Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Defense Must Return to Form to Beat Carolina Panthers

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Indianapolis Colts defense must show some signs of life for the Colts to get it done against the Carolina Panthers this weekend. 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. Welcome in to another edition of the Locked On Panthers and Locked On Colts podcast, a part of the Locked On Podcast Network. I'm your host, Julian Council, the host of Locked On Panthers. He is the host of Locked On Colts, Zach Hicks. And again, we're

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Starting point is 00:01:01 follow me, Julian Council, on Twitter at Julian Council. Follow Zach on Twitter at Zach H hicks too and make sure to check out our friends over at prize picks who are our crossover thursday episode sponsor the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fancy sports go to prizepicks.com locked on nfl and use code all lowercase locked on nfl for a first deposit match up to $100. On Sunday afternoon, the Carolina Panthers, who are finally with a win at 1-6, will welcome to town the Indianapolis Colts, who are 3-5 coming off of a loss. Three straight losses, actually, what I've seen.

Starting point is 00:01:40 Gardner and Chewy, the starting quarterback, as Anthony Richardson, is out for the season. And that would have been a nice matchup between two rookie quarterbacks like we saw last week here in Carolina but Zach this could be what people want to dub as a Frank Reich revenge game on Sunday afternoon how you doing man doing good doing good and I love talking Frank Reich uh even if it is a revenge game type thing you know maybe it's an Indianapolis Colts revenge game which I don't know what we're getting revenge for we're the ones who fired him I guess but uh you know Frank Reich however this turns out I do want to say before we start this, love Frank Reich, love covering him for years. Great guy. I really wish you guys had more success this season, obviously, but, you know, I'm happy to see Frank Reich again this weekend. Yeah, so far things haven't gone as planned here in Carolina with this new coaching staff with

Starting point is 00:02:22 Bryce Young as a starting quarterback, but I think Sunday potentially could have been a turning point. And Frank, he was asked about it multiple times on Wednesday afternoon, saying that, yes, he's highly motivated to win this game, but there's no vengeful outlook towards Jim Irsay and the organization, that it's just another game, but he understands that there's a different dynamic. He says both can be true. So Frank trying to be ultra-political when talking about the game. But it's exciting to see all the parallels.

Starting point is 00:02:48 We got Frank who knows all the players. Shane Steichen, who we interviewed here in Carolina, was with Frank Reich back in San Diego when he was the offensive coordinator. So it'll be a nice little homecoming for him. Parks Frazier as well, who was up there in Indianapolis a couple years ago. He's the passing game coordinator.

Starting point is 00:03:02 So we know the whole Frank Reich revenge game, if you want to even call it, that going on on Sunday but what's the biggest storyline right now for the Colts heading into this week nine matchup here in Carolina yeah you know if you would ask me before the season it would have been about how awesome this QB matchup is going to be the two rookie quarterbacks facing off and how excited we would get but now you know even with Gardner Minshew starting the Colts offense has been pretty good they're six in the NFL and points per game they're scoring at a really high rate. They're eighth in explosives on offense. The real reason why the Colts are losing these last couple of games, why they've dropped three

Starting point is 00:03:31 in a row is their defense. And yes, you can make excuses for the Jaguars game. You could make excuses for the Browns game that the Colts offensive turnover is kind of limited their defense getting off the field. There are no excuses to be made for what just happened against New Orleans. There is no excuses whatsoever. They allowed 35 plus points again the last three weeks, but it obviously came to a head last week against the Saints where Derek Carr had 11 yards per attempt. Derek Carr of all quarterbacks,

Starting point is 00:03:58 Derek Carr who's bottom five in the NFL on yards per attempt going into that matchup had 11 yards per attempt. The Colts pass rush was a train wreck. Their coverage was a train wreck. Their safeties were blowing assignments. There was just nothing positive from the Colts' defense this past game, especially, again, where the Colts face another top 10 defense on the other side, and their offense still put up 27 points,

Starting point is 00:04:19 but their defense could not get it done on the other side of the ball. The biggest story for the Colts is can their defense actually figure something out against a Carolina offense that has not had a ton of success this year? They're going against Frank Reich, who knows this defense, knows the players, knows Gus Bradley, obviously, from last year when they worked together. So, you know, they do have some things kind of going against them. But again, there's no better time for a get-right game

Starting point is 00:04:44 than this Panthers team that just won their first game of the season they're one and six like i'm not trying to overlook the panthers because the colts are losing games too but you need to eventually get things right on defense you're giving up 35 plus points to a jaguars offense that's been inconsistent this year to pj walker at quarterback against the browns and then again yeah we all love pj walker too we love him out here in india as well but, and then to Derek Carr again, Derek Carr, 11 yards per attempt. That just can't happen. So the biggest story really is can this Colts defense find something? Can they find something this week against the Carolina offense that has struggled this season?

