Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Is the Colts' defense for real?
Episode Date: October 9, 2020On today's episode, Evan is joined by Stephen Reed from Stampede Blue to go over the Colts' win in Chicago and look ahead to Cleveland. Also, stay tuned for a lot of talks surrounding Indy's No. 1 ran...ked defense.Is the Colts' defense for real? It sure seems that way over the last three weeks, but now this is the portion of the schedule we will truly find out. DeForest Buckner and Justin Houston have been huge keys to their early success, but don't forget about rookie safety Julian Blackmon. These three with Darius Leonard form a fearsome foursome that could rock the AFC in 2020.How has Philip Rivers been through the quarter poll of the 2020-21 season? The efficiency is there, but the points on the scoreboard have dipped a little bit. What should we expect moving forward from Rivers?We close on the Browns game. What will happen in Cleveland? This is going to be another closely contested battle with AFC positioning on the line. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast.
Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.
Hello everybody, welcome back to your latest episode of Locked On Colts,
part of the Locked On Podcast Network.
Today's audience is your host, Evan Seder,
joined by Stephen Reed of Stampede Blues.
Here to recap, as he's always on each week,
to recap Sunday's game and preview this upcoming Sunday's game,
the Colts, who are now 3-1, travel to Cleveland
for a very important game against the 3-1 Browns.
So first, let's talk about the Colts' really impressive 19-11 win
over the Bears last Sunday at Soldier Field.
Steven, how are you doing today?
I'm doing well today, Evan. How are you?
I'm doing well, and I was talking with you before off the air
before we started here, but let me get your quick thoughts
on this defense first off because now three straight weeks,
I know it's been really poor opponents.
You have the Jaguars, you have the Vikings,
who are very disappointed this year.
Of course, the worst team in the NFL the New York Jets and the Bears offense
who seem like they're just not getting off the ground at all retrocording us on Thursday evening
as they're struggling on on offense against the Buccaneers right now on Thursday night football
what's been your assessment of this defense so far I know the lack of competition is a
valid argument for those out there who are wondering but just from what we've seen so far
I mean DeForest Buckner looks like
a complete monster now, Stephen.
Three straight weeks now where he's really dominated a game.
Julian Blackman looks like he's already getting up there for me at least.
I know it's maybe hyperbolic to say already, but he's like top three,
top four favorite guys to watch on defense already for me.
Behind Buckner, Leonard, and Kenny Moore, he's probably right up there
within the Beyonce.
So impressive as a rookie what he's doing right now at Free State
to replace Malik Hooker.
And, of course, Justin Houston is so reliable now.
He's had six straight games with a sack.
Every single game this year he's had a sack in it as well.
What's been your assessment, Stephen, of this defense,
how they performed on Sunday, and do you think this is sustainable?
Yeah, the defense itself has been fantastic from the beginning of the season
to now, obviously.
They're ranked in the top five or they're ranked as the top defense in the NFL after a quarter of the season.
And so as a Colts fan, that's kind of a new thing for us.
We're not used to this, but it's really, really exciting. It's something that we said when they made the trade for Darius, DeForest Buckner, that he was going to change this defense.
And it's something that Chris Ballard preached.
And you've heard me say it.
You've said it.
I'm sure other guests have said it, that the three technique drives this thing.
And it's really, really clear just how much of a difference maker he is at that position.
And you mentioned Justin Houston having a sack in
each game. Each game this season, that sack has been almost directly attributed to teams having
to pay attention to DeForest Buckner and having to double him, letting Justin Houston, who is a savvy,
still a solid pass rusher in his own right,
get himself one-on-one matchups,
and he's going to win the majority of those.
And so you love how they're playing.
You love the speed that you're seeing from Darius Leonard.
Anthony Walker has been fantastic all year.
He's such a smart player.
He's always in the right position,
which is in the past he's been okay at that. But this year, specifically, he's really stepped up his game. You see Bobby
Okereke making plays. And I think you're right when you talked about Julian Blackman being one
of my favorite players to watch. I have an affinity for safety play. Bob Sanders is one
of my favorite Colts of all time.
And Julian Blackman coming in there, the way he just goes and lays hits,
he comes in, he makes the right play.
He's not beat.
