December 29, 2024 • 27 mins
JJ Stankevitz and Bill Brooks digest all that went wrong in the Colts' 45-33 loss to the New York Giants on Sunday, a defeat which knocked the Colts out of the playoffs. From the Colts' defense to offense to special teams, a mountain of issues resulted in one of the Colts' most gutting defeats in recent memory.
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
What's up everyone? Welcome into another episode of instant Reaction
here in the Colts Audio Network and the Colts YouTube page.
We are brought to you by our friends at Sony.
I'm JJ Stankowitz, joined again by Bill Brooks to break
down the Colts' latest game. Bill, the Colts forty five
to thirty three losers to the New York Giants the
three and thirteen New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
(00:35):
The Colts are eliminated from the playoffs. Their season is
effectively over with one week left to go. A stunning loss, Bill,
I think one that is up there for me in
terms of gut punches that you didn't see coming for me.
It's right up there with twenty twenty one, the loss
(00:56):
to the Jaguars. I think these are in the same stratosphere.
And that is the last thing I was expecting to
be talking about coming into a game against the Giants
team that I had friends who were Giants fans, family
members who are Giants fans who are texting me being like,
I hope the Giants lose so they get the number
one overall pick, and instead the New York Giants put
(01:18):
up forty five points. They beat the Colts and just
you know, Bill, after the game, some of the adjectives
that were used in the Colts locker room by players
were embarrassing, unacceptable that you know, that is where the Colts'
minds went after this game. And I don't think there's
(01:41):
any other way to describe it, Bill, when you lose
a game like this with these steaks, that a game
you should have won, a game you should have taken
care of the giants, and you didn't, and here we are,
you're eliminated from the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, it was very frustrating.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
We have a game like this, knowing the stakes in
regards to the outcome of the game is gonna determine
a lot of how your goals go or how goals
the goals you set for yourself as far as reaching
the playoffs and knowing that you know what you need
to go out there and play a game. Yes, you
needed some help from some other teams, but you need
(02:15):
to take care of your own business. And unfortunately the
coach could not take care of their business. And for me,
and as I'm sure a lot of fans, is frustrating,
very frustrating to see what happened today against the Giants,
and the way the coach played, they just could not
could not get anything going into me after the Coat
(02:35):
got the three nothing lead, and then the Giants came back.
And then from that point on, once the Giants got
the lead, they just never relinquished the lead and they
kept on playing. And the thing I thought the coach
might do is try to jump on them early, you know,
on this team early, so maybe they have some quit
in them. I mean, they probably wouldn't quit, but you
know what I mean, they don't want to give that
(02:56):
extra effort that they need to to to play hard
and to win the football game. And then by the
time you get into the third quarter, late and third quarter,
begin the fourth quarter, you know the game would be over.
But unfortunately that didn't happen. The Coast didn't play well.
They made some mistakes out there, and the Giants took
advantage of it. They just kept on playing and playing
(03:17):
and playing, and they had the confidence to go out
there to think that they could beat the Coats, and
they did. They were out there and played well, and
as you said, jj for the players, it was embarrassing
and it is frustrating for fans to see the results
that happened today.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
I think we don't want to lose sight that the
Giants do have some good players. Milik Neighbors is a
football player. Wandale Robinson's a good player. But for Drew
Locke to do what he did to the Colts today
that and it's not a lot of it was after
the catch. A lot of it was Melite Neighbors making plays.
(03:55):
But Bill, I want to read you the five highest
passer ratings in the NFL this year at a minimum
of twenty attempts, Jared Goff, Kyler Murray, Lamar Jackson, Sam
Darnald and then in fifth Drew Locke at one hundred
and fifty five point three against the Colts today, you're
talking about Lamar Jackson, an MVP candidate, Jared Goff and
(04:16):
Sam Darnold are walking into the playoffs with two of
the best records in the NFL. Kyler Murray's had a
really nice rebound season, and then you have your journeyman
and Drew Locke putting up a one of the best
quarterback stat lines of the season, which also doesn't include
his one his touchdown rush as well. That right there,
(04:39):
he was comfortable all game. He really wasn't under a
lot of pressure and he was able to get the
ball to his receivers who went and made plays. And Bill,
the biggest issue once the ball got in those receivers
hands was that the Colts missed a ton of tackles
in this game. The Colts had opportunities to bring the
leak neighbors to the groundpportunities to bring to bring Wandale
(05:02):
Robinson and Tyrone Tracy to the ground, and they were
unable to do it. And that's something that a lot
of players talked about after the game.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Two.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Bill, you know what their perspective was on it. But
all of that combined, Bill just led to a really again,
I just I come back to stunning. It's stunning that
the Colts left lock do this to them, that they
let this happen to them with the stakes that this
game held.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, Drew Locke seventy of twenty three completion percentage through.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Fourth down four touchdowns, ran for one.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
The man played well, give him credit, but a lot
of it, as you said, hit the receivers and you know,
short to medium range and took it after the catch
and had a lot of yards after the catch and
ran it in. And I know one play where threw
kind of like a hitch to elk Neighbors and for us,
for me the one team I played for the Buffalo Bills,
(06:07):
that was we call that play forty and basically the
quarterback with half row to the right, the rivacy to
run a hitch and the quarterback just puts it on him.
And it's basically plays just a game five or six
yards and so to keep the drive going on, get
you in good position where you can get a first
down on second or third down. Uh, but Elite Neighbors
(06:28):
broke the tackles, miss tackles, whatever you want to call it,
with Kenny Moore and and and roll Mack there and
he just took it into the house. I mean, those
are the things that you know that added to locks
stats and unfortunately for the Colts and win against him.
