INDIANAPOLIS – Gus Bradley has dealt with this before.
As the Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator in 2018, he game-planned twice for what would be one of the most prolific offenses in NFL history. Patrick Mahomes was in his first season as Kansas City’s starting quarterback and the Chiefs were a handful.
That Chargers’ staff included several current Colts coaches: head coach Shane Steichen, linebackers coach Richard Smith and defensive backs coach Ron Milus.
The preparation for Mahomes, who would throw for a club-record and league-best 50 touchdowns, and the Chiefs, who would finish with the third-most points in NFL history (565), included bottom-line discussions.
“We said, ‘Boy, to give ourselves a chance, we’ve got to keep them to this many points,’ and all that,’’ said Bradley, who’s in his third year as the Colts’ defensive coordinator.
Similar discussions probably have taken place this week inside the Farm Bureau Insurance Football Center.
Next up for Bradley and the Indianapolis Colts: the Detroit Lions.
“There are some similarities,’’ Bradley said. “I’d just say the points . . . they’ve got explosive players.’’
Mahomes was surrounded by a wealth of skill players: Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, Kareem Hunt, Sammy Watkins. The Chiefs averaged 6.8 yards per play, scored at least 35 points nine times and breached the 50-point barrier twice.
Bradley and the Chargers split the season series with Kansas City by keeping the Mahomes-led offense from doing serious damage. Sort of. The Chiefs averaged 28.5 points and 328 yards in the two games.
Detroit is in the process of matching those Chiefs stat-for-stat behind Jared Goff’s masterful direction. The Lions:
- Are averaging a league-best 33.6 points per game. They’re on pace to slide past the ’18 Chiefs with 571 points and trail only the 2013 Denver Broncos (606) and ’07 New England Patriots (589) in league history.
- Have piled up a plus-159 point differential. Buffalo is a distant second (plus-106).
- Have scored at least 40 points four times and hit the 52-point mark twice.
- Have accounted for the NFL’s three biggest blowouts this season: 52-6 over Jacksonville last week, 52-14 over Tennessee and 47-9 at Dallas. They’ve laid waste to the AFC South, outscoring the Jaguars, Titans and Houston 130-43.*Have three wins by at least 38 points, tied for the most in league history. They have seven games to set themselves apart from the other seven.
- Have four games with more total touchdowns than Goff incompletions. That’s the most since 1933.
- Are coming off a total beatdown of the spiraling Jaguars. They set club records with 645 points and 38 first downs. The Lions scored TDs on their first seven possessions, then tacked on a field goal just for the heck of it.
And on and on.
The ’18 Chiefs excelled at generating shock plays and quick-strike TDs.
“And that’s how Detroit is,’’ Bradley said. “I think that Detroit’s run game is the real deal.’’
Jahmyr Gibbs has 796 yards and is averaging 6 yards per rush. David Montgomery has 595 yards and averaging 4.3. They’ve combined for 18 rushing TDs, which is more than the total TD output of Dallas, the New York Giants and Cleveland.
“Some say they’re the best two backs in the league, and they have them both on the same team,’’ Bradley said. “Then they have the play-action, play-action-max off of it, where they can get the big plays off of it.
“I think that’s what makes them so challenging. They’re very complete that way.’’
Seven different players have accumulated at least 200 receiving yards and seven have notched a TD. The latter includes Goff.
The unquestioned leader of the room is Amon-Ra St. Brown (65 receptions, 685 yards, nine TDs), but Jameson Williams is averaging 22.4 yards on 24 catches with four TDs. Tight end Sam LaPorta is a matchup nightmare (25 catches, 366 yards, three TDs).
And Goff makes everything work.
“Quarterback is playing at a high level,’’ Steichen said.
Goff is on a serious roll. He leads the league in yards per attempt (9.2), is No. 2 in completion percentage (73.0) and passer rating (112.1), No. 4 in TDs (22) and No. 10 in yards (2,581). There are those nine interceptions, but five came in the comeback win at Houston.
Twice, Goff has had as many TD passes as incompletions. And twice he’s compiled a 158.3 rating, the highest possible.
He’s completed at least 80% of his passes in five of 10 games, including 18-of-18 target practice against the Seattle Seahawks.
The overriding objective Sunday is obvious.
“You just work your way through it and say, ‘Hey, how can we keep the points down to give ourselves the best chance?’’’ Bradley said.
That involves being better against the run – the Colts rank No. 28, allowing 143.1 yards per game – and getting to Goff with regularity. He’s been sacked 18 times behind a top-tier offensive line, a group that features all-world right tackle Penei Sewell.
The Colts have produced 25 sacks and have had at least 2 in five straight games. Kwity Paye leads the pressure group with 5.5 sacks. He’s had 1 in three straight games, including 2 of Aaron Rodgers that sealed last Sunday’s win over the New York Jets.
“It’s a great challenge,’’ tackle DeForest Buckner said of the Lions. “As a competitor, you always want to go against the best.’’
The focus on Bradley’s defense is understandable. It ranks No. 28 in yards allowed (374.5) and against the run; No. 26 against the pass (231.5) and No. 17 in scoring (22.7).
But Steichen’s offense needs to lend a helping hand.
The Colts rank 31st in time of possession (26:40), and that needs to change dramatically, even if it’s for just one week.
Excluding end-of-half drives, Goff has led 107 drives. He’s come away with points 53.3% of the time – 42 TDs, 15 field goals.
Limit his opportunities.
“One hundred percent,’’ Steichen said. “I think we’ve got to do a great job of maintaining the ball during this game to limit their chances because they are explosive, and they’ve been doing it at a high level all year.’’
Safety Julian Blackmon summed up the Colts’ collective mindset.
“You respect everybody that you play against,’’ he said. “You respect everybody because we know how hard it is to get to this level.
“At the same time, that doesn’t mean you fear them.’’
You can follow Mike Chappell on Twitter at @mchappell51.