He's not out of position. I think at this point in his first four games,
he's got more passes defense than Malik Hooker did the entirety of last season. And so,
and that might be because offenses want to go at Julian Blackman, and maybe they avoided Malik
Hooker. But the fact is, whenever there's a big play in the past two weeks, Julian Blackman's
been around. And so you're really, really excited as a Colts fan
because now they really do have some playmakers on each level.
And it's what we've said from the beginning,
that DeForest Buckner really changes the entirety of this defense.
It allows those linebackers to play faster.
It allows those corners to really go in and get interceptions.
The DBs, the quarterbacks have less time.
You've noticed the Colts now have, I think, seven interceptions on the season.
That's fantastic for a team that really struggled with that last year.
And so you've got to love the direction that the Colts are going.
I do think this is sustainable because they're going to be able to play indoors
for half the remainder of the season.
So they're going to be playing on fast serves.
They're going to be playing in Houston.
They're going to be playing against teams that there's only a handful
of quarterbacks that you're really scared of from the Colts' perspective.
And I don't want to go and say that the Vikings and Kirk Cousins
and Nick Foles aren't great quarterbacks
because they are pretty good quarterbacks.
And so I wouldn't discount the fact that the Colts were able to shut them down
pretty spectacularly over the past three weeks.
And so I'm really excited about this defense.
I think that they've still got a lot to show.
They've still got a lot to prove.
They don't have Kamoko Ture, who was their explosive young pass rusher. They don't expect to get him back for a couple weeks. They don't get,
they get Sheldon Day coming back here soon. He's a rotational defensive lineman that's going to
really shore up another strength for them. The biggest concern you have on the defense right now
is the injuries. The one to Darius Leonard, the growing injury, and then Bobby Okereke with thumb injury.
And so if those things can get sorted out, this defense can continue on this trajectory
and be a top five defense by the end of the season, if not the top defense overall.
Let's sound to Forrest Buckner, who, like you mentioned, is really having an impact
all across this defense.
Trading that first round pick, do a 10 out of 10 each time now with the impact he's made
the last three weeks
for the Colts defense and going to be for the next four to five years
or more in Indianapolis, Stephen.
But obviously it won't show in the box score.
He's only had one and a half sacks in four games.
But he's had eight QB hits, which is right behind Aaron Downey,
which is a higher PFF grade than Aaron Downey.
Buckner has a 90.7 grade while Downey's at 87.7.
I think he's actually the best interior defense lineman in the NFL right now
per PFF's metric grading as well.
It just seems like to me, Stephen, after a rough week one,
I think one where he probably was just adjusting on the fly to a new team,
Buckner looks like the old Buckner we saw in San Francisco.
And ironically enough, Dan Orlovsky brought up on ESPN,
the stat-by-stat comparison between the 2019 49ers and the 2020 Colts defense in the first four weeks.
Nearly identical there, and the main piece of that puzzle,
the one that stays the same, is DeForest Buckner's defense.
Yeah, it's really eerily similar how much the Colts really do correlate
to the 49ers from last year in that defense.
And the only common thing there is DeForest Buckner.
And you've noticed that the 49ers, they've been beset with injuries.
But even in their games that they had prior to all the injuries really taking over,
their defense was kind of shaky.
And so I think DeForest Buckner was a much bigger part of that defense
than what the 49ers really thought.
And so Chris Ballard trading only a first-round pick.
And as you all know, I'm a draft guy.
I love draft picks.
I want to acquire as many draft picks as I can.
So giving up a first-round draft pick is just a massive haul for me to give up if
I were a team to give away. And so Chris Ballard giving up only a first round pick to get to Forrest
Buckner when you had other guys that were lesser players like a Stefan Diggs and like DeAndre
Hopkins is a whole different story, but he only got a second-round pick because Bill O'Brien is now fired.
But the Colts giving up only a first-round pick for what was an all-pro player,
had a defensive tackle, and your biggest position of need
just shows the foresight that Chris Ballard had
and the ability to make that move
and really shore up your weakest position on your defense
and making it arguably the strongest position on your defense now was such a huge thing.
DeForest Buckner, you can't say enough about how much he's changed this.
And when you think back to the trade itself, you remember what different 49ers players
had said about DeForest Buckner and how they were
really upset that they were getting rid of Defoe. And they didn't want him to be gone. And you're
seeing that the leadership, you hear about it from Frank Reich, from Matt Iberfus, the leadership
that DeForest Buckner brings both on and off the field is really paying dividends for this Colts
team. What's on the rookie in the back end there for our last point on the defense
here before we transition over to the offense and into the Browns game
on Sunday, Stephen.
