Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' AD Mitchell, Kwity Paye X-Factors to Upsetting Houston Texans
Episode Date: September 6, 2024Anthony Richardson and the Indianapolis Colts are facing CJ Stroud and the Houston Texans at potentially the perfect time. Rookie WR AD Mitchell and DE Kwity Paye could be huge X-factors in the Colts ...taking advantage of Houston's weaknesses. Become a Locked On Colts insider! Ask your burning questions and get prompt answers from someone who's around the team every day! Get special access from the locker room, practice field, and press box! JOIN HERE! Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts/📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-nfl/ Follow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOn_SI, as well on TikTok and Instagram! This episode is brought to you by PrizePicks. Go to PrizePicks.com/lockedonnfl and use code all lowercase lockedonnfl to win $50 instantly when you play $5. For your next listen, check out the Locked On Fantasy Football podcast. Get daily insight to the best Fantasy draft strategies so you can win your league this season. Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!PrizePicksGo to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL and use code lockedonmlb to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game. BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON today to get 10% off your first month.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelNow through September 22nd, ALL FanDuel customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get a THREE WEEK free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FANDUEL.COM/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)
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This is it. The Colts are underdogs at home on Sunday against the Texans, but no worries.
We're going to tell you how they can defend their home turf. Let's get to it.
You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast.
Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.
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What is up, everybody?
This is Jake Arthur and Zach Hicks of horseshoehuddle.com.
I'm your resident credentialed media member, and Zach is the best dang film nerd in the
biz.
And today is our final opportunity to break down Colts Texans ahead of the game.
Hopefully you caught Crossover Thursday with Cody Davis and I from Locked on Texans last night.
Today, it's Zach and I spilling our final thoughts.
We now know the injury report and all that good stuff. So we'll kind of take you through what the offense and defense both need to do to really capitalize on their advantages or counter their disadvantages
against Houston. And then we'll kind of wrap up things and give you our final thoughts and
our predictions on this one. But first, just to get the injury report out of the way, which really
does tie into the offense, Josh Downs is the only player that's already been ruled out. He, of course,
has been dealing with a high ankle sprain for a month now. He has recently gotten back on the field for rehab.
He's been running routes and cutting.
I saw him today on the side field kind of running some sprints
and running around a little bit.
He doesn't seem to be limping, and he looks pretty good.
So all fingers crossed, maybe he gets on the practice field next week.
But for now, he has been ruled out.
And then Matt Gay, I kind of thought today was
going to be the complete opposite, Zach. I thought Shane Steichen was going to come in today and be
like, Matt Gay, the guy who had surgery like a week or two ago, he's not going to play and Josh
Downs is questionable. It seems like strategically there was probably more to that. But Matt Gay is
going to be questionable. They say perhaps a game time decision.
Shane didn't really commit to that one way or the other. I would be surprised if he plays.
If he doesn't, it's going to be undrafted rookie Spencer Schrader that gets the nod.
I don't know if the Colts just want to hold out all hope that their normal kicker is going to be out there. I don't know. Maybe they're just going to have to lean on taking more chances on,
on fourth downs this week.
It's a kicker,
man.
It's good.
Schrader could be the greatest kicker of all time.
Yeah.
Like,
here's the thing,
man,
we don't know with kickers. This could be the greatest kicker of all time,
or he could be an absolute bum who has no clue what he's doing.
Like it's a kicker.
There's there's the range of possibilities is always crazy,
but I do want to talk about the Josh downs absence and how it relates to
the Colts offense, because I think the biggest biggest advantage the Colts have in this matchup
is just the unknown like who knows what the heck this offense is going to look like
in this game and not even in terms of efficiency and in terms of how players perform but just what
the formations look like what you know the Colts are throwing out there
at the Texans. We saw in glimpses last year when Anthony Richardson did play with the Colts,
how they were, you know, QB run heavy team at times. They mixed in a lot of pistol. They had
some really unique and interesting sets. I mean, their goal line set where Richardson was
essentially the only quarterback back there in the backfield. They had two guys as like sniffer tight ends back there in that really cool QB power RPO.
Just stuff like that.
Like how prevalent are these, you know, kind of unique offensive sets with Anthony Richardson.
