Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - STILL UNDEFEATED: Daniel Jones Leads Indianapolis Colts Past Helpless Tennessee Titans

Starting point is 00:00:00 Daniel Jones and the Indianapolis Colts keep the offense rolling against a terrible Tennessee Titans team. 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.

Starting point is 00:00:25 Thank you all for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colt. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every single day. This episode is brought to you by Mazda. Like our players, we sweat every single detail because when you make every move count, pulling off the unexpected is only the beginning. Stay tuned later for the highlights in this week's moving the game forward.

Starting point is 00:00:47 Mazda move and be moved. Hello, everyone. My name is Zach Hickshire Resident Film Nerd of Horseshoehuddle.com. And my partner, Jake Arthur, is our credentialed boots on the ground for roundtable sports. Make sure you're checking out Jake at his new location over there. We have an action-packed show for you guys today. We're going to talk all about the Colts QB1 shining yet again in another regular season game. That's three in a row for Daniel Jones.

Starting point is 00:01:11 And I think anyone who has the question still has to kind of get over it at this point. He is for real this year. So we're going to talk all about Daniel Jones, get into the offense, get into the defense, and all things this Tennessee Titans game before we put a bow on that week three game. and start transitioning over to week four against the Los Angeles Rams. But before we get into all that, there were a couple injury updates that Shane Stuyken gave Jake and the other beat reporters today. One is that wide receiver, Alec Pierce, has entered the concussion protocol.

Starting point is 00:01:43 We have seen Colts players enter the protocol this year, and they haven't cleared within the week. So it does put his status in doubt for this Rams game. Hopefully he's able to come back within a week or two, though. The Colts are pretty stacked at wide receiver, so it's not the most concerning thing. but Alec Pierce is a huge part of this offense. It would certainly hurt to not have him for this big matchup. And then cornerback Kenny Moore, he's not going to be placed on IR with this calf injury as of right now,

Starting point is 00:02:08 but it does appear he's going to miss a couple weeks. The Colts did sign Mike Hilton to the practice squad in a corresponding move. Chris Lamonds is also an option to get called up. Mackay Blackman could play in the slot as well. So the Colts do have a couple options in there to play slot corner, but a big blow for the Colts defense for these next couple weeks, not having Kenny Moore out there, one of their best overall players and started this last game with a pick six.

Starting point is 00:02:34 So a huge playmaker for the team. But that's your quick injury update. And Jake, before we get into Daniel Jones, one thing I really wanted to throw to you and just kind of bounce back on my comments during last week is we talked all last week about how this Colts team going into this Tennessee Titans game, if they want to show that they're for real this year,

Starting point is 00:02:54 and they want to show that they're, not the same old nine and eight eight nine type team they've been the last couple years they need to take care of business against the tennessee titans being you know they basically got to show that they're in a different class of team than what the tennessee titans are and it was kind of evident from what the by the end of the first quarter that these were two different classes of teams like the colts were far ahead and i think it shows just again this colts team does feel so much more different than the cult scenes we've seen the last four or five like since the philip river season I think this Colts team is showing that they can maybe be an equal to that river season or maybe even better than that river season because they're not just taking these lower teams lightly.

Starting point is 00:03:36 They are taking care of business and winning by two, three scores. Yeah, absolutely. They're not taking anyone lightly. They're not falling victim to trap games. I mean, no team intends to do that or take anyone lightly. But we have seen the Colts go into matchups that they should handily win and just go in completely lifeless. They took care of the Dolphins by, what, 25 points? They took care of the Titans here by 21 points.

