Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Midseason Awards with George Bremer of The Herald Bulletin

Episode Date: November 10, 2021

On today's episode, Evan is joined by George Bremer of The Herald Bulletin to go over their midseason awards for the Indianapolis Colts. Who won the MVP, OPOY, DPOY and ROY? what letter grade would we give Carson Wentz and Frank Reich?Also, Evan and George recapped the 45-30 win over the New York Jets even further, plus previewed a must-win game on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars.This is a must-listen episode you won't want to miss out on, Colts fans! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello everybody, welcome to your latest episode of Locked on Colts. I am your host, Evan Seri, joined by George Bremmer, the Indianapolis Colts B-R-I for the Herald Bulletin. George, how are you doing on this Tuesday night? Very good, how are you doing? I'm doing great, appreciate you as always coming on each Tuesday here, George. I want to get your thoughts here.

First off, we'll dive into the Jets game on Thursday. It's our first time talking since that Thursday beatdown. That really got too close for comfort late in that game with defense, but we'll end that in just a few minutes. Then we'll dive in later on the show with our mid-season awards, going over maybe their Colts MVP, et cetera, and going over that as well. And we'll close talking about the Jaguars game a little bit on Sunday. But let's start off here, George. The Colts won 45-30 on Thursday in a short week. The most points the Colts put up in a here, George. The Colts won 45-30 on Thursday in a short week. The most points the Colts put up in a very long time. The offense is clicking on all cylinders.

What was your takeaways from that game on Thursday, especially on the offensive side where Jonathan Taylor and Michael Pittman, once again in primetime for our national audience, show these two guys are legitimately going to take in the star loop right now? Yeah, I think this offense continues to show that it's for real. You know, we've been talking really the last several weeks that this unit is what's driving this team and all the optimism that there is around, you know, the Colts right now

centers really on that side of the ball. Carson Wentz, with the exception of one massive game, obviously, has been really good most of the year, very efficient, you know, taking what's there and making big plays when he has the opportunity. But it's really about Taylor and Pittman, as you said. I mean, Taylor has really taken the leap now where he's legitimately in the argument as potentially the best running back in the league,

even when Derrick Henry's healthy. When you look at the raw numbers, you know, Taylor going into the game against Titans a couple weeks ago was a full yard per carry ahead of Henry. So, you know, you can really make a case that he's the most dangerous running back out there right now. And Pittman just continues to show that he's going to do whatever it takes to help win games, whether that's making big catches,

whether it's getting blocks downfield to free Taylor, whether it's, you know, anything that really takes out there. He's doing it with a style that I don't think we've really seen in Indianapolis before. He's almost a wide receiver who plays more like a tight end with his size and with his physicality. And you can see the trust between he and and Carson Wentz is phenomenal right now a lot of times Wentz will just kind of throw the ball excuse me up in his

direction and trust that Pittman will come down with it more often than not he's right yeah it really does show just the leap that Taylor's taking right now but also Pittman where you mentioned that chemistry between Carson Wentz and Pittman it really is on an elite level right now one of your thoughts as well on Carson Wentz on Thursday, what was your assessment of that game? Because it reminded me an awful lot of this Houston game earlier a couple weeks prior to this game where a lot of deep shots down the field, very efficient football from Wentz.

When he's going like this, George, he looks like a top-ten quarterback to me. I mean, what was your thoughts on Wentz' performance on Thursday? Yeah, you know, he took advantage of a defense that's struggling a bit, a lot, especially on in the back end. And I think that's something that, you know, they needed to see. I mean, for him, it was a really big game because of how poorly things went against Tennessee. And you were wondering, how would he bounce back? Would this be the start of a spiral? Was the 2020 Carson Wentz kind of creeping around the corner again? And he bounced back with arguably his best game as a Colt.

You know, you've got to take it for what it's worth. The Jets are obviously a team that struggled a lot. But, you know, Joe Burrow couldn't get it done the week before. And the Jets beat Tennessee as well earlier this year. So, for as bad as they've been, they've had their moments. You know, they've not been complete pushovers out there. And the Colts really did whatever they wanted on offense throughout the entire game. And I think Wentz had a lot to do with that. And Taylor's obviously at another level.

