Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Anthony Richardson FLASHES, Run D TRAMPLED in Loss to Houston Texans
Episode Date: September 8, 2024Indianapolis Colts QB Anthony Richardson made some huge plays Sunday in a 29-27 loss to the Houston Texans but also missed a couple of difference-makers. Meanwhile, the defense had one of its worst da...ys against the run in years. Become a Locked On Colts insider! Ask your burning questions and get prompt answers from someone who's around the team every day! Get special access from the locker room, practice field, and press box! JOIN HERE! Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts/📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-nfl/ Follow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOn_SI, as well on TikTok and Instagram! This episode is brought to you by PrizePicks. Go to PrizePicks.com/lockedonnfl and use code all lowercase lockedonnfl to win $50 instantly when you play $5. For your next listen, check out the Locked On Fantasy Football podcast. Get daily insight to the best Fantasy draft strategies so you can win your league this season. Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DoorDashUse promo code LOCKEDFALL24 for 50% off up to $10 value, when you spend $15+ on your first order. Limited time offer. Terms apply. Promo is not valid for orders containing alcohol.HimsStart your free online visit today at Hims.com/lockedonnfl. PrizePicksGo to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL and use code lockedonmlb to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game.BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON today to get 10% off your first month.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelNow through September 22nd, ALL FanDuel customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get a THREE WEEK free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FANDUEL.COM/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)
Transcript
Discussion (0)
The Colts dropped this one at home, but depending how you want to look at it,
there's plenty of reason for optimism moving forward.
We'll sift through all of that right now, though.
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 post-game listen.
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 PrizePix.
Go to prizepix.com slash locked on NFL and use code all over case locked on NFL to win $50 instantly when you play just five.
What's up, guys? This is Jake Arthur and Zach Hicks of HorseshoeHuddle.com.
I am your Colts media member for the site, and Zach is our resident film expert.
And today we are here to commiserate with you guys about the colts uh dropping their yet another week one game
uh this one 29 to 27 to the houston texans of course the division game the the texans ended
the colt season in week 18. you don't want to lose this one but don't you guys just start your
nfl calendars with an l for the colts every year, it'll eventually be all right. You just know you
got to get this first one out of the way. But no, today we're going to talk about a really
explosive day for Anthony Richardson, and then we'll look at the offense and defense. Just
what went great in this one, but what really went wrong to kind of lead to this narrow loss.
So Zach, first up, let's talk about Anthony Richardson. Really kind of a peculiar stat line,
I'll be honest. So Houston dominates time of possession, literally 40 minutes to 20,
which doesn't really let the Colts get in a rhythm. Plus the Colts had some huge quick drives
for long touchdowns. That really just led to an abridged version of an offense today uh Anthony 9 of 19 passing only 47 percent but then you go
over to 212 yards which is an 11.2 yards per attempt I think you'll take that you know and
then he had two pick or two touchdowns one interception was sacked a couple times and
despite completing less than 50 percent still had a passer rating of 101.2.
Yeah.
What an experience it was watching Anthony Richardson.
It felt very similar to the Rams game last year where things were missing
really bad early in that Rams game.
He had an early turnover,
which killed the Colts offense in that Rams game too.
And in that game,
it was a fumble.
It wasn't an interception,
but you know,
same thing turnover on the other side of the field.
Same thing happened in this one.
Threw a pick in the red zone, which I'm sure we'll get to in this segment as well.
But overall, the second half comes around.
The Colts need a superhero performance from their quarterback because they just did not
have anything whatsoever going their way.
And Richardson gave them that superhero performance.
It just wasn't enough to get the win.
But at the end of the day, man, again, this is the youngest starting quarterback in football, a player who
has what started not even two dozen games since high school. Like there's a lot of learning to
be done with this young player. And we've already seen it in two of his full NFL games. He's played
the only two games that he has started and finished in the NFL, we have seen him drag a team back from having no right to be in the game
whatsoever.
You know,
yeah.
Double digit deficits in both.
