Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -10/7- Arthur Arkush, of Locked on Bears, Gives the Scoop on Colts' Week 5 Opponent

Episode Date: October 7, 2016

Arthur Arkush, of Locked on #Bears, stops in to talk to Matt about the Bears defense, if Brian Hoyer will be under center and if he feels the Bears running game can make an impact on the #Colts front-seven Sunday in #LucasOilStadium Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Fearless is full of surprises. That's the power of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Federal Employee Program. Learn more about our healthy benefits and sign up at fepblue.org slash choose blue by December 11th. You are Locked On Colts, your daily podcast on the Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back to Locked On Colts, ladies and gentlemen. I am your host, Matt Damely. And today we are going to be speaking with Locked On Bears host Arthur Arkish about what we can expect to see from the group from the Windy City this Sunday. And this is such a pivotal game for the Colts.

The Colts really need this win. The Bears are in a similar situation. However, the Colts are going to be facing Brian Hoyer, who they've kind of notoriously not had great performances against. But the Colts are going to have to bring their defense. They're going to have to bring what they've got left out of their linebacking core. The secondary is going to have to cover. The front four are going to have to create some internal pressure,

and they're going to have to find some sort of a pass rush on the outside with the edge guys. Offensively, the Colts are going to have to really take it to this secondary, take it to this defense in general. They're going to have to find the run game. You know, all the things that we know that we as Colts fans are seeing every Sunday not come to fruition for the most part. These Colts really have to put out a solid performance this Sunday to get some of their confidence back. They need confidence in their coach. The coach needs confidence in the players and so on. It really is that pivotal of a week, I think, this early in the season when they've got such a favorable schedule the rest of the way heading into the bye. The Colts could be in good position. They could also, you know, have some lapses and end

up on the wrong side of 500 before their week 10 buy. And without further ado, let's talk to Arthur. With me today is Arthur Arkish. He is the senior editor at Pro Football Weekly. He is also the host of Locked On Bears. Arthur, how you doing, man? Excellent, Matt. Thanks for having me on the show. How's it going? Great.

Thanks for coming on. Glad to talk a little bit of Bears and Colts and see what we're headed to this weekend. I think people outside of our two fan bases probably are thinking I'm not watching that game. For the most part, I think you and I are pretty excited to see what each of our teams can pull out. Yeah, no doubt. A Super Bowl rematch. There's enough allure right there, even if it wasn't a great Super Bowl. And it's been quite a few years now. But yeah, we're looking forward to it. Two teams that, I think, as you said, are pretty desperate at this point to get on track. Super Bowl rematch. That sounds so good, too. That sounds good, man. That's almost like it makes me even more excited about the game. Now I got to realize what we're getting ourselves into. Uh, so Arthur is on the show with

me today. We're going to talk a little bit of Colts and bears. Uh, we're going to get his point of view on what's going on there in Chicago, kind of a, a look, see at, uh, where they're headed, how desperate they are. Uh, just as we, as we as Colts fans are desperate to get their record in order, our record in order, I should say. And here we go. Arthur, first of all, I want to know if Jay Cutler is going to play this weekend. Yeah, it's not looking like it. Jay did not practice again Thursday.

He actually was a limited participant last Wednesday. Coming off the thumb injury, he has some, I don't think they're torn, but some strained ligaments in his right thumb. So after being limited a week ago or eight days ago now, he has not practiced since. And over that time span, John Fox has resisted or has refused, I guess is a better way to put it, two opportunities to say that Cutler is still his guy.

So this week Fox said that it's a performance-based business and we're not really inclined to replace someone who is playing well. Certainly Brian Hoyer is. Back-to-back 300-yard passing days and led the Bears to their first victory Sunday against Detroit. And Fox saying that was on the heels of last week, him stopping short of saying that it's a given that Jay gets his job back. So John Fox and Ryan Pace have inherited this quarterback. He was a leftover from the Phil Emery regime.

And quite frankly, they are treating him as such at this point. Yeah, that's, you know, they had this win. Oh, who was it? A couple couple years ago when they had uh oh mccown yep uh was there it was kind of the same situation a lot of fans i think and i think a lot of casual observers outside of the bears fan base were kind of rooting for for him to hold on to that starting position and then you know you saw that that didn't exactly occur. But what are your personal thoughts on that? Do you think that, you know, Cutler is the obvious better play here? Or, you know, is he not?

