Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - COLTS SQUAD SHOW: Colts SURVIVE Texans | Game-winning Drive Late Notches Indy's First win of season!

Episode Date: September 27, 2026

After nearing blowing a double-digit fourth quarter lead, the Colts were able to survive a late rally (and their own mistakes) against the Texans.The Squad react to a much-needed win - Indy's first si...nce last November - and how it may have saved the season. Also, they play Studs & Duds, investigate Daniel Jones' early season ball security problems, and discuss what this Colts' performance means for them as they hop overseas for next week's matchup in London.Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms: 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts/📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQGive the squad a follow on X/Twitter @Schultz975, @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @allenpinkett, @colts_hit, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOn_SI, as well as on TikTok and Instagram!Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/lockedoncoltsEverydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclubSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!HomeChefFor a limited time, Home Chef is offering my listeners FIFTY PERCENT OFF and free shipping for your first box PLUS free dessert for life! Go to http://HomeChef.com/LOCKEDONNFL. GustoTry Gusto today at http://gusto.com/LOCKEDONNFL, and get three months free when you run your first payroll. Gameday Men's HealthBook your complimentary test and consult at https://join.gamedaymenshealth.com/reasons_to_choose_gameday-1201?utm_source=lockedon&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=NFL&utm_network=lockedon&utm_adgroup=corp&ghl_tag=national,corp Butcher BoxIf you're looking for an easier way to get great meals on the table, give ButcherBox a try. Go to https://ButcherBox.com/LOCKEDONNFL to get $20 off your first box, plus your choice of free ribeye, new york strip, or filet mignon in every box for a year — with free shipping always.AppleYou can earn up to 3% unlimited Daily Cash back on every purchase you make with Apple Card using Apple Pay. Apply in the Wallet app on your iPhone today. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank, USA. Salt Lake City Branch. Terms and more at apple-card-dot-com.https://learn.applecard.apple/unlimited-daily-cash?cid=apy-318-2000008800000-400000000000039&itscg=2030032&itsct=srvs-crd-P3004756-C3004897&mttnagencyid=c1a&mttnsiteid=133087&mttnpid=LockedOn%20%28Audio%29&mttnsubad=srvs-crd-P3004756-C3004897&mttnsubplmnt=&mttncc=USIndeedListeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast.PrizePicksVisit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL and use code LOCKEDONNFL and get $150 if you win your first $5 lineup!KALSHIToday's episode is brought to you by Kalshi. For a limited time, Download Kalshi and use code Locked On to get $25 when you trade $25. Kalshi. Trade what’s next.GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelGet three hundred fifty dollars in Bonus Bets — GUARANTEED — when you bet five dollars every day for seven days. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COMFANDUEL 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) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to the Colts Squad Show. I'm Derek Schultz and like the kicker, my groin suddenly feels okay too. And I'm Zach Hicks and look, an ugly win is still a win. I'm Alan Pinkett, former Oiler and I'm just glad I take blood pressure medication. I'm Willis Starloper. I'm just glad that Spencer Shrader is the goat. Colts Nation rise up. It's the Colts 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. I'm Derek Schultz, long-time indie sports soccer. I'm joined by
Starting point is 00:00:50 Nordame Legend and longtime NFL running back Alan Pinkett, along with Locked on Colts daily co-host, Zach Hicks, your first listen every day. And Locked on Colts hit host, Will Starlipper joins us as well. Jake Arthur, furiously at work at Lucas Oil Stadium. At least he'll have a happy locker room to work in. He's going to rejoin us for the midweek show. But on today's recap show, we're finally, finally talking about a win. First one for the Colts since last November. First one on American soil since October, if you can believe it.
Starting point is 00:01:19 And thankfully, a home win and a division win over the Texans as they survived 19 to 17. Not to be gross, but I mean, like even, you know, the sweat is still even coming right now. I think we're all kind of feeling the same way, but a win is a win is a win. Thankfully, segment number one, we'll talk about it. I don't want to be hyperbolic. I really don't, but did the Colts just save their season? I mean, at least temporarily, it feels like they did. We'll all go around the room and react to today's just a wild fourth quarter in their win over Houston.
Starting point is 00:01:46 Are there concerns about Daniel Jones after the first three games? Three turnovers today, certainly a concerning performance with ball security today, but we'll get into that in segment number two. We'll play studs and duds as we always do. Week 3 edition, there were some great standout performances today, a couple of big plays. And I think the Colts overall played pretty well outside of the fact of the turnover margin today, which allowed the Texans to nearly steal it from them. And then finally we'll round things out with,
Starting point is 00:02:14 I always like to kind of look into the future, what today's game said about where the Colts are and where they need to be as they can kind of continue this critical season here in 2026 with a lot of jobs on the line. but Zach, let's just start with, you know, a season saving drive. It felt that way. When the Texans went up 17, 16, I just thought to myself, you can't lose this game like that. And thankfully, Lecron Twedwell made a great play.
Starting point is 00:02:42 Spencer Schrader with a terrific bomb kick. He had a couple of bomb kicks today despite the hurt groin. And so I guess you could say a win is a win is a win. I know that we're going to kind of like piece through this thing, but surface level, Coles need results. and they got one. Yep, especially when you're looking at a team who had nine straight losses coming into this one, six straight losses in one-score games as well.
