Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome into the Official Colts Podcast. I'm Jeffrey Gorman, joined
today by JJ Stankovitch from Colts dot Com. He covers
the team better than anyone. Learra Overton, who also does
a heck of a job covering this football team. She's
on assignment today. We'll welcome here back next week, JJ.
The biggest news around the league right now is all
these coaching hires. We see defensive coordinators being hired around
(00:29):
the NFL and specifically here in Indianapolis. Lou Anarumo presented
at his press conference to the media. Hey here I am,
and this is what I'm planning to bring to this defense.
Your takeaways? What do you think about lou Anarumo so far?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, I mean, we'll get into some of this stuff
too in the sit down we got.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
I'm sorry about that. I didn't even mention that we
have lou Anarumo coming up with JJ. Sorry about that.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Lou sitting right in that chair, yep, coming up here
in a little bit. But I think just my biggest
takeaway from lou is that he his whole philosophy is
to make things difficult on opposing quarterbacks through disguising stuff,
changing the look pre snap dropping guys who you don't
expect to be dropping. And he also is a guy
(01:13):
who keeps a play call in his back pocket, like
it's the fourth quarter and I've had this one sitting
there and all of a sudden, bam, here it comes.
And look no further than what the Chiefs did to
the Bills, where you got Steve Spagnolo throwing the most
wicked curveball you can possibly get on fourth and five
(01:33):
to win that game, to confuse Josh Allen and that
Bill's offensive line. That right there, Look, lou Anumo is
that that is where his philosophy lies. It's not necessarily
going to be you're running cover zero every time, or
you're dropping seven into coverage every time. There are gonna
be change ups in there. And then he's got that
one call that, Hey, if the situation calls for it,
(01:54):
let's go run it here and expect that it's gonna
work again. I think what the Chiefs did is a
really good example of sort of not you're in the
same ballpark of philosophy as lu Anarumo.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
There and so that and that kind of describes why
you know, some of his peers and players and whatnot.
Have called him a the mad scientist and even Lou Deeny.
It's for stuff like that. Let's not forget the run
that they had when when the Bengals went to the
Super Bowl. Great he was shutting down some quarterbacks right there,
and that's one of the you know, the biggest bright
spots on his resume.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, and what he I think when you get into
those games where you need help, essentially, when you're facing
the best quarterbacks in the league. To make it through
the AFC, You're going through mahomes Lamar, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow,
Justin Herbert. Those are the kind of caliber quarterbacks you're
going through. You have to change the picture on them.
(02:42):
And that's something he emphasized in his press conference. That's
something we talked about. And to sit down, we're going
to get to here. You got to change the picture
on those guys because they are too good. They will
sit back and they will pick you apart if you
don't do anything to at least make them think for
a split second on a play.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
All right, let's introduce you now to the Colt's new
defensive coordinator. Just sitting down with JJ Stakaviitz not too
long ago.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Here's lou An Arumo please to welcome to the Official
Colts Podcast, the new defensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts.
Lou and Arumolu. Thanks for taking some time. And I
kind of want to dive into just sort of like
your background and your philosophy and how you teach things.
And right before we started recording, I just sort of
brought up you. So you got your start as a
(03:24):
part time head coach at the Merchant Marine Academy, which
I don't know, can you explain to the Merchant Marine
Academy is.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
So King's point, it's one of the five federal academies.
This I sound sound like I'm doing my recruiting pitch again,
But five federal academies, and the guys would be we
would only get them for half the year because half
of the year they would go out to sea and
do their travel time on the on the ships and stuff.
So but I still talk to some of those guys today.
(03:53):
You know, it was a great learning experience. Met Joe
Philbin there went on to become the head coach of
the Alphins. Joe and I worked together for a year.
I was there for three years, met some great people,
and you know, it's a great place to start. I
came I was a GA at Syracuse under coach Pascaloni
and then ended up getting that was my first full
(04:15):
time job at merch Marie.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I think it's like a great life lesson that you
never know who might help you out someday. So just
you know, be nice to everyone, be kind to everyone.
You met Joe Philbin there, who wound up hiring you
when he got the head coaching job in Miami. I
believe you also coached them at Harvard.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
We did. Yeah, yeah, just.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Like you've been through. You've been coaching now for thirty
seven years. If you're speaking to someone who's just starting
off in this business, what would you kind of tell
them off of that experience about how to make connections
and just how to kind of be a young person
given going in this business.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
I think I love the way I came up in coaching,
because I started, you know, high school, and then on
to being a graduate assistant, and then to Division III,
then to one Double A, then to major college football
at Purdue, So it kind of took steps along the way.
(05:11):
I think all along I wanted wanted that to accelerate
but I'm so happy that's the way my path was
because you learn more what to do and what not
to do in those situations when you're dealing with different
players that have different skill sets, and you can apply
all that stuff as now you know now coaching in
the NFL all these years and I look, I draw
(05:32):
back on all those experience from each particular place all
the time.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
So before you got let's talk about before you got
to Purdue, what did you learn about how to like
teach what with limited time at the Merchant Marine Academy
with kids at Harvard who are probably running companies at
this point in their lives they are, and the challenges
of maybe learning in those environments of how to teach
your philosophy and get it to be applied out on
(05:56):
the field.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
That's a great question. As you mentioned, you go Merchant
Marine where you don't have time crunch, Harvard where kids
are time crunch from a school standpoint, then on to
Marshall with its own challenges in terms of times and restrictions,
and then to produce. So you know, I think you
just again that's what I was talking about earlier, where
you just learned to adapt and how you know you're
(06:18):
trying to get your coaching points across, get your scheme
taught in a timely manner. And you know in college
there's restrictions on times. I guess it's different now. I
don't know, but you know the good news in the
NFL you don't have those, but the way individuals learn,
each guy's going to be different. And again we can
(06:39):
draw back on all those as we go through things.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Now, who do you count as maybe your most the
most influential people in your life as a teacher. I
know your dad, Lou Senior, was a teacher, I believe
I read that.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
He was, yeah, principle of an elementary school for one
hundred years. So yeah, my mom worked in Parker Hall
and Wagner College for years. So uh, you know, yeah,
my dad growing up as an educator for sure. And
I would say, you know a number of guys in
the NFL that have come across that have certainly helped
(07:11):
shape who you are. You know, you're always watching as
a college coach different things that are going on. I
was fortunate enough to become friendly with Monte Kiffin over
the years when you know, actually interviewed in Tampa. I
was at perdue. Excuse me. I was that Purdue at
the time, and I think it was two thousand and five,
(07:32):
probably wasn't ready.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
To get the job when Mike Tomlin got hired away, so.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Mike was, Yeah, Mike left, but Raheem left to go
be the defensive coordinator of Kansas State. And so that
Mike had left I think a year or two prior. Uh,
and then Raheem left to go to that job. So
it opened up and you know, it was just a
great experience for me to interview in front of you know,
John Gruden and Rich Pasaccia, had Joe Berry, all the
guys that you know, they had won the Super Bowl
(07:57):
and not too you know before that, and it was
just a great experience for me. And then got to
know money from there, and then met a whole bunch
of different great coaches along the way. And uh, but
just the core philosophies of what he taught, how he
taught defense, and you know, it always comes down to
the base fundamentals and you know, run into the ball,
tackle and that's never going to change in defensive football.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I read something that you you said, I think it
was maybe the Cincinnati Inquirer about how you can if
the technique stays the same, you can kind of be flexible,
flexible and versatile with the scheme around it.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Yeah, what exactly do you mean by that?
