Insider: Why T.Y. Hilton has no problem with other Colts shining while he draws attention

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INDIANAPOLIS — Three weeks ago, T.Y. Hilton kept coming off the field in Oakland to a shower of praise from Colts offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni and wide receivers coach Kevin Patullo for the catches he wasn’t making.

The Raiders were so worried about Hilton they kept rolling coverage to his side, taking safeties away from their duties in the running game to make sure the Colts star wouldn’t kill them in the passing game.

Hilton, to his credit, kept running like a man about to get the football. While Oakland spent its day limiting Hilton to five targets and just one catch, the rest of the Colts ran over, through and past the Raiders to the tune of 42 points.

That’s why Sirianni and Patullo kept heaping praise on Hilton. On a day when he had just a single catch, albeit an explosive 34-yard gain, Hilton’s presence was felt all over the field.

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No team has paid quite as much attention to Hilton as the Raiders did, but he has seen a heavy dose of added attention since he returned from a hamstring injury three weeks ago. For that reason, Hilton’s catches have gone down.

His impact hasn’t.

“They’re trying to take me out of the game, but it’s opened things up for a lot of other guys and helping us win,” Hilton said. “They can keep doing it.”

Hilton was targeted 32 times in the three games he was a full participant at the start of the season, accounting for 25.8 percent of Andrew Luck’s targets in those games. In the three games since he returned, he’s been targeted 16 times, or 19.2 percent of the time, and made eight catches in that span.

“It’s always in the plan to get T.Y. the ball,” offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni said. “Always. Regardless of who is having some of the touchdowns now, Eric Ebron having all the touchdowns that he has and Marlon Mack running the ball, T.Y. is our best playmaker, there is no doubt about it.”

Opposing defenses know it.

That’s why Hilton’s workload has dropped a little; a defense is always going to focus on slowing down an offense’s best player.

The trouble for defenses is that Luck has found plenty of other targets, particularly at the tight end position, who have made teams pay for focusing too much of their attention on Hilton.

“We are just not going to force-feed it,” Sirianni said. “Whether the defense allows us to do that or not, that’s their call. When they take T.Y. away, they leave something else open, and I think that’s what makes T.Y. so valuable, is that he’s dangerous with or without the ball in his hands.”

A Luck that doesn’t feel like he has to force the ball to his best receiver is a more efficient Luck.

“Some of it has just been the progression of the play,” Colts coach Frank Reich said. “We had something for T.Y., they switched up their coverage and Andrew went somewhere else with the ball.”

Hilton’s attitude is far from universal.

There are star receivers who demand the ball comes to them all the time, even when coverage and game plan and every other factor demands it goes somewhere else.

Hilton can be patient. He knows his time will come.

“I’m a team player, it doesn’t matter to me,” Hilton said. “If they take me out of the game, other guys will step up. … When it’s time for them to get off of me, then I’ll go off.”