Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - CROSSOVER: Indianapolis Colts Need BOUNCE-BACK vs. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs

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Starting point is 00:00:36 Zach, this is going to be. to be an interesting one as we get here into week two can't cities want to know the colts are oh and one we're going to be talking a lot about different things in this one sound football could be one of the biggest keys for both teams we're going to talk about that much later in the show matchups one of the biggest is going to be stiking versus spags we'll talk about that in the next segment but we're going to start the biggest storyline probably for both teams is which offense or defense is real because i think you can ask that for both teams right now yeah no for sure The Kansas City Chiefs looked like the Kansas City Chiefs again in week one with their offense.

Starting point is 00:01:11 Maybe not the way it did when Pat Mahomes first came on the scene, right? Because there was a lot of running the football for you guys. But the Colts defense looked like one of the worst defenses in the league in week one. Very lucky that the Carolina Panthers almost allowed 60 points. Because if not, we would have been the laughing stock of week one. Over 10 yards per play to the Baltimore Ravens, communication issues abound, just getting crushed on the ground. Over 200 yards allowed rushing to the Ravens.

Starting point is 00:01:37 and I know the Ravens are a good football team, but you shouldn't let that happen to you against anybody, right, what the Colts allowed. So even when they were stack in the box with eight plus defenders in the run game, they still allowed almost 100 yards rushing in over four and a half yards per carry as well. So just brutal for the Colts defense. So obviously the biggest story for this team in particular is, are we going to see this again against the Kansas City Chiefs

Starting point is 00:02:00 who are coming off such a great first week on offense? Because if we do, then we start getting into panic mode for this Colts team. Yeah, and it's crazy to me. You look at their defensive coordinator in Luanarumo, and it's like, how does this happen? Because he used to be so good with the Bengals, and then all of a sudden, and I understand, you know, talent is one thing

Starting point is 00:02:21 when it comes to defenses and scheme can be a completely another. But Lou Anirumo has always really had Patrick Mahomes' number for the most part. So you would think that this is going to be one of those things where Kansas City is going to be a slight disadvantage, because look at what Mahomes did against the Denver Broncos. They have a very good passing defense. They held Mahomes to less than 200 yards passing. They got an interception.

Starting point is 00:02:43 But obviously, you know, you come back and you look at it and like, okay, well, he still threw for two touchdowns. They still scored 31 points. And they ran for almost 200 yards between the running backs. I'm not, you take Mahomes out of it. They still almost had 200 yards on the ground with the running backs. And that is really something that stands out to me. Yeah, no, for sure.

Starting point is 00:03:04 The chiefs, it looked like a very different Kansas City Chiefs. And you mentioned Luan Rumo's success in the past against Pat Mahomes, and even last year, to a degree. I know Mahomes threw for a bunch of yards, but points were hard to come by in that game for the Chiefs offense, even though they won the game in the end. Because Luan Romo has always been so good with his diverse fronts against Pat Mahomes and taking away the RPO game, right? Because Andy Reid, I mean, you guys know this listening on the Chief's side. He's been obsessed with the RPO's even if they've gone out of style. And that's where Luana Rumo was really great. He was one of the first even as coordinators to really excel at taking away that RPO game before the NFL transitioned to more of this 12 and 13 personnel under center type of thing.

Starting point is 00:03:44 And we have seen the Colts struggle a little bit with those heavier personnel packages where teams want to get under center and run the football because, one, their personnel up front isn't the best to counter that. But also, again, Aniromo is more of this hybrid defensive front kind of guy instead of being a generic like 4-3 or a guy who's going to really excel with tight boxes and, and base defense in general. So if the chiefs are true to this, hey, we're going to be this under center 13 personnel team and just run all over you type of style that they showed in week one, that could be something that is an issue for the Colts. Now, I still think the chiefs are trying to figure out how they're marrying the passing game from the under center looks because when you see that first game against the Broncos,

Starting point is 00:04:25 Mahomes looked a lot more comfortable throwing out of the gun rather than like building play action off of under center. So if that is still like not fully there for the chiefs, that could be a little bit more. or exploitable. But again, if you're running for 200 yards under center, it doesn't matter if you can't put the pass off it, right? So for the Colts, it really is like you've got to be sound fundamentally. You've got to be sound on your run fits.

