Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Anthony Richardson's BREAKOUT Propels Indianapolis Colts to Victory vs. New York Jets!

Starting point is 00:00:01 This is what we have been waiting for. The Colts showed that they got the gumption to make a fourth quarter comeback and win. And it was made possible by Anthony Richardson's return and putting the team on his back and making it happen. Let's get to it. You are locked on Colts. Your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. All right.

Starting point is 00:00:33 Thanks for tuning in and making us your first post-game lesson of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the show, everybody. This is Jake Arthur and Zach Hicks of HorseshoeHuddle.com. I am your resident media member for the site, and Zach is the enemy of all old and irrelevant men who just scream at the clouds. And today we are here to celebrate an Indianapolis Colts victory.

Starting point is 00:01:10 That's right, 28-27 in the Meadowlands on the road against Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets. The Colts are now 5-6, and this game really kept their postseason hopes alive. Obviously, if they play like they do today, it makes things a lot more interesting down the stretch. But Zach, this was a game they could not lose. You lose this game, you're probably going into a wood chipper next week against the Detroit Lions. You're then 4-8 at that point. You couldn't have lost this game. And this was all made possible by the return of Anthony Richardson

Starting point is 00:01:38 from his two-week timeout. He was made to kind of fine-t tune and work on the finer details that a quarterback needs to. And God, Zach, he looks so much more calm and confident. The game plan Shane Steichen drew up for him, I thought was beautiful. In the first half, they went really run heavy, including Richardson and Jonathan Taylor. And then in the second half, when that was no longer possible, they had the confidence to go ahead and go back to that downfield passing game. And it looked way less chaotic than it had throughout most of the early part of the season.

Starting point is 00:02:20 Yeah. I mean, this was everything you were looking for as a Colts fan. I'm not saying beating the New York Jets by one point is what you're looking for. Obviously, yeah, a win is a win. But again, you have higher expectations for this team and what these guys can do. And it wasn't a pretty day for a good bit of the day. I mean, it was really pretty in the first quarter and it was pretty in the fourth quarter, but it wasn't pretty in quarters two and three. But look, at the end of the day, man, Anthony Richardson put this team on his back, made humongous plays down the stretch.

Starting point is 00:02:43 I mean, delivering perfect passes down the field. The touchdown of Josh Downs, a fantastic throw. The deep shot to Alec Pierce just before the two-minute warning that made all of us go, oh my gosh, we might have a chance to win this thing. Just plays like that were just so instrumental in this Colts win. Two rushing touchdowns inside the five-yard line from him in this game. He was the reason why the Colts win two rushing touchdowns inside the five yard line from him in this game he was the reason why the Colts won this game obviously there's other players we can talk about I think Shane Steichen called a pretty good game too despite you know some inconsistencies there in the second and third quarter uh and the defense made a couple plays here and there but at the end of the day

Starting point is 00:03:18 this was your quarterback winning you a football game and with how the season was going for Anthony Richardson those first couple starts, I mean, the first half of this season, you know, an expectation like this felt like out the window, you know, like the standard, like the standard we were hoping for was just be fine, you know, be fine, don't commit too many turnovers, be fine out there, and give these other guys a chance to win. But no, this was Richardson putting the team on his back. This was him playing fantastic football. I mean, 20 of 30 in this game, 66% completion percentage, 272 yards, a touchdown passing, two rushing touchdowns as well.

Starting point is 00:03:55 I mean, this was, I put it on Twitter, like, not only for Anthony Richardson, not only for Shane Steichen, but for every single Colts fan out there. This is exactly what we needed today. I have not been this pumped up about a Colts win in years, man. And I know I can't speak for all Colts fans because I am just not a, you know, quote unquote Colts fan. Like I more so work covering the team, but I do invest in this team winning.

