Pass Rush

[AZColt11]

Through a quarter of the season this team is currently 2nd in the NFL with 17 sacks. And this is a team without a premiere pass rusher. Chicago leads the league with 18 and they have Khalil Mack. They may not (and probably won't) continue their hot start, but you have to LOVE what Eberflus is doing with so little right now. Imagine if he had more tools in the bag to work with. Bring in a top talent in next year's draft and one in FA, and this team could be scary to opposing QB's, which in turn will make the entire unit better.

For reference, the Colts were 31st in 2017 with just 25 in the entire season.

[DaveA1102]

I don't want to get into second guessing Ballard, but Landry at the top of the second looks like it could have been a steal. 

 

Obviously far too early to call it as we haven't seen much of Braden Smith and Leonard looks like an inspired choice, but Landry certainly would have had an impact with us.

 

Man I love 20:20 hindsight! 

[Yoshinator]

11 minutes ago, AZColt11 said:

Through a quarter of the season this team is currently 2nd in the NFL with 17 sacks. And this is a team without a premiere pass rusher. Chicago leads the league with 18 and they have Khalil Mack. They may not (and probably won't) continue their hot start, but you have to LOVE what Eberflus is doing with so little right now. Imagine if he had more tools in the bag to work with. Bring in a top talent in next year's draft and one in FA, and this team could be scary to opposing QB's, which in turn will make the entire unit better.

For reference, the Colts were 31st in 2017 with just 25 in the entire season.

I don't think the sacks in themselves are a fluke tbh. Our defense is probably middle of the pack, but I think our sack numbers are legit. We have so many different guys who are capable of getting a sack or two a game, that I believe the numbers will add up over a 16 game sample size. We won't have a 20 sack guy, but we may have 5 guys with close to double digits and 1 or 2 over that by the end of the year.

 

In next year's draft, we could finally get that elite guy, depending on how high we pick in round 1.

[JMichael557]

Turay and Landry's stats are pretty close. 

[chad72]

1 minute ago, DaveA1102 said:

I don't want to get into second guessing Ballard, but Landry at the top of the second looks like it could have been a steal. 

 

Obviously far too early to call it as we haven't seen much of Braden Smith and Leonard looks like an inspired choice, but Landry certainly would have had an impact with us.

 

Man I love 20:20 hindsight! 

 

With our OL woes, did you really blame Ballard for drafting Braden Smith? Q was just much stronger and more ready to contribute. I don't think that was the case with Braden Smith. Can't fix all holes with 1 draft. That is why next year, there has to be FA signings to go with the draft.

[lollygagger8]

I loooooove that they are getting sacks, don't get me wrong.....

 

....but what is this "pass rush" you are talking about? lol

 

 

[AZColt11]

14 minutes ago, DaveA1102 said:

I don't want to get into second guessing Ballard, but Landry at the top of the second looks like it could have been a steal. 

 

Obviously far too early to call it as we haven't seen much of Braden Smith and Leonard looks like an inspired choice, but Landry certainly would have had an impact with us.

 

Man I love 20:20 hindsight! 

Yeah, except Landry really hasn't done all that much so far.  And Andy (and Brissett) had gotten killed behind this OL.  Ballard was trying to fix it, and I think it has helped, but it is still a  work in progress.  So far, Landry has all of 6 combined tackles, one sack, and 1 FF.  By comparison, Leonard, who was taken just a few picks before Landry and plays essentially the same position, has 54 combined tackles, 4 sacks, and 1 FF.  Landry may well explode and put this argument to bed, but so far he hasn't done anything that we couldn't have gotten from say a 7th round pick or even an undrafted FA.  I know Smith hasn't exactly done much either, but to say we should have taken one over the other SO FAR doesn't hold too much weight.  Let's give it more time.

[csmopar]

1 minute ago, lollygagger8 said:

I loooooove that they are getting sacks, don't get me wrong.....

 

....but what is this "pass rush" you are talking about? lol

 

 

whats funny is most on this forum expected us to be last in the league again in sacks. 

 

We're currently leading the AFC by 4 sacks, 17 over the Steelers (13).  That's impressive considering we have no big names and its being done by committee. 

 

For what its worth, New England is sitting at 6 sacks through 4 games, good enough to be tied for 2nd to last place in the league.

 

If we could ever get the Offense and Defense to click together, for an entire game, we could beat pretty much anyone I think. Or at least make them nervous.  This with a rookie HC, a rookie OC, a rookie DC, a whole bunch of rookies on D and even more on O, a QB returning to the game after missing an entire season. 

[krunk]

31 minutes ago, DaveA1102 said:

I don't want to get into second guessing Ballard, but Landry at the top of the second looks like it could have been a steal. 

