Indianapolis, IN
4 things learned from Colts Week 7 performance vs. Chargers
Following the Colts’ Week 7 win over the Chargers, here are four things we learned from their performance.
The Indianapolis Colts dominantly improve to 6-1 as they take down the Los Angeles Chargers 38-24 to capture their third straight win.
At this point, it feels like clockwork how Indianapolis’s offense produces. Quarterback Daniel Jones recorded yet another two-touchdown, 200+ passing yard performance with no turnovers, while running back Jonathan Taylor dominated on the ground.
Rookie tight end Tyler Warren added to his already impressive rookie campaign, while Michael Pittman Jr. is once again one of Jones’ favorite targets. Receiver Alec Pierce played his second consecutive game after missing two straight games due to injury, and was the Colts’ leader in receiving yards (98).
Let’s highlight the top takeaways from Indianapolis’ Week 7 victory.
Jonathan Taylor is the MVP frontrunner
Taylor just recorded his third game this season with a hat trick of rushing touchdowns, after entering the game leading the NFL in carries (115), rushing yards (603), and rushing touchdowns (7).
He recorded 16 carries for 94 rushing yards and three scores, and averaged nearly six yards per carry.
It feels like there isn’t anything that Taylor can’t do, as he also tallied three receptions for 38 receiving yards, his second-most receiving yards on the year.
Alec Pierce is getting back into a groove.
After missing two straight games, Pierce made his return to the Colts roster in Week 6 vs. the Cardinals, where he recorded two receptions on four targets for 48 yards, but still did not look 100%.
Pierce led Indianapolis in targets (10) and caught five receptions for 98 yards. He led the Chargers in receiving yards, tallying 29 more than tight end Tyler Warren, who finished second-best on the team.
He hauled in a 48-yard deep ball, matching his production from Week 6 in a single play, and averaged 19.6 yards per catch.
The Colts won the turnover battle
Indianapolis’s defense helped its offense en route to a 38-24 victory with two interceptions against Justin Herbert, who had only four interceptions through the first six weeks of the season.
When Herbert can protect the football on offense, the Chargers are 2-1, but when he turns the ball over, they are 1-3. In fact, in the last three games, Herbert has thrown an interception, and the Chargers have lost.
His two interceptions came at the hands of defensive tackle Grover Stewart and safety Nick Cross, who both recorded their first interception of the season.
Stewart recorded the first interception of the game, after batting Herbert’s pass midway through the second quarter, that turned into a tip drill where he recovered his own tipped ball.
Cross picked off a potential touchdown pass from Herbert, intended for Quinten Johnston, to retain a 20-3 lead late in the first half.
The Colts won the turnover battle 2-0 after not to give the ball away on offense.
DeForest Buckner set a personal season high in sacks
Indianapolis defensive tackle Buckner entered the game with just a single sack on the season, but doubled his production against the Chargers. He sacked Herbert twice, the most on the team.
The Colts finished the game with three sacks, pushing the Chargers back 29 yards, and recorded 15 quarterback hits, with Buckner being responsible for four of them.
Buckner finished the game with five tackles, four solo tackles, and two sacks, adding to his 18 solo tackles and single sack on the season.
INDIANAPOLIS — Police are investigating a hit-and-run crash that occurred on the west side of Indianapolis Saturday evening.
Public emergency reporting systems indicate officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department were called to the 5200 block of Mecca Street around 8:12 p.m. to investigate a crash in which at least one person may have sustained serious injuries.
FOX59/CBS4 sent a crew to the scene, which was located just off of South Lynhurst Drive near Raymond Street. That crew found one IMPD squad car in the area upon its arrival.
Police at the scene told FOX59/CBS4 that they were investigating a hit-and-run crash. Those officers indicated that the crash was the result of a disturbance of some sort.
IMPD has not yet confirmed exactly how many people were injured in the crash. Police have not reported the number of cars that were involved in the crash.
As of this article’s publication, no additional information on the crash or the circumstances that led to it had been made available.
Shane Steichen came to the Indianapolis Colts as an offensive coach. He had a coordinator and a plethora of position coaches, but he knew that if there were any problems on the offensive side of the ball, it would ultimately fall on him to fix them. On defense, it was a different story.
