Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - COLTS SQUAD SHOW: Michael Badgley Gets the Boot | Who Makes Pro Bowl? | Worry Indy Misses Playoffs?

Episode Date: December 4, 2025

The Indianapolis Colts made a necessary move at kicker, waiving Michael Badgley and signing Blake Grupe. What message does this send to the rest of the team?Early Pro Bowl voting results are out, and several Colts are among the top vote-getters. The guys discuss which Colts should make the Pro Bowl.Take an early look ahead at this Sunday's matchup in Jacksonville, where the Colts haven't won since 2014. Does the streak end this yearDo you have any concern that the Colts might not make the playoffs? Become a Locked On Colts insider! Ask your burning questions and get prompt answers from someone who's around the team every day! Get special access from the locker room, practice field, and press box! JOIN HERE! Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts/📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-nfl/ Follow Jake's written work on roundtable.io/sports/nfl/colts/ and Zach's on si.com/nfl/colts/, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, and @LockedOnColts! Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Aura FramesFor a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting https://AuraFrames.com to get $35 off Aura’s best-selling Carver Mat frames - named #1 by Wirecutter - by using promo code LOCKEDON at checkout.FanDuelIf you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL livebets all season long. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable free bets that expire 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)PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I'm Jake Arthur, and maybe the Colts new kicker will make groupies out of all of us. And I'm Zach Hicks, and I'm tired of talking about kickers, but we still have to do more of it on today's show. And I'm Alan Pinkett, former Euler. Does the Jacksonville curse end this week? Colts Nation rise up. It's the Colts Squad, everything Indianapolis Colts every week. Covering all the big hits and game-changing plays from a lot. the Circle City the way only the locked on podcast network can it's time to squat up the cult squajo starts now good evening everybody i am jake arthur indianapolis colts beat writer for roundtable sports joined by legendary notre dame fighting irish running back and former houston oiler the one and only

alan pinkett as well as my partner in crime on the locked on colts daily show zach hicks And welcome to Locked-on Colts, everybody, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network and the entire galaxy. And today's episode is brought to by Fandul. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fandle.com and place your NFL live that's all season long. What is up, everybody? Thank you for joining us on this frigid cold Wednesday evening.

Today, we've got kind of a loaded show for you. The early voting results for the Pro Bowl are out. Several Colts made the top 10 lists at their position, so we're going to discuss which Colts we think should make the Pro Bowl. We're going to give our under and overreactions for the week, as we always do. We're going to do a quick look ahead to Jacksonville, as Alan mentioned. It's not been very welcoming for the Colts in the last decade plus. we're going to say whether or not we have any concerns about the Colts missing the

playoffs at this point. But first, the most critical of moves, the Colts have made a change at kicker. They're now on their third kicker of the season. They waived Michael Badgley after his third mispoint attempt in his seven games with the Colts. They waved him and signed Blake Groupie to the practice squad. I meant that doesn't feel like a super permanent move going right to the practice squad because they've got the few games of elevation they can have there with uh with the flexibility a little bit but it's uh kind of a curious move zack because badgill you had to do something there you know the whole there's accountability to it you have to show the rest of the locker room like this guy is costing us points we're going to

do something about it for you guys but at the same time blake rupee as a member of the saints has missed eight field goals this year, but in his three seasons in the NFL, he's only missed two extra points. So that counts for something, I guess. Should have both of them, one for extra points and one for field goals. That's obviously, you can't have, you know, what's the thing? Like if you have two quarterbacks, you don't have one or whatever. If you have two kickers, you don't have one as well. But I've already lambasted just talking kickers enough on the regular show today. So I will more so pivot this towards the fact that I like the accountability of it, you know, is like, this guy is costing

us points on Sundays, and it just can't be something that sustains. And I think we see this with coaches around the NFL far too often, especially when it comes to a position like kicker, where, again, like, it's a position where there's so many guys who can do it, but they just, you never know when they're going to have it or when they're not going to have it. And to me, I think coaches need be a lot quicker with pulling the trigger on moving off of kickers, especially on low deals. And when you have a guy who's missed as many extra points as Badgley has throughout those couple weeks, I think it was the right time to make that move. So I appreciate the Colts making that move ultimately.

And we'll see what group you can bring because like I mentioned on the show earlier today with Jake was previous history never matters with kickers. Every day is a new day for a kicker. You never know what kind of day you're going to get out of those guys. You could have a guy who gets cut for missing two field goals in the game. And then the very next team they're on, they'll make 10 straight, you know, just because that's the nature of the position. It's so volatile.

It's so random. It's so hard to predict. So we can't count out a groupie yet. I'll wait for him to miss his first field goal before I start counting out. But I do appreciate the Colts made this move because it's just not sustainable. And honestly, on Sunday, we saw the ramifications of missing that extra point, where on that final drive, the Colts were down four points instead of three points, had to go for it on fourth down, don't convert.

Texans get the first down right after that, and it's game over. If they make the extra point earlier in the game, obviously more things happen in between, but it would have retroactively been a three-point game, and they could have just kicked the field goal. So you can't just give away points like that in the NFL and expect to win, so you've got to make these moves and see if there's a, you know, the grass is greener on the other side.

Well, the NFL is not a sport. It's a business. And, you know, playing in it for the short amount of time I did, the management makes you realize it is a business because most of the time they don't talk about cutting your ass. They just come cut you. Sometimes you just know from a performance that you had, I'm probably going to get cut. Sometimes you know, by just the numbers that surround you that, okay, they can only keep just many folks, I'm going to get cut, you know. But sometimes you agree with that business decision. I remember when I was playing with the Oilers, we were playing the Washington football team and we were in position to beat them. That Washington team ended up going to the Super Bowl that year and winning. but we had a kicker name Ian Howfield, and it was just a chip shot.

