Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - COLTS SQUAD SHOW: Midseason REPORT CARD | Our Grades For the Colts at the Season's Halfway Point

Episode Date: October 30, 2025

The Squad convenes to hand out midseason grades for the Colts, who still own the NFL's best record at 7-1. Also, a look at how the EDGE position has performed, under and overreactions from Week 8, and a preview of the Steelers and what's to come in a challenging six-week stretch for Indianapolis.Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms: 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts/ 📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQ Give the squad a follow on X/Twitter @Schultz975, @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @allenpinkett, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOn_SI, as well on TikTok and Instagram! Follow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOn_SI, as well on TikTok and Instagram!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!PelotonLet yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use codeLOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLRugietReady to level up your confidence ? Head to https://rugiet.comand use promo code LOCKEDONNFLfor 15% off your first order.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFLfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

Welcome to the Colts Squad Show. I'm your host, Derek Schultz, and I wish I was a student I had as good of a report card as the Colts do at the midterm of the season. My name is Zach Hicks, and that Colts Wednesday Indry Report gave me some Pacers scary, scary thoughts there. So Indiana, we're having good time lately, but a lot of injuries here lately. I'm Jake Arthur, and it isn't a shame that we're grading stuff today because I did not do well in school. nation rise up it's the colt squad everything indianapolis colts every week covering all the big hits and game changing plays from the circle city the way only the locked on podcast network can it's time to squad up the colt squajo starts now welcome in happy hump day wednesday it's the colt squad

show thanks so much for joining us today's episode brought you by our friends at game time download the game time app, create an account and use code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase. I'm Derek Schultz, Indy Sports Talker, columnist for the Indianapolis Business Journal. We will not have the legendary Notre Dame and Oilers running back out on Pinkett with us. He is traveling. This is the first show. He had perfect attendance up until now. So shout out to Alan for being so great and gracious with his time over the first three months.

But I do have you every dayers know them and you demand them. Zach Hicks, Jake Arthur, that dynamic duo from Lockdown Colts, your first listen every day. We're essentially at the season's halfway point. I kind of hate that we have 17 games now, and you can't say for real that it's the halfway point. But the Colts own the NFL's best record, 7-1, 8 games in a 17-game season. But things get obviously a lot more challenging here

through this portion of the schedule with difficult road trips and fellow contenders coming up on the slate. On tonight's squad show, we'll discuss the Colts at the midterm and hand out some grades. We'll evaluate the edge position because as you guys have seen on social media, the takes are kind of all over the place.

People are really unhinged when it comes to edge right now. Overreactions and underreactions from week eight, as we do with every Wednesday's show. We'll give you some overreactions, some underreactions. And then we'll take a look at Pittsburgh. And we'll really just look at the upcoming slate in general because it's very interesting. Over the next six weeks, not counting the by week, the Colts will have one home game before Christmas week, which is crazy to think. You know, with the trips to Germany and some difficult roadies at Arrowhead and at Seattle as well. But guys, let's start with the grades on this Colts team.

And maybe, Zach, let's get the easy part out of the way here. The Colts offense, right? There's no other grade that you could possibly give than A plus, maybe A plus plus. Yeah, I would struggle to even go player by player and not give like A pluses across the board to a lot of people. I mean, Daniel Jones in particular, like even if we have these individual grades, like what we were saying on the post game on Sunday, Derek was like, oh, yeah, this was like a C plus game from Daniel Jones. This wasn't, you know, what we've seen of Daniel Jones all season. Still relative to our expectations prior to the year, this has been an A plus. I don't even think we even have to add that caveat there either saying like, oh, yeah, just compared to our low expectations, like, no, he's been a really good quarterback by any stretch of the imagination.

He's like, what, a 76 QBR this year? And most seasons, there's like two quarterbacks that finish above 75 QBR. He's one of four this season up there with Drake May. I believe Sam Darnold and Pat Mahomes are the four guys up there with that really high QBR by ESPN. EPA per play, the Colts have one of the top five, top six passing offenses in football. He's limiting the turnovers. Honestly, the biggest thing has been his play under pressure, I think, has just been fantastic. Something that's never been there in his entire career is all of a sudden this extreme strength for him.

So, yeah, the whole offense in general is an A-plus. Shane Steichen's an A-plus. Jonathan Taylor is an A-plus. some of those offensive linemen have been A pluses, but Daniel Jones, I think, needs the biggest A plus with like a circle around it and stuff because this is like some kid who like transferred in that you didn't have the highest expectations for

all of a sudden being your star pupil in school, you know? You're like, oh my gosh, we just got a new genius here in class. That's kind of what it feels like marking him off with an A plus and how just big he has been for this Colts team. So, yeah, at the midway point, again, this is maybe a hot take, but I think he's been the team MVP, and I think he's been just everything the Colts needed from the quarterback position since Andrew Luck retired. Yeah, it's crazy to say the Colts are now getting their best quarterback play since Andrew Luck, and it's Daniel Jones.

Like Philip Rivers was really, really good for, you know, he turned it on like in that back half of the year. But, you know, you had Matt Ryan, you tried to get something there. You had Philip Rivers. Carson Wentz had some nice moments. It wasn't a total disaster the entire time. but yeah with Daniel Jones if we're talking grades obviously he gets an a plus he's killing it on his on his book it thing he's getting the free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut he's done all the extra work like the guy is killing it obviously Jonathan Taylor could not be doing anymore as much as Daniel Jones has evolved his game though Jonathan Taylor has as well in terms of adding new things and new skills and getting better in different areas because obviously Jonathan Taylor was a guy who was a guy who. who you want on the field all the time, but you hold your breath.

