Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Defense/Gus Bradley Faces Crucial Final Month
Episode Date: December 12, 2023Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Gus Bradley is entering the most important month of his tenure in Indy. Can he right the ship and get the Colts' defense playoff-ready or will they sink during... this final stretch?Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOColts?sid=YouTube📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFLFollow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOnFN!Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DoorDashGet 50% off up to $10 value when you spend $15 or more on your FIRST order, when you download the DoorDash app and enter code LOCKED23. Subject to change. Terms apply.Skylight FrameSkylight is a touchscreen photo frame you can send photos to straight from your phone! Get $15 off a Skylight Frame at Skylightframe.com/Lockedon.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.PrizePicksGo to PrizePicks.com/lockedonnfl and use code lockedonnfl for a first deposit match up to $100!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed.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.Jase MedicalGet $20 off these lifesaving antibiotics with Jase Medical by using code LOCKEDON at checkout on jasemedical.com.FanDuelScore early this NFL season with FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook! Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your team wins! 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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The clock is ticking for Gus Bradley and this Indianapolis Colts defense.
Can they figure out in this final month?
Let's get to it.
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Hello, everyone.
I am Zach Hicks, your favorite co-host here at the Locked On Colts podcast, and also your
resident film nerd over at thehorseshoehuddle.com.
I want to give a big shout out to my co-host, Jake Arthur, though, who's not here today,
but did cover for me on my sick day yesterday during Sunday's game.
It looks like the Indianapolis Colts also had a sick day yesterday, getting trounced
by the Cincinnati Bengals 34 to 14.
I'm actually kind of glad I was sick yesterday because I don't know if I could have stayed
healthy after watching some of the highlights and re-watching the game from yesterday.
So not a pretty one for the Indianapolis Colts.
I know a lot of you guys are thinking the same way.
We're going to talk generally about the game,
but mostly talk about main issues with this Indianapolis Colts team today
before firmly flushing this game down the drain.
I mean, look, NFL teams don't have a perfect game every single week.
They don't have good games every single week.
You're due for a game or two where you just really need to flush it down the drain and just get rid of it, get it
out of your system. This is one of those games that's very similar to that New Orleans Saints
game early in the season where, look, we'll watch the film once, we'll say gross, we'll get rid of
it, and we'll move on to next week's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. But today we're going to
talk about Gus Bradley and this Colts defense, how they had one of their biggest letdowns of the entire season on Sunday
and where we are going from here with that defensive unit.
Then we're going to pivot to the Colts offense and talk about their run game.
You know, is their run game completely broken now
after two really lackluster weeks there on the ground?
And then we're going to close it out by talking about the Colts cornerback duo
of Jalen Jones, Darrell Baker Jr., and how their Cinderella run of, you know, they had like a month of good play, but is that Cinderella run
kind of over right now with their recent struggles? We're going to talk about all that today, but
first we're kicking it off with Gus Bradley and this Colts defense. Now, the Colts defense was
far from completely healthy in this one. Rookie cornerback Juju Brents also missed this game. It
was his fifth missed game in a row.
He should be back this next week, but honestly, who knows at this point when it comes to Colts and their injuries.
And then starting linebacker EJ Speed also missed this game.
So wasn't completely healthy in this entire game here for the Colts defense.
They did get Grover Stewart back, but it kind of helped the run defense, but didn't really
do too much overall for the Colts game.
Quarterback Jake Browning, who was the backup for the Cincinnati Bengals, went 18 of 24 for 275 yards passing and two touchdowns.
Also had over 100 yards passing on three screen plays, which is absolutely insane.
Browning had the third highest EPA and EPA per play among all quarterbacks this week.
I mean, look, their defense just got beat down
by a Cincinnati Bengals offensive game plan,
Cincinnati Bengals offense in general.
And it kind of begs us to have the question here.
You know, this final month here,
when it comes to Gus Bradley and his job security,
how important is this final month for him
to continue in this role going forward?
Because you look at this Colts defense,
you know, there have been some positive elements
to this defense this year. They're top five in the NFL in turnovers forced.
They are, I think they're top five in the NFL in sacks on the season. They're doing a lot of good
little things in there. I think Gus Bradley, personally, I think he's done a good job
of mixing his scheme up a little bit and not doing that same old cover three that we all know and
love that he does. But at the end of the day, the results are still not there.
