You know it was a challenging week for Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus.
How is he going to slow down the hottest offense in the NFL?
The 50-year-old Eberflus is a candidate for multiple head coaching openings. The basis of his defensive scheme is getting pressure with the front four.
The Colts have one of the top-five inside linebackers in the NFL in Darius Leonard. Their other nickel linebacker, Bobby Okereke, is well above average, with 4.58 speed in the 40. (Matt Milano runs 4.67).
Let those two cover massive space underneath, get pressure with the front four and make the quarterback hang onto the ball until the heat gets home.
That’s the Colts’ preferred way to play. The one guy who’s most critical to making it work: defensive tackle DeForest Buckner.
People are also reading…
Buckner is one of the top five defensive tackles in the NFL, behind the Rams’ Aaron Donald and up there with Kansas City’s Chris Jones and Pittsburgh’s Casey Hayward.
He’s 6 feet, 7 inches and 295 pounds and he has the biggest hands ever measured at the NFL scouting combine (11 3/4 inches). His acquisition was the Colts’ version of the Stefon Diggs trade last offseason. They gave up a first-round pick to get him from San Francisco and then gave him a $21 million-a-year contract, second richest among NFL defensive tackles.
“It’s been worth every penny and more,” Colts coach Frank Reich said. “He’s a difference maker on the field. He disrupts in the run game and the pass game. He’s a great leader in the locker room. He’s just an A-plus player and leader and teammate.”
Here's Buckner using his long arms to beat Vikings guard Dakota Dozier, No. 78:
The Bills have two things going for them this week in dealing with Buckner: Buffalo has allowed only seven sacks the past seven games, and the Colts’ defense overall has struggled to contain good quarterbacks the second half of the season.
The last seven games of the season, Colts’ opponents have averaged 297 passing yards a game, a 69% completion rate and a 102.1 passer rating. The yardage total would be worst in the league over an entire season. (The No. 32-ranked Falcons allowed 294 yards a game.) The QBs Indy faced down the stretch include Deshaun Watson (twice), Aaron Rodgers, Ryan Tannehill, Derek Carr and Ben Roethlisberger.
The first nine games, the Colts’ opponents had an average rank of 22nd in passing yards. The Colts held them to an average of 198 yards, 62.2% completions and a 78.9 quarterback rating.
The Colts aren’t normally a big blitzing team. In two games against the Texans’ Watson – a comparable threat to Josh Allen – the Colts rushed five or more just 16.5% of pass plays. Watson rolled up 341 and 373 passing yards against them. They did blitz Tannehill a lot in their second meeting, but that was more because they fell behind early. Maybe they mix it up and decide they need to attack Allen more.
“They’ll throw a lot of zone at you and then all of a sudden they’ll switch it up and try to get you with pressure,” Allen said. “It’s my job to try to decipher that and get it to the open guys. Their linebackers are extremely quick and they’re able to run side to side and get into passing lanes.”
Buckner is in the 3-technique position and will line up over either of the Bills’ guards.
He's been limited this week with an ankle injury and is listed as questionable but is expected to play.
"The growth in him the last two years has been tremendous," said guard Jon Feliciano. "He's having a great year. Before, he was more of a one-trick pony. Bull rush and you'll be all right if you can get through that. But now he's added a lot of things off his bull rush; a swim, he'll push-pull you. So he's been playing lights out."
Here's Buckner dominating Houston's Zach Fulton, No. 73, for a sack of Deshaun Watson:
The likeliest way the Bills’ offense gets derailed is if Buckner wreaks havoc. The Colts have a good edge rusher in Justin Houston, 31, who has eight sacks. But he doesn’t command the double-teams that he saw earlier in his career. Houston lines up over left tackle (Dion Dawkins) two-thirds of the time. Dawkins will need to contain him.
The Colts can’t win without a very big day from Buckner.
The 30,000-foot view. Philip Rivers ranked fifth in the NFL in passing yards and eighth in passer rating. He turned 39 in December. The Colts probably will bring him back for another year in 2021. The obvious alternative for the Colts, however, is to try to trade for the Eagles’ Carson Wentz, given the fact Reich was Philadelphia’s offensive coordinator in 2017. That’s presuming the Eagles decide to move Wentz (which would be a big mistake). Meanwhile, the Colts are in good cap shape. They have the third most cap room in 2021, at $63 million, according to Spotrac.com. That will allow them to give massive extensions to Leonard and guard Quenton Nelson, both of whom will command top-of-their-positions pay. Leonard will get about $20 million a year and Nelson $15 million. General Manager Chris Ballard deserves credit for fiscal restraint. Each of the past three offseasons, the Colts have been among the leaders in available cap space, but they have refrained from going on a Jets-like, $150 million spending spree. That has left them in good position to keep their good, young players.
“He has been very judicious,” Reich said of Ballard. “He’s done a great job with our roster in the draft and in free agency, being judicious but not being stubborn. Being selective and going after guys who could help us and fit who we are.”
WR report. Here’s more on the brilliance of Stefon Diggs from the people at NFL Next Gen Stats and Zebra Technologies. Diggs caught 76.5% of his targets (seventh best among pass catchers), while commanding 33.4% of the Bills’ air yards, the 10th highest rate in the league. Gabriel Davis averaged 17.1 yards per catch, sixth best in the league among the 170 players who had at least 25 catches. Davis was fourth in the NFL at 15.9 air yards per target.
Underrated. The Colts are second in the NFL in rush yards allowed and yards-per-rush allowed. Playing next to Buckner is one of the most underrated 1-technique defensive tackles in the league in Grover Stewart, a 6-foot-4-inch, 333-pounder. Stewart, who lines up over a shoulder of the center, was a fourth-round steal out of Division II Albany State. He’s not as talented as Miami’s Christian Wilkins, but he’s close to being as productive. The Colts signed him to a $10 million-a-year contract extension in November. With Buckner and Stewart in the middle, don’t be surprised if Brian Daboll sticks to his formula and throws about 80% of the plays in the first half.
Stats for the road. The Colts have played two tight-end sets 21% of the time on the season. But they’ve rushed for only 3.3 yards a carry out of that 12 personnel grouping. They run better out of 11 personnel (three wideouts). The Colts are averaging 4.8 yards a carry from the spread formations. That means Taron Johnson will be on the field a lot and will be counted upon for sure tackling. He has been good at it this year. ... Backup QB Jacoby Brissett has had 17 rush attempts this year. Look for the Colts to bring him onto the field in place of Rivers in some short-yardage situations.