Starting point is 00:04:01 I'm not good at math, but I think I'm right there. Like, they are killing the bad teams. And then with the Broncos, which we would consider a quality win, they went toe to toe with a reigning playoff team and beat them by a point at the end. So they are, like, our expectations of them and what we think of them, it's becoming a mirror image out on the field of what their results actually are in these matchup so i think they are for real uh they're they're showing that they are a team that is going to show up and be competitive and be tough well coached and they're going to execute that

Starting point is 00:04:35 that really good coaching as well i don't recall a colts team where you can see i don't recall a colt's team in so long where you can actually see the game plan and what is being called in that it's just being executed to such perfection by the players like you don't always see players and coaches with such synergy like they are now and it's it's so good to see because we were like it was getting to the point where we had all got we were all optimistic about Shane Steichen uh over you know over his first couple years we hoped the Lou Anarumo stuff would work but we're like eh you know if the Colts lay an egg this year then Shane's might maybe out uh that would make Lou Anuromo out as well and it's just like eh but the play calling has been so good

Starting point is 00:05:22 and you're seeing the players buying into it, it's clearly being projected to them in a digestible manner to where they're all speaking the same language and they're seeing things the same way. So, yeah, the things we're seeing the Colts do both as coaches and players seem sustainable over the course of the year, which is good because they do have some really tough matchups coming up.

Starting point is 00:05:43 Yeah, and I think these first three games have established that we need to hold the Colt to that playoff caliber standard the rest of the season. We don't hold them to a 9 and 8, 8, 8. nine standard. I think we hold them to the standard of them being one of those teams that can compete with the top 10 teams in football, you know, being a team that can compete with other playoff teams. So like the standard like this week, for instance, shouldn't be like, oh, the Rams are going to kill them. The standard should be like, we're a good team too. Let's come out here

Starting point is 00:06:10 and compete with them and, you know, it changed some good punches with a Super Bowl contending team like the Rams. But I don't want to go too far ahead into next week because we do have to talk about Daniel Jones. Daniel Jones has been the biggest storyline to start the year for the Colts. Another fantastic day, although it wasn't as gaudy as his first two weeks. Still another great day from him 18 of 25, 72% completion percentage, 228 yards, a 9.1 yards per attempt. He's well over nine yards per attempt this year, which is, yeah, which is essentially an MVP caliber yards per attempt for the course of a season. So like that could take a whole yard back and he'd still be in the top hat, like the top

Starting point is 00:06:50 10 of the league. So he is just dealing at a high level right now, had the one touchdown, no turnovers yet again, no sacks taken for the first time this year, had a couple scrambles as well. Daniel Jones is just dealing at all levels of the field. And I think even the most optimistic fans, and trust me, we saw a lot of optimistic fans throughout the offseason when we were not the most optimistic, Jake. I don't even know if there was even the most optimistic people that could have projected

Starting point is 00:07:17 this kind of start for him. because again like even if you thought he could be a guy that could get the Colts to the playoffs he's playing at like an MVP caliber through three games for the Colts now the competition's going to step up there's eventually going to be a turnover there's going to be some bad moments so I don't expect him to keep this again if he's keeping a 9.7 yards per attempt on the course of the year he's winning MVP because that's an MVP thing but through three weeks that's the caliber of play he's given the Colts I don't know if anyone could have projected this And he's just fitting like a glove in this offense.

Starting point is 00:07:50 And he is like the most important piece to what is happening right now. And he's just playing some really, really good football. Yeah. And he's doing some of the things we really liked that Anthony Richardson was doing. Like some of the main reasons we wanted Anthony to be the quarterback initially. He's lumping all that in as well. Like I don't really see any huge warts in his game right now. Like he's coming up.

Starting point is 00:08:13 Number one, statistically he's there. I think he's over 70%. this year over nine yards per attempt he has had at least a hundred pass a rating each game i think he's probably averaging about 250 yards three touchdowns on the ground like he's doing seemingly everything well and that's all physical stuff that's not just everything he's doing at the line and all the checks and getting guys into the right spots and identifying pressure because he's obviously doing that too third downs awesome had a couple of huge ones on sunday One of them was a 29-yard completion of Josh Downs to get them into the red zone.

Starting point is 00:08:51 And then another one was where he slipped a couple defenders who were right there in his grill to go, you know, there was nothing but grass after those defenders slipped by. So he had a 17-yard run. I think it was third and seven. So he's avoiding sacks, which I didn't think what happened. Like, I thought if he went under pressure, he would probably crumble at times. Like, he could be good. He could be good when things were set up well for.

Starting point is 00:09:16 him, but I figured if there was a bunch of pressure in his face and stuff, he wouldn't do well, but he has thrived under constant pressure. Like, the offensive line is holding up really well, but he's getting blitzed a lot. Like, he has just stood up, like head and shoulders beyond the wildest dreams of, like you said, what anyone would have thought that he was going to do here with the Colts. Yeah, no, for sure. And I would love to devote a whole segment to him here, but I feel like we've said all the praise we can about him through three weeks.

Starting point is 00:09:46 He's doing everything at a high level. This past week in particular, I think the sack negation was a huge aspect of it, where the Titans didn't get many pressures. But when they did, he didn't make them count for them. He was able to just elude them in the backfield, create plays down the field for the offense and keep them on schedule. So every question that you have for Daniel Jones this year, he's answered. And he's going to have bigger tests coming up than just the Titans and the Dolphins.

Starting point is 00:10:11 But he was great again. So a really, really good Denver Broncos defense. So there's no reason to think that he can't carry this forward. So, yeah, I mean, so far this year, he's answered every single question. And I don't really have many critiques about him right now. He's playing great football. So we're going to move on to the rest of the offense because that's probably more intriguing. It's almost boring when you're getting greatness from the quarterback because it's just like, cool.

Starting point is 00:10:35 Like, he's just doing everything well. But we're going to talk about the offense where there are some issues with the rest of the offense. Like this was maybe like a B, B plus game from them. But still, they kept the puns to a minimal. They scored 41 points. It's hard to hate on what this offense is doing. And again, Jones is just leading a surgical attack. We're going to talk about that here in just a second.

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Starting point is 00:11:54 All right, welcome back every dayers. We are talking about the Colts 41 to 20 win over the Tennessee Titans that pushed them to 3 and 0 on the season. We just gushed about Daniel Jones, as you knew we would. We have obviously been huge fans of Daniel Jones here for the last several months. We have never doubted him one bit. at all we can we can we can definitely cut up some clips to make it seem like we're the biggest in we do a daily podcast guys we can be we can fit anything that we need to fit for sure but no we were not the most optimistic about jones and he's proved us wrong in so many ways this year yeah without a

Starting point is 00:12:31 doubt so let's talk about the rest of the offense though you know i mentioned at the top the just the marriage of play calling and execution from the players was just chef kiss i thought uh even just the most simple things. I thought they executed it at a really high level. And then the players went the extra mile of expounding on that. Like Tyler Warren and Michael Pitman Jr., for example, I think Jonathan Taylor as well, both had a few catches where they were able to churn out extra yards and get first downs out of it. So I guess let's start with the offensive lines. I think you dove in on Matt Gonzalez again. And the guy is just playing out of his mind, as are the guys around him, too. Yeah, the offensive line is playing some really good football right now. And it's not

Starting point is 00:13:10 like every single player's but perfect. You know, Ryman had his struggles in the first two weeks against a pretty tough back-to-back weeks of good pass rushers, especially with the Denver Broncos with Nick Benito, one of the best pass rushers in football. So it was a little nice for him to get back to being like a lockdown left tackle against not the best pass rushing group there with the Tennessee Titans. But, you know, Tanner Borlienes had his issues in past protection as well. But you kind of get that coverage because Quentin Nelson is Quentin Nelson. And Matt Consolves has been fantastic in pass blocking. Then you get to the run game.

Starting point is 00:13:44 Consolves hasn't been the best run blocker, but Tanner Bordellini is so great at run blocking right now that it covers up there. So it's really an offensive line where you don't have five perfect players, but you have five guys that compliment each other well, cover each other up well, and they're just physical and smart and heady and they're well coached. So, yeah, I think this offensive line, it's far from perfect. Like you don't have five all pros up front.

