Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Anthony Richardson Struggles Again; Is it Time to Panic?

Starting point is 00:00:00 After back-to-back rough weeks for quarterback Anthony Richardson, is it time for Colts fans to panic? Let's get to it. You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you all for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:34 Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Place your first $5 bet and you'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed. Visit FanDuel.com to get started. Hello, everyone. I am Zach Hicks, your favorite film nerd over at HorseshoeHuddle.com. And I am joined by Ben Boris at Colts Film Room. Your guys' favorite film nerd on Twitter there. So Ben Boris has passed me up there on Twitter for sure.

Starting point is 00:01:00 I want to say before we get started today, though, we're going to talk Anthony Richardson. We're going to talk about the lows of this past game for Anthony Richardson. We're going to talk about how we can potentially right the ship here in Indy. And then we're going to talk about the panic button and kind of update our thoughts on the panic button. Before we get started, though, I do want to apologize for my voice in this one. I'm fighting a sickness that I was dealing with over the weekend. So if you are a little disturbed by my voice, you know, again, I was down with the sickness a little bit this past weekend. So if you are a little disturbed by my voice, you know, again, I was down with the sickness a little bit this past weekend.

Starting point is 00:01:27 So a little tough one there for me. I'll get back. I'll get back here for y'all. So rely on Ben Boris here to do a lot of the commentary and talk a lot about Richardson. But yeah, let's just talk about this game in particular, Ben, because it was not a good game. And we can make some excuses for

Starting point is 00:01:46 some of the moments in the Packers game. This one, it feels like that we don't really have many excuses for. It was just a very bad, really bad performance. Outside of what a deep throw to Alec Pierce, it was a really forgettable day for the young quarterback and I think what hurts the most is the high leverage situations where the mistakes happened sailing a deep pass to Pittman Jr. when he was open uh throwing that interception in the red zone simply cannot three of the first three of his six are now in the red zone so yeah yeah so that one just can't happen and then you also have sailing passes on third down the one to Pierce and the one to Downs that effectively ends drives that should have been continued.

Starting point is 00:02:30 Like there's nothing we can really say. Like if we're being honest, again, we have to contextualize everything and we can make excuses about his age and his inexperience. But if starts like this continue, it's not a positive thing at all by any means. You can't really draw positive conclusions if you are getting starts like this on the regular.

Starting point is 00:02:52 On the bright side, it's only seven career starts. He's had two really rough outings, only two out of seven. They happen to be back to back. So it is a little hurtful to the ego there for us, at least. But what were your overall thoughts on his play this past Sunday? Again, not the greatest in the box score. Was there any kind of shining light in the film review or was it still kind of rough?

Starting point is 00:03:14 Yeah, now that I'm thinking about it, it might have been two of his six are in the red zone. But nonetheless, you don't want red zone turnovers. I think this was a wake-up call for a lot of people that just maybe had really, really, really unrealistic expectations for him coming into the year. It's still a project quarterback. I think I love the passionate fans

Starting point is 00:03:36 and how much they want to ride for their quarterback. But just to have more realistic expectations is this is a quarterback still figuring a lot of things out and making mistakes. The one thing that I think you can say kind of off the film was that like, he still has this locker room. They still love playing for him and he will own every single mistake as soon as it's, as soon as it happens. He's a guy that, that wants to perform really well for himself. And I think that, you know, maybe it's whether it's a guy that wants to perform really well for himself. And I think that, you know, maybe it's whether it's a mental element,

Starting point is 00:04:13 whether it's a little bit, you know, the lights feeling a little bit too bright after, you know, maybe getting that grace as a rookie that maybe he's not giving himself now. And this year there's been a lot of these kind of unexplainable turnovers where I think you and I both agree the mechanics are fine like it's just it's like you turn the throw power rating up on Madden to like 101 and then the accuracy down and you just don't know where to go with the ball um I think that those things will just work out and I kind of just maintain the thing of like there's I I think everyone wants these cookie cutter answers when you get these like really bad misses uh but I don't personally see anything from the