I mean, is there a certain way you see the offense moving better without him in the lineup or anything? Yeah, I mean, the Bears offense under Dowell Loggins, first year offensive coordinator, undoubtedly had its best performance this past Sunday against the Lions, a really bad defense, we have to add. But you saw the starting, you saw the offense begin to evolve. There was a lot better game plan from Loggins. There was a lot more rollout passes that allowed Brian Hoyer to use his athleticism a little bit, but beyond that, kind of protect an offensive line that had been struggling previously. And the only reason that that was able to be successful, I have to admit, is because Jordan Howard, in his first NFL start, went pretty much crazy.

He had the best Bears debut as a starting running back since Matt Forte. Looks like the real deal. You guys are probably familiar. Jordan Howard, of course, from Indiana. So it looks really good with him running the show. But as far as my personal opinion on the matter, I'm certainly not one who thinks that Brian Hoyer is a better quarterback than Jay Cutler. You look at the physical traits and frankly, track record and i still think it favors cutler but you have to look you have to take a big picture view here because there's no money guaranteed money left on cutler's deal as i just mentioned he is not john fox and ryan pace's guy and obviously he's a huge lightning rod i think is a fair comparison you made to josh mccown in 2013

interestingly that was the last quarterback to throw for 300 yards in back to back games. Not Jay Cutler, but the last guy who was kind of nipping at his heels. And that was Josh McCown a couple of years ago. That's crazy. Now, now within this offense here, you guys have a couple running backs and plenty of playmakers actually that are on this injury report here that don't look like they could be playing. I mean, you've got Eddie Royal, Lankford, and who's going to – Kadeem Carey as well. I mean, he's limited or was limited the past couple days.

But where do they stand in the backfield there? Who is going to take the majority of those snaps this weekend outside of Jordan Howard? Yeah, I think it's likely to – that's a good question. I don't know whether it's going to be Joyke Bell, who is was just signed last week because of Kadeem Carey's hamstring injury, or if Carey can make his way back into the fold, I'd imagine he would kind of leapfrog Joyke Bell. But the bottom line is after again, Jordan Howard got 23 carries last week for 111 yards. I'm doing that from memory, but I'm pretty sure that's right.

Regardless, the fact of the matter is that this is a guy who gets better as the game wears on, as he works up a little bit of a lather. He wore down the Lions defense, and I think the game plan is going to be that the Bears hope he's going to do the same thing to the Colts again. So, you know, maybe as a changeup, it'll be either Joyke Bell or Kadeem Carey. But more than anything, I would expect a very heavy dose of Jordan Howard. And he was a load last week. He's a powerful runner with surprising quickness and showed some really good instincts last week. And I know he has Bears fans very, very excited after turning the page on Matt Forte this offseason.

Oh, I would assume that he does. I think that a lot, even, you know, with him being a local guy, at least in college, there were plenty of Colts fans that were kind of eyeballing him and raising their eyebrows thinking he may be a good idea to bring him in to Indianapolis. You know, I think that there were some minor injury concerns, but you know what, those only go as far as, you know, what actually caused the injury, not so much that he was injury prone or anything like that. And then people get ahead of themselves and so on. But I mean, he's a heck of a runner and he's got enough power and speed to really kind of take that job and own it.

You know, what about their defense the Bears defense now now as bad as the offense has been thus far the defense on the other hand you know isn't getting any pub for sure but they've definitely played better than I think what they've been expecting or not so much that what people have expected but it's just not something that people understand at the moment they're somewhere around the middle of the pack in almost all of the categories here. How are they maintaining that with such an anemic offense at this point? Yeah, it's a good question, Matt. I would say that the Bears defense has been solid in three of their four games. They were terrible in Dallas, but with the exception of that, they've stood pretty tall. And it starts with coaching Vic Fangio is absolutely one of the better coordinators in the NFL he had a great game plan last week against a

a really hot Lions offense with Matthew Stafford and just uh just totally rendered Stafford pretty much useless and what was interesting is he did it without a pass rush so that's uh you mentioned that the Bears are you know they're pretty middle of the road in a lot of categories but the one that troubles me for Sunday uh of the road in a lot of categories, but the one that troubles me for Sunday is the lack of pass rush. Again, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I think they have six or seven sacks as a team on the season, and it hasn't been good enough.

The pressure hasn't been consistent, but they have been pretty good defending the run. They have the two new inside linebackers, at least one of them, and of course Jarrell Freeman, who has been, I think, the Bears' best defensive player through the first quarter of the season. We'll see if they get Danny Trevathan back. He's missed the past two games with a thumb injury. But then it's been kind of smoke and mirrors, actually. I mean, they've got some young corners who are really playing over their heads right now, and guys like Jacoby Glenn and the rookie DeAndre Hall. They're super excited about second-year player Bryce Callahan, who actually made his first start on the perimeter last week.

He was just a nickel corner last season, but they view him as kind of taking the next step. So there's decent pieces throughout all being well-coached, but again, I can't stress enough the lack of pass rush and why I think that is probably the biggest storyline for the Bears heading into Lucas Oil Stadium Sunday. They're two best pass rushers in Pernell McPhee, who remains on the pup list, and Lamar Houston, who's on injured reserve.

And then the ninth overall pick, Leonard Floyd, was a no-go at practice for the second straight day with a calf injury that prevented him from finishing last week. Yeah, and that's good for the Colts because their offensive line seems to be going through a pretty sizable rough patch right now. Additionally, they're 10th in yards allowed per game, and they're allowing a little more points than that. I think they're somewhere around 20th in the league.

But they seem to have found some sort of a middle road there I mean granted you know at the moment pretty much anybody you talk to is going to say that they're awful but when it comes down to it they've got some pieces that could win some games for them in a couple different situations where where's the strong point in this Bears roster and I won't even go offense or defense just in general, what's the strong point of this team? Yeah, you know, that's a good question. It's a team that's kind of struggling to find its identity a little bit, at least until last week. But I think when healthy, the strong point has to be those inside linebackers. They're both new, and that speaks

to the job Ryan Pace did upgrading that position this offseason, but it also speaks to what an absolute train wreck it was last year with Shane McClellan and Christian Jones. So if Freeman and Trevathan are both themselves in the middle, I think that's where your strong point is. Defensively, they thought that outside linebacker could be a strength after spending the ninth pick on Floyd and getting McPhee back, but again, we haven't seen McPhee on the field yet. So that's defensively offensively. I think the interior of the of the line with the prayer

Pro Bowl guards and Josh Sitton and Kyle Long flanked around a rookie center that they're very excited about in Cody Whitehair. I think that's your strength right there. And then, you know, Jordan Howard, I think that there is there's something there and it's going to be a lot of fun to see if he can build on on his performance, his debut start against what I think that there's something there, and it's going to be a lot of fun to see if he can build on his performance, his debut start against what I think most would consider to be a pretty vulnerable Colts run defense this week. You tell me if I'm wrong. They've been so inconsistent.

It's really hard to say whether they are or not, to be quite honest with you. They've played well in the first few games. They've allowed some big chunks of yards in a few games at a time. But they've also done really good. Like when the Chargers came into town, they pretty much stopped the running game cold. But they couldn't stop anything,

and they couldn't tackle anybody in a large part of the other games. So, I mean, it's really hard to tell. I think that might have been their good point. you know it's like oh we had a good game you know and then and then the rest of them are made possibly their uh you know their uh their waters level you know what i mean so to speak so it's uh it's hard to tell right now but is there is there legit concerns in your opinion from fans i I want to ask about the coaches or anything, because you know, the coaches will tell you just about whatever they want to hear or whatever

they think they would want to hear as a player, but where is this secondary and how can they, or can they stop this Colts offense with Andrew Luck and some of the weapons that he still has available to him? Yeah. I mean, I think it's going to be tough without a pass rush as we discussed. But I would anticipate if Tracy Porter's healthy and it looks like he did return in a limited basis. He missed the second half last week with a knee injury.

That's what allowed Jacoby Glenn, second year player out of Central Florida, to get in the game. And that's what allowed DeAndre Hall, the rookie out of Northern Iowa, the fifth rounder, to get in the game as well. So if Porter's healthy, I would anticipate it'll be him at left corner. It'll be Bryce Callahan at right corner. And then they've got this rookie, this undrafted rookie that they claimed off waivers from the Patriots. And I'm going to screw up his name. I believe it's Crevan LeBlanc. He just made his first start at the nickel last week.

And he didn't really show up a ton, which I think is okay for a rookie making his first start at the nickel last week, and he didn't really show up a ton, which I think is okay for a rookie making his first start on the nickel. But again, that's my concern, and it gets back to the pass rush. I know all about the speed of T.Y. Hilton and Philip Dorsett. Dwayne Allen, a good player, although I don't know that he's been utilized enough or as consistently as the Colts need yet. So I have some concerns about that. I don't think that the Bears have great speed at the cornerback position, and they're nothing if not unproven at safety, that last line of defense with Adrian Amos and Harold Jones-Corte.

