The Indianapolis Colts defense entered the Week 5 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs being pegged as a unit likely to get torched by the Patrick Mahomes-led offense.
While many are eating crow after that performance—myself chiefly among them—the Colts had a defensive blueprint that allowed them to find success against the most explosive offense in the NFL.
Colts head coach Frank Reich explained a little bit of what the defense did to keep Mahomes and the league’s highest-scoring offense in check.
“Part of the game plan, and we switch it up week to week based on a lot of different factors. I thought Flus (Matt Eberflus) and the whole defensive staff and the players obviously did a good job executing it,” Reich told reporters on a conference call Monday. “Just trying to disrupt timing a little bit and play a little bit tighter coverage. Not give much space, but try to disrupt timing and coverage. We felt pretty good about some of our matchups up front.”
The Colts have been primarily a zone-heavy defense since the start of the 2018 season. They will mix up coverages and go into man looks on third downs, but they mostly run a two-deep zone. They flipped the script in Week 5.
Per Pro Football Focus, the Colts ran man coverage on 73.3% of their defensive snaps during the 19-13 upset. The highest percentage of man coverage they had run in a game since the start of the 2018 season was 25.6%.
The change in coverages worked, and the defensive line did their jobs as well. The Colts pressured Mahomes constantly in the primetime game. The combination of consistent pressure and tight man coverage forced Mahomes to play under duress the entire game.
It was a game plan that was executed perfectly and with the Colts offense controlling the clock and the line of scrimmage with a potent run game, it was the perfect storm for a Colts win.
Now, the Colts shouldn’t be expected to play over 70% of man coverage, but they showed the potential for success. They could begin incorporating it more, but it likely depends on the game plan and offense they are facing that week.
The Colts were uncharacteristic in their coverages in Week 5, but the execution of the game plan led to the biggest upset of the year thus far.
