Colts vs. Steelers: Defensive grades
By Ryan Stano
The Colts lost a tough game 26-24 in Pittsburgh. The defense had some tough moments, but played well in some big spots too.
Whenever you give up 26 points, the defense is immediately something that gets looked at. But truth be told, the Colts’ defense didn’t play so badly. 7 of those points were because of a pick-six thrown by Brian Hoyer. Here’s a look at how each unit played.
Justin Houston continues to play well. He had another sack in this game, this time it was a skip-sack that resulted in a safety. He also recovered a fumble.
Jabaal Sheard had a nice stop on a fourth down. But the defensive tackles could have been a little stronger up the middle.
Darius Leonard had a rough game. He had two personal fouls called on him. While one of them was a poor call, the other one was blatant. He did have 9 tackles, but it was Anthony Walker who led the team with 10. Bobby Okereke had 5 as well.
The linebackers did a pretty good job of stopping the run in this one. They allowed one 45 yard run in this game, but only 90 yards total. A lot of that has to do with the play of the linebackers. Leonard has to be more disciplined though.
Unfortunately, they allowed a lot of yards to running backs on pass plays. They let the Steelers dink and dunk them down the field. There were no adjustments made to fix that problem. That’s more on Eberflus than it is on the linebackers.
The secondary was set up for success in this game today. They did have a pick from Kenny Moore early on after the ball bounced off JuJu Smith-Schuster‘s hands. Marvell Tell also forced a fumble and actually played some pretty good coverage. This was all without Pierre Desir and benching Quincy Wilson.
The defense made some big stops late in this game in some tough spots. They have been doing it all year long. The defense certainly wasn’t the reason the Colts lost this game.