Official Podcast: What we learned in Chris Ballard's press conference

JJ Stankevitz and Larra Overton chat through the most important things they heard from Chris Ballard's end-of-the-season press conference, including how he'll add competition to the Colts' roster in 2025 and if that could include bringing in a quarterback to battle with Anthony Richardson.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
What's up? Everyone? Welcome into another episode of the official
Colts podcast. You're the Colts Audio Network and on the
Cult YouTube page. No Jeffrey Gorman this week he is
on assignment. On assignment, yes, spending some time because his
lovely fiance.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yes, yeah, and no warmer climate.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Than in a warmer climate than this. I just read
Stephen Holder's story on ESPN about frostbite and NFL games.
Fascinating by Steve Yeah, like how like this guy went
to the Chiefs Dolphins game last year and it was
you know, like negative twenty seven wins, chills.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
There were fans that died.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
No, right, there were no fans that died, well the guys.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
That were outside of their house or whatever, like that
whole thing like all fine and story, Yeah, because.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
There were reports of fans getting like amputations after going
to that game. Like I don't know, I I get
why you want, why you would want to go to
the game when it's great.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
Kansas City Chiefs fans were found frozen to death in
the backyard of their Fronts.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Home on January ninth.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
But did they go to the game.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
They were Chiefs fans, don't. I don't know, but yes.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yes, like those temperatures are dangerous and also they're coming
to Indy Like now, yeah, you couldn't pay me to
go to a football game outside when it's below honestly,
probably when it's blow freezing you.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Feel like that.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
There are certain like fan bases that are equipped for it,
Like Buffalo, they've got the gear, Like you got to
figure it out right, because you're shoveling yourself out of
like a tundra a number of times. When you're like
in Buffalo, like you know, you gotta have like the
like electric gloves, the electric like underlayer type of things.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
I thought in this article like people brought like pieces
of cardboard to stand on so the concrete didn't.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
That makes sense.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
Yeah, yeah, you think about how if you were in
a stadium that has those aluminum benches, which not necessarily
a ton of like NFL stadiums really do. Buffalo, I
was gonna say, doesn't Green Bay.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
I think think about how cold those would be, right.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yeah, that's like I'm from Chicago. Yeah, I'm supposed to
be like tough and uh, cold weather, let's do it.
And I was like, no, I learned growing up in
Chicago that I don't like cold well, that's why you're
in a press box exactly. That's why I love working
for the Colts. Where we got an indoor stadium. Yeah,
we can open the roof if we want, but when
it's freezing cold out or snowing, it is beautiful seventy

(02:22):
degrees inside.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
Okay, speaking of when I was watching the Bills game,
Dan and I, my husband and I were talking and
you could see the stadium, the new stadium being built
not far from Heimark Stadium. Is the new stadium in
Buffalo going to have a roof or is.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
It no melldoors?

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Okay?

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Which I like, I do like the teams that lean
into it and their fan bases like lean into it,
like Buffalo and Green Bay, because I mean that's like
a thing in Buffalo. Right, Like we all remember that
snow game the Colts played where you can't see anything.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Is the reason Lambeau is the frozen tundra, right, and.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
Of Vinitarry should be a first ballot Hall of Famer
based on making a kick in that game. Yeah, like
that was insane. But no, I mean, Colts fans are
lucky that we have an indoor stadium. M just leave
it at that. You don't have to worry about frostbite.
You can go support your team and you don't have
to you know, layer up. One of these guys was
saying in it that it's like he had to put
on he had all these layers, and he was like

(03:15):
a like a I think he was in the Marines
or something. He had all these layers, but he knew
that if he wore them in the car going to
the game, he would start sweating and then he would
step outside the car and the sweat would freeze and
that could potentially expose him to frostbite.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
So did he ride in the car in something else
and then add the.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
Layers, and then they added the layers when he got
to the stadium. Okay, but like you don't have to
think about this when you go to a colts game.
It's great. Yeah, you just show up.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
I remember cross country meets.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
It was one one morning we woke up for the
NCAA cross Country Championship in Iowa Waterloo, Iowa, if you will,
in late November, it was six degrees six So yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
Does that make you run faster?

Speaker 3 (03:53):
Or well, I mean me or most people or I
don't know, m I I just remember one of my
lasting impressions of my collegiate cross country career was my
eyes were watering, because I mean, just like hurts, like
when the wind is whipping right, it's like coming straight out.
Your eyes were watering, and my tears were frozen to
my face.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
So I was.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
Simultaneously sweating but also had frozen frozen deers. I was
probably also in pain. And you know, about two thousand
meters to go a six k, right.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah, Fortunately again we don't have to deal with that.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
Speaking of great writing though this week shout out, I
was telling you about this, I believe Jordan Rodrigue and
her article on the La RAMS organization and the response
with the fires in LA and all of that phenomenal work.
As always if you're kind of just perusing and you know,
reading some different articles regarding like playoff teams, especially when

(04:47):
you see what LA did on Monday night, How did
they not have something greater than just this game on
their minds? Right? When you see how motivated they were,
But it was just really well told of how much
they were all not only in I packed it, but
also really you know, took to heart what was going
on back in LA that caused the game to be
moved to Arizona, and you know they you wouldn't say

(05:09):
you totally lost home field advantage, but you shifted away
from being able to play at sofar and just with
the players had all sacrificed and a great reference to
I think it was one of their one of the
old linemen who brought his great Dane. They were able
to bring, you know, their pets along with them, in addition,
of course to their families.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
And what do you think tug boat would do on
a plane. We're going to get to some cult stuff.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
Do you know what? I have absolutely no idea.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
Doug is a horse.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
He's an English mastiff that one hundred and forty found
English mastiff.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
If you've seen the Sandlot, that's him. For the most part.
He'd settle in after a while.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
I'd be very curious like he just as long as
he could, he'd be like latched on.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
He's very much like he's a velcrow dog.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
So before we talk about we're going to get into
Chris Ballard's press conference that he had on Friday. We
didn't have a chance to react to that on last
week's podcast. Before we do that, though, I do want
to talk about wild Card weekend, and just some like
general impressions, like from watching the games and Houston's defense.
We've seen this a couple of times, like where you know,

(06:13):
Anthony Richardson had a real tough game against Houston right
in Week eight. That was the last one before he
got benched. Justin Herbert through three interceptions all season, and
he threw four on Saturday in that loss to the
Texans thirty two to twelve. He completed forty three point
eight percent of his passes. He's fourteen of thirty two

(06:34):
for two hundred and forty two yards. I just want
to read off some notable numbers that the Texans did
to opposing quarterbacks this year, to a tongue of VLOA.
In Week fifteen, he went twenty nine to forty with
three touchdowns for only one hundred and ninety six yards.
I watched that game from the Denver press box. They
could not move the ball. Jared Goff threw five picks.

