Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Analyzing the Indianapolis Colts' 1-3 start with George Bremer of The Herald Bulletin

Episode Date: October 7, 2021

On today's episode, Evan is joined by The Herald Bulletin's George Bremer to analyze the Indianapolis Colts' 1-3 start. First up, they go over what happened during the Colts' 27-17 win over the Miami Dolphins.Who are some players who are showing positive or negative signs through the first four weeks?Closing out the show, we do a quick preview and prediction of a huge Monday Night Football matchup against the Baltimore Ravens. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello everybody, welcome into your latest episode of Locked On Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Today is always your host, Evan Sattery, joined by George Bremmer, the Colts B-R-I for the Herald Bulletin. George, how are you doing today? Good, Evan. Good to talk to you again. Yeah, George is going to join us every Tuesday as he has the last couple weeks throughout the regular season. We're talking this time for a Colts win, 27-17 over the Miami Dolphins.

George, what was your takeaway from that game? Because we were talking a little bit off the air before we just started. What an ugly first half that was. Unless you enjoy watching bad football, that was just a really ugly first half. The second half got a little bit better. The Colts kind of found a rhythm on offense. And we kind of saw the reasons why the Colts did not want to bring back Jacoby Berset as their starter a couple years ago with the way he played on Sunday.

What was your overall general thoughts on a much-needed win for the Colts yeah very much much need win for the Colts I think the biggest takeaway for me was the run game you know we knew this before going into Sunday but this is a different team when they get Jonathan Taylor going when he makes big plays it just seems to energize the entire offense they're able to do other things you know away from the run game it slows down the pass rush uh you know whenever he has a day like he did Sunday it just seems the Colts are better as an overall football team and I thought that first drive of the third quarter really kind of set the tone I know that you know the Dolphins kind of

give them a gift there and extended it but it was good to see the Colts take advantage of that for a change. I think that was probably the number two takeaway was just that they capitalized on opportunities. If you go back through the first three weeks, one common thread was, you know, not taking advantage of takeaways from the defense, not taking away of dumb penalties by the other team, you know, leading points on the field. And it happened a little bit again on Sunday, but I thought more than at any other point this year, they were able to finish drives and, you know,

make the opponent pay for their mistakes. Yeah, that really was the case for the Colts, especially when we saw them capitalize off those turnovers from the Dolphins. And Jacoby Brissett, like I mentioned, had a pretty rough go of it until the last little bit where I think the Colter players really soft coverage allowing them to get down the field a little bit in those last few possessions. But it was nice to see, George, a continuation

of Carson Wentz playing really smart football outside of that one interception on the shuttle pass against the Los Angeles Rams, which I don't really think was Wentz's fault. It was more so Aaron Donald being Aaron Donald there. I can't even think of many turnover-worthy plays from Carson Wentz so far this year, George, which says a lot about the way he's changing things as a quarterback, not really putting everything on his shoulders. Do you like the way that Wentz has played so far? And do you want him to open it

up more though? Because I feel like he is kind of being a little conservative. What's your opinion of the way that Wentz played on Sunday, but also over these first four games? Yeah, honestly, the fact that he has just one interception might be one of the biggest surprises to me. And like you said, really kind of a fluke interception in a situation where Aaron Donald made a play that probably only Aaron Donald makes and set up a play for his teammate.

And again, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I can't think of a lot of other throws that should have been intercepted. A lot of times there's two numbers there. There's the number of interceptions the quarterback's thrown, and then there's the number of turnover-worthy throws that that quarterback has made, and I'm sure there's a few if you go back and break down the tape,

but it doesn't stand out. There's not real obvious times where he's put the ball in harm's way. He does, I think, need to get more aggressive. We saw a little bit of that in the second half, but I think some of that has to do with the struggles on the offensive line, too. You know, I think he's taking what the defense is giving him to some extent, but he's also understanding they've got to get rid of the ball quickly. You know, the Colts are struggling still up front. He got hit a lot again in the Miami game. They were able to overcome it more than they have for most of the first month

of the season. But it didn't change the fact that he was still beaten up, still sacked, I think, twice, hit nine or ten times again, which has been a weekly thing. I honestly think if you had told me at the beginning of the year that through four weeks he would be sacked, I think, 11 times and hit 40 times, and that the run game would be start and stop and not consistent at all I would have thought that his numbers would look a lot different because that was one of the big problems he had in Philadelphia last year when things were going

