Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 8/8/19: Colts vs. Bills Crossover Special

Episode Date: August 8, 2019

On today's episode, it's time to finally preview a Colts game! Joe Marino, host of Locked On Bills and lead writer on The Draft Network, stops by to look ahead towards tonight's action.Who are the most intriguing players to watch on both sides? Eight names caught our eye. For the Colts, two rookies and one quarterback are who I'll be watching closest. Who are intriguing matchups from Buffalo's point of view? We also discuss the modern evolution of the tight end and linebacker spots. Led by GM Chris Ballard, Indianapolis is ahead of the curve.Closing out the show, what are the overall season expectations for both squads? The Colts are legit Super Bowl contenders who can finish anywhere from the 1-4 seed in the AFC. Meanwhile, with Josh Allen entering his second season, Buffalo could surprise pushing for a wildcard spot.Stay tuned for our weekly Locked On crossover specials once a week throughout the season! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, everybody. Welcome into the special edition. It's the first one this season for both of us. Our Locked On NFL Crossover Special. It's the first preseason game. It's actually going to be later tonight, Joe, Thursday morning. We're going to be putting this out for everyone. Joe Marino of Locked On Bills has joined us today for a special crossover edition. The Colts and Bills face off week one. Joe, it's incredible to say we've been through the slog of the offseason now, but football is finally back. Man, we've been waiting for this, right? I mean, I started doing this podcast, Locked On Bills, back in January,

building up this anticipation for seeing this team play on the football field. And finally, I know it's an exhibition game, but at least we get to see the players in action competing against another team. Absolutely. And I know a lot of Colts fans and Bills fans for sure are really looking forward to this matchup. A lot of interest in the injury flow through today. We have some interesting names to follow.

We also have some hot topics that we'll close the show out on as well. But I might as well start off here since you also are working for the Draft Network, Joe. You also run the Draft Dudes Podcast and Locked On Podcast Network. I want to throw some draft thoughts at you because some of these guys on my list here I wanted to run through for some intriguing Colts names for not only week one but preseason. I know on draft network, actually the profile of this player, I don't know if he exists or not. EJ speed of Tarleton state.

And he's one of my top guys to watch for here because when I'm at training camp for the last few weeks, Joe, he's actually been taking starting reps at Sam linebacker over Matthew Adams. He looks to really be looking good so far. He's six, four to 40,

very lean. Looks like a safety more so than a linebacker. Did you have any pre-draft thoughts on EJ Speed at Tarleton State? Because I know the film I could find was his grainy 360 quality. Yeah, that was a challenge with Speed, is that we just couldn't get any film on him. And so we didn't have the opportunity to really take a deep dive and develop that scouting report. It was a little bit surprising, I guess, when he went in the fifth round, but probably more so that I just wasn't exposed to him.

But that's really interesting that a fifth-round pick is commanding first-team reps on what is a pretty good Colts defense. Yeah, absolutely. It's intriguing to me because EJ Speed, if you look up his pro day numbers, he was very similar to Darius Leonard. Obviously, Chris Bow has a type that are long linebackers. And what do you think just nowadays, Joe, with the linebacking cores of today? We see Darius Leonard, Leighton Van Der Esch, these speedy linebackers. And what do you think just nowadays, Joe, with the linebacking cores of today, we see Darius Leonard, Leighton Van Der Esch, these speedy linebackers. Do you think the trend more

so is going toward these lean linebackers that like maybe five, six years ago, you're going for these six foot two, 240, 250 pound bruises in the middle? Evan, I love that talking point. And you can throw Jermaine Edmonds, the Bills guy right into that mix, right? You know, six five with 35 inch arms. Yeah, I think the emphasis on long and lean middle linebackers is really important, especially with the way that offense is being played now in the NFL. You have two things that really put so much stress on middle linebackers that I don't even know how you defend it. First of all, the RPO, right? You've got offensive linemen that are run blocking coming right at you. And as a middle linebacker, your key is when offensive linemen are coming right at you