Starting point is 00:04:52 mechanics that is like oh my god this is insane I think it's just needing to play through it needing to see some of these different looks um and then you know I think it'll end up working itself out over time. But just in the interim, what he can do to help himself out week to week, there are some things I'm sure we can get to, but overall just I think kind of a realization of this is what playing with a young quarterback looks like in the NFL, and Anthony Richardson, despite his size, speed, and freakish traits isn't going to be able to overcome that yeah and and yes the level of play we've gotten the last

Starting point is 00:05:32 two weeks from him is unacceptable like long term like it's just something you can't have out of your starting quarterback but it's something you live with with a 22 year old guy in his seventh career start I mean Chris Ball, when he drafted him, literally said the flashes were loud and I didn't want to see him go be a superstar on another team. So I think this was the expectation, no matter what they say at the podium, this is the,

Starting point is 00:05:55 the, they knew that this was not going to happen overnight. They hoped it happened overnight, but I think they knew that there was a possibility that he'll develop as a passer while he excels as an athlete. Yeah, and I will say, again, not to put just a super positive spin on this because we're going to be really realistic with you guys in a lot of these shows where it's like we have long-term optimism,

Starting point is 00:06:15 we have pessimism from this past game, obviously, but long-term optimism. And I think one of the more positive takeaways from this game from Anthony Richardson is I don't think a single ball was thrown in the wrong place in this game like maybe there's like one or two if I go back and like really comb over the film but I really don't recall a pass thrown to the wrong player you can make I think you can make the argument um of the goal line interception yeah that's true but i think for that i mean like they the bears they i will probably say that they need to go back to the drawing board at the goal in the short yardage in the goal line because they tried the same play that was pretty much

Starting point is 00:06:57 unstoppable i thought there was no way anyone was going to be able to stop it bears were all over it they probably were scouted for that the colts also haven't had a ton of goal line reps this year like it's been a lot of explosive plays so you're not giving them anything new in particular to go scout for when they do their red zone day on on friday i think is what teams usually do it so like when you when you're breaking down a team and you go look at oh let me see what anthony richardson does in the goal line he's such an explosive player like he could be a real problem you'll see the same plays over and over again i think that's where shane steichen owned it said gotta give him a better look definitely agree but i think when something's there you you have to have the you know the wherewithal to just

Starting point is 00:07:39 take the sack take the three points or throw that ball into the stands give it to McAfee like yeah right right yeah okay that one was certainly to the wrong place for sure but besides that and again yeah that was a young kid just forcing the issue when it wasn't there I'm fine with that one but all the other ones man it's like the missed two downs on third down right spot just in lined up mechanics and everything just sailed it like got too freaked out when he saw an open receiver same with Pierce on the other third down threw it over a wide open receiver the wide open Pittman on the interception like the eyes are in the right spot it's just the nerves the jitters whatever it is with him

Starting point is 00:08:20 is not syncing up with the eyes and the brain right now. So the positives with that is the eyes and the brain are good. The eyes, the brain, and the talent are all really good right now with him. It's about calming down. It's about not freaking out and not thinking about, do I need to take some off this throw? Do I need to keep putting more on this throw? Do I need to line up my hips or whatever? Like he's thinking too much when he sees an open receiver. And I think part of this comes down to just not being used to the NFL speed. Because my theory with this is when he sees a receiver breaking open, his brain immediately goes, the ball now needs to be in his hands or else it's too late.

Starting point is 00:09:00 And, you know, like maybe he's watching Will Levis stuff with that pick that he threw on the on the little hook route for a pick six maybe that's what he's thinking you know where it's like if this ball is not in his hands the second he breaks open it's late and it's a pick six so I need to get that ball in his hands now and then he's just like it's losing the the accuracy that you want I don't know what it is mentally with him in terms of what it is. But what I can tell you is mechanically, mostly fine. Like some issues to clean up, but mechanically, mostly fine. Eyes are good.

