Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - REALITY CHECK: Can Indianapolis Colts Win With THIS Version of Daniel Jones?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Quarterback Daniel Jones is certainly not the problem for the Indianapolis Colts, but his injury is limiting some things on offense. 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. Hello, everyone. My name is Zach Hickshaw, Resident Film Nerd of Horseshoe.com. as always by Jake Arthur, the boots on the ground over at roundtable sports.

Starting point is 00:00:34 Welcome to Lockdown Colts, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now, the number one sports podcast network. Today's episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use code, a locked on NFL for $20 off of your first purchase. Hello, everyone. Welcome to our post game, I guess, memorandum, I guess, of this Colts team against the Houston Texans.

Starting point is 00:00:56 The Colts dropped their second game in a row, fall to eight and four after a 20 to 16 loss to the Houston Texans. The season seems to be spiraling. The fan base is about as dumer as it gets. We're going to give you our typical postgame rundown of the day after, after we had like a sobering look at this game and kind of removed a little bit from the emotion. So we're going to dive into Daniel Jones and his play on the afternoon.

Starting point is 00:01:20 We're going to talk about the Colts offense aside from Jones and talk about this Colts defense as well. But Jake, to kick it off with Daniel Jones, you know, I listen to. back to some of our crossover, or not our crossover, some of our squad show from last night. And I think one thing I really want to correct myself on is I said that, like, Alec Pierce was the only guy who really showed up in this game. Alec Pierce, especially on offense, was the only guy who showed up and like deserved to win this game on offense.

Starting point is 00:01:47 And I do want to put a correction. I think Daniel Jones played good enough football to win this game. And I really want to add him to that group, especially with the context of what he's playing through with that fracture in his leg. You could see there's some limitations. There's some mobility issues. But I thought he played a pretty good football game. Certainly, there were some completions you want to have here and there that were missed. And there were, you know, the offense in general was a bit sluggish to start the game. But I thought he made a couple of his best throws of the season, including a couple of like just outstanding shots to Josh Downs in this game.

Starting point is 00:02:21 I thought they had a beautiful pass to the back of the end zone to Alec Pierce, where Pierce got up and got his feet down. And I thought he played some pretty fearless football against one of the best defenses in the league. So I do want to start off this segment by saying, I think Jones played better than I gave him credit for yesterday on the squad show. And I think he was certainly not a reason they lost this game. Again, you can nitpick some things.

Starting point is 00:02:46 And everything we do with quarterbacks is under this, like, extreme microscope. But if we want to say this last month of the season hasn't been good for Jones, I would probably argue that what we saw on Sunday, especially given the competition that they just faced, the number one defense in the league, best defensive line in the league, just an outstanding secondary. I thought he played one of his better games that we've seen in a month, a month plus from him, especially again with that injury he's dealing with. So for someone like me who's very critical of quarterbacks, I thought he played a pretty good game. We love an accountable king. Look at you correcting yourself. I love it. No, I would agree. You know, this has been just

Starting point is 00:03:25 not great month for the Colts, but this was Jones probably his best performance of that month. So it's a shame that it comes in a loss. But yeah, when I'm looking at it and you look at the context, I rewatched today. The completion percentage isn't great. You know, the 51.9, that's, I'm going to assume probably his worst one of this season. But there's a lot of, again, there's context in that. There was, I don't know, like four drops probably. There was one where he just killed it and threw it at Tyler Warren's feet, a theme I'm really noticing, and this may be related to his lack of mobility right now, but with him just being relegated to like just being a dropback passer at the moment, they're throwing a lot of stuff between the numbers

Starting point is 00:04:11 where the receiver is just not getting enough separation. And the defender is just ready to break it up. They're never further than an arm's length away from the, the, the, outrunner. And I think that's causing a lot of incompletions as well. So, you know, if you look at last week against the Chiefs, they rarely pushed the ball downfield. I thought they were willing to go a little further in this one. You saw, you saw Jones target Pierce downfield like three or four times at least. And it largely went very, very well for them. He had the beautiful throw to Josh downs on the sidelines. So I think they can make this work with the play action game. And, and, you know, still targeting downfield,

