Indianapolis Colts vs. Kansas City Chiefs: 7 things every fan should know
Patrick Mahomes looks to rebound from last week
In all reality, Mahomes had a decent game against the Detroit Lions last Sunday. He completed 57 percent of his passes for 315 yards and added six rushes for 54 yards. The big statistical takeaway from this game was that it was the second time in Patrick Mahomes illustrious albeit short career that he did not throw or rush for a touchdown. It just seemed like an off day for him.
Still, if Alex Smith had put together the same statistical production for a game during his time with the Chiefs, no one would have batted an eye. If fans needed any proof of the incredibly high bar that Mahomes has set for his own play, you have just that in the reaction to his performance on Sunday.
Even so, Mahomes is the type of player that I’d guess would take last Sunday’s game as a humbling experience. Even the best quarterback in the league, and arguably the best in the last several years, can have an off day here and there. What’s important to take away is that we can’t, and he can’t, take the insane pace he’s set for granted. On any given Sunday, a team stocked with professional athletes from the best college programs can do things to slow you down. Undoubtedly, this will only make him work harder.
Speaking of work, Mahomes will have his cut out for him on Sunday against a Colts defense only surrendering 230 yards through the air per game. Mahomes had great success against the Colts in last year’s divisional round of the AFC Playoffs, but you can bet that Frank Reich and that coaching staff learned some hard lessons that day and will have some unique defensive packages to attempt to slow down Mahomes.
This will be an interesting comparison of Spagnuolo and Sutton
I don’t know about the rest of you, but to me one of the most intriguing storylines of this game will be how successful Steve Spagnuolo is against this Colts offense. It’s pretty evident that Frank Reich is a high quality play caller. However, Bob Sutton had his number in last season’s divisional round playoff game.
What’s more, Sutton faced the Andrew Luck led Indianapolis Colts four times in his tenure as the defensive coordinator for the Chiefs. Outside of the catastrophe that was the 2014 Wild Card playoff game, he performed pretty well. In those three other games, he held Indianapolis to an average of 194 yards passing, 109 yards rushing, and 17 points.
Some of these statistical comparisons are not exactly fair given the circumstances. For one, the Colts don’t have Andrew Luck. He didn’t play particularly well in the frigid January weather at Arrowhead last season, but the fact still stands that he is one of the most talented quarterbacks in the last decade.
Additionally, while this is only Reich’s second season as a head coach it’s already clear he’s a very good one. If he had been coaching in those other games against Sutton, things might have turned out differently. Still, there’s something to take away from this.
Out of all the variables pertinent in this game versus those in the playoff game last season, the two main differences are that the weather will be more temperate and there is a different quarterback. However, given how poorly Luck performed in last season’s game, there’s an argument to be made that Brissett could easily surpass him this time around.
My point is this: the Steve Spagnuolo experiment, which includes a host of alleged all star defensive coaching talent, has generated somewhat mediocre results. Given the dominance of Sutton’s defense last year against this team, I would hope that Spagnuolo can do the same. This will be a telling test for our new defensive coordinator, but I think he’s up for the task.