I don't know if it was double digit.
Double score.
Yeah.
I think it was two scores in this one at one point,
but we've seen it in the two games that he's finished.
Now the next part of the equation is not getting into that,
that deficit,
which is surely a big thing.
But that's a special, special thing that we're seeing from this young quarterback.
So for a first game of the season, man, like, yes, there's some room to improve on.
But that's what you want to see from your young quarterback.
11.2 yards per attempt, that's Matt Ryan MVP numbers from yards per attempt.
You don't want
to rely on the deep ball every single week because it's a very volatile type stat. But
when you have a quarterback who can do the things that he can do, you always have a chance to win
in the NFL. So overall, I mean, again, we're going to go into the nitty gritty details here
with Anthony Richardson, but overall, very optimistic from what we saw from this young
quarterback. Some things to clean up for sure. The offense needs to be better too going forward in general.
But the young quarterback gave the Colts a chance in this one,
and they came just short against an AFC contender, you know,
because of his superhero play in that second half.
Yeah, I thought overall a very positive day.
Don't want to totally let them off the hook.
Like there were some missed opportunities, obviously.
You know, the first deep touchdown would be touchdown to A.D. Mitchell, just
didn't connect. We'll add some context to that here in a minute. There was a couple other big
misplays to Mitchell as well. Those two just obviously not quite on the same page yet, which
they're both essentially rookies at this point. But just, again, kind of a fascinating day because Houston,
which historically has just gotten the beat down from Jonathan Taylor specifically,
did a really good job against Taylor and overall shut down the backfield run game,
you know, from the running backs at least.
You know, Taylor just three yards to carry.
But Richardson picked up that slack and gave the run game life.
56 yards, a 9.3 yards per carry average,
and a really tough hard-nosed touchdown from three yards out late in the game.
And what Richardson called after the game, you know, he said,
Shane Steichen said, that's a got-to-have-it opportunity.
And that's when he really wants to let Anthony Richardson throw caution to the wind
and get those tough yards, the got- that was successful um so i was uh i was
curious obviously the the passing only 19 passes there were some good ones and there's some bad
obviously what do you think his running usage though like both by design and the ones where
he chose to scramble on his own really
great design uh all the run plays i mean obviously once we get the all 22 film we can put our
specific names on each one of these and stuff and and uh and all those like the veers and the in the
qb lead options and stuff like that but overall i think they're really great designs got him out
in space got it to where he could have slid i mean I wish he would have slid on a couple of them, but I do like that. He is starting to look a little bit more like the Lamar Jackson,
Jalen Hurts style of running where when he's absorbing the contact and falling with his own
momentum rather than trying to stay up and having that big man fall and hurt yourself that way. So
he took some violent hits in this game. I'm glad he got up from them. If anything, this game showed that hits like injury luck is mostly just luck because he took like five more violent hits in this game than he took in any of the games last year and popped up from each of them in this game.
But, yeah, I think the QB running total was fine.
You know, six carries.
I know like two of them were scrambles.
So those were ones that he created for himself so really like four design runs for him compared to like 19 to what was it 21 dropbacks because he had the two sacks as well so
overall I think that's a good disparity obviously when you have more plays on offense you will have
more things in there uh to go to go for the like to split that out a little bit better but
yeah I think that was a good split for him I did want to touch on again we have the volatility of anthony richardson where we have the the high
highs and the low lows but the the special throws man like the first throw to alec pierce there's
what maybe two quarterbacks in football that can make that throw if i mean we feel comfortable
saying josh allen and pat mahomes can make. But like, how many other guys can make that throw on a line like that?
I mean, that ball was perfectly placed to Alec Pierce.
I think a friend of the show, Kenan Kasingo, said something to me during the game that it was the longest air yards completed pass on a non-Hell Mary since like 2016.
That's just insane. And maybe even a better throw was the layered throw on the deep dig to Ashton Doolin,
where Doolin did the rest, obviously, and finished the play.