poorly for that team and especially on offense he started trying to play hero ball trying to force throws that it led to turnovers both interceptions and fumbles, which he really hasn't had a problem with that so far either. All those hits, you haven't seen the strip sacks that you've seen in the past. We'll see where it leads. I'm optimistic that as the offensive line gets healthy and as they start to gel together, they get guys back, they start to play together as a unit again,

you'll start to see him taking more shots. It's reminiscent to me of Andrew Luck in 2018 during that one-and-five start when Anthony Costanzo was gone for most of that stretch, and the offensive line was rough. You saw him, you know, a lot of checkdowns, taking care of the ball. When they went nine-and-one down to finish, with the exception of that crazy game in Jacksonville. You saw a lot more down the field throwing from luck, but once he got that protection, he was more willing to take those shots. I think we'll see the same thing with Carson Wentz eventually this year.

Speaking of Wentz, he had a really good game, 24-32, two touchdowns. Can't really think of any sort of plays that were out of the ordinary for Wentz in terms of getting the ball in harm's way. I went in on one of his top weapons, and he's definitely building the rapport with him, especially over the last two or three weeks. Michael Pittman Jr. had a really nice game. Six catches, he had eight targets as well. George is on pace for 153 targets this year. Michael Pittman Jr. is definitely smashing the expectations I thought he would be

as far as a focal point in the passing attack so far this year. We know Carson Wentz loves those big body receivers as well. What's been your assessment of Michael Pittman Jr. so far? His tenacity when he's catching the ball and running is something that the Colts offense really hasn't had in a very long time out of wide receiver. I can't really remember if anyone's really been like Pittman as far as the way he plays the game at wide out, but then you see just his long-term potential. Even when T.Y. Hilton's back, George, I really hope they don't take away those targets away from Pittman because far as the way he plays the game at wide out. But then you see just his long-term potential. Even when T.Y. Hilton's back, George, I really hope they don't take away those targets away from Pittman because I think he's establishing himself right now as a guy who's becoming

reliable where you can get him seven, eight to ten targets per game and feel pretty comfortable he's going to haul in about seven or eight of those every single week. I think this is a guy to me right now who's ascending right before our eyes. What's your thoughts on Pittman? No, I agree with everything you said. I think that physical element that he brings to the game is so unique both in terms of the history of this football team but on this roster in particular

too I mean we all know Zach Paschal's not afraid to get in there and put his nose in the middle of things and be physical and block and you know be that guy Ashton Doolin has shown signs of that but it feels like Pittman takes it to even another level. On a team with some physical wide receivers, he is the most physical of the bunch. Sometimes it almost looks like he's looking for contact after he gets the ball in his hands. You know, and I think that's something that it sets a tone. I mean, he's bigger than a lot of these defensive backs,

and I don't think he's a lot of fun to tackle. You get in the fourth quarter, I can imagine as a cornerback, you're kind of hoping Wentz looks somewhere else. You're probably tired of getting hit and dealing with that guy all day long. And it'll be interesting to see what kind of toll that takes as the season goes on, whether you see him, you know, become a bigger and bigger part of these fourth quarters as defenses get tired and get sick of seeing him. It's been out of character for a Frank Reich offense.

I mean, not even just here, going back when he was the offense coordinator with the Chargers during his time with the Eagles. Very seldom have they had, like, you know, for lack of a better word, a bell cow receiver. He's usually spread the ball around, one guy one week, another guy the next week. Some of this has been forced on him you know with the injuries uh Paris Campbell of course missed the game and um T.Y.

Hilton's been out the whole year you know so and I think defense has started to kind of go more Zach Paschal's way after the first couple weeks because it was obvious the initial chemistry was there between him and Wentz you know I think three touchdowns in the first two games, Pasco kind of became the guy they were worried about. And now all of a sudden it allowed the Colts to get Michael Pittman started. And I think this is three straight weeks now where he's been a leading receiver. And like you said, it looks comfortable. It looks like the right decision.

He looks like a guy who's very much on the rise and I think they love what he brings to this team that that physical kind of hammer nature I think the next step the evolution here and again it probably goes along with the offensive line getting healthy and getting back to where it needs to be but the next step is going to be for him to make some more plays downfield he's doing a really good job right now in the short and intermediate plays, getting yards off the catch. Now you want to see – he had that 142-yarder against the Rams, but I think you want to see him now get downfield,

get maybe a few more jump balls, 50-50 balls, start to win those battles. I think that's the next step in his evolution. But you're looking at a guy who's made a big leap, I think, from year one to year two, and it's been timely because he's really carried this offense at times on his back. Hey, Colts fans. This is Evan Sider with an incredible app everyone who buys gas needs to know about, GetUpside. My listeners make up $0.25 for every gallon of gas every time they fill up. Just download the free GetUpside app in the App Store or Google Play right now.

