Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Mike Kafka, Wink Martindale Offer Best of Both Worlds

Episode Date: January 21, 2023

The Indianapolis Colts have requested interviews with both New York Giants coordinators, as OC Mike Kafka and DC Wink Martindale are set to meet next week. Could either be the man for the job? Patrici...a Traina (@Patricia_Traina) of Locked On Giants joins to tell more!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!Today’s episode is presented by LinkedIn. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFLSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFLBuilt BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds, and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!PrizePicksFirst-time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. That’s PrizePicks.com – promo code; LOCKEDONUltimate Football GMTo download the game just visit Ultimate-GM.com or look it up on the app stores. Our listeners get a 100% free boost to their franchise when using the promo LOCKEDON (ALL CAPS) in the game store.TurboTaxCome to TurboTax and don’t do your taxes. Visit TurboTax.com to learn more.Tommy JohnWinter mornings are brutal. So here’s my tip for tackling the day in comfort: Grab new Tommy John Loungewear and take cozy wherever you go. Get TWENTY PERCENT OFF YOUR FIRST ORDER at TommyJohn.com/LOCKEDON. BetterHelpThis episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at Betterhelp.com/LockedOn and get on your way to being your best self.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 The Giants offer the Colts different sides of the spectrum in their search for a head coach, either the young and up-and-coming candidate or the proven hard-nosed veteran. We're going to see why either of those can make a good head coach for the Colts today. 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 listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's show is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs, which helps you find the candidates that you want to talk to faster.
Starting point is 00:01:01 Post your job for free at LinkedIn..com slash locked on NFL. I'm Jake Arthur. He's Zach Hicks. And you know, the two of us from horseshoehuddle.com. Today, we're going to keep going through the NFC East. We're going to talk about the two head coaching candidates for the New York Giants that the Colts will be interviewing for their head coaching role. That's offensive coordinator Mike Kafka and defensive coordinator Wink Martindale. And to tell us more about that pair is Patricia Trena of Locked On Giants and Giants Country. Thanks so much for being with us. My pleasure, guys.
Starting point is 00:01:34 How you doing? We are great now that the season's over. I tell you what. Yes. Well, I'm sure you'd rather be where I am right now as we record, obviously, getting ready for the divisional round of the playoffs. So we'll see what happens. But it's been a crazy, crazy week.
Starting point is 00:01:51 But a lot of craziness over by you guys looking for a new head coach and everything. Oh, no doubt. It's a good offseason to need a head coach and a quarterback. I'll tell you that much. We're interested for sure. Yeah, so you guys obviously have got a lot on your plate with this playoff run going. So we'll go ahead and start talking about this offense first. So Mike Kafka, well-traveled NFL quarterback in his playing days, then went to coaching,
Starting point is 00:02:18 worked his way up behind Andy Reid in Kansas City with Patrick Mahomes, the little guy that everyone is familiar with, I'm sure. Now he lands with Brian Dable in New York with the Giants. Obviously, a big turnaround for the Giants this year. They're back in the playoffs. How much of their offensive turnaround and their success do you attribute to Kafka? Oh, I think quite a bit, actually. You know, when Brian Dable came in as the head coach, he basically said, look, we are going catch on in the league, but went on to work with Andy Reid, who, you know, I think we can all agree is one of the top coaches in the NFL,
Starting point is 00:03:13 certainly a Hall of Fame coach, and perfected his craft, worked his way up, worked with Patrick Mahomes, as you mentioned, and just developed some really good ideas that he was able to incorporate into this Giants offense that works so well with the talent that they have with Daniel Jones and just the offense in general. So, you know, and I think another important thing that is really good is, remember, Daniel Jones coming into this season, there were questions about him, whether he could actually be a franchise quarterback, because he had just been so inconsistent, had so many issues with
Starting point is 00:03:45 turnovers, decision-making, feeling the pressure in the pocket. And Kafka, having had that experience as an NFL quarterback, plus having worked with Mahomes, came in with some ideas to help him. And we've seen the results because Jones is just performing lights out this year. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And kind of building on that and talking about his work with Daniel Jones is Daniel Jones, to me, it felt like those first couple of seasons, he was put into a box that he just did not fit into, you know, whether that was just, you know, they kind of wanted him to be a pure pocket passer there in New York, and it just didn't work. You know, he is a different type of quarterback. And it seems
Starting point is 00:04:21 like Kafka and Daywell, when they came in, they let him be more of himself. They let him get out of the pocket more. They let him scramble more. They used him on design QB runs. How much, I guess, was that like with Kafka and Dable, just talking about both these guys, how important is that for a young quarterback when you have play callers or guys who are designing offenses to kind of build their offense around what their quarterback actually is and not trying to fit them into something else different. Oh, that's huge. I mean, look, you're trying to build up confidence, young quarterback coming from college. I don't care what program he's coming from Duke, Alabama, you name it. There's a big leap coming to the NFL. You have to get used to the speed. You have to get used to the fact that bigger guys are coming at you. You know, the defenses are more sophisticated.
