Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 9/10/19: Recapping Colts vs. Chargers

Episode Date: September 10, 2019

It's finally time to recap some Colts regular season football. Even though it was a loss out in LA for the Colts, their comeback effort was impressive thanks to a tale of two halves.Zach Hicks of Stampede Blue helps go through all of the biggest notes, including takeaways on all of the following players: Kemoko Turay, Jacoby Brissett, Marlon Mack, T.Y. Hilton, Malik Hooker, and plenty more. Are we poised for a full-fledged breakout campaign from Turay? Return of the Mack (how about that nickname, Colts fans?) going for 1,500 plus yards? All of those are answered.Also, we quickly look ahead to the now very important Week 2 outing in Nashville versus the Titans. What's the strategy going against an improved Titans roster? 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, I'm your host, Evan Sutter. I'm joined by our usual Monday episode guest. Today's a Tuesday, though, because I was gone yesterday for obvious reasons. I'll let you guys know I was in L.A. for the Colts game. That was a really fun one, by the way. 30-24, the Colts fell in overtime, but that was a valiant effort in the second half by the Colts to come back down 14 points or more to really make this a game, and a really fun one at that, Zach. How's your day going, first off, and what do you think about the game on Sunday? Yeah, I mean, my day is going pretty good.

I mean, I obviously wish the Colts would have won the game there on Sunday, but I think it was a really good showing for a team that's under kind of new leadership, which you clearly said in the center and also a very young team. You know, we always forget this is a very young team. But for the team that's very young, that's kind of trying some new things on defense has an offensive line group going through a couple changes has a new quarterback underneath under center and has a couple guys come back from injury from last year I think that was a really good showing yeah you know they they put together a pretty good fight against one of the the better

teams in the league so obviously you wish you would have got the win, but I think it was a good game for them. Yeah, if you look at the stats here, it looks like a totally different story in the first half compared to the second half there. Chargers were really kind of dominating there. Obviously, Vinatieri didn't help out a little bit with his missed kicks, but what was your big takeaways from the first half of that game?

Because it seems like them falling behind there, and really that effort in the second half was just a complete flipping of the script there. Yeah, I mean, obviously the first half, the Vinatieri kicks, they definitely reared its ugly head. I mean, I think that was one of the biggest takeaways from the whole game was just Vinatieri's struggles because you don't really expect that out of a guy who is arguably the greatest of all time at his position.

So that definitely sucked to see, and it kind of killed some momentum on offense and even so on defense. I mean, defense, if you see that your offense is putting together a drive and not getting any points and not making up any ground, then it definitely kills some momentum that way too. But the defense definitely struggled in the first half. I haven't rewatched the game yet on Coach's film,

but they definitely were getting picked apart by Phillip Rivers in the first half. There was a couple plays where it could have gone either way. There was a couple times where they almost had Philip Rivers and he got the ball out, and then there was that touchdown that Keenan Allen down the sideline where Rockison was all over him, just couldn't make a play on the ball. So I think there was a couple plays here and there

that they definitely could have got better on. But, yeah, the defense kind of got picked apart a little bit. The offense looked okay in the first half. They didn't really move it as well as you'd like, but they weren't making any big turnovers. But obviously they blew up in the second half. But the first half was a little rough to watch, and the Chargers kind of took over.

What's your thoughts on this, Zach? This has been kind of a hot topic over the last 48 hours or so. Were you surprised by the lack of creativity by the defense? I know Matty was probably going to mix up a lot more as the season progressed at just week one, of course. But we heard a lot of talk about exotic defense, a lot more different looks than we saw last year. We saw a little bit more man coverage on Sunday,

but it seems like the middle of the zones there, this elite quarterback stall in the playoffs, Patrick Mahomes, we saw it again on week one, Phillip Rivers there. Just these elite quarterbacks take advantage of those holes in the zone there. Do you think that's sustainable against these quarterbacks? That's only the first six or seven guys are going to have to go against this year or a top holes in the zone there. Do you think that's sustainable against these quarterbacks? That's only the first six or seven guys that are going to have to go against this. You're a top 10 in the league.

