Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts, Jonathan Taylor Run to Victory Over Helpless Tennessee Titans

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Indianapolis Colts ran their way to victory on Sunday with a 38-30 win over the Tennessee Titans. 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. Thank you all for tuning in and making us your first post-game listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And you guys can start the season with a big return on FanDuel.

Starting point is 00:00:37 New customers can place a $5 bet, and you'll get started with $250 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet. Visit FanDuel.com to get started with $250 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet. Visit Fandle.com to get started. Hello, everyone. My name is Zach Hicks, your favorite film nerd over at HorseshoeHuddle.com. And I'm joined, as always, by our credentialed Crocs on the ground, Jake Arthur. He's at the facility right now or at the stadium right now. Hopefully, don't get interrupted by the phone ringing or someone coming in the room like we used to back in the day.

Starting point is 00:01:04 Hasn't happened yet this year. Yeah, we've been good this year at it. But yeah, we're going to talk about this Colts game and how Colts defense started off strong, faded a little bit down the stretch, but overall a solid day from the Colts defense. Talk about this Colts offense where just a massive explosion for pretty much the first time all season where it felt like a good offensive outing from this team. But let's kick this off, Jake, with Anthony Richardson and our main storylines. First off with Richardson, not really a game where he had to do too much in this one. I believe he only had like, what, 20 total touches in this game, but he had over 200 yards on those 20 touches, over 10 yards per touch, 11.9 yards per pass, 7.8 yards passing, two touchdowns, should have been three touchdowns. I don't know how that one got overturned, but two touchdowns and one turnover.

Starting point is 00:01:56 You know, these final three games are against bottom feeders, Jake, and they're not like I've been calling them glorified preseason games. Essentially, these final three games, because they don't really matter too much because the Colts are essentially eliminated from the playoffs, but it is good to get a positive Anthony Richardson showing after what felt like a big step back last week. So yeah, take it with a grain of salt against the Tennessee Titans,

Starting point is 00:02:19 one of the worst teams in football, but Anthony Richardson in his limited amount of work that he had to do today did some good things for the Colts. Yeah, absolutely. This was the fewest pass attempts for the Colts since that 2021 Colts Patriots game where when you know it, Jonathan Taylor ran crazy and this kind of felt like it a little bit. Whether or not intentionally, you know, the Colts maybe needed to hide the QB a little bit. We don't

Starting point is 00:02:47 know how Anthony's day would have gone if they would have gone pass heavy. But, you know, after the interception early in the game, they reeled off 12 straight run plays, you know, with Anthony involved. But they found out very quickly that was going to be the recipe for them to win. So Anthony, you know, in a very small sample size, his passing day actually looked pretty good, nearly 100 passer rating. But it was as a runner where he did some really nice things. Again, nearly eight yards per carry. Had the touchdown, like I said, should have been two touchdowns. Had a 29-yard run.

Starting point is 00:03:19 The phone, the first time all year. You just had to say it. Hold on. Anyways. Yeah. So no, this was probably the exact way the Colts would like to win just about every game. Now you're never going to go over 300 yards rushing all the time. But for Jonathan Taylor and Anthony Richardson to lead the way is probably exactly how they would envision it. Yeah, and I think it was, you know, it's not kind of the perfect recipe that you want for success. Like, obviously, you want a little bit more of the passing offense.

Starting point is 00:03:53 But, yeah, I did see a lot of comments about people saying they had to hide Richardson a little bit, and maybe to a degree after the interception. But at the end of the day, Shane Steichen is known for his simplicity, for better or for worse. He's a simplistic kind of coach in terms of when something's working, we will keep doing it over and over again until you stop it. That's how we are as men. We're simple creatures. Yeah. And look, when it came to the run game today, there was no need to go to Richardson.

Starting point is 00:04:19 And when they did it, I mean, they went like in the core part of the game when the Colts were building up their lead they went to the passing game three times and the three times were the big throw to A.D. Mitchell the big throw for a touchdown to Josh Downs and then the other big throw to Josh Downs that was another big explosive play so they really leaned on the run game and they built explosive passes off of it and this is kind of what we expected from the Colts offense all season long. We expected Richardson to be around 20 attempts a game for this to be like a 65% run split offense with a lot of QB run. And again, I'm not saying that you're expecting 370 yards rushing every single week, obviously coming into the season and expecting, you know, this amount of like run traction. I think it was like an 80% run game for the Colts today.

