Three Colts players make PFF’s list of ten worst performances of week 14

Sunday’s game was simply a terrible one all around for the Indianapolis Colts, with every phase of the team struggling and disappointing.

Some players were worse than others, however, and if you pay attention to the Pro Football Focus grades, the Colts had several players who were among the worst in the league this week.

Each week PFF releases a list of the ten worst performances from the week, and this week the Colts took three of the top ten spots!

Coming in at number four was outside linebacker Erik Walden:

There weren’t many pass-rushing opportunities in the Texans’ win over the Colts, but on 17 rushes, Walden managed just one solitary hurry. His run defense was non-descript, but in seven snaps in coverage he did enough bad things to get himself in trouble. He was thrown at twice, allowing a 15-yard catch to RB Lamar Miller, but also getting flagged for defensive holding on C.J. Fiedorowicz. He was also flagged elsewhere in the game for unnecessary roughness in a performance that did little but hurt his team.

Then at number eight was guard Joe Haeg:

Blocking in the NFL is a different world to playing offensive line in the FCS, even for a juggernaut program like North Dakota State. Haeg somehow escaped this game without surrendering a sack, but did cough up three hits and four hurries playing inside at guard for the Colts. His run-blocking was also a major issue and only Andrew Luck’s ability to escape pressure saved him from looking much worse statistically in the game.

And then at number ten was wide receiver Phillip Dorsett:

Colts QB Andrew Luck passed for 276 yards against the Texans, but he also suffered from four drops from his receivers that cost him significant additional yardage. Dorsett alone accounted for three of those four drops. Only T.Y. Hilton was targeted more than Dorsett by Luck in this game, and while Hilton caught nine of his 11 targets for 115 yards and a score, Dorsett dropped as many passes as he caught (three) and managed just 19 total yards.

The list of Colts players who had really bad games on Sunday goes beyond just those three, and I halfway expected more Colts to make the list. The list was in fact worse for GM Ryan Grigson, as in addition to the three Colts (he drafted two of them and signed the other), another one of Grigson’s draft picks made the list as Ulrick John came in at number seven for his performance with the Cardinals. So of the top ten worst performances in the NFL this week according to PFF, Ryan Grigson drafted three of them and signed another. Ouch.

Obviously some people care more than others what PFF says, but upon grading the games their analysts have included three Colts on this week’s list of the worst performances. I doubt anybody who watched the game would disagree.