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 .300 hitters in the MLB. Both hardly ever struck out. It takes a certain discipline in a cornerback — as it does for a batter to always make contact — to work the same rep over and over and over again, Wilson reflected.
“He’s that one big guard gate,” Wilson said, “that a lot of guys don’t have the passcode for.”
The thing about being a .300 hitter, of course, is that you’ll get beat seven out of 10 times. And Indianapolis beat Surtain on Sunday.
The reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year led the Broncos with 11 tackles against the Colts. It was a stark contrast to his Week 1 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 most catches Surtain’s ever surrendered in an NFL game 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 8-yard grab even with Surtain hanging all over him.
Surtain simply 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 2’s 29-28 win over the Broncos. But they didn’t specifically attack him as part of their game 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 game plan meetings, they were out to target Patrick? I don’t think that was the case,” head coach Sean Payton said Monday morning. “I think a lot of it is progression of the route.”
The Denver Post dug into each of the 38 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 found Colts receiver Alec Pierce sprinting away from Surtain on drag route. But film showed 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 63 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 6-foot-5 rookie tight end.
A second-quarter ankle injury didn’t appear to shake Surtain much, either. The corner said 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 actually tipped.
“I think he was able to come back and he felt comfortable enough to come back,” Payton said Monday. “But I’m sure the technique he’ll look at today. 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 17 pressures on Jones on Sunday. They finished with one sack, according to Next Gen Stats.
“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 said 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 possible point of adjustment, as receivers got inside his body on a few plays.
“He is human,” Wilson said, speaking on Surtain’s mental focus. “I know we’re talking about him like he’s a machine.
“But he’s a quick learner.”
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