Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - COLTS SQUAD SHOW: Colts RUIN huge chance in L.A. | Colts fall to Rams, doomed by unforced errors

Episode Date: September 29, 2025

A 4-0 start was there for the taking for the Colts, but several critical mistakes by AD Mitchell and a two-turnover day from Daniel Jones cost them in a 27-20 defeat. The guys pick up the pieces from a crushing defeat, talk Studs & Duds, and discuss how Indianapolis gets back on track next week. Find and follow Colts Squad Show and Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms: 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts/ 📺 https://www.youtube.com/@LockedOnColts Give the squad a follow on X/Twitter @Schultz975, @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @allenpinkett, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOn_SI, as well on TikTok and Instagram!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!5-Hour ENERGYEnough with boring, flavorless caffeine, it’s time to give your caffeine a flavor upgrade with 5-hour ENERGY®️ shots. Get the favorites you love or be bold and try something new in-store and online at https://www.5hourENERGY.com or Amazon today.RugietReady to level up your confidence in the bedroom? Head to https://www.rugiet.com and use promo code LOCKEDONNFL for 15% off your first order.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at https://monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl for 50% off your first year.SquareTo learn more, go support your favorite neighborhood spot and see what Square has been up to in your neck of the woods. And then if you have extra time, check out https://square.com/go/lockedonnfl.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use codeLOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFLfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

Welcome into the Colts Squad Show. I'm your host, Derek Shultz, and I'm just trying to reenact what the Colts just did there in L.A. I'm Jake Arthur. Go fever. And I'm Zach Hicks, and I would also invoke a different Colts, or like Indiana pro sports team, if I knew any of that were in season right now. I'm Alan Pinkett, former Oiler. I think I'm going to hear the name Pooka Nakua in my sleep. Colts Nation rise up.

It's the Colt Squad, everything Indianapolis Colts every week. Covering all the big hits and game-changing plays from the Circle City, the way only the Locked-on podcast network can. It's time to squad up. The Colt Squad Joe starts now. Welcome to the Colts Squad Show, and thanks as always for making us your first listen of the day here on the Locked-on Colts Network. I'm Derek Shultz. A bit of sports soccer in Indianapolis for many years. I'm joined by Nerdame Legend and former NFL running back

Alan Pinkett and you every dayers know Zach Hicks and Jake Arthur from the Locked-on Colts, everyone's favorite first list of the day. Today we're going to recap a blown opportunity. I mean, that's exactly what it was. There are some good things to take, just like in any other game, even in a loss. There are some bad things to take. Certainly a lot of bad things from the Colts 27 to 20 loss to the Rams. We'll talk. about the AD Mitchell plays. Yes, that's plural and not in a good way. And also Daniel Jones had a very uneven performance overall today. Colts probably needed an A game for him at the end of the day and they definitely did not get that, even though he was clearly not the main

character or the main reason why they lost. Week four studs and duds, standout performers and some others, even though probably AD belongs in his own category after that performance. And how the Colts come back from this because they're about to return home. Like I said, there's some positives to take, but I'm going to save that for the end of the show, guys, because I think what we just saw in L.A., Jake, was sort of a culmination of the frustration of the last nine or ten years of Colts football. And maybe that's unfair to pin it all in the 2025 Colts, because what the Colts did in 2015, doesn't have anything to do with 2025.

But for the fans that watch this team week in and week out for 10 straight years, that looked like a vintage the Colts had it at their grasp and just let it slip out of their fingers kind of performance in L.A. Yeah, without question. I mean, this team, we knew that they would not be able to sustain this level of brilliance throughout the year, but, you know, they hadn't committed any turnovers. They'd only punted the ball once. You know, they'd been relatively disciplined when it came to penalties, 11 penalties, three pretty bad turnovers overall. You know, you had mental mistakes, the A.D. Mitchell stuff. Mackay Blackman falls down on that long touchdown. But I guess Cam Bynum also just said the Colts only had 10 men on the field on that

play when Atwell gets 90-yard touchdown. So we've become accustomed to seeing those no-show games from the Colts where it's like they never got off the bus. But we also see these crushing ones where the other team played a good game, no doubt. But if you don't factor in all these self-inflicted wounds, the Colts win it. You know what I mean? And so they've gotten good at beating themselves. I do want to say, you know, it seems like they're turning over a new leaf still. Like, this does still feel like a different team. I'm not going to automatically lump them in with every other team. And in the grand scheme of things, this is an early season loss to an NFC foe.

So it does not factor into tiebreakers and all that stuff. But, you know, you had other teams in the AFC maybe making a little noise this week. So you didn't really want to give up any ground. And, you know, they've got another AFC matchup next week against the Raiders. like they can hop back and be fine. But man, I guess at least if they were going to kind of step out of their comfort zone and make these errors that we have not become accustomed to seeing them make through these first few weeks, at least it's early and they have things they know they need

to correct. There's definitely things that we know we would like to see differently moving forward that we're going to get to in a moment that cannot continue whatsoever. But yeah, this is just kind of the. drop of a bucket of a bigger season, not the end of the world. They're three in one. That's still very solid, still in control of the AFC South, I believe. But yeah, they've got some stuff to clean up that, you know, it can't continue this way if they're going to actually be a playoff team. Yeah, for sure. And, you know, I know I'm typically the negative one on this,

on this panel here. I'm typically the one who nitpicks all the good, but I'm going to start off this post game by speaking positive. I'm not trying to say immoral victory. here because they lost the game and losses happen in the NFL and you have games where you do everything wrong and you come up short you know for everything wrong from penalties to losing the trench battle to making dumb mistakes like we saw on on numerous occasions in this game and honestly just getting out coached in several situations as well I felt like everything went against them in this game but if I had to be positive in any regard about this Colts team is again everything that indicates victory in the NFL, the turnover battle, the penalty battle, the not beating yourself

like dropping the ball on the goal line and stuff like that, things like that, that determined football games. The Colts lost every single one of those. And they took a top seven team to the wire on the road in a game where they were the more injured team. So this is not a moral victory. My any means, there's no such thing as moral victories in the NFL. If anything, this should be an eye-opener for this Colts team that not everything is going to be perfect. for you every single Sunday. There are going to be games where you get to fight through adversity,

and this is a game where they're going to go back home and say, you know what, we deserve to win this game and we lost it. Like, we need to bounce back from this. Not everything is smooth, and we need to up our play from here. So overall, like, yes, it's a bad loss. It's not a loss that you want to say

that you're happy about by any means. But I think coming into this game, it was going to be a tough one for them, regardless, against a really tough Rams team. And I thought they exchanged some good punch. out there and they really put themselves in a position to win this game despite all the issues that they committed and all the penalties and problems they had so yeah i'm feeling fine about this colts team at the end of september you know i don't want to use a recency bias to say that this team

sucks again oh my gosh we're back to the seven-win team eight-win team that we expected prior to the year because they lost on the road to a really good rams team there are issues with this colt's team And we're going to talk about that for the other 50 minutes of this post game thing. But I really wanted to use this first 10 minutes to say, like, I'm not too worried about this Colts team. I really think that they can be a competitive playoff caliber team this year. And nothing that they showed today told me that they are all of a sudden back to being this horrible team that we all thought before the year or anything like that.

The Colts will be fine. They have some issues they need to work through. But I'm feeling pretty good about their chances still going forward. It's a really productive month of September for that. them. And they've got to build off of this. And Alan, you know, we always talk about this with NFL players, NFL teams, but teams need wake up calls early in the season. And I think rather than your wake up call being getting your butt kicked for an entire game, your wake up call being a game where it's like, we had this. I think that's more productive for a good team. Well, the NFL has a way

of smacking you into face and waking you up to reality. And the bottom line is you're going going to win some that you deserve to lose, and you're going to lose some that you deserve to win. Fortunately, it's not like college where one win can be devastating. In the NFL, you can absorb a handful of losses as long as you win most of them. And so the thing I was looking at today's game was, would they be able to withstand adversity? And for the most part, I think they did. There were opportunities they had to, you know, maybe shut the door on the Rams. I think about the last drive in the first half where they could have gone down and scored and stretched out their lead to put some more pressure on the Rams. But it didn't happen. And the Rams being the good

team they are, took advantage and came down and took the lead at halftime. And looking at the stats at halftime. The Rams doubled them up on rushing yardage. They doubled them up on passing yardage, and you're only down by three. So that was a pretty good sign. And I think the Rams had an excellent game plan defensively because they stopped the Colts from staying ahead of the chains. You know, you had some punts this game. You had some sense. You had some second and third and longs in this game that you didn't have prior to this game. But for the most part, I thought the team, you know, was persistent and played pretty well and put themselves in a position to win.

And as a player, what you have to do is learn from the loss. They will go through this film and figure out the areas that they need to get better in. but then after that, after Monday, you know, because they have to come in tomorrow and watch the film, that was always one of the worst things after a loss to make it even worse. You've got to go watch the film and then you got to watch all the screw-ups you made on the film. But after tomorrow, they flush it and you move on to the next one. Yeah, and I'll let Derek yell at us here in a second and be all negative because I'm sure

that he's just wanting to. I can see him over there. He's eager to. Filming up the mouth, yes. Right, right. But I don't think Colts players are thinking this by any means because they can't. They're professional players. But us being outsiders looking in, if you're going to lose any game this year, this is the one against a really good team on the road in the NFC.

Again, you want to win all games. You want to win the 17 games. But if you're going to lose a game, losing a road game to an NFC thing doesn't really do anything to tiebreakers by the end of the year. Hopefully you're not in a situation where tiebreakers matter. and hopefully you're not in a situation where the one loss here is what decides you being a a playoff team but as of right now again i think that they came into this game not overmatched by any means but just the more injured team on the road a tough environment for them and they threw some good punches with with the rams i think this was a productive week for them and i think it will

be productive for them long term it's hard to say that right now because it's it just happened The game just happened. But I think overall, this can be the wake-up call they needed early in the season. And I'm really not looking at this as a negative. Like, a loss is a negative. I'm not looking at this as like the sky is falling type of negative for this Colts team. We've covered a lot of Sky's falling negative games. You're on Locked on Colts, me and Jay.

Or not Jake. I've covered a lot of them in the post games. This is nowhere near a lot of the stuff we've seen the last couple of years. I still feel good about this Colts team. Well, you know, the problem with what you say is it all makes sense. But this was, I think, as a player, certain games are measuring sticks because you may think you're good and you've had success. And one of the things you want to do is in a game where the other team is favored, if you can, you know, put them away, then in terms of a confidence level, it just elevates you. So, but I think there are some things that they came away with in this particular game that they're going to build confidence on.

Yeah, I don't disagree with anything that the three of you just said. I just think that those takes will be my takes on Wednesday or Thursday morning when I wake up. At Sunday night at 7.59 p.m. I'm not ready to have those nuanced takes. I'm not. You know, I'm not ready when you're about to go up 2413 and it changes the whole dynamic of the game. you do something really stupid and unforced and you drop it. You're at your first intent at midfield and you think you have a 50-yard touchdown and the world's most blatant hold happens to take that away. And I understand I'm just talking about two plays because, Zach, you're right.

It just felt like every high leverage situation in this game, the Colts had a penalty or just something bad happened. You know, somebody falls down like on the 2-2-out well play. Like it stinks that you felt like you were just kind of playing against the football gods in a way here as well. But if the Colts are going to rise to something more than just winning the league's worst division and being more than like a 10 and 17, which I think for a lot of us, that was the bar this year. And don't get me wrong, that season would still be a success. But if we want to see the Colts be more than that, these are the type of games that

they have to win. Like, I don't disagree that. Yeah, it's an NFC game and the Rams are good. And I think the Colts proved that the first three weeks were not a fluke. They went punch for punch right with them. But it bothers me, Jake, that like every single time the Colts appear to shatter that glass ceiling, they seem to just knock their heads on it, and then they fall right back. And I'm not saying that that means that, you know, suddenly this is going to kickstart them losing four out of five or anything like that. I'm still bullish and optimistic about the Colts with where they sit today. I'm just frustrated because this was a big opportunity to really make some noise. And they blew it. I mean, straight out. They blew this game. No, I'm with you.

They choke this game away. And my view on teams always is that. You, we should expect what you're showing, like literally what have you done for me lately? I don't care if this team was 0 and 3 going into this game with the errors they committed today. You should still be just as angry because you had control of the game. You should have won the game. And if not for two interceptions, you know, you had a million penalties. You take the two touchdowns off the board with the A.D. Mitchell stuff.

You should have won that game. So expectations are what you set day after day after day. And in a game, if you were showing that we should expect you to win this game and then you completely choke it away, yeah, there's reason for anger there. And it probably doesn't factor in at the end of the day because, again, this is an NFC game, but it's a game one or lost at the end of the day. And while we did go into the season looking at this one is like this is probably one of the Ls you take this year, you could have.

stolen this one. You could have thrown it in the wind column. You could be four or no right now with a commanding lead in the playoffs. Because like, look at the Ravens and Chiefs. Like, there are, there are good teams melting down to start the season. And you could have, oh my God, you could have stolen so much ground in this early AFC playoff picture. So I'm with you. I do, I'm with you, Derek. I get pretty fired up initially after games as well. It's not time to settle down yet. I mean, look at, look at the comments section. People are not settled down right now. So yeah, it's, it's definitely disappointing because you could have stolen major ground in the AFC in this one. Yeah, it's a tough one, and we're going to keep

talking about it. There are reasons for optimism. We'll get to that as well, but when we return, we thought going in that this could be a breakout game for a certain certain second year receiver who will remain nameless. And it was a breakout game, but for, all the wrong reasons. We'll discuss on the squad show when we return next. This portion of the Colt Squad Show brought to you by Price Picks. The Daily Fantasy app where making the right call can actually pay off. You and I make decisions every day, but on Price Picks being right means cashing in. With football season back, prize picks is the simplest and fastest way to get in on the action. Just pick more or less on

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I know here on a Sunday sometimes after a Colts loss, which I felt like should have been a win. It's great to just pop a five-hour energy. I'll probably do so after this show because I'll be exhausted from whining about the Colts performance the entire time. But I'll just reach for my great five-hour energy to give me the boost that I need to get through the rest of my night so I can catch up on some other work things as I punted the entire afternoon watching the Colts lose to the Rams. But I'm not heard about it. I'm fine. I'm going to be fine. We're going to get through the rest of this Colts squad show. enough with boring flavorless caffeine it's time to give your caffeine flavor an upgrade with five hour energy shots get the favorites you love or be bold and try something new in store and online at five hour energy.com or amazon today and we're back on the cold squad show thanks so much for joining us indy falls to the rams 27 to 20 and and we mentioned it you know everybody knows the second year receiver that i'm talking about in a d mitchell and and it stinks because you know, he had that really rough start to camp and then he bounced back in a big way. And there were times like in the joint practices where you thought, wow, this guy's like maybe the best player on the field right now for some of these reps, the way that he was winning. And I understand that Westfield is, or, you know, wherever they are, it is a far different thing.

And training camp in August is a far different thing that September, October, November, and December. But clearly, I mean, it doesn't take a football guy, Zach, to know that A.D. Mitchell has everything that you need to be an elite level player. Like all of the ingredients are there. It's just, you know, you pull the pan out of the oven and the cake is still just mush. And you got to put it back in and it needs a little bit more. But just a tough one today, you know, like a lot of people are like, Shane Steichen's got to bench him and why are the players consoling him? And I'm thinking myself, guys, Alec Pierce isn't playing.

They need him. He's got to be out there. And it's a tough situation because you don't want to crush the dude while the game is still going on knowing that the game is still there to be one. But at the same time, I think the fans have. the right to be upset after going through it with Jonathan Taylor last year in Denver, and we all know how that game ended. And then the holding penalty as well is just kind of the kicker,

just a really cruel afternoon for number 10. Yeah, it's such an unfortunate thing because you just hate for this that kind of happened for players where it's like it's such a viral moment, basically, such a moment where it's like on display for everyone, especially when he made such a fantastic play, like the play of the year, honestly, up to this point. And like we'd be talking about him as the hero of this game. if he just doesn't drop the darn football.

Like, same thing with the Jonathan Taylor won last year against the Denver Broncos. It's just unfortunate when this stuff happens. And this is the kind of stuff that can make or break a career for a young player because, you know, once you get in your head, it's hard to get out of your head. This isn't even just talking about football at this point. It's talking about life at this point.

This is a sport where you're on TV every single weekend. You are out there for millions of people to see you doing your job. any every minor mistake is put on display for everyone but this is not just a minor mistake this was a major mistake you know holding penalties happened for sure but dropping the ball at the one yard line that doesn't happen you know you can't you can't have that happen regardless if he was showboating or regardless of him switching the hands to reach it over you know whatever the conversation is about that what happened on that play it still happened you know and it's it's just unfortunate And, you know, I don't want to use this situation to say, like, take a victory lap on AD Mitchell as a player because that's awful, whatever.

But I did want to say that going back to his college career, I had a lot of concerns with him as a pro prospect because of not him dropping the ball, obviously, like stuff like this, but just a lot of things you would see on film from the mental aspect of being a pro. And I didn't think I saw enough of that in college. And one thing I really said coming into this game, too, on Jake and I's everyday show, was, you know, you might see more receiving production from A.D. Mitchell today, which we actually did. He had, what, 97 yards receiving today, led the team in receiving yards, but. Yeah, because it was first 74 counted, right? Right, right. But I thought the biggest drop off from Mitchell to or from Pierce to Mitchell would be the non-targeted reps. the non-targeted reps. That's where Alec Pierce really shines

because at the end of the day, Alec Pierce is an absolute pro and everything he does from, you know, hey, you're going to run a clear-out route here. He's going to run it 25 miles per hour down the field. And then he's going to run right back to the line and do it again, the very next play and open up everything for the offense.

If the ball is underthrown deep, he's going to fight back for that ball and win that 50-50. Blocking, Alex Pierce is one of the better blocking players on this team as well. And we kind of saw all the issues be, you know the stuff that just being a pro i guess and running over the the goal line blocking out out in space fighting back for the ball and the interception like yes the interception is 100% on jones it was

underthrowing ball but you want to see your receiver fight back for that ball and maybe at least force and incomplete so it's just a lot of stuff where it's like look he's a second year player he's still a young player but at the end of the day the NFL is not for long if you keep making these mistakes. And this was his big audition. This was his big audition to say, hey, you can let Alec Pierce walk after the year, because I can be that guy for you. And if this was your big audition, I think he kind of blew it today. And I don't know if he's going to get many more if Pierce is healthy the rest of the season. So it sucks, man. It really does suck. Like I never want to celebrate a player making mistakes like this on a grand scheme, especially when it cost

the team a win, but, you know, this is why Alec Pierce is getting more snaps. People were wondering in the first couple weeks why Mitchell's only getting five, six, seven snaps. This is kind of why, you know, Pierce just does so many of the little things at such a higher level than Mitchell. And it's not to say that Mitchell's always going to draw the ball at the one, but it's kind of indicative of what his career has been at this point with the Colts. Alan, take us there real quick. Because obviously, you had the rocky rookie year. This was a moment out of excitement where he got lost in the moment, just letting go of the ball at the goal line.

You could tell all of his teammates knew all the noise about him. They immediately swarmed to him. Take us there as Zaire Franklin, one of the first guys there. Yeah, yeah. Well, I can feel for him because I've made a play where I felt like it contributed to our team losing. And you feel like Dog Duky. So I was very, very encouraged when I saw people console him and just say, hey, flush it and get ready for the next play. But the problem is you don't get many shots in the NFL, and the NFL can be ruthless, and that kind of stuff can get you cut.

Because there's enough talent out there that, you know, they'll get you. you two years, but, you know, after two years, they can go find somebody else. So that's another reason to be worried. And that's why you want to be sharp all the time, be disciplined all the time. And I know no one else in the world feels worse than he does because it was a great opportunity, not only for himself, but for the team to make a statement on the road. Now, what he does past this moment is he has to really, really do some soul searching and figure out what is it I need to do if I get a second chance to prove myself to make sure that this team keeps me on the roster, you know, and that's really the bottom line. You said NFL is not for long.

That is so true. You know, when you make mistakes like that, they can cut you. In college, can't cut you, you know, they may put you on the bench or give you a little hand slap, but in the NFL, you make mistakes like that, your ass can be gone. And so I was hoping that he would get a chance to make up or a tone for that mistake. And the holding call was kind of tic-tac to me, but I guess the guy did go down on the ground. You know, maybe it was a good acting job by the defensive back that he was on. But now you got two strikes on you. So I think that what he has to do, you know, because, yeah, I've been there is focus on doing plays the right way, the professional way. And it starts in practice.

If the coaches see him in practice be more eager to do things the right way, then they'll gain that confidence to put him back in. And that's what has to happen. He has to prove to him in practice that I'm not going to make that mistake again. I am a dependable player and you can keep throwing it to me because I'm going to make plays for you. Yeah. And again, it doesn't matter how high you're drafted. I mean, the Colts just benched their fourth overall quarterback for Daniel Jones going into this season. Eventually, your time runs out no matter how gifted you are because there's hundreds of gifted players in this league.

You know, so it's unfortunate because you don't even know if he's going to get many times. chances to bounce back from this because once you get in that doghouse in the NFL again it's the not for long league you know because there's there's so many people that are ready to play you know they lequan treadwells on the practice squad a former first round pick bust you had to work his way just to being a practice squad guy again you know like it takes a long time to get up there so he's got to do everything right and then he's got to just hope he gets a chance again because once pierce is healthy he's not going to get many more chances yeah it's just tough jake because I think, like, 80 Mitchell's in a situation where you're watching, like, the first

flat-o interception, and your first impression is, I wonder if Alec Pierce would have caught that. You know what I mean? And then, and then, you know, if you're thinking yourself, I wonder if Alec Pierce would have just run into the end zone and then just kind of handed the ref the ball and celebrated with his teammates. Or I wonder if Alec Pierce would have taken the defender to the ground and kind of forced the rep to call that whole, you know what I mean? Like, and that's not a place that you want to be either because you're talking about

basically the guy the Colts is going to have to make a decision there at the end of the season I think what they're going to do and if Mitchell is that much of a downgrade from Pierce then he's going to lose his spot I think I'll say I'll say this you said I apologize for interrupting the best thing he can do is own it you know if and I'm sure that he got interviewed in the locker room you know the worst thing you can do is say no comment comment or, you know, just to own it, say, I made a mistake. I'll never make it again. You got to take all that crap that comes to you. I remember sitting in the locker room after in the play I'm talking about, we were playing Seattle at Seattle, and they were supposed to win.

