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    • Young secondary team comes up short in 29-27 loss
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    Young secondary team comes up short in 29-27 loss

    Vaseline Posted on

    INDIANAPOLIS — When a quarterback breaks the pocket, receivers and defensive backs have certain responsibilities. On offense, receivers must run toward the quarterback and provide a target for their scramble signal caller. Defenders must stick to the closest receiver, but in reality, scramble plays aren’t always so clear-cut.

    On third-and-14 late in the third quarter, the Colts appeared to have Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud right where they wanted him. Stroud escaped the pocket to his right and threw back across his body to his left, the No. 1 no-no for quarterbacks in the NFL. The throw was risky, but receiver Nico Collins snuck perfectly between safety Julian Blackmon and cornerback Jaylon Jones, catching the heave at the 29-yard line for an improbable first down. The Texans would cap the drive six plays later with a 3-yard rushing touchdown from Joe Mixon in what would become a 29-27 victory.

    “You’ve got to be able to react in a sense of urgency to figure out, who’s the closest receiver to me? Is the D-line going to tackle the quarterback? It gets very gray,” Colts cornerback Kenny Moore II said of defending a scramble drill. “It’s not black and white. You’ve got to play chess, basically.

    “It takes the breath out of a defense because it’s such a gray game. You don’t even really know where the breakdown is. Is it the secondary? Is it the defensive line? We just have to be able to stick together.”

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    It was one of two close plays Jones couldn’t make, and one of several big plays the secondary couldn’t make. Moore had an interception that was neutralized by a Jones holding penalty. Juju Brents had an interception that was overturned after he was ruled to have stepped out of bounds. Near the end of the game, Jones was the closest defender to another tough Collins catch that decided the game.

    Falling short in the secondary time and time again can be demoralizing, but the young Colts defensive backs are determined to turn things around. Sunday was Brents’ 10th NFL game. Jones played in his 18th game after playing every game as a seventh-round rookie. Third-year safety Nick Cross assumes a larger role this season. Only Moore and Blackmon are established players in the secondary. Despite the unit’s inexperience, the Colts defensive backs know it’s their job to make plays. They came up inches short against the Texans, but they have the rest of the season to show improvement.

    “When things get outside the pocket, you see more explosives and things like that,” Brents said. “We’ve got to watch our guys better. Sometimes you’ve got to cover for eight, 10 seconds. It’s not ideal, but it is what it is. So we just have to make those plays.

    “We have full confidence to play defensive back. Yes, we are young, but we try to avoid the noise from outside. Just keep working, keep playing ball. There was some adversity that we faced today, but it’s how you deal with it.”

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