Yeah, you know, it's a tough situation because obviously you don't want to give those elite quarterbacks zones to throw the ball, but you have to kind of mix it up as a defense. You know, if you run a man every single time, you're not really doing anything exotic. You're not really tricking up the quarterback. You're not really getting him to read things things that aren't there and that's a big

part of playing defense is is getting them to see something that's actually not happening so they make a mistake and you can take advantage of it so you can't just run man all day and obviously you can't run zone all day because they'll catch that I think Ibraflues did a a decent job all game I don't think it was one of his best showings for sure, but I do like that he was bringing some pressure. I think that he was pretty committed to getting some pressure on Rivers. The ball was just getting out quick and other times the pressure just wasn't getting there. I think the young secondary

guys played well, but I don't think it was good enough. I think that's definitely going to be a point of emphasis going forward. I think if the secondary guys play a little bit better and the rushers and the blitzers can actually get home, I think we're talking about a completely different game. I don't think Ivo Flues get the secondary guys play a little bit better and the and the rushers and the blitzers um you know can actually get home i think we're talking about a completely different game so i don't think even flutes did a horrible job i think the players just just didn't have their best game out there

and it was against one of the better offenses in the league you know has has really good back and austin eckler uh who's one of the most elusive backs in the league keenan allen michael michael uh williams philip rivers hunter hen I mean, that's a really good offense. So it doesn't shock me that they struggled against them, especially in the first game. But you definitely would like to see the standard risen for the next game. Let's talk about a few defensive players. So we're going to bounce around a little bit throughout this show.

Let's talk about our takeaways and some players especially. But one of the guys who stood out through our preseason and really did so again, if we're not kind to Justin Houston offsides, he had two strip fumbles, Kamokoray the second year pro from rucker seemed like he's really finding his groove right now and that offseason period robert mathis seems to be paying off just what's what stood out not only from week one with toray but also throughout the preseason there because it seemed like he's really finding his footing there his pff career is 95.6 the best in the nfl for all edge rushers this week it seems like he's just really hitting a groove at the right

time for this team. Yeah, and I really like what they're using him, like how they're using him. They're using him as that kind of designated pass rusher. They're not kind of making him do things that he's uncomfortable with, which is kind of, you know, setting a hard edge and being a run defender. It's just kind of letting him go out there on obvious pass plays or kind of mixing in there and just kind of unleashing him on the quarterback, which I really like.

I think that's the best role he can use him in. And he looks to be a lot better in his hand usage. He looks to be a little bit stronger this year. He's cornering a little bit better even from last year. And you're kind of seeing that quickness, that speed, that strength on the edge. He's so hard to block one-on-one with all that. So yeah, the sky's the limit with him as a pass rusher. I think he can be one of the better pass rushers in this league. I said it last year, only five games into last year. I wrote an article about him, and I said that last year that he could be one of the better pass rushers in this league. And I still believe that.

I think he has all the upside and all the ability in the world. And I think we're just seeing the beginning of it right now. So hopefully he continues this good stretch, and he can put it together against even better left tackles than the guy that they faced on Sunday. Eventually, you'd in the next year or two he's able to play on rundowns but do you expect us this season with the depth they have and assuming Jabal Shurd's back here as soon as they put him on designated return IR so he should be back in the first eight weeks of the season do you think that he's going to be just a primary guy you put down there like second and long and third and third down so to say you know it it

doesn't really matter i guess is the one way to say it whereas you know if he becomes a good run defender fine if he never develops another one you know i don't really have an issue with that because today's nfl has so much solving uh so much uh different looks up front so many uh just just so many things you can do with the defense. He doesn't need to be a starter. He doesn't need to be a guy who plays every snap of the game. If he plays 50% of the snaps and he's pass rushing on almost all the snaps he's playing, I think that's a very good role for him. So even if he never becomes a starter in this league per se, it's not really like he's a

buster, a bad player. He could still get close to 10 sacks a season and never being a starter and being kind of a pass rush specialist. So I wouldn't say that I need him to develop this run defense. He would obviously like it, but right now he's just doing really well in that pass rush specialist role, and I wouldn't move him out of that spot at all. If you found $100 on the street, would you pick it up or keep walking? Of course you'd take the money.

