Bolts From The Blue
The 4-2 Chargers are welcoming the 5-1 Colts into SoFi Stadium this Sunday. It’s also going to be a little welcome home party for Colts head coach Shane Steichen who was the first offensive coordinator for Justin Herbert when he entered the NFL in 2020. Since then, both have enjoyed successful careers in their own right and I’m sure it’ll be a fun pre-game meeting between the two full of nostalgia.
Aside from the obvious connections between these two teams, there’s also plenty of good football to be had. Colts running back Jonathan Taylor currently leads the league in both rushing yards and touchdowns while Indy is averaging the most points per game in the NFL.
On the other side, there’s Herbert and some pretty impressive pass catchers at his disposal. There’s truly a chance this may be one of the most entertaining games on the Week Seven slate.
With that said, here are three things I’ll be watching closely when these two teams take the field on Sunday!
The Colts offense has been propelled by their rushing attack. If you take a look at their Pro Football Focus grades in that area, you’ll see fairly high marks across the board for their front five. However, their best lineman — left guard Quenton Nelson — has the team’s best run block grade paired with the worst pass block grade. The discrepancy is actually quite large as his pass block grade of 90.5 is over 40 grade points higher than his mark of 49.5 in pass pro.
The weakness doesn’t just stop there, luckily. Center Tanor Bortolini is also below average in pass blocking on the year with a grade of 57.5.
This may end up being a game where Teair Tart has to carry the pass rush along the interior on a level he hasn’t had to this year. He tops the entire Chargers defense with a 75.3 pass rush grade and the unit as a whole will only get better if Khalil Mack returns. I say let’s scheme up the best to stunt and twist inside to make this a long day for Daniel Jones.
Well, for starters, getting Mack back would be a massive help. The Chargers have been gashed on outside runs over the past two weeks and there aren’t many defenders better at setting an edge than Mack.
For whatever reason, both the Dolphins and Commanders found a hole in the armor of Los Angeles’ run defense that got them an advantageous matchup when running outside the tackle. Using motions, they brought defenders from one side to the other when the Bolts were in man coverage. They consistently forced Tuli Tuipulotu or Derwin James to be the edge defenders and for whatever reason or call, they kept allowing themselves to be sealed far too easy.
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