Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Gardner Minshew Part of Breaking Streak vs. Jacksonville Jaguars?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Colts returned to their house of horrors this Sunday, but now someone who used to be part of the problem might actually be part of their solution. Let's get to it. You are locked on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. All right, everybody.

Starting point is 00:00:36 Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars. You are of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And this Crossover Thursday episode is brought to you by PrizePix, which is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Go to prizepix.com slash locked on NFL and use code and all lowercase locked on NFL for a first deposit match up to $100.

Starting point is 00:01:05 Welcome to the show, everybody. Jake Arthur here from HorseshoeHuddle.com. Also got my guy, Tony Wiggins. And I know you guys, the Colts fans, you always love when Tony is on here and we're chatting with him. I don't know about the LockedOnJags listeners. They like hearing from Zach and me, but everyone on the Colts side seems to appreciate you, Wiggins.

Starting point is 00:01:24 I don't think they like nobody. I don't think the Logno Jaguar fans like nobody, so it's good. That's how Titans fans are, too, but I digress. So today we're going to catch you guys up. We're going to take you all the way through Sunday's Colts-Jaguars matchup, which you can catch every snap of the action with SiriusXM on the SXM app. Search either Colts or Jaguars. So we're just going to kind of fly through the biggest storylines for each team going into this thing.

Starting point is 00:01:51 Remember, they already faced in week one, so there's familiarity there. The most important matchups that are going to make or break things. And then ultimately, what is going to lead to a win for either side. And we'll give you our predictions as well. So, Wig, I will open the floor to you, but I'll preface it by saying, going to lead to a win for either side and we'll give you our predictions as well so wig i will uh open the floor to you but i'll preface it by saying ever is everbank stadium now is that right it it you know what it went from tia bank back to uh everbank field and and they're going to build a new one so it's going to be something else pretty soon, maybe. But yeah. Duval.

Starting point is 00:02:25 Duval. That's all. Duval. Not been chill for the Colts whatsoever. They haven't won there since 2014. Since then, you know, 2015 was a 51-16 Jags win. 2017, 30-10. 2018, which was one of the best Colts offenses in a while, 6-0.

Starting point is 00:02:45 It's not been great. And then the Colts hit absolutely rock bottom over the last couple years, 26-11 loss at the end of 2021. And then they started 2022 with a 24-0 loss. So what's the biggest storyline for you guys? Because there's got to be a pretty big comfort level. The biggest storyline is just to maintain consistency. They have to win games that they're supposed to win.

Starting point is 00:03:08 And they beat the Bills, but they lost to Houston. So the thing is, is they haven't found that consistency that they really want. They got pretty close to it last week offensively, especially in the first half. But they just have to find a way to be consistent, regardless of who the opponent is and what streak is on and what curse is on. I guarantee you the messages that they have down there is you've got to watch these guys. This is a divisional game, a team with some good trenches

Starting point is 00:03:36 on both sides of the ball, playing with a gamer of a quarterback. Just don't get caught slipping. I think it's right now with Jacksonville, it's me versus we. It's us. We can't beat ourselves. And if we don't beat ourselves, it I think it's right now with Jacksonville, it's me versus we. It's us. We can't beat ourselves. If we don't beat ourselves, it's going to be very, very hard for somebody else outside of a few teams to come in here and beat us. That's how it's been for the Colts at times, but, man, I mean,

Starting point is 00:03:56 looking at this, the most glaring thing is they played without Anthony Richardson before. Of course, he's had a couple injuries that has already cost him some time, but now he's on IR. He's going to be out at least a minimum of four weeks. So now we know for indefinitely that this is a Gardner Minshew offense, someone you guys are obviously very familiar with. So what is that going to look like?

