Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS - 9/23 - Colts Coordinators Must Be The MVP's Sunday Vs Chargers

Episode Date: September 23, 2016

Can #Colts defensive coordinator Ted Monachino find a way to stop Philip Rivers, create a pass rush? How will Rob Chudzinski attempt to exploit the #Chargers big play vulnerability in the passing game? The Colts have to climb back into the AFC South race right now to avoid being left behind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, I'm Matt Fidler. Very Bad Words is a podcast about forbidden language and swearing. Yeah, that queen woman lets her kids curse and they're such trash. So I'm like, no, you cannot say those words. And how society is reflected in the words we aren't supposed to say. People are always coming up with new dirty words. Join me every other week for an episode about a different aspect of swearing. We decided every time we swear, let's put a quarter in the jar.

Good luck with that. Very bad words. Make sure to subscribe to Very Bad Words on Apple Podcasts and wherever you listen to your favorite shows. You are locked on Colts, your daily podcast on the Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back Colts Nation. This is Matt Dainley and this is Locked On Colts for Friday, September 23rd.

And we are two days away from a big game at Lucas Oil Stadium where we host Phillip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers. And it is a big game for a few different reasons, and we're going to go through a little bit of that today. It's big for a host of reasons, not to mention that the Colts are 0-2 to start the season. The Chargers are 1-1, but the Chargers have had some very, very good starts, and they have been very good offensively. Their defense has been suspect at times, but it's also there's been a reason behind that. The Colts are getting some guys back healthy. There are some guys who have still missed practice. There's a whole lot to talk about today, so we're going to dive right in.

Now let's get this out of the way first. On yesterday's podcast, when we had the Locked On Chargers host, Derek Togerson, in here with us, there was something that I pointed out as it's the exact opposite of the way the Colts have been starting out. The Chargers have outscored their opponents 42-3 in their first two games in the first half, whereas the Colts have only scored 16 points in their first two games in the first half, whereas the Colts have only scored 16 points in their first two games in the first half. This is obviously a hot-button issue, something that needs to change. Colts coaches and coordinators have been addressing it at media availability, and it's been obviously a hot topic amongst Colts fans. But there's no doubt about it that the Colts have got to turn things

around in a big way, and let's go through a couple reasons why. First and foremost, the Texans have already won two games this year. Now the Jaguars are on two, but the Titans are one and one. But who are they playing this week and where? The Titans are at home against the Raiders. The Raiders have one of the worst big play defenses, secondaries more or less, in the NFL, giving up a ton of big plays. That Raiders secondary is very suspect. The Titans definitely turned their fortunes around a little bit last week against Detroit, and they are a team that is very sneaky good.

They have a quality defense that can play a very good game, most definitely. They have, obviously, Marcus Mariota, Delaney Walker. They've got now the tandem in the backfield. They've got some playmakers. They've got a better offensive line, and they've got a chance to be two and one after this week. Now the Jaguars, on the other hand, they are also at home this week, and they have the Ravens coming to town. Now the Ravens are very suspect themselves. The Ravens have surprised a couple people thus far this season in their first couple games, I guess, but the Ravens are very beatable.

The Jaguars just got smoked last week and embarrassed, and do not be surprised if they come out and put a hurtin' on the Ravens. It's just kind of the way this league tends to be. You get embarrassed one week, you come back with a little bit of a renewed sense of desperation the next week to prove to everybody that you're ready to turn the tides of your season. So the Colts, I would say, I think it's fair, aside from the Texans taking on the Patriots in their defense, the Colts definitely have the most intriguing and probably the most difficult matchup, I would say, amongst the

AFC South teams. The Colts cannot afford to start 0-3. Yesterday I kind of gave my prediction with Derek, and I had San Diego taking it from the Colts 27-24. I've spent some time thinking about it, and I really don't know if I can even stand on that. I'm really having a hard time. Rivers has yet to throw an interception. He's over 70% completion percentage. He is having a phenomenal start to the year.

