Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - COLTS SQUAD SHOW: Schedule PITFALLS | Post Reveal, Looking at the Good and Bad of Colts' 2026 Slate!

Episode Date: May 15, 2026

Just an hour or so after the NFL schedule reveal, the Squad dives into how the Colts' 2026 slate ended up playing out. We talk about a tough opening stretch with a hopefully available Daniel Jones, soft spots in the schedule where the Colts can take advantage, and each pick our worst-opponent-at-the-worst-time games. 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!  Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More  🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/lockedoncolts  Everydayer Club  If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Square If you’re starting a business, or running one that deserves better tools, Square helps you sell, manage, and grow without slowing down. Right now, you can get up to $200 off Square hardware at https://square.com/go/LockedOnNFL. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel.Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get one-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto get started — Play Your Game. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. Rocket MoneyLet Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join athttp://RocketMoney.com/LOCKEDON Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONfor $20 off your first purchase. 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)   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the Colts Squad Show. I'm your host, Derek Schultz, and do we have to play in Jacksonville this year? And I'm Zach Hicks, and do we have to play in Pittsburgh this year? We can do this with most of these games, Derek. I'm Jake Arthur, and I'm just happiest that the Colts are one of the least traveled teams in the entire league this year. That's big for me. And I'm Alan Pinkett, former Euler.

I feel like some fishing chips. Now, where can I possibly get that? Colts Nation rise up. It's the Colts. squad everything indianapolis colts every week covering all the big hits and game changing plays from the circle city the way only the locked on podcast network can it's time to squad up the colt squadogeo starts now welcome to the colt squad show i'm derrick shultz long time indy sports talker and columnist for the indianapolis business journal i'm joined by a norder name legend and long time nfl running back out with

Pinkett along with the dynamic locked on Colts duo of Jake Arthur and Zach Hicks. You guys just knew that after a brief hiatus, we'd be fully squatted up tonight to talk schedule release, baby. Let's go. Just went final a couple of hours ago, 730. We started to see some of that trickle in over the last couple of days, including, of course, spoiler alert, right, with the surprise of the Washington game in London. But now we have the full 17 games late for the Colts and we're diving right into it.

First and foremost, we'll give our general thoughts. on the Colts schedule. I think some of us, we were just talking kind of off there, have some of the same takeaways from the groupings of teams, regardless of how the schedule ended up kind of laying out. But we'll talk about that in segment number one. The first few weeks and some of the pitfalls there increasing Daniel Jones's urgency to return,

not only to return, but to be himself, which has been kind of a common theme. It's one thing to come back from an Achilles and be medically cleared from an Achilles. It's another thing to be yourself again, right? So we'll talk about that in segment number two. possible areas where the cults can take advantage. There's always a pillowy soft underbelly. I know Alan's term, if you guys are a long time watching this show,

there's no such thing as bad. I'm sure we're going to get a no such thing as bad teams again from Alan tonight. I mean, right? It's the schedule release show. We have to get that. But there are some, there are ebbs and flows with the schedule. And right, there are some soft spots, I think,

in what we see at least on paper with where we sit today. We'll talk about that in segment number three. And I just think that it's the worst game at the worst time. And when I saw it pop up on the schedule, I got all panicky. I'm sure Zach and Jake and maybe even Alan are going to talk me off the ledge here, but we'll talk about that in segment number four when I'm discussing there. But guys, let's just jump right in to the schedule here.

Not a lot of, I don't know, eyebrow raising things, I guess. You know, they got a Thursday night game at Houston. It feels like they play Thursday night in Houston a lot over the years. We knew about the London game already. I think the Kansas City game being week two is actually falls in a beneficial way with the Pat Mahomes injury, but then again, maybe if you're a cheese fan, you're saying, oh, that's going to be like Riley Leonard or something, right, Zach? So I think there's some good here.

I think there's some bad here, but just kind of what are your general thoughts on how things laid out for the Colst 2026 schedule? Yeah, I mean, I think going into this schedule here, and again, we're talking with the knowledge of what these teams did last year. I always say with the schedule release and why it's not this big event for me is because we have no clue what any of these teams are going to look like this year. If you would have told me prior to last season, the Chiefs were going to be one of the worst teams in football picking in the top 10, I would have called you crazy.

And if you told me the Seahawks would have won the Super Bowl, I would have called you crazy as well. So we have no clue what these teams are going to look like by September. So this is all speculation off of what we saw last year. But, I mean, we kind of knew that this wasn't going to be the strongest schedule overall compared to like what the Colts faced last season, right, where they played against the best division in football in the NFC West. So now getting the NFC East that was not that good of a division last year, getting the

AFC North, which has been kind of up and down as well. I think that this is a fairly favorable schedule. Now they do have a pretty rough go of it to start the season, but that's probably the time when you want to play against good football teams. I mean, look at last year, the New England Patriots, one of the best teams in football, the number one seed in the AFC, and look what happened in week one with them last year. They lost to the Vegas Raiders.

pretty handily in that game. It wasn't even that competitive. I think it was only a seven-point game, but the Raiders kind of controlled it there. So that's when you want to face more of your better teams as early on because teams are still trying to feel out who they are. The first month of the season is usually the most fake month of the season when it comes the NFL.

So you want to face kind of the bad teams down the stretch so you can just roll through and get into the playoffs. So, you know, I think this schedule is pretty favorable for the Colts. As Jones gets healthy, he more plays like the, the Miami Dolphins, the New York Giants, the Cleveland Browns down the stretch, rather than having to play the Steelers and the Vikings. I mean, he still plays them, but hopefully he'll be healthy by the time he's playing these perceived weaker teams.

So, yeah, overall takeaway, nothing too crazy here. I do hate the London game being the Washington game. I was planning for like a childhood dream of mine to be potentially credentialed in Washington Stadium watching a team. that I cover and the team that I followed as a kid. Of course, they had to throw that game overseas, so I don't get that childhood dream for at least another like eight years or whatever it's going to be.

