Colts defense needs to force more turnovers

The Colts have done a pretty good job of protecting the football on offense, but not a good enough job of taking it away on defense.

Through seven games this season, the Colts only have seven turnovers. That’s pretty good. In fact, it’s tied for 5th best in the league. Jacoby Brissett has done a fantastic job making good decisions and not turning the ball over. But the Colts defense hasn’t done a good enough job taking it away.

In those same seven games, the Colts defense has only forced 7 turnovers. That is tied for 5th worst in the league. That gives the Colts a 0 turnover differential, which is right in the middle of the pack. They have to do better than that.

As far as the takeaway breakdown goes, the Colts have forced 4 interceptions and 3 fumbles. They haven’t done a good enough job of giving the offense opportunities to score easy points. That could be an issue down the line, especially in the playoffs.

Part of that is because the defense has been injured most of the season. They were finally healthy against Denver on Sunday and played pretty well. But now that they have had time to practice with each other and get back into the swing of things, maybe things will change.

Last season the Colts were in the top 10 in terms of takeaways. Not much has changed from last season to this one in terms of personnel, so it’s unclear as to why they haven’t been able to take the ball away at the same rate. But for this team to get where they want to go, they have to get more turnovers.

This week could be a week for them to do just that. The Steelers are playing a backup quarterback, and will likely have to play a backup running back as well. That could give the Colts defense the spark they need to force more turnovers.