If the ball is coming his way in the passing game, or here comes an unblocked linebacker, barren right down on the quarterback. You held your breath with those things with him in the past. Now you don't have to think about it at all because he is just acing everything. Obviously, the offensive lineman, we talked about Matt Gonzalez and Tanner Bordellini,

both exceeding expectations. Like, we had high expectations for them eventually, but with the caveat they would have their bumps in the road and growing pains. And we mentioned this a few weeks back, but the fact that their strengths initially wound it being the things we were most concerned about, like the Power Game and Run stuff for Bordellini and then the pass protection for Gonzalez, it was the first things that each of them was really good at. So, yeah, across the board, you know, I think the past catchers have looked as good as you can expect them to be.

you know, there's the whole thing where there's not been a 100-yard receiver yet because everyone's kind of contributing and doing their thing. It's incredible that Pierce still doesn't have it because he's still getting all the, you know, getting so much downfield work and stuff. If I'm given the whole offense a grade, though, I will give them a hold off on the A plus for the whole offense, only because there are still some things that we've seen they can achieve. so they started out slow to this season in the red zone now they're super hot in the red zone

there's been several weeks where they've been shaky on third downs though we can see that be more consistent on third down and you know do this and that we want to give them something to strive for to get that a plus guys uh jay the bell curve teacher uh i i hear it uh the bell curve teacher where i don't give hundreds to students even if they get everything right because i need them to distract this is the number one offense in football jake they they have the number six offense in football by EP ever play if they didn't throw a single pass this whole season like i i get it i it's it's commendable jake to want to put the bell curve and make them have to fight because jake arthur's opinion is what they need to win over the most right

right now yeah but i i just can't i can't come off like this in my wildest expectations it was never going to be this good on offense it has been absolutely not absolutely insane what they're doing on that side of the football. Yeah, she, in fifth grade, my teacher did not have a mustache, but Jake reminds me of Mrs. Redgate. Shout out Mrs. Redgate at Middlebrook's school because she was a really harsh grader too. And if 34 points per game or whatever it is in a plus 500 point differential can't get you in A plus, then that's a little rough there, Jake. Man, rough grader. Let's see what are we rounding up or are we hitting a perfect mark? I think we're hitting a perfect mark, Jay. Come on, man. It's pretty close.

Okay, if you want to give them a 99 instead of it 100, then fine. 99.99, but he won't round it up. It's got to be like a 99. Let's talk about the defense because I think it's a more nuanced discussion there, right? Because I think you do have some A's. I think the interior of the defensive line would once again be an A because, God, DeForest Bucker's just been incredible. And Grover Stewart is Grover Stewart, right? I think the safeties you could give an A2 with how they've played this year. I almost feel like giving an incomplete to the cornerbacks. I don't even think that it's fair to give them a grade considering what they've gone through injury-wise. But then,

you know, the linebackers and probably the edge room would get closer to C's. So I ended up given the defense like in the C-plus B-minus range. Zach, you align there? Yeah, I think that's fair. Actually, the first person I want to touch on when it comes to this defense was the biggest change they made was Luana Rumo, you know, giving a grade to him for his performance this year. And honestly, I give him like a B, B plus maybe, which maybe seems like a bit much for people who watch on Sundays, like, oh my gosh, they're giving up so many explosive plays. Their third down defense is one of the worst in football. They had issues in red zone defense. But given where he was going, when he took over, you know, coming and taking over for Gus Bradley, a very, very

different defense schematically than what he wants to run and he basically ran out a lot of the young players that when he got here he was like you know what these corners don't fit my scheme these certain players don't fit my scheme these young players aren't ready so I need to bring in a bunch of stop gaps with all that considered I think he's doing a pretty admirable job I mean they're allowing 19 points for game and honestly it's a bit inflated because teams are essentially getting the whole fourth quarter to run up their point total against the Colts because the Colts are just punting after three plays on offense in the entirety of fourth quarters because they're in shootout or just a game over mode at that point. So it's a little bit inflated even the 19 points per game against,

which is six in the NFL right now. I think that they are doing a good job of finishing, like, you know, they are getting those sacks and getting those timely pressures and getting quarterbacks into mistakes on third downs, which I think has been important as well. They've got a takeaway in every single game this year. And like you said, Derek, with all the issues they've had at corner. You know, this has still been a pretty like commendable job on defense. So I think Luanna Ruma, I would start off with like a B or B plus. I agree with you on corner. That corner is a tough one to grade because I think Charverius Ward has been the biggest bright spot on the defense when he's played. But it's hard to give like an A plus to a guy who's only been out there

for a couple of games, even though he's been that good when he's played. So yeah, I completely agree there. Maybe linebackers like a D because some of the guys who started early in the season, it was really rough out there. I think it's leveled out a little bit the last couple weeks with Pratt coming in there and just being a big upgrade over the botches and the McGrones and such like that. But yeah, I think overall the grades you gave, like maybe safety dropped down to a B because a couple of coverage gas here and there. But for the most part, I think you nailed the grades across the board for the players. Yeah, I would come in overall around a B-ish or so as well. I think they have been able to weather some storms really, really well, but there are areas

where guys who have supposed to be, been there the whole time, you know, they're just fine. Like, the linebacker play has been whatever. Predictably, they did not find someone to play next to Zeyer Franklin. Jalen Carly's still isn't back, and that's the guy they sold us all offseason as the reason they didn't really need to do anything at linebacker. defensive end could be doing more you know i think this really stamped what quidipay is which is a fine player but he's never going to be i don't think he's ever going to ascend to like be a top dog pass rusher which is fine you know like he maybe hasn't played like a top

20 21 pick i think he was back when he in his draft uh but still like a startable player like a player you want on your team lot too we could talk to we're blue in the face about what it means to have the amount of pressures he has versus the amount of sacks it is what it is part of the issue there is like the coverage as well those things are supposed to work in concert but they're so beat up at corner that it just hasn't looked like it's supposed to so you kind of have to throw everyone a bone there but all things considered how they've performed with what they're missing I tend to give them a bit of grace there

and give them around that B, B, B, plus area. There's not many areas where I have true gripes and you can't find an easy reason because of it. You know what I mean? Yeah. And we're grading on a curve a little bit, aren't we? Yeah, sure. And I think the biggest thing for me with the defense, too,

is like, again, if you told me that they were going to allow 19 points against per game through the first half of the season with Cameron Mitchell starting a good chunk of games, with Jonathan Edwards, with them having to grab a linebacker off the streets. Now they got lucky Jermaine Pratt was available. But you know what I mean? Like they had to go to the streets.

Now they have multiple edge rushers out on the outside. You know, like they've been a really banged up unit on defense. For all the health we've had on offense this year, the defense has kind of had to be depleted to, you know, iron out that injury luck, I guess, in a way. So, you know, the defense has been a bit cursed with injuries where the offense has been very healthy.

And I think the defense is, weather the storm fairly well. So you wanted to go up a notch these final, you know, months or so, the season when Charverius Ward is back and maybe Jalen Jones is back here this week or the next week. If they can just get up like another level of play, like bring the third down defense to like middle of the road instead of bottom tier of the league, I think we're going to be talking very high about this defense.