And with downs being out, it also is another thing when it comes to the unknown of ad mitchell in the slot you know
i think there's going to be some mistakes and some things that are not perfect but how does it change
from josh downs where downs was used a lot as like that orbit motion guy the guy coming you know
moving a lot pre-snap doing some of the cheat motion type stuff and and kind of doing that to
keep the the defense moving with ad. Mitchell, are you using him the
same way? Are you orbit motioning him into the backfield like you did with Downs? Probably not,
but you still want to have that element in your offense. So I think something that's really
interesting with the Colts offense in this game is there's so much unknown, like how Richardson's
going to perform, how this offense is going to look in general, what Mitchell looks like from the slot, because this is a guy who had 11% of his career snaps
in college in the slot.
Now he's the Colts starting slot receiver in his first NFL game.
A lot of really cool, interesting things to follow for the Colts on offense.
Their offense needs to be clicking.
If you want to have a chance to win this, I think there's a good chance they could be
clicking, but there's so much unknown when it comes to this Colts offense that it's really hard to predict what kind of output they're going to have a chance to win this. I think there's a good chance they could be clicking, but there's so much unknown when it comes to this Colts offense that it's really hard to predict what
kind of output they're going to have. Yeah. I'm not sure if downs absence,
like drastically changes overall what they would like to accomplish or, you know,
how they would like to attack. It definitely changes things like in clutch situations and
like certain the pecking order of certain, you know, passing downs and everything.
I do think if they had it their way,
they obviously want to establish the run.
And I do think AD Mitchell being out there certainly helps if they want to
get like the, the play action downfield shots going.
If that's part of what they would like to accomplish.
Certainly Jonathan Taylor has a great track record against Houston on the ground throughout his entire career.
Week 18 just had like 188 yards.
The last time we saw him, he was tearing Houston up.
And they know that, obviously.
But with Anthony Richardson out there, I think that certainly helps counter when teams want to try and load up the stop specifically Taylor. But still, I think you're
right when it comes to, you know, errors or just learning experiences from A.D. Mitchell. I think
that Cincinnati game was a great example. He did some nice things, but there was that one third
down play where he came out of his break and saw something in coverage he wasn't expecting,
and it caused him to kind of hiccup a little bit. We may see things like that. I'm just curious as to how they're going to use it as well,
just like you mentioned. This could be another big one for the tight ends. This could be a good
Kylan Granson out of the slot game if they want to do that. You mentioned the orbit motions and
things. I can't recall, other than downs, I can't really recall anyone other than Anthony Gould really doing it during training camp.
So when you see Gould out there, that's maybe when they try and, you know, open up the defense from disguising what they're doing and get those motions going.
But, yeah, you certainly want to have Josh Downs out there for those, the things we've always kind of touted him for when you need that immediate quick win on third down or anything, just that short yardage stuff. You're certainly going to
miss that. But I think their passing game could be more boom or bust as a result in this one.
But I think the play action is going to be one of the biggest X factors in the passing game this
week. Yeah, I think the biggest thing to really look at with the Colts and how effective they're
going to be on offense in this game is how,
how good the RPO slash inside zone run game is because what we saw in that
week 18 game last year is the Colts were just killing the Texans on inside
zone, inside split zone RPOs built off of that as well.
Like they were throwing the RPO occasionally, but more so it was the window dressing with
the RPO game that led to the linebackers not feeling very hard in the run game.
And then obviously the Colts inside trio, Will Fries, Ryan Kelly, and Quentin Nelson,
just dominating the Texans defensive tackles who, you know, I don't want to say they're
bad players, but it certainly was not the top of the league by any means.
And even though the Texans have new faces at defensive tackle this year,
it's still kind of the same caliber of player that are in there.
You know, solid players, like don't get me wrong,
but they're not like these, like you're not going against like DJ Reader
or Grover Stewart type player on the inside.
So if the Colts can get good drive up front on their inside zone,
their split zone runs,
which Shane Steichen's offense basically lives on inside zone and split zone,
if they can get that good drive up front,
get some good displacement there,
and their RPO game can do enough with the window dressing
where these linebackers are moving off their spot
or not filling effectively,
I think we're going to see another big Jonathan Taylor performance
like we saw in Week 18.
And if Richardson can just give a little bit more in the passing game
than Minshew gave, which is not that hard for what Minshew gave
in that Week 18 game, I think they can have a much more efficient
overall day throwing the ball than what they did in that final game last year.
