Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -12/22- Indianapolis Colts May Finally Be Getting Things Together; Too Little Too Late?

Episode Date: December 22, 2016

The #Colts have been protecting Andrew Luck better lately, they finally are getting the defense to a respectable spot and the offense is starting to show what they've always been capable of. What does that mean for this Saturday against the Oakland #Raiders? George Bremer (@gmbremer) stops in to offer his take. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Talkspace.com slash BOOM. B-O-O-M. No, I'm not for sale. You are Locked 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've got a big week going for us this week.

We've got the Raiders. We've got a juggernaut possibility of an offense in Oakland with Carr and all his receivers and running backs. And, you know, we've got our own offense here. But we've seen a couple variations of teams over the past few weeks with good offenses or good defenses and haven't really been great on the other side of the ball. This week we've got a little bit of a different story.

The Raiders have the great offense, and their defense has a great pass rush. But other than that, they've got some struggles that they're going through as well. And today we got in George Bremmer, friend of the show. George, thanks for joining us, man. I appreciate it. Absolutely. Anytime. I'm glad to be here.

So we've got, and this week we've got, you know, Derek Carr, a huge, huge arm, lots of possibilities here. He's got a lot of weapons in Crabtree and running back in Latavius Murray. George, these guys are going to have their hands full on defense. Now, last week, this past week, they had a really good outing against Sam Bradford and the Vikings. How are they going to come back against a team like this and attempt to really put forth another quality effort?

That's actually one of the things I'm most looking forward to, I think, on Saturday because you've got some young guys that have played on this defense the last few weeks. Hassan Ridgway, who's been doing it really for a number of weeks, pretty much the second half of the season for this team. T.Y. McGill, Zach Kerr, both healthy again. They both had an impact at the game on Sunday. Two guys in the inside linebacker spots, Antonio Morrison and Edwin Jackson,

a flash at times. They obviously have some things they need to work on, too, like all the young guys that T.J. Green had his moments. The defense has been forced into playing a lot of younger guys because of injuries, because of suspensions, because of a lot of younger guys because of injuries, because of suspensions, because of a lot of things that have happened. And in the last three weeks, they've given up two touchdowns. Now you're talking about the Jets, the Texans, the Vikings,

three teams that aren't offensive juggernauts by any stretch of the imagination. And here comes Oakland, who is an offensive juggernaut. So I think for me, it's going to be really fun to see how these young guys respond because there are a lot of guys right now that are trying to show that maybe they deserve a spot, that maybe they belong in this league. And Saturday could be a chance to do that against a really top-notch opponent. Right. And they've got these guys, you know, I wrote a piece not too long ago about some of the roster, the way that it's going to look between this year and next year could resemble that of the change from 2011 to 2012

with just kind of like a wholesale change in roster. Now, you've got guys like we've talked about, one of our favorites anyways, you and I, is Rashawn Melvin. That's a guy who I would really love to see come back as depth at worst. There's a lot of guys who are going to be unrestricted free agents this year. There are a lot of them that I don't see coming back. But you've got a lot of guys on this roster who are in that position, like you said, to make a case for the 2017 roster.

Now, the good part about this coming week, this past week we had some guys nicked up, but a lot of the injury report as of Wednesday was really Chris Carter was the only guy who did not practice that was due to injury. That's a good sign. Yeah, we were talking about that a little bit earlier today in the media room. Every week this year, there's been at least two guys who were ruled out on the last day of the practice week. It's Friday as far as the Colts are concerned today because Saturday is Sunday, game day. And we're going to find that out here in just a few minutes. But it looks like outside of Chris Carter,

there's nobody else that's in danger of being ruled out this week. And even he may not be ruled out. We'll know that again here shortly. But there's a lot of things at play into that. I mean, obviously guys that are hurt and are going to be missing multiple weeks right now are on IR. So guys who would have been ruled out are out for the rest of the season already.

