Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts save season with 27-17 win over Miami Dolphins

Episode Date: October 5, 2021

On today's episode, Evan and Stampede Blue's Stephen Reed go over the Indianapolis Colts' 27-17 win over the Miami Dolphins. Saving their season with a victory, what were the biggest takeaways?We go over the offense and defense, with some more in-depth analysis sprinkled in as well.Closing out the show, we look ahead to a huge showdown with the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football.All of this, plus so much more, in a loaded episode on victory Monday! 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 into your latest episode of Locked On Colts, part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Today's always your host, Evan Settery, joined by Stephen Reed of Stampede Blue. We're here on a Monday night to recap the Colts' first win of the season in the fourth week. They beat the Miami Dolphins 27-17.

Really ugly first half, pretty explosive second half where they got a lot of points on the board. It was only a 7-3 score at halftime. Ended up being 27-17. I think once the Colts got ahead by a couple possessions, Stephen, I felt pretty comfortable, especially going against Jacoby Brissett, a quarterback who looks honestly like he's regressed, being away from Frank Reich a little bit, out of the Colts' offense.

How are you doing on this Monday night? And also, what's your thoughts on this Colts' win for the first time? Trying to get some momentum going here as they go towards next Monday against the Baltimore Ravens. Hey, Evan. I am doing fantastic. I'm super excited. The Colts got a big win against Miami down on the road, which the NFL is always hard. You know, there were some positives.

There were some negatives. But, you know, regardless of win to win to win and you take it you learn from it and you you move on to the next week I think that there's a lot of things that the Colts um showed that they could do well and like you said once once the Colts honestly like in my opinion once the Colts got up by more than one possession uh so once I got up by more than eight points I felt like they were going to win the game because I have zero faith in Jacoby Brissett leading any kind of comeback. And it seems like that was proven, although throwing the ball up to Devante Parker, maybe they should have done that a lot earlier because he was just feasting in the second half when

they just finally threw him the ball. But yeah, I was happy that they didn't figure that out earlier in the game and that the Colts were able to hold off the late charge from Miami and were able to complete a couple first downs and keep that clock going. So they were able to make it a nice kind of relaxing victory, which is something we haven't got a chance to have this year and quite honestly haven't had a chance to have for a while it seems like most of the Colts victories were were pretty close over the past

couple years let me ask you this before we dive into some player performances here maybe some guys who stood out in the positive or negative aspect do you think Sunday yes yesterday was an impressive win for this Colts team because I'm kind of on the fence about it I know it was a really good win obviously get on the board here get get to 1-3 instead of 0-4. 0-4 would have been a death sentence for this team this year, especially going into Baltimore, probably being 0-5. But I think if it was any other quarterback other than Jacoby Bursette, let's say they played like a Jimmy Garoppolo or even Tua Tagovailoa if he started on Sunday. I don't know if the Colts would have won that game because the offense was so sloppy early on.

The defense obviously knew what Jacoby Brissett was doing. Brissett, we know, is one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL as far as starting caliber goes. So I think they got pretty lucky there. But do you agree with that assessment that I think any other team that would have played if it was not Jacoby Brissett behind center, it would have been maybe a closer game or maybe a loss in the Colts? Because I feel like I came away from that game happy.

They won, but I came away kind of unimpressed by everything involved around it outside of that. Yeah. To me, it wasn't an impressive win. I mean, you know, ultimately like any, when you get in the NFL is impressive, but it's, it wasn't like spectacular. It didn't stand out. The first half was abysmal. It was funny. The

Colts put out a three minute highlight clip of Carson Wentz's plays throughout the game. And there were two total plays from the first half. One of them was a quarterback sneak. That tells you how bad that team, the team was in general in the first half. I do think that they kind of figured a few things out in the second half in terms of where they were going to go with the ball. You saw a lot of really quality plays from Carson Wentz in terms of extending plays. And you could tell that his ankles are feeling a little bit better

and Frank Reich was feeling better, or at least was more confident in Wentz's ability to get outside the pocket. So it seemed like the Colts as a whole felt more comfortable in the second half. Quite honestly, this game probably could have been over a lot earlier if the defense would have had – Jacoby's set put like three balls that were like in defenders' hands. You know, Julian Blackman, I think, had one that just came out. Darius Leonard, the same thing.