So that's a little unfortunate for me. But yeah, overall, I think it's a very manageable schedule. I don't think it's anything crazy. Joan should be back by week one. And we'll see what he looks like and the offense looks like and the team looks like. So, yeah, it's a very manageable schedule for sure. Like there's not that many super super team. But again, by September, who knows, maybe Kyler Murray becomes the first overall pick.

He was always destined to. And Aaron Rogers returns to his MVP glory. And these teams look really tough. So you never really know with the NFL. But to me, it looks pretty feasible on paper at least. Zach, the answer to your commander's issue is that we just go get credential to go to London. I'm not going to London. That's disgusting.

They probably celebrate kickers out there. Oh, yeah. Well, so my thoughts on the schedule here, it sets up pretty well for the Colts. Now, again, I think a lot of these teams that they are facing this year are supposed to be markedly better than they were last year. You know, is it like Ravens and, you know, the Ravens and Bengals like these teams that had a down year Cowboys should be much better this year. But I mean, the strength of schedule is what it is. they have the fourth easiest schedule in the league. They also will travel the 11th fewest miles, despite having a game in London. Last year they had to travel among the most in the league.

It was obnoxious how much they had to travel last year. So it's a lot better this year. And then I think, you know, you get that pretty hard warm up with all these teams like the Ravens Chiefs, tech, like all these teams in the beginning with the exception of like Tennessee are going to be pretty tough matchups, I think. But then you look at it in the back half, it gets much more manageable. You've got the mini buy from week 11 to week 12

because you have Thursday night football, then you have the 10-day reset. And then after that week 12 game, you have your actual buy. So you get a decent amount of rest there, which leads you into a final five weeks where you get the Eagles on the road, not great. But then your final four games,

Tennessee, Cincinnati, Cleveland, in Jacksonville. Well, the Titans, Bengals, and Browns were like 14 and 37 last year. So not only do you get really heavily weighted games against the AFC in your final four weeks, but three of them are against teams that were awful last year. So I think there's plenty that sets up well for the Colts from that perspective. But big butt here. I didn't love the away slate. I don't know if you guys caught this, but they have three separate. it away back to backs in this schedule. Yeah.

So they've got week four and five on the road. Week four, of course, is in London without the comfort of the buy in between, week seven and eight, and then weeks 14 and 15. Meanwhile, they only have one home back to back throughout the stretch. So the way stuff, I don't really love that. And then you have to hope you're just, you're hanging on by week 13 on the buy since you're going to be eight week you know nine weeks removed from from London from your international series so there's definitely some peaks and valleys in this one but overall I think I like how it sets up that

they should be playing their best football by the end of the season hopefully fingers crossed at least yeah you know the three nationally televised games none of them at home but you know it is what it is you get always two on five play prime time at home yeah Never. Well, they did last year against the 49ers. I don't think they wanted to happen again. And then it was a couple years ago when Jim Ursae was really banging the drum for it and they got smoked about. I think it was 2022 actually.

So yeah, it's pretty tough. But overall, I like how it ends up. I think they should be able to take advantage in a couple areas. One really funny thing I wanted to say about the schedule is late in the season, week 16, through 18 are typically TBD games because they can be flexed if they're important to playoff implications. And let's see if this says anything about the Cleveland Browns, right? Bengals game, no day and no time.

Brown's game, January 3rd at 1 p.m. Jaguar's game, no date and no time. So they expect two of those three games to have playoff implications where Cleveland, I think the NFL kind of knows what's going on with that one. So I thought that was pretty funny with the schedule. Well, you know, when I look at the schedule, the first thing I think about are the quarterbacks are going to be facing. And with this particular defense that the Colts have, which right now we're looking at maybe a couple of rookies starting at the lineback position, possibly in the defensive backfield. and currently,

edd rushing by committee, I'm wondering, you know, which quarterbacks can take advantage of that. You know, so that's the thing that sticks up to me. Also, I will say again, there's no bad teams, but there's just teams with bad records. But based on the knowledge that we have now,

I look at the schedule, and, you know, a couple things stick out to me that, you know, they could possibly be 0 and 4 after the first four weeks in the season. But when I try to apply some knowledge to it, I see them coming through the schedule at 11 and 6. I have them being 3 in the division. It's a workable schedule, but it's all based on, you know, the health of Daniel Jones. And, you know, that's the biggest thing because I don't think this is a team like Seattle or like the Texans that can have a defense impose as will on you. I think the Colts are going to be a team that's going to just outscore everybody. And so I also look for those teams that are known for their defense.

And you don't find that many in contemporary NFL football. You know, it's all about putting points on the board. You know, so the Colts will be able to outscore a handful of these teams. But all in all, pretty exciting. just knowing where you're going to go. I think the London game will be fun. And I feel for you, Zach, because I've only been to a handful of games in my life in the Washington area. I guess I saw Washington play twice growing up.

One was at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. What a terrible stadium. stadium that was. In fact, there was a big-ass concrete pillar right in front of me. I just look around the whole, the pillar, the whole damn game. No wonder the Colts left. Yeah. And it rained, and it was kind of chilly. And I can't remember how old I was, but then I did go to RFK one time, and Washington was victorious there and got to play in RFK one time. So, It's a different atmosphere, even though you still got the hogs there doing their dance, but I feel bad for you that you won't get a chance to experience.

You know, that would be incredible, the team you cover and the team you supported. Yeah, no, my wife said, like, why don't you go up to Pittsburgh? My brother lives in Pittsburgh. So, like, oh, you can go to Pittsburgh and get credential for that one. I'm like, I could, but I don't really care as much then. Like, it's not really the same, you know? Like, part of it was just the crossing over of, like, how I got into football and where I'm at with football. So it would have been kind of romantic in a way, but it's fine.