(06:55):
He completed let's say, fifteen to thirty passes. Now, Detroit
won that game, but he threw five interceptions against Houston.
Josh Allen in Week five, he went nine of thirty.
That's a thirty percent completion rate in that game, Caleb Williams,
he had a passer rating of let's see that was
at fifty one. Anthony Richardson in week eight his passer

(07:17):
rating was forty eight point three. He completed ten to
thirty two passes and then Trevor Lawrence before he got
hurt in that game. In Week thirteen, he went four
of ten for forty one yards with an interception. At
Houston defense is really good, yeah, and I think we
kind of knew that here, But with all the focus
LERA on Houston's offense and the struggles they've had over

(07:39):
the season, I thinkies injuries, yeah, I mean their line
got banged up. No Digs, no Tank Dell. They were
certainly banged up. But the focus is sort of on
their offense maybe not reaching expectations that defense. If they
play like that again against the Chiefs this weekend, they
might be playing in the AFC Championship. That was an
A plus defensive effort by them, and I.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
Do think that that goes to some of the investment
that they made, you know, defensively, with the moves that
they made. They obviously brought in Daniel Hunter was was
one of those and obviously an impactful player up front,
and that was That's one of the things that they
did really really well, was you know, get to the quarterback,
disrupt the quarterback and the timing and the passing rhythm and.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
All of that. I think it's kind of too.

Speaker 3 (08:23):
With Damiko Ryans, a clearly defensive minded, you know, head coach,
it's like, yeah, you got to go back to That's
sort of his bread and butter, right, That's what part
of the core of what his team is going to
be built upon, being that very you know, attacking type
of defense.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
And then I also think it goes to having.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
Playoff experience for a team and what they were able
to do last year when CJ.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
Stroud was a rookie and.

Speaker 3 (08:51):
Be able to take, you know, a significant core group
of that and bring that back in. I think that's
immensely beneficial when you get a taste of it in
one season and then you're able to go back to it.
I also think it goes to you figure out a
lot about who you are and who you have around
you when you endure a degree of adversity over the

(09:14):
course of the season. And I think the Rams are
kind of a testament to the same thing they started
one and four. Again, they're a team that has been
playoff tested. A guy like Matt Stafford knows how to
get it done. There are a number of guys on
that defense, of course, like you think about losing Aaron Donald,
everyone you know, of course kind of wrote that defense
off to some degree as well.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
No money on defense this year, and their defense was
awesome on Monday.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
Nine sacks, yeah, nine.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
They I heard this. They spent that and everyone.

Speaker 3 (09:43):
Thought everyone thought it was going to be the Vikings
defense and the Fine Florence and all that, but.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
Sorry, they spent They spent the least amount of cap
space on their defense of any team in the NFL
this year, and they went out and they just did
that to the Vikings nine points.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
And how funny is it?

Speaker 3 (09:55):
Like, you know, the Rams are are somewhat of an
anomaly because what was it a few years ago where
they had like no draft picks. They had like just
you know, they'd spent everything via you know, trade and
acquisitions and all of that. So I think it's interesting
in terms of a team that necessarily hasn't approached every
off season with the same type of philosophy but has

(10:16):
adapted things differently and figured out, you know, where you're
investing and doing those different things and then just being
able to you know, look to Sean McVay and you know,
one of the things in the Jordan Rodrigue article was,
you know, she talked a lot about how challenging twenty
two was and his growth as a head coach out
of that and how he's you know, had to adapt.
And I think it'd be interesting from Demiko Ryan's perspective

(10:37):
of when they got knocked out last year, what were
the lessons that he took that they took. How many
times did he draw upon that over the course of
this season to challenge his players, especially with a young
quarterback like c. J. Stroud who endured you know, some
ups and downs over the course of his sophomore season,

(11:00):
and if.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
You will in the law it was not a linear progression.

Speaker 3 (11:03):
No, but a testament to them to be able to
figure out ways to grow through it. And you know,
to see what they've done in terms of the pieces
around him, you know, when he lost a Digs, a
tank Dell, you know, different players like that, and how
they've had to adapt for a number of those factors.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
I want to just kind of try to talk through
this because I don't know where I stand on it.
But you look at some of these results, and you
know a lot a lot of the complaints from people
about wild Card Weekend is none of those games are
any good except for Commanders and Buccaneers. Got a lot
of blowouts. You've got a twenty point win for the Texans,
a fourteen point win for the Ravens, a twenty four

(11:43):
point win for the Bills, a twelve point win for
the Eagles, and an eighteen point win for the Rams.
For those teams that lost, is it enough to say
we made it into the playoffs only to get waxed
like And I don't know where I fall on this,
because I think playoff experience does matter, and especially when
you say you're the Chargers, you're Jim Harbaugh. You've got

(12:05):
proof of concept. Now, Hey, this thing works. If you're
the Broncos, you're Sean Payton and you're a player on
that team, Hey, Shawn's got us. We're in a really
good place.

Speaker 3 (12:12):
And you're Bo Nicks and you're a rookie and you're
getting that type of experience of going into a buffalo
and seeing you know that.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
But then if you're the Steelers or the Packers, where
you had maybe higher expectations coming into the year, is
it enough to say we were the seven seed. We
were the sixth seed and we were kind of uncompetitive
in the I mean that Packers game is close. Their
defense played really well, but I mean, you know, is
it okay to get just, you know, stiff armed twenty

(12:39):
times by Derrick Henry and that gay Like, I don't know,
I don't know where I fall on that. Like the Vikings,
I think their season is probably a disappointment, like they're
but also then you know, it's a disappointment in the
sense that they won fourteen games and got bounced in
the first round. But I think if you would have
told Kevin O'Connell in Week one you're gonna win fourteen games,
you'd be like, I'll take that in.

Speaker 3 (12:59):
And you know, not have JJ McCarthy and you're going
to lean into Sam Darnold and you know.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
But the point here is, you know, we talk about
the Colts, and the Colts haven't made the playoffs since
twenty twenty, and something Chris Ballard said in his press
conference is he wants to not just make the playoffs,
but be a real player in the playoffs. I think
for certain teams it's important to be competitive in these games,
and for other teams maybe it's just important just to
get there. I don't know though, where I totally fall

(13:27):
if there's like a like a blanket thing on this.
Maybe there's some gray area.

Speaker 3 (13:31):
How you have a tough time with anyone who is
in the NFL just being like, yeah, we made it
to the playoffs and we're okay. I feel like that
you have such elite competitors, and if you are in
a building that makes it to the playoffs, you have
to have the mentality of we're just as good as

(13:53):
anybody else to be here, right, Like the season resets
when you get to the postseason, doesn't matter how you
got in.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
You know you can be a wild card team and
go to the super Bowl.

