Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 12/4/19: Crossover Wednesday with Locked On Bucs

Episode Date: December 4, 2019

On today's episode, it's time to go in-depth on the Colts' latest matchup on Sunday in Tampa Bay. How will the Colts fare against an improved Bucs squad? Both of these teams are going in opposite directions right now, so who holds the edge and where?Jameis Winston vs. Jacoby Brissett, Vita Vea vs. Quenton Nelson, plus a lot more matchups are broken down along with our main keys and predictions.Don't miss this one, listeners! This game will truly tell us how the Colts finish off their 2019-20 season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, everybody. Welcome back into the latest episode of Crossover Wednesday here. I am Evan Sider, your host from Locked On Colts. And I'm joined here with our special guest this week, James Yarcho, the host of Locked On Bucks. How do you do that, James? I'm doing fantastic. How are you, buddy? Doing good. Thanks for coming on. I know Crossover Wednesday, our listeners definitely love when our hosts get together here to talk about this week's game. And this one is definitely an intriguing one, James.

And maybe from the Colts side, I think it's definitely unexpected here because the Colts were 5-2, now they're 6-6. The playoffs are slipping away here, but this Buccaneers team, James, at this point, when you see them play against the Jaguars last week, this team actually maybe has some momentum going. Yeah, they've played pretty well these past couple weeks. Definitely the two most complete team victories that we've seen all season, and a lot of the credit goes to a very, very young secondary. You have Jamel Dean, who he left last week with an injury. No real word on that quite yet, but he has stepped up in a big, big way.

Carlton Davis is playing very well. You have Mike Edwards, who is a rookie out of Kentucky, who's bouncing between safety and slot corner. He's playing extremely well, and first-round pick Devin White is on an absolute tear right now. Last week, had his first career interception, had his first career touchdown after a fumble recovery. He had two sacks two weeks ago. He is just absolutely lighting it up for the Bucs right now. Yeah, let me ask you about one player in specific, because we're going to talk about the defense here in a sec, because I feel like that defensive unit here is very young and underrated for this Buccaneers team.

It's going to be getting even better long-term. But Jameis Winston definitely is a polarizing subject outside of Tampa Bay. Let me ask you a little bit about Jameis here, because I don't know if we've had the chance to talk about this before. Do you believe that Jameis Winston is the long-term answer for Ecuador to the Tampa Buccaneers? Do you like his match with Bruce Aaron so far? My stance on Jameis Winston is about as political as it gets, I guess you could say. I'm pretty much done, but I am of the understanding that he will return, that he has shown improvement in some areas.

I think to me, just the frustration level of some of the stupid mistakes that he hasn't been able to get rid of that are 95% mental, they reached a breaking point for me. And I like Jameis a lot. I really do. And I think he can be a successful quarterback. I believe he is starting caliber for an NFL quarterback. But I need to see more.

I need to see more to get me to change my mind because I do think Bruce Arians has helped him in some aspects. A lot of people point to the turnovers and a lot, I wouldn't say a lot, maybe a little less than half of these turnovers aren't even on Jameis. We've had some interceptions caused by receivers running the wrong route or running a timing route and not getting the timing down. We had OJ Howard basically try to juggle and do a Harlem Globetrotter style catch that led to an interception. You have a very weak offensive line that has created a lot of pressure on Winston. He's been sacked more than any quarterback in the NFL, and some of these have led to fumbles. Again, not his fault. We've had some issues with

Ryan Jensen at center, snapping the ball early when Jameis isn't looking, and of course those fumbles are attributed to the quarterback. So you look at some of these turnovers and you realize that not all of them are on him, but this is a guy that is top three in the NFL in passing yards and passing touchdowns. So it's so infuriating to have a player that can do such great things and then in the blink of an eye, he can take the team out of the game. It's just you can't make heads or tails of it. Yeah, it's definitely interesting what happens there long-term, James, because you see this Buccaneers team,

you barely lose against the Titans 23-27 a couple weeks ago. Same thing in Seattle as well. This team could be over.500, just a couple of bounces really go their way here over this season, and that's really intriguing to me because I feel like this Buccaneers team maybe is overachieving so far because I really like the long-term what they have here, and I think a lot of that has to do with their wide receiver core, with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.