But we were driving, and we're like on the 10-yard line, and I'm on a swing pattern and balls thrown to me, and I bobble it. And the damn thing goes forward right into the defender's hands. And there's like less than a minute left. So, yeah, I felt like crap. And as soon as I got in the locker room, I just had a swarm of reporters around me. And the only thing I could do is like, hey, I messed up. I hope I get another chance. You know, it was screwy.

And it was a weird year for me because I hadn't really achieved much. And now they were giving me an opportunity to get more playing time. And I go and I do this crap. So it's one of those where you just got, like I said, you got to go back in practice and prove to them that you are capable of making plays and helping them win. Yeah, I will say to his benefit, he is a hard worker. I know like whenever, whenever this stuff happens, people kind of question everything about a guy. He's a hard worker. He is, we've heard multiple times recently.

He's one of the first in the building. He's always asking questions with Daniel. he's involved with all the guys like he is doing his part but i like for me i'm i'm really torn on him because it's always one step forward two steps back with him you go back to last year way to put it like i i i am curious about his football instincts i think which i think just takes time and more playing time on the field to get more comfortable which we've seen him take some strides but at the same time you give him too much and then you get these big issues like tonight because i i mean it's it's just really tough um they they do see a lot in him

it's i don't know you you've had so many issues like the denver one where you you throw that pass to nick benito and it goes the other way you've got the fumble i mean the holding ones i thought it was a bad hold but that can go anyway for any player on any play um but yeah i'm i'm torn on this one i mean the best thing for the colts is for alec pierce to get back and then you just kind of keep working 80 and slowly with like you know five to 10 snaps per game like it usually is for him and then hope that he kind of grows from there because if you put him in this spot where he needs to be relied upon too much then you're really opening yourself up for some sort of gaff it does suck though like zach remember i think on a friday show i said either he or tyler warren

would have 90 yards. And I was right. Oh, you're taking the victory lap after that. Oh, yeah. You should have had 98 yards. That's the real issue here. You know, I don't want to hijack things. But Derek, there was a guy on the defensive side of the ball who is almost just as much

to blame as 80 in this one. Yes. Thank you. That leads us right into my tease. Thank you very much, Jake Arthur. Besides 80 Mitchell, there were other duds. How about that? But there were also some stud performances.

So let's talk about that, two great days from the Colts last two. first round draft picks. We're talking studs and duds when we return on the Colt Squad show. This portion of the Colt Squad show brought you by Ruggiet. Guys, you've probably heard of Viagra or Cialis. Maybe you've even tried them, but if you're looking for something beyond the usual pill, it's time to meet Ruggiet, go long. If you're looking for something beyond the usual pill with Ruggiet's go long, that's where they come in. This isn't just another E.D. pill. It's a total game changer for confidence. Go long means exactly what it's says. The effects can last up to 36 hours. That's thanks to two doctor-trusted medications and one

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into stud performances as well, but let's just kind of get the duds out of the way. And goes without saying, Jake, you mentioned it, Zavian Howard. I just, I don't know if this can continue like this, right? I mean, you know, you say like, okay, there's a reason that he's on the couch and then you bring him in, but sometimes, you know, replacement level players still give you replacement level results. What he's given to Colts so far is not even replacement level. I mean, he's been a net negative out there clearly. And I think they're going to have to go down a different route he was a 32 year old player who hadn't played a whole the whole season before that and that's what he looks like he is he's an opportunity for opponents to move the ball and to score we've seen

it every week he wasn't really targeted against miami but if you looked at some of those routes he looked a little overmatched at times Denver attacked the heck out of them and Denver's a team that probably could have beaten the colts by just committing to the run but they went time after time after Xavier and Howard. We saw it happen again tonight. Like, it is a clear target for opponents, and they know it. I called it out before Puka had his touchdown. I was like, the Rams know what they need to do on this drive.

They're going to feed Nekua against Howard, and that's exactly what they did on that touchdown. Like, I know that Lou loves his guy. Like, there are guys he's very loyal to, but at the same time, in, In the interest of being fair to the rest of the defense, you got to give them a break and you've got to put the best guys on the field. And I cannot imagine for the life of me that putting Mackay Blackman on the outside or putting Jonathan Edwards on the outside or God forbid when Jalen Jones gets back,

that these guys would not give you more than what Howard is doing. Because opponents right now know if you make Howard get out and have to chase someone on a crossing route or a slant or something, you will win 10 out of 10 times. Yeah. And honestly, let's be completely real about it with Xavier Howard. It's not just that. It's everything with Xavier Howard right now. There's not a single, like, again, I've been very optimistic and positive in this episode, but I'm now in my passionate anti-negative thing right now. There's not a single positive aspect that he's brought your defense so far this year. I mean, unless the guys behind him just have no clue what the scheme is whatsoever and are going to be running around like a chicken with its head cut off, there's no reason to play Xavier. Howard anymore. He's not giving you good run defense. He's not being physical out there. He's loafing on the field. There were multiple lobes on the field, especially the one, I want to say the hurry up offense drive to tie the game late. That might be the worst part. There was a deep corner route to Puka or someone to his side. I think it's Devante Adams actually his side. And he's just

walking after the play. And it's just stuff you can't have. And the thing is, again, in A.D. Mitchell's case he had 97 yards out there he made a fantastic play to get to the one yard line drop the ball what is zavian howard doing he's not doing a positive thing out there it's a whole negative and you're in like here's the thing i'm not saying jonathan edwards is some fantastic hidden gem corner that's going to change the dynamics of football this year but i know for a fact that he's going to be where he needs to be and he's going to play fast because he is a 23 year old undrafted free agent he is never going to loaf on the field. Those guys don't loaf. You know, we see, I put Ashton Duel in that corner right now before I'd put Xavier Howard back out there. I mean, this is something I'm actually

passionate about here because it's like, what are we getting out of him? There's not a single positive aspect, you know? He's not making plays in the ball. He's not even competing at the catch point going forward. So he's not even near the ball. And here's the thing. I remember back back in what, 2021, 2020 it was, whatever it was, with Brandon Faison thing. with Gus Bradley. Brandon Faison came over with Bradley and that was his guy. They got him out there

and he played about a month or so before Isaiah Rogers, now one of the best corners in football for a different team, finally usurped him and became the starter on the outside. But here's the thing. Faison was doing something out there.