But you gotta make those tackles. You got to tackle
a guy like that, knowing how good elite Neighbors is
(06:49):
what he can do out there in the football field,
and the coach just could not do it. And give
Drew Locke credit, I mean, he played well today. He
played probably probably his best game in his career. So yeah,
I would think I'm thinking so as well. So it's
it's unfortunate, but a lot of it you can blame
(07:09):
on the Coats because Coats missed some tackles and they
need to tackle better today.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
The Colts in this game. Bill, you know, let me
go pull this up because I was I was in
the middle of finding it. I wanted to find the
final total on misstackles. But something that I thought was
really interesting that Zire Franklin said after the game was
it's not just about the miss tackles. It's that it's
what happened after the miss tackles. And something he said
(07:36):
is that if you look at some of the best
defenses in the NFL, they'll miss a tackle, but then
you'll have guys rallying to the ball and bringing down
the guy who made the first guy miss. And it's
not this explosive play. It's not a thirty forty yard game.
It might be an additional three or four yards instead.
And he said, we didn't have that. We need to
(07:58):
play more as a team. You know, his exact quote
here is quote, when you play defense, it's not really
a one versus one thing. It's really eleven versus one.
I don't think we play with that type of mentality.
I think too many times it's too many one on
one tackles. And the reality of the situation is there's
a lot of extremely talented guys in this league and
they're gonna make the first guy miss. But when you
(08:19):
watch a lot of great defenses, people swarm and everyone's
trying to get in on the tackle. So obviously we
all got to do better tackling, myself included. That's something
I'm going to work on moving forward. But I think
we could play better together as a defense. And you
give up forty five points as a defense, I think
the number one thing is built you probably weren't playing
together as a unit.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
I agree.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
I mean, and what z He's talking about is people
rallying to the ball. I mean, if there's a guy
out there and you know what, he makes one guy miss,
long as you get him to stop his feet, everyone
if they continue running from a defensive standpoint, you run
to the ball. Everyone runs to the ball, and you
have more than one guy out there trying to tackle.
You want to get four to five guys out there
trying to tackle the individual.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
And if you know, things work out.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Maybe you get one guy try to strict the ball
and the other guys recover the ball as well. But
you want to play as a team, want to play
as a unit, and for a defensive unit, they want
to rally to the ball. You always want to run
to the ball. And that's what you hear a lot
of times. You hear about teams playing fast and teams
playing from sideline to sideline. They're running to the ball,
they're making tackles, and that's what you need. You need
(09:25):
a team together, playing as one, going out there and
trying to make those tackles from a defensive standpoint. And
as you heard, as Ziaz said, you know what, the
coach didn't play like that, and they got to do
more of that if they want to be successful.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Yeah, I mean, the one that really was the backbreaker
Bill was in the fourth quarter of eight minutes and
fifty seconds to go. It's that that pass to Neighbors
right that we're kind of just talking about. And you
have Kenny and Wollmack right over there. There's a little
bit of hesitation, neither of them. We're able to bring
him down, and then Neighbors just turns on the Jets,
(10:04):
Julian Blackman gets blocked, Jalen Jones runs into him, Zia
Franklin can't catch up over there, and it's it's a
fifty nine yard touchdown in a situation bill where if
the Colts had held the Giants even just to a
field goal on that drive, at that point of the game,
it's twenty eight to twenty six Giants. The Colts, the
way they're moving the football, I think they would have
gone down and probably scored another touchdown. But it's this
(10:28):
culmination of things of just like one thing after another
after another after another that then leads to that play
and that right there. The Colts are able to get
back in it with another offensive drive, but that right
there just kind of felt like, Okay, the Giants have
now landed a haymaker and the Colts are kind of
really on the ropes here in a game where I
(10:52):
don't think anyone expected them to be on the ropes
at all, and here they were in the fourth quarter,
down by two scores, needing a furious comeback in a
game that you know you were you were what The
Giants are two and thirteen coming into the game. The
coat for their playoff lives that that's just like hard
to comprehend that it got to this point exactly.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
I mean I mentioned it earlier about giving this team life,
and that's what the Coast did by letting them get
ahead and stay ahead for the most part the all game.
I mean, like I said, the Coast got three nothing, but
then after that, the Giants stayed ahead most of the time,
and it gave the Giants confidence. And so when the
Coast did, you know, get closed the gap a little bit,
(11:35):
the Giants felt confident that they can go down and
score points.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
And they did. They did score some points.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
And you know, and you also can talk about, as
you mentioned JJ, if they held them to three points,
well that's playing complimentary football. If the defense could have
held them to three points, and then you know, the
offense was was moving the ball down the field, and
if the offense could have moved the ball down the
field and score a touchdown, you know, the game changes,
the complexion of the game change right there. So it's
(12:01):
unfortunate things didn't go as as well as the Coats wanted,
but a lot of it is because of what the
Coats didn't do out there in the football field.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
And one of the things is is.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Tackle and bring the guys down and stop them from scoring.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Just there's so much we can we can talk about
and so much we can get into with this game. Bill,
it's like trying to collect my thoughts on it is
a bit of a bit of a challenge. So let's
take a quick break and then we'll come back with
more chat about this game this NFL season. Feel every play,
every hit, every moment with the Sony one thousand XM
five noise canceling headphones, the official headphones of the Indianapolis Colts.
(12:41):
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All right, Bill, something that like early in the game
you're talking about New York kind of get in control
of the game early. One of the most disappointing parts
(13:01):
of that is, all right, that first Neighbors touchdown that
was on third and fourteen, the second touchdown, the thirty
two yard out of Slayton that was on third and eight,
and then a third and goal at the five that
was the third Giants touchdown. So that got New York
up twenty one to six midway through the second quarter,
(13:22):
and for a team that had nothing going for it
this year, and I mean nothing much that right there
I saw I was looking at the sideline. Brian Dable
was in it, just like once you and I want
to get your perspective on this bill. When you're on
a team that is bad, like the New York Giants
have been bad this year, but all of a sudden
(13:43):
you look up and you're up twenty one to six
and your head coach is going nuts. It probably doesn't
matter that there are twenty thousand people in the stands
that you've got thirteen losses, that this year has been
kind of this like slog from hell. You're probably like,
this is great, We're we got some momentum. We're having
fun out here, We're having fun with the guys like
(14:04):
that feeling on the sideline has to be extremely exciting,
especially for a team that just hasn't really done that
a whole lot before, and that I think fuel some momentum.
Does it not?
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Well, definitely does, because as you said, it's exciting.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
I mean, they haven't experienced that, being up twenty one
to six, they an average this year fourteen points per game,
and that's last in the National Football League.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
So now you have twenty one points.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
At this juncture in the game, and you're having fun,
you're excited. And the thing is that as a player,
you want this to continue. You want to continue to
score some more points. So you want this just to
get bigger and better. And the Giants felt that way.
They felt like, Hey, you know what, we're moving the
ball down the field.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
This is what it.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Should feel like to play a game in the National
Football League, to be successful, to achieve the things that
we want to achieve, to go out there and be
able to move the ball down the field.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
So they felt good about themselves when they wanted to stop.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
They wanted to continue to have that feeling, and they
did by going out playing well and playing hard, and
unfortunately the Coats couldn't stop them. And you know, as
a player, you want that feeling and you're like, wow,
this is what it should feel like.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
And maybe hopefully the.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Guys that come back for the Giants, they could say, hey,
maybe we can get this feeling next year, but we
have to start early and play together. But you know what,
the Giants, they did what they had to do, and
you know a lot of people want them to get
the first draft, first round pick, or the first pick
in the draft.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
But the players don't feel that. They're not thinking about that.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
They're thinking about going out there playing and giving their
best and giving them all so they could win a
football game. And the Giants did that today and give
them credit for it.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
So the other flip side of this in the first half,
at least, Bill is the Colts left a lot of
points on the board in the first thirty minutes. You've
got the Joe Flacco interception where he's immediately pressured he
kind of floats it up toward them oil like Cox,
great play by that safety, great catch with the diving interception,
But right there, that was you're in kind of inside
(15:59):
the thirty of the Giants there that you're thinking you
at least get three points out of that. So let's
say you leave three points on the board there. Then
you have these two red zone possessions that you have
to settle for a thirty two yard and twenty nine
yard field goal because Joe Flacco gets sacked on third
and two on one and then you're not able to
(16:20):
pick up the first down on the other So that's
probably another what eight points, So you're looking at et points,
probably eleven points you've left on the board in the
first half, and then on top of that, you get
Mac Gay missing the fifty four yard field goal. You're
talking about probably fourteen points that you leave on the
board in the first half and if you if you
(16:42):
score those, you're winning twenty seven to twenty one a
half time. And that's probably a completely different conversation in
the Giants locker room in the Colts locker room about
what direction this game is going in.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Oh definitely, And you know, as far as the coaches,
if you up twenty seven to twenty one, or if
you're up at halftime, you know what, it changes your
play call and it changes how you approach the game.
It changes the what personnelity you have out there in
the football field. And then it also goes to putting
doubt in the Giant's mind. You know, like, hey, you
know what, here we go again. This is you know,
(17:17):
we're losing again. You know what, We're probably gonna end
up losing this game. You know what, We're gonna play hard,
but you know what, if it gets it, it gets later
in the game, and they end up the coasing up,
going up by you know, ten, thirteen and fourteen points.
We know it's going to be over in the fourth quarter,
but that didn't happen. And when that didn't happen, it
(17:39):
gave the Giants some life and they wanted to continue
to play well and wanted to continue to have that feeling,
and they did.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
It the you know, there were still some other points
in the second half that got left out on the board. Obviously.
The most notable one is the two point conversion, which
is a love the play call. It's a play that
Detroit has run a bunch this year where you get
the lateral to the player coming around and if Jonathan
(18:09):
Taylor catches that ball, he's in for a touchdown or
a two point try is good, yes, and you're tied
up at twenty eight. So those are a couple of
points there get you get third and one that you get.
You know, Jonathan Taylor goes out of bounds, they say
he did not get the first down there. Then the
fourth and one try he gets stopped going over the top.
So that's a turnover on downs and Giants territory again.
(18:31):
You're leaving points on the board there. I think that
was at the twenty three yard line where the Coults
are trying to go down and score a touchdown. There
you're not trying to kick a field goal. But right there,
that's another you're talking about another nine points you probably
left on the board in this game, where I don't
want to totally you know, place a bunch of blame
on the offense, but in this game where your defense
(18:53):
was struggling to make stops. There wasn't much margin for
error for the Colts in this game, and they moved
them really well, but there were just those couple of
moments in there where the execution could have been better
and that could have maybe alleviated some of the pressure
that was put on this team by the Giants offense.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Yeah, and a lot of times in games in the
National Football League, there's usually a handful of plays that
can change the complexion of a game. The thing is
that as a player, you don't know which players are
going to be. You know, they can be players in
the first quarter, could be plays in the second quarter,
third or fourth quarter, or a couple of plays in
each quarter that change the complexion of the game. So
(19:34):
that's why it's important to execute each play, and that's
why it's important to feel like every play is an
important play out there that you have to be successful
on because you don't know what's going to exactly happen.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
And that's what happened today to the coast.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
There are a couple of plays that the Coats just missed,
and by them just missing, I put them behind the
eight ball and gave them a minum to the Giants
helped them out with The Coats missed some opportunities offensively
to to move the ball or continue to drive, and
those things usually come back to bite you in. You
just don't know which players are going to be those plays.