And he had some really huge runs. And so did Naeem Hines. He was probably the underrated guy in that group on Thursday. I think he had 67 yards on just seven carries. That 34-yard touchdown early really set the tone, and I think it kind of set the bar for Taylor, too. He said after the game, after he saw that, he kind of had something to chase. But, you know, Wentz, there was maybe one bad throw, particularly bad throw to Hines that could have been a touchdown. Other than that, he was pretty sharp throughout the entire game.

And I think that's, you know, I asked Frank Reich afterwards, is this sort of the picture of what they want to do offensively? Because, you know, all offseason long we heard Carson doesn't have to be Superman. There's a lot of other pieces. You know, they want to just basically let him get out there and facilitate, take what's there, make plays when he has to, but not necessarily put on a cape and lead the team himself and I think Thursday was an almost perfect example of that last point here on the Jets game then we'll dive into our mid-season awards discussion here on the podcast what was your assessment of this defense

they were up obviously 42-10 so I have to imagine internally, mentally, that gas pedal was kind of taken off by this Colts defense. But even still, having Josh Johnson, who was the quarterback in the San Diego fleet of the Alliance American Football League a couple years ago, put up almost 300 yards on the Colts defense is not a good look. I mean, you can slice it both ways, George, but what was your thoughts on that second half by this Colts defense, where obviously 42-10, the game's not really in doubt,

but it kind of did get too close for comfort there the last five minutes of the game. Yeah, I mean, who knows? They're about, what, five yards away from scoring and making it a one-score game, and then it comes down to an onside kick in 50-odd seconds. It's a lot closer than the game that was 42-10 in the third quarter should have been, no doubt about that.

I think if it was in a vacuum, it wouldn't bother me that much. But the fact that we've seen this pass defense do that so often at the end of games is really concerning. And the fact that it came against a third-string quarterback in Johnson only adds to those worries. You go back to the Baltimore game. That's the prime example. You know, not being able to stop the Ravens there on four consecutive drives

and you lose a game in overtime that you absolutely should have won. It wasn't as obvious against Tennessee in terms of one stretch that you can point to, but A.J. Brown had, I think, 157 yards in that game. It's a big part of how Tennessee got back into a contest. They trailed 14 to nothing early. This defense supposedly is built to protect big leads. You get out to an early lead, and then that pass rush is supposed to start to, you know, unleash itself and cause havoc in the backfield. And it just hasn't been happening. And there's a variety of reasons.

Too often the rushers are not getting home, but they have to work in concert with the back end and there's just so much injuries right now in that secondary and both safeties are on ir carrie willis is coming back eventually but he's going to miss at least the next two weeks joey blackman of course is done for the year jay carey who i think they would like to get into that mix without those two is also on ir with a knee injury. So you're down to fourth, fifth safeties, you know, and guys who really, with the exception of George Odom, weren't even with this team during training camp, you know,

still learning the defense in a lot of ways. The corners have been banged up with Xavier Rhodes and Rocky Sin in and out of the lineup. And I think the back end is feeling that. And right now the front end is not doing enough to kind of help alleviate those problems. And you see the front end is not doing enough to kind of help alleviate those problems. And you see the result. I mean, Josh Johnson's out there throwing for 317 yards

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You'll get 15% off your order. Use promo code LOCK15, L-O-C-K-E-D-1-5 for 15% off at Bilt.com. Let's dive in now, George, to our midseason awards. The Colts are officially at the halfway point now. Kind of still weird to me, George, saying 17 games instead of 16, but nine games into the season, the Colts are 4-5. Obviously a spot they don't want to be in right now, having to make up a lot of ground and having multiple teams in front of them

have some luck happen as far as losses, and the Colts go on a big run here. Probably 7-2 to get to 10-7 this season, get you in the playoffs, and that's got to be a big time run with how the Colts schedule setting up the second half of the season. But let's dive into our MVP so far this season, George. For me, it's Jonathan Taylor pretty easily. I know Carson Wentz has done awesome so far, Pittman the same thing, but he's on pace for 2,100 scrimmage yards, over 1,500 rushing yards. This guy looks like a future superstar.