I mean, it was shorter than the extra point is today, you know, today's extra point. But that thing went wide right, and next thing, you know, the Redskins went. And that game happened on Sunday. His ass was cut on Monday. And then we brought in Al Del Greco. So Ian Howfield, I don't think, had been in the league. maybe that he was his rookie year or maybe a one or two year journeyman type thing. But then we went for the experience kicker in Al Del Greco.

And just the amount of calm that came over the team that knew we had a kicker with experience, the amount of confidence we had that if we scored, the extra point wasn't going to be missed. And granted, you know, 100 years ago when I, I played. The extra point was kicked from the three-yard line. But for field goals, knowing that you had someone that was reliable, dependable, just increased the confidence on our team to know that if we cross the 50, we're going to get points. And you need that type of security when you're on a football team, because it's hard to make first downs, especially when you're playing some of these defenses that are just like the Texans, as you could see, every single point mattered so much.

So, yes, it's a business, but sometimes I'm glad it's a business. Alan, I got to ask. So you have the unique perspective of being in a locker room, being on the sidelines, being a player there on the field. when you've got a kicker that's in a slump let's just say it's been a tough defensive battle yards have been hard to come by you haven't scored in three or four drives and you guys finally get into the red zone and it's a one score game and your kicker has been off and on like in recent weeks and they miss it and you guys feel like you finally got into the red zone time to score and they miss it what like a lot of guys say the right thing like it doesn't take one one guy to change the game and all that stuff like what what's what's the real what's the tea on that well that's what I was going to say you know because I always felt like it we shouldn't let it get to that situation where we have to depend on the kicker but in the contemporary

NFL sometimes it's like that and that's why my experience has been and I had in my career I had Tony Zendejas who was very reliable and like I said Ian Howfield, Al Del Greco, I went to the Saints for a year and had Morton Anderson and he never missed anything. You know, so just you knew you were getting points anytime Morton Anderson went on the field. but if they missed it, you know, you still try, they're still your teammate, you still try and lift them up, you still want to be encouraging with them, because the bottom line is they didn't try to miss it on purpose. That's true.

And you guys know on this show and any time I'm on a show, whatever, I try to always approach things from like a coaching perspective. And it's always funny to me where, and this is coming from the world's number one kicker hater here too so it's it's fascinating i'm going to take this angle but when a kicker misses a field goal we say that they lost the team three points or whatever but if a player drops a third down pass that could have converted a first down that could have led to seven we're not saying that guy cost us four points by having to revert to the kick now and stuff like that where it's just the same thing the kicker just gets more of the blame there so i'm not even trying to defend the kickers here

i'm just saying like i always take it like the way that alan started that where it's like it's on everybody if the kicker even has a if the kicker even has to go on the field i feel like it's a failed possession in my opinion like why are we letting that guy on the field we should be controlling our own destiny and not leaving it up to a guy who again we don't know if they're going to what type of day they're waking up to if they're going to have one of the days where they forgot how to kick the football like we should never put the game in the kickers uh hands and i i did want to respond to some of the comments here where some people were saying like maybe because the the questionable kicking in recent weeks that's why Shane is not taking the points

Shane Steichen's never been a take the points on a fourth and one on the opponent's side of the field type of guy, even if he had the greatest kicker in the world, even with Spencer Schrader early in the season, if you look at the field goals they were kicking, it was fourth and five plus, fourth and six plus, fourth and seven plus, like they were not kicking it on fourth and one on the opponent's side of the field. That's just how he operates. It's how most of the good coaches in the NFL operate. And the only reason we're noticing it in recent weeks is they're not converting on fourth and one. as frequently as it did early the season. If a coach goes out there and calls you to sneak it on fourth and one, you convert, nobody questions it. But because Tyler Warren drops the snap, we question, oh, why didn't you just take the points there? Because we ran a play that was a 90 plus percent

conversion chance that just the 10% chance didn't work there because the guy dropped the snap. So all in all, yeah, I think it's funny for me to say it. We blame kickers too much because the kicker should never be in the situation where they're put on the field. like we should go get the ball in the end zone we don't want the kicker touching the field here the kicker is the failure you know we don't want the failure option on the field well the other thing i'll say too is is you never point fingers uh because it it's one of those uh what would you call it murphy's law things as soon as you point the finger you're going to be the one screwing up and do you want the finger pointed at you especially when you're trying your hardest mistakes are going to happen you know there's going to be turnovers sometimes

the other team is just better and they made a better play so you always want you always want to put yourself in a position to be lifting up your teammates because you're going to have some things that go not go your way and you want your teammates to have you back to it's a really good point also big of you Zach very big of you that's it's kind of how I feel when it comes down to people criticizing officiating and say they lost them a game like trust me there's some heinous horrendous calls every single week and the Colts have been a part of them but you shouldn't really be in the position for one or two calls or non calls to really determine your outcome anyways it's pretty much along the same line like the kickers are only out there every so often so yeah

they really shouldn't be in the position to win a game necessarily or cause you to lose the game. I just like how the big of me position there is saying that kickers should be just completely irrelevant and we should never have them out there. So stop blaming them because they shouldn't be on the field in general. Hey, there was positive tones in your voice. So we're going to go with that. All right. This next one, I think, is probably going to be a little bit supersized. So we'll go ahead and get to it. So the early voting results for the Pro Bowl are out. And that always brings about quite a bit of debate. So let's get to that in just a moment. Okay.

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evening or your first listen for the morning and thank you guys for making locked on the number one sports podcast network out there all right so i'm going to go through a little roll call here the initial pro bowl voting is i think voting in general opened up like last week or the week before and the NFL has kind of released some of the totals, like the top 10 at each position. So let's go over the Colts real quick. Jonathan Taylor is the top running back. Quentin Nelson is the second guard.

