Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - CROSSOVER: Indianapolis Colts Face Justin Herbert, LA Chargers in Potential Playoff Preview

Starting point is 00:00:00 It is crossover Thursday, locked-on chargers, locked-on Colts, and a battle between two teams who are pretty banged up, and whoever can come out on top will be atop of the AFC. You are locked-on NFL crossover, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. What is up and welcome into a very special lockdown crossover episode one. We don't get to see very often Locked on Chargers and Locked On Colts. I'm your host, Daniel Wade, of the Lockdown Chargers podcast.

Starting point is 00:00:41 And we also have Zach Hicks here from the Lockdown Colts podcast. Very exciting time for both teams who find themselves near the top of the AFC. But thank you, as always, for making us your first listen. To make sure you never miss the show, go follow or subscribe for free on the Lockdown Chargers and Lockdown Colts YouTube channel and listen wherever you get your podcast from. And we have a big one. The winner of this game will be the number one team in the AFC record-wise. I mean, the Colts are the last of the one lost teams.

Starting point is 00:01:09 Chargers undefeated in the conference. The Colts undefeated in the conference, both undefeated in their own divisions for now. And this is a big one. Chargers luckily at home for this game somehow favored for this game, which didn't make a lot of sense to me. But Zach, what's up, man? Got to be a very, very exciting time for you. Oh, yeah, very exciting. I mean, who would have thought the Colts would be at 5 and 1?

Starting point is 00:01:29 Who, heck, who would thought you guys would be at your record with the injuries you've gone through as well? So we're both riding highs right now into this game. And hopefully, well, at least on my side, hopefully we continue riding our high and you guys have to rebound after that. Yeah, man, I mean, I didn't think when the Chargers, you know, when I saw the schedule that I didn't know if it would be an easy game per se, especially with Jonathan Taylor and the worries I've always had about their run defense. But I didn't think they'd be playing the number one team in the AFC when week seven rolled around. But crossover Thursday is presented by Price Picks. Download the Price Weeks app today and use the code lockdown NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. I know the Chargers injuries have been well, you know, listed and there's so many of them, so many important players.

Starting point is 00:02:12 But the Colts kind of have, you know, on the defensive side of the ball especially, have their own injury issues. And, you know, as the Chargers are on tackles five and six last week, the Colts are on corners, you know, 7, 8, 9, whatever the case may be. But going into this matchup, Zach, what do you think? would you say is the biggest story for the Colts going in? Yeah, it's just health right now is the biggest thing for the Colts. You know, if I had to give an auxiliary one, it's can the Colts offense keep it up on the road at the dominance they've done at home? But right now it really is the health.

Starting point is 00:02:42 I mean, the Colts are coming into this game. Like you mentioned, down 7th, 8th, 9th corners. I mean, we got guys like Jonathan Edwards, Chris Lamonts, and Mackay Blackman, likely to start a corner in this game. And I want Chargers fans listening. Heck, even Colts fans listening to tell me if you've heard those names before, I just mentioned before I mentioned them here. So the Colts cornerback room is in dire straits.

Starting point is 00:03:04 They've had a lot of turnover at linebacker as well. They do have Jermaine Pratt and Zire Franklin now, but they've already cut two guys who were linebacker two and three coming into the year because of their play. And then on the offense side of the ball, it looks like Josh Downs might not be playing this week as well with concussion. So potentially down Josh Downs, Charvarius Ward, the best overall player on our defense probably doesn't play this week. A couple other guys missing two for the Colts.

Starting point is 00:03:28 Their kicker was knocked out for the year last, or two weeks ago, and we'll see if that ever comes back to bite them. So maybe it's not as dire as the Chargers, where the Chargers have the CVS receipt of injuries right now. And they're down to, you know, I think I'm going to go try out for the Chargers tackle position after we get off the show here. But, you know, it is pretty banged up team right now. Kind of the state of the NFL usually come week six, week seven, week eight is everyone's banged up and you just got to find a way to win despite that. Yeah. Yeah, and I mean, to the Chargers credit, at least last week they were able to do that, right? I mean, they played a bad team, but the injuries are the ultimate equalizer, and it was a close game for that purpose.

