December 22, 2024 • 32 mins
JJ Stankevitz and Bill Brooks break down Jonathan Taylor's massive game, including what went right on his two long touchdowns and how the Colts leaned into an offensive identity built around running the ball right at the Titans on Sunday. The guys also look at how the Colts finished the game and what needs to go right in Week 17 for the Colts to have a shot to make the playoffs.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
What's up everyone? Welcome into another episode of Instant Reaction
here on the Colts Audio Network and on the Colts
YouTube page. We are presented by Sony and I'm joined
every week by my friend Bill Brooks to break down
the Colts' latest game. Bill, the Colts win thirty eight
to thirty over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday at Lucas
Oil Stadium. They improve to seven and eight. They remain
(00:31):
very much in the hunt for the NFL playoffs. They
still need a lot to go their way. We are
here to talk about this game, though we'll leave the
playoff prognostications for a later podcast. I'm sure we'll talk
about that this week on the Official Colts podcast. Some
are some of the other podcast offerings we have. Bill,
I want to start here, and it's with the redemption
(00:54):
arc for Jonathan Taylor, for him to have the game
he had today, which was remarkable twenty nine carries, two
hundred and eighteen yards, three touchdowns, touchdowns of sixty five
and seventy yards in this game. Built for him to
have such a low, like a career low against Denver,
(01:15):
dropping the football before he gets in the end zone
to come out of that and then put up this game.
I think, to me, that speaks a lot about the
resiliency he possesses, the mentality he possesses, And with that context,
I thought, this is one of the most impressive games
of Jonathan Taylor's career.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah, it's very impressive when you see what he is,
what he did last week, and what happened to him,
the unfortunate thing where he dropped the ball before he
got into the end zone. For him to go through
the whole week and that playing on his mind and
thinking about it, I'm sure he wanted to get back
on the field right away, to go back out and
play a game. But then for him to wait the
whole week to try to put that out of his
(01:58):
mind and prepare this upcoming game against the Tennessee Titans,
and then for him to go out there and run
the ball the way he did and the fashion he did,
how hard he did, and have success he did on
the ground. So it's a lot about Jonathan Taylor about
his mental makeup, him going out there wanting to, uh,
(02:19):
not so much prove anything to anybody, but just go
out there and kind of say, Okay, what happened in
the past that did happen and more unlikely it's not
going to ever happen again to him. But I want
to show people what I can do, and not to
show people what he can do, but just go out
there to perform for his teammates for himself, and he
did that for the Midnapolis coach today, have very impressive
(02:40):
day today in running with football.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
So let's talk about these two long touchdown runs because
I think what we always need to remember with these
is that a run of probably i'll call it even
twenty or more yards, you have to have all eleven
guys on the field doing their job, whether that's the
offensive lineman winning up front, the tight ends making a
(03:03):
good play, the wide receiver is hitting those crack blocks
on the outside, and then Jonathan Taylor making a guy miss.
So on this first run, Colter and Pistol, they motioned
Drew Ogletree over. I think, by the way Bill Drew
Ogiltree has done a really good job the.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Last Yes speak because they've kind of used.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Him, right, is that not necessarily a fullback, but almost
like a seeker behind the line, kind of a lead blocker.
He's done a really nice job coming out of the by.
That's an adjustment the Colts have made with their run game.
And on this one, JT takes the handoff, Drew seals
off number ninety one. Immediately off the snap, you get
(03:39):
Quentin Nelson climbing to the second level to take out
Kenneth Murray. And then Michael Pittman's just like scrapping it
up in there. He's blocking a corner, he's blocking a linebackers,
anybody can gets his hands on. He's just trying to
block him and get him out of the play. And
then Jonathan Taylor this cutback he makes where he's in
the hole, and Amani Hooker thirty seven thinks he's kind
(04:00):
of like the cut he makes. Oh my goodness, he
puts Hooker on the ground, yes, and then just accelerates
and he's gone, like from you know, the the midfield logo.
An awesome, awesome play right there. But again, Bill, it
takes all eleven guys on the field for stuff like
this to happen, exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
It takes everyone on the field to make a play
like that be successful and to have a big run.
Usually when you have a big run in the National
Football League from a running back, it takes everyone. It
takes wide receivers down the field blocking and making sure
they get in the way of people and trying to
block and open up lanes for the running back to
hopefully make that big run. But off the line, they
(04:40):
did a great job today. They blocked extremely well, did
a nice job opening the holes for Jonathan Taylor. And
then Jonathan Taylor with his vision and with his cutting
and things that he can do as a running back
show today by those two long runs he had. But
as you said, JJ, it takes everyone doing their job
and executing their job and helping Jonathan Taylor make those
(05:02):
big plays. Without the receivers blocking down the field, there's
no long touchdown. Without the tight ends making the blocks
that they need to make. There's no touchdown without the
offensive line doing their job open up the hole so
Jonathan Taylor can get through and see the holes opening
and execute and running through those holes, there's no long touchdown.
