Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -12/19- Indianapolis Colts Buck Vikings 34-6, Move to 7-7 Yet Don't Gain Any Ground On AFC South

Episode Date: December 19, 2016

Sunday was an example of the 'good inconsistency' of this #Colts team as they blew out the Minnesota #Vikings 34-6 on the road. Despite the one-sided victory in a big spot, the Colts didn't gain any ground within the division. Nevertheless, the Colts prove they are as explosive, and dangerous as anybody in the league. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

Learn more about our healthy benefits at fepblue.org slash getmore. 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 on Monday after a complete disintegration of the Minnesota Vikings by the Indianapolis Colts. Excellent game for the Colts pretty much all the way around. There really wasn't too many, if any, real negatives in this game. The offensive line played really well, including the Raven Clark, who deserves all the credit in the

world. And as far as I'm concerned for his performance, considering what we've seen at him previous, you know, in the small stints of games that he's done in the preseason and camp, there's no way that I was expecting him to play as well as he did the rest of the offensive line. They even got Vujanovic in there, who was just basically brought up to the roster recently. The offensive line in general did a fantastic job. Jonathan Harrison did good. It was really nice to see, guys. We saw an offensive line really put together four quarters of solid football,

and that's something we haven't seen in a long time. When we look at the way that the Colts started the game, the Colts started the game by scoring on five of their first six possessions of the first half. I mean just a really good all-around performance. I mean we we saw so many good things. For example, we saw the Colts go 7 of 13 on third down opportunities. They had four first downs by penalty, but had 27 total first downs. That means they put 20 first downs together on first down and second down, and that's really nice to see that kind of a success early down and then putting that sort of well over 50% of third down conversion rate together. Opposite that,

they only held the Vikings offense to three of nine on third down opportunities, and they had 20 total first downs, which means that they had 17 of theirs on first and second down. And to be fair, that's a little misleading even. I mean, it sounds good when you look at the stat book, but I would say close to six or seven of those were in that fourth quarter and late third quarter when the Colts were basically playing some version of a prevent at times. So I'm not upset about that at all. That's a total stat lie, so to speak, if you want to call it that.

The Colts did really well, averaged six yards per play, whereas the Vikings averaged five yards per play. Andrew Luck was fantastic, 21 of 28 for 250 yards, two scores, both really nice touchdown passes, one to Eric Swoop and the other to Dorsett. Dorsett finally got himself in the right know the right but if you look at that a little closer that was Dorsett's only target of the day you know and then when you look at the other side of that I mean Swoop played a really good game had three catches for 50 yards in that score T.Y. Hilton had seven targets and only three catches but he still had a good game I mean he was still running quality routes a couple of those were overthrows.

A couple of those were pass breakups. You know, just a couple unfortunate plays. Luck doesn't depict whether Luck was accurate or T.Y. was running a quality route by any means. In fact, one of those was near the end zone where Luck threw it pretty low and T.Y. was wide open and would have had a score a score luckily the Colts ended up putting some points up anyways but Doyle four catches on four targets Chester Rogers I really like seeing this guy come out and I mean keep in mind too that the Colts did this offensively without Moncrief I was really excited to see

Rogers caught three of his five targets for 24 yards. Wasn't a huge factor or anything like that, but we continue to see that he's a far more dependable guy than Dorsett. Granted, Dorsett had the touchdown, but that was a loft pass. It was deep, you know, right in his breadbasket. Granted, he could have dropped it, but he caught it. But it wasn't one of those coming across the middle on a dig route or anything like that that he had to hands catch a ball in traffic or anything like that. It was wide open.

But Chester Rogers, another guy to look forward to for the next couple seasons, I think, in my opinion. Very good performance today. Continues to prove that he's a quality return guy after some gaffes early on in his duties at that position or at that spot. So just really nice. And again, Dwayne Allen, one catch on two targets. Gore was really good today too, guys. I mean, we saw a lot on offense that was really positive. Gore, 26 carries for 101 yards. Didn't get any scores, but Turbin, you know, he did a good job. Seven carries for 32, two touchdowns on the ground. Really nice. Todman got four carries for 19 yards.

It just was a really solid overall performance from the offense. Really, really good job. Against a really tough defense. I mean, granted, they're not the same without Harrison Smith. We talked about this this past week. They're not the same in a lot of ways that they were a few weeks ago even. And I don't necessarily want to say just because of Harrison Smith, but just as a group for some reason. They don't seem to gel quite as well as they have been. But Andrew Luck was phenomenal. I mean, this whole team played so

good. Good in the run, good in protection. They just did a lot of what they were supposed to do, and it paid off big time. It was a huge game. I mean, it really was a huge game for this offense. Defensively, really similar. You know, a lot of Bradford's passes in the second half were, I mean, a lot of his attempts were in the second half. 32 of 42 overall with an interception. He was sacked five times. That's something that we haven't seen but once, I think, this year with five sacks. Or even close to that, really.

