INDIANAPOLIS – D'Qwell Jackson and Robert Mathis should be thanking Pat McAfee right now for the touchdowns they scored in 2015.
The NFL records McAfee helped set in 2015 are seen in the numbers.
To see how McAfee set up two defensive scores last year takes you deeper into the box score.
In road games versus Atlanta and Jacksonville, respectively, a pair of downed McAfee punts inside opponents' five-yard line led to defensive touchdowns a couple of plays later.
Right now, in the offseason, McAfee makes people laugh with his comedic performances.
When it's time to work though, McAfee's play is anything but a laughing matter.
Last year, the Colts allowed 156 kickoff return yards the entire season. That set an NFL record, previously held by the 1943 Brooklyn Dodgers (225 yards).
McAfee spearheaded that mark, thanks to setting an individual league record with 90.5 percent of his kickoffs going for touchbacks.
The 2016 season for McAfee will be his eighth in the NFL.
Adam Vinatieri has worked alongside McAfee for that entire time.
He's watched McAfee literally teach himself how to punt as a rookie in 2009 and turn that into one of the game's most impactful specialists.
"I think the last couple of years he really wanted to be the best," Vinatieri said in 2015. "You can see it in his work ethic, the way he's taking care of his body, what he's doing in the weight room, the little stuff on the field.
"Pat took it upon himself. He said, 'I don't want to be good. I want to be great. I want to take returners out of the game.'"
McAfee is doing that like no other player in NFL history.