Starting point is 00:05:05 I'm not saying you expected that, but this is kind of what we wanted from the Colts offense this season. Lean on the run game, lean on the QB run game. When you do throw the ball, make sure it's like schemed up explosive shots and maybe some quick screens and stuff to get some things out on the perimeter. But this is kind of what we all expected and wanted from the Colts offense. It just sucks that like we get stuff like this when the season's basically over you know like where the Colts offense has only scored 30 point 30 plus points twice this season this is the second time they've

Starting point is 00:05:35 done it and it comes when they're basically out of the playoffs so I wish we would have got this more this season but awesome to see awesome to see Richardson have a pretty good day overall. The offense have a good day and put up 38 points, and that was with them basically punting on the rest of the game at halfway point of the third quarter. So, yeah, I think overall for the offense and for Richardson, a pretty good day. Yeah, and I don't want to bury this whatsoever

Starting point is 00:06:03 because it's definitely worth mentioning, but this is the most rushing yards for the colts in baltimore or indie franchise history 335 yards also the most that the tennessee titans slash houston oilers have ever given up so enormous day on the ground uh but circling back to anthony real quick yeah i'm glad you mentioned those like crucial throws that he had to make again that big throw to A.D. Mitchell down the right sideline was after the 12 straight runs you know what I mean so he'd gone a long time in between that and then late in the game when they have to have it because that defense was given up that that defense was giving up some stuff and the offense really needed to play keep away on that. Third and eight, boom, 10 yards to Michael Pittman Jr., basically ballgame from there.

Starting point is 00:06:50 You just kind of have to play a little more keep away, and then that's really it. And they were able to do that with Anthony. And, you know, there's been quarterbacks in the past where, you know, we think about that Carson Wentz game with the Patriots. A very similar game they had was that Raiders game that was like the second last game of the year and he couldn't nail that pass to T.Y. Hilton and that was a very winds up being a very infamous pass so the good news is like those are the kind of things Anthony's doing now like he's his composure I think is a lot better in key moments he was incredibly chaotic throughout the first half of the season.

Starting point is 00:07:28 But whether or not, you know, he's only passed 11 times in this game, only seven completions. That's fine. A lot of those seven completions were were very important for us. Yeah. Yeah. And again, it doesn't always need to be this lighting up the scoreboard game. I mean, I think this was comfortably his second best game of the season. And I'm just looking for stacking good performances right now. The first half of the season, flush that down the toilet. It was bad. It was a really bad first half of the season.

Starting point is 00:07:56 Since returning from the benching, it hasn't been perfect, but it's been much better. It's been kind of what we expected from his second season to be with some highs and some lows and a little bit of roller coaster play. The first half of the season, it was a lot of lows. The second half of the season, like post benching, it has been more of what we expected in year two. So there's at least some reason for optimism going into the offseason if he continues this going forward.

Starting point is 00:08:22 But again, I'm not going to take this as like some big victory lap type game because it was a game against a poor Titans team that in a lot of ways looks like they had given up on the field. I mean, their tackling effort on defense certainly looked like they had given up a little bit out there. So I'm not going to take this as some victory lap game for Anthony Richardson, but it's still a game that you want to see from him and a game against an inferior opponent, which look, I know we're down on the Colts this season, but the Titans are an inferior opponent that clearly showed today in this game. It was nice to see Richardson come out and play a fairly clean game. The interception you certainly want back was not a good, not a good throw whatsoever. And that will lead into more conversations this off season, certainly about

Starting point is 00:09:03 his deficiencies. But I think this was a fairly strong game from Richardson in the Colts. So take it for what it is. You know, glorified preseason game against a bad team, whatever it is. But you'd like to see at least games like this be positive showings rather than negatives. So it's a good data point to have on Richardson and hopefully at least some momentum in these final two games and into the offseason for him. Yeah, I mean, they beat up on the bottom feeders. That's fine. But you want to see them take advantage of that. If he had a terrible game against a terrible team, there'd be a whole lot more to say about him. So he did what he was supposed to do today. Again, keep stacking those. The Giants look like an even worse team next week. And then by week 18 with the Jaguars,

Starting point is 00:09:46 they may just have majority of practice squad players out there. So take advantage of these really crappy matchups that you're being given and build some optimism going into the offseason. That's what you're supposed to do. But coming up next, guys, we're going to talk about more than just Anthony. There was 38 points out there. There were some big plays to be made by the rest of the offense. Today's episode is sponsored by PrizePix.

