Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - How the Colts will replace Parris Campbell and Malik Hooker with George Bremer of The Herald Bulletin

Episode Date: September 23, 2020

On today's episode, George Bremer of The Herald Bulletin joins to recap the Colts' 28-11 win over Minnesota. From the defense being dominant and an efficient offense, this was an all-around great performance for Indy.If DeForest Buckner can play like he did on Sunday every weekend, how good can this defense actually be? Also, Julian Blackmon had a debut similar to honestly maybe Darius Leonard in 2018.Flipping it to the offense, Mo Alie-Cox finally had his breakout game with 111 yards. Will Big Mo be TE1 moving forward? Jonathan Taylor and Philip Rivers also had solid outings, possibly showing a blueprint for what's to come.On the injury front, how will Indy replace Parris Campbell and Malik Hooker? Campbell is so unique it might be impossible, but Blackmon looks more than ready to replicate or even exceed Hooker's production.Finally, George provides his keys and prediction for Sunday's tilt against the New York Jets. Will this be another blowout win? 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 back into your latest episode of Locked on Colts, part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Today's audience is your host, Evan Sider, I'm joined by George Bremmer, the Colts beat writer for the Herald Bulletin. George, how are you doing today on this Tuesday afternoon? Good, how are you doing?

Doing well, thanks again for doing this. Really appreciate it. I know our listeners always enjoy having you on as well, George. And let's hit on just the quick hitters from this Vikings game, because one of the more thoroughly impressive games we've seen from this Colts defense in as well, George. And let's hit on just the quick hitters from this Vikings game because one of the more thoroughly impressive games we've seen from this Colts defense in a while, George, a really huge bounce back game from week one. And we'll say the Colts are really back in form here.

These new additions getting DeForest Buckner on board. He was unstoppable on Sunday. Of course, he had some injuries on too in a little bit, but a really huge bounce back game from the defense that was desperately needed. Yeah, I think one of the more surprising things about it was that they were able to do it even though they found out they were going to play without Rocky Sin just hours before kickoff. That's a really tough thing to overcome.

I don't really care who you're playing any given week. When you lose a starting cornerback that late in the game, it was really – they had to really kind of shift gears quite a bit. And then it kept happening during the game. You know, they ended up losing Xavier Rhodes for a while as well with cramps. And, you know, they got pretty deep into that cornerback depth chart. I thought T.J. Carey did a really good job coming in and playing his role. I thought Isaiah Rogers gave him some good snaps.

And then really the revelation in that backfield was Julian Blackman. After Malik Hooker went out with thefield was was Julian Blackman uh after Malik Hooker went out with the Achilles injury Blackman came in and he most certainly did not look like a guy who'd never had a full NFL practice and had only been practicing on a limited basis for about three weeks uh before he got out there and and really just was around the ball showed the instincts the physicality the range uh that this team believed that he had. And that's a kid that seems to have a very bright future. Yeah, 11 points allowed for this Vikings offense is pretty surprising to me, George.

Let's go to DeForest Buckner, though. A huge game for him, four quarterback hits, one and a half sacks. Really impressive game from Buckner here where he looked like really worth the money in that investment the Colts made to him. Yeah, and that's what he was brought in here for. And I'll tell you one thing that's been consistent the first two weeks, and Buckner's personal numbers weren't as good in week one, but that defensive line has gotten after quarterbacks.

You know, tip your cap to Gardner Minshew for making a lot of plays under pressure. You know, he was able to get out, roll out of the pocket, throw the ball on the run with accuracy and make plays. And I think that's, you know, that was a credit to him. But Colts sacked him four times. I don't know how many more quarterback hits they had in that game, somewhere around seven. And then when you look at the situation on Sunday, you know,

three more sacks of Kirk Cousins and I think close to double digits and hits again. So when they get a guy like Cousins who really doesn't want to move, I know the Vikings rolled him out quite a bit early on, but that's not his game. He doesn't want to make plays on the run. He doesn't want to make plays at all with his legs. When they get a guy like that, I think this defense can be pretty effective. Yeah. And really we told about throughout the offseason, we got to the season starting George, but if DeForest Buckner plays like this the rest of the season, I mean, has these kinds of moments against teams