Starting point is 00:05:18 Has it been injuries that have been the issue for Indianapolis? To a degree. I mean, Grover Stewart, one of the best nose tackles in football, has been suspended for the last six years, going to be suspended for the next couple weeks. So he is out. They've lost a lot of corners. Isaiah Rogers Sr. suspended before the year. They lost Juju Brents to injury, the rookie in the second round they took. They lost Dallas Flowers, their starting corner for the season. So there has been some injuries, but it would be just disingenuous to blame it all on injuries. It's just been a bad stretch. It's been a really bad stretch for this defense. Yeah. And we can relate to that here in Carolina as injuries have really hurt the defense.

Starting point is 00:05:55 JC Horn only played the first half, didn't even finish it a week one against the Falcons in that loss. They lost Shaq Thompson, their play caller there in the middle of the defense, their linebacker for the rest of the season because of a broken leg. They've had guys like Vaughn Bell who missed practice again on Wednesday who's missed the last two games. Xavier Woods came back, the other safety, last week after missing three games. The Panthers, they've dealt with that, especially losing corners.

Starting point is 00:06:18 Dante Jackson as well. They've seen just a rash of injuries to a unit that we thought was going to be pretty good and went to last week, giving up the second most points in the league. And coincidentally, the two teams that are giving the most points up in the league going into last week, the Broncos and the Panthers, both were able to go out and come out on top. The Panthers only gave it 13 in that win against your division rivals,

Starting point is 00:06:37 the Houston Texans, on Sunday. But the biggest storyline I think here in Carolina, it's not just the Panthers finally won a game. And the vibes are a little bit more positive than they were last week. And everyone understands that one and six, this is still a team unlikely to make the playoffs. Although they start winning a couple games, maybe beat Indianapolis on Sunday,

Starting point is 00:06:54 have the Bears in a short week next Thursday on Thursday Night Football. You look at the rest of the division, they're not that far behind in the win loss, as far as the loss column goes, from the rest of the division in the NFC South. But I think there is a level of disappointment from the fan base that the Carolina Panthers did not make a move at the trade deadline. I think it's Mike Cave, the Charlotte Observer,

Starting point is 00:07:12 mentioned the last time a Frank Reich team had a deadline trade was back when he was with the Eagles, and they traded for Jay Ajayi. So it's not like it's been very often that at the deadline, Frank Reich is going out there looking for some players to add or either to go send some players away. And he mentioned that Scott Bitter, the general manager here, that's kind of what he lets him handle. He'll be in some of the meetings. Scott will come talk to him. But Frank's really just focused on what he has and what the task at hand is going into the weekend. So there was some talk about Brian Burns potentially being some of the Panthers to trade away.

Starting point is 00:07:43 I was opposed to that because the Panthers need more good players not less good players they've already given up christian mccaffrey and dj moore over the course of the last 12 months so there's no sort of deal there some other players like jeremy chin who's currently on ir they could have traded him but he's not available because on ir shack thompson as well then terrence marcel jr wanted to be traded there was no deal out for him. He played four snaps last week. We'll see if that trend continues now that he's let it be known that he does not want to be here in Carolina. And Dante Jackson could have been another player the Panthers could have moved on from.

Starting point is 00:08:14 So I think there's a little disappointment knowing what the Panthers gave up last year, or not even last year, a couple months ago, to get Bryce Young number one overall, that they're not able to build towards the future in a season that looks to be headed towards well what would be a top 10 draft pick and only thing that matters that right now is the development of Bryce Young so that's pretty much the top storyline but also Bryce Young had a comeback win last week it's been a while since we've seen a quarterback the Panther fans truly believed in do that Sam Darnold was never able to do it back when he was really given the opportunity to be the guy. His last game as Panther, they did have a walk-off win week 18 against the Saints, but it was already over as far as his fate in Carolina.