So if Andrew Luck has time to throw, I know he hasn't of late, but if he does, I think that that's going to potentially spell trouble for a secondary that's actually been playing pretty well. Is there something that you think with Jarrell Freeman there that he's going to be able to get this team ready to play against Andrew Luck? He knows a lot of his tendencies. They saw each other every day in practice. They saw each other for a few years here in Indianapolis. Is there a benefit to that, or is it just pretty much between the two of them captaining their respective units that they're just going to have to fight it out

and see what happens? Yeah, I think it's probably the latter. You know, Jarrell Freeman, really, I can't say enough about the contributions he's made to the bears and i said this actually on the colts station today on a radio hit i'm not trying to twist the knife into colts fans back i promise i know that uh many of them probably loathe ryan griggs's decision to let freeman move on but um when it comes to him getting a leg up on andrew luck i don't think i'd go that far because I think Luck is such a unique talent. And I don't really think that, you know, I'm sure he does have some

tendencies and whatnot, but I don't think it's going to lead to a big advantage that they played together for a couple of years. At the end of the day, the Bears are well coached and I think they are going to be ready to play. I just don't know whether they're going to have the defensive ammunition that they need two weeks in a row after, like I said, really neutralizing a good offense last week. So Freeman didn't take the bait this week in the Bears locker room. He was asked repeatedly whether he's going to have some extra juice, some extra adrenaline for this one because of the way things ended at Indianapolis.

And as I'm sure you know, he's's a class act and he wasn't going there. Um, but he did say, uh, you know, he's a tenacious player for 16 games every year. So, uh, I would anticipate that, but I wouldn't anticipate him to kind of, uh, get out over his skis just cause he's playing his former team or anything like that. Yeah, you're right. He, he is a, he's, he was always's always a class act uh we do desperately miss him uh especially with our inside linebacker situation you know i think we might even if we had a solid inside linebacking core but we don't and that's what makes it even more of a smack in the face i think to uh not only colts fans but the city in general uh because they you know he was really a focal point in this defense for a long

time they've done it a couple times now once with him and once with Antoine Bethea now I was one on the side that Bethea was regressing quite a bit and he had another good year in San Francisco but he hasn't done much since but on the other hand Darrell Freeman's not that kind of guy he just I never saw his as any sort of a regression. It was constantly the guys who kind of surrounded him. He had to bulk them up, which would take maybe a little bit out of his coverage game a little bit at times, but most of the time he was getting people in better positions than they would have been if he wasn't on the field with them. So we do desperately miss him, I think. We'll stop with our – we'll end with this one.

And I'm curious not only what you think the end result will be after this game, but do you see any backlash for either team? For both starting so slow this year, the losing team, whoever doesn't come out of this, are they going to have severe backlash with their coaching staff and ownership? No, I don't. Well, A, I'll just give you the prediction. I think the Colts are going to win.

I really think they're desperate, and I think this is a game where Andrew Luck picks his teammates up off the mat and just comes up huge. The score I have, and I will say I'm forced to make my prediction for the first time each week on Sunday night, hours after the game's end. So I stick with that prediction. It might fluctuate a little bit, but I'm going to say 27-22, the Colts win. But I don't think there's going to be any backlash for this Bears staff because there was realistic expectations going in here that this is a rebuild, that the Bears are not a playoff team. And I think they do have a little bit longer leash. John Fox and Ryan Pace do uh now if

they come back and lose to the Jaguars at home the following week uh you know I don't think anyone's losing their jobs or anything but uh then maybe Bears fans are going to start panicking again uh but as it is now I think this is a pretty tough spot uh for the Bears really for both teams with the Colts coming off the London trip and and whatnot but I think that there may be a little bit more desperate and uh i just don't know that the bears are going to have the pass rush to stop andrew luck yeah i hope not although uh teams who don't have pass rush seem to find one when they play against us for some reason it's pretty remarkable yeah maybe it's three rookie offensive linemen might be part of the reason right yeah it has a little something to do with it i think that they're going to be healthy for the most part,

Denzel Good and Joe Reitz, but you just don't know until you actually see them on the field and start to play. Arthur, thank you for joining me tonight, man. I greatly appreciate it. Great insight. And where can everybody catch you on Twitter? Yeah, look

me up on Twitter at Arthur Arkish. You can also find my work at Pro football weekly.com and at USA today, sports weekly. And Matt, the pleasure is all mine. I'm looking forward to calling you back here momentarily and we'll knock out, knock out the lockdown bears cross doc.

Let's do it. Let's get, let's get these back to back here and get them out of the way. Colts fans. We are all set for this Sunday's matchup in Lucas Oil Stadium. Do not forget to subscribe to the Locked on Colts podcast. Give it a five-star review on iTunes and give a short review and tell me what you guys think about the show. As always, I appreciate you guys listening. You guys have been great sharing the show, being part of the conversation, talking with me on all social media

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