Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -10/21- Indianapolis Colts Look Outmatched Going Into Week 7; Andrew Luck Jersey Giveaway

Episode Date: October 21, 2016

The #Colts look significantly outmatched going into Week 7 against a healthy, physical #Titans squad, our Andrew Luck jersey giveaway winner is announced, Antonio Cromartie and his wife feel as though he was cut for other than a football decision and Nathanael Rutherford (Today's Pigskin) drops in to discuss the matchup with Matt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Talkspace.com slash BOOM. B-O-O-M. No, I'm not for sale. You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back to Locked On Colts, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Matt Dainley, and we are here on a Friday, October 21st, as we set to get ready for this weekend's game between the Colts and the Tennessee Titans.

Today we are going to do a couple things. We are going to have Nathaniel Rutherford from Today's Pigskin. He covers the AFC South for them and we're going to have him on to talk this match up a little bit. Towards the end of the show we are going to pick our Andrew Luck jersey winner, so stay tuned for that. But first, let's just kind of go through a few odds and ends about what we can expect to see just from the Colts side of things this weekend. Obviously, there is some real issues with the Colts injury report. I mean, we have so many guys that did not practice. Dwayne Allen, Henry Anderson, Darius Butler, Phil Dorsett, T.Y., DeQuell Jackson, apparently was not injury related, Zach Kerr, Kurt Majit, Jack Muhort, Dante Moncrief, of course. And we had a few guys that

were limited. But, you know, this is a big blow to both offense and defense for the Colts. We're going to have Henry Anderson sidelined more than likely. I just, I mean, he and Dwayne Allen are not playing. I don't think there's any doubts about that. So we're going to have to find the inside, the interior defense. And when you add that Zach Kerr has been injured as well and possibly would not play at the nose tackle position, then you got T.Y. McGill, who I'd like anyhow, but their depth is severely depleted now. With these guys out of the lineup up front in the interior, it's certainly going to leave a void that the Colts really don't have the personnel to fill at the moment.

The Colts will have the benefit of adding LeVar Edwards to the lineup. You know, he's actually listed on there as an outside linebacker. So they've got him. And if they're going to have these guys who can fill in, you know, hopefully we can finally see Akeem Ayers get some real playing time. And the good news is that he can kind of fill in in the inside linebacker role as well. That's not his spot, but he's taken some snaps there this year, so it'll be interesting, especially with, like I said,

with Majid out and some of the other guys that are going to be sitting on the bench. This defense is going to be struggling something fierce with Butler not practicing. They're going to have a lot of guys that they need. The good thing is that T.J. Green's been practicing. He's kind of the nickel option in the coverage department, so to speak. They have Gethers. You know, he's been healthy. And I thought it was funny, and I have no way of proving this or anything, but it was just something that I thought was interesting. I was reading the article today on Gethers on Colts.com about how he has been molding his style of play, so to speak, after Bob Sanders. Now, when we first, I think you've probably heard in the past of me talk about how big I thought Gethers looked this year. And that was kind of the, you know,

after the way he's been playing, that was kind of the, you know, after the way he's been playing, that was kind of the first thing that came to my mind was about Bob Sanders. He's not on that level yet, obviously, the way Bob was. Bob was absolutely just a crazy bullet flying through the opposing offense. I mean, and was about to chop people's legs off when he'd come through there. I do see some similarities there from Gethers. And to be quite honest with you, I was not real hype on Gethers last year, but Gethers has put it together this year. He's one of the most sure tacklers on the defense.

And that's turning out to be a very good pick, in my opinion, from Grigson. So, you know, just all in all, I mean, the offense, Dorsett's going to be out. We know we have Moncrief out already. Muhor, guys, there's a ton of injuries. And whether they're in the game or not, it's going to be interesting to see. And, you know, I wouldn't – I don't want to say that I wouldn't be surprised if they activated Kelsey Quarles, but they'd have to, you know, getting rid of somebody,

that'd be a tough, that'd be a tough move. But anyways, they're going to have T.Y. McGill there up front. And I, like I said, I really like him. It's just going to be a very, a very thrown together crew in the front seven for the Colts this Sunday. It's a, it's a scary thought. Again, we'll have Nathaniel Rutherford in here

in just a few minutes, and we'll talk to him and kind of see what his thoughts are on the matchup and more or less just the teams at this point in the season. And we'll probably talk a little bit of general AFC South as well. I mean, it's kind of hard to talk about these teams and especially the Colts who are not playing well right now. It's kind of hard not to, by default, start talking about the other teams in the division that aren't very good. Kind of makes you feel a little better anyways that, you know, you're not the doormat of the league, even though we are in the bottom of the AFC South at the moment. You know, we definitely don't feel like the doormat at this point in the season.

