Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Offense Dominates Strong Las Vegas Raiders Defense

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Indianapolis Colts coaching staff was on their A game against the Las Vegas Raiders. 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 to this edition of the Locked on Colts podcast and making us your first listen of the day. 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. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Make every moment more. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 Moneyline bet. That's $150 if your team wins. Visit FanDuel.com slash Locked On to get started. Hello, everyone. I am Zach Hicks, your favorite co-host here on the Locked On Colts Podcast.

Starting point is 00:01:05 Jake is out today, but you guys are getting my wonderful voice in full podcast fashion here. So today we're going to cover a couple of topics. We're going to finally close the book on this Colts Raiders game by just me going off on this Colts coaching staff on how fantastic they were, how they were able to just simply dominate the Raiders defense, defense especially, but the whole Raiders team in particular. And then we're going to transition a little bit to the Colts defense and how, yes, they got the win. They did enough to get the win this week, but we got to see a little bit more going into this big Houston Texans game. And then finally, we're going to close it out with the Colts keys to victory against the Houston Texans,

Starting point is 00:01:42 this big playoff game coming up because, you know, we want to get out of this Raiders week, this Raiders mindset real quick, and get into the big matchup of the week, which is the Houston Texans. But to kick it off again, we want to talk a little bit about Raiders just because, again, our postgame episode is more about emotions. It's more about excitement, especially after a win, more about excitement. But the day after the postgame episode or the Tuesday after the postgame episode, you know, we want to talk a little bit about the film, talk about what the Colts were

Starting point is 00:02:09 doing on film that led to success. And while I do want to transition to Houston Texans, you know, again, I want to I really want to go and praise this Colts coaching staff for the job that they did against the Las Vegas Raiders. Again, the Colts were going into this game following an embarrassing loss to the to the Atlanta Falcons. It was just not a good game whatsoever from the Indianapolis Colts on both sides of the ball. And while I do think their defense struggled at times in this Raiders game, the Colts offense was fantastic from the start. I mean, they went out there, got that very big touchdown on the first drive, which just dominated the Raiders from the get-go. They had a little bit of a lull there in between the first touchdown and the second touchdown, but once they got that

Starting point is 00:02:48 second touchdown, it was all offense the rest of the way. They scored on all three of their possessions in the second half. Now they were all field goals, but that's all the Colts really needed to get the victory in this game, but looking at this matchup on paper, this was not a matchup that favored the Indianapolis Colts offense really whatsoever going into the game. The Raiders coming into this game, the previous three opponents they had faced, they had limited those teams to just 3.14 yards per carry on the ground by running back runs in those games. And that's against the Minnesota Vikings, against the Los Angeles Chargers, and against the Kansas City Chiefs. Not premier rushing teams, but three decent running teams, three overall pretty solid teams in general.

Starting point is 00:03:31 And the Raiders defense, again, was on fire coming into that game. They allowed three points to the Vikings. They allowed 21 to the Chargers, but that was a lot of it. It was in garbage time. Obviously, they put up the 63 in that game. And then against the Kansas City Chiefs, they had their best performance of the season, having two defensive touchdowns and winning that game primarily with their defense. So it was a tall task for this Colts offense to come into this one following their worst performance of the year against the Atlanta Falcons and trying to, you know, work against this top defense in the NFL, one of the top defenses in the NFL with this Raiders defense.

Starting point is 00:04:03 But what happened in the game was the Colts averaged 4.8 yards per carry per running back rush in this game. Passing the ball, they averaged nearly 10 yards per attempt. They were highly efficient, highly effective. They had two pass attempts or two pass completions that went over 50 yards in this game. So we kind of want to talk about, you know, how were the Colts able to find this much success against a really good Raiders defense? Well, you know, how were the Colts able to find this much success against a really good Raiders defense? Well, you know, starting with the run game, they use the Raiders aggressiveness against them. It was great. I mean, if you look at this Raiders front, they are attacking front. They get after it. Their linebackers are crashing downhill.

