Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 10/8/19: Colts stun Chiefs behind new identity

Episode Date: October 9, 2019

On today's episode, George Bremer of The Herald Bulletin is back to help go over the Colts' biggest win in the Frank Reich era. Following a 19-13 stunner in Kansas City, how does the season outlook change for this team? Bremer was there at Arrowhead Stadium for coverage, so he has plenty of takeaways.Run the damn ball is truly a staple diet of the Colts' identity. After 97 rushing yards in the second half, 180 total, Indianapolis is embracing smash mouth football at the perfect time. It's the recipe that was needed in order to defeat KC's high-powered offense led by Patrick Mahomes.Kudos to Colts DC Matt Eberflus, too. After criticism reached an all-time high, Eberflus responded by playing more man coverage than ever to beautiful results. The rookies on that side of the ball -- Khari Willis, Bobby Okereke, Rock Ya-Sin -- all had great outings simultaneously for the first time.After diving deep into the amazing win for the Colts, we look ahead to the next few weeks. The Texans game after the bye is setting up to be the most important game of the season. If Indianapolis can pull off the win and move to 4-2, there's a real shot of starting 8-2 with the soft schedule afterwards.Get hyped, Colts fans! This is by far the biggest win of the last few years! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, everybody. Welcome back into Locked on Colts, probably Locked on Podcast Network. Today, as always, we have our host, Evan Setter, and we have our weekly guest, George Brimmer, the Herald Bulletin. How are you doing today, George? Good. How are you? Doing good. And I know you were actually there covering the game on Sunday

for a truly stunning Colts win. 19-13 was the final score over the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs, who are not that any longer. The Colts now 3-2 on the season. We were talking about off the air, George. I feel like that was as much of a statement as you can make. That kind of a statement was because you were shorthanded so badly defensively and you held Patrick Mahomes to 13 points.

Yeah, it's honestly one of the most unlikely victories that I've covered for this team. And I've been around the team off and on since 2010 and full-time since 2012. And I can't remember seeing anything like this. And when you consider the personnel issues, the quality of the opponent, the venue of the game, it was really just an incredible all-around performance,

an incredible night over there, great atm as it always is in Kansas City. And just, you know, I thought all aspects of the team really did what they would plan to do. You know, they executed the game plan exactly as it was drawn up. You saw the defense be a lot more aggressive, get up, play press coverage, get up and be physical with those Chiefs receivers instead of letting them have a free release and run through the defense. The offensive line was obviously physical and dominant, even as good as they've been in the last year and a half or so. I don't think we've seen a performance quite like

that from them. And then Marlon Mack, I thought, did a great job of finishing off those runs, finding the holes, and just continuing to milk that clock and punish the Kansas City defense. One of those days where it's hard to say a lot bad about the team. Yeah, you can certainly say that again, George, because the Colts finished with 180 yards rushing. They had 100 almost in the second half there 97 total yards in the second half there really just played keep away from the Chiefs Chiefs offense at some points of that game George but what can you say just about the rushing attack from Sunday with 45 carries specifically because that's just an emphasis on the run to the umpteenth degree there and kind of showing the mantra there, run the damn ball.

It's really showing through there, and it's a team that's really buying into that concept. Yeah, you know, we can't say that we weren't warned, I guess, about this. You know, Frank Reich talked about it as far back as, what, March, I think? Certainly April when OTA started, but I think he might have mentioned it at the Combine in February. Honestly, they want to be a top-five rushing offense. They want that to be something this team is known for.

They feel like, and rightfully so, that the offensive line is one of the strengths of this team. They want to take great use of that. And I think that they went out there and they accomplished that in a way that's really unique on Sunday. I mean, we know that the Chiefs have struggled with run defense. That's not new. That's been well known.

