Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts vs. Pittsburgh Steelers: Different Plans for Anthony Richardson, Justin Fields

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Colts and Steelers face off on Sunday in a rematch from last December, but I have a feeling this one's going to be a whole lot more interesting. Let's get to it. You are locked on NFL crossover, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. All right. Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is a collab of your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers,

Starting point is 00:00:36 part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And Crossover Thursday is presented by PrizePix. Go to prizepix.com slash locked on NFL and use code all lowercase locked on NFL to win $50 instantly when you play $5. Hello, everybody. This is Jake Arthur of Locked On Colts, joined by Chris Carter of Locked On Steelers, and we are breaking down a big AFC matchup for you guys for this Sunday. We're talking the rise of Justin Fields.

Starting point is 00:01:05 We're talking a potential rebound of Anthony Richardson, and we're talking what it's going to take for either side to win, really. So, Chris, I'm dying to know more about Pittsburgh because I think they're fascinating. Off to a great start, obviously, 3-0 behind Justin Fields, who has had, obviously, a rocky start to his career, but seems to be thriving a bit under Mike Tomlin and the Steelers. So, you know, offensively, defensively, what are

Starting point is 00:01:30 we looking at storyline-wise here for the Steelers? Well, I think offensively, everyone kind of knows the deal right now. It's Justin Fields' show until they decide it's not. Russell Wilson's been dealing with a calf injury that has lingered since really the start of training camp. It looked like it healed right before the start of the season. And then the week one, he injured it on Wednesday, and then they had to kind of adapt the plan for the Falcons. Since then, he hasn't been back. So the Steelers have been leaning on Justin Fields at the quarterback position, but they're not asking him to do too much. Like in the Steelers offense, Justin Fields is more of a game manager that can make big plays. You know, with, you know, he had a 55-yard touchdown pass.

Starting point is 00:02:11 He's been able to use his legs to make plays. They're not asking him to just distribute the football. But this team is still very much led by its defense. And that is going to be the biggest factor in this game, I think, is going to be a defense that going into this week ranks number one in points allowed, number one in yards allowed, number one in first downs allowed, number one in rushing touchdowns allowed, and is doing so without even creating an insane rate of turnovers. They have decent turnovers. They have five on the season so far, and I think that's tied. That's up there among the best, but you look at teams like the packers they have like nine turnovers right now uh sometimes that's not as sustainable but uh what this steelers team i think has done

Starting point is 00:02:51 a really good job of uh is they've been able to win so many possession downs and win uh do a great job also setting up better possession downs they're stuffing the run very well um they're taking away passing lanes they're making it tough tough on opponents to find open shots and oftentimes what you know the two touchdowns they've allowed this year have been because of busted coverages and it's just been like one here one there but you know when they make that mistake they clean it up i mean last week against the los angeles chargers they allowed negative five yards in the second half that's what this team's yeah that's the thing.

Starting point is 00:03:25 They get after it. Cam Hayward is back to full strength. T.J. Watt is still T.J. Watt, and the emergence of Nick Herbig, second-year Wisconsin edge rusher, has been remarkable. He had two sacks last week. He's going to start this game while Alex Highsmith's hurt, and the Steelers feel very confident about that.

Starting point is 00:03:41 Patrick Queen and the linebackers. I can go on and on, but it's this defense that's defining this team right now the offense is sort of doing the last part to just get them over the hump but the defense is doing the bulk of the work yeah I'm super interested to see how the Colts attack this because it feels like just a much better version of what they saw with Green Bay I I mean, with Green Bay, they had Malik Willis, but Matt LaFleur put on a masterclass of, I mean, kind of similar skill sets with Willis and Fields, but Fields obviously being, you know,

Starting point is 00:04:13 you can credit him with being a better, more explosive player. But I kind of asked Shane Steich in this today as well. Like the Colts saw Justin Fields with Chicago last summer, but obviously they're kind of facing a different beast now. Like you obviously were familiar with what's what happened then and what's going on now. How are they just like catering to him perfectly to really just, I was kind of wondering if,

Starting point is 00:04:40 have they just kind of reset him back to basic and said, you mentioned, they're not asking him to do too much. Are they just kind of taking him back to zero and letting him regrow? Is that kind of how it's going? I think in a way you could say that's the way to describe it. I think part of it is they're saying, hey, this team is built to win with either you or Russell Wilson in a quarterback. The key thing is don't turn the ball over and throw it to where the defense isn't and let everyone else do their jobs.

