Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Discussing the Indianapolis Colts' Biggest Topics with a Listener Mailbag

Episode Date: September 8, 2021

On today's episode of Locked On Colts, Evan is joined by Stampede Blue's Stephen Reed to further discuss the Indianapolis Colts' upcoming season. What better way to do it with a listener mailbag!Evan and Stephen answer all of your questions from @LockedOnColts Twitter page hitting on a multitude of subjects!Don't miss out on this one, Colts fans, because this is jam-packed with good questions!Stay tuned throughout the week with more guests leading into Sunday's season opener! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello everybody, welcome to your latest episode of Locked On Colts, or the Locked On Podcast Network. Today's always your host, Evan Serg, joined by frequent guest of the show, Stephen Rita Stampede-Blue. He'll be back with us actually after week one, our first reaction podcast. After that, we're back to five days a week here on the podcast as the regular season

has officially arrived now, the Annapolis Colts and the NFL. Stephen, of course, does great work for Stampede-Blue. Stephen, how are you doing tonight on this Monday, Labor Day Day where I imagine it's a great day of relaxation for you. Hey Evan, I'm doing well. How are you today? I'm doing great and we're getting to our listener mailbag here tonight, our last mailbag before the season starts and we got a lot of questions to go through for Steven and I so I appreciate everyone that helped out with us here. So first off, before we get into the mailbag though, Stephen, just what's your thoughts now? Officially, we're finally at game week. It seems like we've been on the podcast for the last seven, eight months just waiting for this moment. Now we're less than a week away. I mean,

what's your biggest thoughts heading into week one for this team where we're going to find an awful lot about this team the first month and especially in week one against a good Seahawks squad? I'm just excited to be honest. I can't wait for football to be here and we get to talk about real football again, like when it matters and the games count. So I honestly am just excited for it. I don't know what to expect from this team yet because the variance on their wins and losses and how good or bad they can be is so great in terms of it's such a wide margin that you could see this team winning like 12 games pretty easily.

Or you could also see this team winning like seven games pretty easily. And so there's such a variety of outcomes for this Colts team that I'm just excited to see what they put on the field and I'm excited to watch real football again. Let's get to our first question. Our questions are via Twitter, asking on at Locked on Colts. You can already go ahead and follow our Twitter page. We're growing by the day over there. Our first one is from Elijah King at King Swag Elijah.

And he asked, Stephen, because this is a great one because I actually read a story this week on St. Pete Blue about the subject with Jonathan Taylor, where Steven, because this is a great one, because I actually read a story this week on Stampede Blue about the subject with Jonathan Taylor, where I feel like this is a year, like we saw in the second half of his rookie season, where he could really take the lead from star to superstar. I feel like, honestly, Taylor's already a top five running back in the NFL. I think easily top six, in my opinion.

What's your thoughts, Elijah's asking, Steven, on the real estate expectations for Jonathan Taylor in his second season. He said he believes he can reach 1,500 yards rushing. I think he thinks it's realistic for him to reach that mark. I think, honestly, that Taylor's a guy who should receive 20 touches per game, whether it be like five receptions or 15 carries, 20 carries,

or whatever you want to break the math with. I think the split is not going to be that much of a committee. I think Taylor is the bell cow, the workhorse of this offense, especially in the tough part of the schedule to start off the season. I think you ride Jonathan Taylor to see what can happen there. I realistically think 2,000 screen recharges is possible for Jonathan Taylor this year, Steven. I think we're in for a huge year from JT. What's your thoughts on year two for Jonathan Taylor? I think he's going to expand on what he did at the end of the season last year. He's got an opportunity definitely to have over 1,500 yards.

I don't think that's out of the question in terms of total yards. I think you're going to see him probably eclipse 1,200 rushing yards right around there probably. I mean, if they do work him early and often, which I'm not sure they'll do, I could see him getting 1,500 yards rushing in that scenario as well, because they've got such a dominant offensive line. And it was clear as the game started to slow down for him, just how athletic and how explosive he is. And I do think that they're going to kind of split carries early in the season to try to keep Jonathan Taylor fresh because they know just how much of a difference maker he was there late in the season.

So I don't think they're going to overwork him early in the season. I think you're going to see a lot more sharing of the carries with Marlon Mack and Jonathan Taylor there for that kind of that those rushing downs and it's going to frustrate fantasy owners but I think that's kind of how they're going to do just to try to keep them fresh because remember it's an extra extra game this year you got 17 games so I don't I don't think they're going to push them too hard too early. This dives right into the second part what you're mentioning there Steven. Zach has a question just call me underscore Zach on Twitter. How many carries think the running backs will get this season as far as distribution goes?

