Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Anthony Richardson-Alec Pierce DOMINATE On Day 10

Starting point is 00:00:00 Anthony Richardson shredded a depleted Colts defense today, exactly the way that you would want to see him do it. 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. All right. Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts.

Starting point is 00:00:32 Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And today's show is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs, which helps you find the qualified candidates that you want to talk to faster. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash locked on NFL. That's linkedin.com slash locked on NFL to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. What's up, y'all? This is Jake Arthur and Drake Wally coming to you live from day 10 of Indianapolis Colts Camp.

Starting point is 00:01:00 We got Jake. We got Drake. We got birds. We got tractors. We got J Robbins over here keeping the roosters away. There you go. We got a full We got Drake. We got birds. We got tractors. We got Jay Robbins over here keeping the roosters away. There you go. We got a full house, baby. But no, legitimately, Jay is doing his best to keep the roosters away.

Starting point is 00:01:13 That is he's already had to do it a time or two. But we are coming at you live from day 10 of Colts camp. And this was a good one. Final day before they open up the preseason this sunday against the denver broncos and man was it explosive uh so we'll go over what anthony richardson did and then kind of dig into the offense and defense a little bit as well but of course let's do our housekeeping which involves the injuries uh guys who were out today deforest buckner and juju brentz were out just rest days for them.

Starting point is 00:01:46 Obviously, both defensive starters, so that is going to kind of guide your thoughts as to why the offense had such a big day. Ashton Doolin has been out for a couple days now with a hamstring. Jannard Avery has been out for a couple days now. For me, it looked like his upper left leg. He left practice early the other day. Jalen Carlisle, this is like six straight practices now. He's got a hip injury. Clayfield's the third cornerback.

Starting point is 00:02:12 This was his first day. He'd been making some plays here and there. And then Raekwon Davis, he remains out, has not made an appearance yet. He's on the non-football illness list with the high blood pressure. Guys who were back today, Tyquan Lewis returned. He missed the most recent practice. Tight end Will Mallory had missed like six practices as well. He's finally back.

Starting point is 00:02:32 Liam Anderson, he'd been out for a few. And Kendall Brooks as well, the safety. He had also been out for a few. So they lost a couple guys, but they got several back. So that leads us into now Anthony Richardson, the star of the show. This was his most prolific day passing the ball, most explosive day. We've seen some big days from him out here, but this was easily the biggest one. Did a lot of it in the red zone as well, which is great to see.

Starting point is 00:02:59 He was 14 to 17 passing, which is 82.5%. Had four total touchdowns, three through the air, one on the ground. He did throw one interception during seven on sevens. Not the end of the world. We'll get to that in the defensive section, because we're going to highlight that defensive player a little more. But, Drake, what did you think of AR5 out there today in his final dress rehearsal before the preseason?

Starting point is 00:03:24 Man, you know, he looked really patient. He looked like he was working through his progressions really well. I think that you're just seeing continuous pocket adjustments, and he's able to, he isn't missing a beat even though he missed a lengthy amount of time not on the field. He was still digesting the game plan and really looking into everything, so it's encouraging to see minus Josh downs. He's still out there and he has arguably his best, most efficient day.

Starting point is 00:03:49 And he was able to find Alec Pierce and Trey sermon, then Michael Pittman on those touchdowns. So it's not just one guy he's targeting. You have to love it. And I think that it really gets you excited for the preseason game on Sunday, even though he's not going to play too much. Yeah. That's been a common theme for him is spreading the ball around.

Starting point is 00:04:03 So he did have 14 completions today. He did frequently find his guys, which is great. We're going to mention more again in the offensive segment. But Michael Pittman, Alec Pierce, and A.D. Mitchell were the top three receivers today. Found Pitt five times and then three each for Pierce and A.D. So great to see him getting a real strong connection with those guys. After practice, Shane Steichen did say that Anthony and the starters will play about a series or two. So that'll be good to see.

Starting point is 00:04:38 Now, what they did last year was week one was like a series or two. Week two was starters almost not at all, really. And then week three, they played about a quarter. So, so far, that seems to be maybe what they'll do. I don't know if there's going to need to be much of a reason for some of those guys to play a full quarter in the third game. But shoot, to see these guys, which includes Anthony Richardson, Laatu Laatu, A.D. Mitchell, Anthony Gould,

Starting point is 00:05:06 to see them out there for at least a drive or two on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium, that'll be pretty exciting. Yeah, and I can also really praise Anthony Gould and praise Anthony Richardson just for what he's able to go out there and do, minus Josh Downs. It's a silver lining, but something like this is going to open up other opportunities, and we were able to see guys like A.D. Mitchell and guys like Alec Pierce definitely shine with Anthony Richardson today. Yeah, that's for sure. And so we kind of got the full gamut of what we can expect to see from Anthony today. Like if you plaster over a season, he was really efficient in the red zone.