Starting point is 00:04:21 And I have not been this pumped up on a Sunday in years, man. I've not been this excited in so long because this was really the game where you could see it all coming together for Anthony Richardson in terms of the accuracy was there, in terms of the big play was there, in terms of the rushing threat in the red zone. I mean, I don't want to get too crazy here because I'm not trying to make the one-to-one comparison because again, Richardson needs to stack good performances. But today I felt like I was watching Cam Newton out there. Like this felt like a Cam Newton type game, just lasers all over the field, pinpoint accuracy,

Starting point is 00:04:54 running over people in the red zone and scoring touchdowns when they needed it. And then dragging his team back down eight points in the fourth quarter. I mean, again, I'm not declaring Anthony Richardson this perfect quarterback right now because it's been a crazy season and we're weird where we're at right now with this team. But this was everything we needed from this quarterback right now. The environment around him wasn't perfect. There were a couple of drops. The offensive line was not good.

Starting point is 00:05:18 The run game for the first time all year with him was not good. And he made it work, man. He made it work. So Anthony Richardson, man, awesome, awesome game. I'm so happy that he was able to have this type of performance out there. And hopefully he can stack great games like this. I mean, oh man, it's just everything we needed from Anthony Richardson. I'm so excited. I said it right before he got benched. I said, just give me one game, man. Give me one game that I can hang my hat on and be excited about. And I will give you as much time as possible because I, you know, I had you QB one in your draft class. I was all about the Colts drafting you from day one. And, you know,

Starting point is 00:05:54 it's been a crazy season this year, but I really was about just playing him through this stuff. I just needed one game from him that I could really hang my hat on. And this was the game. This was the game from Anthony Richardson, like more so than that Rams game from him that I could really hang my hat on. And this was the game. This was the game from Anthony Richardson. Like more so than that Rams game last year that we were all excited about, more so than the Houston game to start this season. This was, I mean, again, some inconsistencies in quarters two and three, but this was his best game as a passer in the NFL. This was a good game running the ball.

Starting point is 00:06:21 And then he delivered in the fourth quarter when the Colts needed it. This was what the Colts wanted when they drafted Anthony Richardson so man this was perfect this was this was so great to see man it was like I'll let you talk here Jake because I know I'm just going on spiel but I feel so juiced up and excited right now like my mouth is moving you know a mile per minute right now no I mean thets last win, October 20th against the Dolphins. This didn't feel like that. You know, it was a win, but it did not feel like this.

Starting point is 00:06:50 This was so much different than what we had seen throughout the season. Again, like career highs across the board, single game career highs for Anthony and yardage. I mean, his YPA wasn't career high, but 9.1. And it wasn't just all based on a few shot plays. It was like legitimately throughout the game. He was getting those a great game

Starting point is 00:07:13 from him. 66.7% passing is like a wild stat for him. But this just looked like a totally different quarterback, like two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter, six plays, 70 yards, eight plays, 70 yards, making all the big plays when they needed to happen. You know, again, like the Alec Pierce play. This was a game where instead of there being just like a couple plays here or there where you're like, oh, that was that was a nice play. Like, let's see if he can do anything else. This game was full of big plays. Like, what was your favorite

Starting point is 00:07:45 anthony richardson play from this game there's a ton to choose from uh i i thought it was just a simple like i don't even remember if it i think it resulted in the first down but the throw to josh downs where he was basically in the air and side-armed it in the grasp of a defender that was an otherworldly throw like he he makes some short-ish throws look just so remarkable sometimes uh so this was awesome from him you mentioned that alec pierce deep shot late in the game off the pump fake pinpoint accuracy this was just such a great game i'm also like i i think this was great from shane steichen as well and hopefully this is a sign of things to come this year. I felt like they were just trying to do too much with him or just put him into a role that he maybe wasn't comfortable with in the early part of the

Starting point is 00:08:34 season. And this one, it felt like they threw caution to the wind. They're like, you know what? If we want the best out of Anthony, we're going to have to run him up the middle. We're going to have to let him use his body and get in harm's way.

Starting point is 00:08:47 Guess what? That's when he's at his best. I mean, I thought they did a great job, you know, rollouts, moving the pocket, letting him throw without just being stationary.

