January 4, 2024 • 44 mins
MV goes on a journey through the dramatic twists and turns of the entire Texans-Colts series - into this week's win-and-in showdown. Voice of the Colts, Matt Taylor also visits.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Okay, Texan's here we go. This is it the Big
week Week eighteen. I told you many months ago, or
at least three that it would all come down to this.
I felt like it would, and it has. It's the
Texans and the Colts. Here we go again. Now I
am going to give you my thoughts on this series,
on this game, on what's really important. And we'll also
(00:29):
hear from Matt Taylor, who's the voice of the Indianapolis Colts.
Good guy. I really enjoy talking with him always at
the combine and during these matchups with Indy. And even
though I hate the Colts like poison in a healthy
sports way, I've made clear what that means before. I
really enjoy Matt and a lot of other people who
work for the Colts. There are division friends, but they
(00:49):
are very much foes on the field. First of all,
what's a rivalry is a rivalry two teams that get
together a lot, and it's relatively even. Maybe it's not
that even over the course of the last few years
or so, maybe a team goes on a run, but
over the course of time, it's a rivalry for a
reason because it's relatively even. And I would say that
(01:12):
would be the Texans and the Titans. That's a good
rivalry right there, relatively even they might win a few
in a row. You might win a few in a row.
They have their time to shine, You have yours with
the Colts. I don't think it's a rivalry. I think
it's a series. It's definitely a series, but it's not
a rivalry. It very much is a nemesis. The Colts
(01:35):
are to the Houston Texans. This is the all time
greatest Texans villain opponent. There is no match. I know
you might be thinking, well, New England, Mark, we go
up there, camp win lost in the playoffs twice. I
get it. New England's pretty solid, and I know they've
changed a lot, but so of the Colts. In fact,
the Texans and the Colts have matched up forty four times,
(01:56):
including the postseason in twenty eighteen, when the Texans hosted
wild Card Weekend and lost to Indy badly Andrew luckin
company getting over t Y Hilton wearing the clown mask
coming into the building because Jajo made a comment about
him being a clown or something. It really wasn't that
damaging a comment, but it did damage. As it turned
out because Hilton took it and ran with it with
(02:17):
the clown mask. I thought, there's no way the Texans
are going to lose that game, but they did. Anyway,
let's get into it, shall we. My thoughts on this series.
I've been to all of them. I have called every
play in the series between the Texans and the Colts
going back to year one, two thousand and two, and
that year the Texans actually played the Colts close at home. Defensively,
(02:39):
they did a nice job against Peyton Manning and friends,
but they just couldn't score points. That year. You know
about that three touchdown game they had against Pittsburgh when
the defense scored three touchdowns. That year, there were a
lot of really good defensive performances, but the offense could
not match up and the Texans went four and twelve. Anyway,
the Colts won in sweeps in two, three, four, five,
(03:05):
And going to the RCA Dome back then, I'll stand
by this, that is the loudest building I've ever heard
in the NFL. That building was so loud and it
held what less than sixty thousand. There was something about it.
It was a bandbox, it was a basketball gym, and
it had carpet. I don't think you could call that turf.
It was outdoor carpeting laid on top of cement. And
(03:27):
Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis with their team getting a
lot of leads thanks to Peyton Manning and the offense
they would fire off rack up sacks. Those guys are
Hall of Fame candidates because of Peyton Manning getting those leads.
I don't want to take anything away from them as
individual players. They were awesome, give them their due, but
the offense is what stirred the drink very much for
the Colts in those years, and they played numerous playoff games.
(03:50):
Of course, they were feasting in the AFC South, a
division that was invented when the Texans came into the
league in two thousand and two. Before that, yeah, the
Colts coming from the AFC East, you had the Titans
coming from the AFC Central and the Jags as well,
and the AFC souths was born when the Texans were born.
You know the rest of the story. But Peyton Manning
owned the Texans for a long time. So sweeps in two, three, four, five,
(04:15):
six up there not good tough matchup indeed, but the
first ever breakthrough win for the Houston Texans against the
Colts was Christmas Eve two thousand and six, Gary Kubiak's
first year, David Carrett quarterback, Andre Johnson at receiver make
it a big play to get the Texans in field
goal range. Late throughout that game, they ran the rock
(04:35):
well Ron Dane running for one pin fifty plus. Vonte
Leech caught a touchdown pass in that game, and the
Texans got the win at the buzzer with a Chris
Brown field goal, and nobody who was there will ever
forget it. That's one of a handful of tremendous victories
for this franchise that we will always remember. The Texans
could win ten Super Bowls. You'll always remember a few
(04:56):
Opening Night, the first time you beat the Colts. I'm
going to say, the first time you beat Indy in Indy.
We'll get to that, and I'm certainly going to include
the case Keenum led victory at Tennessee with them wearing
the oiler uniforms. You'll never forget that day. And there
are some others, but we don't have to get into
all those right now. This is about the Horseshoe, about
the guys wearing royal blue. All right, so you get
(05:18):
that win, but then you go into another drought. Oh seven,
it's a sweep. Oh eight, it's a sweep. I remember
Sage Rosenfeld's quarterbacking the eight game up there, and you
got kind of close but not close enough. Oh nine,
this is a good Texans team started off the season
five and three. Let's go to Indy, take our shot.
Go to Indy. Unable to get it done, but you
(05:41):
have a field goal opportunity at the buzzer to tie.
Chris Brown misses it. Ouch you come home, you play
the Titans on Monday Night Football, a buzzer miss field
goal again against the Tennessee Titans on national television. Then
you play the Colts again and it's a seventeen point
lead and you can't win it. Now. I kind of
(06:01):
glossed over the eight sweep by the Colts because we
all know what happened that year. In fact, I asked
Indie media, when I say the word rosencopter, what does
it mean to you? Guys? They just call it helicopter,
They don't call it rosencopter, but we know what rosencopter is.
It's a seventeen point lead seventeen point leads are significant
(06:22):
in this series. By the way, seventeen point lead at
home against Indy, you have the ball five minutes is
ish to go driving in plus territory. Rosenfelt's trying to
make a play, trying to get a first down with
his body just gets helicoptered around on a big hit
and the ball comes out. Gary Brackett picks it up,
runs it in for a touchdown. You are only up
three at that point. The seventeen point lead was reduced
(06:44):
to ten by the way when Peyton Manning drove down
the field and scored. So you have the ball up
ten in plus territory. Now they score, you're only up three.
You get the ball back. What's going to happen? Are
you gonna be able to move the ball well? Rosenfelts
fumbles again. I don't want to take anything away from
the good things that Sage did here, because he did
many good things. He won games, threw the ball very well,
(07:05):
and I like Sage a lot for doing that. But
that was a rough day and he admitted it, wrote
about it in what was it? The Player's Tribune. He
had a big piece on how that game that rosen
Copter game affected his career anyway. That was a blown
seventeen point lead, nine blown seventeen point lead. So you're
really frustrated. But twenty ten starts off and you're thinking,
(07:25):
are we going to be able to do something here?
You're coming off a winning season, the first ever in
franchise history at nine to seven in two thousand and nine,
missed the playoffs, didn't get the help you need on
the final day. Then you take on the Colts opening day.
What's gonna happen? Arian Foster, a back who appeared in
the final two games of that nine season. He had
(07:46):
played a bit on special teams before that, but carried
the ball extremely well against Miami the second to last
week of the season, and started against the Patriots in
the season capper and performed brilliantly. I think he had
two touchdowns fourth quarter when the Texans were down a
couple of scores. Anyway, on opening day, everybody knows about this.
Two hundred and thirty one yards for Foster. He goes
(08:08):
nuts on the Colts and you win. Not quite a runaway.
It looked like a blowout. They were up seventeen at
one point, and I thought, uh oh, the dreaded seventeen
point lead, But how do you dread a seventeen point
lead in the history of this series? You might anyway,
Foster ran well. Peyton Manning threw for over four hundred
yards in that game, by the way, kept coming back
(08:28):
on a Texans defense that would eventually really struggle that season.
But you got to win, and it was so sweet
to beat them for only the second time ever. That's right.
It's twenty ten. It's the ninth season of Texans football
and you finally get your second win over the Colts.
Later on Monday Night football, you'd lose up there. Okay,
(08:49):
So you have two victories in your first nine years.
Then twenty eleven hits Manning is hurt. He's got that
neck problem, the fusion surgery. Kerry Collins' quarterbacking beat them
on opening day in your place again. This time it's
Ben Tate running the ball very well and Arian hat
a hamstring early on. He did certainly play a lot
(09:09):
and play very well in twenty eleven, but missed the
season opener and I think game two as well. But
you got them again. So victory number three against the Colts.
Making some progress and later in the season. You all
know what happened in twenty eleven, Texans clinched the playoff
berth at Cincinnati Texans with the next man up campaign,
TJ yeats third quarterback in you know all the legendary stuff. Well,
(09:33):
the subtlety of this as it relates to the Colts
series is you're taking the Colts on second to last
week of the season, Thursday night game, national television. Up there,
there's no manning to worry about. The Colts are having
a horrendous campaign, only one win to that point, and
Dan Orlovski is quarterbacking for the Colts. Remember dan Orlovski
(09:55):
stepping out of the back of the end zone. You
all know him now from ESPN, but he stepped out
of the back of the end zone for the live
He was a Texans backup for a bit and here
he is an indie quarterback in the Colts. This should
be a victory, right, you have your best Texans team ever.
Wait a minute, Orlovski and the Colts get the victory.
He hits Reggie Wayne late in that game. Colts win,
(10:16):
And it was a bit of a heartbreaker at the
time because even though you had already clinched a playoff berth.
You had a chance at a first round by, not
the top seed, but a first round by because there
were two buys back then. But you didn't beat the Colts.
Had you beaten the Colts, that regular season finale against
the Titans would have been for a lot. However, it
wasn't because you lost to the Colts. And Dan Orlovski, okay,
(10:40):
let's go to twenty twelve, shall we Andrew Luck drafted
by the Colts. This is how painful this was. They
have their worst season ever, They beat you once and
they end up with Andrew Luck, who everybody thought was
going to be great, and he was so Andrew Luck
quarterbacks the Colts. And this reminds me of CJ. Stroud
a bit. The Luck campaign is rookie year tw two. Well,
(11:00):
they go from two to fourteen to playoff team. They
made it as a wild card and they did it
by in part beating the Texans in the regular season finale.
