There aren’t a lot of bona fide “great” teams in the AFC this season. The Indianapolis Colts, 2025’s NFL great overachievers, are probably the closest thing to that; their roster, assuming Daniel Jones holds up, has very few holes.
They’re well-rounded. But as any sailor will tell you, one hole can sink a ship if it’s big enough. And they do have one major hole: their pass defense.
Indy is allowing 235.3 pass yards per game (eighth-worst) and 127 first downs through the air (t-fifth-worst) through 11 weeks of the 2025 season. That's a far cry from their dominance in nearly every other facet of the game.
Their pass protection is solid, neither impressive nor frustrating. They move the ball well with the passing game, ranking top five in yards per attempt (7.3) and 1st downs passing (131).
Their elite running game is centered on MVP candidate Jonathan Taylor. Their run defense ranks top five in yards allowed per game (92.3). They’re sixth in field goal percentage, at 90.0+. Heck, even their seldom-used punter, Rigoberto Sanchez, is sixth with over 50 yards a boot on his NFL-low 19 punts.
Perhaps the rest of the team being so good in their areas of expertise exacerbates how bad the Colts’ pass defense looks. But with the team’s recent moves, the secondary may take on a new shine soon enough.
One major piece of that hopeful turnaround is the return from injury of cornerback Charvarius Ward. NFL Insider Ari Meirov reported on Wednesday that Indy’s big offseason acquisition (he signed for three years and $54 million in March) has been designated to return from the injured reserve.
The #Colts have designated CB Charvarius Ward (concussion) to return from IR, https://t.co/NN2EoSZWed pic.twitter.com/p6HBRMsGjM
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 19, 2025
Ward had landed on IR after suffering a concussion in a freak accident during pregame warmups about a month ago. Now, the 2023 All-Pro is back in the mix. And he’s going to have some new teammates to play with too.
Ward’s return is one of many recent developments that bolster Colts’ defensive secondary
Admittedly, pass defense had been a thorn in Indy’s side even before Ward’s injury, and a noticeable one at that.
So bothersome was it that the Colts made a big splash at the deadline to address it directly by acquiring All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner from the New York Jets for WR Adonai Mitchell and two first-round picks.
He will now line up at CB opposite another All-Pro in Ward, giving the Colts one of the best duos at the position. On top of that, do-it-all DB Kenny Moore returned from a month-long injury absence a few weeks ago as well. Throw in safety Cam Bynum, and you've got the makings of a pretty solid secondary, at least on paper.
It may be no coincidence that in Gardner’s first game with Moore also in the lineup, the Colts held the Falcons to just 150 yards passing.
That’s Indy’s best mark since they allowed just 133 yards through the air in Week 1. It's also the first time this year they’ve held teams to less than 200 passing yards in back-to-back games.
Add Charvarius Ward into the mix, and all of a sudden, a once-glaring weakness has suddenly morphed into a big strength.