I'm not going to London to see that. That takes away all the romanticism of it. It actually makes it very ugly, very gothic in nature. But, yeah, we'll see. Maybe I'll go up to the Pittsburgh one, but it is a little unfortunate. Like, of all the games that they could have thrown over in London, they had to throw that one. The only one I was looking forward to in terms of my... my own personal greed, I guess,

and that. So it's a little unfortunate for me. I could see you getting down at Piccadilly Circus. And you could, you and I could go and enjoy some fishing chips, maybe have a pint, you know, and London is fun. It's like 60 and rainy. It's Zach Hicks weather all the time, right?

You're selling them on the weather, at least. That sounds pretty nice. And you know what the flip side is? You played the NFC East this year, and miraculously, you get three one o'clock games against the four opponents in the NFC East. Like that's how much the NFL hates putting the Colts in prime time, notably at home,

is, you know, one o'clock games against NFC teams. I don't love, by the way, and I know that's a short trip to Pittsburgh. I don't love the fact that they have to play a road one o'clock game coming back from London. Yeah,

you know, that'll be the big thing I talk about to close out the show is going to be that comeback. It's going to be tough. Yeah, we'll see how it goes. But when I saw that, I was like, eh, I don't really like that. When we come back here on the locked on Colts squad show,

why the schedule reveals showed how important it is for the Colts to get their QB1 back as soon as possible. That's next. Stick around. This portion of the Colts Squad Show brought to you by our friends at Square. Support for today's episode comes from Square, the system that helps fix one of the biggest headaches in running a business. Starting a business is exciting, but actually running it. That's where things get complicated fast.

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And we're back on the Lockdown Colts Squad Show. Thanks so much for making us a part of your Thursday night, a couple of hours following the NFL schedule reveal. I'll be honest, guys, I had a little league baseball practice tonight with a bunch of nine-year-olds, and I was whipping them into shape. So I missed the videos. I didn't really dive.

I dove into the Colts, but I didn't really kind of go around media. I just feel bad because I don't think anything can ever touch what the Titans did a couple of years ago, where the production quality was like zero, but it was just so genuine and easy. And you're out on Broadway and you're asking a bunch of people at like bachelor at parties, hey, what NFL team is this and getting genuine reactions? I just think we're just kind of chasing the ghost of what tennis. I got to give your franchise credit, Alan, of what they did with that schedule reveal all those years ago. but it is fun to see what other teams do

and see them kind of get creative. Let's talk about this first stretch here with Daniel Jones coming off the Achilles. Everybody knows the situation with Jones. Colts remain confident that he's going to be back, even though publicly they can only say so much, right? It's May 15th. It's not like they know for sure if he's going to be available for that first game.

But Ravens, Jake, as you said, like they're going to bounce back, right? They're still the Ravens. I understand what they were last year. At Chiefs, okay, maybe you catch a break. Maybe it's Mahomes. Maybe it's not. if it is Mahomes, maybe he's limited. It's still the Chiefs at Arrowhead.

Houston at home, the favorite of the division. Yeah, you're at home. They're the favorite in the division. Washington and London. That's another team that I think is going to bounce back after a disappointing year last year and it's a hell of a far away. And at Pittsburgh, look, I don't care if Bubby Bristair is the quarterback. When the Colts play the Steelers, terrible crap happens all the time.

I always hate that game. So I think those first five games, Zach, show that, you know, you don't want to rush it, right? because then things can get really bad, but of course it was going to be urgent no matter what to get Daniel Jones back as soon as possible. But I think with that first stretch, it's especially urgent as well. It's not a murderer's row or anything, but I think it's five games that are, you could talk yourself into being tough games. Yeah, I mean, every game matters in the NFL. So I understand like the sentiment, like even if they were playing, you know, the dolphins and Browns to start the season, you still want to have Daniel Jones out there because he's your better option.

at quarterback. So there was going to be that urgency regardless, and the Colts, everything they've said, everything they've speculated on has been that, you know, we think he's going to be cleared and ready to go to start the season. I haven't seen or heard anything that seems that they're like anticipating him not being ready to go early in the year. That being said, though, yeah, it does raise kind of the urgency there that you want to come away this first stretch of the season winning some games because they finished last season so poorly, right? You don't want to carry over the losing. streak from late last season into starting this season. It doesn't completely sink your team. I know we saw a comment here that the Colts start 0 and 3 they could fire Stuyken. That's not

going to happen. They're going to let the whole season ride out. So it's not going to be like that drastic. But you want to start the season strong, get some inspiration for these young players, get them ready to roll as the years going on. But yeah, I think there's going to be that urgency regardless, though, for the Colts, right? They need to win this season. Every single game matters and just finding ways to win these early season games as well as the late season ones are going to be everything for the team this year. So yeah, it does put more of an emphasis on Daniel Jones, but honestly, I'd rather play against the better teams that you potentially could lose to regardless, right, when Daniel Jones isn't fully healthy, because then

you can get them fully healthy for the dolphins, for the Browns, for the Bengals with Joe Burroughs probably not playing that late in the season. When does he ever play in December? Like, you know, we talk about injury prone quarterbacks like is he really going to be playing in December so I'd rather have him healthy for that stretch of games than have him you know like I almost feel like the schedule bails them out a little bit right because these teams are going to be tough games for them with a fully healthy roster completely I mean like I'm not trying to excuse away wins and losses here but it almost plays to your advantage there in a little bit and also again with the chiefs game like if Pat Mahomes is limited as well it's probably like one of the few

only good times to get the Chiefs. Because, I mean, gosh, if they were rough last season, right? When Bat Malhomes even played, when Pat Mahomes went down, they were the worst team in the league late in the year, right? Like when Bat Mahomes out of the equation, they were the worst team in football down the stretch. So if he's limited in any way, it could make that a little bit more feasible in the game for them.

