Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - INDIANAPOLIS COLTS' Anthony Richardson, AD Mitchell SHINE vs. Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens

Starting point is 00:00:00 Anthony Richardson, A.D. Mitchell, and Hunter Woller all stand out against the Baltimore Ravens and joint practices. 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. Thank you all for tuning in and making us your first post-practice listen of the day. Daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, everyone. My name is Zach Hickshaw, resident film nerd of horseshoe huddle.com and my partner, Jake Arthur, who I'm right next to right now recording this,

Starting point is 00:00:44 is our credentialed socks on the ground. He's wearing socks right now that is his current footwear that we all care about way too much on this show. We are back with you guys with a post-practice report doing our typical run of the mill type of show we're talking all about the news and notes the quarterback conversation the offense the defense giving you every single bit of info that you are looking for so before we get into this quarterback battle jake which you were on the scene covering here in owing's mills of maryland we did have a couple injuries uh michael pitman junior and charvarius ward were both back

Starting point is 00:01:23 at practice today now they both did practice in like a limited capacity at least charvarius war from what i saw was like 50-50 on the reps in 11 on 11s and seven-on-sevon-sevon. So they didn't really give the two veteran guys a full workload. DeForest Buckner also didn't get a full workload either. So it's just par for the course there. Yeah. Zire Franklin, Jalen Carlis, Jalen Jones, and Juju Brents were all out as expected. And Justin Wally made a really great play early in practice, got banged up on that play, left with ice on his knee. We didn't get any clarification in terms of how serious the injury was, but it is unfortunate to see another good cornerback for this Coltstein go down. Samuel Woolmack was getting the bulk of the cornerback two reps the rest of practice,

Starting point is 00:02:08 and that was kind of a mixed bag. So hopefully, Wally's injury is more of a bone bruise. He can be back by the end of the week or maybe early next week, and we just move on from this injury-riddled cornerback room that we certainly jinxed earlier in the off-season. But let's talk about this quarterback conversation, Jake, because a big question coming into this joint practice was how are these two quarterbacks going to look against a really good Baltimore Ravens team. You know, their defense isn't as stout as it was with Mike McDonald a couple years ago, but it is still a pretty good Baltimore Ravens team and roster. And coming off of how

Starting point is 00:02:45 this team, this team looked in joint practices last year against Cincinnati Bengals, we wanted to see a step up from Anthony Richardson and obviously from Daniel Jones today. So from what you saw, did it look like these Colts quarterbacks, I guess, belonged on the same. same field with the opposing defense this year compared to again how they looked last year without question yeah the colts offense did whatever they wanted to i mean it's not like they were a buzz saw through them but the the baltimore defense didn't come up with a ton of stops and everything and the passing game was doing really really well uh anthony richardson i had him at 10 of 13 uh had some short stuff of course but a lot of intermediate and and downfield throws a lot of stuff to the

Starting point is 00:03:26 outside. One thing that I think is going to be a staple for him is that corner route along the sideline. He throws that so well. It's a high completion, a high percentage so for him. And he hit another one, a big one today to A.D. Mitchell, had a deep ball about 40-ish yards down the right side to A.D. Mitchell. Spread the ball around pretty well. I've got a handful of different receivers. Short touchdown to Ashton Doolan. He did okay in the seven-on-seven stuff passing the ball. Neither him or Daniel Jones were quite as prolific there. But it wasn't as bad as the Red Zone was the other day.

Starting point is 00:04:04 So I'll say that much at least. But no, it was a really good day for Daniel or for Anthony. You know, again, he's got some layered stuff that he's kind of hitting on, which is very encouraging as well. Daniel Jones was 14 to 17, efficient guy, a lot of short checkdown stuff, which is the bulk of his work. but it moves the ball. It's not sexy, but it's like almost an extension of the run game.

