Grover Stewart is one of the best defensive tackles in football, and the Indianapolis Colts are lucky to have him lining up next to DeForest Buckner each and every Sunday.
Stewart, 29, is a one-man wrecking crew in the run game and has steadily improved as a pass rusher over the course of his career. Last season, he ranked eighth among all defensive tackles in run stops while also logging a career high four sacks. Last year may be considered a breakout season for most players, but Stewart appears to be on an even better pace to start off 2023.
Through just two games, Stewart has the second most run stops among defensive tackles with seven. His 10 solo tackles also rank second among his positional group on the year. In total, through just two weeks, Stewart has amassed 10 tackles, two tackles for a loss, seven run stops, two QB hits, and three additional pressures to kick off the season.
This past weekend against the Houston Texans may have been the best Stewart has played as a Colt, as he was simply disruptive on every single rush attempt the Texans had. In today's spotlight article, I dive into one of the league's premier defensive tackles and detail his dominant start to the season.
Run Game Dominance Against the Texans
The Houston Texans rushed the ball 26 times for a measly 52 yards this past Sunday against the Colts. The run game was absolutely putrid for the Texans, and the biggest reason was the Colts' behemoth in the trenches.
Grover The Guard Butcher certainly lived up to his nickname in this game, as he made his presence felt early and often in the trenches. His biggest highlight of the game may have come on the first offensive play for the Texans.
The Texans attempt to run an outside zone play to Stewart's side of the field and it goes as one would expect. The left guard attempts to punch Stewart back to the center, but there is no stopping Stewart from this shade technique on the play side. He effortlessly works his way into the backfield and gets the party started with a huge tackle for a loss:
The Texans attempted to rectify this mistake on a later run in this game, as the left guard hangs in there a tad bit longer in order to pass this block off to the center. Unfortunately, it isn't that easy to corral such a dominant force.
Stewart breaks the combo block with ease and swallows up the Texans' running back for another loss on the play:
The Texans' offensive line (and playcaller) just hasn't learned their lesson at this point, but maybe the running back has. This next rush attempt is similar to the calls above, but this time the running back tries to cut back inside to avoid the Guard Butcher.
Unfortunately for the running back, Stewart is too quick and too powerful for that. Stewart drives the center into the backfield, forces the running back to cut back inside, then easily sheds the blocker for another tackle on the play:
It really became humorous at a point late in the game. The Texans continually bashed their head against a brick wall hoping to find some traction when in reality, all they were doing was running into a defensive black hole on the interior.
Same type of run design, same type of result. Stewart is too powerful and too explosive to be contained, as he sheds yet another block for another run stuff on the inside.
Grover Stewart was truly on another level in this past game against the Texans, as he almost single-handedly shut down the opposing team's rushing attack. It was a glorious sight to behold on this past Sunday.
Disruptive Start to the Season
Playing nose tackle in the NFL is one of the most thankless jobs out there. Nose tackles have to do all the dirty work on the interior in order to open up opportunities for linebackers and other defensive lineman to make highlight level plays.
Luckily, the Colts have a star player that is perfectly content in this role. Grover Stewart perfectly embodies a Gus Bradley nose tackle, as his entire job on the interior is to disrupt the offense. He doesn't need to make every tackle, but he needs to corrode the opposing play before it can get started.
Stewart has this elite blend of size, strength, and explosion that makes him virtually unblockable on the interior. He uses this to crash the backfield on every snap and force run plays to stray from their original design with the snap of a finger.
In the clips shown below, notice how Stewart is able to dictate what is happening up front simply by destroying the play before it can even start:
Grover the Pass Rusher?
I want to preface this section by saying Grover Stewart is by no means a dominant pass rusher at this point in his career. He is, however, improving quite a bit in this category.
Through two weeks, Stewart has managed to generate five total pressures on the season. For comparison, he only generated 17 total pressures all of last season in 17 games. His current pace would put him around 42 for the 2023 season.
He isn't doing anything super flashy as a pass rusher, but he is bringing his explosion and his power to that area of the game now. If he continues building on this going forward.... watch out opposing offensive lineman:
The Bottom Line
Grover Stewart is a star player in the NFL. He may not get the buzz that other star players in the league get, due to his positional value, but he is a disruptive force that impacts opposing offenses in many ways. He is off to a blistering start to the 2023 season, and there is no reason to assume he's going to slow down going forward.
Grover the Guard Butcher is one of the best overall players in the AFC South and he is a treat to watch every Sunday for the Colts.
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