Julian Blackman's only playing three games in his NFL career so far,
and this is no slight to Malik Hooker, but I feel like this is the most impactful
we've seen out of that free-saving position since Malik Hooker's first few weeks
of his rookie year where he had all his interceptions playing true center field.
But Blackman, I feel like, is different, Stephen.
I feel like this might be the best impact we've seen from a Colts rookie defender
since Darius Leonard in 2018.
It's the way that Blackman is impacting everything across the field,
very instinctual, not playing like a rookie at all in the back end.
When you see him out there and he's hitting people like that,
the instincts you see on tape and on the game film as well,
he just moves differently than he does for a rookie steve and i feel like i don't want to call it too early here it's only been three weeks so far but now with him being
the full-time starter all year thriving in that starting role too alongside curry willis i think
chris bar might have another home run here with the third wrap pick and julian black on colts fans
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Yeah, that's definitely, that's what it seems like.
I mentioned this during the game um this past
week how he's really looking like he could be a stud player and what people need to remember is
that when malik hooker was drafted the colts were playing a 3-4 which revolved around having that
center field safety so malik hooker was really a fit for that defense and the colts once they
got maddie rufus they transitioned into the 4-3 and
did more cover two cover three a system so you don't have that roving center fielder like you
did when Chuck Pagano played or when Chuck Pagano was the coach Julian Blackman just flat out fits
this defense better than Malik Hooker and the way way he plays, the style he plays, his versatility,
a lot of people like to bring up the fact that he was an All-Pac-12 corner for multiple years
at Utah before he made the transition to safety and was, I believe, also an All-Pac-12 safety
his senior year prior to getting hurt in the Pac-12
championship game. Julian Blackman is a difference maker on the defense. Had he not been injured,
I think that he probably goes in that early second round range. The fact is, Chris Ballard
took a gamble on him in the third round. And if I remember right, he also traded back. And so he picked up some extra
picks as well and still got his guy, which is, again, such a Chris Ballard move. But yeah,
Julian Blackman is just such a dominant player in the secondary. It's something that the Colts
really needed from the safety position because you really like Malik Hooker in spurts, but
there were a lot of mental mistakes that Malik Hooker made,
and he made it consistently over the course of his four years
when he wasn't injured.
You've got Kyrie Willis, who is a solid player back there.
You've got different guys that you can – George Odom,
you've got different guys you can plug and play at that safety position.
To have somebody with Julian Blackman's physicality and his speed and his playmaking ability his nose for the ball
is such a huge thing for this defense and I can't it's so surprising to me to sit here and harp on
the Colts defense um after for two decades talking about the offense and that being the only
thing so it's such a refreshing thing to see that the defense really is carrying this team and Frank
Reich is able to make his offensive play calls because and be a little bit more conservative
because the defense he knows will hold them the Col Colts have allowed, what, 60 points all season, or 61st downs all
season, as opposed to 90. They're crushing it in terms of how much, how little they're giving away
over the course of four games. It's really mind-blowing, and then they have a plus-four
turnover ratio, which is right where the Colts want to be. They want to be in that positive range.
And it's just such a refreshing thing to be talking about the defense right now rather than talking about shootouts, which they're a lot of fun.
But it's so much fun to talk about the defense and how hard they're playing and how dominant they've been.
It feels like to me, Steven, this is more of a long-term question you're just trying to build up this
defense because ever since Chris Ballard stepped in in 2017,
he's consistently built it onto what he walked into,
which was a tire fire on the defensive side of the ball.
And we see now Darius Leonard, maybe even Julian Blackman,
these homegrown picks by Chris Ballard.
Looking at this defense now, Steven,
you have your elite defensive lineman into Forrest Buckner,
you have your star linebacker, Darius Leonard,
you have a star safety in Julian Blackman down the line.
It feels like to me maybe there's maybe one or two missing pieces away, Steve.
Maybe add another pass rusher in the draft that Banigou doesn't hit
or if Ture comes back fully healthy and he's the guy he was before his injury
and that marks that off the list a little bit as not needing much of a priority
to get another pass rusher on board.
But I think they're maybe like a lockdown corner away.
Whoever the future is next to Rocky is on the opposite side, Stephen.
That Chris Bauer has so much young talent now on this defense
that they could be in for the next seven to eight years of just elite defense.
This could be just the beginning for the Colts
if they hit another one or two more draft picks there on that side.
Yeah, I'm with you.
This defense has a chance to be up there with those old Ravens defenses,
the Seattle defenses, just a smothered, dominant defense
for the next five to seven, eight years.
And if they can get a corner, like maybe a Paulson Debo out of Stanford
in the draft, that would be a good one
that might be available there in the late first second round somewhere in that range he would be
a fantastic player to play opposite of Rocky Seen you're looking at pass rusher I'll tell you this
I can I bet money on this that Chris Ballard would say you can never have too many pass rushers
and so you got to think that they're going to look to address that if Ben
Vanagoo doesn't end up, you know, performing to what they want him to.
He's still young with Vanagoo.
Remember, last year was his first year.
He's still getting used to everything in the NFL, and he's still growing.
And so I'll be interested to see because Ture really didn't come on
until his second year, second, third year.
And then you really saw it.
So I'll be interested to see how Banigou's progression is,
and especially with Brian Baker as their defensive line coach.
I think that that's going to make a huge difference,
and it's already made a huge difference in the way that they play.
And so I'll be interested, they play and so I'll be interested
like I said I'll be interested to see how how they progress how Ture comes back and if he's able to
do it it's going to lessen the load I think they'll probably look to extend Justin Houston for another
year or two given how well he's played and but yeah this is this is a defense it's exactly what Chris Ballard said he wanted
homegrown talent he wanted the people in the stadium whenever we end up getting to go back
to Lucas Oil Stadium to be wearing the jerseys of the players that they drafted and not necessarily
the the Peyton Mannings the Andrew Lux the the Reggie Waynes Marvin Harrisons that you see
Dallas Clarks that you see out in the stadium every game that you would go to before.
And so I think what Chris Ballard is doing is it's the right way you're building through
the draft.
You're getting these, you're hitting on your high picks, which is huge.
And you're really bringing in this homegrown talent.
And you're going to see that pay off in spades as they start to move forward.
Let's move on now, Stephen, to the offense here before we get into the Browns preview
on Sunday.
A very huge game that's going to be happening there in Cleveland between two, three and
one teams.
The offense is sputtered a little bit.
It, of course, is a great defense on the Bears side.
Chuck Pagano, the former Colts coach, not defensive coordinator.
Khalil Mack, Akeem Hicks on the defensive line.
You have Danny Trevathan in the middle there, as well as Roquan Smith.
You have Eddie Jackson in the back end there.
So the Bears have a pretty darn good defense.
So to only score 19 points shouldn't be that surprising.
I think we all expected maybe a select best game to unfold
between two good defense, which is exactly what happened last Sunday.
What's been your thoughts on this offense so far through four weeks, Stephen,
through the quarter poll?
Because the running game has been a little disappointing.
They are actually in the bottom totem pole as far as yards per carry goes right now,
under three yards per carry.
I think it's at 2.7 or somewhere along those lines,
which is definitely need to pick it up the rest of the way.
And also the passing game has kind of sputtered here and there,
especially in the red zone.
What did you think about the Colts offense on Sunday, Stephen,
getting a lot of Rodrigo Blankenship field goals,
but also through the quarter pool so far?
Yeah, I'll be honest.
I've been disappointed.
And I've been disappointed,
but it's not necessarily a surprising thing given that they lost Paris
Campbell early.
They lost Marlon Mack week one.
They were without Trey Burton,
and they're just trying to get him worked in. They've now lost Michael Pittman for a while.
And so you had a lot of guys at those wide receiver positions, especially Paris Campbell,
because it seemed like they were definitely using him and had a plan for him.
And to lose a player with that kind of ability and that kind of speed,
you can't just plug somebody else in there and replace him.
And so the Colts often themselves sputter that way.
I've been a little, I guess, disappointed about the play calling.
Once you get to the second half.
After those first like 15, 20 scripted plays,
it seems like the play calling kind of goes a little bit askew
and they slow down in terms of the offense.
I think this past week, Frank Wright was really conservative
because he had no faith in Nick Foles leading the Chicago Bears against his defense.
And so I think you'll see them probably open it up a little bit more here in the second quarter of the season.
But, yeah, I'd be remiss if I didn't say that I was disappointed with how the offense has looked thus far.