So that'll be the key on offense is how well they can run the ball,
how well they can build the RPOs off of those inside zones and split zones. And then obviously can Richardson
get some of those big plays and hit those deep shots and mitigate the turnovers? Because when
it comes to Richardson, I'm not too concerned about interceptions or anything, but fumbles,
you know, keeping two hands on the ball when he's rolling out of the pocket,
what the QB run game looks like if he's keeping two hands on it then too.
Like I think if you can mitigate those turnovers,
keep the run game going, give it to Taylor, lean on inside zone,
split zone RPOs.
I think you can have a really good effective offense in this one,
even with this new revamped Houston defense,
but it's going to take those things and a pretty efficient day from
Richardson to keep up with a really good Houston Texans offense.
Yeah, because of that, I'm kind of wondering if similar to the Cincinnati game.
Again, I know it's preseason and you're holding your cards close to your chest.
But we know Anthony loves those shots over the middle, those shots of the seam.
It seems like, you know, maybe they pull that coverage in a little closer, which leaves the middle of the field open.
That kind of works into his advantage. It's certainly stuff he's comfortable with. So coming up next, guys,
we're going to talk about the defense. Obviously on paper, this is not a great matchup for the
Colts, but there's things they can do to hang in there and maybe even best the Houston offense.
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All right, Jake, we're back talking Indianapolis Colts,
Houston Texans, week one this Sunday.
The game we've been waiting for all offseason.
I know we did multiple episodes in the offseason being like, what's the game you're looking forward to? What's the biggest game of
the season? And I always said this week one game against the Houston Texans, try to break the curse,
get revenge for week 18. I think this game is massive for the Colts. And, you know, on offense,
I think we're both pretty optimistic in the Colts offense. Like, I don't think it's gonna be perfect
by any means. But we're optimistic in the Richardson and Taylor to combo. We're very, very much in on Shane
Steichen and what they can do with that. And Steichen had pretty good success against this
Houston defense and D'Amico Ryan's last year. So we're pretty confident that they can at least
muster up some points on offense. But when it comes to the Colts defense, it's a little bit of a different story.
Historically, the Gus Bradley style of defense
is very susceptible to the Shanahan tree of coaching,
which Bobby Slovic comes from.
You know, a lot of in-breakers,
a lot of routes that were designed
to beat the Gus Bradley defense.
And with Gus still kind of slowly transitioning
his defense to the new era of football,
the modern era of football, his defense still kind of gets shredded by the style of offenses.
But I think the real big key for this game is the Colts defensive line,
because what we saw last year, I mean, look, for all we say about Gus Bradley's style of defense,
the inexperience at corner, I mean, they were starting Darrell Baker Jr.
in both of these games last year.
You know, with all the stuff that we say about the colts defense they allowed what 21 points per game
in two games against the texans last year 20 in the first matchup and what was it 23 in the second
one so like 21 and a half yeah yeah yeah so they didn't really get bludgeoned on the scoreboard
last year in this matchup against a really good young quarterback who was throwing to some really good wide receivers so how did they do that how were they able to do that
they took away the run game every time the Houston Texans ran the ball in the against the Colts in
those two matchups it was a massive win for the Colts and then they got after the passer I mean
obviously in the second matchup we wish they would have got after the quarterback a little bit better
but in the first matchup that's why that game was a blowout going into the fourth quarter.
And in the second matchup, it's the only reason it was close.
So the key is forcing them into third and longs with winning the run game, winning against
the run game early, and then obviously unleashing your pass rushers there on third down and
making life difficult for CJ Stroud.
Because I'll tell you what, right now, this game is not going to be won by the Colts secondary.
It would be awesome if it was.
Like, it would make us all feel really good, but it's going to come down to this Colts defensive
line.
If they can take away the run game and stop Joe Mixon in this new offense and then get
after CJ Stroud, they can make this a really good competitive game.
But if the defensive line doesn't show up, then we might see fireworks from this Texans
offense.
That's the whole thing for me. It's just about the pass rush. I mean, they have,
they've just got to get home. It doesn't necessarily have to be sacks. It doesn't
have to be seven sacks like it was in the first matchup last year, but to be able to consistently
get Stroud out of his rhythm, not Don't let him step into everything.
