Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - NEXT MAN UP: Indianapolis Colts NEED Backups to Step Up vs. Los Angeles Rams

Starting point is 00:00:00 The red-hot Indianapolis Colts are limping into a big week-four matchup with the Los Angeles Rans. Can they overcome their injuries? 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 all for tuning in and making us your first. listen of the day. This your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Lockdown

Starting point is 00:00:33 podcast network, your team every single day. Hello, everyone. My name is Zach Hickshaw, resident film nerd of horseshoe huddle.com. My partner in crime, Jake Arthur, is the credential boots on the ground for round table sports covering the Colts. Guys, we have a fun action-packed episode

Starting point is 00:00:49 plan for you guys. We're going to talk all about the Colts offense versus the Los Angeles, Rams, the defense, and then give our final predictions to close it out. But before we get into the offense, in the defense and all these individual matchups that I really want to nerd out about Jake, we have to talk about some injuries because that's the biggest headline

Starting point is 00:01:06 coming into this game for the Colts. We already knew kind of coming into the week that Kenny Moore and Alec Pierce were very unlikely to play. That held true throughout the whole week. Both of those guys will be out for this weekend. But the big surprise, Mac and Solvis, the right guard who has been insanely impressive this season. He will also be out this weekend with a toe injury.

Starting point is 00:01:30 I hope that's not going to be it too long of an injury, but it didn't seem like it from how Shane Steichen talked about it earlier today with you guys. So hopefully it's a one-week thing for him. They also have a couple questionable players. Anthony Gould is questionable for this game with an illness that popped up. He should be good to go, but we'll monitor that. And then to Forrest Buckner, he's technically questionable. But again, I think you need to strap him to like a wall or something to keep him from playing on Sundays.

Starting point is 00:01:55 I don't think there's any chance he doesn't play, but certainly something to monitor there. To give an update on the Rams, look, they have a handful of guys questionable, including Devante Adams and Rob Havenstein, some really important players, but it seems like all of their questionable guys are going to be good to go. So the Colts are kind of limping into this matchup, Jake, where the Rams for the first time all year seem pretty healthy. They're also getting Steve Avila back. Their guard who started, I think, all last year for them on the interior.

Starting point is 00:02:25 So they're kind of getting healthier where the Colts are coming in here, minus three starters. in a pretty big matchup. Yeah, I guess the good thing for the guys who are out for the Colts is they're not guys who the Colts have zero answers behind them. You know, with Alec Pierce, this obviously gives A.D. Mitchell a big opportunity to make some plays. And then Matt Gonzalez, yeah, I know the beard thing there. With Matt Gonzalez, we know that Dalton Tucker played, you know, 464 snaps, I think it was

Starting point is 00:02:56 last year, who's counting. And then Kenny Moore, that one's still. tough. That one's really, really tough because you want full dogs going up against Pooka Nuku and Devante Adams. But, you know, Mackay Blackman, I don't know, we'll see. You know, a lot of Vikings people I've talked to are really pulling for him because he has played good ball before, before he had the ACL injury. And then Mike Hilton is going to play already. We'll see what the workload is for him. But I've got to imagine Louana Rumo has kind of a few things in the clip where he's like these are things i know hilton can do and time will have not changed that at all like

Starting point is 00:03:35 we can do that like blitzing i'm sure is something that we'll probably see him come on a couple times but yeah we'll uh we'll see as far as buckner and uh and gould go not really worried about that buckner already said he should be good to go when he talked to us on thursday and then gould he was out thursday but then he practiced friday a little bit today uh so we'll We'll keep an eye on it, but it's not great injuries, but still guys, they somewhat have answers for. Yeah, and we'll talk about the injuries as we go through offense and defense here. But starting with the offense, Jake, you know, I don't think this Rams defense is a pushover by any means. They have one of the better defensive lines in the league.

