Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS - 9/20 - Injuries Look to be Clearing Up, Players Are Staying Positive and An Interesting Analytics Drop From Pagano

Episode Date: September 20, 2016

#Colts players are staying grounded on their current position, #Pagano steps into the realm of #analytics, some key contributors could be making their way back sooner than later and Matt explains why beginning the season with so many injuries may indeed help the team in the long run. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Napa Know How. It takes a lot to get excited about a bag, but most bags can't save you 20% on auto parts. That's 20% off headlamps, 20% off oil filters, 20% off virtually anything you can fit inside the 99-cent Napa reusable bag. So tell your buddies, there's a bag they just have to check out. Quality parts, helpful people. That's Napa Know How.

Napa Know How. At participating Napa auto parts stores, while supplies last. Minimum three items. Exclusions apply know-how. Napa know-how. At participating Napa auto parts stores, while supplies last. Minimum three items. Exclusions apply. Offer ends 10-31-17. You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Welcome back, Colts Nation. This is your Locked On Colts for today, September 20th.

I am your host, Matt Dainley. Thank you for joining me once again. I want to start off by telling you guys how much I appreciate the kind words on all the social media sites and you guys being a part of the conversation for the podcast, I'm very happy with how it's growing. A lot of that's due to you, the listeners. So I wanted to tell you that I appreciate it and I look forward to doing this and that I look forward to continuing the conversation with you guys in the future. So let's jump right into it.

Today, there were some interviews and a couple of really interesting things, but first I want to get to kind of where they stand on injuries coming out of that game. I mean, we're heading into week three. We're expecting some guys back in the next couple weeks, and the Colts are getting still nicked up game by game. So Cromartie and Moncrief, both with their shoulder injuries. Now I think I misspoke yesterday because I thought that Moncrief's was a concussion. I mean, I know that they said on the broadcast that they were evaluating him for the concussion, but I just assumed as much that that's what the issue was because of where he got hit. But Moncrief's injury is a shoulder as well and he was supposed to have uh

an MRI Monday night and it sounds like his has the possibility of being serious in my opinion due to the fact that Pagano was sort of evading the question on his status with uh any specifics so um that uh that one kind of has me worried a little bit just because he was so kind of tight-lipped about it. But Clayton Gethers has a sore foot, which is more than understandable considering how long he was out and the injury he had. But Butler, as we know, messed up his hamstring and apparently has a grade one hamstring injury for what it's worth and is considered to be week to week. Denzel Good also is set to have an MRI on his back and that's not good. I mean just for the fact that we need him to be in the lineup he's definitely done pretty well and we need him to be in there. We

need that line to stay intact as the season goes forward. Trent Cole, who did not play Sunday, he's still sore, Pagano says, but here's some great news. Vontae, TJ Green, and Patrick Robinson, Pagano says, he hopes to have them all three back on the field this week. Robinson will be limited, he said probably, but Robinson specifically reportedly has passed his impact test, which will allow him to come back on Wednesday. So that'll be nice.

Non-contact, he'll be limited. And I got to say, I'm a little surprised because, like I said, those kind of injuries, you know, the concussion deal, that can really linger. Basically what they're going to do is they're going to bring him in, let him run around a little bit. Obviously, like I said, no contact or anything like that. They're going to see if he has any lingering issues with it, and then what they'll do is they'll very slowly get him back into it,

first non-contact with the helmet, and then they'll move forward in that regard. But that's basically just a test to see if he can handle running around and basically exerting some energy and not have any lingering effects. So they'll be checking on him for that. You know, Pagano pointed out that with a few different plays going in a different direction, the Colts could be 2-0 as opposed to their current status, which is 0-2, which I'm not one for Pagano's never-ending mental library of metaphors, but he's right.

This is likely why I haven't felt that this is all gloom and doom quite yet. But he makes a valid point. The Colts were definitely in striking distance in week one. They were down six with a minute 51 to go this past week against Denver. So, I mean, the Colts could even, I mean, as bad as their roster is currently right now between injuries and just some areas where they're weak, the Colts could easily be 2-0 right now, but they're not. In any regard, just relax.

A couple of you who mentioned a couple things on Facebook said that you guys were basically just about to jump off the edge. But come on back down and everybody relax. It's week two, a lot of games left to play. A lot of things can go back and forth. Other teams are going to start, and I'm not saying I want anybody to be injured, but other teams are going to start getting injured. It's the natural progression of the league. Things happen. Things change. Whether they do or don't necessarily change for the better for the Colts in the future is far yet to be seen. So like I said, everybody come down off the ledge and we'll be fine. You know, and let's kind of look at what Pagano said in a bit of a different way. A lot of you, a lot of guys are getting

a lot of really important snaps right now with all the injuries that the Colts have between up front and then back in the secondary, there are a ton of guys getting vital snaps and experience that will, in turn, make this team deeper as they get healthy in the coming weeks. Kerr had a really nice game Sunday. His snaps will decrease as Arthur Jones comes back naturally from suspension in Week 5, and Henry Anderson returns from his injury as well.

So there are some guys who aren't going to be getting the reps in the games but you know Kerr's already been experienced he's been in the rotation for the past couple years so that's nothing new but that's going to just make that defensive line that much better Rashawn Melvin Darrell Morris those corners that nobody knows anything about they're getting some serious snaps right now too. And once Vontae Davis and Robinson come back, it could realistically make this secondary significantly deeper. You know, you never know what's going to happen with Butler. So one of those guys can fill in in the slot, which is going to help.

You know, they're both pretty physical guys, I mean, but they've proven that they can play and they're not going to get drastically out of position. They're both pretty physical guys, but they've proven that they can play, and they're not going to get drastically out of position. We can complain about all the missed tackles we want, but I didn't see any of that from those guys. I didn't see anything that tells me that those guys were drastically out of position during the game. That's a good thing from guys who have not been in the defense or the scheme for very long. And as another note, Colts signed Deontrez Mount to the practice squad. He's

a 6'5 outside linebacker. Very limited experience though, just four games. He was a six-round pick for the Titans in 2015. I think that's more of a ceiling signing, so to speak. A big guy, real physical, hoping that maybe he can contribute in the future. You know, a couple players spoke today. They seem to be pretty high or, you know, pretty grounded on where they're at right now. And first, let's listen to what Jack Muhor had to say. You know, 0-2 isn't where we want to be. It isn't where we thought we'd be. But the only thing to do is to go back to work, and that's what we're going to do. We've got a high character guys.

We've got great leadership in that locker room. So the last thing anyone needs to do is freak out. And, you know, we have our things that we need to fix internally. And I think we all trust that we'll do that. And, you know, it's back to work. He sounds pretty grounded, right? I mean, he's a guy who came back from a knee injury that they thought he could possibly be gone for the season.

So you don't expect too much negative out of Muhort. And Perry had similar sentiments. You know, the same pressure that when you start a season 0-0. You know, we're focused on this next week. We're just trying to get this one win and, you know, build from there. You know, he's not one for a lot of words. He's kind of a very direct and to-the-point kind of guy, so you don't expect too much more than that out of Perry.

But Phillip Dorsett had quite a bit more to say than the other two. But we're a really good team out of Justin. I mean, we got one of the best quarterbacks in the league that can put the ball anywhere. I mean, we got one of the best quarterbacks in the league that can put the ball anywhere. We've got one of the best coaching staffs in the league that are able to adjust. It's always hard for us to start fast. I don't know why. It's something that we definitely got to emphasize a lot more.

Like I said, we're so used to coming back and making adjustments. Once we really see what the defense is doing, I think we're really good at manipulating what they got going on. So now you get a bit of a look in and a listen in, I guess, to kind of see where these guys are at mentally. They're not – but you don't expect them to be like throwing their cleats around the locker room, pouting and throwing fits and stuff like that. They're big boys. They're going to be just fine. throwing their cleats around in the locker room, pouting and throwing fits and stuff like that.

