Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Playoff Hopes Vanishing After Loss to Pittsburgh Steelers

Episode Date: November 29, 2022

The Indianapolis Colts (4-7-1) fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers (4-7) at home on Monday Night Football by a score of 24-17 in Week 12, which all but erases their hopes of the postseason. Rookie tight end Jelani Woods and defensive end Yannick Ngakoue stood out, but there wasn't much more positive to take away.Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQ🎧 Apple https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1151621306🎧 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6meP450baAtjX4rTENZ5ij🎧 Audacy https://www.audacy.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts-daily-podcast-on-the-indianapolis-colts-21701🎧 Google https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vUFBZODk1ODUyODkyNQ🎧 Megaphone https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/lockedoncoltsFollow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com (@ColtsOnFN), and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, and @LockedOnColts!Support 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; LOCKEDONSimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnNFL to learn more.TuroForget boring rental cars and find your drive at Turo.comAudibleHead over to Locked On NFL for a sneak peak of Block Forever or catch the full series available anywhere you get your podcast. Available everywhere now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It might be time to look forward to the offseason as the Indianapolis Colts lose at home to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football tonight by a score of 24-17. And now their playoff hopes are dwindling as they sit with a record of 4-7-1. We'll talk all about it right now on this episode of Locked On Colts. 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 sad Colts fans for tuning in and making us your, it is going to be the first listen of the day, probably because it is very early in the morning.

This is your daily podcast, covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. This is Jake Arthur alongside Zach Hicks, and you know the two of us from HorseshoeHuddle.com. Let's hope the Lucas Oil Stadium internet holds up better for me than my home internet did earlier during our pregame show, if you guys didn't catch that. Today, we're obviously going to talk all about the Colts' 24-17 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers at home here at Lucas Oil Stadium. It drops them to 4-7-1 on the season. Now, the AFC is not stacked.

There's a big log jam in the middle, but you've got to think with the teams that are behind now and just their resume, it's not good. You've got to hope the postseason is the last thought there's the back burner and then there's the back of the oven when you take it out when you move like you guys had the audacity to call me negative earlier today look i'm spicy zach look i i just a couple of weeks ago or like earlier last week i think is what it was uh i listed the teams that the colts had left and that they basically had to

win all but one. They could maybe lose one game if they wanted to make the playoffs. And then, you know, it's the Cowboys, the Vikings, the Chargers, the Giants. And then there, you know, the Steelers and the Texans. And I was like, look, the Colts are in the same category as the Texans and the Steelers. And I had a lot of pushback from that.

Like, oh, they're much better than the Steelers. They're much better than the Texans. No, they're not. They're not. They are on the same playing field as these teams. We saw that tonight. I mean, the Steelers came out, punched them in the mouth early. The Colts were able to bounce back. And then we, you know, in the second half, we kind of saw the battle of two bad teams kind of going at it, you know, with the Steelers getting the offsides on the field goal kick and then the pass interference in the end zone, which gave the Colts ample time to score on the one yard line going in and they fumbled it right back to the Steelers. I mean, that right there is the epitome of both those teams. Like that was just the perfect analysis, perfect visual of what these two teams have been this season.

So yeah, look, the Colts, there's no team in the league that we can say, oh no, the Colts are better than them. Don't worry. Like, no, they are on that level with the bottom feeders, with the Steelers. I mean, the Las Vegas Raiders two weeks ago, they, you know, it came down to what, like 10 yards away from the Raiders scoring to win that game. The Houston Texans, the current worst team in football, it was a tie game in week one against them. So look, the Colts, there is no clear team that the Colts are definitely better than.

They are in that bottom tier. And next week when they play the Dallas Cowboys in primetime and they likely lose that game, they will probably jump it. I think they'll jump up to like eighth or ninth in draft order. So we'll finally start seeing that reflected in the draft setting, in the draft standings. But look, we have a lot to talk about this game, positive and negative. But at the end of the day, the Colts are a 4-7-1 team.