 

Obviously far too early to call it as we haven't seen much of Braden Smith and Leonard looks like an inspired choice, but Landry certainly would have had an impact with us.

 

Man I love 20:20 hindsight! 

Turay is better than Landry and is doing better than Landry.  Turays got 2 sacks right now but should really have about 4 I estimate.  No less than 3.

[DaveA1102]

32 minutes ago, chad72 said:

 

With our OL woes, did you really blame Ballard for drafting Braden Smith? Q was just much stronger and more ready to contribute. I don't think that was the case with Braden Smith. Can't fix all holes with 1 draft. That is why next year, there has to be FA signings to go with the draft.

 

I don't blame him at all, and I can completely understand the logic of bringing in Smith especially with Ballard's assertions that the drop off in O-line talent was vast after Smith.  I hope he turns into a starting guard for us, but I haven't seen very much at all to base any expectations on (which is not a negative, just a lack of information on my part).

 

I think we will need to bring in Free Agents, even if just to not waste cap space!

 

20 minutes ago, AZColt11 said:

Yeah, except Landry really hasn't done all that much so far.  And Andy (and Brissett) had gotten killed behind this OL.  Ballard was trying to fix it, and I think it has helped, but it is still a  work in progress.  So far, Landry has all of 6 combined tackles, one sack, and 1 FF.  By comparison, Leonard, who was taken just a few picks before Landry and plays essentially the same position, has 54 combined tackles, 4 sacks, and 1 FF.  Landry may well explode and put this argument to bed, but so far he hasn't done anything that we couldn't have gotten from say a 7th round pick or even an undrafted FA.  I know Smith hasn't exactly done much either, but to say we should have taken one over the other SO FAR doesn't hold too much weight.  Let's give it more time.

 

Admittedly I am not basing my opinion on having watched a lot of tape on him, but he has been spoken about highly on national media outlets and, in particular, the PFF weekly podcast I listen to.

 

I am more than willing to be incorrect on this one, even glad! 

 

I never said that we should have taken him ahead of either, in fact I specifically said "Obviously far too early to call it".

 

6 minutes ago, krunk said:

Turay is better than Landry and is doing better than Landry.  Turays got 2 sacks right now but should really have about 4 I estimate.  No less than 3.

 

As mentioned above, I may have taken some other neutral's opinion as being true, and am happy to be proven wrong.

[lollygagger8]

1 hour ago, csmopar said:

For what its worth, New England is sitting at 6 sacks through 4 games, good enough to be tied for 2nd to last place in the league.

 

This here just made me smile. 

[Alex22]

8 hours ago, AZColt11 said:

Yeah, except Landry really hasn't done all that much so far.  And Andy (and Brissett) had gotten killed behind this OL.  Ballard was trying to fix it, and I think it has helped, but it is still a  work in progress.  So far, Landry has all of 6 combined tackles, one sack, and 1 FF.  By comparison, Leonard, who was taken just a few picks before Landry and plays essentially the same position, has 54 combined tackles, 4 sacks, and 1 FF.  Landry may well explode and put this argument to bed, but so far he hasn't done anything that we couldn't have gotten from say a 7th round pick or even an undrafted FA.  I know Smith hasn't exactly done much either, but to say we should have taken one over the other SO FAR doesn't hold too much weight.  Let's give it more time.

 

They play completely different positions...

 

Turay has more sacks than Landry and looks good rushing the passer 

[Smonroe]

9 hours ago, lollygagger8 said:

I loooooove that they are getting sacks, don't get me wrong.....

 

....but what is this "pass rush" you are talking about? lol

 

 

 

I don’t think I can rewatch the game, too painful.  But being there, the only time I thought they made Watson uncomfortable was when there was a coverage sack.  

 

It seemed like he had all day to throw.   Maybe that was the plan, keep him in the pocket to make him prove he had the accuracy?  He did.

[Colt Overseas]

Turay was unlucky yesterday not have had a better chance of getting to the QB. The Texans were chipping and nudging him all day. They double teamed Hunt too. It was good to see Autry step up to take advantage of 1v1 match ups. I predict Turay will get around 8 sacks (+/- 2), which would be a good start to his pro career. He has great explosiveness and bend.

[AZColt11]

4 hours ago, Alex22 said:

 

They play completely different positions...

 

 

Well, I'm no football guru, so you may be right, but I was going by this:

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/teams/depth-chart/TEN/tennessee-titans

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/teams/depth-chart/IND/indianapolis-colts

 

[krunk]

Can't wait until we can make use of Tyquan Lewis and Ridgeway at the same time.

