Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -10/26- Indianapolis Colts Week 8 Enemy POV With The Locked On Chiefs Crew

Episode Date: October 26, 2016

Ryan Tracy and Chris Clark of Locked on #Chiefs join Matt to give the enemy's point of view of this Week 8 matchup as the #IndianapolisColts attempt to get to .500 for the first time this season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Learn more about our healthy benefits at fepblue.org slash getmore. No, I'm not for sale. You are lockeded 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 with the guys from Locked On Chiefs. We are here with Ryan Tracy and Chris Clark of Locked On Chiefs. Fellas, how you doing? Hanging in.

Doing great. Thanks for having us. Absolutely. Good to have you guys on here. Now, let's get this thing squared away real quick. I'm going to the game this weekend, so I get to watch Al Smith get sacked several times in Lucas Oil Stadium. Is that right?

Probably not. I think you guys know the Colts as well as I do. Well, I wouldn't bet on it just because of the way that the line's been playing the past couple games. Oh, see, see. Now, let's talk about that since we've always, the conversation around Indianapolis or around the Colts in general is about our line. So let's talk about your guys' line.

What are you guys seeing with your offensive line that may lead you guys down the road that maybe there's a possibility there could be some leaks? Ryan, we'll start with you, my guy. Well, you know, really the guard positions at both sides are young kind of journeymen. A new draft pick, Parker Einker, over on the left side and a Canadian, uh,

Laurent Duvernay Tardif, uh, third year player. That's really been a bit slow to progress, but they're starting to gel. Yeah. You got to stop you. Tell me that name again.

That was phenomenal. Laurent Duvernay Tardif. He's from Quebec. I believe. I love that guy's name. If he wasn't playing the Colts this week, I swear I'd be rooting for him because that is the most phenomenal name I've ever heard. Well, here's the best part. The team calls him Doc Larry. That's smart. You don't want to have to try to repeat that, man.

I mean, who's going to try and call that guy by name every time they call him out? Right, right. And the interesting thing about him is he's in the offseason. He's still in medical school pursuing his degree as a physician. Nice. He's a multifaceted fellow. Right. Hey, I can dig that. So I did mean to, but let's forget the fact that I interrupted you there. Tell me about the rest of the line.

You know, they've got a couple of solid tackles. Eric Fisher's been a little slow to develop since he was the number one overall pick, but he's really made some strides in the last nine months. Especially there's a play against the Houston Texans last year that everybody kind of remembers where he ended up with J.J. Watt in the dirt, and it kind of was a turning point for him. He's built his strength. He's actually playing very, very well so far this season. And they were able to sign probably the steel of free agency, in my opinion, in the young Schwartz Mitchell coming over from Cleveland over on the right tackle position. So both the tackles are athletic.

They're both probably a little bit underpowered, but have very solid technique. I think what you're going to see is if the Colts are going to make some hay, it's going to be on the interior of the line, where they also have a fairly young second-year player in Mitch Morse at center. He's a stud, though. Yeah, and he's got the hairline of a 40-year-old, so hefter than he looks right up my aisle. Then I like him already. So, uh, Chris, let me, let me talk to you a little bit about your guys' defense just in general. Now, where's

this team now? Now I was talking on the podcast the other day about how a lot of this Kansas city, not the, not necessarily the makeup of the roster, but the way the team's coached, the way they play, offensive and defensive, they are very similar as years past. Am I right or am I wrong in that thought process? You mean in the Andy Reid years? Yeah, just kind of the way they approach each game, the way they play each game. They've got the same keys on each play as far as what they want to do to wear a team down. They don't stray a whole lot from their game plan. No, and I would agree with that. I think that what you're seeing is they are changing things a little bit this year.

I think they have a better supporting cast for Alex Smith. He's able to move the ball around a little bit more. They have better wide receivers. They have better tight ends and they have a better offensive line, which actually helps him, you know, look down the field a little bit more and get the running game going as well. So I do think that that is correct. You know, Andy Reed's still pretty much calling the game the same way he has in the past, but you might see a couple more downfield passes from Alex Smith because of his supporting cast. Tell me a little bit more about those guys well you have a wide receiver you have a second year wide receiver and chris conley who is their number two wide

receiver right now and while he doesn't have great stats what doesn't show up in the stat sheet very much is the clutch catches that he's had. And he had two, in the past two weeks, he's had two phenomenal catches on the sideline where he went up and had a corner draped all over him and got both feet in and caught the ball and kept it all the way to the ground with the corner trying to pull the ball out and just really had really strong hands and looked phenomenal. He is somebody that is developing his route running, and I think he's going to be a bigger threat down the stretch for Kansas City. And then you have a guy in Tyreek Hill who is a running back in college that is now a wide receiver that has speed that will beat just