And this was a particularly painful loss that nobody remembers.
This is one of the all time great painful losses
for the Houston Texans. And of course it's against the
Horseshoe up there because the Texans beat the Colts a
(11:23):
couple of weeks earlier at NRG Stadium. Remember we all
know what happened here, right The Texans had the top seed,
not clinched, but they were in the category of possessing
the top seed if the season ended today. We're all
familiar with the chart you see on Sunday Night Football
and all the national shows and whatever media you consume.
So the Texans go to New England at eleven and one,
(11:43):
get blown out. Then they come home and they have
to beat the Colts, don't they They do. They beat
a hot Colts team that was a hot Colts team
coming in with Andrew Luck. And I give the Texans credit.
That's a good victory over the Horseshoe that very few
people talk about. One of the ten that you have
against them all time. Beat them in twenty twelve down
the stretch to clinch the AFC South. Okay, that job
(12:06):
is done. You get the hats. You clinched. Minnesota lost
to them at home. Uh oh, Now have to go
to India and beat them again in order to get
the top seed throughout the postseason to have home field
advantage throughout. My gosh, that's two games at home you're
gonna get I mean, if you win the first, you
get two at home, and it's your best chance ever
(12:26):
to get to the Super Bowl. But they couldn't beat
Indy that day with rookie Andrew Luck and Deji Kareem
running a kickoff back for a touchdown. Ouch. Right, that's
twenty twelve. Okay, twenty thirteen. Manning's gone. He's in Denver.
These games are notable in that, especially the one here
(12:48):
in that you're really struggling. We all know. Twenty thirteen
started off two to zero, lost fourteen in a row.
Among those losses along the way, case Keenum starts. He's
at his second year, technically kind of a rookie because
he's playing for the first time, but he's in his
second year. He was a rookie in twenty twelve. And
it's Sunday night football. You have the Colts at your place.
Keenum's playing. He throws three touchdown passes in the first
(13:10):
half to Andre Johnson. It was amazing. It was amazing.
You have this big lead over Indy. Everybody's celebrating. Even
though it's a really rough season, you still have a
chance to turn it around. And Gary Kubiak goes down
at the half with the mini stroke. What of course
that happened against the Horseshoe. It did, because weird things
have happened against the Horseshoe. This is what I'm I'm
(13:31):
gonna get to the big part here when the Texans
take them on this weekend and what this all means.
But I'm setting it up for you, Okay. So that
night was obviously very painful in many ways. Kubiak thankfully
turned out to be okay. But you lost the game,
and the second half you come out your head, coach
went down. Everybody saw it. The ambulance arrives, he's taken
to the medical center. You don't know what's gonna happen,
(13:51):
but you hear that things are okay. However, second half,
he just blow the lead, lose to the Colts, and
there it is. It's a season sweep by Indy fourteen.
Bill O'Brien arrives. He knows the importance of this and
the Colts somehow. Was it a twenty four to nothing lead?
How about twenty four nothing leads? I think it was
a twenty four to nothing leader or a twenty four
nothing run. Pittsburgh got a twenty four to nothing run.
(14:14):
That year, the Colts built a twenty four to nothing
lead on Thursday Night Football National Television at home, but
the Texans roar back make a tremendous comeback along the
way JJ Watt scoop and score. We've talked about this
play many times. You saw the highlight many times during
the Watt Ring of Honor induction coverage. Watt runs it
(14:36):
in for the score. They're celebrating. You're down five. At
the time, I felt like, there's no way the Texans
are losing this game now. They ended up losing the
game anyway, but that Watt highlight was tremendous. However, another
loss to the Horseshoe and later on that season, Bill
O'Brien give him credit, man, he was playing the Colts
tough up there. You lose Ryan Fitzpatrick to the course
(14:58):
of the game and Tom Savage is playing, and somehow
you only lose by seven. Late in the game, Savage
gets hurt. You end up getting swept by the Colts,
and Keenan finishes off the season. We've talked about that
when Keenum came back this year. But the relevance here
to the Colts series is that you get swept again.
And after the season. I think Bill O'Brien said this
(15:18):
in his Goodbye Coaches show to send off the twenty
fourteen season into the books. O'Brien said, you know, we
had a winning season, but we really haven't done anything
until we beat Indy. He knew the importance of beating Indianapolis,
and I like that about him that he knew you
got to go through the Colts to get the division.
But by the way, that was the last time the
Colts actually won the division. And they have a chance
(15:40):
to win it this year. Need help, but they have
a chance to win it this year. But the Colts
have not won the division since twenty fourteen. And they
went to the AFC Championship Game that year and lost.
And that's the year where they hung the banner and
everyone makes fun of them for hanging a participation banner
for being in the AFC Championship game. Anyway, that was
the last time they went so twenty fifteen hits. You
(16:03):
lose to the Colts at home. This is the hassle
beck and a diaper game. I mean, my gosh, they
just one after another. I'm just doing to this off
the top of my head. Folks, Matt Hasselbeck has Montezuma's revenge.
It's Thursday night football again, the Colts at your place.
Andre Johnson is now a Colt. He's not having a
great year at all. And they come in to NRG
(16:24):
Stadium and beat the Texans. Hasselbeck throws two touchdown passes
to Andre Johnson and we call it the hassele Beck
at a diaper game because he had Montezuma's revenge. So
Hasselbeck and the Colts get over on the Texans. And
this was a really painful night because it's Andre Johnson,
it's hassle Beck. My goodness, Can you please get a
victory over these guys. Nope, not another one, not yet,
(16:47):
because to that point the Texans had only beaten the Colts.
What three, one, two, three, four times? That's it, all right?
So twenty fifteen later that season, I'm not going to
recap the whole twenty fifteen season, but you know that
the Cleveland Browns are getting a lot of love for
having four quarterbacks start for them for the first time
since when twenty fifteen the Texans had four quarterbacks start
(17:10):
for them and win and had a winning season. So
you got to give the Texans credit for finding ways.
They were two and five, they rebounted to win the
division and along the way, I mean early on it's
Hoyer Mallet and then Malick goes out. Hoyer, Hoyer goes out.
You got TJ. Yeates. Yates goes out, You got Brandon Whedon.
(17:32):
All right. Brandon Whedon came off the bench in the
Colts game up there late in the season twenty fifteen,
and it was magnificent. It's not like he lit it up,
but he'd only been in the building a couple of weeks,
and earlier that season he was playing literally playing for
the Dallas Cowboys. So it was so cool to have
cast off Brandon Whedon come into your building and lead
(17:52):
you to a victory over the Indianapolis Colts on the
road for the first time ever. The Texans were oh
to thirteen to that point, and they beat the Colts
for the first time, And that, my friends, is my
favorite road win ever, other than the clinching of the
playoff berth in twenty eleven. I just thought that was magnificent.
It was so good to be a part of that.
(18:14):
I'll never forget that day how good it felt to
finally beat the Colts in Indy and on your way
because the Colts were still very much alive for the
division title, on your way to preventing them from winning
the division. Texans do win it. It was very gratifying.
I know the postseason didn't go well, a blowout loss
to the Chiefs wild card weekend at home, but you
(18:34):
won the division. You beat the Colts for the first
time ever on the road. Very nice, all right, that's
twenty fifteen. Twenty sixteen, a sweep of Indy for the
first time ever. You swept Indianapolis. And guess who did it.
You needed a great quarterback to do it, Brock Osweler.
Wait did I say great quarterback? Look, Brock, Brock takes
(18:54):
a lot of heat. I get it. The numbers aren't pretty.
It was not a good situation at the end of
the year. We all know that. But Brock was a
winning quarterback for your Texans. And one of those wins
was Sunday night football again national television. These two teams
hooked up on national television many times, so it's Sunday
Night football. Texans are down. Brock finds Lamar Miller at
(19:17):
around the ten yard line. Lamar Miller does a dance
and jukes and does whatever he does to shake defenders
and get into the end zone. And now you're thinking,
wait a minute, we got a shot at this thing.
You make another stop. Brock finds CJ. Fedorowitz for the
game tying touchdown. Tremendous throw by Brock. This was his
best game. I took a lot of heat. I'm going
(19:38):
to lunchtime confessions with Landry and Lopez the end the
loop group, Figie. This is the game where I said, Houston,
we have a quarterback, all right. I was really hyped
after this one. Brock played extremely well. You go to overtime,
I think you made a stop on Loock Brock. You
must have, because they win it with a field goal.
Brock finds Jalen Strong for the field goal spot along
(20:01):
the left sideline, gets out of bounds. Now you spot
it for the winning field goal. You get the victory
of the Colts and come from behind fashion. This was
a very untexan like historically performance against Indy. To come
from behind and win it like that. It was a
sensational win. It was euphoric at the time. A lot
of people don't remember a lot of people do as
(20:23):
you listen to me now recap it, and that's why
I got so high thinking this is Brock's coming out party.
Didn't turn out to be the case. So I ate
a lot of crow on that one, but I was
there for it that night. Later on that season, you
had a three game losing streak going. The Texas were
six and three. Then they lose three in a row.
It was Mexico, it was the Chargers. Was that the order?
(20:45):
And then it was Green Bay on the road the
snowy game. Ryan Griffin catches the touchdown pass. You lost
three in a row. Now you get to go to
Indy and find a way to win for the second
consecutive year. Up there, Are you going to be able
to do it? Really? Well? They did. They did do it.
They beat the Colts with Brock, Osweiler, Whitney Merciless and
Jadeveon Clowney went nuts. You lost Watt Week three of
(21:06):
this season. But somehow the Texans have the number one
defense in the league under Romeo Crenell after having the
number three defense in the league in twenty fifteen. That
twenty fifteen victory at Indy was sixteen to ten. The
twenty sixteen victory was another low scoring game, and they
came up with a big stop Andrew Luck a big
strip sack. I think Clowney stripped it, Merciless fell on it.
(21:29):
Texans scored and they got the win, and it was
a beautiful thing to see back to back on the
road in Indy. Are you kidding me? Great? All right,
let's go to twenty seventeen. I'm just going through this
Colt series top of my head, folks. Watson emerges as
a tremendous passer and he looks really good early. We
know that I don't have to recap all of that.
