Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Standouts vs. Buffalo Bills Revealed After Rewatch

Episode Date: August 15, 2022

The film review is in as we shine a light on some more standouts in the Indianapolis Colts' preseason loss to the Buffalo Bills. Outside of tight end Kylen Granson and defensive lineman Dayo Odeyingbo, which players stole the show? Find out on today's podcast!Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQ🎧 Apple https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1151621306🎧 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6meP450baAtjX4rTENZ5ij🎧 Audacy https://www.audacy.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts-daily-podcast-on-the-indianapolis-colts-21701🎧 Google https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vUFBZODk1ODUyODkyNQ🎧 Megaphone https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/lockedoncoltsFollow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, and @LockedOnColts!BetOnlineToday's Episode is brought to you by BetOnline. BetOnline has you covered this season with more props, odds, and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DaveDownload the Dave app from the App store right now for an Extra Cash account and get up to 500 dollars instantly. For terms and conditions go to dave.com/legal. Instant transfer fees apply. Banking provided by Evolve. Member FDIC.BetterHelpIt’s not a crisis line, it’s not self-help, it’s professional therapy done securely online, available to people worldwide. And they have a special offer for my listeners: get 10% off your first month at Betterhelp.com/LockedOnEliasNFL season is right around the corner, so don’t wait! Find Elias Game Plan in the App Store or Play Store today!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFLBuilt BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Athletic GreensTo make it easy, Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/NFLNETWORK. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The game has been played, the film has been watched, and now it's time to tell you about what was revealed in the Indianapolis Colts preseason opener against the Buffalo Bills. Let's get to it. You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the day this is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by BetOnline. BetOnline has you covered this season with more props, odds, and lines than ever before. BetOnline, where the game starts. I am Jake Arthur, joined as always by my partner Zach Hicks. For anyone who is new to the show, you probably know us from horseshoehuddle.com.

I'm also a credentialed member of the Colts Media and a member of the PFWA. I've been there at Grand Park pretty much every day, bring you guys my notebooks there on Horseshoe Huddle. They're at the facility during the week, during the season, so you can catch me there. Zach, tell us, tell us and your our new friends here a little bit about yourself. Yeah, no, I'm the resident film guy with horseshoe huddle at the moment. I kind of,

I guess made my name in the indie market at Stampede blue with SB nation a couple of years ago. I, you know, talking credentials, I've been credentialed down at the senior bowl a couple of years. I've done a lot of draft work for DraftWire, Cover One. So, you know, I'm a big draft nerd, film nerd guy, so I'm sure you guys have seen me around. Yeah, that's how he has buttered his bread so far, guys. If you missed it or just prefer to get the CliffsNotes version of preseason games,

the Colts fell to the Buffalo Bills 27-24 on Saturday. Quarterback Sam Ellinger looked pretty good. The young tight ends looked good, as did the depth pass rushers and some guys who were in the thick of some training camp battles. If you haven't already, just be sure to check out our previous episode for more details on all that. However, as Zach said, his specialty is film study, so he's going to tell us about what he saw from this game.

But before we grind the tape, so to speak, let's get you guys caught up on what the Colts were saying after the game. So first and foremost, in the preseason, you just kind of hope to get out unscathed. Unfortunately for the Colts, they didn't come out completely clean. Cornerback Isaiah Rogers, as Frank Reich said, he was in a concussion protocol. So he, as Frank said, so he'll enter that and hopefully get better quickly. And then wide receiver Kiki QT had a groin injury, and that was it as far as injuries goes. There wasn't really much update on that when Frank spoke on Sunday afternoon. So there's a whole thing.

Rodgers will have to be able to practice in a limited capacity in full and everything to be cleared for game action whenever that is again for him. Let's see. Zach, was there anything you saw that popped out after the game or today when Frank spoke? Yeah, no, the biggest thing was today when Frank Reich was talking, and I think we have the whole quote here, so you can read it after I say it or just read parts of it here, but Frank Reich really highlighted that he has a strong belief in not showing anything in the preseason, just running the most basic concepts on offense and just giving guys one-on-one opportunities, not really scheming them open, not really scheming for an opponent, not really trying to do you know, do what he would do in a regular season game. And you could see that.