Speaker 3 (08:34):
I believe that to be true. I mean, if you're
teaching if I'm telling you, okay, that we call cover
three and you play a technique it's called thirds, all right,
but and we call that, you know, black, that's the
name of the coverage. Well, if I can come to
you and say, hey, we're going to call this purple now,
but you're still playing thirds. But maybe somebody else is
(08:56):
doing a little something different, So you can change certain
things around the scheme. But as long as you're not
teaching somebody to play a whole different technique that they're
not used to, then you's that's how you become multiple.
The core techniques that each position has doesn't change, but
maybe in the way you do them is a little
bit different that can create them. You know, we're always
(09:18):
trying to play with the keep the other quarterback off
set and you know, keep him out of sync, and
that's one of the ways you do it, especially with
these top quarterbacks we have in the AFC.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
How do you kind of balance. Then you know, if
that's sort of your philosophy, it sounds maybe straightforward and simple,
but how do you balance teaching it so guys can
still play fast while Hey, we're calling black but you're
playing purple, or we're calling black but he's playing purple,
and guys can still play fast with that.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
I think it's a whole I think the way we
go that our approach is always going to be. Okay,
we're gonna start with our great foundation of core values
that we have in terms of you know, again, playing
with technique. If you're playing in the back end, you're
going to play with leverage up front, playing blocks, keeping
keeping our gap integrity. But to your point, it's a
(10:04):
gradual process. That's not going to happen the first week
of OTAs. That'll be towards towards the end of the
spring as we get into training camp and now you're
building momentum where we're going to pick up where we
left off. I think those twists and turns come after
you've got the base stuff down. So let's let's learn
black really good. Oh, by the way, we can do
(10:24):
this with that coverage as well.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
What lessons did you learn in twenty nineteen. That was
your first year as a coordinator about how to begin
that process to implement your system with a new group
of players that you'll now do again.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Yeah, I think, yeah, great learning lessons, you know, nineteen
and twenty kind of formulating exactly how we wanted to
play with the players that we had and end up,
you know, in twenty one going to the Super Bowl.
So you know, and even in twenty one, we had
some new free agents Mike Hilton, Trey Henderson, guys Cheetoh Woozier.
(10:58):
Those were core pieces that ended up getting us into
the Super Bowl and back to back AFC Championship games.
So they were new to the system that year as well,
So there was a little bit of a learning curve,
but the core of the guys had learned it really
from nineteen to twenty. So I think, you know, we've
been haven't been through the process now, you know, I
(11:18):
think we've got it pretty fine tuned to where it
can be accelerated even faster. I'm looking forward to getting
with the guys here and get hitting the ground run.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
So what are the next call it three months look
like before players get in the building for you to
kind of prepare for that moment.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Well, I think it's getting all the coaches in place.
That's a process that we're going through now to finalize.
I think we've got to get ourselves on the same
page first, get the coaches up to speed on how
we want things done and how we're going to operate
going forward, and then they'll be able to implement how
we want to do things with the players.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
One of the things that I when I kind of
looked into your background and you're just some of the
numbers of what you did in Cincinnati, it looked like
you ran a lot of simulated pressures with you know that.
So for our listeners, that's four guys rushing, but you
don't know where they're coming from. It could be a
d lineman dropping of a safety blitzing, whatever it might be.
What's the goal of a simulated pressure If obviously it's
(12:10):
probably to get a sack or an interception, But on
a quarterback, what does that do for a quarterback to
try to confuse the guy in the pocket.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Yeah, so it starts with everything trying to look the same.
So if you can do three or four different things
pre snap to the quarterback, it could be as I
just said, three or four different things. One going from
one high to two high or vice versa. One y're
not blitzing one yard blitzing. So there's a lot of
(12:39):
things he has to process just based on well, it
looks like this, but it could be that as soon
as you can put that into especially a young quarterbacks mind,
but even a veteran guy where they've got to, you know,
let's make them play quarterback. Let's not just make it
easy for that guy to step on the center and know, hey,
they're in this. Hey they're in that. We're the disguise
(13:01):
and things like that. When we're when we're at our best,
that'll be, you know, something that we'll hang our hat on.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
How did Joe Burrow help you kind of fine tune
some of those things? I was listening to a podcast
you did with Chris Long a couple of years ago.
You mentioned you and Joe had a pretty good relationship,
kind of a back and forth. He's obviously such a cerebral,
smart quarterback. How did that kind of help hone that stuff?
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Yeah, Joe, Joe is obviously who Joe is as a player.
He's great individual as well. It comes from a great family. Jimmy,
his dad, and I know each other for years. Jimmy
used to coach at Ohio. You and when I was
at Purdue. We would kind of go back and forth about, Hey,
we're playing Iowa next week, or you know, through Monti
Kiffin because Jimmy was a Nebraska guy and Monny was
(13:46):
a Nebraska guy, so I had I had known the
Burrow family way before I ever Joe Burrow became Joe Burrow.
So but to your question, Uh, yeah, Joe wants to
kind of know. So like when we're going against each
other are in OTAs in training camp, I would go
to him, Hey, did you see that blitz coming? Uh?
Did you see we were rolling the two? Or whatever
(14:08):
whatever I question had or he would come to me
and say, you know, that was hard. I didn't see that.
