Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -10/17- Angry Monday: Indianapolis Colts Blow Two-Score Lead, Fall to 2-4

Episode Date: October 17, 2016

With an opportunity to improve to .500, the Indianapolis #Colts fall to a pitiful version of the Houston #Texans on Sunday Night Football and are now two games out of the divisional lead. Gore's 100-yard night means nothing, Matt gives a prediction on the future of Pagano, Injuries are not an excuse but are part of the equation and this season doesn't look as though it can get a whole lot better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

That's for my crazy day. My packed commute. All those unread emails in my inbox. But I'm getting stronger, faster, and pushing myself further every day. I don't care if I'm not like everyone else. This punching bag is the best way to end my day. Fearless is knowing yoga isn't your style. That's the power of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Federal Employee Program.

Learn more about our healthy benefits at fepblue.org slash getmore. Lord, help my goals. I got a kick out of Ryan Stone. Lord, help my goals. I'm missing the goose. Please. Lord, help I were Cole, Billy Crooks could catch him. Out of the creature, Kevin Carlin, Albert Benton,

he'd run the ball, Lord, help our Cole. Marshall Park wouldn't do bad either. You are Locked On Colts, your daily podcast on the Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to another Angry Monday edition of Locked On Colts. I'm your host, Matt Dainley. And what are we seeing right now with our Indianapolis Colts? This is beyond despicable as far as, I mean, they can't decide on whether they're going to have a crappy first half, a crappy second half, terrible coaching.

Guys, it is not going to stop this year. This is about what we should expect, I think, this year from this team. There's just too many inconsistencies, too much poor tackling. Like I said, too many gaffes in coaching, which you can't really nail down a play in this one necessarily but uh just overall the entire process i guess uh the coaching to what the performance and uh what what ends up on the field is just a bad combination and it doesn't look like it's going to get any better before we get into all this i want to tell you about our sponsor mike earnest from century 21 sheets colts fans are you thinking of buying a new home in the greater indianapolis area if you are Before we get into all this, I want to tell you about our sponsor, Mike Earnest from Century 21 Sheets.

Colts fans, are you thinking of buying a new home in the greater Indianapolis area? If you are, then give Mike Earnest a call at 317-285-9691. Mike and his Century 21 Sheets team works with homebuyers throughout the greater Indianapolis area. Whether you're a first-time or an experienced homebuyer, Mike and his team will help you achieve your real estate goals. Give Mike Earnest a call at 317-285-9691. Okay, now where do we start? Let's start with the negatives because the first half seems so promising. It almost seems like it didn't actually happen. But the Colts started out the game solid, holding the worst offense in the NFL, that is Houston, to about what they probably should have been held to. Nothing spectacular, small drives, Osweiler looking like garbage, Colts looking fairly decent defensively. Third downs were pretty good for the Colts looking fairly decent defensively. Third downs were pretty good for the Colts.

They only allowed the Texans two of seven on third down conversions. Their first down, and their first, I take that back. Let's start with the positive. There's too many negatives, I guess, to worry about. When we look at their first and second down efficiency of the Colts' defense and what they've been giving up, as we've talked before, that's been one of the major issues. Their third down conversion or third down rate can be decent, but if their first and second down, what they're allowing on those downs are too gaudy, then it

doesn't really make much of a difference. In the Texans' first three drives, the Colts only allowed seven total yards on first and second down. That's pretty good stuff. And then the Colts, you know, as the second quarter starts, the Colts allow 14 to Lamar Miller on the first down, but they end up getting out on a pressure from Hassan Ridgway, which forced Osweiler to throw the ball out of bounds. Still looking good early in the second quarter. Now as their next drive kicks off with 6.55 to go in the half, they get one of those third down conversions,

and then they throw to Fedorowicz for 22 yards. Gethers ends up stopping Miller for a five-yard gain and could have possibly been more because he was the only one tackling tonight. Ultimately, they ended up getting just some small yardage here and there and getting down in field goal range, which put them on the board 13-3. And the Colts took the ball inside of the two-minute warning, and that's where it ended up basically. So the Colts on first and second down were good in the first half. In the second half, it was a completely – a total different story.

