Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Was Shane Steichen Benching Anthony Richardson a Mistake? (w/ Derek Schultz)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Does the result justify the process when it comes to benching Anthony Richardson and restoring him to the starting lineup? We talk about that today. Let's get to it. You are locked on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you all for tuning in and making us your first listen of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you all for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering the Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And you guys can start this season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a $5 bet,

Starting point is 00:00:40 and you'll get started with $150 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet. Visit fanduel.com to get started. Hello, everyone. I am Zach Hicks, your favorite film nerd over at HorseshoeHuddle.com. And I am joined today by Derek Schultz, who Jake wrote here in the thing, very special and handsome guest to talk about the Colts and their renewals. So Derek, I mean, very special and handsome guest coming on the show. Welcome back, man. So are you just reading what Jake said, Zach, or do you feel that way about me too? You are very handsome. I don't know about this

Starting point is 00:01:13 whole special thing, but very, very handsome for sure. No, man, thanks for having me. It's great. It's great to come on here after a win because now we can be like smiling and happy and yeah, we have some fun and hopeful things to talk about, I think, on today's show. Absolutely, absolutely. So we're talking hopeful stuff, but we kind of have to wind the thing back a little bit because you and I, we're realist.

Starting point is 00:01:34 We're professional yappers, like we say. And we just have to kind of talk about like just this whole process to get here. Because right now we're so excited about the result of what just happened this past Sunday. And I don't know if it's going to be a one-off thing. I don't know if this is just who Anthony Richardson is. I mean, I hope.

Starting point is 00:01:50 I really hope this is just who he is going forward because the Colts might have their guy. But let's talk about the whole process here because the Colts were at 4-4, heading into a brutal stretch of games, which we all acknowledge was a really tough stretch. The Vikings, the Bills, the Jets obviously weren't super tough, but they gave up a good fight against the Colts this past weekend, and now the Detroit Lions coming up this week. The Colts made the decision to bench Anthony Richardson, whether that was performance-related, off-field-related, whatever it was. They weren't super straight with us throughout the whole process here. Very chaotic process.

Starting point is 00:02:29 Two dud of performances by Joe Flacco. Go back to Richardson and he looks like this new, refreshed, rejuvenated quarterback. So Derek, I got to ask you the very tough question. The process seemed chaotic, very out of control, and it felt like they had no clue what they're doing. But if they somehow had this make this thing work where Richardson is the guy now after this little benching, does that justify the process where they just smarter than us, Derek? And it's a, it's a tough question to put on your plate here, but were the Colts smarter than us, Derek, if this works? Yeah. I think the follow-up is, is, does anybody care as long as they were right?

Starting point is 00:03:04 Right. Great. Right. And, and that's how I feel too. You know, I don't, I think the follow-up is, does anybody care? As long as they were right, great, right? And that's how I feel too. I don't care. Use the word chaotic and clueless. I think all those things are true, even if this ends up working. I think the Colts are just making plans on the fly. They did not expect to go back to Anthony Richardson after 13 days, after benching him.

Starting point is 00:03:27 You know, I don't care what anybody says. You don't get markedly better in 13 days. And I also don't care what Shane Steichen says about Joe Flacco's play not factoring in the decision. Of course it factored in the decision. The offense, the floor of the offense was supposed to be raised with Joe Flacco. Instead, the floor caved in, you know, against Minnesota

Starting point is 00:03:44 and against Buffalo in their two worst offensive performances of the season. So absolutely, I think that factored in. But the way that I looked at it, Zach, is that I agreed with the team that Anthony Richardson best improved from being out there and getting reps for a guy that just doesn't have a lot of meaningful playing experience on any level, much less the professional level, the highest level there is in the National Football League. So that's how I felt. I would not have benched him for that. And I've heard the counter arguments.

Starting point is 00:04:12 I even had somebody ask me, hey, do you think they benched him because they knew Buffalo and Minnesota were tough? So they threw flack on the Wolves. I'm like, why would you punt two games when you're fighting for your lives in a playoff race, right? You of course wouldn't think about it that way. So I don't think that the Colts have covered themselves in glory as far as how they've done this yo-yoing at quarterback and this entire thought process. I think they got maybe a little panicky. Then again, we don't have all the information at hand. If they really were concerned with something off the field and they wanted to nip it in the bud, maybe that's what this is and they can move forward from it but I think best case scenario here Zach regardless of how you feel about the process or how the Colts have handled this if this little sabbatical time

Starting point is 00:04:54 out whatever you want to call it for two weeks not only sort of recalibrated Richardson but recalibrated this coaching staff where they took a step back and they said, look, this isn't working for him. This isn't working for us. How do we fix this? Because a lot of the focus is on Anthony Richardson making changes. And we would agree, Richardson was not playing well, right? He needed to make some changes. Colts needed to make some changes too.

Starting point is 00:05:17 And you saw some of those in Sunday's game. So I do think that this was, this breather, I'm just going to keep making up words as I go for whatever this two week thing was. This allowed everybody to just kind of take a step back, take a breath and recalibrate and figure out a new path going forward. And, and hopefully that's more than just a one week thing and something

Starting point is 00:05:37 sustainable for the team here moving forward. Yeah, I completely agree. And look guys, I'm not one to arrogantly stay in my lane that whatever lane I picked, I'm not going to just stay in that no matter what. I'm going to change my opinion as things go. And at the time when they bench Richardson, as someone who has followed the NFL my entire

Starting point is 00:05:55 life, typically they don't go back to bench quarterback. So for me, that was the end of this experiment. They were done with it. And it was such a unique experience for me and for most of us. I mean, look, when a quarterback gets benched, especially as a young guy, it's usually it for that guy. You typically don't see them reinserted in the lineup. And to give the Colts credit, maybe this was a last ditch effort that they had. Maybe that was he spiraling on the field. Maybe he was spiraling off the field. And this was kind of the wake up call he needed. Maybe it was, look, this kid taking top four in the NFL draft a couple of years ago at

Starting point is 00:06:30 20 years old, just kind of needed that kick in the butt to say, like, look, it's not given to you. You're not guaranteed this spot. Maybe that's all it took to get Richardson in the doors at 5 a.m. every single morning to get him talking with quarterback coaches more. Again, I'm just speculating here. Maybe that's what they need to do. So the Colts were certainly in a better position to know than we were. We were, I think we were justified in our evaluation of the process, the way it was presented to us. But I'm, look, if it works out, I will be clapping

Starting point is 00:06:58 for hours straight for Chris Ballard. I was screaming Chris Ballard's name in jubilation. Thank you. Thank you for giving. Because if you get the quarterback, I know it's always process over results. But when it comes to quarterback, it's results. It's results. It's results. It's results. Just give me the results.

Starting point is 00:07:13 I don't care about the process to get there. Look at the San Francisco 49ers with Brock Purdy. Do you think they care about the process of giving up all those picks for Trey Lance if they still got Brock Purdy in the end? It doesn't matter. If you get your quarterback, you get your quarterback. The Patriots didn't know what they were getting when they took Tom Brady, but the results are great.

Starting point is 00:07:30 You know, the results are awesome. So as long as this works out for the Colts, and again, I'm not proclaiming that this is working out for the Colts because they benched him. I will say this, though. The game I watched on Sunday from Anthony Richardson was drastically different from not only anything I saw from him earlier this season, but anything I even saw from him last season. He looked in control that entire game.

Starting point is 00:07:53 I know there was a fumbled snap and the fumbled play in the pocket like mistakes happen. He's still young and he's still learning. But even with a couple of mistakes in this game, he just looked like an NFL quarterback out there. Like, do you agree, Derek? Like, he just looked different out there. Yeah, I think he looked confident and comfortable, and he hasn't always looked that way. I mean, if, Zach, if we were to play out a game script here, and I was going to tell you that Jonathan Taylor would rush for 57 yards on 24 carries, and Anthony Richardson would have to leave,

Starting point is 00:08:25 lead back to back 70 yard touchdown drives in the fourth quarter. You would not have been feeling great about the Colts chances, right? That, that was not the script. That was not what they wanted to do with him in his first game back after being benched, but that's how it ended up playing out. And, and they won the game because of him. And, and I think that that's, you know, it wasn't anything the defense did. In fact, the defense was awful from about the two-minute mark of the second quarter on. They won because of him and some heroic efforts from the receivers as well. I mean, Downs and Pierce, et cetera.

Starting point is 00:08:55 But, yeah, I think that everything that they did for him, even if, you know, running, it was running Jonathan Taylor into a brick wall and getting a yard or two into the teeth of the Jets defense who were selling out for the run, I think it helped that comfort level. And the design runs, right? I think part of the problem that the Colts ran into was that I think they were overly coddling him this year. And a lot of people say, you know, people were mad about the tap out.

Starting point is 00:09:22 The tap out happens because Richardson in his mind thinks that, okay, yeah, I'm tired. I'm going to come out for a play. And the Colts are going to be cool with that because they've been cool with everything else, right? You have to get this guy out and run. And if he has to lower his shoulder into a defender to get over the goal line, cool, fine, great. You know, and that blows out his shoulder, whatever.

Starting point is 00:09:41 I think you just have to live with the risk because it's such a high-end trait for him, his ability to run and his ability with the legs and throwing on the move and, you know, all these things that they were able to do. So I loved everything about Sunday's game. You know, maybe they were a little too stubborn about the run game, but overall, again, Zach, at this point with the Colts,

Starting point is 00:10:02 so much of this regime has been, well, the process is good. Well, the process is good. Well, the process, and you point with the Colts, so much of this regime has been, well, the process is good. Well, the process is good. And you never get the result, right? Yesterday, sorry, Sunday, I'm not sure the process was always that great, but the result was. And I think at this point, that's really all I care about with the Colts. Right. Like at the end of the day, you want process and results to be great.

Starting point is 00:10:21 But if I had to pick between the two, just give me the result, baby. I know that's horrible for all the math nerds watching it be like oh no no no zach that's awful but at this point in this regime like you said like we're in what year eight of chris ballard you're not i don't even know i add a year every time i think about it uh i think we're we're late into this chris ballard era we need results and if if benching richardson got him to being the quarterback he showed on Sunday, and that's what he's going to show the rest of the year, I will take that result even if the process to get there was chaotic.

Starting point is 00:10:51 Now, don't do it again, but hopefully you don't ever have to do it again because he's this. So we are going to talk a little bit about Shane Steichen coming up here in just a second, though, where Shane Steichen, again, like you said, he kind of looked like he did some soul searching and changed a little bit of the offense to take some of the pressure off of Anthony Richardson and lean into what he does best. So we're going to talk about that here in just a second. But first, pre-alcohol probiotic drink by Z-Biox is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic.

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Starting point is 00:13:54 playing well, but I think a good bit of it was Shane Steichen was also not calling the best offense for him. It was a lot of leaning on Richardson as a passer, especially as a vertical passer. I mean, we all saw that week one game against the Houston Texans where they weren't calling anything under 10 yards down the field. They weren't calling anything under 20 yards down the field in that one. They were really leaning into that big arm and they were kind of taking away a little bit of the QB run game to protect him. And maybe in a sense, like you said, coddle him a little bit. And it became this passing heavy offense where they're asking you to make full field reads that he clearly wasn't ready for.

Starting point is 00:14:29 And you saw inconsistency, you saw struggles, and you saw him just pressing in a lot of these games. So Derek, I'm not going to ask you to put on your coach's hat and break down the all 22 film of this past game by any means and go really in depth here. But the offense that you saw on Sunday, even if it was a bit repetitive with the run game, felt more so like we all kind of expected to see coming into this year. Right. Yeah, I think it was. And it's not like they weren't taking any downfield shots at all. Right. I mean, the pass to Pierce that really kind of set up the game-winning touchdown was perfect. Perfectly called and a perfectly thrown ball and a great play by Pierce to get, I think it was Sauce Gardner, right, to bite on it.

Starting point is 00:15:10 And 33, 34 yards, whatever it was. So I still think that you can keep that arrow in your quiver because clearly he's a great deep ball threat when it's there, right? It's just kind of throwing the YOLOolo balls you know the entire game it can be tough and for as much people wanted to point out the completion percentage I think a lot some of that at least a good chunk of that had to do with the fact that they were being very aggressive with the throws that they were asking him to make I mean it just wasn't an offense where you would be completing 70 percent of your passes which weren't't. If you were, you're going to be throwing for 700 yards probably

Starting point is 00:15:46 because that's kind of how it was going. So I think really the run game and the element of him and Richardson is where the Colts can really kind of unlock this thing. You wish that they had some starter-level tight end play, which unfortunately they just don't. They've got a room of guys who are backups, essentially, and they're fine at what they do, but that's it. They're just meh.

Starting point is 00:16:13 They're, you know, whatever. The good news is is that you've got Downs emerging now as a clear number two, and even he can step in as a number one with Michael Pittman Jr. being banged up as he is. And Alec Pierce can do the one thing that he does great. And, great. And if he's going to catch two balls for 80 yards every game, hell yes, sign me up. It's great to have that. That's a real weapon to have as your third or fourth guy. So I think there's a lot to like about... I've never really lost faith in the offense. Now, the line and the injury situation with Will Fries and the whole

Starting point is 00:16:47 deal, you know, the interior of the line, which really got beat up against the Jets, right? They were manhandling them up front. That's an element that I wasn't expecting. But I think overall, I've always kind of appreciated the potential of this offense. Not that it could be like a top five offense, but I think it can still be good good and i think you saw some of that in um in how they called sunday's game i and and i'm hoping that the defensive level will be a little bit better than what we saw that was their worst game probably since the jacksonville game in week five overall yeah completely agree completely agree and i think when you look at this offense to another really good element and again analytics people are going to kill me for this but the colts were running so heavily in this game that it led to so much play action. And they leaned into the play action with Anthony

Starting point is 00:17:28 Richardson. 17 of his 30 passes were off of play action throws in this game, which was his highest percentage of the season. And it's something he's always excelled at. He's been a much better play action passer than he was a just standard dropback passer in college. Like really the only other thing you can do with him is maybe some pistol stuff and some empty personnel stuff where that ball is coming out quick. So if you want to take longer developing plays, he's much better with play action. And the Colts leaned into that in this game. So much play action because they ran the ball 400 times with Jonathan Taylor. Jonathan Taylor might be in the ice bath as we speak right now because he's so banged up and it would help to have a second running back that was capable of running on Sundays aside from Jonathan Taylor

Starting point is 00:18:09 but I do think this is kind of the process that you want to go with here is hopefully you can run a little bit better going forward maybe you can take even fewer quarterback runs outside of the red zone where you're not having to use Richardson as the battering ram just to get the four to five yards that you need to start off drives but running the ball like this and leaning into like I don't even want to say like a Lamar Jackson or Jalen Hurts offense because it really wasn't that it wasn't a super gimmicky game plan it was just we're gonna run we're gonna run we're gonna run mix in some QB runs and then we're gonna hit you with some play action stuff over the middle and deeper down the field. And we saw, I mean, Richardson was 7 of 7 on intermediate passes in this game.

Starting point is 00:18:49 Between 10 and 19 yards. 7 of 7 for like 150 yards in this game. He was just lethal in the middle of the field. And that's because you run the ball so much that those linebackers are fitting. You're doing play action. And you're hitting over the middle. So this kind of felt like, again, just leaning into whaton does well and i give shane steichen like for how much you it's it's like the gus bradley conundrum where early in the season when he's struggling

Starting point is 00:19:12 we all want to pile on and say he's brutal just same with shane steichen when he's struggling you want to say he sucks but when they have a good game like this you you've got to also praise that this was a good called game from shane steichen and led to Anthony Richardson's best game of the season yeah and that's what's exciting about this whole thing is that it almost feels like and and look was is Richardson just going to go out and throw for 272 and 20 of 33 tuds every single no right he's not going to do that every single week but it just feels like all of this is everything's back on track now right like like like I almost feel like the Colts are where they were entering Lambeau in week two again where I'm like kind of optimistic and excited about what the offense can be again even though I know the Houston game was a differently

Starting point is 00:19:55 called game than than what we saw um here on Sunday the only play call that I really had a problem with Steichen was the two-point conversion just running Taylor I thought it was awful um it wasn't there all day I don't know why that was the call. I would have just gone to Richardson again and let him do something cool, right? Even if it fails, at least it's going to be cool. And that was the only one that I really had a problem with. Normally, I don't love, again, running into a brick wall like that, but I think it set up some other things. And the players talked about it afterwards in the locker room that they they thought that it gave him a lot of comfort and a lot of confidence in Richardson so um I I'm just I I'm I'm bullish again about where they can go from here like look you know Detroit is a huge test and they are just

Starting point is 00:20:35 rolling people right now but you look at the finishing stretch of this schedule if they can implement an offense and be as effective as they were against a bad Jets team, against a bad Giants team, a bad Titans team, a bad Jaguars team, a bad Patriots team, then you can really kind of start to see this come together. And in a very, very mediocre AFC, that should be enough to put them over the top for one of those final wildcard spots. Absolutely. Absolutely. So Derek mentioned it there. Where can this team go from here? And we're going to talk playoffs. We're going to talk playoffs coming up here in just a second. Listen up, renters. Ever feel like you're stuck in the loop of rent payments, just watching your money vanish into thin air? It's time to turn that rent game around and start earning some serious rewards. That's where Built Rewards comes in. Built is breaking ground as a neighborhood rewards program that hooks you up with points

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Starting point is 00:22:10 earning points with your rent payments today. All right, guys. So locked on every day as we were back with Derek Schultz, talking about the playoff possibility with this Indianapolis Colts team. And I think, I think it's more realistic than some people think. I also think it's less realistic than some people think. I also think it's less realistic than some people think

Starting point is 00:22:28 when you look at this final stretch. So the final stretch of games here, and just for perspective, I think the Colts are sitting at five and six right now. Again, my numbers are always off. So I think five and six is where the Colts are sitting at right now, heading into a massive game against the Detroit Lions.

Starting point is 00:22:42 If we assume that you have to get to 10 wins to make the playoffs, which I think is a very fair assumption with how this AFC landscape is, they really only have the room to lose another game in here. And they got the Detroit Lions this week who are looking like the 2007 Patriots every single week. So if we assume that's the loss, they got to win out, win out their final stretch of games against New England Patriots, Denver Broncos, Tennessee Titans, New York Giants, and Jacksonville Jaguars. That's very doable. The Colts this season, I believe they're four and one against teams with a losing record. Their only loss being at Jacksonville, which doesn't count.

Starting point is 00:23:20 That's a fake game. It's not a real game every year. Yeah. And then they're one in five this season against teams with a winning record. They only play two teams with a winning record the rest of the year. A lot of teams with a losing record Detroit lines again, that's a different type of opponent. Then that Denver Broncos game is essentially your playoff game. As long as you take care of business the rest of the way. So I think it's realistic. It's also again, a little bit tough with projecting given wins with this team, knowing what we know about this team. But I think it's I think there's a shot for this team, which is which is great. I will take a shot, you know, Derek. Yeah, absolutely. The margin for error, like you said, is is virtually zero. And it really comes down to that Denver game. You know, you can you can you can lose one or two,, I think down the stretch here, but it really can't be Denver. Cause you look at the

Starting point is 00:24:08 finishing stretches, you know, Baltimore has, and they're two games up, but they've got a really brutal finishing stretch. Denver's got a tough finishing stretch as well. Cincinnati losing to the chargers, I think helped because I think you're, you know, essentially right now, mathematically speaking, it's basically 10 teams for seven spots, but the bottom two teams are the dolphins and Cincinnati who are really in kind of a world of hurt with where they sit right now. So I think it's really about just getting over Denver. I think it's that simple with, with where we sit today. And I think that they can do that. And you know, the, the offense, again, if they've really unlocked something with Richardson here and they could get competent to good level quarter, they don't even need it to be great.

Starting point is 00:24:51 I think they can do enough. I think this defense, Sunday's game aside, had really solidified itself over the last couple of weeks and played pretty good. You know, they kept them in. That Minnesota game, for all intents and purposes, should have been like a three-touchdown blowout, and it wasn't because of the playmaking that the defense made. So I do think that, you know, this is a perfectly average to slightly above average football team.

Starting point is 00:25:13 And that's in the AFC. That's all you kind of got to be to be right there in the playoff mix. So with the way this season has gone, the Colts could be, could they be in better shape? Of course. Could they be in significantly worse shape yes um so I think I'll I'll actually take it with this weird quarterback yo-yoing and all of that um I think they're actually in about as good of a spot that you could have hoped for at least on paper yeah and one thing I wanted to ask you is let's live out

Starting point is 00:25:39 this isn't in the nightmare situation but I guess a nightmare situation to some people because say they missed the playoffs finish the patented nine and eight or eight and nine you know the dreaded middle of the road when it comes to chris ballard and and this colts organization if they finish nine and eight say they lose to detroit and lose to denver two winning teams two playoff teams and pretty much all their losses this season would have been the playoff teams and then they take care of business against all these bad teams. Is that a positive 9-8 in your eyes? If Richardson doesn't play like he did this past Sunday, but close to it, like looks good, looks fine, is that a positive 9-8 for you?

Starting point is 00:26:16 Yes. I think what stunk about 9-8 last year was that it was with Gardner Minshew and he's not part of the future, so who cares? I think that's what stunk about last year. So yes, I think so much of this season, and I don't want to be that guy that just says, well, this season was only about Anthony Richardson's development. Look, I want to make the playoffs just like everybody else, right? And the Colts haven't made the playoffs very often here lately. But if they miss, will it be disappointing? Yeah, of course. But if Richardson plays well and buys another year,

Starting point is 00:26:41 because that's really what it was. The people banging the table about nine and eight, they want Ballard out and maybe they want Steichen out. Those guys are tied to the quarterback. So I think as long as Richardson is playing well, those guys stay kind of alive and safe. It's once you give up on Richardson and once that's done, God forbid that that happens, that you talk about making a move in both of those situations.

Starting point is 00:27:03 So I do think nine and eight can be positive as long as we see some hope for the future and some growth and some development from Anthony Richardson. Yeah, I'm in complete agreement. As long as again, it doesn't need to look as good as it did Sunday, 300 total yards, three touchdowns and an eight point comeback victory in the fourth quarter. It doesn't need to look like that every week that that's unrealistic, but if it can look positive each, like not in every game here, but just overall over this final seven game stretch for Anthony Richardson, nine and eight, eight and nine, I won't be

Starting point is 00:27:34 happy, but I'll be fine with it. I will be perfectly fine with it. I want playoffs as much as you guys do. But again, it's about Anthony Richardson right now, especially with how this weird season has gone. If Richardson can finish the year on a strong note, I will certainly take that right there. So I think that's all we have for today, guys. I do want to appreciate I do want to shout you guys all out for joining us each and every

Starting point is 00:27:55 day. Derek, thank you for joining us today as well. And thank you guys for making Locked On Culture first listen today and every day. Now, for your second listen, go view the new Locked On NFL 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

Starting point is 00:28:09 with Tony Wiggins for some real NFL talk. Find Locked On NFL on YouTube or wherever you list your podcasts. And if you guys don't already, make sure you're following at Locked On Colts, at JakeArthurNFL,

Starting point is 00:28:18 at Zach Hicks2, and at Schultz975 all on Twitter. Locked On Colts is also on Blue Sky as well as Derek Schultz is also on blue sky as well. So definitely check us out over there. Also subscribe to us on YouTube or every list of your podcasts.

Starting point is 00:28:31 We love your guys' ratings and views, and we'll catch you guys back here tomorrow afternoon.

Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Was Shane Steichen Benching Anthony Richardson a Mistake? (w/ Derek Schultz)

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