Colts best kept secret (according to BR.)

[Lawrence Owen]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2711510-the-best-kept-secret-on-every-nfl-roster

 

"Linebacker Sean Spence

In many respects, Indianapolis Colts linebacker Sean Spence is lucky to playing football at all. After the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Spence in the third round of the 2012 NFL draft, he suffered a serious knee injury—serious enough that it wiped out Spence's first two seasons in the league.

After two more years of playing sparingly in the Steel City, Spence joined the Tennessee Titans last year in free agency. He took advantage of the most playing time of his career during that one year in Nashville, starting six games inside and piling up 54 tackles and three sacks.

According to Pro Football Focus, Spence's tackling efficiency (number of attempted tackles per miss) was the third-best in the NFL last season. Spence was one of only three linebackers to not miss a tackle in the run game.

That effort and those numbers got Spence noticed by a Colts team that badly needed help in the middle of the defense, and from all indications the 26-year-old will be afforded every opportunity to win a starting job in camp.

I expect that Spence will not only win that job but that he'll lead a remade Colts defense in tackles this year. He might never be quite as rangy as he was before his horrific injury, but he's still vastly more athletic than anyone the Colts had on the roster prior to his arrival.

Inside linebacker was a glaring weakness for the Colts in 2016. Well, to be fair, defense period was a glaring weakness for the Colts last year.

That isn't going to be the case this year, partly due to Spence."

 

I can honestly see this. Spence was not a high profile acquisition.  But his numbers and stat's do not lie.  And as CB said "the film does not lie".  We have him for a reason, let's just hope his injury past is behind him.

[bananabucket]

Kinda weird how the article bounces between obscure guys and pro bowlers.  I mean Joe Thomas, really?

 

If we're going with "pretty good players that casual fans don't know about", I'd say someone like Moncrief, Mewhort, Doyle, Langford, or Anderson.

 

I don't think Spence is a great choice.  If he was so good Tennessee would have retained him considering how thin they are at the position as well.  Rattling off some arbitrary stat then saying "this got him noticed" is a pretty lame point to make considering we're desperate for ILBs and only gave him 1 yr / 2.5 mil.  I'm thinking the author was struggling to come up with someone for us so he just went with Spence (who wasnt even on our roster last season)

[crazycolt1]

51 minutes ago, bananabucket said:

Kinda weird how the article bounces between obscure guys and pro bowlers.  I mean Joe Thomas, really?

 

If we're going with "pretty good players that casual fans don't know about", I'd say someone like Moncrief, Mewhort, Doyle, Langford, or Anderson.

 

I don't think Spence is a great choice.  If he was so good Tennessee would have retained him considering how thin they are at the position as well.  Rattling off some arbitrary stat then saying "this got him noticed" is a pretty lame point to make considering we're desperate for ILBs and only gave him 1 yr / 2.5 mil.  I'm thinking the author was struggling to come up with someone for us so he just went with Spence (who wasnt even on our roster last season)

I don't put a lot of thought into anything Bleacher Report reports on.

[AZColt11]

Welp, it's one writer's opinion.  Take it FWIW.  I happen to think he'll be the opening day starter.  Beyond that is anybody's guess.

[Lawrence Owen]

3 hours ago, bananabucket said:

Kinda weird how the article bounces between obscure guys and pro bowlers.  I mean Joe Thomas, really?

 

If we're going with "pretty good players that casual fans don't know about", I'd say someone like Moncrief, Mewhort, Doyle, Langford, or Anderson.

 

I don't think Spence is a great choice.  If he was so good Tennessee would have retained him considering how thin they are at the position as well.  Rattling off some arbitrary stat then saying "this got him noticed" is a pretty lame point to make considering we're desperate for ILBs and only gave him 1 yr / 2.5 mil.  I'm thinking the author was struggling to come up with someone for us so he just went with Spence (who wasnt even on our roster last season)

Well, not always.  They could have been worried about injuries (IE Dwayne Allen), or they wanted to go in a different direction (more speed, or something.  since his leg injury, he has lost too much to be a rangy TE covering ILB.)  But what is most impressive is this:

 

"According to Pro Football Focus, Spence's tackling efficiency (number of attempted tackles per miss) was the third-best in the NFL last season. Spence was one of only three linebackers to not miss a tackle in the run game."

 

THIS is what we had issues...missed tackles.  If he is a tackling machine in the run game, throw him in D.Q.'s old spot, and run with him IMO.

 

[NannyMcafee]

For some reason I don't think this is the Colts best kept secret. 

[Beizy317]

Edwin Jackson is Colts best kept secret.

