Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: How Anthony Richardson Can Build Off Strong Week 1
Episode Date: September 15, 2023Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson had a strong debut against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1. The next step is building off of that game and cleaning up some of the minor details. S...haad McGinnis joins the show to discuss how the young franchise QB can do exactly that.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!Catch the Locked On Colts pregame show at Nevermore at Union Station before every Colts home game! Info here: https://www.tailgateplanet.com/indianapolis-colts-tailgatesDownload 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!Jase MedicalSave more than $360 by getting these lifesaving antibiotics with Jase Medical plus an additional $20 off by using code LOCKEDON at checkout on jasemedical.com.BetterHelpThis podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. If you’re thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. 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.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.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.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Right now, NEW customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED. 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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Anthony Richardson should be able to build off a strong week one performance against the Houston Texans this week.
Let's get to it.
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I am Zach Hicks, your guys' favorite co-host here over at Locked On Colts.
And today I'm not joined by Jake Arthur yet again.
Me and Jake have been apart all week.
Our schedule's just been a little hectic trying to line up,
but don't worry.
I brought in an expert to talk everything Colts here.
I've brought in my colleague from horseshoehuddle.com, Rashad McGinnis.
You guys know him.
You love him over on social media at Rashad McGinnis.
One of the best Colts minds out there.
And we've always been happy that we were able to poach him for
horseshoehuddle.com.
So Rashad is going to drop some info today with me on Anthony Richardson, minds out there and we've always been happy that we were able to poach him for horseshoehuddle.com.
So Shad is going to drop some info today with me on Anthony Richardson, what we can expect from him in week two and what we want to see for him to build off that strong week one performance.
And then we're going to dive into this matchup with the Houston Texans. You know how the Colts
can get some pressure on CJ Stroud and really force the rookie on the other side into more
mistakes than our rookie on our side of the field.
And then we're going to talk about our overall expectations for this Colts team in week two
and kind of, you know, we're going to learn a lot about this Colts team this week.
Are they going to be a bottom feeder and be at the very bottom of the league because they
can't beat this Houston Texans team here in week two or can't even compete with them?
Or are they the type of team that can really, you know, make a good run against some strong teams like we saw last week? But getting into the search
segment, talking about the man of the hour, Anthony Richardson. Obviously, this whole season
is about rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson, the most important storyline of the entire year
for the Indianapolis Colts. And his week one, man, it was impressive. I know I did a show on
it the other day.
I did a whole solo show where you guys were watching
where I really talked about how I had been the biggest,
like most ardent Anthony Richardson supporter
throughout this whole process,
even before the Colts drafted him,
and even, you know, especially after the Colts drafted him
with Shane Steichen,
but what I saw in week one was much, much better
than what I could have ever hoped for in week one from him.
I think the biggest fear now, though, is when you have this quarterback who's so far ahead of schedule from what you perceived,
the fear is, will he take that step back to what you expected here in week two,
or can he continually build off that and maybe be the quarterback we all hope for by the end of
year one by the halfway point of year one you know shod yeah and one thing about anthony richardson
what we saw in the past you know typically quarterbacks do fluctuate with performances
some highs a lot of highs a lot of lows but with anthony richardson you know when you show him
something one time you know he tends to not make those same type of mistakes again.
That's probably been one of the most impressive aspects.
Even when you go back and watch him at Florida, he was the same thing.
Like he'd get fooled once. He was not going back down that road again.
In fact, it became a strength. He kind of exploited it whenever you decided to go back to it.
And so I kind of see the season maybe in similar fashion, hopefully by him being so ahead of where we thought he'd be coming into week one,
that he continued to build on some of those mistakes that he did make, which there were a few naturally.
But overall, the growth he's shown, even from just preseason to where he is now, you know,
I think speaks volumes about where he has come and how far Shane Steichen has got him
prepared for these situations. And to think that, you know, you look back now and it's almost
a joke that we was actually considering even starting Gardner Minshew over Anthony Richardson.
It's clear to see that the right decision was made in Indianapolis and this kid needed to play
and he was ready to play. Yeah. You know, it's funny. Cause I think the way I would really break down that first week from him is he wasn't comfortable yet with the NFL,
but he was very comfortable in this offense. Like if you're watching him in this offense,
the reads are smooth. He's really progressing through, you know, he was mostly given half
field reads, but he was progressing through those half field reads. Uh, he was really confident
setting his feet and throwing it to windows. He ripped a couple passes into really tight windows over the middle of the
field.
