underdogs against a potent Chiefs offense which has the ability to put up a lot of points and to do so quickly. It is perfectly normal to be a bit concerned about going on the road to a tough venue to play a great offense. However Eric Ebron Jersey , that is why I am here. I’m going to give you the three reasons why you should have no doubt that this Colts team can go into Arrowhead and keep the Colts cycle of beating the Chiefs in the playoffs alive. Andrew LuckFor some reason Andrew Luck is a bit of a divisive player. There are those who point to his stat line and attempt to argue that he is not as good as advertised. Rather than relying on a combination of stats and film as well as accounting for differing circumstances, they attempt to make quick comparisons. This is pretty typical of football analysis, and always leaves something to be desired. There are too many variables in this game to provide credible analysis by simply doing a side by side comparison.It is a lot like arguing that because we beat Team X and they beat Team Y, we are better than Team Y. The math just is not that simple. Unfortunately, not everyone who values statistics also values nuance. We are fortunate to have a guy like Troy at Stampede Blue who brings both to the table. The reality is that Luck has been an incredible player who for most of his career was saddled with an awful supporting cast and worse coaching. What the film shows about Luck this season is a quarterback in complete command of his game and who is one of the most cerebral quarterbacks in the league. He and Frank Reich have meshed perfectly and been very successful despite some limitations in terms of their overall skill position talent. Luck is the best quarterback in the league at diagnosing and evading pressure, and never has that been more apparent than this season. His pocket movement is incredible and his ability to raise his game when the pressure is on is a thing of beauty. Despite missing last year and all the doubts to start the season about what his arm would look like, he has answered every question definitively by having one of his best years and demonstrating the ability to make every throw. As a passer his decision making has continued to improve and he has the ability to buy time with his legs to strike downfield and also to get first downs by scrambling. No quarterback in the NFL has done more with less than Andrew Luck has, and when he is in the game, it is never out of reach, as he demonstrated to the Chiefs early on in his career. The Indianapolis House of Pancakes The primary reason for such a rapid turnaround for this Colts team has been tied to the impact of the offensive line. While First-Team All-Pro rookie Quenton Nelson gets most of the credit for the turnaround, give right tackle Braden Smith his due, as a guy who has now twice demonstrated the ability to virtually stonewall J.J. Watt. This is arguably the best offensive line in the NFL, and they don’t shy away from a fight. Their goal is to force feed you pancakes until you puke, and then sit on you while the world laughs at your misery.The match-ups might initially seem to be a tough one for the Colts in terms of pass protection. While the Chiefs lead the league in sacks, that stat line can be a bit deceiving, since they padded those stats against awful quarterbacks and poor offensive lines. 5 of 7 games in which they had 4+ sacks came against the Cardinals, Jaguars, 49ers, Broncos(twice). The other two came against the Chargers and Rams. In most of those games, the teams absolutely had no choice but to become one dimensional. They also didn’t have quarterbacks who could regularly get rid of the ball quickly or avoid pressure.Don’t misunderstand me, this is a talented pass rush. But the Colts haven’t had an off game on the offensive line when their whole unit has been together, and this defense won’t be the unit that cracks them. While the Chiefs’ front seven has been tough getting after the passer from ahead, they have been woefully bad defending the run. That’s good news Matt Slauson Color Rush Jersey , since the Colts do that really well and will absolutely use their line to open not so much running lanes as highways for Mack to run through. The Colts haven’t played many truly awful run defenses this season, but they just put 200 yards on the best one in the NFL. This game is likely to be too high scoring to rely completely on the run game, but it will certainly be a factor in keeping the Colts offense balanced. When Frank Reich has had consistent production from his running backs, the offense has hummed. Marlon Mack and Andrew Luck have each proven capable of carrying this team behind this offensive line, but on Saturday, neither will need to do it alone. It isn’t a stretch to say that this offensive line will be the best total position group in Arrowhead on Saturday, and they will make certain the offense is able to put points on the board.Matt EberflusThe Colts’ defensive coordinator has done an incredible job developing and growing a very young group of defensive players into one of the toughest groups in the league. Rookie First-Team All-Pro Darius Leonard has been ridiculous on his way to establishing himself as one of the best linebackers in football. Malik Hooker has been heating up over the past few games and the cornerback room is on fire lately, shutting down DeAndre Hopkins twice and Amari Cooper since Week 14.What makes this defense so good is about more than individual player performance. It is a cohesive unit that plays hard as a team. They get big plays in critical moments from all over the place, not just one key player. While Darius Leonard and Kenny Moore have come up big in the last few weeks, it has just as often been Margus Hunt, Anthony Walker, Clayton Geathers, or Denico Autry who have stepped up in the moment. On top of the fact that they’ve continued to raise their level of play, this defense has been more and more well coached every week. Eberflus may be in his first year, but he hasn’t been getting head coaching looks for nothing. He is getting every bit of effort out of his players and has become masterful at mixing up his looks to keep opposing offenses guessing. While Patrick Mahomes has been remarkable this season, it is still worth noting that this is his first foray into the postseason. I don’t anticipate a collapse from him, but the playoffs are a different animal, and with higher stakes than they have had all season, the pressure is on for the young quarterback to be perfect. Colts fans know better than just about anyone how tough the pressure is on a quarterback who knows they have to score. The Colts are a far more balanced team, and that means that