(21:50):
He has that six weeks of nineteen touchdown passes, insane production,
but then he blows out his knees done. You're playing
the Colts in the next game. You started the season
with Tom Sam Savage, and you kind of semi finished
it with Savage a little bit. He played a couple
of had a couple of starts late in twenty sixteen,
So you're thinking, Okay, you lost Watson and that's painful,
but you have Savage and you're playing a bad Colts team.
(22:13):
Are they bad? Let's just put it subpar whatever they've got.
Jacoby Brissett going, what's he gonna do to you? Well,
he did beat you week three and twenty sixteen as
a Patriots rookie. Now he's a cult trying to make
some noise for them. He's at your place, and I'm thinking,
you got to get this win, right, Savage has to
be up for the task. Nope, couldn't get the win.
Jacoby Brissett gets that victory and gets the return victory
(22:37):
up there to conclude the regular season. That's right, another
season finisher at Indy and Brissett got that one, So
a season sweep for the Colts. And after that Rick
Smith was gone. Things changed again for the Texans organization.
Twenty eighteen overtime win at Indy. Up there, Week four,
you're owing three, have to have it to avoid an
(22:58):
zero to four start. Get it at the overtime buzzer,
kind of like the Titans game. Fair baron at the
overtime buzzer. He knocks it through and the Texans get
the win. I'm not gonna go through all of that
game because there were a lot of twists and turns.
You had a big lead. Colts caught up, but you
win it in overtime. Awesome later on at twenty eighteen, though,
I talked about it at the outset of this podcast,
(23:20):
where you get the Indianapolis Colts coming to your place
and you've had a nine game winning streak going in
twenty eighteen, they stop it with a victory at NRG Stadium,
and moments later it feels like they're visiting your place
in the postseason wild card weekend and Nope, can't get
that one. We talked about that game. Can you believe
(23:41):
all this? Twenty nineteen was a split because the Texans
lost up there, but they got a hard earned win
over the Colts on a Thursday night again national television.
Texans Colts. It was Brissett, it was Watson, Texans gutted
out of win, tremendous defense, and that was four days
after getting blown out by the way. Texans had to
have it, got it eventually won the division. Good stuff there,
(24:04):
and then twenty twenty a couple of wins for the
Colts and really weird stuff happening late with Texans turnovers
and such in both of those games. Twenty twenty one,
do I have to recap this Davis Mills start number one. Nope,
not very good. You lose. Let's see at home against Indy.
Also in twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two. Here it is.
(24:27):
It's weird because that was a season where the Texans
did not lose to Indy. It was not a sweet
because it was a tie and a victory. But after
both games I felt weird because after a tie you
feel weird. That was Opening Day and I felt weird
after the finisher, the conclusion of the season, the game
at Indy, because you won the game, which was awesome
(24:47):
to win. I always loved beating the Colts. I mean
this is rare. As I said, you won the game,
but you lost the number one overall pick. How do
you feel about that? At the time, I felt like, man,
now you don't control the draft, but see what happens,
right choice. But to see what happens, well, it's funny
because we'll never know what would have happened if the
Texans had the number one pick in the draft. We'll
never know. I mean people could say they know, but
(25:08):
they really don't know until you really talk to the
people involved. But having the second pick, and if you
want a quarterback, you're gonna take the top prospect on
the board, and that's CJ. Stroud And hasn't that worked
out really well for Houston? And the opening game between
the Texans and Colts this year was Anthony Richardson running
for a couple of scores and all of a sudden
you're up against it, but he goes out of the
game and you feel like, oh, we can deal with Minshew,
(25:31):
No you can't. He played really well. But late in
that game and the second half, CJ. Stroud started to shine,
started to show you who he was, and you felt
like we got something here maybe. And then you go
to the Jacksonville Jaguars the next week and beat them
handily and the rest is history. As far as the
twenty twenty three campaign goes. That brings us to now
(25:52):
everybody paying attention. Now it's Texans Colts going for only
your eleventh all time win against this franchise, this villain,
this nemesis. It's them. But guess who doesn't care about
any of it. The young players, they don't care, they
don't mind, they don't know what this is all about.
(26:14):
Some of the guys remember last year, maybe a few
two years ago. And of course you have the long
time people, you have kareem back. He understands it. But
it doesn't matter. It's all about CJ. Stroud and his
merry band of pass catchers and the guys paving the
way for the ground game. And they don't care about
the history. They just know it's a divisional opponent and
they know that if they win, they are in. All right,
(26:35):
Let's get to our buddy, Matt Taylor, Voice of the Colts,
and talk about this weekend's game. Matt, how's it going today?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I'm doing fantastic, Mark, always good to be with you.
What's going on? Happy New Year?
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Happy New Year? And a huge matchup Saturday night. Let's
get to this now. Your preseason expectations of the Colts
versus where you are at this moment, do they match
up or not?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
I hate to give you a cop out answer, but
I really I didn't have any expectations because I didn't
know what to expect with this team with at the time,
a rookie quarterback right the fourth overall pick, and Anthony
Richardson who had played only thirteen games in college, a
rookie head coach, and Shane Steiken basically a brand new
offensive system, a brand new offensive coaching staff outside of
(27:26):
Reggie Wayne, who was the only holdover. I knew it
was going to be interesting. That that was the only
thing that I was assured of from the Colts here
in twenty twenty three. So it's been up, it's been down.
There's been a lot of highs and some lows, some
disappointing outcomes, and maybe some upset wins that maybe the
fan base didn't see coming along the way. But the
(27:49):
fact that here they are, you know, four twelve and
one in twenty twenty two to now nine and seven
and twenty twenty three with a chance to punch their
ticket to the postseason, just like the Texans. I mean,
this has been a crazy, crazy year and I think
a surprising year. I didn't think they'd make the playoffs
this year, so I guess they are exceeding expectations. But
(28:11):
it's been a very very fun season under Shane Stike,
and the Cults are assured a winning season and his
rookie campaign, just like Niko rans there with the Houston Texans.
So this is going to be really really fun I
think for years to come, with two outstanding quarterbacks in
the division, two really rising stars at the head coaching
spots between the Colts and the Texans. It just enhances
(28:32):
this rivalry, I think even further between these two franchises.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Yeah, we didn't really get to see what Shane stike
In was ultimately going to do with Anthony Richardson and
how he would develop. And you see what CJ. Stroud
has done with a bunch of games, and Richardson didn't
get that, but it looked good in the short amount
of time he was in there. But tell me about
Gardner Minshew, Shane stike In the chemistry, what Minshew's doing
(28:56):
well at the quarterback position, because you don't get this
far without him playing well.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
No, there's no doubt about that. You know obviously, you know,
free agency happens before the draft and before the Colts
could even put their sights on Anthony Richardson fourth. Overall,
they needed somebody to come in and give them a
good insurance policy should Anthony Richardson or whoever quarterback they
drafted wasn't ready or if that guy suffered an injury.
(29:21):
They needed somebody to keep him competitive in games. And
that's exactly who Gardner Minshew is and that's why they
brought him in. In free agency. There's a lot of
familiarity there between Stiken and Minshew two years together in Philadelphia,
so there was a lot of trust and certainly a
lot of familiarity between the scheme and the offense that
(29:41):
Gardner Minshew ran in Philadelphia. I mean, I think if
you were giving Minshew some some truth serum, if you will,
he would tell you, Hey, the reason I'm here is
because of Shane Steiken, and it was a chance to
come in and compete for the job and obviously have
a good chance to play. And that has certainly come
to fruition. I think coming up on Sunday or Saturday
(30:02):
night in this case for Minshew, this is going to
be his twelfth start of the season. But you know, Gardner,
excuse me, Anthony Richardson goes down in the beginning of
the season, you know, got game four, and Minshew has
kept this team competitive and has it looked pretty and
aesthetically cleaned the entire season. No, absolutely not. I mean
they're two different players, you know. Richardson's you know, obviously
(30:24):
way more dynamic, being able to run the ball, the RPO,
the Reid option game. Minshew is a quick, rhythm, get
get the ball out fast type of quarterback, go through
your reads real quick and get the ball into the
hands of your playmakers. So I think it's different in
that regard. And you know, you look at Minshew's season
to this point. I mean he's probably in the twenties
(30:47):
in terms of rankings and all the major quarterback categories
and stats. You know, you're talking about yards yards per
completion and passing yards and completion percentage yards perm. I mean,
he's not going to be confused with a top five quarterback.
But I think Minshew has this unique ability to compartmentalize
(31:09):
and flush negative plays and just keep on playing and
be that backyard you know quarterback, you know, game manager
that he is. And he's just a really really fun
player to watch and he doesn't give up, just like
I think them of this team, And so this offense
is really fun right now to watch under Gardner Minshew
(31:30):
because every play is really eventful because of his scrambling ability,
his pocket awareness, and just again that that backyard football
mentality that he has to keep every play alive and
give the playmakers a chance to make plays.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
All right, Matt, Now are they running the football so well?
Because I'm blown away by this. It doesn't matter who's
in there. The Colts can run the rock against the Steelers.
I'm like the DiCaprio meme pointed to the screen. They're
still running the ball. There's no moss, no tailor. They're
still running the ball. What is the secret? The old
line looks like the band is back together and playing
(32:04):
well again. What do you think it is?
Speaker 2 (32:07):
They got Braden Smith back at the right tackle position
on Sunday against the Raiders. He had missed three games
with that knee injury, so to get him back is
really really exceptional for the Colts because you know, I
know you've talked about the Texans offensive line being banged
up and a lot of shuffling going on up front
within that unit. The Colts have experienced, maybe not to
(32:28):
the same degree that Texans have, but they've had to
use some reserve parts. You mainly Blake Freedlan either at
right tackle or left tackle. Bernard Ryman, their outstanding left tackle.
Second year players missed some games. Rank Kelly's missed some games,
so they've had to rely on the depth. But for
the most part this year, consistently being able to move
(32:49):
the ball on the ground has been there for this team,
which is a credit again to Shane Snikeen in terms
of the scheme and how creative they've been able and
in terms of being able to run the ball, whether
that's know with Zach Moss or Jonathan Taylor who's back now.
But I will say list lately it's it's kind of
been feast or femme and really in the month of December,
the Colts either run the ball really really well or
(33:13):
it's a struggle. I mean Cincinnati, it was a struggle
to sort to move the ball in general and sort
of and especially to run the ball in the ground.
