Arthur Jones Injury Has Huge Ramifications For Colts
Indianapolis Colts fans are anxiously awaiting the news about Arthur Jones, who went down Saturday versus the Rams with an ankle injury. He was seen in a walking boot after the game, and since then has had an MRI and he has seen an ankle specialist.
The prognosis as of now is not a promising one, as reports have stated that Jones’ season is not in jeopardy, but he could miss time in the first half of the season. This is a huge blow to a Colts defense that could already be missing cornerback Greg Toler and linebacker Robert Mathis to start the season. The last thing they need at the moment is to lose Jones, who is their best run stopper on the defensive line.
The Colts have historically been awful at stopping the run, they have attempted to bring in big defensive tackles like Anthony McFarland to stop that problem, but it was to no avail. Jones has been the one defensive end that has proven he can consistently stop the run for the Colts.
When Jones was off the field last season the Colts allowed 12 rushing touchdowns and 4.67 yards per carry. Compare that to when Jones was on the field, where they allowed only two rushing touchdowns and 3.73 yards per carry(stats from Mike Wells of ESPN).
So clearly Jones does make a difference and without him the Colts will have a glaring weakness at the defensive tackle spot. Although the Colts claim to have a “hybrid” defensive system, showing glimpses of both 4-3 and 3-4, their roster bolsters far more players that fit into a 3-4 system. That means they are heavy on outside linebackers(Mathis, Bjoern Werner, Trent Cole, Erik Walden, Jonathan Newsome) and defensive ends (Henry Anderson and Kendall Langford). This leaves one player to be the defensive tackle and the predominant run stopper, and that is what Jones is.
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As another example of Jones’ importance to the Colts run stopping abilities, think back to week 11 of last year versus New England. This was a game in which Jones did not play, Montori Hughes started that game. If you recall, the Patriots had just brought Jonas Gray off the practice squad that very week. Gray did not have a whole lot of snaps with the offense before they took the field on Sunday.
However, Gray was able to dissect the Colts run defense for 201 yards and four touchdowns. All of this occurring while Jones was out due to injury. Now to say that Gray would have been completely neutralized if Jones would have played may not be true. However, you have to imagine Gray wouldn’t have had that sort of night if Jones played.
So let’s do some figuring, let’s say Jones misses the first five games of the regular season because of this injury(probably best case scenario). The Colts are left with Hughes and Zach Kerr as their defensive tackles. They will be going up against these running backs in the first five games:
- Week 1: LeSean McCoy
- Week 2: Chris Ivory
- Week 3: Bishop Sankey
- Week 4: Alfred Blue
- Week 5: T.J. Yeldon/Denard Robinson
On paper you might be thinking this isn’t a huge issue besides week one. Think of this though, if the Colts let up 201 yards to Jonas Gray, who is quite frankly a below average running back, what will happen against these guys.
Because as much as you try to justify it, all five of those running backs above are far better than Gray. Now those are only the first five games! If Jones misses more time the Colts will be going up against the likes of C.J. Spiller, C.J. Anderson, or Le’Veon Bell without Jones as well.
Whether you want to shy away from this problem, this is a huge issue for the Colts. No matter how good their offense is or will be, their defense will need to perform well in order for them to win. Without Jones, the chances of the Colts defense stopping the run and performing well decrease.
Hopefully, Jones will come back soon and if not, the Colts that are healthy will need to step up because if they don’t it may be a long year on defense.