It's one of the few Achilles heels that that team has. But the Colts were not able to do this in January, and I think that's part of what was such a disappointment that day. I mean, the game that you saw Sunday night, I think that's the game they thought they were going to play last year in the snow out there in the AFC divisional playoffs. So they'd be able to go out and impose their will and run the ball down the Chiefs' throats, control the clock, and win that way. And they weren't able to do it, which makes it all the more surprising that they're able to come back, know months later uh with a beat-up roster coming off probably one of the

worst defensive performances they've had under matt eberflus against the raiders and and go out there and play the way they did sunday and it took you know the run game deserves a lot of the credit obviously the 180 yards uh the the time that they took off the clock. I think they had 37 minutes, 15 seconds in possession, and they lost the time in possession by 30 seconds in the first half. So that should tell you something about the way the second half went in controlling that game clock. But you've got to give the defense just as much credit.

I think it was a great job on both sides of playing complimentary football and doing the things that they set out to do to limit the Chiefs. I think what really stood out to me as well last night, George, I know it doesn't stand on the box score course, and you could arguably say it was his worst game he's played so far as a starting quarterback for the Colts, but you were there in Arrowhead. What was the atmosphere like? And to say Jacoby Brississett I thought he handled the atmosphere there pretty darn well yeah the atmosphere was incredible I mean I've

been there twice now and it's one of the more imposing stadiums uh just the way it's set up it feels like the fans are right on top of the field. And they, you know, obviously they've been the loudest crowd. I think they still have that record for, you know, decibels over there. And it was, you know, it was a night game. They were there. I got to the stadium about 3.30 and the parking lot was already full. They were there all day, literally, tailgating and getting ready for that game. And you could tell, you know, when it started, they were loud. They were there all day, literally, tailgating and getting ready for that game. And you could tell, you know, when it started, they were loud.

They were roaring. It was a chance for them to be on prime time and show off their magnificent quarterback and, you know, the high expectations they have over there. It was an extremely hostile environment. And, yeah, I agree. I think Jacoby Brissett did a good job of keeping things together and making sure that everybody knew what the play call was.

And you didn't see false start problems. You didn't see snap issues. You didn't see guys – you know, you didn't see him making fakes to air, things that tell you that maybe a play went awry. You didn't see a lot of that. And that definitely has to go down to the quarterback and his ability to control the offense. I think afterwards, Anthony Walker even said he felt like Jacoby

was in complete control out there, and that was a big part of why they won the game. Do you feel like, George, maybe – I mean, obviously it's a small sample started now and we still have a lot of time to really discover if Jacobi reset the long-term answer for the Colts. But through what you've seen so far, I think the best trait that maybe is in his favor long-term, if Chris Bauer and Frank Rick decide he is the long-term answer for this team at quarterback, is that composure.

Yeah, I think that – and I think part of that comes from his competitive nature. You know, I think that's the biggest thing to me about Jacoby. He's one of these guys that just will fight for 60 minutes every game, no matter what. Even the Oakland game, as bad as things went, he's out there in the fourth quarter, even after he throws the interception that seals the deal, you know, driving down and hitting Eric Ebron for a touchdown.

And those things don't matter in terms of wins and losses that day, but I think they do matter within the organization. Your teammates see that. Your coaches see that. Your owner sees that. And they understand, you know, this is a guy, not that anybody's going to quit in the nfl you're not going to stay in the league very long if you have that mentality but

this is a guy even in a league where you know competitors are the norm and and being tough and being physical is is a way of life he he manages to stand out to me that's his biggest attribute this is a fighter. This is a supreme competitor, and I think it wears off on the guys around him. Another player we should add on, George, that had a really big game, Marlon Mack. I know a lot can be said for good reason about the offensive line, how they really opened up those holes for Mack on Sunday, but some of those runs that Mack made, 29 carries for 132 yards, 4.6 yards per carry. This is kind of Marlon Mack's breakout game, so to say, on the national scene, George,

because we've kind of all known that Mack was a top 15, top 10 running back. But on that kind of stage against that Chiefs defense, he really just sliced them up and kind of showed that he's here to stay. Yeah, absolutely. He had a magnificent game. And yeah, the offensive line did a great job and deserves all the credit that it gets but you're right you know some of those runs were him and there's one in particular I can't remember when it happened during the game but he had to make about six jumps during like within five yards of the line of scrimmage and he ends up with I think probably a eight or nine

yard run and it probably should have been a one or two-yard run. He had a lot to do with it, too. So I think that, you know, you don't want to take that away from him. His ability, he's very elusive. And I think he's gotten much more patient. You know, when he was a rookie, if it wasn't there right away, he was just going to hit it outside and, you know, try to use the speed and get around the corner.