They really liked to see,
but there were just a couple moments where he just wasn't comfortable with
the NFL yet.
He got a little skittish in the pocket.
He threw that interception.
He tried to layer it over a corner that probably works at the college level.
It does not work in the NFL there,
especially over Tyson Campbell.
Yeah. That's the difference.
Yeah, you're not getting that over one of the best young corners in the entire league there.
And then other ones, you know, there was a coverage sack early where Josh Allen chased him down from behind.
In college, he runs away from that and gets the first down.
In the NFL, you're getting tracked down by that backside defense, Ben, because he's that fast.
There's a lot of read option plays and RPO plays where he's reading the wrong conflict defender and making the wrong read as a result. So when you're watching him in week one,
it's like he's so comfortable in this offense and he looks so smooth and just so much better than
what you could have expected. But there's still a ways to go because he's not comfortable in the
NFL. So really what you want to see in week two is just a little more comfortability in the NFL. So really what you want to see in week two is just a little more
comfortability in the NFL game itself. Yeah, because when you notice, and even when you look
at the first game, it's not the normal, it's the elite athletes that's making the plays on Anthony
Richardson. We're talking about guys like Josh Adams chasing him down, Tyson Campbell. If these
are regular guys in these situations you know maybe Anthony Richardson
does make that play or maybe he does go for a few extra yards but I don't think he's caught up to
the speed of the elite guys at the NFL level you know it's so much baseline play in college where
every guy's pretty much you know is what it is and even elite athletes in college are not more
athletic than Anthony Richardson not even not more athletic than Anthony Richardson,
not even equally as athletic as Anthony Richardson.
But some of these guys he's going to encounter on a week-to-week basis, you know,
are just freakish athletes as well in their own right.
But I think, like, as far as the technical things, like I told you earlier,
I was more concerned about how he was going to look in the quarterback aspects,
like the drop-back passing game.
I was afraid the Colts go down.
You know, will he be able to kind of lean away from the RPO?
And when he's asked to do traditional quarterback thing,
he was fine in those regards.
I mean, the completion percentage stuff that everybody harped on,
you know, at one point in the game, it was 15 for 19, I believe.
Like, you can put that stuff away.
It was the simple RPO reason.
Like you said, that's something that's easily fixable.
You know, reading the right guy, learning which guy to react to is something that you can easily show them.
And it's only so many ways you can defend the RPO as well.
So it's not like you can just, you'll be asked to read multiple different guys in certain situations.
It's only a couple of guys that, you know that you have to watch out for in those situations.
And I think once he gets those things under control,
that he'll be a lot more efficient.
The stuff he did do well, though, you can see the feel in the pocket.
It's just as good as it was when he was in college.
The stuff you really like about him is there, the athletic ability,
the Superman run.
I know people opt on him for not
protecting his body enough i mean but outside a couple of plays in my opinion what was maybe the
early run the first one in the beginning and the one at the very end you know you like to see him
take better take better hits take better care of his body but other than that i thought he was fine
you know i know people are panicking saying they shouldn't run him anymore. I don't think you can strip that away from you.
A guy is like asking, you know, Superman to not fly or whatever, taking his super power away.
But I think he'll be fine moving forward.
Like you said, the big parts, the things that we thought he would have issues with, he's actually way ahead of the curve in that area. And I can't wait to talk about C.J. Stroud as well because I think Anthony Richardson outshined him in some facets of the game
that I thought C.J. Stroud would be way ahead of him on.
Yeah, and then real quick here before we get out of the segment here,
Shad, you and I, let's talk about kind of what we want to see
from Richardson in Week 2 to make this a successful Week 2
like it was a successful Week one here a week ago.
I think the biggest thing for me is really him just still looking that
comfortable in the pocket.
So looking comfortable within the game plan and the offense,
but then just adding a little bit more aggressiveness,
a little bit more aggressiveness to be more confident ripping those passes
down the field.
Cause we saw it on,
I mean,
it was probably a handful of plays
where he layered it over a linebacker,
ripped it past them for a good intermediate completion.
We didn't really see any downfield shots,
even though there were a couple opportunities
where he maybe could have taken a shot.