Starting point is 00:04:06 And I mean, I think for the Chargers, especially with their offensive line, something that was always going to be kind of under the microscope anyways going into the season. Now you lose, you know, your best tackle and Roshan Slater. Now you're all pro kind of level left tackle over the first three weeks, Joe Walt goes down with a high ankle spring. He did not practice on Wednesday. his status, I would say, is very much in doubt. I would be surprised if Joe All or even Trey Pipkins would play. Those are your second and third best tackles for the Chargers. Obviously, the Colts are missing, you know, several cornerbacks because if Kenny Moore was

Starting point is 00:04:39 playing, if Charverius Ward was playing, that's a different team. Like that, you know, that's not something that is easily as exploitable. But now I think what the story for this game is, at least on that side for each team, is just like, can the Chargers keep Justin Herbert upright long enough? to take advantage of that because you're right i had only heard of mackay blackman from scouting him at usc a couple years ago outside of that i've never heard of those other guys which i don't think many colts fans have probably heard of you know austin decuous maybe just because he's in you know was in the afcc south but he was not a starter for a bad texans offensive line and then bobby hart

Starting point is 00:05:13 basically was on the street the last couple of years they could get jimari sawyer back to play probably right tackle i wouldn't say that's like a huge boost or something that's going to change the trajectory right now it's looking like the charge of once again are going to have to have a very quick style of offense and really try to game playing around what they're missing. And that's been what it is, which is just a limited offense. Like that's, if you want to keep Justin Herber healthy, you kind of have to run the offense a certain way when you're missing those guys. I'd say the biggest thing here, Zach, is the ability for Coleo Mac to come back. They just activated his window. He's missed four games with a

Starting point is 00:05:53 disc-located elbow and just kind of a freak injury against his former team in the Raiders. Denzel Perman, who is a very physical run defender with liabilities and coverage, I'm almost positive he's going to be back this week, full participant in the last two practices, last week, full participant on Wednesday this week. That will be an impact player for the Chargers, especially getting Jonathan Taylor and a very physical team coming to town. It's not the Cleo Mac impact, though. And for most players, coming back that first week where you activate the window and it's like,

Starting point is 00:06:20 okay, we'll get his feet wet, but we'll probably. we're not going to play him. You can't guarantee that with Khalil Mack. And I think why that's so important for this matchup is because where have the Chargers been getting killed on the edge? It's keeping contained. It's not having that super physical edge setter. And like you look at the commanders, two untouched touchdowns rushing on the ground, just running to the left side, getting outside, nobody's there. Another couple last week where you have big chunk plays. If Coelow Mac can play, not that it fixes the Chargers run defense, but the last last three weeks, the charges have given up at least 137 yards on the ground, three weeks

Starting point is 00:06:57 in a row, and two of those games were over 160. The kind of combo denominator there, Kaleo Max's been gone. So I think that is kind of the one injury hanging over this game where it's like, man, if he could come back, not that the Chargers shut down the Colts rushing attack by any means, but maybe they don't get pummeled by it. And I think that would be huge. Yeah, no, I think that you're 100% there. That's the most important injury to watch this week, because look, downs and war likely aren't going to play. We don't really have to monitor those. Joe Alp is probably not going to play. We don't have to monitor that, but Khalil Mack will be the big one to watch throughout the week

Starting point is 00:07:26 because this Colts rushing attack has killed teams this year. Jonathan Taylor leads the NFL in rushing. Last week alone against the Arizona Cardinals who were a pretty good run defense coming into that game, the Colts average nearly eight yards per carry running to the left side of the defense behind Quentin Nelson pulling out in front, Tanner Bordellini, the Young Center finding his way, Berenhardt, Ryman, a highly paid left tackle, doing some great things. for all the injuries the Colts have had, their offensive line is very healthy, and Quentin Nelson's playing the best football of his Hall of Fame career right now,

