Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Sloppy and Undisciplined in Beatdown Loss to Detroit Lions

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Indianapolis Colts look like a sloppy mess in today's loss to the Detroit Lions. Let's get to it. You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you all for tuning in and making us your first post-game listen of every day. $150 in bonus bets. If you win your first $5 bet, visit Fandle.com to get started. Hello, everyone. My name is Zach Hicks, your resident film nerd over at HorseshoeHuddle.com. And my co-host, Jake Arthur, is our eye in the sky in the press box during the games. Also for the site, HorseshoeHuddle.com. Today, we're going to discuss how the Colts defense

Starting point is 00:01:01 simply just didn't win the turnover battle or get those red zone stops they needed to get the win today how the Colts offense completely sputtered and could not get out of their own way but first we're going to start with kind of some positives and talk about Anthony Richardson and it's a weird day to talk about positives with Anthony Richardson Jake because statistically like looking at that stat line, another like throwback Anthony, which is like early season Anthony Richardson day 11 of 21 completion percentage was bad, high yards per attempt, but just not what you wanted to see from your young quarterback statistically. And I want to preface this by saying on this show, we were hypercritical early in the season of his play, even when there were some outs to blame other people and blame coaching and blame play calling and all that, we were hypercritical in the early season stretch of the play. So I do want to throw that out there when I say this. I don't think this was that bad of a game by Anthony Richardson.

Starting point is 00:01:57 If anything, I think this was one of his more positive showings as a Colts passer and even as a runner. He's a fantastic runner in this game as well. I really think when you watch this game and you're looking back at the film, it was one of the more positive showings from Richie. He had 172 yards passing. He had another 97 yards passing just off the top of my head. Another 97 yards passing taken away from penalties. He had the 40-yard dart to Ashton Doolin where Dooloolin just couldn't get his feet in bounds. Drew Ogletree dropped an 11-yard walk-in touchdown. There were so many mistakes around him that it kind of hurt his overall stat line. And yes, he did push it a little bit in the fourth quarter,

Starting point is 00:02:35 and he threw a lot of incomplete passes in that fourth quarter when they were down by 18. So I do think he pushed it a little bit, and it made his stat line a lot worse at the end of the day. But Jake, what were your thoughts on Anthony Richardson? Because at least for me sitting at home watching, I thought he played well, all things considered. Yeah, the box score is not going to do him any favors. And it looks similar to that Texans game in 10-32. But I cannot tell you how differently I feel about this game. Early on in the game, you saw these things like he was

Starting point is 00:03:06 throwing seeds and they're just being dropped. You know, with A.D. Mitchell, it was a completion, but like he caught the ball along the sideline, could have stopped and picked up more yardage, goes out of bounds. There was I think it was a third down where he's running the slant, but they're not on the same page, which, you know, skip the record for once. And then, you know, there's just the Drew Ogletree drop, like you mentioned. There are these plays where if one or two of these go the different way, a lot of people are having much different opinions about this. I thought when it comes to having a high volume of errant throws, which is normal for him in a game other than last week,

Starting point is 00:03:47 they weren't there. There was maybe, you know, the intentional grounding penalty was legit. Like that was a terrible throw. He may not have even been throwing it to anyone. But I think within context of this stat line, it was a pretty positive game. I felt like he grew from last week. You know, we said Colts probably aren't going to win this one, but if Anthony continues to build a

Starting point is 00:04:13 little momentum or shows growth, he doesn't have to have another career game or lead a fourth quarter comeback. He just needs to build off of last week, and I felt he did that. There were some throwaways. Instead of making irresponsible throws into danger, he threw them out of bounds or out of the back of the end zone. So you have to kind of add context for that as well. His completion percentage when we look at it like tonight or tomorrow after we whittle it down what was legit and what wasn't, it's going to be better.

Starting point is 00:04:42 I mean, it's like 39% in this, which is God awful. But again, context is everything. I think a lot of people, I mentioned this in the little short video afterward, I think a lot of people are going to tell on themselves about Anthony Richardson this week. They're going to see that stat line, and they won't have added any context to what it actually looked like on the field. Yeah, and I will say this.

