to push the ball downfield led to just 6.6 yards per attempt and few explosive plays, and the Colts need to be more explosive in the passing game.

“We have to get teams out of playing their safeties at seven yards,” Saturday said. “Everybody watches All-22. You can see it, clear as day, and at some point, you have to challenge people vertically.”

Foles, for his part, was much more likely than Ryan to take deep shots down the field during training camp.

But the 33-year-old veteran is facing a difficult situation on Monday night against the Chargers.

Foles, the former Super Bowl MVP who has long been one of the NFL’s best backups, was signed this offseason to be the sort of experienced veteran stopgap that can keep a team in the playoff hunt if the starter goes down with an injury, and given his history with former Colts head coach Frank Reich, Foles seemed like a perfect fit.

Almost none of that plan has come to pass.

“It’s a 180, I couldn’t have expected anything that happened this year,” Foles said. “Frank Reich, one of the best coaches I’ve ever been around, a big reason I came here, and I love him to death. Everything that has transpired is not what I expected, but that’s sort of how life goes. You sort of expect something, and God has a way of changing it on you.”

Foles spent the entire offseason and training camp as Ryan’s primary backup, played two snaps in mop-up duty against Jacksonville and then found himself demoted suddenly to the No. 3 role to make room for Sam Ehlinger, the second-year quarterback owner Jim Irsay wanted to see in the lineup.

When Ehlinger was pushed into the starting role by Irsay, Foles was given the backup job again, only to lose it two weeks later after Reich was fired and Ryan reinstalled as starting quarterback by Saturday, then promoted to backup again three weeks ago for the Dallas game.

Foles has forged an instant connection with Saturday, who has admitted he spent a lot of time talking to the veteran backup.

But Foles also hasn’t been given much time on task.

The backup hadn’t taken a single repetition with the starting offense until Wednesday’s practice, and he’s spent most of the regular season running the scout team, so he hasn’t spent much time in the Colts offense since training camp.

Now, he’s got to be ready in four days to take on a Chargers team pushing for a playoff berth.

“Talking to the guys about different routes, different things, different cadence, it’s sort of a crash course, because sometimes you’re with a team for a couple years, and then you go in and out, and then you play,” Foles said. “This is my first time to really be with the guys.”

Foles takes over a Colts offense that no longer has star running back Jonathan Taylor, who was put on injured reserve earlier this week, and hasn’t averaged more than 4.7 yards per play in its last four games, all losses.

Unlike when he took over in Philadelphia and Reich tailored the offense to Foles’s strengths, a move that led to a Super Bowl win over the Patriots, Foles will be running the same simplified scheme that has been part of the Colts’ offensive problems the past four weeks.

“We’re down offensive coaching-wise, so not a lot of time to reconstruct anything since I’ve been here,” Saturday said. “You’re running what you know, what you do.”

Foles has been around the league enough and been a backup enough times that he’s been in this situation before.

The last time he started, Foles was thrown into the fire by the Chicago Bears in Week 16 last season, and he responded by going 24 of 35 for 250 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions in a 25-24 win over Seattle.

What Indianapolis is asking is even tougher.

But that’s part of being a backup.

“Especially here. You never know what’s going to happen each week,” Foles said. “It’s sort of been that year. Unfortunately, in the NFL, there are years like that. … For me, it’s just sort of rolling with the punches each week.”

This week the Colts are asking Foles to rescue their offense.

A task that hasn’t been easy for any quarterback this season.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts name Nick Foles starting quarterback for Week 16