They lost at home to a 4-7 team. I mean, I think that's the best way to describe it. This team is the same team they were in week one when they tied the Texans in week two, when they got blown out by the Jacksonville Jaguars. I mean, nothing changed from going from going to, you know, Frank Reich to Jeff Saturday, you know, it's the same issues, the same team, bad offense, defense just couldn't hold on. It's the same team. It's the same team. offense defense just couldn't hold on it's the same team it's the same team i'm glad that we can finally move past this jeff saturday's got this team playing at a

different level because look it's the exact same team yeah and you had mentioned around the raiders game that whenever there's an interim head coach you know the the head coach is fired and then the interim comes in there's that jolt of lightning at first and then you know, the head coach is fired and then the interim comes in. There's that jolt of lightning at first. And then, you know, everything meets its level of water, basically. And so the Colts are kind of back to where they have been throughout most of the season. You know, my first bullet point here, because I didn't feel like being very eloquent, it says this offense sucks. And it just does.

Like through the first 22 minutes of the game they had six yards of offense on six plays which meant they couldn't sustain any drives uh and they you know they were completely unproductive on those drives they wound up you know punting they had a blocked kick they had two turnovers they turned the ball over on downs on the final drive. You had briefly mentioned there, you know, even when they were trying to be productive, things would kind of backfire. I described it in my postgame pieces.

They were dragged kicking and screaming to score points. You know, like on one touchdown drive, Jelani Woods has that non-catch slash fumble. He gets a DPI call and then Jonathan Taylor fumbles it. Like they just, oh, like everything. They were just fighting themselves every step of the way just to do anything positive. It was not fun. It was not fun.

There are a couple bright spots to get to. We'll get to that. But, like, the overriding theme of the day was obviously the offense, again, did not pull its weight. And then, you know, the other side of the ball wasn't all that great to write home about either. Yeah, you know, while we're just doing overall themes here in this first segment, like, look, I think the biggest takeaway from this is Jim Mercer did an interview

talking about Nick Sirianni earlier this week, where Nick Sirianni was very passionate saying, you know, this Eagles win was for Frank Reich and stuff like that because they did Frank Reich dirty and they humiliated Frank Reich, which they did. Like, no matter what you thought about Frank Reich, he should not have been an in-season firing. It never should have gone down that way.

It never should have gone down the way it did. Frank Reich should have been fired at the end of the season, but it shouldn't have been an in-season fire. But just going past that, Jim Mercer had a comment or a quote. I think that was in the, I think it was either Indy Star or The Athletic where he said, look, we turned the corner, you know, we beat the Raiders and we took the NFC,

the likely NFC champions or something like that to the wire. And they have one of the better quarterbacks in football. Tonight was the game where we can look at it and say, look, they have not turned the corner. This is the same exact team. You know, it might be a little different. You know, they might lose in different ways. They might play a little bit different. But this is the same team.

You know, they will put up decent fights every now and then. They will take the Eagles to the wire. They will beat the Kansas City Chiefs, but they can't get it done. You know, they will lose games to the Pittsburgh Steelers. They'll get blown out by the Jacksonville Jaguars. They'll get dominated twice by the Tennessee Titans. It's just the exact same football team. And, you know, again, when you are at the point where you feel like you have to make

an in-season head coaching change, there's much more at issue than just the coach. You know, there's issues top to bottom from roster construction to players on the roster to coaching around that head coach. So if you ever feel like you're at that point, you have a much bigger issue than just that head coach. And we're seeing, again, just making that interim head coach change doesn't change anything. And like the Matic Brian's here saying in the comments, where are you guys are listening to audio? It really is time to hit that reset switch. You know, I think they need a new GM after the season, probably need a new head coach after the season, even though I don't think Jeff Saturday is doing too horrible and in a really difficult situation. And they absolutely need a new quarterback. Like they quarterback like they need they need