Starting point is 00:05:05 Early in the season, there were people saying the same thing. Like, oh, you're going to tell on yourself watching Anthony Richardson. Like, even the Houston game, I think, was a little better than his stat line, but it still wasn't a good or promising game from Richardson against the Texans. Like, there were still a lot of issues procedurally from him. And again, a lot of the issues early in the season was he had a really strong run game, had a really strong offensive line, and he was missing a lot of throws and he was throwing the ball in harm's way.

Starting point is 00:05:29 In this game, I mean, there was maybe the one turnover worthy play off of Brian Branch on that like late third down, like late in the fourth quarter, they were kind of pushing it a little bit. But besides that, he didn't throw the ball in harm's way a lot. He avoided a lot of sacks. I think for the most part, he was fairly accurate with his passes. Like, again, a lot of these throws were throwaways or hit while throw. So, like, yeah, he missed the one to Alec Pierce early in the game.

Starting point is 00:05:54 But if you watch it, he got hit. He couldn't step into it. He just got, like, laid into. Yet again, Ali McNeil had, like, five pressures under two and a half seconds in this game. And that's one thing if, like, an edge rusher is getting quick pressures under two and a half seconds in this game. And that's one thing. I feel like an edge rusher is getting quick pressures on you because you can kind of move around that. When is a defensive tackle right in your face every single play? You can't really do anything to get away from that. So yes, I do think to a degree, we do have to avoid making too

Starting point is 00:06:20 many excuses for a player. And I think at times early in the season, we did get into that rhythm where it's like, ah, it's a young player, mistakes happen, bad games happen. He needs to be better in these areas, but that'll iron out. This game legitimately feels like, I just don't know what more, like, I don't know what more he could have done.

Starting point is 00:06:37 Could he have just thrown dump offs to Jonathan Taylor all fourth quarter to boost his stats? So that way we could be talking about a positive game here. Sure, he could have done that, but knowing knowing how he is when things weren't working he was ripping the ball down the field even more because he was desperately trying to get this Colts team back in the game he wanted the Colts to be competitive in this game and he was pushing it a little bit too much in that fourth quarter where some quarterbacks would have been like game's over let me boost my stats and dump it off to a running back. One thing we can always say about Anthony Richland, he does not care about those stats. He cares about

Starting point is 00:07:08 winning football games. He will lower his shoulder with a minute left in the fourth quarter down by four scores because he does not care about the stats or anything he cares about winning. So I do think that that plays a factor into this. But overall, like you said, I think he started the game really well, really promising first half from him as a thrower and as a runner second half they got really one-dimensional because they couldn't run the ball due to offensive line issues due to running back issues and it just became this like very telegraph game plan and then any kind of positive traction they got they got pushed back because the mental issues from the rest of the offense so I don't I don't know man I maybe I do sound like rose-colored glasses here talking about Richardson, but I do think

Starting point is 00:07:49 if I had to rank all of his starts in the NFL and all the starts that he's finished in his time in the NFL, this would arguably be number two or number three. And maybe that's a testament to how poor he's played in some of these other games, but I do think this was a positive showing following what we saw against the Jets. Now, again, the standard needs to be higher in these final five games against teams that the Colts need to beat, but I'm comfortable with his performance in this game.

Starting point is 00:08:13 I'm not comfortable with pretty much anyone else's performance in this one, but I'm comfortable with Anthony Richardson's performance in this game. We have a lot of stuff to talk about with other guys on this team though right now. Yeah, no, we all know he's not yet a guy that is going to be able to drag a team to victory without any sort of

Starting point is 00:08:32 support like an Andrew Luck was able to. You're not supporting this guy with any run game right now. If it's not Anthony running the ball, you're not picking up any yardage whatsoever because this offensive line looks like it's starting three rookies. It's not good right now. The pass pro is rough. The run blocking is non-existent. And it's not like the veterans are doing a whole heck of a lot better either. So the offensive line isn't there. And if the passes aren't going to someone named Pittman, Pierce or Downs, you're probably letting them down a little bit. You're not where you're supposed to be. You're not looking for the ball or you're dropping it. So he's got like three capable pass catchers right now and nobody doing their job in front of them effectively. So he's not a guy that

Starting point is 00:09:17 is going to be able to overcome that. And that's not his fault. And again, that does sound like a lot of excuse making. But like you said, what else are you expecting from him to do in that scenario? Yeah. Yeah. Again, it's one thing early in the season where he's getting all this help around him. And yes, the play calling could have been better early in the season. Some of the help could have been better early in the season.