about anybody in the NFL down the field and he is going to be a legitimate deep threat you saw that against New Orleans where Alex Smith took I think a three-step drop and threw the ball 40 yards down the field and Hill was under it and caught a touchdown and adjusted for the ball really well which was impressive as well how is Smith using Kelsey and Macklin this year? Honestly, Kelsey and Macklin, I'm not going to say they're being forgot about. In large swaths of the game, you could say that they're being forgot about, but I think it's more of Alex Smith is starting to spread the ball around a lot more because he's got more weapons at wide receiver and tight end,

and he's got a running back in Spencer Ware who's phenomenal out of the backfield so you're not seeing Macklin and Kelsey get as many catches as they did in the past couple years but I think that's going to start to change because I think defenses are going to start having to respect those other guys a little bit more which will get Macklin and Kelsey more wide open Ryan tell me about the the secondary uh there in Kansas City now they've got uh you know the uh Gaines also is getting some time in there but obviously uh you guys also have Marcus Peters back there and you know Barry uh this secondary is not to be messed with is this this something that you think, is this secondary licking their chops coming into Lucas Oil Stadium to face Andrew Luck?

Or do you think that they're maybe trying to alter their design a little bit to try to confuse him? You know, they're not much for confusion. They line up their corners pretty much on the same side all the time. You're not going to see Marcus Peters follow anybody across the field or anything like that.

They are confident in what they do. The key about especially, you know, you have two experienced safeties that play their roles very well in Eric Berry and Ron Parker. And Parker's a very underrated free safety. He maybe made the play of the game against the Saints last week, punching out a ball that ended up in a formal recovery and killed an important Saints drive. He's clutch. He makes plays when they need them. But when you look at the secondary overall, their corners are very

young. And Peters is an exemplary player, but he's still young. And he has physical limitations as well. And I think what the Colts are going to try to do if they've seen the same scouting film that I have is that all the Chiefs young corners and they are all young, even Gaines, who may not be available for this game. And unfortunately, he has the most long speed. You're going to see guys that are comfortable playing man coverage. They're comfortable being physical, but they may not have that long speed across the board. And I think that's something that scheme-wise is going to have to be dealt with from the Chiefs side to try and limit the physical speed that the Colts receiving core has.

What now? And Chris, I'll go back to you on this one there's a guy named spencer where in your backfield and uh you guys know him we know him uh i've got him on my fantasy team so this is an awkward uh conversation right here but uh how do you guys think that or how do you think that he's that reed is going to use him? Like you said, they're not much for confusion. So Ware is going to do his thing. He's going to get his carries and he's going to get his targets out of the backfield. But is there anything that you think that they're going to specifically try to do with him,

with Jamal Charles, in my opinion? Assumingly, he's not going to get a whole lot of touches. I wouldn't assume this week still. He may get some, but not a ton. That they're going to use him as the bell cow, I guess I can use that as a secondary question as well. Do you think Charles will get maybe 10 carries this week or less? If I'm Andy Reid and Charles is having any swelling in his knee at all whatsoever, I don't even play him against the Colts. Yeah.

And I, you know, we talked about this on the lockdown chiefs podcast. I am of the opinion that they don't even play him against the Jack wires. If he's still having swelling in his knees, I just don't think they need him right now. And that's not saying that he's not a good player. It's just saying that Spencer,

where is playing well enough to where you don't have to force your best offensive player to come back earlier than he has to or earlier than he needs to to be healthy for the stretch run. I do think that you're going to see Spencer Ware run the ball and run the ball often. I also think that you're going to see Spencer Ware attack the Colts linebackers in pass routes. And that also might be something that you see a lot of, you know, tight end type routes as well with Kelsey and Demetrius Harris really going after the linebackers. So I think that's how Kansas City is going to attack with Spencer Ware. Now I'm curious, when they have a running back in the backfield

and they go five wide, whether they line a guy initially up in the backfield or not, when they go five wide, who's typically the running back on the field? That's the best thing about him. In years past, you'd think it was just Mel Charles. But Ware's doing it just as much, and he has been very, very effective lining up wide

and getting himself in space with the reception. They also have a third back in Sharkandrick West who is a very capable pass catcher as well. Really, any of them can run that offense out of an empty backfield as well. Yeah, they've got a ton of weapons. Last year, they were very back and forth between those two, if I'm not mistaken. This year, Ware seems to be getting uh the lion's share of not only the carries but the yardage and the success uh but this is a this is an extremely dangerous chiefs team uh the colts are however in the past three and oh against them, 45-44. Whatever. And it just... Is this thing still working?