Speaker 3 (14:05):
So I feel like that I don't think any of
these teams that got beat during wildcarweken are walking out
saying at least we got there right, like taking the
consolation and prize, taking the moral victory. I just I
don't think that there is any Maybe you have a
few a handful of people individuals, but I would say
as a whole, you probably have no one who's complacent

(14:27):
with that, Otherwise you probably woudn't have gotten to the
playoffs to begin with.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
Right, No, that's probably a good point. And the other thing, too,
is like, Okay, I think getting playoff experience does matter,
but it doesn't. It's not like this this thing that's
going to like vault your franchise into like we talk about,
like CJ. Stratten linear progression, Like it doesn't always mean,
you know, you make the playoffs and year one of

(14:50):
a head coach being there, that doesn't mean you're gonna
make it again. And I saw it in twenty eighteen
when I covered the Bears. They went twelve and four,
they won the NFC North, they got bounced out by
the and it's like, okay, all they got to do
is fix their kicker and they're good. And they went
eight to eight the next year and didn't make the playoffs.
That that stuff does happen. So I do think, I think,

(15:11):
and this is to Chris Ballard's point, it isn't just
enough to make the playoffs. And I think that's what
this Colts team to kind of transition us into actually
talking about the team that's in the name of this
podcast is is. I think that's the goal. It's not
just let's improve to get to the playoffs. It's let's
improve to the point where we can be competitive in

(15:32):
the playoffs where we don't get bounced in the wildcard round.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
And do you know who I think is a testament
to that and how quickly things can turn around and
how quickly you can go from being a team that's
not even in consideration, not even in competition, to being
a contender Washington, Yep. I'm trying to find right now.
I should have had this. I wasn't wasn't prepared to
go this direction. We've been trying. What were they last year?

Speaker 1 (15:53):
What was there? Won five games? Yeah, see the they
went forward.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
Thirteen there we go. Just found it. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:02):
But the leadership of Dan Quinn, drafting Jayden Daniels, I
mean so much of this, But then you also have
you know, core guys who have been there, like a
Terry McLaurin, who has endured so many seasons of struggle, ye,
but has been one of those who you're like, we
can build around someone like this, you know, just having

(16:22):
that I think that is a testament to a team
that got the pieces in place, they were aggressive in
certain areas, and they went from being, you know, a
team who was like, oh yeah, we'll take the consolation
prize and making it. Oh no, this looks like a
team that's going to give you know, going to give
teams fits the rest of the way ahead.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
And I'm trying to look now now I'm jumping ahead.
We're all over the place. Now I'm going to who
they have coming up next.

Speaker 1 (16:47):
Okay, They've got Detroit, which like, oh, that's right, okay,
But I mean you, I think that's such a good
point that if if you've got a couple of pieces there, yeah,
and you hit on the quarterback, it really it can
take off immediately. And I think that's what the Colts
are are still kind of striving for. And we're going
to get into the Anthony Richardson of all this here,

(17:07):
but I want to start where we took maybe four
of the biggest bites from Chris Ballard's press conference and
just let's talk about him. Let's talk about what we heard,
what it might mean for the Colts going forward. So
this is the first one, and this is about Chris
Ballard's philosophy and how he's constructed the Colt's roster. So

(17:31):
this is kind of the starting point I think of
maybe what direction the Cults are going to go in
in the offseason. So here's this first quote from Chris Ballard.

Speaker 4 (17:39):
Outlook, your philosophy you talked about from day one.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
Did you go maybe too far and being to rided
with it?

Speaker 4 (17:47):
Yeah? I did, good question. The hardest thing to do
is evaluate your own team. I think this is across
the board in the NFL. And look, I'm emotional and
I care about our players, and I think sometimes I've
let that bleed into how I built the team. All right,

(18:09):
and coming off a year last year when we were
nine and eight, I thought the era. I thought we
were playing really good football at the end of the season,
you know, lost a tough game at the end of Houston,
could have gone either way, and I'm thinking, Okay, we're
trending up instead of really creating competition throughout and throwing

(18:30):
new blood into the locker room, new players into the
locker room, and said, you know what, we're going to
run it back. That that was a mistake. It was
I think Buckner said it. Buckner had some comments that
I thought were just excellent. Where about complacency about ego

(18:50):
and he's right, Buck is right man enough to say
it one which I love, and two assessment was right
and that falls on me. It does. I bet on
that we could bring players back and they would be
hunt they would be as upset about what happened at

(19:13):
the end of the season last year that they'd want
to rectify it. And at the end of the day,
we were not able to. And I didn't do a
good enough job creating enough competition throughout the roster and
keep everybody on edge. Look, at the end of the day,
what we do, we do it in the public eye.

(19:34):
There's a lot of money that people make in this profession.
But Bill Parcells always talks about achievement, and at the
end of the day, it's about competition and achievement. I mean,
that's essentially what it boils down to. And I didn't
create enough competition on the roster for it to want
to achieve in the way it needed to achieve. There's

(19:56):
got to be some stress. There has to be There
has to to be real stress within that locker room.
That and an uncomfortability that if I don't play well enough,
my will not be on the field playing That directly
falls on my shoulders. I mean, it's a lesson. It's

(20:17):
a crappy lesson that I learned. I do a pretty
good job self evaluating now. I'm hard headed, and I
will talk myself way back into you know, I was right,
but no this occurrent I was wrong.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
I was wrong, all right. So I think this one, Lara,
this was interesting in that he took what DeForrest Buckner
said and validated it and echoed it that there wasn't
enough competition on this roster, which then led to some complacency.
I don't think in this sense, And Chris made this point.

(20:55):
All the guys the Colts re signed for that continuity
focused off season last year, none of them did not
deserve to be back. They all earned their opportunity to
come back. But maybe in the totality of all of that,
they're just there wasn't enough, maybe friction in the locker room. Yeah,
And I think that then played out to you saw

(21:18):
a season where you lost these devastating games to Houston,
to uh Denver, to the New York Giants. That maybe
that that all sort of got connected a little bit here.
What did you kind of digest from this quote?

Speaker 2 (21:35):
Looking at this.

Speaker 3 (21:39):
The Colts started the twenty twenty four season with a
league high eighty one point seven percent of the same
players from twenty twenty three eighty one point.

Speaker 1 (21:51):
Well, I think think about the guys who weren't back.
It was Zach Moss, it was Garnments, and those are
two guys who were backups. Really they'd play elevated roles,
but they were brought in to be backups.

Speaker 3 (22:04):
Right, And it was a team that finished nine to
eighth and just missed, you know, obviously getting into the
playoffs last year. And it is worth noting, like Samson
Ebcom was your highest sack leader, because I got, yeah, like,
that's that's a significant loss for you obviously that I
think a lot of people probably didn't realize the significance

(22:27):
of it when it happened.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
Probably it's it's.

Speaker 1 (22:30):
At the start of training camp and it's almost like
he's out of sight, out of mind by the time
the season start.

Speaker 3 (22:34):
I think that there is a way, I think you
can retain guys but also create competition. I think that
what you have to do is challenge the guys that, yes,
we brought you back but that does not mean that
you can continue to deliver the exact same number year

(22:55):
in year out, have the exact same contribution. And just
you know we're talking about being linear, yeah, right, Like
you still need to you still need to progress off
of that. So I think to me, there you can.
You can bring guys back and create competition. I think
you can to some way do both. But what you
have to do is create competition. It's insignificant areas. And

(23:20):
I think you know, in an area like wide receiver,
you did that and you saw the results with the
year that Alek Peirce had.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
I think maybe had.

Speaker 3 (23:28):
You created a little bit more competition, say in the secondary,
maybe what would could that have possibly done, you know
for a group like that. Right, Just so I'm just
kind of pointing out those are particular. Those are high
impact areas of football, right when you look at you know,
key players, premium players, and premium positions.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
Right.

