Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts MUST Lean on Jonathan Taylor, Michael Pittman Jr. During Playoff Push

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Colts offense doesn't need to reinvent the wheel in this playoff push. They just need to rely on a pair of their stars. 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. Hello! Thanks for tuning in and joining us today. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts,

Starting point is 00:00:40 part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And today's show is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. What's up, everybody? This is Jake Arthur and Zach Hicks from thehorseshoehuddle.com. And today we're going to talk to you a little bit about just the Colts riding this three game high and you got six games left. What needs to happen in order for them to survive and kind of take advantage of this somewhat weak schedule, dare I say, in order to,

Starting point is 00:01:18 I guess, secure a playoff spot because they're kind of sitting in it right now. So first up, we're going to kind of dive into the offense. What do they need to do overall? Defensively, it's not exactly a murderer's row of quarterbacks that they still have to face. Really the toughest one that they have to face still is the likely offensive rookie of the year. And then last, in light of Frank Reich being dismissed again

Starting point is 00:01:44 by the Carolina Panthers. We're going to show some Shane Steichen appreciation, but up first, Zach, we're looking into this offense. You know, it's been generally fine at times. The quarterback play has kind of been lumpy occasionally, which has kind of caused some issues to come up, but generally it's been fine as long as they take care of the ball. You're looking at this here, the defenses they're facing, it's not crazy. They have Tennessee, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Houston coming up. There's reasons to be wary of each unit, but overall they're not facing any killers. So when you look at this and you study the offense, what do you think they need to do

Starting point is 00:02:25 to just do enough and tread water to actually punch their ticket to the playoffs? Yeah, I think a lot of it is looking at what the Colts just did this past game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where, yes, there were some things that the Colts would want to take back on offense. The third down percentage was not good in this past game. You want much better than what they did on third down but for the most part if you look at how this offensive game plan went it went all according to schedule it went really well I mean they were able to have a really high success rate they were able to get into third and manageable quite a bit

Starting point is 00:02:58 and even when they weren't converting on third down they were getting into fourth and shorts and and converting on those fourth down tries I, they converted three or four fourth down tries for a couple of chunk plays as well in this past game. And overall, I think when you look at the quarterback play of this past game compared to the two previous games against the Panthers and the Patriots, this is more of what you want from Gardner Minshew if you're going to be a playoff push type of team. Again, I don't think this is the type of team that can really push it to the Super Bowl or anything like that, or push it to the deeper end of the playoffs because they just don't have that high level quarterback play. But you can survive this last stretch with Gardner Minshew if you're getting what he did this past weekend. The two throws, yes, the two awful

Starting point is 00:03:38 turnover worthy throws, really bad. Yes, the one interception and then the one that should have been interception that Alec Pierce luckily broke up towards the end of the first half. You can't have those. Those are horrible plays. But aside from that, I do think Gardner Minshew played one of his better games of the season just because this offense was operational. Again, they're able to keep the ball moving. They're able to get into prime position to get points. And even though the offense was a little conservative at times, and he took a little bit, you know, there were a couple of third downs and fourth downs where he threw the ball a little short of the sticks, where you'd want to maybe attack a little bit more down the field.

Starting point is 00:04:09 It was still an operational offense. It was a high success rate offense that was able to get into scoring position multiple times. I think if the Colts are really going to have are going to be able to compete with these teams down the stretch, are going to have a chance to make the playoffs. They need that version of Gardner Minshew. There's still a lot of issues. Don't get me wrong. Like I'm not here saying Gardner Minshew is fixed all of a sudden, like he's all of a sudden their franchise quarterback or anything for the rest of the year. But what we really just need from him is operational is perfectly fine, operational mid-level quarterback play. And that's what he

Starting point is 00:04:42 gave the Colts on Sunday. And if he can give that these last couple of weeks against, like you said, a lot of backup caliber quarterbacks that the Colts are facing with their defense playing much better football now, you know, they can win these games, but they just need that Gardner Minshew. They can't have the Gardner Minshew of the Jacksonville Jaguars game. They can't have the Gardner Minshew of the Panthers or the Patriots games. Like, yes, you can beat the Panthers and the Patriots with that type of Gardner Minshew performance, but you're not going to beat maybe even Tennessee with that type of Gardner Minshew performance. You're definitely not beating Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Atlanta,