They've been efficient and they've've won games which is what matters um but you would
expect them to be a little bit better um in terms of their yards per play you'd expect a running
game to be a lot better which i i think that's probably the most surprising thing to me is that
jonathan taylor jordan wilkins name hines really haven't got the running game going and i don't
know whether that's a result of there's maybe an injury
on the offensive line.
I know Quentin Nelson had a weak one.
He was on the injury report with a slight back injury.
I don't know whether that's lingered or what's going on there.
But the offensive line has been really great in pass protection,
but it's been a little
disappointing with with running the ball which is a little bit surprising given how well they
they like to just run the damn ball and and so that's I think that's kind of where I'm at is
I'm not I'm a little disappointed with the offense as a whole I'm very disappointed with the the
running game you know I'm just excited they've put up enough points to win, which is ultimately what matters.
I think it's fair to say, too, through the quarter poll right now, of course, you don't
expect an injury. What happened in week one with Marlon Mack to occur,
breaking his Achilles, tearing his out for the rest of the year, and now the Jonathan
Taylor era begins a year earlier than we expected.
And you look at that the way
Taylor's done so far hit or miss of course just a rookie learning new holes in the NFL the game
speed of course running back and corners I think they're the two most positions you look for as far
as maybe an adjust period going especially even at wide receiver which we've seen with Michael
Kempin Jr. as well Stephen but what's been your thoughts on the Wiley veteran the 17-year veteran
Phillip Rivers through the quarter poll here?
Because he's one, to me, where you can't really ask for much else.
He's barely turned the ball over in the last three games.
That one turner we did have against Minnesota was on Molly Cox.
He was the one who dropped that into the DB's hands there.
Outside of a week one where I think the Colts themselves would know now,
even Rivers would say they threw it way too much in week one.
Throwing around 25 to 30 passes per game seems like philip or sweet spots even and really
they're keeping the ball out of harm's way too i think it's fair to say rivers has done everything
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Let's go.
Yeah, honestly, I haven't been disappointed with Rivers at all.
He's doing what they asked him to do.
And outside of week one where he had, like you mentioned,
he had those two really bad interceptions against Jacksonville
where you kind of wondered whether he even looked to see the guy
or looked to see the defender.
Otherwise, he's played really well.
If you compare it to how Jacoby Brissett played last year, Phillip, wherever he was his night and day, a better quarterback than Jacoby Brissett,
you see him making those pinpoint accurate throws, throwing receivers open,
getting guys in stride.
It's something that Jacoby Reset just
couldn't do last year. And so you really like what you're seeing from Phil Brerius. Of course,
you'd really want him to have a little bit more than four touchdowns through four games. I think
that's a little bit surprising, but he hasn't been hit really at all uh he's he's been sacked three
times in four games so you know you extrapolate that out he get hit or get sacked like maybe 12
times in a season which would be like i think he may have gotten sacked 12 times in a game last
year for the chargers um and so for him he's just doing what they ask him to do and he's able to make all the throws
he's putting guys in position to succeed and really that's all you can ask of of philip
rivers at this point in his career i'll be interested to see how they make the play calls
if they have to rely on him to go win a game because against Jacksonville in week one,
he struggled.
And so I'll be interested to see how,
how that plays out when they need him,
if he's able to make the throws,
I've got all the confidence in the world and Phillip rivers to make the
throws under pressure.
And so I think he'll be fine in the long run.
You're just look at the stat line. You probably are a little bit disappointed,
but if you look at the greater picture,
you're probably saying this is exactly what they wanted.
Yeah, totally agree with you there.
I expect more involvement from rivers and the offense as we get into the
meteor portion of the schedule could even see this upcoming Sunday against
the Browns where we might need to throw it a little bit more and have the game more in his hands if the run game doesn't get going
early against this Browns defense.
But let's hit on that game, Stephen.
Colts versus Browns on Sunday.
Another late start for them at 425 p.m. Eastern time.
The Colts with the injuries now to Costanzo, Leonard, Walker, Okereke who's back at practice
today with a cast on his hand.
The Colts are now one point
favorites over the Browns per draft Kings pretty much a toss-up game going to be happening here on
Sunday what's your expectations for it because I feel like it's going to be almost like Chicago
if they if the Colts let me say like this if the Colts keep it under 23 24 points I think they're
going to win this game if it's above 23 24 points i have a bad feeling about this game yeah you're probably right um
i think this game presents a probably the stiffest challenge that this defense is going to
face um thus far in the season and probably the stiffest challenge they'll face through
the first nine weeks of the season up until baltimore. And so that's going to be the interesting thing is how well the defense plays
against what was an explosive offense who last week put up over 50 points
or pretty close to that against Dallas.