Starting point is 00:04:28 Like getting an outside run, getting the ball, they're quicker almost. You know what I mean? So he did not test downfield very much at all today. I think, yeah, like a 15-yard completion to 80 Mitchell at one point, but that was about the extent of him going downfield. But, you know, he's given you what you expected. So that's not disappointing and it's not exciting. it's just it's exactly what it's kind of supposed to be um but you know he he's a fallback option

Starting point is 00:04:59 if if things don't work out with anthony richardson becoming the starter by week one then i mean you got a guy who you can kind of build an offense around and you know what to expect i got i suppose yeah from the five or so throws i saw of both quarterbacks as i watched the defense and special teams today while while jake was watching the offense about the five or so throws I saw from each quarterback, I think Richardson went down the field about three times, where Jones had just the one to 80 Mitchell. And by your account, that was his only one of the day where he really pushed the ball down the field. So again, very contrasting styles in these two quarterbacks. I know people like to sell us on, oh, the difference between the two is so

Starting point is 00:05:38 close that, you know, it's nice either guys out there can run the same offense. And that is true for the run game and true for the zone read stuff, but not really true for how these two approach the passing game. Richardson, it's a lot more Feaster Famine. He's going to push the ball vertically over the middle of the field, those outside corner routes like you mentioned. Daniel Jones, your running back is going to be involved. Your Josh Downs is going to be involved.

Starting point is 00:06:02 Tyler Warren's going to be involved. And that's going to be the bulk of the passing offense out there. So both guys kind of lived up to who they are today. And luckily for Richardson, it was living up to the good side of what he is, which is making those throws effectively and efficiently and getting the ball on the money, especially to A.D. Mitchell, you have the two big throws there. And the one I saw to Pierce was a deep skinny post over the middle, really, really efficient throw to start his day in 11 on 11. So really liked what I saw. Jake also liked what he saw from the

Starting point is 00:06:32 quarterbacks. And then speaking of these Colts quarterbacks, we did get some clarification on how the Colts are going to approach the rest of the preseason. So according to Shane Steichen, he said after practice that Anthony Richardson is going to start the first quarter and a little bit of the second quarter against the Baltimore Ravens. Daniel Jones will finish out the rest of the first half before they kick it to the backups. Then against the Green Bay Packers the next week, Daniel Jones will get the first quarter and a little bit of the second quarter where Anthony Richardson will get the rest of the second quarter in that one.

Starting point is 00:07:02 So we have our answer. Anthony Richardson will start the first preseason game. He'll get his first crack at it against the Baltimore Ravens and his chance to really win this quarterback job in the first preseason game. Yeah, and I do think the preseason is going to carry a lot of weight to it because in hindsight, we probably should have seen the cracks forming with Anthony last preseason with how his season would go. The Bengals practice was bad, but so was the game.

Starting point is 00:07:29 The game was not good at all. I'm having trouble recalling the rest of the preseason, but we knew that at least was, it probably should have been considered troubling. And that's what the rest of the regular season kind of looked like. So I think even though it's preseason, and there's always a lot of, you know, discounts and yeah buts when it comes to that i do think a strong showing in the preseason will be very very encouraging because it is a game situation like yes the the defense is not throwing their playbook at them all the way but it's a game situation like that's the only test

Starting point is 00:08:07 you have right now uh so i think if that goes well then it'll be very encouraging and then to contrast that if it goes poorly i think we probably need to pump the brakes on anointing him as like this super changed guy so far we have got to see it first to prove it now i'm not going to put a ton of weight on the preseason but i do think it will be some sort of indication of what things might look like in the regular season yeah i would say you know this all season's very much about multiple tests for anthony richardson and just for this colts offense in general you know the first test was coming into the practices the live practices with pads on and looking the part and for the most part we would say that anthony richards

Starting point is 00:08:47 and the Colts number one offense when he's been out there has been fine, this practice offseason. Then we go to the joint practice of the next step that we're looking for. And today it appears they passed a test when it came to that one too. So now the next one is how do you look in the preseason game when you're getting a little over a first quarter, so you have time to find a rhythm, you have time to really establish yourself as an offense,

