Indianapolis Colts defensive end Laiatu Latu (97) warms up before a game against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Christine Tannous/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Colts' Laiatu Latu Had Career Game Against Rams

Originally posted on Indianapolis Colts on SI
By Zach Hicks | Last updated Oct 1, 2025 7:00 AM ET

Indianapolis Colts' pass rusher Laiatu Latu has seen a fair share of criticism in his young career, as much of the pushback has been due to his lack of sack production for a player drafted so high.

While the sack production is still a work in progress, he took a massive step forward in play this past weekend.

In a pivotal week four match-up against one of the best teams, and quarterbacks, in the league, Latu had the best performance of his career. He was dominant as a pass rusher, logging nine pressures, a QB hit, and a sack on the day.

Pro Football Focus also had him with an elite 35% pass rush win rate, which was good for the third-best mark of the week among all edge rushers (only behind Myles Garrett and Danielle Hunter).

Last week, I made a video diving into why the advanced stats and the film with Latu have struggled to line up this season, and how the young pass rusher still had some tweaks to make in his game to hit that next step.

He seemingly made those tweaks all in one week, because the Latu that stepped on the field on Sunday looked like an elite, top-tier pass rusher.

Yesterday was the best Laiatu Latu has looked as a pro. Big year 2 leap from him. Much needed difference maker on the Colts DL pic.twitter.com/MiqFHJ9TRW
— Mike Renner (@mikerenner_) September 29, 2025

What stood out about his performance was how he was able to win in multiple ways. He made Los Angeles Rams' right tackle Rob Havenstein pay on jump sets, effortlessly working around the veteran tackle when given the two-way go on the outside.

He then would slide across the line from left tackle Alaric Jackson, where he would beat him with his go-to cross chop move or even a bull rush (on his lone sack of the day).

Colts' Defensive Coordinator Lous Anarumo had this to say after Latu's career day on Sunday:

"I always go back to, with (Laiatu) Latu, that it is he's a football player first. And just his savviness, his feel for the game, that's going to get him to be a potential high sack guy. But I love the way he set the edge. I love how he ran to the ball. He was a force in the run game as well as the rush that you saw. And he really has a savviness when he drops. We saw the pick he had (against) Miami. He had a couple of really good plays on Sunday that way. So, I'm a big Latu fan as you guys know, and I think he'll continue to improve as the season goes on.”

I broke down Latu's best rushes from this past weekend in the video posted below: