Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Shane Steichen's First Season is a Resounding Success

Starting point is 00:00:00 Year one of Shane Steichen's tenure in Indianapolis was a resounding success. Let's get to it. You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. This episode is brought to you by PrizePix, the easiest and most exciting way to

Starting point is 00:00:45 play daily fantasy sports. Go to prizepix.com slash locked on NFL and use code all lowercase locked on NFL for a first deposit match up to $100. Hello everyone, I'm Zach Hicks of horseshoehuddle.com, your favorite half of the Locked on Colts podcast. Here today, we are talking about Shane Steichen's first season with the Indianapolis Colts. We're going to typically stay on the offense side of the ball here for today's episode. We're going to talk all about how, you know, season one for Shane Steichen, we have to talk about how positive this first year was for him. And then we're going to just focus all on the offense, you know, the wins of the offense

Starting point is 00:01:21 and also where the offense needs to get better going into 2024. And before we start off this first segment, guys, how you feeling? How are we feeling, everybody? Are we still feeling a little depressed, a little upset about that loss the other night? I mean, I'm sure we are. I'm sure we're a little upset. But now that we've had a few days to digest it, a few days to, you know, take that deep breath, take that deep breath. It's all going to get better. Because today on this first segment, I'm going to walk you through why this first season was a success for Shane Steichen.

Starting point is 00:01:50 I know on Saturday you weren't expecting to hear that or you really weren't needing to hear that. Sunday you couldn't really hear it yet. Monday maybe a little better. But now since it's Tuesday morning, it's time we can take a breather and actually look at this here. Because if we look at what Shane Steichen did in season one here with Indianapolis Colts, I think we have to see it as a very, very positive step in the right direction for this franchise. I know, again, I know we just had a playoff game, an essential playoff game against Houston Texans that the Colts did not win. But a year ago at this time, they did lose to the Houston Texans, but we were all celebrating that loss or some of us, you know, we're celebrating that loss. You know, a year ago at this time, the Colts lost to the Houston Texans in the final week

Starting point is 00:02:32 of the season to go 4-12-1. They were just getting blown out down the stretch. I know obviously that Texans game was close, but in every other game down the stretch, they were just getting the doors blown off of them. They had an interim head coach who won one game and was hired over from ESPN again I know some of you guys still love them but Jeff Saturday was not a good coach for the Annapolis Colts obviously Frank Reich in the beginning part of that season wasn't very good either and the Colts went 4-12-1 a year ago they had the worst offense in all of football I mean that's what Shane Steichen was inheriting

Starting point is 00:03:02 one of the worst offenses in all of football and And he was able to somehow take that team, that team that won four games last year. They really weren't big spenders in free agency. I mean, they had a good draft, but a lot of the draft class got hurt. So, I mean, it's really the same team a year ago, except you replace Matt Ryan with Gardner Minshew. You get Josh Downs in there. And a couple guys took positive steps. I mean, Sansan Aboukam obviously came in as well and did You replace Matt Ryan with Gardner Minshew. You get Josh Downs in there. And a couple guys took positive steps. I mean, Sansan Aboukham obviously came in as well and did some things. But for the most part, it's really the same team that went 4-12-1 last year.

Starting point is 00:03:38 Shane Steichen inherited that team, that really, really bad football team, where really the last eight games of the year, they were the worst team in the entire league. Shane Steichen takes over that team, gets them to 9-8, again, with Gardner Minshew as starting quarterback. I'm not saying Gardner Minshew is a train wreck of a quarterback, but that's not even the guy that he was planning to start all season. That's the guy that had to step in after Anthony Richardson went down in week 5 against the Tennessee Titans. So without his design quarterback, with a roster that was not very good last year and a team that wasn't very good last year, comes in and gets the Colts into that play-in game or that essential play-in game here in Week 18 against the Houston Texans. And yes, we're all upset they did not win that game, but we got to take that step back and look at what this team accomplished this year and look at the step forward that they took. I know that we want to look at it from the Chris Ballard perspective of, Hey, this general manager has been here for nearly a decade at this point.

