INDIANAPOLIS -- Indianapolis Colts punter/kicker Pat McAfee had more than his contract situation to worry about last offseason.

He was given a physical challenge by special teams coordinator Tom McMahon. McMahon wanted McAfee to improve his onside kicks.

That was a significant challenge for McAfee because he has played on winning teams most of his career going back to his college days at West Virginia, so onside kicks weren't something he was all too familiar with.

McAfee spent the offseason working on the "geometry" of onside kicking. High bounces, down the middle of the field kicks.

Over and over again.

The desire to perfect that craft has paid off for McAfee and the Colts, as they're 3-for-3 on onside attempts this season. They're the only team in the league that has successfully completed an onside kick.

"It's all about how far the ball goes," McAfee said. "If you keep the ball at 11 yards you have a better chance to get it. The further down the field the ball goes, the easier it is for the other team to get it. For instance, when we ran that surprise high bounce (against Tennessee in Week 4), I'm trying to get 3 seconds of hang time off of that, which is off the ground and up. We're at 2.9 seconds. It's about getting higher, precise location. It's a craft. For the middle dribble, I try to tap it and let it roll, let it get a clean bounce."

The goal is to get quarterback Andrew Luck and the Colts' offense, which leads the league in yards and points per game, as many extra offensive possessions as possible.

The Colts scored a touchdown two plays after McAfee successfully recovered an onside kick down the middle of the field against the Houston Texans last week.

"Momentum is everything," coach Chuck Pagano said. "We're going to play as aggressive as we possibly can. We're going to be smart and take calculated risk based on preparation and things like that."

The key to a successful onside kick, according to McAfee, is to not tip your hand. That's been easy for the Colts to do because they've lined up in an onside kick formation on every kickoff this season. They've either used a 6-by-4 formation or a 5-by-5 wide formation.

"Tom designs the scheme to make it perfect," McAfee said. "We don't know what they're going to do because they haven't seen the scheme yet. If they open up, they check with me and I say, ‘Let's go, let's do it.' Everybody else kind of adjusts and it's my job not to mess it up."

That formation is a win-win situation for the Colts because if teams are preparing for an onside kick it reduces the chances of a long return.

The longest kickoff return the Colts have given up this season has only been 32 yards in eight attempts.

"Basically we're eliminating a really good football player, which is a kickoff returner every single week, which is huge for a team," McAfee said. "We're changing the game. A lot more teams are going to do this next year probably."