The Indianapolis Colts suffered a tough loss in Week 1. They managed to battle back from an early deficit against the Chargers and tie the game, but lost in overtime.
They had a handful of self-inflicted wounds, including Adam Vinatieri missing three kicks, and easily could've won the game. Apparently, tackling was also an issue, according to Stephen Holder of The Athletic.
“Here’s a shocking and startling statistic: The Colts missed 16 tackles on opening day according to Sportradar database – the most of any team entering Monday night’s games,” Holder writes.
Indy struggled to contain Chargers running back Austin Ekeler, and he was regularly bouncing off defenders. Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus acknowledged that tackling was an issue when speaking to the media and emphasized the need to get back to basics.
“You stress that fundamental so much, but it’s got to be in the right order,” he said. “You hit, wrap and then strip. Sometimes we get those things out of order. It’s important that you’re hitting with the top of your pads and wrapping, and then the strips come after that. … It all comes down to attention to detail.”
The Colts are surely kicking themselves for not capitalizing on the opportunity, but there are still plenty of positives to take away. The defense did a good job of getting after Philip Rivers, sacking him four times.
In their first game of the post-Andrew Luck era, they fought hard and were able to take a good team to overtime on the road.
If they can clean up the mental errors they should be just fine moving forward.
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