I think more so it would be, in my opinion, Taylor like 75, Hines and Mack splitting the other percentage up a little bit. I think Taylor gets around 250 to 300 carries this year, and then Mack maybe gets around 100, Hines around 100, or something along those lines. I think around 250, 100, 100 makes some sense to me. Maybe Hines a little bit less. He'll be more of a pass catcher in this offense this year compared to last year, in my opinion. But how do you see the distribution going total for carries throughout the season?

I think the distribution is going to be you're probably going to see, I think it's probably going to be 60-40, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's 75-25. I just think it's going to be 60-40, and then you're going to see Jonathan Taylor, at least early in the season, and then I think you're going to see Jonathan Taylor start to pick up more carries as the season goes on. I could see it, by the end of the season,

I could see it being more like a 75-25 or an 80-20 split on that. But I think early in the season, you're going to see a 60-40. So if you're looking at like, say the Colts are running 30 run plays a game, I could see Jonathan Taylor getting, you know, 15 to 20 carries. So you're looking at probably right around 300, 350 carries on the season. I think that might be a little high for Taylor and what they want. But honestly, I just see him splitting early again. It's just, to me, that makes the most sense given the extra game

and how valuable he is for this team. You bring up good points about early in the season. You have Marlon Mack there. You also have Jordan Wilkins. Maybe you see just a little bit of sprinkling from those guys early on. And then around Thanksgiving time, you really start the hammer home, like we saw last year. Jonathan Taylor would just be the complete monster he was in the second half

of last season. I imagine we could see the same thing happen for Taylor here in 2021. I think he's the most important piece of this offense, especially for this season. But the next question here is from Elliot Gall, and he asks, what member of the team that wasn't on last year's roster is most likely the best season, not necessarily biggest impact of all the new new members.

He chimes in saying his opinion on that is Quidipe for his answer. Do you agree with him there? Yeah. Quidipe is the answer on that one. You know, you could say Carson Wentz on it because, honestly, the quarterback position, it's going to have the biggest impact.

So I think Carson Wentz is going to have probably the biggest impact. If we're just looking at guys that have never played in the NFL, I think Quidipe is there. But, honestly, like when you first asked the question, my initial thought was Quidipe right off the NFL, I think Quidipe is there. But honestly, like when you first asked the question, my initial thought was Quidipe right off the bat. But then I thought about it for literally a second. You heard it on air. And Carson Wentz, Quidipe, it's those two guys.

I probably will lean Carson Wentz because he's going to have a bigger impact on how the Colts go this season, just because I think that without him and without him being that 2017 to 2019 Carson Wentz that we've talked about at nausea now, that without him being to that level in this Colts team, you're probably still looking at like a 500 team, or I guess what a nine and nine and eight team this year eight and nine team right around there um so he's probably gonna have the biggest impact but my my initial reaction was but I think Chris Wentz is probably gonna be the guy I'm gonna go Quidipe there just to mix it up because I do agree with you on on most of your points there Steven I think honestly Quidipe just

from what I've seen in preseason and training camp, I'm completely sold on him being an immediate impact player, especially next to the forest buck during this defense. Again, go back and listen to Steven and I throughout the offseason. As we talked about, Cody Paye, before he was drafted, after he was drafted, right after he was drafted. We've been on this guy for so long in this podcast. We think he's a perfect fit in this defense. I think he's going to really be hammered home throughout this season.

I could easily see a 10-plus sack season from what I've seen so far. And just for those wondering, and Stan, if you're interested as well, over the last 10 years, rookies to have 10-plus sacks in a season, Alden Smith, Vaughn Miller, Joey Bosa, Bradley Chubb, Josh Allen, and Max Crosby. So that's a pretty good list to be a part of. Do you think Quiddie Paye reaches that 10-sack mark? It's that time of year again, and all eyes are now turned to football

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I do. Yeah. I really think we're going to see a really big season with Quidipe. And he's a guy that's going to be really a defense rookie of the year running. I would not be surprised at all. If you have not placed a bet on Quidipe, plus 1,200 odds is still a steal to me, in my opinion. I would go ahead and place that bet if you haven't already.

