The Indianapolis Colts are set to square off at home against the Tennessee

Titans this week in a battle of division rivals. The Titans come in after two dominating wins against the Cowboys and Patriots https://www.coltsfanshop.com/Jeremiah-George-Jersey , looking for their third straight victory. They are led by a stellar defense that ranks high in many statistical categories. They boast many Pro-Bowl caliber players such as Kevin Byard and Jurell Casey along with highly touted rookies in Rashaan Evans and Harold Landry. With all of these high profile players filling out their defense, it is no wonder that former fifth round pick Jayon Brown is sliding under the radar. Brown is having a phenomenal year in his second professional season. He has been all over the field for the Titans and has made many clutch plays that have propelled the team to victory. For the year, Brown has tallied 55 tackles, 7 tackles for a loss, 6 QB hits, and 4.5 sacks. Here is my scouting report on the most underrated player on the Titans’ defense.College: UCLAMeasurables: Height: 6’0” / Weight: 226 / Age: 2340 Yard Dash: 4.70 / Bench Press: 17 reps / Vert Jump: 31.5 / Broad Jump 120StrengthsRush DefenseBrown is an excellent run defender despite his smaller frame. He understands his run fits very well and fills holes with ease. He is great at sifting through space and still being able to locate the ball carrier. When he does locate the ball carrier, he is a very sound tackler as he breaks his hips down and makes good, clean tackles. He is best when operating in tight spaces when engaging ball carriers. He does tend to struggle with bigger lineman having their way with him at times but overall he understands his assignment and gets to his desired landmark to make a play.Here Brown (#55) makes an excellent play between the tackles against Ezekiel Elliott. He is able to bring down the All-Pro running back for a loss on the play.Here Brown is the strong side linebacker. He steps up and reads the run immediately and is able to fill the run lane for a minimal gain.AthleticismBrown is an excellent athlete at linebacker and really fits the modern day mold for the position. Coming out of college, Brown was seen as a safety/ sub-linebacker hybrid by many analysts. Mark Dulgerian of NFL.com said that “Brown is an rangy weakside LB/safety hybrid who needs to earn his keep on passing down subpackages and on special teams” when he was coming out of college. Obviously, Brown has built upon what those analysts thought back then and really has developed into more of a three down threat with his speed. His sideline-to-sideline ability and the ability to limit big plays are a huge asset to the Titans’ defense.Here Brown is either in a spy on the quarterback or in a mid-zone. Regardless of assignment though, Brown is able to come from his coverage down the field and swallow up Josh Allen for a big sack. His ability to close ground this fast is quite impressive.Pass Rush AbilityBrown is probably the best pass rushing linebacker in football at the moment. His athleticism is so key in this area as he is able to get into the backfield in a hurry by shooting gaps between lineman. He is unrelenting too as a pass rusher, as he is always involved in the play even if he is knocked down or blocked initially. He currently has 4.5 sacks this season which is the most in the NFL among inside linebackers. Brown poses as one of the bigger threats this weekend to end the Colts’ streak of 4 games without allowing a sack.Here Brown shoots right up the middle untouched to get to Carson Wentz for the QB hit. It is definitely worth noting that he blew past one of the league’s best centers in Jason Kelce on this blitz.This next rep is an all star play from the sophomore linebacker. He initially gets knocked to the ground by the running back on the blitz. He is then able to get back to his feet and sack Dak Prescott. On top of all this, he also forces a huge fumble on the play.Where The Colts Can Beat HimPlay Action w/ Tight EndsBrown is a very aggressive linebacker who needs that aggression to be a good run defender. The Colts will likely try to exploit this aggressiveness with a lot of play action combos over the middle to tight ends. Back before the Bills’ game, I wrote that the Colts should utilize their tight ends in playaction to expose linebacker Matt Milano over the middle (a player who is fairly similar to Brown). The result was this play right here for a touchdown.If the Colts want to find similar success against the Titans, they should incorporate similar plays to exploit these linebackers. Brown is a very good, young linebacker but the Colts can win against him by isolating him with their talented tight end group and utilizing play action plays. Here is an example of the Bills doing it against him in a game earlier this season: Allen misses the open throw across the middle but Brown gets beat badly by tight end Charles Clay here. I expect Frank Reich and Andrew Luck to notice this weakness of Brown’s a as a result, use their stout tight end group to much success on Sunday.Final Thoughts Brown is a very talented young player who is coming into his own in his second professional season. The Titans use him in a number of ways were he is able to maximize his talent and athleticism. He has developed into a very good run defender despite his size and he is one of the best pass rushing linebackers in the NFL.Despite his strong play, though, Brown can be beat by Coach Reich and company. The Colts have one of the top tight end groups in the NFL and are a handful for any linebacker who is asked to line up against them. I expect a heavy dosage of these quick hitters off of play action to these tight ends to open up the run game and take advantage of Brown’s sometimes too aggressive play.Overall Brown is a very fun and tenacious player who has excelled for one of the league’s top defenses. That being said though, it is going to take a huge game from him and the other key players on their defense to slow down one of the league’s hottest offenses. Well, I woke up this morning and checked to be sure, but yesterday’s awful performance wasn’t a nightmare. The Colts really did get shut out by the Jaguars to lose 6-0 in a game they absolutely had to win. The offense was bad in every phase, and the coaching left a great deal to be desired as well. I don’t have near enough space to detail all the losers as thoroughly as we probably should, and