Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' JuJu Brents Out for Season, but Josh Downs Back at Practice!

Starting point is 00:00:00 It's only the second week of the season and we're already having to talk about Colts injuries, one of them being season ending. 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, thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. All right. Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts.

Starting point is 00:00:32 Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And today's show is brought to you by FanDuel. Now through September 22nd, all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FanDuel. can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FanDuel.com to get started. What is up, everybody? This is Jake Arthur from HorseshoeHuddle.com. And I am talking to you today about injuries. We didn't have a show yesterday.

Starting point is 00:00:59 Took a little bit of a break from Zach and Ben's film session. Taking a break so we can kind of get started looking ahead to this week against the Packers. And unfortunately, that's got to start with some injuries. So obviously the news broke yesterday that Juju Brents suffered a knee injury, an MCL injury. He landed on injured reserve. He's going to be out for the entirety of the year. So that is incredibly unfortunate the colts have already started to kind of make some moves to try and do what they can uh to kind of batten down the hatches for what this is going to mean for them so so far they added chris lamans they elevated him

Starting point is 00:01:38 from the practice squad up to the active roster you can expect him to be a mainstay of the roster pretty much from now on throughout the year. They also went the free agent route. They grabbed Kelvin Joseph and added him to the practice squad. They'd worked him out recently, I think last week or maybe the week before. And then safety Ronnie Harrison, who obviously everybody knows, spent some time with the Colts since last year,

Starting point is 00:02:01 was a linebacker safety hybrid, was part of their offseason roster cuts, now finds his way back onto the practice squad. So Brent's on IR, obviously incredibly frustrating for him. I know fans are frustrated as well, but guys can't really control their injuries. But the truth is, I mean, this is a guy who has dealt with injuries throughout his incredibly young career. You can't even call it two seasons in the NFL yet, because this was just the beginning of his second season. Last year, he came into the league with a wrist injury. He dealt with a hamstring injury that cost him pretty much all of training camp. Midway through the year, he suffered a quad injury. He missed eight games overall last year,

Starting point is 00:02:46 so essentially half of his rookie year due to injury. This year, he had an ankle cleanup over the offseason. He missed a practice and a preseason game due to a little shoulder injury. He had the broken nose that cost him a couple weeks of time, And now he's got this knee injury. So at a certain point, I mean, you just have to kind of accept the fact that there are some players where, whether you want to call it injury prone or what have you, you cannot ignore that. Unfortunately for Brents, things just keep happening. And, you know, this is just the unfortunate conclusion to a season that really has not gotten underway. I mean, he played last week, of course, and would have been a difference maker, especially

Starting point is 00:03:31 if he would have come down with that near interception. But now you find yourself at a position that was already pretty green, lacking depth. And, you know, everyone's been yelling about cornerback and safety throughout the entire offseason. The Colts have been doubling down saying, we like our guys, this and that, but this was always going to be such a huge gamble because the cornerbacks they were rolling with and the safeties they were rolling with, the defensive back group altogether, very young and experienced. A lot of people questioned whether some of them were even decent players in general. I mean, I think we like the players that are out there, but certainly said they needed more.

Starting point is 00:04:19 They needed reinforcements. But the guys, especially the cornerback they invested in, have had problems staying healthy, especially Juju Brents. And you look at a very comparable issue at safety with Julian Blackman. So now the Colts find themselves without their top outside cornerback. And they're just going to have to go piecemeal the rest of the way, because there's really only a couple there was only a couple decent free agent corners left out there outside corners guys who could maybe adequately replace um replace juju brents akello witherspoon is another one that the colts worked out recently was in the same group that when they worked out kelvin joseph but he just re-signed with the Rams. And he was pretty decent with the Rams last year. So what they saw in Joseph over Witherspoon, I don't know. Because Joseph, I mean, we'll get to

Starting point is 00:05:12 that in a minute, but that's a guy who I don't even want to say unproven because what he has proven so far in the league is that he hasn't been very good so far. So this is kind of the bed that the Colts have made. Now moving forward, you're probably looking at Dallas Flowers as your other starting outside corner. So you're looking at Jalen Jones and Dallas Flowers with Kenny Moore in the nickel. Don't forget Dallas Flowers was a healthy scratch last week, kind of struggled in the preseason a little bit. So a guy who you were not comfortable even playing last week, whether it was because of numbers on special teams or you weren't confident

