Indianapolis Colts Defense Needs To Be More Aggressive in Week 2

A hallmark of the Colts defense over the past decade has been not giving up the big play. The philosophy has been pretty simple: give up the short completions and runs, but don't give up the big plays.

It has been the classic bend-but-don't-break strategy: give up the yards, give up the first downs, just limit the amount of points you give up. It's actually a fairly popular concept, and it's the very strategy opponents have used to try and neutralize the Colts potent offense over the years.

However, how has this defensive strategy really worked out for the Colts? The Colts have a 9-9 playoff record during Peyton Manning's career despite consistently fielding an elite offense season after season. Earlier in Manning's career, one could easily say well the defense simply wasn't very talented, but in later years the Colts defense has boasted a fair amount of talent and garnered its fair share of Pro Bowl selections.

In Peyton Manning's career, the Colts are merely 7-7 in the postseason when holding the opposing offense to under 25 points. On the other hand, when holding the opposing offense to fewer than 20 first downs, the Colts are 7-1. Even that one loss (against the Titans back in the 1999 postseason) required a missed field goal by the Colts in overtime for them to lose that game.

In the last Super Bowl, the Colts defense managed to hold the high-powered Saints offense to 24 points (the Saints' other seven points were scored by their defense on an interception return). Unfortunately, the Colts defense only managed to force the Saints offense into one third down in the entire second half.

This past Sunday against the Texans, the Colts did a great job of keeping Andre Johnson from beating them for big plays and held last season's league leading passing offense to under 100 yards through the air. On the other hand, they let Arian Foster run all over them.

I say give up some more big plays and touchdowns if that's what it takes, just get that offense back out on the field. I think it's fair to say that it is time for the Colts defense to be more aggressive. Are you listening Larry Coyer?