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Did that surprise you? I mean, it really surprised me because Jahad Ward was above him. I know Jahad Ward maybe had more flash last year as a pass rusher, but Matt Eberflew said today at his press conference that he just referred to Frank Reich as far as the question goes, why was he inactive? So I'm just curious to hear your thoughts on Tyquan Lewis and what do you think that means for him moving forward? Yeah, so I like Lewis, and I probably like him more than some other people.

But I like him more as a defensive end, and I don't really see why they moved him kind of into that interior role this year. I know that he did it a little bit in college, and he showed some flashes in college. But my biggest guess why he didn't play this past weekend was either lack of effort in practice or something like that, which would lead to why they're talking, you know, he said, refer to Frank Reich about it. So that could definitely be something with that. But, you know, I don't know. You know, we don't really know until we hear from Frank Reich. I would like to see him play because he's a younger player and he can provide that pass rush.

Maybe they just wanted to go heavier or maybe it was something in practice. We don't really know. From what you saw last year, Zach, what did you like about Tyquan Lewis? Do you think he was a versatile guy who could play out there on run and pass downs? Yeah. Especially as a base defensive end i really did like him out there especially on run downs i like him a little bit on the pass downs as well i think he's got some ability uh but you know they probably know better than me that they're the ones who get paid the the big bucks for it but i really liked what i saw from him at defense event and i like to see him kind of uh utilizing that role a little bit more forward all right let's

transition over here to the secondary for a second. What did you see out of Rock? Of course, you said you haven't watched the All-22 yet, so you'll probably have a different opinion once you see that. But what did you see out of defensive backs that caught your eye from a positive or negative standpoint? Yeah, so, I mean, starting with Rock to Sim, because you kind of mentioned him there,

I think it was a very rookie showing, and I think that that's fine. You know, he doesn't have to come out and be the best cornerback in the entire league from the first game. I think he showed some good traits. He showed some good ability. He was sticking with some receivers. But, you know, you also saw some rookie moments, especially on that Kane Allen touchdown where he couldn't locate the ball and Allen was able to go up and get the score. So I think there was some up and down in his play, and I think the overall secondary as a whole kind of had some up and down play. But yeah, again, I think going forward that the emphasis is going to be that the secondary needs to play a little bit better. Obviously, Malik Hooker had a good game. He had that really amazing pick, but the standard definitely needs

to rise for the secondary. They need to have better games going forward. Yeah, that's for sure. Let's transition over here to the offensive side of the ball and just hit on a few guys here as well before we go into our big takeaways. Maybe look ahead a little bit to the Tennessee game as well. What did you like most about Jacoby Bursette? He finished 21-27, 190 yards, two touchdowns, no intercepts. Should have been a third touchdown if Ebron was able to hold on to that ball more. What did you like about him?

Because I just feel like he was not only just a game manager, but he also showed the poise. And he was cool, calm, and collected under pressure. I mean, that last drive in the regular season action there with two minutes to go, 16 play, 80-yard drive, for a guy who was a bag of quarterback tweaks to go, Zach, I thought that was really impressive. Yeah, no, I completely agree with you. And I think those were my biggest takeaways were, you know,

he went from this kind of – I wouldn't say scared, but happy feet quarterback in the pocket from when he was in, you know, from 2017 starts to really trusting his line, really trusting his reads, trusting everything that he saw in front of him. And he played with a lot of confidence. And I really liked that. He was quick, decisive, got the ball out to his playmakers. And I think he put together a really good game. I really am looking forward to the offense kind of opening up for him a little

bit as they go ahead. You know, I know that Reich and Sirianni do not want to throw everything at him here in week one, but going forward, I'm excited for him to open it up a little bit for him and let him, you know, read some more things, throw the ball down the field a little bit, but I think it was a good first showing. I think he showed that he can get the ball out of his hand and trust his playmakers, and I think that was big for him. Do you like how they did that? I think I read that Frank Reich, that was part of the game plan there in the first half especially just those quick passes because Bosa and Ingram we saw even in the first possession area I think Bosa got a sack on him with an easy beat of Braden Smith just did you like how they just did one two three throw

one two three throw it was kind of like two seconds or less there you go to your first three hit that guy when he's open. Yeah no no, I loved it. I've been saying it. I was saying it all last week. I've been saying it since he kind of took over as a starter for Luck. You know, in this first game, the big part is not having him show off his arm or having him do too many complicated things out there. It's getting him in a rhythm, get his feet under him, let him be confident in what he's seeing, what he's reading,