Starting point is 00:07:57 which is scary to say. So if you're not going to have Khalil Mack, you've got to be prepared for Quentin Nelson leading the way in front of Jonathan Taylor there on that left side. And it could be a lot for your defense. So that and also the Colts have only allowed five sacks through six games. So far, Daniel Jones has the lowest pressure to sack ratio in the NFL among all quarterbacks. So Cleo Mac not only is the run defender, but just getting some pressure on Daniel Jones.

Starting point is 00:08:20 You know, pressure creates problems for offenses. The Colts lone game this year where they haven't scored, what, over 29 points in this year has come against Los Angeles Rams when Jared versus and Byron Young completely decimated the Colts offensive line. So if you want to beat this Colts offense, you've got to get pressure up front. Getting a Cleo Mac would be huge for the chargers. But if you don't have him and your run defense suffers and you're not able to rush the passer, this Colts offense that is averaging almost 33 points per game is going to be. able to get theirs on that side of the ball yeah for sure like it does feel like a game the chargers are going to have to put up 30 like truly offensively and i do think that you're right it is a double-edged sword like you get him back for that edge setting containment type of play

Starting point is 00:09:05 but you also get him as a pass rusher and not only that you could for the first time this year unleash your trio of pass rushers and have three guys you feel pretty good about after the adafi oway trade you have tuli too low two now you have adafay oway it's good to have those guys because you have two capable edge defenders. That's a lot different when Kaleo Max back. And now you have a trio of guys that were even if some guys, you know, need a spell, have to get off the field for a few snaps. You have someone that's able to get in there and be able to hold the line and, you know,

Starting point is 00:09:34 hold their end of the rope. And I think that pass rush wise, run defense wise, they're equally important because, I mean, that's the thing about the Colts. They're about middle of the pack as far as team pressure allowed. The difference has been, to your point, Daniel Jones, being able to really limit how many of those pressures turn into sacks and kind of an underrated storyline for the Chargers this year has been the inability to get those kind of quarterbacks on the ground. So I think that is a big one, but it's not the biggest matchup of the game and we do have to get into that because for me,

Starting point is 00:10:04 it's these Chargers wide receiver trio versus the defensive backs. The no-name defensive backs, maybe I should say, that the Colts are running out there right now. So we're going to get into all that and more on today's Locked-on crossover episode. First, all, I need to tell everyone about Mint Mobile is something I'm very excited about. Mint Mobile is awesome, and if you're still overpaying for wireless, it's time to say yes to saying no. At Mint Mobile, their favorite word is no, no contracts, no monthly bills, no overages, no hidden fees, no BS. I said yes to making a switch and getting premium wireless for just $15 a month. There's really just no reason.

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Starting point is 00:12:55 that we already talked about because the Charger in a weird position where to me, Ladmikonki is the most talented of the Chargers receiver. He's the most polished. He's the most kind of wide receiver one as far as a guy you can come in weekend and week out. That's not how the first month of the season started. Somehow, kind of miraculously, it's been Quinn Johnson, who is the number one wide receiver for this team and leading this team in receiving yards. And then last week he had to miss, Vlad McConkey ends up going for 100 yards, the first 100 yard game of the season. He's starting to warm up a little bit, had the game winning catch that set up the game winning field goal last week. But there's three really talented kind of equal guys where

Starting point is 00:13:35 it's not like you have one guy that you have to focus in on. It's like, okay, well, if we take Quentin Johnston away, we're going to win this game defensively, right? No, I mean, you have three guys Kenan Allen, Quentin Johnson, and Ladd-McConkey that all have over 300 receiving yards this season. I think there's only, I think the only receiver that has over 300 yards for the Colts is Tyler Warren, I believe, the last time I checked. So it is kind of a different thing. All, I mean, they've had multiple games where all three guys are getting up, you know, around 60 to 70 receiving yards. They use all three of them. And that, I think, will be one of the matchups that decides this. The charge is obviously to keep Justin Herbert up right. If they do