They have Melvin Gordon, who's actually finally found his legs. Their defense, they have some good defenders. Now, like I said, their defense is kind of the flip of a coin. You never know what you're going to get with them. Their defense has played phenomenal in first halves, and in the halves. They've kind of backed off a little bit, trying more or less seeing what you see out of the Colts when they're up a score or two, playing not to lose as opposed to trying to, you know, stand on the other team's throat and play to win. But the Chargers have given up 10 passing plays over 20 yards already this season in just two games. Now, that is definitely the spot where the Colts can exploit their defense the most.

They're running game solid. They're in the top 10 in the league in that defensively. Now, look, this is only two games in, but they're showing tendencies. They start to build right away. Additionally, their offense has been phenomenal. Like I said, 42-3 in the first half alone. They've got a guy that's stepping in in Danny Woodhead's spot with Dexter McCluster. They've got some new receivers that can stretch the field a little bit, can give our secondary some troubles. It's such an interesting matchup this week, and it's a really good one, and it would be a huge momentum booster for the Colts

to take this one at home against the Chargers. They've not played well against the Chargers. They've had difficulties, but they absolutely need to do this, and of course, I think you know that this is going to be another matchup with Chuck Pagano's brother, John. John Pagano is more of a defensive coordinator as opposed to a specialty guy. Ted Monachino, the Colts defensive coordinator, was a guy who specialized in linebackers and was a linebackers coach. But we've seen what the linebackers in Indianapolis are doing right now, and it isn't much. There are things that John and Chuck know about each other. There are things they're going to push to exploit that they're going to try to twist in their favor in this game,

and it's going to be a bit of a battle. Not only that, but the Chargers also know that the Colts have a struggling running game. They fail to really break any big game or big gains on the ground. They tend to go away from it when it's not working well. They have some iffy play calling on third down in 12 or 14. Sometimes you'll see a third and 10 or third and 12 draw. And yes, I mean, you can't hate the play call so much because sometimes it works. It completely takes the defense off guard.

But it just never does for the club. It just never seems to work, very seldom anyways. So the Colts have their hands full this week, but the Colts have to come out with a renewed sense of urgency, I think. And that, I think, alone is giving me the idea that the Colts could pull this one out. Now, they'll tell you, especially Chuck will tell you, we're not worried about anything but ourselves right now. Well, the division is about to run away from you if you don't start worrying about it and if you don't correct some things. So they're worried about it, and they know what's going on,

but they also know that they have to come prepared, and they have to come and start hot, and they have to be able to stop the chargers and they've got to come up with an answer they've got to get that pass rush they've got to find a way to get the coverages downfield especially with the linebackers in order and they've made some comments about using a three safety look and they have also made the comments that they're in their sub packages quite a bit of time over 60 percent of the time I think and honestly what it comes down to is whether these guys can

play fundamental football are they reading their keys out of the backfield are they playing mentally or are they simply just trying to overpower people are they making the easy throws as opposed to trying to go downfield and make the big play? Are they trying to knock the ball down, get a hand up, keep the other team from making the reception? Or are they trying to do something more, maybe take too much of a risk? Some of those things are going to make the difference in the game. And today during media availability, Rob Chudzinski was asked about the run game and what they need to do to be more effective.

And naturally, this is the do you need to use the run to set up the pass or the pass to set up the run argument. And obviously, he thinks both, which is kind of a typical answer, something you're going to get from these guys most of the time. But you do want to keep people off balance, and he stated that. And he also said that a lot of it comes from sustaining drives, and that's the big key right there. Anytime you can get a 9-12-13 play drive, you really do open the door for teams to be second-guessing themselves of where they're at or how they're going to match up against your personnel, and this is a key for Chudzinski and that Colts offense is they've got to be able to find the right matchups get the right guys in motion leak the right tight end out you know i

mean just those those kind of things a lot of things have to go their way like i said yesterday i think the colts will be in this game no doubt but there has to be there's going to be a lot of things that have to go their way for the colts to actually win the game. Now, obviously, Moncrief's injury is playing a huge part in an alteration in game plan. I think that's obvious, of course, and Philip Dorsett and T.Y. Hilton have both made notes that they are putting a lot more on their shoulders now to get this offense going and how upset they are with the loss of Moncrief for a substantial amount of time. But the other guys who are going to have to step up are Chester Rogers, Quan Bray. Those guys, it's going to be a little bit of both of them. Both

of them are good. Neither one of them are somebody that any team's going to fear, but they're both athletic. They're both plenty fast. They know what they're doing. Bray's been in the system for two years now, and Chester Rogers has impressed in the small amount of time that he's been in the game. So the Colts have options. They don't have Dante Moncrief options, but they've got options. Now I'll kind of give you a taste of the Colts injury report as of today. Darius Butler, Denzel Good, DeQuell Jackson, that's a rest. He's out for rest. Ryan Kelly with a shoulder, and obviously Moncrief. None of those guys practiced today.

