Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Colts are in the playoffs, plus Jonathan Taylor's rising star

Episode Date: January 7, 2021

On today's episode, finally after weeks of technical issues with the computer (thanks, Apple Store), Stephen Reed of Stampede Blue joins Evan to go over all the latest in Colts land. From Indy clinching a playoff berth to Jonathan Taylor becoming a star running back in no time, there's a lot to catch up on.First up, who is this new version of Jonathan Taylor? After running for 600+ yards and 7 TDs over the last month, Taylor has arrived as a legit NFL RB. What's next for him? Moving forward, Taylor should be the bell cow of the Colts' offense for years to come.Diving into the playoffs, which Indy snuck in as the No. 7 seed at 11-5, what should we look out for? Heading into a huge matchup on Saturday against the Buffalo Bills, how can Indy pull off the upset?All of this, plus so much more, as Evan and Stephen dive deep on the Indianapolis Colts. Finally, Locked On Colts is back in business after weeks of technical issues and holiday delays! 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 back to the first episode of Locked On Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Today as always, your host Evan Sidery. I am back from technical issues with my computer. It's your first episode of Locked On Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Today, as always, your host, Evan Sidery. I am back from technical issues with my computer. It took about a week or so to get this fixed, but we are back on the grind right on time here. As the playoffs are now starting, the Colts are officially in.

After a while, the last couple of weeks, we were joined by Stephen Reed of Stampede Blue to talk through that, as well as a lot more goodies as well. Stephen, how are you doing as the Colts are now officially playoff band and playing Saturday in Buffalo? I'm doing fantastic. Like you said, it's great to see that they made the playoffs. Miami opened the door and gave them the opportunity. So, Colts fans, you should be grateful to Buffalo, and then now you should hate them. It's going to be a tough one Saturday for sure.

We're going to hit on that in just a moment here. But I'm remiss not to hit on this just because the last time I had you on, Steven, I feel like he was really starting to break out a little bit. But over the last couple weeks, he has really shown he's taken that leap forward in his rookie year. The rookie wall has been shattered, and he looks like a true star running back, maybe a top-five running back in the NFL at this point already, which is crazy to say after what we saw the first few months of the season.

But Jonathan Taylor closes 2020 regular season with 253 yards and 30 carries, a Colts franchise record. He now joins Marshall Falk and Edward James, the only Colts rookie running backs, with 10 touchdowns and 1,000-plus yards on the season. Taylor finishes 11 touchdowns and 1,100-plus yards as well. I mean, like I mentioned, Steve, I mean, going from where we saw him in September and October through – really, I think it was the Packers game where he turned all the momentum forward

in the second half of that game and really carried that momentum through against Vegas, Tennessee, Houston, and in Jacksonville as well. Even the Pittsburgh game where I think he was a little neglected in the second half of that one. I think that if they would have fed him more often, they might have won that game. I think it's fair to say, Steve, that Jonathan Taylor has a ride on the national scene. And looking ahead to 2021, 2022, he looks like arguably one of the best for the Mexican NFL. Yeah, I 100% agree with you.

And you go back and I was going back and looking at some of the things that I've said to about Jonathan Taylor after the draft. And one of the comparisons I made to him was actually Saquon Barkley. And I said, he's not quite as athletic as Saquon Barkley, but he's not really that far off either. And I think that's really showing in the way that he's come through. Many of us have been saying, once the season started, hey, give this guy time. He's got the talent. He's got the athleticism. He's going to be able to make plays. He just needs that experience. And it came out today um jonathan tibb is talking about how uh he had mentioned with his dad how much faster the nfl was and then finally in the most recently the last four or five weeks he said it's finally starting to slow down and now that he sees it and now that he is able to process things and he knows where he's going, and the speed of the defensive players is no longer overwhelming to him, which it is to every rookie.

