Arrowhead Pride
On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs face the Indianapolis Colts. We welcome Chris Shepherd of Stampede Blue— our sister SB Nation site covering the Broncos— for Five Questions with the Enemy.
Not a single honest Colts fan will tell you that they saw this coming. But what I can honestly say is that I’ve long believed that general manager Chris Ballard has consistently built rosters that were ready to win with adequate quarterback play. The Colts finally have that — and this is the most complete offensive roster Ballard has ever assembled.
Jones is at his best as a distributor. He’s not someone who can take over a game. That said, this offense is so complete he just needs to get the ball in the hands of his playmakers and let them do their jobs. If a defense takes away running back Jonathan Taylor, that’s fine. Then it has to decide whom to cover — and the Colts have a lot of really good receiving options. It’s less about Jones taking the game over and more about defenses being unable to contain every capable playmaker Indianapolis has.
Everything I’m seeing and hearing is that both the Colts and Jones want to make an extension happen. For a team that has been looking for a quarterback for as long as Indianapolis has, it’s hard to fault them for wanting to roll with Jones for the future.
As far as Richardson is concerned, I believed Ballard when he said they still feel he can be special. I believe the Colts would love to have Richardson back next year behind Jones — but I don’t think Richardson’s representation will allow that to happen. That part is speculation, but the Colts do like Richardson — and believe he can play good football.
I think it definitely helps, but it’s too early to tell. This will be his second game with the team — and his first lined up across from Charvarius “Mooney’ Ward (who was playing great before landing on IR). So it’s all ifs and maybes right now.
That said, it’s tough not to see the vision. Ward and Gardner playing a lot of press man on the outside, disrupting routes and giving Lou Anarumo’s pass rushers and blitzes an extra tick to get home? On paper, it sounds good. So we’ll see how it plays out over the next couple of months.