Now, I'm not saying this is all on Gus Bradley.
What we're going to talk about in the final segment today is, look,
for most of the year, he's been starting Jalen Jones
and Daryl Baker Jr. at corner.
And it's not like he's doing that over stable veterans behind them.
I mean, it's either those guys or it's a mere speed as you're starting corner.
So, you know, he hasn't had all the help
that you could hope for uh that hope that defense coordinator could hope for i mean grover stewart's
missed a ton of time this year and his best nose tackles on the roster have been what taven brian
and eric johnson who are just not not it they're not it at all at nose tackle but at the end of
the day it's a results-based league and this colts defense is one of the worst teams in the league in
terms of points allowed they've struggled all year in keeping teams out of the end zone in the red zone this year.
And at the end of the day, it's just too many completions and too many times that teams are
going up and down the field and not getting stopped in the red zone and scoring touchdowns.
And it's, it's limiting what the Colts can do on offense on the other side of the ball. I mean,
if you're really looking at the two sides of the ball for the Colts this year, the Colts offense
is kind of overachieved because they've been playing all year with their backup quarterback and the Colts defense has somewhat underachieved
because they have been fairly healthy this year. And I mean, again, no Grover Stewart for a lot of
time does hurt. Their cornerback room has been decimated, but they've been fairly healthy at
their other positions, but they're still not really getting the job done. And they're still
allowing really high point outputs on that side of the ball so this last month for the Colts is really big for not only this team making the playoffs and where
we're looking at this team going forward but it's also big for Gus Bradley you know I think if this
Colts team comes out and they have good performances against Mitch Trubisky this next week and Aiden
O'Connell down the stretch Desmond Ritter and then obviously CJ Stroud in week 18 if they're able to
get three wins of these last four and make the playoffs Gus Bradley has a good chance of coming back next year
but if we see what we saw this past weekend against Jake Browning there's no chance you can
bring Gus Bradley back and I'm saying this as someone who dislikes Gus Bradley I do I think
I'm higher on Gus Bradley than most Colts fans but this is just unacceptable what just happened
these backup quarterback can't be having this kind of success. Look, and I know it's kind of talking in hindsight here, but
personally, when you're playing against a quarterback like Jake Browning, blitz, get after
him, bring some pressure, do whatever you can to disrupt him so he's not throwing into open zones.
I know they were scared of Jamar Chase and that speed down the sideline, but when you're sitting
in prevent defense all game long, you have to be doing two things. You have to be doing two things
if you're sitting in prevent defense all game. You have to be coming up and making
tackles and forcing turnovers. I guess that's more than one thing there, but you have to be
coming up and making your tackles. You can't be missing tackles. You can't be allowing chunk plays
on underneath throws, which was happening all Sunday long. And then obviously you got to stop
them when they get in the red zone. You can't allow them to score touchdowns in the red zone
because that defeats the whole purpose of your prevent defense.
It doesn't matter if they're taking 10 plays to score or three plays to score.
As long as they're scoring a touchdown, they're still scoring a touchdown on you.
So you have to be forcing turnovers, coming up and making tackles,
and you have to be getting off the field in the red zone.
I don't care how many yards they throw for.
If they're not scoring touchdowns, you're going to win the game.
But what we're seeing with this Colts defense these last two weeks, especially, is the red zone defense has
not been good enough. It has not been good enough whatsoever. Teams are moving up and down the field,
whether it's the big plays on short passes, whether it's running the ball down the field,
whether it's, you know, whatever it's going to be, you know, completing with high efficiency
like Browning was this week. When they're getting into the red zone, they're scoring touchdowns.
The Colts have allowed the second most rushing touchdowns in the red zone this year with 17. That's crazy. I mean,
they're not stopping anybody once they get into the red zone. So the Indianapolis Colts defense,
again, I think this is a massive, massive last four games here for the Colts because they just
need to get back on track. They need to have good games, again, against Mitch Trubisky this upcoming
week. You need to have good game against him. There's no excuse here. The Colts defense needs to carry in
this game. They need to have a really strong outing, especially if they do get EJ Sweet and
Juju Brents back. There's no excuse not to have a strong game against Mitch Trubisky and this
Pittsburgh Steelers offense. And then after that, again, Desmond Ritter, and then you have Aiden
O'Connell and then CJ Stroud is going to be the tough one at the end of the year, but this Colts defense needs to turn it around.