Starting point is 00:04:55 you have the best deep threat in the game right now. And the fact that he is tall and has a huge catch radius is always going to be incredibly invaluable for them. We've talked about you can get Tyler Warren a little more involved in the downfield game as well. I think he had a chunk play to Michael Pittman on an endbreaker. Like this, I think if he's going to be limited to not running the bootlegs and getting out

Starting point is 00:05:18 and throwing on the run and stuff, and it's just like play action, drop back, take what the defense is given you. I do think it can work. Like you said, I think he played well enough to win yesterday. There was just a lot of stuff that went along with the offense that, you know, it just didn't allow them to. And to give Houston credit, obviously, as well,

Starting point is 00:05:40 this was the number one defense and yardage end points coming in. It just feels like this game is just another clunker on top of what we've seen in the last month. But when you look at it, it wasn't the worst performance against, again, the number one defense in the league. So you have to consider your opponent in this one as well. It's not like when they were facing, you know, the Steelers, the Steelers defense had done nothing coming into that matchup. The Chiefs defense was beatable. Honestly, if their game plan against the Texans is what they tried to execute against the Chiefs, I think it would have gone a whole lot better. you know what I mean now that was a tale of three quarters versus the final one but yeah I I was pleasantly surprised with Jones and I think it was his I think it was an encouraging performance given what the offenses looked like in the last month and what we know he's dealing with physically yeah I think the only discouraging aspect of his performance is not really necessarily him it's more of what his injury does to the offense it is taken away a lot of their layups and their easy buttons just because

Starting point is 00:06:48 because the play action boot game was so massive to start the season. And we've seen Tyler Warren kind of hit of a bit of a rookie wall in the last couple weeks, as well as dealing with this injury. So he hasn't been as effective after the catch, or he's not dealing with the injuries, dealing with the stomach bug that he had on Sunday, which we'll talk about in segment two. I think he was certainly ailing from that in this game.

Starting point is 00:07:09 So it's taken away a lot of their easy buttons. Getting Jones on the move with those RPRs and RPO's just aren't really in the game plan right now. And again, just no more boot action, which was so effective. I think they ran two bootlegs in this game. And one of them was the touchdown to Tyler Warren. And the other one was the throwback pass to Jonathan Taylor. So the times they ran it were very effective.

Starting point is 00:07:30 They just can't run it as efficiently because their quarterback has a fracture in his leg. So the Colts need to find more easy buttons, whether it's getting quick screens involved, whether it's finding more underneath things just to get back into third and manageable. because for as good as I think Jones played on Sunday and they converted a couple third and like eight pluses for the first time in a couple weeks as well, which I thought was very encouraging. Notably a couple of nice throws down the field to Josh Downs, you don't want to be in that situation very often, again, especially with the quarterback dealing with this injury. So, you know, I think they need to find better ways to win on the early downs. They tried to lean on

Starting point is 00:08:08 the run game early and it was getting absolutely stuffed. They just were not winning at the point of attack and Taylor was making some weird reads and going backwards on a couple times. So yeah, they need to find an easy button now because they essentially lost their best easy button in the play action boot game and like the RPO game because of the injury that Jones is having. So that's my biggest like discouraging takeaway with the offense is they have new limitations placed on them with this injury. Now they need to do some soul searching and figure out new ways to move the ball forward and

Starting point is 00:08:40 become that very good first down team again because I don't know what the ceiling of this offense can be without being effective on first down. I think that goes for all offenses in football, but especially when you have a hampered quarterback, you need to be able to get into these third and threes, third and fours versus, you know, third and tens, third and 12s when defenses can pin their ears back. So that's the bigger concern. But overall, I think Jones played a good game. And again, I said this is one thing from the squad show that I will stand by is we're talking about a very different outcome if if Josh Downs doesn't drop that ball on third down you know like I almost certainly think they win that game if Downs doesn't drop that ball or at least they get

Starting point is 00:09:20 the lead there we'll see if the Gold's defense would have held the lead after that but I think they get the lead on that drive if Downs doesn't drop that football they would have been in at worst fourth and two probably convert that first down if he doesn't drop it and we're looking at a potential touchdown drive to take that lead so Jones had them on the move he played some good ball. I'm not too concerned about the quarterback right now, even with his injury. There are just kind of some other concerns on this roster for me right now. Yeah, and something encouraging, but also kind of makes you want to pull your hair out. In the last two games, they're 0 and 2, but one sack, zero turnovers.

Starting point is 00:09:57 That's encouraging that they're about to turn the corner, but at the same time, Rick, how do you lose both games in that instance? Well, a big part of that is, I think, what, five, three and outs in those two? That's a big part of how you lose it. So yes, no turnovers are great. You'd rather, like, if you had to put the two against each other, I'd rather have a three and out than a turnover. But still, a three and out is almost as bad as a turnover.

Starting point is 00:10:21 At least, like, field position-wise, it's not as bad. But three-and-out is pretty awful for your offense. So find ways to move the ball, but I do like they're taking care of the football. The sack issue was not a bit, like, what, one sack against Houston's defense, where they just came off a game where they had eight against Buffalo. And it was Sheldon Rankins. They didn't even let Hunter and, I mean, Anderson, had a great game, but they didn't let Anderson and Hunter wreck the game.

Starting point is 00:10:43 Yeah, so I think overall it was an encouraging thing. They just kind of got in their own way a couple of times. And we're going to talk about that here in just a second, how this Colts offense, I don't think they're that far away, but just so many times they're taking that shotgun to their foot, and they really got to clean that up going forward. The World Cup is coming back to North America for the first time since 1994, and with 48 teams for the first time ever, it's going to be massive.

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Starting point is 00:12:21 Again, download the app, make an account, and use code Locked-on NFL for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Game Time. All right, welcome back every dayers. Thank you for making Lockdown Culture first listen of the day. Thank you for making locked on the number one sports podcast network in the world. It is very much appreciated and only possible with you by our side. So let's keep this, the good times train rolling a little bit. So we talked about Daniel Jones, but there's a lot to discuss around him on the offensive side of the ball.

Starting point is 00:12:59 And when I watched the game back, you know, you would really start to get into it at the end of that last segment, how this offense is just so reliant on getting ahead of the sticks and getting those quick, easy, boring wins early in the down and distance. And they've just been coming up flat there lately, whether it's drops, whether it's run stuff, penalties, like the easy buttons that you mentioned, that they used to just consider automatic and allow them to sustain 8, 10, 12, 14 play drives, which was such a regular thing early in the season. their drives are kind of fruitless at this point and they're getting a crazy amount of

Starting point is 00:13:41 three and outs. Was it like six or seven straight three and outs dating back to last week's fourth quarter? Because they started with two or three in this game. Five. I think it was five or six. Five or six. I don't think they got up to seven. I'm going to say, I'm going to say six because it was four to end the Chiefs game and then at least two to start this one. Right. Yep. Yeah. It's just it's not indebted. of winning. You can't be going three and out, especially with the way the Colts defense is playing right now. They're very hampered. They are holding teams of three, which is good, but they are on the field for so long because they're just not getting off. They're not getting stops early in

Starting point is 00:14:18 possessions. So every possession matters for your offense, and you just can't win with constant three and outs. And that's not even talking about the other issues this offense has had. I mean, three and outs be, be darned, you know, they had a whole first quarter where they didn't score and they didn't really move the ball. What's it? They had 20 yards. after the first quarter, essentially. So you essentially waste an entire quarter there to start the game. And then after that, they have the botch snap on the fourth down. They have a couple big drops by Josh Downs.

Starting point is 00:14:47 They have just a couple of just like bad moments where like Tanner Bordellini is getting, like we should never have a situation where we're allowing Will Anderson to have a running start at our center. You've got to mix up, especially at home. Like it's one thing if it's on the road, right? If it's on the road, you, your snap counts have to. to be like the silent counts if they get a jump on your silent count it's one thing right at home you control that pace you control that tempo the crowd's not loud that that's on quarterback and on center right there there's no excuse for that guy to be getting that jump on

Starting point is 00:15:18 your center like that so there's some if i were a coach of that situation i'd be getting on everybody about that but yeah there's just so many situations where they're just like just shooting themselves in the foot and really i think when i looked back at at you know the game and and thought back about it. Alec Pierce was fantastic. Taylor was mostly good. Josh Downs was either great or awful. There was no in between from him in this game.

