OffensivelyPC
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Colts fan here. I'll try and give you a little bit of what I know.
I'll omit Mathis and Redding since they have been discussed plenty. Some of the other Big Uglies:
Josh Chapman DT - Drafted and sat out all last year with an injury. So this year, while not technically, is de facto his rookie year. He's much better in the run than he is in the pass. He'll plug holes like it's no ones business. But while you may not be able to push him back in run blocking, he's probably not going to givey ou much push in pass blocking.
Aubrayo Franlkin DT - This is our pass rush DT and will be used more in passing situations. He's average in the run and decent in the pass game. 6 years ago, in this defense, he might have been much more explosive. While he's past his prime, he's still going to make some plays here nad there.
Ricky Jean-Francois RE - He can play interchangeably between DT and RE, and he's a fairly solid player. Since he is a better pass rusher than Franklin, we've been known to move RJF to DT and put Moalia at RE at times. Unfortunately, he's been out, but hopefully he makes his return.
Now the Linebackers
Jerrell Freeman/Pat Angerer ILB - I'll discuss these two at the same time since their strengths and weaknesses are pretty much the same. Both are very quick ILBs and strong in the run game. It's not too often that a run up the middle goes for a big gain against these two guys. Where they are very vulnerable is against a solid TE. They can handle average and even good TEs. They are smart in coverage. But against guys like Graham, or Jordan Cameron, we will struggle. Their speed helps them in coverage, but they aren't stopping guys that have a good 4-6 inches on them with an extra 6 or 8 cumulative inches for arm span and vertical jump.
Erik Walden LB (Sam) - We've had so many arguments about this guy it's not even funny. In one camp, they point to his production statwise and point out a couple of plays where he gets beat. The other camp talks about how well he sets the edge and turns the guy inside. In truth, he's somewhere in the middle. He is good at setting the edge, but he can be undisplined at times. That being said, he'll get the job done more often than not in the run game. Pass rush, I'm not convinced he'll do much other than get a little bit of a pushand hope someone else makes the sack. To his defense, he's been close several times, but we've faced 3 very mobile QBs thus far. Doesn't fall back in pass coverage too incredibly often, but when he does, he's been competent.
Hope this gives you a little insight. Quit frankly, our run game is better than the statistics suggest. It looks bad primarily for two reasons. The first is Oakland. They didn't do much of anything with McFadden, but Pryor ripped off 100 yards by bailing on the pass in the first instant. It being our first game of the season and against a read-option QB, we were doomed to give up a ton of yards on the ground. Second was the second drive against hte 49ers. Yeah, we gave up the yards, so it's not really anexcuse so much as it's giving a little context to the numbers. Out of their 115 yards rushing, they got 89 of them on one drive on like 8 rush attempts. Take out that drive, and it was like 15 attempts for 22 yards or something. I'm hazy on the exact numbers scuz I've drank since then. But since that second drive of the 49ers game, we've shut teh run down. I don't want to crown us a great rush defense early, but how we do Sunday will go a long way in making my mind up as to whether we really are a good rush defense or just a good one that plays great against good teams and not elite teams.
I'll omit Mathis and Redding since they have been discussed plenty. Some of the other Big Uglies:
Josh Chapman DT - Drafted and sat out all last year with an injury. So this year, while not technically, is de facto his rookie year. He's much better in the run than he is in the pass. He'll plug holes like it's no ones business. But while you may not be able to push him back in run blocking, he's probably not going to givey ou much push in pass blocking.
Aubrayo Franlkin DT - This is our pass rush DT and will be used more in passing situations. He's average in the run and decent in the pass game. 6 years ago, in this defense, he might have been much more explosive. While he's past his prime, he's still going to make some plays here nad there.
Ricky Jean-Francois RE - He can play interchangeably between DT and RE, and he's a fairly solid player. Since he is a better pass rusher than Franklin, we've been known to move RJF to DT and put Moalia at RE at times. Unfortunately, he's been out, but hopefully he makes his return.
Now the Linebackers
Jerrell Freeman/Pat Angerer ILB - I'll discuss these two at the same time since their strengths and weaknesses are pretty much the same. Both are very quick ILBs and strong in the run game. It's not too often that a run up the middle goes for a big gain against these two guys. Where they are very vulnerable is against a solid TE. They can handle average and even good TEs. They are smart in coverage. But against guys like Graham, or Jordan Cameron, we will struggle. Their speed helps them in coverage, but they aren't stopping guys that have a good 4-6 inches on them with an extra 6 or 8 cumulative inches for arm span and vertical jump.
Erik Walden LB (Sam) - We've had so many arguments about this guy it's not even funny. In one camp, they point to his production statwise and point out a couple of plays where he gets beat. The other camp talks about how well he sets the edge and turns the guy inside. In truth, he's somewhere in the middle. He is good at setting the edge, but he can be undisplined at times. That being said, he'll get the job done more often than not in the run game. Pass rush, I'm not convinced he'll do much other than get a little bit of a pushand hope someone else makes the sack. To his defense, he's been close several times, but we've faced 3 very mobile QBs thus far. Doesn't fall back in pass coverage too incredibly often, but when he does, he's been competent.
Hope this gives you a little insight. Quit frankly, our run game is better than the statistics suggest. It looks bad primarily for two reasons. The first is Oakland. They didn't do much of anything with McFadden, but Pryor ripped off 100 yards by bailing on the pass in the first instant. It being our first game of the season and against a read-option QB, we were doomed to give up a ton of yards on the ground. Second was the second drive against hte 49ers. Yeah, we gave up the yards, so it's not really anexcuse so much as it's giving a little context to the numbers. Out of their 115 yards rushing, they got 89 of them on one drive on like 8 rush attempts. Take out that drive, and it was like 15 attempts for 22 yards or something. I'm hazy on the exact numbers scuz I've drank since then. But since that second drive of the 49ers game, we've shut teh run down. I don't want to crown us a great rush defense early, but how we do Sunday will go a long way in making my mind up as to whether we really are a good rush defense or just a good one that plays great against good teams and not elite teams.
