Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Anthony Richardson Flashes in Debut, Colts Fall Short vs. Buffalo Bills

Starting point is 00:00:00 Colts rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson was a bit up and down in his first career start. 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. Hello, hello. Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen since the Colts game. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, 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 right qualified

Starting point is 00:00:50 candidates that you want to talk to faster. Just 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. Welcome to the show. I am Jake Arthur, joined by the beautiful and comparable Zach Hicks, back in his home territory. It's sad and solemn here with you gone from the house, Zach. Yeah, I bet. I bet your kid is probably crying constantly. She was upset last night, or two nights ago, I guess, whenever it was. She was bummed when Zach

Starting point is 00:01:23 said goodbye. It's true. She was. She went around the corner and put her head against the wall, and it was sad. It was sad. But don't worry. Uncle Zach will be back out there for the combine. No worries at all. There you go.

Starting point is 00:01:34 Well, for anyone else who is upset by preseason results, the Colts did lose 23-19 today to the Buffalo Bills in the preseason opener. But we here don't really care about preseason outcomes. We just want to watch the players specifically. And of course, that means we're going to talk all about Anthony Richardson. We're going to talk about the Colts offense as a whole, Colts defense. As long as you guys are digging it, this is going to kind of be our formula for every postgame show, bringing it to you live, talking Richardson, and then offense and defense. Because at the end of the day, Richardson is kind of the straw that stirs the drink for the whole season, really. So we'll just dive right into it. Seven of 12 for 67

Starting point is 00:02:16 yards and an interception today, Zach. What did you think? Because this was not a good box score scouting game for Richardson by any means. I think this debut game for him was kind of everything that we should have expected coming into the day. You know, everything that if you were watching camp, if you watched him in college, you know, you're thinking, OK, this is how he would look in his first time taking the NFL field. He looked a little erratic. He looked a little jittery. There were some high passes in there, but you could see the immense talent, especially on a certain couple of plays there. He had a run around the outside for like a five-yard gain where he stiff-armed the outside

Starting point is 00:02:53 defender, made a little juke move, and fell up forward for the five-yard gain on the read option run. He had the beautiful deep pass to Alec Pierce that Pierce just could not bring in. Fortunately, there's still real games we played after this, so hopefully Pierce can get him back for that one. But that's a play you want to see Pierce obviously come down with. I had a really, really nice layer throw over the middle to Kylan Granson over the linebacker's head, which I thought might have been his best throw of the day, honestly, even keeping in that Pierce throw.

Starting point is 00:03:21 So it was kind of everything you would expect out of a 21 year old quarterback taking the field for the first time in the NFL, you know, preseason game, he was out there, he was a little rusty. He was a little erratic and a little, you could say nervous. I would say he looked pretty nervous there early on, but he looked to really settle in on that third drive. And, you know, the Colts with him as the quarterback in that first quarter playing against a

Starting point is 00:03:44 lot of the bill starters on defense as drive and, you know, the Colts with him as the quarterback in that first quarter playing against a lot of the bill starters on defense. It's preseason, but they had 123 yards of offense and two drives that got deep into Bill's territory. You know, I, I think this is an overall positive day for him. You know, I wouldn't say it's like an A plus performance, but you know, a good C plus good B minus, you know, I think it was exactly what you needed to see in preseason week one to say, okay, cool. Like this kid's got it.

Starting point is 00:04:05 We just need to iron some things out. Like we already knew we were going to have to do with him and just keep getting him reps. But I, overall I was, I was pretty impressed with him. I did. I think that he did some really good things out there. Yeah. Obviously his, his very first drive ended in an interception, which is not the way you want it to go. But overall I came away from this performance pretty encouraged. You know, they started, I came away from this performance pretty encouraged.

Starting point is 00:04:28 You know, they started, I think that drive was on like their own eight yard line. So a tough spot right away to start out. But you know, that first drive removed, I thought he got into a good groove after that. They did some things I thought to intentionally get him into a good groove. He had, you know, those couple of runs, that one run where he got away from Greg Russo and picked up seven yards or whatever it was, five, seven yards. He had a couple of nice short throws that I thought were a good idea. But you see with rookie quarterbacks, almost a timid approach a lot of times. I didn't think they did that with him today. We saw him throw short, intermediate and deep, you know, that long throw to Alec Pierce, which that ball could not have been thrown any better.