Starting point is 00:14:06 You have the one all pro, obviously, and Quentin Nelson. but you know it's a sum of its parts type of thing and these guys are all playing together really well and we saw it on Sunday where even if the run game wasn't clicking early they stuck with it they were able to get on top of it in the second half and Jonathan Taylor was able to break free for a huge gain that put that game away so yeah this offensive line has been consistent to start the year and that's exactly what Daniel Jones needed and I think that's why we're seeing him play so confident is that offensive line is picking him up and they are covering for him. And then he knows that, like, hey, maybe there's like twice a game where I need to bail them out

Starting point is 00:14:43 because they're going to bail me out the rest of the game with how good they're playing. But those two times are on me to get out of those situations. And that's a comforting thing for a quarterback where it's like I don't need to make 20 plays a game where I'm going to get hit back here. But those two times where maybe they have a mistake, I have to get their backs. And that's what you get with that 17-yard scramble he had. So, yeah, I think the whole process has just been really good on offense, especially with the offensive line and the quarterback play,

Starting point is 00:15:11 just working in tandem together in pass protection and then just grinding it out in the run game to get Jonathan Taylor those big second half runs. Yep, so that's no sacks on Sunday. That's two sacks total on the season, one each in each of the first two games. The blocking, you know, the peripheral blocking guys like Tyler Warren has been outstanding. Jonathan Taylor has really stepped it up in past,

Starting point is 00:15:34 pro. So as a unit, just the blocking has been really, really good. And you had mentioned there, it springboarded Jonathan Taylor for yet another big performance. 17 carries for 102 yards. Three touchdowns also added 16 yards on three carries. So Zach, let me tell you, let me take you on a trip down memory lane. This is Jonathan Taylor's first three touchdown performance since week 16 against the Titans last year. It's been a while. Was it, wait, against the Titans last year is what it was? He had three touchdown? He just, he just did against the Titans in week 16 last year. I thought I saw, I heard the broadcast say since 2022 and I was like, I swear he had three

Starting point is 00:16:10 touchdowns against the Titans last year. But yeah, no, he's, he, he just runs all over this division. And you know what's crazy about Jonathan Taylor. This is my only quick thing I have to say about him. He's historically much better in December than he is in September throughout his entire career with the Colts. He usually starts slow, yeah. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:16:27 So what's he going to be doing come September this year if he stays healthy? It's, it's crazy to think. But one thing I really want to say about this. offense before we get out of this segment. And I just wanted to make sure I got this point out there was this has been the most diverse attack we've seen from the Colts in my time covering the team, even going back to the Andrew Luck season. And when I talk about diversity of attack, it's not just the players. It's just how they're using the players this year. We look at Shane Stuyken's history in the NFL, and he's traditionally been a 70 plus percent 11 personnel guy. We go back to his year

Starting point is 00:17:00 with Gardner Minchu of the Colts. They were in 11 personnel, one tight end and one running back like 78% of the time. That's like third in the NFL. This year, the first time in Stuyken's career, that's dropped below 70. They're at 62% of that. And what we're seeing is they've been really heavy on 12 personnel. They've been really heavy on 13 personnel. They're third in the NFL and 13 personnel usage. They're not running it well out of 13 personnel, but they're still mixing it in to add that change up. In 12 personnel, they're the best team EPA per play out of 12 personnel in the whole league right now. Daniel Jones is the best, is a, is a, the seventh best passer out of 12 personnel.

Starting point is 00:17:36 They're throwing it at a 60% clip in 12 personnel this season. Like no other team comes close to that in terms of their pass rate out of it. And then we're just seeing them lean into these things that work. So like in against the Broncos, it was all these like man beaters and in pre-statt motion to get Josh Downs isolated. This past week it was we're going to call naked boot legs like 10 times against the Titans. We're going to move the pocket as much as possible because their young edge rushers just have no clue what they're doing right now.