I think he might already be in that superstar tier, George. I mean, without Jonathan Taylor, I mean, this Colts team might be looking at maybe two or three wins at this point. Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt Taylor's the MVP so far. And like I said earlier, you can make the case that he's the best running back in the league. If he had 29 carries a game or whatever that crazy number that Derrick Henry had, it looks like from average carry and everything that we can see that's been on the field so far, he would put up the same kind of numbers, if not better.

So, yeah, without him, this team would be in a lot of trouble right now. And I think he continues to gain confidence with every outing. And you see it, you know, in these big runs. I mean, I asked Carson Wentz after the game Thursday if it feels like Taylor's going to score every time he touches the ball. And he kind of laughed, but he didn't really deny it. It's crazy. Honestly, it's really crazy. This is the way Jonathan Taylor is playing right now, George, and Derek Henry being out for the rest of the season. That really does foreshadow a big opportunity for John Taylor to take that

Russian crown this year. I think he has a easily a top three running back in the NFL at this point. I think based off of age alone, he's only 22 years old right now. You probably take him long-term of anyone else in the NFL in terms of longevity and just the superstar potential of Jonathan Taylor. So that locks in both our picks there, George, for MVP. This is not in the awards category, George. I want to give out a letter grade real quick for the quarterback of the Colts, Carson Wentz. 17 touchdowns, three interceptions, had really one bad game against the Titans, a must-win game. Wentz kind of folded under pressure there.

What kind of letter grade would you give Carson Wentz through the first half of the season for the Colts? Probably a B+. I mean, that Tennessee game obviously is going to linger because that loss was just so devastating. It's a big part of the reason why they're scrambling the way they are right now to try to make postseason. But I think if you had said at the beginning of the year

he's going to have 17 touchdowns and three interceptions midway through, rambling the way they are right now to try to make postseason. But I think if you had said at the beginning of the year, he's going to have 17 touchdowns and three interceptions midway through, everybody would have taken that. You know, and I think it really exceeds expectations in many ways. Coming off the season they had last year, dealing with training he came out with where he really only practiced five or six times with his teammates, to come out and be this effective this soon you know I think it's it's a win for the Colts and I think it's it's situation where you know we've got to let the rest of this season play out but it feels like they've solved that quarterback issue and that's really something that that coming into the year was probably the

number one question you know I mean is he you know? No. But is he good enough for this team? Can they win with him? I think he's proven that consistently so far this season. For Offensive Player of the Year, George, we'll take John Taylor out of it because I feel like he's an easy answer for that, too. He's the MVP of this team so far. So, likely between Carson Wentz and Michael Pittman Jr., who would you put between those two guys for Offensive Player of the Year

so far for the Colts? I'd probably go with Pittman just because it's been so important to see him emerge the way he has, you know, especially with the injuries that T.Y. Hilton has had. He's only played in two games, and even then he had to come out of one of those early – both of them early, actually. See the numbers that Pittman has put up with. Defense is really rotating towards him now.

They know that he's the guy the Colts want to go to, and it just doesn't matter. You know, he's been out the Colts want to go to uh and he just doesn't matter you know he's been out there he's been making plays every week um they really needed him to kind of make this leap this year and look like a number one guy and he's absolutely done it in almost every way I'm right there with you I would go with Pittman as well it looks like a future number one receiver I think he's already at that point for this Colts team. More of a long-term thought here, George, before we go over the defense for defense player of the year. But do you feel like Michael Pittman Jr. in this Colts offense

is established as a wide receiver one? Or do you feel like more so – this Colts team, do you feel like it's more of a need to go and get a number one receiver this offseason? Or is Michael Pittman answering those questions for you where he can maybe just get a guy in the draft or maybe do another cheap free agent signing instead? I feel like he's a guy moving forward. i feel like he's the number one guy but i think they would they need that deep threat to pair with him they thought they had two of them

and hilton and campbell and in paris of course again out looks like maybe he'll be back around christmas uh but just tough luck for that kid every single year and t-wise had trouble staying on the field this year as well so you know i think if you could go and get that speed guy that that guy who can stretch defenses to go along with him that would be the perfect compliment totally there with you I think this is another situation where if the Colts can somehow get David Bell at Purdue in the second round George I think that's a perfect compliment to go Michael Pittman that would definitely help out Carson Wentz too as well but we'll definitely talk more about that as we get closer to the NFL draft this year, George.