like in the AFC, like a Kansas City, Baltimore, Buckner can kind of be that equalizer there. If you can get that consistent interior pressure like we saw on Sunday and really rattle Kirk Cousins throughout that game, it opens up the entire Pandora's box for this defense and their potential. They definitely kept Cousins completely rattled throughout the day. Even when he did

have a couple times, you could see that he was sort of hearing footsteps and getting rid of the ball faster than he wanted to. The timing was off completely for that Minnesota offense. That leads to better play from secondary. It really affected everything. And the other thing on Sunday too,

that we probably haven't talked about enough just because we're used to seeing it. Darius Leonard was Darius Leonard. He was not happy with the way he played against Jacksonville. He was flying all over the field. At one point he grabbed the guy and kind of slingshot him to the ground in the backfield. I just thought he had that energy, that, that, that sort of boundless enthusiasm that you expect from number 53. That was a big part of what we saw on Sunday as well.

Yeah, very awesome game from the maniac that we saw. I saw a tweet today from the Colts. He has 300 plus tackles in his first 30 games, the first ever linebacker to do that in NFL history, which says a lot about the production that Leonard's put together throughout the first two plus years of his career. But on defense here, George, I want to hit on the injuries a little bit because I do wonder how this will impact them moving forward here. Of course, the Colts are deep at safety, but it was announced on Monday morning that Hooker will be out for the rest of the year with a torn Achilles,

the same injury that signed Marlon Mack in week one against Jacksonville. And it happened once again, like Mack, on a non-contact injury. It actually happened on that safety where Hooker tried to pivot and point his foot a little bit and move towards the line of scrimmage. And it didn't cooperate. His Achilles popped, and he's now out for the year and possibly done with the Colts for the rest of his career. He might be on another team next year.

But like you mentioned at the top of the show, George, Julian Blackman, I even tweeted this out during the game, it seemed like an instant impact player for me. It almost reminded me of Darius Leonard in the Washington game. I know it wasn't that kind of monster numbers that we saw from Blackman, but instincts and those types of tackles that we saw from Blackman on Sunday are pretty rare from what we've seen so far in the safety position the last couple of years. Yeah, that was a really, really, really impressive showing,

especially from a kid that, you know, just December that he had a torn ACL. And I know that we've seen enough comebacks from that injury now that we kind of get immune to them. But what he's doing right now is, is not normal. He wasn't supposed to make an impact at all until maybe the middle of October. And the Colts were ready for that. They were ready to be patient. He came out and I can tell you, even in training camp the three weeks or. They were ready to be patient. He came out, and I can tell you, even in training camp, the three weeks or so that were open to the media,

he looked like a chained dog almost on the sideline. He wanted – he was, you know, stretching that leash. He wanted to get out there. He was doing everything you could possibly do on the side of the field without playing in the game. He was getting down in the stances. He was, you know, shadowing a receiver that wasn't there. Just anything he could do, you could tell how badly he wanted it.

It's obvious he was paying attention to what he was watching on the field. It's obvious he was paying attention in the classroom. He came out, and he was able to communicate with his teammates and make plays. I think there's a real possibility. He's still on a little bit of a pitch count, which is shocking to think of too when you see how well he played. But he's still recovering from that knee. So even with that, I think there's a good chance that

he'll start on, on Sunday against the Jets. And I think the Colts feel confident in that because of what they've seen from him. And then I think George Odom as well, you know, who will probably see some time back there. Every time that kid's got a chance, he's gone and made plays on the ball. I think he's probably going to see a little more time on Sunday as well, just if for no other reason than that pitch count. They've got another veteran in Tavon Wilson, who I think they feel comfortable with back there, who can make some plays for them. And then they called up Abraham Campbell today to kind of fill out that safety group. So I think they're going to miss Malik Hooker more than people probably realize. I think he was really a leader for that group, even as young as he is.

