Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - THEY'RE BACK: Indianapolis Colts' Charvarius Ward Sr., Jaylon Carlies Return to Practice

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Indianapolis Colts might be getting Mooney Ward back for this big game against the Kansas City Chiefs. 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 Hicks, your resident film nerd of course. dot com and i'm joined as always by jake arthur the boots on the ground for roundtable sports

Starting point is 00:00:35 welcome to the locked on koltz part of the lockdown podcast network now the number one sports podcast network around in the history of the world today's episode is brought to you by fan duel right now new customers can bet just five dollars and if your first bet wins you'll get three hundred dollars in bonus bets to use across the app we're here with an action pack show today guys diving into the first injury report of the week heading into this big matchup with Kansas City Chiefs, some really positive news on some players that the Colts have needed back for a while now. And then we're going to dive into some of your guys' questions regarding the state of the team, what you expect going forward, and all the things that you guys are curious

Starting point is 00:01:13 about coming out of this by week. But Jake, the greatest news ever today, not only did we get full practice from Mooney War, the Colts star cornerback who has been out since that fluky injury against the Arizona Cardinals in the pregame, Mooney Ward is back out there, but also, Jalen Carlis, with a full practice out there. Now, that was unexpected for me. That was more of the eye-opener one because Mooney Ward placed on IR because of a concussion. His second concussion of the year, Colts were just being really safe with that. Fully expected him to come out here, but we hadn't really heard much of anything about Jailen Carly's all season long.

Starting point is 00:01:49 So for him to come out here, get his window opened up and get a full practice under his belt. That seems pretty promising, right, Jake? now it's a huge deal for both players and i'm glad Shane came out and was proactive and said something about carly's because it was going to be another scheduled day of us asking about where he's been because any anytime we've asked even i think as recently as the last couple weeks before the by there just hasn't really been any updates uh so for a guy like that who is such a big part of their plans all off season uh to be available coming soon like i don't know if he's going to play at just because he's been out for like more than three months.

Starting point is 00:02:28 It's not since early August. So he might need a little bit of a ramp up period until he's ready to go. But that's still incredibly encouraging. Something we briefly talked about recently was it seems like the Colts health on defense is finally improving as this season kind of nears the end of the regular season portion

Starting point is 00:02:50 and we get into the playoffs. Very, very encouraging, obviously. You get Mooney Ward back. and it's it's only been a couple weeks but we've all been dying with anticipation to see what it looks like with Soss Gardner and Mooney Ward on either side and this is also a game

Starting point is 00:03:05 that's personal for Mooney because like the Chiefs was the first team that he played extensively for won a Super Bowl with them so like this game is going to mean something to him and everyone's going to have a little extra juice with the Colts cornerback room being what it is and then you know back back to Carlize

Starting point is 00:03:22 both short term and long term You know, I don't think he's going to usurp Germain Pratt as like the starting will. I think it's pretty well set as Pratt and Franklin going forward. But as we know about Lou, he's a very situational type of guy. Like they'll find something for Carlis to do. And perhaps they start to work him into whatever Hunter Roller was going to do because obviously you have that linebacker safety hybrid type player.

Starting point is 00:03:50 I do think there's going to be a role for Carlize on passing downs. So just in general, like when you're looking at this week, next week, the next couple weeks, the Colts past defense just got a big shot in the arm. Yeah, no, for sure. I mean, you can't understate how important it is to get Mooney Ward back out here. The Colts defense has been exponentially better with one of their top corners on the field this year and the five games they've had one of those two guys. Now we could potentially have both of them out there. How good is that secondary going to look and how much man coverage could we see them play with these two top dogs out there? I'm going to wager it's going to be a lot of man coverage, Jake,

Starting point is 00:04:27 because I think it's going to be some other injury news and notes, though, Anthony Gould returned to practice in a full capacity. That's Jake's favorite player on the team in terms of just how great he has been with his returns this year. But I'm curious to see what it looks like with Gouldback out there because Amir Abdullah has taken this team by storm with his returns, two of his seven returns going for over 40 yards, one obviously being that 81-yard return against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Starting point is 00:04:53 do you take Amir Abdullah off of the kick returns? I'm curious to see that there. And then Josh Downs as the punt returner probably had the worst game as a punt returner against the Pittsburgh Steelers with its fumble and a couple of weird decisions. But then the best game we've seen from a Colts punt returner this year

Starting point is 00:05:09 against the Atlanta Falcons with like three returns of 10 plus yards looked really good. I'm curious to see what it looks like with Anthony Gouldback out there if he's able to play this Sunday. Yeah, that one's real interesting for me. I think I'd keep

Starting point is 00:05:23 the kickoff game how it is. Amir Abdullah and Ashton Doolin both have been lights out as returners. There is zero reason to mess with that. Like I understand you don't want a guy to lose his job due to injury, but like you have found better options. Like Anthony Gould is a pretty solid kickoff returner. He's been part of them being a league leading unit as far as kickoffs goes. But God, I want the ball in Abdullah or Doolin's hands every time when it comes to a kickoff. return, though, I probably would go ahead and give Gould back the reins there, only because Josh Downs is pretty important on offense. You know, like, there's a lot of mouths of feet on offense, and he's not getting the

Starting point is 00:06:06 volume of targets you would maybe normally expect. But every time Downs is back there as a punt return, it's just such a vulnerable spot. And he can make some things happen, but it's not like we've seen him make big plays happen in the part return game for three years. Like, it's just pretty recently that this is happening. So I would probably go ahead and put Gould back there, but probably on a short leash, because you now have seen what Downs can do as a punt returner. So if Gould is just kind of ho-hum as a punt returner over these next couple weeks,

Starting point is 00:06:38 you maybe switch it up a little bit and see if you can kind of catch some more of that lightning in a bottle of Downs. Yeah, and maybe you do the thing that the Eagles used to do with like the Sean Jackson with Josh Downs at punt-returner, where he's not really out there every punt return, but like when you need some flipping the fields a little bit, getting, you know, a big return. That's when you put downs back there. We could see them get interesting with it.

Starting point is 00:06:59 Brian Mason, I'm going to default to him because he's been great this year for the Colts as a special team's coach. Some news on the Colts past Russia duo that has been out for a while, though. Samson Ebukam did return to practice in a limited capacity. We'll see if that ramps up as the week goes. But defensive end, Taekwon Lewis, after logging multiple full practices three weeks ago,

Starting point is 00:07:18 heading into that Tennessee Titans game, has not stepped on the practice field again since then he's been a did not he was a do not practice yet again today and Shane Stike and you can you can clear this up for me Jake but I think he said like the leg is just not responding like as of right now right yeah he was asked if there was a setback because like you mentioned he had been practicing and it looked positive going into whatever a game that was and then on the Saturday before the game he got downgraded and since hasn't practiced so basically they just said, you know, it hasn't responded like they hope that with the groin injury. And at this point, I mean, we could talk about it a little bit, but it's, it's been a few games now.

Starting point is 00:07:59 And you've got some other guys behind him where, you know, you kind of wonder if you should just throw him on IR for the four games and see what you can do behind him. Because it has been a few games, you know, in hindsight, maybe you should have already put him on there. I don't blame them for not knowing this was going to take this long, but it is just kind of taken up space right now. Yeah, no, for sure. And then the only other player on the injury report for the Colts was Kenny Moore. He was a do not practice with rest. So I will, can I say this about Kenny real quick?

Starting point is 00:08:33 Yeah. So ever since he came back from the Achilles, so he's been off every Wednesday. Ever since he came back from the Achilles, he is rested on Wednesdays with also the Achilles designation. he no longer carries the Achilles designation. So take that for what you will. So it must be feeling much better after the buy if it doesn't even have to be listed on the injury report anymore.

