Colts vs. Panthers: Defensive grades

The Colts played a great game on Sunday, defeating Carolina 38-6. Their defense finally showed up in a big way.

The last two weeks were rough for the defense, and in particular the secondary. Drew Brees only threw one incompletion a week ago in New Orleans, and Jameis Winston threw for 456 yards the week before that. The secondary was getting torched at historic levels.

That didn’t happen this week. The defense locked down the Panthers and held them to only 6 points. All units of the team played the best that they have in weeks. It was great to see them turn it around in the home finale. Here is how each unit graded.

The defensive line played perhaps their best game of the year. The Colts sacked Will Grier 5 times, and 4 of them were from the defensive line. Justin Houston recorded his 10th sack of the season. Grover Stewart had one too. Al Quadin-Muhammad actually had 2. They controlled the line of scrimmage the whole game. It was well done.

Darius Leonard yet again led the team in tackles with 11. Bobby Okereke added 10, and Anthony Walker had 10 too along with an interception. The Colts only allowed 87 rushing yards, which is great. The linebackers had a big part in that great effort.

As mentioned above, the secondary had some rough weeks leading into this one. That was not the case Sunday. Pierre Desir had two interceptions, and the team as a whole only allowed 224 yards passing from Grier. It was good to see them have a bounce back game.

The defense needed a performance like this going into the offseason. They still have one more game to play to get that momentum as well.