Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -12/2- Indianapolis Colts Need to Use Monday As Springboard

Episode Date: December 2, 2016

The #Colts were showing signs of getting hot, they're getting some guys back from injury, the #Jets are nicked up and the Colts actually appear to be the better team in this Monday Night matchup. Can they win, and use it as a springboard for the remainder of the season? Are the Colts the team that will come into the playoffs hot or will they reach the post season at all? 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 thank you for joining me here for our December 2nd edition of Locked on Colts. And we've had a bit of a different schedule this week. And for some of you who are used to the normal time slots that I'm throwing the podcast up,

I apologize for that if it's kind of throwing you off track as well. But, you know, things happen, schedule issues and so on and so forth. And this week's been pretty busy for me. So I've had a few things that I've had to get taken care of. But thank you guys for joining me nonetheless. And let's get into what we're going to talk about today. You know, we've got a lot of injury issues to talk about, just a lot of different things that we can anticipate for Monday night and kind of see where the Colts are going to go. Now, first and foremost, we're obviously going to talk about the injury report because that seems to be the most trying thing right now for the Colts anyways. And they do obviously expect Andrew Luck

to play Monday night. He is technically still in the concussion protocol, although there's been reports that he's out of it. He is technically in it. He hasn't seen his independent neurosurgeon quite yet. So that's something that's obviously in the works and should be getting done in the next 24 hours, I would assume. You definitely don't want to leave that to any sort of a game time decision or anything like that. But Andrew was a full participant Friday in practice. Vontae Davis was also a full participant. Denzel Good, T.Y. was. Ryan Kelly was. Christopher Milton, who we don't know how much we're going to see of him or anything like that.

But Hassan Ridgway was limited. Patrick Robinson did not practice. Robert Mathis did not practice. And Clayton Gethers also did not practice. So this is something, especially after Thursday, him having a full practice, Gethers that is, that's kind of strange to me. Maybe there was some sort of a setback. Maybe, you know, because kind of the last thing before you see that neurosurgeon is

they want to see you on the field, exerting energy, whether or not he had a red beanie on his helmet or not for no contact. I don't know that, but that's something that they checked first, and maybe he had some recurring symptoms. You just never know. It would seem that his hit was not quite as hard maybe as Andrew Luck hitting the ground with the back of his head. But, you know, different guys go through the concussion issues in different ways.

So it's really hard to tell and hard to, you know, make heads or tails of that, so to speak. But it's something to obviously keep our eye on. We don't want Gethers out any longer than he has to be. He's absolutely vital to the success of the Colts defense. There's no two ways about that. And the other thing about this is that the Jets themselves have run into some certain injury issues as well. Brandon Marshall, Jalen Marshall, Lorenzo Malden, Steve McClendon, Calvin Pryor, and Devin Smith did all not practice on Friday. So those are a lot of important guys to their team as well. And this is, you know, something we may see a lot

of guys for them possibly not on the field on Monday night. There's still two days, two full days before they are to do that. So, you know, some of the guys have some simple things, a couple concussions are in there as well. So those, you know, possible if they're not practicing right now with concussions, then it's possible that they won't be playing. But Brandon Marshall with a knee and a foot, I think he's been kind of bothered with that all season. Don't quote me on that, but I've heard a lot of it throughout the weeks. But I think that's something similar to, not necessarily exactly or anything like that, but similar to Andrew Luck where it's something that's always bothered him. It's just a thing that they keep him out of practice one day a week or something like that, probably. I'm not, like I said, I'm not totally sure about that, but that

seems to ring true to me. But there's a lot of guys on this injury report for the Jets, a few for the Colts, you know, still, but the Colts are getting the majority of their guys back, it looks like, especially guys along the offensive line, playmakers like T.Y., and, you know, it's just, it's nice to see those guys getting healthy again. Vontae's healthy, apparently. His somehow is a groin, and then last week was an ankle. I just don't know with Vontae Davis anymore. He is still undoubtedly the most talented corner that the Colts have. There's just no – I mean, that's just obvious, common thought. And he just – man, he's kind of dipped quite a bit in his production.

