Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 8/27/19: It's the Jacoby Brissett show now + Twitter Tuesday

Episode Date: August 27, 2019

On today's episode, George Bremer returns for his weekly spot to give his own spin on the shocking Andrew Luck retirement plus the Jacoby Brissett era beginning.What was it like from Bremer's point of view covering the crazy evening at Lucas Oil Stadium? We also go down memory lane with his favorite moments of his career. However, it's time for Brissett to be QB1. What does that mean moving forward, and is Brissett ready?How have Bremer's original season expectations changed? From Super Bowl contender to fighting for the playoffs, the intrigue for 2019-20 is now at an all-time high.Finally, we run through preseason notes on Chad Kelly (what will happen the first two weeks at QB2), Deon Cain, and Kenny Moore before rounding out today's show with our new weekly segment called Twitter Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, everybody. Welcome back into Locked on Colts, probably Locked on Podcast Network. Today, as always, your host, Evan Sedry. I'm joined by our usual Tuesday guest now, George Bremmer, the Harold Bulletin. George, an awful lot has changed since we talked last Tuesday. Andrew Luck all of a sudden retired from the NFL. So you were in the press box. You were there for his press conference. Just what was that like seeing that in person? Yeah, it was really one of the most surreal nights I've ever been a part of. You're there, you're in a week three preseason game, you're not expecting anything going on. I actually had most of the story written based off some of the things I'd seen during the game

and was just really waiting to get an update on Kenny Moore in the postgame. And that's what I was going to run with. And then next thing you know, the Adam Schefter tweet hit. I remember trying to check every single way I could to see whether or not it was a parody account. Once you realize it was actually his account, go up to the Colts PR position and ask them, you know, is this true? What do you guys know? And at that point, I was told, we'll have something for you as soon as possible. And right then to me, that was

confirmation. You know, obviously, if nothing was going on, it was a denied it right there. So we went down to the postgame locker room. We still had no idea at that point, exactly what was going to happen. We were waiting out by the locker room thinking maybe Jim Ursae would come down maybe Chris Ballard and then about five minutes before that press conference happened they told us luck's at the podium and we were all kind of shuffled down the hallway to the interview room and really just a crazy stunning unbelievable night I'm glad you brought up being the press boxer and just getting your instant reaction. What was it like?

I mean, I can't imagine. I mean, I was actually there sitting in the stands when it was going on, and I wonder what it was like just up top for you because, like you're mentioning, you're right about Kenny Moore, but guys like Stephen Holder, Kevin Bowen, I imagine just everyone was in shock like you as well. It feels like the NFL. I know we saw Barry Sanders back in the day, Calvin Johnson, but I feel like this is a lot different when Andrew Luck,

a guy who's 29 years old about to enter his prime. I feel like this is honestly the most incredible story we've seen in the NFL in a very long time. Yeah, it was totally out of the blue. I mean, the Colts knew. Obviously, they had known earlier in the week. Ballard said that really Monday at that kind of meeting that they had each week to kind of set up how the next week was going to go with the doctors

and with Luck himself, that's really the first time he got an inkling of what was going on. And the Colts obviously had a press conference set up for Sunday. I think that's one of the saddest things about this is just the way it played out. You know, Luck's parents were coming. They were going to be part of that press conference. Instead, you know, he's kind of up there, just kind of on the spur of the moment as soon as the game ends.

And he wasn't the way that he wanted to do it. There was chaos on the sideline during the game as the tweet started to spread through the stands. There was chaos in the press box. I know a couple of the guys, they were seated elsewhere from me. They were holding up their phones, and there were a couple of Colts scouts sitting right behind them and asking the scouts, hey, do you guys know anything about this?

And it was news to them as well. So really it was just one of these situations where it's unprecedented in NFL history, and everybody sort of got through it however they could, and now you kind of wait to see what the next steps are. Yeah, I'm still surprised like many are out there and I want to hear your thoughts, George. You were there for the press conference. From my vantage point watching on TV, it sure seemed like Andrew Luck has a lot of closure in his decision. Did that stand out to you as well? It just seems like

the mental and physical rehab cycle for him, it's just too much for him. Yeah, I definitely think this is not a guy that does things without a lot of forethought and consideration. And I think he's definitely very set in his decision. And when you hear him explain it,

as shocking as the news is, as stunning as it is still here today, you know, how four or five days later, and we're still three, four days later, and we're still kind of getting used to the idea that Andrew Luck's career is over, I still think when you listen to him explain it, it's very rational. I think any rational human being can relate. When you think back to when the shoulder first got hurt in 2015 and everything he went through that year, coming back, struggling early when he first came back,

getting a lacerated kidney against the Broncos when things finally started to look like they were clicking in his favor. And then you go into 2016 and playing the entire season with Torin Labrum at 2017 and not being able to come back from the shoulder rehab and missing that entire season. It all adds up. You know, and now this year it's the fourth time in five years that he's dealing with something as the season starts.

And he just, I think it was pretty plain. He made it pretty clear he didn't want to go through another year like 2016 where it's just rehab, play a game, come back, try to get better, rehab again, play a game, and go through that for the entire year. Especially knowing, again, four out of the last five years he's dealt with something. You don't know what it was going to be next year or the year after. And it just mentally and physically it had taken its toll, and he's just ready to move on. I think that's a very understandable position, as shocking as the news is. Let me ask you this, George.

I've seen this kind of opinion float around there on national circles. I want to get your thoughts on this as well. We've seen Peyton Manning. He's a very demanding quarterback, not only to his team, but also the front office as well. Aaron Rodgers, the same thing. Tom Brady, the same thing. Not plenty Andrew Luck at all for a situation because he obviously played a long career, seven years in the NFL, and was a top five quarterback. But if he was more of a demanding type of player, do you think he would have maybe avoided these situations instead of maybe

playing a full season on a torn labor, for example? Maybe he should have just sat out that year. Maybe he would have gone to Jim Mercer and said, hey, give me an offensive line or fire Ryan Griggs. I feel like, honestly, Peyton Manning might have handled it differently if he was getting battered the first four years of his career by an offensive line. Do you see where I'm coming from there?

Yeah, absolutely. And I think there's definitely different quarterbacks would have handled it in different ways. And there's a lot of blame to go around here. A lot of different people, I'm sure, would love to have done things differently than they did. Ryan Grickson and the way he handled that offensive line, Jim Irsay, and the way he handled the situation. I'm sure Luck has some regrets too. But I think one of the biggest things about playing quarterback in the NFL is you have to be yourself. And I think that's one of the things we've heard a lot this week as it pertains to Jacoby Bursette.

You can't go and be the guy you think you should be or be the guy the guy before you was or the guy who's the best in the league is. You really have to be yourself. You have to lead through your own personality. And I think if Andrew Luck had tried to do those things, it wouldn't have been him, and it would have ended poorly in a different way. So as bad as it is and as difficult as it is to watch it end the way it did,

you know, he was a unique player his entire career. His interest into the league was unique. The way he approached every game was unique. The way his press every game was unique. The way his press conferences, his off-seasons, everything about him was unique. And so probably the least surprising thing about this whole situation is that his exit from the league is unique as well. And I think guys have to be who they are. So even if the outcome is undesirable, you kind of have to keep your personality or else other problems will creep up.

That's a good point to bring up there, George. And before we transition on to Jacobus, that talk of now the starting quarterback for the foreseeable future for the Annapolis Colts, I want to get your thoughts. What was your favorite moment covering Andrew Luck? Maybe a couple of moments you've seen over the last few years covering a guy like Andrew Luck. Yeah, there's a couple that really stand out. I think the Green Bay game, his rookie year, coming off of the announcement that Chuck Pagano was battling leukemia

and Reggie Wayne's out there wearing orange gloves and the Colts come back from, I think, a 21-3 halftime deficit and win that game to watch the joy in him in that postgame locker room and how much it meant for him to to be there and win a game for his coach who wasn't present uh you know i think that's one of the things that always in colt history is going to stand out then the other one really is the playoff game against k City, the 35-3 deficit, coming back from that and finding a way to win that game. You know, really that moment where he dove across the goal line

after recovering the fumble from Donald Brown, that's probably the iconic image of his career. And there's a bunch of other things too, just little moments in the locker room, you know, funny things that he said during the week. One of the things I think is going to stand out from last year is at some point about midseason, it was just me and Zach Kiefer around his locker. And we asked him, you know, did you ever imagine you were going to have this much fun this year? And he kind of shook his head.