Starting point is 00:05:41 And that's where he scored all of his touchdowns. And we've talked about on the show a lot before. He was deadly in the red zone and that's where he scored all of his touchdowns and we've talked about on the show a lot before he was deadly in the red zone last year they were very successful when he was out there so to be able to to throw the ball in the most shrunken area of the field i think that's great to see he had a rushing touchdown for today that was from about 15 yards out now i'm very picky about what I declare a rushing touchdown during training camp because there's no live tackling. But you know how he moves and you see how the defense is split and it looked like a legitimate run there. So that was good. But

Starting point is 00:06:15 he also opened up the ball quite a bit. His first big play of the day was a deep shot downfield to Alec Pierce for about 35 yards with Jalen Jones draped all over him. So we saw him run the ball successfully. We saw him throw it successfully for touchdowns in the red zone, and we saw him uncork it deep. So there really wasn't much more you would want to see out of Richardson today. And honestly, for just such a short practice, just an hour, but they got a lot of action in there for just an hour.

Starting point is 00:06:47 Yeah, and he was, you know, he used the tight ends. He hit his running backs. He hit his wide receivers. We saw what he can do when he escapes the pocket. He showed that he's more than happy to make a throw on the run, whether it's to his strong side, to his weak side, whatever. I think that kind of like Jake said, in an hour, we didn't expect to see so much

Starting point is 00:07:05 positivity from the Colts offense, but they made the absolute most of that hour today. Yeah, that is for sure. And so obviously it wasn't just Anthony. It was a really explosive day overall. So here in a moment, we'll go ahead and talk about the offensive side of the ball as a whole. Passion, drive, and patience. The formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive. eBay Motors has everything that you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance. Superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits, whatever you need, eBay Motors has got you covered. With over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die, you'll always find exactly what you're looking for. Plus, with eBay's guaranteed fit, your parts guaranteed to fit your ride every time or it's

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Starting point is 00:08:30 weeks uh which obviously puts the start of the season in jeopardy um I'm personally a no I don't think they should rush it and I don't think they will uh because I mean high ankle sprains are something that can linger for a while even after you're able to play on it again. But they had A.D. Mitchell out there in the slot today, which we were wondering what they would do. You know, in the immediate aftermath on Wednesday, it was primarily Anthony Gould that went out there, which I do think he probably would be, you know, the direct backup at slot.

Starting point is 00:09:02 But for the purposes today of getting the three best receivers out there, the Colts had Alec Pierce and Michael Pittman Jr. on the outside with A.D. Mitchell in the slot. And I don't hate it. A.D.'s got the quick feet. I mean, he's a big guy, but he's got long speed. He's got quick feet and coaches compliment his ability to beat man. So when you think about it, he could make a pretty good slot receiver in, in Josh Downs absence, if that's what they want to do. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:09:33 And the thing, the thing that's really intriguing about Eddie Mitchell is I know that he's a rookie, but when you talk about his ceiling, he could potentially be the most well-rounded guy like out of all the Colts receivers. So I think that what we saw was we saw that he isn't just an outside guy, kind of like Jake said, he's also playing on the inside. He's got the route running prowess. He can, he's, he can always increase his route tree knowledge because the

Starting point is 00:09:52 pros are going to be harder, but it just seems like he knows the short routes, the medium routes, the long routes. He can make explosive plays, quick wind catches. I mean, you're seeing a guy, I think that the Colts are going to feel comfortable at some point just implementing him all over the place and at first seeing him out there like it took him a little bit to start making plays even just getting catches in 11 on 11s and so you say and let's let's not do too much with him like let's just kind of let him master something you know master the exposition whatever it is and then you know moving him to the, you know, master the exposition, whatever it is. And then, you know, moving him to the slot, you know, you can think of it from a scenario of, is it thrown too much at him? But honestly, they're,

Starting point is 00:10:32 they're putting him in different places and seeing him succeed and exposing him to different things. So whether it's inside or out, I mean, they're getting him a lot of experience. Now, if, if this is just for the summer until Downs gets back and it's really only like week one or week two, it's kind of a moot point, but they could also be preparing him for this to be their trio going into the season, like preparing as if Josh Downs may not be available right away when the season starts. And I mean, again, I, I don't hate it. I mean, we know what Pittman can do and then we know what Pierce is. He's the long guy.