Starting point is 00:03:04 Like their last six one-score games have all been losses. You would think that eventually it would kind of come, the pendulum would swing back their way when it came to those one-score games. And regardless of how it looked, it doesn't matter how it looks at this point. This is a must-win season for the Indianapolis Colts. Getting a win is vital. And I feel like this is one they desperately needed, just in a sense of everything felt like it was spiraling, right? They were finding ways to lose over the last nine weeks, right? Going back to
Starting point is 00:03:30 last season, again, six of those nine losses were one score games, right? It was just finding a way to lose somehow. They needed this one to show that winning is actually possible again. So again, like the Texans were not at full strength. They were not their best version of themselves, but honestly, neither were the Colts either. So anyone who wants to use that excuse, like, oh, they were down Nico Collins. We were down Alec Pierce. Like, it's the same impact in the offense, even if they're different tiers of receiver. So the Colts, so the Colts, needed this win. Regardless of how ugly it was, regardless of how pretty it was, like, they needed this. And he almost had just a monumental collapse in that fourth quarter,
Starting point is 00:04:04 which we'll cover extensively here throughout the week and on this episode. But the feeling right now is like that weight that's on your back. Like basically, it was like a sleep paralysis demon on your chest. So the last nine weeks, essentially, just waning down this cold team, making it hard to breathe. It's finally gone now. Now we can focus on the rest of the season, focus on getting more win, stacking some games, they desperately needed this win. So like you said, Derek, a loss today, especially if they would have lost after the way that fourth quarter was going, the season's over. Like, you're not coming back from that. Like, I went through the numbers on the Wednesday show about how 0 and 3 teams has only been five teams since 1990 who had made the playoffs. And the only two since
Starting point is 00:04:44 2000 have been two different Texans teams. So we'll see if they can do it again this year. But the Colts, like, we're not going to come back for that, especially we blew a two-score lead in the fourth quarter to this Texans team. So they needed to finish this game off. It wasn't pretty, and there will be plenty of time for that kind of analysis in the rest of the show and the rest of the week. But the bottom line is right now they are sitting at one and two, sole possession of second place in the division, and they have a long schedule still ahead of them. So that's what you could hope for right now, right? Just keep winning games no matter how it looks, and we go from there. So a win is a win is a win. Sorry about that. Rookie mistake. I know these guys are
Starting point is 00:05:28 professionals, but they're also human. And after you've lost nine games in a row, it would be easy to fall into that, well, we tried hard, but we're sort of supposed to lose because that's what we've been doing. But I was really impressed by the fact that even though they knew they screwed up looking in the eyes of the offense, and especially Daniel Jones, they you know, looked like they were on a mission and they were going to succeed. And they do rely heavily on that kicker. I mean, they just, if they cross the 50, it's like, okay, we're kicking. But overall, impressed, by the way, the Colts today,
Starting point is 00:06:16 because they did play like they had to win. I would say especially on defense, because usually the Texans defense outshines the Colts defense. the Colts defense. But, you know, I looked at some of the numbers. The Texans ended up with a total of 223 yards of offense, 153 passing, 70 yards rushing. You know, usually that would be the Colts stats in a Colts Texans game. I have to say I was impressed by the amount of pressure that the Colts were able to put on,
Starting point is 00:06:56 CJ Stroud. He looked like a statue sometimes back there, but there were different parts of the game where they were able to get some pressure. In fact, Colts got three sacks, you know, so impressed by them. And the last thing was on offense. Usually the Shane Steichen offense is one where, you know, it's precise timing, a lot of short routes. The problem is a lot of teams are squatting on those routes now. So I was actually impressed with the fact that they were going downfield with the football, you know, longer throws and completing them. And, you know, I think one of the things I say that's nice about a Shane Stuyckett system is you can't pick one guy that you're going to stop because they have such a good variety of receivers
Starting point is 00:07:51 that can go and make plays. And to, to, to, to, to, you know, to, you. and a Jonathan Taylor that can help seal the deal, but was also excited to see the good old number 20 come in and have a few shots too because in contemporary NFL football, you need two running backs. But a different Coles team because they found a way to win instead of finding a way to lose again. Yeah, I was actually baffled that Dalton Schultz wasn't putting up 150 this week. So I kind of struggled with like a little bit early on the game like how is this Colts defense like really improved or is this Houston offense, especially without Nico Collins,
Starting point is 00:08:41 just massively struggling, maybe a little bit of both. I thought there were obviously a few ups and downs. But I think the big obviously going 0 and 3 here compared to one and two, especially when it's a division win that like those things, the division, especially with the AFC South those division wins come up huge later in the season. So, you know, next week is Washington who just somehow beat the Seattle Seahawks. I don't know how. And then you have the Steelers who we historically struggle with. So 1 and 2 and 0 and 3 is a giant difference there.
Starting point is 00:09:16 And I think it's an even bigger victory to finally get, you know, obviously they go up 17, 16. I'm like, oh, my God, here we go again. We're going to collapse again. not collapsing on one hand and actually being able to figure it out at the end of a one-score game, that was probably the biggest W of this game. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, any win would have been good, right? They could have been in Tennessee today, 19 to 17.
Starting point is 00:09:40 You'd be like, sure, okay, great. They ended up winning the game, but there is something a little more gratifying about, you know, you basically have two teams sort of hovering over the incinerator going into this week, oh and two, Texans and Colts. And instead of you falling in, you kick the, you know, kick Houston into there. At least that's just how I'm kind of making peace with it, Zach. But I just thought, you know, if we are going to get into like what was frustrating about the performance, through three quarters, the Colts were dominating the game, really.
Starting point is 00:10:08 They were tripling up the Texans in total yards. Texans had like 80 total yards, I think, at that point. And I thought despite the turnovers, the Colts offense was moving the ball fairly consistently down the field, despite the fact that they had really no running game. They were getting brick walled as far as the running game was. concerned, but you just, Zach, you can't put yourself in a position to give the game away. And that's kind of what the Colts did. I know we're focusing on the fact that they won, but the fact that this wasn't, you know, a fairly mundane, you know, 23 to 10 type win, that does stick with me a
Starting point is 00:10:44 little bit. Like a good team today or a team that is farther along than the Colts are right now, this would not have been a game in the fourth quarter. Yeah, for sure. And that's something that we'll talk about throughout the week. I think in the early part of the season when play is just sloppy and ugly across the board. I mean, look at, like to what Will said, right, look at how well, like, to a degree, right, how well a lot of these 0-2 teams performed today, because everyone knows there's the desperation of it. And margin for error in the NFL is just so slim, right? So, again, I'm not going to overlook a win early in the season. Get that win, especially against a team that was in the playoffs last year, take that win and be happy about it. But there is a lot to
Starting point is 00:11:20 evaluate with this game, and part of it is how they were blowing a two-score. lead in that fourth quarter. It's just something that can't happen. And obviously the fumble by Jones is one of the most egregious mistakes by a player this entire season so far for the Colts, right? Like it is one of the biggest mistakes. And we're lucky that it's not resulting in a loss. Because I thought Jones overall played pretty well, which we'll talk about in the second
Starting point is 00:11:41 segment. It's just the turnovers. And that's a big if, right, with quarterback. You can't turn the ball over because this should have been a multi-score win for the Colts, but it was a two-point win because they lost a turnover battle. badly and they lost the penalty battle badly. And because of those two factors, this was a game that they had to win on a last second field goal. And thankfully, the kicker was great today. I mean, thankfully, the kicker was awesome, right? Because you never know how that pendulum swing is going to go when it
Starting point is 00:12:08 comes to kicker. Some days they remember how to kick. Some days they don't. Right now, we're in a good stretch of play from Spencer Schrader to where they can win a game like this. But you're not going to have the kicker to bail you out all the time. So I'm happy with the win. There's still a lot of analysis to come with the team and the Colts shouldn't be, you know, resting on their laurels being like, okay, we beat the Texans, therefore we're good again. No, there's still a lot of work to do and a lot of things going forward. But as of right now, when the play is sloppy, when teams are dealing with big injuries and you don't know who you are yet, I will take a win over a divisional opponent, especially
Starting point is 00:12:40 opponent. They lost five straight games to. Like, at the end of that game, I was like, look, they had to make it interesting for no reason at the end, but you lost five straight to this team. I don't care how it looked. It could have been to nothing. It could have been 90 to nothing. Like, whatever it was.