[Shive]

13 hours ago, AZColt11 said:

Yeah, except Landry really hasn't done all that much so far.  And Andy (and Brissett) had gotten killed behind this OL.  Ballard was trying to fix it, and I think it has helped, but it is still a  work in progress.  So far, Landry has all of 6 combined tackles, one sack, and 1 FF.

Landry isn't showing up on the stat sheet, but he's been consistently getting pressure. I liked him and was shocked we didn't draft him in the 2nd, but I do like what I've seen from Turay so far.

[NewEra]

5 hours ago, Smonroe said:

 

I don’t think I can rewatch the game, too painful.  But being there, the only time I thought they made Watson uncomfortable was when there was a coverage sack.  

 

It seemed like he had all day to throw.   Maybe that was the plan, keep him in the pocket to make him prove he had the accuracy?  He did.

That's what I saw too. I don't care what the numbers say I go by what my eyeballs say. Dude had a comfy pocket to pick us apart

[Alex22]

1 hour ago, AZColt11 said:

Well, I'm no football guru, so you may be right, but I was going by this:

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/teams/depth-chart/TEN/tennessee-titans

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/teams/depth-chart/IND/indianapolis-colts

 

 

All good. 

 

Landry was my draft crush 

 

Titans switched to a 3-4 a while back 

[Hoose]

3 hours ago, krunk said:

Can't wait until we can make use of Tyquan Lewis and Ridgeway at the same time.

I agree. There is a lot of injured talent on this team. And a lot of growth to come from these young players. I, for one,  am very excited about the future. 

[MikeCurtis]

With the development of and injured depth on the DL, we may just not need to use a pick here in round 1 or 2 in the draft..... we may HAVE our DL of the future

 

BPA of WR, OT, LB, S  (I vote OT  with round 1)

 

But...... long time til then

 

 

 

 

[Dark Superman]

Turay's shown a lot of promise. Also, we still have yet to see what Tyquan Lewis can do.

[lollygagger8]

12 hours ago, Smonroe said:

 

I don’t think I can rewatch the game, too painful.  But being there, the only time I thought they made Watson uncomfortable was when there was a coverage sack.  

 

It seemed like he had all day to throw.   Maybe that was the plan, keep him in the pocket to make him prove he had the accuracy?  He did.

 

Unfortunately, every QB that the Colts played has had literally all day to throw. 

 

[Freenyfan102]

Yes we have the sack number but still can't cover the pass and if we actually had quality corner and safety our number would be higher.

[Scott Pennock]

While many think/thought that Leonard, Turay and Lewis were reaches in the 2nd Round at least two of them are proving otherwise.

 

I can't wait for Lewis to potentially come off of the IR.....it may be at the expense of one of the other young guys though (Basham we're looking at you).

 

I personally am supremely impressed with our scouts in identifying Autry in free agency, Al-Quadin and Phillips in cut-downs as well as choosing Hunt over Simon. Muhammad has been solid setting the edge and pressuring the QB and Phillips showed a lot of burst/bend when he was on the field and had a sack called back for a penalty I believe? 

 

They do come in waves especially when sliding Autry inside to bring in the young horses!

 

This is not a mirage, they are legit getting after it!

 

Speaking of Hunt, at age 30/31 it seems he's hitting his stride as it would typically be a normal players age 25/26 season and I wouldn't be surprised if both he and Woods get new contracts this offseason.

 

Woods/Stewart and Hunt/Ridgeway are hard to run between the tackles on, that is for sure!

[chad72]

17 minutes ago, Scott Pennock said:

While many think/thought that Leonard, Turay and Lewis were reaches in the 2nd Round at least two of them are proving otherwise.

 

I can't wait for Lewis to potentially come off of the IR.....it may be at the expense of one of the other young guys though (Basham we're looking at you).

 

I personally am supremely impressed with our scouts in identifying Autry in free agency, Al-Quadin and Phillips in cut-downs as well as choosing Hunt over Simon. Muhammad has been solid setting the edge and pressuring the QB and Phillips showed a lot of burst/bend when he was on the field and had a sack called back for a penalty I believe? 

 

They do come in waves especially when sliding Autry inside to bring in the young horses!

 

This is not a mirage, they are legit getting after it!

 

Speaking of Hunt, at age 30/31 it seems he's hitting his stride as it would typically be a normal players age 25/26 season and I wouldn't be surprised if both he and Woods get new contracts this offseason.

 

Woods/Stewart and Hunt/Ridgeway are hard to run between the tackles on, that is for sure!

 

Now, if we could get more of them to push the pocket or tip more passes at the line of scrimmage, I would be ecstatic. Watson and Brady would be two good passers they would have faced with elite arm strength for passes between the numbers in the intermediate range. It is probably easier breaking up Alex Smith's passes than those of Watson and Brady, one would have to think.