Indianapolis Colts defense bears serious attention

After a Week 1 loss, the Indianapolis Colts have won three straight games.

On the opening Sunday of the season, the new-look Indianapolis Colts stubbed their toes on the road. Jaguars’ quarterback Gardner Minshew overcame four sacks by Frank Reich’s team and completed 19-of-20 passes for 173 three touchdowns without an interception. All told, Jacksonville played turnover-free football that afternoon and came away with a 27-20 victory.

But the Colts have now rebounded with three consecutive wins. And it’s Matt Eberflus’ defensive unit that has played a major role in the current streak. Reich’s squad has outscored the Vikings (28-11, Jets (36-7) and now the Bears (19-11), via Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune, by a combined 83-29 count.

After surrendering those three offensive touchdowns in Week 1 and failing to come up with a takeaway, Indianapolis has surrendered just three offensive touchdowns in 12 quarters and picked off seven passes in three contests.

The Colts have allowed less than 300 total yards in each of their four games this year, pretty impressive considering the way most teams have been moving up and down the field and putting points on the board in unprecedented fashion.

A season ago, the defense slumped down the stretch. Some of that was due to the team’s lack of offensive support as then-starting quarterback Jacoby Brissett suffered a knee injury at midseason and wasn’t the same. A 5-2 start turned into seven losses in the final nine games. The Colts allowed 31-plus points in four of their last five contests.

But this offseason, general manager Chris Ballard gave up a first-round pick for 49ers’ defensive tackle DeForest Buckner. The club also added free-agent cornerbacks Xavier Rhodes and T.J. Carrie (both who returned interceptions for touchdowns in the Week 3 win over the Jets) and the Colts used a third-round pick on University of Utah safety Julian Blackmon. He and Rhodes are tied for the team lead with five passes defensed.

Buckner, with 1.5 sacks and a team-high eight quarterback hits, is part of a defensive front that has come up with eight of the team’s 10 sacks. End Justin Houston leads the way with 3.5 quarterback traps. Linebackers Darius Leonard (27) and Anthony Walker (25) are the team’s top two tacklers and Eberflus’ unit is allowing a mere 77.0 yards per game on the ground after four weeks.

Of course, the Colts have quite the challenge ahead this Sunday when they travel to Cleveland to take on a Browns’ team that has scored 35, 34 and 49 points, respectively, in their last three outings. It makes for a fascinating battle of strength vs. strength as Reich’s team remains on the heels of the 3-0 Tennessee Titans in the AFC South.