(20:08):
That's why it's so important for each play you play
it like you know what, this is the most important
play out here that we're going through right now now. No.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Forty five to thirty three loss to the New York
Giants would be complete without every phase having something go
catastrophically wrong. Emir Smith Marsette takes the opening kickoff of
the second half one hundred yards for a touchdown. And
this is another one of those moments Bill where like
you probably just could feel on that Giant sideline a
(20:39):
sense of belief because you go into halftime, Jonathan Taylor
gets that touchdown twenty seconds to go in the second quarter,
cuts it to eight points. You're like, okay, We're like,
and that was rough in the first half. Defense will
come out strong in the second half. We have the
offense to make this thing work. Oh my god, we're
down by fifteen points again. And for the Giants, like
(21:00):
you get that return again, it just kind of feels
like your day at that point. I have to imagine
on the sideline you're seeing a kickoff return for a touchdown.
That for a team that again doesn't have a whole
lot going for it this year, just another one of
those things that's like that is a massive momentum boost
for them in this game that the Colts did struggle
(21:21):
to come back from.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Yeah, I mean you, like I say, it's twenty one
to thirteen. You figure out, Okay, defense, we'll come out
in the third quarter. They're going to get the ball.
If we can stop them, we can hopefully turn this
thing around. Go down, score a touchdown, Okay, go for
two points. Maybe it's twenty one, twenty one, or if
we go for one. This one extra point kick. The
(21:44):
extra point is twenty one to twenty. But unfortunately, you know,
the defense will get a chance to get out in
the field to get a stop, and the special teams.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Allowed them to run one hundred yard.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Kickoff return back for a touchdown, and that just changes
the momentum, you know, And for the Giants that get
that big play to start the second half was huge
for them to keep their momentum because then it changes
things in regards to how the Coats approached their next
offensive series as well as the Giants defensive series. So
(22:18):
it was a backbreaker to me, and in regards to
them coming out and getting that one hundred yard kickoff
return for a touchdown and something that you know what
the special teams definitely doesn't want to do that and
something that you know, unfortunately hurt the.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Coats and gave the Giants a lot of momentum.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
So the other part of this bill is that the
Colts got the help they needed this weekend. That crazy
Bengals Broncos game went exactly the way the Colts needed
it to go with the Broncos losing. Now, granted it
wasn't the right the path I think we would have anticipated.
(22:57):
But I was watching that game on Saturday night in
New York and I'm like, okay, like here we go.
Like the Colts got the help they needed today, another
under the radar thing that the Dolphins won that would
have been helpful for next week, and the Colts are
not able to capitalize on it. And that's something that
we heard players say all week, is that we can't
accept the help unless we help ourselves. And you know,
(23:21):
DeForest Buckner had a really good line on Thursday of
last week where he said, you know, look, if we
win our last two games and we get in, that's great.
If we win our last two games and we don't
get in, then shame on us. We didn't do enough.
And the Colts didn't even do enough in week seventeen
to make it matter. So that part of it too.
And then you look at the Houston Texans collapsing, losing
(23:43):
thirty one to two on Christmas and they're thinking, man,
you flip like one of those games against Houston and
all of a sudden, you're talking about this team hosting
a playoff game. There's so many missed opportunities for this
team this year. But I want to throw this one
out there too. Zire Franklin was very candid after the
game and he said, quote, you can't play like that
(24:09):
when you're planning on being a playoff team. So we
ain't a playoff team, so you can you can sit
here at you can hemmon Hall like I just did
all you want and say, oh, if you had this
or you had that or whatever. But ultimately, like Zia Franklin,
the Cults are not a playoff team this year, and
that that showed itself in this loss to the New
York Giants.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
And you don't have anyone to blame except yourself for
the way the things have ended up here this season.
With the Indianapolis Coats not making the playoffs, you have
ample opportunities to win some big games you could have won.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
I mean the game against the Denver Broncos. Didn't win
that game.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
You you know what, you needed some help after the
Broncos game in regards to other teams losing, and you
take care of your business. It set it up last
it's set up last week or this past Saturday, I
should say.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Where the Bengals won.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
So that's what something something, what you needed in regards
to helping you get to the playoffs, and then Lisha
could have if you won today, you were going into
the last week of the season still having a shot
to win. I should still have a shot to get
into the playoffs if you won your game, the game
against the Jaguars in Week eighteen, but not now, not
(25:33):
even going to week eighteen, you have an opportunity to
even try to get into the playoffs. So you can't
blame anyone except yourself. You didn't play well enough to
beat the Giants to have that opportunity for Week eighteen,
So it's unfortunate. But as Zaira said, you know what,
(25:53):
they didn't do enough to get in the playoffs. So
you know what you as Bill Parcel says, you are
what your record says you are. And the record for
the Colts right now is the not getting into the
playoffs in the twenty twenty four season.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Yeah, the Colts who will finish under five hundred this season.
No matter what happens next week against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Bill,
you and I will be back after that game for
our season finale of Instant Reaction presented by Sony. Before
we go, though, Bill, you know I travel a lot
during the season, and I couldn't live without the Sony
one thousand XM five noise canceling headphones. Whether I'm listening
(26:31):
to music on the plane or trying to listen back
to interviews I conduct in the postgame locker room, the
premium noise cancelation these headphones provide keeps me in the
zone whether I'm relaxing or working. And when I'm at home, Bill,
these are great for just hearing you and keeping me
locked in to our podcast ticket. For me, these are
my favorite headphones I've ever owned. The Sony one thousand
XM five one thousand XM five headphones are the official
(26:53):
headphones of the Indianapolis Colts. All right, Bill, this has
been therapeutic. Yes it's not again, not the podcast I
was hoping to record with you tonight, But we'll have
won more of these again next week after the Colts
play the Jaguars, and then stick with us in the
off season. We'll have plenty of good stuff coming to
(27:15):
you on the Colts Audio Network. Moving forward. For Bill Brooks,
I'm JJ Stankowitz. Thank you for listening to this episode
of Instant Reaction presented by Sony. Talk to you next
week after the Colts play the Jaguars so long
What's up everyone? Welcome into another episode of instant Reaction
here in the Colts Audio Network and the Colts YouTube page.