Starting point is 00:04:37 Their defensive line is one gapping, very explosive, one gapping defensive line led by Max Crosby, who is a highly energetic all over the place type of player. And the Colts use that aggressiveness against them. They had a lot of trap plays, a lot of wham plays, a lot of toss plays to the outside to kind of get those linebackers off of their initial read step clogged in the middle, going out to the sideline to sideline, limiting their, their ability to step up in the run game on the inside runs. So while the Colts didn't have, you know, every single inside run go for a huge gain, they did have plenty of big ones. They had 27 carries in this game for 131 yards from running backs. Trey Sermon had a big run. Jonathan Taylor had quite a few big runs in this game. And a lot of those did come again on using the aggressiveness

Starting point is 00:05:19 against the Las Vegas Raiders, you know, hitting those traps, hitting those whams, letting the defensive tackle go unblocked when they're trying to explode off the ball, which leaves them falling to the earth where, you know, a whamming tight end or a trapping tackle can wash them out of the play. And Jonathan Taylor has free access up the middle of the field. Those inside runs were hitting more than just inside zone. And then obviously the outside runs like stretch plays and toss plays, where they're really testing the edge of the defense in the run game, just opened up so much in this running game for the Colts. And it was a great bounce back game for the Colts offense.

Starting point is 00:05:51 It was a really, really good scouting report that the Colts got on the Raiders defense. They knew coming into this that the Raiders defensive line was going to be aggressive. They were going to get after it. So we have to use that aggressiveness against them. And that's how the Colts were able to kind of unlock and just kind of break this Raiders run defense. We even saw in the second half, the Colts in their run to win philosophy had 11 straight runs to basically lead them on two field goal drives. So the Colts offense was able to run the ball effectively. And in the passing game, it was kind of what they've been doing all year with Gardner Minshew. It wasn't

Starting point is 00:06:23 a lot of full field reads and middle of the field shots or anything like that but it was a lot of dink and dunk we're going to take our layups and then we'll occasionally try the shot plays and and what I thought was really interesting from the Colts in this in this matchup was you know they were going against Max Crosby going against Malcolm Koontz Tyree Wilson's been on a good run lately so this was a good pass rush the Colts were facing and typically with this Colts offense they like like to sit in five-man protections. Let the five offensive linemen do their thing, give more passing options out in the flats and out of the backfield.

Starting point is 00:06:55 So Minshew has those options to get rid of the ball. Well, in this matchup, they actually rely a lot on six- and seven-man protections. We even saw on the Alec Pierce touchdown, that was an eight an eight man protection where they were just leaving everybody in the block and only having a two to three man route or two man route on that play. So the Colts were doing a lot of max protect. They were a lot of just doing a lot of like quick routes and stuff like that. But then when they wanted the deep shot, I mean, look, Shane Steichen dialed up two perfect deep shots, one where Minshew wasn't able to find Alec Pierce down the field. And then obviously the second one was the big play of the game where he connected with Alec Pierce down the field and Joel Erickson I got to give him a big shout out here of the indie star finally got Shane

Starting point is 00:07:32 Steichen to go into some detail on a Colts offensive play you know Shane Steichen doesn't like going into too much detail with the media because you're giving info to your opponents but talking about that Alec Pierce deep shot you know Steichen said that the Raiders were in a zero look, which is, you know, zero deep safety is mostly man across the board, no deep safeties and something we saw on tape. It was, if it was zero like that, and we got a chance to throw one over the top and we got it maxed up and we got the look, shoot Gardner, Gardner Minshew made a heck of a play stepping into that throw, leading Alec across the field. If you actually look at that play from start to finish, I mean, the Colts, they did their pre-snap motion to identify that it was man coverage. The second they saw it was man coverage, boom, we're taking our shot and they were able to connect for a big

Starting point is 00:08:11 play. But overall, I just really want to bring this conversation to a close about the Raiders game where the Colts coaching staff had a great scouting plan and just a great game plan in general for this Raiders defense. It was, we're going to trap and wham them in the run game, use our aggressiveness against them. We're going to max protect in the passing game, get the ball out quick with RPOs and spot routes, and then take our occasional deep shots down the field and get the ball to Alec Pierce,

Starting point is 00:08:36 get the ball to Josh Downs down the field and create those explosives when we have those rare opportunities to do so. And as a result, the Colts were the most efficient offense that we've seen against this Raiders defense since Antonio Pierce took over. So a great game plan, and we need to see more of this from the Colts coaching staff going into this playoff atmosphere

Starting point is 00:08:53 this week against the Houston Texans. If the Colts coaching staff, especially on the offense side of the ball, can repeat what they just did against the Las Vegas Raiders, the Colts have a really good chance of winning this game against the Houston Texans. But that's where we're going to kind of transition now going forward and talk about this Colts defense. And, you know, again, talk a little bit about the Raiders game, but also how we're going to look at this defense going into this big matchup against the Houston Texans.

