Colts vs. Chiefs: Week 5 defense grades

The Colts won a massive game on Sunday night, beating the Chiefs in Arrowhead stadium 19-13. They won this game on the strength of their defense.

This Colts defense has been much maligned this season. They have only played one good game this year, and that was against offensively inept Tennessee. Everyone thought they were going to get shredded by Kansas City. The exact opposite ended up happening. They shut them down.

This was the best game by far for the defensive line. They were unbelievable. Justin Houston was making a homecoming and played like a man on a mission. He had a sack and four tackles in this one. They got consistent pressure on Patrick Mahomes and forced him to run for his life.

After getting manhandled at the line of scrimmage a week ago against Oakland, they turned their performance around. KC only had 36 yards rushing. A big reason for that was the defensive line won the point of attack. Unfortunately, Kemoko Turay broke his leg at the end of the game, so he’s gone the rest of the year. But big night for these guys.

Without Darius Leonard, this unit has not performed well most of the season. That was not the case Sunday night. I’ve been very critical of Bobby Okereke, but he had himself a game. He had a fumble recovery, three tackles, and a pick that got incorrectly overruled. Best showing of this unit yet.

Both safeties were out for this game, but it didn’t matter. George Odum forced a fumble and Khari Willis had a huge tackle late in the game. The corners performed well too. They were able to slow down the reigning MVP and that’s a tough thing to accomplish at full strength. These guys did it extremely short-handed.

This was a signature win for this team. It’s the best win in the Frank Reich era, and they need to carry this momentum with them through the bye week. This can still be a really good football team.