I just want to see him more confident in that anticipation,
more confident in that aggressiveness.
And you know what?
If he throws an interception doing that, that's fine.
That's part of learning.
That's part of this. I want to see just a little bit more aggressiveness. And you know what, if he throws an interception doing that, that's fine. That's part of learning. That's part of this. I want to see just a little bit more aggressiveness
and obviously some improvement in the RPO and read option game. But as long as he does that
and still builds off what he just did in week one, I'm feeling incredible about this young quarterback.
Yeah, those are two of the things I'm looking forward to as well. And kind of to expound on
your first point, you know, that's a strong point of a guy like Alec Pierce, you know,
and people wonder why he wasn't targeted as much.
And he said he disappeared.
It's because they didn't go down the field, which is, you know, really,
I don't want to say he's a one-trick pony at this point of his career,
but that's his best ability is to track the deep ball and go up and make a play,
especially in one-on-one situations.
And I think there was a couple there when you go back and watch,
but Anthony Richardson just kind of didn't want to pull the trigger on them
for whatever reason.
You know, probably first game, you know, I want to be safe.
Let's not mess it up.
And I think he's still thinking about that as far as just going out there
and just playing football, which is natural.
It's his first game.
I mean, the kid has, what, 19 starts since high school?
I mean, it's a ridiculous thing that we're even asking this much of him,
but we are because he's shown the ability to be able to do it.
And I think that's the most impressive part about it.
You know, you can put more things on his plate as long as he's handling it
just fine, and I don't think he's struggling to add anything to his plate.
But if he continues to push the ball downfield, that's one of his best attributes as well. Not
only is that a strength of Alec Pierce, Anthony Richardson throws one of the best deep balls
in college football last season. And I think that that's a skill that can translate at this level.
I think he should just trust his arm, give his guys a chance to make plays down the field. Pierce,
Pittman, those guys are big body ball winning winning type guys I know Pittman's a little more versatile than that
but Alec Pierce is that specifically right now and I think that's something you need to take
advantage of and I think he'll have his chances in I guess the Texas yeah I think so too I think
so too we'll talk about that more in our final segment. We're talking about expectations for this next week.
But first, we have to dive into C.J. Stroud
and how the Colts can attack him.
So coming up, we're going to talk all about the other rookie
on the other side of the field.
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And every dayers, we'll be back with you on Sunday after the Colts victory over the Houston Texans,
or hopefully a victory over the Houston Texans.
But we'll be back with you guys on Sunday to break it all down and hopefully a very promising game from Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to that.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
So, Shad, we're diving into this
next segment here. We're going to switch to the Colts defense. Again, Colts defense is not getting
as much love lately as what they should because it's all Anthony Richardson right now. But the
Colts defense, I think had a very solid debut game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. It's just
Trevor Lawrence is a Greek God right now. he's just he was he made what I think
NFL next-gen stats released like their 10 most improbable completions of the week and he was
like five of them yeah it was just it's just kind of how the game goes sometimes so you're really
hoping for a bounce back game from the Colts defense in terms of just making sure those
are incomplete passes. But now on the other side of the field, instead of getting this third year
emerging superstar in Trevor Lawrence, they're getting rookie CJ Stroud in his second week.
What do you think about the Colts defense going into this matchup?
This is a matchup that you absolutely have to take advantage of, especially with the way they
just played recently.
The Texans' offensive line is just decimated right now by injuries.
They had trouble, a lot of trouble, protecting C.J. Stroud.
I believe he was sacked four or five times, I think it was,
in week one against Baltimore.
Baltimore, while they do have a great front,
it's not an elite pass rushing group. So if they was able to crank out five sacks, the way the coach pressured Trevor Lawrence in the first game,
if they come out and play half as well as they did, if they do in the second game,
then I think you can see C.J. Stroud on his back a lot.
And we all know how C.J. Stroud plays when he's pressured.
You know, that was one of the big concerns that we all had when we were evaluating him as a prospect, you know, is how he responds to pressure.
I know he had the one outlier game, you know, where he plays lights out, you know, in the college football playoffs.
But other than that, he's not responded to pressure really well at all.