Starting point is 00:12:55 Winning against the Texans is all that mattered today, and they did it. So we'll talk about it for sure how this could have been bad for him, but it wasn't. And what's the saying in football, Alan? It's better to be lucky than good. It is better to be lucky than good. And today the Colts were lucky. And you know what? I'll take it today.
Starting point is 00:13:12 You know, and I'll just add that the benefit of getting a win means that in your analysis, you can actually be more critical and, you know, sort of zoom in on those things that you have to work on, knowing that if you execute those things, you're going to get a win. But I'll go back on another old saying when it comes to turnovers because you never want the turnovers to mount, you know, and there's statistics that tell you stuff, and there's statistics that don't mean a thing. But, you know, while I was playing, we always said three turnovers, you should lose, four, you're going to lose. So at least they kept it to three.
Starting point is 00:13:54 Yeah, that's true. Also, while we're talking about, you know, the good result of it, and it sounds crazy to say this, but then when you go it out through your head, you're like, oh, yeah, that's true. Shane Steichen's first home win over the Houston, Texans. Yeah, which one more thing I want. Sounds crazy to say, but that's where the series has been, right?
Starting point is 00:14:12 Okay, one thing I need thrown here, just because, again, we're starting to skew a little negative. We just won a game, guys, in the first time in the last 10. So we're going to talk about, let's talk about, the hero of this game, obviously, besides the kicker, right? Lequan Treadwell doing it again, baby. Like, getting the Colts in position to win a game in... I don't think he had another catch in this game outside of that one.
Starting point is 00:14:30 A deep dig route over 20 yards against this Houston defense that was frustrating for the day. And who showed up, draft bust Lequan Treadwell, who should have been cut in the offseason, right? Because he's a draft bust, made another big play down the field, got the Colts into that field goal position. So, look, again, we're going to talk about the negatives for sure. but let's celebrate Laquan Treadwell today, baby. How often do you get two straight weeks where Laquan Treadwell should get praise?
Starting point is 00:14:55 I mean, again, if the Colts would have finished last week, he would have got his praise. But another one where Laquan Treadwell shows up late and the Colts were able to get a win this time. Yeah, I've only been doing Colts hit for two weeks. This is the first time I get to do this week after it went. I'm excited. Right. We can flip. You want to flip studs and duds in the next segment if we're going to try to not do negative?
Starting point is 00:15:15 We can do that. We can go studs and duds next. How about we do that? You're right. Colts win. Let's go studs. 17, first one in the season. We'll come back and talk about the studs and some duds, but the studs of this performance,
Starting point is 00:15:27 a Colts victory, a win, one and two, and we'll return with that when the Colts Squad Show returns next. This portion of the Colts Squad Show brought you by our friends at Game Day Men's Health. A quiz on your phone and a box at your door is in a clinic when it comes to men's health. Things like energy, sleep, drive, and how you feel day-to-day deserve more
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Starting point is 00:17:03 Colts Squad Show. First time that we could say that since before Thanksgiving last year, alongside it former NFL or Alan Pinkett. Zach Hicks of Locked on Colts. Will Star Lipper of Locked on Colts hit. I'm Derek Shultz. Thanks so much for joining us.
Starting point is 00:17:14 And hopefully your breathing has returned to normal after the Colts knock off the Titans 19 to 17 earlier this afternoon. Texans. Sorry. Look, I know they look like the Titans out there today, but it was the Texans. There's me being negative again. I'm downplaying the win. Don't forget to check out our Everydayer Club for ad-free episodes and access to a group chat with Jake, Zach, and other listeners of Locked-on Colts. Tap the link of the show notes or go to Lockedon Podcast.com slash Everydayer Club.
Starting point is 00:17:40 So we're actually flipping segment two and segment three. Let's start with some of our studs and duds. And, you know, honestly, Zach, you know, you talked about Laquan Treadwell. I thought the receivers overall, Keenan Allen ended up having a nice game too. You know, no Alec Pierce and the Colts pretty much had to be one dimensional today for the most part. I know that they tried to kind of sprinkle in the run, but for the most part, it was about moving the ball through the air. I put Allen in that category, too, with what he did today. Yeah, I mean, obviously early in the game, the offense was running through Josh Downs, right?
Starting point is 00:18:11 And Josh Downs made some outstanding. He actually made like three catches on the sideline, too, where he couldn't get his feet in bounds that were like catch of the day material, right? Because Josh Downs was just on one today. then the Texans started to take him away in the second half, and it became more of the Keenan Allen show. Some good moments from Tyler Warren as well. He had that bad drop, though, at the end of the first half. But aside from that, some pretty good moments from him, too.
Starting point is 00:18:32 And then obviously, again, LeQuant Treadwell at the end of the game, making that big catch, like exactly what they needed. But, yeah, the past catcher stepped up, especially with no Alec Pierce, no Darius Slayton in this game either because he's still getting acclimated to the team. And I thought, like, honestly, going in, if you told me there was going to be no Slayton or Pierce, I would have thought, okay, Jones is going to have. of two yards down the field, average depth of target. It's going to be a lot of run-after catch at best.
Starting point is 00:18:56 And if Jones breaks 200 yards, it would be a miracle. So the fact that they were able to move the ball generally throughout the day, especially with a lack of Jonathan Taylor, really getting many yards in this one. I thought it was pretty interesting to see for sure. But going to the defense, I mean, we have to shout this guy out here. Atomua, Atobore, finally getting his shot. Like, I just don't know why that wasn't the plan going into the season, where on past rushing downs, it should always be Tommy and Buckner on the interior.