But I mean, that type of play right there is something we haven't seen
from a Colts quarterback since Andrew Luck.
Just the ability to hit that deep dig,
layered over a linebacker who is helpless with the velocity and the speed of that.
And then giving your receiver a
chance after the play too. And then obviously the deep ball to Pierce late in the game, like,
yes, that was, you know, a jump ball down the field to him against the safety, but like
to even give him the chance there, I mean, to get the ball 60 yards down the field to Pierce, I mean,
these are one of one plays and you take the misthrows if you're going to get these type of
moments from your quarterback. Obviously you want to fix throws if you're going to get these type of moments from your
quarterback. Obviously, you want to fix the layups portion of the offense, but the three-point game
is looking great right now for the Colts. So, you know, I'm taking that right now. Obviously,
you got to clean up some other things underneath, which we have a little bit of time to still talk
about. But those special throws, man, if you can just build off the special and make the routine
look routine,
I mean, I'm so hopeful for this quarterback. I'm so hopeful because those special plays were so, so special. Yeah, and I'll do you one better on that deep dig to Doolin. After the
game, Richardson told us that wasn't even really where they envisioned the ball going when they
had that play dialed up. That's not where it was going to go. He just happened to see Doolin coming open across and he's like, oh, I got to give him a chance there. So that's,
you know, part of the mental aspect of Anthony, you know, taking a little bit of freedom with
what he sees out there, which of course you want that. I just wanted to say really cool. There's,
I feel like there's a million things and people are going to get to it if they haven't already.
The officiating I thought was odd.
One thing, though, like it's very real that I don't want to call Anthony a running quarterback because that's not what he is.
He's a quarterback who can run.
Those guys don't get the generous calls.
I thought there was one or two plays in this where they just didn't do
a good job of enforcing protection for the quarterback and
other quarterbacks who were maybe more prototypical passers would maybe get it
that one sack. If, if there was no penalty,
I thought maybe at least the Colts lineman should have said something about her
said, Hey friend, don't do that again. You know,
in the most gentle terms, of course.
But the play on the sideline, I thought that was unnecessary.
I did not like that.
I'll be honest with you.
But that's probably just a foreword for everybody.
That's probably going to be a theme throughout the year,
unless the Colts start to complain to the league about it.
I don't know that Anthony's going to get some of those calls
that he probably should.
Yeah, it's the Cam Newton rules.
If you're a bigger quarterback and you look like you can absorb those hits, you're allowed to get a helmet to the head and suplexed or whatever in the backfield.
Overall, I'm not too concerned about those with officiating.
More of the clear dropped pass over the middle before halftime and then whatever the heck the rest of that sequence was before halftime and some other things.
But, you know, it's officiating we can't really rely on that to win games or lose games
as part of the game like by no means was that the deciding factor when we get to the colts offense
and defense in our next two segments we'll start talking about why the colts actually lost this
game because this first segment was the only reason why the colts were close was anthony
richardson the other two segments we're about to talk about, the rest of the offense and the defense,
that's why the Colts didn't win this game, ultimately.
Well, without further ado, let's go ahead and get to those areas.
Offense first.
But first, a word from our friends over at PrizePix.
One Caleb Williams passing yard gets you a win on prize picks every week in September.
That's right.
Just one yard gets you an automatic W every football weekend in September.
That's four weekends of free Ws.
Don't miss the deal on prize picks because it's gone when September ends.
Green Day, we're talking to you.
You can now win up to 100 times your money on prize picks with as few as four correct
picks.
Prize picks is the best way to get action on sports in most states, including California, Texas, and Georgia. Prize Picks is the only real money daily
fantasy platform with an injury insurance policy so that your lineups stay in play even if one of
your players gets injured. If your player leaves and the first half and doesn't return, Prize Picks
makes sure that your plays are still alive and that you can still actually win something.
So download the PrizePix app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 instantly when you play just five.
That's LOCKEDONNFL on PrizePix to get $50 instantly when you play five.
