Colts cornerback Tony Brown reflects on tough day vs. Saints
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indianapolis Colts lost it’s third straight game Sunday — this time to the New Orleans Saints, 38-27.
The Colts defense struggled all day, allowing a season-worst 511 total yards and 30 or more points for the fourth time this season. The biggest blunder — 354 receiving yards to the speedy Saints skill players.
New Orleans abused the Colts secondary, especially cornerback Tony Brown. The former Alabama standout was caught at the wrong end of the Saints explosive plays. He answered for his performance postgame.
“I take full responsibility for the plays that occurred,” Brown said. “It’s tough being as strong of a competitor as I am. It’s tough to lose. Tough to get the last play I feel like on me. Right now I feel like I have to go watch the film and I have to get better.”
Brown stayed on the field for a while after the game went final to let the day sink in. He struggled to put his emotions into words postgame.
“I definitely always look internal first for what I could’ve done better, regardless of anything win, lose or draw,” Brown said. “How I feel right now, there are definitely plays that I could’ve done better. I got to get better for next game.”
Head coach Shane Steichen was asked after the loss why he chose to keep Brown in the game as he continued to struggle against the Saints offense.
“We felt good about Tony going into the game. That was the decision that was made,” said Steichen.
Safety Julian Blackmon offered Brown some advice in the locker room afterwards.
“Keep playing,” Blackmon said. “That’s the life of a cornerback. You’re in the spotlight whether it’s good or bad. Everything’s going to be on you. Everybody’s eyes are on you at the end of the day. You can’t look at it like, ‘It’s all on me.’ We all got his back. That’s why there’s 10 other guys on the field with him just trying to support him and let him know that it doesn’t matter — next play.”
Defensive tackle Deforest Buckner didn’t let the secondary take all the blame.
“We got to apply more pressure,” Buckner said. “Even if it’s max protection – we got guys that stay in one-on-one opportunities. We have to win in those one-on-one opportunities, especially when we are down in the secondary. We can’t leave those guys out to dry.”
“It’s definitely frustrating, especially as a defense,” Blackmon said. “We pride ourselves on our defense, so it’s something that you don’t want to hear. We just have to go ahead and look at this film, and do what we can to fix those mistakes that we had.”
The Colts travel to Charlotte next week to face-off the Carolina Panthers and former Colts head coach Frank Reich. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:05 p.m.