But they did make some comments about Denzel Good, about his back, and there was some interesting back and forth about whether or who would kind of start in his place. And I think that it's obvious that they assume that Jonathan Harrison will be the guy to step in there. But they also said that Joe Hegg's coming back from injury this week, and he could get, you know, either the start or some playing time there. And I think that's really interesting and noteworthy. Harrison is, I'll say solid. But when he was playing center, his biggest problem was allowing pressure up the middle.

This isn't somebody that I really want playing the right guard. We don't know much about Joe Haag, but I think for the sake of hopefulness, we'll say that I would like to see or would like to hope that Joe Haag is really having a good week of practice. Let me put it that way. That way we can kind of see what he's made of because I think he had a good camp. He had a pretty solid preseason. He is a very interesting player. And he's a guy that I think could possibly hold that spot in the future, depending on, you know, how things work out,

how good Denzel Good actually does at tackle in the end, because I think eventually that's where they want him. But he's doing a fantastic job at guard, I think, right now. So that's kind of something that's been talked about. Ryan Kelly, they've got some worry about his shoulder, but I don't think that it's anything that's going to keep him out this week. So there's not too much of a fright there, but I think we expected Darius Butler to miss a game here.

But Trent Cole was limited again. Fonte Davis, he's on the field. That's all that matters. So forget whether he was limited, but that isn't the important thing at the moment. TJ Green and TY were both limited. Kendall Langford, luck with his shoulder, but that's, you know, I almost feel like they're trolling the NFL right now with putting him on the injury report every week.

And if he wasn't actually sitting out a practice every week, then I would definitely make the case for that. But he did not practice on Wednesday, and we talked about that. But he was limited today. I don't know how much throwing he did. But I think this is all about his injury from last season. I don't think that it's still a concern as far as injury, but there was concern whether it could be a long-term issue.

So naturally, I think this will be something that you'll see probably throughout Andrew Luck's career is he'll be taking Wednesday off. He's a guy who knows the system in and out, smart enough to get anything that's new, any installs that are new through the week. He's going to get those in lightning quick. But I think this is something that you can expect from him. He'll be on the injury report the rest of his career for that Wednesday practice. He'll come back, maybe throw a couple balls, do a lot of the handoffs and stuff like that from the installs. And then he'll practice Friday and he'll be ready to go on, you know, for game day. So let's not read too much into that. I think, like I said, I think we have that to get used to throughout his career. But Trent Cole,

I'd like to see him back just because the Colts do need some pass rush. And at the moment, he's been the best pass rush option for the Colts. So I think we need him. Camardi was back at a full practice. So was Henry Anderson. Hooray, hooray, hooray. Everybody wants to see Henry Anderson on the field this Sunday. Oh, geez. I cannot wait till he comes back. I think the more quality players we see on the field, inherently that's going to make our defense better, regardless if the secondary has all the starters in it or regardless if the linebacking core has its severe limitations.

The better players on the field, the better the defense is going to play. But it probably won't happen right away. You know, we don't know how well Henry Anderson has been conditioning himself, so to speak. Is he in football shape yet? I would gather that he's not. You have to, you know, not just the conditioning part of the running and so on and the cardio that you do on the side, but you have to actually play football to be in football shape. And he's not had a whole lot of that, you know, so far this year. So I think you could expect a week or two for him to really get back in the mold. But man, you know, he's hungry. He looked hungry too

