The Indianapolis Colts had yet another rough defensive performance on Sunday. The Pittsburgh Steelers ran all over the field, and had incredible success after contact. There are issues that cannot last much longer if the Colts want to be in the playoff picture come December.
Most notably, Indianapolis had a very poor display of tackling in the 34-22 loss. Steelers playmakers seemingly were getting yards after initial contact with ease. There has to be some accountability, and that’s exactly what Akeem Davis-Gaither wanted to accomplish postgame.
Colts Linebacker Hints At Teammates Being Unwilling To Tackle
It wasn’t a mystery to the Colts that the Steelers were going to run hard. Davis-Gaither was asked about it following the loss by The Athletic‘s James Boyd. The defender seemed to believe guys weren’t playing hard enough.
“I look at tackling as a want to thing. Guys gotta want to tackle, want to be physical,” Davis-Gaither said, per Boyd’s X account. “You know, coming in, AFC North, Steelers [are] known to be physical so we already knew coming in they going to get the ball out to their guys and see if you’re willing to tackle, if you want to tackle. To me, it’s just a want to thing.”
With this, head coach Shane Steichen should be concerned. If certain guys are not playing as hard as humanly possible, there is the potential of the staff’s messaging getting stale.
Indianapolis Defender May Soon Get Some Wake-Up Calls
The linebacker continued to talk about the tackling issues. Boyd asked the linebacker what needs to happen moving forward. Unfortunately, some of his Colts teammates won’t like the answer.
“I think coach is going to start making some changes,” Davis-Gaither said as he chuckled.
Following the rough showing on Sunday, Steichen is going to need have some difficult conversations with plenty of players. This is especially the case if the tape shows a severe lack of willingness to tackle.
It’s tough to do live tackling in practice because of the injury risk. This is particularly true in-season. However, there is no amount of preparation that will lead to a defender wanting to tackle.
You either want to hit someone or you don’t. Davis-Gaither seems like he wants to, but he might have some questions about a few of his teammates.
Colts LB Sends Strong Message To Unwilling Teammates