is to attack downhill. Well, now guess what? They're not always handing that ball off and they're just going to throw the football to the space that you vacated. Well, what helps you overcome that? Speed and length, right? And so when you can get your hands up and you have those 34, 35 inch arms to get those up and affect throwing lanes and make it challenging to get the football over your head, that's something that's becoming a big asset and something that you can see Chris Ballard specifically buying into. The other thing is mesh, right? These middle linebackers are just flooded with mesh concepts, and they're stuck figuring

out who they're supposed to guard when all of the other routes that are combined with that are lifting coverage out towards the boundary, out towards the sideline, and putting all this stress on this one linebacker to make a decision on who to cover, and you can't cover two guys. And so what helps you overcome that? Again, speed and length. And I think that's why you're seeing some of these younger linebackers like Darius Leonard, like Leighton Vanderes, like Trey Maynard fit this certain type of profile, because they need that in the middle of their defense to stop these really dynamic NFL offenses.

Yeah, that's for sure. Speed is definitely the name of the game nowadays, not only on the offense side of the ball, but defense, because we've seen it countless times. Like you mentioned, Tremaine Edmonds in Buffalo, Darius Leonard in Annapolis. Both those guys are perfect examples of that. But I wanted to go on to the next Colts player I wanted to watch for here. EJ Spieth obviously didn't have much going on him in the pre-draft process.

But Hale Hinchess is a guy who's really taking some – really getting some eyes on him over one-on-ones and seven-on-seven reps as well. I've noticed he's winning consistently. And also Nick Sirianni, the offensive coordinator at Tulsa Press a few days ago, that he reminds him of Jack Doyle. And that's a huge comparison to Nate because Doyle has obviously been a guy who's really carved out a role for himself as a go-to for Andrew Luck when he's fully healthy. Hale Hentges really wasn't a guy

who got a lot of targets at Alabama and more so of a blocking tight end. What was your thoughts pre-draft on Hale Hentges? Yeah, I think that was the thing, right? When you talked Alabama tight ends, it was all about Irv Smith. And meanwhile, there's this other dude who's in the mix and he's a guy that can do baseline things. And we saw this with a player like Robert Foster last year for the Bills. Really underutilized, still talented, but he was probably the fifth, sixth option at receiver for Alabama. And then he goes into the NFL and he winds up really lighting it up towards the end of the season.

And there's a lot of optimism about Robert Foster entering year two. So that's kind of like just a product of how deep Alabama is, that there's players that even contribute or claim prominent roles that wind up being good NFL football players. Yeah, and I think with Hentges as well. I mean, his 40 time was at 5.05. Obviously not the fastest guy. Doyle was at 4.95.

But he just consistently is winning these one-on-one matches against some starter caliber defensive backs for the Colts. He's really impressing the coaching staff and myself when I watch that practice. But might as well talk as well with the general pointer on tight ends too because it just seems like now so more than ever we're seeing 12 personnel out there two tight ends sometimes even three tight ends out there what do you think the future of the time position is going to be Joe because we see guys like Eric Ebron for example at the Colts he's more of a flex guy more of a wires here but Jack Doyle maybe even Hale Hentges maybe some tight ends above will also qualify here just what's the future of

the time position for you? Well, I think more and more the ability to be flexed out and win from the slot and win out in the boundaries is becoming very important. You think about what the Eagles do with their tight ends. They'll go 12 personnel with Dallas Goedert as well as Tyler Ertz on the field. And the next thing – or excuse me, Zach Ertz, not Tyler. Zach Ertz on the field. And all of a sudden you've got your defense in to match up against base personnel, against 12 personnel.

And all of a sudden, those guys are playing slot. And they're spreading you out because they can do all the different things. So versatility, being able to win as a receiver in line and flexed out. On top of that, at least having a good effort as a blocker is something that's becoming very important. The days of guys like Heath Miller, just true classic in-line guys, you know, those are good, but what else can you do? Because if that's all you can do, you're going to get down.

Yeah, and I think a guy like Eric Egerbaum is a really good example of this because he's not a good blocker, and he really needs to really improve that this year to get a big payday for the Annapolis Colts. Is there anything more so now than ever, Joe, if you can't block, is that going to hamper maybe future contracts in line? Because versatility at the time of the Joe, if you can't block, is that going to hamper maybe future contracts down the line? Because versatility at the time of the year, if you have to block, you have to do it as well. What do you think is the future just for maybe future contracts of that?