Starting point is 00:05:14 maybe even Vegas, and definitely not Houston with that kind of Gardner Minshew performance. So they just need what we saw from Minshew this past weekend to just steady the ship and play well play fast up tempo really good on the RPOs get the ball out quick get into third and manageable and hopefully convert more of those third downs going forward they can win games with that kind of process their own offense going forward yeah I think it's all about taking care of the ball and honestly I kind of I kind of discount, the interception a little bit

Starting point is 00:05:45 thrown the actual interception. Cause to me, it just looked like a miscommunication, right? Like downs was supposed to keep running out and, you know, he just sat on it and they just weren't on the same page, which you hope stuff like that. It's now going to be week 13, that kind of stuff gets cleaned up. Um, but still, I didn't think it was just some, we've seen him make much worse throws, I think, throughout the season. But I agree. I think like generally, as long as he takes care of the ball, the rest of the stuff is fine. He's going to probably do some wacky stuff when it comes to feeling pressure or what he senses as pressure. But I still think what they did, especially yesterday, they got some things like some slants.

Starting point is 00:06:25 They still did their shorter stuff, but it gave pass catchers an opportunity to run after the catch. I think that's still a way to move the ball because we all know it's not going to be the vertical offense that everyone desires. It's just not. There will be some occasional shots, and there's going to be some ways to pick up chunk completions still, but in general, it's going to be a chain moving type of thing. So rhythmically, I, you know, they, I think they can do it. We see how they kind of function early in games when it's scripted. Uh, I think that's fine and it works generally well. Uh, but I'm, I'm totally with you. Like they don't need him to be anything crazy or anything really beyond what he was yesterday. Just maybe clean up some areas, maybe chill out a little bit when it comes

Starting point is 00:07:14 to the pressure. But no, I think they can win these easier contests with yesterday's Baker. Now you're going to go into the postseason and Baker. I said it again, guys, I have a real problem associating Gardner Minshew and Baker Mayfield as the same exact person in my mind. I acknowledge they're different quarterbacks, but in my head,

Starting point is 00:07:35 they're the same person. But now like, I think they can get by through this slate with that version of Gardner. I mean, in the playoffs, if they make it, it's going to be a whole different beast, but I think they'll be fine.

Starting point is 00:07:50 Yeah, I think the biggest thing though, aside from Gardner just being this version of Gardner going forward is leaning on your star players. Like, don't get me wrong. I could go into detail about this Colts offense being, okay, against these certain teams, I need to attack this type of coverage this way. Then you talk more RPOs, more empty, stuff like that.

Starting point is 00:08:06 Like I could go into great schematic detail, but to keep things as simple as possible for the podcast here, they need to lean on Michael Pittman Jr. They need to lean on Jonathan Taylor like they did yesterday. When the going got tough in yesterday's game, when they needed a conversion on third down or they needed a big play, they went to their two star players. That's what those two players are.

Starting point is 00:08:25 And at the end of the day, this is a star player league. You need to go to your stars and rely on your stars to get wins. And that's what the Colts were able to do on Sunday. I mean, they leaned on Jonathan Taylor in that second half to run that game away and put the game in the bag. And then with Michael Pittman Jr. in the first half, he was their chunk player. He was their player who got them into position to score those points early in the game, gave them a little bit of a cushion. I don't think every game is going to go necessarily that

Starting point is 00:08:47 exact same way, but those are two players that the Colts need to just, they need to be worked into every aspect of the scheme. Like, don't get me wrong. The Colts have really good auxiliary players in Zach Moss, in Josh Downs, in Alec Pierce, and the couple tight end plays that they get for whoever's playing tight end for the Colts. They have the auxiliary players who can make some things happen. But at the end of the day, when the Colts need conversions, when they need things to get done, those are the two guys they need to lean on. I don't care if it's first half, second half, whatever it is, the Colts need to continue to lean on Jonathan Taylor and Michael Pittman Jr. Both should be pretty fresh here for this last stretch coming off that bye week. Obviously,

Starting point is 00:09:23 Taylor had the first couple of weeks out of the season too, so he should be really fresh at this point in the year. But I think this is the prime push where your star players need to step up. The Colts have two stars on offense. Again, they don't have the perfect offense by any means, but this is where you really lean on those star players, get them in space, let them do their thing, and lean on them as heavy as possible to get you into the playoffs. You just said it. The biggest key with Taylor is he is fresh. And we've seen him throughout his career with the exception of last year. He tends to get better as the season goes. And about midway through is when he really hits that stride. And how violently Pittman is playing the receiver position right now and fighting for everything. I love it. I think he absolutely has

Starting point is 00:10:04 got to be the backbone of the passing game. Whatever the passing game is for them, he's got to be the primary source of it. So I totally agree. So coming up here in a second, we're going to look at the defense. I guess Bradley's kind of changed up things a little bit and how that might work in these final six games. All right, everyone, buying tickets to your favorite events should not be stressful. That kind of takes away a lot of the fun and makes it more angsty to even go to these things in the first place. But that's why Game Time is here. And they are the fast and easy way to buy tickets for all of the sports, music, whatever event you want to go to.

