Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Matt Ryan Reignites Indianapolis Colts in Jeff Saturday's Debut
Episode Date: November 14, 2022The Indianapolis Colts left Allegiant Stadium victorious on Sunday with a 25-20 win over the Las Vegas Raiders in interim head coach Jeff Saturday's debut. His decision to start Matt Ryan at quarterba...ck paid off big-time, and despite all the craziness of the last week (month, really), the team pulled together for the "W."Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQ🎧 Apple https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1151621306🎧 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6meP450baAtjX4rTENZ5ij🎧 Audacy https://www.audacy.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts-daily-podcast-on-the-indianapolis-colts-21701🎧 Google https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vUFBZODk1ODUyODkyNQ🎧 Megaphone https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/lockedoncoltsFollow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com (@ColtsOnFN), and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, and @LockedOnColts!Today’s episode is presented by PrizePicks. PrizePicks is daily fantasy made easy. Pick 2-5 players and if they score more or less than their PrizePicks projection you can win up to 10x your money on your entry. First-time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. That’s PrizePicks.com – promo code; LOCKEDONSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFLBuilt BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds, and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!PrizePicksFirst-time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. That’s PrizePicks.com – promo code; LOCKEDONSimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnNFL to learn more.BlueNileMake your moment sparkle with Blue Nile. Go to BlueNile.com and use code lockedon to save fifty dollars on your purchase of five-hundred dollars or more.BetterHelpThis episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at Betterhelp.com/LockedOn and get on your way to being your best self. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The Indianapolis Colts defied all odds on Sunday and were victorious over the Las Vegas Raiders following an absolutely insane week.
We're going to talk all about it on today's episode of Locked on Colts. Let's get to it.
You are Locked on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast.
Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.
Thank you, everybody, for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.
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This is Jake Arthur alongside Zach Hicks, and you know the two of us from horseshoehuddle.com, of course.
Today, what else is there to talk about? It is Jeff Saturday's big coaching debut,
and we said this might be a possibility despite all the absolute craziness,
but the Colts are victorious.
They went out on the road against the Las Vegas Raiders,
come back with a 25-20 victory.
Zach, man, what the heck are we doing here? That wasn't exactly how everyone drew it up, was it?
Yeah, I mean, look, we can always say this about interim coaches in any sport.
You know, it could be basketball, hockey, and especially in football is those first week,
that like first week or two with the interim head coach is typically the best.
It's typically the week where it all looks like it makes sense.
It looks like where it's the greatest thing ever.
I mean, Steve Wilkes in Carolina, they blew out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
I think in his second week as the head coach.
And then since then, they've kind of been,
you know, kind of the Panthers, you know, since then.
And I think we'll probably see something like that
with the Colts here with Jeff Saturday,
but this is a great win.
It's an awesome win.
You know, I'm not going to come on here
and be pessimistic and be, you know,
kind of a jerk about it.
I think the Colts came out and they looked more lively.
The offensive line played really well.
The change back to Matt Ryan was obviously much better for the quarterback position.
The defense, outside of a few leaky plays, had a pretty good week as well.
So, yeah, no, this was a good win for the Colts, even though it was against a hapless Raiders team.
This is a good win.
It's good to get back in that win column after three straight losses, especially after last week,
where it was such a demoralizing, just awful loss. And also after this crazy, crazy week,
the Colts coming back with a win against the Raiders. Yeah, just good for morale and good
for the whole team. Yeah, absolutely. Literally a backbreaking loss last week as Frank Reich was not able to survive that. Of course, they move on to Jeff Saturday, whose coaching experience ended at the high school level. But yeah, did you notice anything situationally? He won a challenge. That was good. I thought aggressiveness-wise, he went for it on a couple two-point conversions. Both teams weren't able to cash in on their two-point attempts,
but he went for it nonetheless to try and extend it, you know,
make a field goal more meaningful for the opponent, things like that.
But situationally, I didn't have any issues with the game that he called.
No, I mean, I think the only issue I pointed out in-game was he did call a timeout on a play
where Devontae Adams rolled out of bounds.
