Shane Steichen Talks Accountability For AD Mitchell
INDIANAPOLIS – Why doesn’t AD Mitchell play more?
It’s a question Colts fans have asked a lot in Mitchell’s two NFL seasons.
And if you wanted a succinct answer in why such a question is being asked, and get a glimpse into the answer, you got in on 3rd-and-4 in Sunday’s third quarter against the Rams.
On Monday, Shane Steichen was non-committal when asked if he thought about benching Mitchell after the second-year wideout dropped the ball crossing the goal line, or if that will impact his status for Sunday’s game vs. the Raiders.
“I talked to him on the sideline and it was a tough situation,” Steichen said when asked if he thought about benching Mitchell following the gaffe. “He felt it. We all felt it. But obviously we needed him in that game with the receivers that we had. It as a tough deal but obviously we talked to him and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to need you here, at some point again in the game.’ So that was kind of the conversation that was taking place.”
In following up, Steichen was then asked if Mitchell would be active/play this Sunday vs. the Raiders.
“Yeah, I mean he’s going to go through practice,” the head coach said. “And, like I said, he’s got to earn it going forward.”
The root of all this debate could be seen in that one third-quarter play on Sunday.
First, the skill of Mitchell is tantalizing.
Here, on a 3rd-and-4, Daniel Jones is more than content to give Mitchell a 50/50 shot down the field. Remember, Mitchell has enough talent to have the Colts willing to take a deep shot to him against Defensive Player of the Year Patrick Surtain back in Week Two.
And Mitchell’s talent continued to be seen on Sunday as he snared the contested catch against the Rams, and took off down the sideline for what was easily his biggest play in two NFL seasons.
It was a reminder of what we saw at Grand Park, Mithcell routinely winning 1-on-1 moments, and how fellow receivers and coaches rave about his talent in winning at the line of scrimmage.
Where was Mitchell mentally the rest of the game though as the play ended with a “he did what?” moment?
It’s hard to truly know, as the next time Mitchell showed up in the box score, it was another crippling moment.
That came on a holding penalty which wiped away a Jonathan Taylor 53-yard touchdown run. The holding penalty was a fundamental failure on Mitchell, offering quite the picture on why the Colts are so hesitant to expand his role outside of a few concentrated targets each week.
An in-game benching, even for just a series or two, didn’t occur on Sunday.
With Alec Pierce (concussion) sidelined, the wide receiver snaps on Sunday went as followed:
-Michael Pittman Jr.: 57-of-61 snaps
-AD Mitchell: 54 snaps
-Josh Downs: 38 snaps
-Ashton Dulin: 12 snaps
On Monday, Steichen did address how he has started to go about holding Mitchell accountable.
“(Mitchell) took accountability in the team meeting, spoke to the team to start the team meeting,” Steichen shared. “I had a conversation with him in my office today. Just letting him know that this moment doesn’t define who you are as a person, but he knows going forward he is going to have to earn it going forward in how he practices and how prepares.”
What Steichen must further evaluate is his complete definition of accountability as it applies to a repeated offender when it comes to being trustworthy.
While this isn’t the Mitchell issues of last year when he proved unreliable when it came to finishing routes/catches, this is yet another example of a player that is hard to trust.
Does that mean Mitchell’s already limited playing time (he doesn’t play special teams, unlike Ashton Dulin), when the wideouts are healthy, shrinks even more?
Would Steichen take it a step further and have Mitchell be inactive for the first time in his NFL career?
