Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - UNDERDOGS: Can Philip Rivers and the Indianapolis Colts Do The Unthinkable in Seattle?

Episode Date: December 12, 2025

The Indianapolis Colts are gearing up for a week 15 match-up with the Seattle Seahawks. The Colts are hampered at the moment, as they ruled out Sauce Gardner, Braden Smith, and DeForest Buckner to go ...along with Daniel Jones and Charvarius Ward being on injured reserve. Can the Colts win with the power of friendship and pure determination? Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms: 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts/ 📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQ Give the squad a follow on X/Twitter @Schultz975, @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @allenpinkett, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOn_SI, as well on TikTok and Instagram! Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-nfl/Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Aura FramesFor a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting https://AuraFrames.com to get $35 off Aura’s best-selling Carver Mat frames - named #1 by Wirecutter - by using promo code LOCKEDON at checkout.FanDuelIf you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL livebets all season long.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use codeLOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFLfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.Mint MobileTurn your expensive wireless present into a huge wireless savings future by switching to Mint.Shop Mint Unlimited Plans at http://MINTMOBILE.com/LOCKEDONNFL.Disclaimer: Limited time offer. Upfront payment of: $45 for 3-mo., $90 for 6-mo., or $180 for 12-mo. plan required($15/mo. equivalent). Taxes & feesInitial plan term only. >35GB may slow when network is busy. Capable device required. Availability, speed, & coverage varies. See mintmobile.com.ZocdocStop putting off your doctor’s appointments and get the care you need.Go to Zocdoc.com/lockedonnfl to find and instantly book a top-rated doctortoday.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 The hampered Indianapolis Colts head to Seattle for a big-time matchup with one of the best teams in football. 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. Welcome to Locked-on Colts. Colts, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now, the number one sports podcast network around. Again, I'm Zach Hicks, your favorite resident film nerd here over at HorseshoeHuddle.com.
Starting point is 00:00:39 And today I'm joined by Alan Pinkett, former Notre Dame running back, former Oiler in the NFL. And look, we're starting to call some guys out of retirement, Alan. I think you're going to be the next guy to get the call for the Colts this week. But looking at this Colts team, you know, we're going to dive into a bunch of injuries. We're going to dive into, obviously, again, We can't go a second without talking about Philip Rivers, talk about the Seahawks, and we'll close it out with our final thoughts heading into this game and the rest of the season. But Alan Pinkett, if you guys listen to the Colts squad show that we do twice a week,
Starting point is 00:01:13 Alan and I have a lot of fun banter on there. And we're going to dive into just this injury report real quick, Alan, like so many top players out for the Colts in this game. If you, like again, the top three defenders, Mooney Ward is probably out for the year. Sauce Gardner, not being back for this game, DeForest Buckner, activated for this game. And then on the offensive side of the ball, Braden Smith is going to miss this game as well with a concussion. Only the second game this year where a Colt starting offensive lineman has not played. So I know, I already know what you're going to say, Alan. We always talk about this every week of the squad show. It's the next man up mentality. But like, realistically,
Starting point is 00:01:48 it's tough to overcome, like these types of injuries, especially given who the opponent is this week. No doubt about it. And I think you listed the top three I would consider as, you know, really hurting the team. DeForest Buckner, I think, has just been such an anchor on the defensive line and him gone. It really limits the Colts in terms of stopping the run. Sauce Gardner out when you already got Moody Ward out, I mean, really depletes the defensive backfield. And this is not the game where you want to be depleted in the defensive backfield when you've got the number one leading receiver in Jackson's. Smith in Jigba coming out. I think I said his name correctly at that time.