Starting point is 00:04:20 A particular against this defense, because Shane Steichen doesn't just tailor the offense the same every week. It's very, very dependent on the defense. So we saw how ugly things got for the Colts, for example, like they couldn't run the ball to save their life in week one. So how are things going to look with Gardner Minshew as the quarterback now? That's kind of what we're looking at. And then something I asked Shane Steichen today but he kind of downplayed I asked you know is there a different attitude in the building this week because again it's been since 2014 that the Colts have won in Jacksonville and Gardner Minshew obviously

Starting point is 00:04:58 spent a couple years though started started his career there is there a you know we want to we want to win for Gardner type of thing is there any change in attitude and it was kind of you know every new year is a new thing you can't pay attention to the past yeah well well they'd be they it wouldn't do them any good because one of the laziest things I think you'll probably hear out of somebody's mouth this week is uh they know Gardner very well actually they don't he didn't play for them he played for Urban Meyer he didn't he didn't play yeah very different quarterback yeah didn't play for Doug Peterson didn't play for for uh didn't play while the defense coordinator was on staff

Starting point is 00:05:35 not that stuff so um as far as the fans the fans remember the Gardner Minshew Uncle Rico days and Midshipvania and all of that stuff. And he'll get a nice applause because it was – he was a bright spot during a rough time. You know what I'm saying? That was when everybody was locked in the house. And also when the franchise was just at an all-time low. So – and he was one of the guys that went out

Starting point is 00:06:03 and just looked like he was giving it his all every week, even when the team wasn't winning. So there's a there's a nice warm spot. But outside of too much crazy stuff, that's about it. Nobody's going to want to see him not do well and nobody's going to want to see him do good. And that's what that's one of those storylines in this game that probably needs to just not even be. The biggest things to me is the fact that Richardson isn't there and because he's not there that kind of tells you

Starting point is 00:06:32 a little bit from a macro perspective what the Jaguar fans have to and the Colts fans have to watch out for and that is he has to stay healthy you know this is twice already in a rookie season everybody always talks about these big quarterbacks he's six four 250 pounds and he says he is not running against guys that are smaller than him right i'm sorry when when you see some of these linebackers

Starting point is 00:06:58 and how they are and how big they are they see him coming it's not like derrick henry where it's a guy who's trained and and has practiced for years protecting himself when he runs he's a quarterback and once he sets out as a runner all those rules that protect them go away and they're gonna chomp on him and they're gonna hit him and they're gonna bang against him so the biggest thing uh right now is i wanted to see i was shocked where he was at the beginning of the year it's too bad we don't see five six weeks in if he's even improved to give us an idea of his career track and a little bit of his arc and where he's going so we won't know that again until next year

Starting point is 00:07:35 yeah i i will say he has gotten better since then i mean i i think he like just kind of you mentioned he looked ahead of schedule uh probably particularly as a passer. He was probably having his best game as a passer before he left last week. So that's a bummer. You know, he got knocked out at C.J. Stroud one as well. He's not going to play against Bryce Young. So that's that's kind of a very small footnote of, you know, kind of getting taken from those young QB matchups. But here in a minute, we're going to talk about some matchups that should make or break this whole thing.

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Starting point is 00:09:40 on every Locked On NFL YouTube channel, Locked On Colts, Locked On Jaguars. Hosts Tanitra, Batiste, Jarvis Davis, and Kyle Krabs will break down every game on the NFL slate to get you ready for your team's matchups. Fantasy lineups, betting angles, all of it. Plus, you get the in-depth local analysis from our stable of NFL hosts across the country

Starting point is 00:10:02 who know these teams better than anyone else, like me and Tony. That's exactly what you're looking for here. Find Locked On NFL Kickoff Live every Friday at 2 p.m. Eastern on any Locked On NFL YouTube channel. All right, Wiggs. So these matchups, again, we've been through this before week one, not long ago.

Starting point is 00:10:21 What are you circling now in this matchup, whether it's offense and or defense for the Jaguars? What are you really looking at when it comes to the Colts? That's going to make a big difference. Okay. So the Jaguars pass rush has been maligned. It's still one of the things that is being really, really talked about,

Starting point is 00:10:39 right? Going against the coast offensive line, it is considered pretty talented, right? Now there's this want to and desire for those guys to get sacks. This week is the wrong week to break discipline when trying to get those sacks. And I know people are going to go. Gardner Mitchell ain't a better runner than Anthony Richardson. No, he's not. But I tell you what he does really, really well.