Starting point is 00:04:16 It's maybe not as good as that Broncos defensive line the Colts faced a couple weeks ago, but close to it's closer to the Broncos than it is the Dolphins or the Tennessee Titans defensive lines. I think, in my opinion, just in terms of the whole group playing very well for the Los Angeles Rams. But then after that, a lot of their play behind them relies on the scheme and the coaching more so than the individual players. It's not some dominant, like, dominant, like, superstars behind that defensive line. All their stars are kind of up front with the Jared Verst and the Kobe Turner's and all of those guys. So really, I think the goal for this game is winning the trenches. And then you can kind of get what you want on this defense. Now, that definitely is a bit harder with Dalton Tucker starting their right guard, who I'm optimistic about it.

Starting point is 00:05:03 I'll even go on an island right now. I'll go on this hill and say, like, yes, Dalton Tucker is a step down for McInsolvis, but I have believed in the traits of this guy since he came here as an undrafted free agent. I think he's great when he's left uncovered in past protection, where he can find work and be a help blocker. And I think he's a better run blocker right now than Matt Consolvis is because he's just more natural at the position. The real question is, can he handle those Gilligan Island reps, those right guard on an island reps against whoever the Rams went isolated against him? Yeah, that'll be the big question because that's where he struggled the most last year and what led to his benching last season.

Starting point is 00:05:42 If he can just get in the way for two seconds, for two and a half seconds, we can be successful in this game. So big, big question with Dalton Tucker. But when it comes to this Colts offense versus the Rams defense, you know, as long as you can kind of control the line of scrimmage or at least stalemate the line of scrimmage, then it's these Colts pass catchers and these Colts tight ends versus these Rams linebackers. And I really like that matchup for this Colts offense. What do you think, Jake?

Starting point is 00:06:06 Yeah, I think so. And I think you're right. They lack like superstar power other than Jared Verst, but they are so good as a unit. You know, you can name off a bunch of dudes, Byron Young, Puna Ford, Kobe Turner, Braden Fisk. Like, they have got a group of guys up front that are really, really good. And you kind of look at the Rams run defense last year, and there were some times where they were very, very vulnerable, not even just against Saquan Barclay, but they're much better this year. They're very stout against the run. And you look at it, and they've made a couple additions in that front seven, including the lineback of core, where it's just working better.

Starting point is 00:06:43 It's more effective. Guys are where they're supposed to be. They're getting off blocks or they're clogging the lanes a little bit better. So we obviously know the Colts want to establish the run, like Jonathan Taylor is leading the league in. rushing. He's their engine right now. Luckily for them, everything offensively is kind of working. They're a little vulnerable. The Rams are in the secondary with that group of corners. You know, they're a bit banged up, but they're also small. And then one thing we know about the Colts, they've got size. A.D. Mitchell is a big guy. Michael Pittman's a big guy.

Starting point is 00:07:15 Tyler Warren is not going to just be used like a classic tight end either. So while I really would like to see the Colts be able to establish the run or at least fame that they're going to do it and make the Rams believe that they'll have, you know, a shot at doing it throughout the game. I think this might be one of our first opportunities to see Daniel Jones go out there and rip the ball 35, 40 times and be the guy that is the reason they want. Yeah, well, I think certainly the plan is to come out the gate in this one with a pass-heavy approach. And that's what they've done in most of these games, you know, Shane Steichen's philosophy is

Starting point is 00:07:51 pass to score, run to win. And I think that's what you really need to do in this matchup is pass a lot early to soften up that run defense and then get Jonathan Taylor going in the second half, like we saw against the Denver Broncos, like we saw against the Tennessee Titans. That's the way they're going to approach most matchups, but especially in this one. I think one of the most key ways to attack this defense, though, is when you're going against a defensive line like this. And a team that I don't think they blitz very heavy either.