But the next question here is going to be from Mike Woodson's Goatee. That's a funny name. I was the IU Hoosiers head coach. He's asking about Paris Campbell. What's your expectations for Paris this year in a huge year three for him and over under 700 yards this year for Campbell? That's, that's a great question. You know, if a, for Paris Campbell, unfortunately it's the question is always, if he stays healthy, it's,

he's had two seasons now. He's played nine games. So he hasn't even played double-digit games in any season to this point. So to have him think that he's going to play all 17, you kind of have to expect that he won't. But if he can stay healthy, I think he has an opportunity to just absolutely explode in this offense. Because you saw it last year at the beginning of this season with Phillip Rivers before he got hurt, how much they were using him in those shallow crossers, how much they were using him just in space out of the slot. He was just torching guys. And you saw the speed against

Tennessee, like where he just ran away from the safety. And it's just, he's got such game changing ability. If he can just stay healthy, if he can do that, if he can stay healthy, I could honestly see him going over 700 yards by week 12. And so it's just one of those things where health's going to make a huge difference for him. If he can stay healthy, I absolutely think that he can be just an absolutely integral part of this offense, probably pretty easily wide receiver two next to Michael Pittman, and would likely supplant T.Y. Hilton there on the outside if they want to use him in that role. So I think that he can definitely surpass 700 yards, again, if he stays healthy.

Likelihood of him staying healthy, not great based on the past two years. But again, he's looked great in camp, and health is the big question. If I were going to put a bet on it, I probably wouldn't bet that he would get over 700 yards just because he's not been healthy for two years now. But again, if he stays healthy, I keep going back to that. I could see him easily surpassing 700 yards. Yeah, and I'm not trying to be hyperbolic here because honestly, I don't feel like Campbell is a guy who the Colts haven't had in their offense in a very long time. A guy who's six foot, who can spread the field vertically and horizontally, 4'3", one speed for a guy his size too. The injury bug's been a major issue, but if he can stay healthy,

Steven, I mean, what kind of weapon is Paris Campbell? Because I think honestly, if he does stay healthy, I think he's going to smash over 700 yards. I can see 800, 900 yards for Paris Campbell this year as a safety blank for first and wins. But this is a guy to me where even going back to the Peyton Manning years, to the Andrew Luck years, I can't ever think about a guy at his size and his speed profile to be in this offense. Yeah, he's completely unique for what they've had so far. Just his explosiveness, his really game-changing ability.

They haven't had a guy like that at least in the Chris Ballard era throughout the entire time. Because even when Chris Ballard took over, TY was the first year or two, he was okay. He was still good. The past couple years, it seems like he's lost a step and they haven't been able to find somebody to replace that in terms of just pure speed, size, talent. Paris Campbell

does. He's such a unique weapon because he's not a small, tiny little guy that you see a lot of these sprinters outside of like DK Metcalf. He's a game breaker. And you want to get the ball in his hands. And if he can get some space, just any space, he can take it to the house. And the Colts haven't had that in a long time. But now they've got a couple guys on the roster that honestly could do that

with Paris Campbell and then Jonathan Taylor, as we've seen. He can take it no matter when he gets it. Next one here is from at IndyColts7 on Twitter, and he's asking about the other young wideout for the Colts, Michael Pittman. Obviously, he's going to be in a big role the first two months of the season without T.Y. Houghton, who, as Ian Rappaport mentioned, late last week. He's projected to be out until late October.

So that knocks him out at least the first six, seven games of the season. It might be a Halloween day return for him against the Titans if we're on that same timeline there. What's your projection? This Colts game seven is asking Steven for Pittman in this season where he's going to be the true WR1 even when T.Y. Hilton returns. I feel like the Baton of Arby preferably past that point. Pittman's going to be the focal point of this passing offense.

I think he's poised for a huge year. I think 100-plus targets close to 1,000 yards is realistically a goal for Pittman. I think those are realistic, and I think those are pretty realistic targets. I think that he's going to get over 100 targets. You're probably going to see like 80, 85 receptions on the year, and he's probably going to be close to 1,000 yards. I think he's going to be the wider receiver one for the Colts. The question with Pittman is whether he's able to get the separation

that he needs. And so the hope is he's obviously had a full off season now to work with some of the coaches some of the trainers like he didn't get last year so the hope is he's grown i think he has and so i really do think that a thousand yards and 85 receptions it those are realistic numbers for him we only have a couple more questions to close out the mailbag, so appreciate everyone for the questions today. Our next one is going to be from Bobby Covington on Twitter. If there was one thing you wanted the Colts to drastically change this year on offense and defense, what would those be? For example, more blitzing on defense