Like Faison was doing something out there on the field. Zavian Howard's not doing anything positive whatsoever. So I truly, like, I was just, I couldn't believe they let him even go near Puka Nakuwa in this game. You guys heard me all week.

I was like, look, put Charverius Ward on Puka Nakuwa, because I don't care if anyone else touches the football, as long as Puka is not touching it. But they put Charvarius Ward on Devante Adams, and we saw the result. Like, it was Puka Nakua all game long. He is the superstar in this offense. Devonte Adams is a good player,

but he's not even near Puccahua as a player right now. And we just saw what happened. So, yeah, I think Lou Anuruma had a very up and down game. If we're just to continue studs and duds here, I think he did some good things on the early downs. I did some aspects, like when the Rams were not doing hurry up offense. I thought he got his defense into some really good situations. They rushed the passer pretty well out of four. And they had a couple nice plays in the ball.

But when they got into hurry up and they really got this defense like just out of their comfort zone and then again whatever the heck their plan was for puka i thought that was the biggest dud of this game so it's hard to pin this loss on the defense because we just talked about like 80 mitchell left up 14 points for the offense so it's hard to put all this loss on the defense when they had an okay game overall but those two things how they countered hurry up and then whatever their plan was for puka nakua which was like just let him do his thing uh yeah i think that's ultimately what costs a lot of the defensive success that we should be talking about in this game. Well, Zavian Howard has one guy who truly believes in him, and that's the guy

who's calling the plays, Lou and Rumo, which makes you think if he's got that much confidence in him, how much worse are the guys behind him? And as a player, what I'll say is, you know, the other guys on the other side of the ball, they get paid too. They're going to make some plays. And Puka made 13 of them. Thirteen reception. I felt like 20, man. It felt like 20 out there. And if you're on, when you have a perceived weak link, what you have to do as a player is play your position even better.

You know, so the way you have to maybe think about it is I need to get a better pass rush, you know, to help Xavier and Howard out. I need to tackle a guy for a loss to help Xavier out. I did kind of question I saw zone coverage a lot of times and nobody loved zone covers more than Pooka Nakuwa. And this quarterback staffer, you get in zone. Oh, my God, he's going to pick you apart. And so I noticed, you know, to myself, it's sort of like in the old days we used to call it to prevent defense.

What's it do? It prevents you from winning. but there were so many out-open spots when they played zone that maybe it was a bend but don't break thing because if you get manned, then maybe they'll really make you look bad. But a defensive back has to have a short memory, even in a game where he's constantly getting burned. But what happens in that situation is the other players need to pick him up with. some type of effort. And, you know, I know we're still in the Duds category, but I would say a stud is another guy that they pulled off the street, Mike Hilton, who came in and made that

turnover. And you got to remember, I don't know when he took a snap the last time, but, you know, Lou Aniruma has faith in these guys sitting on the couch. But Mike Hilton, I think, did a good job for just being in practice, what, one week? And fortunately, it's Lou Aniromo's system, so he's familiar with it. But he hadn't taken any snaps, and he's in there, and he caused a huge fumble,

which was another opportunity for the cults to really, you know, step on the gas and create separation on the scoreboard, but it didn't happen. And real quick, I just wanted to counter your, I understand, I completely agree with you about wanting to play more man coverage, because I think that would have helped,

but I'd be terrified to see Xavier and Howard at man coverage. More often than what we saw. Like, the couple times we saw him, if he's loafing in zone coverage, if you loafed man coverage, we're going to get long touchdowns. Or if your guy falls down, like with Vakai Blackman on 2-2 at well.

But, yeah, that's my last thing for the duds. But studs, I mean, what, DeForest Buckner, La Jailatu, Lottu, Tiler Warren. Tyler Warren. I thought those guys were fantastic today. So it's not, like, again, they lost by seven to a good. good team like it's not like this is all everyone sucks and everyone's awful because like yeah i thought

tyler warren was the best player on the colts offense all game long he was phenomenal and you can really see why the colts had him as a blue player on their draft board and why they were so pumped to get him because who tyler warren was fantastic today and also that opi that called him that had me throwing stuff more than the ad Mitchell hold um the ad Mitchell hold i was like okay that's a hold The OPI on Warren, like, we're going to have to just outlaw tight ends playing football if we're going to call that, you know, because that was just getting, if you're, every time a defender gets run over by someone just bigger and better than that, we're going to call a penalty, then there'd be a penalty on every single play. Yeah, that's tough. I will say, I do like the way the Colts responded after the AD thing, because if you almost make this a mere image of Denver, I think both of these plays happened on the Colts first. drive of the second half after the defense got to stop when the opponent, you know,

opened up the second half. And then that play happened against Denver. Everything unraveled. It wound up being like a 31.13 loss. But this one, the Colts had like, I think they forced four straight punts and the fumble. So like defensively, they were lights out after that. They responded very, very well. The offense, you know, stumbled and I, they traded punts throughout the third quarter.

until the Colts scored again at the beginning of the fourth. But I do think they did a good job of hanging in there and not letting it become an enormous problem. Yeah, one other category to add for the Duds or one other area. I just thought, and I'm like you, Zach, I'm not a but the refs guy. And I don't mean this from a Coltsite. I thought it was just a bad day for that crew in general. You know, a really soft holding call on Higbee, nuke, the Rams first drive, too.