Starting point is 00:05:10 It was beautiful. Just unfortunate that Pierce couldn't pull it in. That's going to happen occasionally. But, you know, as these guys get more and more on the same page, that kind of stuff will iron out. But overall, I'm just glad that he was able to improve. Like that was such like an errant shot, you know, and you'll explain it here in a minute what happened on the interception. Looked to just be kind of such an errant ball,

Starting point is 00:05:35 but he settled down, moved to the offense. Overall, guys, he played one quarter, three drives, but the two other drives were productive. They both got over midfield uh that second drive just died you know on a failed fourth and inches fourth and one attempt with the running back and then the third drive was a mess that one was kind of like he he performed pretty well on it but there was a couple penalties there was a drop you know there was there were some factors at play that just kind of killed everything and And then, of course, very on brand for you, Matt Gay, the new shiny, expensive kicker, misses a chip shot field goal to cost them points.

Starting point is 00:06:12 So I thought in two thirds of his drives, Richardson got the offense moving well, and they really probably should have come away from those three drives with about 10 points. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. And again, over 120 yards of offense, and that's with penalties. That's with a quick interception on the first drive, too. So the offense was moving the ball with him out there. It wasn't stagnating. It wasn't falling apart. And that's with them playing a pretty, like a relatively limited offense

Starting point is 00:06:38 because you were not really going to use his rushing ability to full power here in the preseason. You know, you're going to kind of hold that back a little bit. You'll get a couple of the read options in there, but you're really not going to utilize his ability as a rusher right now. So overall positive day. I did want to break down the interception. I seen a couple of people say it's all on Isaiah McKenzie. It's all on Anthony Richardson, you know, naysayers on both sides, I guess. But really what happens there is the Colts were doing an RPO play. You know, RPO is a run play with a pass option where everything is predicated on timing,

Starting point is 00:07:08 timing, timing, timing. If the timing is off by half a second, you have to kill that play because you're going to throw a pick or you're going to struggle. You're going to have some bad things happen. So what happens here is Richardson correctly reads the backside corner blitz is coming in or the backside pressure is coming in, and he's going to work to that backside curl flat combo. Isaiah McKenzie is going to run a flat. The outside receiver out is going to run a curl and he's going to rip that ball out and just get the ball out to that,

Starting point is 00:07:33 that flat route ties in McKenzie. And then McKenzie can, you know, get a couple of yards out of that. So Richardson pulls it out and McKenzie's running an out route instead of a flat route, which is a couple of yards difference in the timing is way off. So that right there, the play is dead right there. The play is already over. The RPO is killed. You're not going to gain positive yards unless Richardson falls forward and like eats it and falls forward. Now he made the rookie quarterback mistake of when that timing was off, he panicked and he wanted to play hero ball. He still tried to make the throw despite the throw not being there and he sailed it over a five foot eight wide receiver's head. And it turned

Starting point is 00:08:09 into an interception. That is something that he's going to learn throughout the year. There's going to be plenty of plays like that this season because he's a 21 year old quarterback and is, you know, making his 14th start come this season. Like there's going to be some really bad moments. There's going to be some moments like that where he makes a mistake and tries to play hero ball when there's no hero ball play to be made. But you want to see that in the preseason. You want to see him see that right there. See that on the first drive, come back the next drive, lead the Colts down the field

Starting point is 00:08:35 and come back the drive after that and lead them into a really good chance to score touchdown, which they obviously didn't. But, you know, see that kind of opportunity there. So I love the growth. I loved him actually throwing, you know, playing kind of opportunity there so I love the growth I loved him actually throwing you know playing that hero ball like he did in college immediately seeing how that does not work in the NFL and then immediately coming back after that and making several really nice throws to Kylan Granson over the middle and to Alec Pierce down the field you know that's

