Indianapolis Colts Defense Pressures Joe Flacco, Corrals Ravens Passing Game

The Indianapolis Colts, because of their premier quarterback, have been an offensively-focused team since the early 2000s.

After future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning was released in 2012, Andrew Luck was drafted and the emphasis on offense, even in spite of certain coaching philosophies, continued. As Luck and the offense goes, so goes the fate of the Colts, or so is the assumption. 

But on Sunday as the Baltimore Ravens made their way to Lucas Oil Stadium, the roles reversed. As Luck and the offense made self-destructing mistakes throughout the game, the defense stopped the Ravens time and time again. Outside of one second-half touchdown drive, the Colts held the Ravens to just two field goals, one of which came on a short field after a Luck interception. 

Make no mistake, the offense played its part in the win, especially in the fourth quarter, when the Colts held the ball for 10:27 on two long drives. The first drive ended in a touchdown that put the Colts up by two scores, and while the second drive ended in an Ahmad Bradshaw fumble that allowed Baltimore to have one last chance, it left less than two minutes on the clock with Baltimore needing a touchdown. 

None of that, however, matched the defense's accomplishments Sunday, as the previously prolific Baltimore offense was held in check for the entire game.

Game	Total yards	Rushing Yards	Net Passing Yards	Points	Team TOs	First Downs
vs CIN	423	94	329	16	2	26
vs PIT	323	157	166	26	0	25
@ CLE	377	160	217	23	1	23
vs CAR	454	127	327	38	0	25
Weeks 1-4 Average	394.25	134.5	259.75	25.75	0.75	24.75
@ IND	287	90	197	13	3	15

The Ravens' lone touchdown drive was aided by an unfortunate pass interference call on Vontae Davis (who lost his balance while trying to flip his hips with the receiver's route) and a missed tackle by Greg Toler. Outside of those two plays, Baltimore was knocked off keel throughout the afternoon. 

It started with the pass rush, which was consistently effective against a solid offensive line. We've seen the pass rush pick up over the last three weeks, but it's hard to gauge effectiveness against the Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars. 

Baltimore, on the other hand, had the second-best adjusted sack rate in the league prior to the game, according to Football Outsiders. Having been sacked just three times entering Sunday's game, Joe Flacco was clearly uncomfortable all game, and was sacked four times by an opportunistic Colts defense. 

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Bjoern Werner earned the headlines after the win with two sacks and what was quite easily the best performance of his career thus far. But Werner wasn't consistently dominant or anything like that against undrafted rookie left tackle James Hurst. His first sack was a direct result of Cory Redding's pressure on Flacco, although his second sack was a fantastic individual bull rush. 

That's not to say Werner didn't play well, he did. But the Colts pass rush was a total team effort, not a product of any one, two or even three individuals, something Ravens coach John Harbaugh told Aaron Wilson of The Baltimore Sun after the game:

"

I think I remember [Hurst] getting beat one time by [Werner] clean for a sack, but most of it was pressure. Mostly, they were bringing five, they were bringing six most of those times. Those are times you got five offensive linemen, and you got six guys to pick them up or they will bring them away from the side. They did a good job with that. You have to get the ball out and you have to make them pay for that with play, and we were just unable to do that.

"

Obviously Werner and Redding each had some individual victories that resulted in pressure, but also contributing were inside linebackers Jerrell Freeman and D'Qwell Jackson, who attacked the "A" gaps with blitzes throughout the game. The secondary got involved as well, with Sergio Brown (filling in for LaRon Landry) picking up a sack in the second quarter on a key fourth-down attempt by blowing by Hurst.

Colts defensive coordinator Greg Manusky brought the heat on critical downs and trusted his secondary to hold down the fort long enough for Flacco to feel uncomfortable, or even be sacked. On Vontae Davis' interception in the third quarter, for example, Manusky shows seven at the line of scrimmage and then rushes five, including Brown. 

NFL Game Rewind

Brown loops around Freeman to the inside and gets Flacco to rush a throw to a covered Torrey Smith, where Davis was waiting patiently. 

On the Ravens' final play, a 4th-and-3 from their own 42, Manusky dialed up the blitz again, sending six rushers and trusting his corners on the outside. While Greg Toler got beat off the release by Smith, he was able to recover in time to get his long arms up and keep Smith from being able to reel in the catch. 

That trust in the defensive backs was key all day, and they responded. Steve Smith had averaged over 106 yards a game by himself over the first four games, but on Sunday the Ravens' top three receivers were limited to just 102 yards combined. 

Brown was a key piece for Indianapolis as well. He was active around the ball all day, tackled well and moved in his coverage zones well. The communication between the unit seemed to be on point throughout the day, and Brown filled in as a deep safety extremely well. His play will be watched closely over the next three weeks, considering how disappointing Landry has been over the last year-and-a-half.

The Ravens did rush for six yards per carry, but only ran the ball 15 times. A large part of those yards came on a couple chunk plays, while the rest of the day was limited for Baltimore. 

Overall, it was as impressive as a performance for a Colts defense since the win at San Francisco in 2014. Sure, the Ravens made their own bed, to some extent, with a few unforced errors. But the Colts were well-prepared for the Ravens and executed the game plan almost flawlessly. 

This is the monster that Chuck Pagano wanted to build. We've seen glimpses of it occasionally, but this, even without Robert Mathis, without LaRon Landry, without Arthur Jones, was something different. It wasn't a case where the circumstances were all stacked in their favor, it wasn't the first time they were perfectly healthy. 

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

It was, as Pagano would say, a gritty performance. To have three starters out, including two of the Colts' best pass-rushers in Jones and Mathis, but to pressure Flacco as much as they did, was a feat that cannot be ignored. While Eugene Monroe's injury at left tackle hurt the Ravens, it's still a solid offensive line, and the Colts were able to manufacture pressure regardless. 

Now, this isn't something we're guaranteed to see every day—remember, the Colts did this at San Francisco last year as well (coincidentally, with Landry on the bench that day as well). But it's something that seems more sustainable than that day did, especially if the secondary continues to play this well behind Manusky's blitzes. 

The monster may not be fully grown yet, but perhaps it's in the adolescent stage. Now we hope to watch it mature in the coming weeks, continuing to bring this kind of performance to Indianapolis. If they can, the Colts will no longer just be the best team in a bad division; they'll be a legitimate Super Bowl contender.