The Kansas City Chiefs have dominated Indianapolis Colts defensive Coordinator Gus Bradley
Coming off of a Thursday night game against the LA Chargers the Chiefs need to make sure that they don’t fall into a trap game against a team that has underperformed.
Quentin Morris @quentincmorris ChiefsFocus @Chiefsfocus
During the Patrick Mahomes era, the Chiefs have faced a Bradley defense on seven different occasions. According to Sharp Football Analysis Mahomes has put up a total of 17 touchdowns and only two interceptions over seven games.
Gus Bradley is the Colts Defensive Coordinator. Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs offense torched him when he worked for the Las Vegas Raiders. Courtesy of CBS sports.
Bradley’s defense is a single high coverage that depends on corners to play man-to-man or play soft zones that still require corners to be on an island. They want a safety to play down in the box in a robber role. This system worked because they had the perfect players to fill the role. The Colts do not have a Richard Sherman or a Kam Chancellor or an Earl Thomas. All of this leads to the Chiefs being able to take advantage of a system, they have a history of dominating.
Last year Bradley was the defensive coordinator of the Las Vegas Raiders. Despite the league running a cover 2 shell against Mahomes and the Chiefs offense. This is a coverage that gave him trouble, despite this Bradley ran his own system. Between those two games, he allowed a total of 89 points with the Chiefs scoring 41 and 48 points between those two games.
In Las Vegas Mahomes threw for over 400 yards and five touchdowns. The Chiefs had two different receivers go over 100 yards. At Arrowhead Mahomes threw for 258 yards and two touchdowns. The Chiefs ran all over the Raiders for three touchdowns.
This year has not been much better for Bradley’s defense. The Colts’ defense has allowed a 72% completion rate. This is the second worst in the league. They have allowed 44 points between the Huston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars.
Gus Bradley has had success in the NFL. He was the brainchild of the Seattle Seahawks “Legion of Boom.” This defense led the team to two super bowls and one championship.
Patrick Mahomes has also dominated during the month of Sept. James Palmer reported that since the 1970 merger Mahomes has led the league in wins at 13-2. He also leads in yards per game with 322.6, pass yards per attempt at 8.7, a 48-3 touchdown to interception ratio and passer rating at 122.3.
The Chiefs may have some struggles on defense. Jonathan Taylor was the leading rusher last year with 1,811 yards and with Willie Gay out with a suspension removing Taylor from the game may be more difficult.
The Chief’s defense depends on Gay to run sideline to sideline in order to take away run. Gay is used to taking away running back screens and check downs. Without him, the Chiefs will have to depend on a young player like Leo Chenal or Elijah Lee. The Chief’s other option is to play significantly more three-safety looks to get Bryan Cook to replace the speed the Gay provides.
The Chiefs will still be without rookie cornerback Trent McDuffie who is on the IR for another two weeks. During his Friday press conference head coach, Andy Reid said that Kicker Harrison Butker will be out. Matt Ammendola will kick for the Chiefs for the second week in a row. Mike Danna was also ruled out.
