Colts Film Study: Aggressive defense and putting up points key to winning

The Broncos’ defense is one of the best units and it’s what’s holding this team together. Safety Justin Simmons continues to impress me as he’s an excellent tackler and is very good at reading the quarterback and breaking on the ball. Not only is he good at run defense, but his coverage ability is also the best in the NFL for safeties right now. On a few plays in the Kansas City game, he broke on the ball before it was thrown and made 5 tackles on LeSean McCoy in the open field.

The other safety, Kareem Jackson, is another fantastic player. Both Simmons and Jackson are equally as good at tackling. Both safeties are in the top 5 for my safeties this season and Jackson is another weapon in the pass-rushing game too. Between Simmons and Jackson, they have 10 pass breakups and know how to read quarterbacks.

In the front 7, Denver has some very good players as well. A player no one seems to talk about is Mike Purcell. The interior defensive lineman is playing excellent run defense but isn’t much of a pass rusher. However, where he lacks is tackling. He tends to try and arm tackle a lot which leads to many runs past the line for the opposing defense.

Alexander Johnson, the undrafted free agent, has been playing out of his mind. He’s been playing since the Chargers game and is an incredible athlete and someone to look for on the field. With 2 sacks in three games, Johnson is also extremely fast and competes with Whitney Mercilus for the best coverage linebacker in the NFL this year.

The biggest accolade I see of his is the passer rating of bellow 60 for opposing quarterbacks when they’re targeting his area. He also has 12 tackles behind the line of scrimmage and 17 solo tackles. Johnson should be a focus for the Colts offensive line Sunday.