Their very first possession, the Texans' very first possession, Lamar Miller rips off a 22-yard gain. Then Blue goes for 15. Then Miller takes 12 for another one. A few plays later, Osweiler throws to Hopkins for nine yards. Then Lamar Miller gets a first down. That ends up leading to their first touchdown of the night. And if the extra point hadn't missed, it'd have been 13-10. However, it's 13-9. Towards the end of the third quarter, though, the Colts have this really nice long drive. Gore's eating up a bunch of yardage. Luck gets face mask penalty on Houston, but Luck takes a huge sack on third down. If they hadn't pulled his face mask, that would have been fourth down. Luck has to get rid of that ball. He knows this.

Everybody watching knows it. It was a terrible, terrible decision has to get rid of that ball. He knows this. Everybody watching knows it. It was a terrible, terrible decision not to get rid of that ball. There's no way he can let anybody get close. If that even starts to become an issue that he's going to get sacked on a play like that, when they're in field goal position, he's got to get rid of that ball one way or another. Anyways, the Colts end up lucking out. They get the face mask penalty. They have back-to-back plays to Dorsett and Rodgers Rogers, puts them at third and really short. Luck gets stuff trying to go for it on third down, and then they get to fourth down. And there's a decision to be made here for Pagano to either kick the field goal or go for it and try to get more points. Now, everybody a

couple weeks ago or last week or whenever it was was screaming and hollering, you got to go for it on fourth down when you're inside the five-yard line or inside the ten-yard line. I don't really have an opinion on it other than I think you take the points in this. I think you take the points most of the time, especially when you're playing a terrible offense. I don't think it makes sense or even a good offense. I don't really understand the difference between it. When you're that close, if you're not just murdering this team,

then you take the points. And they're far from murdering the team. Yeah, they were winning, and it looked like they had it handedly in order. They weren't up by three or four touchdowns. So, I mean, there's really no reason, in my opinion here, here not to take the points so they go forward on fourth down luck gets sacked turnover on downs that interception follows this so the Colts luck out luck sprints in from 14 yards out to make the score 20 to 13 again Colts are up a touchdown looks like things are going their way Miller gets a 10-yard run negated by a hold call. Then the Colts again, despite getting a hold call and having it set back when it's first and

15, the Colts allow 17 yards to Miller on the next play. However, the Texans end up having to punt. Colts get a field goal on their next possession. They're up 23-9. Now the Colts are in the driver's seat. This next possession for the Texans starts with just over seven minutes to go. Again, here is the big issue. First and second down. Listen to these plays in order. To Griffin for 10 plus. To Griffin again for eight. To Miller for five. Miller gets a small gain. To Hopkins for a first down. Hopkins for another nine. Hopkins for another first down. Hopkins for another first down. Braxton Miller for a short gain, incomplete to Miller. Now the Colts have the Texans at a third and, I don't know, maybe four or five to go, something like that, maybe a bit longer.

Lamar Miller catches this third down pass, five yards short of the first down to go yardage. He ends up evading the first couple defenders, then circles back to the middle of the field. And I counted them through this. Nine Colts defenders after that initial move flew right by him. And Lamar Miller gets in the end zone. That makes it 23-16 with just over two and a half minutes to go. The Colts, three and out, punt. Gets underneath the two-minute warning.

Three plays later with a short field because McAfee was forced to punt out of his end zone. They throw a screen pass to Miller where he picks up 15. The next pass goes to Fedorowicz for another 11. Then Osweiler where they said on the broadcast that he just threw a bullet. Now, give me a break. I watched that play three times, and at no point in time is that ball a bullet. Anyways, he throws another pass to Fedorowicz across the middle. Mike Adams ducks his head, launches himself at him, ends up cracking his, I think it was either the back of his ankle or his calf up against Fedorowicz's shin or something like that. He goes in basically untouched with two guys within striking distance right there around him.

Now it's a tie ball game. I mean, with just over seven minutes to go, Colts are up two scores. Now they're tied up and almost certain to go to overtime. Colts take the ball 44 seconds to go. Looks like the Colts, you know, have a legit shot to get within or get into field goal range. Luck hits Rodgers for a first down. Luck escapes pressure, gets up a few middle. Ultimately, it's a sack with yardage gained.

You know, I mean, there were several of those tonight. I think Luck took six or seven hits. Anyways, throws an incomplete pass to Hilton. He was absolutely wide open with nobody within five yards of him, and Luck tries to throw a touch pass. This is exactly where it gets when we see Luck throw along the sidelines. How about you zip that ball, okay? Because, I mean, come on, man.

There's no reason to put touch on it when there's nobody there. Throw the ball. Just throw the damn ball. Instead, he tries to throw it with too much touch. It ends up popping short. It bounces off the ground. We all saw the replays. In the very next play, Luck ends up ducking with nobody back there.

He was clearly seeing ghosts in the pocket, which is just a bad thing for his progression anyways. I mean, Luck's been fantastic this year, but this is not a good sign. And then throws another duck. I don't even know if it was within five, six yards of the intended receiver. But anyways, Colts have to punt again, and now they're going to overtime for sure. Colts do basically nothing on theirs. They get a couple seven-yard gains, an incompletion and a completion to Hilton, and then Luck gets sacked again where Doyle's coming back across where he'll move in motion to one side and then he'll come back through and kick out the defensive end. There was no defensive defensive end there so Doyle kept going

and the linebacker was coming through and Doyle completely whiffed on him and Luck gets sacked again so Colts have to punt and then we all saw you know the deep pass on the final possession there from the Texans from Osweiler to Jalen Strong and then you know virtually game over what are we getting from this? I mean, to nobody's surprise, Fire Pagano is all over Twitter right now. I'm not a bit surprised. I don't think anybody else is either. And I don't think that anybody would dare to stand up

and say that they think Pagano's a solid coach. But here's the thing. I mean, what is Ursae thinking? I don't know. But if I had to guess, I'm going to tell you guys that if you're expecting Pagano to be fired, I think that you should dial it back a bit because I don't think it's going to happen. Not this week. I'm not saying it's off the table. I'm saying not this week. Here's the thing. The Colts are 0-2 right now in the division. They play Tennessee next week at Tennessee. It doesn't matter if it's there or at Lucas Oil Stadium,

but if they lose to Tennessee, I would all but guarantee you that Pagano is gone after that game because if Pagano can't prove that he can win in the division, he's out. He's already lost two games. He's lost to one of the worst teams, one of the worst collective teams with the best personnel, which is such a weird combination for Jacksonville, but it's true. An equally terribly coached team. And then you have O'Brien, where I think everybody agrees that he's probably the best coach in the division, and he's showing that he's even a terrible coach at times as well. So they lose to them, both of these teams, especially with Houston being the worst offense in the entire NFL, and they look like it until the fourth quarter there where the Colts just allow Osweiler, again, a replacement-level quarterback, to eat it up.

And that's what he did. But if they go into Tennessee next week and come out with a loss, especially anything ugly, like if something stupid happens, a gaffe or the Colts just end up getting blown out by two scores, Pagano will not make that trip back to Indianapolis on the team flight. I'm telling you right now, it's not going to happen. You're not going to go 0-3 in the AFC South, one of the worst divisions in the league, and expect to keep your job. That's not happening. I don't care what happens. And I got an idea, not this year of who's going to be the Colts' next head coach, but I got an idea. But I'm not saying anything until if and when Pagano gets the boot. So I don't even know what to say about this game.

It's saddening. It's disheartening. It's pathetic. There are so many things to complain about with this game that it's just mind-blowing. I mean, I'm pointing out some negative things on luck. Luck is far from the problem, so I don't want to come off that way. Oh, and hey, everybody cheer. Frank Gore got a 100-yard game. Congratulations, we lost. It doesn't make hey, everybody cheer. Frank Gore got a 100-yard game.

Congratulations, we lost. It doesn't make a difference. Nobody cares if you got a 100-yard game. The only good thing about that is that people can stop tweeting it every single pregame. Thank you. We're done with that now. Obviously, it doesn't help us win.

Gore did look fantastic, though. I mean, that is a positive. He looked good. I thought Luck looked good, largely. That interception was a terrible throw. There was no opening whatsoever. I'm not real sure why he threw it. I'd have to go back and look and see, you know, whether he was under like significant pressure and it was just a way to get the ball out, assuming that T.Y. Hilton would get it. But Luck is amazing and looks fantastic this year. Now we have this Colts defense that showed up in the

first half and looked like that they were going to put something together for us. And then, you know, injuries, don't get me wrong, injuries are a part of it too. But my God, how are you in the league if you can't tackle and you have no idea how to finish your pursuit? I mean, I just don't understand. Like I said, it's just something that's a head scratcher, man. I mean, it's just terrible that the Colts are continually doing this. Give me a brief minute here and we'll talk about our sponsors. Colts fans, are you in the market to sell your home? If so, call Mike Earnest of Century 21 Sheets at 317-285-9691. Mike is an expert in the greater Indianapolis real estate market and has helped people just like you achieve their real estate goals. As a professional realtor, Mike will not

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simultaneously sitting atop the AFC South for the first time this season. And this is a weird place, I think, for Colts fans after, you know, the first few years with Luck here. Last year, Luck injury-riddled season, and then this year, Luck's fantastic, and he's not even able to will this team to consistent victories. This team has five of their six games now have been decided by six points or fewer. I mean, no, this team is not a five-in-one team, but they could be, and that's, I think, the even more pathetic thing about it. I mean, the Jaguars are terrible. The Texans are worse than I even thought they were, and I think they're probably worse than you guys thought that they were, but the Colts got beat by the Lions, who

the only week that they had all their defense in line, the Colts were gashed in the passing game against them and against everybody else for the most part. But, I mean, injuries have played a large part, and I'm not blaming the injuries solely. However, not being realistic, if you don't at least add them into the mix. Henry Anderson went out at some point in the game. I didn't even realize he was out of the game. But him not being in there, we all know that's not a good thing, especially when Zach Kerr and T.Y. McGill were inactive for the game.

So it was not a good game. It looked like I just was completely convinced that the Colts had this one in the bag, and they've proven that not only can other teams fall apart when they've got a lead, but the Colts are better coming from behind, obviously, and not holding on to a lead because the Colts play not to lose instead of playing to win. I'm not a big fan. I understand that the time was getting short, and the Colts wanted to run the ball to force the Texans to use their timeouts there in that possession right before the two-minute warning. But I want him to be aggressive in those areas.

I mean, Gore was gashing him. Give Gore a shot. On second down, Luck gets sacked. And I think he got sacked. Chester Rogers was open. I just don't know if he didn't throw the ball because he didn't want, you know, the risk of an incompletion stops the clock and doesn't allow Houston to have to take that next time out or what. But he takes, he ultimately took the sack on his own. And I don't know, just so many questions. Instant reaction, this is the problem with it. You don't really have time to think about what you're saying or what's thought. But I don't think that anybody thinks that Chuck Pagano should keep his job.

However, I think he's definitely going to until at least next week. So if there's another angry Monday following week seven, then you can be rest assured that it's probably going to be followed up within the next couple days by a press conference saying that Chuck is no longer the Indianapolis Colts head coach. He's a great guy, this and that and the other. But grinding isn't good enough when you blow a 14-point lead in a span of four to five minutes. I know there was less than three minutes or whatever on the clock when they actually scored. That drive started with seven minutes to go.

So that's not a realistic visualization of how it actually happened. They took four minutes off the clock, three minutes, whatever it was, and just beat down the Colts' defense again. And like I said, in the second half, the Colts only had 170 yards. It wasn't just the defense. The offense was pretty bad too. I mean, the Colts had 170 yards in the second half plus overtime. And the Texans had, I think, the Texans had 270.