Starting point is 00:19:26 Nobody else gets those interior rushes because those are your best two rushers on the team. And we saw it today, right? A sack and a half in this one, multiple QB hits, was harassing C.J. Stroud. Like, he was incredible. And DeForest Buckner was as well, right? Because we expect that from Buckner. But, like, again, I don't want to celebrate an injury. But Michael Clemens going down might have really helped this defense in a big way
Starting point is 00:19:49 because the Colts were weirdly putting Clemens out there next to Buckner, and he's just not half as good a pass rusher as at Tommy was. So one minor move like that, right? Tommy getting out there instead of Michael Clemens leads to the pass rush, at least in the first half. I know in the second half the Texans were blocking four guys with seven, and it was not as effective. But in the first half, like Tommy was all over the place,
Starting point is 00:20:13 and it was like something I was screaming off the rooftops, the first couple games, get Tommy more snaps and good things happen. And so aside from Spencer Schrader, aside from Josh Downs, I thought Tommy was like my third star of the game in this one. And in his case, you know, a lot of times all you're looking for is opportunity. And, you know, some guys will practice one way, but you put them in the game and the lights come on. And, you know, they play a lot differently. So credit at Tommy to, you know, take advantage of this opportunity, which is going to give him some more bling time. One guy I wanted to highlight, I actually wanted to highlight two guys on
Starting point is 00:20:53 defense. First one was Justin Wally. I think he played a pretty good game, knowing that, you know, the first pass he defended someone caught, but when you got a receiver going all the way across the field, nobody's going to run with that dude. That's one of those where I say, okay, we need a better pass rush, you know, so the quarterback can't sit back there and wait five seconds for this guy to cross the field, but he made a lot of plays on the ball, made some good tackles. So I think he's coming into form. And I think, can you be a stud if you just have one good play and then make one bonehead play? Just talk about the one stud play. JTT, who we haven't talked about. The two play sequence. Yeah. You know, he comes up field, makes a nice tackle in the backfield, and then jumps
Starting point is 00:21:44 offside network. But, I mean, they are utilizing and he looked a lot better. He reminded me of the JTT I saw at Ohio State. So that's the defense on offense. I don't know if we can give a stud designation to a coach, but wanted to give it to Shane Stuyken because knowing this Texan's defense and the fact that they were going to be squatting on the normal route, that they've been running, the ones that caused them to lose five straight, changing up the game plan, and it may have been Daniel Jones, too, changing up the game plan to go deep and to utilize the checkdowns and the screens. You know, if you're going to have a defense that puts a lot of pressure on you,
Starting point is 00:22:33 then it's okay to have a dude just sitting right at the line of scrimmage, give it to them and let them get positive yards. And they did that on a few occasions. but that's the best way to diffuse all that upfield pressure is getting to somebody who's right at the line of scrimmage. So I thought it was a well-called game, and I will call him a stud because he had nine catches. But as a tight-in, letting a little DB tackle your ass in the open field, come on, Tyler. You've got to use a stiff arm or something or step over to do. You never let one guy tackle you.
Starting point is 00:23:13 And that's, you know, as a running back, we always sort of took pride. And if we were in open field, we weren't getting tackled. But this dude got tackled by the Pistlenk DB. So I'll give them the stud designation for catching nine, but the dud because he got tackled in the open field. Well, can I mention Shane just real quick here? You kind of piggyback on it.
Starting point is 00:23:38 Look, Shane's second got raked over the course. calls most of last week, right? And, and I actually think, and no one's really going to talk about this. And if Schrader misses the kick, then we're still probably mad at Stuyken. I thought that third and six play that they chose to throw and it was rule the first down on the field. Like, that's what we need from Shane Stiking. He could have easily just ran Taylor right into a brick wall. They could have taken like a one yard loss or a no gain and just settled for a 60 whatever yard field goal. And instead, you know, he actually went for it. He went for them trying to end the game essentially right there. Let's get the first downlets, burn the rest of the clock, maybe get a couple more yards, and then go for it.
Starting point is 00:24:12 And that's the Shane Steichen that I want to see, not the one that kind of, you know, gets into the turtle shell at the end and is terrified about making a mistake. And certainly with the way that his quarterback played today, I would think that maybe you'd be terrified of making a mistake there. But I like that aggressive Shane. So that alone to me, I mean, Alan, I agree with you. I think the Colts offense, offensive performance outside of the turnovers, which I know you can't take away, was actually really good today. And about as good as you could have expected them to do against a really good. unit but I loved how Shane handled that particular play call in that spot because I thought for sure they were going to hand it Taylor and then just kick the field goal and then go from there. But sorry,
Starting point is 00:24:48 I didn't mean to cut you off. Well, he was one step on. If going for the fourth and one was one more step with the aggressiveness. Shane, you were close, buddy. I mean, it worked out. You never pleased Zach. It worked out, but I wanted the last play to be the kick. I didn't want to give time back to the Texans. And we saw somehow the Texans got to play all the way to midfield and got out of bounds. I have no clue how that happens. in that situation when they have no timeouts. So very close, Shane, very close. I do like the through the ball at least,
Starting point is 00:25:14 but I would have snuck it on the fourth and one. I mean, maybe I would have been wrong, but it ended up working out, I guess. No, yeah. I think, I mean, we ran it second down on that last possession, and my immediate reaction is, are we about to do this same thing we did against the Chiefs and run it minus one, run it minus one,
Starting point is 00:25:35 settle for a really, even though Schrader was phenomenal, who he's absolutely a stud today, four for four and the field goal or in the extra point, 58-yard field goal. You get down there, you run it. I'm like, oh, my gosh, he's getting complacent here. We're going to kick this really long field goal for no reason. Even if he makes it, there's going to be plenty of time for Houston to get down there with
Starting point is 00:25:56 this defense. But, you know, thank God we at least did throw the ball there, you know, first down, almost first down, fourth and one, you can argue there. but I definitely think, you know, if that field goal had been missed, there would have been some conversation over some of that. But yeah, shout out to Spencer Schrader. Josh Downs, obviously, man, I just, I hyped him up so much. And I pulled back off of it a little bit when we signed Keenan because I was like,
Starting point is 00:26:22 all right, probably some less targets. Then Pierce goes down. Downs was phenomenal against Kansas City last week. And in this game, too, it's just like he's, I will say, I was like, man, why are we, we just pepper Josh Downs like the whole first half, and then it took a while to get him back in, and involved more. But he is always open. Like, he is always open. And he, for a little guy, too, I can't believe how often he makes like a great contested catch. Like, I, I just love Josh Downs. I agree with Alan, too, on Warren. I mean, I talked about it on the Colts hit
Starting point is 00:26:57 earlier last week of, you know, Tyler Warren averaging 3.8 yards per catch. And today it was six point one last year it was well in double digits so that was one of the things i wanted to see was trying to get tyler warren downfield and i agree with alan like i don't know if i'm crazy but like there's been like a slight thing to me where it's like he's getting tackled easier or like he kind of like looks slower to me just a little bit and i don't know i i wanted to get get him going downfield obviously with the with the loss of alec pierce but um obviously Tommy had a great game was clear stud to me but honestly the run defense in general, I was baffled that we only allowed 70 rushing yards and 3.3 yards per carry, even though Houston struggled a little last week against Cincinnati's
Starting point is 00:27:41 defense, like they did whatever they wanted to against Buffalo in week one. So shout out to the run defense a little bit. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I was going to say, just I wanted to get to some duds real quick, just make sure we got it in here. Let's fit them in. Yeah. So I think the number one dud by far and away is the open roof, right? Because that sunny on the field with the shadows is the worst thing ever to look at. I think there were like four plays in this game that were that were decided because of the sun. Like, Stroud actually made a great throw on that one rolling out of the pocket where Tommy hit him and he hit the receiver in stride and the receiver just couldn't find the ball. Gould lost it in the sun on the punt from his own two yard line. And I think Taylor might have lost it
Starting point is 00:28:21 on that pitch out too. They were all right in that exact same spot in the sun and they lost it. So obviously the biggest dud is the sun. Daniel Jones's turnovers just can't happen. The last one is just inexcusable. It really can't happen in that situation because even if you just fall forward three times, you can at least attempt a long kick and get it to a two-score game and you win the game. So that can't happen. And then also, Soss Garner had a rough game, especially against some less than average receiver, like below average receivers that the Texans were throwing out there. I thought he was in position on a lot of them.