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Starting point is 00:12:39 Now guys, we're jumping back into the conversation. We talked about the Colts offense and segment one. Now we're diving into this Colts defense. And you guys know that this has been a little bit of a passion project for me these last couple of weeks. I've, I've actually like gone back and like charted every single defensive snap the

Starting point is 00:12:53 last two weeks. And then obviously I'm going to do it for this week as well against the Tampa Buccaneers. But I mean, in those two weeks that I did chart before this most, most recent game against the Buccaneers, I was seeing so much quarters coverage, so much cover seven, so much cover six. Like this is not a Gus Bradley defense.

Starting point is 00:13:10 Like don't get me wrong. Those wrinkles have always been in Gus Bradley's back pocket. But now it's becoming like the forefront. Now it's going to his front pocket. You know, he's moving it up to his front pockets in the important area of his pockets right now in that front pocket of his jeans when it comes to that quarters coverage because that's the Colts based defense these last couple weeks and I really wanted to use this last game against the Buccaneers as more of a litmus test on if the Colts were going to continue being I mean you guys heard the broadcasters all

Starting point is 00:13:39 game long being like oh yeah Gus Bradley likes to sit in his same defense that's what Baker Mayfield was telling us the other day and I was like well if they're thinking it's going to be cover three, that's not what the Colts have been doing the last couple of weeks. And sure enough, I mean, again, I need to go back and chart every single snap that just happened in this game. But by my count, just from my eyes watching the game, I mean, I at least saw quarters coverage on a majority of the snaps in that, or at least a too high look on majority of the snaps in this past game.

Starting point is 00:14:05 Maybe the Colts are a quarters coverage team. Maybe Gus Bradley has finally transitioned into the new era of football where he's moving away from the cover three and moving into quarters and too high looks. And, you know, we're kind of seeing the Colts defense reap the rewards of this. I mean, in the last three games, the Colts have only allowed two completions of 20 plus air yards in those three games. And given not great passing offenses, but the Buccaneers were very explosive passing offense. Again, we heard the commentators all game long.

Starting point is 00:14:33 If you guys watch it with the audio, they're saying that, oh, this Buccaneers offense has been so explosive this year. Why they only have like two pass temps past 10 yards in this game. It's because the Colts are sitting back. They're letting these opposing offenses get everything underneath and they're coming up and attacking the ball. And we're seeing the Colts reap the rewards of that on defense. So again, Jake, on this show, we talked about it, what, a month ago, I guess it's a month ago now at this point, because you count the bye week, how we really thought this Colts defense might be broken

Starting point is 00:15:00 after that Saints game. I was so down in the dumps on this Colts defense after that Saints game, because how do you come back from that? After what Derek Carr did to them in that game, how do you come back from that? And since then, we've seen a very different defensive scheme. We've seen a very different defensive approach, and we've seen very, very different defensive success. So I've been really impressed with Gus Bradley and this Colts defense the last three weeks given bad offenses, but still I'm taking all the results I can get here in the NFL. Yeah. And I mean, we kind of said this yesterday after the game that bad, bad offenses, yes, with Carolina and New England, but yesterday was more of, or Sunday

Starting point is 00:15:40 was more of a litmus test because you do have that Baker connection with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Like it's a legit offense, even Rashad white. That's a lot of underneath stuff too. But like you have multiple layers of the offense that are having success, especially in the passing game there. But no, I mean,

Starting point is 00:15:58 they have ratcheted up things and clean it up a bit, not allowing as many big plays. And when they are there, it seems just due to a lack of execution. Like the guys are there. You can see the plan is there, but the players just, you know, have miscommunicated, not knowing, you know, switching coverages or just being off, you know, not being in the right place at the right time. Which is going to happen when you have a seventh round rookie corner.