I think they have a lot of playoff ingredients on defense. It's just they got to get healthier. and maybe need a little bit more juice off the edge, which we'll talk about in the second segment. Yeah, and we just have to align with the preseason expectations and the fact that, you know, I know some of the names that faces have changed, but this defense gave up 45 points to one of the worst offenses

of like the last seven or eight years in a must-win game late last season, right, in the Giants. And so I think overall, even though there are some people, you know, in the comments and that watch Locked on Colts, Colts fans that would give the defense, they're terrible, they're going to hold them back from going to the Super Bowl and all that stuff. I think we could all agree that there are issues there. But when you look at what they had kind of coming into the season and we knew on paper,

linebacker, linebacker actually ended up worse, I think maybe than we even thought it we had low expectations for linebacker. I think ultimately they've performed admirably for the most part. Final minute here. Let's fit in special teams. Zach, give me like 60 seconds on kicker and punter, if you will, in coverage units. I'll cover the non-kicker and punter parts of special teams because that's the special teams I like.

But honestly, I would give Brian Mason his units. I'll go B plus on it overall. I think some of the cover team could be a bit better. And Jake has mentioned a couple times like Gould could be a little bit better on his returns in both the punt and the kicking game. But overall, I think it's been a very positive aspect. You know, they've stolen points here and there. A couple block kicks, a couple of, you know, big returns from Doolin and Amir of Duelan's

got called back, but, you know, the process was right on that one for them. So I think they've done a lot of good things. And I think that they've been a big ingredient. to helping the Colts win games. So, yeah, I think I would give special teams overall in the year, like a B plus. And honestly, maybe it's an A-minus if Spencer Schrader were still healthy. You know, there's a little bit more question with their kicker position. Even though Bagley hasn't missed anything besides the extra point, it's still a kicker.

You never know what could happen with that. So, yeah, I think special teams like a B-plus, and I could even go A-minus if, you know, I was talked into it a little bit more. Exactly where I land as well. they've had some injury issues with their most critical special teams players. I got like Cameron Grown, who's been a core special teamer for like three years now. They released him. So Brian Mason has been able to kind of get guys in, get them up to speed and have them playing at a high level.

It's kind of no wonder there have been a couple times where they've given up some good returns and kickoff units. But in general, I think they've done really, really well. Spencer Trader was like a top two or two. three kicker in the league before he got hurt. Rigoberto Sanchez barely punning, but when he is doing it, he's doing it pretty well. So I would, I'd land around that B plus, A minus also. Yeah. And we already know Rigo's great. We don't even need him to punt, right? Yeah. And real quick, too, the punt coverage has been the best in football this year when they punt it. They're not allowed anything in punt returns. In kick coverage, there have been a couple of leaky returns here, but I don't think

they've allowed anything past like the 45. Yeah, which, you know, it's a low, it's a low standard. 45 is a big return but i think it's like one or two across the 40 this year like they it hasn't been like massive returns whereas the colt's return game have gotten a couple past midfield this year so i think overall it's been a win in that department too we come back on the cold squad show for a long time in this town all the conversation had been around the quarterback spot now everybody seems to be focused on a different premium position we'll discuss when we come back This portion of the show, oh, geez, see, I'm on my MacBook and I'm messing it up. This portion of the show brought you by our friends at Mazda, who never mess anything up, right?

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Like our players, we sweat every detail because when you make every move count, impossible becomes irrelevant. Mazda, move and be moved. And we're back on the locked on Colt Squad show. Thanks so much for joining us on this Wednesday night, or maybe you're watching it on Thursday, watching it after the fact.

Thanks to our lot YouTube viewers as well in the comment stream for being somewhat kind to me while I'm trying to produce on the air and trying to do all of this at the same time. I'm on location, work location, traveling right now, so I'm not with my usual setup at home, and it's a little less comfortable trying to kind of navigate everything. So appreciate everybody's patience. People running out of patience when it comes to the edge room,

specifically two first round picks, obviously used on Quiti Pay and Laotu Latu. Look, two different evaluations for those guys, right? Pay has been around for a while, and he pretty much is who he is, which is a good player, very good against the run, not to keep you up at night, pass rush guy, that's fine. He's probably not ever going to be that. But in a contract here right now, and then you have Latu, who is barely a season and a half in here, who is starting to show some promise as far as pressures.

It's just about trying to get those results. And Jake, you know, kind of going back on what you said, I mean, we've talked about it ad nauseum. Look, anybody can look up the pressure numbers and be like, okay, pressures are great, but if pressures aren't resulting in sacks, then you know, you're not closing the deal and those need to come. I'm not ready to go and say, well, Latsu's a bust and he's just in the, he's in the graveyard of Ballard Edge players. But I think we would agree that they, when you draft him and he's the first defensive player off the board, you need him to be the best defensive player in the draft. And he hasn't been that. And they need him to be better than what he's

provided here so far. Yeah. It's unfortunate that a player like Jared verse went like just after him because Jared verse is up there and like that top eight pass rushers in football on the outside where Laotou Latu is showing good promise as a young player like I would put him in that like Alex Highsmith, Byron Young type of mold where it's like a youngish player that gets a good amount of pressures and you know can get in there with some sacks every now and then but it's not really what the Colts need right now on the edge you know they kind of need that Jared verse impact player to make this defense complete you know every team needs that Jared versus impact player, which makes it kind of a tough conversation.

But, yeah, I mean, look, LATU is in a good spot for where he's at in his career, but there needs to be a little bit more for this Colts team to get where they need to be this season. I think that the Colts have done a good job with blitzes and bringing pressure from unique angles. They've been getting a lot better, especially in recent weeks, at getting DeForest Buckner, his one-on-one situations. and when he gets in those one-on-ones, he's DeForest Buckner. Like, that's your true game wrecker right now. So then I guess the best thing for the edge rush right now is take advantage on the

couple times you're not chipped, which they're not really doing at a high level right now. And then condensing the pocket for Buckner to be his impact self. And I think that's really where the issue kind of is with Latu and even Quitty Pay, where it's like they either win quick or they're just stymied at the point of attack. You know, it's like a win-quick situation. like quitty pay is really good on stunts and twists but if he has to do a true pass rushing situation he kind of just runs into the chest of the tackle and gets stood up right there layouts you lots are really good with his hands really quick with his hands and can get some quick pressures that way

but if he loses with his hands at the point of attack he kind of doesn't have the power still to just drive through the chest of an opposing offensive tackle so what we're seeing is like flashes from these guys pay will get in the backfield and quick time on some reps but for the most part, it's a lot of stagnant reps. You know, Lyotu Latu, especially when they have a chipper on his side, is not really getting many pressures over there, but he will have these couple wins where it's like, oh my gosh, here's the star potential we talked about. And it feels like they just need to be a little bit better with supporting Buckner, I guess, where it's like condense the pocket. So that way the quarterback has nowhere to escape, and then Buckner can just run into the guy and get it down

on the ground. So I don't think they're so far away at edge, like they are at like corner, right now, for instance. Corner, they just don't really have any playable guys there. They have Mackay Blackburn, who's kind of playable, and then everyone else is hurt or young and not ready for the moment. I think at Edge, they have a lot of fine, you know, a lot of fine. And Lachu, they have a young guy who can get to where they need him to be, but it probably doesn't happen this year.