But then later on, the officials kind of said that they incorrectly said the clock was running and they gave him back his timeout.
So honestly, that was the only one that came to mind during the game.
Outside of that, I thought he did well.
I think he handled the end of the first half really well with calling those timeouts and getting the ball back for his offense.
And they were able to go down and score a big three points, which ended up being, you
know, the different one of the difference makers at the very end there.
So, yeah, I thought it was a good, really good debut for Jeff Saturday.
Again, the guys came out and they looked very energetic.
The offensive line looked very different.
You know, they had a better players in there.
You know, Will Frye starting over Matt Pryor, something that we've been calling for for
weeks.
Obviously, you could see the difference with Will Fry's out there than Matt Pryor.
And then Bernard Ryman I thought was fine.
You know, still some areas where he can improve,
but he looked really solid at left tackle there.
So, yeah, the offensive line played well.
The Colts played well.
The team looked energetic.
They had a couple miscues that have been plaguing them all year.
You know, the turnover in the red zone,
the really bad sack by Matt Ryan on third and one, where he should have thrown it away or the turnover in the red zone uh the really bad sack by matt ryan on third
and one where he should have thrown it away or complete it in the flats but you know besides
that they were effective moving the ball and they got the ball into scoring situations and they had
two huge play touchdowns you know 30 plus yard uh reception and then uh you know a 66 yard run by
jonathan taylor so uh it looked like that same colts team but just a little bit better you know
a little more energetic a little more consistent And that was what the difference was between,
you know, the couple of losses they had in some other games this year and,
and getting the win here on Sunday. So yeah, I think the Jeff Saturday coaching experiment so
far is off to a good start and, and I don't really have any issues with how he, how he handled that
game. I thought he did really well yeah I noticed uh you know I think he
did a good job of not you know he wasn't Jeff Saturday in this game he wasn't Colts legend I'm
the smartest guy in the room look at me I thought throughout the week and in this game he's done a
good job of leaning on the guys who've been there and done that in the organization guys who can
teach him a thing or two you know I think there were several instances the the camera showed him you know getting getting some tutelage from
this guy that guy you know i thought he did a good job of learning on the job and calling a good game
which kind of rolls us into our next section on um parks frazier the new offensive play caller
uh now i know play calling is calling is a big thing for you.
You study it, you know, as much as anybody on the Colts side of things.
Frank Reich's play calling has, you know, it got real clunky at points.
I thought that Parks did a good job of kind of leaning on the things the Colts do well.
Some yards after catch opportunities over the middle of the field with,
you know, Pittman they tried, you know, Granson, they got some good stuff.
Paris Campbell, you mentioned the 35 yard touchdown.
I thought they did that well.
They got Jonathan Taylor rolling again,
which is it's not something they haven't tried to do.
It just finally happened this week.
He had the big 66 yard touchdown.
So, man, you're a big scheme nerd. What did you think of
the game that Parks called? Yeah, you know, I don't think it was anything drastically different
from Frank Reich outside of maybe a couple of like quick passes and stuff like that. You know,
it was very wide receiver screen heavy. It was very get the ball out of your quarterback's hands
heavy. You know, it's stuff that Frank Reich has done the last couple weeks. And it kind of,
you know, Jim Mercer said that Jeff Saturday doesn't play scared or
whatever.
And I think that's what they were hinting at with Frank Reich calling all these like
underneath, like, you know, kind of playing quote unquote scared or whatever.
But that's kind of what the Colts did today.
They just happened to be going against a team that can't tackle and can't adjust.
I mean, the Raiders, I mean, the Colts were literally only peppering them underneath on
every single pass and play.
And the Raiders were not adjusting. They were not coming up. They were not playing tight. And the Colts were literally only peppering them underneath on every single pass and play, and the Raiders were not adjusting.
They were not coming up.
They were not playing tight, and the Colts made them pay,
and then it happened on that big Paris Campbell game winning touchdown,
quick pass over the middle that he took distance for a score.
So I don't think it was anything too drastically different.