You know that Pittsburgh game, that was the feast part
of the equation. I think there was one part of
that Pittsburgh game in the second half where they just
completely you know, tore the will out of Pittsburgh's soul
in order to compete on defense. The Colts on one
(33:33):
drive ran at thirteen consecutive plays before settling for a
field goal. It was it wasn't there in Atlanta on
Christmas Eve, but it did come back against the Raiders,
rushing for over one hundred yards and it's just situational
football for the Colts. That's the biggest thing, you know,
Shane Stykeen always says, we're gonna throw it to score,
and then we're gonna run it to win, to salt
(33:53):
the game away, to get first downs, to kind of
again take the will out of the defense. That's when
we want to be able to run the ball, situational
right four minutes in the game, get a couple of
first downs, pound you up front, and I think for
the most part, that's what the Colts have been able
to do, and that's been their rest to be for
success on offense.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
All right, let's talk defense. Matt Taylor, Voice of the Colts,
joining us, and I don't know where to start. I mean,
when I look at DeForest Buckner and then I hear
our guys talking about Zaria Franklin and EJ. Speed. Obviously
no Shaq Leonard anymore, but it doesn't seem to matter really.
Franklin's having a hell of a year. The tackle numbers
(34:31):
are ridiculous. What about the d Matt, Yeah, the defense.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
I mean, I think we talked about this at the
beginning of the season. There are Pro Bowl players and
Pro Bowl caliber players in all three levels of that defense.
You talked about Buckner up front, and then you also
have Grover Stewart, who's one of the best, you know,
run stuffing defensive tackles in the game. And then on
the outside you got Quitty pay Samson, Ebacom DIOI Dangbo think,
(34:58):
if I'm not mistaken, Mark, the Cults are the the
only team in the NFL to have four pass rushers
or four players along their defensive line to have at
least seven sacks. So it's kind of diverse. They hit
you in different ways, and then they've got you know,
reserve players like Taekwon Lewis that come into the game.
He's an incredibly efficient player and that he's disruptive, but
he's only playing about thirty five forty percent of the snaps.
(35:21):
So they hitch you in waves different different ways. They
can get after the quarterback. They push you up front
and they come from the outside. And then the linebackers,
like you talked about, I think the Colts have maybe
the two best linebacker combination in the NFL right now.
Maybe I'm missing out on some other combinations, but you
got Zaire Franklin and then EJ. Speed is just one
(35:41):
of the best football players I've ever seen. He plays
so hard, he is so fast, he hits you with
every particle of his body. He's just a really, really
good football player. He's a downhill tackler, he can cover
in space. And then the back end. That's kind of
the tricky part of this Colts right now. Kenny Moore,
(36:01):
the second didn't play last week. He was out with
the back injury. So that really tested the Colts to
depth in the secondary because Julian Blackman went out with
an injury a couple of weeks ago. He's done for
the season with a shoulder injury. So on the outside
of the cornerback spots mark you had two rookies. You
had Jalen Jones who was drafted in the seventh round.
You had ju Ju Brentz, who was a second round
(36:22):
pick for the Colts. They were your outside guys. Then
in the secondary you had a second year player in
Nick Cross and then Ronnie Harrison Junior, who the Colts
picked up of a halfway through training camp. They actually
transitioned him from safety to linebacker, but then at a
pinch last week they moved him from linebacker back to safety.
Played really well all things considered, but then they had
(36:43):
Chris Lamont, who had never started a game in the NFL,
had never started obviously or never played the nickel cornerback position.
He had to play the inside corner spot with Kenny
Moore's injury, and so I think all that kind of
hodge podging and mismatching it worked out well for a game,
But they're trying to figure out their best personnel lineup
in the secondary and trying to get Kenny Moore back
(37:04):
into this game for this win and in playoff type
game against the Texans.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Matt Taylor, voice of the Colts, joining us. All right,
let's turn our attention to a game that we're both
interested in, especially whoever wins this one Saturday night, Matt
will be watching the Jacksonville Jaguars taking on the Tennessee Titans.
What do you think of the Jaguars journey this season?
How have you viewed it?
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Well, it's kind of like the Colt season last year.
Maybe not to that degree, but you know, kind of
the tail spin at the end of the year. You know,
some injuries and then you know some inconsistencies on defense.
You're playing a tough schedule. I mean that was evident
in the last couple of weeks and everybody watched that
Ravens game on Sunday Night Football. Baltimore just looks like
(37:46):
the best team you know in the universe right now
in terms of how well they're playing. So that was
going to be a tough game for him. But it's
all eyes right now on Trevor Lawrence if he's going
to be able to play in this game. Tennessee is
on the a free fall. You might be wondering, you know,
what they're gonna be doing long term at the head
coaching position, and Mike Vrabel what they're gonna do at
(38:06):
quarterback is Will Levis the guy. It doesn't sound like
Will Levis is gonna play in this game. How much
fight will the Titans have for the Jaguars in a
game where they're trying to clinch the division for the
second straight year. So it's a it's gonna be a
fascinating division. As I said, it's gonna be a really
good group of four teams now going forward, I mean,
(38:28):
you've got some really good head coaches, You've got great quarterbacks.
You know, the Colts have some free agency questions they're
gonna have to answer in the offseason. But for the
most part, you know, the nucleus is here for this
team if they can continue to grow around Anthony Richardson.
But you know, I think the Jacksonville Jaguars are gonna
be playing some spirited football under Doug Peterson. I'd be
(38:50):
shocked if they lost that game, to be honest with you,
which is obviously a negative thing for either of the
culture the Texans. Whoever wins that game on Saturday night.
I thought the Jackville was the best team in the
division from start to finish. Obviously they've hit some speed
bumps along the way, but I would be really really
surprised with all that's on the line for them, their
ability to host a playoff game, win the division for
(39:12):
the first time or for the second straight year, and
you know, for the first time in back to back seasons,
first time for them in their franchise's history. I just
would be shocked if they didn't win this game and
close it down in Week eighteen.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Matt, what do you think the best team is that
you've played? I know Baltimore is record wise, but what
win are you really proud of or is the organization
really proud of? Is there one more than that? Or
is that the one because it was relatively early. Week three,
Colts defeated the Ravens by three.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Yeah, that was obviously a really impressive game for the Colts.
They won in overtime. That was the game where Matt
Gay had to make five field goals over fifty yards.
They got some turnovers in that game that obviously helped,
you know, every able to kick some field goals on
short fields. But yeah, I mean, I think the Ravens
(40:02):
are just stratospherically right now in a different universe than
everybody else, certainly in the AFC. They've just been killing teams.
I mentioned that Jaguars game. You know, they killed the Ravens.
The other the Dolphins the other day, they killed San Francisco,
maybe the best team in the NFC right now. So yeah,
I think if you look back on Week three, it
(40:24):
was a long long time ago, just like Week two was.
In this first meeting between the Colts and the Texans,
I'll tell you a really deceptive win for the Colts
during this run here, as they've won six of their
last eight. A game that I was really impressed by
with the Colts was their win. I think it was
the Sunday after Thanksgiving where they knocked off Tampa Bay.
(40:44):
Tampa was playing pretty good football. Baker Mayfield got banged
up in that game, but the defense did a nice
job consistently throughout that game. Jonathan Taylor ran well. He
was over ninety yards in that game. The offensive line,
like we talked about, had a consistent push route most
of that ball game. It was a close game, and
that's been the biggest difference for the Colts this year
(41:05):
compared to last year. I mean, I'm not telling anybody anything.
They don't know. The NFL is just filled with parody.
All of these games come down to the last four minutes.
They're all one score games, seemingly, so if you can
be good in one score games, you typically make the playoffs.
And that's been the biggest difference this year for the
Colts compared to last Colts last year were I think
(41:25):
there were four to six and one in one score games.
This year they're six and two. I mean, that's being
able to win and crunch time and being able to
close out games and make enough plays again in the
last four minutes on offense and defense. That was one
of those games where the Colts did enough to win
that football game and made plays on both sides of
the ball against Tampa Bay. And again, you know, out
(41:48):
of eight games they've won, six of them that have
been decided by one score. That's been the biggest difference
I think culturally and buying wise from Shane Stocking compared
to last year with Jeff Saturday and Frank Right.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
One more, Matt, what's the vibe like in Indy right
now for this one Saturday night both teams match up,
primetime game, all the marbles to get to the postseason. Anyway,
what is the vibe in town?
Speaker 2 (42:16):
I mean, it's bonkers right now. It's bonkers. I mean,
this is it's a playoff game, right because the Colts
can't make the playoffs with the loss, just like the Texans.
So the next time either one of these teams loses,
the season is over. So I mean, it's just crazy
to think about it. I know we were talking about
this earlier, but Week eighteen last year, with these two
(42:37):
teams at Lucas Oil Stadium, Mark you could have bought
a ticket for like fifteen bucks. Now you can buy
a ticket for a couple more zeros. On the end
of that because of the importance of this one. I
think everybody around here is just they've fallen in love
with Shane and the culture of the cults are building.
They're excited about Gardner Minshew. They're obviously way more excited
about Anthony Richardson in terms of his view, sure, but
(43:00):
they kind of like this team with the way that
it fights, the way it competes, the way they're able
to kind of bounce back and not turn one bad
loss into two, and so on and so forth. So
it's just it's gonna be really really fun. And you know,
one thing that I didn't really think about until the
drive end today kind of hit me that, you know,
the Colts are going to be playing on primetime for
the first time all season, and I know the Texans
(43:23):
are as well. I think that for the Texans it's
going to be the first time they're playing outside of
the one o'clock Eastern Time Sunday window all season long.
So it's a huge chance, you know, for both teams
to showcase their talent to a to a bigger audience.
You know, people that don't get to see the Colts
of the Texans play on a weekend and week out
basis and yeah, it's a playoff game and the postseason
(43:44):
and that mentality it starts now. I know Shane Steigens
really dialed in, and I know the fan base is
excited for this game.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
As well as Bart Scott once said, can't wait. Let's
do it Saturday night. Matt, thanks so much for.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
The time, my pleasure to see you soon, and soon.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
Is Saturday night. That's Matt Taylor, Voice of the Colts.
So let's get it on here Texans and the Horseshoes
seven point fifteen, Kick Sports Radio six ' ten, The
Bull one hundred point three FM, and the Texans app
Odyssey app Serious XM, all of it. Check it out,
can't wait. Thanks so much for listening. Hit subscribe wherever
(44:20):
you can possibly Hit subscribe and listen to all the
other Texans podcasts as well, and Go Texans.