Starting point is 00:02:35 But then on the offensive side, being down one offensive lineman, you know, that just goes to the confidence you have as a quarterback. And we are anticipating Philip River starting. So how much confidence will he have dropping back with a backup at the right tackle? I think the only saving grace is the fact that, you know, he's. can see pressure coming from his right side, he's going to be fine on his backside, and he'll be able to just, you know, have some confidence that, you know, his left tackle will be able to protect him well. But on that right side, the ball may just have to come out a little bit quicker, but, you know, he's one of those quarterbacks, and we'll get to it a little bit more. He's one
Starting point is 00:03:23 those quarterbacks that doesn't really need a lot of time, you know, because it depends on timing and accuracy and not athleticism. But all the injuries, really, the way they're mounting up, you can understand why the spread is where it is, you know, because in today's NFL, you've got, you know, usually your starter is the one who's making most of the money is an exceptional athlete. And the backup is, you know, the best person you can get at the NFL league minimum and, you know, plays mostly on special teams. Yeah, no, and speaking of that league minimum, the backups that we're looking at in this game, Atatomiwa Adiore, a former draft pick, who was a day three guy, pretty close to that
Starting point is 00:04:09 vet minimum. Jalen Travis, the right tackle filling in for Braden Smith, a rookie day three pick around that league minimum, and obviously at cornerback because they're just so depleted there, Jalen Jones, Mackay Blackman, not really these high. profile free agents or anything like that. They're still young guys on those rookie contracts. So they're relying on a lot of younger players to step up in place of your star players in a lot of places.
Starting point is 00:04:32 And we're not going to talk too much about this story because the whole week has been about this. But the Colts have not officially made an announcement on who is starting on Sunday. I think we're all of the opinion. This is a little bit of gamesmanship. I wouldn't be shocked if we saw both the quarterbacks at some point on Sunday. Like some packages, you get Riley Leonard out there to do. a little bit more of like the RPO, RPR type stuff, have him use legs a little bit. But for the
Starting point is 00:04:57 most part, I think we are all anticipating 44-year-old Philip Rivers to be the starter on Sunday. Because like we said on the squad show the other day, Alan, like, you're not getting off the couch unless you're coming in here to start. You know, you're like, if you were just getting off your couch to be a mentor, you just sign as a coach. There's no other reason to sign in as a player and reset that Hall of Fame clock unless you're expecting to get out there as soon as this Sunday. Yeah, I think the same thing. I think I was swayed that way after you had mentioned it that he wouldn't just be coming out of retirement, you know, just to pat a guy on the back or give him encouragement. That doesn't make sense. And that's not Philip Rivers mentality. And I also saw that
Starting point is 00:05:38 there's some, I guess, recognition in terms of there are 14 players on the current team that were on the team when he took him to a playoff appearance in 2020. So there's some familiarity there. And I'm sure they have a lot of confidence. And just while we have a minute, I wanted to go back to those guys that are going to be starting in place of the people that are injured. So important for them because they're looking at,
Starting point is 00:06:10 you know, expanding their longevity in the NFL. and you only get so many shots, you know, to really prove to the front office that you belong, you deserve a second or a third contract, you know, so if I was one of those backups, I would be excited, you know, I would be, this is my opportunity to prove that I belong in the NFL. So, you know, hopefully they can rise to the challenge, you know, they're not going to be better than the starters. Otherwise, they would have already been extended. But it's an opportunity for them to shine, increase their value to the team, maybe increase their value to the league.
Starting point is 00:06:54 So I expect those guys to really try to flash. Yeah, no, Atabore, Mackay, Blackman, and also Jalen Jones. We've seen a good bit of them this season. They are certainly vying for as many opportunities as possible because the NFL is not a developmental league. It's a league about results from day one, and if you're not giving those results, they'll find someone else that's just as cheap as you to come in and fill that same role. So those guys who have been a little bit up and down this year, it's on those guys to perform.
Starting point is 00:07:24 And then for Jalen Travis, you know, maybe it's a little bit less pressure for him because he is a rookie, but still, I mean, a rookie year, like you only get so much run as a rookie, and that can determine how much run you get as a sophomore the next season. So Jalen Travis, I feel like even more so than the other guys, too, with Brayden Smith's contract being up at the end of the season and Travis being this young right tackle that has the size and the athleticism, if he puts together a good showing this week, it could lead to him potentially being that starter next season for the team at right tackle. But it all starts this week for him. So it's kind of like a no pressure thing because like you're a day three rookie.