I mean, we talked about that on yesterday's pod quite a bit, and we were kind of talking people off the ledge a lot yesterday on social media in regards to this. Yes, it was the Colts' first-team offense versus the Bills' second-team defense. Would you like to see them win the one-on-ones a little bit more? Sure, sure. You want to see Alec Pearson and, you know, win that route against Kyra Elam. You want to see Michael Pittman Jr.

Win that press coverage route against that backup corner that they had on that fourth down. You would like to see Paris Campbell make that catch on the one that he dropped. You would want to see better. Just like Frank Reich said, you know, the guys could have been a little bit better, but they're not really trying. They're like, I'm not saying they're not trying to score but that's not really the the emphasis here the emphasis here is not scheming guys open and stuff it's just seeing how they'll do in these one-on-one opportunities that's why again like we said yesterday these

joint practices with the Lions are going to be more important than any preseason game because it's a more controlled environment to test those things that you were showing in these games whereas on saturday we saw these guys get 10 reps of one-on-one coverage so if you lose six of them and win four of them it's still going to look bad because everyone's going to say oh gosh they lost some reps in the preseason but uh like frank reich said it's very basic offense it's just trying to see what these guys can do one-on-one. It's seeing what the running game can do with man blocking, but come regular season, this is nothing like what you're going to see in a regular season game. So it's really not that important. It's just important to see these guys in very isolated situations, which again, you really

don't see much in the regular season. Yeah. You hope to do well as a team but like frank said it's it was a lot about one-on-one evaluation rather than unit and team and even offense and defense and frank acknowledged you know the the bills kind of they won that that one um something else he said he really seemed to be into naheem hines quite a bit more uh with jonathan Taylor out. Naheem got the lion's share of the work there. And Frank said, I love Naheem. And certainly we're looking to get him touches and expand his role, whatever that means. And he basically said,

they're not going to show much in the preseason and Naheem basically has more things in store than, than what we all saw on Saturday. So I thought that was a good one to see. We've kind of been talking all preseason and summer that Jonathan Taylor and Naheem Hines aren't going to counter each other. They're not going to eat into each other's touches and work, essentially.

They have their own roles. Naheem is basically his own position. And Frank kind of acknowledged that. We're going to see there's more in store for him. Right, right. And the other thing I want to point out, too, that that I like that Frank was talking about was when he talked about his defense. You know, I mentioned a lot yesterday in his postgame press conference in between all the wide receiver talk. Obviously, he said that the defense look good out there. You know, they're running around. They're forcing a lot of turnovers.

And and that's something that this defense wants to be prideful in being able to do, know take the ball away they were second in the NFL in turnovers last year so they want to see that mentality from the bringing up anything they're not running like trap coverages or exotic blitzes or anything like that but still being able to take the ball away and capitalizing on offensive mistakes with your backup defenses like you just want that mentality to keep seeping down to every single player that steps foot uh steps foot on the Colts field. So seeing that, I know Frank Reich was very, very adamant. And that's a good thing that they saw here and yesterday's game. Yep. Absolutely.

They also acknowledge Jonathan Taylor is not going to play pretty much at all in the preseason. The starters are not going to play. Yeah. I know you're happy about that. The starters are not going to play yeah i know you're happy about that uh the starters are not going to play in week two because they're going to simulate plenty in these two joint practices with the lions uh and then the guys are actually going to play a bit more than a quarter in the in this third game so that's going to be their real tune-up yeah not great so honestly they they played over a quarter this week but it sounds more intentional like could creep more towards a half I mean that's it seems risky but they really want to

they want to start the season 1-0 which is understandable and well and what seems interesting about this third game and why I'm not you know I don't love it obviously I hate preseason football but this third one they said they're going to treat it like a dress rehearsal so I'm not, you know, I don't love it. Obviously I hate preseason football, but this third one, they said that they're going to treat it like a dress rehearsal. So I'm assuming we're going to see more of them actually running kind of some offensive stuff, you know, maybe some more mesh stuff, some more route concepts and down the field, not just one-on-one stuff. They actually want to simulate an actual game with these guys in that third preseason game. So I do think this third preseason game, we'll learn a little bit more about this team.