Starting point is 00:15:44 The couple of plays he did make were like A1, like perfect. But some of the ones that he didn't make really are just punch in air afterwards. Like his, again, his drop on third down was so, so massive. But two guys I really came out of this game questioning. And one, rightfully so because he was injured or because he was dealing with a stomach bug. But Tyler Warren and Michael Pittman Jr., just didn't show up in this game. You know, they just didn't have their best games.

Starting point is 00:16:08 Tyler Warren, maybe he shouldn't have played, honestly, because in the blocking department, he just did not have a good day at all. You could tell when he was moving out there that he just did not have his full speed and his full gear. And it just wasn't a good game from the rookie tight end. Understandably so, because he was not, you know, feeling great. But Pittman Jr. was just completely taken out of the game plan by the Texans defense. And when you're paying a guy what they're paying him, that just can't happen.

Starting point is 00:16:37 You know, he's got to be a bigger part of it. And I know that that fourth down ball was a bit high and a bit tough to catch. But when you're getting paid $25 million a year, that's a ball you got to have. You know, there's got to be these got-to-have-it moments from your star players if you want to win in the NFL. And he just didn't get it. So I think that we saw this offense early in the season when they were so lethal and so great that they were just making every single play. And we're still seeing them make some play. you know, Taylor had a couple breakaway runs.

Starting point is 00:17:06 Pierce, I mean, gosh, was making any play when the ball was thrown his way. And Downs made a couple big plays. But those couple of details that they're missing, like, again, the drop snap on fourth and one that ended up being a loss of possession there. The, you know, the couple timely pressures and sacks or in QB hits by the Texans defense where the line just didn't pick up a stunt. And then Pittman just not being this guy who's a vacuum catching up everything and war. not creating after the catch, those couple of things are the difference between scoring 30-something points in the NFL and scoring 16. So they just need to get everyone back on track. I mean, for Warren, just get over the stomach bug, obviously. I'm not going to kill him for that.

Starting point is 00:17:47 I just want to see him back and healthy again. But for Pittman, like, we can't have games like this from a $25 million per year guy, you know. And just to touch on the offensive line, I thought the offensive line was fine. I didn't really expect them to just be this dominant force against the best E-line in football. But I thought they held Will Anderson as quiet as you possibly can. Danil Hunter really wasn't much of a factor in this game on the other side. And they ran the ball fine in the second half. Like they got stuffed a couple times, but those linebackers were keying the run so heavy,

Starting point is 00:18:22 so fast and so strong that no running back was going to create in those situations. So, yeah, I think that they had the ingredients to put up points in this game on offense. had a couple of timely moments where they just shot themselves in the foot. When I, again, the extra point is another part of this, where, like, this game is an overtime if they just make an extra point early in the game. So I'm not terribly concerned with the offense after this game, but it's a running theme of the last, like, month of play where they just can't get out of their own way. And this is the difference between being the best offense in football and being a middling

Starting point is 00:18:56 offenses are these couple of moments that they're not capitalizing on. Yeah, the missed extra. point and then the extra point that maybe wasn't by the texans was kind of a crazy couple of factors into this one uh some things that really stuck out to me and you touched on a couple of them uh so you had jones had a drop snap which pretty much killed a play uh warren had that drop snap on fourth and one which would have normally been a daniel jones sneak you know with which they can't really do right now um that the warren one was so bad i legitimately was like was that did they try to fumble rusky because like it it just was so off target with the snap and it came

Starting point is 00:19:38 out of nowhere i was like what was that i was overthinking it there like i i know it's more of we're analyzing the result more so than the actual decision because calling a sneak is fine you know i'm all for calling sneak but just just just getting the tush push and and go forward with it like we don't need to do this whole motion thing just just get in the tush push and push it forward like yeah it doesn't have to be all that yeah and then so i've got i mean we're we're we're on them back in here, but I do have a couple things for you here. Do you have a problem with these things? So, Shane, winning the toss and taking it first, a lot of people, when I report the coin toss things, a lot of people have a huge problem with the Colts taking it first.