Starting point is 00:08:00 We're going to see what you got. But it's also pressure because like if you step up, you might just earn yourself a big role in a big payday maybe in the future if you show out in this game. And for a Jalen Travis, I look at the entire offense. If they can somehow be balanced, that's what's going to help him out even more. Now, if they throw the ball 50 times, he's going to be exposed. But I heard one of the nation's prognosticators saying, give that ball to JT 60 times. Well, and I know that's not going to work. That's not going to work.
Starting point is 00:08:38 they are going to have to rely heavily on the run. But if they can balance this thing out, then they've got a shot. And that's going to help Jalen Travis because, you know, if they can get away with maybe 30, 35 passes and, you know, 25 to 30 runs, you know, that's a good balance. Hopefully they're getting the results that they want. But it's not necessarily hiding him. But, you know, I know big offensive linemen, they would prefer to run block. They prefer to have that flat back and go smash into somebody in front of them instead of retreating and punching and, you know, getting in your right location and all that kind of stuff.
Starting point is 00:09:19 So really the office as a whole can help Jalen Travis if they can get that proper balance. Yeah, and we're going to talk about that a lot here coming up in segment two where I think you can actually have these guys run blocking on more snaps than not because you can have them in these quick, sets if you're throwing the ball quick or if you're throwing screens or you're throwing quick slants. And when you have a guy like Travis where the technique's not there, but the size and the physicality are there, having him just jumping defensive ends instead of retreating into these vertical sets and having to counter and move with these defensive ends, that is such a big difference. I've talked about a lot with Matt Consolvis at right guard and how that's led to better success for him, where he's better when he's jumping a guy rather than having to be this technician.
Starting point is 00:10:02 So I think the Colts can devise a game plan to help slash hide Jalen Travis at right tackle, and that's always key when you're dealing with a young rookie. But coming up, guys, we are going to talk about the Colts offense in detail. Can they move the ball with Philip Rivers, potentially Phillip Rivers, I guess, against one of the best defense in football, the defense that has eight takeaways in their last two games, only nine total points allowed the last two games. Can the Colts with Philip Rivers move the ball on them and get some points on the board? but first guys it's 2025 almost 2026 and those days of waiting for something to become a full blown emergency before you see a doctor those are over there's no more walking it off for six months no more pretending the weird shoulder stiffness is just sleeping wrong it's time to take your health seriously and zoc doc makes everything easier than ever because staying healthy is more than hitting
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Starting point is 00:12:46 every dayers, we are back. I want to thank you guys for making Lockdown Colts your first list of the day today and every day. And thank you guys for making Locked on the number one sports podcast network. I'm joined today by Alan Pinkett talking all about this Colts Seahawks matchup and we talked about the injuries in the first seven we talked about the guys replacing those big time injuries now let's talk about this Colts offense a little bit Alan and one thing that's kind of been my intriguing point to kind of dive into with this Colts
Starting point is 00:13:11 offense is the Colts this year have been pretty good under center when they've gone under center right they have been they run under center about 31% of the time this year which is a little bit below league average but much higher than what it's been under Shane Steichen and now you're putting in a 44-year-old quarterback. I'm not saying you have to be the greatest athlete in the world to operate under center. But I do think you need to have a baseline athleticism, because if we're talking five and seven-step drops, that can be difficult for a 44-year-old person coming in here who's not in football shape. So I think this Colts team, again, that has been like 31% under center this year. I think they might revert back to kind of what they were in 2023, which