And if you guys want to start the cry for a veteran receiver after that game, if the, if the young guys don't look great, I'm with you. I'm with you. If it carries on into that third preseason game and it kind of carries through the rest of this camp,

I get it at that point, but let's wait until the dress rehearsal game against the Buccaneers before we, you know, officially say that all these young guys just can't play. Not to mention, you know, the Colts are going to be very open-minded about the waiver wire and preseason cuts. Like, just because they don't, they haven't got a veteran now doesn't mean they won't

find someone right before the season like that. They're always going to do that. We've seen several players have a significant role with the team that they just acquired right in that that week or two yeah they're going to get a first-hand look at the bucks in that third preseason game and the bucks have what eight to nine receivers that could probably make a roster across the league they can only keep five or six darden and tyler johnson and scotty miller i think even you said so there's there, there's options there. Right. Right. So yeah, I'm not too concerned right now about adding a receiver.

They have plenty of time, but let's wait until that third game, that dress rehearsal game before we start going crazy about this. Yeah, no doubt. So up next we're going to tell you guys about what was uncovered on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball after rewatching the game. But first we're going to tell you about a service that could not be more important. This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Life is full of twists and turns, and it's important to show up for yourself through it all.

Between the two of us, Zach and I, we've told you about our experiences with burnout, being overwhelmed, having anxiety and depression. You know, everyone goes through it at some point. If you ever feel like that, just know that you're not alone. Don't be afraid to reach out. That's what BetterHelp is here for. BetterHelp Online Therapy will assess your needs and can match you with your own licensed professional therapist in less than 48 hours. That's a big thing people have issues with, even with seeking out help is just the effort it takes to find someone. And, you know, there, there's the

whole thing about, it's gotta be a right match. You don't just kind of want to pour yourself out to just anybody. Uh, but you can log into your account anytime and send a message to your therapist. It's not, you don't have to book an appointment really. I've not personally been to therapy, although I'm open to it and I'm certainly do, you know, I've, I've always got things I can work on. Uh, Zach has told you guys before, you know, I've, I've always got things I can work on. Uh, Zach has told you guys before, you know, on the other hand that he's been to therapy and he's, he's got a lot out of it. Three times, three times been to therapy. Yeah. So yeah, if you're looking at us, Zach has done it. I am very much open to it. We're not going to shy away from that. Uh, with therapy,

it can take a few tries to find the right fit for you. BetterHelp makes it easy and free to change therapists if needed. In fact, so many people have been using BetterHelp that they're recruiting additional therapists in all 50 states. And they have a special offer for our listeners here. Get 10% off your first month at BetterHelp.com slash locked on. That's 10% off your first month of online therapy at BetterHelp.com slash locked on that's 10% off your first month of online therapy at better H E L P.com slash locked on. All right, Zach. So film has been crunches sized. What were the biggest things that stuck out to you on the offensive side of the ball, starting obviously with the quarterbacks?

Yeah. So first we got to preface this by saying the film, you know, the film, it's still kind of just the game film from what we saw. It's not coaches film. Like I'll like I'll have in the regular season, but it's the best we could do. But yeah,

starting with the quarterbacks, you know, I think Matt Ryan shouldn't really get any fault for the offensive, the first team offense struggling. I mean, he looked fine out there. I don't think there was any glaring, like bad choices, bad throws or inaccurate passes.

Even though I saw some people saying that the throw to Alec Pierce against Kyrie Elam was a bad throw, but he was actually throwing it low and inside to protect from Elam who was kind of shading the inside and over the top. Elam just made a great play on the ball and Elam was all over that route. So I think Matt Ryan looked good. His best rep of the day was when he climbed the pocket found michael pittman jr over the middle uh he looked really agile in the pocket there and threw an accurate pass to a star receiver

for a big game uh nothing really to be upset about and what we saw at matt ryan just looked like a really steady short you know get the ball out uh see what your receivers can do type of game matt ryan looked good um nick fooles was kind of up and down. Didn't sense the pressure. People had thoughts on Foles. Yeah, yeah. No, I think it's a little overblown. Again, it's preseason.

But Nick Foles, yeah, didn't sense the pressure from the right side on the fumble. Then came back and threw a bad pick, which I wish someone would have talked or would have asked Frank Reich about that play. Because I could see it being just a bad throw. I could also see it being the route depth was not what Foles expected. It was just a miscommunication. So I don't, I want to know why that was such a bad pick, but obviously we didn't really get those answers there. But after that, you know, he led a good drive down the field, had some, some big throws, a really nice pass that Kyland Granson, a really good read on the mesh concept to the wide open running back that he saw was unaccounted for. So he looked fine.