Starting point is 00:04:29 And what do they have to show for it? But when it comes to looking at it from the Shane Steichen perspective, this is year one, a, of a rebuild or of a first time tenure, you know, it's, it's year one of the Shane Steichen era coming from a year that was just a train wreck last year, the worst, the worst year of the Chris Ballard era, a true low point in the Chris Ballard era. I know the Andrew Luck retirement was a low point, but the team was at least good then. I mean, when you look at the team last year in 2022 with the 4-12-1, they were preparing to be a good team, but they stunk. You know, it's very different than being like the Arizona Cardinals this year where the Arizona Cardinals knew they didn't really have the talent

Starting point is 00:05:06 and they didn't win many games. The Colts were trying to win games last year. They were just not a good football team. So Shane Steichen overtook that team, inherited, again, one of the worst offenses in all of football from 2022, and made them a league average offense with pretty much the same guys, and then replacing Matt Ryan with Gardner Minshew. I mean, he had fewer games of

Starting point is 00:05:25 Jonathan Taylor this year than his predecessors did last year. To add on top of all of that, I mean, the constant drama all season, he had to deal with so much stuff that a first year head coach typically does not have to deal with. I mean, he walks into a situation where his star running back wants to get paid. He obviously has the injury concerns as well. His star running back ends up on the pup list. And then is he going to play? Is he going to get traded? Every question throughout the whole offseason is about Jonathan Taylor. The constant suspensions as well.

Starting point is 00:05:55 Isaiah Rogers, right when Steichen's getting hired, that one happens. You get the Tony Brown and Isaiah McKenzie late in the season. I mean, the Grover Stewart one as well. The Shaquille Leonard thing. I'm not saying Shaquille Leonard was a big player issue, but Shaquille Leonard going from this fan favorite superstar that was a couple of years ago to being released midway through the season.

Starting point is 00:06:17 There was a lot that Shane Steigen had to deal with, but still this team stayed consistent. They stayed that league average type team. And that's not the end goal, obviously, is being being a league average team but to step up from last year where they were 4-12 and one relatively you know again the events happened with the coaching staff but there wasn't that many injuries in 2022 there wasn't that much drama on the field in 2022 so they were not a good team last year to come into this year and be league average and take that big step forward with a rookie head coach.

Starting point is 00:06:46 I do think we got to give a lot of credit to Shane Steichen for that. I mean, the Colts appear ahead of schedule to me. You guys can let me know in the comment section what you think. But when you're looking at this Colts team and, you know, if they went nine and eight with Anthony Richardson, we'd be calling them ahead of schedule. They went nine and eight with Gardner Minshew. And I know there's a there's a small, small handful of you that think Gardner Minshew is a better quarterback right now than Anthony Richardson. But for the, those of us who actually watched the first couple of games of the season and saw what Anthony Richardson could do and what this offense was going to do with

Starting point is 00:07:17 Anthony Richardson. I mean, look, Richardson played against some really, really tough teams to start the year. The Jacksonville Jaguars, who I know fell apart late, but were a really strong team early in the season against the Houston Texans, obviously a good team early in the season. And he also played against the Los Angeles Rams, a playoff team in the NFC. If he would have played against the Panthers, the Patriots, the Falcons, the Bengals, like all these teams that the Colts played down the stretch, what could his first season have looked like? So the Colts going nine and eight with their backup quarterback, the quarterback that the Colts were really not prepared to start whatsoever this season and had to revamp and rechange their entire offense to fit him to go nine and eight with that happening

Starting point is 00:07:54 and taking it, you know, again, a roster that was not good last year and going nine and eight in Shane Steichen's first year. I do think that there is a credit to that. And I do think Shane Steichen deserves a ton of credit for that. This is not a moral victory. It's not a, oh, let's pat ourselves on the back. We finally got to our end point with Shane Steichen. But we're talking about a first step. I think this is a positive first step for the franchise following the disaster of last season. This is not the end goal. Obviously, you want to take another step forward next year. You want it to keep that progress going, that momentum going into next season, especially if Anthony Richardson plays more than, what, 10 quarters next year. But I think as of right now, if we're looking at this

Starting point is 00:08:34 team for expectations coming into the year, from where they were last year, into what everything that kind of transpired over the course of this season, you have to be proud of what the Colts did this year. You have to be proud of the progress the Colts are on. And after a major, major step back, pretty much falling on their butts last year. You know, if we're talking step backs, they didn't just take one step back. They plummeted to earth last year.

Starting point is 00:08:56 This is a positive step getting back on their feet and taking a step forward. And a lot of that comes down to Shane Steichen and what he was able to do with this Colts offense and just with this Colts team in general. So, again, I know it's been an upsetting last couple of days, especially when you're looking at that Texans game and the blown chances and how they could be in the playoff hunt right now. Or they could be in the playoffs right now with a better game. But at the end of the day, I don't think that takes away from the first step season that Shane Steichen just had with the Indianapolis Colts.