But, yeah, overall, the urgency is just going to be high all season long. It doesn't matter if it's week one or week 18. they need to make the playoffs or all these guys are going to feel the pressure, including the quarterback, the head coach, the GM. So, yeah, there is a little bit of an increased urgency with it, but I think it was going to be there regardless. Yeah, I agree. I think regardless of opponents, everybody's job is on the line. You know, they could be playing a cupcake schedule.

They could be playing a gauntlet where they have all the excuses in the world of, well, look, we played only playoff teams. Everyone out there, it's going to be a big. deal regardless. I do think expectations will probably be so, kind of like we're saying, where it's like, well, guys, look, it looks pretty tough here. But as the season goes on, and especially late, it looks like these are kind of advantageous areas. Expectations are that we should be hitting our stride by then. I think just the big thing you're looking for is for injuries to not be the big disclaimer for them. You know, that is definitely one thing. that was the big, you know, the big yellow banner that kind of seemed to save everybody's jobs last year is, yeah, but look how injured we were.

What were we supposed to do? And that kind of rolls it into the Daniel Jones of it all. Yeah, I mean, I do think he'll be ready by week one. Yeah, I guess better to get these tough matchups out of the way. I mean, Baltimore's defense was awful last year, but I mean, they've got Jesse Mentor now. You know, they always draft very Baltimore coded. They always find a way to draft the perfect players for them. The Chiefs, you know, they still have Steve Spagnola, defensive coordinator,

so that's going to be a tough one. So I think if you're looking at Daniel to, you know, have to get a slow start, I would rather it be, you know, in the beginning rather than at the end, like we saw last year when he, you know, obviously wasn't able to complete the job. but I'm regardless of what the scenario is, I'm perfectly fine with the schedule basically being flipped as it was last year, where it was real easy and, you know, they were eight and two last year and then, you know, lose the final seven down the stretch.

It seems to basically be the inverse this year. Well, I guess I can answer in a couple different ways, you know. There's a, you expect Daniel Jones to be ready to, play in week one. And I'm an agreement with both Zach and Jake in terms of I'd rather have a healthy Daniel Jones near the end of the season than in the beginning. But those beginning games sort of form what type of season you're going to have. And we would love to have Daniel Jones at 100%. But will he be 100%? there's very, very few people in the National Football League that at 80% are as good as when they are 100%.

I don't know if Daniel Jones is one of those guys. And I guess what I would cite is when he did have his broken leg last year, it did affect the flow of the offense. You know, because he's not known as a running quarterback. But when he picks his spots to run, he was very, very effective. And they were able to keep the ball and, you know, go down and score or take time off the clock. And are we going to get that 80% Daniel Jones in the beginning where the running aspect is not there? Because that will hamper the team just a little bit too. And it puts more pressure on the Jonathan Taylor to try and get something done.

done with the running game. So yes, there's urgency for him to be 100% at the beginning of the year, although with an Achilles, I don't know how you can be. Also, the fact that usually it takes about four games for you to figure out who you are as a team. And, you know, it might take the course a little bit longer because after four games, will he be at 100%? Will he be in incorporating run into his game. Daniel Jones, him saying, being able to incorporate run into his game in that four-game stretch, or will he just be reliant on his arm? So I guess the answer to the question is need them urgent for all the games,

but I think the ray of hope is in what Zach and Jake said, and that's being healthy in the end because you want to be playing. your best football in the second half of the season, especially the last four games so that you, if you have a chance to go to the playoffs, you're going in with some momentum. Yeah, no, one thing I just want to reiterate is you always want to play the good teams on your schedule as early as possible because in the first month or so of the season, there's no such thing as a good football team. Everybody's bad at that point in the season.

Everyone's just trying to survive. That's why every single team always says, well, if we can come out of the first four games at like two and two, then we feel good. good going forward because that is when your football is going to be absolutely sloppy. It's just not going to look great. Like no one's on the same page. That's when you have your best chance to pull off upsets and beat teams that you are not supposed to beat.

So yeah, it's a tough schedule early on on paper, but I do think I'd much rather have the tough schedule be the first four to five games than be the last four to five games like it was last year where they're playing some of the best teams in football. I'd much rather play, you know, the perceived better teams early than late. on your schedule. The other thing I'll say is this particular schedule where you have your tough games up front, that's when I'm in favor of having a team full of veterans, veterans that understand that it's a long season because some young guys, you know, might lose the first three or four and think,

okay, the season's over, you know, especially guys fresh out of college. They don't realize that nobody goes undefeated, you know, and, you're going to have people go to undefeated, but in the NFL, you're going to lose some games. So having that understanding that, you know, you can flush that loss a lot easier in the NFL than you can in college. In college, a loss is devastating. It takes away all your hopes and dreams of what you wanted to accomplish. But in the NFL, you can lose six, seven games.

Still go to the show. Yeah, what I do like about how it sort of went out. I know we were focusing on the front stretch here in segment number two, but this is the first time. And Jake, maybe you can kind of reach into the memory bag here. I don't remember a time where the Colts played an AFC South Slate that was this spread out. Like it feels like those games are always clustered together where it's like, why are they playing Jacksonville twice in four weeks?

And this year it's like week three, week six, week nine. You know what I mean? Like it's almost like there's breathing room in between the division games, whereas it feels like the Colts don't usually have that. Yeah, I feel like a couple years ago they had played like four or five of their six within the first half of the schedule. And then last year, Tennessee was spread out, but they played Jacksonville and

Houston all in like the final clump of the year. So yeah, it's, they hardly ever spread it out like this, which is, I guess it's good. does it really matter in the long run? Probably not, but it is interesting to finally see it spread out a little bit. You get one on prime time. I know that it's been very tough for the Colts to win in Houston, especially with those two predators they have on the defensive line

in Anderson and Hunter. Yeah, it's tough in general, though. Houston, yeah. that's that one's always so hard for me to know what to make out of that one you know what i mean i don't know well i think it comes down to you know they got a badass defense but yeah will cj stroud uh be the good cj stroud or the bad cj stroud yeah i mean with the cold schedule generally whenever it's revealed i just go okay win against tennessee and then win at tennessee and then the rest you just kind of throw up in the air right um sorry

out, and I'm taking another twist of the Titans. When we come back on the show, we touched on some of the pitfalls of the schedule. What are some of the areas where the Colts can take advantage? We'll discuss when the Colts Squad Show returns next. This portion of the Colts Squad Show brought you by our friends at game time. We could stream anything. Order food and minutes. Do everything from our phones.