You know, he looked fine. Nick Foles looked all right. Sam Ellinger had a really strong game, looked great in the pocket, agile, athletic, accurate, and threw some really nice balls. And Jack Cohen should be one of these first couple cuts. I don't really know what Jack Cohen brings much anymore for the rest of the offseason. So Sam Ellinger is clearly ahead of him. So I think moving on now from him, giving Ellinger the rest of those depth snaps would probably be best. But overall, I thought it was a fine game from the quarterbacks. That's what I was going to mention. If they did let go of cone,

then, you know, Ellinger's obviously not going to get much action during the season. Just pour those developmental reps into them. So running backs, you know, we mentioned Tyson Williams had that touchdown. Did you see anything real,

real positive from them? Yeah, no, I think Phillip Lindsay was the main takeaway. And there's one obviously behind Naeem Hines, getting a ton of targets and a ton of looks early on. That was great. Nothing huge, but Naeem Hines, they're showing even in the preseason,

they're going to give him the ball. But Phillip Lindsay was the main takeaway and the main star in this one for me. It looked really, really solid rushing the ball. Really smooth, athletic. Tyson Williams, though, I think had a really good game too. And then the guys behind that you know uh price did some good things but i wasn't particularly wowed by him uh deon jackson i really didn't notice much out of deon jackson in this one but i think the top four running backs

are pretty solidified after this one i think it's lindsey and then tyson williams uh and it's just on you know cam price or jackson if sir uh, if Sir Tyson Williams there are before. But from the looks of this game, I think that top four is pretty set. I think you are right. Now, the pass catchers, bit of a mixed bag, receivers and tight ends. Although we pointed out we really liked what we saw from the tight ends overall. What were your main takeaways from the pass catchers? Yeah, no, starting with the wide receivers, I think Alec Pierce had a couple of tough reps and, and, you know, they, I think the Colts are really strategic in what

they did. They put him across from Kyker Elam a lot. Don't get me wrong. Christian Benford had a good game on the other side. He's the sixth round corner for the Bills that played on the other side, but the Colts wanted to see Alec Pierce versus Kyker Elam, who was a first round pick, a really good college corner. And they wanted to see how Pierce would react to press coverage there and react down the field. So a couple of tough reps early on facing some press, but Alec Pierce bounced back really well. Had a lot of nice reps down the field, had a nice little comeback catch.

He had one along the sidelines that was really good. So I think Pierce had a really promising debut. Michael Pittman Jr. and Pierce Campbell, I think Pierce had a really promising debut. Michael Pittman Jr. and Paris Campbell, I think they were a little more shaky. Pittman Jr. struggled against press, against Benford. Paris Campbell obviously had that drop on that third down. But again, it's hard to gauge too much intense snaps. After that, Isaiah Ford had some good reps. I think he got open a couple of times and made some nice catches. And Ethan Fernia had a couple of nice little catches as well. So those are probably the guys who are on that outside looking in really trying to fight for

that fifth or sixth spot probably didn't do enough yet but who knows uh and like we mentioned on yesterday's podcast i don't want to go in too much detail with them but the the tight end group looked great uh from top to bottom you know uh drew ogletree looked really good, looked big, strong, physical. Kylan Granson looked fast and really didn't. He was like one of the few guys who didn't show any kind of drops or like bobbles or anything like that. Looked really clean catching the ball. Jelani Woods just had an outstanding game. You know, there was a couple of blocks that he missed.

But outside of that, you know, as a receiver, looked really strong. So this tight end group, you know, we said it all offseason. They're going to keep four and nothing in this preseason game changed at all. There, I feel like, like I'm, I'm comfortable saying it's 100% a lock. They are keeping all four of these tight ends,

unless there's a trade, unless there's a trade, but they're keeping all four of these tight ends. I would be downright shocked. And so the offensive line, again, mixed bag ups and downs. I think the third unit really had some issues. What did you see top to bottom from this group? Yeah, so starting with

the starters here, I think Quentin Nelson, Ryan Kelly, Braden Smith, they were okay. I didn't have too many huge issues. Obviously, there's that clip going around and quitting Nelson getting rocked by 10 settle. But Nelson was kind of trying to jump him on a fourth and short play. And, you know, it was a, it was a tough situation. Great rep by settle though.