You know, that plays into it a little bit too. But the guys that are here, it's been as healthy as this team's been probably all year long. I agree. And you look at a guy like LaRaven Clark, who we've all seen come up through camp and preseason, you know, and kind of stuff. And you guys have seen slightly, probably a little bit in practice and so on. But, man, was there anybody who wasn't surprised in his performance on Sunday? Just his teammates. You know, it's one of the things I went around the locker room on Sunday talking to Anthony Costanzo, talking to Ryan Kelly, talking to Joe Hague and saying,

hey, why were you guys so confident? And they said, look, practice. This kid for weeks has been showing it in practice. We knew what he could do. I think the offensive line as a whole was such a revelation with three starters out, three rookies in the lineup, and they go out and they really stonewalled a very good Minnesota front seven. It was an impressive showing by the offense in general,

but by the offensive line in particular. And that's another part of Saturday's game that I think is interesting that's going to be fun to keep an eye on because LaRaven Clark's another one of those guys. He's going to have a chance if he gets started again, which right now seems to be kind of the way they're leaning, to go against Khalil Mack, who could be the defensive player of the year this year in the NFL. It's going to tell you something about where he's at. It's going to tell you something about his competitiveness.

And really, when you look at the line moving forward, who is the right tackle for the future? Who is the right tackle for the next five years? Here's a chance. It's not going to happen in the next two weeks, but here's a chance for LaR Raven Clark to start that journey to start, to make his case, to be that guy. Yeah. And, and, you know, it was it, and let's be fair. It doesn't really matter who's going up against Khalil Mack. If he can, if let's say it's the Raven Clark, let's say it's a Joe Hague or, I mean, you know, whoever, it really doesn't matter

if the, no, none of them are going to stonewall him. That's just not going to happen. If they can just keep him from going off and just murdering Andrew Luck, then that's going to be a good showing for the most part. Keep him from breaking the game. Keep him from making that Jadavian County play that you go back and lament for the next six months. You got to keep that from happening, whoever it is.

Right. And, you know, another aspect here that did pretty well with an injured guy was the wide receiver core this past week. They weren't, you know, there was no monster game breaks, but we only saw that one catch and on the one target to Dorsett. But without Moncrief in here, I personally really like Chester Rogers. I think that he's a guy who could be someone who's definitely on the roster next year as depth at the position. But you've also got Quan Bray, who people may have forgotten about since he's been injured.

They've got a pretty decent receiver core moving forward. And it kind of seems like Moncrief's been relegated to almost the short crossing routes and a lot of work in the red zone. How are they going to stretch the field against these guys? I talked to Ted Wynn yesterday, and he was telling me that he thinks that a lot of their coverage is going to be two deep quarters and stuff like that in order to keep T.Y. Hilton or whoever their speeder is on the outside to go from going deep and to be able to maybe double coverage a little bit on some other routes that that's something that the Colts have really flourished in lately is being able to get some nice combination routes some original route running or original route concepts together

to break deep. Is that something that you see a lot of this week or is that something that you think that the running game, that they're going to try to push that down Oakland's throat again? I think the running game is going to be big again. For one reason, everybody in this building, let's see Frank Gore get to a thousand yards. He's at 109 yards away. So if he can have a high 50s, low 60s day, he would be sitting pretty going into Week 17. And obviously, if he can have a really big day, maybe he could get it on Saturday.

So I think the running game is going to be a factor. For one thing, it helps everybody else. I think you saw that a little bit. It is helped by everything. it all gets complimentary in there uh we talked to andrew luck a little bit about it this week and it's kind of a chicken or egg thing you know are they more balanced in their wins because they're winning or does the balance help them play better and win you know who knows it's one of those great arguments that comes in football but there's no doubt on Sunday it was as balanced as we've seen for whatever reason whatever caused that I think a lot of it was execution I think a lot of it is the fact that we keep forgetting you know a lot

that this is the first year that they're in Rob Chudzinski's system you know that that was game 14 all time for this group in this system. And I think they're getting more comfortable and they're getting to understand more what he does and you're seeing it come along. I mean, one of the things about this inconsistent crazy season, which has been by any measure, unpredictable and insane, they're four in one in the last five games that Andrew Luck started.

And they're averaging 29.4 points per game. And the real frustrating thing about that is the one loss is the one game you can't lose. And in that one, they turned the ball over three times. He gets hit 13 times, and they only put up 17 points. But the offense, I think you're seeing, you're starting to see them come together. And one of the most, to go back to finally answer your question, one of the most impressive things, I think, about Sunday's game is Andrew Luck had eight different receivers on 21 completions.

That's spreading the ball around. That's getting everybody involved. And so I think you're going to see guys again like Eric Swope who's starting to emerge. You're going to see guys like Jack Doyle be a part of this offense. And I think you're going to see Dante Moncrief be a part of it. I think that's what they want to do going forward. I think they want to – one thing that Rob Chudzinski has consistently said

from the first day of training camp is that he wants his team to be able to win in different ways. He doesn't want to be a team that has to do A or B to win. He wants to be a team that can kind of take whatever the defense has given you and take advantage of that. And we've seen more of that in the last few weeks. And, you know, I think something that's understated as well is how in this win this past weekend, how quality Robert Turbin was.

Now, when you've got two running backs who can be in that game and you've got Turbin and Gore both running well, both being effective, then the defense really has no choice but to just try to stay as close to a base package as possible and really just everybody just stay on their keys because nobody's tipping their hand when both guys are effective in the backfield and the passing game is as good as it is. I think Turbin is a huge, huge factor in this team when he's playing well

because then you open up the passing game for both guys he might be the least appreciated guy in this offense I mean as far as widely going he's got six touchdowns right people I don't know if people realize that you know six touchdown runs this year I think he's touched the ball 60 times he's got 20 of those times have resolved in the first down he's just he's had little moments but he said this week that when you look at the situations that he's in, those are little moments, but become big moments. And I think he's helped them become big moments. He's definitely a guy who's helped this team out moving forward.

And he's another guy who's facing free agency. So I think the offseason, as you mentioned, there's a lot of things to change. There's a lot of interesting things coming. But I really feel like this offense, when everybody's healthy, and if, and this is a huge if, if the offensive line can continue to grow and improve, they've only allowed nine sacks in the last six games. We're starting to see them come together.

That experience, if they can get the same five together and gel, I think this offense is close to breaking out. Yeah, and you know, that was one of the things I was going to bring up too, just as soon as you were done talking, was how well they've protected Luck over the past several games. You know, Philbin's not getting a lot of credit because this team has just been terrible in protection up until the last few games. Is that on Philbin, you think, or is that on guys just finally getting it? I think it's guys just finally getting it. First of all, you've got a lot of youngsters, and there's four rookies that have played at one time or another.

Denzel Goode is essentially a rookie. He had four games of experience coming in, so he's not exactly a long-tenured guy up there. Jack Mewhart is a third-year guy guy and it ends up being a long beard on this line. So I, you know, I think that's a lot of it. And then again, you had a first year system, you have a first year coach, a lot of young guys, it was going to take time, no matter what now, you know, 31 sacks in the first eight games, that's unacceptable no matter what.

It's not an excuse making kind of a situation, but I think it's something unacceptable no matter what. It's not an excuse-making kind of a situation, but I think it's something that no matter what, there was going to be an adjustment period. You add in the injuries that seem to plague this line every year, the number of different combinations that they've had. I think guys have individually been able to improve, and now you're starting to see that in the unit as a whole. The Colts have an opportunity to go 5-3 on the road. They finish 3-1 against the NFC, but they could also legitimately lose four games in

the division. This is one of the most crazy seasons I've ever seen in that respect. Yeah. When I talk about the topsy-turvy insaneness of this year, they're on a four-game road winning streak, which at that point you start thinking, this team's hot, they're building momentum. But during that same time period, they've lost three or four at home. That makes no sense.