Starting point is 00:05:50 he'd be ready against a passing attack like Houston, whatever. He was a healthy scratch and now you really need to rely on him. You could say that with Samuel Womack, if that's the guy they go with at the outside opposite of Jones and more as well. But Womack just got here too. He was a preseason waiver pickup. So that's a guy who does not have a similar skill set to Brents. Brents was tall and lengthy, not an uber athlete, but like pretty good overall.

Starting point is 00:06:22 He's not going to get outmatched a whole lot of the time. Aggressive and physical and a very willing tackler with decent ball skills. Again, the biggest issue Brent's ever had with being a player was just, is he even going to be available, which obviously he's not this year. So you're looking at either Dallas Flowers or Samuel Womack there as your next man up. They do still have Kelvin Joseph, like I mentioned. David Long is a veteran who's played before. Jalen Simpson, the rookie, and Amir Speed, they're all in the practice squad as well.

Starting point is 00:06:55 That's guys they could turn to. But, man, I mean, Joseph and Long are both guys who they picked up, you know, off the street. I think Long might have been a waiver pickup, but they bounced around the league quite a bit. Simpson is a guy who they didn't feel comfortable keeping on the roster, so they waived him and then brought him back to the practice squad. And then Amir Speed played a little bit for them last year, but he's a practice squad player as well. So you better hope that the pass rush is doing its job game in and game out. They

Starting point is 00:07:29 really can't afford to have very many lapses where they're just not being effective because this schedule throughout the season is not forgiving. There's going to be some really tough matchups that they have against some really quality passing attacks so unfortunately juju brent's out for the year the guys they have to replace them we'll see how it goes um but yeah they they chose to kind of sit by and invest in what they had and some of the guys they had struggled to stay healthy. They were young, this and that. And we're just going to have to see how it plays out. I mean, I'll gladly eat crow if it works out well for them.

Starting point is 00:08:13 But this was always going to be an enormous gamble that they took. And it's only week two, and it seems like it's maybe bit them a little bit. So coming up next, we're going to dive deeper into the injury report and what it means we'll look at the offensive side of the ball because there's actually some some optimism and the arrow pointing up in that direction uh but then we'll kind of round it out and revisit the defense again because there's a few names that popped up on the practice report that we have just got to talk about you've heard us talk a lot about fDuel. It's America's number one sports book. Well, we have something a little different for you. Now through September 22nd, all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free

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Starting point is 00:09:16 for all of Sunday, September 15th, pregame money line bets. Profit Boost will be live starting again Thursday, September 12th. So view your account page now to learn more about your boost. The Colts are currently three and a half point favorites in this one against the Green Bay Packers this Sunday on FanDuel. And the point over under is just at 40 and a half. So it's kind of enticing if you think the Colts offense is going to keep up that explosive element. You may certainly want to look into going the over on the point total.

Starting point is 00:09:47 And then if you think Malik Willis over Jordan Love is just going to be too overwhelming for the Colts defense not to take advantage of, then shoot, bet all the pros on the Colts there. Just visit Fandle.com, download America's number one sports book. The new Locked On NFL is here, everybody. If you haven't checked it out yet, it is awesome. Locked On NFL is now two shows every day. First, you got the madman Tyler Rowland who kicks off your morning with a double shot of NFL espresso.

Starting point is 00:10:18 And then stop by the barbershop with Tony Wiggins for some real NFL talk. Add in the Locked On local experts and you get unprecedented NFL insight, hot opinions, detailed breakdowns, all in 30 minutes. It's the new Locked On NFL and it's twice a day. Make the Madman Tyler Rowland and the Barber Tony Wiggins your second listen at the new Locked On NFL on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, friends, let's talk about offense. So obviously there were a couple of big

Starting point is 00:10:46 question marks through the injury report throughout last week. There never was any positive developments for them for the most part throughout the week. But Josh Downs, obviously he suffered his high ankle sprain at the beginning of August. He was out pretty much the whole time. He got back to doing some side field work, running full speed and doing some cutting and things like that last week, but he never got back to practice in an official capacity. He was a limited participant, officially back on the practice field on Wednesday. And then Matt Gay, who missed last week's game, full go. He was a full participant in practice. So as of Downs, obviously with him out, we've seen primarily A.D. Mitchell get a lot of those snaps.

