Colts traded for Yannick Ngakoue for moments like Sunday’s game, he has to start showing up
Yannick Ngakoue was one of the biggest moves of the offseason for the Indianapolis Colts, it’s time for him to start playing like it.
On Sunday, the Indianapolis Colts put the game in the hands of their defense, giving the Washington Commanders the ball on their own 11-yard line with 2:39 left in the game. Indy was leading by six points, so the Commanders needed a touchdown and an extra point to win the game. The Colts’ defense had only allowed 10 points at that moment, so it seemed like they would be able to close the game out, however, that wasn’t the case.
The defense didn’t come through on a must-win drive, allowing Washington to drive 89 yards for a game-winning touchdown. A big reason why the defense was so underwhelming on the final drive was the defensive line. Indianapolis’ front wasn’t able to generate any pressure, giving Taylor Heinicke plenty of time to find his weapons downfield.
While the Colts have struggled to have a consistent pass rush in recent years, the last drive on Sunday was especially disappointing because Indy traded away a promising cornerback in Rock Ya-Sin this offseason to acquire pass rusher Yannick Ngakoue. Ngakoue was brought to Indianapolis for moments like Sunday but he wasn’t able to answer the call against Washington.
Yannick Ngakoue has to start being a closer for the Colts
Similar to a closer in baseball, edge rushers are high-priority players that are expected to finish games. That’s why they’re paid so much and why guys like Von Miller, are so sought after. That’s also why Indianapolis sent away an emerging young player for the veteran Ngakoue. In six seasons prior to this year, Yannick has had more than nine sacks in three seasons, including 10 last year.
Through eight games with the Colts, Ngakoue has just four sacks and 12 total pressures (sacks, hurries, and QB hits combined). Last season with the Las Vegas Raiders, he finished the year with 36 pressures. On Sunday against the Commanders, Ngakoue had just 0.5 sacks, and that was his only pressure of the day.
That production isn’t going to cut it for a player that was brought to Indianapolis with the purpose of bringing back a pass rush to the franchise. Especially in games where the opposing team is running a two-minute drill to score a game-winning touchdown. Moments like that are when Ngakoue’s presence should be felt the most. No. 91 should be consistently flashing on the screen relentlessly getting after the quarterback late in games until a Colts’ victory is secured.
That wasn’t the case on Sunday. There was a fourth-down play on the final drive where Ngakoue did do an inside stunt that forced Heinicke outside of the pocket but the edge player didn’t do a good job containing, so Heinicke was able to get a pass off to keep the drive alive. To make matters worse, Ngakoue wasn’t even on the field rushing the passer on the play where Washington completed the huge pass to Terry McLaurin, getting them to the one-yard line.
On that play, Heinicke had plenty of time in the pocket and it allowed McLaurin to turn his initial route, which was well-covered by Stephon Gilmore, into a playground route where he just broke toward the end zone. The replay looks bad for Gilmore because he got caught snoozing for one second and it was the difference in the game but the real issue is that the pass rush gave the Commanders so much time.
Indy’s pass rush has to be better, in general, but especially late in games. A clutch pass rush is one of the keys to winning in football and the Colts need to find one. Yannick Ngakoue needs to lead the charge in that discovery, after all, that is why he was brought to Indianapolis.