They're big boys. They're going to be just fine. And we as fans have to put on our big boy pants as well. We don't have to be unrealistic and be walking around chanting Super Bowl or bust. We can also be realistic about where the season is at currently. We're in week two. I can't stress that enough right now. Like I said, if we get to a point where past week four things aren't improving, then we've got real issues. But it's still very early in the season to freak out. Now, I can't really explain my thought process on this a whole lot, but I feel that there will be some sort of a

situation arise to bring Trevor Bates onto the 53-man roster. I'm looking through the linebackers today, and I'm just thinking, you know, Morrison had like 11 defensive snaps in week one. I don't remember him. Maybe he was. I just, maybe I'm just drawing a blank, but I don't remember him. Maybe he was. Maybe I'm just drawing a blank. But I don't remember him being on the field for a snap defensively. So I'm just looking at this linebacking corps thinking, something's got to change. Where can it change? What can they do here? They've got a lot of the big outside linebacker guys like Majit,

just a ton of guys on the outside. They don't have a whole lot of depth there in that middle row. I mean, behind Seymour and DeQuell Jackson, it's Edwin Jackson, who's not getting any defensive snaps. He's basically getting all special team snaps. And Morrison, very limited defensive snaps. And McNary, who's, you know, he's getting a handful or so. But other than that, there's just,

there's just nothing to smile about almost in there. And I was really a big fan of Trevor Bates in camp, really enjoyed watching him. Now, here's where I'm going with this. If you remember when they, that they described him as a middle linebacker, when they signed him to the practice squad, they put those releases out about who they signed to the practice squad, who they brought back, so on and so forth. And he's actually listed on the roster as an outside linebacker. But they described him as a middle linebacker in that. Now, was that simply like an oversight when it was written?

Or were they actually wanting to use him as a middle linebacker if and when he was ever to be like moved up to the active roster I don't know but what I do know is that he is versatile enough to possibly fill that role and in that regard and I mean when I watched him at camp the first thing that came to my mind when watching him is that his physicality, how he just comes off the edge. He's just a natural pass rusher. That's not necessarily the role of the middle linebacker, so that's not where I'm going. Maybe he has the coverage skills. Maybe he doesn't, but he's a playmaker. I just think he's got that playmaker mentality overall. Now, he would get into his drops different but playing coverage at an outside linebacker spot is much different than playing in middle linebacker a lot of your drops

are the same but you're going to the flats a lot more in an outside linebacker role you have a very defined role for each play so it's kind of hard to it's not the same but like I said he's just got that playmaking ability, I think. Now, would I say he's necessarily ready at this moment to step in and break out? No, that's not what I'm saying at all. He's certainly worth thinking about, though, as a big part of the Colts' future, from what I saw of him and just the natural ability to get upfield and into the backfield. Just something I was thinking about today,

figured I'd share it. Now, we've been speaking often about the Colts defense in general, not getting opposing offenses to third down situations enough, allowing too much success on first and second downs. But there was possibly the best and most interesting quote from Pagano in a long time, as long as I can remember anyways, today. And Pagano had a very interesting kind of statement here. He was talking ultimately about getting off the field on third downs. He said, I think there were 71 gradable plays in the game. That doesn't mean a whole lot. Don't worry about that.

If you get off the field in those four situations, talking about the third down situations, we would have played 20 fewer snaps and gave up nine total points and 100 fewer yards. Think about that for a minute. From those four third downs that they converted on, there were 20 plays ran total after that in those four situations. The point differential was there.

He said that they would have only given up nine points, and after those four situations, they gained another 100 yards. That's significant, don't you think? I mean, interesting thinking about that. What would have happened had they gotten off? Well, we know because they didn't get off. And this is what happened afterwards is basically what he's telling you. I thought that was really interesting. I've never really heard him go in the analytical side of things, to be quite honest with you he's just uh you know grandpa doesn't want to talk about numbers let's talk about grit and chopping wood and sharpening iron and stuff like that so i just i just thought it was uh phenomenal that that he kind of went that