Starting point is 00:16:24 And then on the other side, you have a guy starting his, what, sixth game of his career. And then at safety, I mean, you're super experienced safeties. One has started maybe, what, 20 games in his career. The other one is getting close to 20 at this point. Like, it's a young secondary. So you're going to have the coverage miscues. But scheme-wise, they're shutting down a lot of these downfield shots.

Starting point is 00:16:45 Exactly. It doesn't feel like a Gus Bradley problem. It feels like a growing pains with your young secondary, which you can live with, which we all knew was coming. And, you know, as a result, coverage and pressure always work hand in hand. And we're seeing a lot more sacks lately, too. I mean, look at everyone on the line. Yes, the run game is kind of suffering

Starting point is 00:17:06 without Grover Stewart, but everyone is getting in on the action and putting pressure on the quarterback. Pretty much everybody except for maybe Taven Bryant and Eric Johnson are getting half sacks every game, getting tackles for loss. Everyone is kind of feasting and I think a good portion of it has to be to the benefit of what is happening in the secondary yeah yeah the Colts are sitting back again this quarters coverage this cover too so they're kind of doing a lot of Matt Eberflus things but with more aggressive matching styles so it's it's kind of like the best of what Eberflus brought the Colts where you're going to let everything stay in front of you while also combining the best of what Gus Bradley brings, which is that matching scheme and

Starting point is 00:17:46 aggressive front four getting after the quarterback. So as a result, the last three games. So over the course of this past month, the Colts have 17 sacks on defense and six turnovers. Obviously two of those turnovers went for touchdowns with two pick sixes from Kenny Moore. So yeah, we're seeing a really great evolution from this Colts defense and it really kind of segues to this next important topic where what's this defense going to look like when you get Juju Brents back and you get Grover Stewart back? Because we're not just talking about two important players. We're talking about two of the most vital players on this defense.

Starting point is 00:18:16 Like the way the Colts defense has been getting gashed the last couple of weeks is in the run game. So getting Grover Stewart back is a massive, massive, massive boost. Like we can't understate how big of a boost this is getting Grover Stewart back is a massive massive massive boost like we can't understate how big of a boost this is getting Grover Stewart back when he comes back after this Titans game and then Juju Brents whenever he's able to return from his injury I mean Juju Brents is made for quarters coverage I mean he came from Iowa his first couple years in college Iowa is known as the quarters coverage team in college football they play a lot of that quarter

Starting point is 00:18:43 stuff goes to Kansas State gets a little more press in his bag, but he's still a quarters guy. So getting him into this type of scheme with his zone eyes and his presence and just his ability to play on the back end, I really think this Colts defense can hit their stride here starting in that Cincinnati game if they get both these players back by that time that game starts. Yeah, and they're going to need it because, again,

Starting point is 00:19:05 you're facing rough QB play in these last six weeks or whatever, but come playoff time, if you are fortunate enough to make the playoffs, obviously things are going to go to another level. And what's working now is just not going to be January football. It's not going to translate to January football necessarily against these much better teams. So, yeah, it's going to be important to be able to reintegrate these critical pieces, almost like your offense is doing well,

Starting point is 00:19:35 but then you get a big boost when you introduce Jonathan Taylor back into it, for example. So it's really good to have the bye at this point, and then in two weeks you get Grover Stewart back. I don't i mean juju burns has to start practicing again but like right there's he hasn't been on ir there's an expectation that he'll be back sooner rather than later so i i agree like gus can only do with his defense what players and talent he has his disposal allows him to. And you're about to get an injection of two really talented players who, again, like you said,

Starting point is 00:20:10 really vital to what they want to do. Right. I mean, considering, again, the last couple of weeks, they've allowed 13 points, six points, and then 20 points to a better offense with guys like Eric Johnson, Taven, Brian, Daryl Baker Jr. getting a lot of snaps on defense, getting a ton of snaps on defense. What's that going to look like when you get Grover Stewart and Juju Brents out there? I think it's going to look much better. And I'm optimistic about this Colts defense going into this playoff push,

Starting point is 00:20:33 as long as they get Grover and Juju Brents back. I still think there are some issues there if they don't, but I think they can survive even without them. Like, I do think this defense is playing some good football right now. But coming up, we're going to transition to another coach on the Colts roster. We're going to talk about Shane Steichen and how much we appreciate everything he's been able to do this year with the Indianapolis Colts. But first, as the weather gets colder, the NFL offers stay hot on FanDuel. Right now, new customers get $150 back in bonus bets with any winning a $5 Moneyline bet. That's $150 if your team wins.

