Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' offensive line, secondary embarrassed in 28-16 loss to Seattle Seahawks

Episode Date: September 14, 2021

On today's episode of Locked On Colts, Evan is joined by Stampede Blue's Stephen Reed to recap the Indianapolis Colts' 28-16 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.Wheat were the biggest takeaways from this one? Indy's offensive line and defensive backs were major disappointments, while Carson Wentz looked very in control of Frank Reich's offense once more.We talk the game from every angle in a recap format, so stay tuned for more analysis plus previewing their Week 2 matchup against the Los Angeles Rams throughout this week! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello everybody, welcome to your first edition of our live reaction podcast that we come to every Sunday here on Locked on Colts. The week one regular season match for the Annapolis Colts against the Seattle Seahawks started off well. They were up 3-0 after a long drive down the field, took about 10 minutes off the clock. Dominant showing from the offensive line, Carson Wentz looked in control

as he did throughout the game. The running game was going as well. And then after that possession, the Seahawks flipped the script on the Colts. And it was quite frankly an embarrassing showing from the Colts after that possession. They lost this game 28-16, outscored 28-13 over the last three quarters of this game. Steven, how you doing today? This is Steven Reed of Stampede Blue, who will be joining us for these episodes every Sunday after these games. But man, that was a good start for this

game for the Colts in week one. And then all of a sudden, everything went to crap afterwards. Yeah, it was tough. Like you said, that first drive was really promising. It's sad that they only came in with three points. I was surprised that Frank Reich didn't go for it there, just with how aggressive he's been in the past, that he went ahead and took the points early and then after that um like the defense it just felt like they were asleep for the first half because like they scored what 21 points in the first half and i that's that was the problem last year with the defense and that's the problem two years ago with the defense it's they don't play well in the first half and get behind, and then the quarterbacks are able to come in and keep them in the game,

and they shell up in the second half. You can't do that against Russell Wilson. Like, they're too good, and you can't do that against the Seattle defense. And it was just – it was overall really frustrating for me to watch as a fan just because you had some pretty high expectations and you thought that the Colts could compete, and it just didn't seem like they did. Let's hit on the lone posit from this game, Steve,

and then we'll dive into everything that went wrong for the Colts. But I'd be remiss not to bring up Carson Wentz because he looked actually really good in the season for this Colts team. He was 25-38 for two touchdowns and zero interceptions. He was sacked three times, but incredibly enough, Stephen, he was still making plays with no run game. The Colts averaged only about three yards per carry. John Taylor was at 3.3 on 17 carries.

The weapons weren't getting open as much consistently. And as we mentioned, the offensive line was just atrocious after that first possession. He got hit 16 times in this game, 15 on the first 40 dropbacks for Carson Wentz for that last possession. With all that going wrong, Carson Wentz still making plays late in this game and keeping him afloat throughout the first and early second half of this one, Steven. I think Wentz, for everything we put into that perspective there, had a really, really good game. Football season is back. Let's make the most of it with a better way to create your custom pool at runyourpool.com,

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or use our promo code LOCKDOWN at checkout. Anywhere, everywhere in the world, run your pool, helps friends and colleagues compete. The NFL season starts September 9th. Start today at run your pool.com slash locked on and have your pool up and running in minutes. Run your pool.com slash locked on. Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised with Carson Wentz and how I played it. I'm not, I guess not surprised. This is the Carson Wentz that I kind of expected in that he didn't take a lot of risks. This was a really interestingly called game by Frank Wright. He didn't put Carson Wentz in a lot of bad situations.

It's just in terms of where he was throwing the ball. And he made some just incredible throws too. Like that's what people may not understand is how good some of the throws that he made some just incredible throws too like that's what people may not understand is how good some of the throws that he made were made was and what really got me was how bad the offensive line played like Julian Davenport he had like three consecutive drives that were just crushed because he gave up a huge sack and that the play calling, they were just letting him go one-on-one with the defensive ends, and they were just beating them constantly. And it's what we saw in preseason.

And so I don't know what they were thinking, not having somebody else or not keeping a back end for pass protection, not having a tight end over there to chip. I was kind of flummoxed with how the offensive play calling was for the entire game. Yeah, let's hit on that real quick because I tweeted this during the game on Locked on Colts, and looking back on it, I don't think it would have mattered because they scored that touchdown late.