I think Godwin's really breaking out this year, James. What should Colts fans be worried about going against this Buccaneers team with arguably two of the top ten wide receivers running on the NFL? Well, yeah, you have Mike Evans and Chris Godwin who are in the top three in the NFL in receiving yards. Chris Godwin leads the NFL in receiving touchdowns. And what's so scary about Chris Godwin's game is that his ability to run

after the catch is a work of art. They need to put like a gif of Chris Godwin running after the catch in the Louvre. It's such a beautiful, beautiful thing. And that's what makes him so dangerous. He's the guy that can take a quick three, four yard pass, break three tackles, and all of a sudden he's gained 35 yards. On the other side, you have Mike Evans, who's a matchup nightmare for pretty much any corner in the NFL because he's so big, he's so talented, and he's so deceptively fast. You'll watch Mike Evans run, and it looks like he's jogging,

but he has such long strides that he actually fools the secondary by how fast he truly is. So you have those two guys, which are a huge worry. Ronald Jones was benched last week because he missed a blitz pickup that ended up causing a fumble. But he, in recent weeks, has asserted himself as the best running back on the team, not only from the aspect of running the ball, but also becoming a weapon out of the backfield in the receiving game. So that's another layer to put on there. And we're starting to see OJ Howard used a little bit more, which is really, really exciting for Bucs fans. We've been pounding the table and screaming all

season long, why aren't you using such an elite player and such an elite weapon? And they're finally starting to do so. And I'll tell you what, if Rashad Perryman can come out and play the way he did last week against the Jaguars, the Buccaneers offense is a complete mismatch for whatever defense is going up against them the rest of this season because they can hurt you from every angle, whether it's Godwin, Evans, OJ, Ronald Jones, Peyton Barber, Cameron Brate still gets in the mix now and again. So this offense is built to create opportunity for those around it, whether it's OJ Howard being used as a decoy to draw a linebacker away and free up the middle of the field for a short eight-yard pass to Chris Godwin or using

Brashad Perryman as the deep threat to lure a safety over and then create one-on-one opportunities for Godwin or Mike Evans on the outside. The way Bruce Arians and Byron Leftwich set up this offense is just absolutely fantastic if the offense can execute and if Byron Leftwich can get out of his own way and call better games because that's a big issue right now that Byron Leftwich especially when they have a lead coming out of halftime tends to kind of go back into a shell and and kind of seize up and get too conservative too early, and it's allowed some of these teams to get back in these games. You saw with the Jaguars a little bit until the defense stepped up and created a turnover. You saw it with the New York Giants when they came back and won and overcame such a huge deficit. So, you know, the offense is

great, but at the same time, it can be really maddening with a rookie play caller at the helm. Yeah, with the way you described that offense, James, for this Colts defense, they've done very well this year, but with the amount of mismatches they present on the table, it could be a very rough day for this Colts defense on Sunday. But I wanted to ask you about your own defense there in Tampa Bay, which I think is very underrated right now. You have Ndamukongsu and Vitave up front, very good run suppers,

and also Ndamukongsu is a great pass rusher, as we all know in the NFL. Add in Shaq Barrett, the NFL's leader in sacks, throwing Devin White there too. How close is this defense, James, from really turning a corner and really setting the table for next, really in 2020 and beyond? I think they're a lot closer than people give them credit for. They had such a rough start, especially in the passing game, with some of the issues with Vernon Hargraves early on, which now he's part of the AFC South with the Houston Texans. But you have a secondary made up of first and second year players. And it's taken a little while for them to start to gel and start to get the communication down. But we've seen over the past few weeks now they have that communication down. They have that understanding and that trust, and it's helped out the team tremendously. On top of that, you get

Jason Pierre-Paul back. So now you're dealing with a defense that is rotating Jason Pierre-Paul, Shaq Barrett, Carl Nassib into those pass rushing situations. You have both Levante David and Devin White that can rush the passer, drop back in coverage, and are sure tacklers in the run game. And as you mentioned, Sue and Veya as the tandem in the middle there, they have helped this Buccaneers team get to this elite run-stopping defense. They've allowed one 100-yard rusher all season long. That was Chris Carson of the Seattle Seahawks. And a lot of that had to

do with a 59 yard run where Devin White caught him from behind and forced a fumble, but the fumble went out of bounds. So the Seahawks maintained possession, but you have a guy in their division in Christian McCaffrey that played two games against this Buccaneers team. And in those two games combined, had barely over 100 total yards of offense, not just rushing yards, total yards of offense for a guy like Christian McCaffrey in two games against this Buccaneers defense. And I saw that Marlon Mack has returned to practice, maybe a homecoming game for him if he's good to go. Marlon Mack is going to have to make some headway in the receiving game if he's going to do anything to help out the Colts offense because this run defense is not going to let him get anything on the ground. So they're really close to turning a

corner. They have such an uphill battle as far as the total defensive rankings because they started off so poorly, but you're starting to see some major playmakers emerge in that secondary. Yeah, this is definitely, I think, an exciting future building in Tampa Bay. And who knows about the quarterback position? We don't know if Jameis is the long-term answer there for the Buccaneers. But I think the pieces that are building there at Tampa Bay, this could be a very intriguing match for this Colts team here on Sunday in Tampa Bay at Raymond James Stadium.

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Take advantage of MyBookie's generous sign-up offer. Visit MyBookie.edu today. You play, you win, and you get paid. All right, James, I'll give you the floor here to talk a little bit about this Colts team if you wanted to ask some questions here because definitely this Colts team over the last month or so has taken a turn for the worse I feel like yeah yeah it's it's funny and and I have to I have to give a shout out real quick to uh to my boss

and my good friend Tim he's a huge Colts fan so we're constantly talking all the time about our about our team so I've I've kind of followed along with the Colts this season, thanks to Tim. And, you know, you look at Jacoby Brissett and the start that he had to the season, he misses, you know, a game or two due to injury, comes back. He's not quite the same guy. This was a guy that was very protective of the football. He wasn't taking major chances, but at least the offense was moving a little bit. And all of a sudden, they're in this tailspin. What's been going on with Jacoby Brissett? And is he going to be the guy for the Colts moving forward into next year? Or are they going to be

out quarterback shopping here come the offseason? I personally think it's going to be the latter there. I really think that this Colts team is going to be aggressively pursuing a quarterback this offseason in the draft, whether it be Jordan Love from Utah State, he's been connected to them multiple times. I think Chris Bauer went and scouted him earlier this year. Justin Herbert, one of those quarterbacks I feel like could be on the table for them because I think Jacoby Brissett, the way he set up his contract here, he's going to be entering the final year of his contract next year, sort of like a pseudo-bridge contract in my opinion. I think it makes an awful lot of sense for them to really go and be aggressive in the draft this year and get that guy.

But I think when the Colts were still winning games, James, a lot of it was based on the running game and the defense. Jacoby Brissett wasn't asked to do a lot, but when he asked Brissett to do a lot, this team really isn't capable of doing much, and that's a very worrisome sign to me that Jacoby kind of is risk-averse. I think you need quarterbacks. Even though Jameis Winston, for example, is a very aggressive quarterback. I know the turnovers show that he's leading the NFL right now

in 20 interceptions, but I think this Colts offense needs a quarterback like that. They showed last year Andrew Luck, who is an aggressive quarterback himself, that if he takes shots downfield, this offense does a lot better than it's showing so far this year. And I know there's been injuries on the table that really hampered them with T.Y. Hilton, Marlon Mack, Paris Campbell, Devin Funches after for the season as well. This wide receiver core has gotten riddled with injuries,

but I think just with the way Brissette's quarterback style is, I definitely think it's a good mix long-term with what Frank Reich wants to do. Yeah, and another position group that has been bit really hard by the injury bug is, of course, the wide receivers. Paris Campbell has been out. Is there any word on whether or not he's going to be ready to go this weekend? And what's the status of the guy in T.Y. Hilton? With Paris Campbell, luckily, it's something he's going to be back from injury

this week, which is a great sign because he was breaking out against the Pittsburgh Steers when he broke his hand. He had over 100 scrimmage yards. But unfortunately, he broke his hand, as we all know, in that game. He's been out the past month or so, and him being back is going to be huge for this offense because T.Y. Hilton is out. He's going to be out Sunday as well. There's a possibility now if the Colts do lose a game or two down the stretch that I think T.Y. Hilton might be shut down for the rest of the season here because he definitely wasn't 100% when he came back earlier than I expected against Houston, Texas on Thursday Night Football.