Starting point is 00:08:56 And I mean, the offensive line helped with that because they allowed quite a bit of pressure, but no, this was great. I mean, some, some hiccups from Anthony, you know, a couple throws that he should have pressure, but no, this was great. I mean, some, some hiccups from Anthony,

Starting point is 00:09:05 you know, a couple throws that he should have back. You know, the two point conversion to to Mo was a little past his grasp. The Kylan Granson one early Shane had a couple of hiccups here or there, but overall, this is the first win in a while where you have like true, true optimism for what's to come next. We might have to hit a quick pause on that with the Lions game next week, but maybe it's a shootout. That would be at least nice. Just do more than what the Jags did today, I think. Yeah, just build off this and be competitive as you can be in that game.

Starting point is 00:09:38 I'm not expecting the world out of this. I'm not expecting the world out of Richardson or Steichen every week. I don't want perfection from these guys. They're still, I mean, Steichen's still in year two as a head coach. Richardson's not even through like a full season's worth of games started yet in his career. So expecting perfection was never the correct call with this tandem. But expecting better than what they were doing earlier this season, I think, was very much

Starting point is 00:10:02 in the realm of, you know, realistic expectations for these guys. And what we saw today was, again, not perfect, but it was everything you needed to get a win. And I don't care if it's against a three-win Jets team. A win is a win in the NFL. Go out there, deliver, put points on the board, and win the game. And we saw in this one when everything still wasn't perfect around Richardson. Again, the run game wasn't there. The offensive line probably had their worst game of the season in terms of just overall effectiveness in the run and pass game. And Richardson made it work. So the most optimistic game I've seen from Anthony Richardson in the NFL,

Starting point is 00:10:37 I hope he can stack this going forward and we can go into this next offseason being like, the way he finished the year was pretty strong. And that'll be such a great building block for this Colts team and Colts organization. But as of right now, man, I'm just pumped that we got this type of performance from Anthony Richardson. Really excited that he was able to put together as a passer, as a rusher, rushing threat in the red zone and got the Colts that win. I mean, again, down eight points in the fourth quarter against anyone in the NFL is a tall task. And he was able to erase that deficit immediately. I mean, those two drives in the fourth quarter were quick drives to go down and score. And the Colts got the win because of

Starting point is 00:11:14 his play. So man, Anthony Richardson, this is everything you wanted from him when the Colts drafted him and everything you've been just waiting for these last two years. Yeah, love it. This is exactly what the Colts needed. This is exactly what the fans needed in this one. Coming up next, we're going to talk about Anthony's supporting cast, but we're still going to probably find ways to talk more about Anthony as well. PrizePix is the best place to get real money sports action. With over 10 million members and billions of dollars in awarded winnings, PrizePix has made daily fantasy sports accessible to all. You just pick more or less on at least two players for a shot to win up to 100 times your cash.

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Starting point is 00:12:57 which rightfully so. The Jets coming into the game boasted the 25th-ranked defense. They'd given up 334 yards on the ground in the two weeks previous combined, including, you know, against the Cardinals, which, you know, the Cardinals had their best game of the year. So obviously when you've got Anthony Richardson, Jonathan Taylor, you want to run the ball. Taylor, though, 24 carries for just 57 yards, 2.4 average.

Starting point is 00:13:23 That's his worst game of the year, at least productive. Now he did leave. I don't want to like speculate or anything. He did leave the game briefly. It looked like to get his foot or ankle taped up again. Didn't quite look the same after that, but again, the blocking wasn't there either. So, I mean, we'll, we'll see further from there. If there's anything about that, maybe not, but just an observation I had. But despite that, you know, they kept trying to hammer the ball, you know, through the second and third quarters. It just was coming up empty. And luckily, we've seen them be stubborn before, but they said, you know, we're just going to have to put this on Anthony's arm and see what he can

Starting point is 00:14:01 do. Yeah, I think the game plan was the correct game plan for sure in this one. Come out, run the football, and really test this Jets defense that had 20 missed tackles last week and is one of the bottom 10 defenses in football against stopping the run. But credit to the Jets defense. They came out with a commitment to stopping the run. I guess they knew what the Colts were going to do coming into this game. And I think a big part of this was just Quinn and Williams versus Tanner Bortolini and Dalton Tucker up the middle. They just couldn't

Starting point is 00:14:29 get any push on him. A lot of their trap runs and their misdirection runs just had no traction because they were just getting blown up so quickly up the middle. So I think, you know, the Colts just really had to adjust from that game plan. Now, again, they also shot themselves in the foot quite a bit in the second and third quarters when it came to drop snaps when it came to early sacks it came to penalties and that put them behind the eight ball and it led to that stagnation of the offense in quarters two and three to where like yeah they still wanted to run the ball but they were running the ball on second and 18 for three yards and then getting into like third and 15 and that's just not productive football at that point uh so they had to open up with the passing game in the fourth quarter.