Starting point is 00:11:10 It feels like if you have those three out there together, Mitchell can give you a little bit of both. And then, so you throw the tight ends into that, whoever's on the field at the time, and you have Richardson and Jonathan Taylor in the backfield, you have personnel on the field all at once that can really do just about anything. And I think that's incredibly dangerous. Yeah, and, you know, it also, even if Downs is healthy, you're still looking at A.D. Mitchell definitely being a part of this offense. And I think that just by seeing where they can place him, they're seeing where he wins easiest, where his strengths are going to be,

Starting point is 00:11:43 you know, on display the most. And just today you saw it in the slot so we're seeing we're seeing A.D. Mitchell kind of like last year when Josh Downs immediately started to build rapport with Anthony Richardson we're seeing A.D. Mitchell I think start to really connect with this Colts offense so like you said I don't really hate it I don't think you can mess around with the high ankle sprain remember with Jonathan Taylor how long it took for him to get back and how it still nagged him along the way. So I think the last thing the Colts right now are thinking is, let's just shove Josh Downs out there before he's ready, especially when A.D. Mitchell's looking pretty good.

Starting point is 00:12:14 Yeah, at least between Mitchell and Gould, they're going to see that they do have options. Exactly. But another guy who was outside of Richardson, really the star of the show today, was Alec Pierce. Yeah. And that was like a week or two ago that he had a really big day out there on the field. You know, had a couple of touchdowns that day,

Starting point is 00:12:30 mothed somebody and he did it again today. He had another, one of, one of Richardson's three touchdowns, they were to Pittman, Pierce and who was the other one? Trey Sermon. Trey Sermon today. And so Pierce had the, the final one and itrey Sermon. Trey Sermon today. And so Pierce had the final one, and it was in the red zone from, I think, like 10 yards out, but he had to elevate and high point it over Dallas Flowers,

Starting point is 00:12:52 and he came down with the touchdown. Now, Dallas Flowers, he's got great leaping ability. He's fast. He's one of their more athletic corners. So for Pierce to really be able to show his, his absolute strengths against a corner who has those same strengths, I thought that was really good to see. And we mentioned Pierce had the deep downfield shot early in the day for like

Starting point is 00:13:16 35 yards, making it with Jalen Jones draped all over him. So much so that Jones was flagged for defensive pass interference. So Pierce Pierce was making a lot of plays today. He's got to be over the moon to have a quarterback who is going to actually accentuate his strengths in this offense. Yeah, and we saw it last season. You know, you didn't get those opportunities for Pierce. And he's not a prospect.

Starting point is 00:13:41 I don't think he's the number one receiver like Michael Pittman. I don't think he's a quick win guy like Josh Downs or has the ceiling that Eddie Mitchell has. What Pierce is is he has a blocker who is a vertical threat, very fast, very good at one cut routes. And, and you, he's had five quarterbacks who haven't had Anthony Richardson skill set. So I think that now you're getting some consistency.

Starting point is 00:14:01 Maybe Pierce can finally get the same quarterback back to back seasons. And we kind of saw a little bit of it in the Rams game. You know, Richardson will find Pierce when he needs him. So yeah, that is absolutely the case. So here in a moment, we're going to talk about the defensive side of the ball. It was an explosive day for the offense, but there were some guys on defense who made some plays as well. When you're hiring for your small business, you want to find qualified professionals who are right for the role that you have to offer. And that's why you got to check out LinkedIn Jobs, which has the tools to help you find the right professionals for your team faster and for free. LinkedIn isn't just a job board either, because they help you hire professionals you can't really find anywhere else. They may not even be job hunting, but they're open for the right position that you've got to offer. In a given month, over 70% of LinkedIn users don't even visit other leading

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Starting point is 00:15:19 That's linkedin.com slash locked on NFL to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. This show is also sponsored by better help. What are your self-care non-negotiables for Drake? Maybe it's a nice bubble bath at the end of the day. Maybe if it's you, you don't skip leg day or therapy day for that matter. When your schedule is packed with kids activities,

Starting point is 00:15:42 which Drake is now learning is a, it doesn't end when the kids, when you start having kids, that is not going to end. It's easy to let your own priorities slip. Even when we know what makes us happy, it's hard to manage having time for it. But when you feel like you have no time for yourself, non-negotiables like therapy are more important than ever. That's honestly something I struggle with a lot. There is not a lot of free time in the day, but when there is, I use it for work or something to be productive. I'm the kind of person who downtime means I'm not doing something I ought to be. So for me, that probably means I should talk to BetterHelp. But if you're starting to think of therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited

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Starting point is 00:17:09 So just to give you some background, obviously there was no DeForest Buckner and Juju Brents out there. So that's two of the more important Colts defenders. Taven Bryan was out there at three tech for the Colts in Buckner's spot. Dallas Flowers was out there in Juju Brent's spot. So Flowers isn't necessarily a bad player. He was in the competition a little bit for that third corner spot. But I think at this point, everyone's kind of made their thoughts well known on Tabe and Brian and whether or not they would like Byrne to be in the

Starting point is 00:17:39 lineup. I will say that three-tack backup, I don't hate it. But as a nose like a starting nose tackle that is the opposite of a good time uh so talking about some guys who made some big plays today uh we mentioned that anthony did throw an interception during seven on sevens uh i i'm coming to find out this is where he's testing stuff out for sure like if he's going to go yolo ball or test something out or like make sure he's going through all his reads that he wants to and that he can kind of go out there and take reps without consequence it's during seven on sevens and he did it today he uh looked deep up the left left hash for Drew

Starting point is 00:18:18 Ogletree into double coverage and you can't really do that around Kenny Moore because he's going to leap up and intercept it like he did today um just kind of a microcosm of the defense's performance throughout camp. It's Julian Blackman, or it's Kenny Moore, or it's a struggle for the most part. You have to rely on the guys up front, and without DeForest Buckner out there, that was kind of a struggle. So kind of a vintage Kenny Moore play on that one. Yeah. And you also kind of had a little bit of Anthony Rickstrom was forcing the ball and kind of like Jake said, trying a few things because this is the time to do that. But also Drew Ogletree didn't really wall off and try to catch the ball. And Kenny Moore just used a veteran move and got underneath it and took it away. So that's what you want to see from Kenny

Starting point is 00:19:03 Moore. I thought that last season he had kind of a Pro Bowl performance type year. So I think that he's just continuing off another strong season and hoping that he can just, you know, build off a really good 2023. Yeah. So here's some smaller level guys I want to talk about real quick before we dive into what is becoming the safety battle again, because I do want to hear your part on this. So Amir Speed, probably, you know, near the bottom of the corner depth chart.

Starting point is 00:19:28 He normally runs with the threes and twos, but I thought he had another good day today. He had a pass breakup against DJ Montgomery, who is quietly one of the better camp stories this year. That was against Sam Ellinger, Austin Ajiaki, again, like a third team linebacker. He had a pass breakup as well. Again, against Sam Ellinger. Austin Ajiaki, again, like a third-team linebacker. He had a pass breakup as well, again, against Sam Ellinger. And then during the developmental period of 11-on-11s,

Starting point is 00:19:53 Isaiah Land came through and had a sack. He's at a really strong camp. Those guys had to play a ton of snaps because the guys above them being in and out of the lineup. He's one of those guys where he needs more reps. He does need more development. But a guy that talented who has seen some snaps in an NFL game, being in the developmental period of practice,

Starting point is 00:20:13 seems a little unfair to the guys who truly are, you know, just learning to get by in the NFL. Land is one of those guys who's going to dominate a lot of the time. We've seen that from Land and Jannard Avery during those developmental periods. Those poor offensive tackles, they don't often stand a chance. Some of the smaller guys making some plays during camp. It really makes you comfortable if you're the Colts defensive coordinator or if you're Gus Bradley or anybody coaching those guys guys that your depth is out there making plays and can't because you know land is a guy that he could see some snaps especially with ebicom out

Starting point is 00:20:52 and uh jockey did a good job amir speed did a good job so you're seeing some of these depth guys when they do have an opportunity to shine they're out there making plays and that's good because it's a 100 injury rate in nfl it going to happen, so you need good backups. Yeah. All right, so let's shift focus to everyone's favorite topic right now, safety. I'm not even going to call it the free safety battle anymore because it's just the safety two battle at this point. Julian Blackman is out there. We know it.

