Colts' Laiatu Latu Better Than Stats Indicate?

Latu hasn't had a bad start to his Colts' career by any means; he's just been relatively quiet on the stat sheet. The 24-year-old pass rusher has the highest pass rush win rate on the Colts over the past 20 games, and he led the team in pressure rate last season.

That pressure rate struggled to correlate into sacks, however, as he finished his rookie year with just four (with three of those sacks coming against tight ends or sixth offensive linemen).

The pressure has been on for Latu entering year two, and he seemingly had an outstanding training camp. Despite promising reports all offseason about his performance and the shape he was in, it hasn't translated to more production on the field.

He remains without a sack through two games played this season, and he has stretches where he feels invisible on the field. While fans may be down on his play, Pro Football Focus actually has the complete opposite reaction to his play thus far.

PFF currently has Latu graded out as the top edge rusher in football to start the season. Much of that grade is due to his interception in Week 1, but the site also has him rated fairly high as a pass rusher as well.

He ranks number seven among pass rushers with a pass rush win rate of 25.7%, which is well over 10 percentage points higher than where he was last year. According to PFF, Latu's second-year breakout is happening while Colts' fans are wondering where Latu is on most snaps.

With this major difference in perception, I put Latu under the microscope for his Week 3 performance against the Tennessee Titans. My overall perception is that he had a solid showing, but not nearly as dominant as some would think.

He is winning his rushes, but there are still a few issues plaguing his game that hold him back from entering that elite tier of rushers.

The video below breaks down four of his pass rushes from this past game, as well as one of his more impactful plays in the red zone late. See for yourself if the film truly matches what a site like PFF had to say about the young pass rusher on Sunday.

Latu's next test is against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 4, as the Colts' defense looks to find consistency from the pass rush.