Bjoern Werner Taking Second-Year Leap, Leading Colts Surprising Pass Rush

Through seven weeks in the 2014 NFL season, the Indianapolis Colts have accomplished quite a bit. 

They have taken the lead in the AFC South, gone on a five-game winning streak and beat three potential playoff opponents over the last three weeks.

The offense is among the league's best, racking up huge volume numbers as its efficiency gets better every week. Andrew Luck and T.Y. Hilton have broken out as young stars and the return of injured weapons like Ahmad Bradshaw, Reggie Wayne and Dwayne Allen has boosted the offense to new levels. 

The coaching has quickly evolved, turning concerns from last year and early 2014 into worries of the past. 

But it's the defense that has surprised the most, stepping up and becoming one of the league's better units, no matter what kind of competition they've faced in recent weeks. Of that defense, the pass rush has been the most surprising, racking up 21 sacks in seven games, tied for third-most in the NFL. 

All of that, of course, comes without the defense's best player and sole source of pass rush in 2013: outside linebacker Robert Mathis. Mathis, suspended for the first four weeks of the season and then lost for good with a torn Achilles tendon, has returned to the team's facility in recent weeks, but his absence on the field has been much less noticeable than expected. 

There are a myriad of reasons behind that, including coaching, improved interior line play and stellar coverage on the back end, but one individual with an outstanding start to the season is second-year outside linebacker Bjoern Werner. Werner was the man charged with replacing Mathis at the rush outside linebacker position, and based on his rookie season, it was going to be a long year. 

But Werner's second-year leap has come, and come with a bang in the last few weeks. Werner has four sacks over the last three weeks, including crucial sacks at the end of the game against both the Ravens and the Texans. 

On Sunday, Werner was one of several Colts to get pressure on Andy Dalton, arguably the biggest difference between last year's 42-28 loss and this year's dominating performance. 

Sunday wasn't Werner's best performance, and he wasn't the star of the game. Still, he finished with four quarterback pressures (one sack, two hits, one hurry) to lead the team and was a key part of the team's disruption in the backfield throughout the game. 

Year	PFF Grade	Pass Rush Grade	Sacks	Hits	Hurries
2013	-6.7	-7.3	2.5	0	12
2014 (extrapolated)	+4.8	+9.1	9	9	11

That's the best thing about this improvement from Werner. 

He's not just appearing to improve because he's gotten a few lucky sacks, the improvement shows itself in the snap-to-snap impact he's having on the line's pass rush. It's a consistent improvement from last year that is a testament both to Werner and the Colts coaches. 

The second-year linebacker is using an above-average get-off, strong hand usage and breathtaking balance to get to the quarterback, while also being solid against the run.

Of course, Werner isn't the sole improvement on defense, and Sunday's shutout was a perfect example, as Cory Redding, Ricky Jean Francois and Zach Kerr all picked up sacks as well.

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In reality, Werner is just a cog in the Colts' pass-rush machine, a machine that is getting to the quarterback at a remarkable pace. Before Week 7, the Colts were fourth in the league in Football Outsider's Adjusted Sack Rate, and four more sacks on Sunday should do nothing but help that standing.

It's quite the change from 2013, when the Colts only had four different players have three or more sacks. In just seven games this season, four Colts have at least three sacks already (Werner, D'Qwell Jackson, Erik Walden and Cory Redding), while two more (Jean Francois and Zach Kerr) have two. 

Jean Francois said it best after the win against Cincinnati, according to Mike Wells of ESPN.com: 

"

Making a play can come from anywhere on the field. When Manusky is making great defensive plays, he might get somebody out of the popcorn stand to make a play. As long as Manusky keeps giving us plays and we keep perfecting our job and keep doing what we need to do and not do the next person's job, we can be a serious defense.

"

While the local popcorn guy may have trouble getting down to the field, much less around NFL linemen, Jean Francois has a point. With the Colts scheming blitzes as well as they are, the players are producing without phenomenal individual efforts, by just following the play designs, they're getting consistent pressure each and every week. 

Part of that may even be due to the absence of Mathis. Not only did it allow Werner to get into the starting lineup and pick up more experience, but it forced the Colts to get creative with their blitzes, which have paid off exponentially. While part of that is due to exceptional coverage through most of the season, the Colts' pass rush has been independently improved this year, and that's without Arthur Jones for much of the year. 

Jackson told Wells that losing Mathis forced them to find an identity: 

"

When we lost Robert, a lot of guys didn't know what our identity was going to be. We're slowly finding our identity, and it's coming from everyone, it's coming from every angle. The secondary is doing their job, linebackers are able to blitz and get pressure on quarterback. Defensive line is playing phenomenal. It starts with them and Greg Manusky.

"

So what is the Colts' identity now? 

It may be too early to definitively say but right now it looks like a unit that makes things very difficult on the opposing quarterback with tight man-to-man coverage and a plethora of blitz packages. And Werner is both a beneficiary and a driving force behind that backfield penetration. 

No matter the case, Werner leads the team in sacks with four, and we're not halfway through the season. The Colts are currently on pace to beat their total team sack mark of 42 from last season, and that's without a single Colt on pace for double-digit sacks. 

It's truly a team, or even organizational effort, and as long as it continues, the Colts will continue to win.

All statistics and snap counts come from Pro Football Focus (subscription required) and Pro Football Reference unless otherwise noted. 

Kyle is an NFL and Indianapolis Colts analyst for Bleacher Report and the editor-in-chief of Colts Authority. Follow Kyle on Twitter for more stats, analysis and general NFL analysis.