As you mentioned, 3-1 against the NFC North, a division that right now has two teams in the playoffs, 2-3 against their own division, the AFC South, the division they used to dominate. Very little this year has made sense. Very little this year has been consistent. And I think when they go back in the offseason, they look back at regrets and things.

I think two of the biggest things are going to be that home record and the division record because you take care of business and those two spots. And we're not talking about scenarios and crazy ways to get into the playoffs. We're talking about seeding and maybe getting a bye if you can win on Saturday for the first round. Right. They legitimately should have swept the NFC North, to be honest with you.

That game in week one was in the Colts' hands. Basically, for lack of a better pun, they fumbled the ball. When we look back, one more thing for you, George, I'm going to let you go because I know you're a busy guy. That week one loss to Detroit, the loss to Jacksonville, and the first loss to Houston, just those three in general, if those three games all should have been won by the Colts, there's no two ways about it.

None of those games should have been losses. If you move, if you switch those around right now, the Colts are 10 and four, but this doesn't seem like a 10 and four team, even with the rest of the games that they've played. I mean, what do you think that people would be saying right now?

Had the, the, the things been flipped and they had be, they would be 10 and four right now going into Week 16 against this team. Would the question be, oh, you've got a pretty crazy Colts team going up against one of the best teams in the AFC? Or would it be you've got two fantastic teams going up against each other in an AFC matchup? You know what I mean? Just one score in those three games, or the Colts not blowing a 13-point lead in the last seven minutes,

or just whatever, you know what I mean, or not losing to one of the worst teams in the NFL in Jacksonville. The storyline for Saturday would be completely different. It would be entirely different. And I think not just for Saturday, but Andrew Luck would be in the Pro Bowl right now and would probably be in the MVP conversation if those three games went the other way. So that's part of the NFL. It's part of the way it is. I think you can go the other way just as easily.

They've got three games they won in the fourth quarter on a game-winning touchdown. San Diego, Chicago in the first game in Tennessee, and two others where the offense makes a key third down conversion to run out the clock. Specifically in Green Bay, I think there was going to be trouble if they gave the ball back to Aaron Rodgers. Who knows what happens in the home game against Tennessee if you don't run out the clock there.

So it goes both ways, and I think that's part of the way. I think that's why I always kind of look at the old Bill Parcells quote, you are what your record says you are. If these three games had gone one way, they'd be 10-4. If those five games had gone another way, we'd be having a different conversation as well. That's true. That's a fun one.

That's very true. So, you know, I think that's where you end up, you know. And I do think there's more to be excited about right now with this franchise than a lot of people are kind of looking at. There's obviously a lot to work on. There's obviously a lot that needs to happen for this team to get back to where it wants to be. But what we just talked about,

I think this offense is getting very close to being a very, very good offense in this league. And I think it's going to be fun to see how the defense finishes this season because they've shown some flashes the last couple weeks that those young guys are starting to get it. They've got something that they can do. They need more playmakers. There's no one going to argue it. They've got something that they can do. They need more playmakers.

There's no one going to argue that. They need pass rushers in the worst way. There's a lot of things that need to be done. But I think there's a little bit more reason for optimism than maybe the outside is looking at on a regular basis. I agree. George, thank you for spending some time with us today, man. I know you've got things to do and press conferences to get to,

but I appreciate your time. Everybody follow George on Twitter. He does a great job following the Colts, covering them on a daily basis. George, thank you again for your time, man. No problem. Thanks a lot, Matt. Anytime. And there you have it, Colts fans.

We are getting all set for this game Saturday, and it's a big one. The Colts could end up 5-3 on the road for the season. It would be a huge win against a big-time AFC opponent, and we're just going to have to see how this thing plays out. The Colts could make it in. There's a lot of help that they need, and they've got to do their part too, and they've got to do it a lot better than they did against Houston. So thank you guys for joining me, and I will check all of you out on Friday

right here on Locked on Colts. You are locked on Colts, your daily podcast on the Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.