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- Mar 19, 2019
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With Walker in the middle of it all, the Colts defense surprised a lot of people along the way. In their first year under Eberflus, the Colts' speedy, athletic defense finished 10th in scoring and 11th in overall defense, allowing 21.5 points and 339.4 yards of offense per game, respectively.
They tied the NFL record for tackles for loss within the first four games of a season (31), displaying an often stifling effort against the run throughout the entire campaign. The Colts finished as one of only three teams to not allow a 100-yard rusher in the regular season despite facing five of the league’s top 10 rushers.
The defense was selfish when it came to which team should have the ball, becoming the final team for the season to have a turnover in every game, which lasted 13 games, and forcing at least one turnover in a league-most 15-of-16 games.
When it comes down to it, defense is all about keeping the opponent from scoring, and not many teams did a better job at that than the Colts.
In Week 15, they handed the Dallas Cowboys their first shutout since 2003, and the Colts held the Houston Texans to just seven points in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs, Houston’s lowest total of the season and the only time they were held to single digits.
In the first eight games of the season, the Colts allowed 26.6 points per game but then improved to 16.4 allowed over the final eight games. Not coincidentally, this coincided with the Colts winning seven of those eight contests, allowing just six points in their one loss.