And that's why training camp and those preseason games are so important to rookies, because it gets them acclimated. For Jonathan Taylor, obviously we didn't have that. And so he wasn't able to get acclimated in that same amount of time. So that's why you saw him struggle to start the season. And then now, like you said, he's really picked it up these last six, seven weeks, eight weeks, and has shown that he really has the ability to be a top five rusher. I mean, shoot, he's ranked third in the NFL in rushing.

Over the course of the season, he's got the Colts rookie record, I think, like you said, and he made a franchise record this past week with 253 rushing yards and two touchdowns. And I'd be remiss not to mention that he won the angry run of the week, so he won that scepter from Kyle Brandt in good morning football. Yeah, and with Jonathan Taylor, a crazy stat that I found just going through some stats over the last 48 hours is for rookie running backs over the last 15 years to rush for 1,000-plus yards,

10-plus touchdowns an hour, over five yards per carry, over a full 16-game season. Steven, this might blow your mind a little bit. Over the last 15 years, they are Jonathan Taylor, Saquon Barkley, Ezekiel Elliott, and Adrian Peterson in 2007. Those are the only four guys over the last 15 years to do that. And the difference here is that Jonathan Taylor was a second round pick and the other guys were all top 10 picks, which kind of shows you just the value that Chris Brown got with this pick. And looking ahead, I mean, to the future now, I mean, he looks at the Belcalos offense for the next 10 years.

Yeah, you're right, and that's 100% true. When you look at that from that perspective, the fact that Chris Ballard was able to get him that – not even with his first pick in the second round. He was able to jump ahead, and it makes you appreciate Chris Ballard and his maneuvering in the draft so much more because you know – you've got to feel like Jacksonville was going to go with Jonathan Taylor appreciate Chris Ballard and his maneuvering in the draft so much more because you know you you got to feel like Jacksonville was going to go with Jonathan Taylor there after they had let Leonard Fournette go um you you knew that that was possibility you know you just really appreciate

Chris Ballard and the franchise the Colts franchise as it's as itself really appreciates Chris Ballard which as we all learned earlier today uh Jim Irsay plans to extend Chris Ballard. So that's something I think we're going to talk about that later. But yeah, it just shows the acumen and his ability to just scout and really get good football players, but also good people that fit into this locker room and are going to be productive members of the city and of Indianapolis. Over his last six games of the regular season,

Taylor had 741 rushing yards, eight total touchdowns, and over six yards per carry, 6.2 yards per carry to be exact there. Like you mentioned, looks like a countless offense, maybe 40 or some insane numbers over that stretch from what we saw earlier in the season, Stephen. But let's just hit on real quick just the overall game from Sunday in Jacksonville, up 20 to nothing. They come out and get a little flat in the second half of that game.

How worried – were you worried at all at any point of that game when the Jaguars kind of made a run in that early part of the second half? Yeah, I was. I think all Colts fans were worried. Like anybody that says that they felt really comfortable, I mean, all right. You've got a lot more confidence than necessarily I do. I thought they would still win. But at the same time, you can't help but be worried.

Jacksonville, it was similar to what happened earlier in the year in week one versus Jacksonville, where they just played that off-cover two and just allowed the quarterback, a middling quarterback, to get going. I mean, obviously week one it was Gardner Minshew, and now it was Mike Glennon. You look at that and you go, wow, that's, come on guys. We can't, we can't have this happen. Not again, not to the Jaguars when you've got a chance.