Starting point is 00:08:16 So they rely on that defensive line to get a lot of pressure. I think we'll see a lot of situations where the Colts will go a bit more max protect. And maybe that's not seven or eight blockers because they're not going to be facing blitzes in this one, but it can be six blockers, maybe seven blockers to really combat these defensive linemen who are talented up front and isolating A.D. Mitchell out there with one of these smaller corners, isolating Michael Pittman, Jr. on an in-breaking route behind the linebackers with one of these safeties over the top and making them have to be physical with these bigger Colts wide receivers. So I think the Colts will rely a lot on their max protection,

Starting point is 00:08:52 especially if they go to 12 personnel and the Rams match that personnel with more linebackers on the field. I think we'll have some max protect shots to A.D. Mitchell in this game, especially on like outbreaking routes where it's harder for underneath his own defenders to get out there and help these corners. Anything that leaves these corners is like susceptible to A.D. Mitchell's route running. I think we'll get him pretty involved. So I think the two guys are really watching this Colts offense in terms of like early production are, are A.D. Mitchell and Tyler Warren, those are the guys they're going to want to use to soften up this run defense a little bit. And then the second half, it'll be all Jonathan Taylor. But I think this is certainly a game where it wouldn't shock me if it's a regression game for the Colts offense because the drop off from Gonsalves to Tucker could really hurt them in pass protection.

Starting point is 00:09:39 And all the stuff that Alec Pierce does, like the little things, if A.D. Mitchell's not ready to do those little things, it could really hurt them. but I think on paper I like this matchup because of the way the Colts have abused opposing linebackers and the way they can use Max Protect to get A.D. Mitchell on an island versus these smaller corners. I think those two things set up really well to get the Colts the opportunity to get 20 plus points in this one. So I think they're going to get 20 plus points in this game. It's just will that be enough to win the game will be the big question. Yeah. And our guy Christian here said big Tyler Warren game incoming like you were just mentioning,

Starting point is 00:10:14 you know when you've got that 12 personnel if you want to you know have him chip and then slip off a block and then be open for a screen pass but you know this defense will run some zone if you think he can go out there and find the soft spots in the zones you got some zone beaters for him yeah i think ad mitchell is a guy that really looks obvious to me if if they're able to capitalize on those shots intermediate to deep doesn't have to just be all the deep stuff that alpiers does so well but tyler warren as well i think he doesn't have a bad game last week, but we're looking for a bounce back game like he had in the first couple weeks. So, yeah, I would certainly say Tyler Warren is due for a decent game in this one. Yeah, even with Pierce out, you have Downs and Mitchell when you identify man pre-snap, and you have Warren and Pittman when you identify zone. So the Colts still have the weapons on offense to throw the ball, come out, throwing the ball pretty heavy, be at like a 70% pass rate in like the first half, and then you can get back to like a 50-50 in the second half to run this game away. But overall, I like the matchup, Colts offense versus Rand's defense.

Starting point is 00:11:14 I think they can be successful. It really just comes down to how they look in the trenches. If they're not disastrous, I think they have a good chance of putting up points in this game. But coming up, we're going to talk about the bigger of these two matchups, the Colts defense versus the Rams offense. Can they keep Matthew Stafford and Pukkah, under 28 points, I think, is probably what we're going here. Can they hold them at least down? Maybe not stop them, but hold them down just a little bit on Sunday.

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Starting point is 00:13:14 and guys it's almost the weekend i know you can smell it and it's time to look back and crown this week's MVP on who delivered powered by doordash just like you can win every saturday with door dash streaks saving more money every time you order these players delivered when it mattered most so let's go ahead and break it down for the colts no secret here daniel jones has delivered in a big way all season zach what have you seen as kind of common traits for daniel that's been able to make it so he's performing, you know, weekend and week out. Just his operation in the system and also his operation under pressure. He has been streaky under pressure.

Starting point is 00:13:51 And this is something we've never seen from Daniel Jones before at all in his career. So hopefully can keep this streak going in a big way this weekend against the Rams. Absolutely. And when the pressure was on, Jones came through big time. No hesitation, no delay. And if you've been watching this week after week, the performance wasn't a fluke because Jones is on a streak. Just like Jones delivered for the Colts, DoorDash delivers your Saturdays.

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Starting point is 00:14:43 So for me, it's this kind of a comparable matchup as the Broncos one. Two stout defenses with a lot of good juice on offense. They can make you pay any time. But I'm not going to lie. I'm pretty worried about this Rams offense. They're a team if they want to commit to the power run. If the offensive line is working, they could do that with Kyron Williams and Blake Corum.