Tyler Warren is the second tight end. Daniel Jones is the sixth quarterback. Cam Bynum is the seventh free safety. Nick Cross is the eighth strong safety. And DeForest Buckner is the ninth defensive tackle. So I will give a little four. forewarning that the Colts had a bunch of guys in this last year as well among the initial voting, like including Nick Cross, and it was not very fruitful for them by the end of the

year. So the coaching votes matter quite a bit. The player votes matter. This is all fan voting so far. So, yeah, this is just the fan voting portion. So, Zach, do any of these stick out? Do you think there's anyone that needs to be included in there? Maybe Berenhardt Rhyman. would be in there, which I know crazy to say right now because the takeaway for a lot of Colts fans, how awful the offensive line has been. But rewatching a lot of these games, outside of the Steelers game, I thought Ryman played some really good football in recent weeks. I know we got run over on that one play against Will Anderson, but outside of that, did Anderson notably beat him on any other rush that anyone noticed?

I didn't see any really on film. I thought he had a pretty good day. All things, I mean, Will Anderson might be the defensive player of the year this year. and I think Riemann held his own against him for most of that day. So Berenhardt Riemann, I think, should be up there. But offensive lineman, if you're not a household name, you're not going to get any fan votes. That's just how it works. Quentin Nelson could probably not play a snap this year

and still be in the top five for fan voting on offensive line because that's how it works. But aside from that, I think they got pretty much all the names. I wish Alec Pierce could be on there because he's had a great year, but he's just not going to have the raw stats to be a pro bowler. Yeah, receiver is just way too deep for that. Like, you have to be like a thousand-yard guy as of right now. But yeah, I think, you know, when it's all said and done, we're going to have, you know, Taylor, Warren, Nelson will all for sure be pro bowlers and we'll see where the rest go from there.

It's a funny time to bring this up, though, Jake, when the Colts are in the middle of a three out of four game losing streak. I don't think anyone wants to hear about Pro Bowl voting. Zero all. Zero pro bowlers. Yeah, they want to fire everybody. They don't want any accolates for any players right now. is about balance because the end of the show is not going to be so chill towards the Colts. So we'll get some of the field goods out of there now. Yeah, but I think I think that's

who I have in there. Like Taylor for sure will be there. Warren for sure will be there. Jones top six, I mean, with guys dropping out of there, he's probably going to be a pro bowler. You know, all you have to be in the top 25 as a quarterback to get into the game, essentially. And so he'll be in that game for sure. Well, actually, with his fibulanger, he'll probably one of the guys who pulls out of the game because that's what everyone does. But yeah, no, I think they got the right names up there, again, outside of maybe Ryman being in there for offensive tackle. I was a little surprised that I didn't hear Zaire Franklin's name because he's a former pro bowler. And usually one of the things that happens is once you make it once, you just get that reputation, you know,

but I know that what? Probably Jureen Pratt is making more tackles than Zaire, Frank. Franklin is, but, you know, to be, to have also the accolades he has of being the number one tackler in the league last year, you think that would get them at least the top 10 mention, but I'm a little surprised at that one. Not surprised that any of the receivers got any mention because I think they are Pro Bowl caliber. But if you're not, a wide receiver number one, you're just not going to get mentioned. If you don't have the stats,

you're just not going to, you know, get it. You can't just have a handful of plays. You've got to have a ton of plays to get any mention. Well, the picture at wide receiver across the league right now is just insane. I mean, Pug and Akua, Amunrah, St. Brown, Jackson Smith, and Jig. But, like, there's so many great receivers. And those are just the guys who are kind of exploding. this year. You have the guys who have consistently been great in Jamar Chase and Justin Jefferson

and all them. Other guys like Nico Collins have been great recently. So yeah, wide receiver is just a loaded position across the league. You have to be putting up bonkers numbers to be in there for the Pro Bowl conversation. But when it comes to Ira Franklin, the one thing I did want to say is so much of defensive players getting into this game, especially for fans, are the splash plays, the turnovers, the tackles for a loss, the sacks. And we haven't really seen a ton of guys outside of Cameron Bynum who is in that top 10 because he has multiple interceptions this year. We haven't seen a ton of those like individuals on defense like just racking those numbers up. So like when Zaire Franklin made made it last year, I believe, right?

Last year he had the like what six force fumbles and like four interceptions or something while also being up there in tackles. That contributes to him being like on those on those lists and stuff. So when it comes to linebacker, unfortunately, or fortunately, however you want to view it, splash plays are king with everything. And he just hasn't really had the splash plays this year. I know he had that great force fumble against the Chiefs, but not a ton of splash plays outside of that. I'll tell you, what else helps Cam is his interception celebration. That's just name recognition. Name recognition for sure. Yeah, he's got what, three and no, four interceptions now, right? Four now. Yeah, four now. I'm shocked, actually speaking of interceptions. I know

Edge is such a loaded group, but I'm shocked we didn't see a little bit of Law 2 level on there with that because of the three interceptions at defensive end. I'm not saying he's played at a Pro Bowl level this year, but he's got the splash numbers with the three interceptions at defensive end. I'm glad you said that because I was just about to say seeing an edge player with three interceptions is rare. If he gets like a few more sacks, like if he finishes the year with like eight and a half sacks and three, maybe four interceptions, That might be really enticing now. I haven't looked at the ballot in forever. I haven't voted for the Pro Bowl. I feel like in forever. So I don't know if it's going to list his interceptions right there because it's not a common edge stat. But if fans see an edge with three interceptions when none of the other ones even like have one,

that that might get him plenty of votes. I'll be honest with you. The last time I voted for Pro Bowl, I just spanned Ashton Doolin votes all the time for Gunner. I just really wanted to get him in that game. I don't think he got it, though. I don't think he got it. You have got to stop saying the names of people I'm about to talk about. I was going to say before Ashton went on IR, I thought he was well on his way to an all pro pro bowl year.