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Starting point is 00:10:08 we could look at what the defense was doing and say, yes, the Colts defense in a lot of ways was carrying this team. I mean, you look at the games against the Carolina Panthers, the defense carried that game for the Colts. You look at the game against the New England Patriots, the Colts defense definitely carried the team in that game. Maybe not as much against Tampa Bay and against Tennessee, but they still made some timely plays in those matchups to win the game for the Colts. What we've seen these last couple weeks is a

Starting point is 00:10:35 defense that has been very hot or cold. Against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Mitchell Trubisky, very good day. This past week against the Raiders, the best day but it was fine it worked it was enough to get the victory done but obviously some alarming trends in the Cincinnati Bengals and Atlanta Falcons games in particular when it comes to tackling and getting after the quarterback so what are we really thinking about with this Colts defense going into the biggest matchup of the year and arguably against the top 10 quarterback in the league and CJ Stroud with the way that Stroud has been playing this year overall you know I think there's some good and some bad looking at this Colts defense. I think there's some concerns, obviously, some of the biggest ones

Starting point is 00:11:14 being, again, the communication and the pass rush right now, because the pass rush has been the driver of this unit all year long. And this pass rush is not going to have an effective day rushing with four men or rushing with five guys up front. then I don't know if this Colts defense can get it done against CJ Stroud. But when you're looking at this team overall, they're a very, very young team. They're very inexperienced. A lot of guys are down right now on defense. I mean, look, they came into the year expecting Shaquille Leonard to be back to Shaquille Leonard, which maybe that was fruitless efforts, obviously, but Shaquille Leonard is no longer on the team. Julian Blackman was their biggest playmaker on defense,

Starting point is 00:11:48 and now he's out for the year. Kenny Moore II just missed this past game. I mean, if you're looking at what the secondary was going into this past game, it was guys like Ronnie Harrison starting at strong safety, a guy who the rest of the league had passed on and the Colts were moving to Will Linebacker before he had moved back there. Chris Lamont is another player that the rest of the league was really not interested in this offseason Chris Lamans was starting there in the slot and then obviously Jalen Jones a

Starting point is 00:12:12 seventh round pick who's played some decent football this year but again it's a seventh round pick there's a reason why he fell that far in the draft the Colts are not starting these these superstars in the secondary right now so they're playing with one hand tied behind their back in a lot of ways especially in that back back seven. And when you have a pass rush that's struggling, it kind of makes the whole operation a little bit more difficult. So, you know, when we're looking at this Raiders game and looking at even the games before that, you know, where have the Colts really been struggling? Where has it really been hurting them the most? I think the biggest thing right now with this defense is they just don't have that big playmaker that big difference maker on the team

Starting point is 00:12:51 and obviously you know you look back in 2020 and in 2019 and 2018 that was Shaquille Leonard and then you look at 2021 and some other years and stuff that was that was Kenny Moore you know some other guys that can make those big plays as well outside this defensive line when they are on and getting sacks and forcing fumbles the colts don't have that guy who's going to make that big time play they don't have the corner who's going to jump around and read a quarterback's eyes and and make a play on the ball and come away with a pick they don't have um that safety that's consistently going to be taking with the deep ball and outjumping receivers. They've had flashes of it. Don't get me wrong. Rodney Thomas and Julian Blackman and

Starting point is 00:13:29 Nick Cross have made their plays back there, but they don't really have that guy. They don't have a linebacker who's top tier in coverage. They don't have a linebacker who can take advantage of errant throws and coverage. So when you're looking at this defense, again, it's a defense that is sitting back a little bit too much because they're scared of their secondary scared of their inconsistencies back there they don't have a big time playmaker and the pass rush has been very hot and cold in recent weeks now I'm not here to say it's all doom and gloom when it comes to this defense because overall I mean if you look at the advanced statistics the Colts defense has been fairly solid this year their top 15 in EPA per play against I think DVOA has them as 17th