And then there was another one where Darius had it in his hands, and he just dropped it. It was a tough catch regardless because I think it was a diving catch. But, you know, the defense had an opportunity to have more turnovers, but ultimately, you know, I'm not sure Miami puts up any points in the first half if not for the Colts' special team issue. There with the name Hines punt return, I don't think that they pushed the ball down the field. I don't think they scored in the first half without that, because quite honestly, they didn't.

But yeah, there were a lot of things that they needed to work on. The offensive line still, they've got to figure that out. It's not fun to see Carson Wentz get back there. But at the same time, the Colts' defensive line played really well. Like, to Forrest Buckner and Grover Stewart, I still will stand that they are the best defensive tackle combination in the NFL, and you saw it throughout the entire game. And when they finally gave Kamoka Turei some snaps,

he was able to put up – he put up two sacks in the first half. And yeah, they were obvious passing downs. But quite honestly, I feel like they need to give the young pass rushers a little bit more time, whether it's Kamoka Ture or Ben Banigou, any of the two, or either of the two, give those guys an opportunity on early downs. Because remember, teams still pass on first and second down. And so I just feel like the Colts need to give those guys an opportunity. And it's like fans are like, Oh no, no, no. For a second down, you can't put guys that are pass rushers on first and second down guys, guys, girls, everybody.

Who do you think were the Colts best, best defensive ends over the past two decades? It was Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis, neither of which were big, run-stuffing defensive ends. They were small, faster guys that took advantage of the fast track that you play on in Lucas Oil Stadium. So I just feel like they should give those guys more of a chance. But the defensive line looked great, I thought. They limited the Miami running attack. The offensive line for the Colts needs some work and that's pretty obvious. I thought the linebackers played better

than what they have. I think that you're seeing as the season goes on, it was something that we talked about to open the season with Darius Leonard and Bobby Okorike being a step slow because Darius Leonard and Bobby Okorike being like a step slow because you know Darius didn't play in the preseason at all and then same thing with Jonathan Taylor neither of those guys played in the preseason at all and now that you're in the fourth game this season you're seeing like kind of all that rust get knocked off and so you're seeing those guys really come out and play well so I think that the preseason, yeah, it stinks,

and some guys get injured during that time. But I think it's a good opportunity for these guys to take a few hits and get the rest knocked off of them. Let's hit on some positives from this game, and then we'll dive into maybe a few negatives, then look ahead a little bit to the Baltimore game next Monday, a week from tonight here on ESPN. Let's start with Carson Wentz, 24 of 32, 228 yards, two touchdowns,

got sacked twice. I think the offensive line was mostly the reason why he got sacked. I think one of those sacks probably do that Wentz won the ball too long, but outside of that, pretty flawless game from Carson Wentz, very efficient, took the reads where he got them and really was playing great football. What was your assessment of Carson Wentz on Sunday? Because he looked a lot more mobile. I think an extra day off this upcoming week against Baltimore is going to do him wonders where he might look close to 100% like we saw in week one and early parts of week two.

I think we're getting to see the regular normal Carson Wentz where he looked nothing like he did last time against Tennessee. He looked like a statue back there. This week kind of showed that pocket mobility where he looked very comfortable back there, and he's really developing a really strong boner now as far as throwing the ball to Michael Pittman Jr. as well. Yeah, I think Carson Wentz looked a lot more comfortable, and you could see it, and one thing that I think is really intriguing about Carson Wentz is that he's able to throw off platform very well,

and that's more and more what you're looking for in a franchise quarterback. So you'll see a lot of times he'll roll out and he won't necessarily make that over the top throw that most quarterbacks would make, like where you see like Brady and Manning and these guys like really just, they have to get positioned and then throw it. Carson Wentz was able to make a couple of throws that were off platform, which means the arm ankle is not necessarily over the top. It's off to the side. It's a little bit sidearm, something like that, but he's still accurate with

it. And you saw that a couple of times on rollouts where I think Frank Reich did a good job, very good job in the second half of moving the pocket. Once he realized that Carson Wentz was able to get a lot more mobile, he was able to get Carson Wentz outside. And that's really where Carson excels. And so I was glad that they went ahead and did that. I know there was a stat earlier today that, and I'm sure our listeners by now know that I'm not a huge fan of PFF in terms of their grading. But last year they graded Carson Wentz through 12 games of the season,

had 24 turnover-worthy throws, and so far this year he has zero graded by PFF. And PFF has been like a pretty – they've been pretty down on Carson Wentz kind of period all year. And so far they've shown that he's only been accountable for like 2.4% of his pressures in terms of pressures, hits, and sacks. And then now they're saying that he's made zero turnover-worthy throws. This is a Carson Wentz that we were hoping for here in Indianapolis this year.

