Matt Eberflus On Preparing For Lamar Jackson, Utilizing Blitzes, Tyquan Lewis' Big Day

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» It's impossible to replicate Lamar Jackson's speed in practice: The Colts this Sunday take on the Baltimore Ravens in their Week 9 matchup, pitting two talented 5-2 teams against each other at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Ravens, of course, feature reigning NFL Most Valuable Player Lamar Jackson on offense, who is one of the fastest quarterbacks in league history.


While Jackson proved last season he can be outstanding as a passer, it's his running ability that really strikes fear into opposing defenses. Last season Jackson had 176 rushing attempts for 1,206 yards — for a league-leading 6.9 yards-per-carry average — and had seven scores on the ground; this season, Jackson is at 66 rushing attempts for 411 yards (6.2 avg.) and he has two rushing scores.


And while Eberflus said the Colts' scout team offense does a terrific job each week giving the defense accurate looks at the upcoming opponent, good luck trying to replicate Jackson's running abilities this week in practice.


"You don't, you really can't. You can't really replicate that or the speed of it," Eberflus said. "That's typical of every week but it's more so this week because of the different ways they run the football with the option phases to it and all that. We'll do the best we can. We'll have different guys in there at different times and we'll do the best we can."


So facing Jackson will be a challenge, for sure, but Eberflus also knows he's got speed on his side, too.


"When you're dealing with a guy that can run all phases of the running game from A to Z, it's always a challenge," Eberflus said. "A guy that can run that fast, can run sideline to sideline, can run inside the tackles – it's a big challenge for us and we're going to need all of our team's speed this week."


» The Colts utilized exponentially more blitzes in the win over the Lions: According to Pro Football Focus, the Colts blitzed in some fashion 21 times on 49 total dropbacks (42.9 percent) last Sunday against the Detroit Lions.


On those plays, quarterback Matthew Stafford completed 8-of-18 passes for 77 yards with a touchdown and an interception that was returned for a touchdown by cornerback Kenny Moore II, and was sacked three times, one of which resulted in a forced fumble by linebacker Darius Leonard that was recovered by defensive end Justin Houston, eventually leading to a Colts touchdown on the ensuing drive.


The heavy blitz emphasis against the Lions really stands out due to a lack of overall blitzing by the Colts to start the season, as Indy had utilized a blitz of some sort on just 43 combined dropbacks in its first six games of the year.


Eberflus said blitzing is just one part of the plan heading into each game, and that there are obviously positive and negative results that can come from sending extra defenders at the quarterback. But overall he was pleased with how his unit responded to the challenge of applying some extra pressure last Sunday.


"I just think that it's really what you think going into the game plan is going to be effective," Eberflus said. "We have a plan going into it and we decide, 'Hey, we're going to do this many pressures or that many pressures,' and sometimes that number goes up or down based on how your guys are humming, how things are going. You always have different packages of blitzes too – different coverage variations and different patterns that you want to run. Sometimes you run them late in the game like we did against Cincinnati and sometimes you run them early in the game like we did yesterday. I think you change it up by the down and distance and what you think is going to work that week."