They were going crazy.
They rushed for 300-something yards.
And so I'll be interested to see how well the defensive line
plays Grover Stewart's been kind of an unsung hero along the Colts defensive line um has really
stopped opposing running backs once he's taken over that zero technique that no tackle position
um in the 4-3 and so that's going to be the big thing because if the Colts can stop the run against the Browns,
I could see Baker Mayfield making some mistakes because when he forces the ball, he makes mistakes.
They've got some great skill position players.
Even with Nick Chubb being out, Kareem Hunt is a great player.
Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry, they've got tight ends.
They've got some really, really good players there in Cleveland.
The other thing to consider is the Cleveland defense isn't nearly as good
as the Chicago defense, in my opinion.
When you've got a player like Cleo Mack on Chicago. That changes the game.
Yes, the Cleveland Browns have Myles Garrett.
Yes, they've got a couple of really high draft picks.
But I'm not nearly as scared of the Cleveland defense
as I am of the Chicago defense.
And so I think that'll also come into play
in terms of Frank Rick's play calling
is he
might take a few more shots because they're probably going to be there for him to take.
And so I think that you're right, though, if the Colts defense comes in plays and keeps this game
keeps the Browns under 2324 points, I feel really confident in the Colts ability if this becomes a
shootout with the Colts injuries being what they this becomes a shootout, with the Colts' injuries being what they are,
and you also have to consider Anthony Costanzo is nursing an injury as well.
If the Colts' injuries rack up and if this becomes a shootout,
I'm not as confident about the Colts being able to win one of those games
versus being able to win one of those slug it out slug it out games like they
did this past week yeah i feel like this game's gonna follow a very similar and really play
script that we've seen from the last couple weeks for them where the defense really controls this
game they really if the offensive line shows up this game i feel more confident about that they've
been a little hit and miss lately which is surprising for such an elite unit there but
if they're able to follow the script of the defense can hold them under 23, 24 points,
the offense can at least get you down the field and get a few goals when they can.
And the defense will probably make a play or two in this game
with how active they've been through the first four weeks as far as turnovers goes,
especially in the last three weeks too.
And they did it again against Nick Foles on Sunday.
If DeForest Buckner comes to play too, I know this Browns offensive line is really good,
but I think the front four is going to decide this game again.
Like you mentioned, Stephen, if Buckner or Houston or one of those guys up front
from the defensive line can get in Baker Mayfield's head, make him make a tough throw,
I think this Colts-Stevens could do well.
Even if Darius Leonard does not play in this game, I could see them doing well.
I think the big one is Anthony Costanzo.
If he doesn't go, then Miles Garrett might have a field day against Phil Burrus.
You're going to see a lot of nine-ines in that instance, I'd imagine, Stephen.
What do you think is going to happen on Sunday here?
I'm going to go Colts 23-20 over the Browns.
I think it's going to be a very close game when it comes down to the end.
I think the Colts are going to make it ugly to win this one though soon.
So I expect a lot of ball control and a lot of the front four from Buckner
and Houston showing up a lot too.
Yeah, I think this is one of those games where Cleveland might come in a little bit kind of
ahead of themselves after getting a big win against Dallas.
I think that this would be one of those little mini-trap games for them, even though
they're two really good teams. I think they're both 3-1 entering this week.
I do think the Colts will end up winning this game.
I'd probably put it right about 27, probably 27-24 right there.
I think it's going to be a field goal game.
Ultimately, the Colts will end up winning.
I'd love to see Rodrigo Blankenship hit a game winner,
a little walk-off game winner would be nice um but yeah i think this is going to be a tight game i think the defense is going to be the
the main driving factor as to where this goes and the colts defense plays well i i think they win
if the colts defense you gives up a lot of yards on the ground in terms of the running game, I think the Colts probably won't be coming away with a win this weekend.
Steven, I always enjoy talking with you, man.
You guys can go follow him on Twitter if you're not already at NiceReadSteve
and go read and listen to his work over at Stampede Blue.
Steven, appreciate the time. We'll talk to you again next week.
Thanks, Evan. Have a great one.