He got a big smile on his face he said you know I remember wondering if I would ever feel healthy again if there'd ever not be pain in the shoulder and if I'd ever play again so to come back and have a year like this just beyond his wildest dreams and so I think it's sad as the moment is right now and as difficult as it is to process right now, that's one of the things I continue to remember is you got an extra year, you know, last year, you got an extra year out of it and it was one of the most fun years that he's ever had in football.

Yeah. That's a good way to close on that. George, as we close the Andrew Luck chapter here, unfortunately only lasted seven years, but he definitely provide a lot of, a lot of fun memories for Colts fans out there. But let me ask you this before we go into Bursette. This team was obviously a Super Bowl contender with Andrew Luck, a quarterback, probably 12, 11, maybe 13 wins possibly, maybe a first-round buy.

How far does this set them back? What kind of tier are they in now as far as in the AFC or in the NFL overall? Yeah, I think they go from Super Bowl contender to playoff contender. You know, I think it's still possible that this is a team that could win the AFC South. I don't think they're the favorites anymore. I don't think there will be a lot of people predicting that to happen at this point. But I don't think it's out of the question. I look at this team and I think so much depends on how quickly Jacoby Brissett

can get comfortable and, you know, play within himself, how much this young defense can grow and become a factor in games, a reason they win games, and then the running game. You know, can they get to where Frank Reich always wanted them to be, even when Andrew Luck was healthy with this running game. And if all those pieces come together and they can help out Jacoby Brissett, I thought one of the things that Frank Reich said today that sticks with me the most, he was talking about what he shared with Brissett over the years

and then, again, over these last few days as he gets ready. And he said, don't be a hero and I think that's going to be one of the biggest differences for this team there were many times we can point to where Andrew Luck kind of had to put on the cape and and lead the way to victory and that's not what what they're going to ask Jacoby Brissett to do so I think it'll be interesting to see how the pieces come together around him. I can see anything from like a 6-10 season to maybe a 10-6 season. And then, you know, as every year, if you get into the playoffs, you take your chances and you see what transpires there.

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Yeah, it's unfortunate just the situation. They dropped back from a cerebral contender now to 18. That might go, like you said, 6-10 or 8-8 this season with Brissette at quarterback. But you saw Jacoby Brissette throughout OTAs, throughout training camp. What's your assessment of what you've seen so far this offseason from him? Honestly, it's been an uneven offseason for him. He's had his moments. He's had other times where he's struggled.

But part of that, too, is even in training camp, you've got to realize that it's like watching a pitcher in spring training. There's specific things they're working on in specific days and so days that they went up tempo that they worked on the quick hitting passing game that they did some of the things that suit Jacoby's strength the good and other days when they were you know working on other things and he had to spend a little more time in the pocket, I think that's where he struggles. And I think that's going to be one of the biggest things. It'll be interesting to see how Frank Reich navigates that during the season. The longer Jacoby Brissett has to hold on to the football, the more decisions he has to make, the more he

tends to struggle. And I don't think it's because he can't process the information he's an extremely smart guy high football IQ all those sorts of things but I think it's because there is some self-doubt he hasn't had the experience that say Andrew Luck has had he doesn't have those thousands and thousands and thousands of regular season reps and so when he has to sit back and read and make a lot of decisions in a short amount of time, that's when he starts to doubt himself and you see things break down. When he can drop back, make a quick decision, then his natural talent kind of takes over and you see the better accuracy. And, you know, I think one of the interesting things in all of this is the one thing he did well in 2017 when

he sort of was out there in a situation no quarterback should ever really be put in he always has that that big arm that big playability his first completion as an Indianapolis Indianapolis Colt was a 50 yarder to Dante Moncrief in the fourth quarter of that blowout to the Rams he had 32 passes that year of 20 yards or more. I think he was third in the league in 60 yards or more. So it's going to be interesting to see how he's evolved. But I think the key is going to be to get good and then to play to his strengths throughout the game. Is that what you expect, George, for this team?