Starting point is 00:08:58 that is what you want to see out of your young passer the ability to grow past that that rookie mistake because that's all it was it was was a really bad rookie mistake, and then continually put together good drives after that. So again, when you put all that into context, I think it was a really impressive day. And yeah, the interception sucks, and you don't want to see that carry over to the regular season, but they're going to happen. They're totally going to happen when you have a young quarterback, when you have a young offense, a new offense, and then you have a lot of timing plays like that with a lot of these young players. But I just wanted to see him be able to bounce back from that. And the fact that he did and played pretty well overall,

Starting point is 00:09:32 again, very, very solid day for Anthony Richardson. I agree. I think I'd rather see him get some of that interception stuff ironed out right now. I'd rather see that, something so correctable on film or whatever, just chemistry with the receiver rather than fumbles, for example. Fumbles kind of are a monumental problem that can really get out of control. So interceptions, I think we can handle that one for now. So obviously, Anthony is the bell of the ball today.

Starting point is 00:09:59 Next up, we're going to talk about the rest of the offense. We saw first, second, and third team guys out there. So who else stuck out to us? But first, I want to talk to you guys about our pals over at LinkedIn. These days, every new potential hire can feel like a high stakes wager for your small business. You want to be 100% certain that you have access to the best qualified candidates available. And that's where you guys have to go check out LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the right people for your team faster and for free.

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Starting point is 00:11:02 That's linkedin.com slash locked on NFL to post your job for free terms and conditions apply. And every day is we back all next week, talking Colts training camp. I'll go back to the host role. Jake will obviously be our boots on the ground. They're covering, I believe it's the bears and Colts joint practice next week,

Starting point is 00:11:21 right? Jake. It is Wednesday and Thursday night practices. It doesn't get any better than that. Ending training camp with two night practices? Come on. Yeah, and then every day we'll be back live streaming about those practices right after they happen.

Starting point is 00:11:35 So make sure you're hitting that subscribe button there on the Locked on Colts YouTube channel to join the conversation. All right, jumping into segment two, I think the biggest offensive playmaker that we have to talk about in this show, besides Anthony Richardson, is the running back. And the running back that started today's day was Deion Jackson. Deion Jackson, former undrafted free agent, got a little bit of run last year, played really well in that limited time, and then kind of got usurped by Zach Moss late in the season. But Deion Jackson today, he looked like the perfect fit with Anthony Richardson. I absolutely love his fit. I mean, I kind of talked about this throughout the last

Starting point is 00:12:12 couple of weeks, but Deion Jackson is at his best when he's just running downhill and running straight. That's all that is really, really where he's at his best. Just run downhill, run straight, hit that hole with that 4-3 speed that he has in that 220-pound frame or 215-pound frame, whatever it is, and just get those positive yards. And when you have a quarterback like Anthony Richardson, where he's going to draw the outside defenders around, get a lot of extra holes up the middle because he's so athletic, you're going to get days like this with Deion Jackson, where six rushes for 35 yards, looked extremely fast out there, did a lot of good things. I thought Deion Jackson was one of the stars of this game, Jake.

Starting point is 00:12:49 Totally agree. And it was a pleasant surprise that he was even out there because he missed the last couple practices with an injury. So it was great to see him out there. Kenyon Drake also out there. But a mental note that I made about this whole thing was just looking at the first team offense, you know, Shane Steichen schematically what he's doing with the run game, but also Anthony Richardson's impact on these running backs. You know, he's got to keep the defense honest, and that causes bigger holes to open. I thought the offensive line did a nice job at picking up blocks while, you know, in motion and moving around. Maybe not the whole offensive line did things perfectly today,

Starting point is 00:13:27 but overall I saw plenty I liked there. Deion Jackson, really good, almost six yards a carry pretty much. Had that nice one where he was kind of wrapped up by one or two guys and broke it up the middle for a longer game. So really nice play from him. Tight end one, de facto tight end one from training camp, Kylan Granson had a nice catch for 20 yards over the middle from Richardson. That was a nice one because it's just validating for him. Jelani Woods has been out. Mo'Ally Cox has been out. Drew Ogletree has

