form.Rookie linebacker Darius Leonard leads the league in tackles. Safeties Clayton Geathers and Malik Hooker look healthy. The sacks and turnovers are up http://www.indianapoliscoltsteamonline.com/darius-leonard-jersey , the miscues are down and first-year defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus sees things coming together.No, it's not a perfect start but for a defense that has traditionally finished near the bottom of the league, this is progress."It's not as clean as it should be in terms of execution," Eberflus said Tuesday. "The alignments are off a little bit and the angles we tackle at have to improve, but you can see the guys understand it (the system) a little better."Eberflus expected the transition from the previous 3-4 front to the more traditional 4-3 to take time.But things have gone faster and smoother than almost anyone anticipated.Three weeks into the season, the Colts' defense is ranked No. 16 overall and No. 15 against both the run and the pass. Only 12 teams have allowed fewer points than Indy's 63.With 10 sacks, Indy is almost halfway to last season's 16-game total (25) and only seven teams have more takeaways than the Colts (five).The biggest beneficiary has been Leonard, a second-round draft pick out of South Carolina State who already has 41 tackles, three sacks, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery as he continues to learn the system."Football is football, so I think it's pretty easy," he said. "I think it's really just about just how hard we practice, 24-7. We practice hard."Leonard isn't the only one thriving in Eberflus' system, the same version made popular by Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy in Tampa Bay.The oft-injured Geathers produced a career-high 11 tackles each of the past two weeks. Defensive end Margus Hunt already has a career-high three sacks to go along with 10 tackles — more than he's had in four of his first six NFL seasons.Hooker, Indy's first-round pick in 2017, is flashing the playmaking ability Indy detected in college as his teammates get in sync."I feel like we're in a good spot http://www.authenticsindianapoliscolts.com/cheap-clayton-geathers-jersey , but we've still got a lot of work to put in," Hooker said. "I think it's guys buying into the coaching, believing (other) guys are running to the ball and just being physical out there."Clearly, this is far from a finished product.While the defense has kept the Colts within striking distance, breakdowns still occur.In Sunday's 20-16 loss at Super Bowl champion Philadelphia, the defense allowed Carson Wentz to burn nearly 11陆 minutes on a fourth-quarter drive that resulted in the go-ahead touchdown. Indy aided the drive with four penalties, including a holding call on defensive end Jabaal Sheard after it appeared Indy had stopped Philadelphia on fourth-and-5 at the Colts 42."I think he was just in there and it just happened. He was trying to run a stunt and it just happened," Eberflus said. "We want no foolish penalties. So it comes down to judgment, concentration and self-control. Really, it comes down to those three categories and we'll get better at it."The improvements cannot be ignored.Over the previous three seasons, the Colts allowed 5.7, 6.0 and 5.7 yards per play. Not surprisingly, they missed the playoffs all three seasons.This year that number is down to 5.3 though Eberflus expects the number to continue dropping as players become more accustomed to their new roles. Eberflus is working with seven new starters and an eighth player, Sheard, who moved from outside linebacker back to defensive end.There could be more help on the way, too.Rookie defensive linemen Kemoko Turay showed signs of his pass-rushing potential in Sunday's game White Anthony Walker Jersey , and Tyquan Lewis remains on injured reserve with an injured toe. Both were second-round picks.But even without those guys making a huge impact so far, Eberflus believes the defense is on schedule."One of my mentors in coaching said, 'You get what you emphasize and if you emphasize too much you don't get anything,'" Eberflus said. "I think if you just hang your hat on a couple things, the rudiments of the game, that's what you'll see on tape. You've got to do a good job of coaching it up."Notes: Indy has claimed cornerback Arthur Maulet off waivers from New Orleans and released running back Christine Michael. ... The Colts also signed offensive tackle Rees Odhiambo and cornerback Lenzy Pipkins to the practice squad after releasing offensive tackle Will Holden and cornerback Tarvarus McFadden from the practice squad. The Indianapolis Colts came into Week 8 with some great momentum after blowing out Buffalo at home in Week 7. This matchup against the Oakland Raiders seemed to be the perfect stepping stone to increased success after their Week 9 bye, but the Raiders had another outcome in mind.The Raiders took the lead 14-10 with 6:24 left in the second quarter and