Starting point is 00:11:32 We've seen Michael Pittman Jr. and Alec Pierce out there. Obviously, rookie Anthony Gould has done some of those things, tried to do some of the things that Josh Downs has done as well. So it's been a group effort, mostly.d mitchell but i think we've all been waiting for josh downs to get back where you know you look at anthony richardson last week 9 of 19 under 50 passing adding a guy like josh downs who is a quick winner he's a chain mover and has a really good rapport with anthony rich Richardson, really at all levels of the field. I think that is the type of guy that's going to help Anthony kind of smooth out some of the extreme peaks and valleys. You've got your awesome 60-yard shots for touchdowns, and then you've got some short out routes that have no shot of getting to the receiver. Let's smooth out some

Starting point is 00:12:23 of those extremes and be a little more consistent. Anthony's connection with Josh Downs certainly, I think, will help with that. So A.D. Mitchell, obviously, that's a work in progress. Without him being out there constantly, I mean, we're going to see how fast-tracked the the development between anthony and a.d mitchell gets to be because that's a thing where they're just gonna have to have more time together obviously um you know there was a lot of targets there last week but they just clearly were not in sync um so obviously you've got a thing a.d mitchell with josh downs coming back whether it's this week or next week or whenever um he's probably the guy that sees the the dip in production but then he's probably going to eat into Alec Pierce's

Starting point is 00:13:11 snaps a little bit as well so how they decide to Divvy up the snaps is going to be interesting but obviously we know Josh Downs is like the slot receiver when he gets back so he uh he spoke to us in the locker room again today and he was kind of of noncommittal on whether or not he thinks he'll be back this week. Shane Steichen said, we're just going to see how he runs and moves and cuts and everything throughout the week of practice and talk to him and see how he basically, it's going to come down to just like cutting and being agile and moving around laterally and how he feels with that and when he can move around comfortably. So for me, if it's the beginning of the week and you're not totally gung ho, maybe it's beneficial to wait another week, but I mean, who knows, maybe the week develops and it's, he's practiced all three days of the week and he feels great afterwards and can give it a go. I'm kind of a guy who, it doesn't really hurt to wait another week, especially this one with the Packers where it's not an easy matchup by any means, but the

Starting point is 00:14:16 Colts are rightfully favored in this one. So they can maybe afford to have Josh sit another week. And again, the guys who filled in last week, no one looked bad. I mean, even down to Ashton Doolin, you got a nice 50-yard touchdown out of him. Michael Pittman Jr. is Michael Pittman Jr. Alex Pierce had a career day. And A.D. Mitchell, I thought, played outstanding,

Starting point is 00:14:40 just didn't have a strong connection with Anthony Richardson. So until Downs gets back, I think they'll be fine. But it certainly looks like it's speeding up a little bit. Might be this week, maybe not until next week, we'll see. But Downs being on the practice field now is certainly a breath of fresh air for Richardson and the offense as a whole. So that again, they don't have to ride such a roller coaster. The passing game can maybe move a little smoother and there's some things, some looks they can run and call that maybe they feel are a little more

Starting point is 00:15:11 reliable. So definitely look out there, Matt gay. I think this is a polarizing one for a lot of people too. Cause so he's obviously been a little shaky dating back to last year. He started to miss some kicks down the stretch. He didn't look great during the preseason either. And then after the week with the Bengals at the joint practice in the preseason game, they discovered that Matt Gay had a hernia and they did a

Starting point is 00:15:39 procedure on it. He didn't practice last week, but he did do some kicking so they could at least see what they were working with. He's now back in full. And with his replacement, Spencer Schrader, on the practice squad, I really don't think there's, I mean, I don't think there's any concern about him playing. I mean, they went down to the wire last week, not rolling him out until the very end. So it looks like there's a good chance Gay could play. I mean, if you read too much between the lines today, Shane Steichen said he's good to go. But that was when he was asked about if Matt would practice. So I don't know.