And at that point, they all knew if they won, they were in. And so I think what concerns me the most about the Colts is that they played to the level of their competition. But that also makes me a little bit more confident going into the playoffs because you're not going to get those run of the – like, Colts just don't get blown out. Like, the Ravens game is the closest thing that really happened to them aside from the COVID game with Tennessee. You know, they play to the love of the competition. So I'm excited for what's going to happen here in the playoffs. But yeah, the game against Jacksonville,

you hope that they're going to wrap it up and get it taken care of, but you couldn't help but be a little bit worried there once they got the game to 2014 and you're going, all right, guys, come on, let's go ahead and put this one away. And then thankfully Frank Rigg went back to Jonathan Taylor, who went and ran it down the Jaguars' throw and had a big 40-yard-plus touchdown run there to really put the nail in the coffin with, I think,

like four or five minutes left in the game. Looking overall at the season, Stephen, finishing 11-5, I think, obviously, looking back a couple games, and maybe the Colts could have finished 12-4, 13-3. But looking back on the moves they made and just getting Phillip Rivers, DeForest Buckner on board, how would you grade – without the playoffs, of course, and looming right now, we're going to hit on the playoffs here

in just a moment against the Bills on Saturday. But regular season alone, Stephen, how would you grade the moves that the Colts made and a four-win improvement where arguably it could have been more? Yeah, if I were going to grade the Colts, I'm obviously biased, but I would give them in the A-A range for this reason. They had a lot of guys that they weren't able to really work into their system because of COVID.

And so you had a lot of people coming in, Phillip Rivers, and thankfully he kind of knew the offense coming in, but you had DeForest Buckner coming in and he ended up being an integral part to the team, obviously, is that I think an all pro defensive tackle. You had the rookies coming in, you expected Michael Pittman to make an instant impact. You expected, you know, Jonathan Taylor to make an instant impact and it kind of got slow to start, but really as everything went on, you can't be upset about a team winning 11 games the year after their franchise quarterback retired, you know, a week and a half before the season.

And the fact that Chris Ballard was going to be able to make this move where they made the playoffs, they missed the playoffs last year because of the Andrew Luck retirement and then the next year they come back and make the playoffs that that's a testament to Chris Ballard and everything that he's put together yeah Ballard did an awesome job I mean he got the rookie class here another solid rookie class led by Jonathan Taylor Michael Pittman Jr. Julian Blackman yeah yeah like the way Blackman played this year,

I know he kind of fell off a little bit as far as splash plays going into the second half of the season. But, I mean, he's definitely proven to be the safety of the future there. Blankenship as a UDFA, getting Buckner in the first round, picking that trade. Phillip Rivers was a huge improvement over Jacoby Brissett. I think an awesome offseason once more for Chris Bauer. We're going to have Chris Bauer here in a little bit as well.

But let's dive in now, Stephen, to what everyone's looking forward to talking about. The Colts' first playoff game since 2018 in Houston on Wild Card Weekend, Saturday at 105 Eastern Time. The two-versus-seven seed matchup in Buffalo against the Buffalo Bills. Arguably the hottest team in the NFR right now, averaging over 45 points per game over the last three weeks. There's a video, again, numbers right from Josh Hound on this offense. Stephon Diggs looks unstylable as well.

I mean, overall, what's your assessment from the outside looking in about this Buffalo Bills team? Like you said, they're the hottest team coming in right now. I don't think that's even a question. They're playing really well on offense. They're playing really well on defense. And they're playing really well on special teams, which, again, is a big part, especially in a game where you kind of hope that it's a tight game

here in the wildcard round. You expect it to be a tight game. Special teams can really make a difference. So, yeah, the offense is kind of terrifying with how Josh Allen – like, he's a legitimate MVP candidate this year. If not for, you know, Aaron Rodgers putting up arguably the best, I think it might be the best numbers of his career. And then Patrick Mahomes being Patrick Mahomes,

Josh Allen is right there at top three in the MVP voting, or he should be. What they've done to develop him and the trade that they made forfan diggs is just reaping so many benefits for them because it's allowed that offense to really thrive and josh allen is one of those mobile linebacker that i want to say justin houston today and his press conference said that he's like a tight end out there when he starts to run so he's he's really hard to bring down he's he's really hard to bring down. He's really similar to, you know, like that – like an Andrew Luck. He doesn't like to – he likes to run. He's not – I mean, don't get me wrong. He's not on the same level ability-wise as Andrew Luck.