Starting point is 00:08:55 And he was just enjoying his Wednesdays off. So he just wanted to keep with that, obviously. You get into a routine as a player. You want to just keep your Wednesdays free. I get it. I don't work at my day job on Wednesdays either, Kenny. I totally get it there. Two injuries from the Kansas City Chiefside that are noteworthy

Starting point is 00:09:11 and that we need to talk about. Left Guard, Kingsley, Suea, Matea. I hope I got that right, missed today's practice with a concussion. He appears to have suffered that concussion in this past game, and we know the turnaround rate on players playing the next game after suffering one in the game prior is very, very low. We've seen it multiple times with the Colts this year, obviously, with concussions. So I would wager that he's not going to play this week,

Starting point is 00:09:34 and then Xavier Worthy had the weirdest thing ever. He was designated as questionable for practice today. Officially was it did not practice for the Chiefs. So those are two players to keep an eye on. on, I think Mike Calliando is the backup for Sua Mateo, Sue Matea, I'm struggling here at left guard and then worthy. Obviously, they have their group of receivers that they throw out there. So we'll keep an eye on those guys as the week progresses. But so far, the chiefs are relatively healthy as well with just those two notable names on the injury report.

Starting point is 00:10:06 But coming up, guys, we like to get into your Q&As on Wednesdays. And you guys have a ton for us coming out of the biweek. We're going to dive into a bunch of your guys' questions. here in just a second. Today's show was brought to you by friends over there at Peloton. Look, folks, it's time to break through the busiest time of the year with a brand new Peloton cross-training tread plus that's powered by Peloton IQ. It's Peloton's most elevated technology and equipment yet that gives you real-time

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Starting point is 00:11:28 We just talked about the good news about Mooney Ward, returning to the practice field. Jalen Carly's proof of life, he has returned to the practice field as well. And now we're going to get to some of your questions. And I'm going to go ahead and scrub all the Jalen Carly's questions because we've put the call out for questions this morning and i feel like half of them were about jalen carly's and then like 30 minutes later that got answered so we'll go ahead and get into the rest of them here uh so you guys know how it goes i throw these at zach and we're going to get through as many of these as we possibly can you guys made it rain questions on us all right so this first one

Starting point is 00:12:03 we'll uh we'll kind of take the vibes down to a little somber mood here real quick how concerned should we be about deforest buckner getting treatments out of the country and the Colts signing a defensive tackle that's Chris Wormley to the practice squad. That is from our insider program. I wouldn't really look too much into the defensive tackle and the practice squad. There's so much shuffling that we see all year long in terms of the practice squad. So I think that was, you know, there's not really a correlation between the two. I mean, along with signing Wormley to the practice squad, there was like four other practice squad

Starting point is 00:12:35 additions and subtractions being made at the same time. So that's just kind of part of natural shuffling that we see. there. In terms of Buckner getting treatment out of the country, I mean, yeah, whenever you have to go to that kind of length for it in season injury, it is certainly concerning. And the fact that he's on injured reserve, which means it could be a season ending type thing, is certainly there. But, you know, players go through so much treatment and, and like how they treat their bodies throughout the year to get back on the field. I mean, look at Matthew Stafford right before the year, getting that van pulled up to the training camp to get put to what, like, put on

Starting point is 00:13:12 ice basically and have meditation and acupuncture and all that to fix his body and he's having an MVP caliber season at quarterback. So, you know, players have their own methods and stuff that works for them. So we'll just have to wait and see. I really don't have any insight on how long he's going to be out or anything like that because it's just such a weird injury. Buckner is one of the toughest players I've ever covered in my life, though. He plays through so much. So I have no doubt that if he is able to manage the pain and get out there, he will. It'll all come down to kind of his own decision and what decisions him and his team kind of make to see if he comes back this season. Yeah, I'll reserve any grave concern about this,

Starting point is 00:13:55 only because he had that stint on IR last year with the high ankle sprain. He did the same thing. Went to the same place out in Panama and got treatment for that ankle. So the track record for him is that he comes back from this stuff. And it's not like an indication of something bigger. You know, they had the opportunity with the buy week. So I'm not going to read too much into that. You know, his history with that place has been positive. So we'll just continue to hope for the best and hope that he's able to return and

Starting point is 00:14:24 be comfortable on and off the field if he does return. This next one, given how the schedule over the next few weeks is a little tougher, should the Colts play a little more conservatively on fourth and short in the red zone? or even in the field goal range to take the points instead of always going for, you know, the touchdowns. Basically, this is a Shane Steichen question. Should he be a little more conservative and take points rather than going for it on fourth down as often as he does? That one is from Jason Scott. I'm the worst person to ask this too because I'm, look, at the end of the day, I'm as aggressive as you can get when it comes to going for it. I like when Shane Seichen puts

Starting point is 00:15:03 his faith in his guys. And yeah, there's a chance of that it backfires. But at the end of the day, I think especially with the new kickoff rules, it's very difficult to settle for three and fourth and short because the touchdown is just so much more valuable. If you think about it with the new kickoff rules, right? Almost every kickoff return is returned now. And these teams are getting out to the 30, the 32, the 35, even the Colts having a top five coverage unit this year. Teams are still getting out to like the 28, 27 yard line, which is almost a whole. 10 like almost a whole like new downs distance from where it was in the past of like an average of like the 20 yard line the 21 yard line and stuff so it's so vital to get those seven points nowadays and look I'm not saying that you should never kick a field goal I'm not saying that officially at least that you should never kick a field goal I'm not saying it officially but I do think there's value to going forward on those fourth and short situations and we see that that's a trend among the best football teams the teams that win it you're in a year out the teams that are competing for Super Bowls. So yeah, I mean, there's a time

Starting point is 00:16:09 in place, obviously, and some of it does come down to like that gut feeling on how the game is going and if you need the points there. But I prefer the aggressive approach. It's something that all the best teams do and the Colts are part of those best teams that do it. So I want Shane Stuyken to stay as aggressive as he is on those fourth and short situations. Yeah, when you've got the personnel that you've got, I've definitely prefer being more aggressive because more often than not the cults are going to convert but at the same time you do just kind of have to go with the vibes of the game like uh i think it was it might have been the falcons game falcons yeah falcons i think uh so they went for early in the game

Starting point is 00:16:50 and uh they didn't get it and then they did it again later and jonathan got stopped short again i was fine with the first one because it's early in the game and they always do that but with how much the offense was being kind of stalled. I didn't agree with it the second time. Again, I can't remember if this is Steelers or Falcons. This is Falcons. And I completely agreed with him going forward the second time. Sure.

Starting point is 00:17:16 If you're inside the 10. It just depends on the game. Yeah. If you're inside the 10 and you have a fourth and two or shorter, you should never be kicking it in that situation. That's just my opinion, unless it's like one second left in the game. In my opinion, you should never be kicking it.

Starting point is 00:17:28 Because the odds are you're not going to get that close again. You have to make, you have to make those points count if you have a chance to get it. in there unless it's like a fourth and ten from the ten like don't kick the field goal go for it and get those seven points yeah i think at the end of the day it's just like how difficult has it been to get points but again this is this is Shane stuyken after all he's not going to change his stripes he is as aggressive as it comes uh this next one kind of rolls into that a little bit uh this one is from jason's nope this one's from daniel mcmullen uh sitting in the third seed presently going

Starting point is 00:18:03 into Kansas City, who wouldn't even be in the playoffs if the regular season ended today. What is the message that you want to send to the rest of the conference after this week, basically? I'll just go ahead and give a short answer on this one. Shane Siken does not, like, he legitimately practices what he preaches when he said he does not look beyond the week at hand. I don't think he takes any opponent light. I think he knows when opponents have problems that he can exploit. But I don't think he goes into matchups without thanking foot on the gas. And he doesn't think beyond the present week.

Starting point is 00:18:43 So they're, whatever, Kansas City is 5 and 5. They're, you know, whatever. And again, they wouldn't be in the playoffs. He doesn't care. He is, he's going to try and go belt the ass on this one. It's, that's just his philosophy. Yeah. Well, at the end of the day, you know, going on the road in the NFL is always a tough thing to do.

Starting point is 00:19:01 It doesn't matter if it's a one win. team or a 10 win team going on the road in the NFL is difficult especially when you're going to arrowhead or whatever the heck they call their stadium now against a team that's been to the Super Bowl the last three seasons like this is they can have zero wins and that would still be a fact you know and they still have 15 back there at quarterback so it's always a message it's always a measuring stick game when you play a team of the caliber of the kansas city chiefs even if they're not you know this perfect team this year and they've had some one score game bad luck this year they're still the Kansas City Chiefs with Pat Mahomes, Andy Reed, Travis Kelsey, and Chris Jones.

