Five Observations: Indianapolis Colts Vs. Cincinnati Bengals

The Indianapolis Colts (5-2) continued their five-game winning streak with a dominating performance over the Cincinnati Bengals (3-2-1). From the start of the game until the very end, the Colts managed to control all three phases of the game and, if not for some untimely turnovers, this game could have been more of a blowout.

Defense surpasses expectations

No matter how high any fans’ expectations were in the offseason, nobody could have predicted how well this Colts defense has played this season. Having a shutout in the NFL means that your defense had a good game but the Colts defense was suffocating. This wasn’t a case of the Bengals just executing poorly, taking penalties or turning the ball over; this was the Colts defense as an entire unit dictating this game. The defense had amazing coverage on pass plays, had constant pressure on Dalton, stopped the Bengals running game and had an incredible day on third down. This was the best the Colts defense has looked in the Chuck Pagano era and you would need to go back almost a decade to find a Colts defense that was this impactful.

Stopping drives on third down

I already mentioned how dominant a performance this defense had against the Bengals. You could point out multiple reasons for the teams defensive success but their ability to end drives on third down stands out. Entering this game the Colts led the league in third down percentage and had been a ridiculous 3 for 28 on third down defense in the last three games. The Colts continued their dominance on third down by holding the Bengals to only one third down conversion in eleven attempts including forcing ten three and outs. This makes the Colts 4-39 (10.2%) on third down in the last four games.

Vontae Davis continues amazing season

During the season Vontae Davis has proven that the big contract the Colts gave him this previous offseason was money well spent. Vontae continued his standout play against the Bengals. When throwing at Davis, the Bengals completed 2/7 passes and managed to get 21 yards. Those numbers are very impressive even without having A.J. Green to cover. Vontae had a good day in coverage but it was his hit on Giovanni Bernard that was the most memorable. There isn’t much to say about the hit other than it was clean and violent; the perfect combination.

You can watch the video of the hit right here:

Pass Protection breaks down

The offensive line has been one of the nice surprises for the Colts this season. The offensive line doesn’t have to be an elite unit for the Colts offense to function properly but it did need an improvement coming into this season. So far the Colts offensive line has improved a significant amount and has been a huge reason for the success of the offense. However, this game was a poor showing by the Colts’ line. The run game continued to get some push up front but it was the pass blocking that seemed to be off. Too many times the Colts offensive line would allow the pocket to collapse early in the play and this threw off the Colts offense at time. This was a game when the offensive line looked a lot more like the unit from last season and not the one that has been so improved this season. Hopefully this was just a down game and we can continue to see good line play throughout the season.

Andrew Luck has crazy expectations

Luck finished this game completing 27 of 42 (64.3%) passes for 344 yards and added two throwing touchdowns. Those are some very good stats but when you watch the game Luck did not have one of his better performances. He wasn’t bad but he also didn’t play as well as you would expect him to. There were too many instances when his throws were just a bit off (the catch when Fleener had to contort his body) or when he just missed the open receiver (he missed Trent Richardson in the flat for an easy touchdown). However, it is kind of scary to think about just how good Andrew Luck has/can be when you consider this to be a bad game for him.