Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Gardner Minshew's Turnovers Lead to Lopsided Loss to Jacksonville Jaguars

Starting point is 00:00:00 Gardner Minshew was in the giving spirit on Sunday, and it led to the Colts' biggest loss of the season. 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, what's up, everyone? Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen after the game. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And today's show is brought to you by GameTime.

Starting point is 00:00:46 Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Last-minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. What's up, everybody? Jake Arthur here, your resident credentialed media member covering the Colts every day, bringing you the latest scoop from the team facility. And we're here to talk about a 37-20 loss to the Jaguars. That's right, the Jaguars complete the season sweep of the Colts.

Starting point is 00:01:16 It is now the Colts' ninth consecutive road loss to the Jaguars. Eight of those coming at Everbank Stadium, TIAA Bank Field. Whatever it's been called, the Colts have not had a chill time there pretty much over the last decade. So we'll kind of go through the main storylines. How did we get here? What went wrong? Take a bigger look at the offense and defense overall as well. But first, so quarterback Gardner Minshew, that's really been the biggest story all week. Anthony Richardson goes on injured reserve at minimum four weeks. A lot of reports this weekend have said, you know, season ending surgery is a real possibility. So minimum four weeks, maximum, we won't see Richardson again until 2024.

Starting point is 00:02:06 So regardless, we need to kind of cozy in and get used to at least the next month of Gardner Minshew. So this was a big opportunity for him today to return to Jacksonville. And, you know, he was given a good opportunity there. It's not like he left unceremoniously. But, you know, it was a chance for him to come back and be part of the solution and for the Colts to break the streak there in Jacksonville. That's not exactly how it went. Again, as you can tell, a 37 to 20 difference, pretty lopsided. I hate to pile things all on one guy because there were some things here and there. But in terms of like the

Starting point is 00:02:45 most critical factors as to why the Colts lost today, number one, it was the Jaguars. They were just better prepared to play. But the Colts just continued to shoot themselves in the foot. Four turnovers by Minshew on Sunday, three interceptions and a lost fumble. And he had another couple dropped interceptions as well. So this just was really not a sharp day for him. Two of his interceptions came while the Colts were well in Jacksonville territory. One of them was actually, they picked it off in their own end zone. So lots of missed opportunities there. The Jags scored 17 points off those four turnovers. So there was just a lot of points left on the board by the Colts, a lot of likely scores. And when you look at it, it was a 17-point loss.

Starting point is 00:03:34 They gave up 17 points alone in turnovers. So again, that was just a huge factor. We all know Gardner Minshew isn't the most aggressive guy downfield passing the ball, but it was oddly explosive today through the air. The Colts had three passing plays of at least 40 plus yards. It's actually the first time they've done that since 2016. Michael Pittman, Jr., Kylan Granson, they both had one. Jonathan Taylor as well, his first big explosive play since he returned last week. So 329 yards through the air for Minshew. That is a single game season high for the Colts this year for any quarterback. So man, yeah, not great. The turnovers to me was the biggest thing in the game because if you look at the offense, the run game really couldn't get it going.

Starting point is 00:04:28 But when you're down by 25 points at one point in the third quarter, you cannot run the ball consistently. It's got to come in spurts. And we know that both Jonathan Taylor and Zach Moss are the type of players who they can really get going if you can sustain drives and work on the run game but the Colts just were unable to do that really from the jump they wanted to attack through the air and Shane Steichen confirmed that after the game talking to reporters their first several plays were passes and it was going pretty well got the field goal on the board

Starting point is 00:05:03 but yeah the there was a pass rush that got to Minshew quite a bit. I felt he had to kind of run around and he was probably a little flustered at times. I thought the offensive line performance was fine. Again, Braden Smith was out. So Blake Freeland was in there, his third consecutive start, although he'd been at the left side for the past couple weeks. But I thought the protection was good enough for the offense to be functional. I didn't think it was like a huge issue. But Minshew just didn't quite do well off platform and, you know, running around for his life and things like that.

Starting point is 00:05:40 So not the greatest. We'll go ahead and focus on the rest of the offense here in a minute. But first, let's get a word from our friends over at GameTime. Buying tickets to your favorite events shouldn't be stressful. GameTime is the fast and easy way to buy tickets for all the sports, music, comedy, and theater near you. With killer deals on last minute tickets and their best price guarantee, you can stop stressing over the tickets and start getting hyped for the fun that you're actually going to have. Personally, for me, I like game time because if I feel like

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Starting point is 00:09:49 yards per carry and yards per game allowed, probably a top three run defense. The Colts smacked them, 193 yards on the ground. And this week it felt like a lot of the same because Jacksonville statistically had a pretty good run defense. And you're getting another week of Jonathan Taylor getting even more acclimated to the offense. Zach Moss has been great, and things just did not go well. I think a big part of that is Anthony Richardson not being back there either.