Starting point is 00:05:08 And Justin Fields has done that. And on occasion, hey, you might need to step up and make him play because this is football and you do need quarterbacks to do that on occasion. But don't step too far outside of those responsibilities. Don't reach too far out. I do think they simplified things. Like, for example, just look at how the Bears played the Colts just last week, where Justin Fields is from.

Starting point is 00:05:32 Caleb Williams threw 52 times in that game, did have two touchdowns, but also threw two interceptions. But ultimately, they scored 16 points with 52 passing attempts. The Steelers scored 20 points last week with, you know, Justin Fields managing the game. And they could have scored 27. They just chose to take a knee at the one-yard line at the end of the game when they were just basically pummeling the charges at the end of the game. I think that's where the thing is for Justin Fields. He knows, hey, this offensive line is young, and they love what they're seeing out of him.

Starting point is 00:05:55 Roderick Jones had a really good game last week. Jack Frazier's had a fantastic start to his NFL career at center. This is a group that they're looking. Najee Harris, Cordell Patterson running hard. They're hoping to get Jalen Warren back soon. This is a group that's, yeah, they're not going to ask him to throw 50 times unless the game gets way out of hand. But if it's another 16-21 type of score like it was last week for the Colts and a 20-10 type of score like it was last week for the Steelers, he's not throwing 50 times. He's not throwing 40 times. He'll be lucky if he throws 25

Starting point is 00:06:22 times. They're going to try to conserve drives, win the time of possession. Right now, the Steelers are second in time of possession in the NFL, and that is absolutely by design. It's to possess the football, keep the defense fresh, and limit the opportunities for the opposing offense to keep getting back on the field and figure something out. Obviously, the Colts are last in that department. Every game, it's just been unable to sustain drives and kind of hit the layups on offense. They really had to lean on the run game, especially the last couple of weeks.

Starting point is 00:06:56 Defensively for the Colts, they finally stood up and just didn't get punched in the mouth on the run game, but it was against the Bears, who's arguably the worst rushing offense in the league. This is different with Pittsburgh. How is Pittsburgh's rushing attack? Do you think they're able to win just about any matchup? Are they more middle of the road?

Starting point is 00:07:16 I'd have to think they still have the advantage in this one over the Colts. They're still figuring it out is the correct answer. Broderick Jones, for example, was their first round pick last year. They traded up to get him. Last season, when he took over in the mid part of the season, Jake, he became a starter by like week nine. Up until that point, they were in the bottom quadrant of the league and running the football. In the second half of that season, they were the number two rushing team in the NFL. This year, though, Broderick Jones hurt his elbow in training camp. And in doing so, he really wasn't getting a good punch off. I did film studies on this.

Starting point is 00:07:51 All of a sudden, he couldn't throw his hands, and he was kind of letting guys get on his chest. And then last week on the first play of the game where the offense is on the field, he lines up with Joey Bosa, and he just punches right into his chest and then pancakes him. And Joey Bosa had to come out the game because he got hurt on the play. And all of a sudden I was like, wait a minute, where'd that come from? And it looks like Broderick Jones might've gotten his, his, his arms back and that might be huge. But meanwhile, Zach Frazier is playing very well at center.

Starting point is 00:08:17 James Daniels has been solid at guard and they're hoping to get Isaac Sayamala who is their best offensive lineman back at left guard this week. But to answer your question fully, this offensive line is still figuring things out. Like you go back and you look at how last week played out for the Steelers. You look at the final stat line, you see, oh, they ran the ball all right. They ran a ball for like 114 yards. But a lot of that came in the fourth quarter when the Chargers were worn down. And that was the whole plan of win the time of possession game, keep grinding at these guys.

