Blue
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- Mar 19, 2019
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» DeForest Buckner might've missed his first game of the season in Week 11 after being placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list, but you would've never known it by his performance last Sunday against the Texans. Buckner played his usual amount of snaps — 83 percent of them (53 in all) — and had a monster day: four tackles (two for a loss) with two sacks and three quarterback hits. His dominant presence up front also helped Justin Houston have his best individual game in years: four tackles, three sacks, and one forced fumble, and he also caused a safety for the fourth time in his career, tying the NFL all-time record (three of those safeties have come in the last two years with the Colts, with two of them happening this season alone).
» And, real quick, for those keeping an eye on Kemoko Turay's usage now in his third game back off the Physically Unable to Perform list, the third-year Rutgers edge rusher played nine total defensive snaps against the Texans and finished with two tackles.
» With Bobby Okereke missing his second straight game as he deals with an ankle injury, the Colts, for a second straight week, saw both Darius Leonard and Anthony Walker play every defensive snap last Sunday against the Texans. Walker finished with a team-best 10 tackles and added a pass defensed, and also had the fumble recovery of all fumble recoveries when the Texans were in a goal-to-go situation with just more than a minute left and threatening to score a go-ahead touchdown; quarterback Deshaun Watson couldn't handle a low snap, and Walker was right there to jump on the ball to seal the big win for Indy.
» The Colts mixed it up at cornerback much more than usual behind starters Kenny Moore II (who had an All-Pro-like performance) and Xavier Rhodes last Sunday against the Texans, as T.J. Carrie played 36 defensive snaps, while Rock Ya-Sin played 29. Carrie had a tackle and a pass defensed, while Ya-Sin finished with two tackles on defense and one special teams stop.
» Kudos to Tavon Wilson for stepping in at strong safety in place of Khari Willis, who missed last Sunday's game against the Texans with back and quad injuries. The veteran Wilson played 61 of a possible 64 defensive snaps and had four tackles on the day; in fact, he earned a season-best 82.7 tackling grade from Pro Football Focus.
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