Starting point is 00:05:06 They can be, they'd use trickery to fool you into making bad decisions. So it's important to make a young quarterback feel comfortable. And to your point, I don't think Daniel Jones ever felt comfortable. You know, you can make a case that he felt comfortable in his rookie season with Pat Shermer. But since then, you know, Jason Garrett came in with Joe Judge and, you know, Jason Garrett had a very antiquated system that just was so kind of restrictive and it just didn't fit. And, you know, look, a good coach, what is a
Starting point is 00:05:36 good coach going to do? A good coach is going to bend its system or his system to fit the talent that they have. And the Giants didn't really do that with Daniel Jones the last couple of years. They're doing it now and they're reaping the results. Yeah. So Kafka inherited a really nice package of runners with Daniel Jones at quarterback. And then obviously Saquon Barkley kind of returning to form, you know, shaking the injuries that have kind of plagued him for a while. But the receivers, it seems like they've gotten more out of the passing game than they've been able to in recent years. Do you get the feeling that he's going to be more that, let's say he goes on to be a head coach, is his style inherently more ground and pound, or is he the type of guy that wants to air it out a little bit? I think he looks for a mix, but he adapts it to the opponent. You can't go into a game and say,
Starting point is 00:06:32 okay, we're going to run the ball 50 times this week and throw it 30 times. That's just not how it works in the NFL. You have to let it play out a little bit. And I think one of the things we saw with Kafka earlier in the year is that the Giants got off to a slow start often because I suspect he was trying to get a feel for what the opposing team was doing. And then once he got that feel, he was able to adjust and say, okay, instead of doing this, we're going to do that. And then they were able to pick up the pace and be a strong second half team. So you want to have ideally a balanced offense, but, you know, sometimes you just can't, you fall behind. And so now you've got to pass a little bit more, or maybe, you know, you want, you're nursing a one score lead and you want to, you have to run
Starting point is 00:07:16 more to milk the clock. So Kafka is very flexible. He's not, you know, married to any one particular philosophy. It changes up. And I think that's what you need to be in the NFL. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And, you know, going past just the schematic parts of it and what he did with that offense, you know, you've been around this team all year. You've heard players talk and you've heard him talk obviously a lot this season. What's kind of the overall vibe on his relationship with players and just his personality that he would bring if he were to become a head coach? Well, he doesn't say much to the media. He's very stoic, very
Starting point is 00:07:51 stone-faced. I don't think I've seen him laugh. I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen him laugh or crack a smile. But you know what? The players appreciate him. They speak very highly of him. They say he's a good teacher. They say that he's very innovative, very creative. He asks for their input. But remember, you know, Brian Dable is also an offensive-minded coach. And not to take away from what Kafka has done, but, you know, a lot of the principles of what the Giants run on offense do come from that Buffalo system that Dable ran. So Kafka just kind of, you know, added to it, if you will. He added the seasoning to top it off and just mix it up and make it into what it is today. So the players, I think, like Kafka. I have never heard anybody on or off the record say anything bad about him. Actually, I've had a
Starting point is 00:08:43 couple of players actually tell me that he's actually funny. He can crack a joke. He actually has a little bit of, shall we say, I've heard toilet humor. He uses clips from Jackass when presenting to his team. So, you know, he just, he's one way within media. Like I said, very stone face, very stone-faced, very vanilla, but doesn't say much. You won't see these lengthy articles quoting him, but he's very, very creative,
Starting point is 00:09:16 a really good young offensive mind. We'd hate to lose him, I think, here in New York because he's just done wonders with Dable in developing that offense and getting the best out of so many guys on that team. Not just Daniel and Saquon, but the receivers, as you mentioned, the tight ends, even the offensive lines playing better down the stretch here. So just a great job overall by Kafka and the Giants. Yeah, I think regardless of what the Colts do with any of this hundred candidates, whoever they decide to hire, I think they're going to go with a guy next who is going to have the most commanding voice in the room. I think they've learned that the locker room should be good. Yes, but their head coach has to
Starting point is 00:09:55 be the guy. So kind of rolling into that one thing we've really been interested in is the tree that these guys come from and obviously Kafka comes from a really good one with with Andy Reid in in Kansas City uh do you have any guesses as to what type of staff he might bring with him along you know I imagine he's he's probably going to want to be the offensive coordinator as well or the play caller maybe. But any idea who he might bring along to his next team? Well, I mean, if he's smart, he'll do what Dable did. And Dable, you know, didn't staff or fill his staff with guys that he worked with before, guys he knew.