Starting point is 00:13:59 since been out as well. So Kylan Granson has been the Colts best tight end throughout camp. And he had another big play with Anthony Richardson today. So really encouraging from him. He's always open, man. Kylan Granson. I mean, even the one where him and Richardson were just off on their timing, it looked like Kylan Granson was supposed to kind of break out or Richard expecting him to hit that curl and then kind of fade out a little bit. Richardson kind of threw it outside, out towards the sideline where Granson didn't really move that way. So it just ended up being an incomplete pass on something that should have been easy completion.

Starting point is 00:14:32 But again, he's just always open. And that's such a great player to have for a young quarterback because even if Richardson's going to miss him every now and then, you're going to get those big explosive plays like they had today where he's able to layer that pass over the linebackers right to Granson and Granson's able to turn up field for a 20 yard gain. So yeah, I thought Kylan Granson looked, looked really solid in this game and I'm excited to see more of him. I think him and Richardson is a really good combo. And again, that's the type of player that you really want for a young quarterback.

Starting point is 00:15:01 Yeah. I think I about puts a bow on it for the first team guys, but second and third units, what were your general thoughts? Because I think you kind of have to look at the offensive line for starters. Gardner Minshew comes out, gets eaten up for sacks in his first two consecutive plays. The offensive line in general, the backups, not great. Yeah, I mean, I will say this about offensive line play just in general if you're finding any team out there that has a good second unit of offensive linemen they might be your super bowl champions because it's just like offensive linemen are just such a supreme value in the league right now because there's not many good ones like there really isn't many good ones

Starting point is 00:15:40 like if we're going to talk about the starting offensive line today the starting offensive line wasn't amazing but they did kind of look like like the 2021-ish versions of themselves where it's like okay they're giving up some pressure but at least in the run game they're they're just moving guys they're getting guys out of the hole like Will Fries and Bernard Ryman Blake Freeland they didn't look phenomenal in this game but they were moving dudes in the run game which was great I mean that's again they could again, they could be Mark Lewinsky and Eric Fisher and all that when they're in there. That's perfectly fine. You know, maybe a little bit better, but that's fine.

Starting point is 00:16:11 But going to the backups, you know, the backups in particular did struggle. Blake Freeland had the most up and down game I've ever seen. There were some reps where it was great, other reps where it's like there is zero leverage from the 6'8 right tackle, so he's just getting driven back and getting killed outside um so yeah he struggled emil eckior jr i mean yeah he's the one that stood out most to me oh man you never want everyone to know your name when you're an offensive lineman in the preseason and i feel like everyone watching was like oh yeah that's who's in it right guard because he gave up think he gave up two of the three sacks in this game.

Starting point is 00:16:47 Yeah. He, he kind of was given off Danny Pinter vibes to me from last year. Cause he's just, he's just not got great anchor or power in it. It was glaringly obvious in this one. Yeah. It was not great. I thought Arlington hand bright and Wesley French looked okay on the left side.

Starting point is 00:17:04 Like I didn't see too many bad things from them. But yeah, Emilek Jr., if we're talking offensive line, that was, that was pretty rough. Yeah. And that was everyone's pre-camp darling of, you know, is he gonna, is he gonna replace Will Fry's right guard? And I don't, I don't think that's happening anytime soon. What about the rest of the reserves? I'll give you one. You know, Josh Downs, he's someone I'm already kind of ready to go ahead and say start Anthony Richardson, but I want to say start Josh Downs at the slot too. Like, I don't think there's anything Isaiah McKenzie does

Starting point is 00:17:38 that's so supremely better than Downs. Plus, with Downs, everything looks smoother and just everything looks routine with him but he's able to you know create more after the catch he had a nice downfield catch as well uh so downs really impressed me just two catches for 29 yards but it looked good yeah there was two other receivers i want to make note of here like strong obviously i mean it's preseason so yep duh duh mike strong is gonna impress us you know he had that really really nice 18 yard catch uh but i do think it was the most mike strong play ever where he just couldn't