Because I think it's going to be more of a smash-mouth run first team at Marlon Mack. You probably write him a lot the first month of the season. Defense as well is going to have a lot of pressure on them. But how do you expect Frank Reich to implement this scheme around Jacoby Brissett? Like you mentioned, maybe more quick passes, less thinking? Yeah, I think it's going to speed up the tempo. I think you'll see maybe even more no-huddle things that they can do to go faster. But Frank made a point that he's not going to make wholesale changes. You know, he said when he came in for Jim Kelly in the Buffalo days,

everybody said, wow, this is the K-gun offense. You can't run it without Jim Kelly. And that just wasn't the case. He came in and he obviously had some nuances that played to what he did, you know, better than maybe Kelly was able to do. But he was pretty much running the offense, and that's how we expect things to go for Jacoby Brissett. I think, again, they'll play with the tempo.

I think you might see them go more up-tempo. Definitely the running game is going to be a bigger part of what they do, but I think it was going to be anyway. He was talking about that. You know, he wanted to be a top-five running offense, even when they thought Andrew Luck would play this season. So I don't think it's going to be, you know, completely different from what you've seen.

And honestly, a lot of Jacoby's strengths, the quick, short-hitting passes, hitting the big play when it's there, have been staples in this offense from what we saw last season. So, again, Frank's going to adjust things. There's no doubt he's going to do things the way he did in Philadelphia. But if you look at the way Nick Foles played during that championship run, a lot of things they asked Nick Foles to do are things Jacoby Brissett is capable of doing.

So I think it's going to be fun to watch him play out. Yeah, that's for sure, George. And let me ask you this. I know Chris Ballard and Frank Reich have been peddling this narrative for a while, and now it's time to see if it's real or not. From your just outside view so far, and it's probably unfair to agree 2017-2019 because it's a completely different roster, new coaching staff,

but do you believe that Jacoby Brissett's a top-20 quarterback? Yeah, you know, I don't know. I don't know that we have enough yet to base it on, and that's what I think this year's all about, and I think it's one of the things that makes it fun and exciting to kind of get to the regular season and see where they go, because 2017, not only was the roster completely different, it was sacked 52 times. I know that's not all on the offensive line, but if you look at context and the way the line had played in seasons before that,

you know a lot of it had to do with them. Luck last year was just sacked 18 times. There's one major difference right there, but also the fact that it's easy to forget. He came in six days before the regular season. He's in the huddle even at some points after that opening game, not knowing his teammates' names. He's calling people by their number because he hasn't learned yet who they are. For a quarterback to be in that kind of a situation and not know the personnel around him and not be able to have the full playbook at his disposal

because they were still doing basic April OTA install with him during the regular season. I don't know that you can really take much from that and apply it in terms of who he is as a quarterback. Under those circumstances, the fact that he threw for a little over 3,000 yards, that says a lot for him, I think. You know, he struggled in the red zone. There were some other issues that creeped up as the year went on, but he took a beating, and he did it.

The best I can compare it to is, like, handing a 12-year-old the keys to your car and telling him to go out and drive on the interstate. There's got to be a lot of trial and error and a lot of ugly things early on. And I think Jacoby did the best you could expect him to do in that kind of circumstance. It'll be interesting to see now with a full offense that is as slow as two years in this system.

I think everything about it is different. We're going to switch gears here for a second, George, before we go on to our mailbag questions. I wanted to ask you about the preseason week's different. We're going to switch gears here for a second, George, before we go on to our mailbag questions. I wanted to ask you about the preseason week's reaction. I know Chad Kelly suspended the first two weeks of the season, but have you been impressed? I mean, I've been very impressed with Chad Kelly in the first two weeks of preseason. What's been your thoughts of Chad Kelly?

Yeah, I think he's done everything that the Colts have asked him to do on and off the field. And that, when he was coming in, that's what you wonder. Is it going to be a problem in the locker room? No, that hasn't been the case. Is he going to do on and off the field. And that, when he was coming in, that's what you wonder. Is it going to be a problem in the locker room? No, that hasn't been the case. Is he going to make poor decisions on the field? So far, that hasn't been the case. You know, he shows some athleticism. I think they like that.

