Thumbs up, down: D line dominates, O line draws flags

  • Colts at Seahawks, 8:30 p.m. Sunday, NBC
Quarterback Jacoby Brissett will lead the Colts into a "Sunday Night Football" game against the Seattle Seahawks — a game that may or may not be available to WTHR viewers who subscribe to DirecTV or U-verse.

INDIANAPOLIS – Here is the best and worst of the Indianapolis Colts’ 31-28 win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday:

THUMBS UP

>> QB Jacoby Brissett: In his second start since joining the Colts, Brissett showed an entirely different skill set. He threw the ball aggressively, taking shot down the field one week after his longest pass completion went for 20 yards in a loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Brissett’s athleticism showed much more Sunday, too, and that is going to be something defenses have to confront for as long as he’s in the starting lineup for injured Andrew Luck.

The Colts are still looking for Brissett to be a bit more decisive in the pocket and to get rid of the ball quicker. But he’s growing by leaps and bounds right before our eyes. What Brissett showed Sunday was winning football.

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>> WR T.Y. Hilton: With some crisp route running, Hilton had his way against an overmatched Cleveland secondary. Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who is renowned for his aggressive tactics, was on the losing end of the chess match with the Colts’ star receiver. When a defense brings as much pressure as Williams’ group did, it’s incumbent on the offense to beat the resulting one-on-one coverage. Hilton did that and then some, and the Colts’ offense finally got on track.

>> Defensive line: The Colts’ group up front continues to be among the most consistent on the roster, both creating pressure on quarterbacks and stopping the run. The interior linemen, coupled with outside linebackers John Simon and Jabaal Sheard, have been dominant at times. Granted this wasn’t their biggest test of the year, seeing how Cleveland was playing a rookie quarterback in DeShone Kizer and had some challenges on its offensive line. But the Colts have made significant progress in the trenches, with the additions of Johnathan Hankins and Al Woods proving to be brilliant moves.

The play of the defensive line and edge rushers is allowing the young secondary to grow and is bringing the entire defense together.

THUMBS DOWN

>> TE Jack Doyle: Temperatures in Indiana are hovering in the low 90s in late September and Jack Doyle dropped two passes and fumbled. Surely this is a sign of the apocalypse. It’s almost sacrilegious to say it given the fact Doyle is, perhaps, the most dependable player on the Colts’ roster. But there is no avoiding the truth: He turned in one of the worst games of his career Sunday.

Doyle was the Colts’ most critical offensive weapon a week ago, catching each of the eight passes thrown to him by quarterback Jacoby Brissett. The Colts can rest easy knowing that for their sure-handed tight end, Sunday’s game was likely an aberration.

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>> Offensive line: Don’t be deceived. The offensive line did a more than adequate job protecting Brissett. And the quarterback’s improved grasp of the offense allowed the unit to function much more fluidly than it did in Brissett’s first start a week ago. But where the offensive line deserves some criticism is in its lack of discipline.

This group was responsible for four of the Colts’ 11 penalties on Sunday, each of them coming at an inopportune time.

The Colts got false starts from center Deyshawn Bond, left guard Jeremy Vujnovich and left tackle Anthony Castonzo. Right guard Jack Mewhort was flagged for holding.

For a sense of how costly these kinds of penalties can be — especially false starts, which are unforced — consider this: Each possession on which the offensive line committed a penalty resulted in a punt.

“The penalties are major,” coach Chuck Pagano said. “We can’t come out (after) the half and have the ball in the third quarter and then have a false start.”