continued to keep the lead — or remain tied with the Colts — until the Colts defense forced their first point of the second half at the 9:20 mark of the fourth quarter.This was the turning point in the game.The Colts scored using Jack Doyle heavily to take the lead with 5:28 to go, then Darius Leonard forced a fumble on the Raiders first play of their next possession and converted that into points a couple minutes later, giving the Colts a 42-28 lead that would stick.Here are a few takeaways from the Colts 42-28, Week 8 victory over the Raiders.Colts broke 100 rushing yards by halftime.. again?That’s right folks, for the second straight week, the Colts broke 100 rushing yards by the end of the first half. Marlon Mack and Nyheim Hines had 46 and 47 yards respectively, and Jordan Wilkins added 14 on 2 carries. Collectively they averaged 5.1 yards per carry, but Hines was by far the most successful in the first two quarters of the game with an average of 9.4 yards per carry. Mack greatly improved his average from just over 3 yards per carry in the first half, to 6.3 yards per carry with his huge 49-yard run on his first carry of the second half. Mack finished the day with well over 100 rushing yards (132), Hines amassed 78 rushing yards as well and all of the sudden it looks like the Colts actually have a very good rushing attack that could help them make a push towards a playoff berth.In all Youth Quincy Wilson Jersey , the Colts totaled 222 yards on the ground. It’s still possible, don’t rule it out.Inman becoming quite the trusted weapon for Luck, and in big spotsMost of the success today came from the tight ends, and it was glorious. The threesome of Jack Doyle, Eric Ebron and Mo Alie-Cox each caught a touchdown, but another target has seemingly become a favorite for Andrew Luck. Dontrelle Inman was targeted 7 times, hauled in 6 catches for 52 yards. That’s not all that impressive — I mean it’s a solid day for a guy who was just signed to the roster. But, when he’s been targeted is what’s been pretty interesting. Today Inman was targeted 4 times on third down situations, he caught 3 of those and all three were conversions. That’s nearly a third of the team’s third down attempts for the game.He has been a very heads up player, with good route-running skills and that matters. Reich has familiarity from his days in San Diego and let’s say he made a very good decision in bringing him in to help out a struggling receiver group this year.He also caught a tipped ball late in the third quarter which became the difference in a third-and-long, and a third-and-short. In a game like this one, that is an enormous help.Vinatieri makes history just before halftime The G.O.A.T finally got his record. Adam Vinatieri was successful in taking over the all-time scoring record just before halftime with a field goal to pass Morten Andersen’s mark of 2,544 career points. Vinny has been with the Colts since 2006 and racked up a ton of those points while wearing a horseshoe on the side of his helmet.He holds more records than that, though.Vinatieri had already solidified his spot in Canton, Ohio as a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee, but holding the scoring record might be just the cherry on top. His 1361 total points with the Colts is 173 more points than he totaled in his time with the New England Patriots. We can only imagine that he’ll enter “the Hall” as an Indianapolis Colt.Colts pass rush Youth Darius Leonard Jersey , pass defense was beyond unacceptableIn the first several games of the season, we were talking about how the defense was keeping the Colts in games and the offense showed very little aggression. The Colts, at one point, were also in the top-5 in the league in sacks. If you watched them today you would have guessed that this was the Colts years past with their lack of pass rush and wide open zones at the second and third levels of the field. Derek Carr diced up the Colts for 244 passing yards, but that wasn’t really the issue. The real issue was that he only had 4 incompletions until their last drive of the game, and at one point rattled off 17 straight completions. The Colts only had 1 QB hit, zero sacks and 1 pass defensed for the entire game — and Carr finished 21-of-28 and 3 touchdowns. There is no way that sort of performance can sit well with Frank Reich and Matt Eberflus. The safety position suffered big time without Malik Hooker back there to police the secondary as Jared Cook feasted (ZING!) on Corey Moore and finished with 4 catches, 74 receiving yards and a touchdown. Seth Roberts got behind the deepest safety for a 31-yard touchdown catch as well. This simply cannot happen.Additionally, the Colts didn’t notch a single tackle for loss on the day. No sacks, 1 hit and no TFLs? There better be some accountability during the bye week from the coaching staff. After all, the Colts were facing a Raiders O-line without Osemele and two rookies as the bookends.