But the Colts, let's say it had those points on the board. They had four possessions today inside the Seahawks' 30-yard line before that second-to-last position where they scored a touchdown. So the first four possessions, they went inside a 30-yard line. They only came up with 10 points. They went for it twice on fourth down. I don't know if I like the play calls on that or not, but a lot of that was due to the offensive line just looking atrocious,

and Braden Smith got bullied on that one fourth-and-one play where it would have helped out a lot if they would have converted, and that led to a Carson Wentz sack. What was your thoughts on Frank Reich's play calling today, Stephen? Did you like what you saw, and would you have taken the points in the situations where if everything went right for the Colts, they would have only been down five points before that Seahawks drive went down for a touchdown? I didn't like Frank Reich's play calling.

I thought he, yes, you galaxy-brained it. He way overthought everything, in my opinion. It just felt like he was trying to be too cute with the play calling when you've got an offensive line that can run the ball pretty well, and you were doing some pretty decent damage with your running backs, and you were making headway with the short short short game it's just i felt like they should have gone for it probably on that first on that first uh drive where they were what on like the three yard line seattle three yard line because you go for it at the very least you pick up a yard or two on it or at the worst you pick up a yard or two and then at best you

score four extra points i mean shoot four extra points you're sitting here at 20 20 to 28 like you you got a chance to to tie the game um realistically at that point you don't go for two and you're probably looking here at 28-21 and still got a shot. But, you know, they didn't do it. They went for it on fourth down rather than taking field goals, which there's a part of me that understands being aggressive in some of those situations. But, you know, after that fumble that Seattle had

and the Colts got that opportunity, I probably would have taken the points there. Because at that point in the game, you're still three minutes left. Three minutes left in the game right there. I just feel like you could have or not three minutes left in the game, but're still in the the middle part of the the fourth quarter so you've still got plenty of time i would have taken the field goal there i just you know i just feel like they should have taken the points there because it puts you within one score it gets put you at eight points um if you if you did that and And then, I mean, shoot, you take the field goal again. There, instead of, like, you could have put yourself down five

and needing to score to take the lead versus having yourself down 11 during that entire time. I was, it went backwards to how I thought Frank Reich would do it, honestly. I thought that on a couple of those plays, like the fourth and three on that first drive, that he would go for it. And I thought on the times in the second half, down by 11, I thought he would kick the field goal

to take the points. At that point to put yourself, make it a one score game. And so I was, I was just kind of like everybody else. I'm going, what are you doing? Why are you making these play calls? Other times where, you know, under three minutes and they're running, they're down three scores and running between the tackles or like, does that just show that Frank and Marcus Brady had no faith in the offensive line to protect Carson Wentz?

Because that's what it seems like. Yeah, it was a super kind of confusing day for Frank Reich. I would have taken the points in those situations. I know if it would have worked out one way or the other, the Colts would have been better in the end. But I think just taking the automatic points, especially when you're down trailing a Seahawks team that was kind of getting stymied a little bit in the third quarter by the Colts' defense has kind of settled down a little bit.

But let's talk about that defense for a second, Stephen, because it was a rough first half for them. They allowed 21 points. Russell Wilson had, I believe, two incompletions and three touchdowns at halftime. Overall, at the end of the game, Wilson was 18-23 for 254 yards and four touchdowns. So four touchdowns, only five incomplete passes. Just a really rough game for this defense. They were betting an awful lot, Stephen, on the Colts defensive line. Quitty paid to Forrest Buckner, Tyquan Lewis,

those guys up front to make consistent pressure. They got it at some points, but whether it be the linebackers or the defensive backs, Russell Wilson and those playmakers for the Seahawks first half, whatever they want to do against that back seven. Yeah, it was the Colts defense was really confusing. And I was honestly, I was kind of frustrated with the play calling in it because it just seemed like they were, it just didn't seem, it didn't make a lot of sense to me,

to be honest, or with, like, the rotation of guys that played. So, like, Al-Khaneem Mohamed was the starter, and I even, you know, sent this tweet out when they announced the starting roster. I was like, the only one I don't agree with right now is AQM because throughout training camp throughout the preseason, he's shown nothing that would separate him above Lewis, Banigou, Toure at that point or Pei so I feel like he was maybe the fifth or sixth defensive end and on this in this group and he got the starting nod

and then he kept playing today and he there were literally three separate drives that if he makes the tackle, then the drive stops. And all, I think all three touchdown drives that Seattle had in the first half were AQM had a shot at the guy, a clean shot, like not, not blocked. He had a clean shot, was able to put some pressure on him. He had clean pressure on the running back. Clean break, no block, not blocked at all.