to finally go young the next quarterback the next quarterback is past my age then we have a serious problem they should not be older than 25 and i'm going to give the grace of 25 just because this is an old quarterback class because the covid stuff but uh they need to reset really big on major major areas and honestly uh nomadic b Brian here is only listing a couple of the areas they need to reset. Like this Colts roster just needs kind of a harsh reset in a lot of areas. And hopefully they can find the right people for it. But look, again, if anyone thought Jeff Saturday was going to come in,

right the ship, and bring this team to the playoffs, tonight was that firm statement where, no, it's not happening. They are done. Getting some naughty spam comments there for a second um also while you were talking you'll be happy you know i got a phone call on the on the press box phone here again oh what'd you like mute it this time or something you usually get it it's usually going i was on yeah i kept myself on oh okay no this was kind of just a total failure overall today um like the defense gave up like 170 yards rushing which was weird because like it turned out pretty much everyone who came in there was a little productive because no one had more than 60 and then the rest of the guys all

had like 33, 32 yards, but overall it was like 170 yards, so just kind of a rough day overall, and I wanted to just say some real quick about the roster construction since you touched on it. It's interesting that all the areas the Colts wanted to build themselves around, you know, if they weren't going to have an elite quarterback, we're going to have a well-rounded group, and you know, they weren't gonna have an elite quarterback we're gonna have a well grounded group and you know we're gonna be great in the trenches we're gonna have this and that their offensive line has been had like one or two good games their pass rush has been pretty it's been MIA a lot of time like there's been several times where they get sacks but then they go quarters and quarters at the time sometimes a game at a time without really sniffing the quarterback.

Like Pickett wasn't pressured much after the first quarter, it seemed like. So all those areas where they sacrifice going for the quarterback in order to build up those pillars, those pillars have crumbled. They were maybe good at one point, but they're not anymore. So I think you're right. The big reset button probably needs to get hit. It's just time to look at everything after the season. So with that said, we'll go ahead and start looking at this game at a more molecular level. We'll move on to the offense here in a minute. But today, we're going to tell you about our sponsor, Turo. Turo is the world's largest

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Offensively, I think it's pretty clear that Matt Ryan is just like, I think it was evident early on. Yeah, it was evident early on this season that he wasn't going to be it for this team, given what was around him. And now, man, like, he could not look more like a shell of himself. He won't pass the ball downfield. He finally did, like, once or twice later in the game. But, like, where was it throughout the game? Everything is a dink and dunk. There's a lot of poor decisions. The accuracy is there anymore the timing isn't there anymore he doesn't

seem to be able to see clear blitz giveaways like pre-snap which you know he's a 15 year veteran where's that coming from so yeah rough rough going from the veteran tonight. Yeah, I think Matt Ryan, you know, he has enough. I don't want to say talent or skill, but he has enough savvy to still be effective at times. You know, we saw moments in this game where like, oh, yeah, Matt Ryan looked fine. You know, I think he did a really good job having really shallow depth in the pocket because his guards in center were blocking pretty well. And then he was kind of helping his tackles by keeping shallow depth in the pocket. He was getting the ball out fast at times, you know, got the ball. Jelani Woods, his best playmaker in this game, which we'll talk about here in a second.

So he did do some good things. But again, like you said, the accuracy is not there this year. The arm strength is just plummeted. I mean, from even from just game one to now, the arm strength looks like night and day. Like I remember watching those Sam Ellinger games being like oh wow like Ellinger's arm pops Ellinger's arm will never pop in any other scenario like Sam Ellinger's arm is below average uh and and his was popping compared to Matt Ryan's and and yeah you know it's just the things like anticipation doesn't

look like it's there he doesn't look comfortable getting a lot of happy feet under pressure uh and then obviously again being at his age and being at his stage in the career he's not going to make things happen to his legs yes he had the scramble like i know he had he's had a couple of nice scrambles this year but we're talking about mobility within structure and kind of right around that structure and keeping plays alive with his feet that's just not who he is know, and that's what a younger quarterback would bring. Like we saw with Kenny Pickett today where Kenny Pickett was able to get outside of the pocket and get the ball out and make some plays outside of structure. But yeah, man, Matt Ryan,