You know. It was more that he usually didn't say that.
He definitely didn't usually say that too often. But uh,
he said that could be challenging, you know. Uh, And
we would kind of go back and forth a little bit.
But I've always done that wherever I've been with the quarterbacks.
(14:29):
I want to know, you know, my year in New
York with Eli, you know, just did you see that,
you know, just as the dB coach. You know, you
know Byron left Which in college, Kyle Orton in college,
you know, every every uh, you know, Ryan Tannehill down
in Miami, you know, just asking those guys their opinions,
because they're the ones that you're trying to fool. And
(14:52):
if they see it coming in practice and what makes
you think you're they're not going to see it during
the game. So we take things. I listen to what
those guys say, and as accordingly.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
How is your sort of coverage or like the menu
of things you can play? How did that evolve over
your time in Cincinnati, Because I think I looked and
you were no lower than maybe twenty second in terms
of a certain coverage, just from like pro football focus
to take the numbers with what you will, but sure
no lower than like twenty second, but maybe no higher
than fifth in like any single coverage. Rather it was
cover one, two, three quarters, quarter, quarter half, stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
I think it's important that if if you don't change
it up on the quarterback these days, it's going to
be hard to you know, just to keep those guys contained,
especially you know, the dynamic receivers. You have to play.
I mean just we're you know, just coming from Cincinnati
having to defend Tea and Jamar every day in practice
(15:44):
and I oh, by the way, there's Mike is Secki too,
you know. So there's always going to be issues and
every week we're going to defend you know, elite receivers,
sometimes one, sometimes two, then a great tight end, you know.
So it always starts and stops with me and saying,
all right, how are we gonna affect the quarterback number one?
(16:06):
And then try to limit the production of their top players,
And you know, everybody says that, but there's got to
be intent and how you do that and how you
go about that, and uh, I think part of that
comes from being able to change how you cover guys.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
With being in the AFC North, you get Lamar Jackson
twice a year. You obviously have a history against Patrick
Mahomes and the playoffs. Josh Allen, how much of the
you know you kind of it's someone put it as
like I know what you know what?
Speaker 4 (16:35):
I know what? You know?
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Thing kind of goes goes into that. As you're scheming
up these game plans, specifically for these guys who have
faced you will know you you know, we'll get this
in the AFC South now C J. Stroud and Trevor Lawrence.
Just in terms of how you combat that, like, I
know what you're gonna do, but you know what I'm
gonna do, and then you know what I'm gonna.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Do off of that. Yeah, I think at some point
there's a all right, we're gonna we're gonna execute what
you know, we really know that we can do well,
and we also know what's been successful against them. Yes,
they're probably practicing that, but maybe it looks just a
little bit different than they're expecting because of slight disguise
or whatever. And then sometimes it's just don't give them
(17:14):
too much credit and let's see if they fixed it,
you know, because that's what they do to defenses. You know,
you'll you'll see if you give up a play a
week prior, you better have that issue fixed because the
next team's probably going to check it, check your royal
and see if you got to fix. So we're always
conscious of that and to me, you know, if you're
successful with something on defense, same thing, let's let's see
(17:37):
if they didn't block it this week, let's se how
they do next week.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
With that, you kind of were the king of that
in the second half of the twenty twenty one AFC
Championship with dropping eight.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
I looked it up.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
I think it was on twelve plays after halftime. A
no team in the playoffs has dropped eight on more
than nine plays in the playoffs since well, that, like,
as you've grown farther from that moment it's been four
years now, has like the gravity of that hit you
of you know that, Like people in Cincinnati point to
that that drop eight as the reason why they got
(18:06):
to experience a Super Bowl. Is that kind of hit
you a little bit?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
It was a great run, you know. I I think
that we've used that throughout the season. It just happened
to go with the flow of the game. Like, I
think that that is something that as a play caller,
you know, you may have this great sheet in front
of you with some great ideas and maybe it's not
exactly playing out the way you thought. And and to me,
(18:31):
that's where you have to be able to be flexible
enough to you know, change gears and say, right, you know,
I thought I can make it up this hill in
second gear, but let's drop it the first or whatever.
It may be. I think you have to be able
to do that, and I think that game, in particular,
it was giving Patrick trouble. And that's a guy that
you don't give much trouble too because he's such a
(18:53):
great player. But we were able to do some different
things at a zone and man and we were spying
them with Logan Wilson. And the biggest playing the game
was a third and ten in overtime where we where
we were playing a man type coverage with a spy
on him and and you know, Jesse knocks the ball down,
(19:13):
Valloneville catches it and the rest is history. But uh
and and the people don't realize is the third down
to get us into.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Overtime the Sam Hubbard play, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Third and eight and we showed a look that was
a five down look ended up dropping eight out of
that showed a zero blitz and we ended up playing
like a covered two type scheme and again he held
the ball, held the ball and Sam was able to go.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
You had Sam spying him on that play, right, you
would like a dying him.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Yeah, it was with help from others. It wasn't just
I love Sam, but I wasn't leaving Sam. I love you, Sam,
but he had some help because it was zone. It's
not like if it was man to be a little
bit a guy that can maybe go get him a
little bit quicker. But but the zone principle thereways allowed
us to put Sam in that position.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
To do it.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
That kind of feeds me into like D line stuff,
how important is versatility for defensive alignment in your scheme?
Speaker 3 (20:10):
I just think not only in our scheme, but in
all schemes these days, with the with the amount of
offense that you get these days from from from people,
with all the r p O stuff, and you know,
zone read now is is you know, just an afterthought.
Everybody does it to a degree. I think the more
you can do, you know the old saying, the better.
(20:30):
So yeah, I want I want guys that can can
do multiple roles, multiple jobs, because if we can leave
certain groupings out there and use the different pieces in
certain ways, uh, it alleviates some of Right, well here
they go trotting out you know, six dbs and well
they're only going to do this out of that, you
know now, and we'll do some of the multiple packages.
(20:52):
But you'd like to be able to have guys that
can do multiple things that it just makes it harder
on the offense.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Last one for you here kind of tying about to
the start, we were talking about Joe Filbin and the
Merchant Marine Academy and when you were in Miami. That
was where Dan Campbell was kind of getting his coaching start.
That's where he met Zach Taylor in Miami. What about
those two guys. I'm just curious on this, like, what
about those two guys maybe told you're early on these
(21:17):
guys are head coaching material. And as you got to
know Shane Stike and I know only you know briefly
through the interview process here, what qualities does he have
that tell you this guy's got what it takes to
be a really good head?
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Goes Ben Johnson was lurking around.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Yeah, he was like an offensive assistant, right, Yeah, So I.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Used to walk I used to I used to walk down.
We had similar to here. But if I had a
question like I'm not gonna I'm gonna go ask like
if the sink is leak and I'm calling the plumber,
I'm not trying to fix it, right, So if there's
a question about, hey, what what's quarterback looking at here.
I have my thoughts. I kind of think, I know,
let's go ask the quarterback coach. So Zach was the
(21:55):
quarterback coach, Hey, Zack, what what's he? What's the progression here?
And that's how we really became uh tight. I would
go down there all the time, and he'd come down
for a coverage question. But yeah, I see, I see
the same sellers to Zach Shane. Two really smart people,
guys that are always ahead of the curve when it
comes to, you know, adapting to a to a particular
(22:18):
game plan or scheme that they want to run. Seem
like they're a step ahead of that of the defense
all the time. And you know, I've got great respect
for Shane as we you know, as we went into
this process and certainly now working working for him. It's
I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Lou Anaruma, the new defensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts.
Lou thanks so time, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Thank you very much, big thanks to you, big thanks
to lou Anarumo for that. I'll tell you what my
first question is, how different personnel wise do you think
do you think at this point, I know it's early
in the offseason, how many new faces do we see
in that defensive.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
Really good question.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Yeah, I think it's gonna it's gonna come down to
him getting to know his players right now and evaluating
how can I think fit a scheme to these guys
and then okay, well, what do we need to add
to that room. Do we need a big time playmaking cornerback.
Do we need a rangey free safety. Do we need
any more help on the defensive line, do we need
(23:14):
what are we gonna do at linebacker with EJ. Speed
being a free agent? A lot of questions that we're
gonna get answered over these next couple of weeks. I
do think the one thing that Lou emphasized when he
was talking to the media on Thursday last week was
he really likes this defensive line. The defensive line can
be the engine for this, for this entire defense. And
(23:34):
you know, he said he really liked Likeyatu Latu coming
out last year. DeForest Buckner obviously is a stalwart there.
So he's got some pieces that he likes on that
defensive line. I'm curious what he does with the back
end because he got some guys who played good football, right,
like a Nick Cross, like a Jalen Jones obviously, Zaire
Franklin in that kind of back seven. Kenny Moore the
(23:55):
second another guy he brought up how he's he envisions
him kind of like a Mike Hilton, who had a
lot of success blitzing Amanda Foster, our colleague at cults
dot Com.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Look this up.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Mike Hilton blitzed one hundred and seventy eight times over.
It was from two thousand and one twenty twenty one.
Excuse me through twenty twenty four. No other cornerback blitzed
more than one hundred and thirty times. Interesting, So Mike Hilton,
he was getting he was just pressing that button with
Mike Hilton spamming it because Mike Kelton was good at it.
I think he can do kind of the same with Kenny.
Kenny's good blitzer who we maybe haven't seen that tapped into.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Good little nugget right there. Yeah, you gotta put that
in the back pocket right there. Alu Anarumo defense leading
the league in blitzes like that from somebody like he had.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Yeah, with what he might and Lou's not going to
lead the league in the number of blitz as he calls,
but for specific players. Hey, Kenny, Kenny's a good blitz. Yeah,
Kenny is physical, he's fast, he's instinctive. We know all
these things about him, getting him to maybe disguise if
he's gonna come, if he's not a little bit more
frequently than we've seen in years past, I think is
going to benefit Kenny and the entire Colts defense.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Finally, when you talk about football, it's not too hard
to you know, block and tackle, block and tackle. Does
Agner Rumo bring in, Hey, we led the league in
miss tackles last year. Yeah, it's not gonna happen on
my watch. Well, simple, you know, basic, basic tackling. Is
that something that's going to be don't want to lead
the league again in mistackle?
Speaker 4 (25:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (25:15):
I liked his answer about that on Thursday too at
the local media where he was asked about the mistackles
and he said, you know, he hears it a lot
where you know, you don't hit enough in practice, you
don't have enough time with the pads. He said, tackling
is mostly about angles, so you can work on that
in a walk through. You don't need the pads on,
you don't need the physicality of it. It's about angles,
(25:36):
and it's about hustle, and you got to have eleven
guys railing to the ball if you want to be
a good tackling team, because the first guy might miss
the You know you're going up against Saquon Barkley, He's
gonna make the first guy miss.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Yeah, good luck you, Jonathan Taylor too, exactly right.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yeah, do you have five or six other guys who
are sprinting to the ball to go bring that guy
down before he turns? Okay, he missed a tackle and
now you get three extra yards? Who is gonna be
thirty extra yards? So there's a lot of that, and
then obviously the angle stuff stuff. I think he's gonna
constantly be preaching to these guys, and I think that'll
benefit him because I mean, look, these are veterans. Yeah,
a lot of veterans on this defense, a lot of
(26:12):
guys who have made tackles in the NFL who can
make tackles. A fresh voice in there I think could
probably help with that.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
JJ along the lines of the coaching hires around the league,
and is specifically here the linebackers for this unit with EJ.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Speed.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Obviously he's a R. Franklin. We saw what Grant Stewart
did when he started a football game nineteen tackles linebackers
leading the league in tackles. Richard Smith replaced as linebacker coach.
James Betcher brought back in here, who does have history
with the Colts.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Yeah, he so he was with Bruce Arians. He's brought on,
I think as a member of Pagano's stat.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Yeah, former defensive coordinator out there as well. Yeah, Arizona.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
He goes to Arizona defensive coordinator. He goes to the
New York Giants defensive coordinator there for a couple of years,
and then he slides back into being a linebackers coach
for Louannarumo in Cincinnati for the last couple of years.
I don't know if you saw what Robert Mathis tweeted.