Starting point is 00:11:08 He passes the ball off schedule. So now if you create these little alleys for him and allow him to use his little getaway card, you got to understand something. He is running to try to find room to throw the ball. And he will do it off schedule. Whenever you play Gardner Minshew, and this is the experience that I have, covering him, you always want him to stay on schedule

Starting point is 00:11:28 if you're playing against him. Don't give him alleys. Make him beat you from the pocket. He can make some throws from the pocket, but he ain't going to kill you from there. So the thing is, is when you give him all, when he turns this into a playground play, that's when you're in trouble because he'll throw it, not just run it.

Starting point is 00:11:43 He'll throw it. And that's why I think he's very, very dangerous. So the matchup for the Jaguars is the thing that you've been wanting to do all year, you can't get so caught up in trying to do that, that you allow him to do exactly what makes him so special. So be very, very careful on the pass rush. You want to rush, but you want to stay in control, make him stay in the pocket. Do not let him be able to scramble to throw.

Starting point is 00:12:09 Yeah, it feels like gap discipline for the defense would be pretty important on that one. And I know what you mean. I've been pretty impressed with Minshew in terms of how he is able to scramble and deliver the ball from odd arm angles. He also loves to pass around guys. He does these matrix-y type things all the time.

Starting point is 00:12:28 That's just not something you would expect until you actually watch him. So definitely know what you mean there. So for me on the Colts' offensive side of it, I really want to see what the tight ends, particularly Drew Ogletree and Kylan Granson, could do against those Jaguars linebackers. They had an okay game last time. Ogletree, one catch for 20 yards and was knocked out with a concussion from the game.

Starting point is 00:12:51 But he's back, and he's had a nice, solid little slate of games. I think, you know, seven, you know, he did have seven catches, almost all of them for first downs at one point. So he's been really productive. Kylan Granson, the first few games of the year was doing really well, just picking up yards, moving the chains and things like that. So I think from the Colts offensive perspective, get those shorter guys, you know, the shorter routes going, because again, with Gardner, the downfield passing game is not exactly

Starting point is 00:13:22 unlocked with him. He loves the rhythmic West Coast type stuff. Get the ball where the defense is offering it. And a lot of times that is going to be the tight ends. So if I'm looking on the defensive side of the ball, DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart had standout performances back in week one. They've had some quiet moments in the last couple weeks. But just looking at it, it looks like the Jaguars interior offensive line has still had some struggles in some areas. I'm looking for, I don't want to say a bounce back because I haven't had poor play, but let's have another all pro type of performance from that package for the Colts.

Starting point is 00:14:01 Disrupting Trevor Lawrence up the middle. You have to do something to him because he makes some unreal throws that I'll get to later. But, guy, you got to do something to disrupt Lawrence because he is just a magician. Does it seem like these games between the Colts and the Jaguars fall into the coaching cliche of coming down to turnovers? It just seems like the team that is able to protect the football, they're also the ones that are able to get out of that arena with a win.

Starting point is 00:14:28 And the team that turns the ball over, and that's not earth shattering, right? That's like something that we've all heard since we were playing in Little League. But if there was a perfect game or a perfect series for that, this is it. The Jags and the Coastal has always come down to who's able to protect the football who's able to make obviously kicks and field goals and do all of those little things so for me also with with the Jaguars this week the thing that they really really have to watch out for is starting off slow and allowing the coach to get into a rhythm, either with the running game or that short passing game,

Starting point is 00:15:07 and using those big receivers on slants and creating second and short or second and mid, and then using the running game or vice versa and continuing to get first downs. Because at some point, even in the game that they played early in this year, the coach got on a little bit of a run because they were able to continue drives and keep drives going. So that's going to be the thing, too. Don't get lulled into this.

Starting point is 00:15:28 OK, we got all day to get it done. And then all of a sudden the Colts got all of this confidence and now you're scrambling. The Jaguars need to try to get off to a really, really good start and put the onus on the Colts to try to change the flow of the game as opposed to the Jacksonville Jaguars trying to pick it up late. Yeah, yeah, that, that'll be interesting. Something else I wanted to mention here as well. So a big theme in week one was Calvin Ridley, his welcome to the Jaguars game, essentially. He's not going to be stopped. The Colts secondary, or the cornerbacks at least, are already different than what they were before.

