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INDIANAPOLIS -- No knock on former Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Greg Manusky, but head coach Chuck Pagano sensed that a change and a shakeup was sorely needed during the offseason. Pagano wanted to see more aggressiveness, more ball-hawking, and more consistent play overall.
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While the Colts still don't have all the pieces in place yet in terms of personnel, Pagano thought that the development of the team's defense would be much further along heading his fifth year with the team.
"We believe every year there are going to be things that happen, but our goals and our vision has not changed. We want to be a dominant defense and until we get there we are going to keep grinding and doing everything within our power to get to that point," Pagano stressed.
He knew the kind of defense that he wanted to see in Indianapolis.
"You go back and you look at Year One, Two, Three (of his coaching tenure in Indianapolis). You can look at last year. If you give up the amount of big plays - just for instance - that we gave up, it's hard to play defense. It's hard to play really good defense (under those circumstances)," Pagano said.
"You've got to be able to stop the run when they are running it. You can't give up big plays. You can't beat yourself and you can't have penalties. Again, we've played good defense in flashes. Now it's a matter of keeping guys healthy, keeping them on the field and being consistent."
The ability of the personnel, no matter the defensive scheme, is important. But so is how well the defense is being played.
"It has been the case since I've been here and now you go to work to get better. Do we need to get better from a communication (standpoint)? Sometimes guys are going to make plays in this league. The corners have the toughest job on the field covering those wideouts that are in this league," Pagano said. "Those guys are big time players and they get paid accordingly, so we ask them to do a lot of heavy lifting.
"Guys are going to make plays. They are going to be in position to make plays. But, from a communication standpoint, if you have a breakdown and the front is not tied to the back and guys aren't on the same page, then you open yourself up to give up free plays and we don't want to do that, we want to contest everything. That's not been the case. But we are making an emphasis on the fundamentals, technique, execution and the communication."
Playing smarter is the key.
"They are going to fly around, they are going to be tough and they are going to be physical. But none of that matters unless you know exactly what your assignment is on that job, you know what your partner's assignment is and where you have help and where you don't have help," Pagano said.
First-year defensive coordinator Ted Monachino likes what he has seen so far through the first week of training camp practices. But he admits that the defense still has a waya to go before it's going to be ready for the regular season.
"I think pleased is fair. Satisfied is absolutely not. Where I am at right now we've got a long ways to go. We (have) made just as many mistakes as we did the days before, but we made them all full-speed. And when you make mistakes full-speed, they cover up some of those things," he said.
"I think that where we are right now is exactly where we should be. We're right down the road as far as we should be. There are a lot of things that we need to clean up and we'll do that each day in meetings and each day in practice."
It will be up to Monachino and his defensive assistants to "coach up" the Colts defenders during the preseason.
"Our coaching staff and individual handles these current concepts and controversies that come up during the course of practice almost immediately as they happen. So there's not a lot of wasted time and a lot of wheels spinning as it goes," he said.
NOTES: Quarterback Andrew Luck has not been limited in training camp practices after missing nine games last season due to a lacerated kidney and shoulder issues. Luck has been a full go in every practice and drill. He is expected to start against Green Bay on Aug. 7 in Indianapolis' preseason opener and play a series or two. ... Rookie center Ryan Kelly suffered a left shoulder strain during practice Sunday and is currently listed as day-to-day. The injury is not considered to be serious and Kelly is expected back on the practice field soon. ... Wide receiver Quan Bray made the 2015 Colts roster as a kickoff returner and deep depth wide receiver. Coming into this year's training camp, Bray is making a real push to earn a job as Indianapolis' fourth receiver behind starters T.Y. Hilton, Donte' Moncrief and Phillip Dorsett. The second-year player has been coming up with some big catches during camp so far. ... Rookie running back Josh Ferguson is an undrafted free agent who has a good chained to make the Colts' 53-player regular-season roster. Ferguson is battling for job behind starter Frank Gore along with Robert Turbin and Jordan Todman. The former Illinois running back is being used as a receiver out of the backfield but has shown an ability to elude tacklers when running between the tackles.