Starting point is 00:09:10 especially because the Ravens aren't playing their starters or most of their starters in this game. So if they come out like they did against the Bengals, in the preseason last year and have a really poor showing against the bangles you know again last year against the bangles backups they had a poor showing if that translates to this year where they have a poor showing against the raven's backups that could be a troubling sign so there is some pressure on this thursday game for anthony richardson and the starters that are going to be out there to have a good performance even though it's just preseason so yeah it'll be a big time for for

Starting point is 00:09:42 richardson but so far i would say he has you know we're not going to say pass with flying colors this off season, but certainly passed a lot of the tests put in front of him. He's had a pretty good offseason. And the next step is just to have a pretty good showing in this Thursday game to hopefully for him win this starting quarterback job. But coming up, guys, we have a lot

Starting point is 00:10:01 more to talk about regarding this Colts offense, just aside from the quarterbacks. And the first one is A.D. Mitchell. We're going to talk all about A.D. Mitchell, probably for the whole second segment in just a second. This episode is presented by Yahoo Fantasy. It's the

Starting point is 00:10:17 best time of the year. NFL kickoff is almost here, and that means fantasy football season is back in full swing. And this year, Yahoo Fantasy is turning things up a little bit with fantasy football experience like never before. This year, Zach and I are playing on Yahoo Fantasy leagues, and you guys should too, whether you're a first-timer or a veteran making your millionth league. I know I kind of fall into that category. I've used Yahoo Fantasy for years and updates they've been rolling out this month are awesome. They're wild in the best way. One of my favorite features is the new guillotine league. They just dropped every week the lowest scoring team is eliminated to get their heads

Starting point is 00:10:51 cut off, so to speak, Zach, so you're in trouble there. I am. And the last one's standing wins. To celebrate 28 years of fantasy football greatness, Yahoo Fantasy is dropping 28 big new features over 28 days throughout August. To kick it off, nope, they just did the guillotine leagues that I told you about. So stay tuned for more killer announcements and start playing Yahoo! fantasy football now at yahoofantasy.com slash locked on NFL i can't read zach but you know who could

Starting point is 00:11:21 read was the colts quarterbacks out there and they were able to find their targets big time but before we dive into the rest of the past catchers kind of split things up a little bit i thought the run game looked pretty good today which is always kind of hard to tell in a practice setting um you know it wasn't live tackling but i thought they were being pretty physical out there And there were a handful of sessions that were mostly focused on running the ball. I thought J.T. busted a couple big runs. He had a clear, obvious one down the left side. And then another one where he kind of cut through traffic up the middle.

Starting point is 00:11:56 And then Khalil Herbert had a decent one as well, which I think is good because if you're kind of reading between the lines, it feels like he's kind of the forgotten man in the backfield. So if he can start stacking some big plays, that would be good. And of course, when you hear the offensive lineman and the guys watching the plays when they start hooting and hollering and screaming, you kind of know that's an indication of a legitimate good run. So a good day by the running backs. Big play by Justin, or Jonathan Taylor in one-on-ones in the passing game. So he put a double move on a linebacker and then cooked him coming down the right sideline, caught it in a game that would have been like a 75-yard touchdown, which is not something we see from Jonathan Taylor. So from a guy who has kind of unpredictable hands, I liked that play.

Starting point is 00:12:42 I thought that was a pretty good sign. You have to say he called the ball. That's all I really care about. I don't care about the route running as long as he's catching the ball. Now let's get him some pass blocking reps and hopefully see that improved. And we'll be good with Jonathan Taylor. But I did see the Clio Herbert run early in practice before I shifted over to defense. A really, really good, efficient run from Herbert.