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Starting point is 00:11:05 ground player of the week in the nfl so download the price picks app today and use code locked on nfl to get 50 instantly after your first five dollar lineup that's right 50 instantly when you play just five dollars price picks run your game all Zach, big performance from the offense. So let's just look at this. 458 yards today total. I've got to imagine that's right up there near the top of their chart for the year. Jonathan Taylor, 29 carries, 218 yards, three touchdowns, just huge. You look at the receiving numbers again, it's kind of funny because Anthony only had seven completions, but you know, Josh downs three catches for 61 yards and a touchdown had that super

Starting point is 00:11:53 impressive kind of tight rope walk where he's, you know, his body's kind of carrying him towards the sideline. Then he stops defenders think he's out of bounds. And then he goes up also had another, you know, like 31 yard catch up the right sideline as well, so big time. A.D. Mitchell responded in a positive manner. They tried to fight him on it. They had to review it, but nonetheless came down with a big 36-yard catch.

Starting point is 00:12:18 The guy, when he catches the ball, it tends to be a big play. Mo Alley-Cox just stays making big plays. He's impossible to tackle. And then Michael Pittman Jr., kind of a microcosm of his season. Only two catches for 19 yards. But, you know, half of those yards were the 10 yards on third and eight that they really had to have in order to keep this being a victory. Yeah, and there's one more, I don't want to say player,

Starting point is 00:12:43 but position group that you didn't mention, and it's the offensive line. Well, that's your guys. I'll let you, I'll let you gosh. I know you want it to. Yeah. There was the one sack given up by more, uh, by Glowinski late in the game against Jeffrey Simmons. I mean, nobody can block Jeffrey Simmons, but it was still pretty bad, but he pissed Jeffrey Simmons off pretty good that's true Quentin Nelson is one of one but this offensive line today was fantastic arguably the best performance we've seen from the O-line this year and certainly the best we've seen post Will Fries injury the offensive line has been very very up and down since Fries went down in that Jacksonville game early in the season and which makes sense You lose a Pro Bowl caliber right guard for the year, and it leads to some mixed matches on the offensive line

Starting point is 00:13:29 and just some mistakes and stuff like that. But with this starting group of Ryan Kelly coming back in the starting lineup, Glowinski still at right guard, McInsolves still at right tackle, they were able to bludgeon this Titans defense. This Titans defense, which I believe you had the numbers, Jake, they were like number three against the run this season, like yards per carrier number two in the NFL this year. Now, again,

Starting point is 00:13:52 some of that's a little skewed because you're early in the season. They played some really atrocious offenses, but I would still, for my money, I'd still put this Titans run defense is like a fringe top 10 unit, even with the injuries they had out there. And the Colts just bludgeoned them. It was an absolute beat down. The offensive line just dominated the trenches.

Starting point is 00:14:11 Gonsalves had a great game. Quinton Nelson had a great game. Ryan Kelly had a great, like, this was just a really, really great performance. Yeah, Kelly was back. Bortolini got in there for a couple snaps and looked pretty good on those couple snaps too. So yeah, great, great showing from the offensive line. Definitely what you needed. I mean, look, anytime you run for a franchise record rushing yards in a game,

Starting point is 00:14:30 you can give credit to the running back and the quarterback who actually picked up those yards, but they're not getting there without the offensive line. This offensive line was fantastic in this game and were a big reason why the Colts were able to put up 38 points. So kudos to the offensive line after kind of a rough middle of the season. This was the game they needed. This was a fantastic showing. Yeah, this was a big Quentin Nelson game for me, too.