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even still to have that production after what they've done the first few weeks is an encouraging sign. And especially Molly Cox too. He had two touchdowns in the red zone. What was your assessment of the red zone offense on Sunday, George? I think Frank Reich might've came to a realization. Why don't I utilize my big weapons around the, around their end zone and Molly Cox and Michael Pittman Jr. even throw in a little bit of Jonathanathan taylor nine in mind as well and maybe this will be the kind of the knock on wood saving grace

moment for frank reich where he could he utilizes guys like pitman and molly cox especially more often in the area of the desperately to score touchdowns yeah they definitely found something with mo alley cox down there this week and i think it's something that people have been kind of wondering all year long you know why hasn't he beeneycox down there this week, and I think it's something that people have been kind of wondering all year long, you know, why hasn't he been involved more, especially down there in the red zone with his size and his physicality, and those two touchdowns, they came in different ways, you know, the last one was what you more expect to see from him, that kind of jump ball, you know, beat the defender, out jump him, get the rebound type of play for the former basketball player, the first one was more of a designed, you know, play,

get him out there on a screen, get him isolated, kind of a walk-in score type of situation. I don't know how many chances they're going to have to do that again after this week. I think he's going to draw a lot of attention down there. But I think if you look at the last two weeks, they've been better than they were in the first two weeks. And I think the biggest

reason is two guys i mean mo alley cox this week obviously getting involved and getting you know putting his stamp on things and then last week i think it was naheem hines you know he had that nine yard run i think he's a guy they need to use a little bit more in there too uh one thing that i think is interesting that we've seen a little bit last week, a lot this week, it's something people have been calling for for at least the last two years, Taylor and Hines in the backfield together. I'd like to see a little bit more of that in the red zone and see how it turns out. They've done some nice things, you know, with misdirection,

both those guys back there. They do have obvious roles, you know. I mean, there is a thunder and lightning kind of element there but I think they're unique in the sense that Taylor can catch the ball out of the backfield he is supremely quick so while he's the power guy he can still bring some of the things to the table that Hines normally does and Hines isn't afraid to go between the tackles he's not a big guy but he's not afraid to take those carries and to try to make those plays so I think it makes him a really interesting duo because you know what their

strengths are, but they can also play against type. And I think it allows you to put a lot of doubt in the defense's mind and open up a lot of things. I'll be interesting to see if that's something they do a little more of going forward. It seems like particularly in the red zone, it just gives you a chance to maybe get defenses on their heels a little bit. Last point here on the offense, George, and we'll dive into the defense and look ahead a little bit to the Ravens game

next Monday on Monday Night Football. But really a guy that stood out to me the last six or so quarters has been Chris Reed, who replaced Quentin Nelson. And the running game still did very well without Quentin Nelson on Sunday. Chris Reed had a lot to do with that. What's your opinion on once Nelson is back here in a couple weeks? You have to imagine he'll probably be back for that Sunday night game against the 49ers. He's going to be out anyways for the Ravens

and Texas game, being on short-term IR. But I really am intrigued to see Chris Reid in the next two weeks, George. If he continues playing like this at left guard, you have to be wondering if Frank Wright and Chris Bauer are thinking to themselves, why don't we make the switch and put Chris Reid at right guard over Murta Kowinski, who's really struggled mightily so far this year.

What's your opinion on that sort of decision that could be coming down the line here in a couple weeks for the Colts? Yeah, I think absolutely it's something they're going to have to look at. You know, Reid's done a good job. He gave up, I think, four pressures this week, so that was something that they're going to need to work on. But it's not like Glowinski's had a clean sheet in that regard either. And there's no doubt.

I don't remember the exact numbers right now, but when they ran to the left side on Sunday, it was far more effective than running to the right side. You know, when they went over there with Glowinski and Fisher, they were opening up holes. They were a big part of the reason that Jonathan Taylor was able to get going. And I do think, you know, for a number of reasons, the first and most important one is that Reed's playing better than Golinski.