We are brought to you by our friends at Sony.
I'm JJ Stankowitz, joined again by Bill Brooks to break
down the Colts' latest game. Bill, the Colts forty five
to thirty three losers to the New York Giants the
three and thirteen New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
(00:35):
The Colts are eliminated from the playoffs. Their season is
effectively over with one week left to go. A stunning loss, Bill,
I think one that is up there for me in
terms of gut punches that you didn't see coming for me.
It's right up there with twenty twenty one, the loss
(00:56):
to the Jaguars. I think these are in the same stratosphere.
And that is the last thing I was expecting to
be talking about coming into a game against the Giants
team that I had friends who were Giants fans, family
members who are Giants fans who are texting me being like,
I hope the Giants lose so they get the number
one overall pick, and instead the New York Giants put
(01:18):
up forty five points. They beat the Colts and just
you know, Bill, after the game, some of the adjectives
that were used in the Colts locker room by players
were embarrassing, unacceptable that you know, that is where the Colts'
minds went after this game. And I don't think there's
(01:41):
any other way to describe it, Bill, when you lose
a game like this with these steaks, that a game
you should have won, a game you should have taken
care of the giants, and you didn't, and here we are,
you're eliminated from the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, it was very frustrating.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
We have a game like this, knowing the stakes in
regards to the outcome of the game is gonna determine
a lot of how your goals go or how goals
the goals you set for yourself as far as reaching
the playoffs and knowing that you know what you need
to go out there and play a game. Yes, you
needed some help from some other teams, but you need
(02:15):
to take care of your own business. And unfortunately the
coach could not take care of their business. And for me,
and as I'm sure a lot of fans, is frustrating,
very frustrating to see what happened today against the Giants,
and the way the coach played, they just could not
could not get anything going into me after the Coat
(02:35):
got the three nothing lead, and then the Giants came back.
And then from that point on, once the Giants got
the lead, they just never relinquished the lead and they
kept on playing. And the thing I thought the coach
might do is try to jump on them early, you know,
on this team early, so maybe they have some quit
in them. I mean, they probably wouldn't quit, but you
know what I mean, they don't want to give that
(02:56):
extra effort that they need to to to play hard
and to win the football game. And then by the
time you get into the third quarter, late and third quarter,
begin the fourth quarter, you know the game would be over.
But unfortunately that didn't happen. The Coast didn't play well.
They made some mistakes out there, and the Giants took
advantage of it. They just kept on playing and playing
(03:17):
and playing, and they had the confidence to go out
there to think that they could beat the Coats, and
they did. They were out there and played well, and
as you said, jj for the players, it was embarrassing
and it is frustrating for fans to see the results
that happened today.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
I think we don't want to lose sight that the
Giants do have some good players. Milik Neighbors is a
football player. Wandale Robinson's a good player. But for Drew
Locke to do what he did to the Colts today
that and it's not a lot of it was after
the catch. A lot of it was Melite Neighbors making plays.
(03:55):
But Bill, I want to read you the five highest
passer ratings in the NFL this year at a minimum
of twenty attempts, Jared Goff, Kyler Murray, Lamar Jackson, Sam
Darnald and then in fifth Drew Locke at one hundred
and fifty five point three against the Colts today, you're
talking about Lamar Jackson, an MVP candidate, Jared Goff and
(04:16):
Sam Darnold are walking into the playoffs with two of
the best records in the NFL. Kyler Murray's had a
really nice rebound season, and then you have your journeyman
and Drew Locke putting up a one of the best
quarterback stat lines of the season, which also doesn't include
his one his touchdown rush as well. That right there,
(04:39):
he was comfortable all game. He really wasn't under a
lot of pressure and he was able to get the
ball to his receivers who went and made plays. And Bill,
the biggest issue once the ball got in those receivers
hands was that the Colts missed a ton of tackles
in this game. The Colts had opportunities to bring the
leak neighbors to the groundpportunities to bring to bring Wandale
(05:02):
Robinson and Tyrone Tracy to the ground, and they were
unable to do it. And that's something that a lot
of players talked about after the game.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Two.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Bill, you know what their perspective was on it. But
all of that combined, Bill just led to a really again,
I just I come back to stunning. It's stunning that
the Colts left lock do this to them, that they
let this happen to them with the stakes that this
game held.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, Drew Locke seventy of twenty three completion percentage through.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Fourth down four touchdowns, ran for one.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
The man played well, give him credit, but a lot
of it, as you said, hit the receivers and you know,
short to medium range and took it after the catch
and had a lot of yards after the catch and
ran it in. And I know one play where threw
kind of like a hitch to elk Neighbors and for us,
for me the one team I played for the Buffalo Bills,
(06:07):
that was we call that play forty and basically the
quarterback with half row to the right, the rivacy to
run a hitch and the quarterback just puts it on him.
And it's basically plays just a game five or six
yards and so to keep the drive going on, get
you in good position where you can get a first
down on second or third down. Uh, but Elite Neighbors
(06:28):
broke the tackles, miss tackles, whatever you want to call it,
with Kenny Moore and and and roll Mack there and
he just took it into the house. I mean, those
are the things that you know that added to locks
stats and unfortunately for the Colts and win against him.