Starting point is 00:10:38 He went with the best available coaches. That's the way to build a staff. You don't want a good old boys club building your staff. It didn't work for Joe Judge. It hasn't worked for some other coaches around the league, you know. So I don't have names, specific names, but I've got to imagine that Kafka will probably look to bring a combination of guys who have worked in the college ranks as well as the pro ranks. And here's the other thing. The Colts are a rebuilding team. They're going to probably have a lot of young players starting next year, starting with a quarterback probably. So you're going to want
Starting point is 00:11:14 coaches that have had recent experience coaching at the college level, but will also have some of that NFL experience. So you want a mixture of backgrounds, if you will, so that they can help the young players quickly adapt from the college level, which is not to simplify it, but it's not like the NFL level. So just help these guys adapt quickly to the NFL level. And that's what Dable did with his staff by mixing it up and getting guys with a good amount of experience on both sides of the ball. I think Kafka, who is a wonderful learner and who, you know, has said that
Starting point is 00:11:51 he's learned a lot from Dable, will probably take the same approach in building his staff if he is hired. Yeah, love to hear that because that's, that is just so critical. And for a young guy like him, it's a big question mark because, question mark because he's just now a coordinator coming out of his first year with this team. So that is very curious. Next, why Wink Martindale is a legit candidate to lead the Colts despite not being a highly discussed prospect. But first, as a small business owner or hiring manager, you know that success in 2023 all depends on the team members that you surround yourself with. That's why you have to check out LinkedIn Jobs. With LinkedIn Jobs, you can hire qualified candidates more efficiently by matching open roles with people who have skills, values, and experiences to help you achieve your goals. They go beyond
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Starting point is 00:13:17 That's linkedin.com slash locked on NFL to post your job for free terms and conditions apply. Okay. So we're kind of dealing with the opposite, maybe not the opposite of it, but young up-and-comer in Mike Kafka, you know, that he's part of a hot team making their return to the playoffs. Wink Martindale, people have known him for a while, very successful defensive coordinator with the Ravens. When I think of his defense, I think back to that Baltimore defense scheme that likes to be multiple and loves to get after the quarterback. What have you noticed now that you're watching Martindale in New York? What's his defense all about? It's never the same thing week to week. I mean, again, we talk about the importance of not being too
Starting point is 00:14:06 married to a system and being flexible. Wink Martindale, I can honestly say just about every week this season, we have seen a different and a noticeable difference in the defense that he has run. For example, everybody thinks of Wink Martindale and they think, okay, he's going to blitz the heck out of the quarterback. Last week in the wildcard game, I think he blitzed somewhere around the 20% mark. So not anywhere near like the 50 plus that he has done all season. He adapts to the opponent. He's also, you know, he's not afraid to be who he is,
Starting point is 00:14:43 but he's also not going to live and die by the Blitz, which some defensive coordinators have been known to do. So he's a little bit more of an outgoing personality than Mike Kafka is. His players absolutely love him. And, you know, the good thing about Wink Martindale that I think the players really appreciate. And, you know, you don't hear this very often, I don't think, but there are coaches in the league who have never played the game before. They just, you know, started coaching and they rose to the ranks, college, NFL, and so forth. Wink Martindale actually counts on his players who are there on the front line to tell him, what are you guys seeing? What
Starting point is 00:15:26 are you feeling? What do you think we should do? Should we run the nickel package here or should we blitz here? What do you guys think? And you know what? His players love that because he gives them a sense of ownership. And once they make a decision, they're like, okay, we told coach that we want to do this. Now it's up to us to make it happen. Because if we don't make it happen, coach is never going to trust us again to give input. And I think that that serves as a motivation for his players. I mean, they, they love him. He's, he's a great quote, unlike Kafka, who, you know, smart guy, but not the best quote. Martindale's a great quote. He's very, you know, he's not afraid to mince words. You know, he's really, really good. And the players