You don't even need to win to receive the $50 bonus because it's guaranteed.
PrizePix, run your game.
And this show is also sponsored by our friends over at BetterHelp.
What's something that you would love to learn?
As an adult, do you make time to learn new things as often as you like,
or was that lost in childhood?
Kids are always learning and growing, but as adults, sometimes we lose that curiosity.
What's something that you guys would like to learn?
Gardening, a new language, or maybe how to finally beat your friend in bowling?
Therapy can help you reconnect with your sense of wonder because your back to school era can come at any age.
I mean, for a lot of you guys listening, I think the one thing we can all learn is yards per attempt
is a much better metric of quarterback play than completion percentage. See, that's one thing I
just taught you guys right there. We can learn so much and BetterHelp is here to help you. If
you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed
to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule.
Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch
therapist anytime for no additional charge.
Rediscover your curiosity with BetterHelp.
Visit betterhelp.com slash locked on today to get 10% off your first month.
That's betterhelp.com slash locked on.
All right, Jake, so I'm going to run through the positives real quick on offense before we get to the scathing parts of this offense.
Because the offense was clearly outcoached and outdesigned by the Texans defense.
Texans defense took away a lot of what the Colts were trying to do.
And it took Richardson and two other players in offense really to carry this team forward to keep it close.
But those two other players were Ashton Doolin and Alec Pierce. I mean, just a first shout out to
Pierce, man. This guy has been the subject of a lot of vitriol over the years and not all of it's
undeserved. Obviously, Pierce could have been more consistent his first two years in the league.
He could have been better overall as a receiver. And I understand some of the sentiment towards him, but he came out today and showcased why he is a solid NFL player.
And that is he has one dominant trait.
That one dominant trait is you give him that jump ball down the field.
He's going to make the play.
He perfectly ran under that first Richardson pass and then made the play of
the game on that jump ball on the second Richardson pass.
Three receptions for 125 yards in this game on a season
pace right now of 51 catches for 2,000 yards. So look, I'm just saying Cooper Cup, watch out.
Like Cooper Cup, your record is in jeopardy right now if Alec Pierce keeps this up here.
And then the other man of the hour, Ashton Doolin. One catch for 54 yards and a touchdown. Fantastic
yards after the catch on that deep dig catch for 54 yards and a touchdown. Fantastic yards after the
catch on that deep dig from Anthony Richardson to score the touchdown. Really great seeing him
come back from that injury that he suffered last year and make a big play like that. But those are
the big positives on offense right here. And there were two of my favorite players, so I'm feeling
pretty happy right now, Jake. But the rest of this offense, I think there is a little bit of room to grow for sure.
Yeah, man.
Shouts out to Pierce for the Randy Moss stat line on that.
That's really good.
But I'll eat crow in this one going into it.
I said, you know,
the one thing I'm really confident in is the Colts being able to run the
ball in this one.
Like I mentioned, Jonathan Taylor, historically,
he's done great against them.
188 against them just in week 18 last year. So
didn't go well this time. He had 48 yards on 16 carries, which is a 3.0 average and one touchdown
only along of seven. We normally see him start to churn it out and get like two or three carries of
about 10 plus yards. I didn't think the line did a good job of helping him out there were a
couple times there where i thought maybe he could have bounced somewhere else like the two-point
conversion for example i thought he maybe could have kept that outside or there's just i i don't
know it seemed like maybe he left the play out on the field i don't want to totally put it on him
but you know it kind of is what it is um but yeah you know kyle and granson again i i really don't want
to make it feel like we're just giving anthony like a pass for everything the interception does
go on his record but i mean on that interception it looked like it was going to be a very catchable
ball for granson until he began falling one of his most accurate passes of the day i mean look, look again, we're the deep passes were great from Richardson outside a couple of misses here and
there, but like on underneath stuff, he wasn't very accurate. And that was one of his most
accurate passes and ends up being an interception because Granson fell down. I mean, sloppy man,
sloppy. And I do want to give a shout out to the Texans defense and D'Amico Rines, because
we were banging the
drum all week saying the Colts key to success in this game is establish the run inside zone,
split zone, inside runs, build your RPOs off that, keep it nice and simple, and then you can
occasionally hit some deep balls. Well, obviously the Texans knew that as well because they came out
base defense, stacking the box, taking away those inside runs,
eliminating the RPO game with odd looks and staying on top of those tight ends.