Starting point is 00:14:54 Like, think back to all those highlight run plays. They're trying to get right behind Quentin Nelson, whether he was pulling, you know, the, you know, Anthony's touchdown there along the left side. He, it was just felt like he just hopped on Quentin's back and then just charged in there. He even left the game briefly, got rolled up on, but you know how the offensive line was playing. You knew he was not going to stay out of there. So huge game by Quentin, huge game by the O-line. And again, Glowinski had a pretty bad game last week, gave up the sack this week, but

Starting point is 00:15:24 I'll take it if he's part of a group that's just absolutely bulldozing like that. Again, you got the Giants ahead this next week. You got the Jaguars. Keep it up. This formula is nice. I mean, it's up to the play calling to figure out how you maintain it throughout a game and not kill momentum. But what the O-line is doing right now, it's working.

Starting point is 00:15:45 Yeah, and one thing I want to mention is last week we were very hard on the Colts' star players, Michael Pittman Jr., Jonathan Taylor, even Quentin Nelson to a degree. I mean, it's a lineman. It's a little harder to be tough on him. But today the Colts putting up 38 points, just talking about their offense right now, it was because of their star players, because of their impact players.

Starting point is 00:16:04 I know Pittman Jr. had a quiet game because there wasn't much passing. just talking about their offense right now, it was because of their star players, because of their impact players. I know Pittman Jr. had a quiet game because there wasn't much passing, but Quentin Nelson and Jonathan Taylor were the biggest reason why the Colts put up so many points, and Anthony Richardson to a degree. If you want to put Richardson in that impact player mold as those two, it was those three players that really propelled the Colts to their 38-point outing.

Starting point is 00:16:22 Obviously, Taylor turning these, you know, well-blocked plays into big time touchdown runs. Nelson being the lead blocker on a ton of these pivotal plays from, from goal line runs to runs in the middle of the field to these trap plays and stuff. Nelson being the guy out in front. And then Richardson obviously running through some tackles and finishing in the red zone as well. They leaned on their star players and their impact players today. And unlike last week against the Denver Broncos, the players produced.

Starting point is 00:16:48 So Jonathan Taylor today, I'm not going to say he made up for his mistake last week because there's no making up for that mistake when it cost your season. It wasn't the only thing that cost the season, but it certainly contributed.

Starting point is 00:16:58 But coming out and rushing for 218 and three touchdowns and looking like Jonathan Taylor of old, just a fantastic showing from him. So, again, doesn't make up for all the mistakes these guys made last week, but it was nice to see the star players step up on offense, and then even when we get to defense, we'll talk about the star players on defense stepping up as well.

Starting point is 00:17:17 But, yeah, Nelson, Taylor, Richardson all really stepped up in this game. It's funny. This probably wasn't even the first or second best game Taylor's had either. This was maybe like number three behind, you know, the 250-yard game as a rookie against the Jags, and then the five-touchdown game against the Bills. So just it goes to show the brilliance of him. But he's now well over 1,000 yards for the year.

Starting point is 00:17:42 He is second in franchise history now in rushing only behind edgar and james so he accomplished any richardson now has the most prolific rushing season by colts quarterback now uh biggest in yards biggest in touchdowns so these two guys put the team on their back today i mean it was it was a team effort very much so, but these guys obviously stood out. They had an enormous performance, especially on the ground, and they're moving through the franchise history books as a result. It's pretty cool to see. Yeah, and then also just,

Starting point is 00:18:14 I know you mentioned him at the beginning of this segment, but Josh Downs. Oh, sorry, Josh Downs, a big, big playmaker. Josh Downs is a, gosh, he is so good, man. He is a guy who can take, like this offense lacks yards after catch, guys, and lacks playmakers at offense, I think. There's a lot of, you know, catch the ball and get down where you catch it with this offense. But with Josh Downs, those couple plays he made today,

Starting point is 00:18:38 catching them short, creating yards after the catch, making plays along the sideline. I mean, Josh Downs is a true playmaker. And honestly, it's probably Chris Ballard's second best draft pick in the past three or four drafts. I mean, besides Bernhard Reimann, I think Josh Downs has a case for being the best pick that Ballard has made since his very good draft of 2020. So Downs, keep it up.