Did not look the same as on a pitch count. That cap is still really bothering him. So I would be stunned, honestly, if we do see T.Y. Hilton play again this year because the way this Colts offense is going with the way they're being very cost with T.Y. Hilton, I just don't see it. But I think this is a really good time for Paris Campbell himself. He's really had a rough year with injuries too, with his abdominal, his hamstring, and training camp, and now his hand. This could be a really good opportunity for him to break out again.

Yeah, and a lot of the talk amongst Buccaneers fans this week is going to be Vita Vea against Quentin Nelson. How do you see that matchup stacking up? We know Quentin Nelson is just an absolute monster of a human being. I absolutely love that guy. And Vita Vea has come on incredibly strong. There was a lot of, how can I phrase this, frustration with the Buccaneers heading into that draft. They win a meaningless game against the Saints in Week 17, knocks them down far enough that they're not able to draft Quentin Nelson. Then they take a defensive tackle ahead of hometown favorite Derwin James. But the way Veya has come on recently, both defensively and offensively,

since the guy got a receiving touchdown a few weeks ago. But how do you see that matchup kind of working out between these two emerging stars in the NFL? I think it's going to be actually a really fun one because the only matchups that Quentin Nelson's really struggled with in his career so far are these bigger, big-bodied guys that are really massive in frame and really heavy in weight. And like D.J. Reeder with the Houston Texans,

he's kind of had his struggles with him. And that's kind of sort of how Vida Veya plays as well. And that could be a really intriguing matchup for both sides here because if Quentin Nelson struggles against Vida Veya, then I don't know how this Colts running game gets off the ground against the Buccaneers team who's very improved in that end. So I think this honestly could be a matchup where Vida Veya gets the edge here. But Quentin Nelson as well, when he's angry and he wants to prove a point,

he's dominant. He can dominate, I think, anyone in the NFL when he's on. So I think this honestly could be a swing game as far as one-on-one matchups here, James, where whoever wins that matchup can really control who wins this game. All right, let's flip it over to the defensive side. You guys had a breakout linebacker last year, but it seems as though the pass rush has been struggling as of late. Is that a fair assessment, or is the perception not quite the reality

as far as the front seven of the Colts' defense is concerned? I think a lot of that has to do with not having a lot of depth right now just due to injuries. You have Kamoko Touré, who is really breaking out in his second season. I think he had five quarterback hits in Kansas City when he played, and unfortunately broke his ankle in that game after the season. He was a perfect number two to Justin Houston as a number one edge rusher, and they're relying an awful lot on rookie Ben Banneger right now

to take some of that load off, and I just don't know if he's ready for that just yet. Outside of Justin Houston, though, there really isn't much there. Jabal sure is a great run defender, but he's not a great pass rusher, and that's really what this team needs opposite of Justin Houston. So really right now it's a one-man show, and a lot of teams now are just doubling Justin Houston, taking him out of the game here.

Maybe he gets a couple of hits here and there, but a lot of it just goes toward Houston's side, and a lot of teams are just running away from Justin Houston now. So I think a lot of that has to do with just the lack of depth and injuries, and outside of Houston, James, I just don't think there's a really elite rusher alongside him. Yeah, and is any of that attributed maybe to some of the issues that you guys have faced at cornerback?

Yeah, that's definitely a good, valid point you bring up there. Quincy Wilson has really struggled this year. He's actually been a DNP for the last five games being inactive himself because he's just regressed so badly in his third year. As well, Pierre Desir struggled with his hamstring injury. He's been out, I believe, four of the last five games with a hamstring injury has been out, I believe for the last five games of the hamstring injuries, it's now getting back to fully a hundred percent healthier and rock you seen as well.