(05:23):
And for Jonathan's vision to be able to make those
cuts when he needs to make those cuts to go
against what the defenders trying to do against him, there's
no touchdown. So it takes everyone to make those big
plays like that on the football field, especially those long runs.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
All right, let's talk about everyone on the other long run.
This is the seventy yarder Tailor had to open the
second half. Wow, this is a really cool play. You
got Macinsalves kind of coming across the line blocking down
He takes out the linebacker on this play, and then
downfield you've got I mean, these are not necessarily the
(06:00):
best technique blocks. I don't think it matters, but Aidy Mitchell,
he's able to engage with twenty one out there with
I think that's Brownlee, and he's able to hold Browne
off just long enough for Taylor to get by him.
And the other guy, the other receiver down there is
Josh Downs who just kind of he kind of stops,
(06:21):
the corner, goes with him, and by the time that
Taylor is accelerating, the corner can't catch up to him.
Just like again, these little things, these little details in
that play make it work. And then this is something
you got the safety coming down again and just missing
the tackle. I read the transcript of Jeffrey Simmons after
(06:43):
the game bill You're all Pro defensive tackle on the Titans,
and he kept saying over and over again, everyone's gonna
blame the defensive line for the day that Jonathan Taylor had,
But it takes all eleven guys. It takes everyone been
in the right gap and in the right fit. And
(07:03):
I thought that was interesting because Simmons is a good player,
he's a leader on that team, and for him to
kind of come out and be like it's on everyone,
he's right. He's absolutely right. When you give up two
touchdowns at sixty five or more yards, it's not just
the defensive line, it's not just the linebackers. It's not
just the defensive backs. But on the flip side, it's
those Colts players making plays against those guys that lead
(07:26):
to these touchdowns.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Exactly like you said, you know what, sometimes it doesn't
have to be a big block from a tight end
or a wide receiver. A lot of times, all you
need to do is just getting the way of the defender,
make him stop his feet, or have to change the
direction to slow him down a little bit, and let
the running back do the rest. Jonathan Taylor is fast
enough to outrun a lot of players, a lot of people.
(07:48):
All you need to do is get in the defender's way,
make him stop his feet, and give Jonathan Taylor a
lane so he can make those big plays. And then,
as Simmons said, as well, you know it, just as
an offense, it takes all eleven guys to make a
play successful. It does the same on defense. The linebackers
have to fill They have to make sure they hopefully
(08:08):
can get a tackle and fill those holes and fill
those lanes, have a good run fit, so to speak.
And then also have the safeties come up when the
corners come up and do their job as well. So
in the football game, it takes the whole team. When
there's a su successful play on offense, it takes the
whole eleven guys on offense. And when there's a good
play on defense, it takes all eleven players on defense
(08:31):
as well. Just in these two instances, the Cops have
the most successful play in regards to all eleven players
doing their job and doing their job well.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Another play where I thought this stood out Bill was
on Josh Doallen's touchdown. So it's a third and four
late in the second quarter, and when Richardson threw this ball,
I was thinking, Okay, you're just kind of playing to
get a field goal here. You got kind of a
break right before halftime, you're just thinking, all right, let's
get out of here with the twenty seven lead. That's
(09:01):
really good for where this team has been at. And
on this play, a Moni hooker kind of takes a
bad angle at Josh Downs. I don't think he realizes
how quick Downs is.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
No.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
But then the thing I noticed is Ady Mitchell blocking
Shadobi a Woozya, and he's able to engage with him
long enough again where by the time a woozy A
disengages Downs is tiptoeing down the sideline, He's gone. I
want to highlight Ady Mitchell here real quick, because he's
had some up and down moments this season. But he
(09:36):
made that really nice catch down the sideline over the shoulder,
difficult play getting both feet in, and then these couple
of plays where he just he kind of scrapped it
up with these defensive backs. Doesn't have to look pretty.
You don't expect it to look pretty from a wide receiver,
but he stuck his nose in there and got physical.
I think I'm more impressed with that from Ady Mitchell
than I am the really nice catch, which was very impressive,
(09:58):
but you like seeing that competitiveness that physicality, and I
think that is going to benefit him just as much
as that catch he had going forward.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Oh by far. You want to be a complete receiver,
and a complete receiver means running your routes even though
you're not getting the ball, and also not just running
your routes when you're not getting the ball, but also
blocking down the field for your teammates. If it's a
running back, if it's a tight end, if it's another
wide receiver. You want to do those things. And ad
Mitchell getting in the way doesn't have to pancake anyone.