Speaker 1 (23:48):
I will say though the other two, like as I
was thinking about this is like the spots that were
the competitions during training camp. Right, it was wide receiver,
it was Alec Pearson ad and I Mitchell, it was safety.
We didn't what the cults are going to do it safety,
and it was you know, where's Nick Cross going to play?
Is he going to play? And then it was cornerback
with Jalen Jones, Juju Brentz and Dallas Flowers. I think

(24:09):
you can make a case that Alec Pierce, Nick Cross,
and Jalen Jones all showed the most growth from twenty
twenty three to twenty twenty four of any players on
this team. Because they're in that competition now, the secondary
absolutely has to be better. Maybe you know, those guys
individually grew, but I think in terms of that group
playing as a unit, maybe there was still a little

(24:31):
left to be desired there. But I think you go
into next year now feeling like, hey, we got some
real players in those guys. But just because you feel
like that does not mean, Lara, you cut off avenues
to competition, right.

Speaker 3 (24:44):
And I also think too that when you bring guys back,
I think that it also has to be a hey,
this is why we're bringing you back, but this is
also how we expect you to raise the bar from here.
I'm curious as to what was the clear command to
each of those guys when you brought them back, because
when you talk about these are veterans, these are leaders

(25:04):
within the franchise. What were they doing to make their
position groups better? What challenge was placed upon them to
make their position groups better? Because you think when you
get to a certain point, and it's not gonna be
the same for every position.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
But I'm going to kind of point to like, ye're.

Speaker 3 (25:19):
Four, you're an upperclassman so to speak. Right, so if
you're a guy who's been in this building for three
and four years, you should probably have a pretty significant
role in terms of elevating the rest of the guys
around you.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
The other part of this is competition doesn't always look
like you're splitting training camp reps and oh this is
this like you know, everyone's writing about it every day
what you did in practice, kind of like we did
with ad Nai Mitchell and Alec Pierce. But competition can
just be that that uncomfortable, you know, sense of like, Okay,

(25:53):
they brought this guy in, I'm still the starter, but
I've got to raise my game because this guy we
brought in is pushing and he's going to push for that.
He might be getting getting those reps with the twos,
but you just kind of have that It's like that
friction again that Ballard talked about, and just the fact.

Speaker 2 (26:11):
That you didn't get it done.

Speaker 3 (26:12):
You're still a team that missed the playoffs like that
should motivate you like more than anything.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
Just kind of what Chris Ballard thought would happen and
it didn't, which is and he took. Look, he took
a lot of accountability in that press conference. He put
everything on his own decisions in building this roster. I
do think sometimes though, it's got to come from the players,

(26:38):
Like you can't be in the locker room all the time.
It's got to kind of come from the bottom up.

Speaker 3 (26:42):
Well, and your role is someone in bringing the players in,
vetting the players who are brought in, brought back, resigned,
all of that, and then there is a caliber two.
Where is the development with those players once they are here?
And I think that is the piece that we will
really see honed in on over the next six months,

(27:03):
is the pieces that you're bringing back. You know, when
you do you know the guys who whether it's you know,
free agency, you know, different situations, guys who you're exploring
from outside, bringing in draft all of that. Now, what
are these specific plans for each of these groups?

Speaker 2 (27:20):
Moving forward, not just making sure.

Speaker 3 (27:23):
You've got the guys who you want and who you
feel like are a good fit.

Speaker 2 (27:27):
But once they get here, what are they do it?

Speaker 3 (27:29):
Right?

Speaker 1 (27:29):
All right, let's talk about the quarterback. Here is a
bite from Chris Ballard talking about Anthony Richardson, and the
question was, just what after two years tells you that
he's the guy he's always.

Speaker 3 (27:39):
Comes down in this quarterback?

Speaker 4 (27:42):
What after two years tells you that he's the guy? Well, look,
I don't I don't think we can completely stamp it.
We've seen some good things. I mean we knew. Look,
I like Anthony, and Anthony's done some really good things,
all right, but there's there's been some potholes too. I

(28:02):
think the number one thing, I mean, let me let
me track back a little bit here. We knew when
we took him it was going to be a roller coaster.
I don't think I did a very good job. I
think I explained that it's going to take some time.
But look, I got excited too about the talent and
the wild plays. But now we need to consistency down
after down. But the number one thing we have to

(28:24):
figure out and what Anthony's got to work through is
staying healthy. You've got to stay He's got to be
able to stay healthy, and that that to me, is
the is probably the biggest question right now because now
we're going on two seasons in a row. You know
where he's he's dealt with injuries, So that's the first thing.
And then number two, you know, being consistent, getting consistent,

(28:50):
you know, down after down, play after play, consistency with him,
and that just takes that takes time. I think the
one thing you can see with all look, we have
zero patients as a league with quarterbacks. I mean you're
seeing it throughout the league where guys fail one place
and now all of a sudden they're doing really well
somewhere else. You know, every quarterback's journey and developmental cycle

(29:11):
is different. I wish I had a magic wand that
could wave it and get them to the top of
the peak right away, but that's not realistic. The good
news is even with the back, which we think will
be fine, he's going to go into the offseason healthy
all right, which last season he didn't. He was rehabbing
a lot. So that's going to give him a chance
to work on some things going forward that we think

(29:35):
will help going in the next season now saying all that, like,
we can't beat our head against the wall. We've got
to have competition at the position, just for the one
for the fact that competition makes everybody better, and then
two he's not proving in play seventeen games.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
All right, So, Lara, we're talking about competition and elevating players,
elevating their game based on competition.

Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (30:00):
It sounds like and this is not a guarantee that
it's gonna play out this way. It sounds like the
Colts are going to very much consider and very may
may do this bringing in a quarterback who can compete
directly with Anthony Richardson in twenty twenty five. How do
you think that would go? And I think the biggest
question I have about this is the Colt's best case

(30:22):
outcome still that Anthony Richardson improves from year two to
year three. He is your starter in twenty twenty five
and he he grabs hold of that job after a competition.

Speaker 2 (30:34):
Yeah, one hundred percent. That's the boat. Are you there too?

Speaker 3 (30:37):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (30:37):
Yeah, okay, okay, that's right.

Speaker 1 (30:39):
As I was like digesting the squat, I was like,
I'm pretty sure that's The goal of it is not
to have the guy you bring in to compete necessarily start.
If he needs to and he wins it, that's great.
But the best case is Anthony Richardson's like, Okay, here
we go, year three, I'm taking my game to another level,
and if I don't, I'm not going to be the starter.

Speaker 3 (31:01):
Because hands down, Anthony Richardson has still made some of
the most jaw dropping plays we have seen in the
last year, right, yeah, I mean we still have not
seen the ceiling. We have seen the flashes of greatness

(31:21):
in the passing game, you know, as a running quarterback,
you know, shredding guys off of his body two and
three defenders to elude sacks. There is a level of
athleticism and physicality that is unlike I'll say it, any
other quarterback in the leak around.

Speaker 1 (31:38):
I would agree with that. I mean, he's the the
stuff he can do in terms of his pocket mobility,
his pocket presence, the arm talent, like you mentioned Lair,
the running talent. There is a lot that still can
be harnessed there. But it's going to take a lot
for that to happen. It's going to take the it's
going to take Anthony on his own making those stripes.

