The Indianapolis Colts were one of the more effective teams last year at generating quarterback pressures off of blitzes.

According to PFF, the Colts‘ 44.7% pressure rate on blitzes was the fifth-highest mark in the NFL during the 2024 season. At the top of the list were the Green Bay Packers with a 48.3% pressure rate.

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The issue, in this regard, is that former defensive coordinator Gus Bradley didn’t blitz all that often. The Colts’ blitz rate last season of 17.5% ranked 30th.

Given that Indianapolis ranked 22nd in pressure rate, 26th in sacks, and was often picked apart by the quick passing game, dialing up more pressures wouldn’t have been a bad thing.

This season, however, under new defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, we are going to see more blitzing and a more aggressive approach on defense overall.

“Really the aggressive mindset,” Cam Bynum said of Anarumo’s defense when asked how it compares to Brian Flores’ defense. “That’s one thing that they share and they have in common, and that’s the mindset that I love to have on defense.

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“That we’re going to send pressure, that we’re going to mix things up, variations of everything, but at the end of the day we want to go down with our best guys being aggressive and that’s the mindset I like to have. I don’t want to sit back and just let things happen in front of us, I want to be able to command the offense to be able to do what we want them to do.”

The obvious goal with blitzing is to generate a pressure or a sack. But varying where those blitzes come from, what position group is being asked to blitz, or using a simulated pressures, can also cause some initial confusion for the quarterback by throwing a different look at the opponent, which forces them to adjust on the fly.

As Anarumo has discussed, it’s all about keeping the quarterback off balance and guessing, and blitzing can be one way of accomplishing that, especially with the success that the Colts were able to drum up last season.

This article originally appeared on Colts Wire: Lou Anarumo can leverage this aspect of Indianapolis Colts’ defense