Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 9/20/19: Khari Willis about to supplant Clayton Geathers as the Colts' starting strong safety?

Episode Date: September 20, 2019

On today's episode, the first of two, George Bremer of The Herald Bulletin is back to go over all of the latest Colts news.How has Jacoby Brissett performed, and what grade would Bremer give Indianapolis' new QB1? Against two tough defenses in LA and Tennessee, Brissett did better than original expectations. Also, we go over the impact of the special teams and defense.More specifically, is Khari Willis about to take Clayton Geathers' spot? Bremer has a great story he heard from inside the Colts' locker room on Sunday as it relates to their fourth-round draft pick.Finally, we look ahead to Atlanta on Sunday. What will having no Darius Leonard on Sunday mean for their defense? Bremer also provides his final prediction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, everybody. Welcome back into Locked On Colts, probably Locked On Podcast Network. Today's live is my host, Evan Seder. I'm joined by our weekly guest, George Bremmer, the Herald Bulletin. How are you doing today, George? Good. How are you doing today? Doing good. Thanks for coming on. Appreciate your time as always. And let's start off here on Thursday, September 19th. We're going to look back to Sunday real quickly. What was your impressions of the Colts' win on Sunday, even though it came,

I think it was a little too close for comfort there for a lot of Colts fans. It was very, very close for comfort. I thought it was another example of what we've seen from this team through two weeks, which is just a whole lot of grit, a whole lot of determination. I think this is a group that really kind of embodies Frank Reich's mentality of flush the last play

and just look forward to the next one. Don't really let anything good or bad affect you too much. And so, you know, when they got the ball with what, around five minutes ago or so in the fourth quarter, and they really hadn't done anything the entire second half on offense, you have no idea what to expect. And finally, that's when they bust the big run and it sets up a four-yard touchdown pass.

And then the defense makes two outstanding stops down the stretch. And they get a win they probably didn't deserve, which is funny. Because I think if you look at the first two weeks, they probably lost the game they should have won in Los Angeles. And then won a game they probably should have lost in Nashville. Yeah, it was certainly a game where I think the Colts should have won by a lot more than they did, and I think the main reason why was Adam Benatary once again with his struggle with George. What's your impression of what's happening with Benatary, and what have you heard from him this week that maybe gives more credence in the situation? This is one of the more strange

things that I've been involved with, and that's saying something because we've had some strange things happen around this franchise, but this is just it you hear things like pat mcafee questioning whether or not it's an issue with his plant leg and you hear people questioning whether it's a mental issue and uh ben terry just he just says for his part he's not hitting the ball cleanly enough you know he his basic take is he's just not doing his job and so maybe it's as simple as that he's just he's got to find a way obviously to clean that up and it's gonna happen happen quickly we saw frank bright come out and give him absolute support and that doesn't surprise me that's what frank bright does he's gonna take the bullet for his players, you know,

with Manada and Venturi. But at the same time, you saw the Colts go out and get six kickers and bring them in here for a tryout, and I think that's a pretty clear sign that they're not going to let this go on indefinitely. And so you've got another game coming up on Sunday that's probably going to be a tight, really close game. It's possible that if Vinatieri has those struggles again, it could cost the Colts again the same way it did at 10-C.

Yeah, it really – it could be the last stand, so to say, for Vinatieri, George. If he does have another game like he has the first two weeks, do you think the Colts now are officially going to wipe their hands clean? Maybe that's the wrong wording there, Vinat there but it feels like he has another bad game he's it's probably gonna be uh the last one he kicks for the Colts yeah I think I think everybody kind of has that sense right now probably even Vinatieri deep down uh they're really there's only so long you can go with that you know I? You go back to week one and obviously seven points left on the field there in a game that they lost in overtime.

And then you go into week two and it should have been a 21 to 17 game there at the end. It would have been a totally different situation for Tennessee and what they were trying to do on offense. You can't have those kinds of things. Really, in fairness, Tennessee's kicker missed the field goal late too that would have, as it turned out, would have given them the win. At the time, they were up 17-13, so you don't think of it the same way.

But after everything plays out, you just can't have those kinds of things happen. Really, that's what we've seen from the NFL. Most games are like the first two weeks for the Colts have been. Most games are back and forth, and whoever's got the ball at the end of the game has a chance to win it. And when you're dealing with that on a week-to-week basis, if you can't count on things like extra points, I think that's really what's making this such a big deal. You know, if it was a couple of missed field goals and they were on the longer variety, there'd be concern.

But I don't think it would be to the level that we're seeing it right now. This is about missed extra points. He's two of five on extra points right now. And that's something that has to be automatic, obviously. And when it's not, it's going to cause problems for your football team. So I can't see it going on much longer. I would think if the struggles happen again, yeah, this would probably be the last time you'd see that happen this week.

It seems like they brought in six kickers, George. Do you think any of those kickers – I know it's crazy we're even talking about this right now, but maybe they go back to Cole Hedlund. I know there's guys like Youngho Koo as well. George – Greg Joseph, excuse me. It seems like there's a lot of options that are really on the street there. And I was talking to another guest earlier this week, George. This seems, of course, like it's going to be the last year for Adam and Terry.

If you're in the Cole situation, do you go out and draft kicker next year or do you go out and just maybe back of the Brinks truck, so to say, and get a kicker free agent like a Mason Crosby or a greg zerline who's a both are free agents next year yeah i think they'll probably all options will be on the table i'm sure that they'll look at this rookie class and go over it with a fine-tooth comb and you know the thing about that is they may draft one but they may not i mean rigoberto sanchez came in here as an undrafted free agent he's done the job as a punter for this team now going into his third year. That was a great find. They may go that route with the kicker.

They may draft one if they find a guy that they think is worth that pick. And they've obviously got the money to go and sign a free agent kicker if that's what they determined to do. So I think that's the good news is that they've got all available options uh they've got plenty of resources to handle that however they want and we've seen with with chris ballard before maybe a combination of the two you know there may be a free agent signed and an undrafted guy come in and a competition during camp there may be a rookie uh paired with a lower money free agent. You know, I don't think that he will hesitate.

And that's what we saw him do with the punter situation. He brought in Rigoberto Sanchez as an undrafted rookie, but they also signed – I can't remember who the punter was. Now they signed a veteran as well. And then Sanchez won the competition in camp, and that's how they move forward. So I would expect to see something similar to that approach. Now moving over here, George, to the offense.

And what's really caught my eye so far, of course, it's going to be different with not Andrew Luck under center and then Jacoby Brissett instead. But the discrepancy between run and pass so far, the Colts are tied for second in NFL rushing yards, 30th in passing yards. Do you think that's sustainable? No, I know, and I think they know that too. I mean, right after the game, I guess it was Monday,

Frank mentioned that they need more production out of the passing game and that they think that that will come with time. I think a lot of this has been sort of the way games have played out, the way teams have played against the Colts so far. I know in Tennessee's case, they decided to do what I thought the Chargers would do in week one. And that was to drop back seven guys in coverage and kind of make Jacoby hold the ball, make him think a little more,

make him look for a longer time for an open guy. And so that caused a lot of the checkdowns that you saw. But it also was inviting the Colts to run the football. When they drop guys back like that, obviously there's a little more running lanes. And so the Colts were doing – they were taking what the Titans were giving them. It'll be interesting to see how that works out this week because Atlanta obviously is a really speed-based defense similar to the Colts the secondary is probably the strength of that team along with pass rush but they have been

run on as well in Minnesota I think only through something like 10 passes in a week one win against them the Eagles struggled this week running the ball against them but I don't know if that said more about Atlanta's defense or more about Philadelphia we'll see as the year goes on there but I think that right now that's more a function of the Colts doing what they think gives them the best chance to win each week as we move forward we'll see how much that changes I don't think you're going to see you know 300 yard passing games be a very common part of this offense right now. I don't think you're going to see, you know, 300-yard passing games be a very common part of this offense right now. I just don't think that that's necessarily Jacoby's game. But I also think you may see it, you know, this week here and there,

wherever the defense allows them to kind of dial those things up. How would you grade Jacoby Brissett through two weeks, George? Give him probably a B, B-minus, somewhere in that neighborhood. He's done really efficient things. And I think what's really carrying him right now is situational football. I think they were 7-14 on third down against the Titans. That's always pretty good. 3-3 in the red zone.

He's got five touchdowns. He's done when the games really mattered. It seems like that's when he's been at his best. You look at the fourth quarter of the first two games, drives down for the tying touchdown and two-point conversion against L.A., and then he goes and gets the winning touchdown in the last five minutes against the Titans. So, so yeah I think that's where he's shined he's obviously he's been holding on to the ball longer than you'd like to see at times been indecisive at times but some of that

is inexperienced too I mean we got to remember that that was his 19th career start so some of those things will come with with more time under center and a better understanding of what defenses are trying to do. But it's an evolving thing. It's going to be throughout the year. I think this is a guy who's 26 years old and has played 19 games in the NFL. We know he's got a really strong arm. We know he's a really smart guy.