He's only 24, which is hard to remember, given he was one of those guys like Quincy Wilson who was drafted at such a young age. He's been around for a while. He's still a really young guy. But he's really been a leader in that defensive backfield. And his athleticism, his range allows him to do a lot of things. But I think this roster this year has been better created. It's been constructed better than what we've seen really in a long time around here,

just in terms of truly having that next man up. I think they feel pretty good about where they are. They're going to feel it. You feel every loss. But I think they have confidence in the guys that will go in there and play Sunday. Colts fans, rockauto.com is the place to go if you want to save money on your next car purchase, whether it be a new fuel pump assembly where you save $150 plus, or it's either new tires or anything else.

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I imagine there's probably little chance Hooker is back next year, direct from Julian Blackman. If he sees more consistent fight we saw on Sunday, he's going to make Hooker probably a lot less likely to come back anyways. What would you write about it? This is the book on Malik Hooker's career in Indianapolis, George anyways what would you write about if this is the book on willie cooker's career in indianapolis george what would you write yeah the injuries you know i think that's a terrible thing when that happens but that's what i'm always going to remember how good he looked before that knee injury his rookie year against the jaguars

and then it's just i don't know that he's ever been 100% for any significant amount of time since. I mean, we've just seen him have to deal with that from whether it's, you know, the nagging kind of hip and hamstring, ankle, knee kind of things that have taken place over the years. Or whether it's the big things like the Achilles now. You know, I think he was just affected throughout his career by things that were in some ways out of his control and and that's that happens you know that's part of the game unfortunately uh i i think he was snakebitten here and i think to both him and quincy wilson not to you know ultimately a player is going to make their own path you know and they'll be the first to say that it's up to them to go and do what they're asked to do and make the plays on the field and when you don't

there'll be consequences um that's the bottom line for anybody but i also feel like both those guys it's easy to forget they were drafted when the colts were still a 3-4 team the defense was a different scheme i think they were were drafted to play a different style of football. And I don't know that either of them ever really fully made the transition over with Matt Iberflues. I think that's when you hear Iberflues talk about the last two training camps and what he saw from Hooker and why he was so excited. I think that's what was starting to happen with Malik. I think he was starting to get it, starting to fit into this scheme. And, of course, you know, tragically, his season ends one and a half games in.

So I do agree. I think there's a really good chance that we've probably seen him for the last time in an Indianapolis uniform. And I think it's going to be one of those what ifs. You know, what if he played one defensive scheme? What if he'd been healthy? But the bottom line is he never was able to, for whatever reason, he was never able to live up to that 15th overall pick status here with the Colts. Last point on defense here, George, we're transitioning over to the offense.

Talk about Paris Campbell's injury too as well in that category. Just bouncing back to the defensive line for a second here because I can't help but see the game on Sunday, how much havoc the force Buckner wrecked. We saw Justin Houston again, Navasack. Danico Autry had a good game himself as well. How intrigued are you to see this Colts defensive line, especially a player like Kamoko Torre once he gets back November 1st

against the Detroit Lions, when you add on alongside Buckner and Houston, if this continues for a player like Buckner, just continue to just dominate. Yeah, and Taequann Lewis came in and made a big play and kind of verified some of the things that we've been saying about him in training camp as well. I think this is a very deep defensive line. I think it's finally getting close to where Chris Ballard and Frank Reich wanted it to be all along. You've heard them talk really from almost the day that Reich was hired about wanting

to be able to bring that defensive lineman in waves, wanting to have eight starters, wanting to have fresh legs in it any given time and just have that relentless, nonstop pursuit of the quarterback. I think you're starting to see that a little bit here through the first two weeks. Grover Stewart had a great game on Sunday. He didn't affect the quarterback as much. There were one or two plays where he was involved in that. But he was a big part of shutting down Dalvin Cook

and that Minnesota run game and making sure that they couldn't get things going in that direction either. And I feel like a lot of the credit goes to, you've heard his name a lot through the offseason. I think so much credit deserves to go to Brian Baker. The job that he's done coming in here and getting the defensive linemen to focus on those one-on-one matchups,