(10:30):
All you have to do is getting away. Josh Downs
is quick enough. He's fast enough to get away from defenders.
And that's all Josh Downs needed was just a little
crack so he can go down the field make a
big play. And that's what you want. And give ad
Mitchell credit for doing those things. I mean, yes, he
won't get a lot of credit because no one's gonna
(10:50):
see the end result. They're going to see just Josh
Downs made a big play. But you look at it,
as you said, it takes other people to make these
successful plays, and Ady Mitchell made a big play by
him participating, getting in a way of the defender, so
Josh Downs can have an opportunity to make a big play.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
All right, before we get back into the run game,
just because I want to dive into just the usage
a little bit more. Just a quick kind of word
on Anthony Richardson's game. So he goes seven of eleven
and you know, he throws the touchdown to Downs, throws
for one hundred and thirty one yards. He does throw
the pick, which he said he probably needed to lock
the safety down with his eyes a little bit better.
(11:29):
Hooker's able to get in there. That was down in
the red zone early on in the game. Kind of
a tough play there. But overall I thought this was
kind of like this was sort of the game script.
I expected the Colts to maybe have a little bit
more this year where Richardson doesn't need to throw it
a whole lot. He gets a lot of yards on
the ground. Anthony Richardson runs it nine times for seventy
(11:50):
yards in this game, including a touchdown in a twenty
nine yard game. And I came away from this game
being like, yeah, it was a pretty good game for
Richardson because he didn't need to do a whole lot
and a lot of a lot of the work he did. Again,
Bill was on the ground, you know, he had good
pockets when he did drop back to pass. I thought
Mackenzalvez had a really good game mm hm. And you
(12:12):
know that's another encouraging thing to kind of stick in
your back pocket. Another really good day for Mackensalvas. But
this I just thought was like, if the Colts are
going to build a winning formula down the stretch against
opponents that they should beat, like the Titans who have
twelve losses, the Giants have thirteen losses, the Jaguars have
twelve losses. I think this is kind of the formula
(12:33):
where you run it a lot. You have Richardson throw
in advantageous situations and he doesn't put the ball into
Harm's way a whole lot. He did once today, but
that was it. I think this is a formula that
the Colts can lean into to win these final couple
of games and give themselves a chance at the very
least of making Week eight team matter.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yeah, I mean, this is what you want to do,
because you know, you see Anthony Richardson going out there
doing what he can do, and what he does real
well at this moment is run the football. He had
an opportunity to run the football. Did a nice job.
As you said, he was what nine for seventy yards
and that's big and you add that to what I
mean with j T can do in the backfield, that's
(13:18):
just a big plus for the offense. So I like
what he did out there today. And you know what, Yeah,
he didn't throw the ball a lot, but there was
one play to me that really stood out. Third down
near the end of the game. Michael Pan Michael Pittman
runs an out route, nice pass, put it right on Pittman.
Big play during that time. You need a first down
(13:38):
at that moment, and Anthony put it right there on Putman.
So Pittman make a catch, catch it got a bounds,
big first down for the Indianapolis coach. So there's gonna
be times where he's going to need to make a
big throw and we know that he can do it.
He just has to be more consistent at it and
do it on a regular basis. But watching him run
the ball, watching him do those things, watching him run
(14:02):
behind his blockers, like what he did on the touchdown
there with Quentin Nelson leading the play and getting into
the end zone. Those are the things that Anthony does well.
You want to do those things and continue to highlight
those things. But also he still will need to make
those big throws, which he did with the throw to Pittman.
(14:22):
But if he's run the ball and the Colts are successful,
why stop it. Keep on doing it and keep on
running it over and over again until the opponent stops them.
All right.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
I love that you brought up that completion to Pittman, Bill,
because I asked Shane's teching about it after the game,
and my question was, like, we've seen Anthony miss that
throw this year where guys open, You're throwing it from
the far hash to the numbers. That's not necessarily an
easy throw. It looks easy because the guy's wide open,
but we've seen Anthony airmail it. We've seen him dirt
(14:57):
it and he hits the back of his drop. Mechanics
are good, as footwork is good. Balls out on time.
It's to Pittman ites a completion and Bill, if the
Colts don't get that, let's just set up what happens here.
It's a warning Tennessee. Is all three timeouts left and
you're punting the ball back to them with the Titans
having a lot of momentum on offense.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
That was a bit that was a.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Huge play in this game where if that pass is airmailed,
it's that we might be talking about a game that
comes down to a two point conversion at the end
of game that might go to overtime, and instead the
Colts are able to grind the clock out, they're able
to win the game with an interception. Kennymore the second
(15:39):
that play right there, Bill, You're right to bring that
one up where maybe it looked easy, but we haven't
seen enough of the easy plays looking easy this year,
and I thought that was just a really nice little
marker in this game where Okay, yeah it should be easy,
and it looked like it from that throw.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah it looked it looked easy, but it wasn't. I mean,
as you stated, it's there's a pressure time for the
Colts where they had to get a first down to
continue to drive or they're punk the ball away back
to the Titans and then get the ball to have
a chance to go down and score a touchdown to
possibly tie the game or go for a two point conversion.
But it was a big play by the Colts at
(16:17):
that time, Anthony Richardson made a throw. The defender was off,
so Pick had a free release, ran the route, and
Ar just put it right on him. And it looked
like I mean, it looked like what you want to
see in practice when you're doing routes on air. That's
what it looked like to me. As far as Ar
back there throwing it, he just laid it right there.
(16:38):
Pitt got it, caught it, made sure he had control
of it before he went out of bounds, and that's
what you want to do. Those are the plays that
look easy but aren't easy. So it's good that they
were able to complete that, and hopefully those are things
that we will see continually going in the future, both
from Ar and Pit.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
All Right, Bill, before we continue on this episode of
instant Reaction to quick word from our friends at Sony, Bill,
you know, I travel a lot during the season, and
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(17:18):
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the Indianapolis Colts. All right, Bill, So let's talk about
run pass balance here, because this was a heavy run game.
(17:44):
To say that Anthony Richardson is fourteen dropbacks in this game,
the Colts have designed runs. They have let's see forty
eight designed runs, which like feels like I keep doing that,
being like, is that really true? No, they had forty
eight design runs. Two of those Richardson runs were scrambles.
So you're talking about a forty eight to fourteen run
(18:08):
pass ratio in this game. But the Titans couldn't stop it.
Moley Cox Bill told us after the game that he
overheard a Titans player. So they go to line up
for a play and one of the Titans defensive players goes, hey,
they're about to run a screen and one of their
defensive linemen goes, man, Now they're about to hand off
to Jonathan Taylor in that moment, Moe kind of was like,
(18:31):
he's about to go for like three hundred yards today,
So that that right there.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Like that.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
I always equate this, Bill, and this is because I'm
just like a baseball guy at heart. But when you
can do this, when you can run the ball on
a team without them stopping you, when they know you're
gonna do it, it's like Mariano Rivera's cutter, which I'm
sorry you're a Red Sox guy to bring up, like,
you know, yeah, but Bill, you knew what pitch he
(19:00):
was gonna throw, oh, and you weren't going to hit
it unless you got lucky you blooped one into the
outfield like Luis Gonzales did in the World Series. Anyways,
that's what it's I kind of equate it to of
like Tennessee knew the Colts are gonna run the football
in this game, and they ran it a ton and
they could not stop it. To me, Bill, that has
to be the most demoralizing thing for a defense when
(19:24):
you know what the offense is going to do and
you cannot stop it because you are getting out, you're
getting out physical, you're getting out out thought you're just
you're getting flat out beat every single time they hand
the ball off to twenty eight or to five, or
to twenty seven or thirty one.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
It's frustrating. I mean when you're knowing that they're going
to run the ball, and you know pretty much where
they're going to run it at off tackle, maybe up
the middle, but there's nothing you can do about that
and you can't stop them. That's very frustrating. Like in
anything else, if a if I'm a baseball player and
I know that they're gonna throw me the fastball and
I can't do anything about it, that's very frustrating for
(20:06):
me as a batter. And you know what is as
as frustrating as it is for the defense to stop them,
it's that much better for the offense knowing that, hey,
you guys know we're running the ball, but you can't
stop us. We're just going to continue to run the
ball and impose I WILL on you and run the
ball down your throat as much as we want to.
(20:27):
And that's what the Coast did. They could not stop
the Coats. So basically the coach said, hey, look, if
you can't stop us, we're going to continue to do
this until you do stop us. And if you don't
stop us, we're just going to do it all day.
And the coach did that tonight. They made it all
day against the Tennessee Titans. There's nothing that the Tennessee
Titans could do about it. Now.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Having said that, the Colts go up thirty eight to
seven in this game Bill midway through the third quarter,
and the Titans rip off twenty three unanswered points to
make it a game. And I asked the Forrest Buckner
after the game, like, how do you kind of balances
the you know, Okay, we won, We're still in it.
This is great. We needed to win versus just kind
of the end of the game. And he was just like,
(21:08):
we have to develop that killer instinct and you could
tell it. It kind of ate at him a little
bit that this was a one score game. The Colts
every single one of their wins Bill has been by
one score. This is their largest margin of victory this year,
by eight points. But I think a lot of players
in that locker room felt like it should have been
by more. And Tennessee was able to get some explosive plays.
