Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -12/26- Indianapolis Colts Have Decisions To Be Made; Sit Luck? Send Pagano Packing? What Else?

Episode Date: December 26, 2016

The Indianapolis #Colts season is all but over, but some key decisions will need to be made in the coming weeks. Should they sit some of their key contributors including #Luck? Are Pagano and Grigson working on borrowed time? Who could the Colts bring in to turn things around? 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 we're sitting here on a Monday following Christmas where the Colts are now completely out of playoff contention. And this isn't a place that we expected to be at the beginning of the season necessarily. But as the season's gone on, we've definitely seen how realistic this could be with the way that the different pieces of the puzzle have played.

The way the coaching has been. I mean, just over and over, week by week, we're seeing a completely different Colts team every week, it seemed. And now, you know, they follow fantastic wins in the last four weeks by complete stinkers and just falling apart. And, you know, that game, despite its score, 33 to 25 against Oakland, we all know it wasn't that close. To me, it was very much like the Colts versus the Packers earlier in the year, where the Colts were ahead plenty and then kind of allowed Green Bay back in the game. That's ultimately what Oakland did. They were up 33 to 14 at one time, and the Colts come back and get a touchdown. The Colts get a

field goal. That's it. 33-25. They didn't score much. Derek Carr goes down with a debilitating injury, of course, and it just wasn't a good showing despite only an eight-point loss. It was much more of a two-possession loss, and the Colts looked terrible for the majority of that game. The offensive line did okay, not great. I've seen somebody, I said something about this on the day of the game that a lot of people were talking about how impressive the Colts line was not getting a sack. That's just, guys, you got to really, I mean, you have to assume that getting hit half a second after you throw the ball has a little something to do with where the ball goes, for the most part. That constant pressure, constantly stepping up and out of the pocket, having to get outside of the pocket,

is just a constant thing where the Colts are just still in desperate need of improvement. I also put on there something that we talked about the other day. The Colts have only given up now nine sacks, you know, since week nine, but they've still allowed 63 quarterback hits where they allowed 31 sacks in the first eight weeks and only 54 quarterback hits. So you see, and like we talked about with Ted Wynn and Josh Wilson, it's very much about Luck being able to escape that pressure as to why there aren't any sacks. And even when there are sacks, or when he's close to being sacked and probably should be sacked, he either finds a way

to step out of it enough to throw a ball out of bounds, throw it in the dirt, or make a valid attempt at a completion downfield. And we saw that that kind of got him in trouble as well with throwing his two interceptions, two costly interceptions. In that position, that's something that we haven't really seen much of him this year, but we've seen in the past where Luck tries just, you know, just refuses to give up on that play regardless of the down and distance and will try to throw the ball into double coverage like he did down against, or with Hilton down in the end zone where it was intercepted. You just can't do that

as an NFL quarterback. You have to be able to take your losses, either step up and run and get down and take a short gain, or no at all, even for that matter, or throw the ball out of bounds. I mean, there, there's just no benefit to costly interceptions and, you know, the fumble on Gore, you know, it's hard for me to really be too upset about that. I mean, once, you know, once it goes bad guys, it goes bad in droves and, you know, that was just not going to be the Colts day, that's for sure. Gore's always pretty sure-handed for the most part. He's always one of the guys you never have to mistake his effort in the game. And it just, it was just bad luck, you know. Bad

luck in a bad spot at bad time of the game. So, and Oakland, they turned all of their, turned all of the Colts' turnovers into points. So, you see, it just goes downhill really quick, especially when things aren't going your way, and you couple that with a couple bad decisions. Now, I hope that everybody had a fantastic Christmas. I hope that all of you got to spend some time with your family, especially your little ones. I know I did. It was great. My folks, my in-laws, my kids, you know, we all had them for Christmas. So it was really nice for everybody to be together and spend a lot of quality time together.

Hopefully that kind of minimized some of the stink that the game put on your Christmas Eve. It was just not, you know, a fun game to watch by any means. So hopefully you were eating some good food or getting or giving some gifts, one of the two, you know, in place of that and kind of had to just kind of glance at it every so often. Hopefully you guys didn't pay too much attention to the game, but the end result is that the Colts are eliminated from playoff contention. The coaching carousel is heating up in the league. Not only that, but the coaches are kind of starting to get weeded out as possible places, landing spots and stuff like that, and so on and so forth. I mean, it's just a lot of people need coaches.