It can't have games like we just saw against the Cincinnati Bengals.
I'm not putting it all on the defense because the Colts were thoroughly
dominated in all three phases against the Bengals.
But at the end of the day, you know, if you're looking at the matchup going in,
you're saying, okay, we have Jake Browning,
the Bengals backup quarterback against us.
We can't allow him to complete 18 passes for 275
yards and two touchdowns. Oh, and then he also ran another one in, so three touchdowns for him
in this game. That's just unacceptable from your defense, from your defensive coordinator,
especially in a game where, again, you were kind of out-schemed all game long.
There's no way that three screen plays should accumulate like 120 yards of offense
against you. There's no way that they should be able to do what
they were doing in this game. I mean, they were just thoroughly outmatched all game on defense.
And a lot of that comes down to the coordinator, a lot of it comes down to the personnel
and just what the Colts were doing on Sunday. So this final month of play is huge for the Colts
defense. They need to turn it around. They need to propel this team into the postseason with strong
performances.
Because if they don't do that, then yeah, I do think Shane Steichen and the Indianapolis Colts make a change.
That's not a report.
That's pure speculation.
I do think the Colts make a change if they miss the playoffs because this defense is allowing, what, 27 points a game, 28 points a game at this point.
But coming up, we're going to pivot over to the Colts' offense and one of their biggest concerns, which is the lack of a run game.
Zach Moss has struggled since becoming the starter with Jonathan Taylor's recent injury.
So we're going to talk about how the Colts can get back on track in the run game and also kind of detail why some of those issues are showing up right now.
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All right, Colts fans, we're diving into this Indianapolis Colts run game, which has been downright abysmal the last two weeks. Zach Moss, a player who was, what, top 10
in the NFL at one point in rushing yards and was playing some phenomenal football for the Colts in
Jonathan Taylor's absence early in the season. He's taken over as the starter the last two weeks
with Taylor back on the injured list, and it has not been as pretty as what it was early in the season.
In the two weeks that Zach Moss has been the starter,
so the last two games against Tennessee Titans
and the Cincinnati Bengals respectively,
Zach Moss has 32 rushes for 79 yards.
That's only 2.4 yards per carry.
Now, there's a lot of reasons for this lack of success.
The Colts offensive line has simply just not been doing their part
against two.
Well, I don't want to say two good run defenses because the Titans have a good run defense,
but the Bengals statistically are the worst run defense in football.
The Colts have just not been doing their part up front in the trenches.
And you're really seeing it on film.
I mean, just guys getting beat.
Quentin Nelson struggling.
Blake Freeland struggling a lot, too.
I mean, Braden Smith's kind of been the anchor the last couple of years in the run game,
you know, whenever he's been out there. So him being out does hurt a lot too. I think Zach Moss could be doing a better job of reading blocks and doing stuff, but this last
game against the Bengals, I mean, he really just didn't have much space to work with whatsoever.
But one thing I really wanted to discuss about this Colts run game and why it appears so broken is the RPO game. Now, the NFL with the way
that RPOs are, offensive linemen cannot advance more than one yard past the line of scrimmage,
or it's a legal man downfield if the quarterback opts to throw the ball. So if the quarterback
opts to throw the ball and your lineman is more than one yard down the field, it's a legal man
downfield, there's a penalty and everything comes back. So when the Colts are leaning on RPOs like they have been, I mean, we saw the graphic
that was pulled up on game day this past weekend where the Colts are averaging 16.7 RPOs per
game, which is the highest in league history, according to that graphic that was shown by
I think by that CBS crew that was covering the Colts game.
That is an obscenely high number of RPOs in a game.
So that means there's at least 16 plays a game that are designed runs, but the Colts game, that is an obscenely high number of RPOs in a game. So that means there's at least 16 plays a game that are designed runs,
but the Colts offensive line cannot advance past one yard down the field
because there is that pass option.
And with Gardner Minshew, he's taking that pass option quite a bit.
So you have to be wary of that as a Colts offensive lineman.