Starting point is 00:08:48 And eventually that defense is going to crack. And they did that. If the Colts come out and they give an initial good, solid start to the game and stopping the run, it is going to be their mission to do that for 60 minutes. The Steelers are just going to keep grinding away at you and grinding away at you. And if you start to drop your guard, if you start to get tired, that's what they want. And that's where the Steelers' run game is. This year so far, that's where it has clicked the most is when it's been able to wear you down. And all of a sudden, your defense is huffing and puffing and the

Starting point is 00:09:19 Steelers' offensive line is rolling on them. Yeah, that's definitely going to be the first mission for the Colts defense. I mean, they had the solid performance last week, but they cannot afford to be complacent. They were so bad the first couple weeks, you know, they have no room to be complacent because it's one big win for them against the worst rushing attack in the league. So coming up, guys, here in a moment, we're going to talk about, you know, what are some big things to look at for the Colts? It's really a team that we just kind of have not figured out yet. And you guys, the summer is winding down, but that doesn't mean that your favorite live

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Starting point is 00:11:45 All right, so when I look at this Colts team, I see them up against a 3-0 team like the Steelers. And it gives me a little hesitance to have some optimism because they are coming off a big win against the Bears. But the Bears had a lot of issues. And the Colts, I think before you can be confident really projecting them, they have to find some sort of consistency anywhere. The first two weeks compared to last week, it's just so Jekyll and Hyde. And it obviously starts with Anthony Richardson. You know, we've seen the Colts put about every different kind of product on the field so far,

Starting point is 00:12:15 offensively and defensively. Week one, they couldn't do anything except for rely on Anthony Richardson's big plays. You know, he had the two 50-plus yard plays, the touchdowns. Week two against Green Bay, it got pretty sticky. It's hard to say really anything was going right. The run game got going, but then in the fourth quarter, Jonathan Taylor saw exactly zero snaps,

Starting point is 00:12:41 and he was kind of the hero for them going into the fourth quarter and then didn't play. And then last week, everything for the team really was working except for Anthony Richardson. So offensively, they've got to find an identity. They've got to find consistency. Anthony Richardson cannot be so boom or bust. We're kind of having some similar arguments with Anthony Richardson as we were when Carson Wentz was was here in 2021 there's a whole thing about make the layups like sure you can you can hit the logo three like steph curry but you got to make the layups too anthony's accuracy when it comes to just like the simple chain moving out routes and just the things that veteran quarterbacks just can do in their sleep it's just not there for him.

Starting point is 00:13:25 He kind of gets too hyper and excited and will sail balls. He doesn't really step into throws and he kind of, you know, fades a little bit. Like he literally like fades away when he's throwing. So fundamentally, he's got to be better for this offense to have any sort of rhythm. It's kind of a direct correlation of why they're so low in time of possession. You know, it's pretty normal this season to see the opponent have 40 minutes and them only have 20. So the run game, if it's able to be established at all against Pittsburgh, that'll definitely help. Personally, I think if the Colts kind of took an approach that

Starting point is 00:14:04 the Steelers have with Justin Fields, things would go a lot better. But it's also up to Anthony to kind of make those short throws. Obviously, a huge discrepancy. Justin Fields is completing like 70% of his throws. And then Anthony is, you know, they're around 50. So, very curious how Pittsburgh defensively is going to show them. Because obviously you mentioned at the top, TJ Watt's TJ Watt. Herbig is stepping in well for Highsmith, who's now out.

Starting point is 00:14:32 But it doesn't seem like there's a huge weak point with Pittsburgh. The run game, doing well. Pass game, doing well. Third down, doing well. So I'm just very – I think Anthony Richardson is going to have to do some of the special things that only him and a handful of other guys can do to really be the difference in whether or not they can score enough points. The weakness that I think you're looking for there, Jake,

Starting point is 00:14:59 is you want to put this Steelers team behind the eight ball. You want to make them have to come back from a decent-sized lead. And that's the thing is we haven't – that hasn't happened yet. I mean, it's, it's just week three. Eventually it's probably going to happen at some point this season as it does to everybody, but put this offense in a situation where it has to score multiple touchdowns to put itself back in the, back in the game. And, you know, keep put this defense in a situation where they can't anticipate, you know, what you're doing because you can run the ball or throw the ball because you're up. That to me is a big key

Starting point is 00:15:29 that the Colts need to get into. But I guess I redirect to you for a second here. I just, I look at Anthony Richardson and, you know, obviously a lot of raw talent, a lot of amazing athleticism here, but, you know, I see six interceptions, most in the NFL. And when you look at how teams are approaching him, teams aren't even blitzing him right now. He has 83 dropbacks on the season. Of those 83, he's only been blitzed 11 of those times. He's not been blitzed 72 of those times. And four of those six interceptions are coming when he's not being blitzed. That is not a good sign for going up against the Steelers team because this Steelers defense, they're not trying to blitz you a whole lot.