still play as a unit, but focus on winning those one-on-one matchups, be aggressive, get upfield, get in the backfield and make plays. And really, like I said at the top of the show, that's been the one consistent thing we've seen from this defense. The defensive line has been in the back

pounding the quarterback for eight quarters so far this season yeah that's been awesome to see with this defensive line group and deforest sputner's definitely made the difference you saw on sunday is how much he can dominate a game when he's full throttle but let's transition over to the offense now george and let's find paris campbell's injury first here it's going to be a huge impact to this colts offense here he's such a unique player with this 4-3-1 speed. It's going to be hard to try to replicate that from anyone in this Colts wide receiving core. Maybe you can try to add Naeem Hines to the outside here a little bit more

often. But just a really bad look for Paris Campbell again here, George. Just all throughout last year, injury, plague. Now this year we see the car crash, concussion, and training camp, missed a couple practices. Now a couple weeks later we see him in week two go down with a knee injury. From what I've read so far, a sprain MCL and PCL, the timetable is to be determined.

George, I don't know if you heard anything about that just yet, but what's your expectation moving forward after this offense without Paris Campbell, just Campbell himself now battling another injury? Yeah, I think as far as the injury itself goes, I think they're still kind of waiting for some of the swelling to go down and get a better idea of exactly what they're dealing with and and have more of a firm timetable on on when he might be back it's not season ending they don't think and that's a very good sign uh you know I think when it first happened there was a lot of fear that

as bad as it is and it is bad I think there was a lot of fear early on that was even worse uh that he was going to be done for the year, and at least it doesn't look like they're going to have to deal with that. But in many ways, it's a lot like the Marlon Mack injury in the sense that here was a guy who you could really see taking off a big year in front of him. It was obvious in Jacksonville how well he meshes with Phillip Rivers. As you mentioned, his skill set is very unique among this wide receiver group. I think it was going to be a really big year for Paris Campbell,

and now he's going to have to go back through, start that process all over again of rehab and getting back to being himself. And, you know, who knows how many games that will actually be for him. He was put on ir today so we know it's going to be at least three weeks i think that's probably on the very low end of it uh you know we'll see we'll see how that all plays out um but it it's another kind of gut punch loss for the offense just because a really young player who you could see really big things ahead for him this year. And Nick Sirianni said today, it's not going to be one guy.

As you mentioned, they're not going to plug in Zach Paschal and say, here, go, you're Paris Campbell now. It's not going to work that way. Paschal will probably get the majority of the reps that Campbell had before, but they're going to really divide that role up. I think you'll see Naheem Hines out in there at times as a slot receiver. I think you'll see Michael Pittman in certain situations. I would certainly think short yardage, goal line, situations like that,

when they go three wide or more. It wouldn't surprise me to see Pittman come in there. I think when Trey Burton gets back and gets healthy, he'll be a part of that mix. I would put Mo Alley-Cox in there, something think when Trey Burton gets back and gets healthy, he'll be a part of that mix. I would put Mo Alleycox in there, some of the things we saw him do, some of the mismatches that he could create in that spot. I think you're going to see really a team effort there. You're going to see a lot of different guys line up in the slot. And much like everything else they do on offense, I think it's going to be week to week. There'll be times where they want to take

advantage of a certain matchup and you'll see them move that personnel all around everywhere. But it's a loss that this team is going to feel, and I think they did on Sunday. The offense was good. The offense was not great. They kicked four field goals again, and I think right now that unit really wants to be better on third down and be better in the red zone and

finish more of these drives yeah speaking of big mo george a monster game from him on sunday five catches for 111 yards at a rough start for him though uh you have the interception he drops off his hands and you can see in the box working and watching him you credit rivers for that throw but malia cox that was his fault and that one he dropped it right into their defenders hands end up a key turnover early in the game but from there five straight targets for him and with a But Malia Cox, it was his fault in that one. He dropped it right into the defender's hands. Ended up a key turnover early in the game. But from there, five straight targets for him. Ended with 111 yards on those receptions.