Starting point is 00:08:54 Baker Mayfield never got it done. P.J. Walker, who there wasn't really a belief that he would be the guy. He couldn't get it done. Teddy Bridgewater notoriously could never lead that game-tiring, game-winning drive. But Bryce Young, who they gave up a a ton for went out there and did it. So there's some positives there. While Panther fans a little bit disappointed about what the draft compensation,

Starting point is 00:09:11 they didn't receive it. The deadline is, they are a little bit excited about Bryce young, what he can potentially provide moving forward after getting what could be kind of a turnaround drive for him and the organization moving forward to the second half of the season here in Carolina. We'll take a quick pause here on the show, then come back. We'll talk about some of the key matchups and key players

Starting point is 00:09:30 that can help decide this matchup between the 1-6 Carolina Panthers and 3-5 Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. Again, this is a locked-on NFL crossover edition of Locked On Panthers and Locked On Colts. We'll be right back here in just a moment. Whenever the game clock stops, that's time to order in with DoorDash. Order pizza, wings, soda, burgers,

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Starting point is 00:10:34 That's 50% off up to a $10 value when you spend $15 or more on your first order. When you download the DoorDash app and enter code LOCK23. Again, subject to change. Terms apply. All right, back here on Locked on Panthers and Locked on Colts. It's an NFL, it's a Locked on NFL crossover Thursday brought to you by our friends over at PrizePix Julian Council, the host of Locked on Panthers, Zach Hicks,

Starting point is 00:10:57 the host of Locked on Colts, breaking down the Carolina Panthers-Indianapolis Colts matchup here on Sunday afternoon at Bank of America Stadium in Uptown Charlotte. All right, Zach, we talked plenty about Frank Wright. We talked a little bit about the two rookie quarterbacks, one we'll get to see on Sunday, one unfortunately we will not get to see. But let's talk about some of the key matchups, key players that we're looking out for on Sunday afternoon,

Starting point is 00:11:17 starting off with the Colts. What are some of the key matchups that you're looking to see that could help lean the positive direction for the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday? Yeah, you know, I think, again, we're kind of focusing on just one matchup here, which is that Colts defense versus that Panthers offense. Obviously, you guys are watching it for Bryce Young and seeing how that progression go. But again, we're kind of watching just how this Colts defense can respond. And when this Colts defense was playing well early in the season,

Starting point is 00:11:40 their front seven was carrying them. Their front seven was stuffing the run. They were getting after the quarterback. At one point, they were second in the NFL in sacks. They were up there in pressure percentage. They were doing some really good things up front to carry that weaker, younger secondary. We just haven't seen that the last couple of weeks. The biggest matchup that I'm really excited for in this one, just want to see what the Colts can do, is their pass rush. Can their pass rush get back on track? You know, Derek Carr last week, I think had the fastest time to throw in the NFL is like 2.2 seconds or 2.1

Starting point is 00:12:10 seconds while still averaging 11 yards per attempt. Again, I can't get over that Derek Carr, 11 yards per attempt. I'm going to keep saying it here. That's the fourth time I can't, it's crazy. I don't think he's ever thrown it that far before, let alone go down there multiple times. But, you know, this Colts pass rush needs to just dictate the pace of play. Samson Aboukam has been great this year, done some really good things off the edge, really good free agent signing, but he's gone a little quiet the last couple weeks.

Starting point is 00:12:36 Former first-round pick Quiddie Paye really needs to step up his play. He was really good before that concussion back in week three, and then it just hasn't been the same. DeForest Buckner, the veteran, has been fantastic in all phases this year but it can't just be him it can't just be him obviously uh so you really want to see this colts uh pass rush really come back to life against the panthers offensive line that is allowed i think i think i saw stats today like by jonathan kinsley on social media i think that the panthers like eighth most qb hits allowed in the nfl this year seventh or eighth. Yeah. QB hits allowed.