And the Colts really didn't have an answer for it.
They got away from the run game a lot.
They had really no RPO game whatsoever in this outing.
I mean, it worked a couple times, but the Colts really had no RPO game at all.
And again, the only reason they were in this game is because Richardson was able to make
some superhero type plays
throwing the ball down the field.
Overall, the Texans defensive staff
and defensive players outperformed
and outcoached the Colts offensive staff,
which hopefully we don't have to say that too much this year
because I do think Shane Steichen's a fantastic coach
and I think they're going to be fine overall.
But this was definitely a learning experience for Shane Steichen because he's gotten the better of D'Amico Ryans in the past. I mean,
in week two last year, he got the better of D'Amico Ryans. He did not in this game whatsoever.
And the Colts were just beat down on offense. And again, if it wasn't for Richardson hitting some
superhuman plays, this could have been easily like a shutout or a seven point game or something like
that. So a big shout out to the Texans. They came out, they punched the Colts offensive line in the
mouth. Really not a great game from the Colts in the trenches on both sides, which we said was the
biggest advantage the Colts had going into this game. And you're not going to win many games in
the NFL where you're getting just beat up in the trenches like that again they were only in this game because of those superhuman plays yeah anthony's ability with his legs became the most important part of the run
game because of what they were doing to the to taylor and the offensive line of anthony's six
carries five of them went for a first down or that touchdown at the end so yeah they absolutely
needed every time anthony took off to run they that literally moved the end. So they absolutely needed every time Anthony took off to run.
That literally moved the chains and helped them keep drives alive.
So, yeah, it was a fine line between a disaster,
having a non-mobile quarterback out there,
and having the Anthony Richardson's of the world out there.
It closes the margin for error.
And this is why I said in the preseason that I think the Colts offense can be better this year than what it was last year,
even if it is more volatile, because at the end of the day, you have a superhuman back there.
He's going to be able to make play.
Like, if everything is going wrong for you when you have Gardner Minshew at quarterback, everything's going wrong for you.
That's it.
Like, everything's going to go wrong.
If everything's going wrong for you on offense, you're getting outcoached and out-schemed and just bludgeoned in the trenches,
you have this superhuman guy who's going to make some plays for you.
And that's ultimately the only reason why the Colts found success on offense.
So major, major learning experience for the offensive line.
I mean, Mitchell, I think, had a good game, but get on the same page, obviously, with
Anthony Richardson.
Taylor needs to be better next week.
Shane Steichen needs to be better next week.
The Titans need to be better next week. Even a guy like Pittman can be a little bit better next week. Shane Steichen needs to be better next week. The Titans need to be better next week.
Even a guy like Pittman can be a little bit better next week.
The only guys who get a pass are Alec Pierce and Ashton Doolin.
A-plus.
A-plus, guys.
Alec Pierce, A-plus-plus for you, buddy.
But yeah, the Colts offense, I think they were able to survive in this game
because of those couple big plays.
But obviously, 23 yards per completion is not a sustainable path
for success on offense, despite how fun it is.
So I do think they need to be better, obviously,
going into next week against Green Bay and going forward.
But again, we can take some positives from it.
It just needs to be better going forward for sure.
Yeah, so that might be the end of the positives
before we start talking about the
defense. Although I'll, I'll try and throw you guys a couple of cherries in there.
All right. We are getting into the fall. The summer is winding down, but you know,
big live events aren't over. Like I'm literally at Lucas oil stadium right now,
come on out to Colts games. You know, you've, you've got the NBA. That'll be starting up sooner or later. The fever or playoff bound. There's still some
concerts going on. I have used our friends at game time to purchase concert tickets coming up.