I think the biggest difference overall was just the offensive line held up,
and then in the run game they got some push,
and they were able to get Jonathan Taylor some more space than what he's had in the past couple weeks so overall you know I would say
Parks Frazier good good debut like I'm not trying to take anything away from him I'm just saying
I don't think that he came in with this so drastically innovative offense that was so
different from Frank Reich and and he made Frank Reich look like nothing compared to him it wasn't
anything like that it was really just a, you know,
we're going to do what we've been doing all year.
And the offensive line finally showed up.
And some of the players, you know, Paris Campbell made some plays as well.
So I do think it was a good call game from him.
I just, again, I'm not going to say like, oh my gosh,
Parks Frazier the next Sean McVay, but it was a great start for him.
Great start, especially for a guy who has, you know, never done this before.
I thought it was a really really
promising debut for him that you actually just reminded me of something i'm going to shout out
real quick because he listens to the show so james vermeil went out from washington to this this game
raiders and colts he's the biggest paris campbell fan there is of course paris had one of his best
games of his career and his arguably his best touchdown of his career with James in attendance so applause to you buddy I'm glad you got to see
that yes definitely and then my last checkpoint we've pretty much already gone over it but you
know uh the Colts obviously not afraid to do anything right now but they made some lineup
changes all week we thought Sam Ellinger was going to be the starting quarterback
literally in pregame
warm-ups it was revealed that they went back to Matt Ryan which wound up being a good thing we
don't know if Sam would have had a decent game or not but the offense clearly looked pretty good
with with Matt Ryan it was their third best outing of of the year and then Will Fries at right guard
was the one that absolutely had to happen and needs to stay the case.
They cannot go back.
It needs to be Will Fries at right guard the remainder of the season.
Yeah, absolutely.
The only thing I'll say is, you know, we could do a whole podcast on the whole.
Matt Ryan being benched for the rest of the year under Frank Reich and Jim Irsay leading that conversation.
And then two weeks later with his new coach, the new coach is allowed to put Matt Ryan back in.
Now, given Matt Ryan was hurt, he wasn't going to play the last two weeks later with his new coach, the new coach is allowed to put Matt Ryan back in. Now, given Matt Ryan was hurt,
he wasn't going to play the last two weeks anyway.
Again, it just adds to how crazy everything has been
these last couple weeks.
But taking away from that, separating from all that,
Matt Ryan came in.
He looked like Matt Ryan of that Jaguars game
a couple weeks ago.
He delivered some good passes.
Yes, he made some bad mistakes,
especially on that sack on that third and one. But for the most part, Matt Ryan looked fine. He looked like a big upgrade
over Sam Allinger the last two weeks, and the Colts were able to get the victory. So yeah, I mean,
look, we can go into the semantics of everything crazy with that Matt Ryan decision and why he was
splitting snaps all week and stuff like that. It doesn't make any sense. But at the end of the day,
the better quarterback played and the Colts got the win so i mean it was a good call yeah i think we're going to get into
the what should they do's probably tomorrow on the next show uh but today you know it's a celebration
you know maybe have a nice post-game drink i know i might and for you guys this holiday season find
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Be 21.
All right.
So the offense, I mean, be 21.
Be 21.
Regardless, if you're in America, you better be 21.
Sorry, that's the way you said that at the end.
Be 21. You better be 21. Sorry, that's what he said that at the end, be 21.
You better be 21.
Anyway, the offense, the offense.
Yeah, the offense.
We've already talked quite a bit about it, so we'll probably look into some more individual
performances.
But yeah, I mean, this was the Colts' third most productive day of the season.
We haven't seen them be this effective in weeks, it seems like.
They scored a touchdown in the first quarter for the first time since week three.
They got their first double-digit lead of the season.
So, so far, so good.
I mean, it's the Raiders.
I don't want to be too, you know, backhanded compliment.
It is going to start getting different next Sunday against the
Eagles. But again, we're going to, we're going to shine on this one here. Yeah. What were some
other wide receiver tight end, maybe performances you like? Kylan Granson was obviously a good one
today. Yeah, no, the two guys that really stood out as wide receivers and tight ends are concerned.