And now he's very smart about waiting and, you know, understanding when the hole might open up and then hitting it aggressively and, you know, with good speed right away. So I thought he showed all of that on Sunday night. I think the biggest thing for him is he's showing durability. You know, those 29 carries, 132 yards came in a week where he was limited all week and didn't practice a couple days at all with an ankle injury, but he still goes out there on Sunday and gets the job done.

I think that tells you a lot about who he is. Yeah, he's certainly going to be an early extension candidate. I'd imagine, George, this time in February or March when that starts getting going here for the Colts in the offseason. But in the meantime, I feel like the new identity of this team running through Marlon Mack, he's on pace for 330 touches this season, even more than that, which is a huge increase from last year. Do you think this kind of year is proving to the Colts, George, that Marlon Mack is that bell cow they can rely on? Yeah, you know, I think, again, going back to that durability,

he hasn't missed a game this year. He didn't miss any practices during the offseason, during training camp. And I think now he goes out and he's as productive as he is. You take those three things into account, and you have to feel really good about him as a featured guy in this offense right now. And, you know, he understands that he's in a really good about him as a featured guy in this offense right now. And, you know, he understands that he's in a really good situation, that this is an offense that's set up to run the ball and to do it well,

and he's taking full advantage of it. Do you think this moving forward here, George, as far as the Colts offense goes, do you think this is going to be what we see probably even next week or the week after that, after the bye week against Houston and their offense has put 50 points against the Falcons defense? Do you think we're going to see more and more of this run first style? Maybe the Knack doesn't get 29 carries, so to say, but maybe it's going to be more like a 60-40 instead of 50-50 balance. Remember those days when you were always ready to go? Now you can increase performance and get that extra confidence in bed with Blue Chew. That's blue at the color blue at bluechew.com.

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against the texans really effectively and win that one 21 to 7 and that game honestly had a lot of similarities to what we saw on Sunday night in terms of defense being able to to play physical and and you know get to the shot on Watson a lot and limit the Texans when they were on the field and then the running game uh being able to to kind of control the clock and then keep them off the field a lot especially the second half when Houston was trying to make a comeback uh so I think you probably will see them go that way again. But I think it's important to remember that with Frank Reich and Nick Sirianni, it's a week-to-week thing.

You know, they ran the ball against the Chiefs because they felt like that was the weakness in Kansas City, and it has been for a while, and that was the best way to win the game. If they go into a week and think that Jacoby Brissett throwing the ball 50 times is the best way to win, that's what they'll do. I think you're going to see this offense morph and adjust to what it needs to do every week. Going over to the other side of the ball here, George,

the defense stood up big time against this Chiefs offense, allowing only 13 points. The previous career low for Patrick Mahomes was 26 points. So even chopping that in half there, you saw guys like George Odom, Rakia Sen, Kari Willis, Bobby Okereke. All these young players play well on that defensive side. That was severely limited at points in this game, George, with even more injuries.

What stood out the most to you on that side of the ball? Because I think even more than the impressive offensive running game, this was by far the biggest surprise yeah it was by far especially when you look at the personnel and there was one point in the first quarter they were running out of defensive bats they came in injured and then uh Kenny Moore Pierre Desir got hurt and at one point Shaquille Taylor who got signed re-signed last week and was suddenly out there on Sunday against the best offense in the league. He got hurt too. And they were trying to figure out if they're going to have enough people to even play

nickel. And then guys started coming back in. Moore came back. Sear came back. Taylor came back. They were able to finish the game. But it was out of nowhere. It really felt like the most surprising defensive performance since I've been around this team nobody saw this coming against that opponent in with that kind of injury issues going on it was remarkable and I thought what was the key to me was how aggressive they were on defense they got up at the line of scrimmage. They jammed those receivers. They played tight coverage all day. And defensive line got after Patrick Mahomes. He was sacked four times. He was hit eight times. Obviously, the ankle injury started creeping back

up on him in the second half, but some of that was due to the pressure that the Colts were applying. And that, to me, is going to be the interesting thing to watch the rest of the way. You know, will this defense take a cue from the way it played on Sunday and be more aggressive going forward than it was in the first few weeks this season? I'm glad you brought that up there, George, because that's what I was just about to ask you there. Did maybe Matt Eberflus stumbled upon the formula he can use now moving forward for this defense?