That's where it starts. But then when you start getting into the economic factors, you know, I think Golinski's in the final year of his deal. And that offensive line has a lot of money invested in it right now. We all know that a ton of it, you know, they're going to back up a Brinks truck next year for Quentin Nelson. It might not be a terrible idea if it works out to kind of slot Chris Reed in over there. The fact that he's making that happen on the field,

I think it just highlights the economic impact of it even more. When you look at a guy who is out playing the current starter and you look at what the ramifications could be for that going forward, sort of the way Glowinski got in there to begin with you know he kind of injuries kind of opened the door and he got in there and he just took the job and kept it um you know right now their best five probably we'll see we haven't seen much of a healthy Braden Smith right now but I still would take him over the the other options at right tackle you figure the best five for this team right now probably is Eric Fisher, Quentin Nelson, Ryan Kelly, Chris Reed, and Brayden Smith.

We'll see what they do going forward. I know that they've been very loyal to guys who've been very good for them over the years, but I think you started to put pros and cons, you know, on a spreadsheet. There's a lot of reasons on that ledger in favor of Chris Reed. Yeah, definitely something to watch out for in the next couple weeks because if the Colts' ground game gets going and Chris Reid does well in pass pro better than he did on Sunday,

I think it's certainly a discussion to watch out for in the next couple weeks once Quentin Nelson is off IR. But let's dive into the defense. We had a really good game against the Dolphins. I think a couple leaks here and there in the second half. But overall, a good game against a subpar quarterback in Jacoby Bursette who looked like Jacoby of old what we saw a couple years ago what was your assessment of the defense on Sunday George I think Kamoko Ture had a massive game that was nice to see him finally get back to probably his best game we've seen since 2019 against

Kansas City Chiefs he's making Patrick Mahomes run for his life consistently how big is it for this front four especially once Quiddie Paye is healthy? If you can get a reliable other piece on the edge, like a Kamoko Ture, that's going to open up this defense even more and maybe up their potential because the Colts bet on these young guys. If Ture can hit, if Paye can hit, you have your bookends right there to go with DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart. Yeah, and absolutely.

I mean, I think Ture talked about that a little bit after the game, that, you know, they had that players-only meeting. And a big part of it was the defensive ends realizing they weren't carrying their part of this situation. You know, they weren't carrying their own weight. We talked about it through the first three weeks. You know, the defense tackles do their job. You see Grover Stewart.

You see DeForest Buckner getting involved every week. But you're not going to be able to win games. You know, that interior pressure is so important. We talk about it all the time. But it doesn't do you much good if you're not getting that compliment from the edge, and they weren't. And I think when Ture goes out and has a game like he did Sunday, it's very encouraging.

And I think it's something you can get Quiddie Paye healthy and get him out there. Tyquan Lewis played really well as well. I think he's a guy that can kind of fill in that Denico Autry role a little bit, maybe reduce inside in some of the sub-packages, but be an end when it's early in downs and especially against the run. I mean, at one time, he just rag-dolled the running back on the play. The Dolphins tried a little jet sweep, and then just nothing about it fooled Lewis.

He beat his man. He ran in there. I think he threw the guy about five yards backwards at the end of the play. It feels like they're starting to get that rotation up front that they want. They've got to get healthy. I mean, that goes for almost every unit on the roster right now. But you're seeing Lewis make plays in the run game. You're seeing Ture now make plays as a pass rusher.

I think Al-Qaeda Mohammed, who he's been his whole career here, flashes now and again, more of a run stopper. Every now and again he'll get a sack, make a big play for you. Buckner and Stewart are kind of the anchors in the middle. If they can get that consistent play on the edge, I think you're going to see the defense start to climb again. There's still some issues in the secondary. It was better this week.

There's no question about that. But I'm a little bit worried about Xavier Rhodes. I'll be honest about that. It feels like at times he's kind of in a spot where Antonio Cromartie was, what was it, 2016, I think, where you could just see that the skills were eroding. He eventually got cut after the game in London. You know, maybe it's the calf.

Maybe he's just not back to 100% healthy right now, and we'll see that kind of improve as the year goes on. But you never would have guessed four weeks into the year that Rocky Sin might be the corner you feel the best about. But I think that's the point we're at right now. Yeah, it really might be. I'm actually looking at Xavier Rhodes' advanced stats right now, George. I was just about to ask you about him, so that's a good segue into it.

Because he has not looked good in these first two games back from his injury. Like you said, maybe it is the calf. He's just taking it slow. But unlike last year, he had only allowed a 52% completion percentage last year. So far this year, it's at 78%. And in Minnesota in 2019, it was 81%. So he's looking more and more like the 2019 version of Xavier Rhodes, at least through a two-game sample size.

