Indianapolis Colts' Lack of Defensive Talent Exposed in Loss to Pittsburgh

Over the last week, fans and analysts (including me) have heaped praise upon the Indianapolis Colts defense, and for good reason. 

In Week 7, after all, they shut the Cincinnati Bengals down with ease, picking up their first shutout since 2008. The run defense kept dangerous backs Giovani Bernard and Jeremy Hill in check while the secondary locked down an A.J. Green-less receiving corp. 

Even without Green, the performance was impressive, right? As Chuck Pagano would iterate after the game, a shutout is difficult no matter who the opponent. Plus, the Colts were coming off of three impressive performances against the AFC South and a domination of Joe Flacco and the Baltimore offense. 

But then came Week 8, and a trip to Pittsburgh, when everything got flipped back on its head. 

Just one week after shutting out Cincinnati, the Colts allowed the Steelers to score 51 points, just the third time the franchise has allowed 50 or more since moving to Indianapolis. That number was helped by a pick-six and a safety, assessed when Luck threw from his backside on the goal line after tripping on Jonotthan Harrison's foot.

But even without those nine points, the defense gave up 42 points and allowed Pittsburgh to go 9-for-14 on third and fourth down. Prior to this game, the Colts had allowed just one third-down conversion in each of their four games. 

Injuries didn't help, as the Colts had several key defensive players injured in this one. Vontae Davis was the biggest blow, leaving early in the first quarter with a knee injury. Erik Walden was also lost for most of the game, while starting defensive linemen Cory Redding and Ricky Jean Francois each missed snaps as well due to minor injuries. Throw in Darius Butler, who was returning to the field for the first time since Week 5, and you have a vulnerable defense. 

But vulnerable doesn't lead to 51 points, at least, not on its own. 

So how do we make sense of this? Who is to blame for Sunday, and what can we expect going forward? Are the Colts really this bad defensively, or was this a total fluke that will be replaced by another dominating performance next week? 

Vontae Davis is Kind of Important

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Let's get this out of the way: A healthy Vontae Davis wouldn't have turned this defensive performance around. The Colts allowed a long touchdown drive on the first possession of the game with Davis on the field, including a touchdown pass in zone coverage between Davis and Butler.

But I'm fairly confident in saying that a healthy Davis would have meant less than 50 points. The sixth-year cornerback has been playing like one of the NFL's top five corners over the first half of the season and was in line for his first Pro Bowl. While he could have been vulnerable against Antonio Brown, one of the league's top three receivers this season, his presence would have been a massive upgrade. 

With Davis out, the Colts defense was simply stretching lesser talent too thin, similar to how it was stretched with Toler out last season. With Davis on the sideline, Butler was forced to play outside in the Colts' base defense, something he's not nearly as successful with generally. In nickel, Josh Gordy played outside. 

While Gordy has his merits, the downgrade from Davis to Gordy is difficult to put into words. 

It's like when Steve Carell left The Office. No matter how you try to replace him, it really stretches everybody too thin and the unit goes from an above-average one with phenomenal moments to a poor product.

There were more problems than just that, but having Davis miss the vast majority of the game was a huge blow to the Colts secondary, which thrives on man coverage and sending blitzes. With Davis not able to lock down one side of the field, the Colts weren't able to blitz as heavily or shift safety help to the opposite side as much.

Taking off the Homer Glasses

Last week, I put together a list of reasons why the Colts defense had improved so much, a list that included the NFL's schedule-makers. For some reason, some fans were not happy with that.

But it's important to look back at the favorable circumstances the Colts had and use it to temper expectations. Yes, the Colts were among the league's best in many traditional defensive stats, but it would have been a farce to claim that they were actually one of the league's top five defenses. 

Remember, they gave up 31 to Denver in Week 1 and 30 to Philadelphia in Week 2 (on a day when Nick Foles was not good). The rest of their opponents were extremely favorable matchups for Indianapolis. 