Starting point is 00:14:11 without, you know, Xavier and Howard, who retired randomly, without Kenny Moore, without Charverius Ward, that is a huge benefit to the Chargers. Yeah, without Justin Wally as well, the rookie corner that was going to start for them prior to the season before they had to go to Xavier and Howard without Juju Brents, without Sam Womack, who got cut. Yeah, it's a lot of guys that they're down in corner. But I do love this Chargers wide receiver room. They have a lot of guys who just do different things. And it would have been fascinating to see what the Colts would have done with Charverius Ward if he played in this game,

Starting point is 00:14:40 because they have had him shadowing top receivers when he's played. And sometimes it's been interesting how they've done it. Like against the Rams, they had him shadowing Devante Adams, and they tried to bracket Pooka Nakuwa. Now, that didn't work as Pooka Nakua is going for 200 yards a game. But, you know, that's their plan of attack there. So I wonder how they would have done it if Charverius Ward were to play this week. But because they don't have that corner, they're not going to bracket anybody.

Starting point is 00:15:03 They're just going to play their type of game, probably give these guys a little bit of help over the top, maybe a little bit more too high. But a big thing with Luana Ramos, he likes to play press man coverage. The Colts have a 30% man coverage rate this year, even with the injuries at corner. And they just want to be competitive with these receivers at the point of attack with a safety over the top and a five-man rush on those third downs or second and long situations. So we can kind of segue this into the other huge matchup is can this Chargers offensive line protect Justin Herbert? And can the Colts pass rush, which has been a bit lackluster at times, sometimes really good, sometimes really bad.

Starting point is 00:15:39 Can they get pressure on Justin Herbert? Now, again, this Colts pass rush has been so hot and cold. We go back to the Rams game against Matthew Stafford. And for most of that game, the Colts were harassing him, held the Rams to 5 of 14 on third down. That was a road game in L.A., much like this upcoming weekend. Laotu Latu had multiple QB hits in that one,

Starting point is 00:15:59 and it looked like this Colts pass rush was finding away. Then the Cardinals came out with this beautiful adjustment to the Colts where it was the Jacobraset's not this playmaker in the backfield. We know he's just going to sit back and throw it. We're going to do max protect. We're going to do six offensive linemen on the field plus 12 personnel, plus 11 personnel. And we're going to have seven blockers back there. And the Colts with Lou and Roe don't like to blitz very often.

Starting point is 00:16:21 Like they have mixed in some blitzes here and there that show a lot of pressure and they bail out of it. So they were basically blocking four guys with six or seven and just daring the Colts' 10th string corners to cover. You know, and daring the Colts linebackers to cover who aren't very good cover linebackers. So it'll be really interesting to see if the charges attack the same way because I think if they do something similar to that, come out in 12, 13 personnel and throw the ball out of it, there are great matchups because I don't know how the Colts are going to cover Ladd McConkey for three seconds. He's too good of a wide receiver, quitting Johnson for three seconds. Even if you put two guys on him, I don't know if the Colts have the capabilities to cover that. So they'll come down to this Colts pass rush, especially on early down blitzes when the Chargers are under center. will be a big thing trying to create those negative splash plays that they really live on.

