It’s hard to look at positives after a loss like the Indianapolis Colts just had on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, but that’s where this article comes in to save the day.

Yes, the offense has played poorly the past three weeks, but how have the Colts stayed in every game? It’s because of their defense, a unit that has really stepped up their play since Week 4.

The first four weeks of the season the Colts allowed over 350 total yards of offense in three games, while also allowing over 24 points in each of those games. Another factor to their bad play to start the season was that they weren’t getting off the field on third down, giving up over 20 first downs in all but one game the first four weeks.

Credit the success to the return of some of their more important players returning—Jabaal Sheard, Darius Leonard, Malik Hooker—this defense has turned back into their form they had at the end of the 2018 season when they became a top-10 unit and allowed the Colts to go on a nine-game winning streak late in the season.

One player to highlight is Jabaal Sheard. He isn’t the flashiest player on the Colts and doesn’t always get the recognition, but he will here. First four weeks of the season the Colts allowed an average of 132.5 rushing yards per game. The last five? 81.8 yards per game.

Sheard returning to the right side allowed Justin Houston to return to his natural position at left defensive end, and the results have been positive. Since Week 5 Justin Houston has won Defensive Player of the Week (Week 5), has recorded a sack in every game, forced a fumble resulting in a safety and has provided the consistent pass rush the Colts need.

What is more impressive about this defense since Week 5 has been the offenses they’ve faced. Yes, the last three weeks it has been less impressive (Denver, Pittsburgh and Miami) but they played well versus two of the better offenses in the AFC in Houston and Kansas City.

The Colts were the first team to hold the Chiefs to under 300 totals yards of offense and 30 points since Patrick Mahomes has taken over at quarterback for the Chiefs.

Indianapolis was able to back up that performance by holding one of the best red-zone offenses in the NFL, Houston, to 2-for-5 scoring touchdowns in the red zone. Plus, they forced two fourth-quarter interceptions on Deshaun Watson, including the one that sealed the game.

One final point to make, this defense has really stepped up in the situational downs. In the first four weeks, the Colts defense was allowing a 48% conversion rate on third down (21/43). Whereas the last five games, they’re down to just 32% conversion rate, (21/65).

The red zone has made just as big of a difference. The first four games the Colts were allowing touchdowns on 75% of drives that got into the red zone, (9/12). While teams have gotten into the red zone more against the Colts recently, some due to turnovers by the offense, the defense is only allowing touchdowns on 35%, (6/17).

While fans can point blame many different ways each Sunday, they shouldn’t point to the defense as the reason the Colts have been sputtering recently. If anything, fans should applaud the defense for keeping the Colts in all these games recently.