Because you see Ebron really just be more of a wirester, like I mentioned there, and he's not really much of a blocker. But Moalai Cox kind of does both. Jack Doyle kind of does both. What do you see just as far as the versatility of tight ends go? Because I think more so than ever, you have to be a good blocker. Yeah, I think it's important, right? But I think we've seen plenty of examples where guys that weren't necessarily the prototypes

in terms of being a true inline blocker, where those guys are still getting drafted pretty high in the draft. You have guys like Evan Ingram and David Njoku not necessarily their forte blocking but still I mean even Eric Ebron a guy that coming out was not known for his blocking ability I think it's very much secondary to what these guys can offer in terms of spacing the field and being a size mismatch from either the seam or from the slot the final guy on my list here Joe as far as the Colts go and we'll go on our next segment here in a few minutes talking more about some Bills players but Jacoby Bursette's been getting a lot of hype from Frank Reich over the past few weeks.

I don't know if it's to boost trade value or if he really believes it. But he's mentioned on multiple occasions that Jacoby Brissett's a top 20 quarterback in the NFL. Do you see that when you watch Jacoby? I know you saw him in New England a little bit when he was there. What do you think about Brissett? I've always been confused by this love for Jacoby Brissett. It seems like, you know, you think about Frank Reich's comments. It seems like also the last couple of seasons, he's been the talk of trades and like that he

could really be a player that another team believes can be their franchise quarterback. And you can see a Jimmy Garoppolo type trade with Jacoby Brissett. I don't have any reason to believe that. I think he's probably a quality backup, but you know, if, if there was some type of belief that he could be a starter somewhere, I think that the Colts would have been happy to let him go and get that compensation. Yeah, I'm totally there with you. I know they've held a firm bargain, too. Recordedly that Chris Bauer and Jim Mercer were asked for a second-round pick.

I don't know if they ever got that offer, but they seem to really be returning a lot of offers for him. He's going to be a free agent this year, so maybe getting the comp pick game and getting a 2020 quarterback in the next year's draft makes a lot more sense to them. But before we go on to our next segment, talking more about some Buffalo Bills players, I'm going to give Joe the floor here most for this next segment. I want to tell you really quickly about our first sponsor today's show, which is Blue Chew. Let's talk about really quickly Blue

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All righty, Joe. We're going on to some Bills players here. I want to get your overall thoughts. Lay the floor here. Who's your top, really, player to watch here on the Buffalo side of things? It's got to be Josh Allen, right? I have a lot of other players that I want to talk about, but first and foremost, it's Josh Allen, who Sean McDermott said in his press conference on Tuesday that the starters will play about a quarter, which could be a few series, could be the full thing. But Josh Allen's still a young football

player. He started for most of last season, still missed some time, but, you know, people are excited about the way he finished the season, showed a lot of great flashes in terms of being a dual threat guy, but how does he evolve? And I think we get the first glimpse into what that could look like on Thursday night. Is he more confident challenging the entire field? Is he just looking to throw the ball down the field and then take off with his legs? And so everyone's very eager to see a more complete quarterback, and I'm anxious to see what that looks like here on Thursday night. I've seen a lot of varying opinions of Josh Allen, Joe. I know you've watched him more than probably anyone

at the Locked On Podcast Network since you run Locked On Bills. What do you think is the ceiling for Josh Allen? Because I've heard Chris Sims over on Pro Football Talk, he's talked about him being maybe a top five quarterback if he really proves himself in the next couple of years. What do you think is the ultimate ceiling for Josh Allen? Because I've heard Chris Sims over on Pro Football Talk, he's talked about him being maybe a top five quarterback if he really proves himself in the next couple of years. What do you think is the ultimate ceiling for Josh Allen? Well, the exciting thing when you consider the ceiling for Josh Allen is that he has all the physical ability to be a really dynamic football player, right? And so when you talk about arm strength and size and athleticism, you really

check those boxes as emphatically as you can possibly check them. Where does the decision making, how does that improve? How does his field vision improve? How does his ball placement improve? If those things are going to continue to be limiting factors with Josh Allen, then he's going to be a high variance quarterback that has peaks and valleys, but he's just not consistent. What we need to see from Josh Allen is more consistency with decision making, ball placement, and the way he sees the field and reads defense is to keep the Buffalo Bills offense on schedule and not thrive and rely so much on the big plays.

Yeah, Josh Allen is one of the funner quarterbacks to watch. I remember the Minnesota game last year, he just randomly went off for like 150 yards rushing, and he's definitely a dual-threat quarterback, and he doesn't really get the credit for that. But who's the next player on your list, Joe? Yeah, you know, look, I have to go to a backup offensive tackle, Connor McDermott, who is all of a sudden a very important player for this football team. He's been rostered the last two seasons, but he's often been a

healthy and active. And there's a reason he's been around. Obviously, the coaching staff sees something in him, but he's never really dressed. And now that the Bills are moving Cody Ford to guard and he's not at tackle and Ty and Seki comes off the bench to play right tackle. And you really don't feel good about having Cody Ford bouncing back and forth so much. And Adrian Waddell just had a season ending tear to his right quad. The depth that offensive tackle was a big concern. And so I think one thing I'm looking to find out is can Connor McDermott play? Can he be that reliable swing tackle that can step in if Ty Niseki or Deion Dawkins goes down?

He's a player that I'm paying close attention to. What do you think is this oxygen? Obviously, you saw Cody Forgid drafted there. Ty Niseki, I think, was an underrated signing as well. How do you think the Bills addressed the offensive line issue they had? Well, they couldn't have been more aggressive doing it. General Manager Brandon Bean invested in six free-engine offensive linemen and, of course, drafted Cody Ford with a high second-round pick, all in an emphasis to get this right in front of Josh Allen

because it wasn't last year. The Bills unexpectedly lost Richie Incognito and Eric Wood, and then they traded away Cordy Glenn and did very little to replace any of those players. And so now you're looking at an offensive line that's going to feature four new starters. You know, Deion Dawkins will still be the left tackle, but the other four spots are going to be new players. And so the big challenge has been getting the right five, finding out who the best five are, and having that unit gel and build that cohesion. Well, injuries have been problematic all throughout

really the entire offseason, not just training camp, but back in OTAs and mandatory camp, the pieces that Buffalo was relying on, whether it's Quentin Spain or Mitch Morse or Spencer Long or John Feliciano, and now you have a situation with LaRager and Waddle who's out for the year, and now you have Cody Ford bouncing between guard and tackle. They got to figure out who the five are and start building that chemistry, but injuries have been problematic so far to get that established. Yeah, definitely the Bills have done a lot this offseason to really help out the offensive line. So I'm curious to hear you have next on your list, Joe. Yeah, you know, I think I want to find out a lot about Devin Singletary. Running back, the Bills took it a third round. Frank Gore and LaShawn McCoy are older running backs,

as we all know. Their contracts both expire at the end of the year. And it's going to be important to find out what Buffalo has in Devin Singletary. Can he be the guy moving forward? Can he be one of the top two backs leading this rushing attack in 2020 and beyond? And I don't know how much market share he's going to claim during the regular season, because I think it's going to be the McCoy and Gore show. So preseason is going to be really important for him to show that he can be a big time playmaker for this offense and start to cut into that workload in the regular season and then prove that he's going to be a lead back for years to come. And this is going to be important in his journey to prove that he could be that type of guy. When you were watching him last year during

the pre-draft process, Joe, what stood out to you most about Singletary? He's got two great traits, contact, balance, and vision. And those are great traits to have. Like those are probably the two most important traits to have when it comes to running backs. But what's challenging about Singletary is he's kind of small. He's a diminutive frame guy and he's not very athletic, right? Like you watch his tape at Florida Atlantic and he does some really fun things. He's really twitched up and he's an escape artist and all that type of stuff. But he's not very big and he's not all that athletic in terms of his explosive measurable traits. And I was nervous when he went to the combine because I watched his tape and I said, I don't think he's a great athlete. And so while you get

excited about the contact balance and the vision, there's that physical upside that needs to exist for you to be a truly dynamic back. How does his game translate to the NFL level after really being a dominant player at Florida Atlantic and struggling when he had chances to play against Power 5 competition? Yeah, Singletary's definitely one of the big players to watch, I think, in preseason because he could really be a lightning in a bottle. He's very quick.

He's also versatile a little bit, which I like a lot about Singletary. But who is the number four on your list, Joe? Yeah, Ed Oliver, the Bills' first-round pick, took him number nine overall. This is a good Colts offensive line, and so I hope that we'll see plenty of matchups where we get, you know, Ed Oliver going against guys like, you know, Quinton Nelson and Ryan Kelly and Mark Lewinsky. They're a really solid trio of interior blockers, and, you know, Ed Oliver,

want to see what type of problems he can cause. Can he really be that dynamic wrecking ball interior type penetration style player, or is the size concerns going to be a problem? Well, if he's going to go man to man with Quentin Nelson, we're going to find out what type of play strength he has and how it translates to the NFL level. I hope that we'll see some of those matchups and really dig into those when we get a chance to study the tape. I have a two-parter here for you, Ed Oliver, Joe. The first part is, I saw this on Twitter yesterday, I think you quote tweeted, just are you concerned at all just about Ed Oliver, Joe. The first part is, I saw this on Twitter yesterday. I think you quote tweeted, just, are you concerned at all just about Ed Oliver's transition to the NFL?

Just because he's a very aggressive player with his hands. And obviously we saw a picture, I think, of Bill's Twitter yesterday with him really getting into offensive linemen's face mask and all that. Are you concerned just about his transition right now? And part two of that is, when you're watching him at Houston,

did you grade him more as a generational defensive tackle prospect? Or where did you have him ranked as far as like your one to 10 scale? I think Ed Oliver was a top five player on my board. He was either three or four. I can't remember off the top right now, but so obviously I'm extremely high on Ed Oliver, and you know that picture, it's hard to really extrapolate too much from it. One thing I never was concerned with when studying Oliver at Houston was his leverage. I mean, he plays so low that it's

really difficult for players to get their hands on him. And this was a situation where he was pretty upright and his hands were up at the guy's face. And you just don't know the context there. So I'm not concerned about that specifically. But what really gets in the way of me saying Ed Oliver's a generational type talent is just that he doesn't check the boxes in terms of size and length that you're looking for. And I know that that's been fine for players like Aaron Donald to overcome and guys like John Randall to overcome. I'm not going to be that assuming, right? That's a pretty great company to be mentioned in,

but he does have similar measurables to those types of players and a similar skill set in terms of being that really quick, twitched up, really can torque and flip his hips and really, really just cause problems on the interior. I know his ceiling is really, really can torque and flip his hips and really, really just cause problems on the interior. I know his ceiling is really, really high, but I get careful when I start saying generational type talent, because usually those are players that check all the boxes in terms of physical traits. Yeah. I think from my end as a Colts fan or Colts analyst here, I really wanted to see the Colts make an aggressive move up just to get at all over somehow. It was probably

impossible because Chris Bauer loves those draft picks, as he says, but he's such a good player. I love watching him at Houston. But number five on the list for you, Joe, as we wrap up this final seven, who you got? Yeah, the last player I want to really focus on on Thursday night is Cody Ford, the Bill's second-round pick. He was penciled in to play right tackle all up until about Monday of this past

week where he made the switch over to right guard. And maybe he has a better ceiling there at right guard. And I'm anxious to see what it looks like because there's been some concerns about him in practices so far and really giving up his outside hip when he's playing right tackle. And then he started overcorrecting and really getting out in space and protecting that outside hip. And now all of a sudden he's opening the door to the B gap. Well, hopefully a lot of that stuff is shored up by moving him on the inside and you don't really have to have him

struggle through playing right tackle. He can just be a really good right guard from day one. And so I want to see what that looks like. And obviously he's got a big jump, right? Going from the big 12 to the NFL. And hopefully you got a very deep Colts defensive line here that will give him some good luck. So we'll get an idea of what type of player Cody Ford can be. Cody Ford played left tackle for Oklahoma. And obviously mentioned he played right tackle up until this week. Do you think his upside there is higher at guard? Or how do you grade a guy like Ford there?

