Tag: Kwity Paye

The Indianapolis Colts’ pass rush should receive a big boost on Sunday with defensive end Kwity Paye healthy and available.

On the team’s final injury report ahead of this Week 6 matchup with the Tennessee Titans, Paye did not have an injury designation, so he is good to go.

Paye had been working through a quad injury that he suffered late in the Colts’ Week 3 win over the Chicago Bears. Paye did not play in the last two games and just returned to practice this week.

Already without DeForest Buckner and Tyquan Lewis up front, both of whom are on injured reserve, the Colts pass rush struggled mightily this past Sunday in Jacksonville.

According to Pro Football Focus, Jaguars’ quarterback Trevor Lawrence was pressured on just one of his 34 dropbacks. With time in the pocket, he picked apart the Colts’ secondary.

Prior to his injury, Paye had nine pressures through three games, which at the time, were tied for the most on the team.

Coming off of what Paye called a “great” offseason, he came into the 2024 year with big goals that he wanted to accomplish.

This is a Colts’ defense that is built to win in the trenches, and when that isn’t happening consistently, things probably aren’t going to end well for this unit.

A bounce-back performance this week is very much needed. Of course, having Paye back in the mix will certainly help, but this is also a Titans’ offensive line unit that has allowed the eighth-highest pressure rate this season and ranks 31st in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency metric.

Pressure on quarterback Will Levis will disrupt the timing and rhythm of the play, not to mention create some turnover opportunities. Levis enters Week 6 having thrown the most interception in football with six, along with ranking ninth in turnover-worthy play rate.

The Indianapolis Colts are returning back to the practice field on Wednesday to begin preparing for their Week 4 matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Beforehand, head coach Shane Steichen met with the media and mentioned that defensive end Kwity Paye would not be practicing on Wednesday, according to Joel Erickson of the Indy Star.

The Colts will see how Paye progresses throughout the week before determining his status for Sunday’s game.

Paye sustained a quad injury late in Sunday’s win over the Chicago Bears. Afterward, Paye told Erickson that he would get scans to determine the severity of the injury. No further specifics have been provided.

Paye put together an impressive performance against the Bears. He totaled five pressures in that game–the most on the team–including one sack, and did well against the run to set the edge to contain the ball carrier.

The Colts defensive front will face a difficult test this week going up against the run-heavy Steelers and will have to prove that last week’s performance against the run wasn’t a fluke.

Although Pittsburgh is averaging only 3.6 yards per rush this season, they are very committed to running the ball, ranking second in rush attempts per game, resulting in them averaging the 12th most rushing yards per contest.

In pass protection, the Steelers offensive line unit ranks 15th in ESPN’s pass-block win rate metric.

With DeForest Buckner on injured reserve, the Colts are already a bit thin along the defensive line. We will monitor Paye’s status the remainder of the week.

For what it’s worth–and these are two different injuries–dealing with a hamstring injury two weeks ago, Paye did not practice on the Wednesday or Thursday before the matchup with Green Bay and was limited on Friday. He did end up playing.

Indianapolis Colts’ defensive end Kwity Paye will play on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers.

As of Saturday, it didn’t necessarily look like things were trending this way with the team announcing that they were elevating defensive end Genard Avery from the practice squad to provide additional depth in the event that Paye couldn’t play.

Paye was working through a hamstring injury during the week. He played 52 snaps in the opener against Houston–the most on the team at the defensive end position–but did not practice on Wednesday or Thursday and was limited on Friday.

Paye is coming off a solid Week 1 performance, totaling three pressures, including a sack. Among all defensive ends, he ranked 10th in ESPN’s pass-rush win rate metric, winning four of his 13 pass-rush snaps.

However, the Colts defensive front as a whole really struggled against the run last week, surrendering 213 total rushing yards to the Texans.

With Malik Willis under center for Green Bay, slowing Josh Jacobs and the Packers run game will be paramount to the Colts’ success on defense. This will put Green Bay’s offense in obvious passing situations allowing the strength of this defense–the pass rush–to truly flex its muscles.

In addition to Paye being active, so is defensive tackle DeForest Buckner. Something to watch for as the game unfolds is if Paye is on a snap count.