Starting point is 00:15:04 Matthew Stafford has been a top 10 quarterback in the league for umpteen amount of years. like the guy has armed talent still like you wouldn't believe can make some of the most difficult throws possible. Has arm strength still to boot? And obviously Pooka Nakua is the type of guy where every year we're searching for this is the next Puka Nakua in the draft. And then, oh yeah, Devante Adams. Now Stafford and Adams haven't quite found their groove yet. They're only converting about like 50% of their targets right now. But it's coming. Like it's Devonte Adams. It's Matthew Stafford. They'll get it. So yeah, I'm, I'm, I don't feel great about this, especially with Kenny Moore out,

Starting point is 00:15:43 but there are some areas where it's not too bad. Yeah, I think the most obvious thing for the Colts defense in this one. I know there is a little bit of debate on, you know, go in the Bill Belichick method where you put your best corner on wide receiver two and bracket wide receiver one. I think when the discrepancy is this big, and I mean this with no disrespect to Devante Adams, I mean this with all respect to Pooka Nakua.

Starting point is 00:16:07 he is the receiver in that offense. It's not a cult situation in this Rams offense where the Colts can go to five different past catchers. It is Puka Nakua is the guy and every now and then we can get the ball to Devante Adams. Puka Nakua is everything in that passing game for the offense right now. They have the highest, they're the quickest, like, get the ball out in the league.

Starting point is 00:16:28 Stafford's thrown the ball like 2.3 seconds per dropback right now. He's not taking sacks because he's throwing the ball insanely quick. They're a 40% play action offense too. So they're doing this under their play action game is the quick game to Pooka still. It is crazy how they're operating right now on offense to avoid Stafford getting hit and to getting the ball into their superstar playmaker. So I think the two biggest things for me are you combine a little bit of what the Colts did last week where they had Ward on Ridley all game long to make sure Ridley's catches got limited.

Starting point is 00:16:58 And that worked to great effect. Ridley only had the one catch all game long. And then you also do the game plan from week one, which our poor comment section is going to be upset when. I say this because it's not going to lead to many sacks. They're going to do a lot of drop eight coverage, a lot of drop eight coverage because here's the thing, if you bring eight guys against Stafford, that ball is going to be out in 2.3 seconds.

Starting point is 00:17:19 If you bring two guys against Stafford, that ball is going to be out in 2.3 seconds. He's going to throw the ball quick regardless. That has been his MO this season. He's had the back injury all off season. He's still been effective this year, but it's because he's getting the ball out so quick. So I think overall, the way that Luana Ramos is going to view this is I need to get more hands in coverage because the pass rush, even if these guys are on point and rushing like their lives depend on it, you're probably not going to get much pressure on him regardless because of how

Starting point is 00:17:47 quick he's getting the ball out. So I think they're going to have a lot of that Dolphins game plan where they're going to drop defensive ends into coverage. They're going to be in like three down linemen looks and have dime coverage out there and get extra bodies over the middle of the field. And then at the end of the day, I'm telling Tarverius Ward like, I don't care what happens on that side of the ball. It could be a run play. I want you on Pooka Nakuwa on the run plays. Like anything you do, make sure Pooka Nakuwa is your hands are on him. If you get penalties, that's fine. Like, I don't care. Just be on Pukua. Don't let him catch the football. That is the end goal here for the Colts defense. So I think there is a way to survive this,

Starting point is 00:18:22 this Rans offense. It's a good offense, but it's not this overpowering elite offense. But it can really hurt you because they have that superstar in Kua. And Kairn Williams is a very good running back as well. But for me, I think a lot of it is just get bodies. over the middle of the field where Stafford liked to throw the football. Don't get tricked by his eyes. He's so good at looking off defenders with his eyes. Trust your zone drops. Trust your defenders around you.

Starting point is 00:18:44 And at the end of the day, Charvarius Ward, do anything you can to not get Pukunakua involved because that is a top tier wide receiver. And Matthew Stafford knows it. Every single Sunday, he knows that Pooka and Nakua is this superstar receiver. So just take him out of the game plan. And you obviously have a chance against this Rams offense. Yeah, without question. And I was going to say the same thing.