we kind of knew from the Jacksonville game that this wasn't going to work out. And it's just been really ugly. And yeah, he's, he, he has a shell of himself just confidence wise and physically. So I hope he hangs up after the season, not, not just for the salary cap relief that the Colts get but just because like I don't know what his future could really hold in the NFL from here because he just he looks like he's at the very end yeah I heard someone describe it pretty well here actually uh after the game they mentioned his arm just has like no flexibility anymore he like pushes it now it's it's almost like a shot put like philip rivers had it he

there's like not much been to it it's just a push i didn't really notice it or have someone put in that context before but now i definitely see it so yeah i i'd have to agree we we both thought he still physically had it coming into the season, but it's pretty clear he doesn't. Moving on to running back, Jonathan Taylor put it on the dirt for the fourth time this year. I mean, he's a productive runner still, yes, but after a couple years of playing pretty clean ball with his ball security,

his college issues are coming back with the fumbling. It was officially accredited to Matt Ryanyan but you know just looking from the replay it looked like you know taylor just it didn't hit him in the hands right he dropped it so that's god that's that's an issue in its own because like matt ryan like his turnover numbers have dipped but now jonathan taylor's are coming up yeah it's very indicative this season for the colts it's just it's just uh again a perfect picture of what this Colts team has been this year where yeah Jonathan Taylor still looked really good today like he looked good for the most part but a costly fumble yet again just like in the Eagles game just like in I think it was the second no it was the first Titans game

he had that fumble as well um it's just very indicative of this cold season you know you can have a your star player playing like a star for most of the game uh but he'll make a horrible mistake uh which he's done a lot this year which is so uncharacteristic so uh yeah just kind of this Colts team I don't I don't really have much more to say about that you know what was fun though So we said coming into the game, tight ends could have a big performance. And no, Kylan Granson, that was a bummer. Jelani Woods, career highs with eight catches and 98 yards today. I mean, he did have a couple issues.

He had that drop, fumble, out of bounds early on that one drive, and then he had a drop earlier in the game as well. But he came alive like after those mistakes he he just said okay I'm obviously done with that he drew a defensive pass interference call like he turned it up after those mistakes and I wrote in my postgame piece again I was like okay it's definitely time to make him like a permanent consistent fixture in the offense because he's clearly one of your best players on offense right now yeah no we talked about it in the pregame i remember i asked in a little time filler there at the very end of the show i was like hey jake who do you

want to see have a big game and then i was like oh yeah i also want to go in jelani woods but i'll go with someone else here but yeah no jelani woods it was kind of what we needed to see you know he missed the last couple weeks with that injury uh and he was kind of flashing before this but yeah this was the Jelani Woods game he looked awesome uh he was definitely one of the biggest bright spots and probably the the team MVP of this game if you could actually pick one in a loss but um you know it's one of the best things that we could see and And yeah, like Pift says here, that we use them so much. You know, we could have used them all year. Yep. That's kind of what it is.

But it says it pissed them off that we used Woods so much tonight because we could have used them all year. He said that in a little more vulgar terms, but I have to, you know, censor it a little bit. But yeah, you know, sometimes rookies take a little bit to develop, but there definitely were more opportunities that could have got them on the field earlier this season. So, hopefully, these last five games, even if we're getting smacked,

we can get some good teams. We can get the ball to Lonnie Woods and build that confidence. Yeah, absolutely. It's, man, and it was very evident that when Granson gets back as well, you're good. Yeah, you're good. Yeah, you're good. We want your passion. Loyal listener. Loyal listener.

Right, right. It's very evident when Granson gets back as well. These two should absolutely be used and be big parts of the game plan. Mo Alley-Cox, this was a good opportunity for him to be used a lot, and he had just a couple catches that's what he is now he's gonna be a little security blanket outlet guy like i just think that's what it's gonna be and that's fine because they now have a couple decent pass catching options yeah the other bright spot i want to say about this game is that i was i was kind of pleasantly surprised with the offensive line for the most part.