A couple teams have already, you know, at least Jacksonville and those guys, they've already gotten rid of their coach. So there's a couple teams that are ready to get this underway. The Rams and the Jaguars certainly have a heads up on everybody else in their coaching search. Now the thing is, is for the Colts, they haven't decided one way or the other as of right this moment whether Pagano and Grigson are

going to be gone. Like I told you guys when we were speaking to Josh Wilson, the things that I've heard, but that can all change. As Josh pointed out, that can all change at the drop of a hat. If this last game, and I think it was actually George Bremer that said something about it, if this game doesn't get, you know, people don't come to the game, then that's going to make an impression on Ursae. Whether that's going to tilt his hand as far as to whether he decides to get rid of Pagano and Grigson or one or the other, we don't know that right now. And Josh made a fantastic point last week where a lot of people forget that there was a coaching change early in the Peyton Manning era.

They take Tony Dungy. Later on, they get him, and that turns around the Indianapolis Colts. I mean, it kind of seems crazy how many parallels there could be between these two situations. Last year, I did ride the fence a little bit on hot take-town, you know, as far as whether to get rid of Pagano or not. It's not a continuity thing with me. It's just one of the things that I felt like the locker room and some of the team were a little soft at heart, so to speak. I thought that it might really ruin something that they had going, and you never know. There just wasn't a lot of head coaches that were standing out to anybody. I'm not a big Sean Payton fan, so that didn't affect me at all. That didn't make any big deal to me or anything like that, but there was Adam Gase out there and stuff like that. A few guys

that could make an impact, but it just didn't seem like there's a was Adam Gase out there and stuff like that. A few guys that could make an impact, but it just didn't seem like there's a lot of head coaches out there last year to really, you know, take the ball and run. This year, it's kind of a similar thing. McDaniels, Shanahan, Anthony Lynn, you know, the offensive coordinator of Buffalo, who's made, you know, leaps and bounds improvement, you know, as far as the way he's seen throughout the league. It's just one of those things where you just don't know. A lot of these guys are unproven. Some of them have been first time, have been head coaches already, and will be

coming back for a second go around. But you just never know. This is one of those years that it's definitely time for a change. I think Pagano needs to go. I think Gregson probably needs to go as well, but it's going to be a very tedious situation if the Colts don't get the perfect guy who can bring in a bunch of good coordinators and position coaches. It's just going to be very, I'm anxious to see it. I really am because I think there needs to be a change regardless and probably a short leash on whoever does come in to be quite honest with you. But that's not a way that you keep coaches around by basically threatening them as they come in the door with, you know, win or else. That's not going to happen. And Ursae knows that. It's going to be an expensive decision if he does

get rid of these two. But like I said, and I think that everybody agrees for the most part, these two need to go. It's over with. They're not making an impact on this team other than on a personal level, as far as Pagano goes. And outside of a personal connection with these guys, that doesn't do anything on the field. And on the field is what counts. As far as i'm concerned i mean you you have to have that rapport with your team in order to get the field product to be what it is but pagano's clearly got the off the field stuff down pat as a fantastic guy he

just doesn't have the on-field stuff done and it's not making an impact and that's something that needs to change so i'm all for a coaching change I know you guys are too for the most part. Let me stop for a second and tell you guys about my man, Mike Ernest. Colts fans, are you in the market to sell a home? If so, call Mike Ernest of Century 21 Sheets at 317-285-9691. Mike is an expert in the greater Indianapolis real estate market and has helped people just like you achieve their real estate goals. As a professional realtor, Mike will not only help you navigate the real estate market, but he guarantees that he will sell your house for full market value We'll be right back. team. It will get you every dollar for what your home is worth. Mike Ernest is just that guy for you. Listen, when it comes to selling your home, knowledge is power. The first step you need to

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Whether you live in Indy or any of the surrounding communities, Mike and his team can help. Call Mike Earnest at 317-285-9691 or find him on the web at MikeEarnest.com. Again, 317-285-9691 or MikeEarnest.com. Now, we've got another week of football left to see. The Colts are going to be hosting the Jacksonville Jaguars. They just beat the Tennessee Titans. This is a week that the Colts absolutely need to sit Andrew Luck. I can't stand this, watching Andrew Luck get beat up every week. Look, the protection's been better,

but I'm not looking forward to a week where somebody gets through the line, lights up Andrew Luck, and he's out for next season. Sorry, that's not worth it to me. I couldn't care less about this last game as far as win, lose, or draw. This is purely for a, uh, a pride standpoint here between the Colts and the Jaguars. This has absolutely nothing to do with anything else. If you put Scott Tolzien out there, he should be able to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars. If the wide receivers can catch the ball like they did not do the last time Scott Tolzien made a start against Pittsburgh, the Colts should still be able to win against Jacksonville. Jacksonville's awful. They are playing pretty good. They played a nice game as far as that under their new interim coach, Doug Marone.