He's at their top pick from this past draft, taking some lumps as, as we all expected their rookie cornerback. So a lot inexperienced there on the, on the back end too, for this Colts team, a lot of draft picks they've used on the defense the last couple of years,

it's rounding in a form surprisingly well and really quickly, but I think a lot of it has to do with just inexperience, really on all three levels right now for this team. Yeah, and of course, Buck fans should remember, at least our listeners should remember Rock. We had him on the show heading into the draft, really great guy. Was really excited that if he didn't go to Tampa, he at least went to a team that I casually pull for. Again,

shout out to him. Hey, buddy. Finally, if you're running the Colts defense, how are you approaching being able to slow down this Buccaneers offense and all the weapons that they have, especially with all of the issues that you've just laid out as far as your pass rush depth, your secondary depth, all of those things adding up together. What would be your plan to slow down this Bucs offense? I feel like blitzing Jameis might be an idea here, but I just don't know if getting one-on-one coverage with guys like Mike Evans, OJ Howard, and Chris Scott was a smart idea.

So I expect them to do a lot of disguising coverages. I know they've had some success against Deshaun Watson in the past doing this sort of mixing up coverages, being a little exotic here, maybe trying to deceive Jameis Winston a few times in cover two, maybe switch the coverages up mid-snap. I think that could be how you get into Jameis' head a little bit and force some interceptions if you can. But I think a lot of it, just with the injuries on this team right now,

it's ravaging both sides of the ball. And I would probably play zone defense against this Buccaneers team. How would you go about that, Jameis? Because I just feel like blitzing this team, it may be a smart idea with Jameis, but like I mentioned, just with all the weapons, I feel like one-on-one coverage across the board really is not a smart idea. Yeah, I think blitzing could definitely be a way to go, especially with as much as the offensive line has struggled overall this season. But you take a look at Jameis overall, and it's funny. You have a guy that leads the NFL in interceptions,

but he has one of the highest passer ratings when under pressure. He's deceptively elusive and can break some of these sack attempts. He will scramble when he needs to, and he'll gain, you know, 5, 10, 15 yards a clip. So what we've seen so far this season is a lot of teams running a high-low coverage on Mike Evans to try to eliminate him as much as possible. Then their focus just has to be on Chris Godwin. And you say, you know what, we'll take our chance. If he wants to throw the ball to Bershad Perryman, if he wants to throw the ball to OJ Howard, if he wants to look for the five foot nine, 145 pound rookie Scotty Miller, we can live if those guys beat us, but we are going to absolutely eliminate Mike

Evans and Chris Godwin no matter what. So I'm really curious to see how the Colts approach this, how they react to these guys in the secondary if they are going to focus on double teaming Evans and trying to eliminate Chris Godwin with some sort of zone. I was mostly just curious as to how you felt that they would approach such a situation because as great as this offense is, it hasn't translated to as many wins as some would believe, especially when you see how high in the NFL Jameis ranks in touchdowns and you see the production of Godwin and Evans. Yeah, I think really the defense versus the offense here from the Colts and the Buccaneers is going to really swing this game

one way or another. If the Colts get a couple turnovers here, I think they're in good business. But if not, if Jameis has his way against this team and Godwin and Evans get open a lot, it could be a really long day for this defense as well. So we're going to take a quick break and talk to our sponsors one more time, and then we're going to dive into our three keys and our predictions here. Alrighty, James, we're back here to talk about our keys

and our prediction for this upcoming game. I'll give you the floor here first. What do you think is going to happen here, and what are your main keys from the Buccaneers' side? I think the key is you've got to keep Jameis upright. As you had just mentioned, if they're getting pressure on Jameis and maybe forcing an early turnover, it could really turn the tide in this game. So the key is for the offensive line to play as well as they did two weeks ago against Atlanta, where Jameis was not sacked once.