Like they were blocking well in the run game. Bernard Ryman did well until that last drive. And that's kind of what the Eagles game was for him too. Until the Colts had to throw the ball, Bernard Ryman was fine. But the right side of the offensive line was awesome in this game. I thought Will Fries bounced back so well in this game. I didn't see any pressures just on the TV view from watching the game. I didn't see any big mistakes from him.

Obviously, he got pushed back a couple of times. But for the most part, I thought Will Fries really bounced back after a tough Eagles game the week before. And then Braden Smith versus TJ Watt. That was a great performance from him. Yes, Matt Ryan helped by keeping the pocket very shallow and kind of stepping up. But Braden Smith versus TJ Watt,

I think this is the first time they faced off against each other. He had a really, really strong game against TJ Watt. So, you know, if Will Fries can keep kind of bouncing back and kind of keep playing really well, take that off the need list for next year, that'd be great because left tackle definitely looks like it's going to be a need uh because that's that's a big one right there yeah no doubt no doubt well shoot i think that's all i got on the offense i don't think there was much more noteworthy in that department yep yep coming up we're going to talk about the colts defense and

how the one shining unit has finally started to crack. It's unfortunate, but don't worry, guys. We're going to talk about that all here in a second. But first, today's show is also brought to you by Audible. Audible is releasing a slate of new football podcasts that we're sure you're all going to love. Find Block Forever now wherever you get your podcasts. Block Forever is a brand new podcast from former NFL All-Pro Ryan Kalil and Audubon. Kalil takes the conversation about football to the next level. He gives football fans and

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So this Colts defense has been the bright spot all season. It has been, they've been doing a great job all year keeping the Colts in games. And honestly, because of their play, the Colts have been able to steal a couple of games that they had no right winning. They had, they had no right winning the Chiefs game, but they did because of their defense.

They had no right winning that Broncos game, but they did because of their defense. This defense has kept them in a lot of games and it's kind of helped this record be what it is, you know, help this record be higher than what it is or better than what it is but this is finally I think the time we saw the crack in the armor you know against a poor offense a rookie quarterback who has been struggling and they just looked overwhelmed all game like yes they had a couple good moments they forced some three and outs but yeah for the most part Kenny Pickett in the in the Steelers offense was able to go up and down the field on them with ease and uh yeah again I just think they I think they're

just worn out man they all looked worn out they're missing a lot of tackles very sloppy uh they were getting run over in the run game I just think when I'm looking at this defense I think that they just are losing their legs, you know, and I think eventually it was going to happen. But yeah, they just, they're kind of losing that magic that they would have had because they're just getting run over right now. Yeah, I think you're exactly right. You know, they're spending a ton of time on the field right now. All year they spend a lot of time on the field. Oh, exactly. All year. For sure.

And it's obviously got to be wearing them down. And, I mean, look at the defensive line. They came into it with three of the four starters either questionable or out. And Grover Stewart wasn't on the final depth chart, but I'm pretty sure he missed a little bit of time at least the last couple weeks. So they're all banged up right now. Zaire Franklin has been sick. Like like the defense is just worn down like i'd love to go back and like see the amount of you know three and four play you know the just the amount of short drives and like the amount of time the

defense has spent on the field like they've got to be absolutely worn out by now. And like you said, it was going to happen. How long can you keep up an excellent standard of play while the other half of your team is just not helping you whatsoever? I don't think it will happen to the Colts, but a good encapsulation of that is a clip that's been making the rounds the last couple of days is that Broncos defensive lineman just the rounds the last couple days is that uh that broncos defensive lineman just going off on russell wilson on the sideline like at some point you just gotta get tired of it man like yeah i i feel bad for him because like there's been guys

who've played like pro bowlers this year deforest buckner grover stewart stefan gilmore these guys have been awesome rodney mLeod has been a great free agent addition. Isaiah Rogers has played lights out. Bobby O'Kerake. They're getting terrific return on investments and better play