and more play-action deep shots on offense. I really appreciate the content. Yeah, I would say the defense, I'm not sure, less zone. But the trouble is if they less cover too, just shell zone. And, you know, that seems to bother me a lot for when they play early in the season. A lot of times they'll just drop into that cover too and let offenses eat them up and just give them a huge cushion. The corners would give a 5-10 yard cushion in a zone coverage. The smart quarterbacks, what they're going to face here

the first start of the season with Russell Wilson and Matt Stafford, those guys are going to eat that kind of zone defense up. So I hope they don't play that off coverage, like 10-yard cushion, five-yard cushion zone coverage that they've played in the past. On offense, I really like the idea of the play action deep shots. I'd also like to see them utilize a lot more quarterback rollouts just to kind of get Carson Wentz out of the pocket because you've got guys like Michael Strawn, who's probably going to get some playing time and Paris Campbell that are going to be able to get behind defenses.

And if you can give them a little bit of time, those guys are going to, you're going to have a lot of, a lot of opportunities for big explosive plays. I totally agree with you there. I think definitely we're going to see more of the 2018 offense from this Colts team when Andrew Luck was under center, more mobility, more rollouts, more deep shots down the field, the strong quarterback, Carson Wentz. I think it's going to really help out this offensive ceiling,

especially in 2021 too, where if Wentz can at least take care of the ball and be an average quarterback, this Colts team should make some noise this year, be a double digit win team. But let's move on to the next question here. And it's really an interesting one again, just about what could happen here. We've heard today at practice, the first week of practice before, they get going for Sunday's game.

I look so stunning at the Seahawks that Rocky is sin is officially the opposite boundary corner to Xavier Rhodes. Kenny Moore is the obvious name in the slot there. Chris Morgan-Weck is asking about Rakia Sen. How short-legged the leash is going to be on Rakia this year? If he struggles out of the gate, especially against a tough wide receiver schedule with the Seahawks, the Rams, the Titans, do you think they quickly go back to TJ Carey like we saw at the end of last year?

I think they're going to kind of play the hot hand. They're going to give Rock the chance to start the season. But if he just kind of falls on his face just hard, then I think that they're probably going to pull him, especially early in the season, just to let him get a chance to get his mind right before they go into like the Texans game going into week six.

So then he could get back in, build up his confidence again, and you go from there. The interesting thing though, is with the two teams that they play to open the season with the Seahawks and the Rams, you got DK Metcalf on one side, and then Tyler Lockett plays in the slot. And so the wide receiver that Rock is probably going to go up against isn't near the caliber of like a DK Metcalf,

or like a Tyler Lockett for that matter. So he's going to get an opportunity to go against that wide receiver three, basically, for Seattle. So he should, he should hypothetically, he should play very well week one, given the talent that he's probably going to go opposite against. And quite honestly, if he's going over there and he's got DK on his side, then I think they're going to put the safety help over the top and rocks Rocks, for the most part, is a pretty good tackler.

So, you know, the game against – the preseason game against Detroit aside, he usually hustles and goes and makes pretty decent tackles. Then you move on to the Los Angeles Rams game, and you've got the Robert Woods on one side and then you've got Cooper Cup and I believe Cooper Cup mainly plays out of slot I'm not I'm not exactly sure about that but I'm fairly certain one of the two plays out of the slot quite a bit and so again you're going into another week where you've got rock playing against that third wide receiver which is fine which is actually great for him because it allows him to

build up that confidence now once you move to week three in tennessee that's going to be a completely different story because you've got julio joan and aj brown those guys are both outside corners so you're going to have to figure that out and the hope is at least my hope is that against Seattle and against the Rams that Rock's able to build that confidence so when he goes up against Tennessee he's not kind of struggling and so that's where I'm at with Rock I the trouble with Rock is he's got all the talent to do it. It's just he gets grabby at times, and everybody makes a big deal about that preseason touchdown he gave up against Detroit.

It wasn't good. I think we talked about that. It wasn't good. It was more frustrating that he didn't even try after he gave up the pass. I think that was just a huge mental lapse, and I bet that he got reamed out for that in his defensive room. So I don't see that happening again. And I just, I feel like Rock's going to be okay.

But again, if you're asking me how long his leash is, if he becomes a liability, they're going to pull him. This episode is brought to you by Rock Auto. With the ever-increasing numbers of makes and models, it's now possible for your local chain auto parts store to stock all the parts you need. Why endure often pointless or seemingly intimidating questioning and wait while the person behind the counter orders the parts on their computer, choosing the only brand their warehouse happens to carry at the time?

