Colts vs. Texans: Week 7 defense grades

The Colts played a great game at home against Houston, winning 30-23. The defense stepped up in big spots multiple times in this one.

It was a close game throughout, and the Colts were able to come out on top. In fact, it was the defense who sealed it up with an interception from Darius Leonard with 26 seconds left. Here is how every unit on the defense played in this one.

The defensive line had to play a solid game. They had to control the line of scrimmage if the Colts were going to win. They were able to do that for the most part. The line had 3 sacks of Deshaun Watson, including two from Justin Houston. Getting that pressure on him was a big key to slowing him down.

Stopping the running game was also key. Houston did run for 100 yards as a team, but no one in particular had a big game. A large part of that was the defensive line plugging up holes at the line of scrimmage. Solid day for this group.

Darius Leonard had a great game in his first action after missing three weeks with a concussion. He led the team in tackles with 10 of them. He also had that game-sealing interception in the final defensive play. Surprisingly, Anthony Walker only had one tackle in this one. But this group helped corral the run game effectively enough.

Pierre Desir had the tough assignment of covering DeAndre Hopkins when the Colts were in man-to-man. He did a pretty decent job at times, but Hopkins still had over 100 yards and a score. But the secondary at large did what they needed to do to limit the passing game just enough.

The defense as a whole bent a lot in this game, but didn’t break a lot. They forced Houston to settle for three field goals, including one time when they started their drive inside the Colts’ 10-yard line. They stepped up when they needed to.

If the defense can play just well enough like they did today, the Colts are going to win a lot more football games.