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whenever you're listening to show, right? It's the schedule reveal show. So this should have some good shelf life, not the immediate thing. And that's the case for all of our offseason shows, right? On the Tuesdays and Thursdays where the Colts news and the NFL news is coming in, but it's not urgent reaction type stuff like you have during the season. I want to remind you to not forget to check out the Everydayer Club for ad-free episodes and access to a group chat with Jake, Zach, and other listeners of Locked-on Colts.

All you have to do is tap the link in the show notes or go to Lockedonpodcast.com slash everydayer club. That's locked onpodcast.com slash Everydayer Club. So I mentioned, you know, we talked about the first half being tough and the Daniel Jones injury. And that's the fact that there was the trip to London and then you come back and you have another road trip to Pittsburgh as well. Let's talk about some of the good things here. And, Zach, you kind of touched on it. It's hard not to look at that finishing stretch. Again, we don't know what teams are going to be.

They're not always going to be exactly what they were last year. But, you know, starting Christmas week, you see Tennessee, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and then Jacksonville. at home as opposed to road. And it's hard to feel like, you know, that's going to be a super challenging stretch. If the Colts are in a position to make a wild card push or even a division push, that feels like the slate that you would want if you were drawing it up yourself. Yeah, I think the key for the Colts really to make the playoffs.

Like it's kind of like what we were saying last year, right, was if they can get into the buy at a certain record, seven and three, eight and two, whatever it was last year, then they can have a good chance of making the playoffs. And I think they would have, except their quarterback, you know, towards Achilles. so it kind of ruined all of what we were going for with last season, whereas this year I think it's, again, the inverse where if they can be around 500,

like 5 and 4, even like 4 and 5, I think, for the first nine games, that's not the most, like, you're not pumped about that, obviously, through the first nine games, but you can live with it. Then you're looking at a stretch from week 10 to the end of the season, where it's Miami, Houston, which is the Thursday night game. Then you get the mini by, like Jake mentioned. you get the Giants, then you get the actual buy week, then Philly, Tennessee, again, Cincinnati without Joe Burrow probably, Cleveland, and then Jacksonville to close out

the season. And that's going to be your home game against Jacksonville, not the at Jacksonville game, which we got that's a very big stipulation there. So it's very winnable down the stretch, you know, that second half of the season is very, very winnable. So that's really where you can take advantage, especially with the essentially two buys in there. You get the full buy and you get the mini buy.

from Thursday night to the next week. So you get a lot of rest. You get teams that, you know, even if we're saying we have no clue what's going on this season, right? I think we can all confidently say that like Miami and Cleveland are probably not making the playoffs this year, right? I'm not saying those are give me wins for the Colts because nothing's a gamey win in the NFL. We saw the Colts lose to the tanking, what was it, the tanking dolphins years ago when we all thought that should have been an easy one on that schedule, I think back in like 20, 21 or whatever it was. So nothing's guaranteed, but, you know, it's certainly better on paper than the first part of the season. So, yeah, I think that that second half of the season is where they can take advantage, get some rest, get some easier teams.

Then, yeah, I think that that's probably the easier part that you're looking at, at least on paper as of right now. You know, we've really left in the dust here, the preseason slate, guys. You got New England, Atlanta, and Detroit. That is beautiful. And you know they've done two joint practices in each of the last couple years there. No, but that's, I agree with Zach. I think that is the most advantageous area, week 10 to 18, especially gearing up with so much rest. You get essentially a buy or a long stretch in two of three weeks.

And then I think the Eagles is pretty winnable. If they're playing like they had been where that offense is just so unimaginative, and just so clunky. I mean, their defense is always going to be good. But, I mean, I think the Colts defense, as long as everyone's not injured like they were last year, can give Jalen Hertz and company probably minus A.J. Brown some trouble. So, I mean, that's a winnable game.

And then like I mentioned earlier, Titans, Bengals, Browns were 14 and 37 last year. Jacksonville, that one is so interesting. I would say it feels like, it's setting up the Colts to finally get some revenge because, I mean, they got swept by Jacksonville and Houston last year, right? Both of them. Yes, Stiking 2 in 10 all time, right? Yeah, that's very true, unfortunately.

I would say it sets up for sweet revenge, but it's very hard to count on the Colts against either of the good division teams. It really is. But you know what? Trevor Lawrence apparently just got a haircut in their in their release video. So maybe it's a turning of the tides and things can finally start going the Colts way in this matchup.

Well, depending upon how deep of a hole you dig for yourself in the first half of the season makes you not just have to worry about winning games in the second half, but you're going to be dependent on other

teams doing stuff. you know, so you always want to be able to control your own destiny. So you want to keep the losses to a minimum in the first half. But in the second half, you know, if they can put together a nice run, you know, when the better teams are facing each other late in the season and desperately need wins, and you have the potential of having teams that are still trying to find themselves, and you have built up that momentum. and you can steamroll these teams, you know, I think the schedule sets up for them to be, you know,

in a spot where they could not only rediscover their confidence, but they can have that offense running like a machine so that, you know, when you get to the end of the year, it doesn't matter who they're playing. You know, they've got their offense rolling like they wanted to roll, and other teams are just going to have to find a way to catch up. But just being able to put themselves into, if we handle our business in those last four or five games, we don't have to worry about what the other teams do. And that's the, you know, they've got an opportunity to do that

as long as they don't dig too deep of a hole early in the season. Alan made a good point earlier about the quarterbacks that you face. And I'm looking at it here. Yeah, we talked about how brutal this stretch it is kind of early on. But weeks five, six, and seven, you got Pittsburgh who they don't have Aaron Rogers back yet. And even if they do, it's Aaron Rogers at this point. It's the corpse of Aaron Rogers. Week six, Cam Ward, like, should be better.