Starting point is 00:04:47 And you've got to make sure that you are tackling Kenneth Walker because if you miss him, he is a guy where if the run call is to the A gap, he might try to go to the C gap right away because he just, he'll bounce almost any run. But it's a vision. Right. It's completely different. Yeah, if you miss a tackle on him, it can go from a negative one-yard run to a 30-yard run, just like that.

Starting point is 00:05:08 So he's always been a guy where, like, sometimes as like an RB coach, you're probably like, oh, man, like he's not hitting the hole where it needs to be, but like at the end of the day, he's finishing with five, six yards of carry because he's so explosive in the backfield. So when you have an explosive running back like him, you have to be good on your run fits and you have to get him on the ground, or he's going to go for, you know, like he did against the Broncos, like 200 yards, essentially or as a team, 200 yards.

Starting point is 00:05:32 Right. And when you look at it, it's just crazy because Kansas City didn't have a running back that had the vision or the ability to bounce things in the past couple of years. Like they've never had a running back like Kenneth Walker. And now they have, and I want to be clear, I'm not saying Emma Johnson is Kenneth Walker 2.0, but they have another running back that is still very good and can be very good in this offense and a great compliment to what they have in Kenneth Walker. So you have the ability to run the ball with two different running backs. and we're not even talking about their third running back and Breschard Smith, who I thought would get some carries

Starting point is 00:06:03 and never did in this last game. But you're right. You start talking about the chiefs using 13 personnel, but it wasn't just 13 personnel. It was also jumbo packages, bringing in multiple offensive linemen or bringing in a defensive tackle to use as their fullback.

Starting point is 00:06:18 They did that multiple times against the Broncos. So I do think when you start talking about the passing game in Patrick Bohomes, it is going to come down to what is he comfortable with. I will say this. if you go back and rewatch the game against the Broncos, I think he started two for 10 or two for 12, something like that. And then he got to a point where it's like, okay,

Starting point is 00:06:38 he had 13 completions in his last, you know, 15 pass attempts or something like that. He got more comfortable as the game went on. But he didn't play it all in the preseason. So there is part of that, too, of the thought process of he had to work out some of the rust. And you're also going against one of the best past defenses in the NFL with the Broncos. So there's a little bit of that in there as well. Yeah, and I think that that's what we're going to see a little bit even in this game too. These are two quarterbacks who are coming off of major injuries from last year who didn't play their full season,

Starting point is 00:07:08 Daniel Jones and Pat Mahomes. And we saw a little bit of rust out of both of them in week one. Now, there's degrees to this, right? Mahomes is clearly a much better quarterback than Daniel Jones. I'm not even going to be a homer and try to argue that they're near each other, right? Wasn't thinking you were. Right, right. So Mahomes is going to get to his level quicker than Daniel Jones.

Starting point is 00:07:26 or his baseline is going to be higher than Daniel Jones just because of the nature of who he is. But we are seeing a little bit of the rust early on. So we're going to see defenses really test these guys early on. And the chiefs were able to supplement that with, we're going to run the football right down your throat. And so Mahomes is ready. We're going to use the highly paid running back.

Starting point is 00:07:45 The Colts ran the ball exceptionally well in week one as well, but their defense put them so behind the sticks that you just couldn't keep running when you're down 28 to 6th in the second quarter. So, you know, I think both these teams want to rely on the run game. I think they want to make life easier for the quarterbacks as they shake the rust off here. And it really comes down to the game flow in this one. I saw the Chiefs in week one.