Starting point is 00:16:14 love him. And they love the fact that he plays what he calls a positionless defense. So, you know, you might be listed as a linebacker on, you know, the depth chart, but you might be listed as a linebacker on you know the depth chart but you might be asked to play slot you might be asked to play safety you might be asked to play down with your hand in the dirt he just puts so much on everybody's plate and they love it because you know what do they say variety is the spice of life and wink does that with his guys and they love it and they take advantage of it and they've had success you know utilizing different um different skill sets and different roles on different weeks yeah so i'm a big defensive nerd i just love watching and talking about defensive football and one thing that i think was one of the biggest and just best storylines was dexter lawrence's breakout this. He went from a very good young
Starting point is 00:17:05 player, very, very good young player to all pro caliber. Like this is one of the best defensive tackles in the entire league. What about Wings defense kind of led to this? I mean, just phenomenal, phenomenal season from Dexter Lawrence. Playing him in the right spot, I think helped a lot. Dexter Lawrence, most of his snaps prior to this year, he lined up at defensive end. And, you know, he was good. He wasn't, you know, I'm not saying he wasn't bad, but we kept saying over at Giants Country,
Starting point is 00:17:37 why don't they try him at nose guard? See what he can do. He's a big guy. He's a load. I mean, he requires a double team, you know, and, and, and he's so athletic. It's so fast. I mean, we've seen him run, chase down quarterbacks late, like, you know, there's no tomorrow. Well, Wink Martindale came in and realized that he said, you know what,
Starting point is 00:17:57 let's try this guy at the nose guard and let's see what he can do. And what has he done? He's had a career year. He led the team in sacks and quarterback hits. He's become the every down player that they thought they were or hoped they were getting when they drafted him 17th overall in 2019. And moreover, they built the confidence up in him because, you know, after a while, when you get stuck into a shoebox and you're like, okay, well, my role is A, B, C, and D, but I feel I could do, you know, X, Y, and Z, but coach really isn't letting me, that can take a toll on a guy. But when the coach comes in and says, okay, we're going to open up the entire alphabet, you're going to do everything. And we're going to throw out what you don't do well, or what you don't feel
Starting point is 00:18:40 comfortable doing and keep what you feel comfortable doing, that makes a huge difference in the player's confidence and subsequently their play. Now, one big thing we've heard from some people in talking about these, you know, head coaching prospects, sometimes guys can be good coordinators, but not necessarily make that jump to head coach or vice versa, really. But delegation is a big thing. You know, making sure you yourself don't take on too much and just trusting your staff. And it sounds like from what you described with his relationship with the players, that might be his style.
Starting point is 00:19:20 What are some attributes you think Wink could be a good head coach and not just a coordinator? He wears his emotions on his sleeve. You always know what Wink's thinking. It's not, you know, you don't look at him and say, okay, is he in a good mood? Is he in a bad mood? How should I approach him? He wears it on his sleeve.
Starting point is 00:19:41 He's like a father figure to a lot of those guys you know very very i see a lot of hugging i see a lot of you know pats on the back attaboys um it reminds me of a you know of a father with his sons his young you know his young adult sons just kind of you know cheering them on encouraging them and whatnot whereas kafka you know does the thing, but he's more like an older brother. We're a little bit different, I think, if you know what I mean. Wink is also, he's blunt. He doesn't give you a runabout line. He'll tell it the way it is.
Starting point is 00:20:22 He's funny. He's actually come up with some some real good one liners. And he's just, you know, a very good defensive line. I don't think he gets a lot of credit. I think sometimes, you know, it's interesting. He interviewed for the Giants head coaching job a couple of cycles ago when they hired Joe Judge instead. And I think one of the things with with Wink is people were like, well, you know, Buddy Ryan, you know, the Ryan brothers, you know, Baltimore, a little gruff around the edges.