Now, maybe not the pro bowl because that requires fan voting, but at least an all pro year, I think. Because, like, his work on special teams was just incredible this year. and then people can't help it. It doesn't have anything to do with special teams, but he'd been making enough plays and had earned notoriety on other sides of the ball where I think it would have earned him some cachet. I mean, he had that play where he blitzed Kyler Murray

or Jacobi Brissette against the Cardinals. It seems like he's good for one big play, a game on offense. So had he not gone on IR, I thought he was kind of on his way. So Taylor, that's a shoe-in. And Taylor, mind you, regardless of what's gone on the last couple of games, is still leading the NFL and rushing by like 60 yards. Yep. Now he's, they're starting to creep up now.

Like he's got to get going again if he's going to get the rushing crown once more, but still leading it somehow. Nelson, obviously, he's playing some of the best ball of his life. Warren's interesting because he can go kind of hot and cold. He'll give you like 30 yards in a game and then he'll go for 90 and a touchdown. You know, I think just the general lack of depth at tight-in certainly helps him. Like, Trey McBride is going to break records this year. But then you got Tyler, Travis Kelsey still has plenty of name recognition, George Kittle.

Is there any other tight-ins around there having big years? I can't really think of any. No, Warren's going to be in the Pro Bowl as long as he, because he's going to have the raw numbers, plus he was a top pick, plus everyone, I mean, heck, everyone saw the playoff last year at Penn State and how. how much he was getting the ball. So as long as he just still puts up, like, solid numbers, he'll for sure be a pro bowler, at the very least. And Kelsey finally passed him in terms of yards. So now he's the second leading receiver among tight ends.

But I have a question. Because maybe I should know this. How long has it since the fans have been able to vote on the pro bowl? Because I don't think that they were able to, when I was playing at the, that the fans voted maybe they did i think it's been like 10 or 15 years now and they get a third of the vote i believe is what it is okay in there yeah all right because i you know what we would do because as players we voted uh and you know like if i was on offense i would consult with some of the defensive guys saying you know well who's the toughest defensive lineman you played against

or or offensive lineman you played against or uh what's the the the the receiver you think that deserves us the most. And then we would get asked questions, too, you know, who's the baddest linebacker you have to go against? A lot of it is common knowledge, but then you just don't have enough knowledge to know every single position, you know, especially when you got to hone in on the 11 that you play that week, you know, you do build up some knowledge, but, you know, it's like the knowledge we build up as players is only on one side of the ball.

I don't care who they got on offense. I've got to study the defense and know who's on defense and know their tendencies and their idiosyncrasies and, you know, hopefully I'll get a chance to watch some of the game and we're not in some kind of meeting on the sideline or I'm just, I just need to rest in some gatorade so I can have a chance to watch the offense play. but I just I brought it up because I just didn't realize I didn't know when the fans started voting. But I do want to bring up one more point because you were talking about Ashton Doolin and trying to get him in as a special teams player.

You remember the name Steve Tasker? Yeah. So he actually started out with the Oilers and he was on the team. And I always used to say to myself, what the hell is that? this dude doing on the team, you know, because he doesn't really look like he belongs, but he was one hellacious special teams player, but Jerry Glanville loved his ass. In fact, he nicknamed him many brutes, you know, so, but he didn't really take off as a special teams player until he got to Buffalo. And when he got to Buffalo, he made plays all the

Yeah, I want to say, though, in the Colts era with Chris Ballard, the Colts have had two special teams gunners make all pro team, but neither them made Pro Bowl team. So that's kind of where that fan voting comes in. I always call it the, what was that guy's name Slater Award? The guy who was the Gunner. Matthew Slater. Matthew Slater.

I called the Matthew Slater Award on Pro Bowl when it comes to Gunner because you just have to be the only guy that people know your name, and you'll get in the Pro Bowl every single year as a gunner. But all pro is a little bit more indicative of, like, who the actual gunners were. So duel in that year that I was voting 100 times for him to get the Pro Bowl as a gunner. He didn't get in to Pro Bowl. But I think he was a first team all pro gunner. And George Odom was the other one.

Who George Odom is back on the Colts and he's back playing safety. I mean, he'll maybe be out there playing that Gunner role and hopefully get the Cold Special teams back on track this week. But, yeah, Gunner's super important. One of my favorite positions in football. I believe Luke Rhodes also has an. all-pro so Chris Ballard keeps bringing in some all-pro special teamers extend them got to extend him now for all the special teamers have to have to all right guys so coming up next we're going to go

ahead and get to our overreactions and under reactions and like Zach mentioned earlier they dropped three of the last four so there are plenty to go through NFL Sundays move fast one big play and suddenly everything feels different that's what makes live betting with Fandel is so exciting. You're not just watching the game. You're reacting to it in real time. With Fandle, you can place bets as the action unfolds. Every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. Live betting is best when the game starts to shift. A receiver gets hot. A defense tightens up or the momentum flips after a turnover. Fandle lets you jump into the moment. Live spreads and money lines adjust instantly. Player props update as a guy heats up.

And you could bet the next touchdown, scores, drive results, totals, and more. It keeps you locked into every snap, every drive, every possibility. Colts fans, for you to focus on this one, this Sunday, it's pretty much a pick-um. The Colts are one-and-a-half point favorites in Jacksonville where they have not won since 2014. So do with that, what you will. The point total over-under is at 47.5 as well. And I think the weather is supposed to be not so great. So again, take that into account.