Starting point is 00:16:09 They love to just send four and let seven defenders work in coverage and keep it going. And they also are very used to playing against fast, big, mobile quarterbacks like Lamar Jackson. And that's not to say that they're perfect against guys like that. Josh Allen has had his way with the Steelers defense once or twice, but this is also a different Steelers defense than they've had for some time because Cam Hayward's healthy.

Starting point is 00:16:33 He wasn't last year. TJ Watt's healthy. He wasn't two years ago. Keanu Benton has really emerged as an interior presence next to Cam Hayward on top of Larry Okunjobe as a good answer there. The corners are solid in Joey Porter Jr. and Dante Jackson. Now, if one of them goes down, that'll be an issue because their top backup got put on IR this week.

Starting point is 00:16:53 But then you got Patrick Queen, Peyton Wilson, and Landon Roberts at linebacker. They're happy about those. And Deshaun Elliott and Demonte Casey as your safeties behind, make up Fitzpatrick. So, like you said, if you look at this defense, the one part where you circling like maybe we can get at this guy is Beanie Bishop, the undrafted free agent rookie from West Virginia, who's played in the slot.

Starting point is 00:17:12 But even he's been like, okay. And that's the thing. Like if you're the Colts, you have to find a way to make life easier on Anthony Richardson. Maybe it's leaning on Jonathan Taylor. You know what? If Quentin Nelson comes out and has a great game and then his offensive line just moves people and they get, and they create space and they set a tone like

Starting point is 00:17:28 that, that might be your biggest thing, because then you are forcing the Steelers to play not on their terms if you can build a lead that way. But if you come out and you don't build a lead and you let this game stay close, that's playing right into the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers. That's exactly what they want to do. They win rock fight. Mike Tomlin has like the best record of one score games in the past, like five, six years, or maybe even since he's been in the league. It's just, it's what he does. And especially since Ben Roethlisberger fell out of his prime, say in like 2018 or so,

Starting point is 00:17:55 that's how the Steelers have basically won all of their football games. Yeah. The Colts are kind of built the same way. They, they cannot come back from those, those big scores. And we talked about last week with the Bears, they had to get on the board early and establish Jonathan Taylor early to allow Anthony Richardson to not be too reliant on him. And you had mentioned some blown coverages for Pittsburgh

Starting point is 00:18:19 as it led to touchdowns. I think they'll kind of be – you can't be reliant on that, but hopeful for that because Alec Pierce and his huge plays, that's been a big deal for them this year. You know, week one, he had two of them. He had a 44-yard catch last week. So they are kind of reliant on those, which is, unfortunately, you can never forecast that.

Starting point is 00:18:41 They had, you know, a blocked punt deep in, in their opponent's own territory a couple of weeks ago. So it's stuff that's kind of catching lightning in a bottle and kind of, you could say lucky. But yeah, I think the, the only thing you can say with confidence they have to do is get Jonathan Taylor going, or, you know, we've kind of talked about Anthony Richardson needing to be more involved in the run game as well because it does feel like he's being intentional about not being just the running quarterback like there are times he's getting close to the line of scrimmage and has a ton of green in front of him but he's still throwing the ball which you know if he's hitting the guy accurately that's fine but. But it led to a couple of interceptions, you know the,

Starting point is 00:19:26 I think his worst one last week was to open up the second half. He was running up to the line of scrimmage and he, he found Michael Pittman. I think it was about 15 or so yards downfield and just floated it way over his head, right into the arms of the defender. And it's like, man, you probably could have picked up at least 10 yards just running it there. So I don't know if he's just kind of being intentional about not running all the time until it's crunch time and they need him to do it. But there's just some things he's got to change.