Great rep. It didn't really affect the past, but whatever. Pinter and, and Matt Pryor though, you know, the two new starters, I think each of them had their own ups and downs, you know,

Pinter missed a couple of blocks at the second level, but he got out there in a hurry, so it looked good. Matt Pryor had a couple whiffs and pass blocking that you would like to see cleaned up, but overall, I think he was fine. He looked really good in the run game, so that's something to keep in mind going into the season. I still think, you know, he's going to be the left tackle. He didn't really show enough in this game, like bad-wise for me to say that's not going to be the case, so he didn't really show enough in this game like like bad wise for me to say that's not gonna be the case uh so he looks strong uh just pointing out some standouts on the backup offensive lineman though i think bernard ryman had a very up and down game uh some major issues where you could see you know that arm length is an issue you know that arm

length is something that he's gonna have to adjust to uh so you like to see that cleaned up but i think this was a great experience for him. I think Frank Reich even said that in the post game presser as well, where it was strategic to play Ryman as much as they did because they wanted to get him exposed to as much as possible. And we saw that, you know, he played a lot and he got to see the ups and downs of being a left tackle in the NFL. And then the three standouts on the interior, I think Will Fries had a phenomenal game. Really, really good in pass pro.

Could have been a little better in the run game, but overall just a great game. Wesley French at center looked really good too. Super athletic, smaller guy. You can see that size might be an issue with him, but he brings it on every snap. And then Josh Seltzner had a pretty good game as well. I think he was the highest graded Colts player, corner pro football focus, looked really sturdy in past game and in the run game. So, you know, who they keep out of those three is going to be interesting. But I think prize is pretty close to a lock, if not already a lock.

And those other two guys are probably battling for that ninth offensive line spot. Yeah, I think they've really got some some nice practice squad candidates there on the offensive line among those depth guys. It's going to be tough cuts all around, but even tougher to say who fits on the practice squad. Right, right. Especially when Stennis Kelly comes back too, because he's going to take one of those roster spots. So it will be interesting to see there. But that's what we got on the offense, guys offense guys coming up we're going to go position by position on defense and i'm going to talk until i can't and you know until i'm lightheaded talking defense uh but we got to talk about some bets you know the colts didn't cover the spread against buffalo but you can bet that i might have a little faith

in it this time uh come against the lions uh whatever those lines are released i'm not too sure what those lines are going to be but I can bet on these backups downing the Lions. BetOnline is the fastest and easiest way to check in on all your betting needs. Find all your favorite sports and events at the number one online source for odds, lines, and games. Find reviews and news of every league, including Major League Baseball, NFL, NBA, NHL, combat sports, e-sports, and even golf. Better than golf.

BetOnline continues to be the top online resource for all your sports wagering information, from live in-game betting to scores to podcasts. They have you covered. The Colts and Bills smashed the over on the 38-point over-under on Saturday. So will the Colts do it again this next Saturday? Well, ifllinger's playing the whole game they probably will oh yeah yeah yeah the perfect preseason quarterback head to bet online today or use your mobile device to learn more about today's action bet online where the game starts all right let's talk some defense and i

want to start with this defensive line because we kind of talked about it yesterday you know we talked about it yesterday these defensive linemen played pretty well uh but on film review i mean the one thing i want to throw to you which i love seeing is efedi odenikbo and ben bandagu both had extremely successful cross chops in this game. I got to post them side by side along with Yannick Ngakwe earlier in the game, but I thought that was so cool because that's what we've been seeing from Yannick Ngakwe. That's his move, whatever. Have you seen them kind of working with him in practice

trying to get that cross chop done? Yeah, it's funny. That was another thing I texted you during the game yesterday was I got so excited to see Ben Banigoo try a cross chop. One of the Yannick cross chops in practice, it was unsuccessful, but in this game, it looked a lot cleaner. I forget who the left tackle was. It was either, it was either prior or Ryman just flattened him.

When he tried it, he got a little too off balance, a little too off his center there. But no, it looked pretty good on the game. I hadn't noticed Adenigbo try it in camp, but it's very clear they realized who the best pass rusher on this team is, and they want to emulate him a little bit. Yeah, no, it was great. It was great seeing both of those guys hit that. I think it was on the same left tackle in this game too,

so he should have seen it cut. But it was really cool seeing that. but those were two standouts to me. Odenbo obviously had that one mistake in run defense early in the game, but outside of that, pass rusher, he looked really good. Ben Bannego looked really good. Dio Odenbo was getting after it in the pass game. Now, I will say, Dio is not refined whatsoever. You can see it still. Like, he's obviously still working on it. Like, this is his first real offseason, so we've got to treat him like a rookie. He comes in there just swinging his arms like crazy.