Starting point is 00:09:39 But for the most part, it was fine. This game, at least in my opinion, I haven't seen a supporting cast fall apart so much in this one, because one thing's this, in my opinion, aside from maybe the Pierce OPI, these were legit penalties on the Colts. They were just committing stupid penalties. And a lot of it was Dalton Tucker just getting his butt kicked. But Quinton Nelson, your super high paid guard at left guard, who honestly, I was arguing for most of the season was having an all pro caliber season, had one of his worst games as a pro. I don't know what Quentin Nelson was doing out there today. It was a truly abysmal performance. So we have a lot of stuff to talk about with this offense coming up. So Jake, let's get into that. You know, like we

Starting point is 00:10:19 talked about Anthony Richardson, how that's kind of the positive in offense, but coming up guys, we're going to talk about this offense because everything aside from Richardson and maybe a couple of the receivers was simply dreadful in this game. You know what isn't dreadful? Prize picks. It's the best place to get real money sports action. With over 10 million members and billions of dollars in awarded winnings, prize picks has made daily fantasy sports accessible to all.

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Starting point is 00:12:10 if it wasn't Anthony running the balls act, you know, you, you really weren't cashing in at all. So Anthony had 10 carries for 61 yards. That's obviously 6.1 average. He had a 17 yard run in there, had a couple of good, nice little runs for first downs. Jonathan Taylor, 11 carries for 35 yards. That's just a 3.2 average, and that includes a 14-yard run in there. This is a guy that's able to create on his own, but there's not even anywhere for him to run. They are sending him right into the teeth of the defense, and it's not working, especially off the right side.

Starting point is 00:12:43 Anything on the interior right now seems like a punted play. It it's not working especially off the right side anything on the interior right now seems like a punted play uh it is just not working so overall 21 carries for 96 yards today no touchdowns that's another thing if it's not anthony rushing it in for a touchdown jonathan taylor used to be such a critical piece of that red zone offense and it felt automatic for him to get a touchdown in the low red zone. But right now it's, it's just not there. And I don't, I did the personnel you have is not really capable of operating a one dimensional offense leaning into the passing game. Yeah. And I will say this too. I mean, again, the offensive line is a big issue here, but Taylor's also not playing his best football right now. He looks a little bit slow. I think it is because he's not being able to build up

Starting point is 00:13:27 the momentum early in these games. But here's the thing, man, when you have a running back who really the only thing he can do is run the ball. He's not an asset in the past game. He's not an asset in past protection. He's not an asset at the flea flicker. I was about to say the flea flicker is certainly not an asset. I mean, and that was just another play too, where it's like the guy's letting him down. What was that flea flicker by Jonathan Taylor? What did it look like in practice all week for you to call it in a game and then him to throw it like five yards short

Starting point is 00:13:52 in the actual game? So Taylor doesn't get a pass for me in this game. Like, yes, his biggest run of the day, I called back because Dalton Tucker had to commit another penalty and stuff like that. So I do think there is to a degree, some context with it. But Taylor's not playing great football right now. And they just have no running game.

Starting point is 00:14:10 They have no running game. They have no pass protection. Running backs can't help out in either department. And honestly, these running backs, they don't have a guy in the room who can catch passes either. So the running back position is kind of useless right now for this Colts team because you can't run the ball and you can't give them anything in the passing game. And it especially hurts when you're watching on

Starting point is 00:14:28 the other side of the field, the Detroit Lions having the best one-two punch in football in Gibbs and Montgomery, and they're able to get whatever they want at will, even though this was a poor running game from the Lions by their standards, poor by their standards. You know, like they were still able to turn out some yards with those guys. Well, the Colts just are getting nothing from the running back room. Yes, a big part of this is Dalton Tucker and Tanner Bordellini and Mack and Salvez having their struggles, but they just have no, I mean, you're paying too much to the running back position

Starting point is 00:14:57 to get absolutely nothing from it right now. I agree. And before we go on to decimate the rest of the pass catching group and the tight ends in particular, you got to shout out Michael Pittman Jr. and Josh Downs, of course. These are guys who were banged up throughout the game, both had shoulder injuries, were in and out of the lineup. Pittman came through with 96 yards and six catches,

Starting point is 00:15:20 one of his better performances of the year. He was able to create a little bit of yards after catch as well, just like Josh Downs always does. Only 27 yards on three catches for Downs, but, you know, a lot of that. Six yards taken away from penalties. Yes, yeah. I would say he had that big pick play that got taken back, but seven targets. I mean, Anthony was trying to get it to him.