Starting point is 00:13:01 It was nice to see because, again, you haven't really hyped them up too much this all season. And not that I'm calling you a liar here, but. there hasn't been much to hype you right this is my virginia tech boy i got i you know i have to i have to get some hype behind him here so it was good to see that big run from clue herbert but i do want to lead us into the ad mitchell conversation here because i know you're going to have a lot to say about him because you watched most of the offense you watched the whole offense all practice but i saw two of his catches today the deep out from daniel jones and then i did happen to look over on his big highlight play of the day where he caught one down the right

Starting point is 00:13:34 sideline for what would have been like 30 to 40 yards from Anthony Richardson where he adjusted to the ball in the air attack the ball in the air and I remember looking over there and watching that and being like oh a d Mitchell that's the a d Mitchell I wanted to see last year that was like like just attack the ball in the air and go win it wasn't even a contested catch but just go win the 50 50 balls go win the 60 40 balls even and make some plays on the ball and just be aggressive and everything I saw in just that one play from my side of the feel I was like everything I need to see from AD Mitchell like just bring that to the games and we're good but what did you see from AD Mitchell because I know you have been pounding the table for

Starting point is 00:14:14 him recently and I know every beat writer has because he has just been on this heater and he continued today against the Baltimore Ravens yeah no we're seeing a complete receiver out there now we got to see it in the games because we have seen him in in summer settings before where he excelled but it's not been like this this is different this is a guy who is confident like again we all knew the route running was elite like he can burn everybody but it was you know what happens after the ball is in the air you start out in one-on-ones in the very first rep he's lined up against Nate Wiggins from the Ravens who runs four to by the way don't forget that runs four to uh 80 immediately cooks and runs down the field it was a poorly thrown ball

Starting point is 00:14:54 uh but you know he he runs through the end zone and from daniel jones by the way just before we get the comment saying poorly thrown ball from richardson because that's who most it was from Daniel Jones on that one. I just need to throw that in there. Yeah. And then 80 ran through the end zone. He saw me and a couple other beatwriters recognizing some faces in the crowd and said, this dude's burnt toast.

Starting point is 00:15:13 And then the next rep, he beat Shadobie Ouzier. And he actually got the ball on that one, looked at us. He said, see, I told you. So the dude is confident. Like, it's good when you can kind of talk your smack, but back it up. Right. He's getting that confidence. And he's, again,

Starting point is 00:15:32 I've hyped this up from Anthony because it excited me too, but like doing the small easy stuff well and checking it off your list, that's a great start. So he's had just like a couple five-yard slant routes that he's converted. And like, I feel good about that because I'm like, he wasn't doing the small stuff last year either. So whether it's a short slant, a 10, 15-yard out or corner route, he's dragging across the field, he's beating someone 40 yards downfield. he's doing it all right now and like you said he's attacking the ball which to me shows confidence

Starting point is 00:16:06 and a big comfort level to do all those things uh so let's let's not speak too soon and not get too excited quite yet but we might be seeing ad mitchell come to life finally yeah and again the big thing with ad mitchell i know we say this every time we talk about him but he was 21 years old last season he was a young player playing in his first season he's 22 now like there's still growth potential here It's not all just set in stone that he's going to be the receiver that he was in his first season. And look, I'm not trying to make this direct one-to-one comparison because these are very different players. But if you would have told me that Devante Adams would turn into what Devante Adams was after his first year or two in the NFL, where he was a drop machine, a player who couldn't separate, by year three, he was a top five receiver in football. And again, I'm not projecting that for Eddie Mitchell, but when you see what he's capable of doing at 6-2,

Starting point is 00:17:00 205 running a 4-3 can get open against anybody it's hard to say the potential is not there for something like that so again not saying he's the next devante ad ad adams but these kind of things do happen in the NFL guys are not defined by their rookie season and ad mitchell as long as he can just get used to physical and be comfortable attacking the ball and being physical at the catch point this can be one of the better receivers in football it's just all about him winning between them between the ears you know if he can just mentally get it all together this can be a very very good player and i'm happy he's putting it together on the practice field let's carry that into the preseason let's carry that into the regular season build momentum and just go from there with him uh but we have two

Starting point is 00:17:41 other players talked about in this segment before we kick it to the defense Tyler warren and Josh downs had a bunch of catches in 11s which isn't a shock because daniel jones had more attempts today and we know for a fact that Daniel jones will throw the ball to warren and downs more than anybody else because that is just how he plays the quarterback position where most of these catches by these two guys in the underneath short game yeah so i had them each catching five balls in the 11 on 11s and i've got to say at least five or six of those combined came in that last two-minute stretch from jones yep jones was inching the ball down the field throwing these tiny outrouts and so many of them were going to downs and warn uh so if the cold when the colts are in late game