Speaker 3 (32:00):
I think it's gonna take everything. I think this is
where you know you you have you ever been in
the point where like you're searching for something in your
house and you're like, specifically, I need this one item,
I need this one item, right, and you're like, I
think it's in the basement and you're digging through and
you're opening up like every box, every storage bind You're like,
you know what it might be in the top shelf

(32:22):
of that closet. Let me go up there, and you
go and you explore that, and then you make your
way up to the ceiling, right, and at one point
you've kind of earned the ceiling the attic excuse me,
which is kind of the ceiling. But you're exploring all
levels to figure out what it is. You are leaving
no stone unturned. This is what your off season has
to be for Anthony Richardson. You pull out every tool,

(32:44):
You explore every nook and cranny that it is in
the structure of Anthony Richardson.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
You bring in competition. You know, you do what you
have to.

Speaker 3 (32:53):
You know, as a coaching staff, you you know from
a standpoint of you know the rest of the offense,
maybe you know, working together doing all all of these things.
Whatever you have to do or whatever you feel like
is at your disposal to see you make sure that
you are tapping every bit of potential and equipping him

(33:14):
to see what he can do in terms of, you know,
not only playing with consistency, but also consistently being on
the field, because that's one thing that Chris said he
hasn't proven he can play seventeen games.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
I think you know, to me, I just want to.

Speaker 3 (33:28):
See the consistency across you know, being able to make
the intermediate throws right, all of that, you know, being
more consistent in the passing game, all of that. Because
completion percentage, of course, is a concern based.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
On forty seven. Whatever reasons there were for that, the throwaways,
the drops, whatever, you cannot live as an offense in
that number.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
Yeah, So I'm saying you go through every level of
the house to explore and you know, put everything in
place to see.

Speaker 2 (33:58):
And to feel like too.

Speaker 3 (34:00):
I think that you know, you've got to show him
we're giving you, We're here to help put you in
a position to succeed as well. And that's also the
investment that we're gonna expect out of you, right.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
I think expectation wise, I don't think you're expecting him
to become Josh Allen immediately, right.

Speaker 2 (34:20):
Like Josh Allen wasn't Josh Allen me right.

Speaker 1 (34:22):
It took him a while. But I think like that
growth from year two to year three that you would
want to see, I think you hit it on the head, Leira.
It starts with him playing in seventeen games MM, being
as available as he possibly can and showing that because
I do think if he does, if he is consistently
out there and we don't have this kind of start
and stop nature of his season where you know he

(34:45):
like last year he came back off the shoulder injury,
he played in four games and he got hurt. Then
he comes back for two games and he gets benched,
and then he comes back for five games and he
gets hurt. If you can get some sort of consistent hey,
he played for three straight months, I do think that
will lead to natural improvement as he gets more experience
and more reps. But that's why it's got to start

(35:06):
with him staying healthy.

Speaker 3 (35:07):
And to me, one of the biggest factors in that
is the fact one of the things we learned that
it doesn't seem you know, we talked about this briefly
last week. Doesn't seem that this back injury or back
issue that he was battling is going to cause any
sort of a procedure or any of that. That's something
you can do some rehab through. And Chris pointed too,
he's coming out of the season healthy. It's different for

(35:28):
him going into twenty twenty five than it was a
year ago.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
He was still rehabbing this shoulder.

Speaker 3 (35:32):
Right, He wasn't throwing until late February or March maybe
whenever that was, and he don't even then.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
You know, the throwing is different when you you still
might have in the back of your head the shoulder, right.
It'll that's a different thing. Where he can go down
to Jacksonville and start working whenever he can be up here,
and you know, work whenever. It's not showing up for
rehabits not getting cleared. If it's it is all about
his play on the field, and that is I think

(35:59):
that is a huge point and something that we do
need to consider and give him a little bit of
grace for, is that the timeline he has been through
in his career is difficult. Like it's one thing to
sit as a rookie. It's another thing to sit as
a rookie because you're hurt. Yeah you're you're not as
It's different, like everyone will tell you later, it's different

(36:22):
when that's the case.

Speaker 3 (36:23):
And in regards to the competition factor itself, I mean,
I know it was relatively you know, narrow amount of time,
so to speak. But when he was competing with Gardner
Minshew prior to being named the starter.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
He handled that really well.

Speaker 3 (36:42):
Yeah, I thought that he he did thrive in that.
And I do think too he learned a lot alongside.
But you know, you know, swapping snaps with Gardner, rotating
those first team reps with him, I do think that,
And you know we're talking that's a difference. That's being
a rookie draft versus being you know, two years into
the league all of that. But still, I think when

(37:05):
you look to Anthony, you're like, Okay, no, this is
the guy who can thrive in these situations, who will
adapt to this and handle this positively from what we
gathered at that point, right.

Speaker 1 (37:18):
And the last thing on this is there are a
number of avenues you can go about to add this competition.
You could go through free agency, you could explore trade,
you could go through the draft, you could you could
find a different way to do this. I think what's
going to be interesting over the next couple of weeks is,
you know, we think about looking ahead to the Combine
and Okay, that's the next time we're going to hear

(37:38):
from Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen about this. You know
they're not going to tip their hand like you know
they go into the combine and say, yeah, we would
love to sign a veteran quarterback and it falls through, Well,
then you know what happened, right. You're not going to
get that until it happens. And I think what what
will be interesting is what Anthony feels about that kind

(38:00):
of in the moment. And I think we got to
peek into that on locker cleanout day when he was
asked would you welcome a competition and he said absolutely,
I am a natural competitor. If that's the direction they take,
I'm all for it. If they don't go that way,
I'll still compete, I'm all for it. So I think he,
like you mentioned, Lara, I think he thrives in those
moments I think he is mentally prepared for it, and

(38:21):
that would inform you that maybe bringing someone in who
could take his spot would be a benefit to Anthony,
to the Colts. And look, if if Anthony isn't able
to do it, then you've got a guy who hopefully
will have earned it, who can step right in there.
So that's going to be interesting. Now, speaking of free agency,

(38:41):
let's go to the next bite from the press conference,
which was about free agency. Here you go.

Speaker 3 (38:49):
To bring in different.

Speaker 4 (38:51):
Last year, we didn't completely abstain from free agency, and
we've actually done things in the past. So I just
think we have to be more. We have to do
a better job identifying the free agents that we want
to sign and then being able to close to close
the deal on them. And that's up to me, it

(39:13):
really is. It's not mister say, He'll let me do
what I need to do and my staff we have
to be able to do that. Chris, watching this and
saying this general tone, you kind of fall on the
sword of that we've seen that we've heard or why
with this fee. I'm hardheaded and stubborn, and I think
y'all know me what. Look, I don't I don't sit

(39:35):
and blame others. It's just not now. Internally we have
some discussions, but I just don't think it's productive for
me to sit up here and just freaking go scort
earth and act. Look, I'm the one in charge of football.
I'm the one that deserves to be blamed. But also
I've learned some very hard lessons with my stubbornness of trying.