It's not what you're getting, not what you got in 2020 with the Philadelphia Eagles. You're getting a guy that is consistent and is careful and is taking what the defense is giving him and not trying to necessarily go outside the offense and kind of free wheel and make plays. He's seeing what he's got, and then if he doesn't have it, he'll extend the play a little bit, but it seems like he's making better decisions, which I think is directly correlated to his relationship with Frank Reich. Yeah, it's been a great start for Kirsten Wentz, and I think moving forward here, I think between the balance of this, I've thought about this more and more,

especially after yesterday's game. I feel like Carson Wentz might be playing a little bit too safe with some throws. We saw in the second half of today's game where he's taking some more shots down the field, trusting his receivers more. But I want to see Carson Wentz air the ball out more. I know it's more of a turnover worthy period where that could happen at an interception. But if you're in a position where you can get the ball down the field more and take less of those risks, I think it's a really smart investment. What do you think about that? Yeah, I think he needs to start.

You've clearly seen that he's throwing that first level pretty well, you know, that zero to 10-yard range. I want his team to start to get into that second and third tier in terms of like a 15 to 25 yard range for some completions or that 10 to 20 yard and then 20 and beyond. He's got the arm for it. It's pretty clear that that's not an issue. It's interesting because his throws really do look effortless. There's some guys that it's just the throwing motion looks labored and that's just not what you get with Carson Wentz. And so I'm interested to see how he starts to develop and how they expand the offense because

this is kind of like what we saw with with Andrew Luck in 2019 um or in uh in 2018 the the first year Andrew was back um after his injury is that Frank Wright eased luck into it. He didn't push him. He just eased him into the offense, tried to get his confidence up, get it moving, kind of make sure you have a really good grasp of the offense. And then you started to see Andrew, as the season progressed, start taking those shots. I think you're going to start seeing that with Carson Wentz

because this is just kind of how Frank Wright does it with this offense. Phillip Rivers last year, it was more of a, you just kind of had to Phillip was limited in terms of his arm strength, so he excelled in that first, second tier, in that 0-20 yard range, in that low-level, mid-level pass. Carson's got a big enough arm where he can excel throughout the entire field, and there's not a route that he can't throw. And so I think that's a really cool sign for the Colts,

and I'm really excited about them moving forward. Hey, Colts fans. This is Evan Satter with an incredible app everyone who buys gas needs to know about. GetUpside. My listeners make up to 25 cents for every gallon of gas every time they fill up. Just download the free GetUpside app in the App Store or Google Play right now and use promo code TOUCHDOWN and get a bonus of 25 cents per gallon in your first fill up. That's up to 50 cents cash back. Don't pay full price to pump anymore. Get cash back using GetUpside. Just download the app for free and use promo code TOU promo code touchdown to get the 50 cents per gallon cash back in your first tank some people who drive a lot are making as much as two to three hundred dollars a month in cash back

and there's no catch the cash back gets added right to your account you can cash out anytime your bank account pay power and e-gift card for amazon and other brands just download the free get upside app use promo code touchdown t-o-u-C-H-D-O-W-N right now. Let's go ahead and dive in now to some receivers that really stood out to me on Sunday. First one home is Michael Pittman Jr. He had six receptions for I believe 60 yards, eight targets in this game as well. He's really starting to go way above everyone as far as total targets goes on this Colts offense, really establishing himself as the wide receiver one right now.

The chemistry, like I mentioned, between him and Carson Wentz is really getting high up there. What's your thoughts on Pittman? Because I feel like he's becoming a really reliable target for this offense and one where I'm very confident moving forward here. I know it's only four weeks into the season, but he's a guy to me, whether it be your future WR1 or your future WR2, if you go out and get a big name in free into next offseason.