But in terms of running the football, Andrew Luck was like a linebacker running the football. And that's what Josh Allen is. And he's not afraid to make plays with his legs. And unfortunately for the Colts, those types of quarterbacks have been the ones that have really given them fits this whole year. So that's the one thing that's really concerning,

I think, from a defensive standpoint. The Colts might luck out because the Bills aren't necessarily the best running team. And the Colts defensive line, I think, can stop that without needing to bring too much pressure. best running team. And the Colts defensive line, I think can be, can stop that without needing to bring too much pressure. The one thing that they might luck out on is Beasley is, has a injury issue,

did not participate today in, in what would have been their walkthrough. There, there's some worries that he's going to miss the game. And then Stefan Diggs ended up on the injury report with uh limited participation i think with an oblique injury so that that could help the colts the the one thing to what i think is going to happen here is that the colts hopefully are going to focus on jonathan taylor because he's been just the train the jonathan taylor train has been running through opponents for the

past couple of weeks. And I hope that they continue to ride him. And there's a part of me that wonders if bringing Taylor along slowly was all part of the plan in terms of getting him acclimated, but also making sure he doesn't have too many touches on him before he gets to the playoffs. So he's still going to be fresh legs because let's be real, he really didn't have too many touches on him before he gets to the playoffs. So he's still going to be fresh legs because let's be real. He really didn't take over despite the Marlon Mack injury in week one. He didn't really take over as the lead back until, you know, week 10, you know, week 11. And that's when he started getting the lion's share of the carries.

And even then he wasn't completely relied on by that, by the offensive staff staff and so i think they're going to hopefully ride him the whole way because buffalo has a really hard time in the running against teams that run the way the culture they use colts use a lot of wham blocks um they use a lot of wham plays they they don't do a lot of misdirection but it's one of those where you you're bringing in uh the guard pulling around the center pulling and you're able to open up lanes the bills have had a lot of difficulty with that this year and so i think the colts can really try to accentuate that try to keep the ball out of josh allen's hand um kind of similar to what they did kansas city last year. And that's the best they can hope for,

is be able to score on the ground, make this a shorter game. Hopefully the defense can hold up, get some pressures. Buffalo, I think, is one of the league leaders in fumbles lost on offense. And so Colts have an opportunity, as we all know. Colts defensive players are very adept at causing fumbles and getting those timely punch-outs. And so hopefully the Colts defense can get a couple turnovers, give their offense some short fields,

and capitalize on mistakes that the Bills make. Let's tell the Colts defense versus the Bills offense real quick. Then we'll bounce back over to the Colts offense versus the Bills defense as well. I think the key matchup on the defensive side of this is the first time Eric will be matching up against each other. Former teammates in Minnesota, Stephon Diggs versus Xavier Rhodes. Xavier Rhodes is PFF's best corner as far as being able to – the lowest completion percentage allowed this year,

which is a huge jump up from where he was last year in Minnesota. The zone scheme has helped him out tremendously. But I imagine he'll be shadowing Stephon Diggs, his former teammate the entire game on Saturday against Buffalo, who leads the NFL in touchdowns and receiving yards. I mean, that matchup is going to decide a lot, Stephen. And also, the second part of this question is, if you're them, do you just leave Xavier Rhodes on an island against Stephon Diggs

and just hope and pray he does well against Diggs? Or do you help him out on that side? Or do you maybe do a little bit more exotic stuff and blitz more often, like we saw against 2018, the Wild Card game, Deshaun Watson sent a lot of blitzes their way against Josh Allen? Or do you just maybe play some soft zone, a little bit of disguising coverages, like we saw in 2019 against Patrick Mahomes?

What would you do? Would you do blitz or would you do more so stay in the zone? So this is where the Beasley injury comes into play. Beasley is a terror in the slot, and he's Josh Allen's most reliable weapon there. And so if Beasley is out, then I think what the Colts will do is bracket coverage Stephon Dix because that now allows you the opportunity.