Get him moving.
I mean, I think Stroud's troublesome no matter how you look at it because I think he works ad lib very well.
But you've got to get pressure to stay.
You just have got to rattle him a little bit.
Because otherwise you're trusting this pretty green secondary
to stay in coverage forever.
And we've seen even the best cornerbacks can't hang forever.
Like you have got to have that pressure up front.
I'm pretty confident in them being able to stop the run.
That'll, that'll be a big part of it.
I am very curious though,
something Cody and I talked about last night was, you know,
there's a lot of newness for Houston.
And I think the Colts caught houston at
a very good time early last year where they were still figuring things out like they didn't really
know how to operate the offense with stroud and in the beginning and then they kind of settled in a
little bit they've got to try and work in stefan diggs they've got to figure out like is our run
game still going to be crap we have joe mix now we've got to try to do something with that.
They've got new weapons there.
So they've got to figure out how this works.
Plus Tank Dell's season ended last year with an ACL.
They've got to work him back in there.
So maybe the Colts catch them at a time where they're still trying to figure things out offensively.
And then I think if the Colts are just, if they just find themselves where they're
supposed to be, like you don't have to reinvent the wheel, you don't have to be a bunch of
playmakers, but eliminate the mental mistakes, the miscommunications and things like that.
Those things will naturally come up through the course of the game, but uncharacteristically for
the Colts, we saw cost them points all the time last year. I mean, the 76 yard touchdown in week 18 was a great example. That stuff just can't happen. Like just be where
you're supposed to be. And more often than not, things will work out. Yeah. I mean, I'm going to
sound like every high school coach when I say these things, like the keys to success in this
one, because they're very self-explanatory and they're ones that, you know, duh, you know,
like they make a lot of sense.
But like stay on top of the deep ball and just make your freaking tackles, like make your tackles.
That's all that matters.
Like don't miss tackles, limit their yards after catch and don't allow those 80 yard bombs over the top.
Like, I mean, CJ Stroud was one of the best deep passers in football last year.
He was so efficient and effective throwing the ball down the field. You've got to stay on top of those routes. Even if you're sacrificing
a 20-yard in-breaker as a result, that's fine. Get them into the red zone and stuff them in the
red zone. Force field goals. You can win this game by forcing field goals and not allowing
touchdowns. The second you're missing tackles, the second you're letting screen plays turn into
50-yard gains, the second you're allowing play-action passes to be 70-yard touchdowns, that's when you lose the game.
So stay over top of them, make your tackles, and win in the trenches.
Because we're going to talk about it in our final segment here,
but the Colts' biggest advantage in this game on both sides of the ball
is how big the discrepancy is overall on the trenches on both sides.
It's how good the entire Colts offensive line is compared to the entire
Texans defensive line, which it's a good defensive line.
The Texans have two really good edge rushers,
but the Colts have the advantage there.
And especially on defense,
the Colts defensive line versus the Texans offensive line,
who Laramie Tunsell is a great player,
but the rest of those guys fine at best, you know, like decent.
Like you've got to take advantage.
Quidipe has to win against Titus Howard.
You know, you have to get wins on the inside with DeForest Buckner.
You have to get wins at the other defensive tackle spot that's rushing Daiwa Dangbo, you know, or Adetomiwa if he's the one who's getting out there, whoever it is, they have to get those wins up front and really showcase that, you know,
this trench advantage we have is what's going to win us this game.
Because if they're not taking advantage of that discrepancy they have,
they're not going to win this football game.
Yeah, I think Houston, like you mentioned, up front,
they have one clear strong link there in Laramie Tunil as a pass blocker but try and overwhelm him
if you can you know latu and buckner rushing side by side together that seems to be a pretty enticing
matchup get some stunts and stuff going with them make make life difficult for tonsil and make it so
his task isn't so straightforward every play like Just try and overwhelm their clear strongest link.
I think things should work out pretty well.
The Colts do have the clear advantage there,
defensive line versus offensive line,
but that just worries me because we've seen it not work out before.
They haven't taken advantage of that.
Now, I think so early in the season, this is great for them.
I think they'll do what they need to.
But it is worrisome that it's such a big red light shining on what they need to do.
And it's just so obvious.
It's like, well, will they do it?
We're too pessimistic for this, Jake.