But what we're kind of seeing happening,
what we're kind of seeing happen with that now
is the Colts offensive line is playing stagnant.
They're playing stale.
They're playing within that one yard and they can't advance.
So they're having to stay kind of there and they're not really able to win and displace
defenders up front, which is hindering the run game overall.
So just like two weeks ago against Tampa Buccaneers, where we were praising the RPO game and how
these RPO plays were accentuating the run game because they were
spreading out the box and also playing to garner Minshew's strengths as a one read quarterback.
Now it's kind of going the other way where teams are getting film on that. They're seeing what the
Colts are doing and they're seeing how, hey, the offensive line is not firing off the ball
on these type of plays because they're not able to displace our defenders up front.
So they can just stagnate that offensive line right there, which gives space to our linebackers to come in and make a play on the
ball. And that's kind of what we've seen. Again, the linebackers are just dominating the Colts up
front because the Colts can't reach those linebackers on these RPO runs. They can't advance
up there and reach those linebackers. So what's the solution? What do the Colts do? Do they go
completely away from the RPO game? Do they change up how their RPO game operates? Like, do they put more linebackers in as the conflict defender so Minshew can kind of exploit them if they're going to fire up on the run game? I think that's one option, obviously. But I think another option is, yeah, just lean more into the design run game. And look, you can still attach an RPO behind it just to keep backside defenders from crashing
and keep them honest, but lean into it more as, hey, this is a designed run where, you
know, if Minshew sees for like a split second, he might pull it, but block like it's a run,
you know, don't, don't be wary of that one yard block, like it's a run.
And hopefully Minshew doesn't pull it too late or anything, which, you know, that could
be an issue in itself there.
But if you're already going to get like 10 penalties a game on offense, might as well just have them on
plays that could go either way like this. But yeah, I digress with that. But I do think that
you lean more into, you know, the trap game duo power, you know, get away from just running
inside zone with an RPO screen behind it or inside zone with an RPO hook route to Pittman behind it
like that the runs are just not working out of the RPO game right now.
Zach Moss is not seeing the displacement up front.
He's not able to get vertical.
He's not able to get North and South, which is when he's at his best.
He's not able to get downhill into space where he was exceeding early in the season.
Now, again, you can, you can still do RPOs.
You could still do RPOs.
I'm not saying completely cut them out of the playbook, but when they have become the only run play that you have in your playbook, because
Gardner Minshew is only really comfortable in RPOs, that is when your running backs are struggling
because they're just not able to get that displacement up front. So again, have the RPOs.
You can still have them. I'm not saying that they're the biggest issue here, but they need
to lean into some more designed run plays.
Have your offensive line really fire off the ball.
Have some trap plays to take advantage of crashing defensive linemen
and crashing linebackers.
Put them in a bind and pull across and knock them out of the play.
Have duo where you can have your linemen just double team up front
and drive off the ball and try to get that displacement.
Have some more power where you can get Quentin Nelson back in his element
and pulling around the outside and leading the way. I think the Colts need to lean more into
the actual designed run game rather than having, again, an RPO is a run play, but if you're having
your offensive lineman hold back and only block one yard down the field, then you're limiting what
they can truly do in that run game. So yeah, lean back into the more designed run game, get back to
that, get back to feeding Zach Moss and true run plays. And I think you'll, you'll be able to find some more success
there. But again, that comes to the issue is like, look, Gardner Minshew, the reason why they're
running so many RPOs because Gardner Minshew is more comfortable in RPOs than he is in dropback
passes right now, when we're seeing him do traditional dropback passes, that's where the
struggles are coming. So maybe the Colts need to sub out some of those RPO plays for another way to generate stuff in the quick
game maybe more empty personnel more motion more pistol more like you know stuff like that like
other stuff that can still give him his one read options give him his isolated routes that he can
that he can quickly get the ball out of his hands without limiting
the run game with the RPO where, again, the linemen are not able to get down the field.
I think there are ways that they can fix this, but again, it comes down to Shane Steichen.
Shane Steichen has done a great job this entire year of coaching with one arm tied behind
his back.
He's coaching with the quarterback that he was not designing the offense for.
He's had to change this offense four you know, four or five times this season
just to get some kind of production out of them.
Now he needs to go through another change or growth here
these final four weeks to really get this team into the playoffs.
