I've always admired the way the Indianapolis Colts were constructed because everything just seems to make sense. Take their defensive ends, for example. Peyton Manning and Co. are going to put up points, we know that, so in response the Colts have two speed rushing defensive ends to pressure the opposing quarterback when they're two scores down. Their Cover 2 makes sense paired with the Colts offense -- bend but don't break with the Colts offense pumping out points. Every player on the field must be fast.
Kansas City Chiefs coach Todd Haley seems to agree and mentioned the worst "fast" and "well-coached" a few times throughout his press conference when talking about the Colts defense.
On the defensive speed: "They are a well-coached team; an extremely fast team on defense that gets to the ball; that rushes the passer as good as anybody in the league; they play sideline-to-sideline as fast as anybody we’ll see this year."
On the defense at home: "They’re a good team, they’re fast. If you watch that Giants game in their place where it’s loud and tackles are slow off the ball or a hair behind on the count and those ends give you nightmares. These linebackers, like I said, they fly around and make plays and their secondary is a group that although banged up a little bit, plays hard and plays fast and plays tough."
The Chiefs always talk about starting fast but this is one of those games where starting slow can be an absolute killer. If the Chiefs are down by two scores early, those defensive ends will harass Manning Cassel all day. Once you're down against the Colts, they have you right where they want you. They were designed to rush the quarterback often (which implies you have a lead often) and bend but don't break.
I really like the Colts defense in theory. Of course, by the numbers they're 15th against the pass and 29th against the run. I think the latter of those two can be very important if the Chiefs can avoid getting put into a hole early.