Starting point is 00:28:54 He just couldn't locate the football. And it felt like, you know, like Jonathan Edwards last year against the Cardinals to a degree. I don't want to say it's the one-to-one there. But like it felt like he was right there on a lot of them. It's just he couldn't separate man from balls. So certainly a concerning game for sauce. Jones, the turnover's got to chill out.
Starting point is 00:29:12 And then never open that roof again. And I think we might be good going forward. Are we not being harsh on Jalen Travis? We're going to give a pass because of what he had to deal with today. I mean, you could be the greatest tackle in football, and they're all getting beat that way to Willand. He's going to win defensive player the year this year, even if the Texans don't make the playoffs.
Starting point is 00:29:29 Like, it is his year for it. So, yeah, like, Travis, certainly there will be things to clean up, but especially when Anderson lines up that snap count, there's not a tackle in this league who can block him. He is a top three defender in the league. And honestly, right now with Garrett being out, he is top two, maybe top one in the league right now. And he showed it in this one.
Starting point is 00:29:50 So, yeah, Travis, rough game. Offensive line in general, pretty rough game. But, I mean, when you don't have a deep threat at wide receiver and you're going against two top five pass rushers in football, it's going to be a tough one. And they left them on islands for, you know what? If we're going to get on Shane Seiking for anything, why was Travis on an island so much against Willing?
Starting point is 00:30:06 That should have been a chip. Every single drop back, that should have been a trip. Like, come on. That should not have been. So if we want to get on Shane for anything, Like that was probably the most egregious thing. Yeah, that's what I mean, I figured as much too. Another one was for me was a lot too,
Starting point is 00:30:22 but I'm waiting to see this injury situation. It looked like he was not quite right. And so I don't want to call somebody a dud performance or say it was a quiet performance when they were playing with something, which it looked like he might have been. And they won. So right, let's just keep it studs. We'll spend 90% of the segment on studs and then duds will spend 10%.
Starting point is 00:30:39 That's what we ended up doing. All three turnovers today attributed to Daniel Jones. It came dangerously close to costing the Colts a much needed victory, which of course they end up getting. Does the ball security concern issue? Sorry, issue concern you. We're going to talk about that when the Colts Squad Show returns next. David Harrison here at the Lockdown Commanders podcast.
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Starting point is 00:31:54 That's butcherbox.com slash locked on NFL. Again, butcherbox.com slash locked on NFL. Make sure you use our link so they know we sent you. Welcome back rolling right along here on the locked on Colts squad show post game edition. Following the Colts 19 to 17 win over the Texans. We're joined by Alan Pink and Zach Hicks. We'll Star Lipper and I'm Derek Schultz. And thanks so much for joining us.
Starting point is 00:32:16 as always a very vibrant and talkative YouTube comment section as well. Some of you thrilled about the win. Some of you less thrilled, but happy to get it just because the Colts ended up surviving. They now moved to one and two in the standings. And I think most importantly of all, they are out of the basement of the league's worst division.
Starting point is 00:32:33 So that's good, too. Second place. We can start calling them the second place Colts for where they sit today. Let's talk about Daniel Jones because, you know, surface level, 24 of 36, 235 yards if we're just kind of going through the box score. Led five scoring drives against this Texans team,
Starting point is 00:32:51 but, you know, the interception, the two loss fumbles, even if you want to maybe give them, I guess, a little bit less of a hard time about the first one. The second one, the interception, they were in scoring position to take three points and you could have made it a two-score game right there, and he just kind of throws up a Yolo ball, just a terrible decision in general.
Starting point is 00:33:13 And then on the last drive of the game, it's the one thing that can't happen. And it happens and it nearly costs them because the Texans scoop it up and then get the go-ahead touchdown drive. But, Zach, you know, what did you think? Is it enough of a concern or is it enough of an issue to say this is concerning now to me or is it just a bad afternoon for DJ? The turnovers are certainly concerning because he's had five turnovers now through three games, a turnover each week at this point. And they have been pretty rough some of these turnovers, right? It's not like they've been just hit balls or bad turnover luck.
Starting point is 00:33:44 These have been well-earned turnovers on Daniel Jones's part, especially that last one near the end of the game, right? That's just one where, again, you have to hit your hitch. If your curse guy's not open, you are throwing that ball out of bounds or you're falling to the ground because you cannot turn that football over. So, yeah, you just need better ball control from your quarterback. And I will say this, the last two weeks from Daniel Jones as a passer when you factor in who they played against, even if this is not the Texans defense of last year, it's still
Starting point is 00:34:11 top 10 defense in the league, and they will be by the end of the season. These past rushers are too good for it not to be that good of a defense. And then also the Chiefs last week, who I think are a really good defense this year, like, I thought he made a lot of great in plays in these games and got the Coltson situations to win both of these games, but these turnovers are costly. And part of playing quarterback is controlling that football. You know, for every 10 good passes you have, one bad turnover can destroy all that goodwill. And that's what we saw today, right? Where by and large, this was a good Daniel Jones game.
Starting point is 00:34:44 But those three turnovers make it a bad game. And that's just part of playing the quarterback position, keeping control of that football, making sure that even if you're not scoring points, you are making the other team have to go the distance, go the entire length of the field. That is what is vital to winning football. It's such a field position game.
Starting point is 00:35:01 So turn the ball over like they did early in the game on like their own 30, it's going to be hard to come back from. Turn it over at the 50. When you have a six-point lead with five minutes left, it's hard to overcome, right, as a team. So your quarterback can't be making those mistakes. I thought he made some really big-time throws. And it's kind of like the Falcons game last year where it was an up-and-down game for him. But then when the game mattered most, he was able to get them in field goal position.
Starting point is 00:35:24 That's what happened with that Treadwell throw late. I mean, that was a dart to the middle of the field, in between their coverage, right where it needed to be, and they were able to get the game-winning field goal from there. So again, I don't want to sit here and say it was an awful performance from Jones because, again, he did enough at the very end to win the game. But again, you just can't have games like this from your quarterback. They won today, having a negative three turnover differential, you're not going to win many games that way, especially when two of those turnovers are coming on your own side of the field. And the other team has a short field to work with. So need better from him.
