Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts vs. Pittsburgh Steelers: Reinforcements On the Way!

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Colts have a big fight ahead of them this weekend and reinforcements are on the way. 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. All right, all right. Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts,

Starting point is 00:00:39 part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And today's show is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs, which helps you find the qualified candidates that you want to talk to faster. Just post your job for free at linkedin.com slash locked on NFL. That's linkedin.com slash locked on NFL to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. What is up, party people? Welcome to the show.

Starting point is 00:01:03 I am Jake Arthur of course youhewHuddle.com, and today we're putting our final wrap-up on Colts and Steelers Week 15. They're going to face off on Saturday. The game got flexed up a day, 4.30 p.m. at Lucas Oil Stadium. Remember, if you're not able to check out that game on TV, head over to SiriusXM. That's the SXM app. Catch every snap of the local broadcast. Just search Colts or Steelers if that's what you're into. Also, Steelers fans, I know you travel very well, so I'm sure downtown Indy is going to be packed. But Colts fans, you probably ought to throw an advantage in that way. Don't let too many terrible towels

Starting point is 00:01:41 overwhelm our city. But today we're going to get into, you know, the injuries, what's the latest on the injury front for the Colts, and then what are some areas offensively and defensively that these teams match up? Where are they either, you know, top or bottom 10 on offense and defense categories, and where does the opponent rank up, you know, in that matchup? So let's go ahead and start out with injuries. As I mentioned at the top of the show, reinforcements are on the way. Starting with linebacker EJ Speed will be back. He missed Sunday's, not going to say bloodbath, but it wasn't great against the Bengals. Juju Brents also is back. He's been out seven weeks. So this guy, very, very much welcoming him back with open arms.

Starting point is 00:02:29 So EJ Speed again, just missed the one game. His replacement, Ronnie Harrison, did have a pick six. But, you know, when you look at things over the span of an entire game, that pick six was crucial in them even being considered close in this one because they only scored seven points otherwise. But, you know, the Bengals, they had 111 rushing yards. They were not a productive rushing team in general coming into this one. But of course, as has been customary for the Colts defense as of late, you know, their opponent was able to get some yardage. A lot of that was

Starting point is 00:03:03 dictated by them having a large lead essentially throughout the game. So there's only so much you can do there. But arguably the bigger issue was there was a few big screen plays that the Bengals had. You know, they had the 54-yard touchdown and a 45-yarder later in the game. I think they had another big one, at least for a first down. Those are some areas EJ Speed really excels in. He's a really good run defending linebacker, has been one of the NFL's best for about a year or two now.

Starting point is 00:03:32 And in the screen game, he's really good at sniffing those out. He's just got the instincts to see it developing in front of him. He attacks and either limits them to a minimal gain or blows it up altogether, gets a tackle for loss, what have you. But the guy is really strong in those areas. So hopefully his return is a big benefit to a Steelers opponent that isn't, you know, it's not going to be a big time vertical passing team. So with Jalen Ward and Najee Harris, hopefully EJ speed is able to really affect those things there. With Juju Brintz again, that's seven games. Jalen Jones, the other rookie, has started to fade a little bit. He was on a really good pace earlier in the

Starting point is 00:04:19 season. Perhaps has hit a rookie wall though. He's given up a couple touchdowns in the last few weeks daryl baker jr has been generally fine um but baker is actually the one who's been filling in for brent's but we're gonna have to see what the colts want to do here with brent's being away for so long and only having like a week and a half of practice. I don't know that he's going to get the full amount of reps that he normally would as the starter. So we'll see if he goes in and replaces Jones, if he takes back the spot that Baker has been filling in for him. So I'm kind of interested to see that. But nonetheless, good to get both of those guys back for the Colts defense. Obviously, Jonathan Taylor has been out a couple games.

Starting point is 00:05:07 He had to have surgery on that thumb. Not back to practice yet. You hope to see him back within the next week or two, at least practicing, because the run game has been pretty rough without him. In these two games, the Colts have just 101 yards total on the ground. Zach Moss had a ton of success earlier in the year. You could probably point to it and say Anthony Richardson was around for a lot of that. And, you know, by the time Richardson was out and then Gardner Minshew came in, well,

Starting point is 00:05:37 Jonathan Taylor was in there. And then so now there's no Anthony Richardson and there's no Jonathan Taylor. So it's just Gardner Minshew and Zach Moss in the backfield. And so now maybe that's a little more realistic of what that looks like when you don't have the threats of the other two explosive players back there. But, I mean, Moss is still a very, very tough, productive runner in general when he's not got a loaded box to run into. The Colts offense has had trouble convincing defenses to get out of their base

Starting point is 00:06:05 defense, and that's always going to put an advantage for the defense in the box against the run. Until the Colts consistently prove that it's a mistake to load that box, they're going to keep doing it. We've really only seen one game where that's been an issue, and that's when Gardner Minshew and Alec Pierce had those couple big chunk plays against Tennessee a couple weeks ago. Otherwise, Braden Smith, starting right tackle. He's been in and out of the lineup throughout the year. Blake Freeland will be taking over for him once again. So a few weeks ago, we mentioned that Braden Smith was going to have kind of a murderer's row of opponents in this final stretch of the season. And this is probably the biggest one, T.J. Watt from the Steelers. So that was going to be tough

Starting point is 00:06:51 for Braden Smith, and now it's going to be a rookie doing it. So hopefully he's got some tight end help. Mo Alleycox over there, Drew Ogletree. Hopefully it's not just T.J. Watt teeing off on the quarterback against Blake Freeland all day long. Freeland has had some nice moments. You know, last week against Cincinnati, he only allowed one pressure, and that was just a hurry. So he didn't allow any sacks or hits to be had on Minshew. So hopefully a sign of things to come.

Starting point is 00:07:24 On Friday, special teamer and linebacker Sagudin Alubi was downgraded from questionable to out. He didn't practice at all during the week with a hip injury. So that really wasn't much of a surprise. He hasn't had a huge defensive role lately. So you're probably not going to notice any change with him out. On special teams, however, maybe. I mean, in general, I think Grant Stewart is going to kind of absorb a lot of those things. Cameron McGrone might be active for this game as well. They'll probably absorb some of the stuff defensively or on special teams that Aloubi would have done. Arguably the biggest news

Starting point is 00:07:58 injury-wise for this matchup, obviously Kenny Pickett is out. That was already expected. He was ruled out at the beginning of the week, the Steelers starting quarterback. But both edge rushers, TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith, cleared the concussion protocol, and they are both in for this game against the Colts. Those two guys combined for 20 sacks this year so far. They were a prolific tandem last year as well. So, you know, you're probably looking at the best pass rushing tandem in the NFL, and you're doing it with a rookie at right tackle and a second-year guy at left tackle who just gave up a couple big sacks against Trey Hendrickson last week. So not a great time for the Colts in general. But, I mean, all they can do is go out there and try and execute. I mean, we don't want to bury him just yet. They still get this matchup, but it's going to be tough. I mentioned Kenny Pickett being out. He'll be replaced by Mitch

Starting point is 00:08:57 Trubisky. He had his start last week in the loss against the Patriots. Very Mitchell Trubisky-esque stat line. Something that he'll probably replicate against the Colts. It's what you expect to see from him. 62% completions, 190 passing yards, a touchdown, an interception, was sacked twice, did have 30 rushing yards, and a touchdown though. So you're not getting brilliance either way. Like he's not so terrible that his whole stat line is just going to be awful. He's got some athleticism and a strong arm to where he can make some plays. But he's not normally going to go out and shred teams for 300 yards, four touchdowns. Now I say that and I've put a big target on the Colts back, but that's not his normal performance. So we'll see there. And then last guard, Isaac Samalo is questionable. He's their left guard. Really good player. First year with the Steelers. He has been

Starting point is 00:09:59 with the Eagles for a while. Really wanted the Colts to try and hone in on him and get him to be their right guard in the off season. So good player. He's been playing good football this year. If he's out, that'll obviously be big for the Colts defense with Grover Stewart and DeForest Buckner up front. So coming up in a second, we are going to talk about some of the areas that the Colts offense matches up with the Steelers defense. When you're hiring for your small business, you want to have as many top tier candidates as possible to interview. And that's why I have to check out LinkedIn jobs, which has the tools to help find the right professionals for your team faster and for free. LinkedIn isn't just another job board either. They have a vast

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Starting point is 00:11:39 Go to Locked On Sports Today on YouTube and subscribe to the first ever National Sports 24-7 streaming channel. sports today on YouTube and subscribe to the first ever national sports 24 seven streaming channel. All right. So I wanted to go through the Colts offense Steelers defense because surprise, surprise, the strong point of the Steelers this year, once again, is their defense. Just kind of look at some of the areas that Pittsburgh is either really good or poor at and how the Colts match up with that. But they've got some really quality players throughout the defense. You look at Cam Hayward up front, T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith that I mentioned on the outside,

Starting point is 00:12:17 Patrick Peterson and Joey Porter Jr. at cornerback, and then Minka Fitzpatrick in the back end patrolling things. And there's guys that left out as well. They've got quality players all over the place. But Pittsburgh is seventh in points allowed overall 19.2 points per game now the colts offense is still top 10 they're eighth with 24.2 points per game uh so we'll see how that matches up i mean i there there was a recipe there for the colts to do really well against the Bengals last week, and it did not happen whatsoever. So I'm not going to make any big proclamations about this one.

Starting point is 00:12:53 But, I mean, those numbers are what they are. Those teams are equally good in those areas. Pittsburgh is also eighth in red zone scoring. That's an area that the Colts have kind of struggled. The Steelers have given up 48.6%. The Colts are down to 18th in that department at 53 and a half. So bottom half of the league at scoring in the red zone. That's why this could be another big Matt Gay game. Just like last week was probably should have been, but he missed the field goal. He missed the extra point.

Starting point is 00:13:23 Luckily he'll be indoors this week. I don't think the weather played a big factor in those misses against Cincinnati, but he's been pretty comfortable in Lucas Oil Stadium this year. Pittsburgh does not turn the ball over very much at all. They're tied for the fourth fewest interceptions. That's the Steelers' defense, pardon me. They have the fourth most interceptions so far this year with 13 uh they actually the tied for the seventh most takeaways overall with 21 so they're

Starting point is 00:13:52 kind of in terms of those big plays they're kind of like the colts defense um the colts have they're tied for 19 so again close to, close to the bottom of the league, with nine interceptions. They're tied for 20th in total giveaways with 20. Obviously, they have a fumbling problem when it comes to Gardner Minshew. So you've got guys like T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith just harassing Gardner throughout the game. That could lead to some fumbles. It could lead to some errant throws where you've got those guys

Starting point is 00:14:23 like Peterson, Porter, Fitzpatrick in the back end, ready to make the pick. And then another interesting part. So we talked about the red zone. Pittsburgh has given up a tide for the sixth fewest rushing touchdowns in the league at eight and the Colts had the sixth most with 16. So Gardner Minshew, obviously everyone knows he tends to get those happy feet. When you get in the red zone and the field is totally compressed, it gets kind of shaky and doesn't quite know where to go, doesn't make those quick decisions. And then when you really need to lean on the run game there and you got Zach Moss and you don't have Jonathan Taylor,

Starting point is 00:15:01 the Steelers have been able to defend that pretty well. So that could be an area that gets pretty dicey for the Colts. Again, that's where I mentioned this could be a game where Matt Gay has a lot of opportunities. Unless the Colts can figure out some secret sauce, or maybe they get another bag of tricks again, because we saw for a couple weeks there, they were all about the trick plays. They've got to do something to counter this, though. I mean, there's some areas they're just not hitting on, and they're going to have to do it if they want to score points in this one.

Starting point is 00:15:33 So next we are going to flip the script. Colts defense versus Pittsburgh Steelers offense. That one will probably be a little more fun to talk about and a little more advantageous for the Colts. The show is sponsored by BetterHelp. I don't know about you guys, but this time of year, Christmas is great. On the day of, you're doing your thing, you're seeing family, but the lead up to it can be very stressful. Lots of families have different policies on gift giving.

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Starting point is 00:17:10 Visit BetterHelp.com slash locked on today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash locked on. And don't forget about our friends over at Nevermore. They are still a great place to be on game days, great food, great drinks, great views of the city. At Nevermore, get lost in literality and experience a place filled with intricate design and immersive experiences. From upscale food and spirits to music and entertainment, Nevermore will never be a predictable destination. There's 25,000 square feet of space, which features multiple rooms.

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Starting point is 00:18:12 Visit Nevermore under the historic Union Station on South Meridian Street in Indy. Follow Nevermore Union Station on Instagram or NevermoreUnionStation.com. Escape and explore the extraordinary at Nevermore. All right, so Colts defense versus Steelers offense. So this is a Steelers offense that was so unproductive that they had to get something new going and offensive coordinator Matt Canada was fired this year. They don't have their normal quarterback this year or right now, and Kenny Pickett, who himself was not very productive either. But you still look at this thing. You have Trubisky, who is capable of making some plays at running back.

Starting point is 00:18:56 Jalen Warren is someone who's become a really explosive player. I know a lot of people called for him to get the lion's share of the work over Najee Harris. Harris, who is a quality, tough runner, could catch the ball as well. George Pickens, we know how that went. He made the game-winning plays over the Colts last year. Deontay Johnson, obviously a nice piece. Pat Fryermuth, one of the better tight ends in the league. But when you look at this thing, overall, the Steelers struggle pretty mightily on offense for their whole body of work. They're 27th in offense overall, compared to the Colts who are 25th on defense. There's not much to write home about either. Pittsburgh is 28th in

Starting point is 00:19:38 scoring, averaging just 16.2 points per game. Colts are 29th. So this could be one that actually becomes a little bit of a shootout. If the Colts often shows any signs of life, this could be a higher scoring game than a lot of people might give it credit for. The Steelers also cannot score in the red zone. They rank second to last at 42.9%. Colts middle of the road there.

Starting point is 00:20:02 They rank 16th third downs and fourth downs. Pittsburgh is also near the bottom. 26th on third, 29th on fourth down. The Colts kind of opposite ends of the spectrum for them. They're tied for 11th defensively on third downs, but on fourth downs, not great. They allow 63.2% of fourth downs. So that stat is pretty skewed because it's so situational, you know, down in distance, where are you on the field? All that matters.

Starting point is 00:20:31 But still perhaps Pittsburgh and it's, it's film study identifies trends that opposing offenses are able to, to do against the Colts on fourth downs. And maybe they might attempt it a little more or at least have a little more success. Pittsburgh, you know, for how poor they've done offensively overall, they don't turn the ball over much. They are tied for the fewest in the league, actually, with 11,

Starting point is 00:20:59 and the Colts' defense is tied for the seventh most takeaways with 21. So strength for strength on that one uh interceptions again only seven interceptions for the steelers they haven't been sacked very much either uh they are tied for the eighth fewest only been sacked 27 times now the colts what colts pass rush are you gonna get um the four games previous to the bangles last week they had 21 sacks in those four games but absolutely none last week against cincinnati only three quarterback hits no sacks so two wildly different outcomes of what had been happening um even some middle road would be nice two three sacks rather you don't have to get four, five, six, but two or three.

Starting point is 00:21:45 Just do something. Make a big play on third down. Get your offense on the field. So I'm still going to consider pass rush a strength of the Colts, even though they're coming off a really, really weak performance. But, you know, it's a strength for the Steelers as well. So passing the ball has been unchill for the Steelers. 28th overall passing and 27th in yards per attempt.

Starting point is 00:22:10 So it's like a legitimate weakness of theirs that they don't pass the ball well. They are also tied for the fewest passing touchdowns with nine. I know it was always like a running joke that Anthony Richardson, even for how long he's been out, still had more passing touchdowns than Kenny Pickett up until like a few weeks ago. So the passing game for the Steelers has been really, really unproductive. For the Colts, I mean, they're 17th against the pass, tied for 22nd in YPA, and they're tied for the eighth fewest passing touchdowns given up, but none of those are such strong numbers to indicate that Pittsburgh can't do something in the air.

Starting point is 00:22:54 I wouldn't put it past Trubisky to have a decent game. I don't think he's going to light the Colts on fire, but the Colts also have to prove that replacement-level quarterbacks aren't going to come out and beat them, because Jake Browning and A. aj mccarron just came out and beat the colts last week that wasn't the joe burrow bangles that beat the colts that was the jake brown bangles so let's let's hope for the colts that they show up uh it's again it's a home game that's a little more refreshing for them they just they need to turn the page. The Bengals game has got to get flushed. That would have been their fifth straight win. Cool.

Starting point is 00:23:31 But we're now at a point where they can't be losing these AFC games because the Steelers have the exact same record, 7-6. These teams are jockeying for a playoff spot. The Colts have already lost a tiebreaker to the Browns. They've lost a tiebreaker to the Jaguars, the Bengals. They can't lose another tiebreaking game to a team they're directly competing with for a playoff spot like the Steelers. Because you look in a couple weeks, here come the Raiders,

Starting point is 00:23:57 who just hung 60 points on the Chargers on Thursday night. So these AFC games are going to be a battle. In general, you look at the stats of all these teams and it looks like the Colts should have an easy time. It's not going to be that easy road. The Colts are going to have to show up and fight. That Bengals game just cannot happen again. If they want to make the playoffs, it's going to be unacceptable.

Starting point is 00:24:21 They won't be able to get to the postseason with those performances. So all we got to do now is see, again, 4.30 Eastern on Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium. Colts and Steelers, again, check it out on the SXM app. Just look up Colts or Steelers. And remember to check out the Locked On Sports Today channel on YouTube, again, which is the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube, again, which is the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. And if you don't already, follow at LockedOnColts, at JakeArthurNFL, and at ZachHicks2 on Twitter.

Starting point is 00:24:52 Also, be sure to subscribe on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts. We love your ratings and reviews as well. And with that, we will see you guys right after the game.

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Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts vs. Pittsburgh Steelers: Reinforcements On the Way!

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