Also, I want to touch on my man Mike Ernest of Century 21 Sheets real quick. If you know anything about home buying, then you know that it's not something you want to go at alone. And if you don't know anything about home buying, trust me, it's not the funnest thing in the world. It's nice to go check out the homes that you're going to be looking into and stuff like that, but it is really not something that you want to go into with just yourself or taking some random person's advice. Get a hold of my man, Mike Earnest, at Century 21 Sheets at 317-285-9691. Mike's 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 only help you navigate the real estate market and has helped people just like you achieve their real estate goals. As a professional realtor, Mike will not only help you navigate the real estate market, but he guarantees that he will sell your house for full market value or he'll pay you the

difference. That's huge. I mean, selling your house, whether you're selling or buying a house, guys, you really need somebody that you can trust. Mike's a heck of a dude. You know you're going to be able to help him. He's got a ton of business going right now. People really appreciate what he brings to their experience. Troy from Westfield, who's one of Mike's clients, says, Mike sold our home in less than 24 hours for full asking price. That's pretty amazing in general. I don't care where you live. From our first conversation with Mike, my wife and I knew we had a real estate expert on our side. I'm absolutely convinced that without Mike, we never would have gotten top dollar for our home. Like I said, guys, when it comes to selling your home, knowledge is power.

The first step you need to take is figuring out exactly what your home's worth. Call Mike for a no-obligation, hassle-free market analysis of your home. Mike will not only give you the value of your home, but he will also give you the real estate trends in your neighborhood. Mike's an expert in your real estate market, so don't rely on websites like Zillow and others to tell you what your home's worth. Call Mike at 317-285-9691 for your free home market analysis. Let Mike Earnest and his Century 21 Sheets team go to work for you. Whether you live in Indy or any of the surrounding communities, Mike and his team can help. Call Mike Earnest at 317-285-9691 or on the web at mikeearnest.com. Again, that's 317-285-9691 or mikeearnest.com. Now, real quick, one of the stories that you guys have seen the past day or so flying around is that of Antonio Cromartie's wife complaining or basically, I don't want to say complaining, but basically her view is that Cromartie was cut because of his kneel and so on during the national anthem. Her name's Tarika Kramardi. And basically, there was a quote from Ursae that said, more or

less, I think it's the wrong venue for this. And the kneeling with the hand up in the air and the reaction of these players hasn't been positive,'ll say that and we've talked about that I won't go into that too much but more or less he said it wasn't a positive thing and that basically when the players step in between the lines that they're entertainment and she kind of said something you know about it and spoke about you know you're nothing more than an entertainer just shut up and do what we say referring to what Ursa had spoken about. You have no rights as long as you are working for me. There are other places for you to fight and stand for what you believe. You know, I don't know how you want to look at it. And it doesn't really matter. The fact is that we

all know Cromartie was there. He wasn't for, he wasn't there for the long haul. He was a man, press corps guy who knew similar systems. He could step in for injuries, and more likely at his age, he wasn't going to be asked to stick around very long. I don't think that anybody expected him to begin with, to be honest with you. He wasn't great, and he was getting torn up pretty good. Like I said, he's no spring chicken, guys, so I don't think anybody's really debating whether or not he was cut for that, okay? She may be, because she was angry, I think maybe she thought that it was some sort of a revitalization to his career, but that's not, that's just not the case. He wasn't very good. He wasn't there for the long-term signing to begin with. And regardless of what Ursae says, Ursae may not have agreed with it. And apparently, Cromartie was told not to,

okay? Not to kneel and such. Who knows? But I think that it's a little ridiculous that if anybody believes that he was cut for that. I'm sure it didn't hurt Ursae's feelings to cut him, but that's how he felt. But we all know that that's not the case. He wasn't good, and he got cut because he wasn't good, and people were getting healthy. It's just that simple. So interesting conversation, interesting thought process, at least that she thought otherwise. And maybe he does too. I'm sure that he does. In fact, he's come out and basically had an issue with it as well on his Instagram, but it's, uh, you know, whatever, man, you know, you're just

