Colts vs. Patriots: Defensive post-game grades

The Colts lost again last night to the Patriots 38-24. In that game, a banged up Colts defense looked totally defenseless. Here is how each unit graded out.

There was a great level of concern about the Colts defense coming into this game. They had several players out for the game, including start rookie linebacker Darius Leonard. Those fears turned out to be warranted. Here is how each unit did last night.

This unit was a great disappointment. After getting 7 sacks on Deshaun Watson a week ago, Tom Brady could have napped in the pocket. On his touchdown throw to Josh Gordon, he could have had a picnic in the pocket. He had all day to throw and it was too easy. They hardly got any pressure on him all day. The only reason this grade isn’t worse is because they did stop the run most of the night, save for that last touchdown run by Sony Michel.

The linebackers were expected to be worse without Leonard, and they were. Najee Goode did wind up with a lucky interception in the second half, but other than that was invisible. He did have a bad roughing the passer penalty as well. Anthony Walker got hurt and had to leave the game. Bad night for this unit.

The only reason this grade isn’t the same as the others is because they did force two turnovers. Matthias Farley got an interception off of a dropped pass. He also forced another interception with a hit on Gronk. But other than that, they were bad. It didn’t help that they didn’t get any pass rush help.

But on that TD throw to Gordon, they had him double teamed and they still let him make the catch. This unit was woefully injured, so that deserves some consideration. But they were still very bad.

If the defense can get healthy over the next 10 days or so, they should improve as a unit. But back-to-back poor performances in the secondary have to be a concern for the Colts moving forward.