But he's had two pretty interesting tests. And the Chargers have two of the best pass rushers out there in Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram, and the Colts had to account for that in the game plan all day. And then the Titans, I think Frank Reich called them a Rolodex defense. You know, they really changed their look. They just dial up something new on every snap. And that's a big challenge as well and i think we're

used to guys like peyton manning and andrew luck under center and those kind of things don't affect them uh because they're just at that level to them in their game and put up big numbers anyway uh brissette you know he's still a guy who's growing and learning. And so it's going to be difficult for him from week to week. But I also think we're going to see some big weeks from him before this year is over. Again, it's matchups and it's what the Colts are trying to do to attack that defense in any given week. Can't find a workout that keeps you engaged? Peloton is an immersive cardio experience with real-time features that will always keep you coming back. Get 100 hours off accessories when you purchase the Peloton bike and get a great cardio workout at home.

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because I feel like, especially this Sunday against Atlanta, a high-powered offense, if it gets into a shootout, that playbook's going to have to open up a little bit more. Yeah, there's no doubt. He's been trying to ease Jacoby in as best he can and I think it's also, like I said, it's a function of the offense and the way that they want to approach things. Same thing was happening last year a little

bit where defenses were trying to test Andrew Luck in different ways because he hadn't played in so long and so they were trying to take away the deep ball. defenses were trying to test Andrew Luck in different ways because he hadn't played in so long and so they were trying to take away the deep ball they were trying to make him force things and you know it's it's not really rocket science a lot of defense in the NFL do this if there's a reason to suspect that a guy's hurt if there's a reason to suspect that a guy maybe hasn't seen enough defensive looks. That's their whole goal. You put some kind of hesitation in the mind of the quarterback

and take away whatever makes them most comfortable, which in this case is T.Y. Hilton. You know, don't let him get behind you at all costs. And that's what we've seen. Good sign they're trying to do that jacoby still found ty you know they're not big plays although three of them have been touchdowns but we haven't seen that big 50 yard or 60 yard or anything like that but he does have 12 catches through two weeks so they're finding ways to get him involved they're finding ways to get Jacoby comfortable packages and settings.

And then they're running. You're going to continue that because, again, it sets them up in better situations on second down and third down. And those are things they're going to look to do for reset all year. But when you play a team like Atlanta and you have such a high power to attack, God, there are some things that may have to change this year. I think another interesting discussion point, George, is relating to the defense here because against the Falcons on Sunday, they're going to be going maybe

without Darius Leonard, maybe without Pierre Desir, but Jabal Sheard might be back. How big are those losses and additions on that side? Yeah, I don't think Jabal Sheard will be back. We'll see. But the indications I've got is he is practicing on a limited basis, but I don't think it's very likely he's going to play this week. We'll see if he's played out, but I wouldn't put that as a big question mark.

We know it's a bone bruise on the knee, and so who knows? He was out there on a limited basis yesterday, which is a good sign, but yesterday was kind of a, I think Wright called it an up-tempo walkthrough. It was definitely a lighter practice day. They've had those two games in the heat, and they really want to try to let guys recover. And you saw the injury list yesterday was a lot longer than it's been. And I think a lot of those things were sort of soft tissue type things, pools, strains.

You know, the Sears dealing with something a little more serious than that. But if he can't go now, all of a sudden, he would be the guy, I would imagine that they would have matched up on, on Julio Jones if he can't go now all of a sudden, he would be the guy I would imagine that they would have matched up on Julio Jones if he's fully healthy, just because we've seen him do that before. You know, he's followed DeAndre Hopkins. He's been the guy to kind of try to take away the big play receiver for the other team.

If he's not there, they're going to have to play a little more zone. They're going to have to rely on multiple guys to get the job done. And that's going to be a more difficult task. I mean, that's just kind of common sense, you know, where that comes from. Leonard, I don't think anyone has to explain how much he means this. That is another situation where it's concussion protocol. And so, you know, there's no way to speed up the process. There's no way to, you know, give him any kind of treatment

that can make it better, faster. You just have to wait, and he's got to feel better. You know, and I think that was one of those weird concussion situations where immediately after the game he's fine. He talks to everybody in the locker room. There's no indication that anything is wrong. And then later that night he develops concussion symptoms. And so now he's got to – I forget all the things that you've got to go through,