Just a huge game for Malia Cox. I read he was the highest grade tight end on Pro Football Focus with a 94.8, the highest grade for a tight end since 2017 with Rob Gronkowski. Just what should the Colts offense expect moving forward here, George? If you can use Malia Cox a little bit more often because he's kind of the best of both worlds here when it comes to like a Trey Burton receiver and a Jack Dula type of blocker. After Sunday, is it fair to say I want to see more big movement for you, George?

Absolutely it is. And I think that, you know, we talked all along. It's another thing that's been talked about since Phillip Rivers signed here in March. He loves big targets. He loves those big guys. It's generally been wide receivers that he's thrown to like that, but I think Mo Alleycox fits that mold, you know, and he's had good success with his tight ends period over the years, but when you look at Mo, he's a giant, giant man. His hands are about the size of most people's head. It's incredible how big he is in person.

And I think that that really fits well with what Phillip Rivers wants to do. You saw the last catch in particular, I think, was pretty vintage Rivers, the 27-yarder down to the two to set up the touchdown pass to Zach Paschal. It was more – it wasn't a jump ball necessarily because I don't think the defender had enough chance to make it a 50-50 ball. But, you know, get it up in the air air let Mo go up and get it he stretched use those basketball skills he had at VCU brought the ball down and made it look easy I think that was the thing is that it wasn't just that he had five catches for 111 yards he made it look easy and I think in a

lot of ways the mistake early on made it even more impressive because there's a lot of guys making really their first start I know it's like his third career start but this is really the first time that he was the man there was no Eric Ebron there was no Jack Doyle there was no other tight end they were going to turn to throughout the day first time in his career that it was on his shoulders and you go out there and then you have a mistake early on it takes points off the board a lot of guys that he could have crumbled at that point had a really bad day and and Mo Alley Cox just kind of shrugged it off and went out and had an outstanding game and I think the Colts it's just another weapon now for this offense there's so many different ways they can attack you so many different things they want

to do now you throw in a tight end who's a mismatch like Mo Alley-Cox is. And I say this much. I would not want to be the defensive coordinator trying to sleep the week before defending this offense. Colts fans, Bilt Bar is back. The best tasting protein bar ever. Whether it be any of our new flavors available or even the 12 original ones, there is a flavor that you will enjoy and I 100% guarantee that. The Bilt Bar is also covered in 100% chocolate and they're soft and easy to chew. They're great

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$10 off your next order. Use promo code LOCKEDON E-D-O-N for $10 off at BiltBar.com. Again, it's BiltBar.com. B-U-I-L-T B-A-R.com. Yeah, Melani Cox looks like a mismatched nightmare moving forward here, George. And I really want to see more of him moving forward. It looks like this upcoming Sunday, I'd be surprised if Jack Doyle plays.

I don't know if he's going to practice at all this week. Trey Burton is still out with his injury as well. So he could be in for another repeat performance from Mo Ali Cox. But last point here on this, George, before we dive into Phillip Berger's, before we go into our Jets preview, Jonathan Taylor had 28 touches for 110 yards on Sunday. What was your impression of him? Because that was a huge workload to go into in his first NFL start. Yeah, I think the impressive thing to me about Taylor is he had, what, 26 carries for 101 yards, a couple catches for nine more. But you felt like it was good, and yet he can be be better and when you say that about a rookie and

really his first extended performance and he has those kind of numbers it just gives you an idea of what his ceiling can be and phil rivers was talking after the game about there's just certain plays where you know when his vision catches up to his skill set he's played long enough he's seen enough and he knows to make this cut here or this move there, that there's more yardage out there on the field for him. There's one that comes to mind in particular. I think it was in the second half where he kind of kept going to his left, and had he cut back to the right, it looked like there was quite a bit of space.