If Beasley's playing, then the Colts really can't afford to put that extra defender over top. There's also a concern with the bills with John Brown, so he might be out as well. And so you've got the Colts in this position. I think what they would do is, I don't think they're going to leave Rhodes on an island with Stephon Diggs. I think they're going to give him help. But in doing so, I think that they're do is I don't think they're going to leave roads on an island with Stefan Diggs. I think they're going to give him help.

But in doing so, I think that they're going to have to bring pressure at times. You're going to see Darius Leonard spy, Josh Allen, pretty much the whole game. I think we can probably lock that in. And I think you're going to see some timely blitzes, some exotic blitzes like you had talked about probably from Kenny Moore. You're probably going to see Bobby Okereke potentially come. You're probably going to see a lot of twists and stunts there at the defensive

line, trying to get guys free. Kamoko Ture has been really underrated the past couple of weeks. You've been seeing him get that speed rush in. I think this is an opportunity for the defensive line. If they can get pressure on Josh Allen without needing to bring the blitz, I think they're going to hold off on that, at least in the first half. And I think they're going to start bringing the house in the second half to really throw them off.

So they can't make those halftime adjustments and they're going to have to have Alan rely on them making those adjustments on the fly. That's the big thing. I mean, I have to wonder, I, I think Xavier Rhodes could do well for himself. I actually might ask people in Minnesota who are on the Lockdown Network about how Rhodes did in practice against Diggs throughout his career because I feel like that could really decide how confident they feel about it. But Rhodes has done well for himself this year.

I have to wonder if they'll do that more often. But, yeah, whatever they decide to do, it's going to be a tough match. This Buffalo Bills offense is on fire right now, and we'll have to see what happens here on Saturday against Buffalo. But let's flip it over to the other side of the ball, the Colts offense versus the Bills defense. The Bills are 26 against the rush, Stephen. I mean, like you mentioned earlier, I mean, let's say hypothetically,

Colts go on a magical suitable run. They play four games over that span. I expect John to tear if he does play four more games or does have 100 touches in all those games. That combined, 100 touches or more. I think he should get the ball at least 20 to 25 plus touches per game in these games, and especially in Buffalo in the cold weather, Phillip Rivers' arm won't be effective.

I imagine it will probably be a lot of dub-ups to Naheem Hines when he's in the game, get him in space. I imagine T.Y. Hilton will probably be a bunch of a factor on Saturday as well. I imagine we'll probably see a lot of Zach Paschal, a lot of Michael Pittman Jr. out there for run blocking on the outside. So, I mean, I feel like this game kind of could be Kansas City 2.0 on the off of the side student where I would be shocked if we don't see John Taylor get the ball about 25 plus times on the ground. Yeah, I mean, honestly,

yeah, that's probably where I'm at too with it. I think that you're going to see him get the ball 20 to 30 times this game, and they're just going to feed Jonathan Taylor which quite honestly is the best formula for them to win like you mentioned the Bills are kind of really bad against the run they're you said 26th against the run so you have to attack their weakness as a as an offensive coach and you got to go after it go after it and what that will do is if they continue to run Jonathan Taylor and are able to make those plays, go after it. And what that will do is if they continue to run Jonathan Taylor and are able to make those plays happen,

is it's going to give them the option for that play-action pass. And if you can get a couple big strikes in there, if you can get up on the Bills, the Bills are obviously an explosive offense. They can score points and droves. But if you put pressure on Josh Allen to have to make those throws in a playoff game, in in what you don't know what the weather's going to be like, but you know it's going to be cold. You're going to have some

opportunities to make plays for the Colts defense with Julian Blackman back there and Kyrie Willis. Hopefully he's back from the concussion, and I think that's an underrated big, big thing for the defense is to have Kyrie Willis back there. But in terms of the Colts offense, I think you're right. It's going to be running the ball with Jonathan Taylor. And if they're going to go on a Superbowl run, it has, it's got to go through Jonathan Taylor. It's got to go through the running, running back. It's got to go through that offensive line.

