For the first time in his career, Indianapolis Colts left guard Quenton Nelson faced off against Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald for a number of snaps in the 27-24 loss at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday.
This was a highly-anticipated matchup during the game. Donald is considered arguably best player in the NFL and certainly the best defensive player in the league. Whereas Nelson is considered arguably the best guard in the NFL.
For Nelson, he felt honored to line up across from one of the most elite players to ever see the field.
“It was an honor going against the best player in the NFL. I just knew on every play that in order to have a chance to win my rep against him, I would have to be at my best with my technique and fundamentals,” Nelson told reporters after the game Sunday. “He definitely pushed me to play to my best ability in that sense.”
While Nelson had a solid game on the interior, the same cannot be said for the rest of the offensive line. For the second week in a row, the Colts struggled to keep a clean pocket for quarterback Carson Wentz.
The 28-year-old quarterback was running for his life the entire day when he wasn’t getting hit, which he did unofficially 12 times.
The Colts offensive line also failed to provide any push in several goal-line attempts throughout the day. The running backs for the Colts averaged a paltry 3.4 yards per carry on the day.
“It’s unacceptable. We, I think, ran the ball three out of the four times. You’ve got four downs to, shoot, get one yard and we weren’t successful,” Nelson said. “It’s unacceptable and we need to be better in that situation and I don’t know. We’ve got to block them better and just get in there and punch it in.”
It was another rough outing for the offensive line, which is supposed to be the strength of the offense. Nelson and the rest of the front have to get better moving forward if the Colts are going to make a comeback after starting the season 0-2.
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