Starting point is 00:17:12 But yeah, it'll be a huge matchup. I think that'll really decide this game. Colts pass rush versus Chargers O'Line and then Chargers wide receivers versus Colts corners, whichever one gets the edge there will probably decide the game on Sunday. I totally agree with you. And that's the thing for Colts fans to realize is also like the Chargers offensive line has basically been a get right game for, you know, every defensive front that they've gone up against. And to the Chargers, I don't even know if it's credit because it's hard to give a ton of

Starting point is 00:17:42 credit there, but like they've gone up against some monsters, right? Like this isn't going to be the best defensive front that they've gone up against this season. Like they've already gone up against the Broncos as the Coltsol and that's just, you know, total murderers row over there. They went up against the Giants and kind of ignited that pass rush with, you know, three edge rushers and Dexter Lawrence, Abdul Carter, Kavanaugh, Brian Burns, right? They faced some really, really tough matchups. The Colts are a little bit different where maybe they don't have that one guy that's just, you know, the guy all the time. But I think I read they have five different guys that have 10 pressures. So it can come from different places. I'm glad you brought that up

Starting point is 00:18:18 though, because the Chargers did go to a lot of that last week, where it was a lot of max protection and it's get a fullback, get a couple of tight ends out there and try to throw out of it. And there was one time, I mean, they blocked three guys with six guys and, you know, immediately gave up a pressure that totally blew it up. So it doesn't mean it's always going to work, but I do expect some of that one i think that's just kind of a fun matchup on the other side though darwin james and dan henley versus tyler warren Tyler warren one of the pipe dream prospects that we talked about a lot on locked on charges routes like hey maybe the league isn't as high on this guy maybe he drops down into the 20s and like i'm taking him in a heartbeat and he's totally

Starting point is 00:18:53 lived up to the hype i mean he leaves all colts receivers by 77 receiving yards he's been a focal point of the offense we know how kind of well-rounded he is and kind of what he brings to the table so far though this year the charges have allowed on average average under four catches and less than 33 yards per game, two tight ends. And then gone up against Darren Waller and Brock Bowers and some better tight ends too. So I think Travis Kelsey, if you still kind of put him in that tier. But last year, Dan Henley, Derwin James, were kind of known as tight end stoppers. We'll see what they have this week for the Ricky Fienom, Tyler Warren.

Starting point is 00:19:24 Yeah. And one big thing I'll say about the Colts and you made a great point where it's like that the Chargers have three receivers with over 300 yards. Well, if you look at the Colts, they've had almost a different leading receiver every single week because they've just been going to the well of different guys. Even Ady Mitchell and Ashton have games with over 50 yards receiving. Ady Mitchell has almost 100 in that Rams game that he dropped the one yard line. He's been in the doghouse ever since.

Starting point is 00:19:46 I was going to say, is he still in the dog house? Because that was brutal. I mean, for those who don't know, the Colts should absolutely be undefeated. I mean, they got a little help in that Broncos game. But a drop ball ahead of the goal line and also a hold on a 53-yard Jonathan Taylor touchdown is pretty much the only reason they didn't beat the Rams. Yeah, and Mackay Blackman falling down in press man coverage, allowing the game winning touchdown. That doesn't help either.

Starting point is 00:20:07 It was awful. But to be real quick here, the Colts offense is like outside of Jonathan Taylor in the second half, which we'll talk about more in the final segment. Yeah. They are just, it's all about the parts. It's all about the pieces. It's not about one guy. So if a team wants to come out and say, you're not throwing to Tyler Warren today, the Colts will be fine. It's like, yeah, cool.

Starting point is 00:20:28 We'll throw to Michael Pittman Jr. We'll throw a deep ball to Alec Pierce. I mean, no Josh Downs this week, unfortunately. but like we'll throw it to these we'll throw it to jonathan taylor who has on pace to break all of his receiving uh yardage totals in single season um the colts have been really good at spreading the ball around that's why they don't have any guys with 300 plus yards i don't think they're going to have a thousand yard receiver this year and unless warren hits that but they'll have a ton of guys in that seven eight seven eight hundred yeah it's really just an offense where they spread the ball around so much so you know a big part of their recent game plans too have been feeding tyler warren on the first drive getting the fear of of God and defenses on that first drive with Tyler Warren, and then maybe one or two catches the rest of the game, because once you put all your attention on the tight end, it opens up so many other guys on the offense. So, yeah, if it takes Derman James away from other guys, I think the Colts will be fine with doing

