We're back with another edition of The Colts Show Mailbag, where I'll answer listener, viewer and reader questions here on Colts.com every week.

You can submit your questions to me a few ways: At Colts.com/Mailbag, on social media (like X and Instagram) and in the YouTube comments for the podcast. Be sure to get your questions in, since I'll get to one on next Tuesday's podcast edition of The Colts Show.

I didn't get to a question on this week's podcast given some time constraints, but it was a fantastic episode with Colts long snapper Luke Rhodes and punter Rigoberto Sanchez joining me for a deep dive into special teams (I'm always down for a deep dive into special teams, personally speaking). You can get the podcast on all major podcast platforms including:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• YouTube

Let's dive into the rest of this week's batch of questions:

Zachary Barron (Greencastle, Ind.): The Mahomes-era Chiefs have never lost three games in a row and they certainly won't want to be going 5-6 heading into Week 13. What are the Colts doing to prepare for a vengeful Chiefs, and is Charvarius Ward providing his key insight that he learned during his time with the Chiefs?

JJ Stankevitz: This question from Zachary – specifically, the part about Charvarius Ward Sr. – sparked me to look up something. I went into it sort of assuming the Colts didn't have many players who've faced Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Chiefs before, since the Colts and Chiefs have only met twice in the last six seasons.

But let's run down the list of Colts players who've faced Kansas City in the Mahomes era (2018-present):

• CB Charvarius Ward (1 regular season game, 1 playoff game)
• CB Sauce Gardner (1 regular season game)
• CB Kenny Moore II (2 regular season games, 1 playoff game)
• S Cam Bynum (1 regular season game)
• LB Zaire Franklin (2 regular season games, 1 playoff game)
• LB Germaine Pratt (3 regular season games, 2 playoff games)
• DT Grover Stewart (2 regular season games, 1 playoff game)
• DE Kwity Paye (1 regular season game)
• DE Samson Ebukam (2 regular season games)

Ebukam has *the* highlight here – he had two defensive touchdowns against the Chiefs in 2018 with the Los Angeles Rams, including an eye-popping pick six, in that 100-plus-point game regarded as one of the best in NFL history.

Ward tied a career high with 10 tackles in his lone regular season game against his former team (in 2022 with the San Francisco 49ers); he also played 100 percent of the defensive snaps in Super Bowl 58. We'll see if Ebukam (knee) and Ward (concussion) will play on Sunday as they work their way back from injuries; check back Friday for their status.

Franklin, in his third start of his record-setting 2022 season, had 12 tackles, a quarterback hit and a pass break-up in the Colts' Week 3 win over the Chiefs that year.

Pratt had a career high 16 tackles against the Chiefs while with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2024, and he started for Lou Anarumo's defense against Kansas City in those epic 2021 and 2022 playoff games.

There are a handful of Colts who will play on Sunday and haven't faced Mahomes and the Chiefs yet – defensive tackles Neville Gallimore and Adetomiwa Adebawore, defensive end Laiatu Latu and safety Nick Cross (who appeared in Week 3 of 2022 but played just one snap on defense) headline that group.

Anyways, the larger point here is even though Ward was with the Chiefs from 2018-2021, he's not the only member of the Colts' defense who has an understanding of what Mahomes does. And that's not even mentioning Anarumo, whose second-half adjustment in the 2021 AFC Championship helped vault the Bengals past the Chiefs at Arrowhead and into the Super Bowl.

Charles Payne (Indianapolis): Will the Colts face a desperate Kansas City Chiefs team this Sunday?

JJ Stankevitz: I think "desperate" isn't quite the right word here, though it's a totally fair question – because, as Zachary pointed out, Patrick Mahomes has never lost three games in a row in the same season (technically, he lost three games in a row, but that was last season's Super Bowl and then Kansas City's first two games of the 2025 season).

And to the desperation point, the Chiefs are not only 5-5, but they lost games to the AFC's current three wild card teams: The Buffalo Bills, Los Angeles Chargers and Jacksonville Jaguars. The Chiefs will not have a tiebreaker over the Bills and Jaguars; they still play the Chargers again, but even if they split the season series, the next tiebreaker is conference record – and the Chargers are currently 6-2 in the AFC while the Chiefs are 2-4. Point being: There's a good chance the Chargers will be on the right side of the tiebreaker against the Chiefs.

Another point here: The Chiefs, in the next four weeks, play the Colts (Week 12), Houston Texans (Week 14) and Chargers (Week 15), with a Thanksgiving game at the Dallas Cowboys looming in Week 13 as well. But those three games against AFC contenders may be the deciding factor here on if the Chiefs make the playoffs.