So it's kind of a tough situation. Like, I'm not going to sit here and say this edge room is like horrendous. It's the worst edge room in the league or anything, because it's not. I mean, their top 10. and sacks. Their sack rate, even if you take out the amount of passes that have been against them, it's still like middle of the road. It's not awful. Latu's up there high and pass rush win rate. They've gotten a couple sacks off the edge. Like, it's really not a terrible edge room. It's just not what you would want it to be with how much they've invested into it. You know, they have

Latu, who is a top 15 pick. They have quidipay, who's a 21st overall pick. Sampsonabucom's making $12 million this year. You know, like they have invested. it a good amount into this edge room JT2 Maloa as a second round pick you know so I understand on one end being like look it's it's not this perfect edge rush room it's also not the worst edge rush room but for what they've invested into it it's not where it needs to be for this season and there has to be some kind of move or conversation at least going forward about where it can get where they need to be yeah I think you can look at a lot too for example and you can see it there He's not a guy who doesn't have it at all.

It's just not developed to the level where the Colts need it to be. And it is a shame because the Colts offense, like the whole philosophy of what this team wants to be right now, the offense is meeting that mark where you jump out to the early lead. You build cushion. And then the defense is supposed to be able to pin their ears back and rush the passer and then just make life miserable throughout the second half. What we're seeing teams pick up yardage and kind of catch up a little bit in the second. second half because the pass brush isn't quite ready enough yet and then and the coverage you know you can't clamp down either and it's it's just a whole thing yeah the Colts do they need more they they've got kind of just guys right now and they just clearly need that I don't know that they can

just go get a top dog guy like make it try but how available are those guys really right now it's like the second most valuable position and one team is just not going to want to get rid of. We've talked about the options. You know, we've talked about Max Crosby, Trey Hendricks, and all these guys. I don't know if one of those is going to be attainable for them this year. I mean, they'll certainly look into what their options are and try and do something. But yeah, they do need a little more to kind of complete what the image is supposed to look like. that that defense up front is just not necessary it's not on the trajectory of the offense

which I don't know if it's anyone's fault but like the offense is going to moving so fast that like the defense hasn't had time to catch up to it but I mean that's that's just kind of where they're at right now so you're saying pay and 80 Mitchell and a day three pick is not going to be enough for either of those two guys they mentioned across me Conditional seven along with quidipay for Trey Hendrickson, obviously. Gosh, you know, we'll be generous. We'll give a fourth with quitty pay. We want this, you guys want this edge rusher that we don't care for for Trey Hendrickson?

Clearly, they'd be crazy not to accept it. Yeah, no, they're not trading Trey Hendrickson there in Cincinnati. And it's funny because you look at the edge situation and then the interior defensive line has done well. You know, DeForest Buckner, obviously, I mean, he's up to what, four, four or five sacks. And they've gotten some good pass rush reps as well from the rest of that room and Atabare and some of those others as well. You know, you can like you said, like overall, the defensive line, especially when you take into account Stuart, I know he's not a pass rusher by trade, but him and Buckner as well, I think it's been a good unit. It's just you need some dynamic play from the edge position and they just haven't really had that. But, you know, kind of looking long view here, guys, or 100,000 foot view, we've seen the Colts go into the draft and essentially take one almost every year.

I mean, when you go all the way back to Terrell Basham way back in Bowers first year, but then, you know, you're talking about Ture and Banagoo and, you know, there are a whole bunch of guys that have been mixed in there. Is there something wrong with how Ballard and the front office have evaluated Edge? I mean, let me preface by saying it's very difficult to find game changing edge players when you're not taking them with like top 10 draft picks, right? Right. It's a lot like quarterback in that way. But do you have any apprehension about just the evaluation process when it comes to this? Yes and no. I think that there have certainly been areas where they could be better with that.

But look, at the end of the day, and I say this as a big draft Nick, I got my start doing this stuff in the NFL being a draft guy. You know, Jake and I back, that's how we met back in the day. was me being a huge draft guy, it's a crap shoot. You know, a lot of the drafting is, it's like 50%, you know what, it's 30% developmental, 30% the right process, and then what, you want to add the other 40% just straight up luck is when it comes to the draft. A guy just, you know, figuring it out or not figuring it out is really up to just crazy luck in a lot of ways.

And sometimes it's just timing as well, because you look at like early in Ballard's tenure where he was taking these like speedy, bendy rush, like Ben Banagou and Kamoko Torre, and those didn't click for him, but we've seen a lot of those guys click in the infeld. Look at Will McDonald right now with the New York Jets, for instance, was kind of one of those exact same project guys who worked out for them. It just wasn't one of the guys they drafted, obviously. Then he started to turn into like the explosive, powerful guys, the Dioa Dangbo's and the Quitty Pays, and he just got the wrong ones with them. I mean, Dio wasn't even that bad. He got a huge contract. It's just, it didn't work out here.

And then you finally get him, it's like, okay, you know what? He's not going to go for traits with this one. He's going to go with the super high production guy in Laotu Latu who can't miss the best rusher in the draft. And then the explosive, powerful guy that went a couple picks later was the one that hit. So, you know, I don't want to be like this Chris Ballard defender because there are certainly things that he could be better with. But it really is just like, you know, you win some, you lose some in the draft.

You know, for every Jonathan Taylor and Quentin Nelson, you draft, you draft a Ben Banagoo. You know, you draft all these, even the Howie Rosemans and the greatest drafters might light down there in Tampa Bay. Like, there's misses all the time, you know. But yeah, it does suck when you keep missing on such an important position like Edge. But I think the process is right to keep drafting them. You know, you got to keep throwing darts at the board because you never know when this first, second or third round guy you draft is going to be the one that clicks. You know, who would have thought that this, what, what, where college you go? Eastern Michigan, speedy, bendy, bender, name.