but he's got to be free of symptoms first, and then he's got to go out on the field, and he's got to practice in a non-contact practice, then he's got to go through a full contact practice, and then he's got to be cleared by an independent neurologist. So, you know, those steps are, we've seen, it's about 50-50 whether or not you're going to play the week after concussion. I think last year, only two guys, I believe it was Eric Ebron and Marlon Mack, played the same week that they got a concussion. So, you know, there's no guarantee by any stretch of imagination

he's going to play on Sunday. If he doesn't, I would imagine from talking with Bobby Okereke yesterday, it looks like Okereke will go in, but he will most likely play the Mike, and then probably Anthony Walker will play on the weak side if Leonard can't go on Sunday. Now, of course, we're recording this, George, on Thursday morning before practice today and on Friday. Do you think these next two practices will tell us a lot

as far as if Leonard's available or not for Sunday? Yeah, even Thursday will be a big, big part of that because if he's not out there Thursday, I'm not sure he can clear the protocol. He's got to get two in. I don't know if a walkthrough on Saturday would count. It might. So he might be able to go out there Friday and then Saturday and then get cleared by the neurologist. But he definitely has to be on the field one of those two days, and I think it would be a much better sign if he's on the field Thursday. Moving over here to I think an intriguing position battle that's taking place,

and it's between the strong safeties of Clayton Gathers and Kari Willis. I think there's a noticeable speed difference right now, George, between Gathers and Willis. Willis had a great game on Sunday, had four more tackles and 20 less snaps than Gathers and Kari Willis. I think there's a noticeable speed difference right now, George, between Gathers and Willis. Willis had a great game on Sunday, had four more tackles and 20 less snaps than Gathers. Do you think we're closing in on a starting change here between Kari Willis and Clayton Gathers, or maybe by the bye week or earlier,

that Kari Willis should be your new starting strong safety? He's definitely moving up that chart, and he has been really from the moment that Chris Ballard jumped up 20 spots to get him. You know, I think right then you kind of took note because that's not something that you see Ballard do very often. So when you saw him going up for a guy like that,

even though it was in the fourth round, you knew that obviously he was somebody that really had caught Ballard's eye. And then from the day really that he stepped on the field in rookie camp, you could start hearing people talk about how much potential he has and what they could see in him. And then you were out there at training camp. There were times where you could see a little bit of everything from him. You knew he could do the job in pass coverage,

especially against tight ends and guys like that. You see him come up and put his nose in there in the run game. And then you saw it all on the field on Sunday. I thought he made – Jordan Wilkins made probably the biggest play of the game with that 55-yard run to set up the touchdown. But I thought Kari Willis made the second biggest play of the game on the drive after that when it was third and ten I think it was and they got a nine yard gain and he's one-on-one in the open field and he has to get

that guy on the ground if he misses the tackle it's first down Titans are still driving the clock's still running and they obviously only need a field goal to win the game he gets the guy on the ground stops him short of the sticks and that's a huge play for a rookie to make in the open field. And I talked to Malik Hooker after the game about it a little bit because Hooker was talking about this defense just kind of having been together now for a couple years, most of them. And they don't have to have like little pep talks or rallying cries. They just sort of all understand what their job is.

And, you know, they don't have to go up to one another and say, hey, this is a big moment. They just – everybody out there gets it. They know their role. They're ready to do what they need to do in that moment. And I said, well, what about Kari Willis? You know, he's a rookie. This is his first year out there.

How does he fit into this scheme? And Hooker looked at me deadpan and said, he ain't a rookie. And Zach Kiefer from the Athletic was with us at that time, and he looks at Malik and said, he's only played two games. And Hooker said, you know, I'm paraphrasing at this point, he said, if you guys were around him all the time and you saw the way he carried himself and you saw the way he practices and the way he handles himself in the locker room, this kid's not a rookie.

And I think that's the way they feel about him in the franchise. You see that translating to the field? Yeah, I definitely think that in the very near future, he could be the starting strong safety for this team. Guys, let's have a chat real quick. Remember the days when you're always ready to go? Now you can increase performance and get that extra confidence in bed. Bluechew.com, that's blue like the color blue, is where you need to visit.

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Because I think if you look at the schedule here, it's probably one of the most important games in the schedule for this Colts team. Yeah, it's a huge game. All of them are, obviously, in the NFL, but this is another one of those games that you're at home and it's an opponent that it's probably a 50-50 type of game for you and if you can pull this one off you know I always look at the division race as the two most important things are the games against the division teams obviously and then the next thing is the common

games where Atlanta is a team that's going to be a problem for every team in the AFC South but every team in the AFC South can probably win that game for every team in the AFC South. But every team in the AFC South can probably win that game, and every team in the AFC South can probably lose that game. This is a spot where, even though it's not a division game, you can maybe gain a game against your division. You win this one, and the Falcons go out and beat the Titans or the Texans or the Jaguars down the stretch. It's going to be a move game for the Colts in that fashion.