Starting point is 00:13:52 was a 9% under center rate. Honestly, I would be shocked if a guy. up to 9% under center because I just think it's going to be difficult to operate the way the Colts have been operating this year under center, especially when you factor in like the bootlegs. Philip Rivers is not going to go out there and run a bootleg out. I don't, I don't anticipate that happening. So I think we're going to see this Colts offense very different on Sunday. I think they're going to be mostly in the gun and doing like a lot of empty stuff and a lot of just like 11 personnel to kind of move the ball. Well, you think about what happens when you're in the gun. It gives a quarterback maybe an extra second to survey the field to be able to
Starting point is 00:14:30 deliver the ball. It doesn't necessarily help the running game out that much. I think when you're under center as a quarterback and coming back and maybe faking the ball, that does a good job of holding the defense. You know, I could see them on maybe a handful of occasions, get under center and just do the fake so that they can hold the linebackers in because I think if he gets under center, I think defense automatically is going to assume run, you know, because you're best running from the eye because you're coming downhill as opposed to being in the shotgun where you're starting from a stationary position and then having to veer off to where you're supposed to go. You know, so I think the play action can actually work well when they get under center,
Starting point is 00:15:21 and that might be what they do. But I think the fact that the ball is going to come out quick is going to be to the benefit of the current wide receiving crew that the Colts have. I think these guys have all shown that when they get the ball in their hands, they can make plays. And the guy I'm excited about the most is Josh Downs, you know, just give him the ball in space and let him. him just continue to move the chains. And if they can do that, they can wear a defense out.
Starting point is 00:15:52 You know, so to me, I think that Phillip Rivers, as weird as it sounds, does give them a bit of a spark. I wouldn't say an advantage. I'll say a spark. And if the Colts can pull this off, it would be, you know, nothing short of a miracle, be similar to Joe Flacko coming to the Bengals and beating the Steelers after being there for a couple of days. Right. And I think it's really fascinating because you actually helped me make my next point here where the Colts this year, we've seen career best numbers, or I guess best numbers from the positions that Alec Pierce play
Starting point is 00:16:28 and their tight ends play under Shane Steichen, because they've been doing more 12 personnel, more under center stuff, and using play action to set up the deep ball to Alec Pierce, right? So we've seen Pierce go off for his best, on pace for his best season. The tight end group led by Tyler Warren has been getting a lot of receiver production. But as a result, we've seen Josh Downs posting the worst numbers of his career. He's not getting the consistent targets. He's not getting as many snaps this year because they're not an 11 personnel as much as they've been in the past.
Starting point is 00:16:55 So I think with Philip Rivers, if you're going to be in the gun a little bit more, maybe run a little bit more empty, that is where Josh Downs really comes into play because you're going to have him on more of these option routes, on more of these just isolated, spaced out routes where we want Philip Rivers throwing this five-yard pass and see if you can create an explosive play off this five-yard pass. And that's what Josh Downs does best. Now, the only issue with this matchup is the Seahawks do tend to put Witherspoon in the slot sometimes. And he is a 1A corner in this league, just an absolute dog, a playmaker, really physical corner. They do like to move him around.
Starting point is 00:17:31 And I think if the Colts come out early throwing the ball to Josh Downs, they might move Witherspoon inside just to take away that matchup a little bit. But I do think this matchup is really good for Josh Downs where, again, you want to get that quickness going. You want to get that ball out of Rivers' hands and not be so reliant on the run. Because even with Jonathan Taylor, you can't run the ball 60 times in the NFL. That has success. No, it's now I always like to say, ball ain't heavy. So give it to me as many times as possible. You know, the most I ever ran it in a game, and this was way back in college, was 40 times.
