Chuck Pagano on Pass Rush: ‘Von Miller’s Ain’t Falling Out of the Sky’

Indianapolis Colts head coach Chuck Pagano has big plans for his defense next season, as he works with newly hired defensive coordinator Ted Monachino.

The Colts head coach talked with the media on Thursday afternoon during the NFL Combine:

"“You know Ted (Monachino) and I obviously have history together. We want to be multiple. We want to be simple: me, complex: you. We always want to be aggressive. We want to be attacking. We want to be sound.”“When you turn the film on, a hallmark of a great defense is a great tackling defense, and we want to be a great tackling defense,” added Pagano. “We want to put a premium on fundamentals and technique, and then again communication. But obviously stopping the run is always first and foremost. You know that was going to come out of my mouth.” “There’s a lot of things we looked at, and we’ve got to be better at 3rd down, noted Pagano. “We’ve got to be better in the red area, and we can’t give up big plays. You know I’m excited for where we’re headed.”"

Pagano discussed the flawless blueprint that the Denver Broncos so eloquently executed during their recent Super Bowl run:

"“I think first and foremost. We just saw Denver win a Super Bowl with a phenomenal defense and a great quarterback. A future first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback. I think you always want to be balanced. You want to build, it’s hard with the salary cap as such…but I’d love to build a quality, dominant defense.”"

Specifically, the two Super Bowl teams pass rush out jumped out on film to Pagano, who’d like to mimic both teams special ability to routinely get to the quarterback:

"“Pass rush stood out to me,” said Pagano. “Lack of protection on offense, but the defense is getting after the quarterback. You can never have enough pass rushers. You can never have enough corners. But I think as far as getting after the quarterback. Both those teams were able to do it with 4 guys.”“Sometimes, they brought 5, but you didn’t see it often,” added Pagano. “But when you have the ability to put the pressure on the quarterback, the way they did with 4 guys and you can play coverage and do certain things. Drop 7 into coverage a lot of times, it’s obviously very beneficial.”"

However, that’s likely easier said than done as pass rushers are always held at a premium. Denver’s dominant pass rush was anchored by the likes of superstar Von Miller and that type of special player rarely hits the open market. Even if they did, it would be well beyond the Colts financial means at this time:

"“I mean everybody is going to look to find…Von Miller’s just ain’t falling out of the sky all over the place,” quipped Pagano. “I think he went #2 a few years ago. We’re not picking #2. I don’t know if there’s, I haven’t evaluated this group yet. I don’t think he’s going to become available, and I don’t think we have the resources to get a guy like that right now.”"

Still, Pagano noted that the Colts ultimately have to do a better job of developing their young pass rushers internally and perhaps uncovering some potential diamonds in the rough going forward:

"“But we’ve got to find a way to develop young guys and try to find some guys like that on that side of the ball,” concluded Pagano."