But it's so powerful whenever he lands anything. I mean, the play where Sterling Weatherford had his interception, he just rumbled through three blockers and knocked them all on the ground and forced that interception. He's a wrecking ball, man. He's a legit wrecking ball. Once they're able to fully refine that, it's going to be so good. Other guys who stood out, I thought, of the starters,

obviously DeForest Buckner, Yannick Ngakwe looked great. Grover Stewart had a couple of run stops. Quiddy Pay looked good as well. Curtis Brooks, his getoff is so good. It is so fast like it looks a lot like and i know this is not going to sound like this great encouraging thing but he looks a lot like andrew brown did last year with the colts where every get off he was the first guy off the line of scrimmage so he looked really good out there uh but yeah brooks is kind of like

dio to me where like once they're able to refine him a little bit, he's going to be really good. It's just he's not there yet. But I think, you know, it's stock up for for guys like Curtis Brooks and Ben Banigou, who they're probably making the roster, but they kind of needed a little more insurance and some good preseason snaps. Those guys both looked really good out there this past weekend. Yeah, and speaking of that, Zach put a couple pieces out, you know, kind of a, you know, guys who help themselves type of thing, as well as special teams over on horseshoehuddle.com again. So before I forget, you guys will definitely want to check that out.

As for the next level linebackers, that's been a hot topic for us throughout camp. Who, and Sterling Weatherford, I'm going to point it out before you do. level linebackers that's that's been a hot topic for us throughout camp who in in sterling weatherford i'm going to point it out before you do sterling weatherford him and who else really kind of stuck out on the film today yeah so jojo doman i think had a pretty pretty solid game as well um you know it wasn't as flashy as probably what we saw in camp but he had a couple run stops a couple times where he was kind of in the backfield there. I thought he looked really good. But I think Sterling Weatherford and Jojo Doman have really separated themselves as the fifth and sixth linebackers.

Forrest Ryan obviously would be right up there, your boy, but he's just not playing right now. So it's hard to really say. But Sterling Weatherford and Jojo Doman, I think, are firmly in that fifth and sixth spot, especially when you look at what Weatherford did on special teams as well. I mean, outside of another player I'm going to mention when we get to the secondary, Weatherford was the best special teams player in this game. So those two players, I think, really helped their stock quite a bit in this one. And it's good to see Doman doing that in the run game because far and away what I've noticed from him most throughout camp has been his effectiveness in the pass game. far and away what I've noticed from him most throughout camp

has been his effectiveness in the past game so for him to level that out a bit and have that catch up that's good to see that he can bring it from both sides oh wait one more player to mention wait one more player to mention sorry just to jump jump you here EJ Speed's hit was as great on film as it was when we were watching it live oh Oh my gosh. What a hit, man. He, oh God, he's almost like an unfair preseason player because he's had NFL experience for a few years. He's going to be one of the biggest, most athletic guys in the field at all times.

But since he doesn't play that often, they get him the developmental snaps. And so he's playing against guys that are going to be out of the league, even though he's like a roster lock. So he's a cheat code for the colts in the preseason it's just not fair yeah no he had a great game he looked good and you know if he has to play with Shaquille Leonard maybe missing time to start the year I'm kind of excited for it I want to see EJ Speed get some run because all we've seen of him so far in his NFL career has been pretty promising.

Yeah, they'll live if that has to happen. So defensive linemen, linebackers, done. Cornerbacks, I already know who you were raving about ahead of time. So cornerbacks and safeties, who you got? Yeah, so obviously Isaiah Rogers was the absolute star of this game. I mean that that interception was so impressive uh again just the ball skills and the way he moves and and i know the camp stuff you know from you being there on camp it hasn't been all super positive about him uh but from when i was talking with a couple people i think i was talking with hag about this as well he just comes off as a guy who's a gamer he's just a gamer once once the game starts starts, he just goes to that next level. And you could definitely see it in this one.