Steichen had veteran coordinator Gus Bradley already in place running the defense when he arrived in 2023. After struggling in 2024, the head coach decided to go in a different direction and thus brought in Lou Anarumo, formerly defensive coordinator in Cincinnati. Along with Anarumo came three new defensive assistants.
James Bettcher took over the linebackers’ room. For the defensive backfield, where everyone recognized there would be major changes, Steichen and Anarumo turned to two veterans. They may not be household names in Indy just yet, but Chris Hewitt and Jerome Henderson have worked magic with what could have easily been a train wreck this season.
Despite injuries and new faces galore, Colts’ coaches get strong production from the DBs
Hewitt’s title is Pass Game Coordinator/Secondary coach while Henderson has the Defensive Backs coach position. Both have extensive experience as both pass game coordinators and as position coaches.
That means both see the macro perspective – how all the parts of the defense fit together to shut down opponents’ passing attacks – and the micro – the tiniest details of hand placement and hip turns.
Together, they bring 32 years of experience coaching NFL secondaries. This season, they have needed all of it.
In 2024, under DB coach Ron Milus, Indianapolis’ secondary stayed mostly healthy. Cornerbacks Kenny Moore and Jaylon Jones, and safeties Nick Cross and Julian Blackmon, stayed on the field for almost every play. Journeyman Samuel Womack and a host of others, manned the third corner spot.
Despite relative continuity, the on-field performance left a lot to be desired. The Colts finished 26th in passing-yards-allowed and 29th in yards-per-attempt. That contributed to a defense that surrendered more than 25 points-per-game – in the bottom third of the league.
Womack and Blackmon were not retained. Jones has been hurt for virtually the entire year. That leaves just Moore and Cross as holdovers from last year’s group. And Moore, after a sensational start, has missed the past several weeks with an Achilles injury.
That injury is just the tip of the iceberg.
Through just six games, Indianapolis has seven different cornerbacks who have played at least 18% of the defensive snaps. Seven. That is astonishing. One of them, veteran slot Mike Hilton, arrived about five minutes ago after being released by the Bengals. Fortunately, that’s where Anarumo coached so Hilton was able to step right into the new defense and contribute immediately.
The presumptive number one cornerback – free agent signee Charvarius Ward – has missed more than a third of the snaps. Another veteran free agent, Xavien Howard, played a lot in the first couple weeks before realizing he could no longer perform at a high level. He has essentially retired at this point.
In their absence, young players like Mekhi Blackmon, Chris Lammons, and rookie UDFA Jonathan Edwards have stepped into major roles.
Edwards was not supposed to be the rookie cornerback making a difference this season. Chris Ballard knew he needed to replenish the secondary so he spent a third-round draft pick on Minnesota’s Justin Walley. Through the summer, he was looking like an excellent addition until a torn ACL ended his season.
Injury also took out seventh-round pick Hunter Wohlers, who was tearing up training camp transitioning from a college linebacker to a pro safety. Oft-injured safety Daniel Scott finally seemed poised to help out until the injury-bug bit him too.
Fortunately, the starting safeties Cross and Bynum have stayed on the field this year.
Blackmon, the 26-year old who was acquired less than two weeks before the start of the season, has become the Colts’ most reliable cornerback.
Somehow, through all the injuries and new faces, coaches Hewitt and Henderson have kept Indianapolis’ secondary functioning as a cohesive unit. They have improved by wide margins in almost every key metric from last year.
Points allowed in way down, from 24th in the league to 8th. Yards-per-attempt is down by almost a full yard – a major drop. That matters because the Colts are actually giving up more total yards passing this season. That is largely because their offense has established big leads and forced opponents to throw a lot more. Defensive efficiency is way up, despite giving up a few extra yards in the air.
Even the interception rate, which was pretty good last year, is up, currently tied for third-best in the league.
Whatever buttons they are pushing, Hewitt and Henderson have the Colts’ secondary rolling right along. Backups are gaining valuable experience and some of those injured players will be returning soon. It should be fun to see what these two little-known coaches can do once they get back to full strength in the secondary.