Starting point is 00:18:08 And, I mean, I felt refreshed after the game. But, you know, doing it 40 times in the NFL, that is just not something that I would recommend to the best conditioned running back. So they're going to have to, you know, run it more than they want to. But if they can run with results, then they're going to be okay. And I think this also, if they're going to go more from the gun, it's going to force, you know, their other. two receivers. I think it would force an Alec Pierce to, you know, be a little bit better in his quick routes, you know, break them off a little
Starting point is 00:18:48 faster, get the quarterback a target. Although I see Phillip Rivers as a guy who likes to throw you open. You know, if you're, if you're a, it used to be, you needed to have a step on a DB to be open. But Philip Rivers is that type of quarterback. If you got a half a step, you're considered open. Ball's coming. You know, so I think the guy, guys just have to be ready. And I think that if they can put together, you know, enough short passes that
Starting point is 00:19:16 move the sticks, that'll set up the opportunity to have Alec Pierce go over to the top a handful of times. You still got to keep them modest. You still got to go deep a couple of times, you know, but if they can have success with the short passing game and some runs, then they've got a shot at getting into it ends on a couple times. Yeah, and we've seen with Alec Pierce in his career, like the deep ball doesn't need to be perfect. Just put it up there. You know, so if old Uncle Phil here has to just shot put that ball down the field for 30 yards, Pierce still has a chance of getting it. We've seen
Starting point is 00:19:51 him win those 50, 50 balls. But yeah, I think it'll be a really interesting matchup. And I'm curious to see how the guys show up to play for potentially this 44-year-old quarterback. And to go on your point here real quick, not to run too late here on this segment, but if Rivers is this anticipation thrower like you mentioned like we covered him in 2020 we know what he looked like then to do that though when you're in the program for one week you didn't have the the offseason training with these guys like we could see either just a master class performance where he puts up 300 yards or like a five interception performance because you're you're throwing it where you think guys are going to be and the chemistry is not there which is so important with the off season
Starting point is 00:20:32 program and and just how you build up chemistry throughout the early parts of the season I mean real Gallagher, did you ever have a player, like, come into a prominent position late in the season like this when you play? No, I do not recall that at all. And, you know, developing rhythm between quarterback and receiver is a thing that really takes time. It's not something that you can conquer in a couple of days. But, you know, you never say never in this league.
Starting point is 00:21:00 Yeah, I mean, Philip Rivers is one of one for a reason. He's on the Hall of Fame ballot for a reason. So maybe things will look a little bit different. But coming up, we're going to briefly talk about the defense and then dive into our overall thoughts on this game. Colts are riding, what, a three-game losing streak right now, heading into a road game against one of the best teams in football. How can they bounce back out of this? We'll talk about that here in our final segment. But first, this episode is brought to you by prize picks.
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Starting point is 00:22:15 And you use code a locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5. Lineup that's code a locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5. Lineup prize picks, it's good to be right. Already locked on Colts Everdeers, we are back. putting a bow on a very hectic week in Indianapolis Coltsland. If you guys have missed it, my partner in crime, Jake Arthur, is out this entire week because his wife gave birth to their second child. Great shout out to them, all the love in the world to them.
Starting point is 00:22:52 But of course, Jake picked the busiest week of the year to be out because the Colts made the big move for Philip Rivers after losing their starting quarterback for the year. The media circus has been all over the place this week. So I'm going to have to get back at Jake for something, I guess, in the, in the few I'm going to pick a busy week to piece out as well in the future. But we're giving all the love there. All jokes aside, all the love to Jake and them. And all the love to this Colts team, hoping they can break this three game losing streak. And, you know, Alan, back when you were playing in the NFL, losing streaks, even when you were on good teams is not uncommon. Teams hit these
Starting point is 00:23:25 lulls. They hit these ruts. Now, I don't know how often you had to go to the emergency quarterback to save you from those ruts. But what's it like in a locker room for players? when you're in a rut like this and then maybe like you have a tough like they're they're two score like the two score favorites against them like the Seahawks are favored by almost 14 points in this game like I know players say they don't read the media they don't look but like you're aware of what the perception is so like when you're already kind of down on your luck you're going against a tough opponent what's it like for like a player like mindset wise in that moment well I think it all depends on the culture in your locker room if you got a lot of positive
Starting point is 00:24:06 guys, then you can withstand the lulls because the lulls are going to happen. And you also know the lulls are temporary. Sometime another team or teams figure you out and you got to go back and self-scout and you got to come up with something new or you got to be a little more detail-oriented and execute a little bit better. You know, but teams in the NFL figure you out. And so you got to have something in your back pocket to bounce back with. But if you have a culture where you have guys that sort of single themselves out or guys that finger point, it can destroy a locker room.