I'm always the guy. I always want to leave guys where they were. I want to see Cody Ford fail at guard before I start moving him to tackle. Because it's a more valuable position, in my opinion. But look, if it's not going to work, well, the last thing you can want to do is just have him continue to struggle his way through that position. Obviously, he's got the size and strength and everything you're looking for in a guard. And if he's going to be a high caliber guard versus an average tackle, give me that high caliber guard. I think it might be the best move

in terms of how he can help the football team, but maybe his value in terms of what it can look like down the road is that offensive tackle. But it sounds like he's a team first guy. He's embraced the transition. And if he's better at guard, then I want him where he's best for this football team. As you can tell by the last eight players talked about, about five of those guys are rookies. So Joe and I are definitely looking forward to seeing all these rookies play their NFL debuts on this really later tonight as the Colts are in Buffalo to play the Bills. But before we go on to our next segment here, I want to tell you really quickly about two sponsors of today's show,

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Get the edge from Vinny that will put you ahead on draft day and put you ahead all season long. Locked on fans football on your favorite podcast provider wherever you want to look for it. All right, Joe, I'm going to give you the floor here as far as the Bills first. I'll bounce around here to the Colts side of things. What's your biggest storyline heading into the 18 or 19-20 season

for the Buffalo Bills? Well, going into the season, yeah, I think the big thing, I kind of already touched on Josh Allen and this offensive line and how Josh needs to evolve, but I want to know how good this defense can be. Buffalo had the number two defense in the NFL, the number one passing offense, and if there's anything we know about Sean McDermott across his resume in the NFL is that he knows how to coach defense, and he's got a lot of returning players, a lot of guys that have been in his system now for three years.

He's got really high caliber talent at all three levels. You look at Ed Oliver and Jerry Hughes, Tremaine Edmonds and Matt Milano, arguably a top five safety tandem and Jordan Poirier and Micah Hyde, Trey White, a budding star at corner. And there's just talent everywhere. There's continuity.

There's time in the system. How good can Buffalo's defense be this year? And I think everyone wants to talk about this offense and can Shady McCoy resurrect this career and how does the offensive line come together and does Josh Allen take another step forward? I'm really excited about this defense because I think it could be one of the best in the league. I think with Buffalo for sure, they're a team that's really being slept on in my opinion because obviously from the Colts side, things are getting really hyped up as a sexy Super Bowl contender this year. They finished 10-1 on the regular season.

What do you think from the Bills' standpoint, what has to go right for them to really make a playoff push and really be maybe a sneak into that wildcard spot? Well, that's when it goes right back to the offense, right? It does come down to Josh Allen. Can Josh Allen be consistent, you know, protecting the football, not having the bone-hunted throws, being more consistent with his accuracy?

And the Bills did a lot of things to really help the spacing of the offense. You think about John Brown and Robert Foster, two really good vertical threats outside that can really push defenses and challenge them vertically. And what that does is it opens up a lot of possibilities for the underneath stuff. They brought in Cole Beasley, who's a very dynamic slot receiver that knows how to get open. They have Zay Jones, who's a good route runner that's been effective working the underneath areas of the field. I know they want to get the running backs more involved in the passing game.