So if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, then visit fandwell.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. Bandw, the game moves fast, and so can you. All right, welcome back every dayers. Now, as we do every Wednesday evening, let's go ahead and get into some underreactions and overreactions. And, man, let's start with our underreactions. Is there anything either of you that we are just not paying enough attention to?

as a fan base as media whatever like is there something that you just think we need to be talking way more about i think under i think we're underreacting to the jacksville curse it's real man it's very real i agree i agree i know but i mean honestly uh every game's tough division i think we are kind of under reacting to stuyck and struggles against houston and jacksville the last couple years and i don't want to go too much into it here because we talked about on the daily show today, but two and seven against Houston and Jacksonville in his time as the Colts head coach. And it's not only on the coach, but the way I referred to it earlier is like the manager gets the blame when the employees are screwing up constantly. And these are the games that

you can't afford to drop. Like if you want to win the division, if you want to make the playoffs, which he has not done either of in his time as the Colts head coach, you have to beat the good teams in your division. Alan always brings up games against Washington and games against all these team, you know, these are vital games to make the playoffs, you know, and it just can't happen as a head coach. And we saw in the college football level, Penn State moving on from James Franklin because of all these losses in conference to ranked opponents. And maybe Franklin's a good coach and maybe Stuyken's a good coach. But like, if you keep falling short against your biggest competitors in your division and falling behind them, that does reflect on you as a coach.

So I do think that maybe there's some overreaction with Shane Steichen, but I do think we are kind of underreacting to those struggles against Houston and Jackson in particular. Two and seven against your two teams that you're competing with the most in division and your time since taking over the team, it just can't happen as a head coach. I would agree with you because the division games are the most important games. You know, those are when you want to be at your best because that is the easiest path. To the playoffs.

You win your division. So to have a record like that, I'm sure that's one of those things that in the offseason drives him crazy and probably has him sitting in the film room all the time trying to figure out how to break that code to make sure that he has some kind of plan to get rid of this Jacksonville curse and to emphasize how important winning the division. games are. So that was a good, I guess, underreaction. Yeah, it's just been a frustrating thing. But Jake, do you have an underreaction that you want to kick it out? Because I'm assuming when you would let it with underreaction, you had one in mind. Well, I was going to say, I think you'll

really like this one. I think just again nationally and even locally, I think we're underreacting to the value of Grover Stewart. He is someone who really came to mind after I rewatched last week now like the run defense is not great right now don't get me wrong but we've seen it we've seen what it looks like without him when he in 2023 when he had that suspension so they're without buckner right now obviously but if they didn't have him right now i think it would arguably look even worse because you'd have to have like neville gallimore playing out of position you know you your lineups would not be as cohesive i don't think and then when i went back and i watched uh he had that pass breakup, that batted pass against C.J. Straub last week, that was in the first

half, I believe. That would have been a touchdown. No question about it when I went back and watched it. If he didn't bat that, the game might have been over at that point. You know what I mean? With how tough it was for the Colts to score. I just think the presence of a Grover Stewart, some of his run stuff that he's able to come up with when they're already kind of in dire straights against the run at the moment. I think he is just so incredibly valuable right now. Yeah, I think there has been a little too much criticism with Grover Stewart. Like, yes, he's a limited player.

He's not going to be this 10-sack guy from the interior. He's not a pass rusher. You know, heck, the fact that he's giving them some past deflections and a couple sacks this season is more than what you bargain for when you extend him. You extend him for the run defense. And if we're sitting here saying, like, oh, the colds run defense could be a little bit better. They've given up, you know, a couple of solid performances.

imagine what it would be without Grover Stewart. That's the thing. Like if they're middling right now with him, imagine what they would be 32nd in the NFL, 30th in the NFL. So yeah, when you talk about the issues on defense, I'm not really too concerned with Grover Stewart. I think he's been pretty good this year. And like you mentioned,

the batted balls have been an added plus this season, not only batting one up for an interception for himself against the Chargers, batting one up for Lahto interception against the Raiders, that would have been a touchdown. and then the touchdown saving bad this past week that forced a field goal. He stole four points with that with that deflection there. I think he's been a plus player for the Colts on a defense that has been up and down this year. Are you ready for overreactions?

Because I got a couple. Yeah, I got a couple of reactions as well. Let's go. All right. All right. So I know that Josh Downs missed a couple of catches last week, but I didn't realize that he hasn't dropped. pass all year long.

Until those two. Yeah. Right. You're right. But it's one of those deals where you don't know the kicker's name until he misses a kick. And I guess he was just so reliable, he's so reliable that when you put it anywhere around him, he catches it and makes something happen.

But I did notice on the Colts website that was one of the things they pointed out, the two drops that he had, but he hadn't dropped one all year long, and they actually talked to him about it. So that may be an overreaction, because you probably heard me say it, you can't catch every pass. You just hope that you don't drop one in a crucial situation. So that's one overreaction. The other overreaction is, I know some of the national media has regressed on on Daniel Jones and applying pressure to him. But, and this is one of those where you can argue stats. What is, what, what the hell is an EPA per?

So, yeah, this is that question. He had the highest EPA, which means that the Blitz didn't really bother him. He was able to react to the Blitz. But as, when you're just sitting there watching them, like, dude, you're rid of the ball. Dude, throw the ball. Dude, standing there and take the hit. But he was really, really efficient for this being the number one defense in the NFL. He had probably a better game than anybody else just dealing with the pressure. So I think sometimes we overreact to incomplete passes or missed passes. But, I mean, he's doing this on our

broken leg too so we may be overreacted and then my last overreaction i hope i'm not taking anybody's uh overreaction but you know sometimes i don't give a damn about the stats and then sometimes stats are a great talking point for me uh but you know sometimes you feel like the defense really isn't stopping people a lot of times, and yes, the Colts have lost three out of the last four. But out of the last 47 positions, you know how many times the opposing offense has scored a touchdown? Man, it's got to be only like, what, four or five probably? Nine.