Max Crosby was going to put on 50 pounds when he got to the NFL and become this superstar, this top three, top four pass rusher in football. You know, it's just so hard to really project these things. I don't think the Raiders thought Max Crosby could be like this in the NFL. So, yeah, it's just a big part of it is just kind of getting, just keep throwing darts at the board and seeing what can happen. So I think the process is right. It's just they haven't been lucky and they haven't had the right development at that position.

Yeah, it seems like Eddrefer, are almost as hard to predict as quarterbacks, to be quite honest with you. And like Zach mentioned, Chris has gone for each different kind, it seems like. What's up, Zach? We'll talk it out here. But, yeah, I mean, they've gone for the bendy type, like the speedy fastball with Kamoko-Turray, obviously. And to some extent, that was working until a devastating knee injury happened or an ankle injury happened.

But then, Latu, like we talked about, polar opposite, that was the best. build a ballard buster right there obviously and he hasn't had many opportunities to take a guy who was supposed to be like an elite pass rusher but when he has you can't really say that he's made a bad choice like a lot a lot of teams would have picked law too as the the top edge rusher as long as his medical's cleared with him which is did i mean jared verse just so happened to wind up being a better player, but it's not like Dallas Turner is burning the world down in Minnesota either. Yeah. And I'm trying to, like, Quitty Pay was most people's top edge.

Other than him, it was Jalen Phillips, who has been her most of his career. So it's like, it's not necessarily that Chris is making their wrong choices. It's just that it just doesn't always work out. Yeah. If the Falcons didn't go quarterback in that draft, by the way, and take Michael Pennix, Jr., lot two would have gone eighth overall. Yeah. And the Colts would have taken Brian Thomas, Jr.,

which would have been really funny in retrospect, because where would they have gone in round two with when they got Thomas in round one? We wouldn't have A.D. Mitchell. And that's just the part of the draft, though. That's just so wild with how it goes. I think the best you can do is just keep throwing shots at the board, trust your evaluation process. And again, for every Ben Banagoo, there's a Jonathan Taylor, there's a Nick Cross. There's a Bairnhart Riemann. I mean, gosh, if you want to kill this front office for their misses at edge, you have to praise them for what they did. I mean, Bairnard Riemann Riemann's one of like three, like, legit offensive tackles that wasn't taken in like round one. Three fifth of their offensive line are like, are third rounders are worse.

Yeah, Tanner Bordellini might be an all pro this year. fifth round or fourth round pick like you know for every hit there's misses and i think we we just zoom in too much on the misses and also on the hit sometimes where it's kind of a crap shoot you just got to keep throwing darts at the board and and uh you know hope that you hit on them and trust your developmental process in house some promise from a little used rookie will the offense sputter a bit and leaving the friendly confines of lucas loyal stadium we're going to talk about some under and some overreactions next when the cold squad show returns This portion of the Colts squad show brought you by our friends at Game Time.

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I can't blame that, I guess, on the mispronunciations, though, or me getting tongue-tied there. Let's play overreactions and underreactions. That's what we always do here on the Wednesday show in segment number three. I want to start with this one, and none of the numbers seem to back this up. But I think just naturally, when you look at a team leaving their home field, right, which the Colts are going to primarily do here five of the next. next six games will be away from Lucas Loyal Stadium, and they're taking tough trips.

I mean, God, you got to go all the way to Germany, you got to go to Seattle, which Arrowhead, you know, these are difficult, not only are they difficult places to play, in a lot of cases, they're long trips as well. Is it an overreaction to say the Colts offense is going to sputter a bit? Sputter is a wrong word that's almost like, you know, sputtering, they're only going to score 28 points a game instead of 33. will it be lessened a little bit, Zach, as they're getting away from Lucas Oil here in the next couple of weeks

and the ramp-up in competition being part of that equation too? I'm sure. I mean, look, again, they're on a historic pace right now. We're talking about one of the five greatest offenses of the 2000s at the moment. And I think it's hard to say that that's going to keep up when they go against stiffer competition and they go to Arrowhead and they go to the West Coast. But I don't, like, again, unless they get injured, I don't really expect it to be that much of a drop off.

I think they just, I think in a lot of ways, one, the coaching and the players are just phenomenal and what they're doing, and they have all 11 guys playing at a really high level. There's no weakness. There's no 11th guy that you can just, like, not worry about, you know, even on the offensive line, including in that, like the offense is just playing at such a high level. But also, I think the Colts have kind of worked their magic a little bit with these new kickoff rules in a lot of ways to make sure that they're getting the most points possible on Sundays. Like what they're doing with the opening kickoff, where they're taking the opening kickoff

with that built-in protection of if we don't score a touchdown here, we can pump them inside their own 10, make their opening script a little bit tougher for them, and then we can get back to what we're doing with favorable field position and get back to our opening script. They're doing a lot of things that just gets more points on the board. They're not turning the ball over, so even if that regresses a little bit, I still think they're going to be able to put up points on the board. So yeah, I think there could be some tough moments, tough quarters, tough instances, especially if injuries pile up on offense. You know, Josh Downs missed today. If Downs misses another game, I don't expect it to be as smooth as it was the last time

he missed a game against the Chargers. But yeah, I think it like at worst case, it would be like a top five offense in football instead the best offense of the 2000s. You know, like I think it's going to be a pretty dang good offense regardless. So, yeah, you certainly have an eye for the upcoming opponents, but this offense is so good. Like, it's hard for me to really be negative on that side of the ball. Yeah, I don't think there's going to be some big drop off. I don't think they're going to, like, come down to earth or anything.

I think they're going to continue to play at a high level. We haven't seen any bad offensive performances yet. Now, they are going to have, like, two matchups against Houston. That's tough. I mean, they're Seattle, they're going to have some tough matchups coming up. In Kansas City, obviously, Spagnolo's always got them getting up to something. So they're going to have some tough defensive matchups. But the Colts have one of the most, arguably the most complete offense in the entire league right now.