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Compatible device required. Content varies by package. Two more questions here before we end out today's mailbag. Appreciate everyone for the questions. I imagine we'll do this later on in the season as well our last related one to on the field subject revolves around the safety position which we saw surprise cuts we haven't covered yet on the show andre chachere and marvell tell were cut for two waiver claims um the curious keys a 20 20 seventh round pick and then chris wilcox a 2021 seventh round pick now on board. The Colts have seven corners on their roster now.

They only have three safeties. So we have a question from at Indy Colts season, Stephen, asking about why they're carrying so many corners and not many safeties. In my opinion, I mean, just looking at this question, just talking about how they're going to use the safeties, we heard a lot in the offseason, Stephen, about how they're going to use a lot of three-safety looks. But now when you let go, both Sean Davis are now on the practice squad.

Chaudhry makes the roster, then it's cut. Marvell Tell makes the roster, then he's cut. It could have been another safety option. He was a safety in college. Maybe they're abandoning that Dine look we thought about throughout the offseason, Stephen, where I thought we were going to be seeing a lot of three safety looks. But maybe they're kind of abandoning those plans.

I think maybe. I think they've got both those guys that they claimed are big enough to play safety um so like there when they play three safeties mainly one comes down in coverage um and so they've got a lot of guys that are pretty versatile so that's where i would kind of stick it. And also remember COVID rules this year, they allow you to pull up two guys from the practice squad. And so I imagine they're going to pull up a safety from the practice squad each and every week.

And that's just my thoughts on it. I was honestly surprised to see them cut Chachere because I thought that he had earned his spot on the roster. And then, you know, with the activation of Eric Fisher today from the COVID list and then dropping Antoine Woods, I just feel like it would have made more sense to keep Chachere on the roster and then go ahead and cut Woods.

So I was, I was frustrated with that because Chachere had a, had a great camp and I was, I'm really happy for him and his family that he was claimed and is going to Eagles and he's going to be working under Gannon again, which is somebody that he worked with here with the Colts last year when he was on the practice squad and in tryouts. So, yeah, just over the offseason and everything.

So I was really upset that they had cut Chachere. I don't know exactly what they're going to do with the safety position. I assume they're going to bring somebody up or they feel comfortable enough with the guys that they have that they're going to be able to swap them around and let them play a little bit safety. Last question here is related to the Colts and COVID-19, Stephen. Multiple questions here.

We're going to combine them all together. From Dan, from Tyler, from Rick, others as well, they're asking about just the low vaccination rate, Stephen. What do you think is going to happen this year as it relates to the COVID-19 situation with this team? And do you think if something were to happen mid-season, would it tear apart the locker room? So a lot of questions combined there, Stephen, but what's your thoughts on this whole situation, and maybe the long-term ramifications of if something were to happen during the season with a COVID outbreak? Oh, yeah. First, let's start this off i hate talking about this because it it's a difficult

topic um and nobody seems to agree on anything i honestly think that the colts are going to have some some sort of effect throughout the season from getting with the low vaccination rate i think that they're going to have guys miss games and it's going to be frustrating. And that is the, will this fracture the locker room is a great question. It's something that if I got an opportunity to talk with one of the unvaccinated players is a question I would ask to be totally honest. And it's, it would would go something like this.

Hey, you know, if it happens that, you know, there's a close contact, not a positive test by the guys, but a close contact. And because of, you know, this, you miss three of your offensive linemen. And you end up losing the game, giving up like six sacks. Knowing that that was probably the reason that you lost. Do you think that would tear apart the locker room? Or do you think that there would be conflict in a locker room between people that are unvaccinated and vaccinated?

I think that that's an absolutely great question. I don't know. I think it will. Honestly, I think that there's going to be, everybody can sit here and talk about it and say, oh yeah, everything's nice, sunshine and daisies, but it kind of goes back to the Mike Tyson quote, you know, everyone has got a plan until you got punched in the face. And that's really where I think it's going to be is the Colts. Of course, they have a plan and everybody's, you know, sunshine, roses, all that. But I think once they get punched in the face by this, I think there's going to be a lot of guys are going to be upset with these unvaccinated players and the guys that are refusing to get vaccinated for their own reasons, which is fine, but it's also they have to understand that they are putting all of these other guys and their livelihoods at risk. Because remember, if Colts have, say, the entire offensive line,