Starting point is 00:21:20 He might be the free safety. He might be the strong safety. I don't really know if anyone knows at this point. So in the first session of 11 on 11s, it was in the red zone. And Richardson just shredded the whole thing. Five of six finished with like about a seven, eight yard touchdown to Trey Sermon. And Sermon was wide open in the middle of the field. And you can see right after the play, it julian blackman and nick cross at safety blackman kind of looked over at cross and gave him like a you know where

Starting point is 00:21:50 were you what was that type of thing and i don't this may have been by design how they drew up everybody getting the snaps and reps with the first team today but i'm pretty sure that was cross's final play with the first team defense during 11-on-11 today. After that, we saw Rodney Thomas and we saw Ronnie Harrison. Now, when Harrison went out there, he was strong safety and Julian Blackman was free safety. So, yeah, I don't know. Not the strongest couple days in a row for Nick Cross. He has seen the lion's share of the first team reps at safety, too. But I wonder,

Starting point is 00:22:25 you know, if we're going to start seeing a shift over to Harrison, which seems at this point, like the most responsible thing to do, like he doesn't offer athletically what Thomas and cross do, but at some point maybe you just need a veteran. Who's going to be in the right place, making the right decisions.

Starting point is 00:22:44 Like you may have to give up some things again, athletically, which might surrender some plays on occasion, but I think that's better than totally not being in the right place and giving up touchdowns. Yeah. And like Nick cross, I know that a lot of people are really excited about his 2023. He only played like 292 snaps. I mean, he, he was a rotational guy and so he's got all the athleticism. He's got all the talent. He's got all the intangibles. But it's between the ears with Cross.

Starting point is 00:23:11 I think it's the communication that he's not the best at. And you kind of saw that with the example you gave. I think that right now, Ronnie Harrison Jr. has the best chance of being that guy that is going to kind of, quote, unquote, fill in for that spot, whatever spot that is, that Julian Blackman's not playing because you've got the veteran. He's seen the most experience. Like you said, he doesn't have the ball, ball skills of Thomas or potentially the athleticism across,

Starting point is 00:23:35 but he is not going to be in the wrong place. And no matter how athletic cross is, we've seen time and time again, he is in the wrong place and you're useless if you're in the wrong place. So, yeah, that's going to get you each time. So we'll see what they want to do on Sunday. Again, Colts and Broncos at Lucas Oil Stadium at 1 o'clock Eastern. Again, Shane Steichen said most of the starters are going to play about a drive or two.

Starting point is 00:23:58 Now some of the younger guys who need to see more snaps, maybe they play even more. We'll see um but yeah i'm very curious what they're going to do at safety and if that adjusts at all how much they play julian blackman because part of their search for the other safety is how good their chemistry is with him being a guy who's got a little bit of a history of being banged up though, I still probably wouldn't play it much. Yeah. I mean, it may, it may hurt their search a little bit, but that's just going to kind of be the dice you got to roll.

Starting point is 00:24:33 And they Shane did say also this game and throughout the preseason, there may be a couple of veterans who just don't play throughout the preseason. My short list of guys who I don't think I would give a snap to in the preseason, Jonathan Taylor, he normally doesn't play in the preseason. My short list of guys who I don't think I would give a snap to in the preseason, Jonathan Taylor. He normally doesn't play in the preseason anyways. DeForest Buckner, Grover Stewart. I don't think I would play them.

Starting point is 00:24:55 Probably not Pittman. Probably not Pittman either. That's, I mean, there may be a couple other guys you don't want to play at all. Like, do you really, the offensive line, maybe you want to have them get out there and hit people. But they also have three joint practices with other teams. So maybe some of that offensive line.

Starting point is 00:25:12 Yeah, maybe you focus more on Ryman and Fries and the guys who don't have the experience that Kelly and Nelson. But yeah, you've got to be careful, basically. I would only have the first team offensive line out there when Richardson is there, though. That's a good point. They need to play in concert. Other than that, yank them off the field together. Because obviously you're not going to put Anthony out there behind backups. That's ridiculous.

Starting point is 00:25:33 But, yeah, I wouldn't play a lot of them a ton of snaps anyways. But that's it for us today. Zach and I will be with you after Sunday's game. Make sure to stay tuned with Drake and Andrew over at the Horseshoe Huddle YouTube channel. Both of us, YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts as well. But first again, thank you for making Locked on Colts your first listen today. Now go listen to the Locked on Fantasy Football podcast.

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Starting point is 00:26:18 like during the games, then follow the link in our show notes to become a Locked on Colts insider. And again, if you don't already, follow at Locked on Colts, at JakeArthurNFL, at ZachHicks2 on Twitter. My guy Drake here. For video, you guys see his handle, but otherwise for audio, it's at DWalsterDrake on Twitter. Leave ratings and reviews as well.

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Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Anthony Richardson-Alec Pierce DOMINATE On Day 10

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