Rob tweeted that Becher is the one who taught him
everything you needed to learn about playing outside linebacker. So
(27:10):
you know, Colts aren't playing at three to four. Becher
is not going to be coaching up you know, Leatu
Latu and how to play with the two point stances
an outside linebacker. But that's pretty good praise coming from
Robert Mathis right there.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Absolutely so Lou's putting his touches on this staff. Obviously
defensive backs coach and whatnot is about to come.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
I mean, he yeah, the Colts have not finalized any
of this. The James Betcher is still kind of reported
out there, but we'll kind of see. Hopefully the Cults
are getting a little closer to finalizing that coaching staff
and getting that out there. But you know, you wouldn't
be surprised if Luennarumo brings some guys who he knows
into those roles and we'll kind of see where it goes.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
From that good stuff. I've telling you what I'm excited
about this Obviously the talent level on the Colts defense.
When you're talking about the DeForest Buckner's of the world,
Kenny Moore, like you're talking about Zaira Franklin.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
I also want to talk about this. I think the
Colts do have more talent than the Bengals had. I
saw some discussion to this of like, you know, people
rolling their eyes of like, oh, you know, the Colts
defense is no better than the Bengals in terms of talent.
Trey Hendrickson is an awesome football player. Like, I am
not arguing that the Colts have anyone better than Trey
Hendrickson s Yeah, in two straight years.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
Guy's awesome.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
I think from a depth perspective, the Colts have a
lot of just good players on that defense, and you know,
maybe they don't have a Trey Hendrickson. I think DeForest
Buckner is probably the closest you got to that. But
he got a lot of pieces you can work with.
And I don't think there are a lot of holes
on this defense. I really don't. I think the right
scheme can unlock some stuff for certain guys. And you know,
(28:39):
the back end I thought you like we talked about.
I think you saw strides from Jalen Jones, from Nick Cross,
certain guys on the back end there that you can
work with. I really think this defense has more talent.
Maybe it's not. Maybe you don't have the like the
top end, obvious All Pro type guys. Zion Franklin was
the second team All Pro. But you know, leave it
at that. There are some good players there and guys
(29:02):
who could be great players with the right scheme and
the right coaching around them. There's stuff that can be
unlocked there.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Yeah, let's stay there. I like where we're at with
this thing start from the back end. Colts need help
at this in your opinion, colts need to help at
the safety position, potentially a veteran.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Yeah, I mean you got Julian Blackman hitting free agency.
I said it on the pod last week. I'm curious
if you might see Julian retained just because he is
a veteran, he does have some range back there. Colts
obviously know what he went through with the shoulder last year,
but you know, could you also see maybe a rookie
come in. I keep reading that it's a pretty deep
class for safeties sure this year, so you know, could
(29:37):
go a different route there. Yeah, and then at corner.
Corner is interesting because you got good play out of
Jalen Jones, you got good play out of Samuel Wollmack,
but it never felt connected. It was almost like you
would have these individual games where it's like, man like
Sammy Womack at a great game or Jalen Jones had
a great game, but they they never really were totally
together as a unit. So how does louin a and
(30:00):
will bring that together with those guys? And do you
need to add a piece in there? Do you need
to go say, hey, maybe we need to go get
like that true number one corner. Could Juju Brent still
be that guy if he's able to stay healthy. So
a lot of interesting questions. I think we're going to
learn about the fingerprints Lou and Romo is going to
get on this defense.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Competition always helps a team linebacker position needs.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
The most important thing. Competition is the most important thing there. Yeah,
whatever you know on Speed and what happens with him,
Zire Franklin's going to start. Zire Franklin is is in
that realm of like, this guy's a really freaking good player.
Who's going to play next to him? Is it going
to be EJ?
Speaker 4 (30:34):
Speed?
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Is it going to be Jailen Carlis? Is Grant Stewart
going to come back? Is someone come and going to
come out from free agency? Is someone going to come
in from the draft?
Speaker 4 (30:42):
Again?
Speaker 2 (30:43):
That position, that kind of will linebacker next to z
where you know Zaire is going to be playing the
mic you would assume to you know that continues forward.
Are you going to bring someone in who has a
different skill set than we've seen in that position? Is
it going to be someone who's got a of her
really well, maybe that's Jalen Carlai is given his background
(31:03):
as a defensive back at Miszoo. Maybe it's someone else
from free agency that position. I think right there, and
whatever happens, I think you're gonna see a really high
level of competition because you have Carlies still there, right.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Interesting, you bringing a guy from free agency maybe you know,
unless you're signing him to a four year contract. Hey,
you're gonna go compete with this kid, right and let's
see if that competition can make that position better at
will linebacker JJ.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Go to the defensive line room for me, let's go.
You know, interior guys, edge guys think their cults are
gonna possibly touch up that room a little bit in
the draft, possible free agency.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
I think you always do. You're always trying to make
that defensive line room better. The guy who I'm interested
in here is what does Samson ebucom do Where he's
going into the final year of his contract. He obviously
missed all of last year, assuming he is back, what
level of competition can he provide coming off that Achilles?
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Would you take the nine and a half sacks he
did two years ago?
Speaker 4 (31:56):
You would?
Speaker 2 (31:57):
But also I think you would take him just pushing
the rest of that room. And Samson, he's gonna come back,
He's not guaranteed to starting spot back. I've seen the
the Instagram videos he's been posting. That guy looks like
a man on a mission. You should see you should
see this stuff.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Man.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
He's got like one hundred and sixty pound dumbbells that
he's pressing like fat ones. I mean like literally like
one hand as one hundred and sixty pounds in the
other end as one hundred and sixty pounds. And it's
not like a barbell where you can kind of get
under it and you know it's up on a thing
here and you kind of grab and you get under it.
It's like he's got to get those things up on
his like his KJJ dies. It is insane. Go look
(32:34):
at it. When he posts the next one, it's like
one of the most insane, Like we are not like
professional athletes things I've seen.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
I think I'm pretty close on this. Basically, what you're
telling me is Samson ebucom is pressing JJ steak if
it's in each hand about one hundred sixty Yeah, that's
actually about correct and one hundred and sixty pounds here.
So just think of that lifting is it is aft
you're a grown man up like that one percent, We're
about ten pounds off.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
He's like putting me in one hand and me in
the other hand to get that.
Speaker 4 (32:59):
Uh it's insane.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Oh I love it.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
But the point there is because he's not guaranteed a
starting spot back, that should push a lot too. That
should push Quitty pay. Yeah, that'll push Taekwon Lewis. That
I think elevates that entire room in a really healthy way.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Oh great, So much to come to. Don't forget the combine.
We are going to becoming a a from the combine.
A lot to go over there, obviously.
Speaker 4 (33:20):
Man, that's in a month. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
JJ, you're doing your backstory, You're gonna do in your research.