Starting point is 00:14:06 in the NFL this year, so perfectly adequate, not too bad there. And again, the pass rush for the most part this season has been really solid. It's just these last four weeks, they have not played up to par, not played the way that they have, you know, the way that you would hope them to have played. So I think it really comes down to this weekend's Houston Texans. The biggest things that we're looking at with this Colts defense is how aggressive are they going to play on the outside? Are they going to do some more man stuff? Are they going to sit back in the zones and be scared of the deep ball?

Starting point is 00:14:37 And can this front four get after the quarterback? CJ Stroud is not a quarterback who gets rid of the ball super quick. I mean, I think he's got the fourth highest time to throw in the NFL right now with over three seconds before throwing the ball. Now, obviously, that is a little skewed by those couple plays where he's running around the backfield for 20 minutes and then he throws the ball up to Tank Dell or Nico Collins

Starting point is 00:14:58 or whoever it is back there. But overall, he is a quarterback that has a tendency to hold onto the ball. The perfect read is not there. Can this Colts pass rush get after it and really make him pay for that like they did back in week two this year? The Texans have a couple injuries, so that could benefit the Colts a little bit there. But I think those are the biggest keys when we're looking at this Colts team.

Starting point is 00:15:19 Are they going to be more aggressive on the outside? Can someone step up and make that big play, make that big turnover? Because after having what, an 18 game turnover streak with their defense that every single announcer loved to quote on the broadcast and thought it was the coolest stat ever because it was like the Colts were at 18. The next closest was at five. The last two weeks, the Colts have been held just without a turnover on defense the last two games. So, you know, you want to see a little bit more of that playmaking on defense. And I do think Julian Blackman being out does, does play a factor into that. And obviously Kenny Moore being

Starting point is 00:15:48 out this past week does play a factor too. But yeah, no play more aggressive. Who's going to make that big play and can the pass rush come alive? Because what the Colts just did against the Las Vegas Raiders was good enough to beat the Raiders. You know, they were able to sit back. They weren't too scared of a no Connell beating them out of structure. And then when Aiden O'Connell did lead touchdown drives, they took up so much of the clock and took up so much effort on that Raiders offense that it really wasn't threatening in any way for the Colts. With CJ Stroud, it can be a three-play drive. It can be a five-play drive.

Starting point is 00:16:19 You know, we're not talking Aiden O'Connell here. We're talking about the premier rookie quarterback in this class as of right now. Obviously, I don't want to say anything bad about Anthony Richardson there, but Stroud is playing some good football, even though he's maybe taking a slight step back from where he was in the first half of the season. He's still playing some good football for the Texans, and he is a guy who is on a different level than the last couple quarterbacks the Colts have played against. Aiden O'Connell, Jake Browning, Taylor Heineke, all of those type of guys. He can get the ball down the field quickly, even if you are playing that prevent coverage. So are the Colts going to blitz more? Are they going to play more aggressive on the outside? Are they

Starting point is 00:16:52 going to have a guy who's going to make that big play? Are they going to be able to get home with four guys up front? I think those are the big questions we're looking at with this defense coming into this game. And ultimately, I don't want to say it's like a make or break type game for Gus Bradley. But it's one of those games where, you know, if you're looking at it in the offseason, the Colts lose this game and get 30 points to CJ Stroud, you're looking at potentially making a change there against coordinator because of the trend of the whole season and how the defense didn't show up in a big game. But if they do show up in this game and hold Stroud to, you know, under 20 and the Colts win, then you're not even considering that type of move. So it is a massive, massive game

Starting point is 00:17:28 for Gus Bradley. It's massive game for this Colts defense to show that they, you know, they can bounce back from this recent trend that they've been on. And it's a massive game, obviously for the Colts in general, but I did want to kind of just ramble a little bit about the Colts defense and just some of the things that I'm thinking about with that, with that unit right now, because I don't think they're playing terrible football, but we are seeing a little bit of an alarming trend over this two and two stretch the Colts are on. And I'm really curious to see what kind of Colts defense we're going to get against a really good quarterback in CJ Stroud. So that's some food for thought for you guys. You guys can leave a comment section below if I just rambled there and didn't really provide you anything, or, you know, if you have any thoughts about this Colts defense in general,

