The Kansas City Chiefs once again square off against defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo this Sunday. In recent memory, he has frustrated Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, and the K.C. offense as much as anyone. However, it is a much different unit Anarumo is dealing with.
The Indianapolis defensive coordinator currently has plenty of younger pieces on his Colts squad. And quite frankly, that was evident in the 2026 season opener against the Baltimore Ravens, in which the Colts allowed 41 points. But most of all, it was the failure to limit explosive plays that really stood out from the Indianapolis defense.
Just as the Colts turned in that performance, the Chiefs' offense had one of its more exciting offensive games in a while. Kenneth Walker III had a career night. Kansas City got plenty of explosive plays and chunk gains to stay on schedule. How do the Week 1 results for these two units in the explosive play department impact Sunday's matchup?
Colts' defense offers little resistance in Week 1
Baltimore tallied over 500 yards of offense against Indy's defense last week. Lamar Jackson exuded confidence when dropping back to pass, but it was the lack of resistance from the Colts' run defense that was really jarring.
Derrick Henry generated 144 rushing yards. Amazingly, 110 of those came before contact, according to Next Gen Stats. Henry was additionally hit at the line of scrimmage on only 8.3 percent of his carries. That was his lowest figure since he joined Baltimore. Henry could run in open space on seemingly most of his carries. It also helped that his bigger frame could take advantage ofa smaller rookie safety like A.J. Haulcy in space over and over.
In all, the Ravens topped 200 rushing yards against the Colts. Indianapolis allowed a 20 percent explosive play rate. That finished as a top-three mark for Week 1.
Inside the numbers of Kenneth Walker's K.C. debut
With a greater focus on the ground game, the Chiefs saw Walker finish with 173 rushing yards against the Denver Broncos. His 7.5 yards per rush attempt and 52.2 rushing success rate are numbers that are simply mind-boggling. Sure, those rates will go down as the season levels out. But this was something Kansas City had not seen from its own running backs in forever.
Yes, the Broncos missed plenty of tackles in Week 1. Walker still provided juice when hitting open holes. At the same time, his patience on specific runs allowed him to cut back or bounce it out and leave aggressive defenders in the dust.
Walker had 101 rushing yards over expected, via Ryan Paganetti. He notes that Walker's figure in that category was more than double that of any other running back in Week 1.
Walker is capable of carrying a heavy workload on his back. On top of that, Kansas City is much more physical and simplified as an offensive attack. Anarumo never really saw that style in the past against the Chiefs. And his Colts defense does not have a lot of time to adjust to more of a downhill Kansas City offense after just dealing with Henry.
Will Indianapolis improve on their tackling and filling gaps? If not, Walker's skill set can lead to a demoralizing day for the Colts.
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