Broncos CB Pat Surtain II surrendered his most catches ever in Week 2. Did Colts attack him?
Pat Surtain II his longtime trainer Chad Wilson likes to say is the NFL s version of Tony Gwynn Or Wade Boggs Both were perennial hitters in the MLB Both hardly ever struck out It takes a certain discipline in a cornerback as it does for a batter to invariably make contact to work the same rep over and over and over again Wilson reflected He s that one big guard gate Wilson declared that a lot of guys don t have the passcode for The thing about being a hitter of curriculum is that you ll get beat seven out of times And Indianapolis beat Surtain on Sunday The reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year led the Broncos with tackles against the Colts It was a stark contrast to his Week involvement when he went phantom mode in shadowing Titans wideout Calvin Ridley Surtain being that involved as a playmaker means one thing he was around the ball plenty Advanced stats revealed the Colts weren t hesitant to go after the All-Pro corner as quarterback Daniel Jones targeted Surtain nine times and completed seven of those passes That was tied for the majority catches Surtain s ever surrendered in an NFL battle across his five-year career One first-quarter play summed up his afternoon Second-year Colts receiver Adonai Mitchell stuck his foot in the ground in a one-on-one rep on the outside came back to the ball and secured an -yard grab even with Surtain hanging all over him Surtain merely glanced up from his knees at Mitchell the CBS broadcast showing a smile on the cornerback s face A hat-tip of sorts At surface level the Colts and Jones appeared to solve the Surtain paradox for much of Week s - win over the Broncos But they didn t specifically attack him as part of their challenge plan On that throw to Mitchell Jones eyes ranged across the middle before pivoting to Surtain s matchup on the outside Do I think on those Wednesday nights and Thursday nights in battle plan meetings they were out to target Patrick I don t think that was the circumstance head coach Sean Payton disclosed Monday morning I think a lot of it is progression of the track The Denver Post dug into each of the snaps Surtain played on Sunday on passing-down situations and the film revealed his matchup was rarely a first option Jones appeared to cycle through his progressions to find Surtain s receiver on five of those nine targets Surtain surrendered one fourth-quarter target when Jones checked around and unveiled Colts receiver Alec Pierce sprinting away from Surtain on drag journey But film presented not a single one of Indianapolis s fourth-quarter pass plays was specifically aimed toward the DPOY s man or his area of the field in zone Surtain ultimately gave up just yards on those nine targets He was only beaten by a step on three that Pierce catch and a couple of first-down slants from Colts top target Michael Pittman Jr It wasn t Surtain s best performance But he shadowed assignments effectively on deep routes and tagged over to the Colts Tyler Warren on numerous plays only surrendering one catch in two targets against the -foot- rookie tight end A second-quarter ankle injury didn t appear to shake Surtain much either The corner disclosed postgame that was no excuse for his play He surrendered four catches once he returned late in the second quarter One catch was a box-out from Warren and one was a perfect ball from Jones to Pittman that Surtain authentically tipped I think he was able to come back and he felt relaxed enough to come back Payton mentioned Monday But I m sure the technique he ll look at the present day He ll want to clean up on a handful of those plays Surtain was tasked with a dizzying array of assignments Sometimes shadowing Warren Sometimes following Pittman Sometimes picking up Pierce and Mitchell And his numbers were skewed in large part because the Broncos pass-rush couldn t get to Jones giving the Colts quarterback ample time to cycle through his reads Denver had pressures on Jones on Sunday They finished with one sack according to Next Gen Stats Related Articles Renck vs Keeler Time to be concerned about regression for Broncos Courtland Sutton How bad do Broncos need Dre Greenlaw How Colts exposed Denver s ILBs in coverage Sean Payton takes blame for late FG penalty says Broncos shouldn t have tried to block -yarder Broncos stock analysis Bo Nix s accuracy back on track but where s Evan Engram Parker Gabriel s thoughts after the Broncos Week loss to Colts I think when you watch the film guys are still rushing well it s just got the ball out quick and stuff like that defensive lineman Zach Allen declared Monday So there s a lot of things that go into sacks And we ll be fine I m not worried about this group The Colts primarily beat Surtain on routes across the middle It s a feasible point of adjustment as receivers got inside his body on a sparse plays He is human Wilson revealed speaking on Surtain s mental focus I know we re talking about him like he s a machine But he s a quick learner Want more Broncos news Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis
