Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Will Jonathan Taylor/Braden Smith Return in 2023?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Colts margin for error is now razor thin if they hope to still make the playoffs. However, how much of an impact could players who are returning from injuries actually have? 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. Hello, hello.

Starting point is 00:00:40 Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And today's show is brought to you by FanDuel. Make every moment more. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 Moneyline bet. That's $150 back if your team wins. Visit FanDuel.com slash Locked On to get started. What's up, everybody? I am Jake Arthur and he is Zach Hicks. You know the two of us from HorseshoeHuddle.com. And today we are reconnecting to talk about the Colts in what has been a pretty sudden change of events, I guess you could say. They were right there, you know, had the opportunity to win five straight games with a winnable game on Sunday.

Starting point is 00:01:26 Kind of laid an egg, to put it lightly. And now everything is pretty much a must win at this point because the AFC just keeps getting tighter and tighter. We are absolutely going to know nothing until week 18, it seems, Zach. So with this one, like I mentioned, the Colts pretty much have to be on their A game. They at least have to take advantage of some of these weaker opponents. They're not going to really base any more high-flying offenses. I mean, the Texans at the end of it, but that's now without Tank Dell. But the Colts could be getting some reinforcements here. Juju Brents, it looks like he's going to be on his way back.

Starting point is 00:02:06 It was pretty optimistic last week. He wasn't ruled out until Saturday. Now he's a full participant to start the week this week. EJ Speed, same thing, full participant to start the week. They missed him on Sunday. So those two guys hopefully should be back for Saturday. You're looking at ones like Braden Smith. What's up with this? You know, he he left a week ago and was out of this last game, was replaced by Blake Freeland. Jonathan Taylor, Shane Steichen said today the expectation is that

Starting point is 00:02:38 he'll be back this season. I don't know whether that means postseason or regular season because subliminally they could be meaning extra games. And then Grover Stewart is the biggest one that has recently come back. Now, that's not due to injury. He just returned last week from his six-game suspension. So I'd like to talk about those guys kind of in a clump. But we'll go ahead and put together Brents and Speed first. Now, if those guys are back this Saturday against the Steelers, what are your expectations and how much have the Colts missed those guys?

Starting point is 00:03:11 Well, I mean, EJ Speed, we can't really go too much in detail about how much they missed them. Like, yes, obviously it hurt not having them out there this past game, although the run defense had its best performance in weeks. And I think a lot of that correlates to having Grover Stewart back. I think they, they allowed less than four yards per carry in this past game. I think one big difference though,

Starting point is 00:03:31 is they didn't really have too many negative runs allowed. It was a lot of like two, three yard runs that at the end of the day, it looked like, you know, this was an elite run defense where, you know, the other team's offense was still moving the ball.

Starting point is 00:03:43 There wasn't many stops. There wasn't many negative yardage plays. So that's where EJ Speed would come in, where EJ Speed is great at having those couple plays a game where he's bursting through the line and getting a tackle in the backfield or blowing up a screen play, which we saw what happened this past Sunday when he gave us screen plays. So, yeah, getting EJ Speed back just for those couple flash plays a game

Starting point is 00:04:03 would be huge. But I really wanted to talk about juju brents because i feel like the last like two or three solo episodes i've done i've really done done entire segments on how big it is for the colts to get juju brents back because look at the end of the day it's a great story that what's going on with jalen jones a great story what's going on with daryl baker jr even like i'm not saying these guys have been phenomenal all season but for them to even be playing at the level they're playing at right now is fantastic you know and it's not that they're playing great like just being guys who are capable of standing on that football field and not doing what Tony Brown did against the against the Saints

Starting point is 00:04:38 a couple weeks ago like that is a fantastic journey fantastic story but eventually you know like I said in my last episode the Cinderella turns. But eventually, you know, like I said, in my last episode, the Cinderella turns into a pumpkin thing, you know, the carriage turns into a pumpkin at the end of the night, you're gonna lose your glass slippers at the end of the night. Eventually, you need someone in there that is more capable of starting in an NFL game, or just more capable of starting, you know, a full game or having just more upside and stuff like that. Juju Brents is that type of guy, he would add a big boost to the run defense because he's a better tackling corner than those two guys. And also just in pass coverage, he's a longer corner. He's more physical. He's even faster than Jalen Jones and stuff like that,

Starting point is 00:05:14 too. You can even see that on film. So just having Juju Brents back out there with how high a level he was playing before he got hurt, I think would just add a big boost to a secondary that's coming off their worst game in weeks. So Juju Brent's coming back. I think that's just massive team right now in so many different ways. It just, it shurs up that back end and coverage. It adds another element in run defense and it gets one of your young promising players back on the field. I really can't say how, I can't say enough how excited I am just to get Juju Brent's back on this football field because he was playing some really good football and the Colts need a really good playing football corner right now. So getting Juju back would be massive for this team. Yeah. And I liked that you mentioned the run defense

Starting point is 00:05:53 aspect of it because that can be really invaluable when all 11 players are actually trying to make tackles and everything. And cornerbacks just kind of get discounted for that sometimes, but he's an aggressive player. He's aggressive the ball past breakups trying to make a play you know whether stripping the ball from from the ball carrier what have you you just kind of miss that because he's he's gonna be good for one i don't want to say difference making play but like you mentioned with ej speed like i feel like brent's has one or two plays out there maybe even in coverage uh where it just takes the guy away that where it makes a difference and so you've just been missing that and the depth in general has also taken a hit because

Starting point is 00:06:34 guys you're counting on to be cornerback three four five have been starting and or playing significant snaps so i think that's a big deal br Brayden Smith, I saw you talked about this one a little bit, how much it is missing Brayden Smith versus having the rookie Blake Freeland in there. Yeah, you know, Blake Freeland's been fine for what he is. Again, a fourth round rookie. It's kind of like the Jalen Jones situation where, you know, you want to be honest with it and talk about how he's played. And it hasn't been perfect. It hasn't even been great by any means at all. But you have to put it in perspective. This is a day three rookie who's playing way more snaps than what he should be playing out there so if you put it in that perspective it's been a good

Starting point is 00:07:12 season for him but for a team that's pushing for a playoff spot it needs to be better than what they've gotten from Blake Freeland and again that's not on him that's more on the team and injuries and circumstance so getting Braden Smith back at any point would be massive because Braden Smith is a massive upgrade to what Blake Freeland has given the Colts. It's just will we see Braden Smith again? I'm not too sure at this point this year. Jonathan Taylor, though, the other guy we're going to mention here, I do think we're going to get him back this year, hopefully. I mean, it's a thumb injury. He's had the procedure already. He's just recovering from it. And I think it'd be big to get him back too,

Starting point is 00:07:50 because I kind of talked about it yesterday on my solo episode, was that the Colts are doing a lot of RPO stuff still, and it's kind of hindering the run game a little bit. If you guys want more detail on that, I talked about it at length on yesterday's show. But I think with Jonathan Taylor, you get a problem solver at running back. That's the biggest upgrade difference from Zach Moss to Jonathan Taylor, where they're both physical downhill runners.

Starting point is 00:08:10 Taylor also brings a little bit more speed than Moss, but also he's more of a problem solver. Moss doesn't really create his own yardage unless it's in open space one-on-one with the guy. He can make a guy miss. But when it comes to that vision in the backfield, when it comes to finding the creases to get out of traffic and get out of jams, Jonathan Taylor brings that more than Zach Moss does.

Starting point is 00:08:29 So just getting Jonathan Taylor back, if your offensive line is not going to win every single time up front, getting a guy like Jonathan Taylor back at some point this season to be that problem solver who can turn a two-yard loss because everything's all bunched up in the middle into a four-yard gain, like he did against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before he got hurt I think that would be big so hopefully they can get one of these two back at least Jonathan Taylor or Braden Smith but it would be huge for the playoff run if they got both of them I'm just not really I don't really know what to expect with Braden Smith at this point John Jonathan Taylor I feel a little more optimistic Braden Smith you know I just kind of have to hope at this point well yeah it's an offense

Starting point is 00:09:05 that has to have the run game being successful in order for the offense to even really function at all and it's just been a little clunky the last couple games and certainly whenever they can get Smith and or Taylor back that'll be a huge shot in the arm and then last what kind of difference do you see with Grover Stewart being out there 11 111 yards on the ground for the Bengals, but they were ahead the whole game. And I mean, it's 111 yards, but it's also the lowest figure since Stewart's last game before suspension. Yeah, just having a capable nose tackle in there who can actually eat up blocks and not give up a ton of ground is a massive boost to your defense overall. And again, like the scoreboard won't show it because the Colts got just destroyed on Sunday.

Starting point is 00:09:48 But most of that was through the air. It wasn't the ground game too much. There was a couple of runs here and there. But for the most part, Grover Stewart did his part. And the snaps that he was out there, you could see the impact. I feel like, I mean, again, I didn't really chart this, but I feel like most of the Bengals' successful runs were when Grover Stewart was subbing out because they didn't give him a full workload in his first game back.

Starting point is 00:10:08 So, yeah, when Grover Stewart gets a little more acclimated and back to being Grover Stewart, this Colts run defense will be back to being a top 10 unit in the league like they've always been when Grover Stewart and DeForest Buckner have both been out there. Yeah, they really, really need it. So coming up here in a minute, we're going to talk about how the margin for error now is very, very thin for the Colts. They have four opponents who have just as much to play for as they do. As the weather gets colder, the NFL offers stay hot on FanDuel. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 Moneyline bet. That's $150 if your team wins. If you've been thinking about joining FanDuel, there's no better time to get in on the action than now. The app is super easy to use.

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Starting point is 00:11:13 We want to remind you that LockedOn has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. LockedOn Sports Today is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local experts of Locked On plus our national shows covering every single league. Go to Locked On Sports Today on YouTube and subscribe to the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel. All right, Jake, so we're talking about this remaining schedule for the Indianapolis Colts. They play three teams that are slightly above 500 and or right below 500. And then one team in the Las in the Las Vegas Raiders, who I don't want to say is their easy game down the stretch here because the

Starting point is 00:11:49 Raiders have given them trouble in the past. We've seen that the last couple of years, but that is certainly their, their easier opponent of these four down the stretch, but they get the seven and six Steelers coming up here this weekend. That game's at home. Then they go to Atlanta against the Falcons, the six and seven Falcons.

Starting point is 00:12:09 And then the last two games at home again against the raiders and then the houston texans to round it all out there now again i i know people keep saying this is an easy schedule and it is like don't get me wrong like in the grand scope of the nfl i'm happy to be playing against mitch travisky desmond ritter aiden o'connell and then c i mean cj stroud i'm not happy to play against but you know what i mean like i'm'm not happy to play against, but you know what I mean? I'm happy to play against this run of quarterbacks rather than Mahomes and Allen and all that stuff, but I wouldn't say any of these games are like gimme's for the Colts. They still need to come out and they need to show up. They can't show up like they did this past weekend against the Bengals

Starting point is 00:12:39 because I'm not saying, again, outside of maybe the Raiders, I'm not saying that the Colts are firmly better than any of these final teams here down the stretch no and that Bengals game really should have been a wake-up call because I did a whole episode with a ton of research into it on Saturday the the fantasy one I did talking about you know Michael Pittman being a league winner and it broke down the remaining opponents and how much of an advantage the Colts had on all these guys. And it just did not work. It just shows you any given Sunday,

Starting point is 00:13:11 it's not necessarily going to pan out that way. So are there major weaknesses that the Colts match up well with on these four opponents? Sure. But at the same time, the Steelers, seven and six, the Colts haven't beat the Steelers in what the last a million times like it's been like 2009 or something 2005 or yeah was the 2005 when the last time regardless in general or was it was the quarterback yeah it was either perspective

Starting point is 00:13:42 it was either 05 was the last time they beat him in general or they beat him at home i think in general i think it was in general though yeah 2005 you guys can check us in the comments there but yeah i've never seen the colts beat the steelers i mean 2005 i was eight i i don't remember that time at all it was it was either 05 or 09 but regardless that's an afc opponent that you face somewhat regularly and you can never beat them they lost to them last year. And quarterback doesn't matter either because the Bengals just beat the Colts with their QB two and QB three. The Falcons are, they're not,

Starting point is 00:14:13 they're tough and they're kind of well-balanced. They're just not extraordinary at anything essentially. And then the Texans, I kind of see the Texans as an A afc version of the falcons but with a much better quarterback uh so that's a scary team too so all four of these games could go either way personally i think the colts should probably go no worse than two and two i don't know if that's going to do it for them to get in the playoffs at this point um they could win all four but i mean just seeing what we saw against the

Starting point is 00:14:45 Bengals, I'm going to say they go two and two, but regardless, I mean, do you think they have to go at least three and one to get in? Because it seems, it seems like they, they almost can't lose anymore, but maybe they get gifted one more loss that, that they can turn into something else or other teams just lose alongside them i mean the only way two and two might work is if the two teams they beat are the texans and the steelers like those are both must win games for the colts they can't drop those games like you can kind of like if you're going to drop any of these four games it's the falcons game because that's an nfc opponent like that's not one that really factors into the tiebreakers

Starting point is 00:15:25 too much and and it doesn't matter as much so I'm not saying that you need to lose any game but if you're going to lose any of these games let it be the Falcons game that one doesn't matter as much and then the Raiders because the Raiders are not competing with to make the playoffs but again ideally you got to pretty much win three of these four because you have what 20 teams it seems like all at seven and six here in the AFC it feels like every team in the AFC is at seven and six outside the Patriots and the Titans so you got to win it I think you got to win three of these you got to win the three AFC games to make this playoffs and and they can't do that we've seen them be plenty capable of beating teams that are at this level

Starting point is 00:16:00 they beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers they beat the Texans earlier this season they even want to level up and beat the Ravens earlier this season as well so they can't beat teams that are at this level. They beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They beat the Texans earlier this season. They even went to level up and beat the Ravens earlier this season as well. So they can beat teams that are at this level. They're not just that type of team that can just beat up on the Titans and the Patriots and the Panthers. They're not just that kind of team there. They can beat these type of teams. It's just they need to show out more than what they did this past Sunday. They need to play more like they did against the texans back in week two or play more like they did against the titans or the buccaneers they can't play like they did on sunday but i think they know that i mean again they're a well-coached team they have a lot of veterans in the room they know what's ahead of them but it all starts this sunday or this saturday sorry this saturday

Starting point is 00:16:41 against the pittsburgh steelers like this is I mean, up to this point in the season, this is the most must-win game of the year if you want to make the playoffs because if they drop this weekend's game, I'm not saying the playoffs are not happening, but like you wasted a golden opportunity. Like you need to win this game against the Steelers, especially against Mitchell Trubisky. Like, come on.