And I think that should be imperative in a coach's meeting and a point that they're driving home that, look, if you guys just do the same thing that you did in the first game you'll have a lot more success this week because you're
not going against an alien at quarterback yeah I think my big takeaway from watching a little bit
of their first week game and you can correct me if I'm wrong here because you watched even more of
that game but I think my plan for the Colts this week would be sit back in your zones you know just
attack everything underneath on first and second down,
and try to get them into third and long as much as possible,
which I know that's the goal for every defense every week, guys.
So please don't come at me in the comments being like, well, duh,
that's what you want.
But I think especially with C.J. Stroud, get him in those third and longs
and then blitz.
Come after him.
Get after him.
Get as much quick pressure as possible take
away his ability to throw that touch ball or that anticipation pass speed up his internal clock and
make him have to drive a pass out of his hands on blitz pickups i think that's really the biggest
way to attack him yes he's a really smart quarterback and there will be times that he
will find that hot read and get it out but i think that's the alternative is him sitting back there
and releasing the ball with touch and anticipation down the field, wherever he wants to go with it.
If you can get him off his spot, speed up his internal clock and make him have to think quicker.
Basically, I think that is a recipe for success against a quarterback like CJ Stroud. He's at
his best sitting in the pocket and just picking apart you all day without being touched. If you
really have to speed up his internal clock,
that's where the issues come.
And I think, you know, Gus Bradley's not much of a blitzer.
He doesn't really do it too much.
I think this is the type of game, though,
where especially if you get him in third and six plus,
you have to come after this guy. You have to bring Zyre Franklin.
You have to bring Shaquille Lannister.
You have to bring Kenny Moore on those blitzes.
Maybe bring down the safety on a blitz.
Like, get quick, quick pressure on C.J. Stroud, or he's going to sit back there and he's going to pick you apart
with those touch passes and anticipation throws. Yeah, because the Colts can challenge these
receivers at the line of scrimmage. They're not going against Calvin Ridley, Christian Kirk,
Zay Jones, Evan Ingram. They're not going against those type of pass catchers. So if you get on the line of scrimmage and challenge these receivers, that'll buy your defensive line just that much more time to get home to the quarterback.
What you're trying to do with a quarterback like like C.J.
Shroud is disrupt timing. Everything is timing and anticipation with him, you know, because he doesn't have one of the stronger arms in the league.
He needs everything to be on schedule and
the second is not you know he gets chaotic he gets frantic and that's exactly what you want to do
uh as a as a as a defense the way these cornerbacks and safeties played in game one
i actually saw them more at the line of scrimmage than i probably did all season last year so
it's obvious gus is willing to adjust i mean we saw it last year with So it's obvious Gus is willing to adjust.
I mean, we saw it last year with the way he called the defense.
He was a little more varied in what he was doing on the back end.
So if he continues to do those type of things and disrupt that timing,
I think you'll see CJ Stroud that shows signs of just he's a bit,
I don't want to say skittish, but he gets erratic, you know, when he's being
pressured. And the best thing about him is his accuracy. And that's no longer a skill set of
his when he's under pressure. Yeah. And again, CJ Stroud, phenomenal young quarterback. I thought
he had a really solid game in week one, but the Texans offensive staff kind of wants to be like
the way the Colts staff was in week one, where it's like, they want to protect their rookie from making too
many mistakes early on. So it's a lot of scheme touches. It's a lot of getting the ball out of
his hand quick and, and letting the pass catchers do their thing. Yes, there were moments where he
was releasing the ball with touch and accuracy down the field. I'm not saying he didn't do that
at all, but like Richardson, that the average depth of target was much lower than other quarterbacks around
the league. Cause they're just trying to get that ball out.
So I think the biggest thing the Colts can do is don't give the Texans yards
after the catch, make every single completion.
That Stroud is like every single time that he's completing a pass,
make sure the ball is stopping there. Be ball stoppers in this game.
I don't care if he completes 70 80 percent
of his passes in this game I don't care if it's Matt Eberflues type game from the defense where
you know he's completing almost every pass but as long as the ball is stopping when it's getting
out of his hand and you're eliminating those yards after catch that's how you're going to stop this
offense right now because again they're really relying on the run game which they couldn't do
in week one because they were trailing and then the quick game the wide receiver uh screen game the the quick little mesh routes
over the middle that's what they're kind of relying on right now so if you can be ball stoppers and
force that into a third and seven third and eight and then bring the blitz i think that is the recipe
for success against cj stroud good young quarterback not saying anything bad about him at all but he's
not trevor lawrence he's not trevor lawrence he's not Trevor Lawrence. He's not Trevor Lawrence.
