Indianapolis Colts by the Numbers: Week 8 Defensive Stats

By T. Troy Russell@TTroyRussell Nov 1, 2018, 1:00pm EDT

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Every week, I will present a summary of some basic and advanced stats for the Colts performance relative to the league. Thanks to Pro Football Reference, NFL.com and the nflSCrapR project for being awesome sources of weekly data.

Other than the 4 methodical drives of 75+ yards that ended in touchdowns, the Indianapolis defense shut down Oakland . . . nope . . . I can’t do it.

I was going to stay positive. I was going to talk about the key three & out stop followed by what may be the greatest punch-out turnover I have ever seen. I was going to look at the bright side, find the silver lining, all that crap. But I just don’t have it in me.

As I write this, my neighbor is playing the Monster Mash for about the 100th time tonight and I would rather Groundhog Day that, than make any claims that the Colts defense on Sunday was anything other than offensive.

A 79.2% Drive Success Rate is the best mark that Oakland has put up all year. It is also the worst mark that the Colts defense has given up all year.

That means the Colts made Derek Carr look better than Tom Brady. Ta-da!

TEAM TOTALS

Well, it wasn’t the worst points per drive given up this week but it’s not for a lack of not trying.

7.4 Yards per play. Think about that. On average, when Oakland snapped the ball they gained over 7 yards. It’s a miracle their punter ever saw the field.

The only, and I mean ONLY, good stat is that the defense did not give up a first down via penalty. Of course, they gave up first downs on 40% of all other plays, but who’s counting? . . . oh right, me.

PASSING

Seriously? You just give up a 136.6 passer rating to Derek Carr? In case you were wondering, that ties his 3rd best rating ever. So that’s something these Colts have in common with the 2017 Jets.

Those numbers are just crap across the board. I guess we held Carr to only 3 passes over 20 yards so that’s kind of average in a way.

RUSHING

The good news is the run defense was better than the pass defense. The bad news is that it wasn’t good.

Late game script caused Oakland to lean on the pass, so while 103 total yards isn’t much, it also isn’t an impressive defensive effort at all. 6 explosive carries, 5.4 Yards per Carry and a 39% weighted Rush Success rate all demonstrates that Oakland was moving the ball just fine on the ground.

According to EPA per carry, the Colts had one of the best run defenses of the week. Hooray for crap stats. Seriously, I think I’m just going to drop that one going forward.