I don't doubt him whatsoever, but I am curious to see what he can do
because, again, with the quarterback play that you have here in Indy right now,
you're coaching with the one arm tied behind your back.
Like, Minshew's better than a lot of backups,
but he is a backup quarterback.
So we'll see what Shane Steichen
can draw up here going forward
if he can get this run game going.
Because as of right now,
again, 2.4 yards per carry
the last two weeks
is just not going to cut it.
And the Colts have a big issue
they need to fix.
Or it's going to be all on Gardner Minshew
to pull this team into the playoffs,
which is not at all
what we want to hear right now. But coming up, guys, we're going to talk about the
Cinderella run of Jalen Jones and Daryl Baker Jr. and how, yes, it was nice there for a little bit,
but maybe they're turning back into that pumpkin or whatever that Cinderella reference is if I
don't fully understand it. We're going to talk about that here in just a second.
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Every day as we are back yet again with our final segment of today's show,
talking about rookie cornerback Jalen Jones
and if his Cinderella run of strong cornerback play for a rookie seventh rounder,
again, a rookie seventh rounder, if that Cinderella run has kind of come to an end here.
We've seen with this young cornerback room, the success can only go so far. I mean,
the Colts have been dealt a horrible hand at corner this whole season. Yes,
they could have done more to prevent how horrible this hand has been, but at the end of the day,
they lost Isaiah
Rogers Sr. in the offseason, who was a projected starter. Dallas Flowers has been knocked out for
the season with an ACL injury. And then obviously Juju Brents has missed the majority of the season
as well due to injury. So the Colts have had a lot of injuries at the cornerback position,
which has led to rookie seventh rounder Jalen Jones starting a majority of the year.
And then Daryl Baker Jr., an undrafted free agent from last year's class
that the Colts brought over during the season last season,
that he's also had to start a ton of games this year.
And yes, there were some good moments from these two players,
Jalen Jones especially.
In his first couple games as a starter, you were seeing a lot of pass breakups.
You were seeing him keep plays under 10 yards and making tackles
and doing a lot of good things out there.
But he's kind of struggled a lot these last three weeks.
These last three weeks where they played against really good wide receivers.
I'm not going to hold that against him too much.
But we have seen that him in this cornerback one-type role
for the Indianapolis Colts can only go so far.
He's played against DeAndre Hopkins.
He's played against Mike Evans.
And he's played against Jamar Chase, T. Higgins, and all these guys that the Bengals have these
last three weeks. And we have seen the struggles kind of pile up a little bit. Now, I'm not saying
that he's been horrendous or anything. I'm not saying he's been a liability for the Colts by any
means, but it is getting to the point where it's like, okay, he's probably in over his head here
as the number one corner for an NFL team
right now, which is not really on him. Like, I'm not saying this is completely on him and his career
is doomed at this point. Like, even if he was a first round pick corner, we would probably see
some struggles and stuff like this as well. But this is what happens when you have a seventh round
rookie starting for majority of the season. There are going to be some chinks in the armor. There's
going to be some issues up front with him. And, and again, after a really strong start,
he's had three really rough, rough games in a row to where it's like, okay, like if the Colts
actually had players at corner, you would consider maybe getting some other guys out there, but they
currently just don't have anybody. But yeah, I mean, we are seeing the struggles out there in
coverage. Darrell Baker Jr. as well. I thought he had his best game of his entire career against the Tennessee Titans last
week. I thought it was fantastic. I was really high on him. I was getting all excited. And then
this Bengals game happens where he's missing tackles again. He's getting beat deep by T.
Higgins and not being aggressive enough driving down the ball. And it's like,
all right, here we are. We're back where we started with this cornerback room where like, look, I can't blame the corners too much because they are who they
are. Again, a seventh round rookie and an undrafted free agent from last year. It's not like these
guys were expected to be superstars in the league. If anything, if they're even what they are now
for the rest of their careers, that's, that's promising. That's better than what they ever
should have been in the NFL. But when you have a team that's in the middle of a playoff race right now,
these are not the guys you want starting out there.
They're not the guys you want out there.
Like, again, Jalen Jones, I think, can turn it around.
He can be finest cornerback too.
But the Colts need Juju Brents back so bad.