Made a contact with the running back and then just let him go. And there were like three separate times, three separate drives where that happened. And it just killed it like there and there are times where he dove in and got swallowed up and let the contain go and it was just he just kept making mistake after mistake so i was just kind of blown away that they didn't put in vanigoo they didn't put in lewis and give those guys a shot in that situation opposite Quidipe because AQM wasn't doing it and he was consistently not doing it. And then in the first half, the linebackers looked boss. Darius Leonard looked boss. I don't know if I tweeted it out, but

he made a tackle midway through the second quarter. And I was like, was that Darius Leonard's first play of the game? Because I haven't seen him make a tackle yet. And then he obviously made a big play in the third quarter, third, fourth quarter there with that fumble. But prior to that, he just looked like he was a step slow. And so whether that was because he didn't get any preseason snaps or he's still trying to catch up to the speed of the game.

I don't know. It just, the defense looked kind of miffed. It, it stinks because on both of Russell Wilson's bomb, like long passes, it was because they had no pressure from the defensive ends. The, it just, it was really frustrating. I didn't understand some of the blitz calls that they decided to dial up. You know, they, they dialed up blitzes into the strong side of the package for Seattle. So it's you're running into places where there are guys to block you. And that's kind of not the point of blitzing. And so I was just, again, the play calling across the board

was really frustrating. Last few points here, Stephen, before we close up the show. We're going to be doing quick recaps here every Sunday after the Colts games. But just one point here on the rushing attack, because it seems like after the Colts did what they did on the first drive, establishing Jonathan Taylor nine times, a really big feature piece of their offense

in the first drive as well. The running game just died off completely. They didn't do anything at all. Pretty much after that possession, what was your thoughts on the rushing attacks? They were a lot was in the offensive line. They really just had an all around bad game outside of Quentin Nelson, but I really believe that maybe it's a forecast of what's to come,

Steven, but if the Colts can't establish to run on some of these teams, especially a Seattle defense that was pretty inconsistent last year, it might be a long, long season if you can't establish the run. Look at how key of a piece Jonathan Taylor is in this offense, because he had 23 touches today

in this offense, even when they were trailing by 12 points and losing 28-16. It's obvious Taylor's going to be the number one piece of this offense. He needs to get established more often and more consistent, and if Taylor can't get going, it's going to be the number one piece of this offense. He needs to get established more often and more consistent. And if Taylor can't get going, it's going to be a long day for this Colts offense. What's your thoughts on the rushing attack today? Yeah, my thoughts are the offensive line has got to gel together.

I don't know whether it was a lack of practice reps because guys were suspended because of COVID or because of injuries. And they just didn't, they weren't able to see the speed and they were just overwhelmed. You know, Braden Smith on that huge fourth down sack or fourth down quarterback hit of Carson Wentz got just absolutely pancaked by a guy. Looked like he was totally taken aback by this rush. And it just was wild because it's not something that you expect.

And then you've got – they've got to figure out how to establish the run because without that – like, Carson Wentz showed today that he's still got it. You know, he made some really good plays. He moved around in the pocket. He made some great throws. Like, again, I go back and tell you there there are certain throws like the touchdown pass to Paschal if you want or the first touchdown pass to Paschal if you watch that play Carson Wentz is in the throwing motion letting that ball go before Paschal even makes his break

on that pass so it's before he's even turned around knows where he knows where has was going to be and that's a lot of confidence and something that you never saw with like for example jacoby brissett there as a colts quarterback and that's why we always harped on jacoby set and lack of anticipation carson wentz has that and so if you can give carson wentz some time i think that he can go back to what he was in 2017 to 2019, because he was a really high quality starter. And if they can give him some time with the offensive line and fix whatever that issue is, and then get their running game at least started, I think that they've got a real opportunity. Now I was on the field goals podcast for Seattle this past week,