Starting point is 00:09:34 Talent is good. Brain is good. This is a smart player who knows where the ball needs to go, who's reading the field well. It's all about just getting the ball to the players now. You know what's actually crazy is like, I think we've lost sight in this. So I think when you go look on the other just getting the ball to the players now you know what's actually crazy is like what i think we've lost sight in this is the so i think when you go look on the other side of the ball you can talk a lot about the bears offense but the bears defense is a great defense

Starting point is 00:09:51 great defense and one of the things that i've noticed at least with anthony richardson well first of all if you all the plays that are being left out there on the field this offense should be right there without with any of them because for all the talk of offenses are struggling the colts are in that conversation when you go look at them on a stat sheet when you go pull up the film it's like oh my god there are so many plays just left on the table for this offense they should be one of the better in the league if we're just connecting on some of the layups so that we can earn those deep shots. I think that that's a huge element of it as well.

Starting point is 00:10:34 The other thing that I think is really interesting is the way that teams are rushing Anthony Richardson. Like a lot of, you know, we talked about sim pressures was everything that we were talking about with Mike McDonald and, you know, the defense in Baltimore and how all these people were confusing quarterbacks and protections that way. And while that's still the case, teams really don't bring a ton of pressure at Anthony Richardson for this sole fact that he'll just run around. If you send too much, he will just run around you and go make a play. And everyone else is in man coverage. So're you don't get a lot of man with anthony richardson because they want to to try to put him make him check the ball down and make the the layup throws they will they'll play zone soft zone all day for that reason and just keep contained on them and that's been the game plan so far so it really like dumbs down the aggressiveness of a lot of these aggressive defensive coordinators um so the formula is all there you just find a way to

Starting point is 00:11:30 connect on some of the routine plays that a lot of quarterbacks can make and then combine that with the ability to gain some more confidence back and make some of those throws that literally only he can make the the potential is still there as as high as it was when two weeks ago when he made that ridiculous throw to alec pierce versus houston like nothing's changed it's just finding a way to make some of those routine plays more routine yeah yeah for sure now coming up we're going to transition this conversation a little bit away from the ugly game we just saw and kind of have more of a macro conversation about this Colts offense do the Colts stay the course with this very NFL style offense that they're running right now or do they kind of dial it back and go a

Starting point is 00:12:14 little bit more I don't want to say gimmicky but like gimmicky a little bit more collegey a little bit more less like a little bit little like less responsibility for the quarterback, so to speak. Like do the Colts do that with Anthony Richardson for him to gain some confidence going forward? We're going to talk about that here in our next segment. But first, when you're hiring for your small business, you want to find quality professionals that are right for the role. That's why you have to check out LinkedIn Jobs.

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Starting point is 00:13:23 24 hours. Hire professionals like a professional on LinkedIn. 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. All right, guys, we are back here. Ben Boris at Colts Film Room joining me for our weekly discussion on Anthony Richardson and kind of like what we do whenever Richard has a poor game. We like to not talk entirely about the game in the first two segments.

Starting point is 00:13:55 So talk about the game in the first one and kind of get out the ugly conversation at the top of the show and then talk about something more macro. And, you know, last week is about Steichen making the offense easier for Richardson which I do think to his credit in this one a lot of the reads were open and they're Richardson in this past game so now I think the conversation shifts to do the Colts change what they're doing on offense I don't think there's a right answer to this so I think we can kind of approach this from the positives of both the negatives of both,

Starting point is 00:14:26 but the Colts are making, not making, they're, they're asking Richardson to do a lot of NFL stuff, like doing a lot of what Trevor Lawrence was doing in Doug Peterson's first year, which you greatly mentioned every time we talk about the Colts offense is very similar to what Jim Bob Cooter was doing with Doug Peterson there in

Starting point is 00:14:44 Jacksonville. I think they're doing a to what Jim Bob Cooter was doing with Doug Peterson there in Jacksonville. I think they're doing a lot of like what the bills were doing with Josh Allen after he already broke out, you know, a lot of Brian Dable type stuff, a lot of the shotgun play action, like crossers, like people moving across the middle and opening up kind of deep balls and layered intermediate shots. These are like real NFL offense passing game stuff though. And maybe Anthony Richardson,