Starting point is 00:24:46 So it's very easy for a good team to lose two or three in a row, but a bad team will lose seven in a row because they don't have that positive culture. So I view this cult's team as one with a good culture. And the reason I say that, I have not heard one complaint from any of the receivers that have, you know, just had, from my perspective, limited participation. You know, a lot of those could potentially be a wide receiver number one, but they're all happy. They're all encouraging. I also see signs from this team. You remember when A.D. Mitchell had his mistake against the Rams. what I saw was a team that embraced him, that encouraged him, and said, hey, man, it's okay.
Starting point is 00:25:38 You're part of the team. So to me, that was a positive sign that you've got a good culture on this team so that when the laws happen, you've got the people in place to bring you out of that law. Now, you may face it again this week because you're just so shorthanded. But staying positive is something that doesn't come hard to this team. And the thing they have to still realize is they still have a shot at making the playoffs. They can still make the postseason with this mass unit they got on the field. You know, so if there was a chance, you know, to have some kind of motivation, this is it.
Starting point is 00:26:20 And, you know, you make your mark by beating the better teams. You know, so it's, there's plenty of incentive for these guys. to play well. Yeah, absolutely. I do agree with you, Alan. I don't think that the culture is bad here. We've seen bad culture in indie before, and I know some of those guys are still here. I don't know how much they're a factor in this, but we've seen it before. I mean, 2022, they gave up down the stretch. They've had moments where they've given up. But this year, I've always believed all season that this has been a different team. And I think we get a month here to see how different they are. Like, look, if you end up just losing these last four games
Starting point is 00:26:54 because you're just out, because the other teams are talented, that's fine. But leave it all in the field, you know, have the fight, have the motivation, have the determination, bring these games to the wire, you know, like, I'm willing to forgive a blowout loss of Jacksonville because your quarterback went down. Their emotions of that are difficult. It's a difficult thing, but the rest of these games, like put up a fight, don't lay down in these last four weeks. It's like you said, Alan, they still have a shot at the playoffs. Like, it's not like they have a 1% chance either. It's like a 50, like 45, 50% chance. Now, the models aren't saying anything about the 44 year old quarterback coming in. It's hard to predict that in there. But again, like, if you lose,
Starting point is 00:27:31 you lose. But like, let's show some fight. Let's show some, some energy here, even when they're down to their, what, third or fourth quarterback. But real quick, Alan, the one thing we really got to just close this week out with is, I said it yesterday on the cross-service. So I'll give you your space to talk about it. But when you are a massive underdog against anybody, right, this can be college football, this can be high school football, and this can be the NFL. The margin for error becomes so much slimmer, right? Like, everything you have to do needs to be on point. You need to get some bounces to go your way.
Starting point is 00:28:02 But I think the biggest thing for me, for the Colts to overcome this potential talent deficit or just where the Seahawks are at right now with momentum is just turnovers and special teams. Like, if you're going to upset any team at any level of football, those are the biggest things. If you can swing field position, if you can take the football away. And like you said, what's your turnover quote there, Alan, three times or whatever? going to lose three times you should lose four you're going to lose right right so if you can be like
Starting point is 00:28:29 again like if if you were just going after that football trying to take that ball away as much as possible yeah like you might get burned but you're you're an underdog like so what if you get burned try to take that football away get into some positive field position and you can have a chance to win this game but i i struggle to see where they can win this game if they lose those two battles right i mean you can say that about even games but especially when you're an underdog those are two margin for errors that you can't afford to lose when you're when you're 14 point underdogs in a game. Yeah, I'm sort of interested in seeing who they're going to have return punts and kicks because you've got gold and dueling out. But I mean, there's still some folks there. We may
Starting point is 00:29:10 even see Josh Downs back returning puns. But we'll just have to wait and see. But the turnover thing is huge. The turnover thing is huge when you're fully stacked and you have your full complement of players. So we've really, really got to reduce those turnovers. And the thing about turnovers now is, you know, which is different from when I played is they actually teach punching the ball out. They teach, you know, where are the pressure points that the ball carrier has so we know where to attack it. And the thing that kind of sucks about carrying the ball is if the helmet hits the ball. I don't care if you have crazy glue on your fingers. That ball is coming out. Yeah, so ball security is so important.