So I think it's a big one, and I think it's something that the Colts need to – it's a big challenge. And this is true every week, but I think especially this week, that pass rush is right near the top of the list because you know the receivers that the Falcons have. We talked about Julio Jones earlier. Calvin Ridley, Muhammad Sanu are two outstanding receivers as well. If Matt Ryan has time, he's just going to sit back

and pick apart the secondary and have a huge game and put a lot of stress on the offense to go out and score a ton of points. If they can get to Ryan and rattle him then we'll also see you know I think they made the game-winning play Sunday night with 50-yard touchdown on fourth and three but before that Matt Ryan threw three interceptions and he's had some issues with that over the years so if you can get to him not just the sacks but rattle him a little bit get some of those get him to force a couple throws throw earlier than he wants to get some turnovers and that's probably the best way to slow down this falcons

uh often then i think on offense for the colts i think again the running game is going to be such a key component that's what Minnesota did you know Minnesota won big against Atlanta in week one and a lot of that was just running the football down the Falcons throats and that that served two goals and obviously put points on the board because they were so successful with it but it also kept Matt Ryan and that offense off the field and so I think if the Colts can run the ball efficiently and effectively again, that'll be a good way to attack this Falcons defense. And then the third thing is they've got to clean up the mistakes. And I know that that's another every week kind of thing, but that starts with Benatary. He's got to make his

kicks. You can't be worried about, you know, the difference in these games can be one, two, three points, and you can't be worried about that because the kicker's not executing. But it goes beyond him. You know, I think there were a couple penalties at some inopportune times against Tennessee, the two false starts against Brissette, which were just odd. Obviously, the second one of those in particular was a big third down near midfield, and they end up not converting after the penalty. You can't do things like that. And then we saw Brissette turn the ball over a couple times last week, and that's not something he's done a lot, you know, through his 19 starts.

I think that was just his eighth interception with the Colts. And, you know, obviously he can't do that. He can't fumble. He can't throw picks because they're not in an offense that can really kind of overcome those things as easily as maybe they could when Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck were around. So take care of the football, get the kicker back on track, clean up those mistakes, and then run the ball and get after Matt Ryan. I think those are the things that are going to be most important on Sunday.

I have a two-parter here for you, George, where you get to your prediction for this game. You're alluding to it there in your answer. This feels like the kind of game where it feels like running the ball and really establishing that tempo is going to be big for this game because I think if they can put together seven, eight-minute drives and get points on the board, it's going to do huge for both the offense and the defense.

And do you feel confident if they can't do that and if the Falcons get points on the board pretty quickly, are you confident that the Colts often could get into a shootout in like the 30s I'm not yet you know I just haven't seen it from this team I I don't think it I'm not saying it can't happen you know I'm not I don't feel that way but I haven't seen it yet from this group to where I feel confident that if if they need to go out and get into a game that's like 39 to 36 or something like that, that they're going to be able to do that just because we haven't seen a consistency from it. The weapons are there.

We know Jacoby has a strong enough arm to make that happen, so it is possible. But right now, I just haven't seen really any indication that this is a quick strike type of offense yet this year. And George, it looks like there's a two and a half point spread on the game this Sunday. And for fair reason, I think it's gonna be a really close game on Sunday at Lucasola Stadium. What's your prediction for the game? Yeah, I've been going back and forth on this one all week because I think it's such a tight game and it's really much like the first two weeks it's really a toss-up type of a game uh I I like the fact culture at home I like the fact that they've been able to run the ball and do it even in situations when you wouldn't necessarily expect it when they got the ball back in the fourth quarter on Sunday

and they were still behind nobody's really thinking about a run at that point. You know, you're down and then Cox running out. That's usually where you're going to throw the ball. They break off that 55-yard run even in that situation. I think it shows how committed they are to the ground game, but also how well this offensive line is playing. And so I'll bank on that, and I'll go Colts like 27 to 24. Okay, I like that.

I think it's going to be a really close game for sure. I think it might be one of the games of the week in week three, to be honest. I think it's going to be a super close game here. If you want to go ahead and already go follow George on Twitter, if you haven't already, GMBremmer on Twitter, and also read his work over the Herald Bulletin each week. Thanks again, George. Talk to you again next week.

No problem. Thanks a lot, Evan.