Starting point is 00:20:53 How's he actually going to be? And I remember one player telling me that Wink's just like a big old teddy bear. You know, he might be gruff on the outside, but, outside, but inside when it comes to his players, like I said, that father figure. And I think they appreciate that. They appreciate him being honest and open with them and giving them a sense of ownership. So a lot of good qualities for Wink Martindale. And I'm frankly surprised more teams haven't expressed an interest in him because I think he'd make a wonderful head coach. I know he wants to be a head coach. But, you know, he also said this week that he didn't come to the Giants as a stepping stone, that, you know, he's perfectly happy in New York if, you know, he's going to stay there. But,
Starting point is 00:21:37 you know, look, going to have that opportunity to interview. Why wouldn't you take it? Right. Right. Well, thank you, Patricia, for jumping on and talking about Wink Martindale. I know that's a guy that, you know, a lot of Colts fans are seeing the shiny new toys. They're seeing the Shane Steikens and the Ben Johnsons and just being like, ooh, yes, I want that. But it is important to know that, you know, Wink Martindale is a good candidate as well and someone fully qualified for the job. And I think you did a great job of illuminating that for us. So thank you for joining today, Patricia. Good luck this weekend with the playoffs. And hopefully we're rooting for the Giants as they keep moving through this playoff hunt here. Fingers crossed. It's going to be a bloodbath out in Philadelphia, buddy. It's going to be a lot of fun. Yep. You have a good one, Patricia.
Starting point is 00:22:18 Thank you, guys. Thanks. Yep. And up next, guys, we're going to talk about Kafka and Martindale and how they would fit with the Colts and kind of where they fall in this coaching carousel for us. But first, let's talk about Bilt Bars. If you're looking for something delicious, but don't want all the fat and calories, then you've got to try a Bilt Bar. What makes Bilt Bars so good is they're covered in 100% real chocolate. That's right. Real chocolate. I'm not sure how Bilt built does it but these bars taste like a candy bar while maintaining amazing macros and what's even better is they are healthy only
Starting point is 00:22:50 130 calories and four grams of sugar and a whopping 17 gram protein if you're close to a mart or sam's just run in and grab a box with hit flavors like brownie batter or churro you can thank me later all right jake so jumping into talking about these two guys as candidates as i if for the people watching on youtube as i fix the backgrounds here and make it a little more clean for us um that's showbiz baby that's showbiz baby but yeah no kafka i think obviously is a guy who's going to rank very very high for everyone um you know you're talking about his experience and where he's worked, you know, under Brian Dable,
Starting point is 00:23:27 under Andy Reid. He played under Andy Reid too. Like he was drafted by Andy Reid. I think a lot of people are going to look at that and be like, yes, that is what I want. I want that type of guy because that has been the success lately in the NFL. But Martindale, I think, falls into that same category
Starting point is 00:23:43 with these other defensive coaches that the Colts have talked to where, you know, D'Amico Ryans, we all love that energy. We love what he could do with the defense. We love how innovative he is. You know, Raheem Morris, we love his experience and his energy and what he can do with the defense and his experience also coaching on offense. And then you throw in Wink Martindale to that too. Again, another energetic guy, a guy who can be multiple, a guy who can change from week to week and has had a lot of success from different stops. I really do think again, and I said this yesterday
Starting point is 00:24:11 on Shane Steichen's podcast episode, I think the young coach is the way to go, but the Colts have a lot of variety of options here and they have a lot of different types that they could pick from. And I don't really know if there's a wrong way. Well, okay, there's one wrong way they could go, but outside of that one wrong way, I don't if there's a wrong way. Well, okay, there's one wrong way they could go. But outside of that one wrong way,
Starting point is 00:24:27 I don't think there's another wrong way they could go with this head coaching search. Just a quick side note, if he does become the head coach Saturday, I might just let you go all for an hour on that episode. I don't know if you're into these tangents, expecting to say stuff like that. I just catch myself like, Oh wait, wait,
Starting point is 00:24:49 there's one wrong option. But no, I think Martindale was a guy who was, who's probably still going to be pretty low on my wishlist, but talking with Patricia. And then obviously again, I'm a big defensive nerd. I love defensive football.