at camp. And every time you've seen him on TV, he looks hungry. He looks like a different guy this year. In the end, you know, we'll just kind of leave it to our own imaginations for the rest of the week. The Colts have a lot to do to get ready. The Colts have some expectations, I think, locally where they need to come through and show that they can win a big game because this is a big game. It's a bigger game now because, like I said, the rest of the AFC South has winnable games this week. But when you look at this, here's something that's even a little more interesting, is what is the line on some of these games? Not only do the Titans have a good chance of

being in the game and beating the Raiders, but they're a point and a half favorite. That surprises me. Just because it's the Titans, not so much it isn't because of the matchup. The Jaguars, however, only a one-point dog at 0-2 against the 2-0 Ravens. That tells you that the Ravens are not that great of a team. They're beatable. The Jaguars have a lot of players that match up well against the Ravens. They are a physical team. This is a game that's going to be interesting to say the least. And somehow the Colts, our Colts, are a three-point favorite at home against the Chargers.

I hate that. I don't want that. The Colts are 0-2. They should be the underdog. The Colts play better when they are the underdog. But they're the favorite. So what does that tell us? It tells us that they are looking at the road games for the Chargers over the recent history.

And in at least the past four years, they're a 500 team on the road. The Colts are a good team at home. They've sputtered a little bit. Obviously, last year was an original kind of year without Andrew Luck or Peyton Manning under center. But the Colts are a good team at home. And the Chargers are coming in hot on offense, but they're susceptible on defense. And I think their special teams may be an area where the Colts can try to get maybe some points on the board. Do not count the Colts out. I still, you know what, I'm going to stay with

my 27-24 to the Chargers only because I think that's, I think a three-point advantage to the Chargers is an accurate pregame assessment. The Colts are at home, but the Chargers are playing, in my opinion, much better. They have a quarterback who is on fire right now. Their defense is better than they are being given credit for. However, they are susceptible, like I said, to the big plays. And that's something they're going to try to exploit. They're definitely going to try to find a way to get the guys down the field. Maybe using Jack Doyle underneath and Dwayne Allen a little bit and rotating in pass protection with those two will be a way for them to kind of suck down some of the defenders onto the underneath routes

and be able to get Dorsett or any of them for that matter because both Rodgers and Bray are fast too. But Hilton, they've got a lot of speed at that wide receiver position. So there are a lot of moving parts, so to speak, to this game on Sunday. I wanted to remind you to please subscribe to the Locked On Colts podcast. This is your Indianapolis Colts podcast five days a week, every week. There's a ton of great shows on the Locked On podcast network, Locked On Fantasy, Locked On NFL, Locked On NFL Draft.

Great hosts for all three of those. And just the team podcasts are phenomenal as well. Everybody gives great insight, and there are people close to the team who know what they're talking about. And that's, I think, what makes this podcast network so great. Now it's come to the end of another week. We're going to hope that the Colts can pull one out and at least move up to one and two

and get a little bit closer within the division. Let's hope Andrew Luck starts fast and not like he did last week. Let's hope that the defense has a coming out game to where they look like they're hungry, that they're paying attention, that they belong. Let's hope that Monday we are talking about the Colts' first win of the season and how this could possibly turn things around. You know, it's never, when you get down to 0-2 and everything's doom and gloom and you get

that first win, everything is exactly on the opposite side of the spectrum. Now everything's great. Oh my gosh, they played so good. They had this, they had that, the line protected, they went downfield, they made some great catches, they had three picks. You know, there's just so many things that are going to swing our emotions if we can get that first win. And I think that Colts Nation deserves it and needs it. And I think Andrew Luck needs it. And I think the Colts coaching staff needs it. And I think that everybody on that roster needs it. They need something to be happy about and to be excited about going into a game against a division rival where they're both 0-2 at the moment and they could both very well be 1-2. These next two weeks are extremely critical for the Colts. They need this win and I for one hope that they get it. Let's look forward

to talking on Monday and hopefully we are talking about the Colts first win of the season and I am Matt Dainley. Thank you for joining me each and every day, every week, here on Locked on Colts. Be sure to get a hold of me on Locked on Colts on Twitter, the Facebook page. Go leave a rating and review for the show and let me know what you think. And thank you for joining me each and every day right here on Locked on Colts. You are Locked on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. It takes a lot to get excited about a bag, Napa Know How.

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