This guy's going to be a huge part of this Colts offense moving forward here. I think he's well on his way to smashing that 100-plus target mark we talked about a couple weeks ago. Yeah, I think he's definitely stepping into wide receiver one for Carson Wentz. And it's really clear that whenever Carson's in trouble, he throws it to Pittman. Even if Pittman's covered, he tries to fit it in there. And even if there's just a scintilla of space,

he'll try to throw it in there to Pittman, which shows that he's got a lot of trust that Michael Pittman Jr. is going to make a play. And so far he has. He's had – to start the season, I think there was a little bit shaky ground between the two but as the seasons progressed you're seeing that chemistry build and this goes along with the fact that Carson Wentz missed basically a month of preseason action a month of live game

action that they would have loved to have him in there for and now you're really kind of seeing it's like what we talked about earlier with the defensive players and Jonathan Taylor and knocking off the rust. Carson Wentz hasn't had that time to develop that chemistry, so they're kind of doing it on the fly. And I think that it's really clear that Michael Pittman Jr. is the guy that Carson Wentz trusts, and that's going to be the guy that he's going to throw to going forward. Another one here, Molly Cox at tight end, two touchdowns in the red zone. I think the Colts might have figured out, throw the ball to your big guys, Pittman, Allie Cox, Mike Strong, he's in the game.

Good things usually are going to happen for your offense when you do that, especially around the end zone. Allie Cox had a really amazing grab on that second touchdown, just really mossing it out of someone else's hands. I'm kind of cautiously optimistic about Maladie Cox moving forward here because he had a good start the last season as well. They get three touchdowns in the first four games. Then all of a sudden the Colts just stopped using him the rest of the season.

I really hope that's not the case this time around after one good game that they stop going away from Maladie Cox because sure, he's not a burner, but he's a guy, especially in the red zone, where I think Carson Wentz quickly realized on Sunday, if I just throw it up to a guy with massive hands, he's probably going to get the ball more often than not. I really hope that he's more of a feature piece of this offense moving forward because I think his career yards per reception is like 16 yards per reception.

This guy is just a yak monster, even with his build and his slower type. He's a guy, especially in the red zone, he can utilize a lot more often here. I want to see the target distribution go really heavily towards Moale Cox in the tight end room. Not really much of Jack Doyle. I want to see more of Moale Cox because he's a guy next year who's a free agent. He's a guy to me where I feel like you have to re-sign him

just as your future tight end one if all goes well this year. And on Sunday, he really showed to me that if you get him involved more often, he's going to do great things for you. Yeah, Moali Cox is a guy that in the red zone, he's just an absolute monster. Like, you got to think about it. He's a former high-level collegiate basketball player where he's, you know,

6'6", 6'7", somewhere along those range and can jump. And he has hands that are, like, bigger than most people's heads. Like, he mossed Eric Rowe, and Eric Rowe is a solid defensive back on that second touchdown. Like, that guy is strong. He's a little pitbull in there. And Mo'Ali Cox just, like, was like, no, thank you. And I swear, I feel like he just caught Eric Rowe too with his hands.

It's just sickening how good he is there in the red zone. So I think that you're going to see Mo'Ali Cox used a lot more going forward. I think he's going to be a priority free agent for them because he's a perfect complement to what they want to do with Kylan Granson. Kylan Granson is clearly their outrunner. He's the more athletic tight end. Mo'Ali Cox is the guy that is a solid blocker and can be in there and can play literally all three downs, and he's a weapon.

So I feel like Mo'Ali Cox, and I hope that they progress with him this year. I feel like they will just because Carson Wentz loves to throw to the tight end. I want to say Jack Doyle didn't get a ton of snaps this week, and I don't think it was necessarily injury-related. But I do think that the Colts and the coaching staff, they've got to see how well Moelle Cox produced when he was in there, and I think they need to take advantage of it. Last thing on the offense here, Stephen,

we'll dive into the defense and look ahead a little bit to next week's game. Jonathan Taylor had another monster game in limited snaps – or limited carries, excuse me. 16 carries, 103 yards, one touchdown. He's averaging 6.4 yards per carry in each of the last few weeks. I think the last half of the season in his rookie year, Jonathan Taylor has officially arrived after a rough week one, mostly due to the offensive line.

