Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 9/25/19: Frank Reich is playing chess while defenses are playing checkers

Episode Date: September 26, 2019

On today's episode, Zach Hicks of Stampede Blue returns to go over the Colts' win over Atlanta plus look ahead to Oakland.First up, Frank Reich and Jacoby Brissett are exceeding expectations early on. Reich is proving he's one of the best play callers in the league molding a formidable offense around Brissett's strengths. With Reich running the show long-term in Indianapolis, worries should be soothed for sure.On the other side of the ball, it's time to see DC Matt Eberflus mix things up. Zone heavy concepts continue to be picked apart, so what should they do to fix it? Also, how costly is this torn meniscus to Malik Hooker?Finally, we reveal keys to the game plus Zach's prediction. Oakland is no pushover, but it should be a nice change of pace compared to the first three weeks. 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 I was noticed, Evan Sider and Joe Baye, our weekly guest, Zach Hicks of Stampede Blue. Zach, how are you new to this? Pretty good, man. Thanks again for having me on, and it's a pretty good week. You know, Colts are 2-1. Yeah, absolutely. It really was an impressive game. I was telling you off the air before we started here, Zach, it really was a tale of two halves for this game. I know you've had the chance to rewatch it on Monday or Tuesday.

What was your impressions of this game? Because the Colts won 27-24 to move to 2-1 this season. What was your biggest takeaway from this one? Biggest takeaway was certainly Frank Reich's play calling. I think he kind of had the Falcons on their heels the entire game. That defense looked just very confused all game long, and Jacoby Brissett was able to just sit back there and pick them apart. So Frank Reich's play calling, I think, was a big takeaway, a big positive takeaway. Adam Vinatieri making all his

kicks was another big positive takeaway. Jacoby Brissett just executing the offense in a great way was another very positive takeaway. But on you know, on the other side, the defense really struggled, and I think that might be a concern going forward. So there was a lot of good, a lot of good on offense especially, but the defense struggles, especially on third down, are something to really take away from this game as well. Let's start off with Frank Reich because I feel like he should have won Coach of the Year last year, his first year.

He gave it to Matt Nagy, and really Matt Nagy has gone the other direction as far as the Bears offense goes this year. Frank Reich, even with a backup quarterback now after a sudden change with Andrew Luck and Jacoby Brissett, they're still humming at full speed here, Zach. I think they're opening up the playbook even more now as Brissett gets more comfortable in his starting role. Just how impressive and how lucky are Colts now that they have a creative offensive man like Frank Reich on board? Man, it's super lucky. I mean, there's only a handful of teams in the league

that really have this kind of creativity. I mean, you're looking at an elite company with guys like Sean McVay, Doug Peterson, Andy Reid, Josh McDaniels, even for the Patriots. There's really not that many elite play callers in the league, but I think Frank Reich is definitely up there. I mean, he just does so much. And I'm not saying with so little, because I think the Colts have a lot of talent in offense. But, you know, to go from luck to percent and the offense really not miss too much of a beat, I think that's really impressive.

I think he's done a good job at putting players in positions to use their skill sets. I mean, T.Y. Hilton is just being used in so many positive ways. I think Jack Doyle, Marley Cox, Eric Ebron, especially this past weekend, they were really used in positive ways that showcase their skill set. So I think he's just doing a good job at getting players, you know, where they need to be. And, you know, he's drawing up some excellent plays. He's really full on defenses and he's doing a great job. So I think, yeah, Colts are really lucky that, you know, they have a head coach who's not only the leader like Frank Reich is, but also the play caller, because that's just, you know, two great aspects of him as a head coach. I saw Stampede Blue, the site you write for, tweeted this out earlier today, who the MVP is so far in three weeks of the season. I think

we're all in agreement, as far as me and you go, Zach, that Frank Reich's the MVP of this team so far, so there's creativity and play calling. What stood out most to you, even including this week and really the first three weeks, what stood out the most to you with Frank Wright that's really not really caught you off guard, but maybe just like, man, he's just such a good coach and he's really moving up the ranks as far as coaches go? So the most obvious thing is just how fearless he is. But that doesn't shock me.

We saw it last year. We saw it with that Houston overtime game when the team, you know, obviously lost that game. But just kind of seeing that Frank Reich will never shy away from the aggressive or the risky call. He's got some of the – like probably the most guts I've seen in the league. He doesn't play like a scared coach. He plays to win every single game.

So I think that's a huge takeaway these first three weeks. You know, we've seen it with that fourth and one call against the Titans. We saw this past week when he threw the ball late in the game when he could have run the ball down and played conservative. You know, so we see that every single week. So that's not too much of a shock. I think the biggest takeaway from this year that not saying that we didn't see it last year, but you're kind of seeing a little bit more this year is just playing to his

strengths and offense. You know, you don't have Andrew Luck to rely on. So the strengths up front are really, you know, Quinton Nelson, Ryan Kelly, Anthony Costanzo. So the late in the games or when they really need a push or they really need a certain play, they're relying on their strength. They're not trying to get keep with it. They're relying on their strength.

They're running behind those powerful linemen, those elite linemen. I mean, one of them is an all pro, maybe the best guard in the league. And the other two are definitely pro bowl caliber guys. So seeing Frank Wright kind of rely on his best players and definitely roll the offense through them when they need big plays. I just think that's great. I mean, he's not overthinking it. He's just saying, Hey, we got these talented players. We're going to roll through them and we're going to,

and they're going to carry us to victory. And I think he's doing a great job with that. And again, just the aggressiveness. I mean, we love it. and it's really showing how great of a coach he is. Really a personnel point went ahead with you, Zach. And the one that I really noticed when I watched the game again yesterday was 13 personnel is just a gold mine for this Colts offense. And they get chunk plays each time they run out of 13 personnel. You saw the big run from Marlon Mack.

You saw the huge catch from Eric Ebron out of 13 personnel, that huge chunk play they made. I know Frank Reich loves his tight ends here with Ebron, Doyle, Malia Cox, but those three were not that together in 13 personnel. It seems like this formation for the Colts is almost unstoppable at this point. Yeah, no, it's a great personnel, and not many teams can really

run it the way the Colts can because, I mean, at least in my opinion, I think they have the best tight entry on the league. I mean, and they have two pro bowlers or two former pro bowlers and one up and coming tight end who, you know, who knows he might be a pro bowler one day in the future as well. So they definitely have a lot of talent that a lot of teams just don't have in their tight end room. So they can run this 13 personnel. You know, in today's NFL, it's really not as prevalent just because there's so much of an emphasis on spreading out defenses and really attacking them with multiple receivers and multiple running backs and such.

But, you know, when they need a couple yards or they really want to, you know, hit a big play on a play fake or something like that, they just have the personnel there at tight end to do it. So, you know, obviously I don't want to see it run 30, 40 times a game just because that's just not how today's NFL is run. But, you know, when they can mix it in 10, 12, 15 times a game even and really kind of confuse the defense or power down the defense's throat, I think it's a great asset to have. And I love seeing that. I love that he's not shying away from getting his best players in the field. Yeah, that's for sure.

That's one thing I'm just watching more of now. I'm taking for – not for granted, so to say, but just the formation they do with 13 personnel, it goes out there about 10 to 15 times per game. It really does. It usually leads to a big play one way or another, and that's a good sign for the Colts offense. But let's go pivot here, Zach, to the guy who Frank Reich's calling the plays into in his headset, and that's Jacoby Brissett, the quarterback for the Colts.

28-37, 310 yards, two touchdowns, no picks again. Only sacked one time. I think it was just one miscue by Costanza there on the rush from Dick Beasley. Clean pocket all day. What was your thoughts about Bursette when you went back and watched the film? So the biggest takeaway is, again, I think that he's really shown some improvements in a couple areas this year from 2017 or even from the beginning of the year.

I just think his poise and his confidence in the pocket has gotten so much better since 2017. I think that's the biggest area that he's improved upon is, you know, back in 2017, it was just the happy feet, the kind of scared in the pocket. Now he looks really confident in the pocket. He's breaking tackles left and right in the pocket when any rush kind of gets through. He's really hard to bring down, and he's keeping his eyes up and finding receivers. I think that's my biggest takeaway.

But, you know, there's other areas that he's definitely improved upon that are really just impressive. You know, his accuracy looks so much better. That might, you know, be with the confidence there as well, but his accuracy just looks great. I think that that was a huge concern from 2017 and it's really not too much of a concern this year outside of a couple of missed throws. And, you know, obviously we want to see him push the ball downfield a little bit more, but, you know, he took his shots when he had to this past weekend. So I think just from running this offense, from his confidence and his poise to his improved accuracy, I think he's done a lot of good things this year. You know, I think it's still probably a little bit too early to say that he's the guy going forward or he's

it long-term, but, you know, he's doing all the things right right now. There's not too much to complain about in the Colts winning games. So hopefully he can keep this up. Yeah, I really think – I was just going to ask about that because I saw Chris Sims of our pro football talk with Mike Floyer. They were talking about Jacoby Bursette. And he's already – Chris Sims already has gone to the level of saying he's a stud quarterback. I'm not going to go that far just yet through three games.