Starting point is 00:19:05 It's got to be kind of the Miami thing, the Miami game plan. You even go back to, you know, with the Jaguars, when the Colts, it seems like they couldn't even beat him at home because Trevor Lawrence was getting rid of the ball so quickly. The only way to counter that, if you know you're not going to get home to the quarterback regardless, is to mix things up in coverage. I asked Shane Stuyken about that today. I was like, you know, if you've got a guy who's getting rid of the ball quick, realistically, you're not going to get him for sacks that often. how can you how can you make things difficult and he's like without getting into it he said uh you know there's just some things you can do in coverage and that that's just going to have to be it you can't really confuse a guy like matthew staff for that much but you can probably frustrate him and

Starting point is 00:19:50 throw the unexpected at him a little bit make him again just have to think a half second longer because again the pass rush you you hope to pressure him into maybe errant throws because the dude does love to throw the ball over the middle, these deep crossers and stuff, something he's always been good at. If you get to him and put pressure on him while he's uncorking some of those, the ball can sail and hello, you got Cam Bynum for his third interception of the year. Net cross comes up big in those situations normally as well. So yeah, if you can at least get pressure on him while he's throwing, understand there's not going to be many sacks. I think he's one the least sack quarterbacks in the league right now as well, despite the pass blocking has not

Starting point is 00:20:31 been great, oddly enough. The ball's out so quick, though, you have no chance to get a sack. So it's a lot. This is what we say when we say like quarterback sacks are a lot to do with quarterback and offensive line play. It's like looking at the Colts offense right now. Daniel Jones has been sacked twice this year and the Colts offensive line's been very good, but there were a couple where he should have been sat and he got out of them. So that's one way and then also throwing the ball quick like Stafford has is another way. I'm with you, Jake. I think one thing they have to tell the pass rushers in this game if they're bringing three or four guys is don't it's not the same game plan as last week with cam ward it was he's going to hold

Starting point is 00:21:05 the ball for eight seconds just stay in your rush lanes keep him in the pocket and we can make mistakes here with stafford win as quick as possible when it's quick like don't worry about bull rushing and then holding it just go go the second the ball is snapped explode off the ball get after him and if you can get a hit on him and make him think about you that's more effective than anything here so i'm with you i think if you're going to get pressure it has to be as quick as It can't be these three second bull rushes and then holding and stalemating to keep him in the pocket because he's going to stay in the pocket. He's not leaving the pocket, you know, so you've got to get after him on those rushes.

Starting point is 00:21:41 It's really big for guys like pay and a lot to win their rushes quick in this game. And that has not always been an easy task this year. But we're going to talk about our final thoughts here. Zach has a little bit of a streak to keep up as well. So the pressure is really on me this week. I got to go with my heart and my brain here. So we're going to give you our final thoughts in this matchup coming up here in a moment.

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Starting point is 00:22:37 count, impossible becomes irrelevant. Mazda, move and be moved. All right, welcome back every dayers. We're talking Colts and Rams. We've talked about injuries, the offense, and the defense. And now we're going to give our final thoughts and let you know how this thing is going to turn out. So everyone right now, dump it. into the comments section what you think this final score is going to be all right jack so for me this is obviously a very tough matchup of the same degree of the broncos one which the colts won by one point at the very end i don't i haven't seen enough watching both the colts and rams to say the colts shouldn't win it it's a complete toss-up game to me you can tell me

Starting point is 00:23:19 the outcome whatever and i will probably believe you but you know the the colts are 3-0 I think their offense has been playing so well to this point. And I think the offense will have a better time than the defense regardless. So, like, I don't think the Colts are going to have to get super uncharacteristic in order to win this one. So for me, I'm going to give them a narrow win. I'm talking, like, 27, 24, very close win within three points. There's just not enough out there for me to say that they're not going to win it. And same for the Rams.