Starting point is 00:15:07 And luckily, you know, Josh Downs stepped up. Alec Pierce stepped up. Michael Pittman Jr. rebounded after a bad first half and really stepped up there in the fourth quarter. So, you know, this could have been one of those dreadful days where we're talking like, again, Shane Syken just running into a brick wall over and over again. But the way that they were able to adjust in that fourth quarter and open up the passing game with vertical passing elements

Starting point is 00:15:28 with you know deep over routes that really you know stress the zone defense of the Jets I think was a really good designed offense by Shane Steichen so really really positive showing in that fourth quarter and again Josh Downs and Alec Pierce proving to be two really good receivers for this Colts offense I mean Downs is kind of your do-it-all type guy, but Pierce, man, those couple big plays that he had really propelled this team to victory. So hats off to the pass catchers. I mean, again, I know Pittman had a couple drops, but the pass catchers aside from that, I think were pretty darn good in this game.

Starting point is 00:16:01 Yeah, so some guys had some issues with, you know, finishing plays in the passing game, which has kind of become routine for them throughout the season, but I think everybody really stepped up. Downs especially, five catches for 84 yards in the touchdown. I mean, great play by Anthony as well, but, you know, the ability to create yards after the catch suddenly after the catch, like Downs can do that. He's a guy that just turns five, six yards into 10, 11 yards in the first down. So, awesome from him. Pierce, like you mentioned, great second half. Three catches for 74 yards.

Starting point is 00:16:34 That's actually below his season yards per catch. I think he's averaging like 21, 22. Pittman, obviously, I think we all can kind of bellyache about the you know dropped pass that hit him in the helmet you know at the end of the the two-minute warning in the first half I mean that that took three points away from them probably but he rebounded well five catches for 46 yards made some tough plays when he needed to down the stretch A.D. Mitchell this is one we'll probably want to wind up talking more about one catch for yards, beat Sauce Gardner on a drag route across the left, and high-stepped out of Gardner's tackle attempt

Starting point is 00:17:12 and got it all the way down to the one-yard line. With how comfortable and confident Mitchell is now playing on the heels of his breakout performance last week, you've got to find ways to get him more involved. I know they're four deep at receiver now, but I mean, you know, Ashton Doolin is out there getting some snaps. I mean, Pittman's your top receiver. He's making well north of $20 million a year. You know, Pierce sees a lot of snaps as well, but you've got to find ways for Mitchell to be more involved because

Starting point is 00:17:41 he's an explosive player. He offered yards after the catch, which Josh Downs is the only other receiver that does that for you. So however they can find those vacant snaps, maybe Mitchell's the guy that's got to take those over. Yeah, I do agree. I think that was my biggest coaching complaint in this game was just got to get more snaps for A.D. Mitchell out there. I know he had some struggles to start the season, but the way he played last week, the way he played, and those couple snaps against the Vikings,

Starting point is 00:18:09 and then what he did early in this game, I really think you've got to utilize his ability to separate, especially now that he's starting to catch the ball when the ball is being targeted to him. So I do think the Colts need to get him involved a little bit more still, especially go to more three-by sets and, and just isolate him backside. I think there were some prime opportunities where, Hey, sauce gardeners on one side, we can get 80 Mitchell isolated with DJ Reed on the other side, three by one, and just let him do his thing. I think that could have led to some more success in some of these third downs that we saw earlier in the game. Uh, but look at the end of the day, the Colts still won. So I can't

Starting point is 00:18:43 complain too much about it. Uh, but I do think, you know, I understand why the snaps came down a little bit for Mitchell because this was a run heavy game plan. And his biggest weakness is he's not a great run blocker. Whereas Pierce and Pittman and even Doolin to a degree, I know he had a holding penalty in this game, but Doolin as well are better run blockers. But I still think you got to get a guy like A.D. Mitchell out there to just use his separation a little bit, especially in the red zone. I think if you want to actually be more efficient throwing the ball in the red zone, you got to get someone like AD Mitchell out there. But that was really my only big coaching complaint. Again, I like the run heavy game plan early.