Starting point is 00:09:23 He did a great job all year long. And for the Colts to even have that game that they had on Saturday is a testament to how good of a coach Shane Steichen is. So I think they got that hire right. We're going to see where it can go from here. It's all about progress going into this offseason into next year. But as of right now, so far, so good for Shane Steichen and the Indianapolis Colts. But coming up, we're going to talk about this Colts offense and how they were able to right the ship in a lot of ways after a disastrous 2022

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Starting point is 00:10:59 covering the top sports stories of the day with local experts of Locked On, plus our national shows covering every single league. Go to Locked On Sports today on YouTube and subscribe to your first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel. All right, Locked On Colts fans, we are here talking about this Colts offense, and we're talking about the major wins of the season for the Colts offense. And I think this conversation has to start with the completely

Starting point is 00:11:25 revived rushing attack that the Indianapolis Colts were able to deploy this season. They finished 10th in the NFL in rushing yards with over 2000 yards rushing this year. They were the eighth best rushing team in football, according to football outsiders, DVOA rankings, which goes a little more in depth for opponent faced and and stuff like that than just raw rushing total so by all accounts this running game here in Indianapolis was completely revived and and that's with a couple dud games I mean in week one without Zach Moss without Jonathan Taylor they just had an absolute dud game against the Jacksonville Jaguars they had a couple other dud games in there but when this run game was clicking it was clicking I mean there were multiple games where Colts were running for 150 160 you know 200 plus yards in some of these games

Starting point is 00:12:12 I mean you look at the Tennessee Titans matchup early in the season with Zach Moss rumbling for 165 yards in that game you look at this this must win game from this past Saturday where the Colts ran for over 200 yards on offense with Jonathan Taylor running for 188 of those yards. This Colts running game was effective. It was efficient. It was dominant at times. And they did that without really having one guy, you know, being the lead guy for the entire season. I mean, Zach Moss started off the year on a tear, ran for over 400 yards in his first five games, played some really good football, was in the top three in rushing yards in the NFL for a short time there. And then when he started to fade and Jonathan Taylor came back, Jonathan Taylor exploded down the stretch. I mean, those last two games of the year,

Starting point is 00:12:53 he looked like old Jonathan Taylor again, and even he managed to get over 700 yards on the season. The Colts had two running backs this year with over 700 yards rushing on the year. Really, really good football from both of them, both well over four yards to carry this season as well. So I think just getting this Colts running game back to being, you know, I don't want to say we're going back to the run the damn ball era of Frank Reich football, but the run to win era of Shane Steichen football. I think this running game has proven to be an effective part of that.

Starting point is 00:13:24 Next year should be even more exciting with Jonathan Taylor, hopefully playing the entire season. Just get that more explosive and dominant running back back there. But I think this really, really positive sign for the Colts running game, the run scheme was very simplistic. It was a lot of inside zone, a lot of split zone, but it was effective running scheme. Hats off to Tom Manning for his work in that. Hats off to DeAndre Smith, the running back coach, obviously Tony Sperano Jr., and then Shane Steigen for bringing over a lot of Philadelphia concepts with the RPO game, with the inside zone game. This rushing attack was really, really strong in Indianapolis this year,

Starting point is 00:13:59 and it really carried them in a lot of these games. I mean, you look at the Pittsburgh game, you look at the Texans game from this past Saturday, the early season Tennessee game. There were a lot of games where the Colts rushing attack really led the way and was a big reason why the Colts were able to win games. So really, really great job in the running attack. And look, again, I'm not saying we're getting back

Starting point is 00:14:19 to the run the damn ball era here in Indy, but just to get the running game going again with the Colts, it feels good to be dominant on the going again with the Colts, it feels good to be dominant on the ground again with the Indianapolis Colts. And they did that without Anthony Richardson really running for that many yards because he only played those 10 quarters this season. Another big win for this offense was Michael Pittman Jr. having a career best season. Obviously, the entire offense took a major step back in 2022 but Michael Pittman Jr. he looked like that bona fide wide receiver one for most of the year and Shane Steichen never really shied

Starting point is 00:14:50 away from using him as a wide receiver one we talked about on the show so many times he was the pace setter for the offense he was the dominant force on the early downs he was their go-to guy on third downs he was their contested catch guy a lot of their over the middle stuff that's what Michael Pittman Jr. did and he was able to have the best season of his entire football career. And that's with him missing a game this year. So his stats could have even been more inflated. I think he led the NFL this season in games with eight plus catches. I saw that graphic on that Saturday night game. So Michael Pittman Jr. was the focal point of this passing game. He was the whole reason why it even got to be somewhat working this year.