Starting point is 00:16:15 We'll see. Gay could be a formality that he's even on the injury report anymore and that he's just no doubt going to play. I know some people want Spencer Schrader. I mean, he filled in well last week with Gabing out. He hit all three extra point attempts. That's something he, you know, even in college was always really good at extra points. But when you get to the field goals, that's when it's been super shaky. He had his field goal percentage in college was like, I want to say it was in the 60s,

Starting point is 00:16:47 but it was definitely below 80 below 80. He, I think he has a little bit to go until he's, you know, someone you can trot out there to be an NFL kicker, because those guys do have to be very, very reliable. With that said, I think you got to put Gay on kind of a short leash, don't you? I mean, he has been shaky, and now he's coming off of a hernia. I just think you got to be careful of getting into the Adam Vinatieri situation of 2019, where they basically kept him around, and I think they ultimately IR'd him, but he was losing them games because he was just constantly missing kicks, and he looked not good.

Starting point is 00:17:31 He felt like he was dealing with some stuff physically. But every time we would ask about it, they kept saying, you know, he's making these kicks in practice. And it's like, okay, well, he's not in the game. So at a certain point, something's got to give. So Matt Gay, I think we certainly have to keep an eye on him now kickers don't make a hundred percent he deserves the grace to occasionally miss some kicks because they all do justin tucker you know evan mcpherson ever everybody misses some

Starting point is 00:17:57 kicks um but it's going to be about consistency it's going to be about big moments i think but it's certainly worth keeping an eye on. Schrader will be around on the practice squad for a while, I'm sure, before they're totally comfortable making any moves and making Gay the only guy on the team whatsoever. So overall, optimism. Josh Downs is working his way back. He's finally on the practice field. Matt Gay, it looks like he may be good for Sunday, but he's at least a full participant in practice again. I mean, remember, we don't know that Matt Gay is done as a kicker. Like, I think everyone gets a little worried because kickers are so volatile. And it seems like once they go, they go. But throughout his

Starting point is 00:18:42 career, he's been a very, very good kicker and he had some awesome moments with the Colts last year. So the judgment's still out. I don't think we can say he's toast or anything yet, but we definitely got to keep an eye on this one. So coming up, we're going to go back to the defensive side of the ball and look at some new injuries that have cropped up and maybe look into what the Colts are going to have to do if any of these guys can't play on Sunday. Passion, drive, and patience. The formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive. eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance. Superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights, and more. Whether you're into speed, power, or style, eBay Motors has got you covered.

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Starting point is 00:20:00 knew that deforest buckner left sunday's game late with a back injury. It didn't look great at the time, but I saw him on the sideline after, and he was standing there on the sideline. It looked like he might have even wanted to get back in, but the defense never got an extra possession, so we don't know. But nonetheless, he was out for Wednesday's practice. Buckner is a guy who tends to play through injuries, though, no matter how severe it seems. So he could maybe not practice this weekend, still play on Sunday. But if that was the case, I would imagine he might still be on a pitch count, because that's kind of how the Colts have operated with him for the most part. Like, they know he doesn't have to practice, but if he's physically capable of playing,

Starting point is 00:20:45 they'll let him play, but we'll rein him back a little bit. So this one's tough because with what the Texans just did to the Colts in the run game last week, they've got a better running back coming up this week with the Packers and Josh Jacobs. I mean, Joe Mixon, his best days are behind him and he had an awesome day against the colts last week josh jacobs is still in his prime and doing great he averaged five yards to carry last week uh he is on the practice report with his own back injury this week but he was still a limited participant um but obviously if deforest buckner is out we know that's going to mean more taben bryan probably is the starter next to grover stewart uh it's going to mean more Taven Bryan probably is the starter next to Grover Stewart. It's going to be a little more Adetome, Adebuare, but he's a better pass rusher than he