Game time has a new feature called game time picks that makes getting tickets to your favorite live
events even easier. Game time picks filters out all the fluff to show you only incredible deals
on great seats
so that you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of ticket options.
With GameTime Picks, their curation makes it easier to save on more sports, concerts,
comedy, theater, whatever. They've got the seat views where you can get a panoramic view from
your seat in the app before you buy. They've got the lowest price guarantee, which means if you
find comparable seats somewhere else for cheaper,
GameTime will credit you 110% of the difference. And they've got their ticket coverage, which means your purchase is covered with the most flexible customer service policy
in the ticketing industry. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the
GameTime app, create an account and use code LOCKED locked on NFL for $20 off of your first purchase terms apply again, create an account and redeem code L O C K E D O N NFL for $20 off download
game time today. What time is it? Game time, baby. It's game time.
So Zach, we're not going to read aloud what I wrote on the outline to start out the defense because this is a family show.
But let's just start out with a quick positive because I think it's not going to be a lot of it.
So the defensive line really did well in one area, which was rushing the passer, which we said they needed to do in order to win.
They did their part there. They got to CJ Stroud four times, hit him 10 times. He looked very
clearly uncomfortable throughout a lot of the game. Like he made some special CJ Stroud type
throws that he's just always going to do. But in general, I thought he looked uncomfortable
a lot of the game.
So there's that. We're going to move along now to the run defense portion of it.
213 yards on 40 carries, which is 5.3 average and a touchdown. Credit to Mike Chappell and Kevin Bowen. We were all chatting up in the press box after the game. That total is the
sixth most in the Chris Ballard era, which is since 2017. I believe it's the most since 2022 against the Giants.
Joe Mixon individually had 159 yards on 30 carries, which again was 5.3 yard average. He had
the touchdown. That was the most against the Colts individually since Derrick Henry in 2020.
And a lot of people have pointed out Joe Mixon.
That feels like about half of his yardage that he had all of last year with
the Bengals.
So things to work on.
I think the biggest bummer of this all was that Grover Stewart was out there
and Grover can't play 100 snaps or 100% of the snaps.
Right.
But even if he did,
it's not like the Colts were winning those
snaps either I mean like look at least in years past whenever this kind of thing happened to the
Colts defense it was Grover was out or DeForest Buckner was out I mean Buckner was out for some
of this game but he was out there for most of the game come on we saw him out there for what it's
worth I thought Buck had an awesome game he did did. Like, again, but there were some snaps where you could clearly watch
on run defense him getting blown off the ball too.
I did see him get rerouted, so to say, once or twice.
And I do, again, before I get into just crushing the Colts defense here
because they deserve it, hats off to the Texans' offensive game plan.
The Colts came out fully prepared for no matter what we're going to
do, we're going to stop the pass. The Colts actually had a fairly decent game plan for the
Texans passing attack, and they are Nick Cross just turning around on the deep ball away from
holding Stroud to a fairly moderate day. They rushed the passer well when they got them in the
third and long. I think the Colts pass game plan was fine, but because their whole
game plan was around the passing defense, they were just getting bludgeoned in the run game.
And there was just no adjustments. The Colts could have gone back to more base defense. But again,
if you go back to more base defense, then you open up the passing game for CJ Stroud again,
and the Colts clearly didn't want to do that. So they picked their poison and they died by that
poison. And that poison was Joe Mixon, just bludgeoning your entire defense. They were coming out with full
backs. They were coming out in 12 and 13 personnel. They were doing toss plays to the outside with
full backs and tight ends leading on these defensive backs. The Colts were just sitting
in their base nickel the entire game. And it was just an absolute bludgeoning on and the defensive line was
getting destroyed uh and look the grover and buckner snaps were better they weren't good
the atatomiwa and taven brian snaps were horrendous some of the worst snaps you'll ever
see from defensive tackles in the run game the linebacker play was not good whatsoever in this
one honestly the only guys who could tackle for the Colts in this game
were their secondary players.