Okay, Texan's here we go. This is it the Big
week Week eighteen. I told you many months ago, or
at least three that it would all come down to this.
I felt like it would, and it has. It's the
Texans and the Colts. Here we go again. Now I
am going to give you my thoughts on this series,
on this game, on what's really important. And we'll also
(00:29):
hear from Matt Taylor, who's the voice of the Indianapolis Colts.
Good guy. I really enjoy talking with him always at
the combine and during these matchups with Indy. And even
though I hate the Colts like poison in a healthy
sports way, I've made clear what that means before. I
really enjoy Matt and a lot of other people who
work for the Colts. There are division friends, but they
(00:49):
are very much foes on the field. First of all,
what's a rivalry is a rivalry two teams that get
together a lot, and it's relatively even. Maybe it's not
that even over the course of the last few years
or so, maybe a team goes on a run, but
over the course of time, it's a rivalry for a
reason because it's relatively even. And I would say that
(01:12):
would be the Texans and the Titans. That's a good
rivalry right there, relatively even they might win a few
in a row. You might win a few in a row.
They have their time to shine, You have yours with
the Colts. I don't think it's a rivalry. I think
it's a series. It's definitely a series, but it's not
a rivalry. It very much is a nemesis. The Colts
(01:35):
are to the Houston Texans. This is the all time
greatest Texans villain opponent. There is no match. I know
you might be thinking, well, New England, Mark, we go
up there, camp win lost in the playoffs twice. I
get it. New England's pretty solid, and I know they've
changed a lot, but so of the Colts. In fact,
the Texans and the Colts have matched up forty four times,
(01:56):
including the postseason in twenty eighteen, when the Texans hosted
wild Card Weekend and lost to Indy badly Andrew luckin
company getting over t Y Hilton wearing the clown mask
coming into the building because Jajo made a comment about
him being a clown or something. It really wasn't that
damaging a comment, but it did damage. As it turned
out because Hilton took it and ran with it with
(02:17):
the clown mask. I thought, there's no way the Texans
are going to lose that game, but they did. Anyway,
let's get into it, shall we. My thoughts on this series.
I've been to all of them. I have called every
play in the series between the Texans and the Colts
going back to year one, two thousand and two, and
that year the Texans actually played the Colts close at home. Defensively,
(02:39):
they did a nice job against Peyton Manning and friends,
but they just couldn't score points. That year. You know
about that three touchdown game they had against Pittsburgh when
the defense scored three touchdowns. That year, there were a
lot of really good defensive performances, but the offense could
not match up and the Texans went four and twelve. Anyway,
the Colts won in sweeps in two, three, four, five,
(03:05):
And going to the RCA Dome back then, I'll stand
by this, that is the loudest building I've ever heard
in the NFL. That building was so loud and it
held what less than sixty thousand. There was something about it.
It was a bandbox, it was a basketball gym, and
it had carpet. I don't think you could call that turf.
It was outdoor carpeting laid on top of cement. And
(03:27):
Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis with their team getting a
lot of leads thanks to Peyton Manning and the offense
they would fire off rack up sacks. Those guys are
Hall of Fame candidates because of Peyton Manning getting those leads.
I don't want to take anything away from them as
individual players. They were awesome, give them their due, but
the offense is what stirred the drink very much for
the Colts in those years, and they played numerous playoff games.
(03:50):
Of course, they were feasting in the AFC South, a
division that was invented when the Texans came into the
league in two thousand and two. Before that, yeah, the
Colts coming from the AFC East, you had the Titans
coming from the AFC Central and the Jags as well,
and the AFC souths was born when the Texans were born.
You know the rest of the story. But Peyton Manning
owned the Texans for a long time. So sweeps in two, three, four, five,
(04:15):
six up there not good tough matchup indeed, but the
first ever breakthrough win for the Houston Texans against the
Colts was Christmas Eve two thousand and six, Gary Kubiak's
first year, David Carrett quarterback, Andre Johnson at receiver make
it a big play to get the Texans in field
goal range. Late throughout that game, they ran the rock
(04:35):
well Ron Dane running for one pin fifty plus. Vonte
Leech caught a touchdown pass in that game, and the
Texans got the win at the buzzer with a Chris
Brown field goal, and nobody who was there will ever
forget it. That's one of a handful of tremendous victories
for this franchise that we will always remember. The Texans
could win ten Super Bowls. You'll always remember a few
(04:56):
Opening Night, the first time you beat the Colts. I'm
going to say, the first time you beat Indy in Indy.
We'll get to that, and I'm certainly going to include
the case Keenum led victory at Tennessee with them wearing
the oiler uniforms. You'll never forget that day. And there
are some others, but we don't have to get into
all those right now. This is about the Horseshoe, about
the guys wearing royal blue. All right, so you get
(05:18):
that win, but then you go into another drought. Oh seven,
it's a sweep. Oh eight, it's a sweep. I remember
Sage Rosenfeld's quarterbacking the eight game up there, and you
got kind of close but not close enough. Oh nine,
this is a good Texans team started off the season
five and three. Let's go to Indy, take our shot.
Go to Indy. Unable to get it done, but you
(05:41):
have a field goal opportunity at the buzzer to tie.
Chris Brown misses it. Ouch you come home, you play
the Titans on Monday Night Football, a buzzer miss field
goal again against the Tennessee Titans on national television. Then
you play the Colts again and it's a seventeen point
lead and you can't win it. Now. I kind of
(06:01):
glossed over the eight sweep by the Colts because we
all know what happened that year. In fact, I asked
Indie media, when I say the word rosencopter, what does
it mean to you? Guys? They just call it helicopter,
They don't call it rosencopter, but we know what rosencopter is.
It's a seventeen point lead seventeen point leads are significant
(06:22):
in this series. By the way, seventeen point lead at
home against Indy, you have the ball five minutes is
ish to go driving in plus territory. Rosenfelt's trying to
make a play, trying to get a first down with
his body just gets helicoptered around on a big hit
and the ball comes out. Gary Brackett picks it up,
runs it in for a touchdown. You are only up
three at that point. The seventeen point lead was reduced
(06:44):
to ten by the way when Peyton Manning drove down
the field and scored. So you have the ball up
ten in plus territory. Now they score, you're only up three.
You get the ball back. What's going to happen? Are
you gonna be able to move the ball well? Rosenfelts
fumbles again. I don't want to take anything away from
the good things that Sage did here, because he did
many good things. He won games, threw the ball very well,
(07:05):
and I like Sage a lot for doing that. But
that was a rough day and he admitted it, wrote
about it in what was it? The Player's Tribune. He
had a big piece on how that game that rosen
Copter game affected his career anyway. That was a blown
seventeen point lead, nine blown seventeen point lead. So you're
really frustrated. But twenty ten starts off and you're thinking,
(07:25):
are we going to be able to do something here?
You're coming off a winning season, the first ever in
franchise history at nine to seven in two thousand and nine,
missed the playoffs, didn't get the help you need on
the final day. Then you take on the Colts opening day.
What's gonna happen? Arian Foster, a back who appeared in
the final two games of that nine season. He had
(07:46):
played a bit on special teams before that, but carried
the ball extremely well against Miami the second to last
week of the season, and started against the Patriots in
the season capper and performed brilliantly. I think he had
two touchdowns fourth quarter when the Texans were down a
couple of scores. Anyway, on opening day, everybody knows about this.
Two hundred and thirty one yards for Foster. He goes
(08:08):
nuts on the Colts and you win. Not quite a runaway.
It looked like a blowout. They were up seventeen at
one point, and I thought, uh oh, the dreaded seventeen
point lead, But how do you dread a seventeen point
lead in the history of this series? You might anyway,
Foster ran well. Peyton Manning threw for over four hundred
yards in that game, by the way, kept coming back
(08:28):
on a Texans defense that would eventually really struggle that season.
But you got to win, and it was so sweet
to beat them for only the second time ever. That's right.
It's twenty ten. It's the ninth season of Texans football
and you finally get your second win over the Colts.
Later on Monday Night football, you'd lose up there. Okay,
(08:49):
So you have two victories in your first nine years.
Then twenty eleven hits Manning is hurt. He's got that
neck problem, the fusion surgery. Kerry Collins' quarterbacking beat them
on opening day in your place again. This time it's
Ben Tate running the ball very well and Arian hat
a hamstring early on. He did certainly play a lot
(09:09):
and play very well in twenty eleven, but missed the
season opener and I think game two as well. But
you got them again. So victory number three against the Colts.
Making some progress and later in the season. You all
know what happened in twenty eleven, Texans clinched the playoff
berth at Cincinnati Texans with the next man up campaign,
TJ yeats third quarterback in you know all the legendary stuff. Well,
(09:33):
the subtlety of this as it relates to the Colts
series is you're taking the Colts on second to last
week of the season, Thursday night game, national television. Up there,
there's no manning to worry about. The Colts are having
a horrendous campaign, only one win to that point, and
Dan Orlovski is quarterbacking for the Colts. Remember dan Orlovski
(09:55):
stepping out of the back of the end zone. You
all know him now from ESPN, but he stepped out
of the back of the end zone for the live
He was a Texans backup for a bit and here
he is an indie quarterback in the Colts. This should
be a victory, right, you have your best Texans team ever.
Wait a minute, Orlovski and the Colts get the victory.
He hits Reggie Wayne late in that game. Colts win,
(10:16):
And it was a bit of a heartbreaker at the
time because even though you had already clinched a playoff berth.
You had a chance at a first round by, not
the top seed, but a first round by because there
were two buys back then. But you didn't beat the Colts.
Had you beaten the Colts, that regular season finale against
the Titans would have been for a lot. However, it
wasn't because you lost to the Colts. And Dan Orlovski, okay,
(10:40):
let's go to twenty twelve, shall we Andrew Luck drafted
by the Colts. This is how painful this was. They
have their worst season ever, They beat you once and
they end up with Andrew Luck, who everybody thought was
going to be great, and he was so Andrew Luck
quarterbacks the Colts. And this reminds me of CJ. Stroud
a bit. The Luck campaign is rookie year tw two. Well,
(11:00):
they go from two to fourteen to playoff team. They
made it as a wild card and they did it
by in part beating the Texans in the regular season finale.
And this was a particularly painful loss that nobody remembers.