When he gets that experience and he does that, this kid's going to be i think a next level kind of star and he saw that right away much like what we were saying about julian blackman here's the guy who comes in in his second nfl game no preseason games a shortened training camp no real full contact practice and he goes out there and he looks like he not only does he look like he belongs at times he was carrying the offense. To think that he can do that, and that's just kind of a – in the next few weeks it's probably going to look like just a regular game for him and not a career highlight. It says a lot about where Jonathan Taylor is going

and what the Colts potentially can do with him. Yeah, I calculated those numbers up, George. Just over a 16-game sample size. Of course, he was Marlon Mack's backup week one here. But would you be surprised if in the forward year, I did the quick estimates, it looks like Taylor would have 350-plus touches this year in the Colts' offense.

This type of production continues for him in the receiving and the rushing game. Would that surprise you, George? It seems like to me right away, even in his first start, that Taylor is the true workhorse of his offense now. I think he's definitely the workhorse. It would surprise me if he got to that number just because I think that this offense is still going to be a little bit of a Rolodex attack.

I think they're going to kind of spin the wheel and sort of, you know, do whatever they feel like they need to do that week to take advantage of that opponent. Obviously, from the early going, they had decided that they were going to lean on this Minnesota team and run some power football at them, and it worked. From literally the opening drive, if they don't have that mistake down in the red zone from the opening drive, this offense was kind of dictating to Minnesota.

I think all day long, really, the only time they got slowed down was their own penalties. I can't really think of a drive that was completely stalled because of the defense. It was usually something that the Colts did, and that's something that I think they want to clean up too moving forward. Obviously, just in week two, you're going to have some of that sloppiness. But I think that if they choose to do it, I think that Taylor absolutely is that kind of running back.

He showed it at Wisconsin for three years. Nothing about his NFL career so far suggests otherwise. I just don't think that that's, I don't think the Colts are going to be the team that does that week in, week out. They're going to look different every week by design. Yeah, that's the great thing about this Colts offense now with how low they are offensively with all these playmakers, even with injuries. You see Molly Cox, Jonathan Taylor step into bigger roles and really thrive in those situations. Once they're more, even more healthy moving forward,

I think this Colts offense is going to be a lot of fun to watch. And a lot of that is due to Phillip Urser as the new quarterback for the Colts team, George. So far this year, he's completed over 77% of his passes. It's one of the best numbers in the NFL so far through two weeks, but I would honestly be shocked, George, that number drops off even that much because the offense with Rivers is so efficient now. The passing attack is so efficient where he sees his read, he makes the read right away.

He's the quickest in the NFL as far as time to throw goes. He makes a decision and goes right away. I think we're in for a year, George, even with the interceptions. He has three and two games. That's kind of expected of Phillip Rivers. I'd be shocked if he's a below 70% completion percentage guy this year, would you? I would, too.

I think that you're seeing a lot of the reasons why Frank Reich wanted him here and why Phillip Rivers wanted to be here. In a lot of ways, he's a perfect fit in this offense, especially at this point in his career. You know, people wonder, does he still have the arm strength? He's got enough. You saw that on the on the ty hilton play but this offense doesn't ask you to do that very often and i think that's by design again you

know this is exactly what you're talking about for the most part this is a quick hit offense make the read get the ball out let the receiver make a play with in space and then you move forward and you run the ball to complement that and then once the defense finally kind of cheats up and gets tired of death by a thousand paper cuts then you go over the top even when andrew luck was running this office i remember back in 2018 it was week five week six they were still kind of struggling and people were asking is there something wrong with his shoulder he really hasn't gone deep you know is there is there a problem is there something they're not telling us and then as the defense has kind of started to adjust to what the Colts were doing,

you saw more deep shots as the year went on. I think that's kind of the way it's going to be. And because of that, I think you're going to see Rivers hang around in that 70, you know, somewhere in that range on completion percentage because that just fits his game. He's seen it all. He's done it all. He reads everything very well before the snap,

and then he just gets the ball out and moves on. And I think I see no reason to believe that's not going to be the way the offense operates all year. Moving on to our final few questions of the show, previewing this Jets game on Sunday here. This Jets team, quite frankly, Georgia looks pretty awful on paper

and on the field. We saw last week they were just trounced by the 49ers even with all their injuries. They were trounced the week before against the Bills. I'd be shocked. I mean, I just checked DraftKings while you were talking there, George. The spread for this game is massive. It's the biggest one of this whole week in the NFL.

