The good and bad from an important Colts win over Raiders
The bad from Colts win over Raiders (continued)
Colts pass rush
The one positive of this defense this year was the pass rush. The sack numbers have been fantastic all year but the team had only two sacks on Sunday. O’Connell did get the ball out quickly but surely the team would have liked to see more pressure on him this week.
DeForest Buckner and Tyquan Lewis were the studs this week when they could get to the quarterback. A few more pressures and sacks would have lessened the load on JuJu Brents with Davante Adams. However, it was nice to see Gus Bradley bring some blitz packages into the gameplan this week.
The good from Colts win over Raiders
Offensive line play
The Colts welcomed back Braden Smith from his most recent absence, and it was at the perfect time. Maxx Crosby is one of the best pass rushers in the league and this offensive line was able to keep him at bay. His final stats were just one TFL and one QB Hit with zero sacks. For as much havoc as he is known to cause that’s an impressive day of work for the offensive line against him. The Raiders only recorded one sack on Gardner Minshew all day as well.
The line was also able to let running back Jonathan Taylor have a solid day at the office as well. Taylor finished with 96 yards on 21 carries and added an early touchdown as well. The ground game totaled 134 yards on the day with Trey Sermon chipping in with 32 yards.