Starting point is 00:20:19 If you're not scoring on them, then yeah, I do have a problem. And again, it's kind of results-based analysis here, but you take that to win the opening script. So the only benefit you get out of taking the ball to start the game, is if you are winning that opening script. And early in the season, they were, and it was leading to immense success. But this last month of play, they have not won the opening script from a fourth, failed fourth down against, I think it was against Atlanta, to turnovers, to just bad, you know, three and out in this past game. And it puts you behind the eight ball for the rest of the game.

Starting point is 00:20:51 So if you're going to take that ball, you've got to be damn sure that you're going to win that opening script. Because if you don't, you are behind the eight ball the rest of the way. So, yeah, it's a bit of results-based analysis, which I don't really like. like, but it's kind of what you're going for with that. Like, you've got to be like on it that you're going to win that opening. To have a three and out when you take the ball, that's kind of embarrassing to me. Like it just can't happen.

Starting point is 00:21:14 Yeah, it can't happen. And then my other thing that it's probably debatable, but I didn't love. They ran the halfback draw out of shotgun on third and 10 from midfield with a blitz right there that was obviously dead on arrival, which led to a punt. It just felt like a punt on third down, you know, because like you're probably getting a few yards there at best and then are you really going to trust badgely with a field goal or are you going to go for it on like fourth and six like what so so my takeaway on that and i'll be quick at this because we do got to get to the defense um i think that that run was against it was against a lighter box that the Texans brought a blitz out the lighter box so credit to them but it was a lighter box you're trying to get at least five to six yards and then you go for it in that situation i don't think the kick was even on the table in that conversation. Yeah, I don't think the kick was even remotely on the table. I don't think they wanted to punt there, but I think it was mostly, we're going to run, we're going to get

Starting point is 00:22:10 this into fourth and four, fourth and three, and then we're going to go for it. But it just got stuffed up front with the lighter box. Texans played it well. I actually don't hate that decision too much. I have other qualms from this game, but that one I didn't really hate because, I mean, the passing game was really off at that point. You know, like the Texans were, we're, we're getting on everything, a couple big hits on Jones and a sacker already at that point. So I didn't really hate that decision too much because, again, if you get into fourth and four, fourth and three, heck, you're handing it to a running back who's averaging six yards to carry.

Starting point is 00:22:44 You know, he just hits his average against a lighter box with a guy pulling out in front, you're in go-for situation like territory. So I didn't hate it. It's just the result just wasn't what they were looking for. Yeah, it's just something I definitely noted because I just, in the moment, I was like, I don't love that. But I digress. Look at us talking offense way too much.

Starting point is 00:23:06 Coming up, guys, in just a moment, let's talk about this defense. Did they perform well? Did they not? Was it good enough to win? Maybe we'll see. But we'll talk about it in just a moment. This episode is brought to you by prize picks.

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Starting point is 00:24:41 loss for the Colts. They're first at home this season, drops them to 8 and 4 while the Jacksonville Jaguars also become 8 and 4. And now the Texans are just a game behind at 7 and 5 and hold a tiebreaker against the Colts. So not a great outcome, but now we're going to talk about the defensive side of the ball. So, like, right off the bat, Vives were poor because two plays into the defensive game, game day, Soss Gardner goes out with a calf injury.

Starting point is 00:25:09 It has, it was reported then. It's been reported late in the game and then now, you know, documented by Shane Stuyck and that it is just a calf. It's not an Achilles, luckily, and he's going to be weak to week now. So they are optimistic he'll be back before the season's up, but just go ahead and fast forward through the next few weeks when it comes the sauce gardener so with that mooney ward becomes the de facto cb one again uh this was his second game back after being on i r with the concussion and i don't know about you but he just he did not really look like himself we talked to him today and he said he didn't really he hadn't played like him himself it wasn't up to his standard

Starting point is 00:25:50 and that he needs to lock in because like when things are going on mentally for him he just does not play as well. So he, you know, admitted that he kind of needs to get it together. So when you don't have a sauce gardener out there and, you know, Charbarious Ward isn't playing like the top guy, what kind of effect does it have on you? Because, I mean, you brought these guys in to be able to take out the Nico Collins of the world. And then here you go. Collins has another nice day against the Colts. Yeah, it's really tough to talk about this defense because on one hand, they are dealing with, of their three top players on the defense, they're three impact players, they're down to like half of one of them.