Starting point is 00:21:19 that on Sunday. But, yeah, Tyler Warren is a huge part of the offense. And even if he doesn't catch 10 balls, fantastic run blocker. Yeah, I mean, and there's not many of those coming out of college. I mean, we watch guys every year. That's a pretty rare thing for college tight ends these days. But yeah, the Chargers are like that in a lot of ways too, right? I mean, they have three receivers over 300 yards and no receiver over 500 yards or anyone, you know,

Starting point is 00:21:41 just getting astronomically big numbers or anything like that. But those are the best matchups, but those aren't going to be necessarily what the keys to victory are for each of these teams. So we're going to get in all that and more. And today's locked over, locked on crossover special. First, though, I need to tell you guys about Mazda, because Mazda crafts cars for those who do more. Or then simply move, Mazda delivers confidence with every ride with more IHS top safety pick plus awards than anyone else as of August 2025, from footwork to breathwork, athletes sweat all of the details.

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Starting point is 00:23:17 in the NFL. I think the Chargers are going to have to play a pretty flawless game in a lot of aspects. But thank you, as always, to the Everydayers for making us your first list. and we appreciate all of you guys from both shows. If you need a second listen, make sure check out locked on NFL because they're putting out two shows a day with Tyler the madman rolling in the morning and my guy Tony Wiggins in the barbershop later on on YouTube

Starting point is 00:23:37 and wherever you get your podcast from. But let's get into it. Three different things that are going to decide this game. I am the host Chargers hosting in SoFi. So I'll be polite and allow you to go first, Zach. What do you think are the three keys for the Colts to pull this thing off? Well, I appreciate the kindness there. We love some Midwestern hospitality here.

Starting point is 00:23:54 Yeah. It's a big part. part of it here. But yeah, I think the most important thing, and I think Chargers fans will probably laugh at this, is the one thing that can beat the Chargers on every single Sunday is a little thing called the Chargers. The Chargers are great at beating themselves on Sundays. He knows. He knows. I know. I know. Look, I also live in the D.C. area. I watch the commanders game against the Chargers. Great example of how the Chargers can beat themselves. And I think the key, anytime you play against the Chargers, is make them the team that

Starting point is 00:24:22 beats themselves, don't beat yourself against them. Because they will have. these games every year where they just forget how to play football. They fumble the ball. They throw interceptions. They get these terrible penalties. So I think that's always the key when you play gets the charges. Just don't be the one that gives them the game. Let them give you the game. Let them beat themselves. Right, right. Going to the next one, though, the Colts have held this philosophy all season long of pass to score, run to win. So for that to be successful, like it has been pretty much every single week, you have to be able to throw the ball early to set up that late game run and I've held this this maintain this stance on the Colts all year where if they

Starting point is 00:25:00 have a lead in the second half good luck beating them because you're going to get the Jonathan Taylor treatment the rest of that third and fourth quarter and it's it's hard to give him on the ground this year he is just running extremely well only 6% of his rushes have gone for negative yards he has been excellent at pushing the ball forward and keeping the Colts on pace so the Colts got to throw the ball early open up the things for the run game and then especially if Calil Mac's not playing just feed Jonathan Taylor after you get that lead. That'll be the big part there.

Starting point is 00:25:28 And the last one is, look, this is a road game for the Colts. They rely heavily on pre-snap motion, play action, and moving things around and mudding those looks for defenses before the snap. Don't get those pre-snap penalties. Don't fall into that trap that teams fall into in the road environment where you get knocked off schedule, knocked into first and 15, second in 15, second and 20. Avoid those pre-snap mistakes. Avoid the holdings.

Starting point is 00:25:51 Avoid the crowd noise disrupting what you do. stay on pace. Put up your 30-something points you've done every week and you'll have a good chance to beat anybody even with your 10th string corners. So those are my big keys for the Colts. One, win the turnover battle, let the Chargers beat themselves.