Starting point is 00:23:54 But, like, you know, for us, type. tie goes to the home team and the Colts are our home team. So, yeah, I'm going narrow win for them. I don't know how well Jonathan Taylor is going to do in this one. It might be just like 60 yards. But I think this is going to be one where Daniel Jones kind of has to put the offense on his back. And so far he has put the offense on his back this year. So we've got to see if that Daniel Jones magic continues.

Starting point is 00:24:16 I think they're still operating at such a high level with his marriage in this scheme and what he's doing pre and post snap that I'm having faith in this Colts offense. I think the biggest factors for me in this game. One are, again, on defense, how much can you contain Puka Nakua? Because if Nakua is getting those 100 plus yards, it's going to be tough to keep the Rams off the scoreboard. And then on offense, you know, we already kind of talked about it where it's like you've got to win the trenches or at least stalemate the trenches.

Starting point is 00:24:43 I feel really good about the Colts tight ends and past catchers against that second and third level of the Rams defense. But I do struggle with that offensive line versus defensive line. Like I go back to the Denver Broncos game where I, I don't think the Colts O-line won that matchup against the Denver Broncos D-line. That Broncos D-line was fantastic all game long, but they stalemated enough to where the Colts were able to get that victory. And I think that'll be key on the Colts offense. But then one more thing I want to throw out there because we have to add some extra time to the end of the show here with our predictions is red zone offense will be the deciding factor in this game.

Starting point is 00:25:19 100% the deciding factor. Neither of these offenses are offense. Like I know the Rams had a long touchdown. both of these offenses are ones that want to get the ball out quick, would have moved the ball methodically down the field, get in the red zone and punch it in for six. And this is where the Colts have been a bit susceptible this year, where the Red Zone offense hasn't been great.

Starting point is 00:25:38 Red zone defense has had some communication issues. So that ultimately might be the area where if the Colts lose this game, we're looking back at that Red Zone offense, almost like we had to against the Denver Broncos and said like, man, they lost because of the Red Zone woes. So we'll see if the Colts can punch it in more often than not in the red zone this week. I do feel good about the Colts being able to exchange punches, for sure, this Sunday.

Starting point is 00:26:01 The injuries concern me a good bit. But ultimately, I have to pick with my streak here. As Christian says in the comments, let's go, Zach, you better have the Colts losing. I'm 0.3 to start the year with my selections, and I'm trying to go 0 and 4 this week. So I got the Rams winning 2826. We got the Los Angeles Rams going 2826. The four touchdowns, the Rams score in the Red Zone. Colts kick a couple field goals, and that's ultimately what decides it.

Starting point is 00:26:28 But I'm hoping to move on to O and 4, Jake. I'm on fire right now, I think, in a horrible way. I'm trying to get the first overall pick with my predictions. And, yeah, sitting at O and 3 currently, I mean, 0 and 4 would be a great feeling. I'm tanking. That's what I'm doing. Absolutely. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:26:46 So do you got any bold predictions for this one? Because, like, there are a couple streaks still alive for the Colts. You know, no turnovers to this point. Daniel's only been sacked twice. Obviously, they're 3 and 0. So I'm, I think the turnover one probably falls. Yeah, yeah, they'll turn the ball over this weekend. My biggest bold prediction is I think A.D. Mitchell has a pretty big game.

Starting point is 00:27:10 I think this will be, you know, I know the Rams aren't a huge man coverage type of defense. So it does kind of work weird in this one. But I think the Colts will have some of those max protect shots to them that'll hit. So I think you'll have like 50 plus yards in this game. I picked them up in one of my fantasy leagues just so I could sell him after the week after he has a pretty big game. So you guys know that I'm kind of banking on that. Defensively, I think they're going to have very few sacks in this game for the Colts.

Starting point is 00:27:40 Just because I think the game plan is going to be that drop eight coverage. It's going to be a lot of getting hands over the middle of the field and keeping hands up and making sure that that field of vision is blocked for Stafford. So I think my biggest bets of the week are, again, it's 80 Mitchell having a pretty big game. Warren having a pretty good game for the Colts. And then defensively, I think they're going to be under like two sacks, under one sack this week for the Colts. I think those are my safest bets of the week here. So I'll give a bold prediction.

