Mo Alie-Cox Continues Ascent For Tight End-Rich Colts’ Offense

[Blue]

“At practice, Jack was like, ‘Mo, run this route full speed.’ Because the ball's supposed to go to Jack, but he was like, ‘There's a chance if the safety does something, the ball's going to come to you,’” Alie-Cox recalled. “So I took his advice and I just took off running, I came out my break, and I'm just looking, the ball was there. I was like that ball is up there, I was going to go it with two, but I was like ‘There's no way I'm going to get it with two.’ So I just stuck my hand up there and it just stuck.


“The ball just stuck,” Alie-Cox continued. “I was just trying to get a hand on the ball, it stuck, and I didn't even know I scored. I got up and I was like, ‘What the heck? I'm in the end zone?’”


The touchdown made its rounds on various “top plays” lists — Sirianni considers it the best catch in the NFL since Odell Beckham Jr.’s one-handed catch against the Dallas Cowboys in 2014 — and it just added to Alie-Cox’s confidence. In fact, he scored his second-career touchdown in the Colts’ next game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.


In all, Alie-Cox played in nine games with one start in his first full NFL season, finishing with seven receptions for 133 yards — an average of 19 yards per grab — and two scores.


But what’s impressed Frank Reich the most about Alie-Cox? Since the end of the 2018 season, the Colts’ head coach said the tight end has gotten noticeably better.


“We all know Mo is a smart guy, but that’s a really hard position to play. Things happen really fast,” Reich said recently. “Mo from the start was physically good enough, but how fast can you see the game? Can you play with what we call accelerated vision and see things and have the game slow down? And Mo has really shown that.”


And what about the technical aspects of the position?


“I am really excited about Mo’s development because what I have even seen in the short time in Phase 2 when we get out there and start running routes, I really think he is really starting to develop as a route runner,” Reich said. “I mean, we know he has got good hands but last year I thought he struggled a little bit in his route running and he was just very average. I have already seen in three weeks of Phase 2 some really key indicators to me — I mean very tangible indicators that he can develop into a very good route runner as well. He is so long and big and they don’t want to tackle him.


“Mo, man I am so excited about that guy. He is headed in the right direction.”


Alie-Cox can feel it, too. From a shaky start two years ago to making highlight-reel plays and running with the first team in offseason practices, Alie-Cox is ecstatic to see what he can do in Year 3, and his second year in Reich’s tight end-friendly system.


“Last year everything was just brand new compared to the first year — everything was brand new, had to restart, it was brand new again,” Alie-Cox said. “So this year, I already have that comfort level where I know what I'm doing. So now it's just about working on my technique, my footwork, the little things to just help me be a better football player, because being more comfortable helps you play faster, so I now just need to focus on the little details to make me a better football player.”