route i thought it was definitely worth noting and it made a lot of sense too i thought it was great i mean like i said you don't hear typically that for that out of his mouth so i figured you guys might want to hear about that another interesting point that was brought up and i wish i knew who it was brought up by so i give them the credit for it but the question was very good one and pagano was asked if there was possibly some timing issues or otherwise with the chemistry between luck and hilton or and Dorsett kind of that trio between Luck and those two guys and he said that there are 15 of 34 when targeting those two downfield speedsters Pagano played it off and ultimately just said that that it all comes down to execution needs to get better I mean that's right but that is I didn't realize that I do a

lot of weird numbers throughout a game that wasn't't one of them. I thought that was really interesting. They basically have less than a 50% conversion rate with luck thrown to those two receivers. And those are two of the bigger targets, not size-wise, but production-wise, that he's going to be able to use throughout the season. So I thought that was real interesting and I'm a little curious to see if their connections start to kind of smooth out a little bit. I thought that was a good question. Wish I knew who asked it. So the Colts are welcoming in the San Diego Chargers who are kind of hot right now. Have Mr. Clutch, in my opinion, Phillip Rivers. I doubt that they're

going to have Joey Bosa for the game. I don't know rivers they i doubt that they're going to have joey bosa for the game i don't know that it necessarily matters because they're going to win on offense if if san diego comes into lucas oil stadium and wins it's gonna be from their offense not from their defense shutting us down so i think as it's at least noteworthy but this presents a really big situation for the Colts. If they need this win in order to go into London with some confidence

and to come back from London with confidence, hopefully after beating the Jaguars in week four. It's a long season. We can stress about it. But, man, I'll tell you what. If the Colts start 0-4, all those fire Gregano tweets with the hashtag, they might be coming true. I mean, that's going to be a really, expect them to be flying by week four if the Colts haven't won a game. It's going to be a really interesting time for Colts Twitter or wherever you're getting your

Colts news because it's going to be all over the place. It's going to be on ESPN. It's going to be on NFL Network. It's going to be on any podcast you listen to. They're going to be talking about it because if the Colts start 0-4, he might not last the rest of the season. I just don't see Ursa being that giving when you have luck at quarterback, some of the players. But, you know, maybe I'm getting ahead of the ahead of the – putting the cart before the horse on this.

I feel like he's – that Ursae is intelligent enough to understand the injury situations and stuff like that. But where does he stand on if the Colts have two close games and still don't pull them out. You know, does that make him lean towards you've been in the game all four times and you still can't close it out? Or does that put him on the side of if we had those guys healthy, we'd have been able to win those games. I can't punish the coach.

Who knows? Like I said, they're going to be going all, it's going to be crazy after week four if things don't pick up. But for the time being, stay positive, Colts Nation. Everything's going to be just fine. Don't listen to the people who watch football once a month and are still talking about how letting Peyton Manning go to get Andrew Luck doesn't look so good right now. Just tell those people to watch more football because they obviously don't pay attention. Those are, you know, you may not even want to reply to those people.

Those people are on Twitter for a reason, and it certainly isn't for intelligent conversation. And before we go, if you guys are looking for all your NFL stories on one podcast, check out Locked on NFL with Matt Williamson. You guys can also get your fantasy fix there with Vinny Iyer on Locked On Fantasy. And if there's anybody in the college ranks right now that you guys are looking at, you need to check out Locked On NFL Draft with Joe Marino and Kyle Krabs. That's going to pique your interest for sure. And check out all the other Locked On podcasts as well.

Also, keep the questions coming via Twitter at LockedOnColts. Check out the Locked On Colts Facebook page and hit me up via email at LockedOnColtsPod at gmail.com. But that's about all we got for our Tuesday show, folks. And one last thing. If you've read the show's description, you know that I founded QBmecha.com. We just put out some comprehensive quarterback statistics that you guys might need to go check out.

We're going to be putting those up about every Thursday, trying to track quarterback stats a little bit more in depth than they might be done at other sites without putting them behind a paywall. So you guys need to go check that out. Thank you guys for listening again. Keep coming back. I'll be here every day, five times a week at a minimum. I'll talk to you guys on Wednesday, right here on Locked on Colts.