They have a guy who's top five in the league in passing, the leading rusher, an offensive line that the space they're creating, people are making memes out of it right now. like Tyler Warren is leading all tight ends and yardage like what what's what's the downside right now like Zach said who's your worst who's your worst starter of the 11 right now but it doesn't matter like they're all playing at such a high level at the moment and the synergy that they have with the coaching staff right now like they're executing what they're being asked to from the coaching staff at an incredible level right now so while a lot of logic says they might dip down a little bit. It's like, okay, I got to see it first because they haven't even had a single bad offensive performance yet, even in their loss. They lost because they turned the ball over three times, and then they had Xavier and Howard playing defense. You know, like, it wasn't that they had a poor offensive performance.

So there's going to be a couple ones where maybe they only get like 250, 300 yards of offense or something. Maybe they only score 24 points. but like they're they're scoring a million points a game they're having a million yards of offense a game like i i just don't see them taking some massive dip in production yeah and i actually kind of wanted to segue this into an underreaction bit on that maybe potential 11th best guy on offense because in order to praise the other four offensive linemen i feel like a lot of us are forgetting the kind of year that bray and smith is having and bray and smith's been just

as good as the other four guys, if not better than like a Mac and Sawvis, even, who I think has been really good this year, but Brayton Smith has returned to form. You know, knock on wood, he's been healthy this year, which I think is the most important aspect. There have been games where it's like,

hey, he's been on an island with Max, not on an island, but, you know, a lot of, like, 75% on an island with Max Crosby a lot against the Raiders and did an admirable job. And then you're looking at a lot of these big run plays from the last couple weeks. And big old 72s out there in front, either driving a guy off the line alongside Matt Gonzalez or on Taylor's ADR touchdown this past week, he reached a weak side linebacker from his right tackle spot, reached all the way

across and blocked that guy off and didn't give him a chance to make a play on Taylor. So this is kind of the trend with this segment of the show each week where I pick out like a long-term colt and say that we're not appreciating him enough. But for Brayton Smith to come back from what he, you know, from everything that happened last year all the questions in the off season had a contract cut they cut down basically in the off season because there was that yeah cut in half essentially and kind of like a prove it deal for him he i mean he's setting himself up for a 20 plus million dollar per year payday in the off season because of how well he's played at such a valuable position yeah you mentioned the physical

health the mental health too guys right i mean just getting his head right too i mean there were some questions if he was ever going to play football again because you just didn't know and then Joel A. Erickson's story about it. And it's remarkable that he's back here. You know, we make it sound like, oh, you know, he came back and look, he's his old self again. This is not your usual return to old self kind of story for him. It's a whole saga, really. Now, he's really neat. We actually talked with him for a while in the locker room today, just mostly just shooting it. And he, he seems so at peace, like, with where he's at now. And, like, his way that he can cope with things that come up for him internally.

It's just so seamless. Like he's in a really good place right now. Now his future, like I don't even think he knows right now. He's just kind of living life day by day at the moment. But what we're seeing right now is pretty much vintage Brayden Smith. I mean, watch him this Sunday. He's always played T.J. Watt very, very well. I don't think Watt is very statistically productive against the Colts.

He gets to the right tackle who's always playing against him. It's Braden Smith. So not to put him on. Not to put him on the spot here, but, I mean, I expect him to play at a high level against Watt on Sunday because he always has before. Underreaction, again, we'll go from a long-term player to a very short-term one. Our buddy Noah Compton posted a spin move Sunday from JT to a Mo-Lo-O-O-O. I always have to trip over that one, too. You got it.

J-T, right? More snaps, more reps for him? I know we're talking about one spin move, but, you know, and kind of in garbage time of the game. But, you know, with the way that the edge room has been, I don't see any reason to keep him completely off the field. Yeah, I will actually say I was more intrigued by a couple of his reps where he just drove the pocketback a little bit from his side.

Now, he needs, he has the same issue as lot too. And this is probably just a young player thing where, man, he's got to be more aware of those chips. Those chips are just decleaning him right now in his young part of his career. And I'm like, we got to, you know, be more aware, more predescent of those coming from your side and just staying upright. But I think on a lot of his one-on-one situations, even if he wasn't displacing from an offensive tackle, he was driving that guy back into the pocket.

And again, when you do that, you're having at a Tommy Wada Boree playing at such a high level, you're having to Forrest Buccner playing at such a high level. I don't need my edge rushers to win every single rush. You know, if you can just long arm, get that tackle back in the pocket, drive them back three yards, and then give yourself the opportunity to where if that quarterback scramble out the back, you can run him down, I can live with that when you have the defensive tackle play that Buckner is giving them in recent weeks. So I would be more intrigued to giving him more snaps over like a Lewis or at Ebukam or some of these other edge rushers just for that aspect alone

because Ebukam at his age and, you know, the injury he suffered last year, he's not going to get that same drive. Taekwon Lewis does every now and then, but it's a little bit different. So if JTT can just keep doing that, JT2 and a lowout can just keep doing that for me, that might be enough in my mind to get him more snaps as a pass rusher. Yeah, I think you still got to keep the rotation with, I mean, when Lewis and Evocom get back. But, I mean, for my money, there's a guy who needs to get kicked up in that rotation rather than being the one that gets five snaps. And that's two in the low, I mean, go with the young fresh guy who's not injured, who is a second round pick and is showing some promise and probably just needs more snaps in order to get used to. what this defense demands and what's being asked of him really so while i i definitely want to see them

continue the rotation let him move up in priority in that rotation a little bit you know like it's it's not like he's a huge liability either because like coming out of college like he was actually pretty good run defender as well he had plenty of power and it was the pass rush that was catching up for him and he went on that you know huge terror in the in the college football playoffs and everything so he's a young ascending player and i mean he's been getting more playing time i didn't see how many snaps he got on sunday but the two weeks before that he had at least like 20 snaps and uh i i think sunday was the best he's looked so you can see him getting better uh so yeah that's that's definitely a guy i've been wanting to see him get more playing time all season i was

kind of miffed when he was a healthy scratch a couple times earlier in the year but i'm thinking we're probably seen the end of that hopefully at this point. You're muted, Derek. It's the Jake. It's just not my show, guys. Tonight's not my show. The Colts had the Pittsburgh where they've had an ugly history and it's the kickoff for a very tough six-week stretch. Mostly away from home. We'll talk about both of those things when the Colts Squad show returns for a final time next.