He's not a guy who is going to drive a 300-mile-per-hour ball
in between two zone defenders that are crashing into each other.
That's just not what C.J. Stroud is because there's like three guys like that
in the NFL.
Even Anthony Richardson's not that right now because he doesn't have
that kind of placement or timing yet.
So, like, you're not playing against Trevor Lawrence.
You've got to play this game a little bit different.
But I think if the Colts defense plays as well as he did last week
and they're as tight in their zones as they were last week,
those balls won't be flying by them to receivers.
They'll be able to knock them away or maybe make some plays to the balls.
Yeah, man, this week is all about being patient.
The guy's going to give you one.
You know, if you continue to give pressure on him,
he's going to give you a couple, actually. You know know it's just who he is as a player right now and it's just due to inexperience once he gets more comfortable he's going to be a
cerebral type of guy moving forward you know in his career for him to have success he's going to
be dissecting guys he's going to be in the joe burrow back, you know, the type of way he wins with his arm.
You know, ball placement is going to be freakishly good.
But that's not until he gets a lot more comfortable than what he is right now.
And you have to take advantage of that experience.
The same way Jacksonville did to Anthony Richardson in some passes.
You know, you want to do the same thing to C.J. Stroud.
And the more pressure you get on him, because I do think you'll be able to get pressure
with four, but in those, like you said,
those third and seventh, third and eighth situation,
if you can send an extra guy just to have
him think that much more or hold on
to the ball one second longer to
give your guys a chance to get home,
then I think that's something you have to
exploit and something you have to do in
these situations because
he's not going to be able to handle it,
at least not now. Maybe, who knows? We're having a different conversation by the time these guys
play again. But for right now, I think it's pretty safe to say that the more you pressure C.J.
Stroud, the more likely it is for him to give you a turnover or make an errant pass.
Yeah, yeah, for sure. Now, coming up, guys, we're going to talk about our overall expectations for this next week you know we talked about the two young quarterbacks but
do the Colts come away with a win in this one we'll find out here in just a second
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All right, Chad.
So Colts, Texans, the last time these two teams played, it was the most fabulous ending to a game we've ever seen.
One of the most hilarious moments ever. And it landed the Colts their franchise quarterback.
You know, the whole thing that happened at the end of that game where Rodney Thomas whiffs on the, you know, the Hail Mary type ball at the end of the game.
It led to the Colts getting Anthony Richardson. So this is a really fun way to come back to this matchup
with our new shiny toy that the Texans gifted us in Anthony Richardson.
So what are your expectations going into this game?
Do you think the Colts are able to get on top in this one?
Do you think the Colts are still just too young for this type of matchup?
What do you expect from the Colts this weekend?
It's funny that the Texans will probably have Bryce Young right now
and the Colts may have Will Levis.
They probably would have Will Levis right now.
Yeah, you're right.
Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
The Colts probably have Will Levis and the Texans probably have Bryce Young.
How different would we be talking about?
And the Seahawks have Anthony Richardson.
They were absolutely ready to take him.
That's the crazy thing. But as far as this
game goes, man, the Colts coming into the season, I was expecting, you know, I wasn't expecting too
many wins. You know, I didn't even care really about the win-loss aspect. I just cared about
the big picture here, which is Anthony Richardson, clearly. But seeing where he is week one, you know,
some of those bottom feeding teams that you see on the schedule,
you may start to expect some wins.
And I'm probably going to shock a couple people.
I'm expecting the Colts to win this game coming up.
I think the Colts will score a little bit more than they did last week
against Jacksonville.
And I just don't think they'll be going against as good of a defense as the Jaguars is.
And I don't think the Jaguars is some world beater on defense by no means.
I just think the Texans are still trying to figure a lot of things out on that side of the ball.
I know they have a new defensive mind.
They had coach with Demico Ryan.
It's a guy I have a tremendous amount of respect for.
And he brought over a couple of veterans.
And he got some intriguing young players, you know, Derek Stingley.
But I just think the Colts will be able to build on what they've done last week.
After all, they scored 21 points. Their run game was abysmal, like basically nonexistent outside of it. It was it was one of the worst rushing games, like from a team.
