INDIANAPOLIS — Box scores never tell the whole story. It’d be easy to look at the Indianapolis Colts’ loss to the Cincinnati Bengals and say because the Colts passed the ball 53 times, and ran it just 22, coach Frank Reich and offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni want to work quarterback Andrew Luck till his arm falls off. To say the coaches don’t trust the run game just yet.

It’d be easy, but wrong.

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The Colts view short passes and screens as an extension of the team’s running game. Sirianni sees a quick hit from Luck to a receiver as similar to a pitch to a running back, and notes jet sweeps are a gray area, too. What matters most is what play will gain yards and how that play will match up against the defense.

Forty of Luck's 53 passing attempts, according to Pro Football Focus, were under 10 yards.

“I don’t look at balance as strictly the number of times we run and pass,” Reich said. “Some of that is going to be dictated by the game, some of it’s going to be dictated by what the defense does. This last game was somewhat dictated by what the defense did.”

Against another opponent — maybe the Washington Redskins on Sunday, maybe not — Reich could see the bulk of the calls flip the other way. He believes, as many coaches do, in order for a team to win consistently in the NFL, its offense must be able to run the football.

But if the Colts aim to score on drives that start late in a half passing just makes more sense. Indianapolis, with 1:44 left in the first half and a drive starting at its own 24-yard line, ran the ball once and tossed it seven times to set up a 51-yard field goal. With 3:57 left in the game, needing a touchdown and having the ball at its own 25, Indianapolis threw the ball 12 times and ran just once before the drive ended on a fumble.

“That can make the stats look a lot more lopsided than they actually are or as you actually feel when you are out there on the field,” Sirianni said. “We do have to run the ball better and we would like to run the ball more, but sometimes the situation of the game leads you in the direction that it led us.”

Rookie running back Nyheim Hines is confident that when his coaches decide to heap the burden on his position group, the Colts won’t regret it.

“Our coaches do a great job every week grinding, putting together a great scheme for us to best execute their plan,” Hines said. “When you’re going against a scout team defense, sometimes you see looks that the other team does, and even though it’s the scout team D, you still see creases and holes where they still should be in the game no matter who’s there.”

The running back room is young, rookies in Hines and Jordan Wilkins matched up with second-year man Marlon Mack and Christine Michael, in his sixth year. So, missed opportunities and mistakes against the Bengals were expected.

But each week, Hines expects the group to grow and improve, not just because of the experience, but because with a team this young he and his teammates can’t afford not to. Mack looks forward to being healthy and a part of what it can be.

“It could be good, man," Mack said. "Especially with Jordan and (Hines), because whenever one of us gets the ball in our hands, we’re different with it.”

The Arizona Cardinals managed 68 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries against the Redskins’ defense in their season opener. Whether Hines is asked to run the ball or pass protect, he’ll try to dominate his opponent.

“I think coach really emphasized running the ball this week but, you know, they’re going to call the plays they need to call to win the game,” Hines said. “That’s kind of what happened last week and I expect them to do the exact same thing. Maybe this week it’s running the ball, maybe it’s throwing.”

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Jordan Guskey on Twitter at @JordanGuskey or email him at jguskey@gannett.com.