But let's go over to the defense. It feels like an easy answer for this one as well for an awards prediction. Defensive player of the year, it feels like to me it has to be Darius Leonard. Nine takeaways so far this year. I think it's half or over half of the Colts' turnovers for so far this season. Do you agree that the Maniac is the runaway winner here? Yeah, absolutely. And similar to the situation with Jonathan Taylor, four so far this season do you agree that the maniac is the runaway winner here yeah absolutely and similar to the situation is with jonathan taylor where would they be without those takeaways

right now i mean that's the one saving grace this defense has had you know forcing turnovers getting some short fields for the for the offense i think you know of those nine turnovers i think the colts have scored a touchdown five times after that. So they've cashed in more often than not. And I think that's, that's been a huge element. When you consider he's playing with a pretty debilitating ankle injury, you can see still, he can't really run side to side the way he has for most of his career. He's not got that explosion that we've seen from him,

but he's found a way to adjust and he's, he's got a punch out. It feels like every week. I mean, if you're a ball carrier right now and you're facing Indianapolis, that's got to be foremost in your mind. Yeah, it's something, too, where Darius Leonard's forced his way into the Defensive Player of the Year conversation. The Colts are going to have to go on a run probably for him to win that award because he usually goes to the better teams.

Like the Rams, the Aaron Donald, they're always in the race every year, and that's why he gets it. Trayvon Diggs is on a really good Cowboys team this year. He has a lot of interceptions. So the Colts are going to have to win a lot of games for Leonard to get into the conversation. But as far as team awards go only, this is a runaway pick here for defensive player, the Rodarius Leonard for the Colts.

But let's go to coach of the year. Obviously, it's going to be Frank Reich, but I want to just get a letter grade for you here, George, of Frank Reich's performance so far this year, calling the place for the Colts offense. I feel like it's gotten better the last couple of weeks after that Baltimore debacle. How would you rank the way Frank Reich has operated this Colts offense so far this year for Carson Wentz?

Yeah, I'd probably put him in a B, B minus kind of category there. I mean, the Baltimore game, obviously, there were things there. They need to be more aggressive at the end and come away with a victory. tennessee you know you go back to that one and it's the other way around they probably needed to give jonathan taylor more carries and maybe finish out that game with a win um but when you look at everything they were up against on offense the struggles the offensive line had early and they have really rebounded that offensive line is playing really well now but they had injuries and they had a lot of guys That offensive line is playing really well now, but they had injuries, and they had a lot of guys who hadn't played together.

They're starting to gel. Working in Carson Wentz and him basically having no training camp, having second-year guys in Pittman and Taylor in crucial roles, losing Paris Campbell, not having T.Y. Hilton most of the season, see where this offense is, giving all of that. I think it's a definite win for Reich and for that offense as a whole. Last one here for the awards, rookie of the year, George, feels like another easy pick here, probably with Quidipe.

Dayo Odengba's looked really good the last couple weeks, and now with Taequann Lewis being able to step into an immediate impact role for this defense. Kylan Grant has also flashed in the last couple of weeks. And now with Taequann Lewis being as he stepped into an immediate impact role for this defense, Kylan Grant is also flashing the last couple of weeks, but this rookie class hasn't done much in the box score yet, George, but I felt like the Thursday's game against the jets, not only the quitty pay show,

but Daiwa Dangbo did as well. Just how important is it going to be for this defensive line? Do a pay in a Dangbo and potentially even Kylan Grant's move for you. He's getting more and more snaps in this offense. The last couple of weeks, it does get us rookies classes's getting more and more snaps in this offense the last couple weeks. It feels like those rookies' class is really poised for a break out here over the next couple months. Yeah, and they need it, especially with Pei and Odengbo.