He struggles – I think we've talked about this too. I'm sure that I have. I know I've written it several times, but he's dipped. He struggles quite a bit covering deep. He doesn't seem to have the lateral movement, you know, that he used to have. He's always nicked up. And, you know, this is something that hopefully is completely and totally injury related. Although, you know, it's not like he's old, but you know, even football, but he's not young either. So hopefully this isn't something that is just, you know, leaving his skillset and he's just not going to get back. Um, because the, you know, the Colts desperately need a number two and a number three corner really soon. And if he's dipping in his production, that's really bad news

because they're going to need a bunch of corners if that's the case. So we're all definitely hoping that that is not the case. Really would like to see Vontae have a resurgence and get better. And hopefully, like I said, that's all injury-related, not just production mixed with some injury issues as well. You know, something that I talked about the other night, and Pagano actually touched on it the other day, was talking about how the Colts have kind of not played so great, you know, this season and not been fantastic. But they, before luck was hurt, you know, kind of looked like the Colts may be

turning the corner a little bit, you know, big game against like the Colts may be turning the corner a little bit, you know, big game against Green Bay, a big win, a big divisional win against the Titans, and then luck gets, you know, hurt. And they had their chances last week on Thursday and just didn't put a solid game together, lots of drops, lots of poor offensive line play, lots of injuries. So we kind of see the team had been, you know, putting up some pretty decent performances. And it just makes you wonder, you know, is there's always a team that finishes out the season strong. We, like I said, we talked about this last week. Well, Pagano touched on that the other day and mentioned, you know, somebody always gets hot late in the season. Why not us? You know, and that's a valid thought because, not just because I thought it as well, but it makes sense. The

Colts have some terrible offenses that they play. And with the struggling defense, like the Vikings next week, the Jets this week are not particularly very good. The Vikings offensive line is awful. If you guys watch their Thursday night game, man, they've got a lot of holes on that offensive line. And I, for one, would say that there isn't a tackle on the Colts roster that's quite as bad as a couple of the ones on the Vikings. There's just no way. So I saw a lot of things that made me almost happy that the Colts have some of the players that they do, or maybe it's just not that they don't, the Colts just don't have some of the guys that are on the Vikings. But the Houston Texans have an awful offense as well. You know, the real test is going to be that week 16 game against Oakland. That's the real game on the schedule. I mean,

look, the Vikings defense is fantastic, but their offense is so bad that it's, I mean, unless they have a couple special teams, major plays, that it's unlikely as can be that there's going to be any sort of a route if the Colts were on the losing side of a game with the Vikings or a couple defensive touchdowns, you know, it just depends. But the Raiders are the one, are the team that really stands out, that have an offensive game that could just throw you in the dirt and a solid enough defense and an opportunistic defense for sure that could really kind of blow you out. That's the game that I think every Colts fan should be worried about, really. I think the other four

games on their schedule, including this week, Monday, is more than winnable. The Colts really need, they've lost five primetime games in a row. Okay. The Colts really need to go into New York and just put the pedal to the floor and just pound the hell out of the jets. And they, I mean, attack that secondary, that secondary is really struggling. You know, Calvin Pryor, like I said, he's out with a concussion. Darrell Revis has struggled so bad this year. Buster Screens kind of had pretty good games against the Colts in the past, but Buster Screens by no means is a fantastic cover guy.

So, I mean, there's just a lot of possibilities for this Colts team to really actually get hot in the last five games of the season. And I, for one, would love to see the Colts go crazy and just, you know, destroy at least four of these. I mean, and they're all more than possible to do. I mean, the Jags, they could really put, you know, if the Colts have, and especially Luck and the receivers, and if the offensive line can even be decent,

they really have the opportunity for Andrew Luck to go off on the Vikings. This week the Jets are vulnerable. I mean, the Colts could really put four out of five games together and win them. I don't think that you could overlook them against the Raiders, but I think the Raiders are far and away the biggest test for them. But that doesn't mean they couldn't lose two or three of these games either, just the same. But they definitely have the opportunity to get hot and really make a splash in these last five games of the season. I don't think there's any two ways

