With the Colts playing in Germany for the first time, it was only right that someone shine in their Frankfurt debut. That someone was defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo, who matched his season total of three sacks in the first half of the Colts 10-6 win over the New England Patriots.
"When you know your defensive line is humming like that, it just makes you get greedy in the secondary," linebacker Zaire Franklin said. "Obviously, we was able to come up with a couple of plays at the end, but the defensive line definitely set the tone today. They made plays all over the field."
He wound up finishing the game with four tackles and the aforementioned three sacks.
His performance made him the first Colts player to have that many sacks in the first two quarters of a game since defensive end Dwight Freeney did it in 2005 against the Cleveland Browns.
Matching the Colts' legend, Odeyingbo said he's in good company but is determined to create his own legacy.
"Obviously, he's a great Hall of Famer and one of the Colts greats," Odeyingbo said. "So, it's great to be mentioned with him, but I'm trying to carve out my own path and my own journey."
As sweet as his breakout performance was, it was made even sweeter for Odeyingbo since he had several family members in attendance.
"It's really important for me to be able to put on for my family," Odeyingbo said. "It's the most family I've had at a game probably in my whole life. I think I have 13 family members here. So, I'm just happy to be able to go out there and be able to give them a show. A lot of them are watching their first football game at any level, so it's really exciting."
Playing in front of loved ones like his brother, uncles and cousins, Odeyingbo said he wanted to make sure their first NFL experience was a memorable one.
"Just having that much family in the building, I kind of felt like it was a little more personal," Odeyingbo said. "It meant a little bit more today. Obviously, you want to come out and put your best self on every week, but I feel like that gave me that extra inch."
Though Odeyingo's role has been primarily as a rotational player this season, he has consistently been able to generate pressure this season. So, with this weekend's breakout game, he said it was a result of all the hard work he'd put in leading to this moment.
"We all come out here every day and put in the work," Odeyingbo said. "It feels good to have it kind of show off in a big way on a big stage. So yeah, it just comes down to keep on stacking days and eventually you're gonna break. So, I'm just going back to stacking days."