Starting point is 00:19:02 Hopefully Richardson can keep developing as a passer and Downs can really put up the raw numbers that showcase his talent. But Josh Downs is such a good player, man. He is so good. If he stays healthy and Richardson figures it out as a passer, Downs is going to be a 1,000-yard wide receiver in the NFL. Yeah, I think he's definitely helped bring stability and help even out the highs and lows

Starting point is 00:19:24 and kind of build some stability and making the layups for Anthony. I think those two refining their chemistry has certainly helped, but yeah, big day by the offense, but it was a big day by the defense as well, up until like three minutes left in the third quarter. But we're going to talk all about it here in a moment. The NFL playoffs are almost here, but it's not too late to get in on the regular season action with FanDuel, America's number one sports book. Because right now, new customers can finish the season strong

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Starting point is 00:20:33 Make every moment more Fandle, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. All right, Zach. So this was truly a tale of three quarters, and then what happened in the first quarter, because I had a lot of stuff written out. I was like, you know, the Colts, the Colts held the Titans to this, this, and this, and I was like, oh, there goes that, that too. Oh, goodbye. It was, I feel like it's very frustrating, number one, to relinquish most of a 31-point lead that you have late in the third quarter.

Starting point is 00:21:07 But, you know, the Titans scored a touchdown, I think, with 257 left in the third. From that, it was part of like a 24-point snowball, basically. Or, yeah, 23, 24 points, unanswered points. Luckily, that Colts offense bailed them out at the very end around the two two minute warning but the defense it was it's pretty good for the most part you know kenny moore comes up with a couple picks samuel womack narrowly misses one falling out of bounds and on

Starting point is 00:21:35 the next play gets right back it's his interception uh you know quitty pay comes up with a sack i thought this was a big one from deforestorest Buckner. I thought he was more impactful than what the stats say. Five tackles, one for loss, pass breakup for him, and just one QB hit, but I feel like he was harassing Mason Rudolph far more often than that. But a big performance from a lot of these guys. I know for you, a big issue was schematically, defensively. They should have been able to put this away, but then the lack of execution just fell off a cliff, basically. Yeah, I want to start this off by saying,

Starting point is 00:22:14 I said in the last segment, the stars really carried the way for the Colts on offense in this game. The stars on defense really carried the way in this one for the Colts defense as well. And the Colts defense doesn't have many stars. There's only two players that I would consider stars on this Colts defense, and that is DeForest Buckner and Kenny Moore. And to a degree, Grover Stewart. And I'll include Grover Stewart, I guess, in this because he had a fantastic game as well. But those players really stood up in this one. Kenny Moore had one of his best games of the season. His interception

Starting point is 00:22:43 was just prime Kenny. It was Pete Kenny Moore. It's just what Kenny Moore does. He's in his cover two zone. He's baiting the throw to the middle. He jumps it before Rudolph even commits to the throw because he knows Rudolph is going to throw it there and comes away with a massive interception that gave the Colts some extra points before halftime. I think he gave him an extra touchdown before the half because that was on Downs' toe tip touchdown, or tiptoe touchdown. So Kenny Moore, fantastic game. DeForest Buckner was a game wrecker for most of this game, an absolute game wrecker. Should have been like three QB hits. I don't know where

Starting point is 00:23:15 they got the one QB hit from. I swear it was at least two. But DeForest Buckner was fantastic in this one. And then Grover was explosive and disruptive on the interior as well. So those star players stood up. And I do think the rest of the defense played fairly well until the last part of the third quarter. And I know Gus Bradley is going to get a lot of crap for how his defense performed. And yes, to a degree, you do want to change it up when it's obviously not working. Like when they go down and score three straight times on you, maybe before the third straight score, you kind of play a little bit more aggressive maybe blitz a little bit more and change some things up but here's the thing when you're playing like that pre-fent defense it

Starting point is 00:23:54 comes down to execution it comes down to we're going to let you get these underneath catches but we're going to come up and make tackles and make things hard for you and then really buckle down in the red zone and what we saw from this Colts defense was they were not coming up and making tackles, especially in the run game. Tajay Spears was running through every tackle in this game. And then when the Titans got to the red zone, it was the easiest conversions ever for scores. Even the two-point conversions weren't even somewhat competitive. So, yes, obviously it's the defensive coordinator's job to make sure his guys are

Starting point is 00:24:25 executing, but it kind of, again, just goes to more of my concerns with the defense where it's like, what more can you do as a defensive coordinator? Like you're sitting back and you're saying, just come up and make tackles the rest of the game. It's all you have to do for your defense to be successful. And they couldn't do it. They came up and they started missing tackles left and right. Now, I don't know how it would have been if the Titans had a chance to go down and score.