They really need him back this next week,
which hopefully he should be back this next week.
But they desperately need him back in more ways I mean, in more ways than one.
I mean, one other thing that's really not talked about with these two other corners
is their run defense.
I mean, the Colts run defense was much better this week.
I think they only allowed like 3.5 yards per carry against Cincinnati Bengals.
But when the Bengals were getting bigger runs is when they were attacking the outside
and they were, you know, daring Jalen Jones and Daryl Baker Jr.
to fill in the run game.
And they just weren't able to do that. They're not good enough with their angles. They're not
aggressive enough with their run fill. They're not confident enough in their, in, you know,
just their assignments in general. So what you're seeing is when, when teams are running the ball
over the Colts, they're going at these young corners on the outside and daring them to make
tackles and neither of them can really do that right now. Now, when you get Juju Brents back
out there, I do think he can do that.
That's, that's one of his strengths, obviously.
But yeah, right now the Colts cornerback room and their coverage in general has just struggled
quite a bit because these are just not guys who should be starting in the NFL right now.
Again, Jalen Jones has played much better than what a seventh round rookie should have
been, should be playing.
And even Darrell Baker Jr. to a degree has played much better than what an und round rookie should have been, should be playing. And even Daryl Baker jr.
To a degree has played much better than what an undrafted free agent should
have been playing out at corner out there.
But at some point it becomes too much,
you know,
at some point that run will end,
you know,
you're not always going to get perfect play out of those guys.
You're not always going to get good play out of those guys.
And unfortunately in this past game,
it happened at the same time where it's like,
okay,
like the whole cornerback room struggled, the whole safety room struggled,
you know, it's just, it's just not a recipe for success having those guys as your starters out
there. But it's kind of the situation we're in right now. And that kind of leads to my final
topic on this conversation is how much blame goes to the Colts general manager Chris Ballard for
this. Now, again, I do think that you can look at some of this and say,
OK, maybe he doesn't deserve too much blame because these are his fourth and fifth corners,
or fifth and sixth corners, however you want to look at it.
These were not guys who were supposed to start.
Isaiah Rogers was supposed to start.
Dallas Flowers was supposed to be your starter all year.
Juju Brents was supposed to be your starter all year.
But due to injuries and due to suspensions, it's Daryl Baker Jr. and Jalen Jones. Could they have brought in some other guys throughout the season for
workouts or some other veterans? Sure, they could have brought in some other guys, but like,
you know, if they're still free agents at this point in the year, how much better are they really
going to be? Maybe like, again, maybe just bring in somebody else could have been a better option,
but at the end of the day, I don't know if that was a solution either.
So it's kind of tough to really pin this on anybody.
I mean, Gus Bradley is doing the best he can to hide these guys
by putting them in quarters coverage and prevent-type defenses,
but it's hindering the underneath part of the defense now
because he's so scared of these young corners getting beat deep
that he's allowing too much underneath and too many big plays underneath
in what we saw with the screen plays this past game so the Colts are
kind of being hindered by their young cornerback room and I don't really know what the answer is
right now I think the most logical answer or the closest thing we have to an answer right now is
please come back Juju Brents please please come back this week we need Juju Brents back in the
lineup just for his playmaking ability just for length, just for his run defense on the outside.
Again, he's not going to be perfect.
He's going to get some penalties.
He's going to have his mistakes as well.
But I do think they need to get somebody else out there.
Juju Brents is the perfect answer.
So to kind of sum up this whole last segment, look, Jalen Jones,
really good season for a rookie seventh rounder.
But we're seeing the arrow trending down because it's just too much still for him. It's too much for him,
too much playing time for him, too much time for him on the field right now. So you're seeing the
ups and downs, the ebbs and flows of a young player. And the same goes for Daryl Baker Jr.
as well. So hopefully, hopefully they can get Juju Brents back out there this week to kind of
ease some of these concerns and kind of ease some of the pressure that's on these two young players.
But that's all I have for today, guys.
Let me know what you think about this Colts cornerback room.
Let me know what you think about the Colts run game and obviously about Gus Bradley in the comments section.
I'm excited to see what you guys say about Gus Bradley because I know it's been a hot topic here with the Indianapolis Colts lately. And before I go, remember to check out the Locked On Sports Today, which is the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube.
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