If that's the case, George, this pass rush is going to be so much more pressure on them because if Xavier Rhodes is going back to his last year in Minnesota in performance, this cornerback room's in trouble because you can't just not yet at least rely on Rocky Hussain to be a top cornerback in this league unless he really continues to grow throughout this season Kenny Moore we know is a great nickel corner but outside of that you have Isaiah Rogers TJ Carey who was benched before he went on IR there's not a lot of proven depth behind Xavier Rhodes, and that's the one piece on his defense, George, looking ahead a little bit to next offseason as well.

I think the Colts are in a position where whether it be the draft or in free agency, I think getting a number one cornerback is going to be probably the number one priority now. Yeah, absolutely. You know, we've talked about it before that you've got Kenny Moore and he plays his role very well, but it's a very specific role. You know, he's not going to be that guy that goes and shut down the number one

receiver every week. That's not who he is. And if you ask him to do it, it's not going to work out well. You need that, that kind of top guy to compliment him. It's why things work so well last year when Rhodes was playing the way that he did. You know, he said last year when he came in, he said injuries were the reason that he struggled in Minnesota in 2019. He healthy last year it was definitely a better year so we'll see uh you hope

that maybe as he gets healthier things will turn around but i mean really when the dolphins got going a little bit there in the fourth quarter obviously a lot of that was you know the scheme changing a little bit playing softer but you can see especially on that first touchdown drive jacoby was was picking on Xavier Rhodes. Devontae Parker was going to him on almost every snap, and it was either a big reception or a penalty, sometimes both. You know, you can't have that. I mean, obviously you can't have that kind of breakdown.

It is going to undermine what progress they're making up front. And it'll be interesting because, as you mentioned, there really isn't a lot of options. You can't really say, well, just bench him and turn to this guy. You know, you go back to 2018, I believe it was. Might have been 2017 when that happened to Vontae Davis. You know, and that's kind of how Pierre Desir came in and was the guy. They benched Davis.

They eventually cut him. And then Pierre Desir came in and had a decent year and had a good run here for a while until he kind of went down as well. But I don't see that guy. I don't know who the Pierre Desir would be on this roster right now who would step in and

play that role. I think that's, if you want to have a reason for concern with this defense going forward, that to me is the top reason to be worried. You know, getting Xavier Rhodes back to the spot where he can help this team and not hinder it, probably the most important thing over the next couple weeks. Last point on the Dolphins game, George, where we dive over to a preview of the Ravens game next Monday.

What's your assessment of the overall win on Sunday by the Colts, 27-17 over the Dolphins, where quite honestly, George, I think if it might have been Tua behind center, they might have lost that game. Or even if it played just a slightly average quarterback, I think they might have lost that game. Because I think Jacoby Bursette missed a lot of open reads on the field throughout that game.

Obviously, Dolphins couldn't really do much on the ground. They didn't have good running backs. But obviously, a win is a win in the NFL, and that Titans loss to the Jets really helped out the Colts case, but I just wasn't impressed that much by the win on Sunday, George. I know a lot of Colts fans are excited to get on the board with a win there, but I'm cautiously optimistic about that just because I don't know if that's a win you get most weeks against any other NFL team. What was your thoughts on that win? Are you on the bandwagon of, so to say, the Colts are turning it around?

Are you more so in the cautiously optimistic camp where that win probably might not have happened seven out of ten times against other teams in the league? No, I'm definitely in the cautiously optimistic camp here. You know, I don't know what to make of it. You get the win. You had to win the game, so that's a positive. There wasn't any other option there.

But, you know, the Dolphins were so futile that it's – I don't know how much you can take from it, honestly. There were things they did better that are important. You see some of that growth that we talk about, you know, especially up front on defense. You see Carson Wentz continuing to play efficient football. You get that running game going. Those are things they're going to need to do going forward.

And maybe this is a spark to kind of help out in a lot of those areas. But it's not a game that I think you feel like, you know, oh, that's the Colts team you've been waiting to see all year. I don't think it was that kind of a victory. It wasn't really close, which is good because it shouldn't have been. I think you'd be really worried had it been a really tight game down to the wire. But, yeah, I think there's a lot of other quarterbacks around the league that would have probably at least had that game much, much tighter

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Yeah, this Ravens game coming next Monday, I think it's going to be a huge litmus test to see if this Colts team is bouncing back or if they're going to be sort of in that same tier we've seen the last couple of weeks. But they're currently six and a half point there. It's what I see Baltimore is over the Colts. I don't know why, George, but I feel like this game is going to be close. I feel like the Colts cover that spread. I think it's going to be a really close game in the fourth quarter. I think the Colts match up don't know why, George, but I feel like this game is going to be close. I feel like the Colts cover that spread.