(21:28):
The Colts pass rush was not quite able to get
home late in the game, and Tennessee went from averaging
four point six yards per play on their first nine
possessions to seven point five yards per play on their
final three possessions. Tennessee on those last three possessions bill
where they scored all twenty three of those points. They
gained more yards on those three drives than they gained
(21:51):
on their first nine in this game. So that right there,
I think the Colts need to look at, you know,
take a hard look at that and say, hey, we
had this game in our control, we let Tennessee back
into it. How do we make sure over these final
two games that we don't leave this thing to chance
that if we do get a big league lead, we
kind of put our thumb on it and we make
sure that that opponent does not get to come back
(22:12):
in the game and of a shot to win it.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, you want to put them away. You want to
put a team away so they don't have a chance.
And I think there was a one point in the
game where the Coats had an opportunity to go up.
I think it would have been forty one to fifteen.
They had a chance for a fifty yard field fifty
five yard field goal, they missed the field goal, and
Tennessee got the ball in good field position at the
(22:35):
at their own forty five yard line. So when they
got the good field position, they went down and scored
and it changed to me. It changed the game a
little bit at that point. So the Coats have to
figure out a way to make sure that Hey, look,
if they don't make the field goal, the defense has
to come up big and stop them from scoring a touchdown.
Because Tennessee went down, had a good field position that
I said, and scored a touchdown to make it thirty
(22:59):
eight I think at that time. So it was a
big play for the Tennessee Titans, a big swing right there.
So the Coasts have to figure out how they can
put teams away. You want to put teams away. When
you get teams down, you don't want to give them
any life at all. You just want to put them away. So,
you know what, it's an easy coast to the end
of the game. It won't be easy, but you won't
(23:21):
be stressed like the Coats were today where Tennessee Titans
came back, they made it a one score game and
having a chance to possibly tie the game if things
didn't go the way they went today, and the Coast
didn't make the plays they needed to make in that
last drive and then some other plays earlier.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Yeah, I mean that. I think that this is kind
of another one of those games to the Colts defense
where they played awesome for call it forty minutes forty
five minutes of this game, and I think they're gonna
they're gonna think more about the last fifteen to twenty
minutes of this game than they are the first forty. Now,
(24:01):
having said that, Kenny Moore the second had another awesome game.
He gets two picks, including the one that seals the game, which,
by the way, I want to if anyone in the
stadium notice this, I want to hand up apologize. I
thought Will Levis was in the game. I'm looking at
I didn't have binoculars on, and I'm looking at I'm thinking, Oh,
they're gonna put Levis in because he's got a bigger
(24:22):
arm for you know, the last second play of the game.
So I actually announced that Kenny Moore picked off Will
Levis to end the game or the PA It was
not Will Levis. I'm very sorry to Will Levis. He's
thrown a lot of picks this year, that was not
one of them, so full on apology hand ups. Screwed
that one up. But shout out to Kenny. He had
a really good game today. Sam Wollmacket's an interception, He's
(24:45):
got picks and consecutive games. That's really neat to see
for him. But yeah, game that I think the defense
is probably gonna be a little just not fully celebrating
given that. I think they feel like they should have
won this game by multiple scores.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yeah, they're happy that they won, but I'm sure that
they look at it hey and look and say, hey, look,
there are some things that we could have done better
out there. There's some things that we probably could have
done better to maybe ice the game a little bit
earlier and get off the field and give the ball
back to the offense. But unfortunately that didn't happen. And
you know, they have to learn from that, learn from
it going forward and just hopefully don't make those same mistakes,
(25:27):
but hopefully get off the field a little bit earlier
and those things are going to happen. It's tough to
win football games in the National Football League, and it's
tough very really do you see blowouts in the National
Football League. These players are competitive, they have pride, they
want to go out and they don't want to be
embarrassed out there in the football field. So they're going
to do their best to try to close that gap.
(25:49):
So it doesn't look the score doesn't look that bad.
So give it Tennessee Tighten some credit for what they
did to come back to try to try to tie
the game up. And you know, probably they want to
go into over time and see if they can win
it in overtime. But the Coast did enough just to
win the game, and that's all you want to do.
You want to win the game. But there are things
that Coats are going to need to clean up. You
(26:11):
want to play betty, you want to play good football.
They want to clean up, need to clean up some
things moving forward, and definitely want to do it this
week in preparation for the New York Giants.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Thirty eight points Bill is the most point scored by
the Colts in the game since last year in Week
seven or eight when they lost to the Cleveland Week
seven when they lost to the Cleveland Browns thirty nine
to thirty eight. It is their highest point total in
a win since they went and beat the Buffalo Bills
back in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
That was the.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Jonathan Taylor five touchdown game. So it's been a little
bit since the Colts have scored the points and left
the stadium feeling pretty good about themselves. Hopefully again, Bill,
you're right, you take that momentum into New York next week.