He's shown a big arm. We knew he had that. And he's gone out and he's been a competitor and made plays in some tough situations. I thought he played extremely well in the first half of the Bears game and really had the news not broken the way it did. I think Chad Kelly would have been the talk of that week. I think if Andrew Luck was still on this roster and still healing, we'd be talking a lot more about Chad Kelly right now

and what he's done in this preseason and a lot less about everything else. But, you know, Kelly's an untested guy too. He still hasn't really – I think the only snap he's taken in a regular season game was a knee in Denver. He still hasn't really gone against elite, upper-level NFL talent. But so far, he's done everything this franchise has asked him to do, and I think they're definitely going to want to take a look at him and see what he can be as a long-term backup to Brissette.

Let me ask you this, George, because obviously he's suspended the first two weeks of the regular season. Do you think they're going to go to the outside for a veteran? I imagine a trade's not going to happen here unless it's like a player for like a Marcus Johnson or Chris Sean Hogan for a backup quarterback, maybe that kind of trade. But what do you expect? Do you think Phil Walker's really going to be the backup the first two weeks?

I don't foresee that. I think, you know, Walker's done. I just, when you look at his preseason, I don't think he's taken advantage really of the opportunity that he had. He was in the same boat that Chad Kelly was in, and you've seen them go in kind of opposite directions, and so I think they're going to go and find a veteran, somebody with some experience. I don't think they'll honestly, they'll wait for cuts to come and see who's out there and try to find somebody who they can kind of use as a patch for the first two weeks, and then probably

bring Chad Kelly back up to the roster and roll with Brissette and Kelly going forward. Yeah, it's certainly going to be interesting to see what happens on that front. And one more player I want to have with you for preseason talk is Deion Kane. He was really coming into his own the past two weeks. He had a big game against the Bears, then another big game against the Browns the week before that. I feel like Deion Kane's confidence is completely back to where it is, isn't it?

Oh, yeah. I was joking with him in the locker room today because after the Browns the week before that. I feel like Deion Kane's confidence is completely back to where it is, isn't it? Oh, yeah. I was joking with him in the locker room today because after the Browns game, he had that big catch against Cleveland, but he got caught from behind, and he kind of told us in the locker room after that one that he was upset with that. He felt like his speed wasn't all the way back because if it was, he would have

scored or at least gone a little bit further. He felt like he got caught too quickly there. So I asked him, you know, hey, I've got a 46-yarder this week and the touchdown, do you feel a little better? And he said, I think I shot a lot of my teammates up. They were kind of giving me a hard time last week and they don't have anything to say this week. So, yeah, I think the confidence is back and it should be.

I mean, he's gone out now two straight weeks and made big plays, been a consistent guy too. I think that's the other thing. It's not just the 46-yarder. It was seven catches for 80 yards against the Browns, three for 74, and really just a quarter or so play against a half a play against Chicago. You know, that kind of consistency is what you want to see from him, and I think he's definitely solidified his spot on this roster.

What do you envision his role being this year, George? Because right now I assume he's a wide receiver of four, but I feel like with Frank Reich, he loves to alternate those wide receivers. And do you expect an increased role for Deion Kane after preseason now? I think a lot of it depends on what the situation is with Parrish Campbell. You know, he – unfortunately for him, he had his best day at training camp the day he got hurt. And he was really turning a lot of heads both in the media

and on the coaching staff. Frank Reich made reference to that in the past, that, you know, he was doing very, very well. So I think how quickly he's able to get back into the flow and in the ways that they're going to be able to use him, you know, they had big plans for him. That's no secret. Now they're probably in the gadget role that he had at Ohio State. So yeah, it opens up something for Kane there. But Devin Funchess is going to play a big role in this offense. Obviously, T.Y. Hilton is going to play the biggest role in this offense.

