Charvarius Ward Sr., Sauce Gardner, Kenny Moore II, Cam Bynum, Nick Cross.
Those are the five defensive backs the Colts will plan to roll with against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. The 2025 Colts' defense is not fully-formed – not without defensive tackle DeForest Buckner on injured reserve – but the vision defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo has for his secondary can, beginning in Week 12, come into focus.
Ward missed the Colts' last four games due to a concussion he sustained during pregame warmups in Week 6, while Gardner joined the Colts in a massive trade with the New York Jets prior to Week 10. Ward cleared concussion protocol and will play Sunday, head coach Shane Steichen said; Gardner spent the bye week getting settled after a dizzying five-day stretch that saw him get traded, hop on a plane to Germany and make his Colts debut against the Atlanta Falcons in Berlin.
Now, this group of five defensive backs – with Gardner and Ward on the outside – will play together for the first time this season against a Chiefs team looking to avoid its first three-game regular season losing streak since Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes began working together in 2018. Specifically, having Gardner and Ward – two lock-down cornerbacks able to play press man coverage – on the field together will create some fascinating options for Lou Anarumo's Colts defense.
"He's a dog," Gardner said of Ward. "It's always good being a corner knowing you don't really gotta worry about the person on the other side. … Knowing you got another shutdown guy on the other side, it's great for the whole defense."
Gardner and Ward could play sides (i.e. the left and right side of the formation), or Anarumo could have one of those guys travel with an opposing receiver, facing that player wherever he lines up.
"There's value to (playing sides)," Anarumo said. "I certainly think there's still value to maybe matching up a guy on a certain player. So, the beauty of that, it gives us flexibility to do whatever we think is best for that particular week."
Anarumo has a history of week-to-week bespoke game plans designed based on not only the strengths of his players, but what an opponent does and does not do well. His magnum opus was the 2021 AFC Championship game with the Cincinnati Bengals against the Chiefs, when he called for the Bengals to drop eight defenders into coverage on 18 of Mahomes' dropbacks in that game, 12 of which came in the second half and overtime, per Pro Football Focus.
For context: No other team from 2020-2024 dropped eight defenders into coverage more than nine times in an entire playoff game. The Chiefs scored three points after halftime, and the Bengals erased an 11-point deficit to win, 27-24, in overtime at Arrowhead Stadium. Outside of losing that game, the Chiefs have won five of the last six AFC Championships.
Only five players who were on the field when the Chiefs had the ball for that 2021 AFC Championship game will play on Sunday: Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce, of course, while center Creed Humphrey and guard Trey Smith are still in Kansas City, too. And then there's linebacker Germaine Pratt, who played for the Bengals from 2019-2024 and joined the Colts in Week 6 of the 2025 season.
That game showed "how great of a DC mindset" Anarumo has, Pratt said this week. But with so many different players on the field, Anarumo's game plan certainly will be different on Sunday.
"They've done such a great job in their front office and the personnel and kind of plugging different guys in to take other guys' roles," Anarumo said. "When we first played them in '21, Tyreek (Hill) was on that team and the speed throughout their – I always said we're playing a four-by-one track team with the guys that they had back then, and it's no different now. They've got guys that can really, really run. And so, they have a – they certainly have a mindset of and a mold of what they want – a prototype at receiver, a prototype at tight end, the running back. So, they just do a good job of plugging players in. And their guys executed a high level and it all starts with No. 15."
No. 15, of course, is Mahomes, who just turned 30 in September and is already widely considered one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the sport. He's led the Chiefs to five Super Bowl appearances in the last six seasons, is a three-time Super Bowl champion and a two-time NFL MVP.
While this year's Chiefs are 5-5, Mahomes is having a fantastic season – his 72.7 quarterback rating is his highest since 2022 and is third-best in the NFL entering Week 12. Kansas City enters Week 12 ninth in points per game (25.2) and ninth in yards per play (5.7) but is near the top of the NFL in advanced stats like EPA per play (+.128, second) and success rate (38.3 percent, fifth).
Kansas City has scored on 48.9 percent of its possessions, second only to the Colts (57.6 percent) and only has six turnovers, third-lowest in the NFL.
"It starts with the head coach, Andy Reid, how great of an offensive mind he is," Pratt said. "Then you got an elite quarterback, one of the best in the game, then you got Travis Kelce and a stable of guys that run the system well. And then over time, they always find guys that are good at what they do. Everybody's got a role and they embrace their role over there."
But inside those eye-popping offensive numbers is an interesting split. Kansas City's passing offense is averaging 5.1 yards per attempt against man coverage (28th) and is generating an explosive gain on just 9.2 percent of those passing attempts (29th), per Pro Football Focus. Against zone coverages, Kansas City averaging 8.6 yards per pass (third) has a 17.5 percent explosive pass rate (fifth).
The Colts' secondary could lean into man coverage quite a bit on Sunday – or, maybe Anarumo has a changeup he's been waiting to throw for this exact moment. Whatever it looks like, how the Colts handle a significant test will be a fascinating watch in Week 12.