Nine, yeah. Because they, I mean, the Chiefs and the Texans didn't score touchdowns and spend those games. A lot of field goals and they held the ball. but yeah they they're doing a good like you want them to be cleaner you want them to get off the field a little bit more on third downs but they are not breaking in the red zone they're doing a good job standing tall so i agree like for for the negatives that there are there are positives that they're keeping the colds in games by holding teams the three in a lot of these situations so yeah i do think that's a bit of no reaction to go to daniel jones too i'm going to have a video on him uh tomorrow on my personal channel but i thought this is one of his better performances of the year honestly uh now there's There are limitations with his injury, but he made some big, big time throws in this game that we haven't seen in a month or so from him. The couple throws of Josh Downs, a touchdown to Alec Pierce. I mean, even that third down play late in the game that Downs dropped, I thought was a very, very nice read against the Blitz.

They brought seven guys on that play. He threw it outside. Honestly, I think the only negative play I graded for him, and it's unfortunate, was the final offensive play of the game. I think he just made the wrong read and threw it a bit high. but I think every other play he made the right decision or made the best decision he possibly could and he had a pretty good game. And then for Downs, Alan,

I do agree that some of the talking points have been a bit aggressive on him. It's not like he had this horrendous game. He had a volatile game. It was these highlight real like sports center top 10 plays or drops. Like that was his entire game. You want there to be a little bit more consistency and cleaner. But like, yes, the drops were bad,

but he also made that insane catch on the sideline. He also made one that was taken off the board because of a penalty, but that one he caught when the safety closing down and crunching him, that diving catch on the left sideline was another great catch he made. A couple other, like, I think he had a fine game. It's just the fine game was some great plays, some bad plays, and it came out to be fine. You want it to be a little bit more consistent.

But with downs, you usually get a pretty consistent player. It just sucks that the one big drop came in such a, high leverage position late and that's kind of been the theme with the colts against these divisional teams and you want to clean that up yeah that obviously puts things in such a spotlight i think the jones one especially is a very big overreaction because i have seen some people saying like he sucks like he had a terrible game this and that i just really don't think that was the case like when you put it in context of what he's physically able to do right now and how they're using him I mean, not every incompletion is the quarterback's fault.

You know what I mean? I've talked a lot about this this week. Guys not getting enough separation. Maybe they're, you know, they're being outgunned for the ball by the defender because I do think defenses are keying in a little bit. Excuse me. On what the Colts are doing, throwing the ball over the middle of the field in between the numbers. So I think it's just been more difficult for them to pass the ball lately because they're just a little bit more predictable.

But when you go two weeks ago against the chiefs, the Colts barely pushed the ball down the field at all. They had one throw over 20 yards, and that was the Pierce, which they converted. And I think they had five beyond 10 yards. And this one, Jones was throwing all over the yard, and it looked really good. He had that insane one to downs on the sideline. Like you mentioned, the Pierce one in the back corner of the end zone, into double coverage where only Pierce could get to it. really, really good throws. I mean, his leg is broken, not his arm.

I think he is still, he is throwing some seeds out there. I think he has had some of his better passes, honestly, since his leg has been broken, which sounds weird to say. But then downs, yeah, it's, I think it's kind of easy to pile on downs, just because he's in a more limited role. his usage has decreased. You know, Tyler Warren is eating into some of the stuff he normally does. And you can't really take a guy like Pierce off the field.

They don't play the same receiver position. But there are just some guys who can't leave the field. And it's leading to a decrease in action for downs. So when he does get thrown the ball and something not positive happens, it's just kind of easy to pile on to him. But overall, he's still an asset for them to have. have. I would like to see them get him the ball more because we've seen over the last two years, he's capable of more. He used to be the kind of player that bailed them out of games and was

the reason they won games. Like, Zach, I'm sure you can think of a couple off the top of your head or the Patriots game over in Frankfurt a couple years ago. Gardner, Minch, you threw a ball. He had no business getting complete, but Downs Doe for it and caught it. He's done that like four or five times over the past couple years. So he's a guy who they normally win because of, but we're still kind of waiting on that performance this year. It's been a lot of like four for 34 yards and stuff like that. Like we know he's capable more.

It's just they haven't really dialed it up to be his day yet. I haven't noticed. Well, and I'll tell you one of the things I've noticed now. And I would say give credit to all these opposing defensive courts. But earlier in the year, when they would run routes, there would be so much space that you couldn't help but gain five or ten extra yards because nobody was around them. But now I think these opposing defenses, they're squatting on a lot of these routes. And now these throws are contested, where early in the year they weren't contested. So, I mean, that's where as an offense, you've got to scout yourself, you know, and make sure that you're mixing up some of these.

Because if you keep running the same thing on third and five or the same thing on third and eight, then the defensive backs, they see it on film. They're not going to drop back past eight, and they're just going to react to because they know what route you're running. Yeah, my only slight response I wanted to get in before we jump to the last segment, Jake, is this was one of the few games where the cold. were dialing things up for downs, and he had to be the difference maker. And unfortunately, there were the two notable plays on third down where he just came up short. So the two times that we really seen the Colts dial up Josh Downs and say, hey, we need you to be a difference maker in this game. One, he absolutely knocked out the park in that Denver game early in the season,

and then he was going to be their answer on a lot of third downs in this past game. And for most of the game he was, it's just those two notable exceptions. And this kind of talks about complimentary football. when your defense is allowing such long drives in teams to sustain possession, you don't get many opportunities to rectify those mistakes. So two big drops in a game like this are much more impactful than like two drops, say, against like the Raiders, where you're going to get 25 possessions because the Raiders' offense can't string together

possessions. And this one, you get like seven opportunities to have the football. And if two of them are ending because of drops to your wide receiver, that's a difference in a game. So Downs just needs to get back on it. Make sure he's a little bit more consistent the next game. But they did certainly, like he was their answer on a lot of these plays. And unfortunately, like the biggest one at the day, he just camp a little bit short.