Starting point is 00:26:05 That's always going to be a key against the Chargers. Two, pass to score, run to win, get that lead out of the half and let Jonathan Taylor run you to victory. And three, it kind of goes to the don't beat yourself, but avoid the pre-snap penalties, avoid those things that knock your offense back so you could stay on track and get points on the board.

Starting point is 00:26:22 Yeah, it's hard. I mean, if the Colts can do all those things, they will win this game. And it'll be up to the Chargers to a certain extent to get them out of that, right? Because I do think there are some similar keys. Like the Chargers need to get off to a fast start. And that is my first key here because the Chargers won last week because the game script allowed it to a certain extent, right? If they get down and have to throw to get back into the game and leave their offensive lineman in that situation, it's not going to be good. Chargers were good last week, you know, put up 29 points.

Starting point is 00:26:50 everything was going pretty well for their offense until that last drive and i'm sure you saw the play that won them the game but the two plays they had was justin herbert getting absolutely crunched because the other team knows he's passing the football and getting rid of the football and the other one was him avoiding getting crunched and then finding lad mcconkey for what ended up being the game winning reception right so the chargers have to get off as they can't afford to be trailing this colts team and letting them run the ball down their throat if the charge can go into the fourth quarter with the 10 point lead right that's a lot harder to let Jonathan Taylor just batter you and batter you and batter you for the rest of that game. So that's going to be huge. And also, to your point, you can't charger.

Starting point is 00:27:28 Also, it would be great not to turn the ball over early. We're talking about four straight games for the chargers to your point where they have not just a turnover, three of those games, they have multiple, but four straight games with a first half turnover. And you said it. You watch the commanders game. That game changed dramatically when Quentin Johnston fumble. They didn't score again after that, right? But then you have the punt return touchdown. That wasn't because the rough and the kicker. They can beat themselves and they can't do that in this game or they're just not going to get a chance and more than that, they could get blown out. Number two for me, don't get dominated in the trenches. If you let the Colts push you around defensively,

Starting point is 00:28:02 Jonathan Taylor's going to go for 200 yards in this game. A Jim Harbaugh team who pride themselves and physicality haven't always been that this year. They cannot be physically bullied in this game or it's just going to be a long day. And on the flip side of that, the charges have to give Justin Herbert a chance. We talked about it in the biggest matchups. You have to find some semblance of a game as well. You have to be balanced. You have to protect your offensive line like you did last week. Like I talked about earlier, Colts have five players with at least 10 pressures, top 10 in total pressures, but 19th and team pressure percentage. So this isn't necessarily the dominant force that the charters have seen in some of these last weeks, right?

Starting point is 00:28:35 Biggest one to me here, mostly because how bad they've been here, have to come through in the red zone, especially against this team on both sides of it. Like this game's act could easily be decided by which team decides to settle for field goals in the red zone and which team can score those touchdowns. The Colts have scored 10 straight trips into the red zone. They have gotten touchdowns. And that's just the last two weeks, which is insane. And honestly, probably shouldn't be allowed. But that's not the point. The Chargers have to be a lot better themselves. When you have Justin Herbert, when you have the weapons they have, there's no reason you should be the worst team at scoring touchdowns in the red zone in the entire

Starting point is 00:29:12 NFL. They only score touchdowns 35% of the time. Some of that's the lack of aggressiveness from Jim Harbaugh, which I think has to be kind of ratcheted up. If you want to beat a team who's better than you right now, that's where it has to come from. Lab McCawkey, back-to-back weeks getting in the end zone. Quentin Johnson, their leading touchdown getter should be back this week, almost certainly back this week. If the chargers can stop the Colts a couple of times in the red zone,

Starting point is 00:29:34 make them settle for three with a kicker, right? That's a new kicker. It'll give them a chance. And I think that's all you can do in this game. Give yourself a chance because I think the Colts are the better team. If they can get off to a fast start, If they can just not get dominated, they don't even have to win in the trenches. It just has to be close.