Starting point is 00:18:10 get off the line whatsoever uh and then it was a bad throw so he had to climb over the defender and catch it around him but yeah mike strong and they drew the penalty in the end zone which was another nice play there uh and then another guy i don't have his numbers down here because he started making all his plays late and we were already prepared for the show but malik turner had a lot of nice catches uh late in the game a lot of like four for like four for about 45 was yeah yeah he was ellinger's favorite target late in the game he did some really nice things he turned an rpo little uh little bubble player not an rpo bubble an rpo like little hook route into like a 20 something yard gain. So yeah,

Starting point is 00:18:46 Malik Turner, I think of all the bottom of the roster receivers like below Mike Strawn was the guy who really stepped up in this game. So maybe he can get himself, you know, a practice squad thing out of this. Like I thought he looked pretty good out there. Yeah. I have, I have no issues with that. I thought, you know, these bottom of the roster guys, you're looking for someone to step up a bit.

Starting point is 00:19:05 Rashad Perriman has an obvious reason to do so. Vincent Smith. So it's good to see someone in a game setting actually do it. So here, guys, in a minute, we're going to go ahead and talk about the defensive side of the ball. There were some standouts today. Obviously, this is going to be where Zach's bread is buttered. So we'll talk about that here in a second. All right, Zach.

Starting point is 00:19:26 So we have to start with the most obvious defensive standout. Grant Stewart was everywhere. Oh, my gosh. Just like Greg Raikstraw and Rick Venturi were talking about. You see the hair and it's by the ball, man. Oh, yeah. I will say this about Grant Stewart. Obviously, we can talk about what he did on defense, which I thought was really, really good on defense, but I think his, his absolute best

Starting point is 00:19:49 play of the game was, I want to say it was the very first punt of the Colts. When Riggo bombed it and he strung the guy. Oh my gosh. He was the first one down there. He dives for the guy. Well, first he pinches the guy to the sidelineeline like you're supposed to do as the first man up then he dives with his one hand hits the back heel gets the heels to click together and has the guy fall down for like a two yard return on like a 65 yard punt that that is your special teams ace right there i mean he could he could sit out the rest of the preseason after that and he would make the team because right there that's what you need out of your your depth linebacker that is a special's ace but then when you go to defense he's lighting dudes up he forced the fumble i know i know he didn't get charted as uh as uh forcing

Starting point is 00:20:34 the fumble but he definitely forced that fumble uh later in the game he had a lot of tackles uh if you're yeah 12 tackles if you're looking for the best of the reserve players that got out there today like it was grant stewart it was grant stewart i know some people would laugh at that some people that i know but like grant stewart man that guy flies around yeah he's scary man he's scary yeah i know the colts are looking for a backup mike and i don't know that i would want him there but as your backup, Sam auto, I'm here for it.

Starting point is 00:21:07 Yeah, no, he was really fun to watch out there. So he's the obviously obvious standout on this defense, but another player who's kind of more rotational guy, who's trying to fight his way for snaps, Khalid Kareem. Khalid Kareem was smoking dudes off the edge.

Starting point is 00:21:22 He was, he played really well. He had a sack, two tackles for a loss. He looked like he was getting a lot of pressure out there. Of all the rotational defensive ends, the guys that are in that battle to make that last roster spot, I thought he looked the best out of all of them today. Yeah, Al-Kadim Mohamed should have had two sacks.

Starting point is 00:21:40 He had the one where completely unblocked, and you could see with his long strides, he was not going to give it up again uh but on the first one he beat the the left tackle around the edge and got to the quarterback but just could not keep him down and you know whatever but it was a good day for those rotational guys dio with the sack as well like a 10 yard loss so a good day for those those um non-starting defensive linemen, guys who will probably be on the roster. But it was also a nice day for some guys involved in this cornerback

Starting point is 00:22:11 battle. Darius Rush had a nice pick six off of a tip pass from the receiver, took it 52 yards to the house outracing the quarterback. So that was nice because that's what we've been waiting for in training camp. He had like four picks in the spring, and he was a very clear playmaker, but we haven't had those big plays from him yet in the summer. So that was a really good way for him to set himself apart. Yeah, I think all the young corners really did some good things out there today. Like Darius Rush obviously capitalized on that pick. He did give up the touchdown to Dez Patman later.