Because, I mean, the first four weeks kind of showed us that the zone-heavy scheme isn't going to work. And maybe after playing 75% of man on Sunday, that kind of maybe shows, especially the guy at Rockets, saying he was more of a natural man corner. Maybe it is time to do more of an equal balance on that side. Yeah, I think you're going to see more of it. And they talked about playing more man this year anyway, and they had played more man early in the year than they did

last year, but not anywhere near the extent that they did on Sunday. I think it's going to be similar to what we talked about with the offense, in that it's going to be week to week, and it's going to be matchup-based, but you would think that, you know, certainly against Houston coming out of the bye, a similar defensive style is called for to try to control guys like DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller, who had an amazing game against the Falcons. You know, the challenge against the Texans in many ways, very similar to what it is against the Chiefs. So I would expect to see the defense come out with a similar game plan.

I think also on this side of the ball, George, with the defense, the rookies really stood out to me, especially Kari Willis, Bobby Okereke, and Rakia Seen. All three of those guys really stood out to me, playing extensive time in there. I think this is kind of the first game we've seen all three of them have good games at the same time. It really turned out well for this team. So just what kind of progress did you notice from those three guys on Sunday?

Yeah, I thought Willis in particular was outstanding. And he's been the best of that group throughout the year. He's a guy, even before the injury started, people started asking, could he be pushing Clayton Gathers for playing time? And now I don't think that's a question at all. I think he's absolutely going to push him. Even when Gathers is able to come back, you've got to keep Willis in mind. And if he's not the starter, he should be playing a significant amount of snaps out there.

I thought, you know, he did what we've seen from him going back to the spring, and that was play great in coverage, but also come up and be a physical factor. You know, he had one run stop in particular down by the goal line when the Chiefs were backed up by their own goal line in the second half that was just incredible. And the hole was open, and the next second it wasn't because here came Willis to fill it and put the guy on the ground so I I think you know the rookies in general this is kind of what Frank Reich was talking about early in the year they felt like if there was a silver

lining to the fact that so many guys were going down they had to bring these guys in it was that the rookies were taking their lumps and that they would learn. And, you know, they said all along, even when some of these guys were struggling, Okariki in particular, that playing is the best way to learn and that they still felt like these guys had the talent. They had all the skill sets that they need. They just needed to go out and learn how to play the game at the NFL level. So hopefully Sunday's a real step in that direction,

and you're starting to see that curve point up for all the young guys. I think it's arguable to say, George, that Justin Houston's one of the best players on Sunday, but Kamoko Ture had three quarterback hits. He had half a sack. He was dominant on Sunday, probably his best game of his career so far when you just look at what he did at Patrick Mahomes on a series-by-series basis there.

I think losing him is kind of going under the radar now by Colts fans because without him, it kind of goes to help out Justin Houston, Jabal Shurer, and the other side as well. Trey is a huge loss for this team, George. I wonder how you're going to bounce back from that. Yeah, it's a really big loss. He was – like you said, it was a breakout game for him as part of a breakout season. When he's been healthy this year, he's been outstanding all year long.