and what he's feeling. And I think that right against Sirianni put a game plan that really let him do that. You know I I didn't think it was anything too intricate or anything too complicated but I they let him just kind of read the field quickly get the ball out let the see the ball kind of go to the hands of receivers and get that confidence of hey I'm playing passes I can move this ball I can feel the pocket a little bit and I think that was the big thing from week one so even though they didn't get the win and it wasn't like the greatest stat line ever for him I think that getting him that confidence and getting him that poise early on is so important for the whole length of the season there before we move up for a second I

wanted to ask you just it's kind of probably hard to tell from tv of course and from this but did you feel like just the confidence that the teammates had around Jacoby Brissett was eminent to you because it just seems like like you mentioned he was cool calm and collected in those pressure moments. But also just the guys were just rallying around him and really just trusting completely. Yeah, you know, I've always said this, that it's kind of weird in the NFL because they're all professionals.

Even if it's, you know, a guy like Cody Kessler back there, they're going to still rally around him because they're all paid professionals and they all know what they're doing. But, you know, you could definitely see they like him and they and they will follow around that guy I think that they they are really high on him in that locker room not just the coaches not just the front office but also the players and you could definitely see that this weekend for sure I think that they definitely rallied around him and and that was a big reason why they were able to kind of come back from the big deficit they were in next up on the list here Zach Marlon Mack

had a monster game 25 carries 174 yards seven yards per carry and a touchdown. Take out the six, three yard touchdown. Now he's still averaging almost five yards per carry on 24 carries around 115 yards. It seems like we were talking about this all throughout the last month or so, Zach, but Marlon Mack is, it's kind of locked in that he is in that bell cow role. I think that's really what's best for this team. Yeah. You know, I love Marlon Mack. I think that he had a very good season last year, especially late last season, where he was running very confidently. He was finding holes. He was exploding up them. He was getting skinny to them, too. He knew how to kind of work his angles and work in the space and get out into the openings. I think we saw that

this weekend. I mean, he had a really good game. After a tough first half, he kind of stuck with it. He kind of wore down the Chargers defense defense and he broke off a couple big runs there and really helped the team come back so Marlon Mack's the guy you know I'm not saying that he's a star running back a pro bowl running back or anything like that even right now I think that's a little bit too early to say but you know he's the guy in this offense everyone who was saying that the team might want to trade for Melvin Gordon or trade for whatever or get this kind of running back they believe in Marlon Mack and they're going to feed him he's definitely the guy here and I think he definitely showed that on Sunday looking at his usage 25 carries I mean it's searching over a season that's like a Michael or Michael Turner-esque kind of numbers like 350 carries

something like that do you think Marlon Mack I mean obviously a built-up vocal we work to see as the season progresses do you think he is in that prime role to be a bell comedy get like 300 plus touches in a season this year they could uh they very well could i think a lot of it's going to just like be determined by game flow in a lot of these games but you know i think they want to i i don't know if they want to work him exactly for the that amount of carries but they want to work him you know they want to rely on his feet uh to carry them this year and we saw that again on Sunday. So, yeah, it wouldn't shock me if he got up in the 300s or so in terms of carries

because the key to success with this team is going to be on Marlon Mack's back. So I really want to see how they use him going forward, especially in games where, you know, say the defense is playing even worse than what they were on Sunday. If they're going to stick with the run or they're going to completely abandon it, we're definitely going to see going forward. Of course, it's only one week, Zach, and they're going to obviously mix things up as the other seasons of the weeks go by.

