INDIANAPOLIS -- The pieces are finally started to return and come together for Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Ted Monachino.
Safeties T.J. Green and Clayton Geathers. Cornerback Vontae Davis. Defensive lineman Henry Anderson. There’s optimism that cornerback Patrick Robinson will return this weekend at Jacksonville. And defensive lineman Art Jones is about the serve the final game of his four-game suspension.
“Finally,” veteran safety Mike Adams said. “We’re slowly but surely getting our guys back.”
There will be no person more relieves to have a full cupboard of players at his disposal than Monachino. The first-year defensive coordinator spent the majority of the Colts' first three games trying to mix and match pieces together in an attempt to put a competitive unit on the field while dealing with players already injured or being knocked out of games with injuries.
At one point, the Colts’ top three cornerbacks -- Antonio Cromartie, Rashaan Melvin and Darryl Morris -- were all players who had been on the roster only since the end of August. That wasn’t what Monachino envisioned when he took the job over the winter.
Monachino can start to get a better idea about his defense now that key players are returning.
“It’s good to have those guys [back] and have them continuing to get healthier and healthier each week,” Monachino said. “The further we go down the road with them the better they’ll get. Right now they’re in a good spot for where they’ve been in terms of how far off the injuries they are. I think they’re getting better every day.”
The Colts put on an atrocious tackling performance in their Week 1 loss to the Detroit. But they’ve shown signs of improvement in each of the past two weeks against Denver and San Diego. They gave up 19 points to the Broncos offense, and the defense sealed the game for them when Geathers caused a fumble and Adams recovered the loose ball with 71 seconds remaining against the Chargers.
“You see the flashes out there,” Adams said. “It’ll continue to get better as we get our horses back and those guys get their legs back under them. We’re going to have some stuff. I do feel optimistic.”
Having all his players will allow Monachino to expand his playcalling instead of shrink it, which he had to do because of the shortage of healthy players and not having players capable of performing at the same level as his starters. It also gives Monachino more flexibility, particularly at safety, because he can play Adams, Geathers and Green at the same time given their respective skill sets.
“I know at this point we can start to do some of the things we spent so many hours working on during the offseason,” Monachino said. “There were some of those things we had to push to the side in the preparation and game-planning part of the process, but right now the playbook is a little bit more open. We are getting closer and closer to being able to play the whole system, which allows for a lot more variation, a lot more potential of disorganization of the offense, which is what we want to do.”
The alarming issue the Colts still have is getting to the quarterback. They only have four sacks and 15 quarterback hits this season. It doesn’t matter how good their secondary is: They can only defend on the back end for only so long before the opposing quarterback finds an open player.
“It’s a concern,” Monachino acknowledged. “I don’t think it’s a major concern because what we want to do is lead the league in a lot of categories and leading the league in wins is most important. When we get guys the opportunity to send guys at the quarterback we’ll certainly do that. We would love to have more production out of those guys.”
Monachino mentioned linebacker Robert Mathis without being asked when talking about their pass rush. Mathis, who tied of the team lead in sacks last season with seven, has yet to record one this season.
“Rob will get his production,” Monachino said. “During the course of the year he’s going to keep getting healthier and healthier we’ll keep getting him fresher. He’ll get his production down the road, but I think he’s primed to have a good week this week. Just depends to how they plan to tend to him in the protection.”
