The Indianapolis Colts walked out of Week 1 with a defense that raised the wrong kind of alarm, and Lou Anarumo is already under the microscope.
That’s not a reaction to one bad afternoon so much as the latest chapter in a long pattern. Anarumo is now in his ninth season as a defensive coordinator, and the results have rarely matched the reputation. In only one of those seasons - 2022 with the Cincinnati Bengals - has one of his units finished in the top half of the league in either yards allowed or points allowed.
The Colts brought him in to steady a defense that was supposed to matter in 2026. Instead, the opener against the Baltimore Ravens looked ugly from the start. Even with Sauce Gardner, Charvarius Ward, DeForest Buckner and Laiatu Latu available, Indianapolis had no real answers.
Zay Flowers carved them up immediately, piling up 150 receiving yards in the first half alone before being rested after the break. He entered the game with a hamstring injury, which is the only reason the number didn’t climb even higher. Baltimore still rolled to a 41-23 win that never really felt that competitive.
The Ravens finished with 23 first downs, averaged 7.9 yards per play and racked up 506 total yards, including 202 on the ground. Their 10 penalties and Flowers’ limited availability were the only things that kept the damage from looking worse.
That’s what makes the performance sting for Indianapolis: it wasn’t just Lamar Jackson or Derrick Henry beating them. The Colts were out of sorts everywhere on defense. That raises the obvious question - is this on the players, or is it on the coordinator?
Anarumo’s broader résumé doesn’t offer much comfort. Across his previous eight seasons as a defensive coordinator before 2026, his units finished 21st or worse in points allowed five times and 25th or worse in yards allowed five times. Another season landed at 23rd.
Still, he has carried a level of respect that hasn’t always lined up with the production. Week 1 didn’t help that case.
If the Colts were hoping for a clean start, they got the opposite. And now the pressure is squarely on Anarumo to prove this defense can be something better than what it showed in Baltimore.
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For Baltimore, the night featured a big showing from Zay Flowers, who piled up a career-best 150 receiving yards before leaving with a hamstring injury. Derrick Henry also turned in a milestone performance, rushing for 144 yards and three touchdowns while moving past Marcus Allen for third place on the NFLs all-time rushing touchdowns list, leaving Indianapolis with a reminder that the concerns in this matchup went well beyond the scoreboard. [Read more 🡒]