Starting point is 00:28:11 Either Warren or Mitchell will have 100 yards in this game. Okay. You know what we're still watching for actually both of these players, which is weird because one of them is a sophomore. neither have scored a touchdown in the NFL yet no they haven't ad Mitchell it's crazy because he's on game like 21 or whatever it is in his career but i would like to see one of those guys punch one in for a score this weekend uh that would be big i think for the confidence of both them especially for for mitchell it's been so long since he's been in the league a big opportunity for him so i'd love to see one of those guys punching in for six yeah and then so just to

Starting point is 00:28:43 briefly touch on the red zone stuff again i kind of wonder if that's just going to work itself out I think their red zone failures, so much of it has been kind of tied to penalties or lack thereof. Like they've had a couple that have backed them up from the low red zone. They have a couple calls where, you know, Tyler Warren and Alec Pierce have gotten mugged in the end zone and it hasn't been called. So that stuff I think we'll all even out in the wash. I don't think they have to like drastically change anything.

Starting point is 00:29:17 There hasn't been anything they've done that I'd like hate it. in the red zone necessarily like we know some more diversity is coming to the red zone whenever whenever they feel they can get tyler warren kind of unleashed in his multitude of ways in the red zone we know that will come at some point uh but yeah that and then just things will things will not stay status quo the whole time the colds definitely have got a quick committing penalties that close to the end zone but yeah i'm i'm not overly concerned there they're in the bottom half of the league, but it's a pretty thin margin.

Starting point is 00:29:52 Yeah. Yeah, I think it's definitely one of the more positive regression things that we can look at. Like, if we're talking negative regression with turnovers, positive regression can come with scoring touchdowns in the red zone. So we'll just see, again, as more games come in, we get more data to tell what this team's really going to be.

Starting point is 00:30:07 And this is one final benchmark to add to what we know this team is through one month of the season. I want to throw a more thing out there just because we're throwing things of the wall here to see what sticks, and then we'll clip it after the week and say look how smart we are if any of these hit that's the key to podcasting right now to let all you young podcasters know but one thing i have noticed is ashton dulin's getting a little bit of run on offense about 25 to 30 snaps i think through the three games right so very

Starting point is 00:30:33 few just limited package and they've essentially used him as a wide receiver tight end he's playing this sniffer tight end role he's mostly blocking they got him the one touch in week one but he has zero catches on the year, and we've seen each of the first three weeks that there's been this creative play call that Shane Stuyken's drawn up that has gotten a big gait, from the ISO run last week to the big Tyler Warren run over the, or Tyler Warren throw over the top in week two to the weird variation of Yankee in week one against the dolphins. There's always something. I think there's going to be a dueling catch in here eventually out of these runs they're

Starting point is 00:31:08 doing with him, especially with Pierce out this week. You maybe lean into those a little bit. I think there might be like a duel in play coming, like a play action off of some of these looks because they're kind of getting, it looks like they have the right looks to develop a play action off of it with how they're using him as this tight end wide receiver. So if I want to throw one thing, one more thing at the wall, I think there's going to be like a duel and catch for like 25 yards in this game. We'll see if that hits.

Starting point is 00:31:35 That'll be crazy if that one hits. But that's one more I want to throw out there. Well, every catch he makes is a big catch though. like that's that's his thing like everything he does like a 27 30 yard catch you know yeah that's true it'll be harder from where he's lined up right now because they're lining him up again like every single snap is like a sniffer tight end roll and he's blocking on most of these uh so it'd be a little more creative with it but i think they can they can build something off that i'm excited to see what they can do with that but that's all we have for today guys let us know in the comment section below

Starting point is 00:32:05 what you think going into sunday against this rams matchup either way the colts are guaranteed to finish the month of September with a winning record for the first time since 2020, trying to go to 4 and Oat in September for the first time since 2009, like many other first times we've hit this year with the Colts. So make sure you keep that eye out on Sunday for everything going on. And we want to thank you guys for making Lockdown Colts your first listen today and every day. The NFL season is finally here. So for your next listen, get double dose of Locked on NFL podcast.

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