Colts mid-season grades: Defense

The Colts are at the halfway point of their season, so it’s time to look back at the first half. Here is how each unit on the defense played in the first half.

The surprise for most of the first half of the season was the Colts’ defense. They kept the team in games early on in the year. Unfortunately, they haven’t played so well in two of the last three games. But here is how each unit has played thus far.

Up front, the Colts defense has been better than expected. Margus Hunt was a beast early on, and Jabaal Sheard has shown flashes as well. They have done a good job getting to the quarterback. They are top ten in the league in sacks. They had issues getting pressure on Sunday though, so that needs to be fixed during this bye week.

As usual, Darius Leonard is the only one keeping this grade semi-respectable. Leonard leads the league in tackles, despite missing a game. He also has 4 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, and 3 fumble recoveries. He truly is a maniac. But the other linebackers haven’t been very good. Anthony Walker has shown flashes, but nothing too consistent. The other linebackers need to pick up the slack.

A lot of this is due to injuries. There were several games in which the Colts were down two or even three defensive backs. But that said, they still haven’t performed well for most of the season. The Colts are 22nd in pass defense, and the secondary is a big part of that. They have had one or two good games, but they need to be better in the second half.

The defense has still played better than expected up to this point. If they can get back to where they were early in the season, this could be a good football team.