gonna have to deal with it. You know, you weren't very good. And if you were, and if you were only cut for Nealon, you'd be on another team right now. But you're not. I guess that doesn't really hold a whole lot of water. But real quick, before we get to Nathaniel Rutherford, I just wanted to kind of give my own thoughts on the game this weekend real quick. I think that the Colts are in for a battle. And I've actually had a question that somebody posted on the audioboom.com on the show's page. And it more or less was asking, you know, if being that I had

thought that if the Colts lose this Sunday, if I still felt like because the Colts were basically overmatched with talent at this point, if I still felt that Pagano would be gone after this. And I think that he should be if they lose, regardless of it. But I think that the injuries and such will definitely be a mitigating factor in that. It'll be used as a mitigator, whether it actually should be or not. But, you know, this game's not – I don't know. I have a feeling this game's not going to be close. I really do. I think that it's at least a touchdown this game's not going to be close. I really do. I think that it's

at least a touchdown game just because Tennessee is completely healthy. The Colts are absolutely everything but healthy. Colts have not played well. I don't think that a lot of people, I mean, regardless of what they say about what kind of guy Pagano is and these position coaches and stuff, I just don't feel like, it's my own personal opinion. I haven't asked anybody about it, but I just don't feel like they, they don't look like that they, that they trust what's, what the process is. You know, you've heard some comments after the past game about guys being frustrated and stuff, and it's been a recurring factor. I don't think that there's much trust that Pagano's the guy. I don't trust that he is either. I don't think that there's much trust that Pagano's the

guy. I don't trust that he is either. I don't think any of you do. I think I'm going to go with about 26 to 20. I guess that's not more than a touchdown, but you know, they've just had too many close games. So I don't feel like I should really stretch out of that six point margin because the Colts haven't stretched out a six-point margin yet this year. There's no other than the Denver game, so there's not really any point until they either prove that they can win by more than that or if they show so bad that they're going to lose by more than that that I should guess outside of that six-point plus minus.

So the Colts have to win in every facet of the game and win convincingly to win this game without a doubt. It doesn't look promising on my end, but we'll see what happens. You guys are still going to cheer. It's still going to be something we hope for. Let's just hope this game doesn't look a lot like the 2011 season. We were watching, and I'm kind of dreading that, that we're going to get, you know, all to our favorite spots on the couch

or whatever on Sunday, and we're just going to look like a bunch of cross-eyed bobbleheads shaking our heads at this game, and it's kind of worrisome. But, you know, without further ado, I won't keep rambling. Let's get to Nathaniel Rutherford from today's pigskin and i'd like to welcome in nathaniel rford. He is an AFC South columnist for today's Pigskin. Nathaniel, how are you doing today, man? Thanks for joining us. Yeah, doing great. Thanks for having me on.

Absolutely. Nice to talk to a colleague there for today's Pigskin as well and kind of try to pick your brain a little bit on where you're seeing the Titans in this matchup this week. I'm not so hyped up about it personally, although in the past, you know, it seems that the Titans have always been one of those teams, like, finally, we're playing the Titans, you know, this week and probably going to get a win. But that doesn't seem to be the case this week so much, at least not in my head, and I don't think that that's probably too far off

from what most people were thinking. Yeah, no, I would agree with you because you said the Colts have been, I mean, they've dominated the South for the past several years, and you said the Titans have been a team that they've beat regularly, but not this year. It looks like this year this might be the most even they've matched they've been in a long time. Yeah, I agree, and they've got everybody healthy.

We kind of talked offline just for a moment about that, but the Titans have two guys, Fasano and McCain, on their injury report, and they both practiced fully on Thursday. And conversely, the Colts have ten guys who didn't practice at all today, a few more that were limited. And their guys who are out are key parts of the team, which is scary because they're – well, it's their first or second tight end, however you want to call it. But Dwayne Allen's out. Henry Anderson, who's going to be – who is crucial for the Colts, the interior D line.

Darius Butler, another secondary guy. Phillip Dorsett. So they've got, it seems like, about somebody at each position who has had some issues. TJ Green did practice Thursday, but it's a huge list, and it seems that it's a list that is going to be difficult for the Colts to come back against. Now, when we jump into this matchup this Sunday, this is not, like we've said already, this is not the typical matchup that we see between the Colts and Titans. What are the first things that jump out to you about this matchup this weekend? Yeah, one of the first things you said already, you mentioned the injury report.

