Can Colts Defense Still Be Considered One of the NFL's Best?
The Indianapolis Colts had yet another brutal loss at the hands of the Minnesota Vikings in Week 15.
This time around, they went into the half with a massive, 33-point advantage, only to submit in the second half and lose, 39-36 in overtime, thus blowing the largest lead in NFL history. The former record-holder was the 1992 Buffalo Bills, who overcame a 32-point deficit, orchestrated by former Colts head coach Frank Reich. Irony, anyone?
On Saturday, Matt Ryan and the Colts' offense took a lot of blame, but it’s time to switch sides of the ball and see if the defense can actually still be considered one of the better units in the NFL after back-to-back letdowns.
No team wants to be 4-9-1 going into Week 16. For the Colts, this is a sad reality. However, defensive coordinator Gus Bradley boasted an underrated defense with multiple tough showings against great offenses like the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, to name a couple.
With names like Yannick Ngakoue, Stephon Gilmore, Kwity Paye, DeForest Buckner, Grover Stewart, and Bobby Okereke on the squad, it’s easy to see why the Colts' defense has had success despite a completely confused offensive attack. However, the group has allowed a monstrous 93 points over the last two contests (Dallas Cowboys had 54).
What is even more shocking is when these points have been allowed. Both games were well into the second half when the points flooded in, as the Cowboys had 33 points in the fourth quarter and the Vikings scored all 39 in the second half, totaling 72 points allowed. This is not what a top defense does, regardless of how bad or ineffective their offensive counterparts are. But, for this to happen — primarily in fourth-quarter football — is more alarming.
Time of possession is another factor to address. With how unbalanced the Colts' offense is, one may assume that they didn’t have the ball long at all, thus putting more pressure and time on the defense. This wasn’t the case, as in both contests the Colts had the advantage in possession, with 31:19-to-28:41 against the Cowboys and 36:37-to-33:20 versus the Vikings.
It has shown through these most recent performances that Bradley’s defense is getting exposed in the second half of games. Whether it is the lack of pass rush as the game progresses or the secondary waning, one thing is for sure: this is not the same Colts defense that showed up, game after game, in the first 12 meetings to keep a bad offense in the window to still win.
For any Colts fan, it hasn’t been good football in 2022, but for the poor performance from the offensive side to permeate over to the defense isn’t welcoming.
Bradley has three weeks to try to right the ship, but it gets no easier as Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert looms soon, waiting for the Colts next Monday on primetime. It will be seen if the Colts have an answer for the last two defensive cave-ins.