Indianapolis Colts defensive end Kwity Paye returned to the practice field on Friday ahead of the team’s Week 2 matchup with the Green Bay Packers.

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Paye had missed the first two practices of the week with a hamstring injury. We will find out later this afternoon whether Paye was a limited of full participant at today’s practice.

Paye would play 52 defensive snaps against the Houston Texans–tied for the most on the team at the defensive end position for the Colts.

He was disruptive with those pass rush opportunities, totaling three pressures, including one sack. By ESPN’s pass-rush win rate metric, Paye ranked 10th among all defensive ends, with a win-rate of 31 percent, which included being double-teamed on 20 percent of his snaps.

Paye is coming off of what he called a “great” offseason, where he worked out four or five times a day, losing 15 pounds overall, while still putting on muscle mass.

Although he’s coming off an 8.5 sack season in 2023, the goal is more pass rush consistency, after totaling only 28 pressures that year. It’s safe to say that after Week 1, Paye is off to a strong start in that regard.

It goes without saying but having Paye available on Sunday would be huge for a Colts defensive front that has to bounce back against the run and will face a difficult challenge in doing so with Josh Jacobs on the Packers.

Then, of course, we all know the importance of generating pressure on the quarterback. Right now, it looks like Malik Willis will get the start for the Packers, but he will still have plenty of pass-catching weapons around him.

Not on the practice field Wednesday for the Indianapolis Colts was defensive end Kwity Paye.

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The reason for his absence is not known at this time, but the first injury report of the week will be released later this afternoon and will provide us with some insight.

Paye is coming off an impressive Week 1 performance against the Houston Texans. He finished the game producing three pressures, according to PFF, which included a sack and a quarterback hit on CJ Stroud.

By ESPN’s pass-rush win rate metric, which measures how many times a pass rusher is able to win his rep within 2.5 seconds, Paye ranked 10th among all defensive ends in Week 1, winning 31 percent of his pass-rush reps. Paye also did this while being double-teamed 20 percent of the time.

Contributing to Paye’s early success is what he called a “great” offseason, where he worked out four or five times a day, losing 15 pounds overall, while still adding muscle in the process.

That ability to consistently win as a pass rusher coupled with Paye’s early down usage as a run defender would create a very well-rounded presence at the defensive end position.

The Colts will face the Packers in Week 2, and while the team is preparing to face Malik Willis and not Jordan Love, this is a Green Bay offense that comes with a lot of fire power with Josh Jacobs at running back, and a litany of dynamic options in the passing game.

Indianapolis Colts’ defensive end Kwity Paye put together a strong Week 1 performance as a pass rusher.

Among all defensive ends in each team’s season opener, Paye ranked 10th in ESPN’s pass rush win rate metric, which measures how often a pass rusher is able to beat his blocker within 2.5 seconds.

For Paye, he was able to win four times out of his 13 pass rush snaps for a win rate of 31 percent. Paye did this while being double-teamed on 20 percent of his snaps as well.

At the top of the list was Denver’s Jonathan Cooper who won five of his 10 pass rush attempts. Just ahead of Paye in these rankings are Maxx Crosby, Andrew Van Ginkle, and Jared Verse with win rates of 33 percent.

From a production standpoint, PFF credited Paye with three pressures, including a quarterback hit, and one sack.

While as a pass rusher, Paye was able to tally 8.5 sacks in 2023, he also finished the year with just 28 total pressures. From a sustainability standpoint in regards to his sack production, duplicating that level of productivity would likely require more consistent opportunities. Or in short, creating more steady pressures.

Paye’s performance in this first game is a great sign that he’s on that track. Regardless of the position, with consistency comes production.

Paye is coming off of what he called a “great” offseason, working out four or five times a day, which resulted in him losing 15 pounds while gaining muscle.

“That’s where you prepare for the season,” said Paye prior to training camp. “So for me, I was doing like four or five workouts a day. I was doing extra cardio in the morning. I was doing the lift and the line work, then Pilates and hot yoga and PT and just making sure I stay on top of it. Making sure I’m ready to go. I lost 15 pounds, and I gained some muscle.”

Now the next step, and this is the case for any player, is to build off of the strong foundation that Paye has built to start the season, so what we saw from him as a pass rusher in Week 1 ends up becoming the norm.