Starting point is 00:18:02 against the Dolphins in week one, all these double moves to get up the field. So you have this diversity of attack in terms of personnel, diversity of attack in terms of playmakers on the outside, like this past game, we saw heavy Alec Pierce in the first half. We saw some Josh Downs in the first half, some Tyler Warren, second half, all Jonathan Taylor, all Michael Pittman Jr. And they can just throw anybody at you. A.D. Mitchell didn't have a catch in this game, but he had his impact late in the game with drawing a pass interference. So it's such a diverse attack on offense right now with so many different looks. Like you get fullback stuff from Tyler Warren. You get 13 personnel the next play.

Starting point is 00:18:39 Like you have no clue what's coming at you on a play to play basis. So for a defense right now, I just don't know how you approach this. Like if you blitz, they have guys who can beat man. If you sit back in zone, they have stuff. If you want to just dare them to run the ball on you, they will run the ball on you. You know, like it's just a well-oiled machine right now on offense. and I'm scared for opposing defenses right now. Like, I feel bad for them because it's tough to game plan against this.

Starting point is 00:19:06 I don't know how I would, like, I like to approach my film study stuff on, like, how I would game plan against this. And I have no clue how I game plan against the Colts right now. They just have so many ways to attack you. And once they find one weakness, they're going to hit it 100 times on you. How many bootlegs did we see on Sunday, Jake? It was at least, and every single time it was a productive play. It's like, this offense is. a well-oiled machine from the play calling to the diversity of options to the offensive

Starting point is 00:19:33 line the quarterback it is just all clicking right now and i hope this continues for the whole year this would be so much fun if it does but it's been a great stretch to start the season yeah please don't feel bad for defenses we've we've waited a while for times like this around here to see a real sustainable offense that wasn't just quarterback by andrew luck so celebrate it a little bit you know give yourself a break sack because it's actually fun to watch One small thing to kind of piggyback off what you were saying that I'm kind of intrigued for, let's say Alec Pierce misses this game. He's got a history of concussions. It might be best to sit him this week, although they're going to take it on a case-by-case basis.

Starting point is 00:20:14 They're going to do what they do. But if A.D. Mitchell starts against the Rams, I don't think they'll be timid about using him heavily in a role that they would have used for Alec Pierce. like if you're out there you're going to be counted on to be productive so knowing all those things that you just said and the way they can attack defenses with different ways ad mitchell could do some stuff that alec Pierce can't now vice versa but ad mitchell is is a unique player in his own right with the rams struggles at corner and again i don't want to get too much into our pre pregame look at that but with the rams like issues at outside corner like a pillow witherspoon went down for the year I think the Colts are going to go max protect on a handful of snaps in this game

Starting point is 00:20:56 and just isolate A.D. Mitchell against whoever the corner is and get productive gains on that. So I could see a game where Mitchell has 100 yards this upcoming week because they're going to do a lot of that max protect stuff to get chunk plays, especially if we see them coming off a turnover. But again, I don't want to preview the game too much. We have the whole week for that. We're going to talk about the Colts defense now coming up in the second and how it maybe wasn't the sexiest game from the Coles. defense, but they operate the way they need to to get the blowout victory. We're going to talk about that here in just a second.

Starting point is 00:21:29 This episode is brought to by Mazda's moving the game forward. For those who believe it's not just about playing the game, it's about redefining it. There are moments that do more than put points on the board. They move crowds, move culture, and keep moving the game forward. This week's moment that moved the game forward is, drum roll. Zach, I didn't tell you this beforehand, but I'm putting you on the clock now. Tell us about that halfback ISO play that Jonathan Taylor broke for the long touchdown.

Starting point is 00:21:55 I must say it has to be the halfback ISO play. I mean, gosh, what a gorgeous play. We're going back to 1970s football. We're getting Tyler Warren in the backfield. We're getting an ISO to the left. Warren clears the lane. And then it's all Jonathan Taylor from there, forcing three broken tackles en route to a long touchdown run.