Starting point is 00:19:35 So the big message you want to send is we are for real. We are a team that's capable of beating the Chiefs on the road. Look at all the Chiefs games this year that they've lost. Almost all of them have been when they have been on the road. At home, they've been a very good football team. So go out there, play your game, play mistake-free football, and win this game against a really good football team. Even if they are five-and-five, they're still the Chiefs.

Starting point is 00:19:56 Win this game and move on to the next week and keep this train going. Yeah, and you guys were awfully curious about this Chiefs matchup. So here in just a moment, we're going to wrap up a couple more Chiefs questions, and then I'm going to go rapid fire at Sack. Again, here in just a moment. The NBA is back, and there is not a better place online to go to get in on all the action than Fandall. It's the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or you want to ride the hot hand,

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Starting point is 00:21:08 So we got a couple more chiefs related ones to get to here. So this one is from Jason Sanders. If the chiefs beat the Colts this week, the primary reason will be because Turnovers and penalties is almost always the thing that dooms road teams in the NFL. Regardless if you're playing again, the chiefs or the Titans, you lose on the road if you commit too many turnovers and commit too many penalties. Keep it a clean, effective, moving the ball forward type of game, and the Colts should be able to win this one. But that's always the biggest key. It's why they lost against the Steelers. It's why they lost against the Rams. And it's why that Falcons game came

Starting point is 00:21:44 down to the wire. Turnovers and penalties, be clean and you have a good chance to win. Yeah, that's pretty much the only way the Colts have lost. Like, even when they've lost, they have not been shut down. You know, they're putting up a ton of your, like they outpays Pittsburgh by like almost 150 yards of offense in that loss. It's self-inflicted wounds. It's usually multiple turnovers and at least one horrendous penalty that they have caused themselves that that kind of does them in. This last Chiefs-based one is from Gina.

Starting point is 00:22:15 Who is the defensive difference maker this week against the Chiefs? It's Charverous War or Mooney Ward. Gosh, I'm trying to get so much better with that. Mooney Ward, Mooney Ward. Like just getting him out there, his ability to play man coverage in a more diverse way than sauce gardener again gardener you want to keep him out of the slot keep him on the boundary keep him up up close and physical like mooney ward you can play him in off man coverage press man coverage zone coverage travel to the slot if you can have him on rishi rice like 24-7 in

Starting point is 00:22:46 this game and then maybe on some third down you bring sauce gardener inside against Travis kelsey i think that they can have some good things going but yeah it's the x factor of getting back your top corner a guy who i think was on pace for like an all pro type season early in the year before his injuries, getting Mooney Ward back is obviously the big difference maker. And I'm going to go to the opposite side there. I'm going to say Sauce Gardner is the difference maker. You know, we nearly saw him come down with an interception. And that was with Mackay Blackman on the other side.

Starting point is 00:23:16 So he was getting tested a little bit. And I don't think, number one, Mahomes isn't going to really shy away from many, many players. But when you have Ward on one side and sauce on the other, you can't avoid everybody. So he's going to have to probably try and test sauce a couple times. And now that Gardner's had a couple weeks to kind of digest the system a little bit more, he's been able to watch the chiefs for a couple weeks now in film study. That's kind of an underrated part about sauce.

Starting point is 00:23:47 It's like he's a film nerd. He's a student of the game, like very physically talented player. But like he is going to study, study, study. Between the two of us, you know, we're going to be right. One of these corners is going to cash in pretty big. big. You say Ward. I say sauce. Maybe it's both. All right. Coming up on this next one, this is from the insider program. Now, this person basically wants to know what kind of tendency breakers Shane Steichen and Lou Aniromo can throw in there to kind of keep things fresh