I'm Cody Ward from Lowe. Lockdown, Broncos, and this episode is brought to you by Peloton. Peloton is shaping the future of fitness with the brand new Peloton, cross-training, tread plus powered by Peloton IQ. This is Peloton's most advanced equipment yet, giving you real-time guidance and endless ways to move, whether you're running, lifting, or you're cross-training with your favorite instructors like Alex Touss. It's training reimagine to make your workout more personal. Peloton is built for breakthroughs with features that help you plan, stay motivated, and hit peak performance. You can let yourself run, lift, flex, and go while Peloton handles all the rest. Plus, Peloton IQ provides real time, strength

coaching, tracking your progress and suggesting weights that challenge you so you can get stronger. Plus the new movement tracking camera, it counts your reps and correct your form in real time, making sure every rep is safer and smarter. So let yourself run, lift, flex, push, and go. explore the new peloton cross-training tread plus at one peloton.com back for final time here of the locked on Colts squad show alongside Zach Hicks and Jake Arthur of the Lockdown Colts duo your first listen every day I am the lowly Derek Schultz who keeps messing things up on the stream today Colts do not have a pretty history in Pittsburgh to say the least now it's a new era right 2025 historic offense new quarterback all of those things

I'm just bringing this up for reference. The Colts are one in 12 all time in Pittsburgh in their history in Indianapolis. The lone win was the 2008 season when ironically the Steelers went on to win the Super Bowl that year. And it is not really talked about it as a win. And Zach, I know with your history with the Washington football team and you know, you're kind of new kid on the block or new-ish kid on the block when it comes to the Colts. But I wanted to know if Jake remembered it because Peyton Manning through three touchdowns in that game, including a fourth quarter little screen pass to Dominic Rhodes

that ended up being the game winning touchdown. And just the fact that they won at Pittsburgh when the Steelers were kind of at the height of their powers then, you know, the late 2000 Steelers, it was one of the most gratifying Colts wins that I could remember. And I don't feel like anybody ever talks about it. Now that you mentioned the Dominic Rhodes, but all that does seem familiar, you can kind of file it in there with that game where they finally broke through at Gillette. And like, I think they hung over 40 points on the Patriots in that game. but yeah i'm i'm i'm more jaded by like the ben rothlisberger like 400 and 500 yard games with antonio brown it's like the bloodbaths of like the andrew luck era you know what i mean

those those were bad but 2019 hassleback start remember that that game got real ugly the stadium has a new name now i don't think they've ever played an act for a sure stadium that is a gross name it's time to make new memories and this steward's defense even though it is filled with primetime names, right, has not performed to the name recognition. They've lost two straight. They've given up 68 points in the process to the Bengals and Packers. They've really invested heavily on that side of the ball, but the results haven't been good. They're one of the bottom five teams, the NFL in yards allowed, which is crazy to think,

given all the talent that they have. But still, you know, you watch Pittsburgh this year, and it almost feels like a team and Zach, I want to be careful here because can they, of course, they can beat the Colts? and they've beaten the Colts a lot in Colts Stewart's history, but it looks like a team that's really not even as good as their four and three record indicates. Honestly, like I looked at Pittsburgh when they were four and one and thought that they were complete frauds,

and they filed that up with two losses where they gave up a bunch of points and a bunch of yards to Cincinnati and Green Bay. Yeah, I think that they are very much like a middle of the road, like low end playoff team on paper. And we'll see if that's good enough to get the four seed in the AFC this year with how that AFC North is looking. currently. But yeah, I think they do a lot of good things on offense. And I really love the chess match of what this Steelers offense is going to be like against Louana Rumo. I think that's

going to be a really cool matchup between those two sides. But the biggest discrepancy really is this Colts offense versus Steelers defense right now. I mean, even if you go back the last couple years when the Colts have played them, I mean, Shane Steikin's 2 and O against the Steelers with the Colts. And his quarterbacks have been Gardner Minchu and Joe Flacco for majority of those games. Jonathan Taylor hasn't even been healthy for those two games. I mean, Trace Sermon was his lead back in the one two years ago. And that's when Sermon and Tyler Goodson went off for like 100 combined yards in like in half a game, essentially, when the Colts put up 30 unanswered in

2023 against the Steelers. So, yeah, you know, I said this on the crossover that's going to be dropping tomorrow that you just cannot beat a Shane Stike. And even when he had Minchu and Flacco as his quarterback. and Richardson has his quarterbacks. You cannot beat a Shane Steichen-led offense with a static defense with weaknesses up the middle. You know, weaknesses at linebacker and safety and you're static on that side of the ball. His offense is so designed to where we're going to use motion to identify where our openings are.

We're going to match a zone beating concept and a man-beating concept on the other sides. And we're going to let our, you know, our skill players do what they do best. So, you know, if you're telling him all the information he needs prior to the snap, map with like, okay, we're going to drop into cover three or we're showing cover one man here or we're showing blitz here and that's probably what we're going to do. It's just so hard to beat a stike and let offense because there's answers to those things. The only way you can really slow down a stike and let offense is like we kind of saw it with the Cardinals game. The Colts put up 31, but the Cardinals defense I thought played pretty admirable against the pass in that game

is they changed the picture as much as possible. That's really what they did was continually changing the picture, making it so the quarterback doesn't know where his easy buttons are. But against the Steelers, Daniel Jones is going to know where his easy buttons are. So as long as the Colts don't shoot themselves in the foot and commit penalties or Jones misses some passes that turn into interceptions, I struggle to see this Colts offense not putting up a ton of points on Sunday. I think that they're the safest bet this week in the NFL to put up 30 plus points. And I know that's kind of been the trend every single week with his offense.

But especially here, it reminds me a lot of like my thoughts going into the Chargers game a couple weeks ago where a lot of people were saying like oh this is a good team like the Colts are going to get humbled by a good team but it's like I don't know what the Chargers defense could do against the Colts offense and it's kind of where I'm at with this one now one thing that could change the game is the edge play from the Steelers is still very very good you know Alex High Smith is back Nate Herbig even though they cut his roll down in recent weeks has still been one of the most productive pass rushers in football he's only getting like 30% of the defensive snap since High Smith's been back and it's like you've got to get your best

guys out there, but I digress. And T.J. Watt's not having the best statistical season, but he's still T.J. Watt, like, just his presence alone scares you. But I think the Colts are going to come out. They're going to be in their 12 and 13 personnel, run a lot of play action just to abuse Patrick Queen and these linebackers in their rotation. They're going to manipulate the safeties down the field, especially with new safeties coming in with Sean Elliott being out for the year. And I think that they're going to be able to put up points on Sunday. So, yeah, again, as long as they avoid the pre-snap penalties, and aren't finding themselves in first and 15 and second and 15 in situations like that, I think this is going to be another pretty big offensive performance from this Colts team.