I think that's what it is.
I've just been, you know, it's like when you give someone advice and they don't take it and then, you know, they go get hit by a car.
I don't know.
I'll say this real quick because we got to get to our final segment.
But when you are covering a team who has not won in week one since 2013 and one of those losses in there was Urban Meyer's only head coaching win.
When you were an 11 and five team that went to the playoffs, you know, you lost to a one win.
You lost to a one win Jaguars team in week one. That's when you just know that like,
you got to be a little pessimistic with week one, but I am fairly optimistic of what you guys will
see in the final segment here too. Yeah. And I'm going to go on a little bit of a, I'll go on a
little thread of how long it's been since the Colts have won a week one matchup. But yeah, we'll get to that in
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You know,
I think this is a really great matchup.
If you're super confident in CJ Stroud,
maybe you want to go look at his yardage mark and say,
he's going to go more than if you say history is going to repeat itself.
And Jonathan Taylor is going to absolutely gash Houston go go more than. If you're worried about Anthony as a passer,
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run your game all right so i kind of feel like i want to sing that song like 5 million 25 600
minutes or whatever it is like that's how long it's been since the Colts won week one and
that's probably low-balling it because I don't know that song I'll be honest with you guys okay
Jake I was a sophomore in high school the last time the Colts the last time the Colts won a week
one game I am a married man who has a house now like this I wasn't even married yet, dude. Like, I swear to God, I've been with my wife forever.
I had just bought this house.
My wife and I weren't married yet.
But for real, it was against Terrell Pryor.
Not only was he in the NFL, he was still a quarterback playing for the Oakland Raiders.
It's been a big, fat minute since the Colts won in the eighth one.
I don't know what it is.
Like sometimes curses and sports are real.
I think they could turn it around.
Like,
again,
I like that they're getting Houston at this point of the year where they
still have things they got to figure out.
Even when you have like super teams and stuff like in the NBA,
for example,
those teams take a minute to gel and figure things out and kind of come to their
conclusion of what, how they need to play. And, you know, I don't think Houston's going to get
to the Superbowl or anything, but I think they're a really, really good team, but they're going to,
I don't think they're going to click immediately. Like they have things to figure out. So for me,
I'm very confident in the Colts ability to run the ball in this one, which can help them control the clock.
I don't know if the clock is going to super matter because C.J. Stroud is a good downfield passer,
even without Tank Dell, and now he's got Tank Dell back.
So that's kind of scary.
But the Colts do have clear advantages.
Like you said, O-line, D-line, that's great.
They should be able to harass Stroud.
Again, I think they can run the ball with Anthony and Jonathan.
However, it's going to take me a minute.
The Colts, let's say their secondary does wind up playing well this year.
I think it's going to take them a minute, too.
I don't think it's just going to magically materialize right away in week one
against the reigning rookie of the year.
I do think it's going to be an entertaining, close game like these all have turned out
to be.
But one of the biggest problems for me is the kicking game.
I do not like that Matt Gay is hurt and might play.
I don't like the fact that a rookie undrafted kicker might be the kicker.
I think there's going to be at least one missed kick in this one.
And for that reason, I think there's going to be at least one missed kick in this one.
And for that reason, I have Houston winning 30 to 27.
I know you can feel me on that. You don't like if they had prime Justin Tucker,
you wouldn't be comfortable with that. No, no. Like, yeah, kicker. I'm not here to give kicker analysis, guys. You guys guys know you guys saw my solo episode the other day where i was i know that i had to kill you i was in pain talking about kicker play um
my overall thoughts on this matchup though and it's kind of just the overall vibe i've had about
this game this this week and the last couple weeks uh the texans are the most bet team right now and
for the for the first game you know the most I don't really know betting terms too well.
I'm not big of a sports gambler.
So you guys can correct me in the comments here.
But like people, it's like 85% of bets are on the Texans at the odds that they're at,
the minus two and a half.
And that's why the odds have gone from minus one up to minus two and a half,
because people are betting the Texans so heavily.
And to me, I think I wouldn't care about that if this were like the Chiefs versus like the
Panthers, because it's like the best team versus the worst team.
But we are talking about a team that went 10-7 versus a team that went 9-8.
I know last year, it's hard to relate that to this year.
But like, this is not two drastically different teams.
