The Indianapolis Colts made a change to their starting lineup on Sunday, benching rookie Dalton Tucker and veteran starter Mark Glowinski, who was cut from the practice squad the day before.
Glowinski is a veteran player who has made 124 appearances in his NFL career, nearly half of which were with the Colts from 2017 to 2021.
He had just joined the Colts' practice squad less than two weeks ago after not being on an NFL roster and provided much-needed stability, especially against the run where Indianapolis needed it.
Glowinski was mediocre in pass defense, allowing three pressures, but he was quite effective in the ground game, creating running lanes for Jonathan Taylor.
According to PFF's stats, while running behind Glowinski, Taylor averaged 4.5 yards per rush on seven attempts in Sunday's game.
Coming into this game, the Colts had struggled with the running game over the last month. If we ignore Jonathan Taylor's 58-yard run against Buffalo starting in Week 9 against Minnesota, he averaged just 2.9 yards per carry over that four-game stretch.
The trickle-down effect of a difficult running game is that the offense then falls behind the sticks, can become one-dimensional and pass-heavy, which puts additional stress on the passing game.
However, that wasn't the case against New England. While the Colts' passing game was disjointed and out of rhythm for most of the day, the running game gave them something to lean on, with Glowinski providing an upgrade on the right side.