Starting point is 00:15:08 even though his eyes are ready for it, maybe he's just not there in terms of his process yet. So do we think it would be wise for the Colts to maybe lean more into the Greg Roman style Lamar Jackson offenses, the Shane Steichen early Jalen Hurts offenses, uh, anything Cliff Kingsbury has ever done where your average ADOT is like negative four, you know, like stuff like that, like lean on the screen game, lean on the

Starting point is 00:15:36 QB run game and the running back game, and then make Richardson throw the ball 10 to 15 times a game until he gains that confidence and make life easier. So Ben, I wanted to get your perspective on this. Do you think in a way, dumbing down the offense a little bit and the responsibilities for Richardson to gain little bits of confidence and then building up from there is a wise way to go or keep with the course. Eventually he will calm down and hit these open receivers that he's already seeing. And it'll pay big dividends maybe in the second half of the year, like it did with like Jordan love last year, for instance. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:16:10 I think it's tough. I think first of all, you have to, it's maybe these wholesale. I think the way that Steichen looks at it to really answer the question is by game plan. So like, it's,

Starting point is 00:16:19 it's hard to suggest these wholesale changes where I think to be honest, the first two games, I think Shane's – maybe even three. Shane Steichen's kind of learned a lesson. He's like, oh, my God, Anthony Richardson's finally healthy. We saw what he could do in these flashes. The playbook is so open for me. We saw all these, like, play-action deep shots to get Pierce involved

Starting point is 00:16:40 in the offense. We've seen some different quarterback quarterback run stuff which i don't think they're ever going to really abandon um but teams have played it well credit to the defenses they've played it very well like you're seeing some of the same stuff that i don't think you're seeing the same in like the way you kind of have to think about it is is with an offense is you can only invest in so many different areas you can't be good at everything you can't have an identity and everything so i think this year that to start quarter there was such an investment in quarterback runs like we're going to you know there was an

Starting point is 00:17:15 article that albert breer did kind of talking about how they you know basically looked at jalen hertz oklahoma they looked air force like they've looked at these weird funky college and high school tapes to get quarterback run ideas and they they kind of put that in in you know richardson's rookie year i think this year they haven't made as much of an investment in that in hopes to develop him as like a a true passer i think he's got the capability to do all those things um and it's kind of finding that balance between do we want to dumb down the offense and I think he's got the capability to do all those things. And it's kind of finding that balance between do we want to dumb down the offense and potentially lose out on some of these valuable reps versus, hey, we need to get him wins now, confidence now.

Starting point is 00:17:59 This team is really talented around him. We can't put him in positions where he's holding us back from wins. So it's a line I think you have to toy. I think it also changes by game plan. I think coming up, obviously, versus Pittsburgh, I think there's opportunities to potentially get back to what may be a similar game plan that worked with Gardner Minshew last year.

Starting point is 00:18:19 So we'll see. I think the one thing that you can definitely kind of say is Anthony Richardson has taken significantly less hits than he has taken with the quarterback run. He's been a lot better week one. I was a little bit nervous week two. It wasn't great, but it wasn't week three in Chicago.

Starting point is 00:18:37 You kind of watch. It's like, he didn't really take too many big hits in this game. He delivered a lot of big hits in this game. He delivered it. Now that's a different thing like lowering the shoulder that kind of makes me cringe a little bit but like uh that's the kind of thing where i think the colts would prefer that type of style now does that change

Starting point is 00:18:57 on opponent yeah but we'll see where i guess we'll have to see yeah and one more thing i kind of wanted to pick your brain about too with this because it was something I was kind of talking about with some people on Sunday was Richardson such an interesting profile of quarterback because he doesn't scramble a ton for his archetype you know like we see the Lamar Jacksons and the Josh Allens they scramble at like a 25 to 30 percent rate when they're under pressure like these guys they know what they are as athletes they get out of the pocket and they're going and they're creating these big chunk plays where richardson yes on occasion when he does scramble it's awesome like he does some good things with it but his scramble rate's like 13 to 16 it was really low in college it's really

Starting point is 00:19:42 no different than uh any other quarterback yeah's really no different than any other quarterback. Yeah, it's no different from any other non-Allen Lamar quarterback. Right? So it's like, to a degree, it kind of hampers him a little bit because that's what makes the Lamars and the Josh Allens so special is you could have everything covered up. You could draw up a perfect blitz, but if they break out of that blitz contain, it's a 30 yard run right in your face.