But you gotta make those tackles. You got to tackle
a guy like that, knowing how good elite Neighbors is
(06:49):
what he can do out there in the football field,
and the coach just could not do it. And give
Drew Locke credit, I mean, he played well today. He
played probably probably his best game in his career. So yeah,
I would think I'm thinking so as well. So it's
it's unfortunate, but a lot of it you can blame
(07:09):
on the Coats because Coats missed some tackles and they
need to tackle better today.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
The Colts in this game. Bill, you know, let me
go pull this up because I was I was in
the middle of finding it. I wanted to find the
final total on misstackles. But something that I thought was
really interesting that Zire Franklin said after the game was
it's not just about the miss tackles. It's that it's
what happened after the miss tackles. And something he said
(07:36):
is that if you look at some of the best
defenses in the NFL, they'll miss a tackle, but then
you'll have guys rallying to the ball and bringing down
the guy who made the first guy miss. And it's
not this explosive play. It's not a thirty forty yard game.
It might be an additional three or four yards instead.
And he said, we didn't have that. We need to
(07:58):
play more as a team. You know, his exact quote
here is quote, when you play defense, it's not really
a one versus one thing. It's really eleven versus one.
I don't think we play with that type of mentality.
I think too many times it's too many one on
one tackles. And the reality of the situation is there's
a lot of extremely talented guys in this league and
they're gonna make the first guy miss. But when you
(08:19):
watch a lot of great defenses, people swarm and everyone's
trying to get in on the tackle. So obviously we
all got to do better tackling, myself included. That's something
I'm going to work on moving forward. But I think
we could play better together as a defense. And you
give up forty five points as a defense, I think
the number one thing is built you probably weren't playing
together as a unit.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
I agree.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
I mean, and what z He's talking about is people
rallying to the ball. I mean, if there's a guy
out there and you know what, he makes one guy miss,
long as you get him to stop his feet, everyone
if they continue running from a defensive standpoint, you run
to the ball. Everyone runs to the ball, and you
have more than one guy out there trying to tackle.
You want to get four to five guys out there
trying to tackle the individual.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
And if you know, things work out.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Maybe you get one guy try to strict the ball
and the other guys recover the ball as well. But
you want to play as a team, want to play
as a unit, and for a defensive unit, they want
to rally to the ball. You always want to run
to the ball. And that's what you hear a lot
of times. You hear about teams playing fast and teams
playing from sideline to sideline. They're running to the ball,
they're making tackles, and that's what you need. You need
(09:25):
a team together, playing as one, going out there and
trying to make those tackles from a defensive standpoint. And
as you heard, as Ziaz said, you know what, the
coach didn't play like that, and they got to do
more of that if they want to be successful.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Yeah, I mean, the one that really was the backbreaker
Bill was in the fourth quarter of eight minutes and
fifty seconds to go. It's that that pass to Neighbors
right that we're kind of just talking about. And you
have Kenny and Wollmack right over there. There's a little
bit of hesitation, neither of them. We're able to bring
him down, and then Neighbors just turns on the Jets,
(10:04):
Julian Blackman gets blocked, Jalen Jones runs into him, Zia
Franklin can't catch up over there, and it's it's a
fifty nine yard touchdown in a situation bill where if
the Colts had held the Giants even just to a
field goal on that drive, at that point of the game,
it's twenty eight to twenty six Giants. The Colts, the
way they're moving the football, I think they would have
gone down and probably scored another touchdown. But it's this
(10:28):
culmination of things of just like one thing after another
after another after another that then leads to that play
and that right there. The Colts are able to get
back in it with another offensive drive, but that right
there just kind of felt like, Okay, the Giants have
now landed a haymaker and the Colts are kind of
really on the ropes here in a game where I
(10:52):
don't think anyone expected them to be on the ropes
at all, and here they were in the fourth quarter,
down by two scores, needing a furious comeback in a
game that you know you were you were what The
Giants are two and thirteen coming into the game. The
coat for their playoff lives that that's just like hard
to comprehend that it got to this point exactly.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
I mean I mentioned it earlier about giving this team life,
and that's what the Coast did by letting them get
ahead and stay ahead for the most part the all game.
I mean, like I said, the Coast got three nothing, but
then after that, the Giants stayed ahead most of the time,
and it gave the Giants confidence. And so when the
Coast did, you know, get closed the gap a little bit,
(11:35):
the Giants felt confident that they can go down and
score points.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
And they did. They did score some points.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
And you know, and you also can talk about, as
you mentioned JJ, if they held them to three points,
well that's playing complimentary football. If the defense could have
held them to three points, and then you know, the
offense was was moving the ball down the field, and
if the offense could have moved the ball down the
field and score a touchdown, you know, the game changes,
the complexion of the game change right there. So it's
(12:01):
unfortunate things didn't go as as well as the Coats wanted,
but a lot of it is because of what the
Coats didn't do out there in the football field.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
And one of the things is is.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Tackle and bring the guys down and stop them from scoring.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Just there's so much we can we can talk about
and so much we can get into with this game. Bill,
it's like trying to collect my thoughts on it is
a bit of a bit of a challenge. So let's
take a quick break and then we'll come back with
more chat about this game this NFL season. Feel every play,
every hit, every moment with the Sony one thousand XM
five noise canceling headphones, the official headphones of the Indianapolis Colts.
(12:41):
With premium noise cancelation, You're in the zone, no distractions,
just pure football, whether you're in your living room or
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All right, Bill, something that like early in the game
you're talking about New York kind of get in control
of the game early. One of the most disappointing parts
(13:01):
of that is, all right, that first Neighbors touchdown that
was on third and fourteen, the second touchdown, the thirty
two yard out of Slayton that was on third and eight,
and then a third and goal at the five that
was the third Giants touchdown. So that got New York
up twenty one to six midway through the second quarter,
(13:22):
and for a team that had nothing going for it
this year, and I mean nothing much that right there
I saw I was looking at the sideline. Brian Dable
was in it, just like once you and I want
to get your perspective on this bill. When you're on
a team that is bad, like the New York Giants
have been bad this year, but all of a sudden
(13:43):
you look up and you're up twenty one to six
and your head coach is going nuts. It probably doesn't
matter that there are twenty thousand people in the stands
that you've got thirteen losses, that this year has been
kind of this like slog from hell. You're probably like,
this is great, We're we got some momentum. We're having
fun out here, We're having fun with the guys like
(14:04):
that feeling on the sideline has to be extremely exciting,
especially for a team that just hasn't really done that
a whole lot before, and that I think fuel some momentum.