I think the most they'd have before was two or three. So this was a high point, too. Overall, running the ball, they only ran the ball nine times. Peterson six times, McKinnon three times, and for a total of 34 yards. The Colts give up 34 yards rushing. They should blow somebody out. That's what happened. Really a good job overall. Rudolph caught eight balls for yards uh mckinnon caught nine for 59 yards johnson was a beast there for a while he was getting targeted quite a bit him and patterson both five catches apiece uh 50 and 49 yards respectively and then after that you know

stefan diggs was kind of a non-factor uh just most of them felineieline had no catches. He only had one target, but they're just overall was a really nice defensive performance as well from the Colts. Like I said, they had five sacks. Eric Walden had two of those. Zach Kerr had one. Mathis had one, thank God, about time. And T.Y. McGill got his. Other than that, they had four quarterback hits, and they also had three passes defended. So, I mean, all in all, a really good, solid performance all the way around. Mike Adams had a fumble recovery and an interception. You just don't get too many complete game performances like that from the Indianapolis Colts.

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because the Colts have that crap game against the Texans. Just so disappointing. I mean, listen, good game against the Titans week 11. Crap against the Steelers week 12. Excellent game against the Jets in week 13. Crap against the Texans. Excellent game in week 15 against the Vikings. And now we go to the Raiders. So could the Colts, you know, add another road victory to this? I mean, this is a crazy season for the Colts. I mean, think about it. Like I said, they've already gone three and one now against the NFC. That's something that

doesn't typically happen with the Colts. They typically are terrible against the NFC opponents and may share, you know, go 500 or worse even. But they have a chance of doing that, going maybe, I mean, possibly five and three on the road for the season and still have a chance of doing that, going maybe, I mean, possibly 5-3 on the road for the season and still have a possibility of losing four games in the AFC South. I mean, those things just – if you tell me that the Colts go 3-1 against the NFC, go 5-3 on the road, I'm telling you that the Colts won 11 games that year. You know, this just is a strange, strange year for the Colts and sad almost. Like I said, the Colts needed some help. The Texans and the

Titans both won late in the game. And, you know, the Titans beat the Chiefs, a team that the Colts probably should have beaten earlier in the year had they played even a solid game against them, to be quite honest. But now they go to the Jaguars, which they should definitely win that game. Who knows? The Jaguars, by the way, if you were living under a rock on Sunday, released Gus Bradley of his head coaching duties. So you've got a team who's going to be having an interim coach, which I would assume would be Doug Marone, and the Titans are going to have to win that game, and I assume that they will. So after this, the Titans and Texans will match up in Week 17. That could be, if the Colts win out, that's okay. Now see, this is the bad part, because the Colts blow this team away.

Both the Titans and Texans were on the verge of losing, which would have helped the Colts tremendously just this week. But now the Colts absolutely have to win out the next two weeks against Oakland and Jacksonville. And then the Titans have Jacksonville and the Texans the next two weeks. Now, the Titans need to lose and the Texans the next two weeks. Now, the Titans need to lose at least one of those games. Colts and Titans win both. I'm sorry, if the Colts and Titans finish with the same record,

the Colts have that as a tiebreaker. So that's a good thing. Now, looking at the Texans on the other hand, the Texans play the Bengals next week, Christmas Eve. If the Bengals can beat the Texans, the the other hand, the Texans play the Bengals next week, okay, Christmas Eve. If the Bengals can beat the Texans, the Colts have a shot because then they need the Titans to beat the Texans, okay, for no matter whatever happens with the Titans. We need the Titans to lose a game, and then we need the Titans to beat the Texans. The Texans, we need them to just lose, just, you know, lose both games. They need to lose both games for the most part. And that's Bengals and Titans. And that's completely

and totally possible. However, Mr. Tom Savage, man, if there is another way that anybody could prove that Osweiler is not starter caliber, He just got completely shown up by his backup, timing 260-some yards, I think. And Osweiler was terrible, like 6 of 11 with two picks. I mean, he's garbage. And Savage now is leading that team. So that, honestly, in my opinion, I assume that the Texans have a better chance of winning these games

with Tom Savage under center. It just makes sense. He has a better arm. He throws better. He makes better reactionary decisions. So hopefully this, hopefully he can fall apart too. I mean, to be quite honest with you, when it comes to the beginning of the season, I like to see a bunch of good quarterbacks in the AFC South because it makes the division more entertaining. It takes that stigma of the AFC South is garbage away a little bit with four good guys under center. But this year, you know, I thought that was going to be this year, but now it's basically Luck and Mariota and that's it. And Osweiler has fallen by the wayside. You know, next year if Tom Savage is good and he's there, and if he starts even because Osweiler is super expensive,