But when Naeem Hines said in there he had four catch for four yards, it just seems like I'm curious to see if they involve Marlon Mack more in the offense. I know he's not a great pass catcher, but he's at least passable, I think, when we saw training camp. Do you think that when Mack subs out and Hines subs in, it's kind of like obvious what they're going to do on offense right now? I don't think it's terribly obvious. I think that Hines definitely has more of a role

and more of a factor in the passing game. So to a degree, you kind of expect a pass to come, but Hines is a good run blocker, or a good pass blocker, and he's also a fairly good runner. I know his yards per carry weren't amazing last run blocker he's also a good pass blocker and he's also a fairly good runner you know I know his yards for carry weren't amazing last year but he's also a fairly good runner he had a couple good games last year nearly broke 100 yards against the Raiders last season as a runner so I don't think it's completely obvious obviously you would want you know both your backs to kind of be perfect at everything but that's not really how it is

I'd like to see Heinz and Mack on the field a little bit more together actually with Heinz kind of playing a little bit more slot and more receiver role but we'll definitely really how it is. I'd like to see Hines and Mack on the field a little bit more together, actually, with Hines kind of playing a little bit more slot and more receiver role. But we'll definitely see how it goes going forward. I don't think it's terribly obvious. I don't think it really gives much away. But, you know, other teams are probably expecting more pass and run when Hines is out there.

Next on the list here for you, Zach, Devin Funchess, he broke his clavicle, so he's out at least eight weeks. That puts him out minimum until November 10th against the Dolphins, maybe November 17th against the Jaguars. What's that loss going to do to them? Because I know he had a big play on fourth down that he dragged the defender a couple yards and got him the first down that play. Now it's Deion Kane.

It's his time to really step in that role. They confirmed that today he's going to be number two wide outside with T.Y. Here's Campbell still in the slot there. It's kind of just all on the shores now of T.Y. He's going to have maybe a bigger load, but also just these young guys and Kane and Campbell, it's their time to shine, spread their wings, so to say. Yeah, you know, it's pretty upsetting. I think Funches was going to have a really good year for the team, and we kind of saw a lot of flashes of him playing pretty well this past weekend,

so I think it's very upsetting to lose that big body guy. He's a really good player, but on the other hand, it's very exciting that we get to see Kane and Campbell and and these young guys really have to step up and play a bigger role so you know one hand I'm pretty upset about it because I think Funches was a really good player and he's definitely a better player than guys like Kane and Campbell as of right now but I think that it's going to be fun seeing these youngsters going forward I think that the offense is really explosive with them in there and I think that it could be a lot more potential in the long term. So we get to see what these guys are really about until Hunt just comes back, which I'm pretty excited about.

The other star of the game, so to say, was T.Y. Hilton. Eight catches, 87 yards, two touchdowns. I feel like we're seeing vintage T.Y. now. He had a really good camp. He even said it was the best camp he's had. What do you expect? I know it's going to be impossible. I think they'll just reimagine the connection that 12 and 13 had together.

But Bursette and Hilton had a pretty good day together on Sunday. Yeah, you know, I mean, going forward, there's no reason to expect that won't be the case in the next few games or the rest of the season. I mean, they seem to have very good rapport. They've been working with each other all camp and for the last two years now. So I definitely expect them to have good rapport going forward. And, you know, when you're a quarterback who hasn't really had the amount of all camp and for the last two years now. So I definitely expect them to have a good report going forward.

And, you know, when you're a quarterback who hasn't really had the amount of starts or hasn't really had that much experience in the league, you want to rely on your star players. I think that's one of the easiest things you can tell a young quarterback is rely on your star players. So he's going to go out of his way to find T.Y. Hilton. And this past Sunday it was a good plan for him. So I expect that connection to still be strong for the rest of the season. Now the tight ends, Zach, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this

because we saw Ebron, he had one catch for eight yards. Jack Doyle had one for 20. Malik Cox had one for three. Look at the snap counts, though. This is really what we saw in the first half of last year before Doyle got hurt. He had about 60% of the snaps. Ebron only played about 30% of those. And Malik Cox played about 20% of those.

What did you like or what did you dislike about the tight ends on Sunday? Just, I also want to get your thoughts as well, just the usage of those guys, because it seems like it's going to be a lot more balanced, people think, between those three guys. Yeah, you know, I think that's a good usage there. Obviously, you want to see Ebron play a little bit more just because of what he brings in the passing game, but, you know, if you're running really well and Ebron's not really the best run blocker, I completely understand playing Doyle and Moelle Cox a little bit more. I think it's a lot, again, with game flow. If you want to have more passing attack, play Ebron more. If you want to have more of a rushing attack, play Doyle and Moelle Cox more. So I don't really have an issue with that kind

of snap counts there. I definitely like Doyle as an all-around player a lot more than Ebron, so I understand him getting the more snaps. and I think the signing group played pretty well you know Ebron had what should have been a touchdown in the back of the end zone uh you know it's up for debate for sure but it at the very least it you've got to say it was close enough to where you could have called a touchdown and then Doyle I think had a good good game as well as a run blocker and also in the passing game so I think the signing group played really well and it's gonna be definitely more on their shoulders now with lunches out for the amount of time that he's out. Make it a memory that lasts a lifetime.