But this is not a game where I give two craps, really, whether they win, lose, or draw. This is not a point in contest. The Colts absolutely have to sit Andrew Luck. And you know what, for that matter, sit a couple other guys too. Because this isn't even about draft position for me. This is about guys being healthy and a game that means absolutely nothing. This game means nothing. They don't do anything or get anything better than a draft slot and only a slightly better at that. Like I said, it's not for that, but they're just barely going to be doing anything better than where they're currently at at 14th. The Colts have to sit the people who they need to set. Moncrief, as far as I'm concerned,

a guy who is consistently injured as it is right now, get him out of there. Let Chester Rogers take his role and go. If you have to sit T.Y. Hilton, do it. Frank Gore, I don't think you sit that guy because this could be his last game in Indy. You just don't know. I don't think it should be.

I just don't know if it will be. Andrew Luck, sitting. Sitting. We need him for the next 10 years, not for the next 10 weeks. Couldn't care less about this game or anything else. I mean, I don't think that there's going to be a big showing in Indianapolis, to be honest with you guys. I really don't.

The Colts fan base is, let's see,le I mean I think that's an accurate word we constantly forget that we've won some Super Bowls that we've been to some Super Bowls that we've been extremely extremely lucky with Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck and uh you know at the drop of the hat we're ready to turn on the organization we that that's you know too bad that as a whole we're ready to turn on the organization. That's too bad that as a whole we're like that. I understand the difficulty in continuing to root for a team that's coached poorly and that's run poorly as far as draft position and stuff like that. But there's been some stuff that Gregson's done that's been positive. You can't lay all the bad down and say that's all there is, because it's not. Chuck Pagano's made some decent, you know, coaching decisions and stuff like that

in the past. He's coached the guys pretty well in the past. And, you know, you can't really say anything about that. There's another thing that's going around right now where everybody's complaining about how far back Andrew Luck is dropping, whether it's shotgun or under center. Look, his drop and this offense, all of you who wanted Bruce Arians to stay, this is as close as it gets to a Bruce Arians offense as far as the downfield passing attack, as you're going to see. Okay? This is, I mean, if you're complaining about this,

then you're probably the same people who were saying we should have kept Bruce Arians, but you don't make the connection to the two that they're almost one in the same, okay? Lux dropping back, it's downfield, it takes a while for these downfield routes to open up. They're often double moves and so on and so forth. Guys, don't pitch just to bitch. This is one and the same. Bruce Arians, this would be a very similar offense to him. It wouldn't be necessarily a play calling, and I think it might be a little more consistent for sure. But as far as the downfield approach to this, how deep Andrew Luck's taking a drop, almost identical. I mean, it's just uncanny that people are complaining about this, and then they were the same ones that wanted Bruce Arians, and they're

not putting the two together. Either way, the Colts season is over, as far as I'm concerned, and I think that as far as a lot of you are concerned, it's over as well. So, you know, we're going to start looking ahead. I'm going to talk about this game throughout the week a little bit. You know, I'm not going to give a keys to victory because I couldn't care less if they win or lose. I want to see everybody stay healthy. And we're going to start looking into draft. We're going to start looking into some free agency news and stuff like that.

Just basically news around the league, and then we're going to cut into some finer points of stuff that the Colts are going to be going through over the next several months when they start to build their roster for the 2017 season. So thank you guys for listening. I appreciate you guys coming here every day. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and had a fantastic time with your families and little ones and friends and everything else.

Great food. I hope you guys had some as well. But subscribe to the show. Thank you, all of you overseas, across the pond in London, Australia, everywhere that you guys are listening. Thumbs up. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. I appreciate your guys' shout-outs on Twitter, on Facebook, and so on and so forth. You you very much. I appreciate it. I appreciate your guys' shoutouts on Twitter,

on Facebook, and so on and so forth. You guys are fantastic. It's a great, a great loyal listening group, and I really appreciate you guys. I really, truly do. But thank you guys again, and I'll see you all on Tuesday 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.