So you have guys like Frank Gore and LaShawn McCoy and Devin Singletary. Now they're banged up at tight end, but if Dawson Knox were to be available, he's the guy with some athletic upside. And so the offense really evolved this off, this off season, at least personnel wise to really build a, an offensive unit that can, can more effectively attack the entire field instead of, you know, Josh Allen, I think what was like 20% of his throws were targeted more than 20 yards down the field. And so looking for a more complete offense that poses problems and that could be the case, but we've got to see it all come together,

and Josh Allen has to take that next step. Yeah, absolutely. I think the Buffalo Bills, like I mentioned, are one of the most interesting teams to watch next year because they can really make a jump if Josh Allen takes the lead because I can easily see a season where they go 9-7 or 10-6 and really shock some people and sneak into that wild card spot. From the Colts side of things, though, I'm curious to hear your thoughts

on this, Joe, because Frank Reich has talked endlessly about this idea they want to be a top five rush team this year the offensive line we're wearing had to say run the damn ball on a training camp practice they really want to be an emphasizing a top five run team Marlon Mack by the way last year when he ran for over 100 yards they're undefeated they're also eight no when he scored a touchdown what do you think is the possibilities for the Colts from the running side this year? Because obviously you talked a lot about Andrew Luck and the weapons he has now with Dunn, Funchess, T.Y. Hilton, Eric Ebron, etc. But what do you think is the key to that running attack getting going this year? I think it's about looking at the strength of the football team and

understanding that they've got people movers up front, right? I mean, we talked about that interior trio of Ryan Kelly, Quentin Nelson, and Mark Lewinsky, guys that can really create that movement and create space for those running backs. And you've got experience at tackle in Anthony Costanzo, as well as Braden Smith, who comes from that Auburn offense where that's what they do, they run the football. So you've got guys with an edge, you've got physical dudes up front that can create space. Well, go ahead and get this talented group of running backs. Now, you don't necessarily have a superstar in the backfield, but you have some really good athletes and guys that can really take advantage of that space in Marlon Mack and in Naeem Hines, a guy that I really enjoyed at NC State. And so it's about

letting those guys control the football game. And then you obviously have a talent like Andrew Luck who can spread the football around and really get things going in the play action game. So I think this is just an example of a really good coaching staff overall led by Frank Reich, understanding what the strengths of his football team are and emphasizing that and really forming that identity. So I know it's not sexy to talk about running the football in 2019, but I think there's a lot of suggestions that would indicate that it's still part of a winning formula. Absolutely. I think for my end real quick, I wanted to ask you before I pivot back over to you, Joe, just how would you rank the tiers of the AFC right now? Because obviously I

think the Colts are near the top, maybe around anywhere from one to four, I think is realistic for the Colts. I think the Bills probably around maybe six to nine. How would you tier out these two teams right now? I think that's pretty fair. You know, the challenging thing with every football team is when you think about what the team will look like the following season, sometimes we fall victim to believing everything that was true about the team last year or everything that was a strength last year remains a strength this year, right? And so this Colts team, I think, surprised a lot of people last year and maybe overachieved based on the talent that was on the football team. Now, I give a lot of credit to this coaching staff

because they resurrected a lot of careers with just putting guys in better positions and coaching them up more effectively than what's been the past there at Indianapolis. But I think we have to be very careful to just assume that everything that went well in 2018 is going to continue to go well in 2019. Same thing with the Bills, right? I talked about the defense already. Does the defense continue to be the

strength of the football team, and does the offense grow like expected? I think that we have to be careful not to fall victim to just believing everything that's always been good is going to continue to be good moving forward, but I think that's pretty fair. When I think about the Colts, I think of them as a contender. I think of them as a top three or four team in the AFC. And I think that the Bills are a team on the rise, but probably in that six to nine range. And so I think we view both of these teams going into the season very similarly.

Joe, what else from the Bills side of things before we close out today's show? Maybe your one final takeaway you're looking forward to as far as the season goes as we go off the ball here later tonight. I want to see if this pass rush gets better. I think Jerry Hughes is a real, Jerry Hughes, I'm sorry to talk about Jerry Hughes. We're really happy to have him over in Buffalo, but he's been such a good, consistent pass rusher for the Bills. But the problem is the sack numbers haven't always been there. And it's not because he's not getting pressure. I think there's plenty of evidence based on statistics that will tell you that Jerry Hughes is one of the most consistent in terms of generating pressure