I think it's going to be a really close game in the fourth quarter. I just think the Colts match up well against this Ravens team. We saw it last year. They hung very close to that Ravens team throughout that game. I just think, obviously, Darius Leonard, his ankle is going to be fully healthy for this game because Lamar Jackson is going to run wild on this front seven, if not. But I really think if you play ball control, if you keep it out of harm's way like Carson Wentz has throughout this season,

you have a couple big moments from Pittman or Campbell or even guys like John Taylor in the ground game. I think you actually have a legit shot of winning this game. But if they do win this game, George, this is a game where you could easily turn around your season and get a lot of momentum heading into a really soft part of your schedule. Yeah, this would definitely be the turnaround game. know we're talking about the dolphins game and i it kind of reminds me a little bit going back to 2018 of that bills game that year i think they won like 36 to 5 at home and everybody said well you had to get a win and

that's great uh but not only a lot of people were celebrating uh it was a bad bills team i think they had i want to say derrick Derek Anderson was the quarterback that day. There were a lot of similarities to what happened in this Miami game. And you didn't know if it was going to start something or not. Then they went out to Oakland and they had that 200-yard rushing game. And things just started to kind of snowball from there. And I think that's what the Colts are hoping they can do again here. I do agree that I think it's a good matchup.

We saw it last year. The Colts really did about as good a job shutting down that Ravens run game in the first half as anybody has the last couple years. They let them get out and make a couple big plays in the second half. They end up losing, I think, 20-10. I think

it's a game that the Colts can keep close. I think it's a game that they can turn things around. You win this one, you can really start thinking about getting into the division race again and maybe chasing some of the things they were talking about at the beginning of the season. It won't be easily done. I think, like you said, they're going to need a healthy Darius Leonard. I think they're going to need a big game from Bobby Okereke,

who did not play poorly probably the first time this year in that Miami game. And I think this could be a week for EJ Speed, which maybe goes counter to what you would think. You get a big running team, usually get Zaire Franklin in there a little more and let him be the hammer. But because of Lamar Jackson and the athleticism that he has, I think you want to get as many athletes on the field defensively as you can have. And maybe this is a week to get EJ Speed out out there let him try to chase lamar jackson too those three running backs chasing

him could be a really entertaining thing to watch two three linebackers sorry chasing uh lamar could be really entertaining to watch yeah i totally agree to there i think this is actually a really good money in that football matchup it's unfortunate george that payton and neil aren't going to be on the broadcast for this game because I think that would have been really entertaining to see them talk about the Colts. But let me get to your prediction before we close out the show because we won't be talking to you again until next Tuesday after the Colts win or lose in Baltimore. So I know it's only Tuesday.

We've got six more days until the game, George. But what's your prediction here for Colts versus Ravens? I'm going 24-20. Ravens, I think it's going to actually be a really close game. One, it's going to be a slugfest. I assume the Ravens are just a more talented team right now than the Colts versus Ravens, I'm going 24-20. Ravens, I think it's going to actually be a really close game. One, it's going to be a slugfest. I assume the Ravens are just a more talented team right now than the Colts. What's your prediction for this one? I'm really much on the same wavelength as you.

I'm going 17-13 in favor of Baltimore. I just didn't see enough from the Colts yet to make me think they're going to go on the road and be a team that has a legitimate chance to win the AFC Championship this year. I think Baltimore's in that group. I don't know how many teams you want to put in there. The Chargers have put their name into that list pretty solidly right now. I think Kansas City will still be around when all is said and done, but I think Baltimore is one of those teams that when you start talking about potentially representing the AFC in the Super Bowl,

this is one of the teams at the top of the list. I just haven't seen enough from Indianapolis yet to feel confident that they're going to go on the road and beat a team like that. George, as always, enjoy having you on. He's going to be on each Tuesday. We're going to be opening back up the Twitter Tuesday mailbag here, I imagine, soon after the Ravens game. Go ahead and follow George, if you haven't already, on Twitter, at GMBramer, and go read his work.

He does excellent stuff covering the Indianapolis Colts for the Herald Bulletin. George, appreciate your time tonight. No problem. Thanks a lot, as always, Evan.