Starting point is 00:08:05 I think they had the fewest amount of offensive plays run against them. But the Denver Broncos only ran like 47 plays against them. And they really controlled the game and controlled the clock. I think that for either team in this one, it's kind of a big story. I think for both these teams is who can control the game, who can possess the ball more, and who can win the field position battle. I know that's big in every game. But when you have two teams that I think want to run the football really well,

Starting point is 00:08:26 early on in this game, I think controlling that clock and controlling possession is going to matter a lot. Well, yeah, and the big question that we're going to get into, and the next one is the matchups, you know, Stuyken versus Spags and how that could play out to be a big factor in how this game goes. That's coming up next. I'm Jake Liscoe from the Lockdown Bengals podcast here to tell you today about Fabletics because they're launching a new apparel collection with the NFL's number one receiver. You know that's Una. You know that's Jamar Chase. And whether it's performance gear or everyday appellatex has you covered from workouts to travel days to game days.

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Starting point is 00:11:15 we kind of talked about a little bit in the first one, is the chief defense real? Or is it they had the entire offseason to play in for the Broncos? Yeah, that's going to be a big part of it because week one, the results can always be so volatile because you never really know what another team's going to throw out, but now you have a game of film on all these teams. So the Colts are going to be looking at what the Chiefs did in week one. Chiefs are going to look at what the Colts did. And I will say when it comes to the Colts offense, I thought it was certainly the better of their units in week one, even though they made some mistakes. There were still some glimpses of good play from the Colts offense where we didn't really get that from the Colts defense in the first week. the Colts running game and just the running in general for them was really effective.

Starting point is 00:11:55 And when they won against Mann and they were able to ID some blitzes, they did get the ball down the field and had a couple touchdown drives as well. So I do think this is going to be a good matchup, but the reason why I'm so intrigued by it is last season, the Colts were on their role. They were doing some great things. And obviously Jones dealt with a couple injuries before his ultimate Achilles injury that ended his season.

Starting point is 00:12:15 But when the Colts went into Arrowhead last season, Spags had this really great game planned of just bringing pressure, especially in the fourth quarter, right? The Colts were trying to put that game away. They had, I think, a two-score lead in the fourth quarter, or it was at least like a seven-point lead or something like that. And Spaggs was daring Daniel Jones to beat them. He was blitzing. He was making sure that the Colts were having to get to their hot read, and the Colts were not able to make them pay, and the Chiefs were able to come back and win that game at overtime. So I think that's going to be a great matchup.

Starting point is 00:12:43 The Colts have struggled with handling the Blitz lately. their teams are really putting running backs in the blender for the Colts in pass protection and the Colts do not have the best pass blocking running backs in the league. So I think that Spags being the legendary defense coordinator that he is, I think he's going to test that, right? He's going to bring a lot of pressure right at their running back and force the running back to pick it up. So the Colts better be on top of it because if Spags knows that you have a weakness, he's going to come after you.

Starting point is 00:13:11 And it's crazy because you go back and watch the Denver game, the first flipping snap Spaggs sends two corners on a blitz. And you're just sitting there going, that's the way this game is going to go. Okay. Yeah. And you look at what he did last week. You look at what Spags did last week. And he generated pressure.

Starting point is 00:13:30 And he generated pressure sending four most of the time. It wasn't that he was blitzing and trying to generate pressure that way. He usually was getting there with four. And there were sometimes where they even got pressure with three. And when you look back at last season, that was one of the things. things that the chief struggled with the most is they could not get consistent pressure on the quarterback. And then you just sit there and it doesn't matter how good your corners are. No corner is going to be able to hold up for six seconds in coverage. I mean, that's just the way it is. So

Starting point is 00:13:57 when you look at that, it's you have to be able to get pressure and they started to be able to do that against the Broncos who have a very good offensive line. So I'm excited to see if that continues and that trend continues. One of the biggest matchups to me, though, in this game, beyond Stuyken and Spags is going to be how do the Colts attack the tackles of the chiefs? Because one of the best Colts defenders is DeForest Buckner on the defensive line. I feel pretty good about the interior of this path of the pass blocking. When you start talking about Kingsley-Sou-Monte and Creed Humphrey and Trace Smith, I feel pretty good about those guys being able to handle DeForest Buckner. I'm not saying he won't get pressure, but he'll, I feel good about those guys. It's the question of the