Starting point is 00:13:06 It's like 56 on the season at this point, which is quite a lot. And Bryce Young's not one of those quarterbacks where he's going to absorb contact and rip through the contact and throw a pass down the field. You're getting these smaller, slender quarterback. He's going to get, he's going to get hit and he's going to, you know, get hit and fall back. You know, he's, he's an elusive player, but if you can actually get your hands on him, you can disrupt what he's doing back there,

Starting point is 00:13:26 and that's where some of the issues have been for the Panthers this season. So this is a prime opportunity for the Colts' pass rush to dictate the pace of play again and really help out this young secondary and not leave them on an island all game long. Because, again, we can't have what happened last week. That's unacceptable. I know Bryce Young is more interesting, at least, than Derek Carr, but, yeah, you just can't have a repeat of last week. The pass rush needs to get home for the Colts, That's unacceptable. I know Bryce Young is more interesting, at least, than Derek Carr.

Starting point is 00:13:48 But, yeah, you just can't have a repeat of last week. The pass rush needs to get home for the Colts, and that's the biggest matchup for the Colts in this game. Yeah, and Bryce has shown the ability, like last week, to be able to evade the rush and make some plays. And he had an excellent throw to Adam Thielen on a drive where they ended up getting stoned off the goal line. But he was able to get away from the pressure for the most part on Sunday in that win against the Houston Texans.

Starting point is 00:14:09 And it's a concern here in Carolina for sure. They gave up six sacks on Sunday, and Bryce came out on Wednesday and talked about it's not all on the offensive line. Frank Reich talked about that. I think any smart football person understands that sacks are not an offensive line stat solely. They can be also a quarterback stat. But I feel a lot of the sacks that we saw on Sunday, four of them by my count were on Ike Ikuonu, the left tackle who the Panthers took in the

Starting point is 00:14:31 first round last year. And the knock on him coming into the draft was that he's great when it comes to run blocking, but he's not the best in pass protection. It's still early in his career, but so far the regression from Ike Ikuonu has been has been surprising the Panthers offense lines better suited to be the one that they were last year where they were pretty good running the football and fairly good as far as protecting now that Austin Corbett who came off of the puff list last week of that torn ACL he suffered in week 18 of last year now he's back there he's probably their best offense player last year on what was a bad offense Taylor Moten's been a consistent player at right tackle, so it's good to have him still there. Then it looks like that left guard is going to

Starting point is 00:15:08 move forward with Calvin Throckmorton instead of one of the younger players like Chandler Zabal, the fourth-round pick at NC State. They started there for a couple weeks, and then Cade Mays, who started there one week. So the offensive line is starting to come together, but there is some concern there at left tackle with Ike Aquinas. That's absolutely a matchup I'm also looking out for, but really the one that I'm probably most concerned about the Carolina Panthers need to do a better job is against the run and it's interesting I feel like you probably find this interesting that Frank Reich when he was asked like what went wrong in Indianapolis for you like where did things turn and he didn't mention having five starting quarterbacks in five different years what he

Starting point is 00:15:43 mentioned was the inability to run the football, which I just thought was wild. But Jonathan Taylor, as you know, he had his injuries last year, and the Colts offense was pretty inept with Matt Ryan, and then going to, oh, God, Sam Ellinger. That's his name, yeah, Sam Ellinger. But so far, the Colts have run the ball fairly well. Jonathan Taylor back from the whole contract dispute

Starting point is 00:16:00 and being healthy. Zach Moss as well. I see that they're ninth. They have the ninth most rushing attack in the NFL so far. You got 12 touchdowns combined, which is fourth most in the league. The Panthers right now are 26 against the run and 28th in yards per carry allowed at 4.7 last week against the Texans was probably the best they

Starting point is 00:16:17 played against the run, but they still gave up 110 yards rushing in 3.7 yards per carry. So 3.7 yards per carry is a full yard better than what they're averaging right now, or at least allowing right now, but they have to be better. Every other opponent they played has rushed for over 130 yards. And that's what I would imagine Indianapolis is going to want to do with a backup quarterback in Gardner Minshew, but still some two good receivers out there in Josh Downs and in Michael Pittman.