Starting point is 00:18:22 situations if it's Jones with the ball you know where he's going he's got two guys in mind and you know they catch the ball and they move it a bit because i mean warren is going to probably catch it you know along the sideline or what have you but josh downs is he's so quick to make a move right after he gets the ball he can get you those extra three four five yards i mean warren can too but like he's he's bigger and more lumbering and not quite as nimble uh so you get him over the middle of the field still moving he can do that but No, we know who Daniel Jones' favorite targets are anytime, but especially when he needs plays to move down the field. Yeah, I would say in that last two-minute drill, Daniel Jones did lead the Colts into field goal range,

Starting point is 00:19:03 but it was kind of propelled by a play where I think the officials were a bit generous giving Josh Downs. It was like a two-yard out route, and Josh Downs did his signature spin up the field, and he got about 15 more yards. They did market the 15 yards, even though he got touched after the two. but we do know that Josh Downs is capable of creating after the catch and turning those two-yard gains into 15. So again, with Daniel Jones, you get such a baseline where the ball is going to get out quick, it's going to get underneath,

Starting point is 00:19:31 and it comes down to these Colts playmakers to make a play. When you have a receiver room and a tight end room and a running back room as good as the Colts have, maybe that can be fine for the Colts. So they did get them into field goal range. We'll talk about what happened once they got into field goal range in the final segment. But yeah, big day for the Colts past catchers.

Starting point is 00:19:48 I thought overall, from what I saw, they certainly won the day against the Ravens defensive backs. But let's talk about the Colts defense here coming up in a second, where even with the injuries piling up, overall, I would say the Colts defense won the day against Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. Do you ever feel that you wish managing your money felt easier? I think we all do. With Monarch money, it can. Whether you're growing your savings or planning a big purchase, Monarch puts you in the driver's seat. It's like having your own personal CFO, giving you full visibility.

Starting point is 00:20:18 and control over your finances. Monarch money is more than just a budgeting app too. It's an actual complete financial command center. You can track all of your accounts, investments, and spending all in one place. So in addition to managing your money, you're actually also building wealth, and you could be a little proactive. If you've never gone through your statements or your online log to see what really adds up, I encourage you to do it.

Starting point is 00:20:39 You might be surprised. Monarch will zero in on it and maybe make your heart sink a little bit when you see the truth of your ways. but you know what that's how that's how you find out what's got to change and you can actually make good progress so take control of your finances with monarch money use code locked on nfl at monarchmoney.com for 50% off of your first year that's monarchmoney.com code blocked on NFL for half off of your first year all right Zach it was very refreshing today as you know in these joint practices your your defense is on one side against the opposing team's offense and vice versa So it was very refreshing for us to be able to like split duty today.

Starting point is 00:21:19 I kept my eye on Anthony and the guys. And you got to nerd out and watch the defense quite a bit against a quarterback who probably could have won his third MVP this, you know, last year with Lamar Jackson. Anytime Lamar Jackson is on the other side, it's going to be a bit intimidating. But how did the Colts defense fare there? Yeah, I thought they had a pretty good day overall. I got over there about halfway through the first 11 on 11 series. So I did miss the first couple of plays. Like, I saw bits and pieces there, but for the most part, you can usually tell when you're at an opposing practice how good one side is doing or whatever, because you can hear like the crowd cheering or not.