Starting point is 00:24:17 a little bit and not, you know, get locked into the stagnation, if you will. Yeah, I mean, we kind of know how both these guys like to approach on their side of the ball. Shane Steichen likes to pass to score run to win games so i think stikin can throw in some tendency breakers of running early like again teams are going to match a lot of your 12 13 personnel with nickel and dime defense because they know you want to pass out of it so mix in some runs with your hyper explosive and productive rushing attack that they have mixed those in and i think that they could throw in some some really good tendency breakers with that and then louis an arumo just throwing out some more blitzes now now that you have the dogs to play man coverage on the outside you could

Starting point is 00:24:57 throw in more blitzes, you can throw in more SIM pressures. He's already been doing a lot with the SIM pressure stuff, but he can bring more five, six-man rushes, I think, the rest of the season. So, yeah, there's some ways to keep it fresh. I think both these sides, both these coaches had some time to reevaluate during the buy week. And I think there are some new wrinkles they can throw in for sure. And that kind of transitions beautifully into these next couple questions here. This one is from Silas Grant. Why do you think the Colts have never really gotten a solid number two running back behind Jonathan Taylor. It seems like they run him hard.

Starting point is 00:25:30 Obviously, he's an incredible athlete, but I'm always worried how much we put on him. I mean, they've tried over the years. I mean, when he first came in the league, they've had Nahim Hines, who was a really, really good second running back behind him. Then when they traded Hines, they got Zach Moss in here, who was a really good second running back behind him. And then this year, you know, they had a lot of faith in DJ Giddins. And I still think they have long-term faith in Giddens.

Starting point is 00:25:52 But with that not really working out perfectly, they're very high on. on Tyler Goodson. Amir Abdullah has arrived on the scene this year. So, you know, they don't have like a true rushing running back behind him right now. I think the hope is, though, for future years that DJ Giddins can take those strides and become more of a guy. But as it stands this season, like, yeah, they are giving him a lot of carries, but it's the greatest rushing offense in the history of football, according to EPA for play.

Starting point is 00:26:17 Like, you have to give him the carries. He's been that good. He gets better with more carries. Like, you know, it's so important to winning to give him the ball. so it's hard to take him off the football field this year. So, yeah, I mean, ideally you want to get the DJ Montgomery to him. You want to get the Tyler, out here behind him, like that type of back that can spell him and get productive rushes.

Starting point is 00:26:38 But as it stands this year, it's hard to take him off the field because he's been the offensive player the year of the league this year. It's hard to take him out of there, you know, he's been that good. Yeah, the difference in production has just been not worth taking him off the field. Like, you kind of have to take him off the field when he needs. needs a breather. But as far as having a compliment, no one that really compares. And again, I do think they've tried. Like, they went into this off season. They went and got Khalil Herber and then DJ Giddens. And then they've made a couple other moves. They really liked what they saw

Starting point is 00:27:11 at Tyler Goodson getting better. And it just hasn't materialized. Like, having, taking Taylor off the field is a detriment. Like, you just have to keep him out there. And then this next one, which shifts over to the defensive side of the ball, kind of reflective. of the question a couple ago. This one is from Joe with the addition of sauce and the potential return to Mooney Ward. Do we think that we could see Zeyer Franklin used more like a Micah Parsons? He was very explosive on those last two Blitz packages. We'll, you know, we'll take the Micah Parsons out of it and just focus on the usage portion.

Starting point is 00:27:46 But yeah, I mean, I think we've both talked about like this, this much man coverage can really open up new opportunities for Zaire. Yeah, I mean, yeah, not the Mike of Parsons. Parsons. Obviously, Parsons is just a one-of-one rushing off the edge. But in terms of like getting Zaire Franklin more downhill and more in the blitzing game, absolutely. We've already seen this year that Franklin has more pass rushing reps this season and more than any other individual season of his career. And he's only played 10 games. He's averaging six pass rushes per game. We could easily see that jump up to like seven or eight down the stretch here as Loua and

Starting point is 00:28:20 remote experience more with sim pressures, with five-man rushes, with four-man rushes where a defensive end is dropping out and you're bringing Franklin. So yeah, he's got the juice. He's got the speed. He's got the explosion. I love getting him out there for those stunts and twist with Atatamiwa and JT2Malo out because those guys can just be really good pick players and free him up on the looping game. So yeah, I certainly think we could see him use more in the past rush department. And as a blitzer, I actually had a video on my personal YouTube channel talking about that. If you guys want to check that out, I think that that's a really good role for him going forward. Yeah, like it. I think he's very effective.

