Indianapolis Colts

Colts face toughest test yet in Patrick Mahomes

The Colts looked darn good in Houston on Saturday, but they will have their work cut out for them in Kansas City next week.

If you overlooked the Indianapolis Colts coming into the playoffs, you witnessed on Saturday just how dangerous of a team they are — much more dangerous than your average No. 6 seed.

Andrew Luck and the Colts stunned the Houston Texans on their home field at NRG Stadium. They raced out to a 21-0 lead in the first half, and came awfully close to shutting the Texans out, hanging on to win 21-7.

On Saturday, the Colts didn’t look like a team that barely squeezed into the playoffs on the final day of the season. They looked like a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

And yet one week from now, their season could come to an end at Arrowhead Stadium. Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs will present to the Colts their biggest challenge of the year.

If you’re not sure who to bet on in this game, here is an interesting fact to keep in mind: the Colts have had great success against teams without a lethal passing attack. Against teams that excel at the passing game, Indianapolis hasn’t been quite so fortunate.

Next Saturday in the Divisional round, the Colts will face the most dangerous passing attack in the NFL. In his first year as Kansas City’s starting quarterback, Mahomes absolutely lit up the entire league, throwing for 5,097 yards (second in the NFL behind only Ben Roethlisberger).

Mahomes also connected for a mind-blowing 50 touchdowns. No other quarterback in the NFL even broke 40. To say the Chiefs are very good at the passing game is a heavy understatement. They are as good of an offensive juggernaut as we have ever seen in this league.

That’s not to say the Colts don’t stand a chance against them. They finally have an offensive line in front of Luck, and when he’s protected, he’s hard to beat. Indy also has a respectable defense, which was on full display when it shut down Deshaun Watson in the Wild Card round.

The Colts are fully equipped to upset this explosive Chiefs team, and if this game was happening anywhere other than Arrowhead, they might pull it off. Unfortunately for Indianapolis, the Chiefs have arguably the best home-field advantage in football. Few venues are tougher for a visiting team to play in than Arrowhead, and that’s why the Chiefs might be just a little too much for the Colts to handle next week.

Next: 5 moves Texans must make this offseason

But the good news for Indy fans is this: Luck is looking as good as ever, and he finally has the Colts back in the Super Bowl conversation. If they don’t get it done this year, there is always next year.

Products You May Like

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *