Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Win 27-20 Over Tampa Bay Buccaneers!

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Colts are riding high with a three-game win streak, and dare we start talking playoffs? 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. What up, what up? Thanks for tuning in and making us your first post-game 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 LinkedIn Jobs, which helps you find the qualified candidates

Starting point is 00:00:50 that you want to talk to faster. 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, friends and family? This is Jake Arthur and Zach Hicks, you know, the two of us from horseshoehuddle.com, and we are here today celebrating another Colts victory. That's three in a row on the heels of a three-game losing streak

Starting point is 00:01:18 at a time when playoffs seem like, you know, we're talking playoffs. That's how it was. They're now six and five. By the end of the early game window, they were the final spot in the AFC playoffs. Now that could change from the results of a couple other games, but they have done their job, everybody. So we're here to talk about, you know, the highs, the lows, offense, defense. What did we like? What did we not like? But Zach, shoot, man, three game win streak. How are you feeling? Pretty good, man. I mean, pretty good. Like, look, I know people are going to say, okay, you only beat the Panthers, the Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Like those are not great football teams. So I totally understand when people are going to say that, but look, when it comes to the NFL, parody is king. Like there's a

Starting point is 00:02:02 lot of parody in the NFL. Yes, there's obviously a big gap between the team, like the Colts even and the Panthers and the Patriots, but you still need to win those games. I mean, one of the teams they're competing with for a playoff spot that's in their division, Houston Texans lost to the Panthers, right? I believe that's the Panthers' one victory this season was against the Houston Texans. So it's not like a thing where, you know, you're playing these like FCS teams, like in college football or anything like that. You're still playing NFL caliber teams, albeit just weaker NFL teams. So you have to get the job done. You have to take care of business and the Colts have taken care of business the last couple of weeks. This was

Starting point is 00:02:38 definitely against a better team than what we saw the last two weeks. I mean, obviously the Buccaneers are competing for that division there in the NFC South. They're a competitive team. They're not a great team, but they're a competitive team. But the Colts were able to get the job done. It was a close game, but the Colts were able to come ahead at the end of this one and they did what they needed to do to get this three game win streak. Yeah, I think what I am most pleased with with this one is this wasn't a big yeah, but when like I feel like all three phases kind of came to play on this one. They all did some really good things offensively. They their buck, their latest trend, you know, for the last couple of games, they've only rushed for 148 yards total in the last two games. They had over 150 in this one alone.

Starting point is 00:03:24 So the run game got got back on track uh Gardner Minshew didn't necessarily have the game he probably could have against such a weak passing uh defense but he did just enough you know he was able to find Michael Pittman Jr. time and time again there were some good things in the past game. But yeah, the defense I thought was really good. Six acts against a quarterback who is, he's got a gunslinger mentality. He's got a strong arm. Like I liked that they were able to disrupt Baker Mayfield so much. They got a couple of takeaways. The defensive front didn't do so great against the run,

Starting point is 00:04:00 but you got to love what they did as pass rushers. Yeah. You know, this run defense is still a major issue without Grover Stewart. I mean, we're especially seeing it on the non DeForest Buckner snaps with this defensive front because it's Eric Johnson out there. It's out of Tommy out of Borey out there. It's Taven, Brian. These are just not run defending defensive tackles or, I mean, at a told me at a bore is at least a young guy who can rush the passer a little bit. I don't know what the other two are really bringing the Colts at this point, but not, not to keep everything negative here.

Starting point is 00:04:27 I think the Colts defense though, is doing a good job of just keeping everything in front of them. You know, they're not allowing too many big plays. Like, yes, there were a couple of big runs in this game. Mike Evans got loose for a couple of pretty big plays on the, on the, in the passing game. But for the most part, the Colts are doing a really good job of sitting back in their quarters

Starting point is 00:04:44 coverage. They're keeping everything in front. They're getting those timely turnovers and sacks when they need them and as a result this defense that looked like it was on his last legs it looked like it was the end of the road against New Orleans Saints because it was that bad against the Saints they've really turned it around this last three games and they're still doing it again without Juju Brents playing without Grover Stewart playing after just releasing Shaquille Lard like this defense has gone through a lot of turnover and losing a lot of day one starters or early season starters and they're starting to find their rhythm a little bit and doing a lot of really good things back there so yeah I think this Colts defense is mainly the

Starting point is 00:05:17 like the main reason why the Colts won this game they had a really strong game overall they stood tall in the red zone a couple times and as as a result, again, the Colts are currently in the playoff race. They're right there in that seven seed. Yeah, the secondary wasn't terrific, but given the fact that they're facing Mike Evans and Chris Godwin with a quarterback who's pretty capable in Baker Mayfield, I was overall pleased. I was kind of waiting for this matchup because having big check marks against the Patriots and Panthers, who are like two of the worst passing offenses, that's one thing. But you had to come out and prove it in this one. And give them about a C.

Starting point is 00:05:55 Like, it was fine. You can't really kill them for that. It could have been much worse against someone like Mike Evans. But let's look at Gardner Minshew. So this, we know what this guy is. at this point, you know, early in games, pretty solid when things are scripted, you have your first 15 it's, it's quick. He's spreading it around. Like there seems to be a plan in the middle of the game. You know,

Starting point is 00:06:18 it's a little rough seeing ghosts peripheral vision, awareness scores of zero. But then late in the game, made enough plays ultimately for the Colts offense to pull it out. Yeah, you know, I was at least happy to see those first like 15 or so plays from him because it at least looked operational again. Like again, this Colts offense wasn't doing anything perfect early in the game, but the team was able to move the ball. They were efficient. I mean, I think I saw for the most part of this game, they were like 82% success rate, which means that they're getting those positive yards. They're getting first downs. They're moving the ball effectively. Really, the only thing that slowed down their offense in this game whatsoever was their third down offense.

Starting point is 00:07:00 They just struggled on third downs when Minshew had to make those plays. He just couldn't make it, couldn't get it done. But for the most part, again, if this is your backup quarterback playing, I'm fine with a game like this outside of those couple turnover worthy plays there in the middle of the game. As long as the offense is kept operational, you're staying ahead of schedule. You're moving the ball efficiently. You're having high success rate. I'm fine with that. Just don't have the turnovers and we're good.

Starting point is 00:07:23 You know, so don't have the fumbles from behind. Don't have the crazy miscommunication picks. I don't know what he was doing on that near interception to Antone Winfield. I really have no clue what went into that decision there. But aside from those, I think he mostly had a really solid game. He still has the pocket awareness issues. He still has the issues on third downs. But again, we still have to kind of grade this on a curve because this is a backup level quarterback. You're going to get backup level play from him. And if this is the backup level play they're getting, you can win with this. You really can't win really. I mean, I know they won the last two games with what he did, but you really can't against better teams and this type of game. You can win with this type

Starting point is 00:08:01 of quarterback play against real NFL teams, you know, or like better NFL teams like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Yeah, for sure. And then we would obviously be remiss to not finish out the opening of our show without talking about Samson, I become two sacks, a forced fumble strip sack at the end of the game. He called game.

Starting point is 00:08:22 Yeah, really, really solid performance from him. He had a good start to the season, had some sacks, but he was getting them against backups. Like he was basically getting them against like guys that teams had to go and like ask a bodyguard from a nightclub to come play tackle for him. And he was getting those.

Starting point is 00:08:39 He had a great game against Tristan Wirfs, who is an all-world player. And as I know you're going to mention it, he did it in kind of a variety of ways. Yeah, and the thing too with Samson Ebukom is, you know, again, I know the Saks haven't been there in recent weeks, but he's still getting pressure, still doing what he was doing early in the season. It's just he wasn't finishing those plays for Saks. Now we saw in this game, you know, the first sack, a little bit of luck involved. Baker Mayfield falls down after getting touched by Ebukom, but that last sack against Tristan Wirfs of all players, Tristan Wirfs, an all-world left tackle, fantastic player. Samson Ebukom just took him to school and beat him with that cross chop. Fantastic rush. He finished the play. He

Starting point is 00:09:18 forced the fumble and the Colts got the win. That's what you want to see out of your veteran pass rusher who's been having a really strong season. You want to see that closing ability. I thought it was going to be DeForest Buckner that closed the game out, but Samson Ebukam against one of the best left tackles in football was able to close this one out. Just a fantastic play, and he deserves all the props in the world for being that big closer for the Colts today. Yeah, he was the leader of a really solid pass rushing performance from the defensive front today. And if you haven't already actually caught up with, I'd be calm in the locker room after the game, got a quick video of that as well. So check that out after this and coming up soon, we're going to talk about the rest of the

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Starting point is 00:12:02 really the colts in this game relied on their two star players on offense. The two star players that they got in the same draft class, Michael Pittman Jr. and Jonathan Taylor. Those are the guys that carried the load for the Colts. And then look, if the Colts are going to make the playoffs, those are the two offensive players that they're going to have to lean on a lot the rest of the way. Now they leaned on Michael Pittman Jr. in the first half and he came up really big in the first half, had 10 catches on the day for 107 yards. But then the second half, when they had to run this game away and they had to put the game just in the bag, Jonathan Taylor carried them to victory with 15 carries for 91 yards and two touchdowns. Jake, what do you think about this great offensive game plan of just, hey, get the ball to your star players?

Starting point is 00:12:42 Yeah, it seems pretty seamless, right? Pass to score and run to win. I think we're starting to understand what that means by this point. But no, it was, I felt like they didn't abandon any one successful thing throughout the game. Like, I feel like they did a good job balancing everything. And I don't know if you guys listened to Chris Ballard's, his appearance on the Colts podcast during the bi-week, but he said that Jonathan Taylor being so heavily involved without Zach Moss

Starting point is 00:13:13 was kind of an anomaly against the, the Panther Patriots. And they wanted to get Moss more involved and they did, you know, this is exactly what I think they want to see a performance with Taylor getting a little more, but in total, 150 rushing yards from the fair. Michael Pittman Jr., again, like you mentioned, stud performance. He had one drop that he would really want back, but that has been just a blip compared to what he's done this season. He's on pace for a huge year i mean one that's going to put him up there you know and colts lore with like the ty hilton performances and and things like that uh so really big deal for him i wrote after the game i don't care what side you fall on whether

Starting point is 00:13:58 or not he's a true number one receiver it doesn't matter he's clearly the best receiver for the colts and they need him yeah yeah i think at worst he's. He's clearly the best receiver for the Colts, and they need him. Yeah. Yeah, I think at worst he's going to be a franchise tag player for the Colts this offseason, but I'd be so shocked if they don't get a deal done with him by the end of the year or at least early into the offseason. He's not touching free agency, guys. He's going to be a Colt for a long time.

Starting point is 00:14:19 I think he wants to be a Colt for a long time, and I don't think there's any fear of losing him. But those are the two players the Colts need to rely on down the stretch. But they also have a couple other players that they relied on in this game too. Zach Moss, eight carries for 55 yards, two catches for 15 yards. I loved this usage of Zach Moss. I was complaining quite a bit after that Patriots game about how Moss was completely out of the game plan. Because, look, if Moss is going to just be your third down back or your passing down back, even if that's all his role is going to be,

Starting point is 00:14:48 you can still run out of those looks. You know, you can sit back in those shotgun looks with lighter boxes and give the ball to Zach Moss, who is a fantastic contact balance type running back and get, get those really hard, hard earned yards at the middle. You can use them in that way.

Starting point is 00:15:02 And that's what we saw with the Colts. You know, he had a ton of snaps in the first half because the Colts were going so pass heavy. And as a result, he had a couple of runs at the middle against really light boxes where he was able to churn out some really big gains. And then when he got to the second half and the Colts wanted to really pack it in and just run the ball, that's when Jonathan Taylor, the closer came out and was able to put this game in the bag. But Moss eight carries for 55 yards two catches 15 yards I really love the usage from him today and and again like you said Chris Ballard wants to get

Starting point is 00:15:29 more Zach Moss involved I also want Zach Moss more involved because I think he's he's just too good of a player for your offense to keep on the bench no matter what you're paying Jonathan Taylor yeah that's that's absolutely right and then we saw some shorter stuff. We've seen a continuation of the Colts getting Alec Pierce more involved or getting him involved in more than just the shot plays, really. We're seeing him on a lot more slants, just a lot more stuff over the middle because he can create that separation, and you just get him the ball inside. He can shield his body away from the defender, pick up a little bit of yards. Again, he doesn't have to be this big play guy all the time he's capable more and four catches for 27 yards i mean that is that is sometimes a michael

Starting point is 00:16:11 pitman stat line when they're just trying to feed him all this little yak stuff like pierce usually averages like 15 yards a catch so this is proof that you know they can find ways to get him better involved and I like the evolution of it and Josh Downs again had a couple uncharacteristic plays normally very sure-handed but still five catches for 43 yards his first catch was just so not like the whole play was just so natural and brilliant how he caught it and then pivoted away from the defender to pick up the extra yardage like that guy just has a fuel for the football field yeah one thing i want to say about alec pierce before we talk about the play on offense in this game we have to talk about the play before we close out

Starting point is 00:16:53 the offense segment but one thing i want to say about alec pierce is look there's no downfield element to this colts team this year because they just don't have the quarterback for it they don't have the quarterback that can throw the ball down the field or who is willing to throw the ball down the field. So Alec Pierce these last couple of weeks has really had to transition from being Alec Pierce to being Zach Paschal. That's kind of who he's had to be these last couple of weeks. He's had to go from being the downfield guy to being the fantastic blocker who can occasionally get some catches. And I'm not saying that's a great development for your second year wide receiver, but you know what? For a guy who all of his targets

Starting point is 00:17:27 were taken away from him because he lost the highly explosive downfield throwing quarterback that is Anthony Richardson, he lost that vital element to his game to just change your game around completely and become this Zach Paschal type where you're a fantastic blocker

Starting point is 00:17:40 and a guy who can catch underneath. Like I respect it. I respect it. Hopefully next year with Richardson back, he can get back to being Alec Pierce again but I do respect that change but Jake before we get out of this segment here we have to talk about the play call fourth and inches on the wrong side of the 50 Shane Syken goes for it I I was super happy decided to go for it but when I saw Zyre Franklin coming on the field I saw all the big bodies come on the field I was like okay cool we're meet power with power, run up the middle,

Starting point is 00:18:06 see what we can do. But then they whipped out this fantastic play-action play with a seam shot to Moelle Cox, where if Moelle Cox ran a little bit faster than me out there, he probably scores. But, you know, regardless, whatever it is, 30-yard gain on the play. The Colts were able to score a touchdown a couple plays later, which kind of put this game away.

Starting point is 00:18:30 Just a fantastic – I mean, the balls to call that play though I mean yeah that takes so much that takes so much guts just to say you know what we're gonna put the hands we're gonna put the ball in the hands of Gardner Minshew with the game and Moe Alleycox with his unsure hands at times uh but he had a play that he trusted. He gave credit to Tom Manning after the game as well for that play call. But oh my gosh, what a play call to put this game away and really give the Colts the victory late in this one. Yeah, absolutely. Because that was and after the game, Mo said it felt like the ball was in the air for a million years. Well, it's meant to. Of course it was. of course. Yeah, for sure. But again, you net, like if Mo is wide open, you never know if it's going to be a catch or not. So like, again, the balls to call that was, was awesome. But no, I, Shane can get a little cute sometimes, especially, you know, trying to draw defenses offside and things like that. I had a feeling about that when I was watching it all bunched up and I was like, there's something different about this. And so I kind of expanded my view and I was like, Oh, the tight end is leaking out. There it is. Seam shots. No, that

Starting point is 00:19:34 was beautiful. That was a Shane is in his bag moment. So you got to love it. It's a guy who is getting more and more comfortable with what he can call. I mean, he's been a play caller before, but balancing it with being the head coach and making certain decisions during situational football and key situations, you'll love to see it. Yeah, just a fantastic, fantastic play. But coming up, guys, we're going to talk about this Colts defense and how, yes, there were some ugly moments,

Starting point is 00:20:01 but for the most part, the Colts defense won the day for Indianapolis against Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Guys, prize picks is the most fun that I have had winning up to 25 times my money this football season. You just select two or more players, pick more or less than their projected stats, and you're on your way. With the basketball season here as well, I know there's a lot of people who cross-pollinate with sports. Zach is one of them. Price fix is probably the coolest and best place to mix your two

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Starting point is 00:21:35 Again, that's PricePix.com slash LockedOnNFL and use code LockedOnNFL for a first deposit match up to $100. PricePix, daily Fantasy Sports made easy. Defense, defense, defense. There were some highs and lows in this one, but overall, I came away feeling pretty good about it. There was a feel-good story. Obviously, we haven't dove into it a ton because it just is what it is this week.

Starting point is 00:22:01 We have talked about it and did an episode on it, but obviously Shaquille Leonard was waived by the Colts on Tuesday, which opens the door for EJ Speed to be a 100% player essentially alongside Zyra Franklin. But Ronnie Harrison was promoted from the practice squad, converted to linebacker from safety this week, and was the starting Sam. And in his first action for the Colts, picks off Baker Mayfield, jumping in front of Mike Evans. So really great feel-good story for that. What did you see from Ronnie Harrison and what are you hoping for moving forward?

Starting point is 00:22:37 I was mostly just really intrigued that that's the way they went with their base defensive personnel in this game. You know, I really was thinking that the base defense personnel would be Zyra Franklin at the mic, which that remained the way they went with their base defensive personnel in this game. You know, I really was thinking that the base defense personnel would be Zyra Franklin at the mic, which that remained the same. I expected that to stay the same,

Starting point is 00:22:50 but I thought EJ speed would switch over to the wheelbacker. And then they would have like a grand steward in there at Sam linebacker. I thought that was the easy way to go and made the most sense. But instead they kind of went with EJ speed in the, as the base Sam or auto power, Gus Bradley labels that in his playbook and they put Ronnie Harrison at weak side linebacker. And you guys know me,

Starting point is 00:23:09 whenever I talk about Matt, I always put linebackers at, or I put safeties at linebacker. I've done this with Jaquiski tart over the years. I've done this with a ton of dudes. I love doing this, you know, putting those safeties at linebackers back in the day,

Starting point is 00:23:21 I fell in love with the Josh Harvey Clemens types of draft of draft of draft twitter and stuff you know those high jeremy cash jeremy cash yeah jeremy chin i thought was going to be the greatest one ever so seeing this actually in play putting a ronnie harrison who was very familiar with the type of defense the colts have been running the last couple weeks there there at alabama running a lot of saving concepts uh they're obviously at alabama and the colts have been doing that the last couple weeks. So getting him there at linebacker and seeing it pay dividends on the interception, it was really great to see. I mean, I was a huge fan of Ronnie Harrison years ago as a draft prospect. He always had the chops to play linebacker, I always thought as well. Again, as someone who always thinks this way when I see a safety, I always think they can

Starting point is 00:24:02 play a little linebacker. But yeah, it was a really cool transition it was really cool to see it pay off so early and yeah really really good coverage I mean it was just a really great play by him I do think that pass was probably going to be picked off by like four different Colts defenders I don't really know where Baker Mayfield was going with that pass but regardless really great play by Ronnie Harrison and like you said a really great story for him to switch to the new position come come in his very first game, maybe like what his second snap on defense, he gets an interception. Yeah, it felt fairly obvious just going back to the summer. And now what they did this week, they've been itching to get him involved. They just didn't have a role for him yet coming from the practice squad, but they didn't even need to keep him. They had several safeties, you know,

Starting point is 00:24:42 around this summer. They didn't even need to keep him. I kind of thought he would be a cut that they didn't want to cut, but they had to. But no, right away, they got him involved, put him back on the field, and he made a play for him. Again, defensive front, you got a sack from Quidipe, kind of a hustle play sticking with it to the end. Baker Mayfield takes off for a run, and Quidipe just cuts him short. Isaiah Land, stacking some games together he went from being a healthy scratch earlier in the season to he he's i have to look at it but over the last three four weeks he's probably got two two and a half sacks at least uh and then taekwon lewis has kind of been on it as well he was right there against the

Starting point is 00:25:19 patriots uh did it again uh came together i think with, with Dio for a half sack on this one. So these guys are coming at it. And a couple of young guys, again, I mentioned Dio, Adetomi really coming for it. I think he's got one and a half sacks in a tackle for the last three games. Not gaudy stats, but he's coming along kind of nicely, I think, kind of putting some things together, becoming a little more consistent. Yeah, it's been much better than his run defense. His run defense has not been perfect by any means whatsoever, but I do think in the past game and as a pass rusher, he's been showing a lot of traits that really made everyone so in love with him as a prospect and so shocked

Starting point is 00:25:58 that he fell to the Colts in the fourth round. I think that explosion and that speed is just really uncanny to have for a player of his size. So getting him out there for more pass rushing situations and more stunts and twists up front has been a really, really great development for the Colts. You know, like, again, we can, we're going to talk about here in a second. The run defense is a disaster. Like it is so, so bad from a defensive front perspective. And that's not even talking about Ebukam and Quidi Pei. They've both been fantastic against the run. That interior has been so bad, but one positive thing we can say is the last three weeks pretty much every defensive lineman they've thrown out there has been effective to some degree as a pass rusher

Starting point is 00:26:33 so that's a really positive development in a passing league you know it's one thing if you can't stop the run like sure it sucks but as long as you can stop the pass you're probably going to win games and we've seen that these last three weeks with the Colts where their secondary is getting a lot more on the same page for the most part. And their pass rush is coming alive with, you know, six, seven, eight guys getting after it. So I'm, I'm impressed with that development from the Colts defensive line. Yes. I want to see more defensive stops and somebody other than Buckner doing something in the run game, but I'm impressed with the way they've all developed as pass rushers these last couple of weeks. Yeah, I mean, we do have to talk about the run game though,

Starting point is 00:27:09 because we only have one more week of there being no Grover. In those first five games that he was out, they allowed like 154 yards on the ground per game. It was like 114 yards on the ground with him. So big difference. The Buccaneers, it was like 125 yards yards on the ground with him so big difference um the buccaneers it was like 125 yards today i think which that's not 150 but that was still a season high for the league's worst rushing attack there's almost like 50 yards more than their average it's like 72 yards was their average uh so not great man not great like again it can't just be DeForest inside that is taking things up.

Starting point is 00:27:47 And I didn't think the linebackers had their strongest game today either. I don't know if – I mean, I know Zyre's had a knee. He's not going to blame it on that or anything. But it just wasn't their sharpest performance, a little uncharacteristic. I don't think it's going to stay a trend because again, Zaire has been a monster. EJ Speed has been really good against the run throughout his whole career. So this could just be a blip, but I mean, they got Derrick Henry next week. So we'll see. Look at the end of the day, if you're sacrificing chunk runs in order to stop the passing game,

Starting point is 00:28:19 I'll live with it. As long as you stand tall in the red zone, like they had two miscommunications in the red zone today, or one that was just outside the red zone that led to touchdowns. As long as they can clean that up and then keep teams off from scoring, I'm fine with allowing chunk plays in the run game, but that's the only way I'm fine with allowing chunk plays in the run game. So, you know, this needs to be cleaned up unless you're going to be the best red zone defense in football. But real quick, before we leave today,

Starting point is 00:28:42 I do want to talk about this Colts pass coverage. Wasn't perfect, some miscommunications. Jalen Jones obviously had his hands full with Mike Evans but I think this was a really good really strong game from the Colts secondary yes again there's some plays that you want to take back but for the most part they limited the big passing chunks uh they they held Mike Evans outside of those two touchdowns in check for most of the game uh Chris Godwin didn't have a really strong game either. Baker Mayfield made a couple of really nice throws, but for the most part, he struggled. And it goes back again to Gus Bradley changing to more of a quarters,

Starting point is 00:29:15 you know, too high type of scheme these last couple of weeks. I was really interested to see if he would keep this type of change against a better offense outside the bye week. And he has. I mean, he's really protecting the deep ball he's letting teams get everything underneath and then having his players fly up and do what they can and letting the pass rush to go to work on those underneath type throws so I've been really impressed with this change from the Colts defense again I still want to see how it affect how it you know if they kind of keep this when Juju Brents comes back but for the most part the Colts are not a cover three

Starting point is 00:29:44 defense anymore like these last three weeks they have not been a cover three defense. They have been a quarters like Fandio Saban type of type of defense where they're throwing a lot of mixes and matches to really stop the deep ball, which I've been really impressed with. Yeah. And I know a lot of people, Jake Cadiente is now in here. I know he wants to talk about it. Nick Cross. I mean, I think at this point we want to see what it looks like just as much as you guys do, because there's, I just feel like there's still some fundamental things that keep going wrong that probably shouldn't be at this point in the season, especially from someone who is a veteran.

Starting point is 00:30:22 And again, I'm not a coach, so I don't know what percentage of this stuff is falling on Thomas. And I don't like piling it all on him, but it's a hot topic right now. I mean, when you look at people's concerns on the defensive side of the ball, that's one of the first things that comes up. It's just maybe Nick Cross being in there.

Starting point is 00:30:41 I'm not even saying they have to make some wholesale change and put him in there as the starter right now. But like, I'd like to see what it looks like for more than just a couple plays a game, you know, like, let's see what it looks like for a whole quarter or a whole half straight, you know, like, maybe it doesn't, maybe it's not some big fix, but I feel like we at least need to see. Yep. Yep. And that's something we'll definitely talk about this week as we really analyze this entire game. But guys, if you don't already, make sure you're following at LockedOnColts, at JakeArthurNFL, and at ZachHicks2, all on X. Also, subscribe to us on YouTube, wherever you list your podcasts.

Starting point is 00:31:12 We love your guys' ratings and reviews, and we'll see you guys back here bright and early on Tuesday morning.

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