Starting point is 00:14:39 tackles. When you're looking at Khalil Benson getting a second straight start more than likely, because it sounds like Josh Simmons isn't practicing this week, which makes it seem like it's going to be unlikely he plays on Sunday night. And do you look at Jaylen Moore, who I thought played okay against the Broncos, but still struggled. So you look at it, how does that affect things? How does it affect the passing game and what Patrick Mahomes is comfortable with and how quickly he gets the ball out? Because one of the other things that stood out to me in week one was they got the ball out quick. I saw a graph right before we started this, and one of the quickest QBs to throw last week was Patrick Mahomes.

Starting point is 00:15:17 That is not normally the case. He's usually off into the top right corner on that, and he was at the very bottom left. And when you start talking about the quickness to throw, obviously that is partially the game plan, but it's also partially the defense you're facing and what you want to do with your tackles. Yeah, and I think part of that was the game plan

Starting point is 00:15:39 by just, you know, we're going to throw a lot of these screens. We're going to throw a lot of these tap passes and there. Stuff that just gets the ball quickly out of Mahomes's hands. And I think for Colts, they're going to come out with a very press man heavy mindset in this one. They do trust their corners. I know there were some issues in week one, but I think a lot of that came down to, again, communication more so than like guys getting straight up beat, guys thinking they had help when they didn't. So as long as they can get on top of it with communication, I think the Colts are going to do everything they can to take away the short options, the quick options. They're going to want to make Pat Mahomes hold on to that football like he has in the past. And not that there's been

Starting point is 00:16:13 issues with that because he's still Pat Mahomes, but again, just getting him out of that rhythm. So they're going to try to take away those screens by getting Sauce Gardner and Mooney Ward and all those guys pressing close to the line of scrimmage. So if you try to throw a quick screen, they can just jump on that in a hurry. If you try to throw something underneath, they can be sitting on those routes. So I think that's how the Colts are going to counter it. But like you said, how they react to these tackles and how they put these tackles in the tough spots is going to be the big part of it for the Colts defense. If I were the Colts defensive coordinator, I would stack the line on the edges, you know, with sim pressures and bringing a lot of guy up to the line of

Starting point is 00:16:46 scrimmage and make them have to second guess where they're, where they are, like who they're blocking, essentially, right? Are we blocking inside and leaving the outside threat from a homes? Are we blocking outside and the running back is picking up the inside guy? Make those tackles think a little bit more, and you might be able to draw some success because the Colts don't have pure pass rush winners on the outside. Layatu Latu is a final. football player. Arden Key is a perfectly fine rotational guy, but they don't have a Trey Hendrickson. They don't have a Max Crosby who's just going to kill an undrafted rookie starting on the outside. So I think making those players think a little bit more is probably the key

Starting point is 00:17:22 that you want for the Colts defense against younger or not super quality. Offensive tackles is what I should say. In regards to Jaylon Moore, I should say, Benson's still young. We're not trying to say he's not quality. Well, I don't know. I mean, there's questions about what his quality is. Yeah, he played. He played well enough in week one, but can he repeat it week two, week three, if he continues playing? That's going to be the big question. And when you look at it for me, it becomes, it comes down to this. It comes down to Kansas City knowing what they can and cannot do with their offensive tackles

Starting point is 00:17:52 and not putting them in a position where they have to be one-on-one on a regular basis. You know, and part of that is going back to what they did in week one against Denver, where you're running the ball almost 50% in time. Because the other thing that running the ball does, especially with this, much as Kansas City was doing it, is it wears out those defensive ends. So even when they get to a point where they can get some pass rush, they don't have the energy to give the pass rush that they normally would. And I'm sorry, you're right, they don't have a Nick Benito on the Colts don't have a Nick Benito.