I mean, it was Kylan Granson at tight end, especially in that drive right before halftime where he got them, you know,
three straight catches, I think for like almost 40 yards or for like 30 yards
or something like that, that got them kind of into that field goal range.
And then Paris Campbell, man, Paris Campbell was really good.
I mean, there was the one third down drop.
And I want to talk about that drop real quick. You know, that,
that drop was a perfect example of a
timing just being a little off between the quarterback and the wide receiver and that
could be because again this is Matt Ryan's first first year with the team still he was out the last
couple weeks he hasn't had first team snaps in practice the last couple weeks so that can kind
of explain it but basically what happened was Matt Ryan was expecting Paris Campbell to keep running
on that slant and Paris Campbell was going to sit in that open zone at the first down line.
And that slight, slight miscommunication led to that ball being a little bit ahead of Paris Campbell
and made him have to adjust when he was stopping his momentum to go reach back out and go forward on that there.
So that's why that came up as a drop.
But besides that, you know, getting away from the semantics of that,
Paris Campbell was awesome in this game.
And that touchdown was college Paris Campbell.
That was the Paris Campbell that the Colts drafted in the second round.
That was the guy where you can hit him on a little slant or a little
underneath route, and he can outrun the whole defense.
I mean, that was, that's what we call easy speed in football.
That's what we call easy, easy speed.
Cause those are NFL athletes that were next to him.
And he was gliding past them
on that touchdown. Like they weren't even, they didn't even touch them or whatever. He was just
past them with ease. Uh, so yeah, Paris Campbell, I mean, again, he did all his underneath stuff.
He did those, those quick catches, those little hitches and those little underneath curls and
stuff to keep the chains moving. But when the, when the game needed it, when they needed that
big touchdown, he put on the burners and he was gone. And I just want to see a little bit more of that.
I just want to see as much Paris Campbell, you know,
in the little run after catch game as we can get.
But today, man, he was awesome.
Paris Campbell looks like a guy where when it gets to at the end of the season,
when you're talking about who you're going to extend,
that looks like to be the first guy that you kind of go up and talk to.
Like we need to bring him back because he's a dynamic weapon
and he's actually showing it this year.
You know, you mentioned someone turning on the burners.
Matt Ryan, career long run today.
What was it, 39 yards, I think?
Yeah, it took him 15 years to get to his career long run.
And it's funny because Peyton Manning had like a 30, 35-yard run
against the Raiders
in 2008 I think that was his longest so something about playing against the Raiders on the road
brings out the best in these old quarterbacks so he was close to breaking it for more yeah he was
close Ashton Doolin had that block there and he almost was able to turn that corner if he didn't
stumble after behind Doolin's block he probably could have got that up to like 45 46 yard run uh I think that has to be
the Colts second longest run of the season right like behind Jonathan Taylor's today the 66 yeah
the 66 and that was like 39 I think Taylor has had a couple other gash runs but nothing that long
yeah so yeah yeah man Matt Ryan with the burners just like you said
and then um so the offensive line obviously played really well today i thought the raiders
were opportunistic when they brought extra pressure but in general five on five i thought
they did well they passed protected well they ran block well uh bernard ryman continues to start at
left tackle uh i didn't i wasn't specifically paying attention to him, but I kind of subscribed
to the thought that if you're not thinking about the offensive line, then they're probably
doing well.
Uh, what, what did you see from Ryman?
I didn't really notice any big gaps from him.
I thought there were some issues in the run game.
Uh, there were a couple of runs that were stuffed because he was beat off the ball.
But besides that, I thought he looked fine.
Uh, there was again, a couple in past production too, where he was beat off the ball. But besides that, I thought he looked fine. There was, again, a couple in pass protection too
where he got beat to the outside.
But for the most part, I thought Bernard Ryman was perfectly solid.
Like I didn't have many issues with him.
And I do think this should be the five guys, you know, health, you know,
as long as they all stay healthy.