Does it not?
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Well, definitely does, because as you said, it's exciting.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
I mean, they haven't experienced that, being up twenty one
to six, they an average this year fourteen points per game,
and that's last in the National Football League.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
So now you have twenty one points.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
At this juncture in the game, and you're having fun,
you're excited. And the thing is that as a player,
you want this to continue. You want to continue to
score some more points. So you want this just to
get bigger and better. And the Giants felt that way.
They felt like, Hey, you know what, we're moving the
ball down the field.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
This is what it.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Should feel like to play a game in the National
Football League, to be successful, to achieve the things that
we want to achieve, to go out there and be
able to move the ball down the field.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
So they felt good about themselves when they wanted to stop.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
They wanted to continue to have that feeling, and they
did by going out playing well and playing hard, and
unfortunately the Coats couldn't stop them. And you know, as
a player, you want that feeling and you're like, wow,
this is what it should feel like.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
And maybe hopefully the.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Guys that come back for the Giants, they could say, hey,
maybe we can get this feeling next year, but we
have to start early and play together. But you know what,
the Giants, they did what they had to do, and
you know a lot of people want them to get
the first draft, first round pick, or the first pick
in the draft.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
But the players don't feel that. They're not thinking about that.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
They're thinking about going out there playing and giving their
best and giving them all so they could win a
football game. And the Giants did that today and give
them credit for it.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
So the other flip side of this in the first half,
at least, Bill is the Colts left a lot of
points on the board in the first thirty minutes. You've
got the Joe Flacco interception where he's immediately pressured he
kind of floats it up toward them oil like Cox,
great play by that safety, great catch with the diving interception,
But right there, that was you're in kind of inside
(15:59):
the thirty of the Giants there that you're thinking you
at least get three points out of that. So let's
say you leave three points on the board there. Then
you have these two red zone possessions that you have
to settle for a thirty two yard and twenty nine
yard field goal because Joe Flacco gets sacked on third
and two on one and then you're not able to
(16:20):
pick up the first down on the other So that's
probably another what eight points, So you're looking at et points,
probably eleven points you've left on the board in the
first half, and then on top of that, you get
Mac Gay missing the fifty four yard field goal. You're
talking about probably fourteen points that you leave on the
board in the first half and if you if you
(16:42):
score those, you're winning twenty seven to twenty one a
half time. And that's probably a completely different conversation in
the Giants locker room in the Colts locker room about
what direction this game is going in.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Oh definitely, And you know, as far as the coaches,
if you up twenty seven to twenty one, or if
you're up at halftime, you know what, it changes your
play call and it changes how you approach the game.
It changes the what personnelity you have out there in
the football field. And then it also goes to putting
doubt in the Giant's mind. You know, like, hey, you
know what, here we go again. This is you know,
(17:17):
we're losing again. You know what, We're probably gonna end
up losing this game. You know what, We're gonna play hard,
but you know what, if it gets it, it gets later
in the game, and they end up the coasing up,
going up by you know, ten, thirteen and fourteen points.
We know it's going to be over in the fourth quarter,
but that didn't happen. And when that didn't happen, it
(17:39):
gave the Giants some life and they wanted to continue
to play well and wanted to continue to have that feeling,
and they did.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
It the you know, there were still some other points
in the second half that got left out on the board. Obviously.
The most notable one is the two point conversion, which
is a love the play call. It's a play that
Detroit has run a bunch this year where you get
the lateral to the player coming around and if Jonathan
(18:09):
Taylor catches that ball, he's in for a touchdown or
a two point try is good, yes, and you're tied
up at twenty eight. So those are a couple of
points there get you get third and one that you get.
You know, Jonathan Taylor goes out of bounds, they say
he did not get the first down there. Then the
fourth and one try he gets stopped going over the top.
So that's a turnover on downs and Giants territory again.
(18:31):
You're leaving points on the board there. I think that
was at the twenty three yard line where the Coults
are trying to go down and score a touchdown. There
you're not trying to kick a field goal. But right there,
that's another you're talking about another nine points you probably
left on the board in this game, where I don't
want to totally you know, place a bunch of blame
on the offense, but in this game where your defense
(18:53):
was struggling to make stops. There wasn't much margin for
error for the Colts in this game, and they moved
them really well, but there were just those couple of
moments in there where the execution could have been better
and that could have maybe alleviated some of the pressure
that was put on this team by the Giants offense.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Yeah, and a lot of times in games in the
National Football League, there's usually a handful of plays that
can change the complexion of a game. The thing is
that as a player, you don't know which players are
going to be. You know, they can be players in
the first quarter, could be plays in the second quarter,
third or fourth quarter, or a couple of plays in
each quarter that change the complexion of the game. So
(19:34):
that's why it's important to execute each play, and that's
why it's important to feel like every play is an
important play out there that you have to be successful
on because you don't know what's going to exactly happen.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
And that's what happened today to the coast.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
There are a couple of plays that the Coats just missed,
and by them just missing, I put them behind the
eight ball and gave them a minum to the Giants
helped them out with The Coats missed some opportunities offensively
to to move the ball or continue to drive, and
those things usually come back to bite you in. You
just don't know which players are going to be those plays.