And so to see him go down that way, to know that he's going to miss the rest of the year, that's a really big blow for this defense that's been taking them, it feels like, every week. You know, they've lost somebody. This one, to me, is right at the top of the list, though, as far as importance to this football team. It puts a big onus now on Ben Banigou, and I think he's a guy who's shown some flashes in limited playing time, and I think that they felt like he was one of the few guys

who they could kind of protect a little bit and bring along slowly because of depth that they have there. Now I think you're going to see him play some more, and it'll be interesting to see if he can kind of adjust and make some of the same kind of early contributions that the rest of his draft class has been able to make. Yeah, I wonder, George, as well with Banigou, you factor him in and what he's done with Justin Houston so far is especially Houston himself what's taught to you most about him on Sunday

and his return to Kansas City and I think he didn't he played it down during the weekend after the game a little bit but during the game you could easily tell that this game really meant a lot to him yeah he didn't play it down that much after the game. He certainly did during the week. He didn't say much of anything. He's not much of a talker anyway, but he usually talks on Thursdays. And this week, he basically said he's trying not to think about going back there. And he's just focused on the X's and O's. And he admitted after the game that he got there super early. He walked the field by himself before the game. And he said there wasn't a lot of emotion there, but there was a lot of memories coming back to him of just different plays

that he'd made on that field and, you know, eight years' worth of history there. So there was a lot to draw on. And I thought that he went out there and he played like a guy who was angry and with good reason I mean Kansas City let him go and when they did that they basically told him we don't think you have enough left to help this team and so he went out there and he showed him for at least one night he certainly did have plenty left in the tank and hopefully this is a boost to him too. He hasn't gotten off to a slow start here,

but certainly hadn't been dominant the way that he was on Sunday night. Now you'd like to see him be able to kind of – you're not going to get a game like that every week, obviously. But, you know, to go out there and be a consistent force week in and week out, I think is the goal moving forward. No one gives you more ways to win than they do. MyBookie's got the fastest payouts and better lines than any other sportsbook. Don't forget, where you're betting is just who's important to you betting on, and MyBookie.ag is the best in the business. It's where I play, and it's where you should, too.

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You play, you win, and you get paid. Yeah, hopefully that's the boost that Houston needed to his season so far. Because like you mentioned, George hasn't shown up so far in the stats. He's gotten a lot of pressures. But this kind of game showed what Justin could be for the Colts and his return to Kansas City. But moving ahead now, looking back on the bye now, George, the bye week, they're not going to play this week.

And then they're going to be back the week afterwards in a huge game against Houston. We're not going to dive into the Houston game this week. We're going to save for next week, George. But looking ahead towards that game for just a second, is that the biggest home game by far this season, maybe the biggest game itself this season? Yeah, you know, I was talking to my wife who shoots some photos for us

at the home games, and I told her it's the biggest home game, I think, probably since Peyton Manning came back for the first time with the Broncos. Just because of how much emphasis is going to be on this one, obviously the Texans have to play the Chiefs this week, and that'll be a good one for Colts fans to keep their eye on. But they're either going to come in here 4-2 or 3-3, and the winner of that game, it's early still, but the winner of that game is going to be sitting pretty in the afc south we see that division right now uh colts and texans are three and two the jaguars and titans are two and three

it's a tight group colts are already one and own the division having won at tennessee if you can get a win over houston at home get that tiebreaker over them move to two and own the division and and be you know at least a game clear of everybody else in the loss column. And if things go your way in the next couple weeks, maybe two games clear of everybody else in the loss column, that's a tremendously important game for being week seven of the season. And I think it's going to be one that the national writers and the national commentators kind of take note of too

because it's kind of – after what the Colts were able to do out in Kansas City, it's a really attractive matchup. That Texans offense and their high power and the star power that they have on both sides of the ball against sort of this blue-collar Colts team that kind of wants to do things in a throwback kind of old-fashioned way. Looking back on the season now, George, 3-2 at the bye week, this is what I originally predicted, even when they had Andrew Luck at quarterback.