I mean, this Colts roster already wasn't, in my opinion, one of the better ones in the NFL, but now they've lost a lot of these guys already and just different injuries throughout the season. I mean, it's depleted them. You've seen it week in, week out. I mean, Colts are tuned for that they couldn't hold on to a two-touchdown lead against the Texans last week. What's really starting to notice to me also,

not only just the injuries, is that the Colts themselves don't have a very good defense at all. They can't stop a lot of teams from doing things. They let the Texans come back. And they're going to meet a team in the Titans that have found a rhythm on offense, finally. And the Titans struggled through the first few games of the season to get a lot going on offense.

Their defense was looking good, but their offense wasn't able to keep up, wasn't able to help their defense out. They lost two weeks. I mean, granted, they've played bad teams, but at this point you can classify the Colts as a bad team, in all honesty. They played the Dolphins and the Browns,

and the Titans have found life. Marcus Mariota has thrown six touchdowns and one interception in those two games. That was a reverse. He had more interceptions and touchdowns in his first three or four games there. So it looks like he's on his stride. DeMarco Murray and the rushing attack is just phenomenal. I mean, they have

one of the best rushing attacks in the entire NFL. DeMarco Murray is one of the best rushing attacks in the entire NFL. DeMarco Murray is one of the top five rushers in the NFL right now. DeMarco Murray isn't a bad option, and Mario has been running more, too. I mean, he's totaled over 100 rushing yards in those last two games combined. So, really, the Colts' things,

what I actually wrote about this earlier this week, too, is that the Colts are going to have to hope and pray that their defense is going to be able to step up because if it turns into a shootout, I mean, the Indy, they have the weapons on offense to win a shootout, but I don't think it's going to. I think the Titans' defense really, it's pretty strong. The secondary is very suspect, I will say that, but their front seven can mask that a lot of times.

Their front seven has been getting a lot of pressure on quarterbacks over the past couple weeks, and Indy's offensive line is not good. In fact, they have given up the most sacks in the NFL this season. So you've got to imagine the Titans prep sevens licking their chops, saying, hey, we can get back there. We can sack Walker, at least rush him, and make some bad decisions over, as you said, they have missing Dwayne Allen.

They'll have Hilton out there, of course, but some options that the Colts will have are banged up a little bit. So I imagine the Titans are going to try their best to get back there and pressure Luck and Sacco as many times as they can and get him as many times as they can, which is the theme. Buck's been hit so many times since he's been in the league, which is very unfortunate because he is

very, very talented, so this is probably, it's weird to say this in a huge game when it's mid to late October, but this really honestly might be the titans biggest game in their franchise in several years because it's not just not been good um you can look back to maybe even like 2012 11 because it wouldn't have been 13 because they're they're kind of mediocre team then but this is really i mean they win this game the titans are going to be right there in the thick of things in the south they'll be right behind the texans

and the reason texas will be ahead of them is because they own that one win over the Titans so far. So this will be a huge game for either team. The Titans get a win, they're right there, and the Colts get a win. They stop the bleeding and get out of the basement of the South as well. And the thing that has kind of taken me by surprise over the past few weeks is that it appears to me that the Titans, front to back and top to bottom, have probably the most complete roster in the South at this point. I mean, the Jaguars have probably the most pure talent, I'd say, but they haven't put it together yet.

And I really think that when you look at Houston, they're missing Watt and they're missing some other guys, and they're definitely missing a few beats on offense. But the Colts, both sides of the ball, have found different ways to struggle throughout the first half of the season here so far. And the Titans are kind of hitting their stride like you lamented to. And, you know, I'm just a little taken back at, you know,

I'm a fan of Mariota as a quarterback. We'll put it that way. I think that he's a guy, and I'm a fan of the AFC South having four good quarterbacks. However, Osweiler, obviously, the jury's still out on him. But I like the way that that brings the matchups to life a little bit more and so on. But there are, you know, kind of something that you alluded to, especially when we look at this matchup on paper. Cox is a definite weak point in the secondary.