But, I mean, facing a Lou Anurumo defense, we've seen how that's gone for him. And then the Vikings, that's Kyler Murray. That's a guy who has some physical talent. but when was the last time we saw Kyler Murray at his peak? So I think you get a good little stretch there. And then again, with Tennessee and Cleveland being two of your final four games, I think the Colts have the advantage at quarterback in several of these matchups. And I think that could be the biggest X factor is really what it comes down to is how Jones actually looks.

A couple of those matchups I mentioned are later in the season, luckily. but yeah, I don't really want to see Jones winning a shootout against Lamar Jackson. Now that I don't want to see it, it's a little unlikely, it seems. A Gardner Mintu did it a couple years ago when they were a better team. I don't want to say Gardner Minshue did it. Let's say Matt Gay did it. Whatever. There was a W on the board at the end of that.

Matt Gay and Zach Moss. Yeah, Zach Moss. Gardner, Mings. you actively did everything he possibly could to give that one. It's fine. It's fine. But one thing I just want to reiterate because I know the last two segments we've talked about easy stretches, hard stretches and all that.

I mean, when I look at the schedule, there's only two teams I feel pretty comfortable predicting what their season's going to look like this year. And that's Cleveland and Miami. I think we kind of know what they're going to be this next season. They know what they're going to be this next season. Maybe they surprise and get to like five wins. But I think they understand what they're going to be.

outside of that, every other team on here, I don't think is like locked in as a good or a bad team. Right. Like if you told me that the chief starts low and are more of like a 500 team next year, I'd be shocked. But I wouldn't be like, I wouldn't say that that's outside the realm of possibility. Baltimore with a new head coach, new offensive coordinator, still a lot of moving pieces. I wouldn't be shocked if they struggle a good bit this year. But on the flip side, like we're looking at a team like Minnesota, right, who wasn't very good last year. if Kyler Murray clicks with Kevin O'Connell and they're a top five team in football,

it wouldn't shock me if we're looking at the Giants here. And they just catch fire with all their new pieces they have there. I mean, Malik neighbors needs to get healthy. That's going to do the big thing for them. It wouldn't shock me, though, if they're a surprise team. So much of the speculation, I know it's offseason content and it's a newness that we can talk about with these teams, but so much will change not only from now until the middle of the next season, but also from now until September 13th.

Who knows which of these quarterbacks are going down in the preseason? Who knows which of these star receivers are getting hurt in the preseason? Who's getting cut? Who's underperforming? Like, there is so much that's going to change from now until September 13th and beyond that it is kind of hard to, like, say what the easy and hard stretches are because so much changes from year to year in the NFL. So I'm curious to see how it all kind of plays out as we get closer and closer.

But, yeah, we can speculate on so much of it right now. but it kind of feels a little fruitless, right, until we get to the actual day because the NFL is such a change year over to year type of league. Yeah, I mean, last year, if the New England Patriots were on your schedule in May, you're like, oh, I'm feeling pretty good. Or two years ago, you'd see the Washington commanders and be like, oh, yeah, to circle that as a win, right? And then it flips the other way, too.

I mean, the old rule that I used to have is that pick two teams that were good last year and they're going to suck this year, and then pick two teams that sucked the year before and they're going to be good. It's almost like the rule of twos. Like you always get that sort of change and that that's kind of the beauty of the NFL. But I wanted to go back to something that Alan said and it didn't really dawn on me. But the fact that we're talking about where they can take advantage, it's been so long since the Colts closed a regular season strong. You probably have to go back to the 2020 season, right? Where I think they won four or five or five of six to make the playoffs or at least lock in that playoff berth.

And I think the only loss was in Pittsburgh. and it was a competitive loss. It wasn't the usual Colts Pittsburgh loss. But you go back all the other years. I mean, we don't even need to bring back, you know, 2021 with the back-to-back losses to end the season. 22 was just a disaster at the end of the year. 23, they were just kind of up and down.

Remember when they went to Atlanta and they got smoked. It was like around Christmas. You're like, are you even trying? They actually mathematically, I think, matter for them for the playoffs, but they just got pounded by Atlanta. And then, of course, what happened last year in the second half of last year, It would just be nice to see the Colts play winning football down the stretch.

I don't want to be cliche about, well, that's what it matters, right? December and January. But, man, December and January, this team has either been on fumes or in flames, it feels like, these last couple of years. Yeah, I mean, the only two playoff appearances of the Chris Ballard era, right, came with very strong end of the year stretches. You go back to the 2020, they were, like you said, they won five or six down the stretch, obviously to get in there.

And then we all remember 2018 with Andrew Luck. They started off that season, what, one in five, I believe is what it was. And they went nine and one in their final 10 to make the playoffs. And then they beat the Texans in the first round of the playoffs as well. Now, the big difference in those, they don't have prime, I don't want to say prime Phillip Rivers. They don't have barely over the hill, Philip Rivers. And they don't have prime Andrew luck.

They have Daniel Jones coming off an Achilles injury. So that's going to be a big factor in this here. But yeah, like you said, Derek, and like you've always said, Alan, like you've got to win, you got to finish the season strong if you want to make the playoffs. Like that's just a constant that we see with all good teams. Like obviously how you start the season is important, but if you can rip off those wins late, like again, the 2018 Colts started one in five, and they were a dangerous team going to the playoffs. And, you know, they did lose to the Chiefs in the second round that year, but they smoked Houston in round one who won that division.