Honestly, Joe Mixon should have gone for 250 in this game.
He goes for 250 if players in the Colts secondary were bad tacklers in this one.
But Nick Cross made most of his tackles.
Julian Blacken made most of his tackles.
And Jalen Jones, to his credit, made a lot of good tackles
in the open field against Joe Mixon.
This was just a travesty in run defense.
I don't think I've ever seen the Colts' defensive line, the Colts' front seven, look like this in run defense.
And it was the complete inverse of last year when the Colts played the Texans in both matchups, honestly.
It was every time Bobby Slowick called a run play against the Colts last year, it was,
thank you so much.
Thank you so much for gifting us with a free down,
with gifting us with a free stop
so we can have fewer C.J. Stroud throws
against our defense.
In this game, it was, please let C.J. Stroud throw
because every single run is killing our defense.
So fantastic game plan by the Texans to switch that up in a whole year like that
and just massacre this defense like this.
But the Colts are not going to win many games this year whatsoever
if this trend continues.
And with DeForest Buckner now dealing with a back injury,
who knows how much – I mean, Taven Bryant's a starter.
This is going to be a trend going forward the rest of the season.
But, yeah, pitiful, pitiful showing in the run game i'm fine with cj star killing you in the passing game
because he's a good player like i'm not saying joe mixon's not a good player either but like
good quarterbacks are going to get theirs but to get beat up like this in the ground game it's
demoralizing it takes the ball away from your young quarterback i mean the colts were it was what 40 minutes of
of possession for the texans morning yeah 40 to 20 in this one uh the colts had four offensive
snaps the whole third quarter like you can't win that way but like you cannot win that way
whatsoever so the run defense something needs to change there i don't care if you have to go to
base defense again if you have to go to three linebackers out there, like you cannot have performances like this on the ground.
You can survive a quarterback throwing the ball on you. You can't survive never getting the ball
back to your offense and allowing them to run for over 200 yards on you. It's just not a recipe for
success. And, and heck at the end of the game, they had a chance to get the ball back to their
offense twice. And they couldn't get off the field on the third down pass and they just couldn't stop a run when hey the Texans were going to run the ball the Texans like you put all 11
guys run committing there and come on like it it's just you can't win games this way whatsoever
um and we can't even use the Taven Bryan excuse like we could for games last year where it's all
Taven Bryan's fault because yes Taven Bryan was bad when he got out there,
but Grover Stewart was out there too.
DeForest Buckner was out there too.
All these guys on the defensive line outside of Laatu Latu
are on second contracts.
Guys at linebacker are on second contracts getting paid big money.
You've got to make some stops in the run game.
So, yeah, just an abysmal showing from the players on the field.
I'm not trying to give Gus Bradley a pass either.
He tried to come out playing a lot of nickel and sitting back against the pass and because of that they got run all over too but it's just an embarrassing showing by a defense
that talked a lot of crap all season about this matchup yeah uh to get bludgeoned like that on
the ground it's it's kind of embarrassing but no that is definitely the embarrassing part of it
yeah it's about our
young quarterbacks so we can still be optimistic going forward but like oh man that's i would
rather i would rather allow 700 yards passing than allow 200 yards on the ground it's so embarrassing
it's so embarrassing for your defense and yeah i mean again hats off to the texans man we said all
week the colts have the advantage in the trenches on both sides that's how the colts are going to
win this game the texans beat the crap out of have the advantage in the trenches on both sides. That's how the Colts are going to win this game. The Texans beat the crap out of the Colts in the
trenches on both sides, and that's why the Colts lost. Yeah, that's absolutely true, and if this
goes into Green Bay next week, a team that's going to have to run the ball because they're not going
to have their quarterback, they may have to quickly make some personnel changes. I don't know.
We're both going to re-watch the game a time or two again,
but maybe they have to switch up safety again,
and Nick Cross has to be in the strong.