Starting point is 00:16:41 But the Panthers have to be able to control the line of scrimmage and stop the run. So that's the matchup. I'm absolutely looking forward to on Sunday. If the pants is going to try and win this game, we talk about matchups. What about players? What are some of the players that you're looking at that can kind of change the tide,

Starting point is 00:16:55 turn a tide or for the Indianapolis Colts in their favor on Sunday afternoon. Yeah. I think you and I are on the same wavelength here when we're looking at what the Colts need to do on the offense side of the ball. And that's going to be feeding Zach Moss and feeding Jonathan Taylor in this matchup Zach Moss second the NFL in rushing yards right now playing some outstanding football and he's doing that while missing uh the first I believe two two games of the season or first first game of the

Starting point is 00:17:14 season uh so he's second the NFL in rushing yards after missing the first game of the season Jonathan Taylor starting to look like Jonathan Taylor again and against this Carolina defense that is struggling to stop the run this should be a big day for both of those players. I mean, last week they combined over 150 yards rushing on only 23 carries. This could be a really big week against the Carolina Panthers defense for both those running backs. Yeah. And I think two guys who are going to step up to be able to stop the run is Frankie Luvu,

Starting point is 00:17:39 who's the NFC defensive player of the week after 12 tackles last week. The dude's a monster. He's going to be a free agent this upcoming year, and he's somebody that the Carolina Panthers are going to really need to hold on to if they want to continue to progress so hard as having a good defense win hole. And Derrick Brown as well. He's played a ton of snaps there in the middle,

Starting point is 00:17:57 and the Carolina Panthers really need him to go out there, have a strong day, be able to stop the run because they can't control the line of scrimmage on a defensive side of the ball, can't stop the run. Really difficult to see how the Carolina Panthers will Be able to stop the run because they can't control the line of scrimmage on a defensive side of the ball. Can't stop the run. Really difficult to see how the Carolina Panthers will be able to win this game on Sunday when the Colts come to town. So we talk about the top storylines. We talk about the key matchups, key players.

Starting point is 00:18:13 What must go right for the Colts? What must go right for the Panthers if they would like to win or maybe even tie the game on Sunday here in Charlotte? I'm Julian Gallant, host of Locked on Panthers. He's Zach Hicks, the host of Locked on Colts on this Locked on NFL crossover Thursday. We'll be back to talk about what must go right for each team here in just a moment on

Starting point is 00:18:31 Locked on Panthers and Colts. All right, Zach, I don't know about you, but I am not always the biggest fantasy sports guy in the world, but when I do play, I go with the prize picks because it's the most fun that I've had winning and I think all of our listeners will have winning up to 25 times their money this football season you just select two or more players pick more or less than their projected stats and place your entry test

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Starting point is 00:19:34 It's a Locked on NFL crossover Thursday brought to you by our friends over at Price Picks Jeweling Council, the host of Locked on Panthers. And he is Zach Hicks, the host of Locked on Colts. All right, Zach, the Panthers are 1-6. The Colts are 3-5. Both need some wins. Colts are losing three straight. They're still in a wide-open division there in the AFC South.

Starting point is 00:19:53 And the same could be said about the Panthers in the NFC South. But they have a lot more work to do. And, yes, the Colts need to catch up to a Jacksonville Jaguars team that seems to be running away with things here in the first half of the season what's what excuse me must go right for the Indianapolis Colts to win on Sunday the defense the defense that's it just the defense look again this Colts offense they're six in the NFL in points per game they are eighth in explosive plays they're starting to do a lot of good things with Gardner Minshew at quarterback. They're doing as much as possible as you can possibly do with who they have at quarterback. Again, Gardner Minshew at quarterback, they're still scoring points during this last three game

Starting point is 00:20:32 stretch when the Colts defense is allowed 35 plus points in every single game. The Colts offense has scored over 20 in each of those games. They've scored over 20 in every single game this season. The last remaining team to do that this entire NFL season in 2023 so far. And again, with Gardner Minshew at quarterback for most of them. So it really comes down to, can this Colts defense get it on track? Again, on paper, you're looking at this Carolina offense and you're saying, okay, we can hopefully get something going here. Bryce Young has not been super effective this year. The Panthers offense has just not been that efficient or it has not just been good overall you know good overall so this really should be a get right game for the colts defense

Starting point is 00:21:10 but on the other side the panthers looking at this is a get right game for their offense because the colts defense has been that bad so it really comes down to yeah exactly exactly like it really comes down to what the colts defense does in this game. Do they bounce back from what they just did last week? That just monstrosity that we saw, or is that the beginning of a trend? Is that beginning of a defense that is on their last leg and they're about to fall over and the Panthers are going to provide that one final push? You know, I think that is going to be the biggest story and what needs to go right for the Colts is that bounce back game for their defense against the Panthers offense that again has struggled this season. Yes, that is very true. The Panthers offense has struggled.