about it. So something else that was touched on a little bit as we get into, you know, talking to, talking about some of the defensive issues. Mathis may not be playing. He's kind of iffy, I guess. They also talked about Trent Cole and how he's come back, and they expect him to play Monday. It would be nice. He was so unimpressive when he played this year, and I just hope that he could have come back

and really make an impact in this last five games, regardless of his little deal with Reggie Wayne, you know, earlier in the season when he went out, it would be super nice, uh, to see Trent Cole just come out and shut a lot of us up because Trent Cole's been terrible, unimpressive, making no impact whatsoever. He's an older guy, obviously, and that would be something that would be a bit of a stretch. But at the same time, you know, who's not for that? I mean, who roots for the Colts that just was like, nope, I'd just rather see Trent Cole fail. That doesn't make any sense. And we, and we all know it. So, um, you know,

something that I answered on the mailbag, uh, yesterday, uh, that, uh, I can't remember who it was that sent in the question. Sorry, but it was about, uh, whether I would rather take a high draft pick or see the Colts get to the playoffs. I have seen a lot. And I mean, a ton of Colts fans talking about screw this season. We just want to see a high draft pick. That is so beyond my comprehension. That makes almost no sense whatsoever. There's five games left in the season. And, you know, I mean,

think about teams that have done something solid in the playoffs after being completely written off late in the regular season. The six-seed Pittsburgh Steelers. I mean, there's been at least four or five teams who were a three-seed or less that made real impacts in the offseason or in the postseason. And I just don't understand. I mean, it just doesn't make any kind of sense to me at all. If you really think that, then I mean, I just don't make any kind of sense to me at all. If you really think that, then I mean, I just don't know what kind of fandom that you enjoy.

You know, that's just really, I don't know, just really weird to me to say that and to actually feel that. I mean, that's stupid. You know, I mean, it's almost like Madden. You know, I'm not going to be winning 14 games this year. So I'm going to just simulate the rest of the season and start over with my new draft class. I mean, that's ultimately what it is. And I don't get it at all. It just doesn't make any sense. Nothing's guaranteed in the draft. Nothing's guaranteed next year. They could be worse than this year. And then what are you going to do after week eight? Oh, they're three and five. You know, let's just throw it in.

We'll just hope for a high draft pick next year. Well, you can only do that so often. You know, there's a lot of teams that actually do that and that actually play like crap every year, and that's the Cleveland Browns and several others. You know what? They always have high draft picks. Where are they at?

They're nowhere. They're always terrible because after they're coached and they're owned and everything else awfully or for years and years and years, and then the high draft picks that actually are doing something for their team, what do they do after their first contract? They leave. This is something that nobody in Indianapolis or the roots for the Colts should ever want. So get that out of your head. It makes no sense whatsoever. And it's just a pipe dream that people say because they love the draft so much. And that's okay. You can love the draft, but exercise some common sense when thinking about this because it absolutely makes no sense

whatsoever. I'll get off my soapbox here for just a minute, and we'll get back to the show. But another talking point that I've spoken about in the past that also makes me wonder a little bit is how much this team, this coaching staff really wants to force Dwayne Allen into the offense. It just seems like they're just not – it's weird because it seems like they're not satisfied with Jack Doyle. And I don't understand that because Jack Doyle is everything that this Colts team could ever hope for in a tight end. He makes the catch. He runs solid routes. He gets yards after the catch. He makes touchdowns. I don't get it. What do we want? I mean, Dwayne,

everybody wanted Dwayne Allen over Klobe Fleener, and that was the right way to go. Don't get me wrong. But Dwayne Allen is still not the best. I mean, he is not the best tight end on the team. Why do we have to force Dwayne Allen into this offense so much? It'd be nice to get him to contribute. But if they're seriously saying, you know, let's alter the power side or the strong side with Dwayne or vice versa, and this way we get this route out of Allen or this route, and Doyle is simply the outlet. You know, that's stupid. That's stupid offensive-minded thinking.

I mean, that can't be something that they actually have to think. Don't get me wrong. I think that Dwayne Allen's a solid tight end in the NFL. He's hurt all the time. He's not consistent and he has real issues catching the ball. Dwayne, uh, Doyle has none of that. So let's, I just, I just wish they'd stop, you know, to be quite honest with you, but more along the lines of what we're going to see in the future the Colts have a real opportunity to start Monday uh they they've they've you know had no choice really with luck being out uh in what they were going to produce Thursday night they still had an opportunity to win they didn't come to play and the Colts the entire team including

the offense including the defense I mean special everything, they have to come to play and they have to be top of the line the rest of this season. Because they have, like I said, they have four games on the schedule, they absolutely should win, regardless of the terrible issues of the offensive line, no pass rush, very seldom is the secondary on top of their game. That doesn't matter. These other four teams on their schedule are still worse than they are when they're playing well. The Colts play like crap. You see what you saw Thursday. They're not going to beat anybody in the league playing like that.

But if you see something like them playing against Tennessee or the first three and a half quarters against Green Bay, that Colts team right there can beat anybody in the NFL. And that's who you want to see in the playoffs. Whether you see that or not, whether they even make the playoffs is a coin flip at this point. We don't know. But I know that Houston and Tennessee are both as inconsistent as any team in the NFL. And maybe the Texans are actually consistent. I mean, offensively, they're consistent at being bad. You know, they've had a couple of good offensive games, and that's it.

So really, I mean, even though the Colts right now are sitting in third place with a win and a Tennessee loss and a Texans loss, the Colts are right there. And it's just baffling to me that anybody could assume that that's not a good idea or a good spot for the Colts to be. So I just, look, the Colts have opportunities. We should be hopeful that they get there. If they don't, then we get the spot that we get in the draft. Totally up in the air. Doesn't make any difference at all.

But when we look at this weekend in particular, we have an Indianapolis Colts team that is coming in with their quarterback who has played at an MVP level through a good portion of the season. He was hurt last week. Everybody knows they played like crap last week. We have injured guys coming back. Some of their key guys are injured. Ryan Fitzpatrick's had a terrible year, 10 touchdowns, 13 picks, and he constantly throws interceptions to the Colts when they play him. Whether or not that's the case this week, who knows? But it looks like a lot of things are going in the Colts' favor this week. At New York and in prime time are the two things that worry me more, actually, than the

Jets team versus the Colts team. And that Colts, or thatets front seven is the scary front seven. It's the back four and a few of the linebackers that really are going to leave the Jets vulnerable. So the Colts have to have their best offensive line performance because that front seven is dangerous. And we don't want Andrew Luck getting hit seven, eight, ten more times this week because that would ultimately lead to a really bad situation for the Colts. Other than that, I want to tell you guys to always please subscribe to the podcast. Please give us a rating and review on iTunes. I would personally very much appreciate that.

I will start checking them daily, and I would love to see just a couple every week. That would be great. You know, that would make a huge difference for us, or for me, you know, if not for us, but for me. And I want to do as much as I can to involve you guys, the listeners, fans, you know, all of us. And I want your feedback more importantly, whether you do that on a review or an email or a message to me or something like that. Let me know. I want to know what you guys like about the show, maybe something you dislike, what you guys want to see more of or hear more of interviews or whether you guys like it when it's kind of just me or, you know, a guy like George or Jake Arthur or somebody, you know, a guy like George or, uh, Jake Arthur

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what you guys think, and I will certainly respond and let you guys know. Like I said, you guys can also leave a voice message on Skype that I can use and I'll play. I may be setting up a phone number for you guys to do that so I can just start playing some of those throughout the episodes and get you guys involved and get you on here. So don't be afraid to get involved. Don't be hesitant. Give me a shout. Let me know what's going on in your heads and we'll do it. So thank you guys again and always for your listening, for sharing the show. You guys are awesome. And this is why I want you guys involved because I really appreciate everything you guys are doing

and all the listeners and all the kind words and so on. This is it for the week. We'll be talking Monday. It'll be actually more of a pregame-type deal, getting ready for that Monday night matchup. I appreciate everything you guys are doing. I appreciate being here with you guys every day of the week. I will check you guys out on Monday.

So come check me out on Monday. And don't forget to leave those reviews or send me a message. I truly mean it. So then we will talk next time right here on Monday 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.