Starting point is 00:22:11 That has to be moving the game forward because that moved the game into week four because that clinched it for the Colts in week three. Jonathan Taylor with a huge run. We've had some good ones this year so far. These Mazda commercials are doing as well. When you follow what moves you, the unexpected is only the beginning. And just like there's more to every highlight,

Starting point is 00:22:30 there's more to a Mazda vehicle. Mazda, move and be moved. And you guys know the NFL season is here, and that means that Fandall is making sure that you're ready for kickoff with a can't miss offer. Check this one out. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins,

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Starting point is 00:23:13 Download the Fandwell app now by visiting Fandul.com to get started. That's fandle.com to place your first five. bet. Welcome back every dayers. We are talking the Colts 41 to 20 victory over the Tennessee Titans to send them to three and oh and to send the Titans into purgatory, perhaps the first team to fire their head coach. But I digress.

Starting point is 00:23:37 So let's talk about the defensive side of the ball here, Zach. I don't think the defense is playing poorly by any measure. They're not at the same level of the offense right now. They're getting by. They're doing their thing. but I would say there are some things to clean up. So before we finish off with like the stuff we really, really liked, what's got your attention,

Starting point is 00:23:58 maybe in an opportunity to clean some things up? I just think overall in the defense right now, the scheme is so much further ahead of the talent they have there. And I don't really know what the solution really is to that. Maybe if you're sitting at 5 and 2, 6 and 2 at some point this year, then you can make a trade or go that route because I just think this edge rush room needs a little bit more juice and I just don't know where they're going to get it from on this team. I think the linebacker room could use some help. I mean, corners with the way they all

Starting point is 00:24:27 keep going down. I just think the overall talent level in the defense is a bit of a sore spot for this Colts team. And that's where we're seeing some issues where it's like Xavier and Howard getting these penalties every single week where we're seeing, you know, linebackers getting sucked up in play action and then turning into 30 yard gains. And then the edge rush just not getting home in a game against backup offensive linemen where the Titans were in throw mode for 70, 80% of that game, like five sacks is good, but the pressure rate should have been much higher and it should have been a much better day for your pass rush being able to pin their ears back.

Starting point is 00:25:02 So I just think the overall talent on defense is just going to be a concern all season long. They do have some stars that can carry them forward in Mooney Ward. I got to fix that saying Mooney Ward now. Cam Bynum, Nick Cross, Kenny Moore, DeForest Buckner, Grover Stewart. Like those guys are going to carry them through a lot of matchups like they did this past weekend. But, you know, those weak spots are going to be areas where good offenses are going to attack, even if your scheme is really good. But overall, I think this was a fine performance for the defense.

Starting point is 00:25:31 I think the scheme was exactly what they needed against a young quarterback where it was, Ben don't break for most of the game, throw exotic looks on passing downs to muddy the windows for him, bring some pressure when you have to and then just making sure that this Titans offense had to go 15 plays down the field on you because they're so broken operationally compared to the Colts

Starting point is 00:25:52 odds are they were not going to go 15 place on you which they I mean they settle for three field goals of 57 plus yards in this game like they just they're just not in a good place operationally so that's kind of what your approach needed to be if you're the Colts defensive staff so I think this defensive staff I have so much

Starting point is 00:26:09 trust in because they're just doing everything well And it's not like a Gus Bradley situation last year where there were some games where Bradley looked overmatched. I don't think Anirumo ever really looks overmatched so far this year. I think if we ever have issues, it's just the talent they have on defense. You know, Bacchi making a bad play, who is a career special teamer, camera grown, missing tackles, which is happening quite a bit. Xavier Howard penalties. And we can say bench them. Like, I trust me, I say it on Sunday as well, but like, then we're going to be benching them for the guys they beat out in training camp, you know?