So you've got to finish strong if you want to be a competitive team in January and February. And that's the urgency that Colts want to be with this year. I saw a game when the schedule reveal happened that I thought was the worst opponent at the worst time. And I brought it up before the show started. Zach said he saw a different game that he thought was the worst opponent at the worst time. So we're going to just go around the room and talk about the worst opponents at the worst time. We'll tell you what those were when the Colt Squad Show returns for a final time next. Back for a final time on the Locked on Colts squad show alongside former NFL or a nerd name legendary running back Alan Pinkett.

And Locked on Colts host Jake Arthur and Zach Hitch. your first listen every day. I am Derek Schultz. So when I saw the schedule reveal, I just thought for sure, in fact, I was, you know, shameless plug, I was doing a radio show today with Jake Quarry. He was on the fan and Indy and he was saying, well, you know, the London game is week four. So does that mean the Colts are going to have one of the early buys and we're both kind of talking about that? And not only do they not get an early buy, they don't get, they get a road trip in the next week. And not only is it a road trip. It's at Pittsburgh. You know, if you're going like at Nashville or something like that or at Cleveland or whatever, you know, I'd be cool with it. But the fact that it's at Pittsburgh, even with the corpse

formerly known as Aaron Rogers, it's Jake called him, which I agree with, that historically has always been such a tough game for the Colts. And I just feel like, man, that's a tough one. And Zach, you would mention that one. But to me, it's the fact that Jacksonville comes after, you know, what is a tough first half? I mean, I think we'd all agree that the second half of the schedule is much easier than the first half. This is a front-loaded schedule more than it is the back-loaded schedule. So it's kind of the opposite of last year, even though I think it's much lesser overall of the schedule. But to kind of go through all of that and be coming off at Minnesota, Jake, you had mentioned the back-to-back clusters. That's a tough road trip. I don't

care who your quarterback is. Minnesota usually is a competent team and a team that has some talent. And then you got to go at Jacksonville, which has just been such a house of horrors for them, Zach, over the years. That's one streak. We got the season opener of losing streak out of away, right? But that's one streak that still has yet to be vanquished. Yeah, in the past, I always said I wanted at Jacksonville to always be week one, right? So you just get both losses put into one game. It was one of those. The Minshew year, right? Wasn't it in the opener? Yeah. Yeah, the only win, the only time Urban Meyer won a game as an NFL head coach, by the way, was, was that game against the Colts. The Colts went to the playoffs that season as well. That's

how bad that curse is. But yeah, I think anywhere that you put at Jacksonville is bad, right? No matter where you put at Jacksonville because it's just it's just a curse of this I don't believe in superstition I don't believe in curses or anything like that except for at Jacksonville that's a real curse it's genuinely true it's a psychological warfare on the Indianapolis franchise so I don't disagree with you in any means there Derek because I think anywhere that you put at Jacksonville is terrible timing for this Colts team because you never want to encounter a loss but I just think at Pittsburgh coming off of that game against Washington overseas. We always see these teams when they come back from that very sloppy, sluggish game overseas.

The product carries over to the next week when they don't take that buy. And I understand why the Colts didn't take that early by is because getting a buy in week five is rough on your team, right? Because that makes that second half push so much harder for your team because you just don't get any of that recovery. So I understand why they didn't take it, but having to go at Pittsburgh, a place that has been a house of horrors for them, I just think that that's a really rough turnaround for them. That's why I think it's probably the toughest spot for them on the roster. But, yeah, I mean, I don't disagree. Honestly, we can just say that five-week stretch there, right? I know everyone's looking at the first three games where they're saying, oh, Baltimore and Kansas City and Houston, right, like three really good teams early.

But in a five-week stretch, they go to London, then they come back and go to Pittsburgh. and then they have the home game against Tennessee, then at Minnesota and at Jacksonville in five weeks. That's tough. Like that's just travel. Like that's pretty much their whole season's worth of travel, like right there in five weeks. And, you know,

they're playing at the House of Horrors at Pittsburgh and at Jacksonville too. So, yeah, we'll see how it plays out for the Colts. Again, we don't know what these teams are going to look like. But, yeah, I think any of those games, just getting them where they're getting them, is pretty rough for the Colts. And it would be rough for any team with that much travel. and also with the curses that the Colts have had in those particular matchups.

Now, I know I was speaking rosily about the final stretch of the season, but I will say when I look at it, just based on recent history with the Colts and how they fare at the end of the year, you can make an argument that the most ill-timed game is the Bengals at home in week 16. So let's say the Colts and Bengals, really are competing for playoff spots around that time because the Colts and the Bengals are always fighting for at least that wild card. Both of them are usually on equal ground there. So you've got this game again at home. I think I would rather it be on the road to be completely

honest with you because it's Cincinnati. It could be cold. That passing game is going to travel very well inside Lucas O'O.L Stadium. And if there is a receiver combo that is going to be able to combat a healthy sauce gardener Mooney Ward, it's probably Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. And if the Colts pass rush is just so-so, well, guess who is absolutely incredible with their pocket presence and their ability to move around the pocket is Joe Burrow. I don't love that matchup if the Colts aren't super ready for it because then right after, you're on the road at Cleveland, which, okay, Cleveland's a cupcake, but again, you're on the road in Cleveland, Ohio, in early January.

That could be a freaking blizzard. And then who, like, it doesn't matter who is the better team. Like, any team can win those matchups. So if you let go of that Bengals game and then something fluky happens against the Browns and you're in the snow or whatever and you lose that one, well, suddenly you're facing Jacksonville at home for your playoff lives. And you don't want to be in that situation. Like luckily it's not in Jacksonville, but Jacksonville is a tough out, regardless of where they're playing. So if they don't take care of business against Cincinnati, they can totally fumble the last couple weeks.

And I say that because we routinely see them do that year after year, is they stumble within the last few weeks and don't close. what they're supposed to close. And again, you can say Cincinnati sucked last year. I think they're going to be better. Cleveland, I don't care if Cleveland is winless at this point. If you're going to Cleveland in the snow, I'm going to take them very seriously, especially with Miles Garrett, you know.

