The Indianapolis Colts pulled off a huge upset over the Kansas City Chiefs and Indy had several promising moments throughout the game.
It took three weeks but the Indianapolis Colts finally have a win. After a tie with the Houston Texans and a blowout loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, Indy’s first win would of course come against the elite Kansas City Chiefs. In a thriller that came down to the last play, Indianapolis was able to pull the win out 20-17.
However, the win was not pretty. The Colts had a lot of concerning moments throughout the game and the offense was still pretty unproductive for most of it. In all honesty, it looked like Indy was on its way to another loss until late in the fourth quarter. Despite the ugly moments, Indy was ultimately victorious and the team also had some promising moments.
While there’s still a lot of work to be done, there were some encouraging signs for the Colts that shows things could be turning around. Let’s take a look at three of those promising signs.
3. Colts won the special teams battle
In Week 1, special teams struggles were a big reason Indianapolis only tied with Houston. That wasn’t the case in Week 3. Indy has had one of the best special teams units over the last few years and that was on display on Sunday.
Starting with the first punt of the game, Indy was able to recover a dropped punt by the Chiefs on the four-yard line. The Colts capitalized on this costly mistake by Kansas City by scoring a touchdown three plays later.
That wasn’t the only difference though. Recently acquired kicker, Chase McLaughlin, was 2-for-2 on field goals and 2-for-2 on extra points. Conversely, Kansas City’s backup kicker, Matt Ammendola, was 1-for-2 on field goals and missed his only extra point attempt of the game. It could be argued that the game was decided with those four points.
Indy was even prepared for a fake field goal that the Chiefs attempted and the Colts shut the play right down.
If Indianapolis can continue to have stellar special teams play, the team will find itself in a lot of football games. While special teams are often overlooked, it has been a real difference maker for the Colts this season.