and they talked about how good the defensive line was for the Seahawks and how they really invested a lot of, a lot of capital in the defensive line. So it's not as super surprising to me that they played well today, at least the defensive line for Seattle. And I was just more shocked that the Colts line played as poorly as they did because I thought it would be at least a stalemate. And the Colts offensive line from maybe Quentin Nelson and Ryan Kelly were the only ones that didn't have major issues. But Julian Davenport was a liability. Braden Smith had a couple issues with speed rushers,

which has always kind of been his problem. Mark Lewinsky did okay. On a couple of the replays that they showed, you saw him pulling and just missing the hole, which was kind of frustrating. Or maybe the running back decided to go a different direction and not follow Lewinsky through it. But it looked like Lewinsky was like, wait, where am I through it, but it looked like Glowinski was

like, wait, where am I? Like he put up his hands, like I'm looking for something that's not here. And so I, the offensive line has to get better, like plain and simple. The Colts aren't going to do much because if they can't run the ball and they can't protect Carson Wentz, they, the season's not going to go well. I know that this is a major overreaction right now, but I do think that they'll get these things fixed. And in the long run, the Colts will be fine. You have to look at this as a whole picture. The Titans got crushed today by the Arizona Cardinals. And then you have currently in first base in the AFC South is the Tyrod Taylor-led Houston

Texans because they beat the Jacksonville Jaguars. So it's not like things are slipping away. The Colts didn't lose any ground. And Seattle was always going to be a tough game where it was kind of a 50-50 coin toss on whether you thought they'd have an opportunity to win it or not. So I'm not surprised that they lost. I'm disappointed in the way that they lost. Last point here, wrapping things up, Stephen.

28-16 final score. The Colts now have lost their eighth straight season opener. They dropped to 0-1. Tough task next week against the Rams at home. But even after that, you play the Titans on the road. You play the Ravens, the Dolphins. What's your expectations now after this 0-1 start for the Colts? It's not going to get any easier next week.

If this offensive line play continues, Stephen, against Aaron Donald, he's going to have his way. They'll move him across the defensive line, avoid a matchup with Quentin Nelson. He could just take whoever else at will. What's your expectations now heading into week two and beyond for this Colts team? It seems like now we kind of have a good idea of this team, but we're still missing some key pieces like Eric Fisher and stuff out there too. Does this sound familiar?

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Yeah, I actually am, even though we just talked for like 20 minutes and I'm pretty negative about it all, I'm actually pretty hopeful for what they've got going forward. It seems like the Colts are going to be okay at quarterback, which was always the big question. And I think that Eric Fisher coming back, hopefully next week is going to really help resolve a lot of that offensive

line issue. So I think that they're, I think they really do have a realistic opportunity of going 3-2. I think the Titans are way worse than I thought they'd be, and I didn't think that they would be good. I've told – shoot, go listen to any of the podcasts when we talk about the divisional rivals. I have never been high on the Titans because I just don't think they did enough

on defense, and they lost their offensive coordinator. They lost a lot of weapons on offense. And that kind of played out today against the Cardinals, is they got absolutely destroyed on defense because they lost it. They didn't have a good offense. It just – I wasn't shocked by how the Titans played. And so when you look at the Colts as a whole and you look at the rest of the season, your ultimate goal right now is to win the division.

And the Colts are one game behind the Houston Texans in the division. And you know that that's not going to hold. So the Colts are still pretty even with the Titans. They didn't lose anything here. I think that they've got an opportunity. I'd be interested to see how the Rams play later tonight and then see, you know, the Titans, again, I'm not afraid of in week three. And then you've got the Ravens who have lost, like,

their entire running back room and their top corner for the season. That was a big issue that the Colts had with the Ravens before is their secondary was so good, along with their pass rush. And then you've got the Miami Dolphins. So I don't think any of these teams necessarily scare me. So the Colts really do have an opportunity to end this first five-game stretch, which is the toughest stretch of their season by far, I think think they can win it three out of three out of the five games or you know go three and one over the next four games so I I'm hopeful for the rest of the season I think

that these things will get hammered out and as everybody starts to get more feel for the game and how it's played I think that that they're going to come around. Steven, as always, enjoy having you on here on the podcast. Imagine we'll have you on later this week to help preview the Rams game. But in the meantime, go ahead and follow Steven on Twitter. You're not already at NiceReachSteve. And go listen to his podcast as well over on Stampede Blue. Steven, appreciate your time today.

Thanks, Evan. Have a great one.