4. “Lou was calling that game like a madman.”
On Tua Tagovailoa’s third pass attempt of the game – a third-and-eight at the Colts’ 40-yard line – he hit the back of his drop and expected to see wide receiver Tyreek Hill working into open space a couple yards past the sticks over the middle.
Instead, he saw safety Nick Cross occupying the space he thought would be open. Tagovailoa threw the ball anyway, sailing it over the outstretched arms of Hill and into the waiting hands of safety Cam Bynum for an interception. And from there – the 8:20 mark of the first quarter– the Colts sensed their defense was already making Tagovailoa indecisive.
“He has to put the ball in a certain spot, but if he has to rush it and you make one mistake, like he did, overthrew it,” Bynum said. “Tyreek couldn’t touch the ball and I was able to get the ball. It’s one of those things where it’s just defense playing together. Yeah, I got the overthrow, but Nick did his job by being in the window, forcing the ball to be thrown higher.”
The Colts built on that first interception with three sacks and another pick. Only two of those three sacks were by defensive backs – Cross and Kenny Moore II thumped Tagovailoa’s blind side, with Moore forcing a fumble on his blitz – and the other interception was by Laiatu Latu, a defensive end.
Welcome to the Lou Anarumo experience, everybody.
“Lou was calling that game like a madman,” Bynum said. “I loved it.”
On Cross’ sack, Tagovailoa pointed to Moore, thinking he was going to blitz again from the slot. As soon as he sent fullback Alec Ingold in motion, Cross crept up toward the line of scrimmage; at the snap, Tagovailoa didn’t see him flying off the edge. What he did see was defensive end Kwity Paye dropping into coverage, though.
On Latu’s interception, linebacker Cameron McGrone blitzed from depth – he didn’t creep toward the line until milliseconds before the snap – and Latu backpedaled 10 yards to jump in front of a pass intended for wide receiver Malik Washington.
“We kind of confused them a little bit and we had a great game plan,” cornerback Charvarius Ward Sr. said.
Anarumo threw a handful of creative, disguised pressure packages – like putting eight guys on the line of scrimmage and having five of them blitz – and consistently called coverages to get Colts defenders into Tagovailoa’s preferred throwing lanes.
The final results were grim for the Dolphins but impressive for the Colts. Miami didn’t score a single point and averaged just 3.7 yards per play over the first three quarters, during which Tagovailoa had a passer rating of 38.2. While the Colts’ defense didn’t complete the shutout – running back De’Von Achane slipped his way into the end zone on a fourth down in the fourth quarter – this was a truly dominant performance from the players on the field to Anarumo on the sideline.
“Being able to have the variety that he was able to call the game with and being aggressive at times we should be aggressive, being a little more passing in certain situations, just mixing it up made it hard for the offense to pick up,” Bynum said. “I got to see where Lou’s mind is at. I know it’s going to be a fun year playing defense for him.”