Starting point is 00:15:27 And it's a major, major win to get that wide receiver one rolling. Another big win for this offense, running back Jonathan Taylor finished the year strong enough to where we can feel pretty confident going into year two with him in this system. It was looking bleak there for a little bit. I mean, 2022 was not a great season for Jonathan Taylor like pretty much after the first like three or four games he just didn't look like Jonathan Taylor again you know he hurt that ankle on those first couple games he had a fumbling issue that popped up last year and then late down the stretch he just didn't really play much and Zach Moss had to lead the way then we come forward to this year we had the whole offseason drama that was you know kind of a mess in general.

Starting point is 00:16:06 But then you get through those first couple games. Jonathan Taylor gets back after the dominant Zach Moss stretch. And then Taylor just still doesn't really look like himself. Still looks a little bit slower. Just doesn't have that breakaway speed. You get some good games here and there, but didn't look like Jonathan Taylor. And then he busts his thumb. Once he busts his thumb, he misses a couple games.

Starting point is 00:16:25 Comes back for the final two against the Las Vegas Raiders and against the Houston Texans. And in those two games, it looked like Jonathan Taylor again. Now he wasn't breaking tackles because he was trying to prioritize ball security, which is understandable. But when he got the open space in those final two games, he looked like Jonathan Taylor again. So when you're looking at those last two games, and I know it's the most recent bit of football, so it's easy to have them fresh in our mind. But when you look at those last two games, it's easy to see what Jonathan Taylor can look like in this Shane Steichen offense. So that's a huge, huge win for this offense. It's getting Jonathan Taylor not only signed to a longer deal, but also having him look like Jonathan Taylor in those last

Starting point is 00:17:03 two games. Again, major, major win for Shane Steichen in this Colts offense. And then one more win. I really wanted to hype on because I think it's the most important win of the season for the Annapolis Colts. The offensive line is back to being the Colts offensive line after a really rough 2022 season where they ended up finishing the year like 18th and past past protection metrics by pro football focus. I think that's a little bit skewed higher because they finished the year like 18th in pass protection metrics by Pro Football Focus. I think that's a little bit skewed higher because they finished the year a little bit stronger.

Starting point is 00:17:29 It was really, really rough there to start the season, especially with Matt Pryor in there in 2022. But you get to this season, Pro Football Focus has them around 8th or 9th for the season. Really, really strong year overall for the entire group. Quinton Nelson, healthy for a majority of the season, played some really great football, but got back to his all-pro self, which was awesome to see. Will Fries played pretty much every single game, took a big step from last year at right guard, some really, really great football from him. Bernhardt Ryman at left tackle really solidified that left tackle spot, and while it wasn't perfect for him at left tackle, he did some really good things and took a major, major step forward. And then Ryan Kelly and Brayden Smith, you know, they weren't,

Starting point is 00:18:07 they weren't healthy this entire year, but they still look like their dominant selves again. When they did play this year, they look like Ryan Kelly. They look like Brayden Smith. You know, it didn't look like the shell of themselves versions that we saw last year. So I, you know, obviously Shane Syken gets credit for giving them a scheme where they could all thrive again, but Tony Sperano Jr., whatever he was doing, whether he was just changing their breakfast, changing their diet, getting them in a better scheme that works, or just telling these guys, you know, hey, you're better than this, whatever it was that Tony Sperano Jr. did with this offensive line this year, keep doing it because that was the most important win of the offense in 2023 the Colts offensive line is back and that's even with what the five starters playing a court like playing a combined

Starting point is 00:18:52 like six quarters together you know maybe 10 quarters together we probably got the same amount of time as we got Anthony Rich in this year as we got all five linemen playing together you know I really would have loved to have all five of those guys playing a little bit more together this year, but to get the time that we did with them and to see how dominant they could be when they're all on the field together and to still be a strong unit even when one or two guys were missing, I think is a huge testament to this coaching staff

Starting point is 00:19:18 and especially Tony Sperano Jr. up there on the offensive line. So major, major win on offense was getting this offensive line back to being a dominant force and also getting, you know, just, just a top level play out of that offensive line group in general. But coming up guys, we're going to talk about this Colts offense a little bit more, but we're going to talk about really where they need to add more pieces. You know, this offense is not complete, obviously. So what do they need to do to take that next step from a league average offense this year to a high-flying top tier scoring offense in 2024 but first prize picks is the most fun i've had winning up to 25 times my money this football season you just select two or more players pick

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Starting point is 00:21:19 Locked on Colts every day as we are back talking to Indianapolis Colts offense. And we're talking about the most important areas that the Colts every day as we are back talking the Indianapolis Colts offense. And we're talking about the most important areas that the Colts need to improve upon to make this offense take that next step in 2024. And honestly, in all big caps letters, the most important aspect this offense needs to explode in 2024 is health. It just needs to be healthy. I mean, that's the biggest thing with this Colts offense.

