A major Colts weakness was exposed on prime time Sunday night.
The Colts’ listless pass rush allowed Ben Roethlisberger to throw for 364 yards and four touchdowns in a 45-10 Steelers win at Heinz Field.
Roethlisberger wasn’t sacked and wasn’t even hit. The Colts (6-6) are 28th in the league with 19 sacks. If they don’t figure out a way to get to the quarterback more frequently, the AFC South title also will be out of their reach.
Are the Colts just always going to be okay with their defense getting blown out by good teams?
— Cian Fahey (@Cianaf) December 8, 2015
The Colts are tied atop the division with the Texans and have three division games remaining. After going to Jacksonville Sunday, they host Houston in Week 15, go to Miami in Week 16 and host Tennessee in the regular-season finale.
None of those quarterbacks (Blake Bortles, Brian Hoyer, Ryan Tannehill and Marcus Mariota) are on Roethlisberger’s level, but Bortles and Mariota are up-and-comers and Tannehill and Hoyer can put up some big numbers against a defense that’s allowing 280.4 passing yards per game, third-most in the NFL.
Robert Mathis, 34, leads the Colts with four sacks. Of the Colts’ 19 sacks, 10 have come from players 30 or older. The Colts’ most high-profile off-season acquisitions were long-in-the-tooth offensive players Andre Johnson (28 receptions) and Frank Gore (3.6 yards per carry). Meanwhile, they’re not investing a ton of resources in their aging defense.
The Colts signed 33-year-old Trent Cole after he was released by the Eagles. It turns out that might have been one of the few personnel moves that Chip Kelly got right. Cole has followed up his 6.5-sack season with one sack this year. Cole is tied with teammate Erik Walden for the team lead with 11 quarterback hurries, according to Team Rankings. Neither player cracks the NFL’s top 50 in that category.
#colts Erik Walden out today with boot on right foot. Hugh Thornton, Phillip Dorsett practicing.
— Mike Chappell (@mchappell51) December 9, 2015
Bjoern Werner, the Colts’ first-round draft pick in 2013, had four sacks last season but has no sacks this season and has participated in just 13.4 percent of the team’s snaps.
Jonathan Newsome, a third-round pick in 2014, led the team with 6.5 sacks last year but has just one this season.
The Colts did have five sacks in their 25-12 win over the Buccaneers in Week 12. Perhaps that’s a sign the pass rush is trending upward but just ran into a tough offensive line in Week 13. The Steelers have allowed 25 sacks this season. The Dolphins have allowed 34, the Jaguars 36 and the Titans 39.
But if the real Colts pass rush is closer to the one we saw in Pittsburgh, the Colts will have to win a lot of high-scoring games to get into the playoffs.