The Indianapolis Colts continued their slow and miserable march towards a top-three draft pick Thursday night. With a quarterback who threw for under 160 yards, a running back who barely eclipsed 30 yards on the ground, and a secondary that made Brock Osweiler look like the second-coming of Joe Montana, who could possibly receive the MVP award for this week’s performance?
Rookie Quincy Wilson did not play horrible and even finished with eight total tackles. Kenny Moore played well also, although he was targeted in coverage a team-high eight times by the Broncos.
He allowed four catches for 54 yards but also pulled down an interception, broke up two passes and allowed a passer rating of just 32.3 to both Denver quarterbacks. The play of Osweiler negates both of these performances though.
The real top performer in Thursday’s action was none other than first-year Indianapolis Colt Jabaal Sheard. Sheard wrecked havoc against the Denver offense, invoking play that has rarely been seen since the departure of Robert Mathis.
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Sheard was able to pressure the Denver quarterbacks on eight of his 30 pass-rush snaps. That’s a staggering 27 percent of pass rushes. There was also a ninth quarterback pressure that did not register due to Sheard drawing a holding penalty and the play being negated. Sheard was also a force in run defense making three tackles that resulted in stops for Indianapolis.
In total, Sheard finished the game with four tackles and one sack. The performance is just the latest in a line of strong ones for Sheard who has been one of the few bright spots for this year’s Indianapolis Colts. On the season he has started all 14 games racking up 46 total tackles, 5.5 sacks and two forced fumbles.
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The three-year, $25M contract he signed this past offseason is looking more and more like a bargain. Sheard will have two more chances this season to continue his strong play.