The Colts' Defense, 2024 Season
 

o


(vs. TEXANS, 9/08)


On the Texans' first possession of the game, they took over near midfield because the Colts turned the ball over on downs. This led to a Texans 51-yard field goal.

One of the Texans' 2 punts was blocked, which led to a Colts touchdown.

The Colts' defense was very fortunate that the Texans blew it with their lack of competent time-management on their final drive of the 2nd half ...... that drive started at their own 7-yardline with only 2:39 left to play, and the Colts' defense allowed them to maneuver into field goal-range prior to the fiasco that ended the half.

After an overall mediocre game, I believe that the defense played well on the Texans' final drive of the 4th quarter ....... the Texans' receiver just made an outstanding catch in spite of the fact that the Colts' defender had him covered like a blanket.



Possessions: llllllllll.... 10

Punts: lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllt 2 l (1 Blocked)

Clock Ran Out: llllllllt) 2

TD's: llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 3

FG's: llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 3

o

I think you're being too generous in saying they played a "mediocre" game. They gave up over 400 yards and 40:00 of the clock while forcing no turnovers. If they continue to play this way they may very well finish 0-17, far from mediocre.

the defense was absolute garbage

Yeah, the defense was garbage.

They let Stroud do whatever he wanted but that’s not the disappointing part.

What’s disappointing is they allowed 213 yards rushing.

Absolutely inexcusable. Against a team that was AWFUL running the ball last year.

Thats gonna be a problem all year.

Also, I’ll say the Texans aren’t that good.

They won today but the Colts were really REALLY bad.

Especially on defense.

Couldn’t run the ball.

Couldn’t stop the run.

I have a slightly different take than most. The Texans were holding all game long, and not one call. Several of the third and long conversions were aided by holding our DLine. If not for that, the defense would have gotten off the field much earlier, gotten rest, and changed the TOP greatly.

Are you fine with a defense that gives up points on 60% of the opponents drives?

If that trend continues there will be a lot of people looking for jobs.

o


Nowhere in my OP did I say, or even insinuate, that I was fine with that.

o

Hence why I asked the question. Then, would you agree that the stat of giving up points on 60% of the opponents drives is worse than mediocre?

o


A) ) First of all, it would depend on what the scores were. 6 FG's ceded is a lot different than 6 TD's ceded. In this case of today's game, is was a mix of both (3 FG's, and 3 TD's.)

B) ) I would not use that stat solely to be based the overall defense's performance. For example, I stated specifically why I thought the the defense was lucky because of the Texans' clock mismanagement on the final drive of the first half, and why l thought that they were unlucky on the final drive of the game.

C) ) It would also depend on how many times the team's offense put the defense in a bad position to begin with ...... and today that only happened once, when the Colts' offense gave the ball to the Texans near midfield when they turned the ball over on downs on the opening drive of the game. And that drive ended with a field goal. Giving up a field goal when the other team starts the drive near midfield is not great, but it's also not horrible. If I recall correctly, we did this dance last year when you refused to budge after a game in which the Colts' offense put the defense in numerous bad situations, and you stubbornly put all of the blame on the defense for giving up points for drives that started deep in their own territory. You referenced Mike Curtis and the old Colts teams from the 1967, 1968, and 1971 seasons who set records for the least amount of points ceded in a 14-game season as a comparison, and said something along the lines of "good defenses don't give up points, no matter what" ...... and it appears that you are trying to do this again by narrowing down the criteria of a defense's performance to a single fact/statistic. If you want to do that fine, but anybody who is trying to use some objectivity takes into account all of the factors that occur during a game when judging a defense. I believe that the defense was mediocre today, and I partially explained why in my OP. Thorgrim, Omaha, and Hoopsdoc all thought that the defense was flat-out bad, and Racehorse leaned more towards my view. I think that an argument can be made for both (mediocre, and bad.)

Also, I never said that I was OK with mediocrity in the first place.....I'm not. Mediocrity will generally lead to an overall record of somewhere between 6-11 and 9-8, and I'm not OK with that. Today's game could have been won with a better performance by the Colts' defense, and it also could have been won with better run-blocking from the Colts' offensive line.

o