But he's been really great the last couple weeks for this Colts team you added Naeem Hines who was I think his bench in the first half of that game because of his muff fumble he only got two snaps in the first half which really didn't make much sense to me and then Marlon Mack he had 10 carries for 22 yards we take out the 12 yard run Steven nine carries for 10 yards so Marlon Mack really did not do much at all in his increased number of snaps. What do you think about the running back distribution on Sunday? Because I feel like they're trying to showcase Marlon Mack for a trade, and it might have backfired on them, quite honestly.

Yeah, no. I think that they were going to give Marlon Mack some snaps just to see what he can do. And he wasn't great, but he wasn't terrible necessarily. It wasn't anything the other part like you like you said you talked about the offensive line again offensive line isn't great right now and marlon mack's not as good as jonathan taylor i think that we all know that at this point and if if he were he'd be the one getting the majority of the carriers jonathan

taylor like like we talked about earlier, he didn't get any preseason action. So he didn't get that time to really catch himself up to the speed, the pace. And I know we as fans are like, oh, well, they're professional athletes. They should be able to do this. They need to be on a hundred percent. It doesn't matter.

Like if you haven't done something for eight months and all of a sudden you're expected to go in and perform at the highest level possible you're not gonna you're more likely than not gonna let people down in terms of your performance until you get up to speed and it takes you a little bit to do it some players faster than others Darius Leonard I thought played a good game today Jonathan Taylor I thought played a good game this weekend and so I'm really excited with how Jonathan Taylor's ran I think he was patient and took his holes and took what the defense and the offensive line gave him and it really makes a huge difference seeing you know Ryan Kelly with another week to kind of recover and get that

elbow healthy seeing Chris Reed in there for a full game and getting a chance to have him practice the entire time um you know Eric Fisher again the the tackle situation is questionable for the Colts but you know I'm really excited to see what they do going forward in terms of the offensive line I think Chris Reed is a great option there, left guard while Quentin Nelson's out. And secretly, I kind of want him to move over to right guard because I feel like he'd be a much better option than Mark Lewinsky over there because I haven't been impressed with Lewinsky this season at all. But yeah, in terms of the running back distribution, I was shocked that Hines didn't get as many carries as I thought he should have because I thought that

with how aggressive the Miami pass rush was I think you could have had a lot of opportunities with nine clients kind of leaking out of the backfield and taking advantage of that um Marlon Mack I thought he did okay it wasn't great it wasn't spectacular but it wasn't terrible at the same time um you know he ripped off thatyard run, so his stat line is going to still look decent. But I think the jewel of the running back room is definitely Jonathan Taylor, and he did what we had hoped he would do. Real quickly, since you brought it up, I was just going to ask you about that. I'm glad you did because he's a guy that really studs me on Sunday as well.

But Chris Reed at left guard really was making some huge holes for Jonathan Taylor at left guard. In a couple weeks here, Quentin Nelson will be back. He went on IR due to his high ankle sprain. He'll be back for the game, I believe, against the 49ers in a couple weeks. He'll be missing the Ravens and the Texans game. But if we see Chris Reed keep playing like this, Stephen, I think it would be kind of upsetting to say, in my opinion,

if the Colts don't put Chris Reed at right guard once Nelson is back. Because I feel like, honestly, in only a limited amount of workload, about one and three quarters games, we've seen Chris Reed do more than Mark Lewinsky has this entire season. I think the best five guys in the offensive line would probably be Eric Fisher, Quentin Nelson, Ryan Kelly, Chris Reed flipping from left to right, and then Braden Smith once he's back, I imagine, probably on Monday against the Ravens.