Starting point is 00:10:16 He makes the run game so diverse, and the threat of the RPO and all the options and everything there, it really opens up lanes for any running back that's back there. Wound up just being 17 carries for 44 yards. Zach Moss did have a touchdown, but that's only 2.6 yards per carry. Just really not great. And I mean, the Colts' worst run performance of the season was against the Jaguars in week one, just 65 yards. This was

Starting point is 00:10:45 even less. It didn't feel as ugly, but statistically the output was much less. And again, I think a big part of that was the game plan for the Colts was to go pass happy. I mean, Minshew had single game career highs and completions and attempts in this one. I just felt that was the angle that they wanted to attack Jacksonville. But at the same time, they were playing from behind the whole game. Again, down by 25 points in the third quarter. Like you just cannot, you cannot consistently roll with the run game because you have to have some sense of urgency to try and come back and make a game of this thing.

Starting point is 00:11:24 So I'm really not surprised given what we know, how the game went, that the run game didn't get going. It is just very disappointing that a group featuring Zach Moss, who is the top five rusher so far this season and Jonathan Taylor, who we know what he's capable of, that they could put up less than 50 yards rushing in a game. Like that's got to change because Richardson's not coming back to that door anytime soon so they're gonna have to rely on those

Starting point is 00:11:51 two guys to really get things going um the the blocking up front i mean that that is included with them as well uh hopefully this offensive line can get healthy to where they have all five of the regular starters soon but But I mean, it wasn't it wasn't anything to write home about. And as we know, especially looking at week one, that was one of the first that was the first week that the Colts were like, terrible on third down. Because if you're just getting stopped consistently on the ground, it sets up for second and third and long. And the Colts have gotten much better on third down and in the red zone and everything this season. But just six of 17 today, which is

Starting point is 00:12:31 just 35.3%. Again, if you can't run the ball well, it really screws up your whole drive and how you have to try and sustain things to keep the drive going and convert those third downs. So that's how that went. Let's see. I will say, I do like, I really like getting the running backs involved in the passing game between Taylor and Moss. They caught 11 balls for 84 yards today. Again, Taylor had a 40 yard reception. So some of that was desperation and playing comeback. But in general, I definitely think that those two need to stay involved in the passing game. Some other standout performances overall. Michael Pittman Jr. had nine catches for 109 yards. Another 100-yard game for him.

Starting point is 00:13:18 Absolutely dominated in the targets. He had 14. The next closest was Josh Downs with eight. Downs had five catches for 21 yards in his first career touchdown. So applause, applause to him. Kylan Granson had a bit of a comeback. You know, he had the 45 yard catch also three catches for 67 yards for him. Alec Pierce, he was the only injury of note in the game. He actually left early with a shoulder injury, but he had three catches for 25 yards and the most impressive note in the game. He actually left early with a shoulder injury, but he had three catches for 25 yards and the most impressive catch of his career.

Starting point is 00:13:49 He had a ball that was thrown well behind him that he, he went up and caught with one hand kind of a nice highlight play. And then special teams will throw special teams in the offense here. Matt Gay has been nothing, if not outstanding for the Colts through these first six weeks. And from Colts communications after the game, I'll read you off something that they included here.

Starting point is 00:14:13 Kicker Matt Gay converted both of his field goals and both extra points. He has not missed a field goal as a member of an away team since week 17 of 2021. Matt Gay has converted 24 consecutive field goals on the road, and he is perfect on field goals of 50-plus yards a season. He's 5 of 5. So Gay so far has been worth every cent that the Colts have spent on him, especially if you're going to have to rely on the Gardner Minshew offense now, which

Starting point is 00:14:45 Shane Steichen is an aggressive coach and he's going to go for it on fourth down most of the time when he's in opponent's territory. But they now have a kicker who, if they don't quite get into the red zone, he can bail them out. Basically anywhere on an opponent territory, Matt Gay is going to be able to take them to the promised land. So here in a second, we'll go ahead and look at the defensive side of the ball, because for my money, I thought the defense played well enough for the Colts to win today. So we'll talk about the defense in a minute. But first, a word from our sponsors.