Yeah, I asked Tyler Warren if he viewed the Colts not having a 100-yard receiver yet as a challenge. And he gave it an emphatic no, but I've got news for him because he's going for 100 on Sunday. Did you see what Tucker crafted did the Steelers just last week? This is Warren's big breakout this week, even though he's been put. putting up like 50, 60, 70 yards. He's going for a hundo. He's getting another touchdown. This is his big statistical performance coming up Sunday.

But no, I mean, you said it, Zach. Like Shane knows how to attack these defenses. This one specifically, he's done it with much lesser quarterback so far to this point. And I kind of wonder, I'd have to look at it, but I wonder if there's like a history of even him in Philadelphia and L.A. performing well against this because i guess there's like a lore on the pittsburgh side of it where they know that Shane has their number yeah so i think that goes back further than 2023 it does yeah but yeah Pittsburgh's defense has been running the same thing since mike tomlin's

been there like if you don't know it yeah if you don't know how to attack it by now then what the hell are you doing you know i mean so i just kind of see it following the same script that it has like Daniel Jones now it's going to be tougher because it's on the road and it's going to be a very loud environment at least initially until if the culture it will start putting points up and take the crowd out of it a little bit so you know the window dressing and all the things they do you know pre snap might be a little more challenging but you know once they start getting some points up there they get Jonathan going a little bit I see it kind of following the same way that it has with them going north of 30 points. again and it's it's just a defense that i don't know like you look at jalen ramsie if they put like alec on him that's i think that's kind of an advantage alec because like jelan ramsi isn't the same guy he's been and he's given up some vertical shots so far this season already uh so it's i just see certain areas especially you mentioned the linebacker zack that they can they're going to be able to take advantage of of certain spots there

yeah yeah and it'll be interested to see because yeah they got a great a great chance to kick off this tough stretch with a big win because the next six as i mentioned you know you go to pittsburgh you go to germany that's played atlanta you go to arrowhead to play kansas city you go to jacksonville which has been the graveyard of of colts teens and 20s corpses uh over the last 10 years or so and then you go out to seattle to play a really good Seattle team too so you know the beauty is though guys and and i think we discussed this. If I remember right, I think we discussed this after the Titans one on Sunday. Zach, they're in a position here where they've created a lot of margin for error for themselves in the sense that, you know, we thought going into the season, okay, if the Colts are going to make the playoffs, they're going to have to go like five and one or four and two in this stretch. I mean, honestly, if you split these six games, you're still, I think, in excellent shape. It's almost unfathomable to think that the Colts will lose three

games in a six-week stretch is the way that they've been playing. But even if you did, like, let's say, you know, like worst case-ish scenario, three and three here, you're still in the catbird seat at 10 and four. Yeah, they've built up such a lead right now where they have to go three and six down the stretch to get double-digit wins for the first time since the Phillip River season. Like, yeah, they're going to be in the playoffs this year for sure, you know, and I feel pretty comfortable saying that. I don't know.

I think they have like a 98% chance of making the playoffs at this point. So I've seen that diminish quickly. yeah no and it certainly can like they can't let off the gas at all here like you want to aim for higher than just making the playoffs at this point when you're in this much of a driver's seat but yeah i think they've built up quite a good margin for themselves and i think that sunday is just a great opportunity and i love the schedule gets really tough for them now because with you essentially in a good place in terms of making the playoffs now you get to be a battle tested team heading into the playoffs you know you're going to get road environments that are difficult you're going to kansas city and two Seattle, two very loud environments that are tough, that's great experience for the playoffs. You know, you get these tough divisional games against Houston and Jacksonville that I think are going to be just excellent testing grounds for them. So I love that the schedule is getting tough like this because I think it's going to be tough for the opponents as well. But real quick, I did want to touch on this Colts defense versus Steelers offense. I think that's going to be

a really fun back and forth. You know, Aaron Rogers gets that ball out super quick. He does not like to hold on to the ball very much at all. And when he does, you know, it's usually out the back of the pocket and then throwing the ball short still. So I think the game plan for the Colts is going to be a little bit frustrating for some people when it comes to how many rushers they bring. Like they will still blitz a little bit on like third down, but I think it's going to be a lot of drop eight coverage. Again, a lot of bodies just in coverage in general to take away the middle of the field. But we'll see what happens with Metcalf versus these smaller corners on the outside. But I'm really, really curious about how the Colts defense, with their nickel and

dine defense that does not play base whatsoever, how that does against a number one 13 personnel offense. Now, Pat Friarmoot's not going to play in this game. I know it's up in the air right now, but he's not playing in this. I don't think he is. Yeah, Pat Friarmoos is not going to play. That's a big loss for the Steelers offense, but they still have the 300 pound tight end out there in Darnel, Washington. He gets that 300 pound moniker as much as Marley Cox gets the basketball thing. to announcers and such. But yeah, he's going to be out there. They're going to have John Hussmith,

who we all know from his days with the Titans. They have linemen they play out there in heavy personnel packages. They have Hayward's brother. That's also in the mix as a tight end. So they're going to be running a lot of heavy personnel sets and doing a lot of toss and stretch runs behind that to get these 300-pound tight ends on corners out in space. So how do the Colts who are, again,

this nickel and dime defense, especially with Nick Cross a little bit banged up, how do they fit against the run and how do they play? I think that's going to be a fascinating matchup for the Colts. And it's going to ultimately come down to can they get the ball, can they take the ball away at least once or twice? Because that might be all you need in this one. But really curious to see how Louana Remote combats the Steelers offense. It's been pretty good this year.

Two Steelers-O-Lyman also did not practice today, Zach Prazier and Isaac Sumalo. So that's kind of interesting. Somal is probably not going to play in this one as well, as one of what I heard. And Fraser's one of the best young centers in the league. Yeah. Colts are just due to add some happy memories to the pile in their long history with the Steelers. I know I speak for Colts fans when I say that. Thanks so much for joining us on the Colts Squad show.

Lock us in for your midweek show every Wednesday night at 9 p.m. But don't forget, we are your place for live game recaps, following each and every Colts game this season. And this Sunday is no exception. We'll be back with you to recap the game shortly after Colt Steelers goes final for Pittsburgh. right here on the Lockdown Colts Network. But until then, keep it locked on Jake and Zach every day on Lockedon Colts. Be sure to follow at Lockdown Colts on socials and check out all of our other great content on YouTube and TikTok.

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