Starting point is 00:21:55 So it was really quiet on that side of the field as I was making my marathon trek around the outside of the practice facility to get there. But I will say the first play I saw when I got over there in 11 on 11s, the Ravens were trying to test Justin Wally against Rashad Bateman in a one-on-one situation. they ran an out and up against Justin Wally. Bateman had a little bit of a step on him, but Wally was right there in that back hit pocket. Bateman went up for it, extended, got his hands on the ball. As Bateman got his hands on the football, though, Wally punched right through,

Starting point is 00:22:28 dislodged the ball from his receiver. Excellent pass breakup. It got me jumping up excited. Like I was cheering like a fan right there because I just love great defensive backplay. And for me to see that just right there in front of me, it got me so pumped up. My enthusiasm did die down a little bit immediately after that

Starting point is 00:22:44 because Justin Wally left practice with a knee injury following that. Again, I think it just might be a bone bruise, but I'm not a doctor. Please don't take my opinion as the gospel on that. But he was walking around the sideline with ice on his knee. So hopefully it's not too bad an injury. But that was, to me, the play of the day. Because just seeing that level of defensive backplay from a young player

Starting point is 00:23:06 was absolutely outstanding. For the rest of that 11 on 11 period, I thought the Colts defense had a couple good plays. Joe Bacci had a good run stuff right afterwards. Layatou-Latu blew up a screenplay where Jackson just threw it in the ground. Then we got to 11-on-11s in the red zone. And again, Womack was now starting it outside corner. Tavares-Word was rotating out with Jonathan Edwards.

Starting point is 00:23:29 So it was a little bit tough to get a great gauge on how good the defense was doing. But I think that was a good back and forth, some good moments. Grover Stewart had a sack. Laotu-Latu had a pressure that turned into a quitty-pay sack. in the red zone i think a pass breakup for kenny more happened there then they went back to seven on sevens uh on the other side of the field like in the neutral zone neutral area of the field colts defense really came away with the victorious there came back to the red zone seven on sevens colts defense just locked them down when they came back for seven on sevens the next time

Starting point is 00:24:01 um marr jackson was taken about eight seconds to throw the ball in seven on sevens it was killing me i was i was trying to yell from the raven side of the sideline there like throw the ball. But when he was throwing the ball, the Colts players made some good plays. A handful of throwaways. I saw a pass breakup from Womack, two from Kenny, I think one from Tavarius Ward as well. So just not very effective there. The Ravens did probably have their most efficient period after that. They went to 11s again. And Lamar Jackson found Charlie Kolar for a long touchdown over Sam Womack. Then he hit Kolar of the middle of the field over Austin Adjake for a big completion. So that was probably the Ravens most

Starting point is 00:24:40 efficient period, but then we get to the two-minute drills at the very end of practice, where Lamar Jackson, the Colts number, or the Ravens number one offense was going against the Colts half number one defense. And this is where our boy Hunter Woller steps up with the huge interception. Lamar Jackson rolling out of the pocket under pressure, throws it back across his body. Hunter Woller playing linebacker because of all the injuries, comes away with a really sick interception. Then the Ravens number two offense comes out. They're in 11 on 11s. Cooper Rush tries to force the ball down the field, Camagrown, bass it up in the air.

Starting point is 00:25:13 Hunter Wooler comes away with that interception as well, playing safety this time. So overall, I thought it was a really good day for the Colts defense. There were a couple leaky plays, a couple moments where the Raven scored. But for the most part, a lot of pass breakups. If I were to count how Lamar Jackson did as a passer, it was probably around 50, 55% completion percentage, which against Lamar Jackson, you're going to take that every day of the week.

Starting point is 00:25:37 So, yeah, I would say it was a really good day for the colds defense. really competitive day. Jonathan Edwards had a couple past breakups out there with the ones because of how the rotations were going. The backup linebackers had a good day. Cam McGrone had a couple pass breakups. Ronnie Thomas had some big hits. Really, really impressive day, I think, by the Colts defense. And I wouldn't call it like a dominant showing, but I would say they certainly won the day against a really good Baltimore Ravens offense. Yeah, and it's interesting to see because you look at last year, a what was not a great, Bengals defense, you know, one that got Lou Aniruma fired, shut the Colts offense down.