(40:00):
I had a vision of building something, and it needed
to be a vision of building that could actually win
and keep competition going in that locker room. And that
is where I fell short. It is kicked myself for
taking a couple of years to be so dag. I'm stubborn. No,

(40:23):
And when you look at like if you look back
at our good seasons like twenty I mean we trade
for Buckner, we had Philip rivers twenty one, I mean
even like it sucked out twenty one into twenty one,
we were a good football team. Like I know some
of y'all would disagree. You don't go beat four or
five playoff teams. We just we faltered at the end
for some reasons. But we had we had made some

(40:46):
moves in we'd signed justin you like we had signed
the right people, and then I just got, for whatever
reason in my thick head, you know what we're gonna
We're gonna really double down on our own guys.

Speaker 1 (41:00):
All right, Lara, Does this signify that the Cults are
going to radically change their approach to roster building this
offseason or or hear me out?

Speaker 2 (41:09):
Okay?

Speaker 1 (41:11):
Could it be a return to more of what we
saw out of the Colts and Ballard from twenty eighteen
to twenty twenty one, right where you bring in Denico Autry,
you trade for DeForest Buckner. Even in twenty twenty three
we're talking about for using free agency. The Colts in
twenty twenty three went out and got Samson ebacom mm
hm on a. You know. It wasn't like they splashed

(41:33):
around a ton of cash for it, but it was
a good contract. It was a and that worked out
where you brought him.

Speaker 2 (41:38):
In Matt Gay as well, Right.

Speaker 1 (41:40):
Matt Gay was the Gardner Minshew was part of that
class too, But I think Samson specifically was you used
free agency to target a player who you thought in
some upside, and Samson never had more than I think
five sacks in the season. He had nine and a
half in twenty twenty three. That right there, that was
a successful free agent signing, regardless of whether you know

(42:00):
he gets hurt. Obviously he doesn't play in twenty twenty four.
But those are the kind of moves that I think
really do elevate the rest of your team. When you
bring in a guy, you have a vision for him,
and then he maybe even exceeds what you thought he
could do.

Speaker 3 (42:14):
I like the idea of looking back at that plan,
that eighteen to twenty one stretch and looking at what
you did, and looking at what you did well, and
then also looking at maybe what you lacked in that.
I think that there is a degree of looking to
elements to the formula that have.

Speaker 2 (42:29):
Been beneficial for you.

Speaker 3 (42:30):
The trade for DeForest Buckner being one of the bigger
swings that we have seen, and how well that has
delivered for you.

Speaker 2 (42:40):
I think that.

Speaker 3 (42:43):
It's not going to be I think a drastic you
know this, you know we're going to do every flip
everything completely upside down. But I do think you have
to approach it more aggressively than you have in the past,
because you have the results haven't been there, right, You
haven't won the division, you haven't gotten the playoffs since

(43:03):
twenty twenty, and you've failed to close out the biggest
games of your season. You didn't win the games you
should have, and you couldn't win the games that you
had to. And I think that is worth addressing because
there are clearly some voids within what is there currently,
So what are you doing to you know, fill those

(43:26):
and you know, elevate the rest of it? So yeah,
I mean I think that you kind of I think
you're gonna have to go out and be more aggressive
and maybe take a few more risks, so to speak,
because you at least have to say, you know, we've
done this, We've made some moves, we're shaking up, we're
challenging ourselves. And to Chris Ballard's credit, he said, I've

(43:50):
been stubborn and he realizes and I think that comes
with an immense amount of growth. You know, as a leader,
when you want to you know, be steady and kind
of believe in a process and commit to a process,
and you know, have a way you go about things
that works to a certain degree. But then you have

(44:12):
you also have to you know, reevaluate that and see
where it's gotten you and think about, you know, where
are those areas in which that plan didn't get you
to the ultimate goal, didn't find you to where you
need to get to. So I think that there's a
balance between it. But I do think that you're going
to have to be more aggressive than we've probably ever seen.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
Yeah, and I think, like you mentioned, the taking risks
part operating in the in free agency is a risk.
You're taking a player from another team, another system and
putting him into your own program, which doesn't always work.
Just because you spend the most money doesn't always mean
it's going to work, but sometimes it does.

Speaker 3 (44:52):
I'd also say the guys who you've had in your
building for five years that you know almost about that
also doesn't always work, right, you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (44:58):
Committing to spend any money in the NFL as a risk,
right at some point you have to be targeted with it.
I look back in twenty twenty where the Colts that offseason.
You know, you trade for Devores Buckner. That's a hit.
You signed Philip Rivers, that's a hit. You signed Xavier Rhoads,
that was a hit. It's not like Xavier Rhodes was
a pro bowler, but he was a good veteran corner

(45:18):
who you're able to drop into that team. Yeah, and
he made the Colts a better football team. Ye like
you know, and not all of them are going to
work out, you have You know, Devin Funcius in twenty
nineteen didn't really work out, Yeah, right, Carson Wentz in
twenty twenty one didn't work out.

Speaker 2 (45:30):
Hey, Eric he Brunn in eighteen worked out for right,
So right, yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:33):
That was eighteen. You're er key brunt like you can
find these guys. That doesn't mean you have to go sign.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
Stefan Gilmour in twenty two worked out.

Speaker 1 (45:40):
On Gilmore Right, you know that the team wasn't very good,
but Gilly had a good season. Absolutely, there are avenues
to doing this. That isn't just you go out and
you spend the most cash of any team in free agency.
But it's about being targeted and bringing in those guys
like a Samson Ebicom. I think who will come in
and elevate the rest of your team, Who will bring competition,

(46:03):
who will make guys a little uncomfortable?

Speaker 2 (46:06):
I mean you got come just looking at some of
the playoff teams.

Speaker 3 (46:08):
I mean, look at the Ravens going and getting Derrick
Henry the Ravens were already a playoff team, and then
they went and they go you know, Derek.

Speaker 1 (46:14):
Kenry wasn't the priciest free agent this season.

Speaker 3 (46:18):
You know, I'm just kind of like bouncing around, you know,
looking at a few of these. You know, the Lions,
a lot of what they've done has been through the draft,
aside from the trade for you know, Jared Goff.

Speaker 1 (46:28):
But you know, and look at look at what they
did where I mean this is this probably isn't the
best example, but they signed David Montgomery and they draft
Jamiir Gibbs. Yeah, you know, you can. You can go
about it that way, where you sign a player, but
that doesn't cut you off to drafting a player. And
I mean the Colts have done this in years past too,
where you sign, you know, the last year you re

(46:50):
signed Taekwon Lewis, that doesn't cut you off from drafting
Layatu Latu. That's the right way to approach it. But
I do think if you you go sign these external
free agents and you draft someone there, that does create
a little bit of maybe good friction. Absolutely. You know,
look at Minnesota, they went out, they let Denil Hunter

(47:10):
go last year in free agency. He went to the Texans,
they went out and they replaced him with Jonathan Garnard,
also from the Texans. Kind of a weird little slap
swap there, but Jonathan Garnard had a great year there,
and you're kind of changing things up in the building
a little bit. I don't know if that this is like, again,
the only thing, the only reason why Minnesota was so good. Yeah,

(47:30):
but there are examples here where you know, you don't
have to be the Raiders going out and signed in
Christian Wilkins. You don't have to be the Titans going
out inside in Calvin Ridley. But you just find these
guys who make your team incrementally better in free agency
and that can then have an impact on the entire roster.

