Matchups to Watch Revisited: Week 5 @Ravens

Kemoko Turay/Al-Quadin Muhammad Vs. Ravens’ Tackles

Like every matchup with this Colts defense, this is a tale of two halves. The first half was impressive for a Colts’ defense that has been struggling a lot, and this was in large part due to Kemoko Turay and AQM winning their respective matchups against the Ravens’ tackles and forcing Lamar Jackson into some uncomfortable situations. Unfortunately, both the edge rushers looked gassed in the second half and overtime for chasing Lamar around for so long. Tyquan Lewis ended up playing considerably more snaps than Turay (59 to 31), and had his best game of the season, getting a lot of penetration in the running game and notching 1.5 sacks on LJ.

Matt Pryor/Eric Fisher Vs. Justin Houston/Odafe Oweh

Thankfully the days of Julie’n Davenport as the starting tackle are finally over. While Matt Pryor is not amazing by any means, he gets the job done, and next to Davenport it makes him look like he is a hall of famer. Fisher had some reps where he was clearly lost, including a key sack in the redzone by Oweh that ended up with the fumble, but he looked great in the running game and has been getting better week by week. The Colts need to just be patient with him and allow him to get back to playing form. It’s certainly not like there are any better options.

Nyheim Hines/Mo Allie-Cox Vs. Patrick Queen

As expected, the Ravens’ struggles covering the checkdown continued. Not to Hines or Mo Allie-Cox, but in this game, it was mostly Jonathan Taylor, Kylen Granson, and Marlon Mack. Of course, I am not counting the screen pass in the first drive of the game as that was not a dump-off, but Taylor caught 2 passes after that for 40 yards, Granson had 2 catches for 19 yards and Mack caught 1 for 7 yards. Facing such a tough defensive front with an injured offensive line, having the checkdown was huge and it made a big difference in the offense.

Michael Pittman Jr. Vs. Marlon Humphrey

The Colts did not target Humphrey that much, as they were just content throwing the ball to whoever Anthony Averett (#23) was covering. MPJ had yet another big game, as he continues to establish himself as a true #1 receiver in the NFL. Pittman Jr. finished the game with 6 catches (on 7 targets) for 89 yards, including a grown man 42-yard touchdown that is so far one of the Colts' most impressive plays of the season.

Kenny Moore Vs. Whoever lines up in the slot

I will have to go over the slot coverage numbers to determine whether it was Kenny Moore who was covering either Mark Andrews or Marquise Brown when they were so consistently open, but just at first glance, it seemed like Kenny once again had a solid game after a rough first two weeks. The problem was not with Kenny, but with Eberflus conservative play-calling with the lead.