Starting point is 00:26:14 And then on the other side of it, a not very great Colts defense shut down a very good Bengals offense. And then so you kind of be a little apprehensive, like, is it going to take them, are they going to be ready to roll against, you know, a preseason opponent already? Because it started out a bit slow last year. They just kind of came out firing the offense looked really good. Again, in the red zone. I think the Ravens defense really stepped up. I had mentioned the run game looked good, but when you got closer down to the goal line,

Starting point is 00:26:46 when you really think the Colts would be like dynamic, you know, they have options with Jonathan, Taylor, Anthony Richards, and Tyler Warren. But the Ravens D did kind of clamp down there and make life difficult running the ball at that point. But the passing game was all Colts. They kind of did whatever they needed to there. So just to retrace here with the defense,

Starting point is 00:27:06 but just the sheer amount of injuries. So Charverius Ford was in. in and out. Yep. And then you got Wally leaving. You had Jalen Jones and Juju Brent's not out there at all because I don't even know if they made the trip. We didn't see them out there. So we're looking at like Jonathan Edwards, Samuel Womack, and I think I saw Alex Johnson out there at one point. Yes. When it came to the cornerback rotation, when Wally was out and then when Charverous Ward was in and out, you saw a lot of rotation between Alex Johnson, Sam Womack was certainly the next guy up. And then Jonathan Edwards was getting some

Starting point is 00:27:37 run with the first team as well i wouldn't read too much into that i think a lot of that just has to do with bodies that they had available um i will say a big notable thing to to just put in your back pocket here is when the starting linebackers went on the field today it wasn't all the guys we've been talking about it was austin ajake playing starting in places i or franklin alongside cam mcgrone so again this linebacker competition i think we might know the exact names they're going to make the team but i don't know how they're going to all factor her in and you know it was bought to you with the second team today instead of a jockey and jockey was taking those first team snaps so very crazy rotation when it came to linebacker and then hunter

Starting point is 00:28:17 whaler was out there in the two minute drill which might be an indication of what he could do come regular season time but with the injuries the colts have it's hard to get a proper read on you know where the colts see all these guys because they're just trying to get healthy bodies on the field uh in these big situations in these practices yeah we've talked about with well they're like obviously dime linebacker is a fit but just being like the the primary linebacker out there in obvious late game passing situations that makes a lot of sense me and not it seems like something he can handle uh us talking to him after practice was it was pretty entertaining because uh he said shay goo loobie was like hey man what if you pick

Starting point is 00:28:57 off lamar jackson and he's like well i don't think that's going to happen number one i'm not even going to be out there while he's out there right and lo and behold he picks him off and then picks off their backup on the next drive. So a great day from Woller. It's great to see. One thing I really want to say I appreciate about Lou Aniromo so far is the competition. There are so many spots where we don't know how it's going to look. And it's because he's giving everybody a chance to make their mark.

Starting point is 00:29:25 And we've seen some guys kind of flourish in that. Like, I didn't have this opinion of Joe Botchy like two months ago. you know what I mean like even Cam McGrown who I've been watching for like two or three years now but like putting these guys in advantageous situations and letting them prove themselves has really worked out and let some guys really flourish yeah no absolutely I thought it was a good day for the defense I loved a lot of what they're doing a lot of dime rotation in there I saw a couple of when they were doing their walkthrough I shouldn't say too much about this when they were doing their walkthroughs prior to practice I saw a couple things I really enjoyed including some corners rotating back to play safety and some looks really cool stuff. that I'm excited to talk about come regular season. But before we get out of here, Jake, I do want to talk about special teams because I watch special teams today. I was closing my

Starting point is 00:30:13 eyes when certain positions were taking the field with special teams. But before we get into the kicker conversation, because I guess I have to be the one who talks about that today, my type of special teams that excited me, I did see one thing that really stood out to me was with the kick coverage

Starting point is 00:30:29 unit. I liked how the Colts were rotating defensive linemen and linebackers out there on one side and then safeties and corners on the other. So to me, I don't know. Again, this might be just me speculating because I've only seen one practice this whole off season, but you could see more of a kick coverage where it's like a swinging gate type thing, where you kick it short to the side with your defensive linemen and your linebackers, have your safeties and corners closed in from the other.

Starting point is 00:30:54 I think it could be a cool little pattern they're trying to do with Brian Mason there. So we'll see it that comes true in the regular season. Speaking of the kick team, Anthony Gould had a return that almost certainly would have been a touchdown, maybe like a 50, 60 yard gain on it. It was like his first return of the day. It was like electric, a huge return. I think it would have been a touchdown in a regular game.