Starting point is 00:26:32 You know, like Mooney Ward has just not been hidden self the last couple weeks. Hopefully you can get back to it, but having two concussions in one season takes a big mental and physical toll on you. They're down to South Gardner now. DeForest Buckner's been out. So being down your star impact players for any team is a massive letdown. I mean, look at the 49ers defense this year without Fred Warner and without Nick Bosa, they've really struggled in that side of the football for the most part.

Starting point is 00:26:57 I mean, I guess when you play the Browns, it could be fine. But for the most part, they've struggled on that side of the ball. And I think that even with those injuries they've dealt with, they've done some things well. Like, they are standing tall in the red zone, like really well these last two weeks. They have got turnovers in each of these last couple games, big time turnovers to get the ball back to their offense. And they're limiting the damage that they are facing, which I think is a vital aspect of playing defense in the NFL.

Starting point is 00:27:23 Like any time, even if you're on the field for 10 straight minutes, if you hold a team to three points, your offense has a chance to go right down the field and tie that total up in less than a minute with just like a 20-yard gain off the bat. Like I think that's a massive thing for a defense. But on the other side, they got to get off the field quicker. They have to cause more havoc and disruption.

Starting point is 00:27:45 Every drive can't go for 10 minutes. You know, it's just not sustainable this way because eventually if you're only bending and bending and bending and bending, and bending, there are going to be times when you start to break, and it's just not sustainable for a defense. So, you know, you want to commend them for the fight they have, for keeping the Colts in games where, yes, they're not fully equipped right now, and yes, they are struggling, but they are still holding teams of three.

Starting point is 00:28:10 They are getting big turnovers that are helping the Colts put points on the board, but they just got to, at some point the bending has to stop to a degree. You know, it's fine to bend at times here and there, but there has to be more havoc. There has to be more disruption, and we're just not seeing it, especially in the trenches right now. I think the run defense was mostly good on Sunday, a couple of gash plays. And I wish Mackay Blackman had a little bit better effort on that second and eight run at the end of the game where the Texans iced it. But, you know, I think the past rush is just dreadful right now. And it's highlighted by Laotu Latu just still kind of being this fine player.

Starting point is 00:28:50 Quitty pay is just not an impact. rusher, Taiquan Lewis, Sansaubucom, not playing up to their contracts. I mean, really the best rushing you're getting is from Atatamiwa, Atabore, and JT2 and Maloow. But those guys are still kind of like fine-ish rushers at best. So you're just, they're just not pressuring quarterbacks. And something you and I talked about before we started recording too is like even on the plays where the quarterback's holding it for like four seconds back there and these guys are finally getting their wins and closing out on the quarterback, they're missing.

Starting point is 00:29:22 tackles and they're not getting the quarterback like at least if you're going to have the quarterback hold it that long at least get him on the ground after that but we aren't seeing that i mean the only guy who could finish in the backfield was chris warmly on one of his like four snaps out there um so yeah the pass rush needs to be better um i i i think again there are some commendable aspects with this defense but is it like winning football to a degree yes but also to a degree it does put a lot more pressure on the offense. You know, the offense only had three possessions in the second half in this past game.