Even if you think the Texans got drastically better in the offseason, like Jake said, it doesn't materialize in week one.
So I think this is going to be a much closer game and what people expect.
The Colts are going to come out with high energy because this is more of a revenge game for the Colts.
And like they're going to come out just flying all over the place because of that bitter taste of last year's loss.
There's a lot of unknown with the Colts offense.
And I think that plays in well with the Colts.
Like, yes, it could go the other way and, and just be putrid.
But I have enough faith in Shane Steichen and Anthony Richardson to get it done on that
side of the ball.
And overall, like, again, I'm not the biggest better, but you guys, you guys know when the
markets are all saying one thing and betting typically goes the other way.
And week one is the most like sporadic week of the season. Like I said a couple minutes ago, I mean,
the one-win Jaguars back in, what, 2020 beat the Phillip Rivers Colts, which might have been the
best team I've covered in Indianapolis, was the Phillip Rivers Colts. That was a really good
football team the Colts had. So yeah, I have the Colts winning this one.
I'll say 26-23.
We'll say the reason it's 26 is two missed extra points or something,
just so I can be with Jake on bad kickers.
The reason why it's 23 for the Texans is a lot of missed kicks or whatever.
Like, I don't know, a bunch of missed kicks just to have fun with it.
But no, I'll say 26-23 now.
Again, I think the Colts can be able to run the ball.
I think they're going to be able to lean on the RPO game.
And I really think for how well this Texans team is built,
I think they neglected the interior defensive line
and neglected some of their offensive line.
And no matter how good of a team you build at every other position,
it's one in the trenches still, man.
Why were the Chiefs able to finally get around
the corner and start winning Super Bowls more regularly after that Tampa Bay loss is because
they invested in the offensive line. Their offensive line is the best in football now.
They invested in the defensive line. Their defensive line is one of the best in football,
and this is why they're beating teams now regularly, and they're back-to-back champions.
So I think the Colts having that
advantage on O-line and D-line is a big deal as long as the Colts players actually play up to
that. So maybe I'm a little optimistic. I'm going 26-23 Colts. If they lose this one, I'll probably
pick them to lose every other game the rest of the year because my optimism had peaked in week one.
But I'm feeling pretty good, man. Like I kind of like being the week one dog, you know?
Like, I think the best time to face a good team,
especially a good team that had to bring in a lot of pieces in the offseason,
is week one.
Because like you said, there's a lot of things that just need to develop
over the course of a season,
and it's not going to be a finely tuned machine in week one.
So I think the Colts are getting at the right time.
They're going to come out so energetic for the revenge game. And yeah, I think the Colts are going to shock some people. I'm
hoping at least I'm hoping they shock some people, but let's break this streak so we don't ever have
to talk about it again. That'll be good. But I mean, yeah, this game is obviously incredibly
important. It's only week one. And again, we got 17 weeks until the playoffs are determined, but
it's a home game, which teams treat like gold.
You know, you have to win all those.
It's a division game against a team we also suspect of being in the playoffs.
Like this game, when you fast forward to week 18,
like if one of these teams is still trying to get in,
just like was the scenario last year,
the outcome of this game is going to be important.
So I don't want to say the Colts can't win.
Like I would feel just as comfortable saying that they will win.
But going into this, Houston, of course, they're the reigning division champs.
I'm just a touch more comfortable with what they're doing.
I will say I love that the dads are back in the secondary.
Kenny Moore and Julian Blackman in this one I think is huge blackman being out last last year was obviously a huge problem so i love the fact
that those guys are back there keeping communication with everyone rolling like
the secondary is healthier than it was last year i definitely like that a lot more that makes me a
little more comfortable but i also feel like when we bet for it or we picked the Colts last year, it never went well.
So you're welcome, Colts, for not picking me this week.
Like I said, they lose this week because I picked them, picking against them the rest of the year.
That way, you know, I'm hedging my bets.
We follow that formula on this show every week.
Yeah, yeah, I'm trying to emotionally hedge.
You know, I'm going to go to prize picks.
I'm going to put more than on everything Texans and less than on everything Colts.
And that way I'll be happy regardless of what happens.
But don't worry, guys.
We'll be back with you guys on Sunday after the Colts' victorious,
victorious game against the Houston Texans.
Before we get out of here, though, I do want to remind you,
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