in terms of edge rushers in the NFL. But there hasn't been that complementary pressure, right? If there's nobody threatening off the other edge, if there's no pressure up the middle, those quarterbacks have easy lanes that they can escape and really spoil a good effort from Jerry Hughes. I think that the Bills are better in terms of their pass rush this year with Ed Oliver in the middle. And then hopefully, Trent Murphy really takes a step forward and resurrects his career based on what we saw from

him in 2016. He was banged up last year. You have Shaq Lawson, a former first-round pick, who is going into a contract year. The Bills did not pick up his fifth-year option. So you know he's eager to prove himself and show that he's worthy of at least a decent contract extension or with a new team. So I want to see if this pass rush can be better. You like to think that, like I was talking about earlier, that the continuity on defense will make things even more secure on the back end and allow these guys to pin their ears back and take off and get more pressure. So I want to see if this pass rush can take the next step and really get this defense to an elite level.

I know we just talked about Jerry Hughes there. I hate to bring up from the Colts fans are listening to this, but take us down memory lane here, Joe,

because I still can't believe that trade happened with Kelvin Shepherd for Jerry. Shout out Ryan Grickson for that. Cause that was the same off season where they

drafted Philip Dorsett when they had T.Y. Hilton on the roster. Just what was your thoughts on that trade happening now? You're reaping the benefits. Obviously that Kelvin Shepherd, I think lasted like 18 months on the roster. What was your thoughts when that trade happened? And now you're reaping the benefits, obviously. That Kelvin Shepard, I think, lasted like 18 months on the team before he was cut.

So congratulations, Joe. Listen, I never – I mean, Kelvin Shepard, he played a little bit for the Bills the previous year, and I could take him or leave him. I thought he was a replacement-level player. And so to get a player like Jerry Hughes, who was a first-round pick, and he had some flashes that previous year, but he hadn't been the player he is now. I was excited. I thought that was an opportunity to

invest in some upside, and you weren't giving up much. If Kelvin Shepard never played another down for the Bills, I wouldn't have been disappointed. He didn't move the needle for me. So I really liked the move there by Doug Whaley to go after a high upside player like Jerry Hughes. And he signed two contract extensions so far with the Pills and couldn't have worked out better. Yeah, it definitely has for the – luckily for both teams here. It looks like they're on the rise now. The Colts are one of the hotter teams right now as far as media hype goes. The Bills, I think, are being slipped on a little too much right now.

They could really surprise people this year. But any closing thoughts, Joe, before we end today's show? I guess if I just want to take it back to this game, this preseason game tonight, I'm anxious to see two young quarterbacks, Tyree Jackson for the Bills, you know, played at University of Buffalo. I mean, he's a rare talent in terms of size and arm talent and athleticism, but he went undrafted. And I want to see what type of player he is, right? Because he's QB three on the roster. And I don't know if he's going to make the team if he doesn't prove that he's worthy of a roster spot. And if he needed to step in and play that he could actually do that. So what type of performance does he give the Bills? And does he

make it challenging when they're deciding whether or not to keep three quarterbacks or to put them on the practice squad or those types of things? And then I kick it over to the Colts side who they have Chad Kelly, right? All the Buffalo ties with Chad Kelly. If, if Joe Jacoby, that's going to move on after this season, can he be the primary backup to Andrew Luck? And I think we got to learn a lot about these young quarterbacks tonight.

Absolutely. It's going to be a really fun match. I'm glad football is finally back in our lives, Joe, but if you want to, if you're listening on the Colts side things, or if you're a bills listener who still hasn't done, so go and give Joe fall over on Twitter at the Joe Marino. He also works, you're listening on the Colts side of things, or if you're a Bills listener who still hasn't done so, go ahead and give Joe a follow over on Twitter, at the Joe Marino.

He also does stuff over on the Draft Network, hosts Locked on Bills, as you guys know. So Joe, this was a lot of fun. Really appreciate the time. Absolutely. And for the Bills listeners, make sure you're staying engaged with Evan and what he's doing with the Locked on Colts podcast. You can follow Locked on Colts at Locked on Colts.

And Evan is on Twitter, at eSittery. Appreciate the collaboration here and looking forward to this game. Absolutely, Joe. Thanks a lot for listening, guys. We'll talk to you guys later this week for our next episode.