That's the Colts best offensive weapon. And it's like the weirdest thing to say for, a Colts fan to say we are running the ball and that's the best way to do it after you know a decade of just throwing the ball at will what worries me Steven the last point here on the game before we get on some housekeeping notes for the Colts but as far as Chris Bauer goes Ed Dodds Matty Ruflus is a hot coach of Canada as well Anthony Costanzo he officially went on IR last week due to an ankle injury. He's battled a rib injury, an MCL injury, as well as this new ankle injury, where Frank Rick said it's very unique as far as the ankle injury goes.

That's going to sign the rest of this playoff run. How huge is that Costanzo loss, Stephen? And honestly, do you think this might be it for Anthony Costanzo? I said last week on my podcast that I kind of thought Anthony Costanzo might retire at the end of the season with all the little hiccups he's had. And I think that might have been before they put him on IR. So I honestly, I think that he possibly could retire. And I think what he decides to do, as long as he lets Chris Ballard know well in advance, I think that they're going to be able to handle it

because it obviously changes the way they draft. But I honestly think this might be it for Anthony Costanzo. I hope that he comes back and he's able to play again. As a competitor, you never want to go out like that. You want to go out and play in your best ball if you can. I think the Colts are going to give Anthony Costanzo every chance that he wants to come back if that's what he wants. But for me, I think that it might be he might go ahead and hang it up.

That wouldn't shock me either. That's where I'm leaning right now. If that's the case, Steven, I know many people want to trade for a quarterback. I'm in that camp as well. It's a groom behind Phillip Bruce for a year, but if that doesn't happen, look for left tackle to be the top priority in the draft this upcoming April.

But let's hit on now, as far as that goes, we'll tell a lot of draft stuff, a lot of left tackle options on the board. We'll hit on that later on in the off season. But let's move on now to some housekeeping notes. Chris B the board we'll hit on that later on in the offseason but let's move on now to some housekeeping notes Chris Bauer will hit on him first uh Zach Kiefer of the Athletic Report earlier today that Jim Ursa told him that Chris Bauer will be signing extension before training camp that's an easy answer I think everyone I think Bauer's contract runs out after the end of next season I mean Steven if you're in Ursa's shoes I mean, Steven, if you're in Ursae's shoes, I mean, lifetime contract, it's got to be.

Yeah, honestly, yeah. Like when I heard that, I was like, my first guess was like, this is a 10-year deal, at least. Like it's a 10-year deal. You get whatever you want. You don't have to worry about anybody else. It's all you. You've proven you can do it. Yeah, I think you're looking at at least a 10-year deal on this.

And I think it's a great move by Jim Marissette. Chris Ballard has just objectively been the best general manager that the Colts have had since early Bill Polian. He hits all over the draft, which is crazy. Because as somebody that's covered the draft and followed the draft since like 2000 honestly like for 20 years i've i've followed the draft religiously and gms just don't hit this often like he's hitting on fourth fifth sixth round picks every single year and it's nuts and he's nailing the the first second and third rounders now that he's drafting for his offense and his defense that he wants to run like obviously that first year it was

a little rough with Malik Hooker and Quincy Wilson there in the first two picks but he was drafting for Chuck Pagano's defense trying to to make that happen you know just so happens they didn't work out but since then it has been just lights out. He could, you know, he drafted a defensive rookie of the year. He drafted Julian Blackman, who's probably going to be second or third in defensive rookie of the year voting in the third round after trading back. He gets his guys, and they all seem to produce. And that's what you want as a general