Starting point is 00:18:08 too. If I'm connecting a little bit with you guys, let me know in the comment section below. But coming up, we're going to conclude today's show by talking about the Colts keys to victory against the Houston Texans. Obviously, we're going to talk about this all week on the show, but you guys get Jake the next two days. So I definitely wanted to get out my keys to victory against the Houston Texans before I kick over Jake these next two days. But first, testing my skills on prize picks this football season has been the most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. If you have the skills, you can turn $10 into $250 with just a few taps. Prize picks is really simple to play. I can make my picks and submit my entry in less than 60 seconds.

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Starting point is 00:19:51 Alrighty, my beautiful everydayers here on the LockedOnColts podcast channel, YouTube channel, wherever you guys are listening, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, wherever it is. Welcome to the final segment of today's show. We're talking about the keys of success against the Houston Texans. Now, I think I'm going to be fairly coach speak with the keys to success here when it comes to the Colts in this game, because you got to look at it this way. The Colts are kind of playing with house money there. Again, they're playing with their backup quarterback. They've had a lot of injuries this year.

Starting point is 00:20:20 They're playing with a rookie head coach calling on plays and stuff like that. To be in this playoff type atmosphere already this early into Steichen's tenure, you're playing with house money. You're excited for the game. If you win or lose, you're still going to find ways to be happy and find success in it. But ultimately, you want to win. You want to be all little coach speak, though, with your keys to victory. You want to control the game early and often in this one control it and by control it i mean have high time of possession control that ball have high success rate move the ball on offense no three and outs no or no no constant three and outs like that lull the colts had against the raiders in this past game a high time possession

Starting point is 00:21:00 keep control of the ball win the turnover battle that has been the one of the biggest keys to success for the colts this entire year the games games where Gardner Minshew turns the ball over, you know, two, three, four times, they typically are not winning those games. But when they have the games like they had this past Sunday, where Minshew has a clean sheet out there, he's able to keep everything in front of him and not fumble, not turn the ball over. The Colts have had, you know, have been able to just find a lot more success. And then ultimately, I think you've got to lean on Shane Steichen's battle philosophy, which is pass to score and run to win. We've seen over this recent two and two stretch that the

Starting point is 00:21:34 Colts have had in the two games they have won against the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Las Vegas Raiders, that pass to score and run to win philosophy has been vital. In the first half of those games, Minshew is throwing at what, 60 to% rate, uh, getting the pulse on the scoreboard, getting out to an 11 point lead against the Raiders. I think it was only like a one point lead against the, against the, uh, Steelers, but obviously they were able to extend that in the second half. And then when it comes to that fourth quarter, lean on Jonathan Taylor, lean on whoever you're running backs are obviously against the Steelers.

Starting point is 00:22:04 It was Trey Sermon and Tyler Goodson. But as Zach Moss is back this week, lean on him too. Lean on these running backs to run you to victory. It doesn't have to be flashy. You could win ugly in this game. It doesn't matter. A win is a win. So if you have to run to win in the fourth quarter of these games to kill clock

Starting point is 00:22:20 and get those field goals to go up by two scores in the fourth quarter, so be it. So be it. Run to win if you have to. I love that philosophy when it comes to just extending a lead and killing clock. So pass the score, run the win, just keep leaning on that philosophy that's been working for the Colts lately. If we're going into more detail, though, on this Colts offense passing game, you know, you got to lean on the yards after catch, lean on the layups and on the big throws. You know, I know Minshew is not perfect at the mid-range jumpers or anything like that, you know, if we're using basketball speak here, but keep leaning on those layups, you know, the RPO game, getting the ball out quick, getting into wide receiver screens, let your guys run