I mean, let's say the OPI on Warren, it's just not OPI, it's not. It was not pass interference. There's no world where that's past interference. Them signaling that first down with Stafford, I'm watching that in lifetime, and I'm seeing him get blown off the ball. And I'm like, what are we doing? They had a ref run right in. It was like, no, that's good.

All right, first that. And thankfully, they overturned it in Stikin because a lot of times those, the challenges on spots don't work. And that one did because I think they realized when they watched it. Oh, my God, we really screwed up there. I don't know. I didn't think that this was. They have a difficult job, but I didn't think this was necessarily a great day for the officiating just in general either.

But that wraps up our studs and duds. We come back. We'll wrap up the show with the culture turning home to take on the Raiders and still tied to top the division. And we'll talk about how they bounce back from this loss and why we still feel like as a group that they're in a good position when the squad show returns for a final time. This portion of the show brought to you by our friends. Fanduel. The NFL season is here and Fandul is making sure you're ready for kickoff with a can't miss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you'll get $300 and bonus bets to use across the app. Fandu'll let's be customized by betting experience

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game, as long as we keep it, you know, not too mean-spirited. But thanks so much for joining us. We are your place to be for post-game, live Colts reaction in the moment. So I don't wake up with my Thursday and Friday takes on the Sunday show. These are my pure Sunday show takes, even though I'll admit that Zach and Jake and Allen are a lot more nuanced and smart than me when it comes to that and a lot less reactive. But guys, let's talk about this because, look, it hurts, it stings, it sucks. Colts fumbled away a huge opportunity in Los Angeles, right? And you look up and down the rest of the NFL scoreboard and you're like, oh, boy, this was,

so it's just not a good Sunday overall for the Colts, even in the stuff that they couldn't control. But that said, still tied to top the division. You get a Raiders team coming back that's, eh, whatever, they're fine. you're at home, you still went punch for punch, which what I think, I'm looking at the rest of the schedule, Jake. I'm not so sure that the Coltschish didn't play the best team

that they have left on their schedule, honestly. Now, I know they got Kansas City who looks more like Kansas City today, right? I'm going to be very careful by how he said that. But clearly, one of the best teams on their Colts schedule. I feel good that that take is going to age well. No, I think you're right. I think the back portion of their schedule is where it gets a little rocky. for what Houston is, you get them twice, you get Kansas City, like you mentioned.

You have your dreaded Jacksonville game as well, all that kind of stack there at the end. But you know, you have the Raiders, the Raiders, the Cardinals, the Falcons are obviously beautiful. The Steelers don't look that strong. Like you got some very winnable games coming up here. And again, some opportunities to bank wins in the AFC as well. So yeah, this isn't one I'm super concerned about. I think they definitely need to beat the Raiders at home next week, even though Ashton Genti officially flipped his switch today,

which is great to see right ahead of the Colts, who do not defend the run very well, mind you. But no, I think they'll be fine. We figured out some things about them, obviously. Jones, I'm not going to say Jones came down to Earth. Like, he had his first Rocky Day, no doubt. had some arm punts in there but overall like i didn't think it was an awful game i thought he had some bad moments if that makes sense uh jonathan taylor looked great i continue to think

michael pitman junior and tyler warren are just going to be absolute studs throughout the year and then you guys briefly mentioned latu i feel like he's been working up to this there there were a little concern where it's like the guy's got to start turning things into sacks he did have several pressures in this one got his sack officially finally the Rams gave up three sacks that was tied for the most they've given up this year the seven hits that the Colts got was the most that the Rams have given up this year so that's great I do feel like the Colts built some good momentum heading into much more manageable matchups yeah and you got to feel bad for the Raiders this upcoming week because you know we saw the football gods really pile on against the Colts

today like they i mean it was a little too much honestly the football god's coming down on them and what we know about the NFL is things usually have a way of evening out you know when it comes to this league so like how the the rams had what happened to them against the eagles the week before with two block kicks and all that crap happened to them yeah they got all the benefits coming their way this week with timely penalties with dropping the ball at the one yard line with a corner falling down on a go-to-win drive like the rams got all their benefits we're going to get all of ours next week but going at this like seriously uh i really want to go back to that point that jake had at the end of the last segment where i think this is a different colts team than what we've seen in past years and look

i've covered some bad colts teams i thought last year's team was much worse than what their final record showed and i think they're turning a lot of things pretty positively this year and the thing i really want to go back to what jake said is like that broncos game last last year where they had the drop ball the goal line that should have gone up by two scores this one's slightly different. It would have been up by just one score. But they completely melted down in that game last year after that drop ball. Everything fell up. Their defense just corroded into dust. Their offense forgot how to move the ball and just turn the ball over like three or four times after that. It became just horrendous, you know, for this Colts team in that one. This time, they have that

they have all that stuff happen and they are able to still pull ahead by seven in the fourth quarter and have a chance to go down and win late still. Obviously it didn't happen and they had so many things still go against them, but I think they responded much better to adversity so far this year than what they did last year. And I think that's the testament of a team that's going to be there by the end of the year. I think the quarterback play is much better this year as well. I know Daniel Jones had his issues in this game and I think his one biggest issue that we saw throughout the first three games really reared its ugly heads today, which was the

deep ball. The deep ball has been by far and away his. his worst aspect, easily his worst aspect through the first month of the season. And it really made the Colts pay to start in this game because of those two interceptions. But yeah, I thought Daniel Jones was fine. I think he was a steady presence for them to go down there and lead that go-ahead drive in the fourth quarter by just being like timely over the middle of the field, delivering that touchdown to Michael Pittman Jr.