Starting point is 00:22:44 I think that was him in coverage. I got to rewatch the film on that pick he did give up the touchdown to des patman later i think that was him in coverage i gotta re-watch the film on that one i i think i saw him there but i don't really know exactly what the coverage was uh but he had to pick six which is obviously great that's the most important thing in football is getting those turnovers now when you're playing defense uh daryl baker jr had a phenomenal pass breakup that should have been a pick uh but he just completely locked down that slant he pressed him really well pinched him short on that on that slant and then uh played through contact and nearly came with the interception uh i thought dallas flowers played pretty well i mean he's only out there for like two series uh and then also uh jalen jones i mean the one catch he

Starting point is 00:23:20 allowed i thought it was perfect perfect coverage it was just the ball was thrown in a spot where there was no way he could get it but he still made the tackle in the play so i thought a lot of these young guys that we actually are supposed to care about like played really well like it was just the the guys after that that were getting destroyed the the kevin toliver oh yeah the secondary in the fourth quarter was just atrocious it was it was bad yeah yeah kevin tolliver uh maddox at safety uh that was those two were having a really really tough time out there today yeah absolutely shoot was there was there anyone else on defense that stood out to you i think we got a few minutes to to fill with some interaction here yeah we might do some questions here and stuff like that here in a second

Starting point is 00:24:03 but no i think think overall in defense, again, just seeing Shaq out there, Shaq Leonard was really great to see in a game. Cause I mean, we've seen his, his usage ramp up and practice and everything. Didn't know if he'd even play in the preseason at all,

Starting point is 00:24:18 but there he is out there in a game setting where the biggest hits happen and he was allowed to be out there. So that was really encouraging. Yeah. That looked good. Darius, Darius Brentsnts juju brents sorry juju brents there's a lot of darius's on this team juju brents uh there were a couple catches that he gave up but i think when i'm able to show you guys on film i think it won't be as bad as what it looks it looks like it was a lot of cover three bail technique uh guy coming over the middle on dig routes and you want that hook linebacker to get out there a little bit sooner so i didn't think he looked bad whatsoever it's just he didn't really

Starting point is 00:24:49 get much in press coverage or really up there in coverage too much um yeah i mean tolliver and and maddox had really bad days like really really bad days our boy saguna luby left early with a concussion uh unfortunately uh and he got really, really toasted on that, that rub route on the outside. Really, really bad. He needed the, the problem is with that. So for that play, I think you guys were watching in the third quarter.

Starting point is 00:25:15 You remember it was a, it was a little like out and up or whatever. It was like, it was a rub route. It was a post. And then the guys doing the, the out and up around the outside. And so Guna Luby had the choice of either going under it and sticking on the man or going over it.

Starting point is 00:25:30 And then coming back over the top to stay on top of that route. The problem is he didn't really decide when the play happened. He kind of, he was like, Oh, I'm going to go under. And then halfway through going under, he wanted to go over. And by then it was it was a touchdown that's the kind of things i think gus bradley was alluding to a couple weeks ago when they said he kind of has trouble diagnosing what's going on i think that's pretty yeah pretty good example of that yeah i mean he looked good on special teams he's flying around made a nice

Starting point is 00:26:00 couple tackles on the run game but yeah you could kind of see what gus was saying with that play there where it's like you got to go over or you got to go under which under would have been a tough play too but you got you probably got to go over on that one there uh yeah that one that one's one he would probably want to have back there yeah yeah probably probably not the best day for linebackers not named grant steward trying to fight for this for this next up rotational role yeah it looked like doman was out today yeah he's been he's been out the last you know last few practices yeah doman was out mcgroan i mean he was there yeah yeah he was part of the defense i was getting shredded yeah yeah so yeah I think uh Grant Stewart definitely secured his

Starting point is 00:26:46 bomb I mean he was already pretty much a lock but yeah uh yeah one more thing I want to talk about defense though here is our guy Griffin Maloney had a question or had a statement that uh layman's I think it's layman's or LeBron's I'm not I say layman's I don't know yeah Chris whatever played a lot today and the slot was even running with the ones in front of Kenny I do want to put in perspective, I don't think Tony Brown played in this game at all. I didn't see him out there. No, not that I saw.

