On Sunday Night the Kansas City Chiefs face the Indianapolis Colts. We welcome Chris Shepherd ofStampede Blue — our sister SBNation site covering the Colts — for
Five Questions with the Enemy.1. The Colts opened the season with a 41-23 home loss in which Baltimore accumulated 506 yards and scored on six of its final seven meaningful possessions. Was that simply a rough performance against one of the NFL’s best teams, or did the game expose concerns that could linger throughout the season?
The concern is large but there is real hope that many of the problems are correctable. The biggest issue was the defense. Not the line, linebackers or secondary. The entire defense. The general belief was the team expected rookie CJ Allen would be the day one starter at Mike and wear the green dot for the defense. Instead,
Allen missed more than a month during training camp and didn’t play a single snap in week one.
The backup plan was to put the green dot on Safety Cam Bynum and watching the tape back, it was pretty obvious, that didn’t work at all. The Colts coaches, to their credit (despite an incredibly bad decision to begin with) have recognized this mistake and are at least trying to fix it.
Akeem Davis-Gaither will be receiving plays from the sideline and will be tasked with communicating that information to all three levels of the defense. There are still some very real concerns with this Indianapolis defense but the first step to solving all of them is making sure everyone is on the same page.
2. Daniel Jones completed 19 of 31 passes for 166 yards, one touchdown and one interception in his first game back from a torn Achilles. Beyond the box score, how did Jones look physically, and how confident are you that he can regain the form he showed before last season’s injury?
Jones wasn’t bad in week one. He wasn’t particularly good either, but certainly not bad. His movement looked good both in and out of the pocket. The biggest problems for Jones were that he started multiple drives with horrible field position and a lot of great Kyle Hamilton blitzes off of the edge. Between the pressure of playing so deep on the wrong side of the field so often and the physical pressure cause by one of the best blitzing defensive backs I’ve ever seen, it was almost impossible for Jones to get into a rhythm.
The interception wasn’t good, but ultimately he is Daniel Jones. The offense worked last year because of Shane Steichen’s system and his ability as a play caller. If Steichen can adjust and figure out how to adapt to Jones needing to get the ball out quicker and Jones can execute that plan, I don’t doubt that he can reach his level of play from 2025, though that is a big ask.
3. Jonathan Taylor was Indianapolis’ biggest offensive bright spot in Week 1, rushing for 98 yards and two touchdowns. How heavily must the Colts lean on Taylor to control the game and keep Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City’s offense on the sideline?
The running game will always be the main attraction for the Colts offense as long as General Manager Chris Ballard is running the show and Taylor is running the ball. The Colts have consistently reinvested in their offensive line and continue to find very good players across the front five. Handing the ball off will be absolutely critical for the offense getting in rhythm and moving consistently down the field.
Taylor is also always a threat to hit one of those long home runs that have become his trademark. At any point Taylor can turn what looks like it will be a four yard gain into a 60 yard run. Potentially, Taylor can not only control the pace of the game, but flip the outcome on what looked like a standard inside zone handout.
4. Indianapolis allowed 506 yards, 7.9 yards per play and did not record a tackle for loss or a pass breakup against Baltimore. The Colts have since moved the defensive communication responsibilities from safety Cam Bynum to linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither. How much of the Week 1 performance resulted from communication problems, and can that adjustment make an immediate difference against Kansas City?
This is what I get for not reading all of the questions before I start answering them.
Either way, until the communication issues are addressed it’s tough to speculate on where the weaknesses even are. We’re all holding our breath to see if Latu Laiatu has taken that next step as a pass rusher. We’re all curious to see if Arden Key will give Indy the upgrade opposite Laiatu they needed after Kwity Paye left for the Raiders. There are still so many questions that we’re no closer to answers on because it for most of the week one game it sure looked like all 11 guys were playing assignments based almost completely on vibes.
They were confused in the back end, their run fits were a mess in the front seven and the only thing that started to work were the backside edge defenders abandoning backside run responsibilities to combat the play action concepts Jackson was killing them with. And even then it wasn’t as if that turned any tides.
There is plenty of reason for optimism that fixing the communication will vastly improve the defense, but week one didn’t tell us much of anything beyond putting the dot on Bynum was a mistake.
5. Kansas City rushed for 220 yards against Denver, with Kenneth Walker III producing 191 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns. After facing Derrick Henry in Week 1, how can Indianapolis prevent another elite running back from taking over—and what must the Colts do overall to pull off the upset at Arrowhead?
I’m not going to take anything away from Kenneth Walker or his week one performance. He went out there and killed it in week one. No one can take that away from him and no one should every try. He’s a great back, no doubt. But on the other hand the Denver Broncos missed 28 tackles and Walker forced half of those himself.
Again, Walker was responsible for forcing at least 14 missed tackles, that’s incredible. But if Indy can fix their communication issues, mitigate the problems they had with their run fits and wrap up, Walker will still probably get his numbers but with any luck at all they might just be able to keep him from taking over the game.
This Indy defense was so disorganized I week one, it’s difficult to imagine a scenario where things look worse for them for the remainder of the season.