Starting point is 00:15:42 Alec Pierce had the 39-yard catch down there, just inches away from what would that have been, like an 80-yard touchdown or at least like a 50-yarder if he would have got run down. But outside of that, one other reception. That was A.D. Mitchell having that 10-yarder where he just doesn't really figure out quick enough where he is on the field and where he should go.

Starting point is 00:16:04 He got open, though. He got open. He got open on a third down. He leaves guys in the dust in like an unreal manner. But Kylan Granson 0 for 2 on targets. He did have that one really good catch that was called back because of a penalty. Ashton Doolin not even close to getting that second foot down on what, again, would have been like a 40-yard completion.

Starting point is 00:16:24 Drew Ogletree dropped his only touchdown, a sure 11 yard, his only target, which was like a sure 11 yard touchdown. So the supporting cast has, has got to be better. And that's been a theme throughout the year. But Anthony wasn't good enough to weather any of that early in the season. He's playing better now, but it's just not going to be good enough if these other guys aren't stepping up. Yeah. And again, the thing is, it's not like these guys weren't just not playing good or something. Like they were actively sabotaging the offense with their play.

Starting point is 00:16:59 Even even Kyland Granson had like a 20 yard catch that was nullified because Drew Ogletree had a hold in the backfield. So it's like tight ends hurting tight ends even and stuff like that. And we're kind of buried in the lead a little bit here because we talked about it a little bit in the first segment. But this offensive line play is downright dreadful right now. I mean, the last couple of starts that Richardson has had, they're allowing like a 50% pressure rate in these games. And yes, a lot of that coincides with losing Will Fries and replacing essentially a pro bowl level guard that Fries was playing at earlier this season with an undrafted rookie at right guard but the Colts have had plenty of time to address that

Starting point is 00:17:34 issue with with Tucker I know it's only kind of reared its ugly head these past like three games but they've had plenty of time to address that issue they can't and they keep throwing them out there I mean it was clearly evident by the fourth quarter today that Dalton Tucker should not be on the field. It was that brutal of a showing. And I'm not saying this is a perfect thing, but you had Antonio Mafia on the sideline, a 340 pound guard that you called up from the practice squad.

Starting point is 00:17:58 As long as he could just stay on his feet, that's an upgrade over what Dalton Tucker was doing. So there were solutions for this coaching staff to fix that mid game and they didn't do it. So that's an upgrade over what Dalton Tucker was doing so there were solutions for this coaching staff to to fix that mid-game and they didn't do it so that's on the staff it's on the players on the field obviously for for struggling um I think Shane Steichen the play caller for the most part had a fine game out there I think you know some people are saying they didn't run the ball with Taylor at all in the second half but with good reason yeah with good reason there was no I mean you couldn't do any I think he did the best he could

Starting point is 00:18:26 with guys actively sabotaging the offense and the offensive line playing some absolutely dreadful 2022 football. So I think it was the best game plan you could call, but I do come back to the coaching staff when it comes to guys looking this unprepared and this sloppy on offense. We can excuse Shane Steich in the play caller

Starting point is 00:18:44 for a game like this because I do think the play calling was fine. It was perfectly fine. Richardson was pushing some a little bit in the fourth quarter, and that's why it looked a little worse than what it was. Play calling was fine. But in terms of getting these guys prepared to play, getting these guys ready for NFL action, and getting it to where they're not looking this sloppy and disgusting on Sundays,

Starting point is 00:19:03 that is ultimately on the coaching staff. Not just Shane Steichen. It's also on, you know, Cam Turner. It's on, you know, Tony Sperano Jr. It's on Tom Manning. You know, all these coaches that they have in the offensive room. You can't have your players going out there looking this sloppy on Sundays. They need to know their role and not commit so many dumb penalties.