The Giants are two to thirteen. They got boat raced
by the Atlanta Falcons today, a team that is having
some real issues this year. They are competing for the
(27:01):
number one overall pick next year, if you can call
that competing. By the way, shout out to the Las
Vegas Raiders. They won their game nineteen to fourteen over
the Jaguars. So now actually the Giants have sole possession
of the number one overall pick, if that is something
that anyone on that Giants team is so concerned about.
But Bill, just real quick, but before we get into
(27:22):
that game, like you've been on teams that have been
you know, in that realm right of how are we
gonna get the number one overall pick or not? Players
don't care about that, right, That's not something that you're
like discussing in the locker room of like, hey man,
we lose this game, We're about to get a really
good player to come in and take someone else's job
on this team. Like that, I can't imagine that's something
that's really talked about a whole lot.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
No, the guys aren't thinking about the draft next year
in twenty twenty five. The guys are thinking about the
game they have to play coming up against the New
York Giants. That's what they're thinking about. They want to
go out there, they want to compete. These guys are competitors.
They've been competing for a long time in their lives.
So they want to go out and make sure that
they put out a good product on the football field,
(28:04):
show people that, hey, look we are a good football team.
We want to go out and play well, and we
are going to try our best to play well. So
they're not thinking about the draft position, They're not thinking
about getting a good pick or anything like that. They're
thinking about going out playing what well, playing hard. They
set a stand up for themselves how they want to play,
(28:26):
and they want to try to meet that standard when
every time they go out there and play on the
football field. So that's what that's what those guys are
thinking about, not thinking about anything else, not thinking about
twenty twenty five, what draft picks are going to Coats
are going to get because they don't know, and a
lot of things can happen between now end of the
(28:47):
season and the draft next year in April. So the
guys are only concerned about right now, and they're concern
is celebrate today's when tonight, then tomorrow it comes time
to get ready to prepare for the Giants. That's where
their mind is and that's where they're focused on.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
All right, Well, we're gonna have a lot more answers
bill about the AFC playoff race the next time you
and I talk on this podcast. After the Colts played
the New York Giants next weekend on Saturday, Before the
Colts play the Giants, you've got two huge games. You've
got Chargers at Patriots, a game the Colts need the
Chargers to lose if they have any shot at catching
Los Angeles. And then you've got Denver at Cincinnati, a
(29:27):
game that if Denver loses, that Cincinnati wins, all that
has to happen in quotes is the Colts then beat
the Giants. Week eighteen would then matter if there would
be a three way tie. So if Denver would have
lose in Week eighteen to the Bengals, the Bank or
to the Chiefs, excuse me, the Bengals win in the
Week eighteen, you would have a three way tie of
teams at nine and eight. If the Colts beat the
(29:48):
Jaguars in that scenario, the Colts get in the playoffs.
Same goes if the Miami Dolphins go nine to eight,
the Broncos go nine to eight, and the Colts go
nine to eight. So a lot of scenarios still could
play out. I think all that all that you're hoping for, Bill,
is that one of those results breaks your way on
Saturday and the Colts then win Sunday, and that Week
(30:09):
eighteen game against the Jaguars matters in some way, shape
or form, whether you know it works out for the
Colts and you make the playoffs or not having a
game in Week eighteen that matters, I think is really
important for this football team and it's something that they
absolutely will will take at this point in the season.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Definitely, and as far as right now, if the coach,
if you tell the players, hey, week eighteen, you're going
to have an opportunity to play to get in the playoffs.
Each player and that team will take that right now
something that they would want to do, because then it's
it's pretty much in their hands. And that's what you want,
a lot of it. You want to have control of
(30:47):
your own destiny, and right now the Coats don't have that.
But if they have the opportunity in week eighteen to
get that as far as have their their destiny as
far as making the playoffs in their own hands, they
would take that. And that's what you want. So we'll
see what happens. Just the Coats have to just worry
about the Colts right now. They can't worry about what
(31:08):
other teams are doing or not doing. Just worry about
the Coats and make sure they put themselves in position
if the opportunity comes that they can get into the
playoffs by playing well and wearing the final two games
of the regular season.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
We'll still need a lot of help, but they yes
business on Sunday against the Titans. All right, real quick,
before we wrap up, another word from our friends at Sony.
This NFL season, feel every play, every hit, every moment
with the Sony one thousand XM five noise canceling headphones.
The official headphones of the Indianapolis Colts with premium noise cancelation.
