Raritäten/Infos » The Colts are on a roll with 4 straight wins

Quenton Nelson Color Rush Jersey , and before last week’s game, we took a look at the matchups to watch vs the Titans and today we are going to go back through those matchups and see how they panned out. *Spoiler alert* It went pretty well.Offensive line vs Jurrell CaseyThe offensive line has proven time and again that they are equipped to handle the top competition in the league. The slate of defensive lines they have faced has been no joke, and they have more than held their own. This game was no different.According to Daniel Jeremiah on his Move the Sticks podcast, he did film work after the game and said Luck wasn’t even hit in the Titans game, let alone sacked. Jacoby Brissett narrowly escaped a sack by Casey when he came in for Luck, but that was as close as Casey was able to get to making an impact on this game. Against a player of his quality, that is a huge win for the Colts.Eric Ebron vs Titans SecondaryThis one is a tougher one to gauge. On its face, Eric Ebron got completely shut out. He was targeted exactly zero times for the game, and his only real action was the failed pass to Andrew Luck. Credit the Titans for eliminating him from the game. But don’t credit them too much, because it kind of seems like Ebron was mostly used to keep T.Y. Hilton in single coverage, and that allowed him to go off for 9 of 9 catches and 155 yards with 2 touchdowns. Eric Ebron largely played the decoy on Sunday, which is a perk the Colts haven’t had in recent memory. They can now force teams to decide who to eliminate, and there is no good choice, because the prospect of single covering either T.Y. or Ebron is very bad for any defense. Darius Leonard vs Dion LewisDion Lewis made Colts fans a bit nervous prior to the game. He possesses certain qualities that can be problematic for this defense https://www.coltsfanshop.com/Andrew-Luck-Jersey , and there was legitimate concern that he might go off and make this a real game. That worry proved to be unwarranted once the action began, with the defense swarming to the ball and getting stops early and often. They held Lewis to 2.4 yards per carry and he wasn’t a factor in the passing game.Darius Leonard on the other hand had what would normally be a ridiculous day for a rookie, but for him is relatively standard. All he did was notch 7 tackles, 1 sack, 1 QB hit, 1 forced fumble, and 1 pass defended, and an interception. Apart from that, he and Lewis basically had an equal impact on the game. Frank Reich vs Mike VrabelMike Vrabel may turn out to be a fine head coach. I suspect he will. However, this was no contest from the opening bell. It went about as well for Vrabel as Apollo Creed’s bout with Drago. Or for all you kids out there, the Hulk’s fight with Thanos. That’s the end of me comparing Frank Reich to villains who will ultimately face their downfall. In all seriousness, this was not close in any regard. Reich had his offense humming at every level and Vrabel’s defense had no answers for it. Certainly, losing DC Dean Pees early on was a major blow that had both a mental and a logistical impact on the game. This simply looked like two coaches at different levels. Reich was playing chess while Vrabel was playing Yahtzee. If this is indicative of the potential of this coaching staff and the team at large, the Colts are going to be a team no one wants to play down the stretch. It’s no longer a secret that the Indianapolis Colts feel that they’ve hit the lottery with a couple of their recent draft picks. Rookies Darius Leonard and Quenton Nelson have been major contributors for the team in a season that was seen as just another step in the rebuild of the roster.To some extent that’s still true. However Josh Ferguson Jersey , neither Leonard or Nelson have played like rookies. Not even good rookies. They’ve been putting together some seriously impressive performances worthy of being very good NFL pros regardless of tenure.It’s not an ‘award’ but Jeff Legwold — senior writer for ESPN — has recognized the duo as being two of the top 10 rookies in the league to this point in the season. Sportscenter on FacebookLeonard has missed a game this season, but still leads the league in total tackles with 122, and has a nice little cushion over the next highest total of 106 tackles which is shared by, both, Miami’s Kiko Alonso and Green Bay’s Blake Martinez. Leonard is also tied for the team lead in sacks (6), has forced 4 fumbles (team high), and is third on the team in tackles for loss as well.Nelson has also taken the league by storm. As an interior lineman, Nelson has been a key cog in the Colts’ offensive line seeing a much improved season, and has undoubtedly assisted in Andrew Luck’s impressive season.Nelson was seen as a ‘can’t miss’ lineman in the 2018 NFL draft, but many struggled to give him the credit for being the right pick for Chris Ballard simply due to his positional value. Within Ballard’s vision of constructing this roster, though, it appears to have been a no-brainer on his part. Nelson has been very good in protection, and is often the first player down the field on running plays. His draw comes from his nature of being a bully in the trenches as well as his athletic ability to pull and open up running lanes on the perimeter. So far, Nelson has proved to be a fantastic pick for the second-year Colts’ GM.Leonard was seen in another light T.J. Green Color Rush Jersey , though, after he was selected by the Colts. He wasn’t seen as a good pick — at all. He was often reviewed as one of the worst picks, not just by the Colts, but by any team in the entire draft. His being selected in the second round was the main reason for this blowback, but Leonard has more than quieted the critics with his all-around play in his rookie campaign.As Leonard sits at second on Legwold’s list, this is pretty par for the course among NFL analysts right now and he has a very legitimate possibility for taking home defensive rookie of the year honors. For Nelson, only Baker Mayfield, Saquon Barkley and Phillip Lindsay sit above him on this rookie list on the offensive side of the ball, thus, it appears equally possible for him to be heavily in the mix for the offensive rookie of the year award as well. Any way you choose to look at it, the Colts have a very productive rookie class this year, and Leonard and Nelson are the clear front-runners at positions in which the Colts desperately needed difference making players on their respective sides of the ball. It looks like Ballard may know what he’s doing.