Starting point is 00:16:07 Dallas Flowers out for the year with an Achilles. And Daryl Baker Jr., who was the other starting outside corner, he basically got replaced due to performance. That game wasn't the only poor performance that he had. He kind of slipped up against Houston as well. So now they've got two rookies starting, Juju Brents and Jalen Jones. Now, those are both two lengthy physical guys who love to harass the ball when it's in the air. I am very interested to see how they respond to this matchup. DeAndre Hopkins did very, very well last week, had a season high with 140 yards. So I don't think Calvin Ridley is going to be stopped by any means,

Starting point is 00:16:46 maybe not even contained. But I do want to see if these guys are able to give it more fight than their predecessors were able to back in week one. And I know a big chunk of that was Trevor Lawrence, just the throws he was able to make. Him and Ridley already seem to have a pretty good connection. Ridley just converts what Lawrence was able to provide. But both those players were playing lights out. So I want to see how the Colts' young secondary responds.

Starting point is 00:17:12 Yeah, I think that's a good one. And one of the things that has kind of haunted Jacksonville, at least until last week, was Trevor getting off to a little bit of a slow start in every game because he was excited. But you're right. The game against the Colts earlier this year and this game last week, they played against Buffalo.

Starting point is 00:17:26 They got Calvin Ridley going early. It's going to come. You're going to see the Jaguars play the hits. You're going to see them go ETN, Ridley, Ingram, and Kirk. Mix in a little Zay Jones if he's healthy. But you may see somebody touch the ball other than those guys in the first quarter. But I guarantee you 98% of those snaps are going to come from those guys

Starting point is 00:17:45 before they go to the second running back and the third running back. They're going to play the hits until they get control of the game. Yeah, I feel like when it comes to Jags, Colts, everyone for the Jaguars who should perform really well always does. They don't have sleepy performances from the guys who are actually supposed to make a difference. So coming up here in a minute, what is going to lead to a win for either of these teams? And ultimately, who is going to win?

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Starting point is 00:19:12 They own the Colts in Jacksonville. I believe you're riding a two-game winning streak. So what do you think on this one? You know, I got the Jaguars winning. I think they won two in a row. They're starting to feel good about themselves. They've had that obligatory blip in the season when they lost at home to Houston. And nobody knew at the time Houston was actually really, really improved.

Starting point is 00:19:40 All we saw in Houston, we saw their quarterback get sacked in the first two weeks 11 times, and then the Jaguars not be able to get to him. People don't feel as bad about that as they did earlier. They had that scare, and then they had a little bit of a scare the first week in London against the Falcons. Now they know.

Starting point is 00:20:00 They know what you have to do. They're going to scrape and scratch, and they're going to try to probably get a little bit of a lead, play with confidence. They've got to run the football. They're going to scrape and scratch, and they're going to try to probably get a little bit of a lead, play with confidence. They got to run the football. They have to protect the football, and then they have to stop the run, obviously, on the other side on defense. So I got the Jags winning this game.

Starting point is 00:20:16 I'm not going to go crazy with it, though. I'll say they win the game 27-20. Okay, yeah, I've got a one-score game as well. So I think offensively, again, I mentioned it earlier, the Colts could not run the ball at all in the first game. You take away Anthony Richardson's contributions and the running backs put up 16 carries for 25 yards. Just non-existent, essentially. Now that was Deion Jackson as the lead back. Zach Moss was just a week away from returning from his broken arm. Jonathan Taylor was on PUP. Now they've completely transformed. They're one of the top rushing attacks in the league now. Zach Moss is top five in the league despite missing that week one. Things are different. Now Richardson will not be there, but he hasn't been the catalyst really since Zach Moss came back. So the Jaguars are one of the top run defenses in the league as well,

Starting point is 00:21:14 but that's what we said about Tennessee last week also. And I thought the Colts would do well against the run against the Tennessee Titans, but not to that extent. Like they blew up and I think they will control things a little better. I think they'll have a much better standing than they did in week one. Cause that also, it disrupted the entire offense. They were two of 12 on third down as well. Right.