Starting point is 00:19:22 What was it, eight offensive penalties in this game? Multiple procedural ones against Quinton Nelson of all people were in here. And yes, we can blame the players because the players are blamed, but it's also on the coaching staff. There's got to be some accountability here. Anthony Richardson has been the only person held accountable for anything this season. There needs to be some accountability for all these other players out here. You know, Richardson gets benched for two weeks.

Starting point is 00:19:43 Why is Dalton Tucker off of this three-game horrid stretch that he's playing? Why is he still a starter? You know, what's going on with some of these other, what's going on with this tight end room? Will Mallory is a healthy scratch every week. Yeah, Drew Ogletree can't catch anything. He's getting holding calls.

Starting point is 00:19:56 We got Moelle Cox not being able to move out there. Kylan Granson dropping passes. Where's the accountability for anyone not named Anthony Richardson? And again, I'm not trying to be just a fervent Anthony Richardson supporter here, but if we're going to preach accountability with the young quarterback, we should preach accountability with the players out there committing penalties that take off nearly 200 yards of offense in this game or drops that take away 200 yards of offense.

Starting point is 00:20:21 Like, I mean, how many yards? They lost a good 200 yards in a touchdown passing today due to drops and penalties by the offensive line and tight ends and Ashton Doolin on the one deep one. That is something that needs to be addressed. That is unacceptable. And it goes to the coaching staff, to the players as well. And that's why they lost this game. They lost this game because these guys couldn't do their job. Yeah. And I'm, I'm sure we'll talk about it more this week,

Starting point is 00:20:46 but two things I would do right away. These aren't entrenched starters. I'd get you a new right guard. I don't know what it's going to be. Bernhardt Reimann returning would help. Maybe you could put Matt Gonsalves over there. Anyone that can just move a guy. I don't care if you're bad in pass pro.

Starting point is 00:21:01 You've got to be at least able to run. You can just keep your ground. That's fine. And then, like you said, you gotta be at least able to run. You can just keep your ground. That's fine. Like you said, Will Mallory has to get in there. Sure, maybe all he can do is catch, but that's what your other tight ends can't do. Maybe he stinks too. Maybe he stinks too, but at least give me someone

Starting point is 00:21:16 different out there to show that you're giving accountability to this tight end group. These tight ends are playing awful football. You're absolutely right, though. The only person who's been dragged through the mud this year is Anthony Richardson, not by the team, but he is the only one who has had to face the music so far.

Starting point is 00:21:33 Nobody else has. And you know, he can't be the only scapegoat for this. Like other guys are not living up to their end of the bargain. But again, we could talk way more about that this week. Later this week, let's talk about the defensive side of the ball.

Starting point is 00:21:46 You know, some mixed reviews on how they performed in this one. Get ready to tackle the NFL action with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Because right now, new customers, you guys can bet $5 and get $150 back in bonus bets if you win. The FanDuel Sportsbook app gives you everything you need to place live bets on the NFL all in one place. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play-by-play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. FanDuel had the Lions as 7.5-point favorites in this one. Astute. Good idea. Good call.

Starting point is 00:22:22 I don't know how you guys bet on that one, but FanDuel had it right all along. So just visit FanDuel.com to join today. You'll get started with $150 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet. That's FanDuel.com. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with FanDuel, an official sports bet partner of the NFL. Let's talk about some good here defensively first, Zach. On the whole, you held the Lions to 24 points. You know, they are on a historic pace and they're

Starting point is 00:22:55 averaging 33 points a game right now. So that's good. But honestly, I hate to be nitpicky, but it could have been better. You know, how many times did the Lions attack the middle of the field? How many broken tackles were there? How many times were their guys not able to get off of blocks in time? Like, it could have been better. And, you know, again, you don't want to just give them a pat on the back because it's a moral victory. And you guys held this high scoring offense to below their average.

Starting point is 00:23:31 But there was a lot of things to clean up, too. And I mean, one of the positives I'd like to take away is, you know, at a couple of points, there was pass rush, but clearly not enough. It's mostly early in the game. You know, DeForest Buckner got in there for a sack uh Zaire Franklin kind of a cleanup sack Laiatu Latu got another strip sack uh that unfortunately was picked up by the Lions but earlier in the game there was a little bit of pressure but ultimately Jared Goff was able to just kind of have a picnic back there and attack what was going to obviously be the most vulnerable area of the field. Yeah, I will say, I think the Colts did a decent job pressuring the Lions, all things considered.