well, 80% of the starting offensive line goes out, and then a lot of the backup offensive linemen that and the Colts have to forfeit none of those guys nobody gets paid nobody from there the Colts gets paid nobody from the other team gets paid and I think the first like I don't think that'll actually happen but if it does that's I think that'll tear apart the locker room. I think that'll tear, that'll cause a lot of eyes to open in the league that in terms of the players, that this is serious. And once you start getting hit in the paycheck, that's when you really start to matter. Cause right now, you know,

you can hear all this talk of guys. Oh yeah. You know, Ryan Kelly's told Zach Kiefer that he was vaccinated. It turns out that he lied to Zach Kiefer, and he's not vaccinated. So he and his wife were discussing the options, everything like that. You hear from Darius Leonard, which I think, honestly, I love Darius Leonard, and I absolutely respect his decision. And I respect him for coming out and saying what he said about it and his choice, because he's the only one that hasn't like shied away from saying that, oh, it's a personal choice. Can you guys please stop asking me this because it's uncomfortable. Darius Leonard was straight up honest with everybody. And I thought that that was refreshing. And it made me respect him and his decision a lot more. And I do think that this is going to affect the Colts. I don't think there's any way around it. Now, I think there are ways that they can mitigate the likelihood of this happening in terms of the close contacts, but it comes to a point where that's going to interfere with how you go about your day. And that becomes a problem when football players are so programmed that every

single day from Sunday to Saturday, from Sunday to Sunday is programmed out. You're like, what people don't understand is Monday. They come in Monday after the game, they come in and get treatment and watch some film to see what they screwed up last week, Tuesday, they're off. Wednesday, they come in and start doing install for next week's games. Thursday, practice. Friday, walk through.

Saturday, travel. That's the schedule. And throughout the entire football season, that's strict, that's set. And so you're having to make all these exceptions to try to avoid close contact tracing because, again, all these guys are wearing tracking devices in their facilities. And I know some people are going to say that that's weird. No, that's because they want to avoid having players or personnel having to snitch on guys or having a rep from the NFL be in there and watching you all the time. So they made this thing where they said, okay, well, you're going to wear tracking devices and it's going to track your GPS location within the building. And if you're within 15,

or if you're around somebody that tests positive for more than 15 minutes continuous, or whatever that number is, then you're going to be considered a close contact. You're going to be out. Again, the frustrating part is these guys that would, and it's frustrating because it's not only they are testing negative throughout this process, but because they didn't do anything wrong. Like I get frustrated because these guys that are unvaccinated are more likely to do a lot of things right within the facility. But they are having to pay the burden because they were just around it around these guys, even though they tested negative. And that I can understand from their perspective is very, very frustrating. Now, from a team's

perspective, you sit there and go, okay, well, why not you just, why don't you just mitigate that risk and get rid of it completely and just get vaccinated? It's one shot. It's not like that. If you do the Johnson and Johnson's one shot, if you do the other ones, which are arguably better, then it's two shots shots a little bit apart but now you're in the middle of the season you know that second shot sometimes can hit people hard and do you want to risk having to be like feel ill for a couple days in there that's no fun either so I think that you know that was a long answer right there on it. But I do think that it's going to affect the Colts.

I think it's going to affect the guys that are really important, just because it's really hard to avoid those close contact protocols within the facility, given the number of players that are unvaccinated at specifically at given position groups and the fact that COVID transmits or is transferable to people that are unvaccinated. I think it's like seven times more likely to get COVID if you're unvaccinated than if you have to have a breakthrough infection. So it's, there's a lot of risks with it. And I, for me personally, I don't understand it, but I do respect these players decisions to like in terms of a personnel

personal decision. But you know, if I'm a team, if I'm a general manager, if I'm Chris Ballard, I'm beyond pissed because these guys are just putting their whole season at risk basically for what? Like, that's, I just don't, I just don't understand that. If I were the general manager, I just, I would be very frustrated with that situation. Well, yeah, that was good stuff there, just talking through the whole situation. I totally agree with you on a lot of the points. I think it's going to impact the Colts one way or another

throughout this season. But I know you've got to run here, Stephen. You've got to go and do something for our fellow SB Nation side field goals. That covers Seattle Seahawks. You can listen to him on their podcast later this week. But in the meantime, Stephen, I appreciate it. As always, coming on, Colts against Golden Falls. Stephen, if you haven't already, on Twitter, at NiceRead. Stephen Gillis to his podcast as well over on Stampede Blue.

Stephen, appreciate your time tonight. Thanks, Evan. Have a great one.