Starting point is 00:19:58 You had mentioned the interceptions and leading the league. The first couple of weeks, they weren't necessarily bad breeds they were just bad throws but last week they were they were dumb throws I saw the one in the end zone I was like oh boy yeah like he he could have just thrown it over the top of the end zone and gotten rid of it and then last week again just a bad throw to Pittman to open up the second half again it could have gone well it could have gone well. It could have been a chunk play for them if he would have just delivered it accurately. But yeah, he's just made some really poor throws and a couple of bad decisions that have led to those. And then

Starting point is 00:20:34 fumbles as well. When we're talking about ball security, he has got to learn to talk the ball. There was one play he got kind of bailed out. The officials ruled his forward progress down when he was getting sacked, but he fumbled that ball and the opponent picked it up. So he kind of got bailed out there, but that's something. He doesn't get sacked a lot, but when you're facing like a TJ Watt, someone who knows how to get that ball out, like I think that's going to be a big X factor. I think it is too.

Starting point is 00:21:03 You look at the Steelers and what they want to get after the quarterback. And what's crazy is TJ Watt, he's gotten a sack in each game. He's had a few more than a couple sacks called back already, but he hasn't had that TJ Watt completely destroy your soul type of game where he gets like three sacks and an interception and then do all that. And if the Colts aren't careful and you put Anthony Richardson in some predictable situations, the Steelers know how to make life harder

Starting point is 00:21:27 on athletic quarterbacks. They know how to get after guys, especially young guys. I would, if I'm the Colts, I'm doing everything to keep Anthony Richardson from predictable passing situations as much as I can in this game. That is beautiful foreshadowing

Starting point is 00:21:40 for a point I'm going to make here in segment three. We're going to talk about, you know, what's the biggest things that each side has to do to actually win this one. Hey, NFL fans. You guys can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. It's America's number one sportsbook. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, ULive play-by-play, and so much more on the same page when you're placing your

Starting point is 00:22:05 bets. You can kind of just use it as your own little betting hub. This week, Fanduel has the Steelers as one and a half point favorites with a total point over under a 39 and a half. From the Colts side of this seems very similar to last week, but even a more low scoring affair. And it all really checked out pretty similar. So, you know, when you look at those, you consider what you're looking at. Go ahead and get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet on FanDuel. That's FanDuel.com. Welcome back to Crossover Thursday, which is presented by PrizePix. Go to PrizePix.com slash Lock slash locked on NFL and use code all lowercase

Starting point is 00:22:45 locked on NFL to win $50 instantly when you play $5. All right, Chris. So Steelers, the three biggest factors to them winning this game. What are they? I think there's a few things you want to look at here. One, you've got to be able

Starting point is 00:23:01 to take away Jonathan Taylor. You take away Jonathan Taylor and you make this about Anthony Richardson, you're putting this into the hands of the style of defense that you want to play in this game. Because if the Steelers stuff the run, it forces Richardson in more predictable situations, and it allows the defense to pin their ears back. They'll get after the quarterback and make the mistake. It's not just Watton and Herbig on the edges. It's also Hayward.

Starting point is 00:23:22 It's also, and they might throw a pass rush in there a couple of times from their off-ball linebackers, Patrick Queen and Landon Roberts, Peyton Wilson. They're all very good at that. But if they stuff the run and they put, and they let those guys pin their ear backs, that'll be step number one to setting the tone to the game that you want to do. On the flip side, if they get the run going and they make it about Najee Harris and about Cordero Patterson and Jalen Warren running the ball, Colts are going to be in for a long day because, like you said, the Colts have the worst time of possession in the league.

Starting point is 00:23:51 The Steelers have the second best. That will put this script right in line for exactly what the Steelers want to do in this game. They want to tire you out. And if the Steelers get it going early on the ground, that's going to make it even worse when it's later in the game and the Colts are trying to figure things out and they're tired while the Steelers have been playing at their pace. So I look at that.