So to say I'm impressed by this, would you say Bursetta quarterback would be an understatement? Are you surprised that much by the 3-2 mark with Bursetta quarterback, or is it where you expected it as well? Yeah, you know, I thought they'd be 3-2 at the start of the year, but I didn't think it would be this way. You know, I thought Kansas City was going to be a loss. Flip that Kansas City game and the Oakland game,

and it would have gone the way I expected it. But I think the Kansas City game becomes an even bigger surprise because of what preceded it. And it's, you know, it's shocking enough that they went out there and beat the Chiefs the way they did, shutting down that offense. You know, no one else had done that. That's not an overstatement. No one else had gone in and beaten the Chiefs in that manner

by shutting down the offense and winning the game that way. That was shocking enough. But to do it after coming off an Oakland game where they looked so bad in so many areas, it just made it even more stunning, I think. And it's huge to do it going into the bye, because I think if you lose two straight going into the bye, even this team, as mature as they've been,

as good a job as they've done with their 1-0 mantra, and only look at this week and nothing else matters. Losing two straight going into the bye would not be a fun thing to do. You're going to sit there and have a lot of thoughts going through your head about what's wrong and how do you fix it. And now all that's gone. Now you can go into the bye and enjoy one of the biggest wins in recent regular season history and just gear up for whatever comes next.

I know the Colts don't look ahead here, George, but I'm going to look ahead with you here for a second to the schedule. For the next five or so games, they play the Texans, and it opens up a little bit. Home against the Broncos at the Steelers. Who could have a third-string quarterback playing at that point after Mason Ruff's injury? Then the Dolphins at home and the Jaguars at home,

who could also spire out of control at any point in time, as we know, the Jaguars, George. I could see easily with that possibility an 8-2 record after these five weeks if everything breaks well for them. Just how big of a stretch is these next four or five weeks for this Colts team? And really, it could solidify them being maybe legit contenders in the AFC after Sunday's win. Yeah, it's a huge, huge stretch coming up.

And one that, you know, even at the beginning of the year, before the Andrew Luck stuff happened and even after he retired, you look at this point in the schedule as this is where you can make a little run. This is where you can stack some wins and make things happen. I think that's the important thing about Sunday. It's one thing to go out there and get that big win and, you know, shock the world and come back home feeling good about yourself. But now you've got to show consistency.

The Oakland game taught them that if they're off their game even a little bit, you know, this is the NFL. The opponent is going to go in and take advantage. I thought Jacoby Brissett mentioned it during the week after the Raiders lost that that was a little bit of humble pie for them. And Frank Wright came out, sort of agreed with him. Quentin Nelson mentioned it again in the locker room Sunday night that they kind of – he felt like they sort of overlooked the Raiders a bit,

in part because they had so much success on offense against them last year, going out there, putting up 42 points, running for more than 200 yards. And he didn't feel like they maybe gave the effort that they needed to give. So I think the key to this stretch and really to the rest of the season is how well did they learn a lesson from that? You know, are they going to go in? You wouldn't think they would go into the Houston game with any of those stops, not with everything that's on the line like we just talked about. But after that, when you start

playing in Miami or maybe a Jacksonville team that you never know what situation they're in, or Denver or Pittsburgh with a third string quarterback or whoever it may be, do you learn from that Oakland experience and give those teams your a effort so you can avoid any more losses like like the one of the Rangers before we close out today's show George just when you're closing thoughts here what did Sunday what did you learn from Sunday when the Colts pull up that major upset here against the Chiefs I think they have an identity now I think the biggest thing to me when Andrew Luck retired was, you know, who is this team now?

What does this team look like? What's the face of this franchise? And I think after that Sunday game, it's pretty evident. You go back to even games last year against the Cowboys at home, the win over the Texans in the playoffs. I think that's who this team wants to be. The week two win at Washington as well, where they just ran the ball well. The defense went out and did its job and shut down the opposing offense.

I think that's what this team wants to be. I think it's a smash-mouth mentality. And I think they might be the first franchise in NFL history to have a left guard as the face of the franchise soon and when you look at this team right now the way they want to win games I don't know anybody embodies it better than Quentin Nelson and you kind of see that on Sunday night I think that's who they want to be moving forward certainly an improbable win Georgian it was fun to probably in the stands – or end the press box, excuse me, you were there covering the game and seeing how that went down for the Colts

in that surprising win. I think we both predicted double-digit loss for the Colts in this podcast. So to be proved wrong in that standpoint, it's a nice ending to it. But you can follow George on Twitter, at GMBremmer. If you haven't already, and Ria's work over at the Herald Bulletin. Appreciate it, George. Talk again next week. No problem.

Thanks a lot, Evan.