But would you expect kind of a way to shield him or shield the secondary maybe. What would you expect from the Titans' defense to try to find a way to maybe hide some of their weaknesses this weekend? Yeah, I think I touched on it a little bit earlier, but I'll go into a lot more detail now. I think what they're going to do is they're going to blitz, and they're going to blitz a lot. I think you're going to see a lot of the times, and it'd be rare to see just kind of three- and four-man rush. I think you're going to see a lot of the times it'd be rare to see just kind of three-

and four-man rush. I think you're going to see a lot of five-, six-man rushes in this game because Colts have shown all season they don't really run the ball a lot. I mean, Frank Gore was the first time in three and a half years they finally had a 100-yard rusher. Frank Gore did last against the Texans. They lost that game, but they finally did get a 100-yard

rusher, but they don't run the ball a ton usually, unless they're already ahead a 100-yard rusher. But they don't run the ball a ton, usually, unless they're already ahead. And like I said, they were against the Texans. That's one reason why they ran the ball more, is because they had a lead. But of course they ended up coming back to bite them, because they lost the lead. So honestly, I think what the Titans are going to do on defense

to combat, like I said, the weaknesses they have in the secondary back there, they're going to blitz. They've done that before this year. They've blitzed, and they've been able to change the coverages up a little bit, especially with their zone defense. It's not been so much man-to-man. That's where they've been getting beat is the man-to-man. When they have their zone and they're able to mix up some coverages,

that's when they've been able to take off some balls and I think diffuse some opposing quarterbacks, and they did against Miami, especially in that game. They had a really, really good defensive effort in that game. That might have been their best defensive game all season so far. And they had a good one against Minnesota, too, because their offense didn't bail them out at all. But what they're going to do is they're going to blitz, in my opinion.

I don't want to say anything exotic. I don't think you're going to see any bizarre blitz packages, but I do think you'll see a safety blitz. I do think you'll see several linebackers getting blitzes because Arakpo, especially, I mean, he has been, him and Carl Klug both have been on fire the past couple weeks. I think they're going to do their best to get those guys, get them going, get them back in the backfield and cause disruption. I think you'll see a lot of that. And that's kind of one of the things that kind of made me wonder about this matchup specifically. Jarrell Casey is always a Colts killer, always has been.

With Carl Klug there, inside of there, it made me kind of wonder if they wouldn't stick in their base just a little bit longer because I think that they've got enough to, with the Colts being as picked apart as they are already with injuries and just bad overall play in general, it kind of made me wonder that the Titans may sit on their base defense a little bit longer before they were to uh maybe try to mix it up a little bit but you know trying to trying to get out to a lead i guess on a team that's uh traditionally had your number for years and years it's probably a pretty good idea as well yeah i'd agree with you i'd like that idea about the base defense and yeah the titans i mean for the first time since a little over a year, they scored on their very first drive last week against the Browns,

and it ended up paying off for them. They didn't get a whole lot done after that for the next couple of series, but getting out that lead really helped them, I think, get some momentum and feel good about that game. And if you can do the same thing as this Colts, because the Colts, like I said, they're capable of putting up points. They may not have done as much this year as we thought they might have, but they're capable of definitely pouring out the points.

I don't think they've scored less than 20 points in any game this season at this junction. So they can score. The Titans have to get out there, and they have to limit the damage that offense does, and I agree with you. I think they have to get a very fast start. If they don't score on their first drive,

they're better on their second or third because they can't go extended period of time without getting at least some points, even just field goals. The Titans can't have a lot of empty possessions

in this game because the Colts are going to make them pay up to do. Because, like I said, even the Titans defense has been good, playing well,

and they get pressure and luck. I mean, he's shown this year, even with all that pressure, getting sacked more than any other quarterback in the NFL. He's still in a pretty good season.

He's cut down his interception numbers that he had last year. He himself is having a pretty good year. It's just the rest of the Colts' offense isn't clicking that great, and the defense is not bailing him out either. So the Titans, if they're going to win this game, they're going to have to score early, and they're going to have to limit their empty possessions.

Right. And, you know, with this Titans offense having the weapons they do, especially with Delaney Walker, he's a phenomenal talent. I can just imagine that he's going to get a healthy dose this week, and especially, you know, they've had some receivers break out as of late as well. So they feel like they've got a downfield attack now, along with that running attack, having one of the best offensive lines, having two offensive linemen, not to mention their tackles, being two of the top ten on Pro Football Focus's grading scale.

This is definitely a team that people are still, just because they're called the Tennessee Titans, are taken lightly. But the Colts, they have so many, like I said earlier, they have so many key areas that are going to be without not only quality starting caliber players, but their depth is screwed up as well. Kurt Majit, not a guy who's going to start, but he's in the rotation there on the outside. He's nicked up.