You're in the zone, no distractions, just pure football. Whether
(31:45):
you're in your living room or on the go. You'll
never miss a beat with Sony headphones. All right, that's
going to do it for us here on this episode
of Instant Reaction presented by Sony for Bill Brooks. I'm
JJ Stankomitz. We will talk to you next week after
the Colts face the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
So long,
What's up everyone? Welcome into another episode of Instant Reaction
here on the Colts Audio Network and on the Colts
YouTube page. We are presented by Sony and I'm joined
every week by my friend Bill Brooks to break down
the Colts' latest game. Bill, the Colts win thirty eight
to thirty over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday at Lucas
Oil Stadium. They improve to seven and eight. They remain
(00:31):
very much in the hunt for the NFL playoffs. They
still need a lot to go their way. We are
here to talk about this game, though we'll leave the
playoff prognostications for a later podcast. I'm sure we'll talk
about that this week on the Official Colts podcast. Some
are some of the other podcast offerings we have. Bill,
I want to start here, and it's with the redemption
(00:54):
arc for Jonathan Taylor, for him to have the game
he had today, which was remarkable twenty nine carries, two
hundred and eighteen yards, three touchdowns, touchdowns of sixty five
and seventy yards in this game. Built for him to
have such a low, like a career low against Denver,
(01:15):
dropping the football before he gets in the end zone
to come out of that and then put up this game.
I think, to me, that speaks a lot about the
resiliency he possesses, the mentality he possesses, And with that context,
I thought, this is one of the most impressive games
of Jonathan Taylor's career.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah, it's very impressive when you see what he is,
what he did last week, and what happened to him,
the unfortunate thing where he dropped the ball before he
got into the end zone. For him to go through
the whole week and that playing on his mind and
thinking about it, I'm sure he wanted to get back
on the field right away, to go back out and
play a game. But then for him to wait the
whole week to try to put that out of his
(01:58):
mind and prepare this upcoming game against the Tennessee Titans,
and then for him to go out there and run
the ball the way he did and the fashion he did,
how hard he did, and have success he did on
the ground. So it's a lot about Jonathan Taylor about
his mental makeup, him going out there wanting to, uh,
(02:19):
not so much prove anything to anybody, but just go
out there and kind of say, Okay, what happened in
the past that did happen and more unlikely it's not
going to ever happen again to him. But I want
to show people what I can do, and not to
show people what he can do, but just go out
there to perform for his teammates for himself, and he
did that for the Midnapolis coach today, have very impressive
(02:40):
day today in running with football.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
So let's talk about these two long touchdown runs because
I think what we always need to remember with these
is that a run of probably i'll call it even
twenty or more yards, you have to have all eleven
guys on the field doing their job, whether that's the
offensive lineman winning up front, the tight ends making a
(03:03):
good play, the wide receiver is hitting those crack blocks
on the outside, and then Jonathan Taylor making a guy miss.
So on this first run, Colter and Pistol, they motioned
Drew Ogletree over. I think, by the way Bill Drew
Ogiltree has done a really good job the.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Last Yes speak because they've kind of used.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Him, right, is that not necessarily a fullback, but almost
like a seeker behind the line, kind of a lead blocker.
He's done a really nice job coming out of the by.
That's an adjustment the Colts have made with their run game.
And on this one, JT takes the handoff, Drew seals
off number ninety one. Immediately off the snap, you get
(03:39):
Quentin Nelson climbing to the second level to take out
Kenneth Murray. And then Michael Pittman's just like scrapping it
up in there. He's blocking a corner, he's blocking a linebackers,
anybody can gets his hands on. He's just trying to
block him and get him out of the play. And
then Jonathan Taylor this cutback he makes where he's in
the hole, and Amani Hooker thirty seven thinks he's kind
(04:00):
of like the cut he makes. Oh my goodness, he
puts Hooker on the ground, yes, and then just accelerates
and he's gone, like from you know, the the midfield logo.
An awesome, awesome play right there. But again, Bill, it
takes all eleven guys on the field for stuff like
this to happen, exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
It takes everyone on the field to make a play
like that be successful and to have a big run.
Usually when you have a big run in the National
Football League from a running back, it takes everyone. It
takes wide receivers down the field blocking and making sure
they get in the way of people and trying to
block and open up lanes for the running back to
hopefully make that big run. But off the line, they
(04:40):
did a great job today. They blocked extremely well, did
a nice job opening the holes for Jonathan Taylor. And
then Jonathan Taylor with his vision and with his cutting
and things that he can do as a running back
show today by those two long runs he had. But
as you said, JJ, it takes everyone doing their job
and executing their job and helping Jonathan Taylor make those
(05:02):
big plays. Without the receivers blocking down the field, there's
no long touchdown. Without the tight ends making the blocks
that they need to make. There's no touchdown without the
offensive line doing their job open up the hole so
Jonathan Taylor can get through and see the holes opening
and execute and running through those holes, there's no long touchdown.