This is one of the all time great painful losses
for the Houston Texans. And of course it's against the
Horseshoe up there because the Texans beat the Colts a
(11:23):
couple of weeks earlier at NRG Stadium. Remember we all
know what happened here, right The Texans had the top seed,
not clinched, but they were in the category of possessing
the top seed if the season ended today. We're all
familiar with the chart you see on Sunday Night Football
and all the national shows and whatever media you consume.
So the Texans go to New England at eleven and one,
(11:43):
get blown out. Then they come home and they have
to beat the Colts, don't they They do. They beat
a hot Colts team that was a hot Colts team
coming in with Andrew Luck. And I give the Texans credit.
That's a good victory over the Horseshoe that very few
people talk about. One of the ten that you have
against them all time. Beat them in twenty twelve down
the stretch to clinch the AFC South. Okay, that job
(12:06):
is done. You get the hats. You clinched. Minnesota lost
to them at home. Uh oh, Now have to go
to India and beat them again in order to get
the top seed throughout the postseason to have home field
advantage throughout. My gosh, that's two games at home you're
gonna get I mean, if you win the first, you
get two at home, and it's your best chance ever
(12:26):
to get to the Super Bowl. But they couldn't beat
Indy that day with rookie Andrew Luck and Deji Kareem
running a kickoff back for a touchdown. Ouch. Right, that's
twenty twelve. Okay, twenty thirteen. Manning's gone. He's in Denver.
These games are notable in that, especially the one here
(12:48):
in that you're really struggling. We all know. Twenty thirteen
started off two to zero, lost fourteen in a row.
Among those losses along the way, case Keenum starts. He's
at his second year, technically kind of a rookie because
he's playing for the first time, but he's in his
second year. He was a rookie in twenty twelve. And
it's Sunday night football. You have the Colts at your place.
Keenum's playing. He throws three touchdown passes in the first
(13:10):
half to Andre Johnson. It was amazing. It was amazing.
You have this big lead over Indy. Everybody's celebrating. Even
though it's a really rough season, you still have a
chance to turn it around. And Gary Kubiak goes down
at the half with the mini stroke. What of course
that happened against the Horseshoe. It did, because weird things
have happened against the Horseshoe. This is what I'm I'm
(13:31):
gonna get to the big part here when the Texans
take them on this weekend and what this all means.
But I'm setting it up for you, Okay. So that
night was obviously very painful in many ways. Kubiak thankfully
turned out to be okay. But you lost the game,
and the second half you come out your head, coach
went down. Everybody saw it. The ambulance arrives, he's taken
to the medical center. You don't know what's gonna happen,
(13:51):
but you hear that things are okay. However, second half,
he just blow the lead, lose to the Colts, and
there it is. It's a season sweep by Indy fourteen.
Bill O'Brien arrives. He knows the importance of this and
the Colts somehow. Was it a twenty four to nothing lead?
How about twenty four nothing leads? I think it was
a twenty four to nothing leader or a twenty four
nothing run. Pittsburgh got a twenty four to nothing run.
(14:14):
That year, the Colts built a twenty four to nothing
lead on Thursday Night Football National Television at home, but
the Texans roar back make a tremendous comeback along the
way JJ Watt scoop and score. We've talked about this
play many times. You saw the highlight many times during
the Watt Ring of Honor induction coverage. Watt runs it
(14:36):
in for the score. They're celebrating. You're down five. At
the time, I felt like, there's no way the Texans
are losing this game now. They ended up losing the
game anyway, but that Watt highlight was tremendous. However, another
loss to the Horseshoe and later on that season, Bill
O'Brien give him credit, man, he was playing the Colts
tough up there. You lose Ryan Fitzpatrick to the course
(14:58):
of the game and Tom Savage is playing, and somehow
you only lose by seven. Late in the game, Savage
gets hurt. You end up getting swept by the Colts,
and Keenan finishes off the season. We've talked about that
when Keenum came back this year. But the relevance here
to the Colts series is that you get swept again.
And after the season. I think Bill O'Brien said this
(15:18):
in his Goodbye Coaches show to send off the twenty
fourteen season into the books. O'Brien said, you know, we
had a winning season, but we really haven't done anything
until we beat Indy. He knew the importance of beating Indianapolis,
and I like that about him that he knew you
got to go through the Colts to get the division.
But by the way, that was the last time the
Colts actually won the division. And they have a chance
(15:40):
to win it this year. Need help, but they have
a chance to win it this year. But the Colts
have not won the division since twenty fourteen. And they
went to the AFC Championship Game that year and lost.
And that's the year where they hung the banner and
everyone makes fun of them for hanging a participation banner
for being in the AFC Championship game. Anyway, that was
the last time they went so twenty fifteen hits. You
(16:03):
lose to the Colts at home. This is the hassle
beck and a diaper game. I mean, my gosh, they
just one after another. I'm just doing to this off
the top of my head. Folks, Matt Hasselbeck has Montezuma's revenge.
It's Thursday night football again, the Colts at your place.
Andre Johnson is now a Colt. He's not having a
great year at all. And they come in to NRG
(16:24):
Stadium and beat the Texans. Hasselbeck throws two touchdown passes
to Andre Johnson and we call it the hassele Beck
at a diaper game because he had Montezuma's revenge. So
Hasselbeck and the Colts get over on the Texans. And
this was a really painful night because it's Andre Johnson,
it's hassle Beck. My goodness, Can you please get a
victory over these guys. Nope, not another one, not yet,
(16:47):
because to that point the Texans had only beaten the Colts.
What three, one, two, three, four times? That's it, all right?
So twenty fifteen later that season, I'm not going to
recap the whole twenty fifteen season, but you know that
the Cleveland Browns are getting a lot of love for
having four quarterbacks start for them for the first time
since when twenty fifteen the Texans had four quarterbacks start
(17:10):
for them and win and had a winning season. So
you got to give the Texans credit for finding ways.
They were two and five, they rebounted to win the
division and along the way, I mean early on it's
Hoyer Mallet and then Malick goes out. Hoyer, Hoyer goes out.
You got TJ. Yeates. Yates goes out, You got Brandon Whedon.
(17:32):
All right. Brandon Whedon came off the bench in the
Colts game up there late in the season twenty fifteen,
and it was magnificent. It's not like he lit it up,
but he'd only been in the building a couple of weeks,
and earlier that season he was playing literally playing for
the Dallas Cowboys. So it was so cool to have
cast off Brandon Whedon come into your building and lead
(17:52):
you to a victory over the Indianapolis Colts on the
road for the first time ever. The Texans were oh
to thirteen to that point, and they beat the Colts
for the first time, And that, my friends, is my
favorite road win ever, other than the clinching of the
playoff berth in twenty eleven. I just thought that was magnificent.
It was so good to be a part of that.
(18:14):
I'll never forget that day how good it felt to
finally beat the Colts in Indy and on your way
because the Colts were still very much alive for the
division title, on your way to preventing them from winning
the division. Texans do win it. It was very gratifying.
I know the postseason didn't go well, a blowout loss
to the Chiefs wild card weekend at home, but you
(18:34):
won the division. You beat the Colts for the first
time ever on the road. Very nice, all right, that's
twenty fifteen. Twenty sixteen, a sweep of Indy for the
first time ever. You swept Indianapolis. And guess who did it.
You needed a great quarterback to do it, Brock Osweler.
Wait did I say great quarterback? Look, Brock, Brock takes
(18:54):
a lot of heat. I get it. The numbers aren't pretty.
It was not a good situation at the end of
the year. We all know that. But Brock was a
winning quarterback for your Texans. And one of those wins
was Sunday night football again national television. These two teams
hooked up on national television many times, so it's Sunday
Night football. Texans are down. Brock finds Lamar Miller at
(19:17):
around the ten yard line. Lamar Miller does a dance
and jukes and does whatever he does to shake defenders
and get into the end zone. And now you're thinking,
wait a minute, we got a shot at this thing.
You make another stop. Brock finds CJ. Fedorowitz for the
game tying touchdown. Tremendous throw by Brock. This was his
best game. I took a lot of heat. I'm going
(19:38):
to lunchtime confessions with Landry and Lopez the end the
loop group, Figie. This is the game where I said, Houston,
we have a quarterback, all right. I was really hyped
after this one. Brock played extremely well. You go to overtime,
I think you made a stop on Loock Brock. You
must have, because they win it with a field goal.
Brock finds Jalen Strong for the field goal spot along
(20:01):
the left sideline, gets out of bounds. Now you spot
it for the winning field goal. You get the victory
of the Colts and come from behind fashion. This was
a very untexan like historically performance against Indy. To come
from behind and win it like that. It was a
sensational win. It was euphoric at the time. A lot
of people don't remember a lot of people do as
(20:23):
you listen to me now recap it, and that's why
I got so high thinking this is Brock's coming out party.
Didn't turn out to be the case. So I ate
a lot of crow on that one, but I was
there for it that night. Later on that season, you
had a three game losing streak going. The Texas were
six and three. Then they lose three in a row.
It was Mexico, it was the Chargers. Was that the order?
(20:45):
And then it was Green Bay on the road the
snowy game. Ryan Griffin catches the touchdown pass. You lost
three in a row. Now you get to go to
Indy and find a way to win for the second
consecutive year. Up there, Are you going to be able
to do it? Really? Well? They did. They did do it.
They beat the Colts with Brock, Osweiler, Whitney Merciless and
Jadeveon Clowney went nuts. You lost Watt Week three of
(21:06):
this season. But somehow the Texans have the number one
defense in the league under Romeo Crenell after having the
number three defense in the league in twenty fifteen. That
twenty fifteen victory at Indy was sixteen to ten. The
twenty sixteen victory was another low scoring game, and they
came up with a big stop Andrew Luck a big
strip sack. I think Clowney stripped it, Merciless fell on it.
(21:29):
Texans scored and they got the win, and it was
a beautiful thing to see back to back on the
road in Indy. Are you kidding me? Great? All right,
let's go to twenty seventeen. I'm just going through this
Colt series top of my head, folks. Watson emerges as
a tremendous passer and he looks really good early. We
know that I don't have to recap all of that.
(21:50):
He has that six weeks of nineteen touchdown passes, insane production,
but then he blows out his knees done. You're playing
the Colts in the next game. You started the season
with Tom Sam Savage, and you kind of semi finished
it with Savage a little bit. He played a couple
of had a couple of starts late in twenty sixteen,
So you're thinking, Okay, you lost Watson and that's painful,
but you have Savage and you're playing a bad Colts team.