Starting point is 00:19:16 I like the adjustment. I liked a lot of the vertical stuff they were doing in the passing game and, and, you know, not putting too much on Richardson's played early in this one, which let him really get into the game and then rip it late in the game. So pretty good stuff, pretty good stuff from this Colts offense, not perfect whatsoever, but good enough to get away. I mean, you can't complain about 28 points in NFL game. Like that's, that's a good total in an NFL game against any defense. So I will totally take 28 points for sure. Especially when your defense didn't get you any turnovers in this one. So you didn't get any short fields to put up 28 points like pretty naturally and a good good amount of their drives getting to the other side of the field pretty pretty happy

Starting point is 00:19:54 with the Colts offense in this game yeah the defense has carried the Colts for a month plus now it seems and you know it finally gave way, the Colts offense was able to pick up things this time around, but yeah, we're going to talk more about that defense here in just a moment. Get ready to tackle the NFL action with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook, because right now, new customers, you guys can bet $5 and get $150 back in bonus bets if you win. The FanDuel Sportsbook app gives you everything that you need to place live bets on the NFL

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Starting point is 00:20:49 Went up to four and a half before kickoff. I was like, I don't know. Like, I don't know why the Jets are so favored in this one, but the Colts proved them wrong. And whatever week it is, if you agree or disagree with whatever the lines are, just visit FanDuel.com to join today. And you'll get started with $150 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet. That's FanDuel.com. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with FanDuel,

Starting point is 00:21:13 an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. All right, so this defense, like you mentioned, some of the things they've been able to do really well in recent weeks is get to the quarterback, you know, not sacks and huge gobs, but enough to be disruptive. They're getting takeaways. In this one, they were not able to take the ball away, but they had Aaron Rodgers pressured plenty. There were some really maddening moments. There are times where you say, why is the linebacker on the ground right here while someone is running past them? There were some missed tackles at times. And when Kenny Moore left the field for a moment, it opened up a wide open opportunity for Brees Hall to get his

Starting point is 00:21:55 first touchdown of the game. He had two long ones in back-to-back drives for the Jets essentially to kick off and start the second half of them, which was awesome. But there were some guys who stood out really well. Jalen Jones did have a couple gaps when it came to tackling, but five tackles, two pass breakups officially. I had him with three. I thought he was big. He helped end drives and help make that Jets offense really clunky and effective early on in the

Starting point is 00:22:26 game. He was one of them. And then a couple other guys, the pass rushers, Quidipe, Colt Game, two sacks there on the final drive with under a minute left when the Jets are trying to just get a field goal, which as we know against the Colts defense late in the game, teams can do that. Latu, I thought had a really good game as well, had a sack, couple tackles for loss and three quarterback hits. So there were some guys that really stood game teams can do that a lot of people I thought had a really good game as well had a sack a couple tackles for loss and three quarterback hits so there were some guys that really stood out in this one on the defensive side of the ball yeah I think the the biggest takeaway for the defense in this one is everything that defined their their hot stretch that they were on which was turnovers

Starting point is 00:22:58 good red zone defense not giving up explosive plays and the lack of miscommunications like communication had been really good on defense I think all of those things became issues today like the red zone defense was certainly not good enough uh they didn't get the turnovers that they've been getting the last couple weeks a lot of their touchdowns they gave up or miscommunications and they gave up a couple big plays like they weren't these deep vertical shots but big plays in the run game big plays on checkdowns that, again, miscommunications, no one picking up the running back and scoring touchdowns on those plays. So I do think that there were a lot more issues with the defense in this game than there were