Yeah, but that's the guy who I think he earns a little grace for what he's done the past couple years. He's not someone I'm really worried about. He'll rebound at some point. But coming up, guys, we're going to go ahead and take a look ahead to Jacksonville. Is it cursed? And, you know, this game is pivot. How worried are you that the Colts may not even make the playoffs at this point if they lose this one?

All right, welcome back every dayers. Now, we are about to start talking about the much anticipated, the much dreaded Jacksonville game this week. I don't know if you guys have it circled on your calendars every year or if you just would like to hit the fast forward button through it each year. But nonetheless, it has arrived. you could say at a bad time since the Colts have lost three of the last four. But yeah, so it looks like the Colts will be facing a somewhat resurgent Jags team. The Jags started out hot for the year. They kind of sputtered a bit as Trevor Lawrence did whatever Trevor Lawrence does.

And now they've kind of started to kick it in gear a little bit. They got Brenton Strange back, which has helped. Brian Thomas Jr. has gotten a little bit better. they traded for Jacoby Myers, which has helped. So, Zach, go ahead and tell us what your overall vibes for this game. And if they lose, what's your worry level about missing the playoffs? Because I'll tell you, you know, a month ago, you know, they've been at 99% likelihood, 95% likelihood. They're down to 73.9% likelihood per ESPN at making the playoffs at this point.

Yeah, and it's one of the biggest leverage games of the weeks. I think the model has the coach dropping to like a few. 50-50 chance that they lose and has them jumping up to like an 87% chance that they win. So it's a massive, massive leverage game for the Colts. And again, just to go back to what we said about Stuyken, like it's a big game for him to show that he can win in this division against other competitive football teams. Six and O against the Titans is great, but like let's get some wins against the Jaguars and the Texans.

So I think it's vital for the Colts and vital for Stuyken, obviously here in this tight playoff race to get back in that lead in the AFC South. Yeah, if they drop this one, I think there should be a ton of concern for missing the playoffs. And I think rightfully so, you know, dropping four out of five down the stretch is not what you want to see from your team. In terms of this matchup, though, it's such a fascinating game because the vibes are terrible going to Jacksonville. The vibes are always terrible going to Jacksonville. But, like, on paper, Jacksonville is such a weird team, probably the weirdest team in the playoff race on either division right now, because they can either be the best team in football one week

or they could be a team capable of losing to anybody. They've had a bad drop issue all year long. They've been sloppy in a lot of games. Their defense has been so turnover reliant in a lot of situations where they've struggled at times on early downs and struggled when they're not getting those big turnovers to stop teams. But I think they're a really well-coached team. I think Liam Cohen has done some really good things this year.

And I think Coach Camp on the other side, coach on that defense, has found some extra juice to steal some turnovers and get some good things going for them. So I'm not convinced that there's some great football team because they did eke out a lot of one score wins early in the season against some bad teams. And we've seen some volatility with them overall in terms of performance on the field. But I think they're a well-coached football team that plays hard and knows how to just attack teams. So it's going to be a fight in Jacksonville for sure. The Colts need to be ready for this team because Jacksonville is a pretty feisty football team. And if Jacksonville comes out a little bit sloppy like they have, the Colts got to be able to take advantage because this is going to be one of those coin flip type games

where every bit of sloppiness or every bit of mistakes are going to be like amplified in a game like this. And the Colts have been on the wrong end of those last two weeks of just the sloppiness and the drops and the timely drops and timely mistakes. The Colts have been on the wrong end. And that's why they've lost these coin flip games, the last two games. the key is just making sure that you're the one taking advantage this week so they can get the win in Jacksonville. So must win game for sure. Like if last week was a must win game, this is an absolute 100% must win game. Oh my gosh, please win this football game or else type game for the Colts because all that leverage they built up in the early season is fading fast.

Now they have to win the cursed game in Jacksonville to keep their playoff hopes alive. I would say they're one of the best teams that you know nothing about. because they don't get a lot of national television appearances. They don't get a lot of fanfare. But, you know, looking at some of the stats, here I go again looking at stats. But they are the number 11 best defense in terms of yards allowed. So they're doing something right. You know, they're not top 10, but they're one outside the top 10.

you know so they're they're doing something right their offense offensive numbers are dreadful but they're still they still won eight games they're just a sloppy team they're a sloppy team but they're well coached and i think they have some good ingredients going there uh but they are like the week to week they can change like the last two weeks their defense is allowed like what like six points and like nine points or something they killed the chargers is an absolute beat down there, but you'll see them go to overtime against the Cardinals or something in this weird back and forth game that Cardinals are way down and out right now on their luck, but the Jack Wires will still play them in a in a overtime type game.

