No TDs were scored in the first 54 minutes of play as the Colts and Chiefs traded FGs, until some powerful running from Mike Hart finally put the game away in the last 5 minutes. Jamaal Charles was as explosive as advertised with over 5 YPC, but wasn’t allowed to break out. Despite 3 runs of 10+ Charles never got 15 or more in a single touch. The KC return game which had such potential to burn Indy was held quiet. Neither Thomas Jones nor the Chiefs passing game was particularly effective.
Charles contained, no ST lapses, Jones and the KC pass game ineffective means the Colts roll, right?
Indy struggled badly on offense. They kicked two chip shot FGs from inside the 10, kicked twice more inside KC’s 30 and turned it over on downs in Chiefs territory before finally coming up with a touchdown on their final drive of the game. Peyton completed less than 60% of his passes for the first time this year, was constantly pressured and threw an embarrassingly bad interception that let the Chiefs tie it up at 9-9. Peyton’s passes were often pressured and occasionally errant even when he got time. There were several obvious miscommunications between Peyton and his targets. On the ground the Colts started with Addai and finished strong with Hart, but the ground game was ineffective for a long stretch in the middle of the game.
The Colts overcame this uncharacteristically bad offensive day thanks to a great performance by the D. Early they put on a clinic in bend but don’t break D. The Chiefs reached FG range on 5 of their first 7 drives, but came away with only 9 points. In the 4th quarter the Chiefs went 3 and out on back to back drives before being held to a 51 yard FG attempt in the last two minutes. The Chiefs converted just one of ten 3rd downs and netted only 3 points from their two redzone trips.
A very out of sync day for the Colts offense, but the Colts D stepped up and held KC to an even less efficient day in scoring range.
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