Starting point is 00:22:57 after the catch a little bit, and then scheme up those couple deep shots to Alec Pierce, to Michael Pittman Jr., to Josh Downs. You can work the ball down the field occasionally, but try to keep, again, the high success rate, the high efficiency on the offense. And just don't try to do too much with this passing game. Don't try to drop back 50 times in this game because that's when Minshew is prone to struggle. If you're keeping in that 20 to 25 range

Starting point is 00:23:21 and keeping it in controlled dropbacks, then I do think the Colts offense can have some success throwing the ball, even against a good Houston Texans defense for the run game. Keep the diversity up. I mean, we saw again this past week, the Colts went away from their typical inside zone running game to do more traps,

Starting point is 00:23:37 more whams, more outside runs, more stretch runs and stuff like that in order to work against this aggressive Raiders front. Now this Texans front is slightly different. You know, they, they kind of rely on their, on their guys up front, their, runs and stuff like that in order to work against this aggressive Raiders front. Now, this Texans front is slightly different. You know, they kind of rely on their on their guys up front, their front four guys to win at the point of attack and disrupt the running game that way. So the Colts might be able to lean more into their inside zone type game like they did

Starting point is 00:23:57 back in week two and that dominant win over the Texans in week two. But again, it's going to have to be diversity. They're going to have to change things up. They can't just keep it inside zone after inside zone in this game because D'Amico Rines and this Texan staff is too good of a staff to just do the same thing over and over again. But it is leaning on what is working and obviously finding that diversity and that perfect symmetry of what's working and what's going to work against this Texans defense. So for the run game, again, just keep it mixed up, keep showing different looks. Don't just rely on the same looks or the same RPO play over and over again. Kind of do what they did against the Raiders this week,

Starting point is 00:24:34 where yes, you get the traps and the whams and the outside runs, but they still did do a couple inside zones just to keep this defense honest. I think if they keep that diversity going in the run game, especially if they get Zach Moss back this week, I do think this running game is going to find a ton of success against the Houston Texans. And then for the defense, again, we just talked about it in the past segment. The defense needs to have the game of their life. This is the season right here. This is the game of the season. This is a playoff game. The Colts defense needs to come out with their A game like they did in the first half of that week two game against the Houston Texans, the Colts defense needs to come out with their A game like they did in the first half of that week two game against the Houston Texans when the Colts were able to jump out to a massive

Starting point is 00:25:08 lead. They had a fantastic first half. They forced a fumble on C.J. Stroud. I think they had four sacks in that first half as well against C.J. Stroud. So if they can come out playing the way they did in the first half of that week two game, then we don't have much to worry about when it comes to the Colts defense. But again, it's kind of going what I was talking about in the second segment, get the pressure with four, clog up the middle of the field, keep the communication issues and the occasional broken plays to a minimum. And then who's going to be that guy who makes that big play? Somebody needs to step up and make that big play, whether it's a pass rusher forcing a fumble, whether it's a defensive back coming with a big interception, someone needs to be a playmaker for this Colts defense in this game. They haven't

Starting point is 00:25:49 really had that playmaker since Shaquille Leonard, and the next closest guy they've had as that playmaker, Julian Blackman, is not going to be playing in this game. So who is going to be that playmaker for the Colts defense? The playmaker who changes the game, gets the Colts a big turnover, and gets them in plus field position for them to go down and score and really change the game this weekend. That's going to be the biggest key, I think, in general for this defense. This is a playoff type game and playoff type games need playoff performers and playoff performers come away with that big play. So I really do think that's what it's going to come down to. Who is going to make that big play for the Colts defense?

Starting point is 00:26:23 You guys let me know in the comments section below. And also let me know some of your keys to success against the Houston Texans. What kind of keys are you looking at? What are you looking at this Colts team to do in order to beat Houston this Sunday? Before I leave you guys today though, I want to remind you to check out Locked On Sports Today, which is the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. If you guys don't already, make sure you're following at Locked on Colts, at JakeArthurNFL, and at ZachHicks2 all on Twitter slash X. Also, subscribe to us on YouTube or realist your podcast. We love you guys' rings, reviews, and Jake will be back with you guys tomorrow

Starting point is 00:26:58 to talk about a really, really fun segment. So make sure you guys are back with us bright and early tomorrow morning.

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Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Offense Dominates Strong Las Vegas Raiders Defense

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