I think Chester Rogers is going to have a role in that slot as well while they get Paris Campbell back up to speed. So, you know, how quickly will we see a big portion of Kane? I don't know. It's going to happen right out of the bat. I think it's going to depend on how these other guys in front of him respond. And, you know, again, probably the biggest factor is how quickly Parrish Campbell is able to be a major contributor. Those are questions that won't be answered probably through the first couple weeks of the regular season. Final pre-season note I have for you, George, before we go into our Twitter Tuesday questions.

What's the latest on Kenny Moore? It sounds like he broke his thumb. Do you think that's going to hamper him at all in the regular season? Yeah, I think there's a chance he's going to play with the club like Darius Butler did a few years ago, in which case I was joking today that you kind of feel bad for Phillip Rivers because you know Kenny was on those blitzes and probably not going to feel very good if you get hit with that club.

But it'll be interesting to see. I don't think they've made a determination yet on his availability for week one. I think they're still trying to look at that in its totality. And they've got a little bit of time here. They've got the rest of this week to see how it responds. He wasn't wearing the sling today after wearing it yesterday. So I guess there's some progress there. And that's another one of these situations.

We just kind of wait and see how it plays out. The NFL season begins next week, which means Crossover Wednesday will be back for everyone. For the entire NFL regular season, you'll get a special episode every Wednesday as the hosts from opposing sides may have to preview the excitement of the games happening that week.

Find your favorite team wherever you get your podcasts and be sure not to miss the NFL listeners' favorite segment as actually for the Colts side of things, that'll be starting next week with the Locked on Chargers host. The new Locked on NFL is on fire. Last week was one of the most listened to NFL shows. With the expert analysis of former NFL scout Matt Williamson,

hosted by Brian Peacock, Locked On NFL is your daily national podcast on all things NFL at Matt's unique take on the game. Follow Locked On NFL now on your favorite podcast provider. Yeah, if he doesn't play week one, that's going to be a huge loss for them. So we'll have to see how that goes for Kenny Moore and the Colts. But let's dive into our questions here, George. We have about four of them for you.

And the first one's from Bernardo Banos at BBanos12, and he asks, how do you see the tight end after Saturday's roster cuts? And I think he's asking there, who would you lean right now for Ross, Travis, and Hale Hentges? Yeah, I think that Travis has that big playability, and you can't deny that, but I feel like what Hentges brings to the team in terms of his blocking ability is very important, and there's really, they've got Mo'Ally Cox, they really feel like can do a lot of that, and they've got Jack Doyle who can do a lot of that, but I don't know if you're going to ever have, and in Frank Reich's system, and the way that he draws things up, I don't know if you can ever have too many guys of those in-line type tight ends.

And I think the fact that Hentges has gone out and shown that he can catch the football as well and he can make plays in that area in the game, I think that gives him the edge because you've always got Eric Ebron to make those big plays. And Mo Alleycox has shown the ability to do that as well. I think if you can bring Hentges in, I think he just adds a little more to the roster. I agree with you there on Hale Hentges, George. Let's go on to our next question here from at LA Bubba Keith,

and he asks, from what you've heard so far, how confident is the franchise in Jacoby Brissett to leave him this year? Extremely. I can't underplay that. And that goes back to last season really and then even in in ballard's case it goes back to the day they traded for him he's always made it no secret this is a quarterback he really likes he believes can be a winning football player in this league and frank reich really quickly got on board with that when he came and

and watched the tape and more importantly when he came and sat down and talked to Jacoby they feel like this is a guy who has some natural leadership tendencies who's an ultra competitor was talking with Adam Vinatieri today and he said he loves him he's an awesome guy uh and he mentioned he's a super, super competitor. And I think that's the way that this whole franchise looks at him. He's a guy who talks a lot of trash, has a lot of fun. He's got that big play capability in his arm. The questions are, can he be consistently accurate?

And can he go out there down after down and make the plays the way the top quarterbacks in the league do that is anybody's guess until we get out there and see it happen but the belief within that that building is that absolutely he can do that next one here's also jacoby question for you george is from brandon mate and he asked what do you think jacoby's season will be like now it's completely different than 2017 all these new weapons and also if jacoby does well this year how high do you think Jacoby's season will be like now? It's completely different than 2017, all these new weapons. And also, if Jacoby does well this year, how high do you think his ceiling is? Yeah, that's an interesting thing. I mean, if he really

is a top 20 quarterback, then his ceiling's going to be pretty high. We'll find that out probably within the first month or so of the season. I think, as we talked about earlier, I think it's a completely different situation he's walking into. I don't think you're going to see much of anything that looks like 2017 to you.