Starting point is 00:21:39 Cause they, you know, they had second and longs. They had the lounge, the long down and distances. So I think running the ball for them will be huge uh defensively again i think they have to get after trevor lawrence uh and they have to be in position it's kind of corny to say do your job and everything

Starting point is 00:21:55 be in position and all that but trevor lawrence is gonna just make some alien goofy things happen because that's what he does, especially against the Colts. He's going to do things where defenders just have no ability to eliminate the threat, basically. So just be in your spot and try and limit those because he's going to do things you can't combat, so just try and not let them run away with it. Ultimately, though, I don't think the Colts come out on top of this one.

Starting point is 00:22:26 I'm going to say I think it's going to be pretty physical and kind of a defensive game. I will say that the Jaguars take it 20 to 17 on this one. Sounds good. Sounds good. I thought 2720 might be a little high, but I just figured the Jags would be doing things offensively. But it sounds good. I think we'll have a real good game this weekend. It'll it'll really show where they are. The Jaguars get the 4-2 and they're sitting in a pretty good spot.

Starting point is 00:22:52 They'll probably be favored to win the two games, the next two games after that. You're looking at 6-2 going into the meat of their schedule. In terms of the Colts, I'm impressed by their head coach. I really like the way he calls the games, and we can look at the results.

Starting point is 00:23:09 But I like the way he calls the game. I like that the owner bent the knee a little bit and gave the running back some money. You know what I'm saying? It almost makes you think like, okay, with the first year of a new coach and a rookie quarterback, why the hell didn't you do that three weeks ago? You know, it just kind of drives me crazy a little bit when people, you know, shovel poop on themselves. a new coach and a rookie quarterback, why the hell didn't you do that three weeks ago? It just drives me crazy a little bit when people

Starting point is 00:23:27 shovel poop on themselves. We don't care here in Jacksonville. He can keep doing that all day. We want him to keep doing boneheaded things and making those mistakes. Interesting game. It'll be a chance for some guys to really, the Jaguars, to start implementing some guys back. Cam Robinson

Starting point is 00:23:43 will be back for a second game. DeJuan Smoot might play after the missing early this year and most of the second half of last season with an Achilles injury. He may get a chance to get some playing time. The difference between this game and week one for the fans,

Starting point is 00:23:59 you'll see a much cleaner and a much clearer representative of what both of these teams are because they've gotten the kinks out. Now, the only difference, like I said, with the kid not playing, you know,

Starting point is 00:24:10 for coach fans, it sets it back a little bit for the Jaguar fan. What you see is you, you're starting to see this team at its absolute best, even though they got some guys still banged up, but at least they got that out of their system early. And now those guys appear to be on the mend and they'll have the best team on the field in a few weeks. that's what i'm i'm looking forward to

Starting point is 00:24:28 that one most is i do think we're seeing a true representation yes there's no richardson but we've seen gardner minchu for half the time so we kind of know what that looks like i think this is a huge measuring stick game for the colts um not even because like winning in Jacksonville would cure all ills of the past or anything like that. But Jacksonville is a really good team. These teams share the lead in the AFC South right now. This would be kind of another statement win. I mean, the Colts already beat, you know, the Ravens. That was a good win. So stacking these type of wins, I think will be pretty indicative of their trajectory moving forward. I think they will prove to be a pretty impressive young team if they can do that.

Starting point is 00:25:12 I know Jacksonville is not like the Super Bowl favorites or anything, but they're definitely, if they don't win the division, they're going to be a wildcard team. You know, that's the playoff team. So really looking forward to that. Health-wise for the Colts, hopefully getting their left tackle back, Bernard Ryman, and then Quidipe, defensive end. So two of the most critical positions, your left tackle and your top edge rusher. They were full participants in practice today.

Starting point is 00:25:37 We're recording this Wednesday. So that's a good sign for them to hopefully be available on Sunday for concussions. So, shoot, strength on strength. I'm really, really looking forward to this one on Sunday. So am I. It should be fun. I'm sure Locked On Jaguars and Locked On Colts fans will enjoy that.

Starting point is 00:25:56 Now, I will be doing a postcast after the game, so you guys make sure that you tune into that if you're on Locked On Jaguars. But every single day, man, make Locked on Jags and Locked on Colts your first listen because it's your team here every day. And we thank you always for making us your first listen. And shout out to those every dayers too.

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Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Gardner Minshew Part of Breaking Streak vs. Jacksonville Jaguars?

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