a lot of pressure falls on Mahomes to carry them. They’ve scored a lot of points this season, but they have had to. I expect Eberflus to test Mahomes early and often, and while the Chiefs will score points,I expect him to get a couple wins as well as the game goes on. The Colts have been solid in the red zone https://www.coltsfanshop.com/Anthony-Walker-Jersey , and they should be able to get a couple stops and turn some touchdowns into field goals.If the offense does their part, that is all they should need to get away with a win. Colts fans should be forgiven for getting a little ahead of themselves. It has been quite sometime that the team has gone on a meaningful winning streak, since its quarterback has been so well protected, and since that same quarterback had put on an MVP-level performance that started to generate national attention. There has been a whole lot of positive in Indianapolis over the last five weeks.Coming into the game, we noted that the two franchises had opposite trajectories. Jacksonville has been crushed by disappointment this season, after making it to the AFC Championship game earlier in the year. The wheels all started coming off earlier in the week, or so it seemed, after they fired their offensive coordinator, demoted their starting quarterback, placed their biggest free agent investment on injured reserve, and saw their biggest offensive weapon lose an appeal for a one-game suspension after fighting against the Bills.None of that mattered on Sunday. In the Week 10 home meeting against Jacksonville, Indianapolis put on a devastating offensive show in the first half that culminated in 29 points. It turned out that this was all the team needed to win the game, but the Colts were shutout in the second half and required a late forced fumble to escape without overtime. Throw in yesterday’s meeting and Frank Reich and Indianapolis has gone six straight quarters without scoring against the Jaguars.This kind of performance cannot become an ongoing characteristic. Reich and his staff had the luxury of entering the 2018 season as relative unknowns. New systems are often successful early because opposing coaches don’t have a reliable way to game plan. This advantage goes away quickly, especially in the division where there are two meetings a year.Whatever Jacksonville did to answer Reich’s offense at half time in Week 10 was effective. It has continued to be effective. Indianapolis didn’t have an answer to those changes at kickoff on Sunday and they exited the locker room after half time without answers. This has to change.It’s true, this Colts offense is tougher to face because it is “multiple.” Reich isn’t afraid to use a lot of weapons or targets in a variety of ways. However, the offense does have clear tendencies — some of them are to a fault. Over the last couple of weeks, those tendencies have been easy to predict. If Colts fans have a pretty good idea what the offense is going to do and the fan base can tell you it is one of a few options, NFL defenses know that too.Don’t get me wrong, the Colts have still met or exceeded any reasonable expectations for the team to this point in the season. In fact, there are games earlier in the season that would have or possibly should have gone the other way. Injuries early in the year may have had an impact on outcomes and put Indianapolis in a hole that it will struggle to fight its way out of. All things considered, sitting at 6-6 after a 1-5 start is still good. If you want to split the season into pieces, Indianapolis went 1-5 to start the season losing some close games. Since then the team is 5-1 and had only one awful performance. If Indianapolis started 5-1 and had only one dud performance, fans would still feel pretty good.Let’s revisit the keys to the game and see how the Colts failed to capitalize in a must-win road divisional game.WIN UP FRONTThis didn’t happen. Luck took three official sacks https://www.coltsfanshop.com , another that was called off due to a defensive penalty, and took nine hits. He was harassed in the pocket, had to step up and scramble regularly, and was never able to get into any kind of rhythm. The offensive line wasn’t all to blame. Some of the shots he took were the result of excellent coverage and holding the ball for too long. Still, since Ryan Kelly has gone down with an injury, things have been different. Losing Jack Doyle didn’t help either. It’s incredible how people forget the little things players do until they are gone. TORMENT KESSLERThe defense did a reasonable job of making life difficult for Cody Kessler. 3 sacks and 7 quarterback hits tell part of the story but his 5 runs were also due to collapsing pockets. All 3 sacks, another hit, and two forced fumbles were credited to defensive tackle Denico Autry but numerous pass rushers were able to impact plays. The Jaguars averaged under 3 yards per carry, the defense allowed only six points, and Kessler threw for only 150 yards.MAINTAIN BALANCE ON OFFENSEThis key was an abject failure. At no time in the game were the Colts in a pass only situation. While it is true that the running game had its share of struggles, the play-calling left a lot to be desired. The Colts threw the ball 52 times to only 16 runs. Against the Jaguars. In a six point game.Perhaps the most effective running back on the roster against this style of defense could have been Jordan Wilkins. He has the most size, has a knack for getting the most out of small windows, and doesn’t go down at first contact on every play. I get that he has had a couple of key fumbles and maybe he is on the dog house, but if Mack isn’t the answer and Hines can’t get anything going, maybe giving Wilkins a few carries is a better option than becoming one-dimensional altogether.WIN THE TURNOVER BATTLEThe Colts lost the turnover battle by throwing an interception and losing a fumble. On the first drive of the game, Indianapolis forced a fumble and recovered it in Jacksonville territory. All three of the offense’s fourth down attempts failed. All of these failures were within field range, two were in the red zone.The Colts lost 0 - 6.CATCH THE DAMN BALLWhile Colts receivers were not perfect for the day, most of the dropped passes had as much to do with contested or off-target throws than clear failures to make a clean catch. T.Y. Hilton and Eric Ebron led the way in targets and were unable to come down with the ball on 5 and 6 of those targets, respectively. Dontrelle Inman caught 2 passes on 6 targets and Ryan Grant didn’t score a reception in his 2 targets. He unofficially caught 2 passes that were called off due to penalties. One was an offensive pass interference and the other who a stupid illegal shift call.