So I would not take that matchup lightly, especially if you lose to Cincinnati the week before. One more game I want to throw in there is a potential. It's weird to say trap games right now, because again, we don't know what any of these teams are going to be. but recent history has me scared of a late season Giants game right before the buy as well right right before the buy seemingly winnable game kind of reminds me of the Atlanta game right the right before the buy seemingly winnable game to go to get into the buy and get healthy

and the Giants recent history against the Colts has just been them spanking the Colts you know I mean the last two times these two teams have played was the Drew Locke like perfect game And then obviously Daniel Jones and the Giants just steamrolling the Colts in 2022 as well. So yeah, the Giants, look, the Giants on paper don't scare anybody, especially with the Malik neighbors getting a second surgery and who knows how long he's going to be out. But the Colts, in recent history against the Giants, that's been a rough matchup for them. So we'll see if they can break. I know recent history doesn't mean much for current, but that is one just what I'm looking at. I'm wincing a little bit because I can't stop thinking about that Drew Lock perfect.

game a couple years ago. Well, one of the reasons you shake up your team and you let go of a lot of veterans and bring in new guys is because they have no memory of how bad it is to go to Jacksonville. You know, they don't have that thought in their mind. And, I mean, I saw that happen in college. Notre Dame used to always have problems with Boston College. in Boston College was nowhere near the team Notre Dame was.

But what did they do? Take them off the schedule. You know, wait about five or six years. Now you bring in guys who don't know a thing about what it was like to play Boston College now. It's just another team. So I kind of see them shaking up the defense, you know, because just in my one year,

I was able of watching the Colts, I was able to see, just that doesn't look like the Colts. team that I watched, you know, most of the year when they went to Jacksonville and going to Pittsburgh. It just seemed like Pittsburgh. And I was going to pick that as one of the playing them at the worst time coming back from overseas because Pittsburgh just from a defensive standpoint, just knows how to scheme

well against the Colts. It's like they always find a way to get in or at least last year when I watched. They were getting the inside pressure when no one else really was. You know, the Colts most of the year with the quick passing game was able to get the ball out. But against the Steelers, they're getting balls tipped, getting sacked. And they just figured out the way. They were squatting on some of the routes. So even on the timing patterns, they were in a great position to make a play.

You know, but you get rid of some of these guys, and they don't have that memory of, the horrors that exists when you go to Jacksonville. If I had to pick a game that comes at the worst time, I would say at Jacksonville, but hopefully, hopefully you've got, you know, enough new people starting that they don't know anything about, you know, it being bad luck going to that stadium, you know. And my reasoning is not scientific.

It's just like a feeling that I have. But, you know, I remember some of the stadiums we would go to where all we did was lose. And it just took a shakeup of the team to finally, finally overcome the demons that existed when you played that team. Because we didn't know anything about, you know, it being a bad spot to play. I'm probably overthinking it here, especially considering what Zach said about this team earlier. But any apprehension at all coming in between the Dallas game at home and at Houston on the short week, just I don't know, can you get up for Miami? Like even pros, I think sometimes, right? I remember Peyton's teams would do this, Jake, sometimes.

Like in the middle of the season, they'd win like a 13 to 10 game against Buffalo or something. And you're like, what are they, why are they playing with their food here? Not that the Colts are in any position to say that they're, I mean, I'm talking about like 12, 13, 14 win Colts teams, right? This Colts team is not that. But I don't know, like there's something about the malaise of a one o'clock smack dab middle of the season, Dallas game coming off what will be a really fun atmosphere against Dallas and sorry, Miami game and coming off a really fun atmosphere against Dallas and then going into a prime time game at Houston on a short week. But again, this is the portion of the show. We've got two minutes left where I'm overthinking things, Zach. Yeah, one thing I will say at least about Shane Steikin's time as the Colts head coach is they generally do get up for a lot of the bad teams and like win those games.

Like what do we always say about the testament of a good team in the NFL is all the bad teams that you play split against the good teams. And usually that means you can make it into the playoffs. The problem is the Colts have been a little bit below splitting against the good teams in Shane Steikin's tenure. but they typically handled the bad teams outside of an occasional slip-up here or there where, you know, like we talked about, they lost to like Atlanta in 2020 and stuff like that. Like they do have a couple slip-ups here and there, but by and large, I mean, they take care of business against bad teams. I mean, the bad teams they played last year, they had a point differential like 150, like plus 150 last year.

So, yeah, there's always that fear that like, you know, you won't show up for a game that you should win but generally for the Colts under Stuyken they usually take care of business in those games that they that they should win the question is can they win their divisional games has always been the big thing under Stuyken with a couple good divisional teams so um i don't typically fear that with stikin but you know we're fans we overreact to everything that's just how we how we are yeah answer they are to say they are due to smack the cowboys again because I think that time they blanked the Cowboys like 23-0. Wasn't that a 1 o'clock kick at home?

Yeah, I think it was. I think that was one of the early games. But see, then they went and gave up like 33 points in the fourth quarter or whatever it was back in 2022. So they needed a little redemption against Dallas. Well, look, there's two things that can help you overcome the lackadaisical potential lackadaisical showing against a so-called bad team. Usually it starts in the beginning of the week when you go through the scouting report.

And when you're going through that scouting report, you look at the guys they have on that team. And it's like, damn, they got that dude and that dude. And so you know you've got to be at your best. The second thing is you come in lackadaisical. You will get hit upside your head. And usually that's all it takes for you to realize, okay, I'm in a real game. I got to bring it. So those are the two things that help you play better.

Thanks so much for talking schedule with us and joining us on the latest edition of the Colts Squad Show. We'll be back with you next week on Tuesday at 9.30 p.m. Eastern to talk more Colts, as always, the indie news cycle never ends. So keep it locked on Jake and Zach every single day on Locked on Colts. Be sure to follow us at Lockdown Colts on socials and check out our other great on YouTube and TikTok. And we'll see you next time right here on the squad show.