Starting point is 00:24:09 This Lions offensive line, and then the way that they use max protection on play action, it is very difficult to get pressure on them. I think they had nearly 20 pressures in this game, though, so probably like a 40% pressure rate in this game. Now, corralling Jared Goff was an issue for them, which is hilarious to think about because Goff is not much of a scrambler and they could not get him to the ground in the backfield. And that kind of goes to the big issue with this Colts defense I'll talk about in a second.

Starting point is 00:24:35 But yeah, I think when you grade this defensive performance on a curve, considering this is one of the best offenses we've seen in the NFL in a long time, I think it was a fine performance from this Colts defense. I will always say this about the Colts defense. They play hard. They play some good hard football and they have some sort of identity in terms of how they play the game. Are they that, are they very good on defense? No. Are they the perfect scheme on defense? No. But they play some hard football and they play competitive football regardless of who they're

Starting point is 00:25:02 going against. So I will always give this defense credit for that. Again, I think the big issue when it came to defense today, though, was red zone percentage early in the game. They allowed touchdowns when the Lions defense got off the field in the red zone, and that kind of gave the momentum to the Lions early. Just too many miscues and mistackles there. And then they didn't get the big turnover they needed. They had the fourth down stop, which was great in the second half. They had a big chance in the lot to force fumble, didn't come away with that ball. And that ultimately helped the Lions keep momentum and just keep the game. But I will say this again, I got the Colts defense. They play hard. They play good football. I do think that some of their talent issues are just too much to overcome at times. So many missed tackles, so many just poor run defense

Starting point is 00:25:46 from the linebackers to the scheme itself. Those things are just very hard to overcome if you're not forcing those turnovers and getting red zone stops. So again, I think when you grade this on a curve, it's a perfectly fine game from the defense. You just want a little bit better still. And they kind of back themselves into a corner with this.

Starting point is 00:26:05 Like their issues make it so they have to create turnovers to be an effective unit in a game. Their lack of tackling, their lack of run defense, and their inconsistencies covering the middle make it so you have to force turnovers to have an effective defensive game. So when you don't force the turnovers, it ends up being worse than what it is. But I do think they rebounded pretty well in the second half. Just wasn't good enough against a very good Detroit Lions offense in this one. Yeah, I think you mentioned the pressure. They got nine QB hits, which looks really good. You would think there'd be like a ton of sacks in that. But Jared Goff didn't have one of his games where he only has like four incompletions, didn have any touchdowns they were able to do what they wanted on the ground for the most part 137 yards on the ground

Starting point is 00:26:49 uh that's pretty good the three touchdowns you know yeah it felt at times like this was 150 60 70 yard game on the ground um but yeah the missed tackles you just got to clean that stuff up i'm curious what they are at this point, though. Yes. We're too many games into the season where this has been an issue in almost every game. So they're going to miss tackles. It's just unfortunately part. That's just the talent level of this defense right now.

Starting point is 00:27:17 Their linebackers aren't good enough to make tackles every play. Their corners aren't top guys. They're fine at best. So it's kind of the nature of what this defense is right now. They didn't have the talent to go toe-to-toe with the Lions, and they played well, all things considered. It's just they didn't have the talent to compete with them. I will say I think they did some things where maybe if the offense

Starting point is 00:27:41 would have done their part a little bit, the game could have been their part a little bit, the game could have been really, really interesting. I don't want to necessarily say the defense did enough to possibly win if the offense would have showed up, but I don't know. I mean, as always, the defense was on the field for too many plays. I don't know. Like, I don't blame this on the defense whatsoever again like there was there was things they could clean up but like you said are you gonna are you gonna yell at your dog for

Starting point is 00:28:16 not being able to feed itself or something you know like no like your dog is doing what your dog is supposed to do um no it's they have the Patriots next week. That's nice. Yeah, I think this game is just, hopefully this is just the game, like they have a five game stretch coming up that is essentially a playoff game every single week. Every single week is a playoff game the rest of the year for the Colts. Now, luckily, all the teams they play the rest of the season, aside from the Broncos, are teams competing for a top five pick in the NFL draft. Not saying that the Colts are shoe-ins to win those games, because when you play like you did today, any of those

Starting point is 00:28:54 teams could beat you. Heck, the Tennessee Titans just beat the Houston Texans. So these are not dreadful teams where if you don't do anything, you can still beat them. Like, they can still be competitive against you. But I will say this, like hopefully they got all of their disgusting habits out of the way in this one. Hopefully they got all of their stupid boneheaded penalties, their horrible offensive line play, their missed tackles, their lack of creating turnovers.

