Matt Eberflus On DeForest Buckner's Impact, Anthony Walker's Leadership, Browns' Offensive Attack

[Blue]

» Anthony Walker has continued to be a key defensive leader, no matter what role he's asked to play: The Colts last season featured Walker (MIKE) and Darius Leonard (WILL) at linebacker, and were hoping to find someone to step in and run away with the SAM spot; they got that in then-rookie Bobby Okereke, who showed flashes of legit playmaking ability throughout his first NFL season.


So entering last Sunday's matchup against the Bears, the Colts and Eberflus had been trying to figure out ways to get Okereke, who would normally only be on the field with the base defense at the SAM spot, onto the field even more. Sometimes that meant Walker would have to watch from the sidelines while Okereke took over at MIKE.


But when Leonard when down with a groin injury just before halftime against the Bears, Walker stepped right in to his spot at the WILL, with Okereke staying at the MIKE. Walker finished the game with a team-high 11 tackles, proving his worth once again as a versatile leader at the linebacker position.


"Anthony Walker is just A-plus character, A-plus leadership off the field, on the field and commands presence both on the field and off the field," Eberflus said. "Just a great teammate in terms of working with others, working with younger guys, helping other guys out. He's the consummate teammate and you can't say enough about him in terms of that. Also, being smart and being able to play multiple positions, being able to work on special teams, being able to work all levels of linebacker play – sub units, base units and in the leg. So he is a valuable, valuable piece to our football team."


The Colts will once again rely on Walker's leadership and position flexibility this week heading into this Sunday's Week 5 matchup against the Cleveland Browns. Leonard this week will continue to be evaluated with his groin injury, while Okereke on Monday underwent surgery on his thumb, so his availability against the Browns still is yet to be determined.


» Speaking of the Browns, Eberflus is expecting quite the challenge this week: Sunday's game in Cleveland will be one of the better matchups across the league, as it's a true strength-on-strength battle pitting the Colts, who have the league's top-ranked defense, against the Browns, who rank fourth in the league in scoring and first in the league in rushing.


While the Browns will be without top running back Nick Chubb, who is expected to miss several weeks with a knee injury, the team still has several extremely dangerous weapons on the offensive side of the ball, from quarterback Baker Mayfield, to running back Kareem Hunt, to wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry to tight end Austin Hooper.


That group has helped the Browns average 39.3 points over the last three weeks, all Cleveland wins — including last Sunday's 49-38 marathon victory over the Dallas Cowboys.


"They're a sound football team," Eberflus said of the Browns. "They have a lot of good coaches over there. I know several of them and they are good at what they do. They're good at running the football and they're good at their play-action pass. They do a lot of things well and you can see that on tape, evidence of the last three games. It's a big challenge for us again this week defensively. We have to have great practice and great preparation and have great focus during the course of the next few days."