Kansas City Chiefs weaponized Indianapolis Colts’ own defensive game plan against them, and the rest of the NFL should be terrified
The Kansas City Chiefs unlocked another layer of their dominant rushing attack in Week 2 against the Indianapolis Colts. Patrick Mahomes posted his career-best single-game numbers on play-action passing.
The Kansas City Chiefs took the Indianapolis Colts’ defensive game plan and turned it against them. The rest of the league should be terrified by the results.
After his 191 scrimmage yards in Week 1 against the Broncos, the Colts had Kenneth Walker squarely on their radar. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Indianapolis spent significant resources trying to slow Walker down. At halftime, he had only six carries for 39 yards. He finished the game with much more yardage: 24 carries for 114 yards and 6 receptions for 61 yards. That came from committing more to both the running game and the play-action passing game in the second half.
“We ran the ball, and when you can run the ball, the play-action opens up,” Mahomes explained.
Colts helped Chiefs unlock the play-action passing game in Week 2
The Chiefs have seldom used the play-action passing game to what feels like the fullest extent during Patrick Mahomes career. It’s been an afterthought, mostly because they haven’t had a running back who can threaten the game the way Kenneth Walker does. That changed on Sunday night. As Mahomes looked to improve on his Week 1 performance, he turned the Colts’ game plan into a weapon he could use against them.
“I was getting through my reads too quickly and getting into the checkdowns too fast, and so I needed to be better at that, and I knew that they were going to come out and try to stop the run,” Mahomes explained postgame. “I mean, why would they not after how we ran it the first time? And so they really put in a lot of assets into stopping the run, and it opened up our play-action game. I got them my reads the right way and got the ball out of my hand.”
According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Mahomes recorded a career-high 14 completions on 17 play-action pass attempts in Week 2. On those plays, he totaled 137 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Last week, it was the Happy Gilmore learned-how-to-putt moment for the Chiefs’ rushing attack. This week, it was the Happy Gilmore learned-how-to-putt moment for building off of a successful ground game.
“It’s fun for me,” Mahomes said of Kenneth Walker’s running game success. “Just him running the ball, our offensive line driving up the ball the way that they’re driving off. It’s making defenses have to account for that. I mean, if not, we’re going to run the ball for 200 yards or whatever we did the week before. And so you want to be able to do it all. And we showcased today that we can throw the ball down the field, we can play action, we can do that stuff, and we can also still run the ball.”
