After struggling to stop the run a week ago against the Houston Texans, things have gotten worse for the Indianapolis Colts in Week 2.
The Green Bay Packers ran wild against the Colts, totaling 261 rushing yards at 4.9 yards per attempt as a team. Leading the way for the Packers was Josh Jacobs with 151 rushing yards.
In fact, in the first quarter alone, the Colts defense surrendered 164 rushing yards to the Packers offense on just 20 carries. That’s an average of 8.2 yards per attempt.
164 of those rushing yards were surrendered in the opening quarter, the most since 2011, when the Denver Broncos ran for 167 yards.
Similarly to what the Texans did, the Packers utilized 11 personnel and either pistol or shotgun looks to spread the Colts defense out. The Packers had also thrown a lot at the Colts both schematically and in using all three of their running backs, sprinkling in some end-arounds, and quarterback Malik Willis had some carries as well.
This led to another massive discrepancy in the time of possession battle–something that ended up playing a key factor in last week’s loss. The Colts ended up holding the ball for only 19:49 compared to the Packers’ 40:11.
As a result of the Packers’ success on the ground, Willis attempted only 14 passes, but he was efficient completing 12 of them. The goal coming into this game should have been to put the ball in Willis’ hands as much as possible and not let Jacobs and the run game control things.
This issue for the Colts has quickly gone from an issue to a massive problem. A bad run defense is nearly impossible to overcome.