Starting point is 00:18:22 So it does change it a little bit in that regard as well. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, honestly, for the Chiefs, you probably don't have to chip as much. I know they were chipping Bonito quite a bit in that first game and it certainly helps a young offensive tackle. I'm sure they'll bring the chip every now and then still in this next game, but they can probably get more guys out into the formation, get more Colts players in demand coverage, and try to exploit from there. So it should be a good chess match on both sides. I think, you know, again,

Starting point is 00:18:46 Anerumo and Andy Reid have a long history of working against each other. And then Stuyken and Spaggs, and there are a couple times going against each other have been a really good matchup as well. So really excited for, I think, like of all the matchups, just the coaching, these guys against each other, I think is the most interesting aspect to me. Well, and what creative plays do they bring out, to the Chiefs bring out because the goal, I don't know if you saw the goal line play where they had everybody down. Yeah, where they had everybody down into three-point stance, including Mahomes and Fields.

Starting point is 00:19:14 I'm just sitting there, I'm going, well, that's something I haven't seen forever. So we'll see what they bring out this week against the Colts. When we get back, sound football could be one of the biggest keys in this game for both teams. Welcome to your most rewarding NFL season ever only on Fan Duel. How are rewarding are we talking? More rewarding than a touchdown with time expiring?

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Starting point is 00:21:39 Just go to indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast, terms of conditions apply, need to hire. This is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. Sound football could be one of the biggest keys to this game. And I'm not just talking about tackling. could be not turning the ball over. Could be a lot of different things,

Starting point is 00:22:03 but sound football and knowing your specific job assignment becomes a huge key in games like this. Yeah, but I think especially for the Indianapolis Colts after the game they just had against the Baltimore Ravens. I think pro football focus had their defense with nine missed tackles in that game. You know, Derek Henry was one of the best running backs in week one in yards after contact.

Starting point is 00:22:26 And then you look at what the Chiefs did so well in week one. and it was just Kenneth Walker running through arm tackles and making big plays, not out of nothing, but just out of, you know, given a couple yards to block, and then he's gone because he's able to make a few guys miss. And I just think, you know, when you see how sloppy the Colts played in week one, especially on the defense side of the football, miscommunications, guys lined up wrong.

Starting point is 00:22:46 I mean, their very first play of the season on defense, they had like three or four guys just in the wrong spot or not communicating right with each other. That led to a big 48-yard catch for Zay Flowers. Just the fundamentals is going to be so, important for the Coltsons this one. Can they get back to just looking like a real football team that knows how to communicate with each other? And then when you play the Chiefs, you have to tackle. Like Kenneth Walker, but also Pat Mahomes, if you have a chance to square him up in the

Starting point is 00:23:10 backfield, he has to be on the ground or it's going to become a 30 or 40-yard game. That is just what he has done in his NFL career. Kenneth Walker, 14 missed tackles forced in one game. Yeah. That's just absolutely insane for one game. And then Emmett Johnson does another one, got one himself. So, I mean, it wasn't just, it wasn't just Kenneth Walker. And that's just the running backs. We're not even talking about, and I'm trying to get to PFF to go look at it right now. But that's not even talking about the wide receivers.

Starting point is 00:23:45 And there were some wide receivers that forced some mistackles. There was nine mistackles forced on receivers. So, I mean, when you sit there and you look at that, But it's one of those things where it's like, okay, how do you, how do you defend that as a defense? I mean, you have to be sound. You have to be, you have to, you know, flow to the ball. And you have to wrap up. Like the biggest key here to me is go back and watch the Rishi rise touchdown against the Denver Broncos.

Starting point is 00:24:14 If they try to actually tackle him, he's probably held short of the end zone. But they tried to just hit him and he just bounced off and kept going. And that's the big thing. If you don't do that against guys like Ken Walker, guys like Rishie Rice, they're going to bounce off and they're going to keep going because they're big enough to have the balance to be able to do stuff like that. Yeah, I think the way this Chief's offense is constructed so far, at least, they could still figure things out later in the season. But the way that they were so successful in week one is they create so much of their yardage. A lot of it is that hidden yardage. And I guess it's not that hidden when it's front and center like it was on Monday night football.