Starting point is 00:27:12 So that was their third string slot corner playing with the ones is all it was. I don't think it was like we like this guy a lot. It's like we don't have any other slot corners. Yeah, no, he's been the third team slot behind kenny and tony brown now why they're not getting someone else ready for that i do not know because he's going to be suspended uh he's getting a lot of work lately with the first unit like this week in practice i again i don't get it they do but it's it's what they. Yeah, I think I would have preferred seeing Dallas Flowers get a couple snaps there in the slot. That's what I'm saying. They like to cross-train guys.

Starting point is 00:27:52 And it's like, you just drafted three guys. You have Dallas Flowers, who might be the odd man out when Juju Brents is ready to start. Have one of those guys figure out how to play the nickel. Someone who's going to be there and is in your future plans. That's just for my money. Yeah, that's true. All right, Jake, so we have a couple minutes here. Let's do our three stars of the game.

Starting point is 00:28:12 Three players. It can be starters. It can be backups. Three players to you that really stood out in this game and made their mark in this game here. Good question. So you're putting me on the spot, so I'm going to have to go ahead and say Grant

Starting point is 00:28:25 Stewart is an obvious one obviously yeah 12 tackles but he did it well and again on special teams and defense also um we've seen guys have huge tackle games where they're just kind of like there the play is coming to them but he was making it happen he was attacking the line of scrimmage and I liked what I saw from him. Yep. Okay. So we got Grant Stewart as one. I think I'm going to go with, I think I have to go with him because it's such a big play. I'm going to go with Darius Rush as another one. Just again, I know he probably gave up that touchdown late, but getting a pick six in your first career game,

Starting point is 00:29:00 even if it is preseason phenomenal play. And again, a Colts defense that could not get turnovers last year came out of this game with two turnovers. And our two biggest stars are Grant Stewart and Darius Rush, who came away with those turnovers there. So yeah, I think you got to put Darius Rush up there because of that pick six. Now, who do you have as our third and final star in this one, Jake? Because of the importance of his performance, I'm going to say Khalid Kareem. Okay. Because he's going to have to turn in these performances

Starting point is 00:29:30 because it's starting to be a really crowded defensive end group. Taequann Lewis is back. Samson Aboukham is back. They're pretty much at full strength. So he's going to need to do this if he's going to stick at the big end spot. And, you know, Titus Leo is a Leo, sure, but like they're going to rotate and move a lot of these guys around. And so having a sack and a couple of tackles for loss,

Starting point is 00:29:52 that shows a well-balanced game against both the run and the pass. And I just think that's going to be really important for his chances to make the roster. Awesome. Awesome. And then one final shout out I'll do here, just because again, we don't only value defense. I know we just did three defenders there. Deion Jackson, yet again, I thought he played really well in this game. And it was great to see that with a guy who was running back who's going to be there in place of Moss for the rest of the offseason

Starting point is 00:30:13 and maybe in place of Jonathan Taylor. He looked really good out there with Anthony Richardson and the starting offense. But that's all we have for today, guys. Every day or so, again, we'll be back here all week talking Colts training camp. And we'll be going live after those joint practice on Wednesday and Thursday even though they're night practices Jake will be joining us from the the side of the brick wall outside of Colts training camp like he always is there um if you guys don't already follow at Lockdown Colts at Jake Arthur NFL and at Zach Hicks too on Twitter also subscribe to Lockdown Colts podcast on YouTube or wherever

Starting point is 00:30:43 you list your podcast we love your guys ratings reviews, and we'll see you guys back here this week for Colts training camp.

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