I think they have some good things here. So if we're looking at this long term, yeah, they probably just lost by seven to the best team on their schedule. On the road, on the West Coast, like the sky is not falling. This cold team will be fine. They're going to come back this next week against Vegas, where Vegas has to now come to them, and they're going to win that game and move on. So I feel pretty comfortable where this cold team is at. And I think that they have the ability to respond to adversity this year,

much better than they did last year, where we saw them fall apart at the earliest sign. of adversity. This year, I think this is a different team. Well, I'm not familiar with the last year's team, but I felt like this game would test them. I felt like they would get some adversity in this game and how they dealt with it was going to say a lot to me. But I think they showed their resiliency. I think they showed that they could, you know, write the ship and get back to playing good. And to me, it looked like a lot of the mistakes didn't phase them. They just went back to business. You know, they got off schedule offensively because they got so used to driving the ball and getting scores. I would like to see them firm up that rush defense

a little bit more, but I look at the final numbers. They gave up an even hundred yards of rushing. You know, that happens every week in the NFL. That, that, that happens every week in the NFL. a team is going to get a hundred yards rushing. But the difference was you didn't have the offense on the field as long. And, you know, the Rams had the time of possession thing, one. But the resiliency is a positive sign to me. It's a team of professionals that know that stupid stuff's going to happen in the game. Stuff you can't control is going to happen in the game.

but we can control what we can control, and what we can control is running good plays, running efficiently, putting ourselves in a position to win. And crazy stuff is going to happen sometimes, but, you know, I think this team is a team of grown-ups that are able to not let that momentum swing or, you know, sometimes when, when you get on the wrong side of that momentum train you're not going to stop it but this team i think has the makings of a group that can just say okay uh you got us on that one we're going to come back next drive and get this thing correct yeah i think they largely did that uh you know i think they really tucked it out they were facing a lot of circumstances this week that they hadn't

been facing in the sense that they were facing a lot of second and third and longs um the pressure that Jones was faced. The pressure really on both sides that was part of that, I think was just high game leverage. It just felt like every drive was a critical drive in this game. Whereas you really, maybe at the end of the Denver game, I think he kind of went through that a little bit, but certainly you didn't do that in the Miami game or last week in Nashville. And I thought the Colts put themselves in a position to win, even if they extracted themselves out of that position, if that makes sense. I think that's what's frustrating about the loss. It doesn't feel like, you know, oh, Matthew Stafford, or Puka made a

play, you know, obviously Puka had 2,800 catches today or whatever, but it just felt like a game that the Colts let slip out of their fingers. And I think that's where the frustration goes in. But that'll fade away as, you know, if the Colts go five and one and suddenly we're doing the show in a couple of weeks and they're five and one and still atop the division, I think we're having a very different conversation. But just in the scope of the now, which is what these post-game show are right now, it stings right now. It stings right now. is that for sure. Yeah, and one thing I want to mention about the Colts offense having their step back today

is really that this Colts offense has been predicated on pre-snap motion, on giving as much of a clear picture to your quarterback by moving guys around prior to the snap by having a dominant deep threat that opens up everything over the middle of the field. And it's hard to do those things on a road environment where your dominant deep threat is not playing in this game. And you're going to have to find ways to survive with those, again, that adversity there, where when you talk about like how it looked at Tennessee for instance at Tennessee was a big road was a road test for them but it wasn't like a big road test Tennessee crowd wasn't really in it because their team kind of stinks when you go out to Los Angeles and you're playing against a really good Rams team that crowd is in it and it makes it harder to do your operations on offense when you are this pre-snap motion team when you are this heavy play action team against a dominant defensive line that can rush with four and get after you so it's not even giving like excuses here it's just saying that the Colts have to learn to adjust to that kind of environment going forward.

But luckily next week, they're getting back to a comfortable environment. Back at home, in your dome, and you're having a team from the West Coast come to you, your motion's going to be a lot easier. Your processes are going to be a lot easier. And I think that we're going to see the offense get back on track this next week against the Vegas defense. I think we're going to see a lot of things just get a lot smoother for them. When they're away from that environment, they were just in, again, a really good front floor, no deep threat with Alec Pierce and the crowd going crazy with their with their pre-snap motion

not really working as much as it hadn't passed I think they'll be fine this upcoming week and going forward yeah I think it's just about not letting this become a bigger thing and rolling into you know more losses or ugly play in general and the good news for them is like Shane Steichen whether you want to say anything good or bad about him like the guy is as consistent as the day is long he is going to give those guys the same message he's going to bring them the same energy day in and day out it's up to the players to shake this off take hold of that again alan flush it flush it away move on to the next one because this was only the fourth game of the year like you've got 13 more you like if you want to be a playoff team that game didn't happen other than

the mistakes you got to correct the coaches got stuff to correct too there's decisions that need to be made um but no organizationally they've got to move on to the next one and luckily it's it's not like they have that kansas city test or being in jacksonville or going to houston or something next like this isn't a cupcake next against the raiders but it's at home where you're comfortable it's you know the raiders are okay offensively vulnerable defensively like you can you can do this just don't let it be a bigger problem than it needs to be honestly come out pissed off Because just as we're saying they lost this game, they, more than anyone, know that they lost this game and gave it away. So they need to come back pissed and ready to fight.

Losing can be a good thing sometimes because if you can learn why you lost, you know, that's the positive you get from losing are not losing again. Don't do that stuff that made you lose. And I think this is a team full of grown-ups that understand. And look, as players, you know, you're going to lose them sometimes, you know. But what did be gleaned from that? And that's not make that mistake. And let's get back on that horse. And you definitely want to, you know, protect your home as much as possible.

You want to make your home a place where other teams fear coming into. Despite what your favorite team did today, it's never a mistake to join us right here on the Cold squad show. We're your place for live game recaps following each and every Colts game this season. And we'll have a Wednesday show coming up for you, nine o'clock. That's when we'll be back with you to recap the injury report in the first practice of the week, get you set for another Western team in the Raiders as the Colts returned to Indy. Until then, follow us at Lockedon Colts on socials and check out our other great content on YouTube and TikTok, and we will see you next time right here on the squad show.

Thank you.