Starting point is 00:21:57 And you look at last week, they needed a 15 play, 86 yard drive to bleed out the final 617 of the clock against Houston to win that football game. You look at their total yardage, it was 244. So 86 of the 244 came on that final drive. So when they needed it most, they got it done. But if you look at the game in totality, the offense was still not very good. The pass protection was still terrible. The rushing attack was still terrible. Receivers still weren't getting open. It's a positive result finally. But the Carolina Panthers offense still is a work in progress. And that's honestly probably the nicest way you can really put it right now.

Starting point is 00:22:29 And for them, I think it's about building off of the momentum from that final drive of last week. You look at the Colts, they've been depleted by injuries. They're giving up the most points in the NFL. They have ranked at the bottom of the league in scoring defense as well. They're not good right now. And they have the same issues that the Panthers defense has had when it comes to injuries but that's only so far of an excuse considering that the colts have the issues panthers have the

Starting point is 00:22:52 issues a lot of teams in the nfl no one's healthy right now so you can only use that so much when you look at offenses versus defenses at this point in time in the season so the panthers need to find a way where potentially they can find a rushing attack at Chuba Hubbard. He's now taken over as a lead back in place of miles Sanders, who has been largely ineffective. I've questioned whether he's healthy, only had two rushing attempts last week for a grand total of zero yards. So hard to see that he's going to be more involved in the offense this

Starting point is 00:23:20 week as they want to be probably a little bit more downhill, more physical with Chuba running the ball. That's what Frank Reich said on Monday after his day after press conference and you know bryce young showed some signs of hey this could be the guy long term when he was able to run away from the rush he's going to make some plays and his receivers let him down a few times we saw a drop from dj shark we saw a drop from hayden hers who like miles sanders has been largely ineffective so far in this offense. We'll see what Thomas Brown,

Starting point is 00:23:47 who's going to be in his second game as a play caller after taking the play-calling role from Frank Reich going into the bye week. We'll see what he's able to cook up against what's been a struggling defense for the Colts all season long. And the second thing for me, you got to have Gardner Minshew beat you.

Starting point is 00:24:03 You can't have Jonathan Taylor and Zach Moss run all over you. They can't dictate the tempo and the pace of the game with the run game. Gardner Minshew has been a solid backup everywhere he's gone. I have respect for the player that he is. Dating Pac-Man. He was at ECU, went to Washington State. Love what he did with Mike Leach. Like, who couldn't be a Gardner Minshew fan?

Starting point is 00:24:22 But he's not a top-tier quarterback. He's just another guy. There's a reason why he's not a starter in this league. The Panthers have to make him be the one that beats him. Now there's some players like Josh Downs. I'm a North Carolina fan, so I love Josh Downs. I think he's going to be a good player for y'all. You can't let Josh Downs get deep on you like he did last week.

Starting point is 00:24:42 You can't let Michael Pittman do the things he's done. And Frank Reich, of course, understands the kind of weaponry that they have on that offense. So the Panthers really got to stop the run and force Gardner eventually to be the one to beat you. If he throws it 300 yards, it sucks, but it's better than getting a team to run for 200 yards on you on Sunday. So that's what the Panthers need to do if they want to win this game on Sunday. Looking over at the line for our friends over at band or official betting partner here on locked on, it is a two and a half point spread and the Colts are favorite Carolina

Starting point is 00:25:11 Panthers. Once again, underdogs here in 2023, Zach, do you have a pick? Do you make a pick on crossover Thursdays or are you not going to do it? Yeah. I mean,

Starting point is 00:25:21 I have the Colts winning this one, but I think it's going to be a shootout, which I think Panthers fans would kind of take it this, but not the loss, obviously, but a shootout game, seeing your offense score some points. I think it's going to be entertainment. Yes. Yeah. Entertainment, right? I have 31, 27 Colts. I just think it's going to be a high scoring game because I don't think either defense in this matchup can stop the run. And I don't even think either defense can stop the pass either so I really think it comes down to which offense like takes fewer sacks and turns the ball over less which again