You're gonna talk to a lot of people at the combine.
That's gonna be fun. Colds dot com we'll have you
covered on everything going up there and some fun stuff
coming up to in the Pro Bowl. We got some
Pro bowlers just around the corner this week, so colds
dot com will have a lot of coverage.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Yeah, a lot of good stuff. What's going on in.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
The off season, all right, JJ, here we go. Let's
go around the NFL a little bit. Let's go around
the NFL Jags, Texans, Titans. Let's stay in the AFC South.
Not so much player transactions, but some movement in the
AFC South when it comes to the coaching staff and
the general managers as well.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Currently, what I've seen on some social media stuff is
that like Liam Kohane has kind of been a laughing
stock down in Jacksonville based on his debut day with
the Jaguars. I just want to say this, you know
what else is a laughing stock on day one? Dan Campbell, right,
Nick Sirianni. Look at those, well, two pretty good coaches
there that people were talking about their press conference. Never
(34:18):
ever read into day one of a coach showing up
and giving a press conference or being on a video.
I don't care that Liam Cohen maybe said Duvall a
little weird. The guy was a great offensive coordinator with
the Buccaneers. He's probably gonna do a good job with
Trevor Lawrence there. Don't write off the Jaguars because the
guy maybe had a couple of weird moments, because well,
you know whatever, you're gonna bite kneecaps off Dan Campbell,
(34:41):
what are you talking about all of a sudden, he's
the best coach in the NFL. Nick Sirianni had that,
you know, another sort of weird first day, Well, the
guy's been Super Bowls in four years exactly.
Speaker 4 (34:52):
Don't none of this stuff matters?
Speaker 1 (34:53):
And hey, that's their thing down there in Jacksonville, Douvall,
and you know what, I'm all forward, go coach, goal,
whatever you want to say. I'm excited about it. Competition
is in our division here in the AFC South, led
by somebody as talented as Liam Cohen. I don't care
about the Duvalls. And you're absolutely right, good call on that.
With the Sirianni and the other press conferences in biting neecaps.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Saying Jonathan Gannon's done a really good job in Arizona
and for some of the stuff that happened, I mean Arizona,
he's raised the level of the talent level on that
team is here and I think he's got him to
hear what And yeah, he had some moments that were
kind of roasted on social media on day one.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
He's doing a pretty good job.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
A good point you said, got him from here to hear.
That's exactly what Liam Cohen did with Baker Mayfield.
Speaker 4 (35:32):
That's Tampa Bay.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
And now, by the way, they have a guy who
I called years ago. Maybe I'm off on this, but
I think he's has the ability at the time two
years ago to be a league MVP. He's going to
be dealing with Trevor Lawrence right now, and that's a
scary thought for the golds fans.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
It is because Trevor Lawrence has a lot of untapped
POTENTI sure, sure you get him with the right coach.
Brian Thomas Junior is an awesome football player. I would
not be shocked if the Jaguars had a pretty big
rebound in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
I'm with you, I'm not disagreeing on that. Let's go
to Houston. Down there, they got rid of Bobby Slowik,
the offensive coordinator and a former Colts coach, Chris Strauser.
Let go on the offensive line down there.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Yeah, their offensive line really struggled this year. They had
a lot of different combinations. They had guys who were
in and out who were hurt. Anytime you have a
bad offensive line, it's hard to be a good play caller.
Having said that, I thought you did see some concerning
things from CJ. Stroud this year that maybe weren't just
because of the offensive line. Maybe the line compounded it
(36:27):
so interesting that you know, Bobby Slok was a guy
who Demiico Ryans brought over from San Francisco.
Speaker 4 (36:31):
He comes from that.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Shanahan Tree very interested what direction they take now going
forward because you've CJ.
Speaker 4 (36:39):
Stroud.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
It's a really good quarterback. He is the potential to
be a top five quarterback in this league. But you
got to get this offensive coordinator higher right now, because
you you know, the Texans won the division, they won
a playoff game, but I think they still maybe had
a disappointing season relative to expectations for that offense, which
I think a lot of people thought was going to
go new Clear when you got Stefan Diggs, you got
(37:02):
Joe Mixon in there, you think to a CJ. Stride,
You get tanked Dell Back obviously he had that horrible
injury against Kansas City on Christmas. You got Nico Collins,
but they took a step back. What can they do
to take maybe two steps forward. That's going to come
down to get in the OC hire, right right.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Right, Well, stay in that division. The Titans interesting Ran
Carthun experience lasted a couple.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
Of years, a very interesting one.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Yeah, bringing in the new GM. Bringing in the new GM.
By the way, who has the number one overall pick
in the upcoming.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
NFEE what they said him and they're kind of like
their player personnel guy talked about how they don't want
to pass in a generational tent. So now that makes
you wonder, Okay, do you think cam Ord or should
Ur Sanders is a generational talent? Or do you think
Travis Hunter or Abdull Carter wow is a generational.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
There's those four names that have been tossed around a lot.
That's interesting, and it is interesting because you know, the
head coach has been there before the owner and with
Amy S. Trunk Adams down there, and now this new
GM comes, he has to get it right. My point
is this, we've seen across the NFL last twenty years.
You hit on a quarterback. In this case, I'm talking
about Will Levis, they needed somebody down there. You hit
on a quarterback, everything's good. You don't hit on that quarterback,
stuff becomes rocky. And we see that happening in Tennessee.
(38:11):
But they're trying to change it, and it's kind of
easy when he got the overall. Not easy, but it's
a little more comfortable when you got the number one. Overall.
We're gonna find out if there is a generational talent
in one of those four that you just mentioned.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Yeah, I think that that's probably what you're looking at there.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Hey, we're gonna find out more. I talked and Combine
because I'm excited. We're going to talk about a lot
of those players games as well. I just want to
go around the NFL Pete Carroll your thoughts on Vegas saying, hey,
we're bringing in a seventy three year old right now
who knows how to win.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Love that move for Vegas. Yeah, I thought, I'm Pete
Carroll should still be coaching. He's seventy three, right, But man,
like I talked to him a couple of years ago
at the owners meetings. I was doing just a story
on Shane and just kind of like the pitfalls you
run into as a first year head coach, and Pete
Carroll was, I mean, like, you talk about a guy
who is like I went into that conversation not actually
(38:57):
knowing how old he was, and I remember like looking
it up, I was like, oh my god, he's seventy one.