Ten-and-a-half-point favorites the Colts are. The over-under is 44 points. I mean, Vegas is expecting a 10-plus point win for this Colts. I don't blame them. What do you think? Yeah, I think, for one thing, the Colts better win. You cannot lose this game and consider yourself an ASC South championship contender. I mean, the Jacksonville loss right now maybe doesn't look quite as bad as it did in week one after they go into Tennessee and really take it to the Titans in much the same way they did the Colts. Tennessee is able to hold on and win that game with a late field goal and a

turnover. But, you know, Jacksonville may not be the top five drafting team that we all thought that they would be. And they may end up still being that. But obviously at this point in the season, they're a pretty competitive bunch. That's still a game the Colts should have won, but I don't know if it's quite the abject failure that it felt like on opening week. This would be. I think when you look at the Jets, there's not much that's gone right for them throughout the first two weeks of the season. Adam Gates is quite embattled as the

head coach there. There's a lot of reasons. Things are going south there for the Jets. They don't have a lot of weapons on offense. Their defense isn't doing much right, and it shows up on the scoreboard, but it's not been that long. You just got to go back to 2018 when they went into New York. Sam Darnold carved this defense up, and the Jets came away with a win that nobody expected. The low point of that 2018 season was really after that that that the Colts kind of got things together and went on that run and made the playoffs. But it is, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility. We have seen this team have trouble with a quarterback who can kind of make plays on the run. Darnold can do that. I think the Colts are going to have to come and play the way they

did Sunday against Minnesota, or they do risk, you know, trouble on Sunday. I'm going to go 31-13, George. Maybe I'm a little overzealous for seeing what happened on Sunday, just how bad this Jets team is on paper. But I'm going to go with a pretty huge win for the Colts on Sunday. But before I let you go here, George, give me your prediction, your keys to the game on Sunday. Yeah, you know, I got a feeling it's going to be closer than it should.

I'll go like 27-21. I just, I still have memories fresh of Darnold just kind of standing in that pocket and tearing this team apart, throwing into the zone, the holes in the zones. And obviously that defense did not show up Sunday against Minnesota. And if it doesn't show up against the Jets, I think the Colts will be fine. I think the number one goal is going to be getting to Darnold. I don't know. You know, all the respect in the world for Frank Gore. He's one of my favorite players that I've covered.

I think it's still a miracle that he's out there and he's running. He's as productive as he is. But he's not going to strike fear into you the way Dalvin Cook does. You know, he's not Alvin Kamara. He's not that kind of running back. I think that the key is going to be keeping Darnold in the pocket and keeping pressure on him. Don't let him escape and make plays.

The few things the Jets have done well this year offensively, and it's probably able to count on one hand, has come when Darnold has taken a broken play, gotten out of the pocket, made a play on the run. Don't let that happen, and you should be able to shut down this Jets defense. And then I think offensively, you know, I do think the Jets are a little more stout probably up the middle than Minnesota was. You got Quentin Williams in there. You know, it might not be the game to lean on Jonathan Taylor 26, 27 times. Maybe we want to attack this team a little more on the edge. So maybe you get a little more of T.Y. Hilton

than there has been through the first two weeks. Maybe you get a little bit more of Zach Paschal. Maybe Michael Pittman is a key player on Sunday. Use that Philip Rivers experience to attack the Jets and get that early lead so that the pressure is even more effective on Darnold. I think you do those things, you should be okay. Come out with a victory. Like I said, I don't know why I got a gut feeling.

The Colts just, you go back to the Miami game last year, the Jets game two years ago, they tend to not play well sometimes in these games that they're supposed to win handily. We'll see what happens on Sunday. George, I always enjoy talking with you about the Colts. And you guys can go follow him on Twitter if you're not already, at GMBramer, and go read his work, as always, over in the Herald Bulletin.

George, appreciate it. We'll talk to you again next Tuesday. No problem. Thanks a lot.