Starting point is 00:21:31 is a run stuffer. So maybe Raekwon Davis starts next to Grover Stewart if DeForest Buckner can't play this week. Who knows? All I know is you would rather have Buckner out there than really anybody else. So that's going to be a tricky one. Hopefully they rest him for a couple of days and maybe he's able to get like a limited session on Friday and you can still roll with him. But this one, I definitely think it bears monitoring because he's not only one of your most important defensive players, he's one of your team's MVPs. So if Buckner can't play, this suddenly becomes a little tougher of a matchup for the Colts because we know the Packers are going to want to run the ball because Jordan Love is obviously hurt.

Starting point is 00:22:18 If Jordan Love miraculously plays, they're not going to want to drop him back 50 times. So the onus is going to be on the Packers' run game. And if the Colts don't have one of their better run defenders out there, that's obviously not going to be a chill time compared to what happened last week. Further down the line, another one of their better run defenders, Quiddy Paye, he missed Wednesday's practice with a hamstring injury. Obviously, hamstring injuries are very tricky because you can play that week with one or you could be out several weeks. It just kind of depends on the severity of it. That one's real tough. I mean, we're just going to have to keep an eye on that throughout the week because we haven't heard anything about it until today. Luckily, the Colts still do have

Starting point is 00:23:04 a little bit of depth at defensive end. Obviously, after Samson Ebicom suffered his Achilles injury, that took a hit. But luckily, you know, let's remove Pei from the equation on this one. You got Tyquan Lewis starting on one side and either Laotilatu or Dayo Adangbo on the other one. You do still have some juice out there, but it looks a lot better with quitty pay out there because again he's one of your better run defenders he can set an edge he's tough strong and is a tenacious guy who's going to attack the backfield so him not being out there

Starting point is 00:23:37 would not be ideal obviously and then one that might be the biggest deal in a normal game, maybe not in this one against the Packers, if it's Malik Willis starting at quarterback for the Packers, but Julian Blackman was out Wednesday with a shoulder injury. So obviously his season ended prematurely last year with a shoulder injury. I don't want to speculate because it may not even be the same shoulder. It could be the opposite shoulder, but if it is the same one, that could be maintenance. If he felt like it was sore, it could be a re-aggravation. Like we just don't know enough about it.

Starting point is 00:24:16 Obviously we need to talk to him this week because the range of outcomes for that are, it's really nothing and precautionary or it's something that you know maybe he has to sit out a little bit and obviously with how the safety group is that's not ideal because then you have nick cross and rodney thomas who's starting safeties and i mean now we know why they brought ronnie harrison back um hopefully that's not in anticipation for Blackman to miss much time. Maybe they're, maybe they question whether he plays Sunday against the Packers, but this is literally like one of the three worst groups of defenders you could hope to be on the injury report right now. But again, it's just Wednesday. We don't know. Maybe some of these guys are back Thursday. That's the frustrating part of kind of working off of the Wednesday

Starting point is 00:25:10 injury report. It's just kind of disconcerting with what just happened to Juju Brents. And now you have these other very critical pieces of your defense who are missing practice now. So again, it's only Wednesday and it's only week two. Things could be worse, but we got to keep an eye on this stuff. Absolutely, for sure. So the next episode Thursday will be crossover Thursday. I'll be speaking with Peter Bukowski of Locked On Packers. That'll be a really good one. Remember, our friends over at Locked On NFL are now two shows every day featuring Tyler

Starting point is 00:25:42 Rowland in the morning and then Tony Wiggins for some real NFL talk afterward. Add in the Locked On local experts and you get unprecedented NFL insight all in 30 minutes. It's the new Locked On NFL and it's twice a day. Make the Madman Tyler Rowland and the Barber Tony Wiggins your second listen at the new Locked On NFL on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Remember, if you guys want to become a Locked on Colts insider, chat with us directly, ask us your questions, get the inside scoop, follow the link in our show notes to sign up there. If you don't already, follow at Locked on Colts, at JakeArthurNFL and at ZachHicks2

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Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' JuJu Brents Out for Season, but Josh Downs Back at Practice!

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