Starting point is 00:31:15 So really big return there from Anthony Gould. We did get our first fight in joint practice with on special teams, Tyler Goodson, got down there on kick coverage team, on punk coverage team, got knocked over by a backup corner. He gave a shove to that corner, that corner shoved him. Then Nate Wiggins comes off the sideline and starts. it's throwing these huge punches. Goodson got out of there pretty quick.

Starting point is 00:31:38 Nate Wiggins was thrown out of practice for it. Crazy, crazy time. It wasn't a huge fight like everyone was saying. Like everyone got together and then everyone separated real quick. A lot of theatrics with it. But yeah, there was a little bit of a scuffle involving Tyler Goodson of all people. So very, very interesting there. Let's see, personal protector.

Starting point is 00:31:56 We had Rodney Thomas taking a lot of those reps today. And then when it comes to the kicker competition, the kicker talk here, in two-minute drill at the end of practice. Daniel Jones was just chugging along, getting them into field goal range. I would say the field goal was roughly 52, 53 yards from the left hash. Spencer Schrader gets out there. Me being the pessimist I am regarding kickers,

Starting point is 00:32:18 said he's going to miss this 20 yards to the left. He missed it about five yards to the left. So I was kind of close on that. But yeah, Spencer Schrader did miss a potential game-winning kick in that scenario. So something to keep in mind, Colts kickers have had some struggles with 50-yard kicks so far in practice, so. Which is the main thing they want those two for. We will.

Starting point is 00:32:40 I was going to say, for what it's worth, we didn't get a great advantage point because, like, at Colts training camp, we're able to see the kickers from the side. We see the distance they're kicking from, and like, we could see it go through the uprights. We didn't really get a great vantage point, but it looked like Maddox Trujillo kicked a few times during like a normal field goal drill because Schrader was kicking at the end of a two-minute drill. Right. But Maddox, Trujillo was kicking during an actual, like, Field Gold drill. And it looked like he made all three of them. No idea what distances were, they were from.

Starting point is 00:33:10 Because, again, that's just not the vantage point we had. But maybe that evened up a little bit today. It did definitely seem like Trujillo made more than Schrader did. I would say it's probably more significant, though, that Schrader went out there for that kick than Trinio. Yeah, I think that's a good. So everything I've seen from the kicking competition so far tells me Trujillo may not be quite ready yet to be the primary kicker. Stash him on the practice

Starting point is 00:33:36 squad and let him develop a little bit, but I think Schrader definitely has shown more to this point. Yeah, absolutely. I think practice squad certainly makes no sense. Well, guys, that is all we have for today. We will be back tomorrow with a pregame show, basically, breaking down everything before Colts and Ravens.

Starting point is 00:33:51 Then we'll have our Colts Squad show immediately after the Colts and Ravens game on Thursday night. So if you guys are up for that, late night, we will be live on the channel with our hour-long Colts squad show. I know you guys are loving that show lately. We're going to hopefully pop it off there on that Thursday night at like midnight. So I hope you guys are excited for that.

Starting point is 00:34:10 And we want to thank you guys for making Lockdown Colts your first listen today. And every day for your second listen, check out Locked On Betts. Betts, Betts, Betting Experts, Lee Sterling and Kevin Rogers have daily MLB locks and can't miss football futures. Find Lockdown Betts on YouTube where we list for your podcast. And if you guys want to become a Lockdown Colts insider, chat with us directly and get that insider scoop, follow the link in our show notes. And if you don't already, make sure you're following at Lockdown Colts at Jake for NFL and at Zach Hicks to all on socials.

Starting point is 00:34:34 Also subscribe to us on YouTube where we get your podcast. We love your guys, ratings, reviews, and we'll catch you guys back here tomorrow evening, tomorrow evening.

Your Ad Here

Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - INDIANAPOLIS COLTS' Anthony Richardson, AD Mitchell SHINE vs. Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.