Grover Stewart\u2019s tipped ball and interception<\/a> as well as the key late stop when the one-dimensional Chargers were trying to rally from a 20-point halftime deficit.<\/p>\nHow much has changed?<\/p>\n
Only Chicago and Jacksonville have more takeaways than Indy (11) and only four teams have more sacks than the Colts (19). A year ago, the Colts had 25 takeaways and 36 sacks in 17 games. Plus, Indy has jumped from 24th in scoring defense (25.1 points) into a tie for eighth (20.0).<\/p>\n
But the more daunting tests may come over the next month.<\/p>\n
After hosting struggling Tennessee (1-6) and No. 1 overall draft pick Cam Ward on Sunday, they visit four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers and AFC North-leading Pittsburgh (5-2). They then face 2024 first-round draft pick Michael Penix Jr. and Atlanta (3-3) before visiting defending AFC champ Kansas City (4-3) and two-time MVP Patrick Mahomes following their bye.<\/p>\n
Survive that stretch, and the Colts\u2019 defense may be well on its way to helping end the team\u2019s four-year playoff drought.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe offense kept scoring and we sort of kept doing our job good and get a key stop and we\u2019re able to get that after 21 plays,\u201d said Nick Cross, who had an interception Sunday. \u201cIt was just one of those things that shows the resilience, the mental fortitude, the competitiveness in our defense.\u201d <\/p>\n
What\u2019s working<\/p>\n
Taylor. Though he didn\u2019t rush for 100 yards Sunday, his stock continues to soar. He needed just 19 touches to get 132 scrimmage yards, continues to lead the league in yards rushing (697 yards) and TD runs (10) and is the first player in Colts history with three TD runs in three games in a single season. <\/p>\n
What\u2019s needs help<\/p>\n
Pass coverage. Indy\u2019s battered secondary struggled to shut down the passing game for a second straight week as Herbert got the Chargers within striking distance by repeatedly finding Keenan Allen and Oronde Gadsden II for big plays in the second half. <\/p>\n
Stock up<\/p>\n
RB Ameer Abdullah. The 11-year veteran again was activated off the practice squad and may get more snaps after picking up a key first down early in the game. He then helped Indy re-establish its momentum with an 81-yard kickoff return after Los Angeles opened the second half with a TD to cut the deficit to 23-10.<\/p>\n
Stock down<\/p>\n
CB Charvarius Ward. The former Pro Bowler went on injured reserve late last week after suffering a concussion during a bizarre collision with TE Drew Ogletree during pregame warmups in Week 6. The move kept him out of Sunday\u2019s game and he\u2019ll miss at least three more weeks.<\/p>\n
Injuries<\/p>\n
Two defensive linemen suffered injuries \u2014 Samson Ebukam (knee) and Tyquan Lewis (groin). Steichen did not have definitive updates Monday, but Ebukam did not return to the game. <\/p>\n
Key number<\/p>\n
3 \u2014 Stewart\u2019s interception combined with the two earlier picks by DE Laiatu Latu gives Indy\u2019s defensive linemen three INTs this season. It\u2019s the first time two Colts linemen have recorded an interception in the same season since Jon Hand and Harvey Armstrong in 1986.<\/p>\n
Next steps<\/p>\n
Indy needs to take full advantage of its opportunities to close out games, but if the Colts can play as well as they did Sunday consistently, they might finally be headed back to the playoffs.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/NFL<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS (AP) \u2014 The Indianapolis Colts went all in on fixing their defense during the offseason. It\u2019s paying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[1586,12303,127,4991,2005,2772,12158,4981,7,4987,77212,12224,932,2004,392,2381,1753,1159,1328,667,262,5424,1879,6,498,4998,22397,499,4993,4975,9,4989],"class_list":{"0":"post-462523","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-ameer-abdullah","10":"tag-cam-ward","11":"tag-charvarius-ward","12":"tag-colts","13":"tag-daniel-jones","14":"tag-deforest-buckner","15":"tag-drew-ogletree","16":"tag-football","17":"tag-grover-stewart","18":"tag-harvey-armstrong","19":"tag-in-state-wire","20":"tag-indiana","21":"tag-indianapolis","22":"tag-indianapolis-colts","23":"tag-indianapoliscolts","24":"tag-jonathan-taylor","25":"tag-justin-herbert","26":"tag-keenan-allen","27":"tag-laiatu-latu","28":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","29":"tag-lou-anarumo","30":"tag-michael-penix-jr","31":"tag-nfl","32":"tag-nfl-football","33":"tag-nick-cross","34":"tag-oronde-gadsden","35":"tag-patrick-mahomes","36":"tag-samson-ebukam","37":"tag-shane-steichen","38":"tag-sports","39":"tag-tyquan-lewis"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}