manager is somebody that that nails the top half and is able to get guys in and bring in the right free agents bring in the right coach bring in the right draft picks and chris ballard has done it every single time and so i i'm really excited for the colts and for the direction of the franchise long term chris ballard's right handhand man, Stephen, Ed Dodds. We had a report from Tom Poser of the NFL Network a couple days ago that he was going to interview for the Carolina Panthers GM job, or at least the Panthers requested permission, I shall say. Interesting today from Adam Schefter, though,

the Panthers not to say interviewed six GM candidates over the last few days, and he wasn't on that list, Ed Dodds. So that makes me think in the back of my head, Steven, I don't know about you, but we heard all about last year how hot Ed Dodds' name was in the GM market for openings. He turned down all the opportunities available to him. Are we doing it again? Is he turning down the opportunities again to stay with Indianapolis one more year where it seems like if that's the case, what a huge win for Chris Bauer in the front office? Well, here's the thing with ed dodds is he's obviously one of the best talent evaluators out there next to like chris ballard he's he's right up there he's chris ballard's right hand man he's

he's the guy and so the interesting thing though is i forget where i saw this um but there was but i want to say it was through ESPN or the athletics, some big name source who said the question with a Dodds is, you know, he doesn't like the spotlight is what the rumor was. And that he was just fine being Chris Ballard's right-hand man. And so I also look at this and say all right well you look at the list that the texans looked at this year as gm candidates and they just hired nick casario and he wasn't on their list either and so you never know what's going to happen um but i could see you know jim mercy paying ed dodds

gm money because Chris Bradley says, Hey, I want him here. And if Ed Dodds really doesn't want to be a GM, it's awesome for the Colts. I think that he would make a fantastic GM if he wants to be that. But I think that he's going to get well compensated no matter what he ends up doing. And I hope that, I hope he stays, obviously same thing with Morocco Brown. And I hope he stays, obviously. Same thing with Morocco Brown. I hope that he stays as well.

And, you know, the Colts are winning, which means your guys get plucked for other bigger jobs. The question I have with the Panthers job, and something I mentioned to my co-writers and, and people at Stampede blue was, is there a relationship between Matt rule and at Dodds? Because that's really Matt rules, the coach there in Carolina. And he's got a couple of years there a couple of years on that contract.

So you got to have somebody that gets in there. That's going to work well with Matt rule. And I think at Dodds will work well with anybody that, that would take him into any head coach. But but I I wonder about the control aspect of it and I would think that Ed Dodds would want a pretty significant amount of control that's why you know a place like Jacksonville doesn't make sense to me because Shikhan the the uh owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars said that he wanted final say in all personnel moves and all roster decisions. And I'm like, well, any legitimate GM candidates not going to want to go there if they don't

have that final say on roster decisions. And so, yeah, I had heard about the rumor Ed Dodds possibly interviewing or the Carolina Panthers requesting an interview with Ed Dodds. I hadn't heard that they had released the list that they'd interviewed six candidates and Ed Dodds wasn't on it. Yeah, that really goes to show you, I think if Dodds does stay on board, I'm glad he brought Morocco Brown as well. He did an interview with the Atlanta Falcons for the GM position,

the Colts director of scouting. If Dodds stays on board, Brown stays on board, it kind of shows you how cohesive this front office is and how much they trust Chris Bauer if that does indeed happen long term. But let's hit on the next name on the list here before we close up the show and get your prediction for Saturday's game, Stephen. Matt Iberflues is a hot coaching candidate on the open market. I know the Colts defensive coordinator.

He is going to interview the Los Angeles Chargers, the Houston Texans, and the New York Jets, possibly more than that as well. How do you feel about this? I mean, honestly, with that news that broke about an hour ago, that Nick Casario, the Patriots GM, will be – or really the pseudo-GM. I guess you build Belichick's together, but really it's Nick Casario calling the shots with Belichick alongside him. He has got hired in Houston.

