I always thought Kavell Conner was underrated, but yes, I'd like Leonard to be a much better and more productive player. Congrats to him on AFC DPOW honors.

Conner should've started more.

Great to see Leonard win that award. He deserved it.

Brian Baldinger analysis of Darius Leonard against the Eagles:

https://twitter.com/BaldyNFL/status/1044041433366372352

For most of the game he was a force. The only negative I noticed about him in the game was that early on they ate him alive on TE post routes, it was how they scored the opening drive TD. He definitely made up for it, though.

I was talking to a buddy of mine today who watched the game yesterday and he asked me : "Who is that linebacker that you guys have?" I said "Leonard", and he said "Yeah, Holy crap! That guy is awesome!"

It’s been so long since we had a great linebacker. They really can add so much. We just neither hit on draft picks or used low picks to fill the position. Mostly we ignored the position for years. I’m so happy now to watch one play for our team. Just puts a smile on my face all day.

So far this draft class is coming along nicely

It's shaping up to be 2004 caliber.

We have yet to see Tyquan Lewis and Deon Cain.

A real shame Cain is done for the year. Have high hopes for him in the future.

Both of them on IR is a shame.

2 additional rookies for next year! ;)

Walk Worthy,

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Need them this year

It's really scary how good Leonard could be. Because like Dam said he is giving some stuff up in the passing game, that you know, with time he will get better at.

Also, gotta give a shout out to Eberflus. Those blitzes were so well timed.

Hunt leads NFL in tackles for loss, Leonard is second.

Between the two, they have 51 tackles (14 for loss), six sacks, two forced fumbles, two fumbles recovered and three pass breakups through three games.

Leonard’s 41 tackles currently leads the NFL, and both players are tied for the third-most sacks with three apiece


https://www.colts.com/news/margus-hu...ckles-for-loss

This also from the same article:
Team effort.

Five more players are credited with 1 Tackle for Loss (Walker, Moore, Desir, Muhammad, and Woods).

Turay has 1.5 sacks tied with Sheard. Jihad Ward has 1.0 sacks.

Anyone notice who is playing SSLB the most? Goode is only credited with 2 tackles total with no other stats but Franklin has 4 tackles. Special Teams for Franklin?

Young, young defense. They will only improve with more playing experience and playing time together.

Exciting.

Walk Worthy,

We play a lot of big nickel or just nickel. We don’t roll with 3 lbers that much.

Wasn’t Lewis designated for return??

Yeah, I just saw the snap count article on Stampede Blue:
Hooker - 82 snaps
Geathers - 82 snaps
Moore - 82 snaps
Hairston - 82 snaps
Leonard - 82 snaps
Walker - 73 snaps
Desir - 65 snaps
Franklin - 14 snaps
Farley - 9 snaps
Goode - 3 snaps

Desir (65 snaps) + Fanklin (14 snaps) + Goode (3 snaps) = 82 snaps.

Walker (73 snaps) + Farley (9 snaps) = 82 snaps as well

Secondary total snaps = 402 snaps (should be 82 x 4 secondary spots or 328 if we ran base defense)

Linebacker total snaps = 172 snaps (should be 82 x 3 linebacker spots or 246 if we ran base defense)

So, yeah, we are running a TON more nickle/big nickle/dime packages than base defense packages.

I certainly see us playing a whole bunch of two LB sets going forward (Leonard + Walker) with Geathers as the box safety/3rd LB and not a ton of three LBs sets except perhaps in "jumbo" packages. Walker, Leonard and Geathers are just showing that they are that much better then the other choices for more LBs.

Perhaps Franklin will also bloom as the season goes on and will get in the mix more. That would be a welcome addition.

Walk Worthy,

The person playing SLB most often is likely Clayton Geathers. Big Nickel is becoming standard personnel throughout the NFL.

Darius Leonard identified as the top 2018 draftee for the first quarter of the season in this podcast on NFL.com:

http://www.nfl.com/podcasts?id=gid:/...&sf199372335=1

Analysis of Darius Leonard begins at 1:59

It's been a while since I've seen an updated analysis of Darius Leonard's work, but Stampede Blue posted the following one couple of days ago after the Bills game.

https://www.stampedeblue.com/2018/10...ominates-again

I really like Stampede Blue's series of similar articles providing their analysis and real-world examples which illustrate their points. They have a ton of ones on Quenton Nelson and Braden Smith, if you haven't seen them already.

This. This is what I mean. So many times in that article, the play they show should have, by design, had a much more positive result for the Bills, but Leonard's great play took those results away.

Good to see he's learning, scary to think how much better he can get.

You’re really grasping for straws

Plays 1 & 2 are impressive because it was all athleticism and pure effort. I say this because he didn't really read the plays, but reacted quickly and decisively.

Play 3 he actually didn't have gap discipline, yet still found a way to hustle to the ball and get the ball carrier down for a short gain.

Play 4, I remember seeing during the live telecast, and asking myself...did he just do that?

It is just plain scary how good Leonard will be with film study, experience and reading his keys.

None of the WILL LB's of the Dungy era, even came close to this kids ability and performance.

My analysis:

He's really fucking good. In this D, Derrick Brooks. Yes, I went there.

Dungy's Indy time. Derrick Brooks in TB

you know that I meant in Indy right?

What I love is his talent for getting a fist on the ball and knocking it out. Some guys just have a natural ability to do that. People don’t appreciate how hard that is especially when they watch a play in slow motion 500 times. But he just gets it, while NOT sacrificing his ability to make the tackle.

That not sacrificing his ability to get the tackle is huge.

This analysis does a good job showcasing his athleticism and effort but it's missing a crucial 3rd element I think......his leadership. I always watch the warmups that the Colts livestream on Facebook before the games....forget which game it was that Leonard missed cause he was in a boot but he was in his street clothes and that boot out there with his team mates doing all the drills with them and the whole time talking to them and getting them fired up for the game......a game he wasn't going to play in, yet he still managed to make a contribution.....I cant wait to see what he'll accomplish over the next 10 years. He seems to be special.

Can’t capture that on all-22, but I have no doubt that his work ethic and leadership were major factors in Ballard “reaching” for him at the top of round 2.

Cato June made the Pro bowl playing wil for Dungy

Cato June? Yeah I remember him playing on the defense that gave up 375 yds rushing to the Jags.

June was an ok player who was better in coverage, than against the run. He was undersized for the position, admittedly playing at 209 lbs.

And the Colts won the super bowl that year. So losing to the Jags and all that yardage means.......................... nothing

Means something to me

I know this is off topic but speaking of the Jags just read that 4 of the guys on defense ended up in jail in London after running up a 65K bar tab and fighting the night before a game. I think they've been released and don't know if they are playing.......lol.....bet Tom Coughlin's pissed as fuck. Cheerio mates!! :D

https://blacksportsonline.com/home/2...-bill-at-club/

So you think because we won the Superbowl that year no player on that team had any flaws. Cool, now I know I can discount any opinion you ever post since that one is so stupid it is beyond belief.

LOL at the Jags, dumb fucks.

Yes it does. You resource the worst memories, and forget about the best moments.

I think about Addai going up the middle behind Saturday to beat the Pats. You think about the worst game they had all year.

No and I don't know where that came from. It was a bad game. The one time Kravitz said something funny. He said the only thing that stopped the the Jags from getting more yardage. The goal line.

It was 12 years ago. Some of you are like my inlaws. They hold on to a slight from someone else for decades. I prefer to let it go and move on into the present.