than expected from so many of these defenders, and it's been totally wasted this year. I would be so over it, too. It kind of reminds me a little bit of the 2019 Colts where I think this defense a lot better than the 2019 Colts defense but I remember vaguely the 2019 Colts defense like up until like week 12 I think or week 13 was like a top 10 to 12-ish defense in the league you know they were holding teams down remember the Colts had that really strong start that season with Jacoby Brissett and then when the

playoff part hope started going away and the team kind of started going downhill we saw that that New Orleans Saints just massacre late in the season we saw I think the Jaguars in week 18 in Jacksonville put up like 38 on them or something like they just really fell off and I think by the end of the season uh they were like 22nd overall in defense because they just fell off a cliff because they were so banged up and they were just so worn down because they had an offense that just couldn't score on the other side. Now, again, I do think that this defense is better. Like Jaron is saying here, the defense plays hard,

but they need more turnovers. Yes, they definitely need more turnovers that that is 100 something they need and and again i think a lot of what hurts turnovers is they keep playing against these teams where once these teams score 16 17 20 or whatever they don't have to be aggressive they don't have to throw the ball down the field they don't have to take chances because the colts offense is not going to score that many points you know so we've seen a lot of opportunities and we've seen you know games this year where look at the Broncos again the Broncos kept having to try to score on this Colts defense and they got multiple picks yes Russell Wilson is having a bad year but that's one example another one was the Chiefs game you know the Chiefs had to go down and try to score late to tie that game up Stephon

Gilmore gets a breakup and you get that interception. You know, they've had good moments. They've had big plays happen when other teams have had to throw the ball on them. But they've had a lot of games this year where because the Colts offense is so inept, this Colts defense really hasn't had many chances to make their mark. Or when they are having their chances to get a big stop, they've already been on the field for 40 minutes of game time, you know, because the Colts offense is barely out there because they're getting three and outs or they're turning the ball over and giving short fields back to this defense. So yes, I don't think this defense is infallible. I don't think this is a top five defense by any means. I've said that all

year on here, but I do think they're like a fringe top 10 unit with an offense that is terrible on the other side. So they've had to really carry the weight of this team all season. And eventually that straw is going to break the Campbell's back. And that's kind of, I think what we're going to see these next couple of weeks, because yes, you know, this might've just been one bad game,

but they got a big game against the Dallas Cowboys coming up. And then I think they have the buy and then they have the Minnesota Vikings, which is another really good offense with Justin Jefferson. And then they have the chargers with Justin Herbert. Just, man, it's going to be tough for this defense to maintain their play. And yeah, I do think we are kind of seeing the crack in the armor. You know, the Achilles heel a little bit with this defense because you just can't carry that weight all season. Yeah, and you made a good point. I think teams know how to attack the Colts as well. You know, there's been plenty of examples of what you can do to the Colts defense to counter

those turnovers. A lot of the quick strike stuff works pretty well. But shoot. Yeah. Someone in the comments brought up a really good point. And I can't recall if we heard an answer from Jeff Saturday or not. And it's it's almost impossible for me to get down there when he's talking. But Isaiah Rogers left the game. There was no injury update announced here in the press box. And, you know, they announced many other injuries after his. So I'm not really sure what happened. Obviously, Dallas Flowers took over as the kickoff returner.

Tony Brown went down there, came in as a cornerback. So not really sure. Did they announce anything on the broadcast about Rogers? I didn't see anything at all. So I'm not too sure. That'll, that'll be interesting. Yeah. I don't, I don't think Jeff Saturday's mentioned it tonight.