[ColtsFanMikeC]

1 hour ago, Lawrence Owen said:

Well, not always.  They could have been worried about injuries (IE Dwayne Allen), or they wanted to go in a different direction (more speed, or something.  since his leg injury, he has lost too much to be a rangy TE covering ILB.)  But what is most impressive is this:

 

"According to Pro Football Focus, Spence's tackling efficiency (number of attempted tackles per miss) was the third-best in the NFL last season. Spence was one of only three linebackers to not miss a tackle in the run game."

 

THIS is what we had issues...missed tackles.  If he is a tackling machine in the run game, throw him in D.Q.'s old spot, and run with him IMO.

 

 

If the defensive scheme is the same as it has been for the most part under Pagano, the way DQ was playing was designed to have someone who is a tackling machine.  If healthy and barring no major scheme changes, I think we can easily see 100+ tackles from Spence.

[indyagent17]

He has a great deal of upside if he can stay healthy but that is amazing he didnt miss a run tackle

[Albaby]

I think when it's all said and done, Sean Spence will be a Starter for the Colts and the majority of fans will be pleased at his overall performance.  There's always going to be a difference of opinion with people on this forum.

[gspdx]

6 hours ago, crazycolt1 said:

I don't put a lot of thought into anything Bleacher Report reports on.

Neither do they.

[southwest1]

12 hours ago, crazycolt1 said:

I don't put a lot of thought into anything Bleacher Report reports on.

 

6 hours ago, gspdx said:

Neither do they.

Thanks for this GDX. You said what everybody else is thinking. 

[akcolt]

On 5/26/2017 at 4:15 AM, Lawrence Owen said:

Well, not always.  They could have been worried about injuries (IE Dwayne Allen), or they wanted to go in a different direction (more speed, or something.  since his leg injury, he has lost too much to be a rangy TE covering ILB.)  But what is most impressive is this:

 

"According to Pro Football Focus, Spence's tackling efficiency (number of attempted tackles per miss) was the third-best in the NFL last season. Spence was one of only three linebackers to not miss a tackle in the run game."

 

THIS is what we had issues...missed tackles.  If he is a tackling machine in the run game, throw him in D.Q.'s old spot, and run with him IMO.

 

I think we could see Spence at M and Jackson at W to start the season. If someone doesn't step up at M. We could easily run that pair out week 1. We could do a lot worse.

 

The biggest change we need to make at ILB is speed. That pair gives us that. Rhodes is a guy who could surprise. This will be a position group I'll be keeping a close eye on 

[cbear]

That missed tackle percentage number still has me wondering.  If I were playing lb and had one tackle on one attempt, I'd be at 100%.  But that's only because I was so bad, I never even got into position to be credited with an attempt. Unless I'm missing something.  

[MB-ColtsFan]

1 hour ago, cbear said:

That missed tackle percentage number still has me wondering.  If I were playing lb and had one tackle on one attempt, I'd be at 100%.  But that's only because I was so bad, I never even got into position to be credited with an attempt. Unless I'm missing something.  

I see your point, but the fact that when he DID get into position to make a tackle, he took his man down.

 

The  other way to look at it is, if another player had four chances to make a tackle because he was in better position, but missed three of those four tackles, which player do you think did better overall?

 

Kind of a mixed bag, but I will take the higher tackle percentage.  Just my opinion,  though.

[Defjamz26]

I can't really buy what they're selling. Every player ever has some arbitrary stats that make them sound good. You often here stuff like "this guy is the 3rd WR in NFL history to have 3 consecutive games with at least 100 yards receiving, no drops, and at least 1 TD for 20 or more yards".

 

The whole PFF tidbit about tackling efficiency is sketchy. They have weird metrics and tackles are a shady stats anyways. I'm not saying I don't like Spence, I'm just saying the piece is a hard sell.

 

 

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[Valpo2004]

On 5/28/2017 at 7:55 PM, Defjamz26 said:

I can't really buy what they're selling. Every player ever has some arbitrary stats that make them sound good. You often here stuff like "this guy is the 3rd WR in NFL history to have 3 consecutive games with at least 100 yards receiving, no drops, and at least 1 TD for 20 or more yards".

 

The whole PFF tidbit about tackling efficiency is sketchy. They have weird metrics and tackles are a shady stats anyways. I'm not saying I don't like Spence, I'm just saying the piece is a hard sell.

 

 

*

 

I agree with you here.  PFF creates so many stats, which is cool in a way if you look at it from the right eyes of "What aspect of the game does this player specifically excel at."  

 

But the problem with having so many very specific stats is that they can be viewed out of context and can make a player sound a lot better then they are.

 

Griff Whalen was once like #3 on the most yards or most catches per route ran.  

 

TJ Green was at the top for distance to tackle.  

 

There are so many PFF stats that they need to be taken with a grain of salt.