Too many big plays surrendered by the Indianapolis Colts defense are at the root of the problems for this side of the ball if you ask defensive coordinator Gus Bradley.
“I think the issues really stem from explosive plays,” said Bradley on Tuesday when asked about the defense’s performance. “We’re just giving up far too many explosive plays, not only in the pass game but in the run game.”
The Colts will enter Week 15 allowing 147 rushing yards per game, which ranks 31st in football, and 232.4 passing yards per contest, ranking 26th in that category.
On a per-play basis, the 4.6 yards per rush given up ranks 21st, and their 7.1 yards per pass attempt is 27th.
An explosive play is defined as a run of 10-plus yards or a pass of 20-plus yards and the Colts entered their matchup with New England having allowed the third-most explosive plays in football, including the most on the ground.
Missed tackles have been a major issue for the Colts this season. According to Pro Football Reference, Indianapolis has the most in football.
However, when the big play issues are this persistent, it’s never any one thing or any one player–it’s everyone. It’s not getting off blocks, it’s the aforementioned missed tackles, it’s poor angles, missed assignments, poor communication. It’s everything.
The back-breaking element of the big play is that even if the defense does it’s job for the first two or three plays of a possession, the chunk yardage gain immediately wipes away any of that progress.
Also not helping the defense has been the lack of complementary football with the offense ranking 31st in time of possession this season, putting even more stress on the defense. But hopefully, with the emergence of Anthony Richardson in recent games, he and the offense can provide the defense with some added relief.
While the overall numbers certainly aren’t great and the defensive performance against what had been a stagnant New England offense was a sharp reminder of how thing the margin for error is for this unit, the defense had been generating takeaways and holding its own against some difficult opponents during the middle portion of the season.
This week the Colts find themselves in a playoff-like game against Denver. Richardson’s play coupled with the re-emergence of the run game seems to have the offense trending in the right direction. However, if the Colts are going to make a legitimate playoff push, they need more consistency from the defense, and that starts with limiting the number of explosive plays.