Starting point is 00:24:48 I don't think they actually would have. Like to me, this was kind of a false comeback to a degree, like the Colts were kind of taking it too easy for most of the time. And I think if it really came down to having to keep the Titans out of the end zone on a final drive, I don't think Mason Rudolph would have got them down there against this defense but it still shouldn't have gotten to that point so I do understand a lot of the complaints that people have and and yeah you want to see a game where you actually win by a blowout like a blowouts are great but I think kind of with how this defensive staff is and with the talent they have on defense and the I guess the lack thereof on talent on defense. I just don't think this is a type of defense that can ever like hold an opponent down regardless of who they're playing

Starting point is 00:25:31 against. Like they're going to get their points at some point in the game, which is why it's so important for the Colts offense to have days like this where it doesn't matter what the other team does because your offense is just unstoppable. So, yeah, I'm not as hard on the defense for this one because I do think a lot of it was just kind of garbage time getting some points on the board, but it got made a little too close because these guys couldn't execute prevent defense, which is something that you practice in high school. I mean, look, a lot of these guys came from fantastic high schools, you know, where they were up by 50 points by the first quarter at the end, you know, like these guys are all you know, where they were up by 50 points by the first quarter.

Starting point is 00:26:05 At the end, you know, like these guys are all NFL players. Clearly, they were winning by like 50 in the first quarter in a lot of their high school games. You should know what prevent defense is. You should know exactly what you have to do to play prevent defense. All you do is come up and make tackles and then stand tall in the red zone. They couldn't do either of those things. And that's why the Titans were able to kind of make this a game late. But overall, I think I would kind of call this more of like a positive game from the defense

Starting point is 00:26:29 but still not what you want to see there in the fourth quarter you don't want to see them like again the part of prevent defense is like make them go like 12 plays like eight minutes to score and if they score a touchdown on that it's whatever because it doesn't matter it's the end of the game it can't be like five plays touchdown in two minutes like that's what was happening in the fourth quarter it was we're calling prevent defense we're sitting back telling you guys to come up make tackles and then they're getting explosive runs and explosive pass interference explosive like what is going on it's like what more can you do as defensive coordinator at that point you're calling prevent to only take away the explosives and that's the only thing the

Starting point is 00:27:08 titans were getting because guys couldn't make tackles or play discipline so yeah it obviously falls on the defensive coordinator for not having a disciplined unit out there but again i think this goes more to the talent on defense where you have a couple of really good players like the forest buckner kenny moore really good players and And I think players like Jalen Jones and Nick Cross are really coming into their own good young players. But aside from that, it's a lot of undisciplined guys and a lot of guys making mistakes and missing tackles and just not doing what they're supposed to be doing out there. So, you know, I think you could do more to disguise as a defense and maybe be more aggressive there. But this is like elementary stuff

Starting point is 00:27:46 that you were asking these guys to do in the fourth quarter, and they couldn't do it, which almost led to some crazy comebacks. So I don't know. Again, I think they would have buckled down if it came down to a final drive, but who knows with how they were tackling prior to those last couple drives there.

Starting point is 00:28:03 Yeah, I mean, the pucker alert should have been on high because a lot of these dudes came from the 33-0 relinquishing against the Vikings just a couple years ago. So a lot of these guys probably needed to dial in a little bit more. And, again, tackling was atrocious. Like, a lot of this, it's not young guys making these mistakes. It's like multi-year vets, like guys on second and third contracts, basically. At that point, again, we've talked about this recently,

Starting point is 00:28:37 but that's just something about you've got to get guys in there that can tackle at a certain point. Coaches can't make you tackle. And it's just, it's a difficult pill to swallow because it's guys who have performed at a high level for you before who apparently just can't get the job done effectively anymore. But, you know, there's this other one here from Adam.