Starting point is 00:26:41 So I think it's just going to be tough on defense. They put a lot of eggs in the offensive basket. And as long as the offense is clicking like this for most of the year, the defense doesn't need to be a top 10 unit. They just need to hold teams down like they did this past weekend and keep them off the board, especially if the Colts offense is going to score 41 each week. But I think they're good at taking away turnover. They're taking the ball away. I think they're good at mixing their looks and understanding how to play opponents. It's just I really want like one more guy that we're not expecting to step up.

Starting point is 00:27:11 And one of those guys could be Laotu Latu when he's fully healthy. You know, I think that could be a big one there. Or, you know, Mackay Blackman, if he can take a big step, or one of these linebackers to turn their play around. That would be huge for this defense. But overall, I think they're fine. I'm not really terribly concerned. They have star players that can carry them a little bit,

Starting point is 00:27:30 but it's just not a well-oiled machine like the Colts offense right now where everybody's clicking. On defense, it's like half and half. Yeah, I'm pretty eager to see Jailen Carly's get back and hopefully a couple weeks and see what that looks like. Because I think Cammer Grown has some talent, but I think he plays very overzealous at times. You know what I mean?

Starting point is 00:27:49 And you obviously know what I mean. And you would mention, you know, the corner's dropping like flies. And, you know, in an effort to have perhaps the oldest defense possible, but one they can trust, you know, Kenny Moore, maybe out a couple weeks of this calf injury, they bring in Mike Hilton to the practice squad. Maybe he'll be ready to play within a couple weeks here. uh that was lou anerumos nickel there in uh in cincinnati all four years that hilton was there

Starting point is 00:28:16 lu anirumo was his his coordinator so we'll see how quickly he's able to get uh that's another 30 year old defensive back uh they're very much building this secondary for like the here and now other than they planned i think have ward here for a couple years and buying them for the long haul obviously but some of the guys are plugging in they want to make this year count as much as possible a couple a couple guys i wanted to highlight real quick who had real positive days grover stewer obviously had that that blocked kick near the end of the first half but he also had a play to really kill the screen pass that cam cam cam ward drop back and was looking for the running back grover saw that and got right in the way and just totally mess the

Starting point is 00:28:59 play up for ward he just he spiked the ball i think the penalty came out of it too so really good plays by Grover. I thought Mooney Ward had a really good day harassing the ball. I know he got flagged for, I think it was holding at one point. But he had officially two past breakups on the day. I think he just did an awesome job there. And then let's see. Okay, so here's one I want your opinion on.

Starting point is 00:29:26 So this guy, I think mostly what I've seen on Twitter with Laiatu, Latu. I think people were down on his performance. I actually when I watched it back today I thought he had a pretty good day I think whenever he doesn't get home for sacks people are going to kill him for it but he had like four or five pressures he had that play where he killed that that old jet sweep in the backfield like he does have to get home for sacks absolutely but he is affecting the game still right now yeah he's not the biggest issue in the edge room right now The biggest issue is Sampsonabucom. You're just not getting anything out of him, and he's a $10 million guy. Like, you're literally getting zero out of a $10 million guy. I don't think Law 2 is nearly as good as what PFF had him at this week, but I thought he was fine.

Starting point is 00:30:19 I really don't think he was too much of an issue out there. It's just when you have other pass rushers who are not playing up to their pay this year, and actually speaking of that, Quitty Pay is also struggled as a pass rusher. So those two guys not really playing up to their dollar amount, it puts more pressure on a layout to Latu to finish sacks because those guys aren't winning rushes at all. So I think more of the issue isn't really lot to. It's just he has to be a super superstar of like Miles Garrett's degree to cover up the other issues they have on the defensive line in the pass rush game. And again, it's unfair to him, but it's just what the Colts did when they brought back Ebukom, which. Look, if we were wrong about the end of Daniel Jones all off season,

Starting point is 00:31:05 I feel like we were very right about Samson-Ebucom coming back because it's just, it was the most obvious outcome, right? It's just not really working at all this year. And he's playing too many snaps. And it's funny is because, like, I feel like I need to not lump in Taekwon Lewis with him because Taekwan-Lew-S was fine, and he's playing the snaps he should be playing.