So they were outgained by 100 yards in the second half in overtime. And this is the worst offense in the league. That's pitiful. I don't care. Aside from all the other injuries, this is a lot of babbling, but this is what you got to deal with when you get instant reaction at one o'clock in the morning on a Sunday night. Injuries aside, the Colts have guys in there who they've acted like they can trust. DeQuell Jackson's supposed to be a good tackler. I think Gathers is actually having a pretty good season, like a really good season. Mike Adams is having a pretty good season, although he was kind of transparent tonight.

You didn't see a whole lot from him. Vontae Davis had a fantastic game, I think, overall, largely holding Hopkins to very little output until there at the end, and they just started beating him up and forcing the Colts corners to play with too much of a cushion. I don't know why you change things when they're going well for you defensively, but they did. And if this turns out to be a scheme thing,

I think there's going to be most certainly a coming-to-God moment here between Ursae and Pagano over the next 24 hours. But I also want to touch on our Andrew Luck giveaway. Well, before I forget throughout this rant, thank you guys for all of the emails that you guys are sending in. Please send those in to lockedoncoltspod at gmail.com to enter for your chance to win. I'm going to announce the name Friday of who gets that jersey. We've got a ton in already.

I mean, actually some pretty good stories. You know, I told you guys, I'm not real concerned with how much you guys are putting into your story or give me the reason why you want the jersey or why you think you should win the jersey. But these are some pretty good stories. You know, I've actually enjoyed reading them. So you guys have about, I'd say between 30 to 40 people right now entered in there. But if you want into this Luck Jersey giveaway, then you need to get your email in there ASAP. So I will be pulling a name out of a hat on Friday to send that out to some lucky winner. I also want to tell you guys to continue to give ratings and reviews on iTunes or Stitcher, Thumbs Up, whatever you guys do on the podcast platforms.

Please keep that up. The listens have been fantastic. Downloads have been great as well. So please keep that up. Hopefully that we can kind of stop this Angry Monday garbage pretty soon, but I just don't feel like it's going to change much. Originally having the Colts at 9-7 throughout this season, I feel like that's quite a stretch right now,

especially to the teams that they're losing to. I thought that the Lions, being that the Colts were so injured in week one, were probably the better team overall, though the Colts should have won the game. And then you have the Texans and the Jaguars, Colts getting beat by, and I mean among whoever else. You know, they just can't seal up a game, can't take control. And when they do, they allow a team to come back in because philosophy sucks for the Colts right now. And that's something that needs to change as well. So that's my angry

Monday. Thank you guys for listening. Like I said, I appreciate all you guys, your interactions, all the attention you guys are getting in the podcast. It's really doing great. Be sure to check out our partners at FanRag Sports, today's pigskin as well, and check out the Colts spot there. I'm also writing for them. So just keep on keeping on. Try not to fall into all the negativity on Twitter or anywhere else about the team.

Try to be positive, although there's not much positive to be had. And I'm one to talk about negativity after having like a 25-minute rant here. So don't listen to me. Do whatever you want. And keep rooting for the Colts then. And, you know, maybe they'll turn it around. Maybe they won't. But the Colts have a lot of room to get better.

There are so many things on this roster that need to be changed. And I'm just not sure that the Colts brass plus the roster plus this and that and the amount of injuries that they're taking right now. I'm not sure that much is going to be done to turn this season around. It seems pretty grim for the most part. I think that the Colts are going to end up probably falling into about where they were at last year, which isn't real good for our fan base because that's what we tend to, you know, it's such a long off season and it's just so

disheartening and so hard to live with when you see so much talent with luck and some of the receivers and, you know, a few pieces on defense that this team can't possibly will themselves to a better record. And I don't think that anybody's wrong when they say that a large, a very large part of that is coaching. So, you know, we get what we get, but I'll go ahead and make my bold prediction that if the Colts fall in Tennessee next week, Pagano will not be the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts any further. And then everybody can tell me I'm wrong when he somehow pulls out a one-point win and everybody, you know, says, oh, you guys counted him out or some garbage like that. No, he's still a bad coach regardless. Great guy, bad coach.

I'm pretty sure that's been said a couple billion times. I'm not going to say it anymore. But thank you guys again, though, for listening and interacting. And I will talk to you on Tuesday right here on Locked on Colts. You are Locked on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.