Starting point is 00:24:52 But the hidden yardage of like when you are first contacted, that. should be a point where a ball carrier goes down. Everything after that is the extra yardage that can decide a game. The margins are so slim in the NFL teams are so much closer to each other than ever. So every time that you can create with the ball in your hands, whether it's a running back, a quarterback, or a wide receiver, you are creating bonus yardage for your offense. So if you're able to win that game, which I think is one of the most, like, again, hidden factors that comes into games like this, you have a great advantage.

Starting point is 00:25:22 And I think that's really where the chiefs pulled away from the Broncos in that one. It's not that the Chiefs had this like perfect game plan with guys running wide open left and right and and were just untouched all the time. They had to fight for their yards, but they just, I mean, to kind of quote old football coach here, they just wanted it more in that game, right? They ran through them. And again, for the Colts, like, that just can't happen to you again. We just saw what happened in week one against the Baltimore Ravens when that happened to them. The Chiefs will make them pay just as bad as the Ravens did. Actually, probably worse because the Ravens had like 13 penalties in that game.

Starting point is 00:25:53 And it's the only reason that it wasn't a bigger definitely. in that week one. So the Colts are not going to get any handouts in this game against the Chiefs. They have to come out playing sound football, playing aggressive football. And for whatever you do, make sure when you first touch Kenneth Walker or Pat Mahomes as well, they are going on the ground. I don't care if they fall for it for three yards, but at least make sure it's that instead of the 40 yards that they do when they get free of you.

Starting point is 00:26:17 Well, you talk about Keith Walker having 14 mistackles forced. He had 179 yards rushing after contact. Yep. In one game. I looked at this before we recorded yesterday's show and on Locked on Chiefs. Isaiah Pacheco had less than 325 yards the entire season after contact last year in 2025. Yes, he only played 13 games. But in an entire season, he had 150 more yards after contact than Walker had in one game.

Starting point is 00:26:50 I, I 1,000% agree with you. You absolutely have to make sure you bring them down. and don't get me wrong, there's going to be mis-tackles forced. He's going to have, I would imagine probably five, six, maybe even closer to eight or nine, but that makes it hard if you're the Colts defense. Yeah, well, and again, it's one thing if he's forcing a mistackle and then you rally to the ball, he falls forward for two extra yards, right?

Starting point is 00:27:12 It's another thing like with the Broncos game where he's making a guy miss in the backfield and going for 60 yards at the left sideline for a touchdown, right? That's where you see him averaging over 10 yards per carry after contact. So there's levels. this, right? Get the gang tackling in their rally tackle. If you miss, you miss. But make sure you're missing and forcing him towards other defenders instead of pushing him out wide. And that's why he's so dangerous. And again, Pat Mahomes is so dangerous too. You missed your sack opportunity. You're not

Starting point is 00:27:37 going to get another chance. He's going to make that sidearm throw and get the ball down the field. So for the Colts, sound football. It's as simple as it gets, I guess, when it comes to the mantra there. Well, and it comes to that for Kansas City, too, because the real reality here is the Colts do have some offensive weapons in the passing game, don't get me wrong. But if the Chiefs struggle containing Jonathan Taylor, that becomes an issue for their defense and that becomes an issue for getting them off the field. One of the things Kansas City did so well is they kept them, they kept the Broncos into a position where they weren't converting on third down.

Starting point is 00:28:11 That was huge in this last game for the Chiefs. If they can do that again against the Colts, I do love their ability to have a chance to win this game. That is going to be up for us today. Zach, thank you so much, really enjoyed this. it's going to be a fun game on Sunday night football, really looking forward to it. Let us know in the comments what you think about this game,

Starting point is 00:28:29 who you think some of the biggest matchups are, and what some of the keys could be. Thank you all for listening today, and we will talk to you tomorrow.

Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - CROSSOVER: Indianapolis Colts Need BOUNCE-BACK vs. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs

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