Colts play-caller Parks Frazier on first game, and win, in new role: 'Everything just felt natural to me'

Frazier, 30, helped the Colts snap their three-game losing streak

The Indianapolis Colts have been the subject of many discussions, and criticisms over the last week after hiring former player Jeff Saturday as their interim head coach following the Frank Reich firing. Saturday had no NFL or college coaching experience, so numerous players, coaches and fans across the league were confused about the move.

The Colts proved the doubters wrong, at least for a week, when they defeated the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 10.

After he was hired, Saturday named Parks Frazier the team's play-caller going forward. Offensive coordinator Marcus Brady was fired after Week 8 and from there, Reich had been running the offense.

Frazier stepped up to the challenge, helping the offense look better than it had all season.

"You don't know when you get in the moment how you're going to respond," Frazier said, via the team's official website. "For me, just being in the moment and everything just felt natural to me. I think that gave me a lot of confidence moving forward in the game that when we got into it, I felt really comfortable."

The 30-year-old noted how he gained confidence as the game continued and felt confident with the communication between himself, quarterback Matt Ryan and Saturday. 

Fraizer clearly did his homework on the Raiders, exposing their weak spots to get wide receivers open. Most glaringly, Indy renewed its focus on the run game with a healthy Jonathan Taylor, who ran for 147 yards on 22 carries and a touchdown.

Their 25 points was the second-most the Colts have scored all season, behind the 34 points they put up against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 6.

Frazier joined the team in 2018. Before his present role, he had served as the assistant to the head coach, offensive quality control and most recently assistant quarterbacks coach. 

The Colts look like they could be turning their season around and since they currently stand in second place in the AFC South, the playoffs are not out of the picture yet. But before we get ahead of ourselves, the Raiders were not exactly the biggest challenge. More difficult matchups lie ahead.

Next week the Colts face the Philadelphia Eagles, who suffered their first loss on Monday, and they also have the Minnesota Vikings, Los Angeles Chargers and New York Giants left on their schedule.