Starting point is 00:20:09 And you have to start all over again where Richardson will still try to find that receiver down the field when it's like, you're even more athletic than those two guys. Maybe not Lamar, but like, you know what I mean? Like you're on top athlete. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:20:23 So I think, so there, I think there's a mental element here because obviously like you're on top of athlete. Um, like, yeah, so I think, so there, I think there's a mental element here because obviously like you don't want to let your receivers down ever, you know what I mean? And I feel like that can, can enter your mind as a quarterback. So we'll see. Um, as I think it's really tough to really make those kind of, you know, he should go here. He shouldn't go here. So, um, it's hard to tell your quarterback that too because the second you tell him to start scrambling more you lose out on him looking down the field more and it's like we want you keeping

Starting point is 00:20:55 your eyes down the field but like i do think there are some situations i think the first offensive play of the game this past week the r RPR defender falls down, he gets caught in no man's land and he tosses it dueling a little bit too late on that RPR. It's like probably should have kept it when, when you held it that long, you know, so you don't get that illegal man down field, which they ended up getting. Um, and probably would have got even more yards because you had a better angle on the inside and stuff like that. So it's like, sometimes I feel like we're limiting how specially truly can be when he's not running as much as the Allens and the Lamars,

Starting point is 00:21:31 but also he's also got the special ability to be a passer. So it's like, I get it. You know, it's a hard, it's a hard middle ground. It's a case by case basis. And I think you want to like,

Starting point is 00:21:42 you think back to that bengals in joint practice where it's like throw the ball throw the ball and there's certainly that element like of like hey my receivers are running routes they're running hard like they don't want to see me just run for 10 and basically just run down the entire field um we didn't we're not that's not the offense the colts want that's not the offense that anyone Colts want. That's not the offense that anyone wants. But there's also, like, hey, if we need to – if we need to do something to, like, get some yards, like, nothing's there, pull it and run. Pull it and run.

Starting point is 00:22:14 So, like, I think you go look back, and there's probably some more opportunities where he is so gifted, just go and run. But, like, A.D. Mitchell is running hard down the field on a crosser. I want to make that throw. You know what I mean? Right. Right. The only throw he took some heat off on that. The one who's ripped in there, but we're, we're done talking about that film.

Starting point is 00:22:33 We're done talking to macro conversation. So in our final conversation of the day, guys, we're going to talk about the panic meter. Like, is it time to really freak out about this young quarterback? Now we're not going to entertain the Joe Flacco stuff because that's ridiculous, like absolutely ridiculous. But we'll have a real conversation about the panic meter and how if people should be panicked about this young quarterback

Starting point is 00:22:54 after seven starts. But first, guys, you can start this season with a big return on FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. So when you get a hunch in the middle of a game and you can check out the latest stats, you view live play-by-play and so much more on the same page where you place your live bets. Today, or yesterday, sorry, yesterday, FanDuel had the Colts at one and a half point favorites. So hopefully you guys bet on the Colts in that one. With it over under a 43.5,

Starting point is 00:23:26 if you guys know anything about 22-year-old quarterbacks, hopefully you put some money on the under in that game because it clearly looked like a game between two 22-year-old quarterbacks. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That's fanduel.com. All right, guys, I'm back here with Ben Boris at Colts Film Room talking Anthony Richardson. And we're going to talk about the panic meter with the young

Starting point is 00:23:57 quarterback. Sorry. I'm kidding. What was that? Zero. Oh, gosh i i thought i made a mistake i was like oh no uh but we're gonna talk about the panic meter with this young quarterback real quick and i don't i'm close to zero it's pretty close to zero for me no it's not actually zero yeah i do think there is reason to be concerned with him like when people tell me like there is a reason to be concerned with Anthony Richardson and I know I'm a full-blown optimist when it comes to him um yeah I do think there is a reason to be concerned this is a guy who didn't play a lot of college ball hasn't played a lot of pro ball and he's in his second year right now and a lot of the issues we saw in college are still here in in the NFL in terms of sailing passes, missing open receivers, and a lot of

