Pro-Bowl snub puts large chip on LB Leonard’s shoulder
Darius Leonard didn’t need more motivation, another chip on his proverbial shoulder pads, to want to excel on Sunday.
But the Indianapolis Colts rookie linebacker, whose 145 total tackles are 21 more than anyone else in the NFL, couldn’t help but be upset at not being named Tuesday to the Pro Bowl on Jan. 27 at Orlando, Fla.
Leonard told tight end Eric Ebron, who was selected to the Pro Bowl along with rookie guard Quenton Nelson, that he will try for 40 tackles when the Colts (8-6) host the New York Giants (5-9) on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium. Ebron tried to advise Leonard that tackle number wasn’t possible.
“There is nothing impossible,” Leonard said on Wednesday.
One of five Colts chosen as a Pro Bowl alternate, Leonard always sets his individual goals high. The usual game expectation is to try for 25 total stops. His season high so far was 19 in a Week 2 win at Washington.
A second-round pick out of a small school, South Carolina State, some in the NFL suggested that the Colts reached in taking Leonard so high. He’s proven those skeptics wrong, but concedes he’s grown tired of being overlooked.
“Sometimes,” he said, “but then again, if I’m not overlooked I wouldn’t have that chip on my shoulder and I wouldn’t be who I am, so it is what it is.”
Asked about how much his anger is amplified by the snub, he added, “A whole lot. A whole lot more.” Asked to rate his frustration on a scale of 1 to 10, he didn’t let the reporter finish the question in saying, “20. Yeah, 20. It’s up here. Just knowing that I put everything on film and still not enough. Just got to keep improving.”
The reality is the Colts and Leonard were already intently focused on defeating the Giants to sustain the team’s AFC playoff hopes. The Colts are tied with Baltimore and Tennessee for the sixth and final berth. The Ravens have the tiebreaker, but should they or Pittsburgh lose once, the door is open for the Colts to qualify for the postseason with wins against the Giants and at Tennessee in the regular-season finale.
First-year Colts head coach Frank Reich admitted he was surprised at the Leonard snub, but is confident his linebacker will channel that frustration into playing well against the Giants.
“There is irony there, no doubt,” Reich said of Leonard being overlooked. “He has done well with that and he will continue to do well with that. He is that kind of player. He has that kind of makeup. That is one of the things that makes him a great player. That has forged that in him to be the leader, to continually overcome that kind of thing and play with the chip on your shoulder (or) whatever you want to say it is. Whatever he has done to become the player he has BECOME, that has been part of his story and he has played it well.”
The Colts have won seven of eight games to give themselves this late-season opportunity. Victories in the past two weeks have been most impressive as the Colts snapped the Dallas Cowboys’ five-game win streak with a 23-0 home shutout on Sunday, and before that, ended the Houston Texans’ nine-game win streak with a 24-21 road triumph.
Reich reiterates the weekly focus with players hasn’t changed from when the Colts started 1-5 and lost games they were in position to win. That makes preparation strictly routine for the Giants, who lost 17-0 at home to the Titans on Sunday.
“I feel like sometimes this is boring, like I am going to get boring saying the same things,” Reich said of repeating the continual message to players. “Sometimes you try to find creative ways to say the same thing. But the good thing is we’ve got smart players and they see it is working and it is a credit to them.
“So whether we win or lose – no matter the results, we are moving on. I think some of that is forged when you are losing because I think what happens is when you lose a game they expect you are just going to hammer and hammer them, but we have taken the same approach. We treat them the same way. We grade the film and correct it the same way, same tone. Win or lose, we are just getting ready for the next opponent.”
After limiting NFL leading rusher Ezekiel Elliott to 87 yards on 18 carries, the Colts must now contend with one of the league’s top rookies in running back Saquon Barkley, the second overall pick whose 1,155 rushing yards rank third. Like Elliott, he’s also an exceptional pass catcher with 82 receptions for 654 yards. He’s scored nine touchdowns rushing and four receiving.
“He’s a different runner, a different runner than the guy we played last week, but dynamic,” Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus said Tuesday of Barkley. “This guy here is dynamic, his cutting ability, his strength, his contact balance.
“You start naming the things you want from a No. 1 running back from the guys that have been the greats in the NFL in the history and this guy has it – vision, explosiveness, being able to catch the ball out of the backfield.”
SERIES HISTORY: 16th regular-season meeting. Colts lead series, 9-6 and have won the last three meetings. The most recent was a Colts 40-24 road win in 2014. The last time these teams met at Lucas Oil Stadium, the Colts prevailed 38-14 in 2010. The Giants’ last series win was 44-27 at Indianapolis in 2002. The Giants celebrated one of their most important victories in franchise history at Lucas Oil Stadium, a 21-17 win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5, 2012. Giants quarterback Eli Manning was the game MVP.