Anyways, even with all that seemingly stacked against the Chiefs – why would anyone count them out? The "them" in that sentence is comprised of Mahomes, Andy Reid, Travis Kelce, Steve Spagnuolo, Chris Jones, etc. – guys who are the fabric of why Kansas City has been to the Super Bowl in five of the last six seasons.

And it's hard for me to believe any of those guys will feel desperate. They've accomplished too much together to do the things that happen under desperation – which can be changing their process, trying to do too much, things like that. I'd fully expect the Chiefs to look like The Chiefs on Sunday, and the Colts are certainly prepared for that.

There's also the underlying numbers here that show the Chiefs are much better than their record indicates. Kansas City is fifth in overall DVOA; they're second in EPA per play on offense and fifth in success rate on offense; on defense, they're ninth in EPA per play and 10th in success rate. They have all the markings of a top-five team – just not the record.

And the reason there: Kansas City is 0-5 in one-score games, which feels more like a function of bad luck than any other single factor.

Josh Welsh (Greensburg, Ind.): Will Mooney play against the Chiefs?

JJ Stankevitz: We'll see, Josh. It was certainly encouraging to see he was a full participant in Wednesday's practice, but as of Wednesday morning, he had not fully cleared the NFL concussion protocol. We'll find out more when Shane Steichen meets with the media again on Friday. Procedurally, for Ward to play he will have clear concussion protocol and then be activated from injured reserve back to the Colts' 53-man roster.

Isaac Hunsbargar (Fort Wayne, Ind.): I'm excited about 8-2, but in the last two weeks the Colts have had:

• 2 turnover on downs
• 12 sacks
• 4 interceptions
• 8 fumbles (4 lost)
• Missed field goal (short on a 53 yarder)
• Missed extra point
• Failed 2 point conversion
• 3 punts

That is nearly 2 dozen momentum shift-worthy plays the Colts offense has given up. The football the Colts have been playing lately has been extremely sloppy. 2/3 of the turnovers and 2/3 of the sacks given up have come in the last 2 weeks. Why have they been so undisciplined? What changed? What needs to change? Can we fix it on the bye week?

JJ Stankevitz: Fair question here. These are largely things the Colts weren't doing in Weeks 1-8, when they had four total turnovers and Daniel Jones was sacked nine times. Those are probably more of a concern than the other stuff here, and is something head coach Shane Steichen looked closely at during the bye week.

"When I look back at everything, I always look at myself and certain situations," Steichen said. "I could have put those guys in better situations with play calls with some of the stuff that we were doing. So I've got to be better for those guys moving forward so those things don't happen."

Prior to Week 9, this offense was on pace for 8.5 turnovers and 19 sacks; only three teams in the Super Bowl era have had nine or fewer turnovers in a season (the 2024 Bills & Chargers, and the 2019 Saints), while narrowing things a bit, only two teams in the last five seasons have taken 19 or fewer sacks (the 2024 Bills and 2020 Steelers).

Some of these numbers in Weeks 9 and 10 might've been a simple regression to the mean for the Colts' offense, but the bye week likely came at a good time for this group to figure out some solutions to these issues with turnovers and sacks. We'll see how the Colts try to create those solutions beginning Sunday in Kansas City.

"I think it's everything working together with that stuff," Jones said. "Obviously, a lot on me, and I've got to do a good job of protecting the ball in those situations – in the pocket, wherever on the field. I've got to protect the ball and make sure that's always paramount. I think we all work to help each other. I've got to get the ball out on time and get the ball to the open guy. But we're confident. We've done a really good job of that all season, so we'll continue to do that."

Matt Stuthers (Pine, Ariz.): Hey JJ! With the Patriots and the Colts being the top teams in the AFC, I have no choice but to think about the best football I've ever witnessed; Manning vs Brady. Do you think there's enough talent (players & coaches) for both the Colts and Patriots, as well as cap space, to reignite the rivalry long term? If so, do you think the Colts, and us fans, will finally get the retribution we deserve after being scarred by Brady?

JJ Stankevitz: This is a fun one to close us out here. Colts-Patriots, of course, was *the* rivalry of the 2000s, and it's had its moments even in the post-Peyton Manning era in Indianapolis and then the post-Tom Brady era in New England.

Baseline, a glance at the 2025 Patriots reveals two key things: 1) a talented young quarterback in Drake Maye who's vaulted himself into the MVP discussion in his second season, and 2) a proven winner of a head coach in Mike Vrabel, who oversaw the Tennessee Titans' most successful stretch since the Steve-McNair-Eddie-George-Jeff-Fisher days of the early 2000s.

The point there is the Patriots look to have two main ingredients for sustained success in today's NFL. And with the Colts' resurgence this year – one which feels sustainable long-term – it wouldn't surprise me if the Colts and Patriots meet in several big games in the future. And if current standings hold, the first-place Colts would host the first-place Patriots at Lucas Oil Stadium in the 2026 regular season.