This needs to be the five guys the rest of the season.
I don't care, like, what else happened.
I don't care if the Eagles come out and get 20 sacks this next week.
Start these five guys you got two young guys who have proven to be the the most effective
young guys at those two positions at right guard and left tackle just give them a lot of time at
those positions to gel with Ryan Kelly Braden Smith and Quentin Nelson I just want to see these
guys the rest of the year because they look good today they've had moments where when this
alliance been together they've looked pretty solid. So, yeah, I think this is
the five guys going forward for sure. And I think
today just further solidified that.
Totally agree. Five guys
to make one burger. Am I right?
I actually had that for dinner tonight. Good call.
Good call. Nice. I didn't even know
that. Podcast is
not sponsored by five guys, but
we would gladly take that.
We'd gladly take that the other thing i
want to talk about though real quick is naim hines is gone naim hines in buffalo with that it was all
jonathan taylor today all jonathan taylor i think it was 93 of the snaps in the backfield for jonathan
taylor yeah i mean jordan wilkins had a couple nice little runs zach moss had one decent run but
outside of that it was was completely Jonathan Taylor's show
back there. He's the first, second, and third down back for the Colts right now. So I thought
that was super interesting, especially for all you guys who like fantasy football as well. I mean,
Jonathan Taylor is getting every single snap now in that backfield. Now, it might change a little
bit when Deion Jackson comes back because he did miss this game, but for the most part, it looks
like it's going to be Jonathan Taylor
like getting almost every single touch out of the backfield
and then maybe some other guys coming in there.
Not for nothing, but I did trade for Jonathan Taylor
in my home league a few weeks ago.
There you go.
It's finally working out for me.
You know exactly what you're doing.
Now, if you guys want to get into some even more fancy stuff
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enter promo code LOCKEDON at signup for Instant Deposit Match up to $100. All right, Jake, so
jumping to this defense here, you know, it wasn't their best game of the season, but it definitely
wasn't their worst. I mean, yeah, they gave 20 points, a couple of big gash plays, you know,
Devontae Adams had a couple of plays where he kind of just rumbled through the defense.
But for the most part, I thought the Colts defense was pretty fine.
I think this is more like what this Colts defense is.
You know, there are some games where they've had against like, you know, I know they lost this game,
but like against Washington or against Tennessee, even like the bad offenses against Denver,
where they've looked like a top five defense or a top two or three defense. I think they're just
more of like an above average to good defense. And I know we've talked about that a couple of
times on this show. And I think this was a good example of that where like, yes, they gave up
some bad plays, but for the most part, they're still a pretty good defense. Like I'm not coming
on here and saying that they're a bad defense. I just, you know, a top five defense probably shuts down the Raiders, but an above average defense
probably does this, you know, a couple of nice little plays here and there, getting them off
the field, but did get beat by some gash plays by some talented players. But what'd you think
about the defense today, Jake? Yeah, I can, I can live with this. You know, for the most part,
it was just the Raiders stars succeeding. It's not like when you lose to the Titans,
you get killed by Nick Westbrook, Akina,
these random guys who you never want to get beat by, but against the Raiders,
it was Josh Jacobs and Devante Adams. Like you can live with that.
Adams went for 126 yards and a touchdown on nine catches.
Josh Jacobs had over a hundred,
over a hundred yards of offense on 27 touches and again, a touchdown on nine catches josh jacobs had over 100 over 100 yards of offense on 27
touches and again a touchdown so you can live with that it didn't cost them the game uh they didn't
they there weren't like repeated blown coverages and everything on davante adams long touchdown
julian blackman slipped in the backfield so i don't feel like anyone killed them repeatedly
over and over you know davante adams
can do that type of stuff and i think you're right like they came into this game ranked number four
defensively um that's a great number but like they're probably closer to the 10 range like
they allowed 300 yards of offense today um so that's that's fine like the defense did enough to win they didn't they weren't a let
down by any means like i i was i was perfectly fine with it like starting up front though
deforest buckner grover stewart is a problem for opponents man like it is they're just so good and
it's it's great like i don't watch a ton of national stuff anymore but like i'm on twitter
all day and i just don't feel like this of national stuff anymore, but I'm on Twitter all day.