Starting point is 00:29:00 I agree. Prevent defense is, you know, that and also getting super conservative on offense. It's ways to protect defense is, you know, that and also getting super conservative on offense. It's ways to protect leads and, you know, milk the clock and everything. But at the same time, don't abandon what's working so quickly. Like things just got out of control in a hurry. And they kind of got lucky to get out of this one alive considering how again it was like what 23 unanswered points in a hurry like you got to get back to what was working i'm i'm not a huge proponent

Starting point is 00:29:33 of getting super conservative or go and prevent defense either now on offense it just so happened the run game is what i'll get them that. So that's kind of a different story. But yeah, just totally changing the tone of the game plan and everything. I'm not a big fan of that. I want you to step on the neck. Again, this was the Titans. Hang 60 on them. I don't care.

Starting point is 00:29:59 I'm an aggressive. I would be an aggressive play caller, I think. You got a big lead. Sweet. Let's make it bigger. Yeah, I just think my fear with defense would have been you saw Womack get burned twice early in the game. And if you're thinking like we want to limit the explosives, let's set the corners back a little bit more. Now, a lot of the completions came over the middle of the field, and we know the problems with coverage over the middle of the field and we know the problems with coverage over the middle of the field we're not going to talk too much about that because we've had multiple episodes

Starting point is 00:30:27 this season about the issues with the with coverage over the middle of the field but I understand sitting the corners back and not doing like heavy blitzes because if Womack gets on an island with Ridley it's probably going to end up the same way it did early I mean even if Jalen Jones got an island with Ridley with Rudolph having to be more aggressive and put the ball down the field i think it would have resulted in quicker touchdowns but it could have resulted in more turnovers like we never know on offense really the only issue was they were running with trey sermon instead of tyler goodson that was i'm fine with taking uh jonathan taylor out of the game because you don't want to give your second contract running back 40 carries in the game even if it is a tight one but like let's not give him to let's not give him to trey sermon let's give him

Starting point is 00:31:10 like i acknowledge trey has a role he's your best pass protecting back but he is throwing the ball you weren't throwing the ball why did you exactly he is not he is not this clock killer he's not cory dylan like he's not this guy you think he is he's not zach moss either he's not zach he has a nice niche role but it is not the role you think he has like no they gotta get real go get the scatabo kid out of arizona state go get go get cam scatabo get Cam Scatabow out of Arizona State in round two or three, whatever it takes to get him. He's a big bruiser. He's explosive.

Starting point is 00:31:50 He can catch. Just get him to be the backup to Taylor, and let's just roll with this running game. Let's go 70% run next year. Let's run everybody into the ground and just see what we can do with all that next year. Give me a legit RB2. Yeah, run everybody in the ground. I don't care. round and just see what we can do with all that next year. Like give me a legit RB2. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:32:05 Run everybody in the ground. I don't care. Let's go the wing T offense and let's, let's roll next year, baby. Let's go. But yeah, I'm with you.

Starting point is 00:32:12 Yeah. Johnson is your new OC alongside Shane. Yeah. But yeah, Trey Sermon, certainly not that guy to run the game out, especially when Taylor is, is getting a breather.

Starting point is 00:32:24 It should have been Goodson. That's really where the offense kind of struggled a little bit. But aside from that, overall, I think we are overreacting a little bit to the Titans' comeback. It really wasn't that scary to me. I don't think the win percentage probably got above 20% at all for the Titans since the middle of the second quarter. So I take it for what it is.

Starting point is 00:32:46 It was kind of a beat down controlled game by the Colts. And I think it's what you want to see against a bad team. Obviously, I would have liked it to have been a two or three score victory at the end of the day. But, you know, you'll take it. You'll take it. I wasn't concerned from the beginning, from halfway through the second quarter. So I will take that on my Sundays here. But we do want to thank you guys for making Locked on Colts your first listen today.

Starting point is 00:33:08 Now for your second listen, go join Locked on NFL. First, Madman Tyler Rowland, who is the Locked on Titans guy. So go laugh at him over there. He kicks off your morning with a double shot of NFL espresso and then stop by the barbershop with Tony Wiggins for some real NFL talk. If you guys want to become a Locked on Colts insider and chat with us directly and get the inside scoop, follow the link in our show notes. And if you don't already, make sure you're following at Locked on Colts,

Starting point is 00:33:31 at JakeArthurNFL, and at ZachHicks2 all on Twitter. Also, subscribe to us on YouTube where we list your podcasts. We love your guys' rage for you, so we'll catch you guys back here tomorrow afternoon.

Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts, Jonathan Taylor Run to Victory Over Helpless Tennessee Titans

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