Starting point is 00:23:33 in the past couple weeks. But overall, I don't think it was a terrible game from the defense. It was certainly below average for what we have come to expect in the second half of the season so far, but it wasn't like an awful day from the defense. They got that big fourth down stop. I mean, for the, pretty much the entirety of the first half, they were shut down until that last drive. Last drive was not good. And then they had a pretty bad stretch after that. But they were, you know, they gave the Colts the opportunity to gain a lead in the first half. So you have to give them credit for that. And they

Starting point is 00:24:03 stood tall in that final drive, at least, I mean, held them to a field goal in the second to gain a lead in the first half. So you have to give them credit for that. And they stood tall in that final drive, at least. I mean, held them to a field goal in the second to last drive and then got off the field on that final drive. So overall, not a great day for the defense that you want to write home about, but still a good enough performance to obviously get the win. You want to see better, for sure. You know, if you're having these issues this week against the Jets offense, which have been kind of anemic at times,

Starting point is 00:24:24 I mean, you're getting the buzz saw next week. Like this is the premier offense in football next week with one of the best offensive lines, the best running back tandem, a quarterback who's playing well, the sun God himself at receiver and Amin Ross, St. Brown, like this is a really good offense you're about to face. So you don't want to, you want to, you know, clear up some of the issues they had. But I will say one thing really quick, though, is the Colts had basically been making their living these past five games on confusion pre-snap in terms of, you know, we're going to stack everyone at the line of scrimmage, we're going to show blitz, we're going to bail out of that, or we're going to bring everybody and we're going to, you know, force your quarterback

Starting point is 00:25:01 into hesitation. And that little bit of hesitation is going to lead to sacks and turnovers and just disruption for our defense. Well, the one thing that Aaron Rodgers is still kind of good at as a veteran quarterback is understanding what's coming at him and just getting that ball out on little flare outs and like quick screens and stuff like that was really where the Colts issue was on defense today was so many plays where they're showing the things that they were doing so well these past couple weeks that led to turnovers from Josh Allen, from Sam Darnold, from CJ Stroud. And they were showing those things.

Starting point is 00:25:33 And Rodgers has just been doing this for so long that that ball is out to Devontae Adams on a little flare route one yard from the line of scrimmage for a 10-yard gain on third and four. And it was kind of stuff like that in the second half that really burdened them. But they bounced back on the final drive, got off the field, got the Colts the win. So, you know, a lot of things to really adjust for the defense, obviously, going forward. But again, finally, the Colts offense carried the defense for a win. You know, a lot of the wins this year for the Colts have been their defense propelling the offense. This year was the offense holding up the defense.

Starting point is 00:26:06 So we'll take it. We will gladly take it. Now, one of these weeks, hopefully they can get both of these guys on the same page and get a victory that's more than one point or two points or whatever. But I will take victories at this point from the Colts. So, look, again, they did enough to get the win. The Colts' offense obviously was able to put it away late.

Starting point is 00:26:24 So we'll take it we'll take it got to be better next week but we will take it for sure no I think the defense I mean they at least had a stretch where they were playing really well in the first half like the Jets had three first downs in the first half and they didn't get it really until late uh their their drives were as the game started punt three and out punt three and out punt three and out, uh, turnover on downs for plays punt three and out. And then they scored their first touchdown at the end of the first half. So the defense did it, gave the offense that, that room to establish that 13 to zero lead. And that helped the Colts relinquish that lead, but this game

Starting point is 00:27:04 probably doesn't wind up being a victory without that breathing room in the first half. So it was a complimentary football throughout the game, but they did it enough in the first half. And the offense, just the thing, I think I'm going to hang my hat on most, aside from Anthony Richardson becoming a totally different player in this game, is the offense and Shane Steichen changed their approach when it wasn't working.

Starting point is 00:27:33 And what they did, did work and allowed them to win. It's just, we saw so many things today that personally, I didn't have confidence could happen. And I told you before we went on here in the fourth quarter I had my Colts lost the game after giving up a two-score lead or I had that written I had to rewrite my article basically right at the end of the game so the the Colts proved proved me wrong I think they proved a lot of us uh wrong today and that's awesome yeah I think the biggest takeaway obviously from this game is just

Starting point is 00:28:05 look the colts season was on the line down eight points going into the fourth quarter like if they lose this game then they run into the buzzsaw next week which is the lions they could have been sitting at what four and eight or five and eight whatever it is four and eight i think they're five and six now so they would have been four and eight four and eight is season over yeah basically would have been season over You would have had to win out to even have a minor chance at the playoffs. So you needed to win this game. And they basically still need to win out in a lot of ways aside from that Lions game. That's like their only little buffer.