(22:13):
Are they bad? Let's just put it subpar whatever they've got.
Jacoby Brissett going, what's he gonna do to you? Well,
he did beat you week three and twenty sixteen as
a Patriots rookie. Now he's a cult trying to make
some noise for them. He's at your place, and I'm thinking,
you got to get this win, right, Savage has to
be up for the task. Nope, couldn't get the win.
Jacoby Brissett gets that victory and gets the return victory
(22:37):
up there to conclude the regular season. That's right, another
season finisher at Indy and Brissett got that one, So
a season sweep for the Colts. And after that Rick
Smith was gone. Things changed again for the Texans organization.
Twenty eighteen overtime win at Indy. Up there, Week four,
you're owing three, have to have it to avoid an
(22:58):
zero to four start. Get it at the overtime buzzer,
kind of like the Titans game. Fair baron at the
overtime buzzer. He knocks it through and the Texans get
the win. I'm not gonna go through all of that
game because there were a lot of twists and turns.
You had a big lead. Colts caught up, but you
win it in overtime. Awesome later on at twenty eighteen, though,
I talked about it at the outset of this podcast,
(23:20):
where you get the Indianapolis Colts coming to your place
and you've had a nine game winning streak going in
twenty eighteen, they stop it with a victory at NRG Stadium,
and moments later it feels like they're visiting your place
in the postseason wild card weekend and Nope, can't get
that one. We talked about that game. Can you believe
(23:41):
all this? Twenty nineteen was a split because the Texans
lost up there, but they got a hard earned win
over the Colts on a Thursday night again national television.
Texans Colts. It was Brissett, it was Watson, Texans gutted
out of win, tremendous defense, and that was four days
after getting blown out by the way. Texans had to
have it, got it eventually won the division. Good stuff there,
(24:04):
and then twenty twenty a couple of wins for the
Colts and really weird stuff happening late with Texans turnovers
and such in both of those games. Twenty twenty one,
do I have to recap this Davis Mills start number one. Nope,
not very good. You lose. Let's see at home against Indy.
Also in twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two. Here it is.
(24:27):
It's weird because that was a season where the Texans
did not lose to Indy. It was not a sweet
because it was a tie and a victory. But after
both games I felt weird because after a tie you
feel weird. That was Opening Day and I felt weird
after the finisher, the conclusion of the season, the game
at Indy, because you won the game, which was awesome
(24:47):
to win. I always loved beating the Colts. I mean
this is rare. As I said, you won the game,
but you lost the number one overall pick. How do
you feel about that? At the time, I felt like, man,
now you don't control the draft, but see what happens,
right choice. But to see what happens, well, it's funny
because we'll never know what would have happened if the
Texans had the number one pick in the draft. We'll
never know. I mean people could say they know, but
(25:08):
they really don't know until you really talk to the
people involved. But having the second pick, and if you
want a quarterback, you're gonna take the top prospect on
the board, and that's CJ. Stroud And hasn't that worked
out really well for Houston? And the opening game between
the Texans and Colts this year was Anthony Richardson running
for a couple of scores and all of a sudden
you're up against it, but he goes out of the
game and you feel like, oh, we can deal with Minshew,
(25:31):
No you can't. He played really well. But late in
that game and the second half, CJ. Stroud started to shine,
started to show you who he was, and you felt
like we got something here maybe. And then you go
to the Jacksonville Jaguars the next week and beat them
handily and the rest is history. As far as the
twenty twenty three campaign goes. That brings us to now
(25:52):
everybody paying attention. Now it's Texans Colts going for only
your eleventh all time win against this franchise, this villain,
this nemesis. It's them. But guess who doesn't care about
any of it. The young players, they don't care, they
don't mind, they don't know what this is all about.
(26:14):
Some of the guys remember last year, maybe a few
two years ago. And of course you have the long
time people, you have kareem back. He understands it. But
it doesn't matter. It's all about CJ. Stroud and his
merry band of pass catchers and the guys paving the
way for the ground game. And they don't care about
the history. They just know it's a divisional opponent and
they know that if they win, they are in. All right,
(26:35):
Let's get to our buddy, Matt Taylor, Voice of the Colts,
and talk about this weekend's game. Matt, how's it going today?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I'm doing fantastic, Mark, always good to be with you.
What's going on? Happy New Year?
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Happy New Year? And a huge matchup Saturday night. Let's
get to this now. Your preseason expectations of the Colts
versus where you are at this moment, do they match
up or not?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
I hate to give you a cop out answer, but
I really I didn't have any expectations because I didn't
know what to expect with this team with at the time,
a rookie quarterback right the fourth overall pick, and Anthony
Richardson who had played only thirteen games in college, a
rookie head coach, and Shane Steiken basically a brand new
offensive system, a brand new offensive coaching staff outside of
(27:26):
Reggie Wayne, who was the only holdover. I knew it
was going to be interesting. That that was the only
thing that I was assured of from the Colts here
in twenty twenty three. So it's been up, it's been down.
There's been a lot of highs and some lows, some
disappointing outcomes, and maybe some upset wins that maybe the
fan base didn't see coming along the way. But the
(27:49):
fact that here they are, you know, four twelve and
one in twenty twenty two to now nine and seven
and twenty twenty three with a chance to punch their
ticket to the postseason, just like the Texans. I mean,
this has been a crazy, crazy year and I think
a surprising year. I didn't think they'd make the playoffs
this year, so I guess they are exceeding expectations. But
(28:11):
it's been a very very fun season under Shane Stike,
and the Cults are assured a winning season and his
rookie campaign, just like Niko rans there with the Houston Texans.
So this is going to be really really fun I
think for years to come, with two outstanding quarterbacks in
the division, two really rising stars at the head coaching
spots between the Colts and the Texans. It just enhances
(28:32):
this rivalry, I think even further between these two franchises.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Yeah, we didn't really get to see what Shane stike
In was ultimately going to do with Anthony Richardson and
how he would develop. And you see what CJ. Stroud
has done with a bunch of games, and Richardson didn't
get that, but it looked good in the short amount
of time he was in there. But tell me about
Gardner Minshew, Shane stike In the chemistry, what Minshew's doing
(28:56):
well at the quarterback position, because you don't get this
far without him playing well.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
No, there's no doubt about that. You know obviously, you know,
free agency happens before the draft and before the Colts
could even put their sights on Anthony Richardson fourth. Overall,
they needed somebody to come in and give them a
good insurance policy should Anthony Richardson or whoever quarterback they
drafted wasn't ready or if that guy suffered an injury.
(29:21):
They needed somebody to keep him competitive in games. And
that's exactly who Gardner Minshew is and that's why they
brought him in. In free agency. There's a lot of
familiarity there between Stiken and Minshew two years together in Philadelphia,
so there was a lot of trust and certainly a
lot of familiarity between the scheme and the offense that
(29:41):
Gardner Minshew ran in Philadelphia. I mean, I think if
you were giving Minshew some some truth serum, if you will,
he would tell you, Hey, the reason I'm here is
because of Shane Steiken, and it was a chance to
come in and compete for the job and obviously have
a good chance to play. And that has certainly come
to fruition. I think coming up on Sunday or Saturday
(30:02):
night in this case for Minshew, this is going to
be his twelfth start of the season. But you know, Gardner,
excuse me, Anthony Richardson goes down in the beginning of
the season, you know, got game four, and Minshew has
kept this team competitive and has it looked pretty and
aesthetically cleaned the entire season. No, absolutely not. I mean
they're two different players, you know. Richardson's you know, obviously
(30:24):
way more dynamic, being able to run the ball, the RPO,
the Reid option game. Minshew is a quick, rhythm, get
get the ball out fast type of quarterback, go through
your reads real quick and get the ball into the
hands of your playmakers. So I think it's different in
that regard. And you know, you look at Minshew's season
to this point. I mean he's probably in the twenties
(30:47):
in terms of rankings and all the major quarterback categories
and stats. You know, you're talking about yards yards per
completion and passing yards and completion percentage yards perm. I mean,
he's not going to be confused with a top five quarterback.
But I think Minshew has this unique ability to compartmentalize
(31:09):
and flush negative plays and just keep on playing and
be that backyard you know quarterback, you know, game manager
that he is. And he's just a really really fun
player to watch and he doesn't give up, just like
I think them of this team, And so this offense
is really fun right now to watch under Gardner Minshew
(31:30):
because every play is really eventful because of his scrambling ability,
his pocket awareness, and just again that that backyard football
mentality that he has to keep every play alive and
give the playmakers a chance to make plays.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
All right, Matt, Now are they running the football so well?
Because I'm blown away by this. It doesn't matter who's
in there. The Colts can run the rock against the Steelers.
I'm like the DiCaprio meme pointed to the screen. They're
still running the ball. There's no moss, no tailor. They're
still running the ball. What is the secret? The old
line looks like the band is back together and playing
(32:04):
well again. What do you think it is?
Speaker 2 (32:07):
They got Braden Smith back at the right tackle position
on Sunday against the Raiders. He had missed three games
with that knee injury, so to get him back is
really really exceptional for the Colts because you know, I
know you've talked about the Texans offensive line being banged
up and a lot of shuffling going on up front
within that unit. The Colts have experienced, maybe not to
(32:28):
the same degree that Texans have, but they've had to
use some reserve parts. You mainly Blake Freedlan either at
right tackle or left tackle. Bernard Ryman, their outstanding left tackle.
Second year players missed some games. Rank Kelly's missed some games,
so they've had to rely on the depth. But for
the most part this year, consistently being able to move
(32:49):
the ball on the ground has been there for this team,
which is a credit again to Shane Snikeen in terms
of the scheme and how creative they've been able and
in terms of being able to run the ball, whether
that's know with Zach Moss or Jonathan Taylor who's back now.
But I will say list lately it's it's kind of
been feast or femme and really in the month of December,
the Colts either run the ball really really well or
(33:13):
it's a struggle. I mean Cincinnati, it was a struggle
to sort to move the ball in general and sort
of and especially to run the ball in the ground.