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Starting point is 00:16:34 Calvin Ridley in his first game with the Jaguars went in and had over 100 yards. Trevor Lawrence was surgical and just made some absolutely unreal throws. But the Colts actually held the Jaguars to season lows in net yards and passing yards. The Jaguars had season lows with 233 net yards and 148 passing yards. So that was really nice to see, which is odd because 37 points, you would think that Jacksonville was just blasting, but that really wasn't the case. Again, so many turnovers, putting the defense in a bad spot. You're just gifting Jacksonville all these extra possessions. That's kind of how it went. My big takeaway. So Calvin Ridley, again, he went nuts in week one, like eight catches for 101 yards and a touchdown. He was quiet today. Four catches for

Starting point is 00:17:26 30 yards, and don't forget who was out there. Juju Brintz and Jalen Jones, two rookies. They both had, I think, really solid days. There was a couple ups and downs in there. You had a couple penalties. Juju Brintz did have just a gaffe in coverage that allowed a touchdown for Christian Kirk. It looked like just a gaffe in coverage that allowed a touchdown for Christian Kirk. It looked like just a communication breakdown in the secondary where they just weren't sure who was supposed to take over in zone coverage when Kirk kind of went out and up. So that stuff's fixable with film study and just literally just communicating. But Brent's got his first interception of this of his career and him and Jones I thought they were just really aggressive playing the ball and just they were up

Starting point is 00:18:12 for the challenge they didn't look like they were rookies that oh man we're up against Calvin Ridley he's really good they were no I really want to shut down Calvin Ridley and Christian Kirk and this really good Jaguars passing game. And overall, I think things went pretty well. Kenny Moore had a really good game too. Three tackles for loss for Kenny. That's from a nickel corner. That's really, really nice. Travis Etienne. Okay. What I'm about to say is going to sound stupid because Etienne did have two touchdowns uh but I thought overall the Colts and in terms of the whole game I thought they bottled up Etienne pretty well so we had both of his touchdowns within a minute span to start the second quarter but otherwise he had 18 touches for um let's see no yeah 21 touches for like 83 yards overall receptions and runs I mean that's a

Starting point is 00:19:08 decent output but what Etienne's been doing recently he's a top five rusher right now he just smoked the Colts in week one I thought outside of that really hot start to the second quarter they had him bottled up pretty good the rest of the game especially in the second half he definitely wasn't responsible for killing them and really burying them which I they they have allowed him to do before I think Etienne always has incredible performances against the Colts so against Calvin Ridley and Travis Etienne I think the Colts overall did pretty well. They held Trevor Lawrence to not his best game. Now, against the Colts, he's almost always surgical, like at least 80% completions and super efficient. He was down to 66.7% completions today,

Starting point is 00:19:58 which is good for any normal quarterback, but for Lawrence against the Colts, it's pretty low. And just 6.0 yards per attempt. The Colts did get to him three times. I thought pressure on him was decent. Could have been a little better, but they got three sacks on him. Abucom, Tyquan Lewis, and DeForest Buckner. Five hits on him overall. That was pretty good. And 11 tackles for loss by the Colts. That was big. I mentioned Kenny Moore had three of them. So really nice performance from the defense.

Starting point is 00:20:28 Again, I thought they played well enough to win. If the offense could have sustained any of those drives and even got like two field goals out of those four drives where they turned the ball over, I think it puts the defense in a much better position to win. Again, I think the defense at times has been a little lax and they need to ratchet it up a little bit. It's not last year's defense, but I'm not hanging this loss on the Colts defense, even though on the face of it, 37 points looks terrible for them. I don't put it on them. I mean, you guys let me know what you think, but I don't think you will either. So that's that. Zach will be back with you guys here

Starting point is 00:21:12 to talk about this game next. He's going to get it watched once, twice, three times. He'll let you know what stood out a lot to him. I know he's going to have some film pieces coming out on HorseshoeHuddle.com as well. So you'll definitely want to keep an eye out for all that good stuff. But shoot, that's all I got to say about this one, man. 37-20, you just kind of want to flush these ones and look forward to the next one. The Colts have another winnable game against Cleveland next week at home. So we'll kind of shift focus in the next couple days on that one. But, yeah, if you guys don't already, follow at LockedOnColts,

Starting point is 00:21:49 at JakeArthurNFL, and at ZachX2 on Twitter. Also, subscribe on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Ratings and reviews, guys. We would love to get more of those. It boosts us up the charts, gets more people able to listen to us and see us so very invaluable uh for us and with that we will see you guys on tuesday morning

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Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Gardner Minshew's Turnovers Lead to Lopsided Loss to Jacksonville Jaguars

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