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Indianapolis Colts: What We Learned Against The Rams

By Andrew Turpen

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The Indianapolis Colts squared off against the St. Louis Rams Saturday night for their third preseason game and wound up on top by a score of 24-14.

For the Indianapolis Colts, the biggest takeaway was simply, progress. Especially when comparing their preseason game against the Rams to the first two preseason games. Lots of progress.

Apart from a few plays late in the second half, the Indianapolis Colts offensive line showed a staggering amount of growth since weeks one and two. Andrew Luck had plenty of time to throw for nearly all of his dropbacks during the game. Luck finished with 161 yards while completing 12 of his 21 passes with one touchdown. The recipient of that touchdown, a wide open Andre Johnson who scored a 32 yard touchdown on his only catch of the night.

The offensive line was also effective in the run game, particularly in the first quarter. Indianapolis finished with a combined 56 yards on the ground. Boom Herron led the team with 25 yards rushing. The Canadian rookie from Yale, Tyler Varga had 6 carries for 16 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, the Indianapolis Colts were solid throughout most of the first half aside from biting on a trick-play that resulted on the Rams first touchdown.

More from Indianapolis Colts

The Colts held the Rams to 28 first-half rushing yards and kept

Nick Foles

under pressure with 2 sacks from linebacker

Erik Walden

.

The biggest defensive improvement in Saturday night’s game was Indianapolis’ tackling. The Colts were consistently making clean one-on-one tackles and often made group tackles. Amarlo Herrera lead the way with 4 solo tackles. Jalil Brown also came up with an interception in the second half.

The Indianapolis Colts special teams unit was also much better against the Rams. Pat McAfee managed to nail an onside kick during the opening quarter and was solid as usual punting the ball aided by some much-improved special teams defense. Adam Vinatieri was flawless for yet another game hitting all three of his field goals, including one from 55 yards.

The Colts now head back to Indianapolis for their last preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals this Thursday. The Colts’ starters won’t see the field against the Bengals next week in preparation for their season opener versus the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, September 13. If the Colts can continue to progress in the right direction over the next two weeks as they did this week, they’ll have no problems with Rex Ryan’s Bills come regular season game one.

Next: An Interview With Glenn Robinson III

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