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Starting point is 00:21:22 Go to Jake. Jake is fantastic with this stuff. He wins a lot of money on sites like FanDuel. So yeah, definitely go to Jake and go to all your fantasy experts that are not named Zach Hicks for all your advice when it comes to FanDuel. But if you just trust yourself, visit FanDuel.com and kick off the NFL season. FanDuel, official partner of the NFL. All right, Jake. so I'm really glad you wanted to have this whole conversation here about Shane Steichen at the end of the show, because you guys know me. I'm a big Shane Steichen fan. I've been a huge Shane Steichen fan for a little over a year now.

Starting point is 00:21:55 And you guys know I was doing jumping jacks and all other kind of aerobic exercises when the Colts hired him to be their head coach. That was the next king right here. Yeah, yeah. I was doing yoga. I was doing all this. I don't know. Whatever exciting dances people do, I was doing all of them for the Shane Steichenheier. But I think the results so far this season, if you told me where the Colts would be at

Starting point is 00:22:16 right now after only having, what, two-ish games of Anthony Richardson, if you told me they'd be in the playoff picture at this point in the season with that background of Anthony Richardson only playing two-ish games and missing Grover Stewart for most of the season and missing all these other guys, like I would call you crazy. I mean, my most optimistic prediction

Starting point is 00:22:36 before the season was maybe seven, eight wins. And now we're looking at a very feasible route to 10 wins. Like I'm not saying it's super likely because again, you still need to win these games, but the way the Colts are playing right now, the way that they're coached right now, 10 wins is not out the window for a team that lost their starting quarterback

Starting point is 00:22:54 super early in the season for the whole year. So I think that just speaks to how good this coaching staff is and how good this hire of Shane Steichen was. Yeah, no, Shane is starting to get some, a little bit of buzz for coach of the year as well. I haven't read it yet. It's on my reading list, but I saw over si.com,

Starting point is 00:23:12 Connor or had something, I think it was called like how, how to talk to your friends about Shane Steichen's coach of the year candidacy or something like that. But no, it's out there. Like you said, there's been a lot thrown at him. They're six and five now again they're explosive rookie exciting quarterback who is supposed to lead the team lost early in the year the starting five offensive line has played together in what like four games like they've they've had to patchwork the offensive line and

Starting point is 00:23:40 it's looked great the whole time because after all the coaches he brings along with him goes into this that goes to his credit as well right it's been a nice coaching staff uh the tight end group which was supposed to be huge this year Jelani Woods has not played yet Drew Ogletree who is like your next explosive guy has missed a lot of time Jonathan Taylor missed the first chunk there basically there's nothing has gone to plan, essentially. And they're 6-5, staring 8-9 wins in the face. Like you said, could be 10. They just have to win 4 of these last 6. I love it. These guys have bought in. And kind of what spurred this whole thing is obviously the whole NFL world knows now that Frank

Starting point is 00:24:23 Reich was let go by the Panthers. Really rough start in Carolina, obviously. I'm sure a lot of people probably don't agree with it. It's a results business, and there haven't been results, but pretty early to pull the plug. But, you know, this just gives us, you know, ammo to be very appreciative of what the Colts now have in Shane Steichen. And another thing that spurred this was Taequann Lewis spoke Monday, and he mentioned when we were in there on the Zoom call, Shane Steichen is a player that these players really want to play for. He brings accountability. He backs up everything. He says, you know, he has those four big pillars

Starting point is 00:25:05 that he's mentioned several times and he lives it. It's in the locker room. He, he preaches it. And basically, you know, type one said he, he thinks Shane can get them to the promise language in the NFL means a Superbowl win, obviously. So this team has bought in, they're seeing results and accountability and he's walking walking you know talking the talk walking the walk and his players really appreciate him and we are seeing results from Shane Syken yeah and I just really respect a coach that is aggressive like him like who's aggressive and confident in his aggressiveness like yes he he still feels a lot of things out like he does the fake punt thing a lot and tries to get the one one of these days he's finally going to get too many men on the

Starting point is 00:25:48 field on the other side but we'll we'll see if he ever gets somebody he wants offsides and encroachment so bad and those fourth and shorts too he wants it does i mean it's it's worth it honestly it's really worth like what's the difference in punting on fourth and inches compared to punting on fourth and five you know if say you have a two percent chance of getting a first down out of it it's worth it you know like whatever uh so i love that but just the aggressiveness and the confidence in general and that's really why the colts won this past game they had they have a coach that has no fear whatsoever i mean again the no fear to call that play the colts did to really ice this game, that Moelle Cox catch for 30 yards up the seam on his own side of the field, fourth and inches, you have Jonathan Taylor out there.