I know you aren't either, Zach. But I feel like the Atlanta game kind of showed us here because Atlanta really stacked the box and really made Bursette beat them, so to say. 16-3 completion to start the game. Did that game against Atlanta give you more confidence as far as Bursette goes the rest of the year? Just like when he's asked upon to really go out to defense and say, hey, beat us, and he can do it.

Does that give you more confidence? Oh, certainly. And, you know, that's the biggest thing that you want out of your quarterback. Your quarterback doesn't need to be, you know, this superstar quarterback that can beat teams even against the elite defenses and such. You need a quarterback who can win a game for you. It's not win 20 games for you. It's not win 100.

You know, just win a game for you. When the game is on the line or when it comes down to it, will this quarterback win the game for you? And, you know, we've constantly seen that this year, uh, week one, Jacoby Brissett was able to drive the team down, uh, late in the game and get the game tying touchdown and force overtime. And in week two, he was able to kind of hold on to the ball late in the game there and, and get the first down with the quarterback sneak and also kind of the run

before that to get it close to the first down. And in this past week, we saw it, uh, you know, late in the game, Falcons all the momentum. He's able to go right down the field and help the team score. I think that he's just a really poised quarterback, and he can win the game. You know, he can win you a game if you need him to win a game, and I think that's just so important to the NFL.

And I think, you know, when you have an elite play caller like Frank Reich, he doesn't need to be Andrew Luck back there. He can be Jacoby Brissett and be pretty solid, And we're seeing right now that he's playing really well. So again, I hope he continues to grow and he shows more ability to kind of throw with anticipation and get the ball down the field. But again, as of right now, you can't really complain too much. The team's winning, he's playing good stats, and he's leading the team's victory. So I mean, you can't really complain too much right now. Make a memory that lasts a lifetime. Let the Vivid Seats app help you get to your favorite live event.

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subscription. That's Blinkist, B-L-I-N-K-I-S-T, Blinkist.com slash LockedOn to start your free seven-day trial. You can also save 25% off only when you sign up on Blinkist.com slash LockedOn, L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N. So go sign up now for Blinkist. One point that you hit on on your Twitter, Zach, add Zach Hicks 2 on Twitter if you haven't followed him already.

Ryan Kelly and Quentin Nelson and these guys, I know probably Quentin Nelson is a big factor in this with his nastiness, but the offensive line again in the second half of this game, Zach, when they needed to, they ran the ball and forced down the Falcons throw and they couldn't stop it. And that's the one thing I'm really impressed by so far this year is just the run game when you need to get it going, they get it going.

What's your thoughts? And you look at Ryan Kelly, you saw, you put out a few clips in your Twitter account with him pancaking guys getting more aggressive this year. Do you think the offensive line, that cohesiveness with those five guys together up there is taking it to another level this year? Yeah, and you can definitely see it too. You know, it's not even just on the run blocking. I think the biggest aspect that you can take away from their pass blocking

is, you know, individually outside of maybe Quentin Nelson, these guys aren't the best in the league at their positions. You know, they're not all these elite players or superstar players, but I think their communication and their cohesion is just so evident. I mean, you'll watch these games and teams will throw stunts and twists at them and delayed blitzes, cornerback blitzes, and you'll rarely see a free rush. You know, maybe if they have like an overload blitz, you'll see a free rush, but rarely you'll see this offense line have miscommunication up front. They have a lot of cohesion together right now, and I think

that they're playing with a lot of confidence from last year. So, you know, even if Brayden Smith gets beat a couple times and Mark Winske gets beat a couple times, this line is playing at a high level. You know, teams are stacked in the box and there's still a little run on them, and, you know, teams are having good pass rushers. You know, Gray Jarrett, Jarrell Casey,