Starting point is 00:31:24 It's just, Hibu-Kom should not be playing the amount of snaps he's playing right now. But, yeah, L'Au-Rat too needs to get his sacks. He needs to finish plays. pressure is good, but we got to finish some of these. I'm not terribly concerned about him, but I do want to reiterate your point real quick that I thought Grover and Mooney were the best players on the Colts defense in this game,

Starting point is 00:31:44 like by far in a way, the best players in the Colts defense. And quickly before we get out of here, because I guess we're doing our trading camp, you know, way that we did in training camp, quarterback offense defense. We do have to get a little bit in on special teams here. Real quick, you have kickoff coverage. I thought the kickoff coverage was really good in this game.

Starting point is 00:32:02 Probably their best game of kick-all coverage I've seen under Brian Mason. Also, two weeks in a row where you could tell a Brian Mason coaching point has changed the game, where the leverage call in last week where they said that Dalton Tucker and, you know, how they talked about that throughout the week and Dalton Tucker noticed that, and that's what got them the extra yards to take the game-winning field goal. And then on Grover Stewart's block, it certainly looked like a coaching point to have Stewart jump across the long snapper's face, to get to the other side of the line where that guy was kind of loafing, and then Grover shot the gap and blocked the kick.

Starting point is 00:32:36 So Brian Mason, a guy that we've had, you know, the special teams has not been great here since he's come to Indy, and we've rightfully kind of criticized him. I think he's honestly having his best year ever as a coach with the Colts. Yeah, I know the Colts were really kind of waiting to see how the league was going to treat the kickoffs. And it didn't start out great. Even the first one, I think the Titans, you know,

Starting point is 00:32:59 Shemir Dike returned the first kickoff for a big one. And I was like, oh, God, here we go again. But they really clamp down. And in the return game as well, I have been getting kind of down on Anthony Gould recently, just like, what's he doing for you? I thought he had a really big performance. Right now, both your kickoff returners, Ashton Doolin, and Anthony Gould are averaging over 30 yards per kick return right now. So they're getting the team in good field position.

Starting point is 00:33:27 it looks like they're starting to understand and get their feet under them about how kickoffs are going to go this year as well. And then as you mentioned, field goal block. It feels like it's all starting to come together a little bit. And this is a group that's been dealt some blows with their special teams.

Starting point is 00:33:45 Like Hunter Woller was probably going to play a good deal. And they've just had all these guys that we've talked about coming in and out, especially on defense, we're probably going to play some decent roles on special teams that they've had to kind of just shove and figure things out on the go. But a few games into it, it seems like they're kind of figuring it out. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:34:04 So again, everything's just kind of clicking for this cold team. They took care of business against a bad Tennessee Titans team. And coming up the rest of this week, guys, we're going to talk about the big matchup with the Los Angeles Rams, a team that is going to come in here hungry for a win because of how they just blew what seemed like a good opportunity against Fieldup and Eagles. It's L.A. They got to go to L.A. Sorry, sorry.

Starting point is 00:34:24 We're coming into this matchup is what I meant to say. Coming into this matchup. looking for a big win, and, you know, we'll see exactly how that goes. We're going to talk about it all week here on the Lockdown Colts podcast. But thank you guys, as always, for making Lockdown Colts your first listen today. And every day, the NFL season is finally here. So your next listen, get a double dose of the locked on NFL podcast. Tyler, the Madman, Roland, gives you a shot of NFL espresso to start your football day.

Starting point is 00:34:47 Well, Tony Wiggins takes you into the barbershop with the smoothest breakdowns to end the day. Find Lockdown NFL on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. And if you guys want to become a Lockdown Colts Insider and chat with direct link at that insider scoop follow the link in our show notes and if you don't already make sure you're following at locked on colts at jac arthur an afl and at zach hicks too all on socials also subscribe to us on youtube where we list of your podcast we love you guys rings reviews and we'll catch you guys back here tomorrow afternoon

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