Jacksonville, Tennessee and Houston all have terrible quarterbacks. Cincinnati was missing A.J. Green and Andy Dalton was Bad Andy Dalton. Baltimore was starting an undrafted rookie left tackle due to injury and the Colts were able to get to Flacco all game and keep him from finding any kind of rhythm. 

For Flacco and Dalton, mediocre quarterbacks who require particular circumstances to put up prolific numbers, constant pressure killed any chance at a successful day. 

While credit is still due to the Colts for their performances, tempering expectations is necessary. While the Colts defense was severely hurt by Davis' injury against the Steelers, they were similarly boosted by injuries for Cincinnati and Baltimore in those respective matchups. 

"Running into a Buzz Saw"

You also have to give credit to Pittsburgh, for the execution by the Steelers was phenomenal. 

Ben Roethlisberger put up one of the top 10 most impressive passing performances in NFL history, and he deserves credit for that. Yes, the defense was bad, but Roethlisberger was on point throughout the entirety of this one. His ball placement and timing was impeccable. 

Of course, it helps when there is next to zero pass rush coming from the defense. CBS timed Antonio Brown's 47-yard touchdown with over six seconds in the pocket. Any secondary is going to have a hard time covering for six seconds. 

It doesn't matter what the defense is doing when you are making the insanely difficult plays look easy, and the Steelers did that at times. 

I mean, Antonio Brown caught this touchdown:

Greg Toler can't have better coverage than that. 

Sometimes the opponent gets hot, and for the Colts on Sunday, it was a perfect storm. 

Bottom Line: Colts Still Lack Individual Playmakers

The biggest takeaway from this game, however, should be the reminder that the Colts defense still lacks blue-chip playmakers, something that has been known since April. 

Outside of Davis and Cory Redding, the Robert Mathis-less defense is largely devoid of top-notch individual play. Occasional moments of brilliance will occur, like Toler for small stretches or Jerrell Freeman's yearly big game. But in the big picture, the Colts have few stars, or even upper-tier players, on the defensive side of the ball. 

Does that mean the Colts can't have a good defense? Not necessarily, as we've seen in spurts to start the season. But the defensive success has been based largely on scheme and strong play-calling from Greg Manusky, not the talent of the individual players.

As a unit, the Colts defense works very well when everybody is in the right role and blitzes are generating pressure. On Sunday, the blitzes rarely landed, and when they did, the Steelers and Roethlisberger always seemed to have a screen called to the opposite side, or something to that nature. 

At first, the Colts came out in four-man rushes and zone coverage, likely fearing Roethlisberger's ability to beat the blitz. As a result came a touchdown drive, as the Colts failed to get any pressure in base sets and the Steelers receivers repeatedly found the open spots in the zone. 

Then the Colts went back to their blitz-heavy man coverage schemes, but the Steelers were ready and picked them up repeatedly, giving the Steelers receivers time to beat the hurting secondary down the field for big gains. 

The defense is boosted artificially by scheme, and the Steelers were ready for it. 

That won't happen every week, but better teams with intelligent quarterbacks will be able to find success against this defense. With Davis healthy and Manusky's blitz timing better, the Colts can put together strong performances, especially against AFC South teams and the like. 

But make no mistake, this will continue to be a team that lives and dies with Andrew Luck and the offense, aside from those occasional performances from the defense. For those who were expecting the defense to be an elite unit this year, Sunday was a rude awakening. 

That doesn't mean, however, that the Colts aren't a Super Bowl contender.

The offense has an eight-game sample of impressive performances, especially Luck and T.Y. Hilton. With Donte Moncrief breaking out against the Steelers and continued success from Ahmad Bradshaw and Dwayne Allen, the Colts can beat any team in the league. For the playoffs, all you need is to get in and have one dominant unit that gives you a chance in any game. 

So back off the ledge. The opposing teams, even the better offenses, aren't going to score 50 points every week. More shutouts shouldn't be expected, and the Colts certainly don't have the talent to be an elite defense, but they can and will have better performances.