What do you think about that? Because I feel like, honestly, that's the Colts' best chance. You have to have the best five guys out there on the offensive line, and we've already seen Chris Reed do that the last two games. And if it continues the next two weeks, Tuesday, I feel like it would be really a curious decision why they wouldn't make the move to switch Glowinski out for Chris Reed or Reichardt. Yeah, I mean, it should happen. And this is something that we talked about in the offseason when they signed Chris Reed is I wouldn't I think I've on record on either your podcast or

on Jared and I's podcast talking about how Chris Reed if given the opportunity I think he should replace Mark Glowinski because I haven't been impressed with Glowinski for the past couple years. And I thought that Chris Reid would have an opportunity to push him. And if the Colts are going to kind of practice what they preach, even given Frank Reich and his ministerial presence there, you feel like he's got to start over there, right? You feel like it's gotta be Eric Fisher, Quentin Nelson, Ryan Kelly, Chris Reed, and Braden Smith.

And that's your five guys. And if they really do mean the best five guys are going to play, it'd be hard for me to sit there and say, Mark Lewinsky's played better than Chris Reed this season because quite frankly, he hasn't. Does this sound familiar? You've got one device that lets you catch the game live, another lets you stream your favorite shows, you're watching sports highlights on your phone, and you got your neighbor's best friends logging for the good stuff. What I want to tell you about is a simple way to get all the entertainment you love without the hassle and a great way to finally get your TV together. It's called Direct TV Stream and it brings your live TV and on-demand favorites together like never before,

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Bilt Bar, you're certainly missing out on the nine delicious flavors they have, including coconut, coconut almond, cherry, raspberry, mint brownie, peanut butter brownie, double chocolate, salted caramel. They also have a limited time flavor right now called cookie dough chunk, which I recently tried. And it's by far the most incredible one I've had so far. Built Bar continues to outdo itself. It tastes nothing like a protein bar. It's like a cheat meal with a candy bar almost taste to it, but it's super healthy for you. The Built Bar is easily the best protein bar ever that I've tasted and everyone else has as well. Most of the flavors have 17 grams of protein, all within 130 calories and like 40 grams of sugar as well added onto it. There's nine amazing flavors, plus the limited time ones as

well, that are all tasty and all healthy for you. Go to BiltBar.com, use promo code LOCKED15, you'll get 50% off your first order. Again, use promo code LOCKED15, L-O-C-K-E-D-1-5, for 15% off at BiltBar.com. Yeah, I love the idea of bringing back Chris Reid on a one or two-year deal next year, put him at right guard, get like a fifth or sixth round comp pick for Mark Lewinsky in the 2023 draft. And you kind of just have that be a wash there or even an upgrade just to get an extra draft pick out of that. Lewinsky will probably start somewhere else.

He'll be one of the best guards in the market this upcoming offseason in free agency at right guard. But let's dive into defense real quick, Stephen, from this game. Colts win 27-17 over the Dolphins. They're now 1-3 on the season. Kamoko Ture, DeForest Buckner, Grover Stewart, Tyquan Lewis, the whole front four really flashed a lot in this game. No quitty pay due to the hamstring injury,

but they really didn't need him that much when you had Kamoko Ture put up two sacks. What was your assessment of the front four there? Because once quitty Paye gets back, this was like a game to me where this front four really could gain some confidence moving forward here, especially going against Lamar Jackson next Monday, where it's going to be huge for this front four to do what they just did

to Cody Brissett on Sunday. Yeah. I'm going to hold off on making that comparison with Lamar Jackson and talking about that game until later on in the episode. I was really excited about how the defensive line played. I thought Gerber Stewart and DeForest Buckner just wrecked havoc on the interior of the Miami defensive line and put a lot of pressure on Jacoby Brissett and his face, which as we all know, Jacoby doesn't like that. Kamoka Ture, Taekwon Lewis, and even Akadi Muhammad.

I know I've been sour on him the first couple weeks of the season. The past two games, he's played pretty well. So I'm at this – to give credit where it's due, I think that he's put in work and he's shown that he deserves an opportunity to play in this. I wish that they would play Kamoka Ture more because when they have played him, he's made plays. And there are certain plays where you get the defensive ends that cause pressure that flush Brissette out of the pocket where they almost had sacks. And I know almost doesn't count, but it changed the entire part of the play, the trajectory of the play in terms of what Miami wanted to do.