Joey Bosa, Melvin Ingram. I mean, these pass rushers aren't really, Gray Jarrett, Jarrell Casey, Joey Bosa, Melvin Ingram. I mean, these pass rushers aren't really getting home. So, overall, this offensive line is, you know, as much to do with the success of this team as Frank Reich or it's Cobra Sad or Marlon Mack. This offensive line is really carrying the team this year. Yeah, it's really nice to say, Zach, after such long years of not really having an offensive line during Andrew Luck's career,

that now the Colts finally have solidified it, really the first three weeks of the season. We saw it last year as the best line in the league, but now I think it's fortified. Now they're one of the best in the NFL, and that's a good sign for the Colts' offense moving forward. But let's go to the deep end side of things here because we're going to hang on to this first

because I feel like it's the most important news to talk about right now. Malik Hooker, four to six weeks with a torn meniscus. He had surgery yesterday. How big of a loss is that for this team? And what's your overall opinion of what losing Hooker does? Because we saw in the third quarter when he didn't play Zach, Matt Ryan just shredded that defense, just shredded that secondary up. They had a huge drive in the third quarter.

I think it lasted about 10 or so minutes. Took the entire third quarter and got a lot of third-ranked versions off it, too. They just went at Rocky Ascent a lot. They went at Kenny Moore even at times. Are you worried now that this Colts pass defense, that Malik Hooker now is going to be out for at least a month and you're going to be missing him against guys like Patrick Mahomes once again and Deshaun Watson? Yeah, no, it's definitely a big concern. I mean, when you look at this defense this year, especially with Leonard missing the last game, Malik Hooker has been the best defender

on this team. You know, the first two weeks he was outstanding. I mean, he was all over the place. He was making a lot of big plays on the ball. And he was really just coming into his own as a safety. So this is, you know, it's an upsetting injury from that stance that we're not going to be able to see him play at this high level for a couple weeks. But also, you know, it's concerning for just the overall team. I mean, the Colts play a very heavy bend-don't-break defense.

You know, I don't want to say it's a true Tampa 2 or cover 2 or anything like that it's honestly all it really is is bend don't break you know we'll let you drive but just don't score on us and and Lee Cougar is a big part of that you know he doesn't allow the deep shots he doesn't allow big plays down the field to get those timely turnovers and in the red zone he just covers so much ground that it's hard for for teams to really score and that bend don't break philosophy really stays So, you know, you're going to lose a lot of athleticism on the background, on the back end of the defense, and also, you know, just lose a lot of experience, too, with Lee Cooker. I think Corey Willis is a good player.

I think he's going to be very disciplined and very sound back there, but, you know, let's not mistake it. It's still a huge drop-off from Lee Cooker. So hopefully, you know, Willis kind of proves to be a young stud in the making. But it's concerning when you lose your best player on defense. I think one thing we hit on a couple weeks ago, Zach, was just the looks from Matt Eberflus' defense so far. It's really just been a lot of basic Tampa – not Tampa 2, but cover 2, so to say.

Just a lot of what we saw last year with his own coverage. And really not a lot of man coverage so far this year. Do you think now with Hooker being out, do you think maybe it's time to mix things up with ibrafusa's public a little bit and maybe go a little bit more aggressive i hope so you know i think they also really do need to blitz a little bit more especially with jabal sheer being out and and kamoko turi still being a little bit banged up and and ben bonagoo is still kind of slowly getting into the action this year i think you know with all that kind of going along i really do think they need to blitz a little bit more this year

and really pressure these quarterbacks. You know, you can't let Matt Ryan sit back there against a cover two zone. He's just going to pick you apart, especially when he has weapons like Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley and Austin Hooper. I think that we saw this past weekend, we saw it against Phillip Rivers, and we would have saw it against Marcus Mariota if he was a better quarterback. So you just can't sit in that cover, too, and not bring pressure. I really like what he did last year, especially late in the season when he was bringing Kenny Moore

and he was bringing Gary Flannery on a bunch of variety of blitzes and really getting home with a lot of pressure that way. But, you know, I feel like to a degree, and this isn't me just speaking directly with knowledge or anything, it's just kind of an assumption from film, is I feel like with the additions of, you know, Kamoko Ture getting better and Danico Autry even having a better year and, and the addition of Justin Houston, I feel like he's, he's thinking that we can get pressure with just four up front,

but you still got to bring some blitzes. You still got to disguise some coverages. So I really hope going forward that, you know, they kind of mix it up a little bit on defense and show more aggression and, and more disguise on the backend. Guys have a chat real quick. Do you ever miss the days when you're always ready to go?

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He's going to test the back end, I think, a lot. And also Patrick Holmes the week after that's going to do it very early and often. He's on pace for 6,000 yards, which is insane. But now let me ask you, Zach, pivoting over now to the Oakland game. What's your impressions of Oakland so far? Because I know they're not a good team on paper. They just got blown out again back-to-back weeks now. I think the trends are kind of falling off the tracks there in Oakland so far. because I know they're not a good team on paper. They just got blown out again back-to-back weeks now.

I think the trends are kind of falling off the tracks there in Oakland so far. But a lot of people are saying, hey, we can sit T.Y. Hill when he's not in quad injury. We can sit Darius Leonard with his concussion. I know concussions are a different thing as far as symptoms go, but I feel like a lot of people are sleeping on the Raiders team just as far as they're a pushover team. I don't think any team in the NFL is a pushover, so to say, but I feel like this Raiders team, if they're hot,

like we saw last year in Oakland, Zach, they can really give the Colts trouble. Yeah, you know, we're not talking about, they're not going against the Dolphins here. It's not a team that's tanking or just doesn't have that much talent. You know, the Raiders have good, bad talent, especially on offense. They have a lot of players on offense, even though they don't have Antonio Brown or Martin Cooper anymore. They still have a lot of talent on the offensive side of the ball. Darren Waller has been excellent this year. They got some good offensive linemen and they have a good scheme that really gets the ball out of Carr's hands quickly. So they're going to test the Colts tacklers and they're going to, you know, try to

push the ball down the field. So I think that they're not this kind of pushover team. And I would never say rest the player just because of the opponent, you know, rest the player if he's injured, but you don't just sit a player because of the opponent you're facing. So we'll see what happens this weekend with T.Y. and Darius Hunter and all these other guys. But, you know, Oakland's not a pushover team. They're a solid team. You know, they're not going to be great.

They're going to be a 6-7 win team probably this year. But, you know, that by no means is a pushover team when you're, you know, an 8-9-10 win team. I think a player that we talked about, I mean, I followed you on Twitter all along, Zach, on the, I blocked on Colts account and during the draft time, I was a big fan of him as well. Josh Jacobs, we maybe thought maybe the Colts were going to take him at 34.

He was still on the board there. What's your impression of Josh Jacobs? I feel like he might be a guy and expect from the Oakland side of things that could give the Colts some trouble here on Sunday. Yeah, he's a very powerful runner. You know, finishes every single run. Kind of reminds me a lot of like Marshawn Lynch with just the way he runs. You know, he'll never take a playoff, and he'll never just kind of shy away from contact.

But the biggest thing that's my biggest takeaway from his game is just his vision this year. When you watch the Raiders film, and I clicked over on a little bit of it this year, his vision is just outstanding. He finds holes on the backside when it really isn't there. It's a lot similar to how we kind of see Jordan Wilkins here with the Colts, is how he just finds every single lane, even when we don't think there is one there. So he's really going to test this Colts defense, especially if Leonard Dowd and Okereke and Walker kind of struggled a little bit this past weekend in run defense,

we're going to definitely be put to the task again with a player like Josh Jacobs because I think he, at this point in their careers, I think he might even be better than Devonta Freeman, and Freeman had a huge game last week. Speaking of Okereke, I'm glad you brought him up, Zach, because I was going to mention him to you. What was your thoughts about Bobby Okereke and his first start? Because I feel like we saw a lot of flashes at points.

We also saw a lot of inconsistency and a lot of times where Matt Ryan was really single-handedly targeting him in coverage. Yeah, so I haven't focused on him directly in re-watching the game, but I think it is a lot of what you just said there. You know, there was a couple plays that stood out. It's like, okay, cool, he's got this talent. You can obviously see that he could be something great one day. But as of right now, I think I'm a little concerned with his run defense, especially from the week before and this past week. I think that he gets pushed around a little

too easily. And also there was some, you know, miscommunications and some misses there in coverage. So he's definitely a big drop off from Darius Leonard. And, you know, he's not that player by any means, but it's a big drop off a big drop off and it's not, you know, you don't have just a star player in that position anymore. You have a rookie who's kind of going to have some learning. So it could definitely be an area where the Raiders could attack because he's just not, you know, he's not this veteran player yet to understand the full field play.

I think one more rookie I want to hand like you before we dive into our keys to the game, Zach, in your prediction. Paris Campbell, who's – I think the offense is opening up more and more for him. He had three targets – or three receptions for 24 yards. He had a total of three targets as well as he called those passes. But his returnability, we saw it on Sunday. I mean, he was so close to popping a touchdown there out of nowhere, getting a juke and then really weaving through those defenders.