Starting point is 00:35:55 Again, there's been some good flashes and good moments here, but. Yeah, it looks like. I'll be jumping. Yeah, sorry. Go ahead, Alan. we were losing Zach there just a little bit of a freeze frame. But Alan, go ahead and jump in and we'll reconnect here with Zach. Well, I just wanted to say cults are damn lucky that they were able to get a victory with three
Starting point is 00:36:23 turnovers. You know, turnovers are one of those, I guess I would say, KPIs that determine the outcome of the game. They can shift the momentum. And, you know, for the cults to overcome. three of them sort of signals that, you know, they might be a pretty good team because usually you have two turnovers and that has a drastic effect on your performance.
Starting point is 00:36:52 And the thing about the turnovers, you know, the timing aspect of it, the one in the end was by all means a huge, huge sin. You cannot in that situation, number one, you're not supposed to take a sack, but by all means you cannot turn the ball over in that situation when you can go down and get an insurance score and win the game. But sometimes it's one of those, he has a lot of confidence in that offensive line with the Colts. I understand that. But I also understand you got to understand your personnel, especially the personnel you're playing against. And you may have all the confidence in the
Starting point is 00:37:38 world in your two tackles. But this Will Anderson do, you know, is a game changer. So you have to be conscious of that. But I think that, again, in a win, you can be a little more critical. And coach, Stuyken can go up terms like, hey, hey, Danny, you can't do that mess anymore. You know, when we're in a situation like that, we absolutely positively cannot have you drop the ball in that situation. But we won, so I can congratulate you. But I hope it's that he's had turnovers. And the thing about turnovers is sometimes it can make you gun shy and not want to take chances. I don't see that happening with Daniel Jones.
Starting point is 00:38:32 I think he's enough of a gunslinger where he's going to take the chance because the risk is worth it to get that reward. So I would just say know your situation. Yeah, no, I agree with Zach on like there's so much good about the like overall like it was like pretty good play from Daniel Jones minus three really bad. Turnovers the last one being bad interception. Not good as well. obviously there was there was another play to uh him targeting josh downs down in the end zone like early in the game that got tipped and almost picked i may have to get a second look at it but i thought initially like seeing the replay i was like man if that didn't get tipped that may have been picked
Starting point is 00:39:18 either way um so it's in terms of you know not playing a perfect game you have some downs those downs can't be you know a minus three turnover differential those downs have to be a couple of mispasses or you know something that's not going to kill the game. So I don't know. I thought there was, like overall, like it was good play by Daniel Jones. A couple of really smart decisions, pretty accurate for the most part. Just got to minimize those turnovers. I thought there was, you know, we controlled the game for a long time up until, you know,
Starting point is 00:39:50 the last fumble and the end of the game. I am thinking, oh, my gosh, here's the collapse is coming. I thought there were opportunities, plenty of opportunities, to kind of put it away earlier than we did. and that's because of those three turnovers. So it's hard to balance pretty good solid overall play from Daniel Jones with three turnovers that could be game-breaking in most situations. That's why it was an ugly win.
Starting point is 00:40:16 Yeah, I'll throw in. I was surprised that the Texans left 20 seconds on the clock. I'm surprised they didn't take, you know, timeouts to give themselves some more time. So I don't know what you guys think. Yeah, I mean, they were very fortunate to get the, the ball out of bounds at midfield the way that they did. I mean, they were probably five or six yards away from just trotting their kicker out there, maybe even closer than that, just to give that a chance instead of the Hail Mary.
Starting point is 00:40:43 But, you know, we talked about on the midweek show, guys, this was kind of a strength versus strength and weakness versus weakness matchup, right? And the weakness versus weakness, the Colts won, I thought, going away, the Colts defense against the Texans offense, I think for a large majority of today's game was the Colts were defense was much better. Certainly through the first three quarters, they were a lot better. And I thought the Colts offense did enough to hold its head pretty high against a relentless attack from the Texans. And, you know, I know we're talking about a bunch of long field goals, but to get five scoring drives against this Texans team when you're down Alec Pierce and you've
Starting point is 00:41:17 got Treadwell and Allen out there and you can't run the ball, I think that's pretty darn good. But Alan, as you know, you know, the turnovers are the ultimate equalizer. And it just felt like another one of these situations where the Colts get in these close games, and they almost like tee it up for the other team and say, hey, here you go. You want to hit the ball? You want to, you want to take this win? You want to take this from us? And it felt like they were doing that. And that's just, that's troubling. I think while the Colts won today and they had a game winning drive to win, I think I speak for everybody when I say that our confidence level in the Colts in these
Starting point is 00:41:51 type games is still very much shaky, just because of what we've seen kind of over and over and over again. Yeah, for sure, which I think that's completely fair, right? Because even though this is their, they won this one score game, right, they lost their six previous to that. So maybe this is the start of them turning the course and starting to win these one score games, or this was just a blimp and they're going to get back to losing them, right? So there's still a lot of season left to play. But all this win did is it kept them alive and it keeps it so this is still a competitive season, at least. So a lot to build on from this for sure. And part of that is going to be getting the turnovers down. The Colts, what, through these games, I think they're, what, six
Starting point is 00:42:30 turnovers on offense and only one takeaway on defense. So they're minus five in the turnover differential. You're not going to win many games if you are going to be minus in turnover differential, especially like the word this week, but also in week one against the Ravens as well. They were down, I mean, it was 2-1 in that one, but still, it's hard to win games when you lose a turnover differential. So, yeah, the Colts need to be better, for sure. But I at least respect that they were able to come back and deliver. on that final drive to get that game-winning field goal. I mean, look, we can talk poorly about Daniel Jones all he want,
Starting point is 00:43:01 because, again, the turnovers do erase a lot of goodwill. But when you got that ball back at the, what, 35-yard line, whatever it was, with under a minute left against this Texan's defense where his tackles are getting their lunch taken from them left and right, all game long, he delivered two big-time throws, one to Treadwell and one to Keenan Allen, which got the ball rolling on that game-winning field goal. So they don't win without those two big throws at Jones-Mage.
Starting point is 00:43:26 that was able to set up the win. So, yes, a lot to learn from this game, a lot to criticize Jones for because, again, those turnovers happen. But I would rather be talking about that in a win than a loss. And part of the win was what he did on that final drive. So, yeah, not the game that you're writing home about for Daniel Jones, but at least he was able to deliver on that last drive, right?
Starting point is 00:43:48 This could have been, you know, a eulogy episode, right? Yeah, you're right. Because, again, if the last play they have was that turnover, and then maybe he fumbles on the final drive again. Like, this is a eulogy episode. This isn't anything else. So the fact that they were able to hit those big throws. And again, the hero of the Colts, Lequan Treadwell, making his play,
Starting point is 00:44:06 the Colts were able to win this game. So, again, like, yes, there's a lot to talk about this week for sure. And it's not all sunshine and rainbows, but it's not also all doom and gloom. They got a win. Like, that's all that matters right now. They got a win. Let's see if we can stack these wins going forward. You know, Zach, I knew you would do this.