And something goes to that, too, is being able to make a quarterback feel uncomfortable in the pocket. And that's what the defensive line was able to do throughout the entire game. And if they're able to do that and make Lamar Jackson feel uncomfortable throughout the entire game, then the Colts, you know, could pull off an upset on Monday night. The trouble is the Colts cannot let Lamar Jackson roll out of the pocket like they allowed Jacoby Brissett to roll out of the pocket because that's where Lamar Jackson is the most dangerous. Yeah, let's go ahead and dive into it. We've really covered the bases there. The front four really stood out defensively on Sunday.

27-17, the Colts finally get a win on the season. Now we're heading into a huge game, this time next Monday, in Baltimore against the Ravens. It's going to be a ruckus atmosphere there. Obviously, Lamar Jackson is a huge quarterback to go up against. You have the running game still. That's still great, even though they lost three running backs. They have Latavius Murray now.

They have Tyson Williams. It's a great one-two punch they have. Lamar Jackson can obviously run himself. I think rashad bateman could be making the season debut next monday as well off of ir so we're gonna be adding a weapon in the past game sammy walkins is currently their wide receiver one but i'm checking the spread right now the colts are seven point underdogs next sunday or next monday excuse me against the baltimore ravens what's your thoughts on this team because i feel like this could be a game where the Colts – what John Taylor showed me the last couple weeks,

I think this is a game where you could put Taylor in there, give him 20 carries and see what happens, play ball control, keep the ball in Lamar Jackson's hands, have Carson Wentz play a really smart game. I don't know if the Colts will win this game, Stephen, but I feel like it's going to actually be a pretty close game if they can follow a similar script to what we saw on Sunday. Yeah, I feel like seven points is way too much.

I mean, if I were betting, and I don't normally, but if I was going to bet that, I'd bet the Colts and the points because I feel like the Colts have played better teams and they've had closer games. The Ravens are such a tough team to figure out because they'll have weeks where they play awesome. And then they'll have weeks where they need a 66 yard field goal to beat Detroit. So I, I don't know what to make of the Ravens.

Uh, I'm not particularly worried about Lamar Jackson in terms of throwing the ball down field. Um, because the, with Lamar Jackson, if of throwing the ball downfield. Because with Lamar Jackson, if you keep him in the pocket, yeah, you've got Hollywood Brown on the outside that's a speedster out there. But Lamar Jackson isn't accurate enough in the pocket to be able to hit that if you're able to get pressure. What Lamar Jackson, what most dangerous part about Lamar Jackson is when he gets outside the pocket and he's able to extend plays with the legs, which unfortunately has been

the biggest issue for the Colts for the past two years, is when quarterbacks are able to get out to the pocket and extend plays with their legs. The defense breaks down, you know, offense is able to find a lot of holes. I mean, it's what happened with Russell Wilson. It happened with Josh Allen last year in the playoffs. It's a big issue for the Colts. Even Jacoby Bursette this past week, when he was able to extend plays by getting outside the pocket, it gave the Colts some trouble.

And so Lamar Jackson is just another level of weapon. And you gotta hope that Darius Leonard is all right because if he's not 100 percent or if he's not at least like 90 percent then Lamar Jackson could put up some pretty decent rushing numbers and the way that the Colts defense has played with those deep balls that now the difference is Devontae Parker is more of a jump ball, deep ball guy. Marquise Brown is not. Hollywood Brown is not a jump ball guy. I'd feel very confident with any of the Colts' corners against Hollywood Brown.

Sammy Watkins, you never know what kind of Sammy Watkins you're going to get in any given game. So that's the tough part is the Ravens are such a variable team in terms of unpredictability that you don't know whether they're going to be the good Ravens or the bad Ravens they typically get hyped for big primetime games so I assume that they're going to be the good Ravens this week and so the Colts are going to have to put up some good numbers and if they lean on Jonathan Taylor and they lean on that offensive line and they're able to just basically take the air out of the football and take the air out of the stadium, I think the Colts have a decent shot of at least keeping within seven points

and maybe an outside shot to win it. Steven, as always, enjoy having you on here. We'll be covering the Ravens game more in depth throughout this week including our crossover special with Locked On Ravens here on Wednesday but as always Stephen enjoy having you on Colton's go ahead and follow Stephen Gavin already on Twitter at Nice Read Steve and go read a list to his work as always over on Stampede Blue Stephen appreciate your time tonight all right thanks Evan have a great one