Starting point is 00:25:01 Just studying Wink Martindale over the years and seeing how he blitzes and how multiple his defenses are, I get excited about that stuff. It's a very fun defensive game that he plays. And when you hear about his relationship with players, you hear about how he's a fiery teddy bear. That's something that endears itself to a locker room that kind of needs a little bit of that. So I would not hate Wink Martindale as the head coach,
Starting point is 00:25:24 even though i prefer a handful of candidates over him yeah i'm right there with you it's just because a guy's older doesn't mean he doesn't have that young energy and the forward thinking approach to football and so far it really seems like uh his cup of tea um i do i do think it'd probably be a little tough sell for the fan base just because a lot of them don't know who that is and they might immediately associate him with a Chuck Pagano type. But again, I wouldn't hate it. I think it would be, they could do worse, honestly. They could. Yeah. Being around the league for for as for as long i think he would probably get a pretty good uh group of candidates to go with him he obviously would need a strong
Starting point is 00:26:12 offensive coordinator hopefully young guy to pair with this new quarterback uh but defensively i don't have any any concerns there uh mike kofka obviously is probably a little more intriguing um you know you were talking about you know listeners you know saying he's under the Andy Reid tree and and this and that and under Brian Dable. Yeah, that that kinda that kinda gets me salivating a little bit as well when it comes to who the next head coach will be. Just I I just it's been when was the last time if ever they've had a young forward-thinking
Starting point is 00:26:44 offensive mind in there i mean nothing it's frank reich he's plenty innovative in his own way but they just haven't had that younger nick sirianni type or like any of these guys around the league lately who have been hitting with with a lot of success and kafka gives them a chance for that i think right right and i think that's the biggest thing in this cycle is, look, when we're talking about this next head coach hire, that is important, right? Obviously, nailing this head coach hire is important.
Starting point is 00:27:12 But the most important thing in the next couple of years for the Colts or by the end of this draft, because we know what's going to happen, is what happens with that young quarterback that they take. You know, Will Levis, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson, maybe Bryce Young, you know, whoever Levis, CJ Stroud, Anthony Richardson, maybe Bryce Young, you know, whoever it could be, you know, like it's insanely important that that quarterback is their guy, you know, is the guy going forward. And what's the best way to maximize that and keep consistency with that quarterback? It's the offensive head coach, because you could hire a Wink Martindale
Starting point is 00:27:42 or Raheem Morris or a Aaron Glenn or morris or a uh aaron glenn or whoever right like guys who would probably be good head coaches but the thing is if it could be it could go the same way that and quinn era went in atlanta you know they could bring this amazing offensive staff kyle shanahan um michael for or matt lafleur whoever it was uh and mike mcdaniel you can have like great offensive staff, but the second that they start getting hired for other roles, you're stuck with that defensive coach where if he's not nailing that next coordinator hire, then you could get stuck with regression
Starting point is 00:28:14 on offense and that young quarterback regressing down to the mean or having some bad years. We're kind of seeing that with the Chargers as well, with Justin Herbert where Justin Herbert's having to change offensive coordinators every single year. And even though he's still being productive, that team is kind of swaying a lot, swaying if they're going to be productive or not every single season. So, yeah, I mean, just as important as nailing this quarterback pick is nailing that head coach higher with that quarterback.
Starting point is 00:28:43 And being offensive-minded is the best way to do that because you'll give that quarterback some consistency. Even if he loses coordinators, you still have that stable presence of the offensive coach to help that young quarterback. So, yes, I do think the right way is to go offensive coach. I like a lot of these defensive candidates, but offensive coach is probably the way to go. And Kafka falls in that.
Starting point is 00:29:04 Shane Steichen falls in that there's a lot of interesting names on that side of the ball I'm glad you mentioned that because I haven't even really thought about that just you know by hiring a younger guy like that you're giving long-term stability and a foundation for that quarterback for a while so that's honestly really important and honestly I hope it's I hope it's something that Chris Ballard and, and anyone making the decision over there is, is considering as well. But I mean, we'll, we'll see how quickly these guys become available after this weekend when they face the Eagles. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I like both these guys. I'd be okay with either again, the Colts. I think their, their search now is up to 13 candidates or 12 candidates.
Starting point is 00:29:45 There's really only one wrong option. So like, it's cool if you go any of these other options. I don't really mind any of these others. I could talk myself into any of these other options. Yeah, there's only one wrong option. So I really feel like we have a good percentage chance of this going well for us, hopefully. But it's a numbers game. Yeah, you guys will be tuning in each week to, to hear about it.
Starting point is 00:30:06 If, if it doesn't, you know, if it goes that one wrong way, but yeah, make sure you guys are following us on locked on Colts at Jake Arthur, NFL at Zach kicks too on Twitter. Also subscribe to locked on Colts podcast on YouTube, wherever you get your podcast. We love your guys ratings and reviews. I know we're turning these, these episodes out on a crazy rate right now. So make sure you guys keep jumping on and,
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