Starting point is 00:44:21 The hero of the game is the kicker. No. The hero of the game, we'll set it. Spencer Schrader is the hero of the game. I know you like Lequan Treadwell. Okay, just give the kicker. If there was ever a time to give the kicker some flowers, right? It's got to be today.
Starting point is 00:44:36 Yeah, kicker guy did his job. Like, that was fine. A kicker guy did his job. No, I'm just kidding. Now, Spencer Schrader, look, what's the one thing I always say about kickers is the only thing worse than a kicker is a, is a kicker that misses kicks. So he was the one that made kicks today. So, like, I'm happy that they have. had a kicker in a good day. And Schrader did his job. And like you said, Derek, if they don't
Starting point is 00:44:58 have a good kicker, it's not five scoring drives against his Texans team. It's two scored, or one scoring drive, right? Only one touchdown against them. So they cross midfield seven times in this game. They got five scoring drives and four of those were off the leg of the kicker. So Spencer Schrader, credit where credit is due. And making a 53-yarder is tough, especially when that roof is open like it is and you don't know where that sunshine is going to hit you in the eyes. Like, you know, credit to the kicker for doing his job out there. Did you have a closing thought? Yeah, I just had one thing that you brought up the fact that they've lost to this team five straight times.
Starting point is 00:45:35 I think that's a huge celebration in that locker room to overcome that deal to get that monkey off their back because it's one of those you get used to losing and you expect to lose. I guess I can't wait until the coast travel to Jacksonville to see if they can get that monkey off their back. But losing five in a row and now overcoming that is usually one of those things that can boost a team. Jags, man, they did some terrible things to our old friends in New England earlier today. We'll talk about that probably on the midweek show. Next, what does today's performance mean going forward? Can the Colts actually get themselves right these next few weeks? We'll get into it when the Colts Squad Show returns for a final time next.
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Starting point is 00:47:44 Zach Hicks, and we'll start with around Derek Schultz. Jake Arthur, working post-game duties at Lucas Loyal Stadium. He'll rejoin us for our midweek show as we talk about the Colts heading overseas to go to London. But guys, you know, let's kind of talk about what this performance means, I guess, in the grand scheme of things. You know, if you look around and what happened in the NFL today, Zach, and you had mentioned this fact that, you know, a lot of the O2 teams playing desperately, I think you
Starting point is 00:48:10 saw a lot of that. But I think what you also saw is that, you know, we wait seven, eight months, however long it is. This offseason is very long. And then we overreact to small sample sizes, right? Where we see the first two weeks and we think we've got everybody figured out, right? We think, okay, well, you know, the Bengals are going to the Super Bowl. And all right, yeah, like, look at this team or that.
Starting point is 00:48:29 team or whatever else. And then you kind of see the results and it kind of brings you a little bit back down to earth from what you see. I mean, hell, look at the Browns at two and one. Like, who could have possibly imagined that after what we saw in the first week? So while I'm not going to sit here and be a Colts apologist for how they played in the first two games, the reason why we've all kind of cumulently been talking about, well, just forget the process, just show me the results. The Colts get a win today and at one and two with the commanders next. and then Tennessee coming up shortly after that. I think you got at Pittsburgh in between there, too.
Starting point is 00:49:01 Stewards team that's just kind of, you know, they're okay. They're pretty good too. But they're probably looking at the Colts thinking the same thing with how the Colts played so far. I do think the Colts are in a situation where, you know, this game was so important because of what it could mean moving forward. It temporarily salvages things for now, but now the Colts really do have a chance to, I think,
Starting point is 00:49:21 kind of regain their footing a little bit and move forward here. after what was just a, you know, a brutal performance in game one and then a brutal way to lose in game two and arrowhead. Yeah, I mean, they've been trending in the right direction, you should say. Again, maybe you don't want to say there's perfect team or there's some playoff team or anything right now because there's still a long way to go. But getting the doors blown off in week one, competing with the cheese in week two, gutting out a win in week three, like they are trending in the right way. Now, there's still major steps to go for this Colts team. Again, we're not crowning them after beating a Houston Texans team that, it scored six points last week, right? So there's still a long way to go. But I don't know. I'm just
Starting point is 00:50:01 happy to see a win. It's been hard to cover this team for the last nine games they've played. So finally seeing a win, and I'm sure that's what the locker room feels like right now. Again, like you finally get that monkey off your back where it's like, we know that we can win again. You know, like sometimes things just spiral and they spiral and spiral and they get worse and you just need something to get over the hump. So still a long season to go, but again, a loss in this one would have been, again, the end of the season. Like, not 100% the end of the season, but statistically speaking, it would have been the end of the season for this Colts team. And one thing I want to just harp on too, Derek, is when you said that this year is more
Starting point is 00:50:39 about the results in the process. The thing is, like last year, if you look at, like, most things, like DVOA and, like, their overall offense and EPA, like, all these things, right? They were one of the best teams ever to miss the playoffs, right? Last year, like, statistically speaking and point differential, like all those things. We've seen years where the process has been there and the results haven't been there. So I'm fine with taking a season where the results are there and the process isn't, you know? Like, I'm not saying that that's what you want for long-term health and stability of your season, of your team going forward, but we have the third longest playoff drought in the NFL. And maybe that doesn't change this year, but I'm going to sit here
Starting point is 00:51:14 and be happy about wins, you know? I'm happy to see wins. Nobody likes losing, and the colds had seen a lot of losing over the last 10 weeks. So getting a win, I think is something to build on going forward, and we'll see exactly what that means for this team. It's still, like, every week is going to be put up or shut up moments. It's going to be, you know, must win games because that's what the NFL is. The margins are so small, and you need to answer the bell each and every week. But for now, regardless of how it looked, the Colts got a win. And, you know, they're one and two instead of 0.3.
Starting point is 00:51:44 That matters right now. We'll see if they can get it into 2 and 2 the next week, 3 and 2 the week after. But as of right now, a win is a win, and they got it. So, yeah, we'll see exactly where they go from here. But I do think that they have prime opportunity going forward. And regardless of how it looks, just get some wins in the win column. And we'll go from there. Well, I would credit Al Davis with the most outstanding way to eloquently talk about process
Starting point is 00:52:14 and getting results from the process in just him saying, just win, baby. And the other thing, you guys have heard me say this a million times. There's no bad teams. In the NFL, there's just teams with bad records. But I can also say when you're on a team and you're looking at the roster for the next team you're going to play, I mean, internally, you know, oh, yeah, we can kick that ass. We can beat them.