Speaker 2 (47:49):
Yep, it's really really well said.

Speaker 1 (47:51):
All right, let's look at one last thing. This is
about the defensive coordinator search the Colts are currently going through.
Here's what Chris Ballard had to say about that on
Friday last year.

Speaker 3 (48:05):
Defense Leo here he took the blame for it.

Speaker 4 (48:07):
Yep, gone, you're still here.

Speaker 3 (48:09):
Yep. Uh.

Speaker 4 (48:10):
It's look that falls on all of us and I
and no doubt, look, I bet on some young players
coming through. Uh. You know, Juju gets hurt. Uh. You
know Dallas was coming off his injury, and at the
end of the day, I did not give them enough.
And we've got to in totality, have to do better

(48:33):
defensively from a player acquisition standpoint and from a play standpoint, you.

Speaker 3 (48:38):
Expect the scheme or desistant to change. You've always been
a fan of the you know, four man front.

Speaker 4 (48:43):
Well, look, most of them, be honest with you, Most
like a lot of the league, because there's such a
heavy Nickel league ends up being a four man front.
Now you'll see some out of Nickel getting into five
man stuff. But Shane and I are working through that.
We'll well and look, I'm not going to comment on
the coordinator of Shane's going to make the higher up.
Of course I'll be involved, but we're working through that.

(49:06):
We'll interview, we'll have some good candidates for the job.

Speaker 3 (49:10):
So any value to being more aggressive on defense, because
you have been one.

Speaker 4 (49:16):
Very specific style for I definitely think there is value.
You got to be able to affect a quarterback.

Speaker 2 (49:22):
You do all right.

Speaker 1 (49:23):
One other bite that I didn't include in here, Learra
was Chris Ballard said he thought the defensive line played
pretty well last year, so there are a lot of
reasons why the Colts were not able to get pressure.
Then that maybe weren't just the d line underperforming. That's
not how he viewed it, but the Colts were a
bottom I think five or six team in pressure rate.

(49:45):
There are you know, you can get six man protections,
you can get teams getting the ball out quick because
you don't want to be affected by that. But the
Colts have to find a way to affect opposing quarterbacks
more frequently. However it looks, do you think, whoever the
next coordinator, is there a lot of games floating out
there in reports of who the cults are talking.

Speaker 2 (50:02):
To you, A lot of jobs out there to be filled.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
A lot of jobs out there to be filled. This
is this is gonna be a I think this might
be a longer process than we've maybe are accustomed to
with coordinator hirings. But whoever that person may be, do
you think it's just going to be like it generally
a more aggressive approach than what Gus Bradley did, which
is he wanted to have four guys went up front
and you're gonna play coverage with seven behind it? And

(50:26):
very sparingly sprinkle in blitzes.

Speaker 3 (50:29):
I think when you look across the league, that's kind
of for the most part, that's the trend that you're seeing.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
So I do think that just in all likelihood, yes,
I think that. Now.

Speaker 3 (50:40):
I don't think you're going to hire a coordinator on
scheme alone and be like, well.

Speaker 2 (50:44):
Because we did this, we have to go this direction.

Speaker 3 (50:47):
I don't think that's I do think that as you
see the evolution of scheme and defensive approach, you are
seeing a lot more of that. Especially you know when
you look at, Hey, the team that are in the playoffs,
the teams that have gotten there, do have a little
bit more of that, you know, attacking type of a front.

(51:09):
So I think, in all likelihood, yeah, that's probably gonna
be something that you look too. From that standpoint as well,
I think it plays to the strength of you've wanted to.

Speaker 2 (51:19):
Build your roster through the trenches. You've invested in your
defensive front.

Speaker 3 (51:23):
So I think it's like, hey, let's bring in a
guy who can get the most out of these guys
up front who we've invested draft picks in. We invested
a trade for Divorce Buckner, and we invested bringing you know,
certain guys back all of that. I mean, if you
look at you know, the amount of investment there, Like,
I think that you would like to see what someone

(51:45):
with that type of a scheme would do with the
personnel they will inherit when you think about you know,
obviously Grovenbuck in the middle, you've got quity, You've got
a lot to you have Taekwon like I mean, just
you know, you're going to have kind of a wealth
with which has been ambested there at Samson.

Speaker 2 (52:03):
Coming back great point. I think it'd be interesting to see.

Speaker 1 (52:06):
Yeah, I think the majority of your sacks are going
to come from the D line. It probably like ninety percent.
I don't know that, you know, accurately off the top
of my head, but adding in ways to help the
defensive line out where it's not just okay, you can't
get the ball out quick against us because we're playing
maybe different coverages or you know, I think I think
the other part of this too is like it doesn't

(52:27):
have to necessarily necessarily be a guy who's got like
a big D line background, because you can help the
D line.

Speaker 2 (52:32):
Out with the sisguises and yeah, right.

Speaker 1 (52:35):
Disguises, making the quarterback hitch for a second. Yeah, too
many times we saw opposing quarterbacks just be able to
complete these easy access throws to a tight end or
a wide receiver that's open and it did you know
Layatu Latu would win on a pass rush on a
one on one, but by the time he got around
the tackle, the ball was already in the hands of
a guy going eight nine yards downfield. That stuff needs

(52:57):
to be having flashed to the Giants game, right or
the Patriots game was one. I mean Hunter Henry had
you know, it just felt like out almost every play.
The other part of this too, and I talked about
this last week, is whoever the coordinator is. I think
it's on the players to tackle better. I think that's
you can be a genius coordinator. Brian Flores's defense doesn't

(53:19):
work if guys can't tackle, you know, like, you've got
to be able to tackle more consistently. That is something
that you know. I'm sure there are coaching points. I'm
sure there are angles and different way you know, guys
being in the right position, but sometimes you just you
got to make a tackle and then you got to
have guys rallying to the ball. Every single team that

(53:40):
won this weekend, on Wildcard weekend, and pretty much every
single team that played on wild Card weekend, you saw
guys flying to the football, you know, justin Jefferson. There
was one play last night on tonight where he made
the first guy miss and then like nine Rams players
came over and brought him down and he was shy
of a first down. Just like you need to see
more of that, and that right there will elevate this defense,

(54:04):
regardless who the coordinator is. Yeah, to me, it starts
with tackling and then it's getting more pressure. The coordinator
can help with the pressure. I think the guys on
that defense got to help with the tackling.

Speaker 3 (54:14):
And one of the things that I'll go back to,
and I've referred to this game a lot, because it's
been one of the better defensive performances I think that
we have seen of the scroup. But if you go
back to the Colts win over the Ravens from twenty twenty.

Speaker 2 (54:28):
Three, blitzed a lot MATC, they blitzed a ton.

Speaker 3 (54:31):
Actually, so I'm pulling it up right now because I've
got to go back and look exactly.

Speaker 1 (54:34):
I recall I look that up and that was the
most Gus Bradley had blitzed since like twenty seventeen.

Speaker 3 (54:40):
Yeah, I think that you're right, and I'm looking at it,
so where is this Okay, you came out of that
game with four sacks on Lamar Jackson because you are
bringing that type of pressure. I think that so, and again,
the majority of that group you still have in the building.
So I think that it has proven that when you
have a game plan for that and you're doing more

(55:01):
of that, this group can be successful.

