Colts Notebook: Charvarius Ward Returns
INDIANAPOLIS – Back from their bye week, the Colts have quite the opponent waiting for them in Week 12.
It’s the Colts (8-2) and the struggling Chiefs (5-5) facing off in Kansas City on Sunday at 1:00.
What did we learn from the Colts first practice of the week?
-A big sign towards the return of Charvarius Ward came on Wednesday. Ward was back practicing on Wednesday and in a blue jersey (not in a no-contact jersey). The Colts have opened up the 21-day practice window for Ward as he returns from his concussion. Ward does remain in concussion protocol, so he will need to practice and clear the 5-step process before playing on Sunday. If Ward plays on Sunday, it’ll be his first game back at Arrowhead Stadium, where he played for the Chiefs from 2018-21. To make room for Ward on the 53-man roster, the Colts will have to make a corresponding roster move later this week.
-Like Charvarius Ward, Anthony Richardson Sr. is technically eligible to come off of injured reserve this week, but he will not be practicing on Wednesday. Shane Steichen reiterated on Wednesday that Richardson is still “rehabbing” his eye injury.
-Speaking of potential returns from injured reserve, second-year linebacker Jaylon Carlies (ankle) has also had his practice window opened. Carlies has battled ankle issues for the last few months and has yet to take a snap in the 2025 season. While Ward has played this season, Carlies hasn’t been on the field in months, so his return to actual game action could be a little longer. Under new defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, Carlies didn’t appear to be a locked-in starter during the offseason program. With that, and his ankle injury, the Colts tried several different linebackers next to Zaire Franklin early this season. They’ve settled though on veteran Germaine Pratt, as he has been reunited with Anarumo. So playing time potential for Carlies, under a new defensive coordinator, remains a little murky. Back in the spring, Carlies was probably viewed as a 2025 starter, but a lot has changed since then.
-In other injury news, the missed time for veteran DL-Tyquan Lewis (groin) is continuing. Lewis originally got hurt against the Chargers one month ago (10/19). On October 30th, Lewis returned to practice as a full participant for two straight days of work. But Shane Steichen said Lewis’ injury didn’t respond well enough. Lewis has now missed 3 straight games and still isn’t back to practice following a bye week. Veteran defensive end Samson Ebukam (knee) is back to practice after missing the last month. Punt returner Anthony Gould (knee) is also back after missing the last couple of games. It remains to be seen if Gould or Josh Downs will handle punt returns on Sunday.
-Is Lou Anarumo the Patrick Mahomes whisperer? Certainly, a lot has been made in recent years about Mahomes having a bit of a kryptonite against Anarumo defenses. One pretty consistent item in those prior Chiefs/Bengals matchups, the ones in which Anarumo has had success, has been a steady pass rush, without committing a ton of extra bodies to it. Mahomes was sacked 7 times in 2 playoff meetings against Anarumo and the Bengals. Of course, as much as Cincinnati’s defense receives ample flowers for what they did vs. Mahomes, the Chiefs still scored 24, 24 and 31 points in those 3 Bengals wins, so the Colts must find complementary football. Also, on the Mahomes front, the future first ballot Hall of Famer has played 122 career regular season games. He’s never lost 3 straight. That’s what is at stake on Sunday.
-The Jonathan Taylor numbers in 2025 are incredible. He’s building quite the deserving MVP case. In Germany, Taylor set a franchise record with 286 yards from scrimmage (244 rushing, 42 receiving). Taylor has 17 touchdowns with 7 games to go this season. If/when Taylor reaches 20 touchdowns this season, he will become the 6th player in NFL history to accomplish that in a single season. The others: Marshall Faulk, Emmitt Smith, LaDanian Tomlinson, Shaun Alexander and Priest Holmes. Quite a list Taylor would join.
-“We need to get some stuff cleaned up,” is how Shane Steichen described the rising sack numbers in recent weeks. Steichen took ample personal blame with his play calls for Daniel Jones being sacked 12 times in the 2 games, compared to 9 sacks in the first 8 games. When you play Kansas City, the obvious storyline revolves around game-planning for Patrick Mahomes. But given the Colts recent questions in pass protection, Jones facing highly accomplished defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo should not be forgotten. Spagnuolo is extremely aggressive with his blitz packages so how the Colts handle it is going to be a huge key on Sunday.
-As we’ve pointed out over the past few weeks, the Colts schedule is definitely toughening up the rest of the season. All 7 of their remaining opponents have a record at .500 or better (the Chiefs and Texans are the two teams at .500). From a numbers standpoint, the Colts have the 4th hardest remaining schedule. Here’s where a few other teams rank that matter to the Colts: Jaguars-28th, Texans-5th, Broncos-21st, Patriots-31st. With 4 of their final 6 games against the 2nd (Jaguars) and 3rd (Texans) place teams in the AFC South, the Colts must handle their business to secure that elusive divisional crown.
-Patrick Mahomes has beaten every single NFL team but one (in the regular season). That one is the Indianapolis Colts, with a pair of regular seasons losses. The Colts beat Mahomes and the Chiefs on Sunday Night Football in October 2019, 19-13. And the 2022 Colts (!) beat the Chiefs in Week 3 of that campaign, 20-17, inside of Lucas Oil Stadium. With Jacoby Brissett under center in ’19, the Colts leaned on 180 rushing yards (132 from Marlon Mack) as they had the ball for 15 minutes more than the Chiefs at Arrowhead. A quartet of sacks on Patrick Mahomes helped the Colts pulling off the primetime upset. In 2022, it was Matt Ryan and the Colts getting it done. The Colts held on despite all 4 second-half Chiefs drives reaching Indy territory, yet just 3 points coming out of them.
-The Colts are a field goal underdog in making the Week 12 trip to take on the Chiefs this weekend. At the start of the season, laying out storylines as a team competing for a 1 seed vs. a team needing a win to get into the playoff picture would make sense. However, those likely storylines are now reversed with the Colts competing for the 1 seed and the Chiefs needing a win. It’ll be the top CBS broadcast team of Jim Nantz and Tony Romo on the call on Sunday, marking the first time that duo has called a Colts game since Colts and Chiefs in Week 3 of 2022.