And I just don't feel like that pair gets enough recognition.
They're both playing lights out.
Yeah, outside of maybe Javon Hargrave and Fletcher Cox and Philly, it's probably the best interior defensive line duo in all of football.
They just complement each other so well.
Grover Stewart is the perfect one tech zero tech you know nose tackle that
perfect run defending nose tackle he's very like back in his heyday like Linval Joseph-esque or
whatever for the Giants a couple years ago and the Vikings and stuff like that just that big
bodied interior guy who just stuffs everything against the run it's the guy that you need but
then you have DeForest Buckner who is great against the run but also a really strong pass rusher we
saw that a couple times today where he got pressured and I think got a sack on
one of them as well.
Now, you kind of saw the issues with the Colts edge rushers today when Quiddie Paye went
out of the game with his ankle injury, the ankle injury that he re-aggravated this week.
You could see that the Colts really just didn't have any edge presence after that.
And as a result, Derek Carr had a lot of time in the pocket because the Raiders were able to kind of double up DeForest Buckner whenever
they had the chance. But I think when Quidipe plays, they have a really good pass rush, this
Colts defensive line. And then in the run game, I mean, again, Josh Jacobs is a running back who's
had a really good year, one of the best running backs in all of football. And for the most part,
the Colts kept them bottled up because of that interior defensive line duo. And then obviously those linebackers playing behind them were playing with their hair
on fire, like always. So yeah, I love this duo on the interior. And I think anyone who studies
football film and studies football can look at these two and say, yes, this is either the top
defensive line duo, like interior defensive line duo, or, you know, the top two in the league.
Yeah, I actually had a tweet, you know, you mentioned the the league yeah i actually had a tweet you know you mentioned
the linebackers i had a tweet during the game of the colts of course are going to miss shaquille
leonard's playmaking ability and for the linebacker position there's really no one else who's as much
of a ball hawk but at this point in the season zyra franklin bobby okarake and ej speed they
look very comfortable in this defense and i think they're all performing their tasks at a high level at this point.
And it was evident again.
Yeah, you know, it sucks because Shaquille Leonard's a great player.
Phenomenal player.
But I'm hesitant to say this because I do think it kind of helps the defense overall not having him play this year.
I do too.
It's not as disruptive.
Right. Because the thing is, look, Shaquille Leonard, whenever,
whenever he was out there,
he was a guy who has played his whole NFL career in a different system,
doing completely different things, just not fully in this defense. And yes, he's still doing the film work. Yes.
He's still working with the coaches, but he missed the whole off season.
You know, he wasn't there for the whole off season.'s had some practices here and there but it just you know he
hasn't really been given the time to adapt to this scheme and this difference in scheme and
difference in assignments where these three guys have been in it all offseason they've been in it
throughout the whole year they've been in some of the biggest games for the Colts you know and that
that phenomenal Kansas City Chiefs game these linebackers were the guys that were performing on this defense.
So it kind of helps not having Shaquille Leonard go in there and disrupt it
because these three guys are building chemistry
and they're all playing really well.
Even if none of them individually are as talented as Shaquille Leonard
or as much of a playmaker as him,
they are all playing really well in this scheme and in this system.
And outside of a couple gaps here and there, you know, Zyra Franklin will miss a tackle every now
and then. Bobby O'Kerrick will get beaten coverage every now and then. But outside of that, I do think
these three linebackers are playing phenomenal football. And the Colts are going to be in a
tough decision this offseason. You know, you got Bobby O'Kerrick they have to decide on. They have
EJ Speed that they want to extend him or not. And then what do you do with Shaquille Leonard? Say
these three linebackers look phenomenal. You know know do you try to move on from shaquille
leonard like i i don't know i'm not gonna throw that hypothetical out right now i just want to
say these three linebackers played great bobby okereke outside of getting beat by davante adams
over the middle a couple times had a good game uh zyra franklin i mean the way he closes downhill
is just phenomenal and then ej speeds's a phenomenal uh just run defending
linebacker so i i think they have something good with these three guys for sure to add some more
context to that we haven't talked to you guys yet since uh shaquille leonard went on injured reserve
he re-aggregated the back injury uh reports say he's going to see a back and neck specialist this
week i think so he's on injured, out for at least four games.