First of all, the protection, not just the offensive line, but the meetings that Frank Reich has. Every week they go through a specific protection meeting. They sit down, the quarterbacks, the offensive line, the running backs, the tight ends, everybody who's involved with making sure that the quarterback's not sacked is sitting down watching tape of the rushes that the other team likes to use, breaking it down. It's a really involved process.

I think it's going to be something unlike anything that Brissette's experienced on the field before. And then, again, I can't get away from that big arm. He's shown that in the past. 32 completions of 20 yards or more is nothing to sneeze at. That's not just 15 games. So that's more than two a game. You know, it's something that they look forward, they really want in this offense. And I think his ceiling is really high. Again, the question is, we know he can make the big plays. We know he can make the big plays. We know he can have the big moments.

The real question that everyone's going to find out now is, can he do it weekend, week out, day in, day out, every down? And more importantly, those fourth quarter plays, you look at the NFL and you look at the way this week goes, it seems like every week it's coming down to one quarterback with the ball late in the fourth quarter. And is he going to complete that drive or not? That separates the guys who win from the guys who don't.

We just don't know that yet. I know he has a competitive nature to not shrink from that moment, but we're going to find out as this season unfolds whether or not he's got the physical ability to go in and perform in those moments. Last one for me here, George, from ntolliver1987. He asks, how different would the Andrew Luck era would have been if Ryan Grixen would have addressed the offensive line from the very beginning? Yeah, you know, and I think one thing we need to make clear here, he did address the line. He addressed it repeatedly.

It's that they missed. You know, they brought guys in every season. They missed, and I feel like they stuck with guys that weren't working too long. I mean, you go back to like the A.Q. Shipley situation. Everybody in the locker room, the fans in the stands could see that he was playing better at center than anybody else on the roster, but they were bound and determined to get Clint Holmes back in there. They were bound and determined to get Jonathan Harrison back in there. You know, I think there were some stubborn decisions that were made that ignored what was going on in the field.

It wasn't that they didn't address the offensive line. It was that they didn't handle it properly. And so, yeah, I think everything about the Andrew Luck era is different. If he doesn't take the beating he took in the first five seasons, you look at that press conference and the pain and anguish that was still evident on his face. And I think it's really, really simple to trace that back to his first years in the league. I think there's a direct relationship there.

And, yeah, that's going to mark Andrew Luck's time here with the Colts. I know it's an unfortunate way to have things change, like we mentioned at the top of the show, George. Completely different tone from when we talked last Tuesday. But is this the most intrigue now you've been covering the Colts after this Andrew Luck retirement news heading into a regular season yeah absolutely I mean you love going into the year following a team that has Super Bowl aspirations and all that pressure and and all those that context but now there's there's definitely a lot of intrigue in what is essentially a blank canvas. You know, there are opportunities here for a lot of different players

to step forward and either increase the mark that they've made on this franchise with guys like T.Y. Hilton or, you know, kind of set their own path. I mean, some of the rookies this year have promised. We've talked about that. That hasn't changed. But really a guy like Darius Leonard, I think he's got an opportunity now to be the new face of this franchise. And so

it's going to be interesting to see the way the perception of this team changes over the next couple of years and the way they are going forward. I know you see the speculation the same as I do about the draft and who they might go after and all these things. You know, for the first time, I think, really, since 19 – at least 1995, when Jim Harbaugh led this team to the AFC Championship, the focus will not be solely on the quarterback. And I think it's going to be interesting to see how that evolves moving forward. Yeah.

All of a sudden now, the season has completely changed for the Colts and we're really curious to see how they respond to all this. It might motivate them, it might put them down to two as well to see how that goes, George. But thanks again for coming on on this Tuesday. I'll talk to you again next week. Yeah, no problem. Thanks a lot, Evan.