He comes off as guy who's in his mid fifty
a lot of energy man, a lot of energy. One
of the smartest people to come through the NFL in
the last twenty years, a guy who I think is
gonna do a great job in Bankers.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Feel bad for Antonio Pierce, but somebody like Pete Carroll
out there and Tom Brady and the new ownership group
out there. You know, so a lot of stuff happened
around Let's keep going. Aaron Glenn in the Jets. I'm
bringing him up because I remember Jim Ers telling me
he was so impressed when he brought in Aaron Glenn
here before he hired Shane stich In, and Aaron Glenn
kept sticking in my head. And obviously we've seen what
(39:34):
he's done in Detroit. But he gets a job going
back to a place which is tough for a head
coach in New York. And also he has that thing
on his resume. Hey, I played for this team as
well as coached him.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
I think it's important for the Jets to have a
guy who knows that building, yeah, where they they have
not made the playoffs since twenty.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Fourteen or something.
Speaker 4 (39:50):
Yeah, fourteen straight years.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
If anyone can do it there, it's probably Ron Glee.
Speaker 3 (39:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
I love that higher for him. Okay Schottenheimer. Which is interesting,
Brian shot hired as a head coach of Dallas. Don't forget,
guys in the room right now. He was here, he
was on this coaching staff, and now he finally got
his first gig as an NFL head coach, and it
was with Jerry Jones at his side when he introduced
everybody right there and said, hey, it's a big risk
hiring a guy who doesn't have head coaching experience, but
(40:17):
we're here and that's what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
He's got to fix a thirty year drought. Yeah, they
have not made the conference championship in thirty years, which
you'd think for the Dallas Cowboys that would be I.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Would yeah, I wouldn't say if you asked me that
at a trivia night, I'd say, no, way, they've they've
they've been there in that thirty years.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
I think it's double the next longest NFC team, which
is the Bears.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
I think, all right, Jerry, he's trying to get it fixed.
We've talked about. What about Ben Johnson. That's an interesting
one going to Chicago. Got some talent over there, coming
from the offensive coordinator position of the Lions, who've had
so much success offensively the last couple of years. What
do you think of that one?
Speaker 2 (40:49):
I mean, look, you know I was in Chicago for
four years as part of that media corp. That is
a hornet's nest. You gotta have success early and then
he got to sustain it because now, I mean you
got Caleb william There can you get number one level
play out of Caleb Williams when, oh, by the way,
Jayden Daniels, the guy was taken second who you didn't
even bring into your building for a visit, which, by
(41:10):
the way, would be completely revisionis history. To criticize the
Bears for that, but in something that guess what they're
getting criticized for in Chicago. Guy made the NFC Championship.
So these stakes could not be higher for the Chicago
Bears for Ben Johnson going into that job. But look,
everything that you know I've read about him, everything that
you see about him, is that he can handle that.
(41:32):
The guy's a whiz in terms of what he can
bring in terms of as being a schemer. So I'm
I'm gonna be keeping the close tabs on that one,
even though we don't play the Bears for another couple
of years. But uh man, I like that fit. I'm
very interested in how it goes.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
That's gonna be something. And speaking of the Bears, while
we're here, Schottenheimer and it's just been reported, this isn't
I don't think the US Yeah, Flus going back to
be a defensive coordinator. I mean that connection started here.
It had to them, right.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
Look, Matt Eberflus is a really good defensive Yeah, I
think he knows what he's doing. Even you saw last
year and even sort of this year before the rail
the wheels kind of came off, the Bears had a
really well put together defense. They were well coached. And
that's what Maddie Berflues does. He's gonna have a defense
that plays eleven is one. They're gonna be you know
(42:19):
what's his whole thing, assignment alignment technique. They're gonna be physical.
That's a great hire for Dallas.
Speaker 4 (42:25):
Excellent.
Speaker 1 (42:25):
Now, well, just brief we spoke about it briefly, I
believe last week. But Mike Rabel. I mean as a
football fan, I like that. I like that story, winning
the championship, having the career that he did in New England,
going outside of the New England tree coaching, having success
in Yeah, now he's come back in and he's the
guy I just like the hire for football fans. I
think that's a good fit.
Speaker 2 (42:44):
Yeah, and I kind of like some of the stuff
they've done with their staff too, all right, to build
around Drake Man and Drake Mays a really good player.
Speaker 1 (42:50):
Wow, I was just talking about him this morning. My gosh,
of all things, we were talking about Drake May and
that I always comes back to a guy will remain nameless,
but always said I'll never forget it. Just said, you
want Andrew Luck here he is, he's in North Carolina
right there when he was coming out so high praise
for him, and yeah it goes in. Things get a
lot easier when you got a guy that was so
much upside like Drake May has. With Mike Rabol coming in.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
Yeah, they're a team that if they get I'm kind
of worried they're gonna get Travis Hunter, Yeah, and turn
him into just like a weapon on both sides. Of
the ball for Drake May and then forget the ball
back to Drake May. We'll see how that goes.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
Stay there, you think that will happen. Think he's that guy.
Think he's going, Hey, I'm going to give you twenty
plays on defense, and I may give you a thirty
five on offense.
Speaker 4 (43:30):
Are you flipping around?
Speaker 3 (43:31):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (43:32):
I mean thirty five on d maybe twenty on zero.
Speaker 4 (43:35):
Travis Hunter's awesome. Yeah, you guys an awesome football player.
Speaker 1 (43:37):
You gotta put players on it, Okay, JJ Sankovitz, I
want you to go on record right now and say
that the New Orleans Saints have not hired a head
coach up to this point because they are hiring Steve
Spagnolo of the Kansas City Jews.
Speaker 4 (43:50):
What do you think I would be surprised to think?
Speaker 3 (43:53):
Fair enough?
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Fair enough?
Speaker 2 (43:54):
No, a lot of this like Kellen Moore or Mike
McCarthy there, okay, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
Mike McCarthy sliding right in from Dallas to New Orleans. Okay,
get to find out about it, all right, Mike.
Speaker 4 (44:04):
Hold on, Mike McCarthy's a good coach.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
Yeah, Michael, you look, you put his resume up against
a lot of the guys who are considered the best
seams in the league.
Speaker 4 (44:11):
He's right there, right there, Yeah, he's right there.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
And then to have Jerry have that sort of veteran
leadership and a guy who knows how to win, and
then give it to a guy who's been a lifelong coach.