I mean, I know Julian Blackman is a very reliable tackle.
I think he led the team today.
But you may have to make adjustments like that
to also account for the deep ball part,
where you mentioned Nick Cross turning his head around,
but also like Saguna Luby being out there, you know,
when it comes to run defense as well.
I, you know, offhand didn't really see how Jalen Carlisle did,
but if the other linebackers aren't going to run defend well,
like there's just going to have to be personnel moves that are made.
And again, that stuff,
we're going to have to get a closer look at here when,
when we can take a look at the film,
but I'm confident they can get it fixed because
this is normally a pretty good run defense when Grover's in there. I mean, there's a huge asterisk
there. But yeah, DeForest Buckner, who knows what this back injury, what the prognosis from that is.
So this could be pretty unchill. Yeah, I will say this because to close out, just to close the book
on this, obviously we're
gonna have our film breakdown tomorrow like where we talk more about the film in depth and stuff
like that but to kind of close it out for tonight they took an afc contender to the wire thing wrong
aside from their young quarterback playing crazy in the second half like they did everything wrong
they didn't convert on the interception chances. They got just destroyed on the ground, destroyed in the trenches.
They got outcoached.
They were on the negative side of the turnover differential.
Like the Colts did everything wrong in this game.
But luckily week one, it's hard to really,
like week one is the most crazy weeks in the season.
So hopefully you can take what you did wrong in this game,
hopefully tweak it a bit and come back stronger next week. It's okay to lose to the Houston
Texans because they're a really good team. But if these issues continued next week against
Malik Willis and the Green Bay Packers, then we'll have a more serious conversation. But overall,
Anthony Richardson put the team on his back and gave the team a chance to win. Alec Pierce put
the team on his back, gave the team a chance to win, but need much better showings from the trenches,
from Shane Steichen, from the rest of the defense, from some other players on offense,
and obviously more consistency even from Anthony Richardson too. Needs to be a lot better going
forward, but it's not the end of the world yet for the Colts by any means. It's week one of 17.
Their quarterback has not even had five starts in the NFL. It's not the end of the world yet for the Colts by any means. It's week one of 17. Their quarterback has not even had five starts in the NFL. It's not the end of the world for the Colts. We are being rough on
them right now, but there's still plenty of football to be played this season. A lot of
things to build on. I'm glad that they were able to get this exposure to a good Texans team early,
and we'll see where they can go from here. That's all we have for today, guys. We'll be back with
you guys tomorrow. Don't worry. After we get a chance to look over the film, we'll see where they can go from here. That's all we have for today, guys. We'll be back with you guys tomorrow.
Don't worry.
After we get a chance to look over the film,
we'll talk about some more plays in specific detail
and really dive into the nitty-gritty,
hopefully of just the offense,
because I don't know about you, Jake.
I don't really want to watch the defense tomorrow,
but we'll see.
We'll see.
You're going to have to.
We will talk to Shane and a couple of the players tomorrow,
so we'll be able to fill in a little bit with what they had to say as well.
Jake will give us an in-depth breakdown of the defensive film.
I'll talk about the offensive film, and there we go.
That'll be it right there.
Before we get out of here, though,
I do want to remind you guys that our friends over at Locked on NFL
now have two shows every single day,
featuring Tyler Rowland in the morning and then Tony Wiggins
for some real NFL talk afterwards.
Add in the Locked On local experts, and you get unprecedented NFL insight in 30 minutes.
It's the new Locked On NFL and it's twice a day.
Make the madman Tyler Rowland in the barber Tony Wiggins your second listen over at Locked On NFL on YouTube.
Every list of your podcasts.
If you guys don't already, make sure you're following at Locked On Colts, at JakeArthur NFL, and at Zach Hicks too, all on Twitter.
Also subscribe to us on YouTube, wherever you list your podcasts.
We love your guys' ratings and views,
and we'll catch you guys back here tomorrow afternoon.