Starting point is 00:28:55 that role this next one this is kind of general it's painting with a broad brush but we'll focus into it a little bit what should we be paying most attention to after the buy that's from tremble tremble so let's just like offensively what would you like to see most that they adjust and then same for the defense yeah the most important thing for each side on on offense turnovers keep the turnovers down get them back to again they don't have to be as unsustainable as they were early in the season but we just can't have games like the steel like It was like, what, nine turnovers in the two games right before the buy. And there was three other fumbles that the Colts were covered.

Starting point is 00:29:31 So it could have been upwards of 12, 13 turnovers in a two game span from the Colts. That's just not sustainable football. They got to bring the turnovers down. That is the most important thing because they're still putting up yards. They're still putting up points. 51 points combined in those two games, despite having the potential for 13 turnovers there on offense. Get the turnovers down and we will be fine on offense. For defense, the number one thing.

Starting point is 00:29:55 Actually, you know, I'll lump these two things together. Third down defense and red zone defense. Get teams off the field on third down. And then when you get in the red zone, stand tall, force field goals instead of touchdowns. And this Colts defense will be a top 10 unit by the end of the season. They've got a lot of good things going. But their red zone defense and especially their third down defense in most weeks

Starting point is 00:30:14 has not been very good. If they can get that to middle of the road, maybe in the top half of the league, then this Colts defense can be a top 10 defense in football. So those are the most important things I'm looking at. Turnovers on offense, red zone and third down defense on the other side of the ball. If they can just get those under control, I think this team has a shot to go far this year. Yeah, and then let's put a quick, beautiful bow on this thing.

Starting point is 00:30:37 Our guy Ben Arras, usually in the chat here, basically asking when are we going to be on site again this season? My travel is probably on the shelf until the playoffs. My wife is quite pregnant, and I don't really want to travel right now. now because I can be welcoming another one at any time. And then, Zach, are you going to be attending any games? Colts or not Colts the rest of the season? Yeah, I'm not really much of a live football guy outside. I like going to practices.

Starting point is 00:31:05 I don't, not really much of... The commanders play outside, and it's November, ew. Yeah, and they stink. Yeah, I'm going to go pay to watch Marcus Marriota throw a couple interceptions. But no, I'm not a huge, I'm not a huge live football game person. I like, I'm a film nerd. I sit in my office, my den here. with my soccer background that you guys always laugh at.

Starting point is 00:31:24 And I watch a lot of film and I like watching it from that bird's eye view and just rewatch it, you know, restart the plays, start them over, get like just go as much as possible. Live football games, I like, don't get me wrong. I love the party atmosphere of it, but I'm more of a at home biting my nails until I'm biting just skin and stuff like that and yelling at the TV screen. That's more of my vibe when it comes to watching football games. And Dorsy.

Starting point is 00:31:50 Yeah, no, so I obviously I'm at, Lucas Oil in the press box, each home game, which it feels like they haven't been home in a million years. But yeah, as far as like traveling for games, when the playoffs come, hopefully the Colts don't have to travel until the Super Bowl, right? I'm really hoping I don't have to go out to California multiple times like in a month span would be ideal for me. But yeah, I'll wait until the postseason. That'll be a nice little treat. How about that? Oh, yeah, for sure.

Starting point is 00:32:16 We want to thank you guys for making Locked-on Colts your first listen today and every single day. the NFL season is in full swing. So if you're next listening, get a double dose of the locked on NFL podcast. Tyler the Madman Rolling gives you a shot of NFL espresso to start your football day. Well, Tony Wiggins takes you into the barbershop for the smoothest breakdowns to end the day. Find Lockdown NFL on YouTube, wherever list of your podcast. If you guys want to come on Lockdown Colts insider and chat us directly and get that insider scoop, follow the link in our show notes. And if you don't already, make sure you're following at Lockdown Colts.

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