Starting point is 00:24:45 reasons why he was not a successful college quarterback are showing up here in the NFL. So yes, there is reason for concern. I'm not going to just shrug that off and say no, like la la la, like don't talk to me with it. But I will say when it comes to just the macro of it all in terms of after seven starts should i be super concerned about a 22 year old quarterback not really like like yes the completion percentage is a little concerning and some of the things but again when you're watching this kid play the eyes are right the head is right the the things he says after the game is right like i don't know if he truly believes it, but like everything he says afterwards is right. Like taking accountability,

Starting point is 00:25:26 the locker room, like being really around him right now. I think it's all great. I think the talent is there. The flashes are there. I'm like, it's really just about calming down for him. Like once he calms down,

Starting point is 00:25:39 it's there. So it's like with that in mind, it's kind of like, again, it feels like Jordan love last year where it's like, once he calms down, it's like with that in mind it's kind of like again it feels like Jordan Love last year where it's like once he calms down it's he'll be fine so for now the panic meter is still very low for me now if we get to this point next season three or four games in and he's still having games like this consistently yeah panic meter will be pretty high by that time. But right now I'm willing to give him grace for this entire season

Starting point is 00:26:07 and really just see where it takes us. I don't care if it leads to playoffs or not. It's not really my big concern right now. I just want to see more growth from him throughout the year. And if there isn't growth, reasons why there wasn't that growth. And really just take it game by game with him but as of right now for me like ask me after 20 starts maybe and and i'll tell you like my realistic thoughts about him going forward but right now seven starts in still a little bit

Starting point is 00:26:38 not used to nfl speed i'm i couldn't tell you that i'm super panicked right now but yeah you can you can is your zero or your. No, I was like, it's not zero. I think there's a lot of reasons for people to be skeptical of that. This will all work. Like there's so many reasons. Like you just look on the eye test on Sundays. It doesn't always look great.

Starting point is 00:26:56 Like it just doesn't. There's I also have a lot more patience and probably more realistic expectations that I kind of thought that we would get pretty much a couple flashes and a lot of struggling. I thought that we would potentially get play calling to help them out a little bit more. I think we really saw that last week. Shane Steichen called a great game outside of a couple scenarios that every play caller is going to have one bad play

Starting point is 00:27:23 where the defense just gets you in a look that you don't like the red zone series the first red zone series was rough from him but outside of that he was great uh it's going to take some time i'm not sure when you know obviously we want to see growth we want to see some of these bad turnovers not spiral like we don't want spiraling um there's a lot of reasons to doubt but i think there's a lot of reason for people who don't pay attention to the colts to doubt there's a lot of reason for people who really do pay attention to this team and pay attention to this team specifically like i watched like we both probably watch every snap of every season i'm not nervous at all i think it will actually I think it will work out.

Starting point is 00:28:06 I think that if you just give up on quarterbacks at this point when there's any sort of adversity, like why draft them in the first place? Like if you're expecting them to be perfect and be C.J. Stroud, like not even C.J. Stroud was good until like week four or five where he really started to get a groove and then just got better each week. I think we can see something similar where it's like, hey, it started with the connection with the receivers. Then you had like an all-time terrible game because you just hit your low point. And now it's like, I want to bet on Anthony Richardson, the person. I want to bet on Shane

