Colts need to be better on third down defense

As I wrote earlier, the Colts offense is elite on third down. Their defense however is quite the opposite. They need to be a lot better.

The Colts had a really good third down offense last season. In fact, they were the best in the whole league in terms of converting percentage. But they weren’t nearly as good on defense. In fact, they have a lot of room for improvement when it comes to third down defense.

When it comes to stopping teams on third downs, the defense wasn’t good. They allowed teams to convert on them 41% of the time. That was good for only 23rd in the league. That’s a bottom tier defense on third down. They need to be better.

Getting an offense off the field on third down builds momentum. It also gives the ball back to your offense faster. Getting the ball to a quarterback like Andrew Luck as often as possible is paramount for success because he’s so good with the offense.

The best way for this number to improve is to have a better pass rush. That’s what the Colts have tried to address with bringing in Justin Houston and some other drafted guys. Sacking the quarterback ensures that they can’t convert on third down.

This number should improve in 2019. With the overall talent improvement on the defensive side of the ball, they should be able to get off the field more often on the most critical down in football. That in turn should lead to more victories.