He looked great out there. But talking about some bottom of the roster guys, I didn't think any guys really stood out too much on defense. I think Dallas Flowers had that amazing one-handed pick that no one's talking about on that two-point conversion. There's actually a really nice picture of it from the pictures that we get for our articles. I really want to throw that into an article. I don't know if someone's already used it. I may. Yeah, I used it today. There you go. Yeah, because it was it was so impressive and nobody was talking about it when

it happened. I was like, oh, my gosh, look at that play. But yeah, he looked great on that one play. He had some ups and downs on defense. But in terms of special teams, you know, Tony Brown got some run at Gunner. Marvell Tell, the third, III had a couple tackles on special teams as well. So when you're looking at that fifth and sixth roster spot at corner, that's going to be the biggest thing. Talking some safeties now just real quick before we run out of time is Nick Cross looked awesome. We love everything we saw from Nick Cross in this one.

I know you had him as your player of the game on defense. We talked yesterday. Ronnie McLeod and Julian Blackman looked really solid as well, and they're limited snaps. And then the one safety I really want to point out is Trevor Denbo. I don't think he had a great day on defense, but he was all over the place on special teams. I mean, I logged him with –

I saw 43 flying around like Matt Giordano of old. Yeah, yeah. No, I logged him with five. So the way I graded special teams was either if you made first contact with the return man or a tackle, you know, either you were, you know, you're hitting the guy first or you finished with the tackle. And I counted him with five on eight coverage snaps. So he was, he was there on every single play. He, he looked great on special teams. And, and, you know, I'm, I know I'm not going to say this right now, but if Armani Watts, maybe they have a little –

they're not as high on Armani Watts or something like that, and Dembo looks amazing on special teams all preseason, maybe he could be that fourth or fifth safety that's, you know, that kind of coverage guy. I don't know if that's anything that's in the cards there, but all I know is he looked great on special teams this past game. Yeah, he's not really flashed much defensively. From what I can recall, he normally is on the wrong end of the one-on-ones. Special teams, you don't really get a lot of real live hitting and stuff. You can see guys flying around and who gets to the returners early,

and he's always been effective there. That would probably be my role for him. He's one of those guys you don't really want to see getting the reps defensively, but special teams, go ahead. Go at it. Right. Yeah, no, I would say my three stock-up guys on special teams, if I had to do that, would be Denbo, Sterling Weatherford, and Marvell Tell.

Those are the three guys who I think really helped on special teams in this one. I like it. I like it. I like it. That'll do it for us today, everybody. We'll be back with you tomorrow. The Colts get back to work on Tuesday with practice, so we'll tell you all about that. Then, of course, they welcome the Detroit Lions to town

for a pair of joint practices on Wednesday and Thursday before the preseason game on Saturday, which is at home, and I cannot wait to be back in the press box. Finally. Now make sure you guys are following Jake on Twitter at Jake Arthur NFL. Like we said, these last couple of days, these joint practices are more important than these preseason games.

These are because they're controlled environment. And these coaches can really see what they want against an opponent. So I think this is going to be a really big week, especially to follow at JakeArthurNFL on Twitter. Follow at ZachHicks2 as well for all of my preseason film breakdown, if that's what you can call it. Follow our work over at HorseshoeHuddle.com where you can see all of this work that we're talking about.

Also subscribe to us on YouTube. Locked On Colts podcast is doing pretty well on YouTube. We're getting close to our thousand subscriber goal. And again, we get there. This is the head. It's wonderful. So make sure you guys go over to the YouTube channel and hit that subscribe button. And then wherever you listen to your podcast, rate, review, subscribe, leave us a comment.

Maybe don't go as much as that one guy did on our last episode. Wow. I mean, that was a beautiful love poem that was written to me, but yeah, I don't know. Don't go that far. We got some people that go pretty hard in the comment section. Yeah, I had people saying like,

"'Oh, this is Zach's burner writing this.' I'm like, dude, I can not be that thorough. And my writing is not that beautiful. My writing is very standard. That guy's writing was gorgeous uh you know for a second you know i was like oh wow you know i was getting a little heated up it was kind of pretty yeah no that is either wife mom or stalker level poetry so one of the two someone someone along the lines has a burner. And we just got to find out.

Right. Best case scenario. Now, thank you guys again for making lockdown Colts. Your first listen today. Now make locked on fantasy football. Your second listen, find the intellectual fantasy expert, Vinnie Iyer,

who brings over 20 years of NFL expertise and a unique angle to give you guys the moves that no one else has. Get ready for your fantasy draft with Locked on Fantasy Football. We'll see you guys tomorrow.