The Colts are changing who sets the defense before the snap, moving the communication burden from Cam Bynum to Akeem Davis-Gaither ahead of Week 2. The switch is meant to clean up the alignment problems that helped sink a 41-23 opening loss to the Baltimore Ravens last weekend.
That change is why Colts coach is being searched now: the team is trying to fix a problem it believes began before the ball was even snapped, not just in the tackles it missed after the play started. Akeem Davis-Gaither is expected to take on the more traditional green-dot role, and his 72 games in Lou Anarumo's defense give the Colts a veteran voice to line up teammates faster and more cleanly.
The need for that voice became obvious in Week 1, when the Colts said they were not consistently lined up correctly and their defense was hard to judge as a result. Shane Steichen put the emphasis on getting Kenneth Walker III on the ground, saying the team must tackle better and that its run fits have to be great. That matters because Walker broke 14 tackles and ran for 173 yards and a touchdown against the Denver Broncos on Monday, while Emmett Johnson broke six tackles on two receptions and the Kansas City Chiefs ran for 220 yards against the Denver Broncos.
There is still a real test inside the fix. Changing the communicator can improve the pre-snap picture, but it does not erase the possibility that some of Week 1 was simply poor play. DeForest Buckner said the defense did not play to its standard, and that remains true even if the alignment issues are solved. The Colts believe the structure is better now, but they still have to prove they can stay organized against a Kansas City attack that suddenly showed a heavier run game than usual and a Patrick Mahomes passing line of 15 completions on 27 attempts for 184 yards, two touchdowns, one interception and an 86.0 rating in his first game since a torn ACL.
That is the part that will matter on Sunday Night Football: whether Davis-Gaither can turn the Colts' pre-snap fixes into a defense that looks settled from the first snap instead of spending another game trying to sort itself out after the play has already begun.