Kendall Sheffield, the 4'2 speed guy, was the only one who could really get him by his toes there as he was diving on the ground. I feel like we're very close and we're getting close to Paris Cahill really becoming a weapon on special teams too as well. Yeah, no, it's great to see. I mean, that was so close to breaking for a score. But I think on offense, I just want to see him kind of involved more, especially with more scheme touches. Because again, we saw in that play that he has the ability to to break off big things and make good things happen for your team so I really want to see more scheme plays to him especially if T.Y. Hilton's out because Hilton's been getting a lot of those those quick screens those bubble

screens and those wide receiver screens and hitches and such I want to see Campbell kind of get those and see what he can do with them but we'll see what Reich and them do going forward I think they have a plan for him. So I'm not overly worried yet. Yeah, I think it's going to continue to open up more for Paris Campbell. And we've seen already flashes over the first three weeks of the season. He's going to be a very good player for this Colts offense. They're on special teams, too.

I think he's going to break one eventually there, Zach. But let's move on here to your three keys to the game. I know Oakland is 0-3. They're not really – or excuse me, they're 1-2. They either went on Monday Night Football on the first week of the season against Denver. What do you think are the keys against this Oakland team? The opening spread for this is seven points.

Is Vegas really thinking of the Colts going to win pretty easily here? What's your impression of this, of what they need to do to really get a win against the Raiders? Yeah, so my three keys, you know, kind of one of them is from last week and pretty much from every week is just control the line of scrimmage on offense. I mean, run the ball well, don't give up too many sacks, kind of keep the ball going forward. But also I think number two is just establish that pass rush.

You know, the Raiders have done a good job of getting the ball out quick this year, but, you know, don't let them just kind of get those free releases and such. You know, get on these receivers early and really get a pass rush and get in the backfield on cart and kind of make him throw up some bunnies to your defense. And then the last one kind of goes with Lee Cooker and also goes with Paris Campbell on the offense is win the big play battle. You know, you can't allow the Raiders to hit more big plays than you in this game.

You've got to really get those explosive plays and then kind of limit them on the other side as well. So I think those would be the three keys to this game. Yeah, those are good ones, Zach. I really think that the Colts, personally, I think the Colts, even if they sit out T.Y. and Darius Leonard, I think they could win this game by double digits. I mean, it's like 31-14, 31-17. I really don't think it's going to be that close.

I think just personally, Oakland, I feel like just the transfer off the track, just off the field stuff and just the locker room. Hopefully, I mean, hopefully you get a good game. I feel like the Colts might cruise to a win on Sunday. I don't want to take them too lightly, though. What's your prediction for Sunday against the Raiders? Yeah, I'll go with the double-digit win as well. I'm going to go 20-17. I think the Raiders are a good team, but I do think this Colts team's kind of rolling right now. And, you know, if it was any other coaching staff or even any other team, I'd be worried about a letdown game against the Raiders. But with Frank Reich and Jacoby Brissett and Quentin Nelson,

all these guys on this team, I really don't worry about a letdown game with these guys. So I think they're going to come out and play. A 20-17 will be my prediction. Before I let you go, Zach, just because we're going to talk again after this game on Sunday, we're both assuming a Colts win here. But I'm looking ahead at the schedule here after their bye week.

Kansas City is going to be a very tough game, especially without a no-molecule picker. So assuming there's a loss there, that I'm looking ahead at the schedule here after their bye week. Kansas City is going to be a very tough game, especially without a number of league pickers. So assuming there's a loss there, that's 3-2 at the bye week. And you have Houston at home, Denver, Pittsburgh, who's 0-3 right now, they're really struggling as well. Then Miami and Jacksonville at home. I feel like the Colts are set up here over the next five or six weeks to actually really make some noise here in the AFC standings.

Yep, just got to take it one game at a time. You know, just the Colts it one game at a time. Just the Colts mantra, the Frank Reich mantra, the 1-0, just take it one game at a time. It's hard not to look forward to that schedule and get excited. Hopefully, they just kind of keep their wits about them and go into every game

like it's the most important game of the year. I think they'll be fine. I think they have a talented team. If Brissette can keep playing the way he's playing, I think this team has a good shot at making the playoffs. You can follow Zach on Twitter if you want to add Zach Hicks too. Also, you can read his work over on Stampede Blue as well. Zach, again, appreciate the time. We'll talk again next week.