Starting point is 00:29:50 Don't get dominated in the trenches, have to come through in the red zone. If they do, Zach, they'll have a chance. Yeah, that's a great final point here. And I really want to reiterate that is the red zone offense versus defense will be massive in this game. If you actually look at these two teams on offense, their points per game, the Colts are averaging nearly 33 points per game. The Chargers are around 21 points per game. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:30:10 But similar on offense, similar in terms of total offense and all the yardage here. One team's just putting it into the end. and one's not, yeah. And, you know, it always takes one week just to get it back on track. The Colts were in the bottom five in red zone offense going into that game against the Raiders. That's crazy. I didn't know that. Five straight trips where they converted in the red zone there.

Starting point is 00:30:28 And then five against the Cardinals got their last 10 to punch it into the end zone to bump up to 10th in the NFL now in red zone. So it only takes just one week to get it back on track for the Colts. Make sure that's not this week for the Chargers offense and make sure that you're continuing what you've been doing. The Colts offense has been great at, you know, They struggled early in the year at just between the 10 and 20 yard line getting it within the 10. You know, it's getting from that high red to the low red. But recently they have just, yeah, recently they've just punched it down close. And when they get within that five yard line, it's Taylor, it's Tyler Warren.

Starting point is 00:31:01 It's Daniel Jones sneaking it. It's hard to keep them out of the end zone. So for the Colts offense to keep up that play that they've had in the red zone, just keep punching it within the 10. And then do the Jim Harbaugh thing, play some bully ball. You know, that's the biggest thing here. for the Colts this year. They played bully ball. Yeah, or you could not. You know, the Colts could not play boy ball. It wouldn't be a lot of fun for me. But let's be honest, man. Like, this is a team that was, you know, neck and neck with Jacoby Burset last week.

Starting point is 00:31:25 Like, it's not that I don't think the Chargers have to have no chance in this game. I mean, their favorites, according to Fandall. I don't agree with that. But the Chargers will give themselves a chance. The Colts been a little bit different on the road than they've been at home, right? But they, like I said, they almost have to play a flawless game. They have to hit on these keys here to give themselves a chance because is if you just get run over like you have, you know, three weeks in a row, it's just not going to be close. Like they're just going to control the ball.

Starting point is 00:31:50 They're not going to give you the chances that you need. And you're going to be playing a style of offense that you're just not equipped to right now with the guys that you're missing. So really excited about it. The Chargers through everything could be the number one team in the AFC after this weekend, man. Like to have that and potentially be getting guys like Joe Walt back eventually or Tray Pipkins, even if they don't play in this game, that's huge.

Starting point is 00:32:14 And for the Colts, it's just, you know, continuing to further cement the fact that, no, this isn't just, you know, a blip on the radar. Like, we're here. And not only are we here, we're for real. And I think this is just another step for them to show that they can do that. If they can beat a team who's undefeated in their conference, has taken down, you know, the Chiefs and the Broncos and some of, you know, those teams already. So super excited for it. I do think it could be a close game, especially if the Chargers can hit on all these keys for sure. But I'm really hoping it's going to be a good game because it's absolutely a big game.

Starting point is 00:32:44 But thank you to the everydayers for checking out today's show. We appreciate you. Any fan of the Lockdown Chargers podcast, listening to me, Daniel Wade and David Drugmire, or anyone who's listening to Locked On Colts with Zach Hicks as well and his co-host. We appreciate you guys to make sure you never miss the show. Go subscribe or follow free on Locked On Chargers and Locked on Colts YouTube channel and listen wherever you get your podcast from. You can also find the shows all day and all of our social media as well.

Starting point is 00:33:06 So make sure you guys check that out. But super big game, super excited about it. Make sure you're back for the keys for success. We're locked on Chargers on the Friday. show for lockdown colds but until then guys it is your team every day

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