Yeah. I have to wonder if... Naturally, there's nothing internal that makes the Chiefs not think that they can play against an Andrew Luck-led offense. But what do they do to stop this Colts offense? Now, they do have some playmakers that are sidelined at the time, obviously, with Dwayne Allen. Moncrief may or may not come back this week. They're talking about getting him in practice, but let's say those two aren't in the

game at all. What do the Chiefs do to stop the Colts this week on offense? Well, I think what you're going to see is a lot of what they did against New Orleans. And I think Andrew Luck is a phenomenal quarterback, but I'm sorry, I would still take Drew Brees over Andrew Luck if we're talking about just this year. Blasphemy. You can say that all you still take Drew Brees over Andrew Luck if we're talking about just this year. Blasphemy. You can say that all you want. Drew Brees is a phenomenal quarterback, and I'm not talking long-term. I'm not talking long-term.

I'm talking about just this year. But I think where I'm going with that is that you're going to see Kansas City basically drop more back- in coverage and give Andrew Luck looks where he's got, you know, six, seven, maybe even eight guys back in coverage and use a couple of rushers or use a couple of defensive linemen that are going to try to stuff the run and then use DJ to try to stuff the run and use somebody like Sorensen up close to the line who can come in and help stop the run and maybe even Eric Berry. And that's what you're going to see is you're going to see a much, you're going to see the nickel used a lot more as I think how they're going to attack the Colts offense.

And Ryan, I'll go to the opposite side of the ball for you. What can the Colt, where, where are the, uh, aside from using where, uh, against the linebackers and, uh, probably Kelsey as well or any of the tight ends that they've got, what's the biggest point of contention for that offense to taking a look at the Indianapolis Colts defense, do you think? Well, they've shown a trend in the last two weeks, and I think it continues here,

that they're going to use the play-action fakes to try and generate separation in the passing game. They've had some success, especially with the speed of Tariq Hill going deep. Jeremy Macklin is a consummate pro, and he's going to get separation. He's going to make catches. I think what they're going to look to do is really try to get across the middle a little bit more and use some of their secondary receivers like Chris Conley, like an Albert Wilson, try to run some deep crossers and that kind of thing and find some space for Travis Kelsey down the middle in the seams. That's my guess, and I think the run game,

if they can establish it like they had the last two weeks, which is probably their plan, is really what's going to be the determining factor if they can open that up. Yeah, that running game could be extremely detrimental. So I'm going to go to, well, you know what? We'll just go to Chris first. Chris, give me your prediction for this game. I think Kansas City wins. I think Kansas City is going to end up putting up somewhere between 24, maybe 30 points, depending on the type of game it is and if

it's close the entire game or if they get up early. I think Kansas City wins 24 to 30 points and Colts get 21. 21. Alright, Ryan. Your turn, my man. We're pretty close on that one. Andrew Luck

gets his and I have a 24-20 Chiefs. Was that what I, and I have a 24-20 Chiefs. Was that what I said on your guys' 24-20? No? I think so, yeah. You just flipped it. You had the wrong team, buddy. I had the Colts taking that one, didn't I?

Yeah. I'll tell you, I'll be honest with you. I really fought with myself about this one because I try to be as legit as possible on these predictions or anything that I am trying to be as legit as possible on these predictions or anything that I am trying to be objective about it. But like I said, with luck playing at an MVP level at this time, I had to go with the Colts this time. And like I said, history repeats itself. So you just never know with an Andy Reid team if he's going to be able to close the door on a team and play with his competition or if he's going to be able to scoot forward and go ahead.

So, Ryan, Chris, thank you both for hanging out with me on Locked on Colts today. Really appreciate your guys' time. And even though I don't mean it, good luck this weekend. Thanks for having me. Really like to thank Ryan and Chris for coming on the show tonight. Should be an interesting battle this week. The Colts could just as easily win as they do lose. It could be a touchdown. It could be a field goal. It could be just about anything. But I expect a close one. I think that you guys too, just as what the Colts have done

the first seven weeks of the season. But it's going to be a great game, and I'm excited to see it. I'm excited to be there. I'm excited to see some of you guys if you guys show up. Also, again, I can't express to you guys enough how grateful I am for you guys sharing the show, your kind words on email, any of the platforms you guys are getting a hold of me on. It's really impressive, and I really appreciate it. I will also employ you to subscribe to the show on iTunes

or any podcast platform that you guys use, whichever it is. I think there's a thumbs up on Stitcher. I don't know what that does, but use it if you like the show. I appreciate you guys very much, and I really enjoy talking to you guys every uh, very much. And, uh, I really enjoy talking to you guys every day here on locked on Colts. And, um, and we'll come back with another show for you tomorrow. And I will talk to you all on Thursday, 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.