Starting point is 00:29:54 And I know the players on offense understand that. Hopefully the players on defense, because they are outmanned a little bit, maybe they take the chance and go for the ball and create turnovers for Seattle because that's going to be one of those key factors in them keeping it close. Yeah, no, for sure. I mean, you're going against Jackson Smith and Jigba. Sam Darnold has been very good this year as well. You're not going to hold them to 10 points on Sunday.
Starting point is 00:30:16 Like, especially without Saskardar, especially without Mooney. Ward, especially without DeForest Buckner, you're not going to hold them down. So the next best thing you can do, like if you're going to already give up some points, get that ball out, you know, and we haven't seen the Colts with many of those, like you mentioned, only those like peanut punches. We haven't seen many of them this year from the Colts. You know, I've seen like from the, I've been watching the Los Angeles Rams a little bit and that Nate Landman dude, that linebacker has got like four of them this year. Obviously with the Colts back in the early 2020s, we saw Shaquille Leonard just being perfect
Starting point is 00:30:47 with that. And even last year, Zire Franklin, I think it's six force fumbles at linebackers. So if you're going to have a game to make your mark, and this is more so for like Franklin, Jermaine Pratt, any pass rusher that can touch Sam Darnold, make sure you try to get that ball out, those are going to be vital in this game because I don't know how much this Colts offense can go 80 yards and score a touchdown. But any offense, you know, young, small, whatever, depleted can go 10 yards and score 20 yards and score 30 yards and score. Like make that distance at the travel a lot. shorter and it helps your team win. So I know we're speaking very coach speak here, but I think
Starting point is 00:31:22 when you're an underdog, winning that turnover battle is just always so, so vital. And then you still need to get some luck and bounces a great way. But for the Colts, I think in this game, you're not winning unless you win that turnover battle pretty handily. No doubt. And so you look for a valiant effort by these guys. I think they still go out there believing they can win because belief is very important when it comes to confidence. But winning that turnover battle would go a lot long way to giving them a shot at winning. Yeah, for sure. That's all we have, though, for this week, guys. I know it's been a very, very hectic week with Philip Rivers coming in here. Expecting an announcement sometime tomorrow or Sunday morning on who's going to start.
Starting point is 00:32:01 We'll see, again, we're all kind of anticipating Philip Rivers, but we will see ultimately what Shane Stuyken and the Colts go with. But regardless, the Colts have a game this Sunday, I believe it's at 4 o'clock or 3 o'clock if you're on Allen's time there. So a little bit of a later game against arguably the best team in football, with the Colts still having a chance to make the playoffs. And if you told me that before the season, I would have taken it, even if you told me Philip Rivers was playing in that game.
Starting point is 00:32:25 That would have been a little confusing for me. But aside from that, I want to thank you guys for making Lockdown Colts your first listen today and every day. The NFL season's in full swing. So if your next listen, get a double dose of the Lockedon 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.
Starting point is 00:32:45 on YouTube every list of your podcasts. If you guys want to come a Locked on Colts insider and chat list 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 at Jake Arthur and a phone at Zach Kix 2 on socials. Also want to give a big shout out to all the guests that joined us this week, filling in for Jake, Derek Schultz, Destin Adams, and of course, Alan Pinkett here. You guys were all great this week and we really appreciate it.
Starting point is 00:33:07 Also subscribe to us on YouTube and check us out on the Colts Squad Show because that's when we're back with you guys, me, Derek, and Alan. We're back with you guys, Colt Squad Show. immediately following the Colts game against the Seattle Seahawks.

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