That, to me, is a big missing piece. We talked about it earlier. This defense is set up, get a lead, and then you hold it by getting out for the quarterback. They haven't been doing that off the edge. Pei started to show some signs of it, especially against the Jets. We'll see how Dangbo does coming off that Achilles. That's never easy. You know, we'll see how long it takes for him to get his explosion back. But those two,

their development, that's the biggest thing moving forward the rest of the year. If they can start to see the signs that those two can be a future force, then it really changes the trajectory for this defense, and it changes the trajectory for this defense, and it changes the trajectory for this team in 2022. Not giving up on this year yet, but it's obviously a big hill to climb, as we've talked about. But there are a lot of things when you look at the positives on this offense. If they can get the defense where it needs to be,

and then those two rookies in particular being the spearhead of that, this team could do some really special teams, some really special things a year from now. Hey Colts fans, this is Evan Sire, the host of Locked on Colts with an incredible app. Everyone who buys gas needs to know about GetUpside. My list will make up to 25 cents for every gallon of gas. Every time I fill up,

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Back-to-back weeks in the Colts are double due to favorites. It feels like to me maybe this line should be bigger, even though the Jaguars did win somehow against the Bills on Sunday where they thought an awful lot of the 2018 game for the Colts where they lost and barely scored any points in that game as well. So this is one of those fluky outings for Buffalo. But what's your opinion on this game on Sunday, George? I feel like it's going to be an awful lot like the game on Thursday

we just saw against the Jets. But could you be surprised at all if the Jaguars keep this one close? Well, I mean, they always do. I mean, it seems to be the theme with this series, you know, especially recently. Colts have never been able to win down there since 2014. So, fortunately, it's at Lucas Oil. But even the games up here, you go back to Week 17 last year,

Indianapolis has to win to get in the playoffs. There's no more clear stakes than that. And the game's close until late in the fourth quarter when Jonathan Taylor breaks off a long touchdown run. They win 28-14. I think Trevor Lawrence, he's certainly been inconsistent. There's no doubt about that. But at this pass, defense continues to struggle. He's a guy who can probably take advantage of that. It's probably going to be closer than people think we'll see how that turns out before i let you go here george obviously always appreciate having you on as always every tuesday throughout the regular season let me get you going with a prediction here before i let you go what's your prediction and possibly your biggest key or two to the game on sunday in jacksville

where if it's like every game is a must win at this point, but especially on Sunday, the Colts can't afford to have a letdown. Yeah, I mean, they can't lose to any team with a losing record right now. They've got five big games left in terms of, you know, playoff-type teams, the Bucs, the Raiders, the Cardinals. You know, they've got to win those games. The Patriots are in that mix as well, and the Bills. You probably got to win three of them. I mean, just you're talking about needing to go seven and two down the bills, you probably got to win three of them. I mean, just,

you're talking about needing to go seven and two down the stretch. You probably go in three of those five and then when your other four straight out, that means obviously getting this winning in Jacksonville on Sunday, I'm thinking some of them along the lines of 33 to 20. I think really the biggest key here is controlling Lawrence, not letting him get hot, not letting them get big plays in the passing game that keeps them in this contest, get some pressure on the rookie, get him to turn the ball over,

which he's done quite a bit this year. And then, you know, the offense has got to continue to click the way they have recently get that early lead, put some doubt in Jacksonville's mind. You know, one of the worst things that Buffalo did on Sunday was let them stick around. When you do that with an underdog, you end up with the kind of result that the Bills got. The Colts should not overlook Jacksonville at all. If any team out there knows, you know, what this team can do,

it's Indianapolis. They're 500 against them the last, what, three years? They've got to come out strong from the start. They've got to contain the passing game to the best of their abilities, and it's not going to be easy to do with a banged-up secondary. And this offense absolutely has to stay on a roll. George, appreciate coming on as always. Colts, if you haven't already, go ahead and follow George on Twitter

at GMBremmer, and go read his excellent work, as always, over on the Herald Bulletin. Does excellent work covering the Colts every single day, covering them as credential media. George, appreciate your time. As always, we on the Herald Bulletin. Does excellent work covering the Colts every single day, covering them as credential media. George, appreciate your time. As always, we'll be back with you again next Tuesday to hopefully recap the Colts' win and get them the 5-5 on the season. No problem. Thanks a lot, Evan.