Starting point is 00:17:04 It's one thing to lose against Jake Browning because Jake Browning is on a heater right now, but it's Trubisky, guys. Like, I'm not trying to downplay an NFL quarterback here, but come on. Like, they need to win this game. Like, if you're really looking ahead, like, we can look past this game and look at other games as well,

Starting point is 00:17:21 but it starts this Saturday. Like, the final playoff push starts this Saturday. Are they going to be a 2021 Colts team where they fall apart late? Well, we're going to see on Saturday here. We're going to see on Saturday if they're going to be that type of team because if they drop this one on Saturday to Mitchell Trubisky, then I feel like we can just kind of start looking ahead to next season. Again, I'm not saying it's completely over,

Starting point is 00:17:41 but it's kind of time to look to next season if they drop this one on Saturday. Yeah, well, it feels like the playoffs in general start this week because these, again, with the exception of the Falcons and somewhat the Raiders, unless the Raiders start winning out, these are teams that are directly in competition with for these last couple spots. They already don't have the tiebreaker against the Browns, the Bengals, or the Jaguars. So they've already lost those. You can't add the Steelers and Texans to it.

Starting point is 00:18:09 I mean, the Texans, they've beat once. But, I mean, better record is going to win out, obviously. So that margin for error is almost nonexistent. Like you said, they have to win the three AFC games. They just have to. The Falcons, whatever. Like, it is what it is. It's an nfc opponent but you can't you can't

Starting point is 00:18:27 lose games to again the teams you're directly competing for these final spots with like you just can't so luckily for me when i'm when i'm looking at silver lining two areas that really let them down against the bangles are areas they're they've been good at, running the ball and pass rush. They had just three hits on the Bengals, no sacks, and they couldn't get anything going in the run game. With the exception of the week before, they weren't able to run the ball either. But generally, they've been a good running team this year, and they've been on an absolute heater with rushing the passer.

Starting point is 00:19:02 So I can't imagine both of those just completely falling off the rest of the season. Maybe one does, hopefully not, but I mean, one of those areas I've got to have confidence. We'll pick back up at some point. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:19:13 Yeah. So we'll see, we'll see what happens with this, this final push here for the Annapolis Colts. But again, it all starts Saturday guys. It all starts Saturday with the Pittsburgh Steelers and we'll have you covered all week.

Starting point is 00:19:24 Obviously with that matchup started with crossover Thursday tomorrow. Coming up, guys, we're going to talk about what the Colts need to lean on in this final stretch if they want a chance at making the playoffs. But first, testing my skills on prize picks this football season has been the most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. If you have the skills, you can turn $10 into $250 with just a few taps. PrizePix is really simple to play. I can make my picks and submit them in less than 60 seconds. Just choose two to six players and more or less on their given stat projections. It's that easy. With the basketball season here, you can also do combo projections across football and basketball

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Starting point is 00:20:51 You have a couple listed here, and I know that I've kind of given my opinion on this, this topic quite a bit the last couple of weeks. So I'm going to give you the floor, Jake, what are some things that you think the Colts need to lean into in this final stretch, if they want to open up their offense or make their defense better for this final month of play. Yeah, so just my eye in the sky watching from the press box, something I've noticed the last few weeks is I just really think they need to get Josh Downs more consistently involved. It feels like the last few weeks, it's only been like a few receptions, and it's not just receptions, it's like targets targets as well i just don't feel like he's being targeted as much as he was earlier in the season uh but he's still being productive when he gets the ball you know he he's got that little razzle dazzle to him when he gets

Starting point is 00:21:33 the ball in his hands he can pick up those extra couple yards by making a defender miss and moving the chains picking up new sets of downs um now maybe they have tried, maybe that's something, you know, they want to do. But I do see the opportunity there for them to do it. And I mean, with an offense that's just clunky and often unproductive, I mean, shoot, your quarterback loves to throw the short stuff. I mean, that's downs bread and butter. And we've seen, he's been able to convert some longer chunk plays as well. So I think I would get Downs more involved. I mean, Pittman is absolutely feasting, but I mean,

Starting point is 00:22:12 surely there's some targets out there to get Downs a couple more, a couple more plays a game. And I would also, I would also go there with the tight ends as well. I've just noticed play actions, play action to the tight end seems to do pretty well. You've seen guys like Will Mallory heat up lately too, but when they've gotten some of their bigger plays like Kylan Granson, Drew Ogletree a little earlier in the season,

Starting point is 00:22:43 I feel like those play action shots over the middle of the field, the tight ends has done well. And you've got guys that can, that can convert those. There's some drops here there. I mean, Ogletree had one, he probably could have come down with on Sunday. But just generally,

Starting point is 00:22:54 I'd like to see downs a little more involved and I'd like to see them work in the play action to the tight ends because defenses know they're going to try and run the ball. So, I mean, at least, you know, play action can work in that a little bit.

Starting point is 00:23:06 I feel like it's doable. One thing I actually, I don't know if you guys could ask Shane about this or Shane Steichen about this with Josh Downs, but I think I could count offhand about three plays over the last three weeks with Downs and Minshew where Downs was running a, like, leverage route or an option route, uh, typically on third down too. And him and Minshew have just not been on the same page at all.

Starting point is 00:23:30 Obviously the interception against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, uh, again, by my opinion, I think that downs read the coverage correctly and Minshew didn't threw it outside, uh, which led to the interception when he should have thrown it inside. Uh, I know there was one this past week against, uh, the Bengals. No, no, sorry. It was against the Titans two weeks ago where it was another one on the sideline and Minshew threw it out where Downs stopped inside. Just things like that where you see like them kind of just being off, not on the same page at all. And Minshew's, or sorry, Downs' bread and butter is those option routes, is those choice routes and finding the right leverage, getting to a spot, winning his one-on-one matchup.

Starting point is 00:24:08 So now if you have Gardner-Vinchu just not trusting that ability to be on the same page and trusting them both just knowing where to go with that, then you kind of lead to fewer and fewer targets. But there are ways around this. You can have Downs doing more motion stuff. I mean, there was a really, really cool play call against the Titans where Downs motioned into the backfield and then he orbit motion back out into the flat and called a nice little pass on the run and turned it upfield for like a 10 yard gain.

Starting point is 00:24:34 You can do stuff like that to still get him his touches and then open up more, you know, post wheel type stuff with him down the field. But I do think some of his targets have been limited because of that miscommunication or just those guys not being on the same page on a lot of those option routes there. That would be a really cool thing to see if Shane would actually go in detail on that, like what's going on with that, because it does feel like it's something that we've seen the last like three-ish weeks between those two. I mean, you can call me crazy here, Jake, but I feel like I've seen that. Just the last few weeks in general, it seems like the targets are down. Yeah, but it just feels like there's been plays like those option routes where it's just the ball is not going where downs is running.

Starting point is 00:25:14 It's always on those option routes. So it's a really interesting thing. With the tight ends, though, I do think obviously more play action would be great. Again, I talked about this yesterday that they have been leaning so heavily on the RPO game because that's something that Minshew is successful with because it's a one read type of thing that they are kind of losing track of some other things in their offense. They're going away from empty a little bit more, going away from pistol a little bit more. They're going away from play action. Maybe start just reinstalling some of those other wrinkles and get away from the RPO game just a little bit. Again, wrinkles and get away from the RPO game

Starting point is 00:25:45 just a little bit. Again, you still need to have the RPO in there because it's something that Minshew is really good at, and there's not a ton of that he's great at right now. So you really do need to get those RPOs still in there, but maybe start leaning back into the play action, maybe lean back more into pistol variations and stuff like that, just to reopen this offense up. Because this past week, especially, the offense felt so compact and so closed and so limited. And Minshew was never able to find, you know, his proper footing at all.

Starting point is 00:26:14 Yeah, absolutely. It's, it's, it's hard to say which way they can go. Cause like you said, they're going really heavily into RPO cause it's his strength, but it's also feels like it's run its course in terms of the volume of which they're doing it. Cause I mean, where's the result so far again, take, take Ronnie Harrison's pick six off the board against the Bengals. And what do you have to show for, for the offense for the most part, um, against the Bengals. So it's, I agree. I think they need to reintroduce some things spice it up a little bit

Starting point is 00:26:46 because I mean he Minshew has to be the straw that stirs the drink because he's the quarterback but at the on the other hand like you have to have you have to accentuate the rest of your players strengths as well like those guys have to be able to be engaged and accentuated also um yeah so however they want to do it. I mean, it's got to obviously be matchup based too, but. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:27:09 You know, leaning so heavily into the RPO game, like the Colts have, like, again, there was a graphic there in this past game that the Colts are calling more RPOs per game than any other team in NFL history. I don't know how reliable that tracking is,

Starting point is 00:27:21 but I'm going to go with it because I don't have the time to go through every single snap in the history of football. But it feels like you're kind of calling a limited and scared game plan when you're leaning into it that much. Again, I'm all for RPOs. I like RPOs. I feel like there should be a pass option attached to a lot of runs. But it does feel like you're calling a bit of a scared game plan because you're not calling generic, like typical pass plays for him. And I understand it. i totally get it but i'm just saying at some point you have to call your offense the

Starting point is 00:27:50 way it's supposed to be called and just hope that the production is there you know like you can't you have to open it up eventually is all i'm saying so uh maybe getting more josh downs and more empty type stuff more pistol more motion and and and more variations like that is the way to do it. But, you know, again, to keep the RPO in there, he's good at it. Just maybe bring it down from historical highs to, you know, like 10 a game instead of 16 a game or something. Because I think it was 16.7 per game, which honestly that feels a little bit low by my eye count.

Starting point is 00:28:20 But, you know, yeah, 16.7 a game is absurdly high for RPOs called in, in, in typical games. Yeah. I'll also say though, I don't, this next matchup with the Steelers seems like one where they may want to actually use it though, that and like quick little dump offs to kind of counter the pressure. I'm going to say that TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith are going to play. You have to count on them playing. So maybe to combat that, that can be their last hurrah where they will lean into that a little bit. One adjustment I want to say real quick, though, because we've been calling for it since the offseason.

Starting point is 00:28:55 And now with this player playing his best football of the season these last two or three games, please just give me some more three-by-one, just one-on-one shots to Alec Pierce. Like, that's all I ask. All I ask. This is how you open the offense up more. Get him three by one and get him backside and call it.

Starting point is 00:29:10 Call just a hot or like a hot route or an audible before the snap saying, hey, Pierce, this is a one on one jump ball to you. We're going to take the shot. If it's pass interference is to catch like whatever. It's probably not going to be picked because we've seen that Pierce knows how to knock the ball away if it's bad throws. So like, just give me like one or two a game. That's all I ask.

Starting point is 00:29:27 That's all I ask. We saw in the Titans game he made plays on him. Give me some backside three-by-one shot plays to Alec Pierce. Come on, Gardner. We know you have it in you. You know you want to be a gunslinger. Let's do it, baby. Let's throw some three-by-ones to him.

Starting point is 00:29:39 I will say they took that one shot on Sunday, and it was underthrown, but it was a 50-50 ball. I felt like Pierce just didn't get his footing right before he leaped up for it. The footing just seemed awkward before he went up, and he never really got a good chance to get it. I mean, that random stuff will happen, too, but I'm with you. Take a couple shots a game. We've seen it'll work. Now, if they're sending safety help over the top, obviously that's not always going to be a great time.

Starting point is 00:30:09 Because Gardner's never going to put that in the correct window, it seems. But yeah, I'm with you. If you notice there's isolation, you got to give them a couple shots per game. That's how you open the offense up right there. But yeah, we mostly talked offense there. Defense obviously has some things to work on as well.

Starting point is 00:30:26 But that's all we have for today's show, guys. A reminder to check out Locked On Sports Today, which is the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. This video will redirect to that right after you're done playing if you are watching on YouTube. And if you guys don't already, make sure you're following at LockedOnColts, at JakeArthurNFL, and at ZachHicks2, all on Twitter, or formerly known as Twitter, slash X, whatever the heck it's called.

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