Even if they play as well as they did against Jacksonville, Jameis was pressured a little bit, but other than a missed blitz pickup by Ronald Jones, he was able to escape and make some plays and wasn't forced into any bad turnovers. So that's definitely going to be one of the big keys. And the other one that I'm looking for is one that I brought up earlier, and that's the matchup between Veya and Quentin Nelson. Whoever can establish that line of scrimmage for the Bucs defense or the Colts offense, it's definitely worth keeping an eye on with the issues that the Colts have had offensively. Jacoby making some uncharacteristically bad decisions and turning the ball over, and as turnover hungry as this Bucs defense has been in recent weeks, that's going to set the tone. It's going to be, can the Bucs pass rush, get to Jacoby,

get him uncomfortable, and allow this young secondary to really make some plays. Yeah, those are some really good keys from the Bucs side of things. And from the Colts side, I really believe a lot of it revolves around Jacoby Brissett himself, because I think it's going to be a high-scoring game. I don't expect the Buccaneers to be stopped all that much. I think this Colts offense needs to show up a little bit because if you look at their last six weeks, they've only scored over 20 points twice over that span. That's just not going to cut it against this Buccaneers team that they want to win on Sunday.

So you've got to put up points. Jacoby's going to have to put up a really good game, in my opinion, because I expect this rushing attack to be kind of stymied a little bit against this Buccaneers defense with Veya and Sue up front, Devin White, like we talked about earlier in the show. So that's going to actually revolve around my second key here, which is establishing the run. If they can get that going, get the play-action pass action going

against this Buccaneers team, it could be a good day for this Colts offense for the first time in a long time. So I think a lot of it's going to have to be rushing the ball, getting some play-action passes, being smart with the ball here. And also I think one key from the other side with the defense here is getting in Jameis' head. If they can get some turnovers and maybe disguise some coverages here and have him mix up and have him just be confused at the line of scrimmage of what's going to happen next with Matty Berflus, the defensive coordinator. I think it'll go a long way for this Colts team if they

want to win on Sunday. Really keep their playoff hopes by a thread here. So we can go into our predictions now, James. I'm going to start off here first. I actually think the Buccaneers are going to win this game on Sunday. I'm going to go 27-17. I just do not trust this Colts offense right now at all with the way they've been playing the last two months. I think that Jameis Winston's not going to make too many mistakes against this Colts defense that's a little banged up right now. Yeah, I will also pick the Bucs, and I think we're going to have a 30-16 victory for the Buccaneers, including, and it pains me to say it, an Adam Vinatieri missed extra point. Oh, yeah. That would not surprise me at all with the way Vinatieri has played,

unfortunately. That poor guy. I love Vinatieri to death, but goodness gracious, what a rough year. It certainly has been. I have to imagine this is the last year Vinatieri is in the NFL, but the greatest hitter of all time is not going out the way he hoped, but I agree with you there. I really think it's going to be a double-digit loss here for this Colts team. And before we close the show, James, I just want to get your overall thoughts on this Buccaneers team, because from this Colts perspective, I really think this Colts team could be a team, if they get a new quarterback in there in the next couple of years, that's a lead quarterback, a top-ten quarterback.

This could be back on track here pretty soon. But I think this Buccaneers team could be a team we should watch for in 2020 and beyond if they can get some pieces right. Absolutely, absolutely. And it'll start in the trenches where it always does. This Bucs team needs some help protecting whoever the quarterback may be. I do firmly believe that Jameis Winston is back in Tampa next year. Whether it's a franchise tag, a short-term deal, he would be the first Buccaneers quarterback ever drafted by the team to get a second contract. And Bruce Arians tied himself to Winston when he took the job, but they've got to keep him upright in this offensive line. Struggles far, far too much. But we're starting to see it all come together here at the end of the season. If they go on a bit of a run, they're not eliminated

from playoff contention yet. They need a whole lot of help. But the most important thing is they have to win out, which includes, obviously, the Colts game. They still have to face the Texans. They have the Lions, and they have the Falcons. So all very winnable games. And then they need a whole lot of help from whoever Minnesota is playing each and every week. But the building blocks are there. The youth is there. The talent is there. It's just a matter of can they string it all together? And can Jameis finally get over that mental hump that he's facing as far as his decision making at times and not being so caught up in putting the team on his back and trying to win it by himself because that's when he gets in trouble.

The team collectively around him needs to help out a little bit too. And I think they can do some damage here in the near future. Well, that does it for our latest episode of CrossFit for Wednesday. I appreciate it, as always, for listening in. You can follow Locked on Colts. You can also follow Locked on Bucks with James if you haven't already. So I appreciate the time, and thanks again for listening. Back to you guys in your feeds tomorrow for our next episodes.