I know Josh McDaniels and Ibrahim Fluss had a connection, the New England connection as well, before McDaniels backed out. He would have been the defensive coordinator for McDaniels as well with the Colts if he stayed on board, not Frank Reich in the head coaching job. I'm leaning towards Iberflus actually getting a job, and I'm leaning towards being the Houston Texans, which are really staying if you get to see Iberflus twice a year. But what's your assessment on Iberflus as a coaching candidate,

and do you think he's going to be getting a job during this hiring cycle? For your first question, I think Matty Berfuse is a fantastic head coach candidate. I think that he's probably going to have a lot of interest. I think if he's going to take a job, it's going to be the Chargers job, to be honest, because you've already got a quarterback there and you've got some legit defensive playmakers. You've got a pretty decent draft pick and you're not really hamstrung though the thing that i would question about i know you mentioned before that he had a tie to josh mcdaniel's i think for ibra fluis chris ballard was hiring him anyway um so it was

like he had talked with mcdaniel's but anyway i don't really want to talk about mcdaniel's at all because i just don't like him um but the connection with Nick Casario, I'm not sure about that. I think that he probably wouldn't want to go to Houston because they're covered so bare. Like, yeah, you've got, you know, obviously Deshaun Watson is – I mean, shoot, if Deshaun Watson wasn't on a losing team, he'd be a top three and MVP candidate this year he had a fantastic season so it's hard to get that quarterback but they don't have anything

outside of that outside of Deshaun Watson that they've got nothing and they've got no first or second round draft pick this year and so it's gonna coverage gonna be there for at least another year and as a head coach do you really want to go through that as your first year as a head coach? I wouldn't, personally. I'd rather go someplace like the Chargers and already have my quarterback set up, already have an okay defense. You've got some weapons there on offense.

You've got a legit pass rusher on Bosa on defense. I wouldn't want to touch the New York Jets with a 10 foot pole, because even though they've got the second overall pick in the draft, that that organization is dysfunctional. And if I'm a head coaching candidate, I don't want any part of it because you're going to just get run through the ringer there and get be gone in three years.

If that. That's a, that's a good point about the Jets. I imagine with you, I'm with you on that as far as the Chargers or the Texans. I probably would lead in Chargers. They aspire Gus Bradley to off Anthony Lynn's staff as he got let go. He could be like the defense coordinator or head coach, and he could bring on a really innovative offense of mine there with Justin Herbert.

I think that's a very attractive position for Ibraflu. So I'm leaning towards him getting a job this cycle. If he does get one, he definitely deserves it the way he's really helped rebuild his defense the last couple of years. But, Stephen, let's close the show out on this. Get your prediction before I let you go. We'll talk to you again next week, hopefully, with the Colts' victory. But I'm leaning personally.

I mean, maybe it's good luck that I'm picking against the Colts here, Stephen, because I feel like every time I pick against the Colts, they win. I'm going 31-24. The Buffalo Bills cover the spread at 6.5 points on DraftKings. I'm going to go 31-24 Bills. Josh, I don't get to lay touchdown here. And Phil Burris can't drive down the field late to get to forcing the overtime.

So I'll say Bills by 7 in a shootout, sort of say. What do you think is going to happen here on Saturday? Every single time I've come on, I've picked the Colts to win. I feel like it's probably going to be the Bills. And I'll say 34-31 Bills if I'm trying to be for accuracy. If I'm being a complete homer, then I would say 31-27 Colts.

I'm with you, though. I think the Bills get a late touchdown and are able to put it away. So, yeah, I'd say 34-31 Bills. Hopefully we're wrong on this next week, Stephen, when we have you back on because it's going to be a hell of a game on Saturday in Buffalo at Orchard Park. Colts versus Bills, two versus seven matchup on a super wild card weekend. You guys can go follow Stephen on Twitter if you're not already at

NiceReadSteve and go read and listen to his work, as always, around stampedeblue.com. Stephen, I appreciate the time, man. All right, thanks, Evan.