Starting point is 00:25:52 the Colts might turn the ball over more they've done that quite a bit the last couple weeks but I do trust the Colts defensive line to get a couple more sacks than the Panthers defensive line in this one so again kind of splitting hairs in this matchup i have colts 31 over the panthers 27 uh but yeah i do think it's going to be more of a shootout game because i just don't trust either of these defenses in this matchup at all yeah i would also bet on the colts having more sacks in the panthers just because of what i've seen from this offensive line uh primarily kia so far this season uh but it'll be interesting it's good that you bring up turnovers the panthers have not been great when it comes to takeaways i have six so far this season, but it'll be interesting. It's good that you bring up turnovers. The Panthers have not been great when it comes to takeaways.

Starting point is 00:26:27 They have six so far this season. They got their first forced fumble of the season last week, and that led to a field goal. And that was really the difference for the Panthers. So when they don't turn the ball over, they have a chance to win, especially when they're able to create turnovers. That will obviously be a big factor in this game. I don't think you can really undersell just the

Starting point is 00:26:46 advantage. I think that Frank Reich and his coaching staff has just over the fact that he knows the personnel over there. He hired Gus Bradley to be his defensive coordinator. He knows what kind of scheme he wants to run. And so all week long, I think they've been at the advantage as far as just scheming. And it'll be interesting to see what this game looks like. I had a listener last week because I don't typically give picks because I'm a listener last week. Cause I don't typically, you know, give picks cause I'm a coward, Zach. I just, I just don't want to open up myself for,

Starting point is 00:27:09 I might be an offer this year. I might be an offer this year. I don't even know what my picks were looking back. I might have zero correct this year. So I get what you're saying. I would have, I would have projected they would have gone two and four to start the season. So I definitely would have been wrong on all those as well.

Starting point is 00:27:22 Well, there's a couple of games I thought they were going to lose either way. I just don't need someone being like, oh, yeah, man, you picked the Panthers to lose. What the hell? But last week I decided, you know what? I got a gut feeling the Panthers are going to win. Had some guy come in on DMs and be like, look, man, if they win this game, you have to start making picks every single week.

Starting point is 00:27:42 So because the Panthers won and I had a pick last week, I'm going to make a pick again this week. I think the Panthers cover, and I think the Panthers win. And I just felt like coming out of the bye week, this was a chance for the team to really start to stack some wins. It would have been nice had they won a game or two instead of going 0-6 to start off the season to where they would have been positioned to actually contend

Starting point is 00:28:04 any division, which could still maybe be on the table. We'll see how things go. Got to win on Sunday first. But I do think this is a game that Carolina will be able to build up momentum from last week. It's a defense that's ripe for the taking, as we've discussed. And, you know, the Panthers' defense is also ripe for the taking.

Starting point is 00:28:18 So we'll see how that works out. But I think it will be an entertaining game. I think this will be scored in the 20s, which will be a lot more entertaining than the 15-13 game we saw last week here in Charlotte, but that's going to wrap up this Locked On NFL Crossover Edition of Locked On Panthers

Starting point is 00:28:33 and Locked On Colts. Again, I'm Julian Council, the host of Locked On Panthers. Follow me on Twitter at Julian Council. He's Zach Hicks, a Hicks of Locked On. Cole Swalman on Twitter at Zach Hicks, too. And be sure to check out our podcast over on YouTube where it's free. And also wherever you listen to your payout podcast, it's free and available everywhere.

Starting point is 00:28:51 So check those shows out on Friday. I know I'll be talking about my keys to victory on Locked on Coles, Zach. What do you guys got cooked up for your listeners on Friday afternoon or whenever people listen? Yeah, no, same thing. Keys to victory and talking about what we need to see from the offense. And again, the defense, I don't know if we need to talk even more about it but the defense as well and then obviously our score predictions as a tandem there uh but yeah no should be a fun one

Starting point is 00:29:13 hopefully a fun one again i don't trust either those defenses so i do expect to be pretty high scoring it's not a frank reich revenge game he says though that he's highly motivated and we'll see how it works out as the Panthers welcome the Colts at 4 o'clock on Sunday here in Uptown Charlotte. Again, it's going to conclude. Locked on Panthers and locked on Colts. Thanks, everyone, so much for tuning in wherever you listen and watch the show.

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