If you take away the quarterback run, like one of the worst rushing games from a team if you take away the quarterback run. One of the worst rushing games from a team in the last 20 years.
I think one of our friends of the show, Josh, I think Bokey, I think Bokey.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
I don't know how to say his last name.
It was like a negative 0.7 estimated points added per running back run in this game.
Negative?
Like, you just fall forward for two yards on every run.
It's a better EPA per play was it was a train wreck it was an absolute train wreck last game
for sure yeah it was pretty bad i think zach moss coming back was going to help that a bit
and i think some anthony richardson making some of those right reads in the rpo situation i
actually think would be a benefit in the run game as well you know so if you just get like you said
a boost as far as that goes he'll make some strides i think in the passing game as far as
reading out some of those situations and as long as he continues to look decent in the drop back
passing game which blew my mind that he looked as good as he did week one i think this offense
is going to score more points i don't think it'll be a bunch of dry spells like they went through.
I know they had about five drives, but it was just empty drives.
I don't think you see that this week.
On defense is where I think the Colts really dominate this football game.
I think they'll take advantage of a Texans offense
that's still trying to figure out their identity.
A lot of things they try to do as far as using Damian Pierce
on first and second down in his own run game just wasn't working. The Ravens guarded it pretty well. I think the Colts would do
the same. And like you said, with the passing game, it's all about getting pressure on C.J.
Stroud. And I think the Colts find a way to do that. I think the Colts end up winning this game
27-17. Okay. Yeah, I think the Colts win this game too. And as you guys know, last year, every time I picked the Colts to win,
they lost.
And every time I picked them to lose, they also lost.
I was about to say, bro.
I was trying to see where you was going with that one.
Yeah, I was about to say.
At least in the scheme.
I think I started picking them to win every game late in the season
just as a joke because of –
Oh, okay, yeah.
But then once the Jeff Saturday thing came in, it was just like, are losing every game like no matter what but anyway getting back to it I think
the Colts with this game uh just because I think their team is just in a more cohesive place right
now than the Texans the Texans have a ton of talent and I think they're going to be ones to
watch here in the next couple years Stroud, Will Anderson, Jonathan Grenard, Derek Stingley on
offense Mechie and Nico Collins.
They have a lot of good talent on this team that's just not as far along as a DeForest Buckner,
Grover Stewart, Zyre Franklin, Michael Pittman Jr., Quentin Nelson, Brayden Smith,
those types of guys.
I think the Colts just have more veteran talent that's just ready to be effective right now.
And then also Anthony Richardson looked good.
So if Anthony Richardson would look very volatile and and, and bad, I guess in week one, then I would say the Texans probably have
the edge here, but because he came out and looked good in week one, you know, the expectations have
to be pretty high going into this week two game. Now, again, they can have a letdown game. They
had a lot of letdown games over the Frank Reich era. They had a lot of letdown games last year
too. And you never know
with a young quarterback like Richardson, he could take a big step back this week. And then we have
to go from there, but I expect him to continue what he's been doing. I expect there to be a lot
of good things from this Colts offense. And, you know, at the end of the day, they were winning
in the fourth quarter against a playoff bound Jacksonville Jaguars team last week. And that
was with them going, what, two of 12 on third down on offense one of five on
fourth downs in that game and I believe they had like a 64 percent of their drives were three and
outs like their offense was not good last week at all despite the positive flashes it was not good
and they still were leading that game going into the fourth quarter against a really good Jaguars
team so yeah I think something like 27 17 works I'll I'll say 27-20 Colts in this game.
I think they'll have, you know,
it'll be like a one score game late,
but I do like the Colts in this matchup.
And I think this will be a great first win
for Anthony Richardson.
But you guys let us know in the comment section,
do the Colts get their first victory
of Anthony Richardson's career this weekend?
Let us know there.
And every day, again, we'll be back here on Sunday after the game
talking all things Colts, Texans, and hopefully, again,
celebrating the Colts' first victory of the year.
Shad won't be here, unfortunately, but, Shad,
I do appreciate you joining the show today.
If you guys don't already, go follow him on social media,
at Shad McGinnis.
He's doing some great work for us also at HorseshoeHuddle.com.
And you guys can also follow our show here at LockedOnColts
and at ZachHicks2
and at JakeArthurNFL, all on social
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back here on Sunday
after the game.