Obviously the Blood Ties. His dad, Marty Schottenheimer knows.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
Jason Garrett, right, yeah, yeah, Schottneimers kind of similar to
Jason Garrett.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
Love it all right. Well, we're just bouncing around the
NFL and the transactions, which we love. Colts dot Com
has the latest of what's happening on the field as
well as off JJ Stankowitz and Lara Overton always bringing
you the latest and a nice reminder the combine. Man,
We're gonna have a lot of great stuff down at
the Combine.
Speaker 3 (44:42):
Now.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
Next week is gonna be Hall of Fame announcements too.
We'll find out if Adam Vin Terry or Reggie Wayne
get in.
Speaker 1 (44:47):
Come on, Rege, come on Adam. That's it a lot
of stuff going on, which brings me to this time
of year, the celebration of the NFL. My question is,
don't give me a winner. I don't want the Super
Bowl pick or anything. Yet, I just want to know,
were you surprised at all the way that it turned
out with Casey obviously beating Buffalo and Casey and then
we saw what Philly did, just dismantling Washington. But JJ
(45:08):
do my first question is, did Josh Allen get the
first down?
Speaker 3 (45:12):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (45:14):
Watch yourself could be fine?
Speaker 2 (45:16):
Well one of the one of the line judges said
he got it and the other said he didn't. And
then on replay after it was called on the field
that he didn't, they said he didn't.
Speaker 1 (45:25):
Oh okay, yeah, well we got Casey and uh.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
By the way, I did I did call Casey versus
Philly Phil last week on.
Speaker 4 (45:32):
The pot that a boy love it.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
I know it's a I mean, it wasn't a big stretch,
but I'll give you it wasn't a.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
Big stretch, but it's it's kind of what was wanted
to see the other matchup, right, And.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
I'm just saying this right now. I'm not gonna tell
you who I think is gonna win. But what I
like about it is the scorer will be in the thirties.
The score will be maybe maybe one year about that.
With the I'm just say, I don't know. I'm just
saying we got a couple of teams that don't like
to score points, and we're gonna see the last time
they played a couple of years ago, they put up
a thirties.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
But I know thinks us VIC fans. I know that
that Philly, I don't know, forget into the thirties.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
On that we will see a lot happening. Okay, we're
going to close out with this. I've got you going
to this event. Not only that, I've got you wearing
face paint. The Royal Rumble is in is in Indianapolis
this Saturday. I think you're bringing the I'm just guessing here.
I think you're bringing the kids out there. Maybe have
a headband down, maybe a little face paint right on
the rail as the wrestlers are going to the ring.
(46:22):
Is that's what's happening for the snank.
Speaker 4 (46:23):
Of Its this weekend. Now, we're going to the Pacers
game that night.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
Okay, fair enough.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
Yeah, sorry to burst your bubble on that one.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
It's not a burst. That's a good call. You're going
as a family, are going. I love that kids.
Speaker 4 (46:32):
The Pacers game.
Speaker 1 (46:33):
Yeah, as a family, they've been so like the kids.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
They're five and they're starting to weigh a little bit more,
you know, they're they're growing boys. But they want me
to do We have this little like mini hoop, you know,
a room in our house, and they want me to
like pick them up and let them dunk. Got it
while announcing like a bunch of players.
Speaker 4 (46:49):
Got it?
Speaker 2 (46:50):
So it's like, you know, pick them up, ands like
here's Myles Turner and here's Tyrese Haliburton. And then they
want me to keep going. And I'm like, I'm going
all the way down the Pacers roster and I'm like
I'm pulling Ben Shephard out here, and you know, give
me throw me a lifeline, right right.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
You're going to old Reggie Miller for right, Yeah exactly.
Speaker 2 (47:06):
Yeah, you know, here comes Travis Best, Like so, uh,
I need I need to get like really deep down
the Pacers roster, right so I can keep it going
because they don't want to stop with it. I think
maybe we'll learn some stuff on on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (47:18):
Saturday night, and they're playing the Atlanta Hawks, all right,
the Hawks are in town taking out the Pacers. JJ
Stankoviitz will be there, folks and fans. If you see
him sitting down in the arena, go up and talk
to him about the Colts, asking the questions that you want.
He's that type of guy. He's a friendly I ever seen.
Speaker 2 (47:33):
I've been to a couple of Pacers games where I've
had people stop me and say, hey, you know, like
the podcast, you work all that stuff, So that's nice.
I appreciate anyone who says that.
Speaker 1 (47:40):
And I'm telling you what, you might find out stuff
off the record when a mic is in front of
your face that you find out maybe not I appreciate.
Speaker 4 (47:46):
Don't put me in that spot.
Speaker 1 (47:48):
All right, no royal rumble for JJ. But the Pacers
are there, and while we're in the off season, we
are big Pacer fans. So you guys keep doing your thing.
I appreciate anything else on your mind.
Speaker 4 (47:57):
No, let's uh, actually we're kind of hit.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
We've hit the like sim to end part of the
offseason where I'm just like, all right, let's get through
the super Bowl and also want to start learning about
how this Colts team is going to change in twenty
twenty five. We got DC here. Yep, you're talking about
the combine. I'm like, that's in a month. That's when
you really start to learn what things are going to
look like. So we got maybe a month before things
really pick up here.
Speaker 1 (48:18):
Let's have some fun for a month, but then it
goes to one hundred miles an hour. Kevin Connors behind
the camera today. Appreciate your help and thanks to all
you people that are watching on the YouTube network as
well as listening on the Colts Audio Network. JJ Stankowitz,
I appreciate the time. Thanks for letting me pick your
brain a little bit. It's gonna be a fun offseason
because this team is gonna change a little bit. And
I'm telling you what.
Speaker 4 (48:36):
We're not far away.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
That's that's been the mantra around here. Not far away,
and we saw that in the last couple of years
as well. But it's gonna be a different one in
twenty twenty five. But it starts at the combine. Can't
wait for that. That's in a month again. Colts dot
com has all the latest. Keep checking back and seeing
what's going on. Have a great week, have a great weekend.
Good luck to everybody going to the Royal Rumble and
the Pacer fans.
Speaker 4 (48:57):
On Saturday night.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
Folks will do it every week for a j Stankowitz
and Lara Hulverton. I'm Jeffrey Gorman. We'll talk to you then.
Speaker 2 (49:08):
Mm hmm