A lot of people seem to think it might be the whole season.
Whatever it takes for the guy to get healthy, like beyond football,
like he's a big-time family man and everything too.
So just want happiness and health for the person, honestly.
He's been through so freaking much.
But, yeah, sorry to get deep on you guys there.
But moving back to the back unit of the defense,
Stephon Gilmore, another late-game situation, another closeout.
He forced Devontae Adams out of the back of the end zone
and got his hand on the ball, too, as well,
on the Raiders' final shot at the end zone to try and take the lead.
And Gilmore said no thank you. Yeah, you know, it's funny. Going back to the secondary, on the Raiders' final shot at the end zone to try and take the lead.
And Gilmore said no thank you.
Yeah, you know, it's funny.
Going back to the secondary, and I want to touch on Gilmore here in a second.
I think the Achilles heel of this Colts defense these last couple weeks that we've really seen is just the safety play.
I think the safety play has been fine this year.
I think Rodney McLeod's been a positive player for them.
But outside of that, I think the safety play has kind of been below average for this defense. You know, Nick Cross obviously hasn't really seen the
field. Ronnie Thomas has had some good moments, but he's still kind of learning on the fly. And
then Julian Blackman has kind of just been a tough adjustment for him in this new scheme.
So I want to see those guys kind of take steps forward or, you know, maybe that's the position
that the Colts look at this offseason. But talking about the highlight of this Colts defense and the
Colts secondary, these corners played really well today.
I mean, every single corner played really well.
Isaiah Rodgers had two pass breakups.
That's just a guy you don't want to test out there.
He's just so fast and so quick.
And outside of the one missed tackle he had on Devontae Adams,
he was just perfect in this game.
Stephon Gilmore, obviously don't test him late in games
unless you have the Taylor Heineke magic along with Terry McLaurin's skill.
You know, that's something you don't want to test late in games.
You know, he's three for four on these late game plays here.
So Stephon Gilmore, obviously, he's cornerback one.
But Kenny Moore and Brandon Faison also had pretty good games today.
Faison barely played, but when he did, he had that pass breakup, nice couple plays.
And then Kenny Moore, a lot of big tackles in the run game,
a lot of big tackles underneath and made some things happen.
So, yeah, these Colts corners, again,
they're just another group that's adjusting really,
really well to this scheme.
And you're seeing guys like Isaiah Rogers having career best years.
Stephon Gilmore looks like his best in years.
You know, these guys are really adjusting to this scheme,
and they're playing really well for Gus Bradley.
Yeah, I – man, there's not a game that goes by
where I don't like Isaiah Rogers even more.
You know, like he's really not scared of anything.
And he, it looked like he welcomed the challenge
of going toe to toe whenever he was matched up
with Devontae Adams.
He had at least one pass breakup when Adams was targeted.
And he did have that one where he slipped, but it wasn't egregious.
That just happens.
He's obviously a great young player that they need to keep infusing into the defense,
and he's luckily finally taken over that other boundary corner spot.
Right.
I got nothing else to yak about. How about you?
I think we're good, man.
I think we're going to ride this high all week and then we'll see where the
wave takes us against the Philadelphia Eagles next week.
And then I know they have the Cowboys on the horizon,
the Giants on the horizon, the Vikings on the horizon.
Like this is a lot of tough teams coming up.
Let's just enjoy this week here against the Raiders, you know,
getting this win in Jeff Saturday's first day.
Yeah,
that is it for us.
I think tomorrow we're going to kind of look at some bigger picture stuff,
you know,
reflecting on this win still,
but you know,
building off that,
what they can do moving forward and things like that.
Yeah.
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