Muhort, the Colts' best offensive lineman, he didn't practice again Thursday. I mean, there's just so many guys who are key pieces in both offensive and defensively are going to be out. And I just have a feeling this could be ugly. This could be both one of the Colts' worst offensive outputs, I think, this year, and it could also be one of their worst defensive efforts as well just because there are just so many things going against them in this week. They've really got to play their best game.

The 53 guys or the 46 guys that end up coming on the field on Sunday for the Colts absolutely have to have the best game of their lives, I think, to win this game. And that's sad saying that. And on my end, as far as against a Titans team, that's traditionally, like I said, been terrible. And they, I mean, quite honestly, Malarkey is one of the worst coaches in the league, but things are, things are going his way right now. It's strange for me to think that he might be one of the safest coaches in the AFC South at this point. That just almost boggles the mind.

What are some of the matchups that you see the Titans taking, especially skill position guys, and putting those forward this week in order to try to get that fast start against a Colts defense that's lacking so many players. Yeah, before getting to that, touching your point about the coaches, it is weird because I personally do not like Malarkey as a coach at all, but he is. I agree with you. I think he is the safest because I think Pagano's on the hot seat. I think Brady's on the hot seat.

And I think Bill O'Brien, I don't think he's on the hot seat yet, but he's not exactly the most favorite coach right now in the South. So, yeah, I would agree with you. It's really weird to see. But as far as matchups go, you mentioned I think it could be a bad day for the offense and defense. I think the Colts' offense will be okay, but when I look at their defense, they do not have a good run defense,

and that's where I really think DeMarco Murray is just going to feast. I mean, he's had two 100-yard games already this year. He had one that was a 95-yarder. They like to get him involved in the passing game as well. I just think DeMarco Murray is going to go off in this game. I think he's going to have another 100-yard game. I would be surprised if he didn't. I'd be surprised if the Titans, as a team, didn't run for close to,

if not over 200 yards. They've run for 370-something yards combined over the last two games against the Dolphins and Browns. So I would not be surprised if they can get close to 200 rushing yards in this game as well. That, Jimmy, is a matchup to watch. How can they limit, if the Colts can, limit DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry or Marcus Mariota?

Because that three-headed monster that runs the ball very well, they have been. What can the Colts do to slow them down? If they can somehow force fumbles, if they can somehow get those guys to follow the ball, they have been, what can the Colts do to slow them down? If they can somehow force fumbles, if they can somehow get those guys to fumble the ball, they've shown that they can. They don't do it more earlier this year than they have later on, but the Titans have fumbled the ball a few times this season.

So if the Colts can get, if they can force turnovers that way, if they can force Mario to make a mistake in throwing the ball or force some fumbles, then I think the Colts can be bailed out. But the Colts have shown this year they also don't force turnovers a ton either. They're one of the worst teams that comes to forcing turnovers too on defense. So that's my main matchup to watch, and that one is what can DeMarco Murray in this rushing attack do. Another one, as you mentioned, the Titans have found some receivers suddenly.

I mean, they didn't throw to Dillon Walker like at all last week, and Kendall Wright popped off for 100 yards. I want to see if Kendall Wright is just kind of a lighting-in-the-bottle kind of game for him if he just happened to have a really good matchup against the Browns and just sparked it and had a good game, or if that's going to spark his season. He's going to actually go out

and finally be where the Titans want him to be. That's always been his thing, too. He's uber-talented and just hasn't put it together um and and now you have a guy like tajay sharp out there with him as well um the you know and we said it for a while but it was kind of like um you know at the beginning of the season you see the jags and and the titans both kind of loading up and getting some quality guys on this roster but i was definitely one of them that just didn't think,

probably because of the coach involved, where I either gave Bradley too much credit or I didn't give Malarkey enough, probably a mixture of both. But I just didn't assume that the Titans would be the ones that would gel as quickly as they have. I'm with you there, too. They've got some firepower on that offense now, and that's scary when you've got, like you said, the

two-headed monster there in the backfield, along with Mariota's ability to stretch plays, get out, be quality accurate outside the pocket as well. I mean, I can't... Give me a reason why the Colts should win. Do that for me. I'm struggling a little bit because I also saw a stat today that was going around that was Nick Mariota in his career so far.

He's inside the opponent's 20-yard line. In the red zone, he has an absurd completion percentage and has thrown 22 touchdowns and zero interceptions. When he gets in the red zone, he does not turn the ball over. He knows what he's doing. He usually scores. He scores very often when he's in the red zone. The does not turn the ball over. He knows what he's doing. He usually scores. He scores very often when he's in the red zone.

The Colts can win, but they're going to have to, as you mentioned before, they're going to have to take advantage of that weak tight end secondary. The way to do that is to somehow get Luck protected or him move the pocket. Him use his athleticism. He is very deceptively athletic. I've seen him before.

I've seen him run. I've seen him run I don't know how many times. I've never expected him to look as fast as he does when he runs. If he can get some room on the ground to run himself and open up the pocket and just kind of keep clean, the Colts could absolutely win because the Titans...

I'm still not 100% sold on Titans' offense being as good as it has been. Like I said, they've just played some really bad teams. teams the colts defense is bad too so i think they can't have a good game but the colts are able to somehow turn like force some turnovers or just kind of get them out of their rhythm the colts can win they're just it's a matter of doing that we haven't seen the colts really do that to any team this year so that's why it's a low low confidence in that but it could happen but yeah it looks like the Titans should be the favorites to win this game. I don't want to say by a large margin,

but they should be the favorites by maybe a touchdown. Yeah, and I would agree with that as well. And, you know, the thing that kind of has me, especially when you look at the running game, the ability for Derrick Henry to be the physical guy up the middle and then loosen that defense up. And I don't think it would take much for this defense being depleted as they are for them to get DeMarco Murray, just like you said, just going crazy on this defense.

And that's, it's just a scary thing. You know, I hate to be negative, but I also pride myself in being objective as well. And I have, I just can't find a way that the Colts to win this game. And, in fact, I did a show yesterday that was more or less a keys to victory. And basically every single facet of the Colts offense, defense, special teams, everything has to have one of their best games of the season or they're going to get rocked. And it's just, like I said, I continually sit here and talk

and just shake my head because I can't believe where the Colts are at, both with their play and injuries at this point in the year when I thought that they were going to be getting healthy. You know, this brings about just a strange atmosphere when you put these two teams together. Now, I want to ask you one thing. Who's going to be the Titans' standout? Now, you mentioned DeMarco Murray in here, but if you were to go away from DeMarco Murray, who's the one guy that the Titans are going to have catch fire Sunday that the Colts are going to have to stop to have a chance in this one?

Well, I'm actually going to go on the opposite side of the ball. I'm not going to say offense. I'm going to say it's defense. And I'm going to say it's Arakpo. I think Arakpo, they have to stop him from causing disruption. I really, I just really like, I've always liked him as a player. And now he's with the Titans. I've been able to watch him a little bit more and see what he does.

He's just, he's just flourished in this Dick LeBeau defense, and he knows what he's doing. He's a smart guy, and he's very, very talented at what he does, too. So I really think the Colts are going to be successful on offense. They're going to have to stop a lot of the Titans' pass rushers, but he's going to be the kind of main one. You mentioned Casey being a Colt killer, but really a racked Colt. In my opinion, he's had such a good, strong season so far.

If I had to choose one on offense, it would be Delaney Walker. He didn't have a great game last week, but I really think he's due for a big game. Marcus Mario is a really good tight end. He's one of the best tight ends in the NFL right now. And the Colts, their pass defense in general isn't good. So I really think if they want to get the pass game going, I think Walker's going to catch a lot of balls in this one too. So those are two guys that if the Colts want to win,

they're going to have to key in on it and be careful. I mean, DeMarco Murray, as we said earlier, isn't the number one guy, but if I had to take him out of the equation, it would be Delaney Walker and Brian Arakpo on defense. Okay, so what is your prediction for the game then? My prediction? I got the Titans winning. They're going to get above. 500 for the first time this late this season in a

long time. I'm trying to think back when it was. It might have been 2012 or 11 possibly, but I'm winning not by a huge score, but I have them

winning about, I think, about 27-17 is what I got because I just think that the Colts are going to just, they're going to get stymied. I think I might

adjust a little bit and have them score a little more points because I don't think they're going to get stymied. I think I might adjust the bullpen and have them score a little more points because I don't think they're going to be, you know, just really, really bad on offense. But you said the injuries. Injuries can do a lot to the team. It's one thing if you have a couple of guys go down. I mean, they had a ton out.

And you mentioned they had 15 on the list and only a few of them actually practiced. I mean, it's just one thing when you have one or two guys go down. We have the kind of injuries they have. I mean, it can really, really affect a team. So I would be shocked if the Colts won this one. I wouldn't be shocked if they made it close, but I'd be pretty surprised if the Colts ended up getting the victory in this one.

I don't actually think you're too far off with your score, and the thing that makes me say that is if half the guys who have not been practicing this week so far aren't active and then you get a couple more injuries during the game, that could snowball in a game real quick, especially with a team that's as healthy and as physical, quite honestly, as the Titans have grown to be this year. Nathaniel, I appreciate you coming on, man.

You guys can catch Nathaniel on Twitter at MR underscore Rutherford. He covers the AFC South for today's pigskin. Nathaniel, thank you for dropping by, man. I appreciate it. Absolutely. Thanks for having me on. Really good time talking to Nathaniel there. He certainly knows his stuff on the Titans, and I think that it's hard to disagree.

I mean, I think you guys, you understand. You heard what we have to say. It doesn't look good for the Colts at all. You've heard me say it probably all week. It's just a scary week, guys. The Colts can either bounce back and make a game out of this, whether they win or lose, or they can fold. And if they fold, then I think that's a situation not only where they're going

to lose the locker room, or Pagano's going to lose the locker room you lose the locker room you've lost the season already um so and the guys that even the guys that are injured you know there's just there's so many who are injured but half of those guys aren't playing well or aren't very good uh in the in the meantime or they're just young or just whatever, you know, so it's kind of even if they do come back, what do they really offer the team, you know, at this point? So, well, without further ado, let's get to the Andrew Luck jersey giveaway. We had, I believe I counted 74 emails from you guys requesting to be entered into this giveaway. And I was going to do it a couple different ways, but I felt that that was kind of a tease since I've told you I was just going to draw it out of a hat, which I did. But I was going to maybe do a poll on Twitter or

something like that and get as many Colts fans and stuff to retweet or vote for who they wanted to win. I thought that was too much. So know, so I decided against that. But we did pick us a winner, and the winner is Paolo Ventura. Congratulations, man. I'll hit you up for your address, and I will send that out to you. He is from Connecticut, and let me read a little bit to you what he said on his email. He said, aside from the natural, of course, how much he loves the podcast, right? I mean, so he also said that he was excited about the Luck giveaway and that he lives in West Haven, Connecticut, and everyone there is either a Giants or a Patriots fan. He became a fan of the Great Colts at the beginning of the 06 season, and they happened to win that year. He says he's loved them ever since.

So he's been that much of a fan of Manning, Marvin Harrison, and now the Andrew Luck, and so on and so forth. So that's pretty cool. I'm always happy to have a Colts jersey end up in New England. Thank you all, though, for sending in your emails. I really appreciate it. I hope to be able to do more giveaways like this in New England. Thank you all though, for sending in your emails. I really appreciate it. I hope to be able to do more giveaways like this, uh, in the future. So to help that out, we got to get more listeners. We got to get more people on, on, uh, on board here. And you guys

have been doing a great job so far, but please take yourself to iTunes, give us a rating and review and, uh, and leave those, Believe me, five-star ratings make a ton of difference. I've told you before, it's a little strange how it makes so much of a difference, but it can really boost the listenership and turn this into an even bigger podcast than it is. So like I said, we have a really good following right now. I appreciate all of you. Uh, thank you again. Like I said, everybody who had, has had kind words and everything so far, it's much appreciated. Let's keep building this thing. We've got some great new show music. Like you guys have heard from Pat Murray and Webster street and Jason McKeever mixed it. You know, we're getting some

local buys and stuff here on, on the podcast. So things are, things are going great. And I appreciate all of you. You guys are all a part of this and I, and I appreciate it the podcast. So things are going great, and I appreciate all of you. You guys are all a part of this, and I appreciate it very much. So let's go and get ourselves ready for this weekend's game. Colts travel to Tennessee, and then next week we will start to talk about our game against the Chiefs, which I will be going to the game. So I hope that some of you guys are going to be going to. Maybe we can link up beforehand.

Thank you, everybody, for listening. That is it for the week. I will talk to you all on Monday right here on Locked on Colts. You are locked on Colts, your daily podcast on the Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Your team, every day.