Starting point is 00:52:47 You know, I think the Colts internally know that the next three games should be Ws, should be. And, you know, they'll get to exercise that demon. You know, we'll see what happens in Minnesota. But they'll get to exercise another demon when they go to Jacksonville again. But this is an opportunity to start stacking some wins. And, you know, there's nothing to teach you how. to win more than winning. And, you know, pulling a victory out of the jaws of defeat is a great morale booster. So they should all feel proud, but they should all know that we want to give them a
Starting point is 00:53:32 swift kick in the behind because it didn't have to be like this. Yeah, I will say they have one more demon to exercise too. The at Pittsburgh demon is coming up in a couple weeks as well. I don't want to overlook that one. Anywhere they've played Pittsburgh seemingly has been a house of of course. Will, I don't even know how many Colts wins you've seen over the same in your lifetime, not many. Yeah. Yeah, I know we won one, not last year, maybe the year before that I baffled me. I was like, it's been a while since I've seen that. No, I agree with Zach a little bit on like the progress, right? Like maybe it's just low expectations after what happened week one. Then you see, okay, well, you know, Chief's game wasn't completely embarrassing going to overtime
Starting point is 00:54:14 with a Super Bowl contender. And then maybe it's an ugly win. A win is a win. You snap the 0 in five streak. So I do think we're seeing slight progress in different areas. And I guess we'll find out. I talked about kind of the biggest win of the week was figuring it out towards the end, whether it should have gotten to that point or not.
Starting point is 00:54:35 Like you figure it out. You get the game winning field goal. Win a one score game, snap that streak. Time will tell on if that is progress in that area or if maybe it's a little fluky. we'll see. But yeah, again, talking about one and two versus O and three, going up against commanders, Steelers, Titans, you know, one and two going into that. And, you know, we're talking about the Steelers struggles historically. Like, I think you've got to be able to try and be three and three, at least at that point. So going O and three into those three games, there's a massive difference
Starting point is 00:55:06 before you get to a tough stretch in at Jacksonville, at the two and O Vikings and the Dallas Cowboys offense that I would be super nervous. to see our defense try and go up against at this point. But one and two is progress. Yeah, but the defense, I mean, I think you had said it right at the beginning of the show, Alan, like just seeing Justin Wally out there getting to do the incomplete after basically he didn't have the chance to do that at all through the first two weeks. Like, I was kidding aside, like, I was happy about him.
Starting point is 00:55:34 Like, from a confident standpoint, I think the Colts defense had to feel pretty good about Texans are abhorrent offensively, right? And especially about Nico, I mean, really bad. But still, I think you had to feel good about how they played as defense. I thought especially in the first half, but really for the first three quarters, they bottled them up very well. And we saw some interior pass rush. And we saw, I guess, some from Martin Key a little bit.
Starting point is 00:55:58 I know Sauce didn't have the best game, Zach. But I was just hoping, like, you know, the fact that they look like a competent NFL defense today, I think actually was a step forward considering where they were the previous two weeks. A real run defense, at least. Yeah, I know it's David Montgomery and Woody Marks. We're not talking about shutting down the best running backs in football or anything, but just being able to get a running back on the ground for the first time in three weeks, I think it's a major step forward.
Starting point is 00:56:24 And you always have a chance to win games if you can stop the running game. The more you can make an offense one-dimensional. I mean, look at the Texans defense today when they took away Jonathan Taylor for majority of the game and forced Daniel Jones into mistakes because quarterbacks are more prone to missing running backs in terms of turning the football over. So, yeah, just being able to stop the run was vital. They did get worn down a little bit late, but I do think that seeing at least a feasible run defense, the tackling was good. Like, again, I'm not going to crown this defense.
Starting point is 00:56:53 The defense still has a long way to go. And there were still some moments in that fourth quarter where it was like, all right, guys, let's get real here. Let's get a little bit better. But, yeah, I mean, it was expected to be better against C.J. Stroud without Nico Collins, right? Absolutely expected to be better. but the fact that they'd met the expectation for the first time in three weeks, I will take that with this Colts defense. So still concerned about them going forward, and I still think that this game says a little bit more about the Texans offense than the Colts defense. But you know what?
Starting point is 00:57:25 After giving up over 500 yards per game, the last two games, I will take a game where they allowed half of that, even if it was against a college team, even if it was against like a local high school team. Just showing that you can keep a team under 500 yards of offense, I will take that at this point. One more thing to ask, we'd love to get y'all's opinion. Do we believe that the new Anvil strike uniforms maybe had a little something to do with it, you know, because they've lost in their regular uniforms this whole time. Now they got this, you know, new sleek, you know, like I guess a person from Oregon, the ducks designed and, you know, new duds, look good, feel good, play good. Do we give
Starting point is 00:58:10 the Anvil strike uniforms any credit whatsoever? I will say they were able to hide in those shadows at Lucaso Stadium. So maybe that's it's like the, you know what Boise State does? The blue on blue with the turf, whatever, they're able to perform better. I don't know if that's true or not, but like,
Starting point is 00:58:26 I think that that was part of it. Yeah, uniforms are, uniforms were fine, you know? Like they, what were you guys thoughts? I like to. I like to. I, it was probably insanely challenging for the broadcasters because Oh, God.
Starting point is 00:58:39 Not see the numbers at all. But I thought they popped. I really like the metal. I love the helmets. I love the metallic helmets. But I don't know, Will, you're cooler than us because you're still like young and hip. Like, did you like the uniforms? Because then I'll base my decision off what you say.
Starting point is 00:58:52 Well, I do like the uniforms. The helmet that I've been wanting to see is that blue helmet. I really like that blue helmet. The only thing I could think of towards the, you know, after that last Daniel Jones fumble, it just took me back to the first time we rolled out Indiana Nights in that Cleveland Browns game a couple years ago. That was one of the most frustrating games of the last couple of years.
Starting point is 00:59:12 So we avoided the similar ending there. But overall, no, I was very pleased with the uniforms in the helmet specifically. Yeah, God, that was an infuriating game against the Browns. So we're in a happy zone. Colts just won. So let's not talk about whatever that was, that September game against the Browns.
Starting point is 00:59:28 That was tough. But I love the metallic blue. I thought the metallic blue was really sharp. Thanks so much for joining us on this latest edition of the Colts Squad show. We are your place for postgame Colts React. as our Colts squad shows will follow each and every Colts game this entire season. We'll next be with you, though, for our midweek edition, Wednesday night 930 to talk Colts and commanders. As always, keep it locked on Jake and Zach every day on Locked on Colts all season long.
Starting point is 00:59:50 Be sure to follow at Locked on Colts on socials and add at Colts underscore hit for our buddy Will Star Lipper and his great content. Don't forget to check out our other offerings on YouTube and TikTok and we'll see you next time right here on the squad show.

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