Starting point is 00:21:43 Because we saw this year, Shane Steichen is a good enough offensive mind where he can get this offense moving with a variety of factors playing against him. With Michael Pittman Jr. missing a game, they were still able to score on their first drive. Obviously, you would have liked a better production in that game, but overall, they were still able to score. With Jonathan Taylor missing a ton of time, they are able to find effective ways to run and throw the ball. With their starting quarterback, Anthony Richardson, only playing six quarters or playing 10 quarters, whatever it was, they were still able to be 10th in the league in scoring this year with 23 points per game. You know, this offense has had to go through a ton of adversity this year,

Starting point is 00:22:19 and they were still able to put up a good, healthy amount of points overall, even before the wheels fell off kind of later in the season they were scoring a fewer than 20 points per game down the stretch but over the over the course of the whole year this offense was able to stay productive despite the injuries despite guys missing time despite you know whatever it ended up being this offense faced a lot of adversity and they were still able to score some points but next year you know getting Anthony Richardson back getting Jonathan Taylor to be healthy for a majority of a season, getting Jelani Woods back on the field in general. And then obviously on the offensive line, Ryan Kelly, Braden Smith, I mean, Bernhardt Ryman missed some time this year too with concussion. Just getting those

Starting point is 00:22:56 guys healthy, I think is the most important thing that can happen for this offense. Because if Anthony Richardson goes all 17 games next year, let's imagine what the peak of this offense because if Anthony Richardson goes all 17 games next year let's imagine what the peak of this offense could be with Shane Steichen we were seeing Anthony Richardson with the training wheels early in 2023 and he dragged the Colts back from a 23 point deficit against Los Angeles Rams to take that game into overtime nearly beat a very good playoff team in the Rams so what can this offense do without the training wheels with a year or two Anthony Richardson hopefully with more knowledge under him and more experience under his belt with Jonathan Taylor playing a full full healthy amount of snaps with maybe Jelani Woods playing in a game or two I have no clue what's going on with that maybe Jelani Woods coming back and then maybe Ryan

Starting point is 00:23:38 Kelly and Braden Smith playing more games next year you know if they can just get lucky in the health department on offense next season this offense can truly be explosive and talented next year. So that's really the most important thing overall. I have a couple other news and notes here. I mean, again, health is the most important thing. I really want to stress that health, health, health. Hopefully these guys get to be healthy next year, but a couple other things I really want to see. I want to see a more diverse passing attack. Again, a lot of this came down to Anthony Richardson missing time. They were doing a lot more things with Anthony Richardson early in the year, a lot of pistol stuff, a lot of more unique stuff in the screen game, more empty. They did, you know, the whole Rams comeback was all four

Starting point is 00:24:19 verts and vertical passing. So a lot of that stuff was a little bit more diverse than when Gardner Minshew came in. It was heavy, heavy RPO game, a couple play action shots here, but mostly the RPO game with Gardner Minshew because that's what worked for him. So I think the passing tack will be more diverse with Anthony Richardson getting back in the fold next season. I do think they need one more wide receiver threat. The Colts actually had the fewest broken tackles forced among wide receivers in all of football this past season. They only had 16 missed tackles, or missed tackles forced, broken tackles forced amongst their wide receivers in 2023. I think that's a big area to improve because when you look at this wide receiver room, you know, Michael Pittman Jr. is a tank after the catch, but he's not really going to make guys miss. He's just going to run through them like

Starting point is 00:25:04 a running back, just like his father's just going to run through guys. Josh Downs is not really going to make people miss. He's going to turn up field and get some extra yards, but he's not going to make people miss. And then Alec Pierce is more of your downfield threat. He's going to catch it and get tackled where he catches it down the field. A big thing for this Colts offense now is getting a guy who can kind of be a little gadgety, you know, be a little bit gadgety and you're going to get him on a quick, you're going to get this player on a, on a quick screen. They can maybe make that first guy miss and, and turn on the afterburners and get up the field. You know, it doesn't have to be some superstar version of this, but when I'm thinking of this,