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but before we do that, Zach, I want to get your thoughts on the offensive line because I feel like there's a tale of two halves there. I know the line did well in the first half there, but the second half of that game, I don't know what Frank Reich's in the locker room or maybe it was Chris Strauss, but they just went on 56 back, Quentin Nelson and Anthony Costanza, Ryan Kelly, Mark Lewinsky, Brayton Smith, really all five of those guys. They had a great second half of that game.

What stood out to you most as a change from the first second half? Just the aggression. They seemed to be a little bit more passive and a little bit rusty in that first half. And I think in the second half, instead of kind of being that passive way, I think they were kind of like they were last year. At the beginning of last year, a little passive, a little indecisive. I do think that the second half, they came out with a punch them in the face kind of mentality.

You saw with a couple of big blocks from Nelson and Costanzo and Kelly. I think they were really hitting the chargers. And I think that's what really kept, you know, the run game going as long as it did, because the body blows were just wearing down that team. So I think, you know, overall, I think it was a really good adjustment in halftime to kind of get more aggressive. And I think it was a really good showing in Strasserasser system, which kind of preaches that physicality. So I really like what the offensive line showed in the second half. Yeah, as they've been saying all offseason, they say run the damn ball.

And they certainly did that on Sunday, 174 yards, really 205 total yards of rushing, which leads the NFL right now through week one. But let's dive into the week two preview, excuse me, with the Tennessee Titans here, Zach. They bludgeoned the Cleveland Browns 43-13 in the second half of that game. It was close, but then the floodgates opened really wide open for them. What's your takeaway with Tennessee and their offense, and what do you think the Colts have to do to really make this a game where all of a sudden now with Jacksonville losing Nick Foles

and with also Houston and their struggles in week one with Deshaun Watson protecting them like usual last year, this might be a big game later on the season as far as the schedule goes. Yeah, you know, I think the Titans had a good game week one. I think they beat up on a pretty talented team, but I don't think they played as well as the score would say, and I don't mean that as a slight to Titans fans or a slight to the Titans team at all. I just don't think they really played well enough to be like a 43 to 13

team or whatever the score was I think that they played well their offense was very conservative they were moving the ball very like they kind of were last year without really much aggression and much you know emphasis on on certain things even though the touchdown scores were pretty nice I think overall their offense was pretty beatable in that week one I think there were two of ten on third downs which is not really a success for winning uh but my biggest fear when it comes to the Titans is that defense I think the defense is really solid especially if uh Cam Wake complete like plays how he did last week and Harold Landry kind of continues his development the way he's been playing uh their secondary is really good their linebackers are probably two ofbackers are probably two or three of the more underrated guys in the league.

So I think that defense is going to be a good test for Jacoby Brissett in this offense early in the year. I think it's going to be a really good game, and hopefully the Colts can come on top. I think it's going to be a tough one, though, at Tennessee. They're really a talented team, but we'll definitely see next week. Yeah, I think my big three keys to the game here, I looked at the line today. The early one is Tennessee minus three. So it's pretty much a push as far as that goes,

because the home team usually gets three points there. What do you think with Marcus Mariota, especially? I didn't really like what I saw from him week one. I went back and watched the game this morning. Derek Henry, of course, a monster. But do you think we're going to see a lot of stack in the box, maybe eight or nine guys in the box, and is Darren going to have Mariota beat them like they did last year?

To a degree, yeah, because think that the titans offensive scheme kind of allows you to stack the box my biggest thing when it comes to stacking the boxes i think it's a big misconception around the league what stacking the box is i don't think it's really much for individual quarterbacks obviously you're more likely to stack the box against a guy like mariotta than you are against like aaron rogers but for the most part you can only stack the box according to what the offensive scheme is you know if they come out with two tight ends on the field you're more likely to stack the box than you are if they come out with four or five receivers out there you can't really stack the box if they have four receivers on the field and that will give them the running lane at the middle so it's definitely going to depend on what they want to do as an offense.