Starting point is 00:26:29 Everyone thinks you're running it. You have, I mean, it's so much easier to call the run. It's so much easier to call the run and just say, hey, if we get stuffed, I put the ball in my best player's hands. I ran it behind Quentin Nelson, our highest paid player. Like I did all the right things. We just didn't execute. It's so much easier to have that if you don't get it, but you're opening yourself up to so much criticism if you don't get that guard up and shoot completion. You know, like imagine, imagine someone runs with Marley Cox

Starting point is 00:26:56 and that's knocked away. Imagine the conversations we're having right now about that call. I mean, it goes down as a horrendous call, but to have that confidence and that aggression and just just all those things in one is what makes such a young excite like such a young coach so exciting and we again we have to remember he's coaching with with his dominant hand tied behind his back this season like again i don't want to trash on gardner minchu every single

Starting point is 00:27:22 episode but this offense is not made for Gardner Minshew. The offense is made for the explosive young rookie they just drafted in Anthony Richardson. His offense was supposed to go off with Anthony Richardson. It's not a Gardner Minshew offense, but he's had to adjust on the fly. He's had to, you know, put more empty personnel in, put more RPO stuff in, put more quick hitter stuff and really eliminate his entire downfield passing

Starting point is 00:27:44 game because that's just not what Gardner Minshew is. And the Colts are still winning games. Like given they're not beating the greatest teams in the world, but they still beat the Baltimore Ravens. They still beat the Houston Texans. Those are two good football teams that the Colts went out there and beat this season. And they still have a chance to beat the Texans again late this year as well. So it's like, I think this is just a really well coacheded team I think this is a coach that knows what he's doing and even though he's still figuring a lot of

Starting point is 00:28:09 things out as being a head coach in this league the Colts are winning games regardless while he's still doing all these things so I'm really high on Shane Steichen I think that's the number one thing we can take away from this season regardless even though the Colts only win another game or two the rest of the season I mean that would be a major letdown if they only won like a game or two the rest of the year but yeah in the disaster scenario where they only win like game or two the rest of the season. I mean, that would be a major letdown if they only won like a game or two the rest of the year. But in the disaster scenario where they only win like eight games this year, I mean, that's such a promising start

Starting point is 00:28:32 to a young coach who took over a four-win team and lost his starting quarterback early in the year to take them to even eight wins. I think that would just be a fantastic start to the Shane Steichen era here in Indianapolis. So Shane Steichen has like just era here in Indianapolis. So Shane Steichen has been like the most like stock up this entire season from any Indianapolis Colts player or personnel this entire year. He has just been fantastic. And I have no doubt in my mind that

Starting point is 00:28:56 Shane Steichen is the guy for this job. Totally agree. I mean, after all the groundwork that has been laid, I'm really looking forward and I don't want to skip ahead, but I'm really looking forward to see what they do next offseason with an early draft pick that they don't have to focus on building a new offense. They have their quarterback. They have some nice pieces. Free agency, they don't usually do a lot with that money, but now they can really integrate some things into Shane's offense with whatever money they're willing to spend.

Starting point is 00:29:26 So, again, arrow is up. I'm really excited to see what comes next year. But this year ain't done. Six more opportunities to do something. And, honestly, the playoffs don't seem far-fetched at this point. And I don't even want to say they seem likely because they do have six more games to play. But these are six winnable games.

Starting point is 00:29:48 They could win any of these six. And so there's a good chance this team makes the playoffs. And was anyone expecting that? The Colts were 26 or worse in most power rankings leading into the season. So, shoot. I mean, Shane Steichen's coach of the year candidacy is legit. Like I think people are realizing like he's got this team really bought in and they're,

Starting point is 00:30:13 they're a decent team. They may not win every week, but they're competitive. Yep. Yep. If you guys are like us, leave a comment below talking about how much you love Shane Steichen. And if you don't already make sure you're following us at locked on

Starting point is 00:30:23 Colts at Jake Arthur NFL and at Zach kicks to all on X. Also if you don't already, make sure you're following us at LockedOnColts, at JakeArthurNFL, and at ZachHicks2, all on X. Also subscribe to us on YouTube, wherever you list your podcasts. We'd love your guys' ratings, reviews, and we'll see you guys back here bright and early tomorrow morning.

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