Langford erupts at halftime, Colts defense follows him

• Colts at Steelers, 8:25 p.m. Sunday, NBC

His team trailed by six points after a lifeless first half when they slogged into the locker room and Kendall Langford decided it was time. The first-year Indianapolis Colt — a “soft-spoken, laid-back guy,” teammates call him — hadn’t raised his voice all year. This time he couldn’t resist. This time he wouldn’t sit there, silent.

“I’m not much of a rah-rah guy,” the veteran defensive end would say later. “But instead of sitting around, I said, ‘Nah.’

“I said what needed to be said.”

Langford erupted. He lit into the defense — think Ray Lewis in the pregame huddle — with a fiery tirade that stirred the Colts out of their slumber and sparked a 25-12 triumph against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He screamed. He swore. He startled them. After all, it means a little more when the player who never speaks up all of a sudden starts shouting at the top of his lungs.

“I think they got the hint,” Langford said, smiling.

It was a masterful stroke from the eight-year vet — as Langford said, his words did not fall on deaf ears. From there the fire was lit. The Colts’ D flipped the switch. They went out in the second half and dominated.

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“It grabbed everyone’s attention, let me tell you,” linebacker Erik Walden said.

“After that, we had to look each other in the eye and decide,” defensive lineman Billy Winn added.

After allowing 94 rushing yards in the first half, the Colts allowed 38 in the second. After allowing Tampa Bay to go 5-for-7 on third down in the first half, it went just 1-for-6 in the second. After throwing for 130 yards in the first half, Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston barely had half that in the second.

The Colts’ defense didn’t allow a point in the second half. It’s why the team won by 13, its third straight victory, to improve to 6-5  for the season. It started in that halftime locker room, when they trailed 12-6 and a rookie quarterback was slicing them up and one of the game’s toughest running backs was getting the best of them. Langford had seen it before, seen it too many times this season. He wasn’t going to see it again.

“We’ve been there before, and I don’t want to go back,” he said. “We weren’t playing Colts football, period. That’s what I told them. We’re trying to make this (playoff) run, and playing the way we did in the first half, it’s impossible to make a run.”

So for now, after his team answered the bell, that playoff run remains a possibility. The defense deserves plenty of the credit.

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For the third consecutive week, buried beneath the headlines the quarterback play will garner — rightfully so — Langford and Co. held firm. Unsung and overlooked, this hodgepodge unit has stiffened over the past month, keeping games tight, limiting the big plays, allowing Matt Hasselbeck to do his thing.

They halted Peyton Manning three weeks ago. They baited Matt Ryan into too many mistakes in Atlanta. They buried Winston and Doug Martin and the Bucs on Sunday.

“I’m just proud as hell of those guys,” coach Chuck Pagano said of his defense.

It’s because of guys like Walden, the unsung strong side linebacker who was in a walking boot this week, missed practice Wednesday and Thursday, then came out on Sunday and had two sacks.

It’s because of guys like Dwight Lowery, the forgotten free agent signee who has stepped in, started every game this season at safety and has two interceptions in the past two weeks.

It’s because of guys like D’Qwell Jackson, the quarterback of the defense, the middle linebacker who gobbled up 11 more tackles Sunday to push his league-leading total to 111.

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Against the Bucs it was because of guys like Trent Cole (who notched his first sack as a Colt) and Nate Irving (ditto) and Clayton Geathers, the rookie safety who’s ably stepped in for the injured Mike Adams the past two weeks. Find a role, fill a role. Forget style points. Get the win.

“We got some goons on this defense,” Winn chirped in the locker room.

The stats aren’t stellar — as a team, the Colts sit 27th in the league in total defense. But, then again, stats don’t tell the whole story. This team isn’t winning pretty, not with that 40-year-old quarterback of theirs, so the grind-it-out style they employed Sunday is their best option. The storyline they’ve followed the past two weeks: Start slow, finish strong.

They did so Sunday. All they needed was the soft-spoken, laid-back teammate to get in their face at halftime.

Based on their play, his words got their attention.

Call Star reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134 and follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.

Colts at Steelers, 8:25 p.m. Sunday, NBC