(20:08):
That's why it's so important for each play you play
it like you know what, this is the most important
play out here that we're going through right now now. No.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Forty five to thirty three loss to the New York
Giants would be complete without every phase having something go
catastrophically wrong. Emir Smith Marsette takes the opening kickoff of
the second half one hundred yards for a touchdown. And
this is another one of those moments Bill where like
you probably just could feel on that Giant sideline a
(20:39):
sense of belief because you go into halftime, Jonathan Taylor
gets that touchdown twenty seconds to go in the second quarter,
cuts it to eight points. You're like, okay, We're like,
and that was rough in the first half. Defense will
come out strong in the second half. We have the
offense to make this thing work. Oh my god, we're
down by fifteen points again. And for the Giants, like
(21:00):
you get that return again, it just kind of feels
like your day at that point. I have to imagine
on the sideline you're seeing a kickoff return for a touchdown.
That for a team that again doesn't have a whole
lot going for it this year, just another one of
those things that's like that is a massive momentum boost
for them in this game that the Colts did struggle
(21:21):
to come back from.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Yeah, I mean you, like I say, it's twenty one
to thirteen. You figure out, Okay, defense, we'll come out
in the third quarter. They're going to get the ball.
If we can stop them, we can hopefully turn this
thing around. Go down, score a touchdown, Okay, go for
two points. Maybe it's twenty one, twenty one, or if
we go for one. This one extra point kick. The
(21:44):
extra point is twenty one to twenty. But unfortunately, you know,
the defense will get a chance to get out in
the field to get a stop, and the special teams.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Allowed them to run one hundred yard.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Kickoff return back for a touchdown, and that just changes
the momentum, you know, And for the Giants that get
that big play to start the second half was huge
for them to keep their momentum because then it changes
things in regards to how the Coats approached their next
offensive series as well as the Giants defensive series. So
(22:18):
it was a backbreaker to me, and in regards to
them coming out and getting that one hundred yard kickoff
return for a touchdown and something that you know what
the special teams definitely doesn't want to do that and
something that you know, unfortunately hurt the.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Coats and gave the Giants a lot of momentum.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
So the other part of this bill is that the
Colts got the help they needed this weekend. That crazy
Bengals Broncos game went exactly the way the Colts needed
it to go with the Broncos losing. Now, granted it
wasn't the right the path I think we would have anticipated.
(22:57):
But I was watching that game on Saturday night in
New York and I'm like, okay, like here we go.
Like the Colts got the help they needed today, another
under the radar thing that the Dolphins won that would
have been helpful for next week, and the Colts are
not able to capitalize on it. And that's something that
we heard players say all week, is that we can't
accept the help unless we help ourselves. And you know,
(23:21):
DeForest Buckner had a really good line on Thursday of
last week where he said, you know, look, if we
win our last two games and we get in, that's great.
If we win our last two games and we don't
get in, then shame on us. We didn't do enough.
And the Colts didn't even do enough in week seventeen
to make it matter. So that part of it too.
And then you look at the Houston Texans collapsing, losing
(23:43):
thirty one to two on Christmas and they're thinking, man,
you flip like one of those games against Houston and
all of a sudden, you're talking about this team hosting
a playoff game. There's so many missed opportunities for this
team this year. But I want to throw this one
out there too. Zire Franklin was very candid after the
game and he said, quote, you can't play like that
(24:09):
when you're planning on being a playoff team. So we
ain't a playoff team, so you can you can sit
here at you can hemmon Hall like I just did
all you want and say, oh, if you had this
or you had that or whatever. But ultimately, like Zia Franklin,
the Cults are not a playoff team this year, and
that that showed itself in this loss to the New
York Giants.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
And you don't have anyone to blame except yourself for
the way the things have ended up here this season.
With the Indianapolis Coats not making the playoffs, you have
ample opportunities to win some big games you could have won.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
I mean the game against the Denver Broncos. Didn't win
that game.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
You you know what, you needed some help after the
Broncos game in regards to other teams losing, and you
take care of your business. It set it up last
it's set up last week or this past Saturday, I
should say.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Where the Bengals won.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
So that's what something something, what you needed in regards
to helping you get to the playoffs, and then Lisha
could have if you won today, you were going into
the last week of the season still having a shot
to win. I should still have a shot to get
into the playoffs if you won your game, the game
against the Jaguars in Week eighteen, but not now, not
(25:33):
even going to week eighteen, you have an opportunity to
even try to get into the playoffs. So you can't
blame anyone except yourself. You didn't play well enough to
beat the Giants to have that opportunity for Week eighteen,
So it's unfortunate. But as Zaira said, you know what,
(25:53):
they didn't do enough to get in the playoffs. So
you know what you as Bill Parcel says, you are
what your record says you are. And the record for
the Colts right now is the not getting into the
playoffs in the twenty twenty four season.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Yeah, the Colts who will finish under five hundred this season.
No matter what happens next week against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Bill,
you and I will be back after that game for
our season finale of Instant Reaction presented by Sony. Before
we go, though, Bill, you know I travel a lot
during the season, and I couldn't live without the Sony
one thousand XM five noise canceling headphones. Whether I'm listening
(26:31):
to music on the plane or trying to listen back
to interviews I conduct in the postgame locker room, the
premium noise cancelation these headphones provide keeps me in the
zone whether I'm relaxing or working. And when I'm at home, Bill,
these are great for just hearing you and keeping me
locked in to our podcast ticket. For me, these are
my favorite headphones I've ever owned. The Sony one thousand
XM five one thousand XM five headphones are the official
(26:53):
headphones of the Indianapolis Colts. All right, Bill, this has
been therapeutic. Yes it's not again, not the podcast I
was hoping to record with you tonight, But we'll have
won more of these again next week after the Colts
play the Jaguars, and then stick with us in the
off season. We'll have plenty of good stuff coming to
(27:15):
you on the Colts Audio Network. Moving forward. For Bill Brooks,
I'm JJ Stankowitz. Thank you for listening to this episode
of Instant Reaction presented by Sony. Talk to you next
week after the Colts play the Jaguars so long
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