Last season the Colts had the unfortunate circumstance of seeing what their defense would be without Grover Stewart in the lineup. He was sidelined six games due to violating the league’s PED policy. The Colts weathered a 3-3 record while Grove was out, but the area that was exposed was in the run defense. 

In games that Grove played, the Colts allowed only 106 average yards per game on the ground, while they allowed 153 average rush yards per game while he was gone. This is an area that Grove prides himself on, but he is wanting more heading into the 2024 season. 

“I just wanna be an elite player,” Grove told the media on Tuesday. “I know I’ve been labeled as one of the best run stoppers in the league, but I want to get to that next level.”

Grove elaborated “Everybody big on getting to the quarterback so I wanna show em that I can do that too. [People] love sacks.” 

The Colts set a franchise record in sacks last year with 51 and 15 different players getting involved in those, but Grove was only credited for a half sack in his 11 games played. Conversely he was credited with 8 run stuffs which was only a half less than Kwitty Paye’s sack total on the year. Paye was second on the sack totals for the team. 

Grove asked new defensive line coach, Charlie Partridge to work him and push him. He noted that “I gotta take more advantage of my opportunity when I’m out there.”

Overall, Grove thinks highly of his unit, saying, “The colts defensive line been doing some good things, puttin up some good numbers, and, shoot man, we can control the game.”