According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Tennessee Titans have requested to interview Indianapolis Colts veteran defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo for their current head coaching vacancy—among other top candidates:
The 59-year-old defensive coordinator just
completed his debut campaign coaching the defense in Indianapolis, with ultimately up-and-down results, once the dust fully settled.
The Colts defense finished 21st in allowed points against (24.2 avg. ppg), but it was arguably a Top 10 defensive unit before critical injuries struck to its three best players down the stretch, namely to starting stalwart outside cornerbacks Sauce Gardner (calf) and Charvarius Ward (concussions), as well as to Pro Bowl veteran defensive tackle DeForest Buckner (neck) inside.
Unfortunately, once Gardner was acquired just before the NFL’s trade deadline, we rarely got to see what the Colts revamped and upgraded defense could do when fully healthy under Anarumo’s tutelage.
With Anarumo, despite the tough finish, Colts ranked around 14th overall in defensive DVOA.
Anarumo has been lauded throughout his career for tailoring his defensive gameplans specific to his opponents on a weekly basis, instead of just rolling out predictable coverages and generic plans of defensive attack. We saw that at times this year with the Colts, even if it came with a fair share of inconsistency for stretches.
In my opinion, Anarumo is a better defensive coach than the Colts unit collectively showed by year-end. However, it’s hard to win in the National Football League without your horses.
Not only did the Colts lose their best ones in the final stretch run due to key injuries, but there’s also defensive personnel issues that go well beyond Anarumo’s coaching, particularly at the lack of consistent outside pass rush and the inability of any of the Indianapolis linebackers to routinely hold up in coverage.
Just my two cents, but it would be disappointing if Anarumo only coaches the defense a sole season in Indianapolis, because we never really got to see what the ‘Mad Scientist” could do with his Indy unit at full strength.