You know that Pittsburgh game, that was the feast part
of the equation. I think there was one part of
that Pittsburgh game in the second half where they just
completely you know, tore the will out of Pittsburgh's soul
in order to compete on defense. The Colts on one
(33:33):
drive ran at thirteen consecutive plays before settling for a
field goal. It was it wasn't there in Atlanta on
Christmas Eve, but it did come back against the Raiders,
rushing for over one hundred yards and it's just situational
football for the Colts. That's the biggest thing, you know,
Shane Stykeen always says, we're gonna throw it to score,
and then we're gonna run it to win, to salt
(33:53):
the game away, to get first downs, to kind of
again take the will out of the defense. That's when
we want to be able to run the ball, situational
right four minutes in the game, get a couple of
first downs, pound you up front, and I think for
the most part, that's what the Colts have been able
to do, and that's been their rest to be for
success on offense.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
All right, let's talk defense. Matt Taylor, Voice of the Colts,
joining us, and I don't know where to start. I mean,
when I look at DeForest Buckner and then I hear
our guys talking about Zaria Franklin and EJ. Speed. Obviously
no Shaq Leonard anymore, but it doesn't seem to matter really.
Franklin's having a hell of a year. The tackle numbers
(34:31):
are ridiculous. What about the d Matt, Yeah, the defense.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
I mean, I think we talked about this at the
beginning of the season. There are Pro Bowl players and
Pro Bowl caliber players in all three levels of that defense.
You talked about Buckner up front, and then you also
have Grover Stewart, who's one of the best, you know,
run stuffing defensive tackles in the game. And then on
the outside you got Quitty pay Samson, Ebacom DIOI Dangbo think,
(34:58):
if I'm not mistaken, Mark, the Cults are the the
only team in the NFL to have four pass rushers
or four players along their defensive line to have at
least seven sacks. So it's kind of diverse. They hit
you in different ways, and then they've got you know,
reserve players like Taekwon Lewis that come into the game.
He's an incredibly efficient player and that he's disruptive, but
he's only playing about thirty five forty percent of the snaps.
(35:21):
So they hitch you in waves different different ways. They
can get after the quarterback. They push you up front
and they come from the outside. And then the linebackers,
like you talked about, I think the Colts have maybe
the two best linebacker combination in the NFL right now.
Maybe I'm missing out on some other combinations, but you
got Zaire Franklin and then EJ. Speed is just one
(35:41):
of the best football players I've ever seen. He plays
so hard, he is so fast, he hits you with
every particle of his body. He's just a really, really
good football player. He's a downhill tackler, he can cover
in space. And then the back end. That's kind of
the tricky part of this Colts right now. Kenny Moore,
(36:01):
the second didn't play last week. He was out with
the back injury. So that really tested the Colts to
depth in the secondary because Julian Blackman went out with
an injury a couple of weeks ago. He's done for
the season with a shoulder injury. So on the outside
of the cornerback spots mark you had two rookies. You
had Jalen Jones who was drafted in the seventh round.
You had ju Ju Brentz, who was a second round
(36:22):
pick for the Colts. They were your outside guys. Then
in the secondary you had a second year player in
Nick Cross and then Ronnie Harrison Junior, who the Colts
picked up of a halfway through training camp. They actually
transitioned him from safety to linebacker, but then at a
pinch last week they moved him from linebacker back to safety.
Played really well all things considered, but then they had
(36:43):
Chris Lamont, who had never started a game in the NFL,
had never started obviously or never played the nickel cornerback position.
He had to play the inside corner spot with Kenny
Moore's injury, and so I think all that kind of
hodge podging and mismatching it worked out well for a game,
But they're trying to figure out their best personnel lineup
in the secondary and trying to get Kenny Moore back
(37:04):
into this game for this win and in playoff type
game against the Texans.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Matt Taylor, voice of the Colts, joining us. All right,
let's turn our attention to a game that we're both
interested in, especially whoever wins this one Saturday night, Matt
will be watching the Jacksonville Jaguars taking on the Tennessee Titans.
What do you think of the Jaguars journey this season?
How have you viewed it?
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Well, it's kind of like the Colt season last year.
Maybe not to that degree, but you know, kind of
the tail spin at the end of the year. You know,
some injuries and then you know some inconsistencies on defense.
You're playing a tough schedule. I mean that was evident
in the last couple of weeks and everybody watched that
Ravens game on Sunday Night Football. Baltimore just looks like
(37:46):
the best team you know in the universe right now
in terms of how well they're playing. So that was
going to be a tough game for him. But it's
all eyes right now on Trevor Lawrence if he's going
to be able to play in this game. Tennessee is
on the a free fall. You might be wondering, you know,
what they're gonna be doing long term at the head
coaching position, and Mike Vrabel what they're gonna do at
(38:06):
quarterback is Will Levis the guy. It doesn't sound like
Will Levis is gonna play in this game. How much
fight will the Titans have for the Jaguars in a
game where they're trying to clinch the division for the
second straight year. So it's a it's gonna be a
fascinating division. As I said, it's gonna be a really
good group of four teams now going forward, I mean,
(38:28):
you've got some really good head coaches, You've got great quarterbacks.
You know, the Colts have some free agency questions they're
gonna have to answer in the offseason. But for the
most part, you know, the nucleus is here for this
team if they can continue to grow around Anthony Richardson.
But you know, I think the Jacksonville Jaguars are gonna
be playing some spirited football under Doug Peterson. I'd be
(38:50):
shocked if they lost that game, to be honest with you,
which is obviously a negative thing for either of the
culture the Texans. Whoever wins that game on Saturday night.
I thought the Jackville was the best team in the
division from start to finish. Obviously they've hit some speed
bumps along the way, but I would be really really
surprised with all that's on the line for them, their
ability to host a playoff game, win the division for
(39:12):
the first time or for the second straight year, and
you know, for the first time in back to back seasons,
first time for them in their franchise's history. I just
would be shocked if they didn't win this game and
close it down in Week eighteen.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Matt, what do you think the best team is that
you've played? I know Baltimore is record wise, but what
win are you really proud of or is the organization
really proud of? Is there one more than that? Or
is that the one because it was relatively early. Week three,
Colts defeated the Ravens by three.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Yeah, that was obviously a really impressive game for the Colts.
They won in overtime. That was the game where Matt
Gay had to make five field goals over fifty yards.
They got some turnovers in that game that obviously helped,
you know, every able to kick some field goals on
short fields. But yeah, I mean, I think the Ravens
(40:02):
are just stratospherically right now in a different universe than
everybody else, certainly in the AFC. They've just been killing teams.
I mentioned that Jaguars game. You know, they killed the Ravens.
The other the Dolphins the other day, they killed San Francisco,
maybe the best team in the NFC right now. So yeah,
I think if you look back on Week three, it
(40:24):
was a long long time ago, just like Week two was.
In this first meeting between the Colts and the Texans,
I'll tell you a really deceptive win for the Colts
during this run here, as they've won six of their
last eight. A game that I was really impressed by
with the Colts was their win. I think it was
the Sunday after Thanksgiving where they knocked off Tampa Bay.
(40:44):
Tampa was playing pretty good football. Baker Mayfield got banged
up in that game, but the defense did a nice
job consistently throughout that game. Jonathan Taylor ran well. He
was over ninety yards in that game. The offensive line,
like we talked about, had a consistent push route most
of that ball game. It was a close game, and
that's been the biggest difference for the Colts this year
(41:05):
compared to last year. I mean, I'm not telling anybody anything.
They don't know. The NFL is just filled with parody.
All of these games come down to the last four minutes.
They're all one score games, seemingly, so if you can
be good in one score games, you typically make the playoffs.
And that's been the biggest difference this year for the
Colts compared to last Colts last year were I think
(41:25):
there were four to six and one in one score games.
This year they're six and two. I mean, that's being
able to win and crunch time and being able to
close out games and make enough plays again in the
last four minutes on offense and defense. That was one
of those games where the Colts did enough to win
that football game and made plays on both sides of
the ball against Tampa Bay. And again, you know, out
(41:48):
of eight games they've won, six of them that have
been decided by one score. That's been the biggest difference
I think culturally and buying wise from Shane Stocking compared
to last year with Jeff Saturday and Frank Right.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
One more, Matt, what's the vibe like in Indy right
now for this one Saturday night both teams match up,
primetime game, all the marbles to get to the postseason. Anyway,
what is the vibe in town?
Speaker 2 (42:16):
I mean, it's bonkers right now. It's bonkers. I mean,
this is it's a playoff game, right because the Colts
can't make the playoffs with the loss, just like the Texans.
So the next time either one of these teams loses,
the season is over. So I mean, it's just crazy
to think about it. I know we were talking about
this earlier, but Week eighteen last year, with these two
(42:37):
teams at Lucas Oil Stadium, Mark you could have bought
a ticket for like fifteen bucks. Now you can buy
a ticket for a couple more zeros. On the end
of that because of the importance of this one. I
think everybody around here is just they've fallen in love
with Shane and the culture of the cults are building.
They're excited about Gardner Minshew. They're obviously way more excited
about Anthony Richardson in terms of his view, sure, but
(43:00):
they kind of like this team with the way that
it fights, the way it competes, the way they're able
to kind of bounce back and not turn one bad
loss into two, and so on and so forth. So
it's just it's gonna be really really fun. And you know,
one thing that I didn't really think about until the
drive end today kind of hit me that, you know,
the Colts are going to be playing on primetime for
the first time all season, and I know the Texans
(43:23):
are as well. I think that for the Texans it's
going to be the first time they're playing outside of
the one o'clock Eastern Time Sunday window all season long.
So it's a huge chance, you know, for both teams
to showcase their talent to a to a bigger audience.
You know, people that don't get to see the Colts
of the Texans play on a weekend and week out
basis and yeah, it's a playoff game and the postseason
(43:44):
and that mentality it starts now. I know Shane Steigens
really dialed in, and I know the fan base is
excited for this game.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
As well as Bart Scott once said, can't wait. Let's
do it Saturday night. Matt, thanks so much for.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
The time, my pleasure to see you soon, and soon.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
Is Saturday night. That's Matt Taylor, Voice of the Colts.
So let's get it on here Texans and the Horseshoes
seven point fifteen, Kick Sports Radio six ' ten, The
Bull one hundred point three FM, and the Texans app
Odyssey app Serious XM, all of it. Check it out,
can't wait. Thanks so much for listening. Hit subscribe wherever
(44:20):
you can possibly Hit subscribe and listen to all the
other Texans podcasts as well, and Go Texans.
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