Starting point is 00:28:37 Steichen. I want to bet on Cam Turner and Jim Bob Cooter. And I want to bet on Anthony Richardson's physical traits. So there's reasons for people on the outside to doubt him because he isn't the fantasy quarterback yet that everyone wants, you know, or really just the quarterback that anyone wants, period, right now. But he is going to start to make those throws because, again, I would much rather see this through as a Colts fan and as someone who covers this team. You want to see this through, and if it fails, at least you knew you took the high upside pick that could compete with the Allens, the Mahomes, the Lamars, the top-tier upper echelon quarterbacks where it's like there's no defense to defend them. You just have to get your own version. And I'd rather do that than take the safe player that you know wins you seven games a year yeah and i'm gonna go on a little bit of a tangent here because it's more philosophical a little bit but for all you guys who are like teachers who listen and stuff i think you'll understand where i'm going with this i think ultimately what it will come down to when it

Starting point is 00:29:39 comes to anthony richardson is the mindset that he has after games like this or moments like this. One of my favorite books of all time is this book by Carol Dweck called Mindset. It talks about two different mindsets that people have when they face difficulties or failures, a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. And I think Josh Allen, for instance, is the perfect example of a growth mindset person where when faced with a bad game or a bad moment or a couple game stretch, they take that and say, okay, where can I improve? This is not the standard I want to be at. How do I get better from here? The fixed mindset person would look at that and say, this is who I am. I can't get better than this. This is the type of person and player.

Starting point is 00:30:24 And they go on this shell. And we've seen this from quarterbacks who have flamed out as young quarterbacks in the NFL, the Bryce Youngs, the Kenny Picketts, the Zach Wilsons. I'm not saying they're bad people or bad quarterbacks per se, but when they struggle, they go into the shell, they stop pushing the ball down the field. They get scared of every moment and every mistake because they think it's over. Like they think that's like, they just have no confidence in themselves. When you have the growth mindset, you always have confidence in yourself. It's about the confidence to get out of the hole that you dug yourself into. And that's, I mean, I've seen Alan do a lot of interviews on this in the past, and it's really fantastic look into the growth

Starting point is 00:31:01 mindset. If Richardson approaches this similar to, I know, the great outlier that is Josh Allen, but if it is a similar approach in terms of every mistake I make is a learning experience, and I'm not going to go into the next game scared to throw a pass over the middle because I sailed one in the game before. As long as he's still ripping those balls down the field, even if he sails a couple of them and he's learning from those mistakes, I'm fine with it. I don't need him to be perfect every single play, especially as a 22 year old. If he's a 28 year old shirt, then I need you to be more closer to perfect every single play. But 22 years old, man, like every single moment, good or bad is a learning experience. As long as he has that growth mindset of, I have an area where I want to be, and I'm going to keep working to be there regardless of the times I trip on my way

Starting point is 00:31:49 there. I'm perfect with what he's perfectly said, perfectly said, because I think your starting point will never be your finishing point. And if you think like that, which I think we both believe he can, this, this offense can get hot in a hurry. It can get hot in a hurry, but it just needs to get some confidence. So I think that starts with drawing up some just easy, confident throws early, get him started early, and kind of go from there. Yeah, yeah. So I really do think long-term this will work for the Colts. I believe in the talent.

Starting point is 00:32:20 I believe in the mind of Anthony Rich. I think he's a smart quarterback. And I believe in Shane Steichen. Guys are open. He's seeing the open player. He knows where the ball needs to go and he's got the arm talent to get it there. It's just relax, please relax.

Starting point is 00:32:34 I think he'll get there. Like when that's the only issue I'm very comfortable. Like he's fine against the pressure. He's a great rushing threat. He's great vertically down the field. I'm feeling confident long-term in this still. Now, if we see five or six in a row, like this past game, then, then we'll, we'll continually lose our mind a little bit, but overall I'm, I'm confident he, he and the Colts can write

Starting point is 00:32:59 the ship when it comes to his play. So he's still a young guy. We give him time. We don't entertain any Joe Flacco conversation on this podcast. That's ridiculous. But I do want to thank you guys for making Locked On Culture your first listen today, or maybe your second. I know we're in the middle of the day right now,

Starting point is 00:33:14 but your first listen today. Now for your second listen, go find the new Locked On NFL with two shows every single day. First, the Madman Tyler Rowland kicks off your morning with a double shot of NFL espresso, and then stop by the barbershop with Tony Wiggins for some real NFL talk. Find Locked on NFL on

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