Starting point is 00:28:35 But their season was on the line, down eight points going into the fourth quarter. And their 22-year-old quarterback, who they had benched a couple weeks ago and brought back for this game, was able to lead two quick touchdown drives to get the win against one of the great, I mean, look, I'm not trying to oversell this by saying Rodgers is still currently one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, but it's still Aaron Rodgers. Like it's still one of the league's greatest quarterbacks to ever play. One of the best fourth quarter comeback artists of all time. Yeah. And he's, he's certainly still not that right now. He's on in the twilight of his career, but

Starting point is 00:29:09 this young quarterback coming back from being benched was able to take all that in, put together his best performance of his entire career and lead an eight point comeback victory in the fourth quarter against again, a quarterback who is a legend in his own right. So this was everything we needed. Like, this was the perfect Sunday for Colts fans, for us here at Locked On Colts. This was every single thing we needed from this Colts team in this one. Now, again, the big step, the big next step for this team is let's stack some performances. Let's stack good offensive performances and feel really good about Richardson going into

Starting point is 00:29:42 this next offseason or, heck, even the playoffs if they really get rolling. I'm not saying it's completely out the window, but, you know, it's still a possibility for this team. But just keep stacking the good games and let's go from here, man. They can still salvage all the chaos of this season in this final stretch of games. And if they keep performing like they did today, maybe a little bit better on defense and a little bit cleaner in the second and third quarters of games. But if they keep performing like they did today, maybe a little bit better on defense and a little bit cleaner in the second

Starting point is 00:30:05 and third quarters of games. But if they can just stack games like this, we can feel really good going into this next off season about this Colts team and about Anthony Richardson, Shane Steichen, and dare I say his name, Chris Ballard, like going into the off season,

Starting point is 00:30:19 I think we can feel a little bit better about this team. So great win again, 28, 27. We were, it was by the skin of our teeth out there and it didn't look great for majority of the day, but Colts got the win. Anthony Richardson put the team on his back and they were able to keep their playoff hopes,

Starting point is 00:30:35 rather slim playoff hopes, but still keep their playoff hopes alive in this crazy, crazy season. So I'm feeling good, man. I'm feeling good. I'm feeling energized. I want to give you a second to say anything that you want to say here before we get out of here but like I'm feeling pumped right now dude I'm so pumped up right now now I know November's are often not

Starting point is 00:30:54 often around here you know the the optimism dwindles because you're normally on your veteran quarterback rotation but we can feel really good going to this one. Even going into the lions game, like there's not an expectation of winning, but like be competitive or have some sort of heartbeat on offense would be great. But are not Colts fans at the W go eat some chili, drink some beer and let's move on to the next one. Let's do it.

Starting point is 00:31:18 Let's do it. Let's just enjoy this week. Like, let's not even think about the lions until next Sunday. Let's just enjoy this week of what we got out of Anthony Richardson. We got the biggest glimmer of hope we've gotten since drafting him in terms of performance on the field.

Starting point is 00:31:32 And this was everything we wanted. So let's celebrate this week. Let's be excited this week before we get ready for this next game against the Lions and then this final stretch of the season after that. So we want to thank you guys, though, for making Locked On Culture first. Listen today and every day. Now if you're a second, listen,

Starting point is 00:31:46 go find the new locked on NFL. Now with two shows every single day, first, the madman Tyler Rowland kicks off your morning with a double shot of NFL espresso, and then stop by the barbershop with Tony Wiggins for some real NFL talk, find locked on NFL on YouTube, wherever you list your podcast. And if you guys want to become a locked on Colts insider and chat with us

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Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Anthony Richardson's BREAKOUT Propels Indianapolis Colts to Victory vs. New York Jets!

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