Starting point is 00:29:17 Hopefully they got all of that out of the way in this game and they can get geared up, ready for this final five game stretch. Because from here on out, if you lose one game in this stretch, it's probably it for your season. Because I don't see Denver losing. Because, I mean, if you lose to like Denver, for instance,

Starting point is 00:29:32 you can't even go 9-8. Because Denver is going to be better, like 9-8 or better by the end of the season. And that would be the tiebreaker for the seventh spot. The Dolphins are coming. Yeah, Dolphins are coming up. But the Bengals, I mean, they have a tough stretch. But they're going to be there too. Like, you've got to really think of this as five must-win games, the final five games here.

Starting point is 00:29:51 They have to win all of these, so hopefully they got all their disgusting habits out in this one. But at some point, you are who you are. You know, at the halfway point of the NFL season, you kind of know who you are as an NFL team. And the Colts aren't looking like a team that's going to drastically change all of a sudden during this five game stretch. So hopefully they can, but I would have felt more comfortable if they were able to exchange some punches with the Lions and go toe to toe with them a little bit. And then at the end of the day, the Lions talent won out. But instead, I mean, this was an 18 point loss at home where your offense managed six points this is not an inspiring performance from this colts team hopefully they can turn it around

Starting point is 00:30:30 hopefully the new england patriots can give them the juice they need they get the bye week they can relax a little bit and come out strong after that but this was kind of the worst case scenario going into this lions game was the offense looking defunct the defense kind of being who they are but not perfect uh and then you go into this next game against the patri looking defunct, the defense kind of being who they are but not perfect. And then you go into this next game against the Patriots and do or die and not really riding any offensive momentum like you were going into this game. You know, I don't want to call next week against the Patriots a palate cleanser because, like, in terms of quality football, that may not be what it is.

Starting point is 00:31:01 But Drake May and Anthony Richardson are going to make this game fun. Like, this is going to be at least an entertaining game to watch. They're going to score more than six points. I will, I will put money on that one, but no, I'm looking forward to watching Drake May and not a bus all offense against Anthony. I think they'll have a better luck coming up, but yeah, this is one where you just got to flush this one and then act like it never happened. Yep. I mean, we've had a lot of those performances this year. One thing I will say about the Colts is this season, I believe they have only one win against a team with a winning record, and that was against the Steelers. And they have only one loss against a team with a losing record.

Starting point is 00:31:43 So they are the perfect middle road of the NFL right now. I know they're 5-7 because they've played a lot of good teams this year. I think they're 1-6 against teams above 500 and 4-1 against teams below 500. These last five games, you get four teams that are below 500. So Colts, come out and do your thing. And, hey, the Broncos might be at 500 in that game, depending on what happens these next couple weeks. So come out and win some games against bad teams.

Starting point is 00:32:08 Get to your 10 wins and give a chance. I feel like they at least show up against the bad teams, unless it's in Jacksonville, which is a whole other – that doesn't count. But when they're facing another crappy team, they usually at least show up. But we're not this low. We're not this bad, guys. Come on. We'll show up for this one.

Starting point is 00:32:28 But we'll see. We talk in jest right now. Just a rough game from this Colts team. Again, positives. I think Anthony Richardson played better than the stat line. I'm sure a lot of people have been saying that this year. But I think this is one of the first times we've said it on this show. So take that for what it's worth.

Starting point is 00:32:45 But yeah, we'll see where the Colts go from here. Hopefully Richardson can have a strong final five game stretch. Hopefully this Colts team can finish strong, regardless of playoffs or not. You want to finish on a high note going into the off season. And then we'll see. We'll see what happens come off season for this Colts team. But we do want to thank you guys for making Locked On Culture

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