It's about now that I start looking at stats, and if you check the Indy Star this morning, you see the Colts are dead friggin' last in punt coverage. Everything else on this team is solid of not flat out great. But, per usual, Russ Purnell continues to bungle the Colts' special teams. I've really made an effort to stop writing about him because, well, we all know he sucks and writing the same thing over and over again is dull (Peter King is fat; Peter King is fat; Peter King is...). For whatever reason, this guy cannot take a group of insanely fast players and coach them to stay in the coverage lanes and tackle on a consistent basis. If he were a DC or OC, he'd be fired by now.
The punt coverage aside, you look at this team's defensive stats, and it is a far cry from last year. The Colts are third in scoring defense, allowing only 15.8 ppg. They allow only 5.6 yards per pass attempt, and have surrendered only 15 TDs. They're 7th in INTs and have forced 12 fumbles. Against the run, they are middle of the pack, allowing 107 yards at 4.0 a carry. I think that is a bit misleading as many of those yards are padded by that Denver blowout. Since that Denver game, no back has come close to sniffing 100 yards.
All in all, mid-season grade for this defense is a big A. They've played most of the year without two of their opening day linebackers (Keiaho and Morris), and started the season without Anthony McFarland. Yet, they continue to dominate on defense.
The second half is all about closing out the division and getting healthy.