Starting point is 00:25:37 I'm thinking of like a Rasheed Rice over with the Kansas city chiefs, or obviously the, the, the main, the big example is the Debo Samuel obviously in San Fran I'm not saying go get a Debo Samuel because he's one of one but like a Rasheed Rice I think in Kansas City where he's forcing a lot of missed tackles he's creating a lot of yards after the catch he's creating just opportunities for the offense with what he does after the catch I think the Colts need that kind of guy for their mesh concepts, for their screen games, for their quick hitters, just a guy who can turn a two yard gain into a 10, 15, maybe 20 yard gain, even create explosives on underneath passes.

Starting point is 00:26:14 Cause right now this offense, or at least this past season, this offense was a lot of where you catch it. You're going down, you're going to catch the ball. You're going to go down there and the offense is going to move that way. Unless the receiver is wide, wide open. They're not going to know they're not going to create too much after the catch so getting a receiver who can create after that catch through broken tackles through yards after catch through their explosion in their speed i think is a major major thing that the colts need to address this offseason whether it's in the draft or in free agency and you know

Starting point is 00:26:43 hint hint i'm going to say the draft, actually, because the draft is where you take receivers now. I think another thing that needs to be addressed is the tight end group in general. I think they have a lot of solid players there. Obviously, we don't know what's going on with Drew Ogletree, so we can't even mention him in there. But Will Mallory had a good season. Kylan Granson was solid.

Starting point is 00:27:00 Marley Cox was fine. Jelani Woods, again, we don't really know what's going on there, but hopefully he's back next year. I think I would just like one more legit threat in there. I don't care if it's a receiver or a blocker, whatever it is. If you're sitting at 15 and Brock Bowers on the board, you take Brock Bowers. You take Brock Bowers. I know I'm getting ahead of myself with draft talk here, but something like that. See where the opportunity is. See if you can get a tight end in this draft class or in free agency that can really take your group a little bit to the next level because it's fine to have a bunch of solid options at tight end, but to have

Starting point is 00:27:33 a very reliable one or just a better than solid option is a bigger plus than obviously what the Colts dealt with this year. And then my last one here is just offensive line depth. I think the offensive line depth was fine overall this year. Wesley French did a one here is just offensive line depth. I think the offensive line depth was fine overall this year. Wesley French did a good job stepping in at times this season. Sills, David Sills, what's his name? Josh Sills, sorry, Josh Sills came in and did a decent job too in his couple snaps. He got a guard and then a tackle. Blake Freeland was not horrendous this year. Fourth round rookie, you obviously would have liked to see a little, you know, Blake Freeland was not horrendous this year. Fourth round rookie, you obviously would have liked to see a little bit more overall, but a fourth round rookie, you have low expectations for a reason.

Starting point is 00:28:12 I think, you know, if you're going, if you're playing next year is to go back in with Blake Freeland as your only swing tackle, I think you're going to get burned by that. So maybe just bring in another veteran just to compete with him, bring in maybe another interior offensive lineman just to compete with that depth stuff. But you can never hurt to add more offensive linemen, particularly on day three of the draft, or just getting guys out there. But overall, I really do think the focus on this offense is just staying healthy, getting maybe one more dynamic threat in the passing game.

Starting point is 00:28:40 But again, just stay healthy. Stay healthy. Shane Steichen can get guys open. These pass catchers they have here are solid players. Anthony Richardson coming back would be a massive, massive boost. And Jonathan Taylor playing a full season would be a massive, massive boost there too. But I really do think just staying healthy is the most important thing for this Colts offense. 2023 was a major win for the Colts offense in general.

Starting point is 00:29:00 The entire year was a win for the Colts offense, bouncing back from the worst offense in football in 2022 to league average, despite not having their quarterback or their start running back for majority of the season. So I'm going to look at what they did on offense this year as a major win and a positive moving forward for the Indianapolis Colts. Before I go today, though, guys, remember to check out Locked On Sports Today, which is the new first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. And if you guys don't already, make sure you follow at LockedOnColts, at JakeArthur, and I found at Zach Hicks, too, all on social media, Twitter, X, wherever you are on social media. Also, subscribe to us on YouTube, wherever you list your podcasts.

Starting point is 00:29:38 We love your guys' ratings, reviews, and we'll catch you guys back here bright and early tomorrow morning.

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