then we'll have at least three. Bortles is garbage, and who knows what's going on in Jacksonville. So either way, it looks to me like Savage gives the Texans a better chance to win those games, but we need them to lose both of them, and they very well could. Bengals are having a very disappointing year, but they could definitely beat this Texans team. There's no two ways about it. The Titans, they're so up and down, it's impossible to tell. They just happen to have won more games than they've lost this year. They're kind of the opposite of the Colts. The Colts are up and down, but they've lost some games they really should

have won. I mean, for example, first of all, week one, the Colts absolutely The Colts are up and down, but they've lost some games they really should have won. I mean, for example, first of all, week one, the Colts absolutely should have beat the Lions. No two ways about it. Not going to go into it all the way through. Colts should have beat the Lions. Week four, Colts lose to the Jaguars 30-27. No excuse for that. Terrible, terrible, terrible. Colts should have beaten the Jaguars. There's two wins. Week six, Colts should have beaten the Texans. We're blowing them out until the last seven minutes of the game. Colts should have had that win in the bag. It was a blowout and the Colts completely pissed that away. I won't necessarily say that the Colts should have beaten the Chiefs. They should have made that a far better game and they let it get out of hand. And until the last few minutes, it was a game. I'd like to give that.

I'm not going to call that a should have won. Other than that, that gives the Colts three more wins. That puts the Colts right now, today, at 10-4. The Colts at this moment would be 10-4 heading into Week 16 and would be controlling their fate. This was a huge gaffe of a season. The coaching slash the inconsistency of a lot of the players on this team slash just poor decision-making, poor, and like I said, coaching, but I mean, I'm going to go a step further and

say poor coordinating. Chudzinski has been just as inconsistent as the play from these players. Today was a nice day to see. I mean, if you take two of the last three weeks of the Colts schedule, you've got the Colts beating the Vikings 34-6 and the Colts beating the Jets 41-10, right there you've got 75-16. I mean, and then you put two stinkers in there with the Colts losing to the Texans and the Colts getting beat by the Steelers when they could have made that a game. It's just, it's mind-blowing. It's aggravating. It's really hard to swallow all at once and expect to understand what this Colts team is going to give you because you really don't know week to week. And that was one thing I tweeted during the game today. This is further notification that we have no clue what

the hell this Colts team is going to do from week to week. Just going to go down the line real quick defensively, guys, who I thought had a good game. Edwin Jackson had a good game. I thought TJ Green was very good, both in coverage and run support. A couple passes he let go over his shoulder. That's hard. I mean, that's hard to say. He was in good spot. It just was a fantastic pass by Bradford a couple times. Mike Adams, as I said, was part of two turnovers, had a really good game. Otherwise, Darrell Morris, a fantastic tackling game. Rashawn Melvin, a fantastic tackling game. Both of those guys, in my opinion, I want to see them back next year as depth on this team because they are great tacklers. They're tough guys, and I am impressed with both of them, quite honestly. They're not playmakers. They're very good defensively.

Otherwise, though, tackling, being able to wrap up, being able to be in the right spot at the right time, I'm really impressed with those guys so far this year on a very disappointing defense for the most part this season. Milton had a good game. I thought Antonio Morrison was fantastic today. He didn't look great in coverage, never does, but he has definitely gotten a lot better,

and he was really good against the run. Another short tackler. I think he's going to be ultimately DeQuel Jackson's replacement in the end. Walden, as I said, he only had three tackles on the day, but two of them were sacks. Zach Kerr had two tackles. One of them was a sack. Mathis' only tackle was a sack.

So I thought that was kind of fun. But, you know, just an overall really good game from this defense as well. So, you know what? Tomorrow I'm going to talk a little bit more about some things that are probably better left to wait for the offseason, but I'm not going to wait any longer. I'm going to give you guys at least two guys and possibly three to five guys on this team I don't want to see in a Colts uniform next year. I think that they've been outplayed. I think that

they're either too expensive or they're just not worth it or just something. There's a reason for all of them. We'll talk about that tomorrow. Thank you guys for coming back. This is a bad situation for the Colts. The Colts are really on the ropes right now with two games left to play. So let's hope that a couple things go the Colts' way. Basically, the Texans lose out, Colts win out, and the Titans can't win more than one. And hopefully it's against the Texans.

So let's see what we got. We've got some interesting football still left to be seen. And the AFC, despite the records and how close everything is, there's a lot more yet to be determined. So thank you guys for coming back. Like I said, subscribe to the podcast. Please tell a friend. You guys have been fantastic.

I appreciate everybody sharing the show. I appreciate the input from you guys. It's great. It is. We need this bad boy to grow, so let's do it. Thank you guys for joining me each and every day right here. And I will talk to you guys on Tuesday right here on Locked on Colts. You are locked on Colts, your daily podcast on theed 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.