If they want to pound it down the Colts' throat because they saw how the charges were running on them, then the Colts definitely have the avenue to stack the box. But if they want to kind of spread them out and let Henry kind of run on lesser boxes, they could do that as well. I think it's going to be a lot of how their offense kind of wants to go about it. But, you know, I think that there is definitely a way to beat this team. They're not unbeatable.

They're not as great as what their points were last week. I think if you kind of focus on, hey, you know, IDing Henry, taking him away from the game, and making Mariota have to kind of go through his progressions and sit in that pocket a little bit longer, I think that that's definitely an avenue that they can win this game. This is maybe an underrated aspect, maybe not a lot people are talking about, but Cleveland, they had 18 penalties in that game,

which kind of really led to the Titans really pulling away. They're really getting the lead in the first place. Just how big are those just unnecessary penalties? Because when we saw for the Colts on Sunday, just the Danico Autry penalty on the field goal there that led to a touchdown. Then we saw the Justin Houston offsides penalty, which is kind of debatable, but it led to a touchdown next play from Austin Eckler. Just how crucial are those, not only for the Titans game, Zach,

but just through the rest of the season? With not an elite quarterback now on their team, no Andrew Luck, instead of Jacoby Brissett, just these mental errors, they have to really just limit those to a minimum. Yeah, no, you have to be more disciplined because you don't have that room to cover it with a guy like Andrew Luck back there. You know, Luck would always kind of cover up those kind of mistakes because he can always make the big play.

I'm not saying that Jacoby Brissett can't. It's just that you don't have that kind of safety net of Andrew Luck. So it's definitely going to be, you know, the Colts are going to need to play more sound football going forward. They had a lot of miscues in terms of special teams and in terms of, you know, penalties this past week that you just can't have when you don't have an elite quarterback. So I think they're going to learn their lesson from that,

but we'll definitely see. They can't make the mistakes they made last week, and obviously the Browns can't commit 200 penalty yards a game and expect to make the playoffs either, talking about that team. Last few I have for you, Zach. Appreciate the time, as always. Let's get to the Elf in the ringer for a second. Advent and Terry, we talked about them in the very beginning of the show,

but are you worried if he has the same performance, maybe he missed a kick or two on Sunday, then it gets time to start talking about this even more oh yeah no if he if he has another really bad performance like this this is the type of performance that you just it sticks in your mind because I'm not saying it completely cost them the game but it was a huge factor why they didn't win the game I mean you're taking points off the board by missing you know a chip shot field goal extra point even the the 40 plus yarder wasn't like too egregious of a kick to ask him to make. Yeah, I mean, if he misses another extra point or two this week

or misses another kick or two this week, I think you have to definitely talk about bringing in other kickers. I don't care about legacy. It doesn't matter what he's done for you. It's what he's going to do. And if he's going to keep missing kicks, you definitely have to look at replacing him. Yeah, this is certainly a big week for him for sure. And I'm looking at that free agency class for 2020 McKickers now.

I wonder if Chris Bauer made it back to the Brinkster for Greg Zerline or something like that. He might be a free agent this time next year. But before I let you go, Zach, what's your – I know it's Tuesday afternoon at 3.59 p.m. Eastern time. If you had to say right now, what's your prediction for Sunday? I'm going to go 27-20 Colts. I think the Colts are able to control the clock and control the game

and not really let Mariota and that offense into generous field positions. I think they're able to control the game. So, yeah, 27-20 is my prediction right now. I like it. I'm right there with you. I think it's going to be a very close game. I think a lot more close than Colton's one, I admit,

because I think this Titans team has improved compared to last year. But I appreciate the time, Zach. And you can follow Zach on Twitter. Go ahead and do so. Add Zach Hicks, too. Also, to his Core 45 podcast on Blue Wire Podcast Network.

He also contributes over at PFN and also Stampede Blue. So, Zach, appreciate the time. We'll talk to you again next Monday. Awesome, man. Can't wait.