Week 4 Grade: Indianapolis Colts Defense at Seahawks
By Andrew Ites
The Colts had some really impressive individual performances on defense, but the Seahawks’ offense wore them down throughout the game.
Indianapolis held down a struggling Seattle offense for most of three quarters, and even scored a couple of points themselves with a safety. However, the Seahawks made some halftime adjustments and scored touchdowns on four of their five drives in the second half.
D+
First, let’s highlight the players who stood out on Sunday night.
Jabaal Sheard was making a living in the Seattle backfield during the entire game, and he earned Pro Football Focus‘ second-highest grade of Week 4 at his position.
Jabaal Sheard is currently week 4's 2nd highest graded 3-4 OLB. He led the Colts D in both QB pressures (6) and run stops (5).
— PFF IND Colts (@PFF_Colts) October 2, 2017
Sheard ended the night with 5 tackles including 1 sack, and Russell Wilson has to be happy he won’t see Sheard on the other side of the ball for a while.
Malik Hooker was another standout as he picked off a pass for the third consecutive game setting up a game-tying field goal late in the third quarter. We gave him our Rookie of the Game Award, which I’m sure he’ll tell his grandchildren about someday.
Overall, the Colts’ defense really struggled as a unit.
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They gave up 7.7 yards per play, and gave up 36 points in the second half after stifling Seattle’s offense for most of the first two quarters.
The rush defense had been stout through the first three games, but Seattle’s corps of running backs had no trouble moving the ball as they averaged 5.9 yards per carry and totaled 194 yards on the ground.
The Colts’ defensive film sessions won’t be fun to be in this week, but Hooker and Sheard provide some building blocks for improvement over the rest of the season.