They usually talk about injuries at the top. That'll be interesting. Yeah, I don't think Jeff Saturday mentioned it tonight. They usually talk about injuries at the top, so that'll have to be asked tomorrow during the conference call. So that's pretty interesting. There were a lot of other things to talk about. One thing we haven't even touched on in this show is the clock management at the very end of that game. And the answer that came from that was nonsensical. We won't talk about this too much because I don't think they were going to win that game regardless,

even if they managed the clock well. I didn't think that offense had it in them to get that, but that was terrible clock management. Just atrocious. I mean, Matt Ryan slides down. It's third and one with what? 59 seconds left. You call that timeout. You can actually think up your next play and draw up your next play. And then you have two timeouts and 59 seconds from what looks like the 20 and a third and one. Instead, they hurry up to the ball. Then they still take 20 seconds to snap it or whatever.

Then they hand it off and get stuffed for a one yard loss. And then you're looking at, you know, fourth and two, fourth and three with no time left, like just atrocious clock management. But what do you expect? You have an ESPN analyst as your head coach. You have, uh, Parks Frazier and assistant QB coach as your play caller. You have a terrified veteran quarterback back there. Uh, yeah, we kind of, it could, I Yeah, we kind of couldn't. I mean, it's kind of foreseeable that this was going to be something

that we would run into. But, yeah, that was terrible clock management. Like, that was so, so bad. And it's not even a big takeaway for us because there's so many more things to talk about for us. But, you know, if this were a game where the colts need to win this game to make the playoffs or something like that then yeah that would be a huge talking point because that was just terrible clock management oh yeah and then for me i hated the result on fourth down

you know throwing into double coverage to your smallest receiver on the field at the time i'm sure ryan was looking for i I'm sure Ryan was looking for DPI, but that's so risky to bank on on a fourth down. So I'm going to interrupt you. I know our buddy with his wife listening is going to laugh again that I mentioned this. But no, it was a rub route where Paris Campbell had his guy beat up the sideline.

If you have a competent quarterback with any kind of arm, you just throw that into the end zone and hope that your speedster can run under it. But Matt Ryan just doesn't. He's scared in the pocket, and he tried to throw a back shoulder that went far too inside, and it was a breakup. And, yeah, they were all begging for a pass interference. Like, no, I hate pass interference that bails out a horrible throw,

and that was a horrible throw. So, yeah, no, it should have been thrown to the end zone. It actually wasn't a horrible play design if you're going for the knockout punch. I mean, with all the time they had left, they probably had to go for that. It's just a bad throw. It's a bad throw, bad protection, and that was the result. I mean, you know, again, perfect picture of what the 2022 Colts are. Yeah.

What can you say? What can you say? What can you say? Well, I mean, do you have any other nice little talking points on this one, or should we put it to bed? I think we should put it to bed. I think we've got to put me to bed here. I've got to be up in a couple hours. It's Cyber Monday week at my day job.

So, yeah, I've got to be up in, what, five hours? Yeah, I've got to be awake in five hours. So, yeah, I got to be up in, what, five hours? Yeah, I got to be awake in five hours. So, yeah, let's put me to bed, Jake. Right on. So the good Jelani Woods, Yanni Gengakwe had a couple sacks, and he's on a great pace right now. He's starting to wake up a little bit. But otherwise, that is it for us.

Stick with us throughout the week as we put a bow on this one. We'll look forward to week 13 in Texas against the Dallas Cowboys. Our next show is actually going to be all about you guys. So please send us your questions, your Colts related questions, and we'll tackle probably the three biggest topics that we, that we get throughout that. Send those on Twitter to at locked on Colts and we'll take a look at those over the next day or so.

Yeah, but make sure you guys are following us on social media at LockedOnColts, at JakeArthurNFL, and at ZachHicks2 on Twitter. That's where you can send your questions that you want answered for Tuesday's episode. We're going to try to make that more of a mailbag stuff. So we'll pick the three biggest topics that you guys send us and kind of go from there. And also subscribe to the LockedOnColts channel on YouTube

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So please keep them nice. And thank you guys for making us your first listen very, very early in the morning. For your next listen, check out the Locked On Sports Today podcast. The biggest stories of the day, plus instant reactions, big game recaps, and the take of the day.

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