Starting point is 00:29:56 And while you want them to get points on the board and not completing a fourth down in the red zone on one of those is just not what you want from your offense, that's not sustainable play. So, yes, holding them to three a lot is good, but I'd rather get the stops a little bit quicker, or at least if you're going to hold them to a 50-yard kick instead of a 20-yard kick, you know,

Starting point is 00:30:18 so they can get off the field a little bit. quicker. So I think there are some things this defense could be doing better. Lou could just mix in even more just pressure looks and stuff just to get on. But then again, they're getting beaten man coverage. It's hard to blitz when you're getting beaten man coverage. So I don't know what the answer is right now. They're just hampered on defense. They don't have an impact pass rusher. Their top outside corners are either hurt or not playing like it. So maybe just holding the three a couple times and hoping the offense can get back to scoring, at least a point per drive or a couple points per drive is the way to go um i'm not sure what the solution is

Starting point is 00:30:55 right now but at least they're holding teams the three like again you're 20 points allowed and 23 points allowed like that's fine in the NFL uh but it just wasn't enough to get the wins the last two weeks yeah no doubt so real quick for those on badgly watch i was just looking through my phone no tryouts today so far for the colts maybe tomorrow we'll see but they did not have any tryout today. But yeah, for the defense, what really has been sticking out to me lately, the pass rush is eventually getting there, but not quick enough. Your starting pass rush has not been good enough. And like you said, when they're, they can have the quarterback dead to rights and they're just still squirming out of it. You know, you and I, again, talk about

Starting point is 00:31:41 Straub takes a lot of sacks under normal circumstances. Like they're even getting hands on them it's like they're taking a poor angle or just they're they're not getting a good enough i don't know what it is it's like how do you get to the quarterback this often and not bring them down so there's that and then when the ball does come out in breaking routes are murdering them like they are not handling them well now given strout is always like that has been his number like he is such a shanahan style quarterback that that has been his like if he if he could like forgot how to throw or if he had a switch throwing hands he could still throw in breaking routes he's always been so good at in breaking routes timing routes against man coverage it has been his bread

Starting point is 00:32:23 and butter since he was born i'm sure playing quarterback uh so stroud definitely made it look terrible in this game uh where the defense i thought looked a little bit better against mahomes with that game plan but yeah stroud definitely diced them up when they tried going man but again you had this whole game plan all week where we have our two corners on the outside playing press man getting on them bringing some pressure against drought and forcing his process to speed up and then you lose one of those corners and you just lose that ability to play man at a high level and it's like shoot like what do we what do we do so it's tough man injuries injuries are a huge reason why teams lose the NFL yeah like when you lose a guy like sauce that early in the game and then you like

Starting point is 00:33:05 that was your game plan and then you have to try and fit someone into that role because it wasn't just ward you know like blackman and jones played quite a bit as well so you just kind of have to roll with the punches with the same game plan um but real quick i did want to mention some guys that really stuck out to me i thought can bynum was really good uh he had a really nice run stuff tackle for loss uh early in the game and then he obviously had the interception which was big uh in a one possession game that stuff is incredibly invaluable uh chris warmly you mentioned i he wasn't just a free rusher he had a really quick move on on the guard and beat him and got quickly to stroud uh and how many times even when the colts do get sacks do we see someone get to him quickly very rarely

Starting point is 00:33:51 it seems got him on the ground at least so it was a it was a quick win which is rare for the colts yeah so yeah i i wanted to at least applaud him for that for sure yeah and also i think jermaine pratt's played some good football absolutely this past month or so especially i think he's been the best linebacker on the team the last month or so i think he's played some good ball um but outside of that yeah i think a lot of room to improve across the team uh i still want to throw in the special teams was dreadful on sunday it just can't have games like that i didn't pay attention to it until you mentioned it last night on the show you weren't kidding like every kickoff return got them nothing like they would have just been so much better

Starting point is 00:34:34 getting touchbacks yeah it was uh it was it was it was just a brutal game uh where you need your your team to come out with more energy and more uh inspired and more inspired and more inspired and maybe we'll talk about this more tomorrow about the Shane stiking of it all Jake but that is all we have for today we run a little bit late uh on this episode when i thank you guys for making locked on colt your first listen of the day of the NFL season's full swing for you so for your next listen get a double dose of the lockdown NFL podcast Tyler the madman rolling gives you a shot of espresso to start your football day while tony wiggins takes you into the bar for the smoothest breakdowns to end the day. Find locked on NFL on YouTube

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