Speaker 2 (55:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:03):
I think I think you've seen Zire Franklin of good
moments as a blitzer. You've seen anymore going there? Yeah,
Like I was like going through the defense, like, oh yeah,
he's he's had really good moments as a blitzer. It's
never really been ingrained in this style of defense. But
I think that is there's maybe a little untapped potential
there with this group because these guys.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
They had fifteen tackles in that game.

Speaker 1 (55:27):
Yeah right, I mean that sounds about right. I mean
he had an awesome game that day, and they put
Lamar kind of in a blender in a way that was, Hey,
Lamar won MVP last year, he might win MVP again
this year. That that style of defense. You're right, it
is kind of becoming more in vogue. But it's not
all about sending seven guys on every single play. It's

(55:48):
about being targeted with it, because there's a risk with
that too, right there is. It's about making it confusing
for the opposing quarterback. And I think that right there,
that doesn't always have to look like you're sending fifty
percent of your snaps you're blitzing. It can look like it,
It can be in different ways, but I think it
just needs to be ratcheted up. Like too often. I

(56:10):
think quarterbacks just weren't confused enough by this defense in
twenty twenty four. So there you have it. That's going
to do it for this episode the Official Cults Podcast.
We'll be back next week.

Speaker 2 (56:23):
Wait, who you got?

Speaker 1 (56:24):
I'm just well, well, we better of a while. You're right,
we better of a divisional round preview.

Speaker 3 (56:29):
Well that, and then I was also going to say,
who's your pick for the National Championship between Notre Dame
and Ohio State.

Speaker 2 (56:33):
As someone who covered the Notre Dame fighting Irish.

Speaker 1 (56:35):
I actually covered a Notre Dame Ohio State game in
two thousand and sixteen. In the Fiesta Bowl. Fun fact,
Ohio State won that game. They had Joey Posa and Zeke.
They won that game pretty handily. Okay, I mean if
Ohio State, if the Ohio State that beat Oregon and
shows up, they're going to win. But Notre Dame like

(56:57):
they've got this sort of like they're they're really banged up,
like Jeremiah loves out there, playing on like one good leg,
and they keep finding ways to win. And Ohio State
did not look all that impressive against Texas. They were
like one really questionable toss, sweet play away from needing

(57:17):
to go down and win that game on a last
second drive. I like sixty percent of my brain says
Ohio State wins it, but forty percent says the Irish
win it interesting and that's probably more than I would
have fought. Yeah, looking at it, what about you? What
do you think?

Speaker 2 (57:34):
Man?

Speaker 1 (57:36):
I love.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
I loved having five straight days of football. Like I've
been so.

Speaker 1 (57:40):
Spoiled, right, I've been slept at all.

Speaker 2 (57:42):
It's been so good I am. There's just to me.

Speaker 3 (57:47):
I don't really have a great explanation for it. There's
just something about this Notre Dame team. There's just something
to the stream, Marcus screams, awesome. What do you make
of him getting NFL head coaching interest.

Speaker 1 (57:59):
I think that makes a lot of sense. Certainly made
more sense than the previous Notre Dame coach getting kind
of feltad coaching interests that one time.

Speaker 2 (58:07):
I I'm curious with that.

Speaker 3 (58:08):
I don't like it's it's interesting to me because them like,
oh man, you've got a good thing going right now, like.

Speaker 2 (58:13):
You really, you really do.

Speaker 1 (58:15):
Teams are gonna they if you're trying to find like
a program builder or culture builder, like you're probably gonna
at least place a call. I don't know if he
would even entertain it, but you'd probably at least place
a call. He is a fantastic football coach. Yeah, because
Notre Dame with all the injuries they've had.

Speaker 2 (58:31):
I didn't realize he played at Ohio State.

Speaker 3 (58:33):
Yeah that I mean until you know, obviously the table
was set and everything.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
And I was like, oh, yeah, of course, Yeah, I
think he probably wants Notre Dame to win that game.

Speaker 2 (58:41):
I would, yeah, yes, of course. But all right, how
you how you feel about the Division round?

Speaker 1 (58:46):
Uh? Well, let's see, I mean I was completely wrong
about that. Chargers Texans game. I thought the Chargers are
going to win that, So take whatever I say with
a grain of salt. I mean I think Kansas City
kind of has been secretly peaking down the stretch, like they.

Speaker 3 (59:00):
Look like no one knows how to do it at
the right time. Yeah, better than Kansas.

Speaker 1 (59:04):
This is like the like they feel like those like
late stage Tim Duncan Spurs teams where it's like they
would just kind of like fart their way through the
season and then go win a championship. Because Tim Duncan
was in his late thirties and Greg Popovich is the
greatest coach of all time, and Andy Reid might be
the greatest coach of all time. And yeah, yeah, I
mean Houston's defense is really good. Yeah, that game could

(59:25):
be really interesting. I think Commander's Lions could be a
banger of a football game.

Speaker 2 (59:28):
Oh my god, Yes.

Speaker 1 (59:31):
I think I probably like that. Dan, Yeah, Dan's Quinn
and Campbell. I probably like Detroit at home in that game.
Rams Eagles Philly, Philly did not come out of the
gates swinging against Green Bay. And you know, Matt Stafford,
I know, I don't there. I'm not making like any

(59:53):
official picks here, but like, man, I wouldn't be surprised
if the Rams kept that thing real tight.

Speaker 2 (59:57):
I would agree with you.

Speaker 3 (59:59):
How one of my things, like I'm so happy for
Sequon Barkley, Like I'm like, part of me is like
like loving this for the Eagles for him because I'm like, what,
I mean, what a guy to see him playing at
this level after all that he went through early in
his career playing in New.

Speaker 2 (01:00:17):
York getting hurt and during the injuries.

Speaker 3 (01:00:19):
Then to be in the position that he is and
just to make like the plays that he makes, the
way that he runs like, he's like kind of for me,
I'm like, oh, let them go as far as part
because I just want to watch Sekuon Barkley more because
I didn't get to watch him enough during the regular
season because we were playing so like I just didn't
need more Saquon selfishly.

Speaker 1 (01:00:37):
And then there's also just the I don't know, probably
the NFL Game of the Year Bill's Ravens, Oh my.

Speaker 2 (01:00:42):
God, god, the Battle of the MVPs.

Speaker 1 (01:00:44):
Yeah, I mean, also shout out to the shout out
to the NFL for I forgot that they do this
on like Divisional run weekend. That game starts at six
thirty pm. Thank you, great, thank you. I will be
well rested on Monday because that game starts at reasonable
hour here in the Eastern time zone, and I cannot
wait to watch that football game. We've had, We've had

(01:01:06):
a great five days of football, right, this is gonna
be like Saturday Sunday into Monday with the College Football Championship.
Four or three really really exciting days of football. Wait,
we'll have a lot to talk about on Tuesday's episode
of the Official Cults Podcast. Next question, sure, all right
for Lara Overton, I'm JJ Sankobitz. Thanks for watching and
listening to this episode of the Official Colts Podcast. Talk

(01:01:29):
to you next week. So long,