I’m not sure I have the energy either. As you might expect, this isn’t going to be a very pretty column, so let’s just get into it so I can get all this toxin out of me and never think about this game again.WinnersDenico AutryReinhold Matay-USA TODAY SportsTalk about a game. Denico Autry came to play, even if almost no one else did. He put up a monster defensive performance, notching 3 sacks, 7 tackles, 4 QB hits Denico Autry Jersey , and 2 forced fumbles. He has 6 sacks for the season, despite dealing with injuries that have sidelined him or altered his ability to play at his best for a bit of this season. Considering that Autry was signed as a virtual nobody from Oakland, his impact on the team has been a significant one that is worth recognizing. Autry is a young guy who fits perfectly inside this Colts defensive scheme. Props to him for playing hard in this game.Honorable Mentions: Jabaal Sheard, Matthew AdamsLosersFrank ReichReinhold Matay-USA TODAY SportsThis was Frank Reich’s worst game as a head coach. As the primary offensive play caller, Reich was unable to make the necessary adjustments to deal with Jacksonville’s excellent coverage, and seemed to struggle to dial up plays to get his receivers open. The Colts ran the ball just 6 times on first down, opting to pass instead. In theory that had worked against the Jaguars the last time, so it could again. However, in practice it was a miserable failure. Starting out the game that way would have made sense given their success last time with the pass. However, once they saw that it wasn’t effective and that the game was close, it seems like calling a more balanced and less predictable offense would have made more sense. Reich’s worst calls were in the second quarter when he went for it two different times on 4th and 1. Both attempts failed, and both came well within field goal range. I am all for being aggressive and trying to score touchdowns instead of field goals, but we were not facing the Saints, where you have to score on every drive to even have a prayer. This was the Cody Kessler-led Jaguars. Priority 1 should have been to put points on the board. Getting a lead would have created more urgency by the Jaguars offense, which was being thoroughly outplayed by our defense. Additionally, as we would see, those two field goals would have kept the game at a tie, and the 3rd failed attempt to convert the 4th down in the 2nd half would have provided an opportunity for a 3rd field goal which could have won the game. This was simply poor play callingTo top it all off, the clock at the end of the game was managed poorly, with the team getting back to the line to go very slowly, as well as running a ton of time off the clock before eventually taking a time out. The end result was that the team ran out of time while driving to attempt to score. It was a bad showing, and a moment to remind ourselves that Frank Reich is doing this for the very first time. For a rookie head coach, he has been remarkably good, but he wasn’t today. I don’t anticipate having to write about Frank Reich being a loser very often.Anthony CastonzoPhoto by Joe Robbins/Getty ImagesCastonzo is not alone in getting abused by the Jaguars’ defensive line, but as the most tenured, highest paid, and ostensibly best offensive lineman on the team, he has to be better. He consistently struggled to deal with what was being thrown at him by the Jags and did not put up nearly the kind of performance we’ve expected from him through this season. The real killer was late in the game when Castonzo blocks down on Calais Campbell and lets Ronnie Harrison get a free hit on Luck when they absolutely have to have a 4th down conversion with 2:34 left in the 4th quarter.We know what this line is capable of, and the Jaguars defense that showed up today is the one that took this team to the AFC Championship game last season. You can’t sleepwalk through a game against these guys, and that is what it looked like Castonzo was doing.Ryan GrantDouglas DeFelice-USA TODAY SportsI gave credit to Denico Autry for the job he did Nyheim Hines Color Rush Jersey , so another one of Chris Ballard’s offseason acquisition deserves credit for his work too. Ryan Grant, the guy who was supposed to be able to provide a number 2 to Hilton’s 1, was a complete non-factor today. He was targeted twice, with one being an egregious drop. The consistent inability of Grant, or really anyone, to get open was a major factor in getting Andrew Luck hit. When Grant was open, he dropped the ball that came his way. Not the kind of contribution the Colts needed.Dontrelle InmanDouglas DeFelice-USA TODAY SportsWhile Inman has been a solid pickup and contributed reasonably well this season, he was, like Grant, largely not a factor in this game. He was targeted 6 times for just 2 catches and 14 yards. However, it was one of those missed targets that really hurt. On 3rd and 9 from their own 45-yard line, the Colts had an opportunity to get the kind of chunk play they couldn’t all game. Despite pressure, Luck hung in there and aired one out to Inman for what would have been a huge gain. For whatever reason, Inman turned his body the wrong way, and couldn’t get flipped back around right, so instead of the Colts getting a big play to put them in the red zone, they punted. The Officiating CrewLook, I know that complaining about the refs is something most every fan base does, and it is worst after a loss, but this was one of the most poorly officiated games I’ve seen in a long time, and it wasn’t biased to one side or the other, it was bad all around. They missed obvious calls, like when they called T.Y.’s clearly incomplete ball a catch, and they made bad calls frequently, like the roughing the passer call against Matthew Adams who had a great sack in which he clearly used his shoulder to tackle a ducking Kessler. Their worst work was inserting themselves into the game’s finish and claiming that forward progress had stopped Erik Swoope as he was tackled out of bounds, which should have stopped the clock and give the Colts one more shot at the end zone before time expired. It was not only an incorrect call, but it robbed the Colts of that shot and of a better ending to a really lousy story. Don’t misunderstand me, the officials aren’t the reason the Colts lost this game. They provided more than enough of those to do that on their own. However, this crew shouldn’t be anywhere near an NFL field without a lot of improvement.