Starting point is 00:24:12 But one matchup in particular, if I'm going to be looking at that too, is also when it gets to those predictable situations, even less about Anthony Richardson. The Colts, I love their playmakers. Jonathan Taylor out of the backfield, Michael Pittman, Josh Downs, I covered him in the ACC, Alec Pierce. All of those guys can be dynamic and can break games open. The Steelers need their off-ball, their corners, their safeties, their off-ball linebackers to all help and try to limit those guys from making plays after the catch. Make Anthony Richardson have to check the ball down, but when he does, get to those guys, tackle them short of the sticks, play your style

Starting point is 00:24:48 of football. Like you said, if Anthony Richardson can hit on some big plays to some of these guys, and let's be real, these guys all have those big play abilities. Pierce has shown it. Pipeman's shown it in years past. Josh Downs has the speed to get there. Those are the things that can break the game open and make this not about the script that the Steelers

Starting point is 00:25:04 want to write for this game. So if you're looking at things, stuff the run. Do not let Jonathan Taylor take over. Establish the run early yourself and don't let these big playmakers be big playmakers. Yeah, I'd have to say a pretty kind of a similar approach for the Colts. So things they've absolutely got to do. They have to get Jonathan Taylor going or just some sort of heartbeat in the run game. That could even be an Anthony

Starting point is 00:25:31 Richardson game, but they're not going to win if they are one-dimensional just passing the ball with Anthony Richardson. That's going to be a huge problem. So they've got to get Jonathan Taylor involved. And I think they got to get points on the board early. Cause we obviously talked about neither of these teams is really built to play from behind. So doing that, you know, last week certainly helped in a game against the bears, but the Steelers aren't going to pass the ball 50 times.

Starting point is 00:25:55 No. So I would also, you, you just know that like TJ watt is going to get his, the pass rush from Pittsburgh. They're going to at minimum get pressures. Something that's pretty not great to start out the week is Braden Smith, the Colts right tackle,

Starting point is 00:26:11 who would be largely tasked with going against TJ Watt to not practice today with a knee. It's a knee that bothered him. Like all of last year, he missed like all of the off season with it. He's been playing and he's been playing lights out this year. But that's, you know, it's a knee that's given him problems in the past. So the guy you're really going to be relying on to, you know, take up Pittsburgh's best defensive player, that could be a tough one. So if you can capitalize on that with like some screens in that area, or just, you know, designing some things to capitalize on that, you know, it's going to

Starting point is 00:26:45 happen. So, you know, get Anthony out on boots, get him out where you're moving the pocket and not making it so easy, making him a sitting duck. And then on the defensive side of the ball, you know, for a week and a half now, they've done a really good job against the run. I think they're going to have to do that because, again, if you force Justin Fields to play from behind and have to throw a bit more, this is a group that can take the ball away. I mean, Kenny Moore, Julian Blackman

Starting point is 00:27:16 are their biggest defensive playmakers. Jalen Jones had two interceptions last week. These guys can take the ball away if you're going to make Justin Fields throw. And obviously from his time with the Bears, you know, he got, was constantly pummeled. If he could just keep pressure on him and also stop the run, that defensive front, they've been very reliant on good play from them. And I think they're going to have to show up and do it again. I mean, it's not exactly fair that every game is going to have to be so dependent on them,

Starting point is 00:27:47 but this is another one. No, I agree. This is, it's, it's one of those games where you want it. You want to make the game dependent on the quarterbacks on both teams. Like,

Starting point is 00:27:56 like, like that's the thing is that, you know, this, neither team has the established quarterback. It's so well rooted in their system. Like Josh Allen or Patrick homes or one of those type of guys, where if you make the game about them, they're still going to hurt you.

Starting point is 00:28:10 But at the same time, you also have to not let them get the layup touchdowns. Like last week, the Steelers, you know, Justin Herbert threw a touchdown, but it was on a busted coverage play where Minkah Fitzpatrick, you know, thought something was called and Joey Porter Jr. went one way, he went the other. And then, you know, that led to an open guy. Similarly to Kirk Cousins, you know, Kyle Pitts just kind of floated to the end zone when Beanie Bishop didn't

Starting point is 00:28:33 like run with him in his zone. And that was a little bit of a breakdown. But again, if I'm pointing at things that the Steelers have done wrong, they've done about a hundred times more things right that have allowed them to be the number one defense through three weeks. So I think this game is going to come down to very classic game of football. Don't make mistakes. Don't turn the ball over. Control the line of scrimmage. You do that on either side, you win. I think the Steelers,

Starting point is 00:29:00 one particular player-to-player matchup that I'm loving to see here, Jake, is Cam Hayward versus Quentin Nelson because we've seen these guys tussle before. We've seen Cam Hayward get the best of him. Last year, I think Nelson got the best of him in return because Hayward was coming off an injury. But now you have a fresh Cam Hayward who's been playing very well. You have a fresh Quentin Nelson who's graded extremely highly by Pro Football Focus this year. I want to see those two dudes go at it all game long. And stuff like that can set a tone.

Starting point is 00:29:31 If Nelson's able to neutralize the Steelers' big man in the middle of the defense, well then, all of a sudden, maybe that sparks some momentum. But in reverse, if the Steelers, if Cam Hayward is moving Quentin Nelson around and he's winning that spot in the line of scrimmage, that's going to set a tone that allows the Steelers defense to play downhill, aggressive, and maybe they're setting the tone. So again, tone setting, physicality. If you love old school football, turn this one on Sunday.

Starting point is 00:29:55 It's going to be a fun one. That matchup has been a really good one. Obviously, the Colts and Steelers seem to play all the time, but Hayward and Nelson. It's weird. Yeah, I know the standings and how all that works out for your future opponents. That's just how it's gone. But, no, they seem to play each other a lot.

Starting point is 00:30:11 Nelson versus Hayward is always a great matchup. I'm really looking forward when it comes to the Colts. Josh Downs, that is who Anthony Richardson has had the most chemistry with throughout their young careers. But Downs, you know, missing time early. He made his debut last week. He had a high ankle sprain in training camp. So he just got back last week. That is, I think the guy that is going to be the difference between Anthony Richardson, finally smoothing out some of those rough edges, getting that completion percentage up,

Starting point is 00:30:41 moving the chains, you know, just taking those layups that I mentioned. They really need Josh Downs to get more involved. Now that he's, you know, he's back, this will be his second week. I think working him back into the offense will be a big deal. One thing I'm definitely confident in, these two teams are very different than the 30 to 13 game last December. I mean, shoot, the Colts hold backfield. Jonathan Taylor wasn't in that one. Anthony Richardson wasn't in that one. This is going to be a much, much different game. It is.

Starting point is 00:31:13 Both teams, I think, are a lot healthier. Everyone's dealing with injuries. It's part of the game. But these are different times. The Steelers at that time, they were trying Mitch Trubisky at quarterback because Kenny Pickett had gotten hurt and things weren't going too well. They would bench Mitch Trubisky at the end of that game and get in Mason Ruff who would lead them to the playoffs. And now you're a bit more confident in Justin Fields.

Starting point is 00:31:32 Can the Colts rock the boat at quarterback again? I think that's going to be their goal just as the Steelers are going to try to rock the boat on Anthony Richardson. And I think it's going to be a fun physical game where I like these games. Like, you know, I don't I don't I don't like pure rock fights where there's no scoring. But when there's like physical football, you know, running backs hitting their gaps, smart play action being used for quick timing windows, passing windows. I think that there's there's a lot to be learned from games like that. And especially in today's NFL, where defenses are starting to catch up

Starting point is 00:32:05 to what offenses have been doing for the last 10 years or so. No, I think this will be a good football purist matchup. As long as – I mean, Pittsburgh has done a good job with this, but as long as the Colts aren't sloppy and making a bunch of mistakes, I think it'll be a good one to watch. But, guys, stick with us throughout the week. And after this, thank you for making us your first listen of the day. Now for your second listen, go find the new Locked

Starting point is 00:32:28 On NFL Now with two shows every day. First, the Madman Tyler Rowland kicks off your morning with a double shot of NFL espresso, and then stop by the Barbershop with Tony Wiggins for some real NFL talk. Find Locked On NFL on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you guys don't already,

Starting point is 00:32:44 please be sure to follow us on social media. Subscribe to both Locked on Colts and Locked on Steelers on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts. And with that, we will carry you guys throughout the week. We'll see you Friday. We'll see you on Sunday.

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Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts vs. Pittsburgh Steelers: Different Plans for Anthony Richardson, Justin Fields

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