And that's kind of been their consistent thing this whole year, is no matter who they're playing, it's going to be just dependent on what kind of Jacksonville team shows up. So the Colts got to be ready. You've got to expect that you're playing the best version of Jacksonville. That's what you've got to do because when they're on. they can beat anybody when they're on and that run game is clicking and their O line is just kicking butt up front. Their defense is taking the football away. A game could snowball into a 20 point deficit like that. They have the ability to turn games into that, but also with

the inconsistency in their passing game, with their quarterback kind of being hit or miss, with their defense being very turnover reliant, you can also get one up on them early. So the Colts got to be ready for whichever Jacksonville team shows up and show that you're just the more, you know, prepared team out the gate. Well, I wish I could give you some insight because I was trying to think of, you know, the six years I played with the Oilers, was there ever a team or a stadium that I went to that was never able to win? And it was, especially in divisional games, because we were always going to make a trip to Cincinnati or to Pittsburgh or to Cleveland, which one of the worst stadiums I played in, was also my favorite stadium to play in, which was the mistake

by the lake, the Cleveland Municipal Stadium. I just loved the history of it, but you talk about a dump. But I wish I could give you insight. I also thought about in college, was there a place that you went to where you just couldn't win? And I'll just keep it short. Notre Dame, you know, started having in the in the uh i guess early to late 90s in the early 2000s they started having a little problem with boston college boston college just had their number so the best thing you can do is take them off your schedule keep them off for about four or five years bring in some other recruits that have no memory of boston college then go beat their ass but you can't do that in the NFL. I'm going to say, we've got to move divisions or something here against

Chatsville. You can't do that. But there were definitely some stadiums that we didn't have a winning record in, but I do remember going in and winning certain games against these teams. So it's just, you know, it's amazing when you get on the road how things can go bad and you fall into this like a little hole where nothing can go right. None of the calls go your way. The plays you thought were going to be dynamic plays that are really going to work. They just go for no gain or they don't work at all. And, you know, you're just sitting there frustrated about, man, we just knew we had a great game plan,

but everything went against us. So it's just one of those you just got to be detail-oriented. and play the game of your life and play it like, you know, it's a playoff game because I tell you what, what these last five games, the Colts have, if they can win a majority of these, they will be playoff ready because they will be battle tested because what, every single team has a winning record, you know, and I guess I saw on some national media show that they, of any team in the league have the toughest five games left of anybody else.

Yeah, I mean, they have to. They're playing division leader twice in Jacksonville. They're playing Seattle, who's a division leader in the, or no, I guess Seattle's the number two seat in that division, but it's the best division in football. Then you play the 49ers who have been very good this year as well, and then you close it out at Houston, at Houston, the team that just beat you in your own home stadium. So, yeah, it's a very difficult schedule. It's a winnable schedule, but the Colts can't be making these mental errors they've made the last two weeks.

You know, if you're dropping on third down, if you're fumbling fourth down snaps, you're missing extra points. You're going three and out ten straight times in a row like it felt like they did in that fourth quarter of Kansas City into the first quarter of Houston. You're not going to win these games. So they need to be on point with what they're doing. Their execution needs to be better. And that's the big thing. Like, look, if they go out there on these last couple Sundays and I guess that 49ers game is a prime time. game if they go out there just fighting their butts off and they're executing well but the other

teams just better so be it you know so be it that but like let's not lose games because of miss kicks and drop balls and and fumbled snaps like let's if we're going to lose a game have them just be better than you don't don't be kicking yourself afterwards because of the mental mistakes you made that's the stuff that really gets on you as i mean for me again use everything from like that coach lens there's nothing more infuriating than that where it's like we had them beat, we just dropped the ball here and missed a kick here, drop the fumble here. Like, they didn't make those mistakes, and that's why they won.

So the Colts need to be on point these last five games be as locked in as they've been all year and just get over the hump here and getting in the playoffs because anything can happen once you get in the playoffs. And I agree with you, you know, even though the Texans had the number one defense, the Texans were not a better team than the Colts. Yeah, so try this one on for size.

the weather is supposed to be not so great could be you know monsoony out there do you think that plays into the colts favor they've obviously got jonathan taylor their quarterback is not going to be reliant on moving around much they've got quick winners and guys like tyler warren josh downs you got yak guys warren downs pitman does that play into the colts hand at all like If you're going to have to rely on the run and go short, quick passing game, do you like the Colts of that? We always say this when they're more, we said this in 2021, a ton or whatever, like, oh, the Colts are a run-heavy team. So we want them to be in dirty weather. And then when they got in dirty weather, it's like, this dome team isn't ready for it.

Remember, what was it the Kansas City playoff game back in the day? We thought with, in 2018, with Andrew Luff, it was like a bad weather game. We're like, oh, the Colts are going to run all over this. It was just cold with some snow. team or a dome team no but all seriousness um the bad weather games can work in your favor if you're ready to play some old school football if you're a physical one ready for that like smash mouth football game so it's all about your mindset when you come out there for a game like you could have jonathan taylor for sure and say on paper like this is great for us but like you have to have your

offensive linemen are ready for that your your linebackers ready to fit the run and stay on their feet um so it really just comes down to the mindset of what you're coming in you know jacksonville's a young and hungry team that have been playing some physical football. So I wouldn't automatically say that favors the colds. It comes down to which team is ready to go from the first whistle. Yeah, and I'll see this. Weather does not make a difference. In fact, the players are the most comfortable people in the stadium,

especially in a cold game because they got heated benches. And they're only there for three hours. And then they get on the plane and go home. But I think this is a game where, you know, the heck with the weather. They've got to be balanced on offense, got to be detail oriented. And you're right. It is a mindset, especially for a road game, where you've got to be locked in even more for a road game. And if they handle that side of the business, then they should be fine. Well, you guys heard it here first. That we're going to put a bow on it there. The Colts, this is about as must win as it gets for the Colts.

They just dropped the division game last week. Can't really afford to do it again because, you know, if the Texans find a way to knock off the Chiefs and the Colts lose this one, it's pretty worrisome, we'll put it that way. But, you know, we're going to be back with you guys tomorrow. I spoke with Tony Wiggins of Locked on Jaguars for crossover Thursday. We appreciate you guys hanging out with us tonight. If you don't already, follow at Locked on Colts on social media. also please be sure to subscribe on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts we would love your ratings and reviews as well that helps get more eyes and ears on us and with that you guys

have a great night and we'll see you tomorrow again for cross over Thursday