(05:23):
And for Jonathan's vision to be able to make those
cuts when he needs to make those cuts to go
against what the defenders trying to do against him, there's
no touchdown. So it takes everyone to make those big
plays like that on the football field, especially those long runs.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
All right, let's talk about everyone on the other long run.
This is the seventy yarder Tailor had to open the
second half. Wow, this is a really cool play. You
got Macinsalves kind of coming across the line blocking down
He takes out the linebacker on this play, and then
downfield you've got I mean, these are not necessarily the
(06:00):
best technique blocks. I don't think it matters, but Aidy Mitchell,
he's able to engage with twenty one out there with
I think that's Brownlee, and he's able to hold Browne
off just long enough for Taylor to get by him.
And the other guy, the other receiver down there is
Josh Downs who just kind of he kind of stops,
(06:21):
the corner, goes with him, and by the time that
Taylor is accelerating, the corner can't catch up to him.
Just like again, these little things, these little details in
that play make it work. And then this is something
you got the safety coming down again and just missing
the tackle. I read the transcript of Jeffrey Simmons after
(06:43):
the game bill You're all Pro defensive tackle on the Titans,
and he kept saying over and over again, everyone's gonna
blame the defensive line for the day that Jonathan Taylor had,
But it takes all eleven guys. It takes everyone been
in the right gap and in the right fit. And
(07:03):
I thought that was interesting because Simmons is a good player,
he's a leader on that team, and for him to
kind of come out and be like it's on everyone,
he's right. He's absolutely right. When you give up two
touchdowns at sixty five or more yards, it's not just
the defensive line, it's not just the linebackers. It's not
just the defensive backs. But on the flip side, it's
those Colts players making plays against those guys that lead
(07:26):
to these touchdowns.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Exactly like you said, you know what, sometimes it doesn't
have to be a big block from a tight end
or a wide receiver. A lot of times, all you
need to do is just getting the way of the defender,
make him stop his feet, or have to change the
direction to slow him down a little bit, and let
the running back do the rest. Jonathan Taylor is fast
enough to outrun a lot of players, a lot of people.
(07:48):
All you need to do is get in the defender's way,
make him stop his feet, and give Jonathan Taylor a
lane so he can make those big plays. And then,
as Simmons said, as well, you know it, just as
an offense, it takes all eleven guys to make a
play successful. It does the same on defense. The linebackers
have to fill They have to make sure they hopefully
(08:08):
can get a tackle and fill those holes and fill
those lanes, have a good run fit, so to speak.
And then also have the safeties come up when the
corners come up and do their job as well. So
in the football game, it takes the whole team. When
there's a su successful play on offense, it takes the
whole eleven guys on offense. And when there's a good
play on defense, it takes all eleven players on defense
(08:31):
as well. Just in these two instances, the Cops have
the most successful play in regards to all eleven players
doing their job and doing their job well.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Another play where I thought this stood out Bill was
on Josh Doallen's touchdown. So it's a third and four
late in the second quarter, and when Richardson threw this ball,
I was thinking, Okay, you're just kind of playing to
get a field goal here. You got kind of a
break right before halftime, you're just thinking, all right, let's
get out of here with the twenty seven lead. That's
(09:01):
really good for where this team has been at. And
on this play, a Moni hooker kind of takes a
bad angle at Josh Downs. I don't think he realizes
how quick Downs is.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
No.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
But then the thing I noticed is Ady Mitchell blocking
Shadobi a Woozya, and he's able to engage with him
long enough again where by the time a woozy A
disengages Downs is tiptoeing down the sideline, He's gone. I
want to highlight Ady Mitchell here real quick, because he's
had some up and down moments this season. But he
(09:36):
made that really nice catch down the sideline over the shoulder,
difficult play getting both feet in, and then these couple
of plays where he just he kind of scrapped it
up with these defensive backs. Doesn't have to look pretty.
You don't expect it to look pretty from a wide receiver,
but he stuck his nose in there and got physical.
I think I'm more impressed with that from Ady Mitchell
than I am the really nice catch, which was very impressive,
(09:58):
but you like seeing that competitiveness that physicality, and I
think that is going to benefit him just as much
as that catch he had going forward.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Oh by far. You want to be a complete receiver,
and a complete receiver means running your routes even though
you're not getting the ball, and also not just running
your routes when you're not getting the ball, but also
blocking down the field for your teammates. If it's a
running back, if it's a tight end, if it's another
wide receiver. You want to do those things. And ad
Mitchell getting in the way doesn't have to pancake anyone.
(10:30):
All you have to do is getting away. Josh Downs
is quick enough. He's fast enough to get away from defenders.
And that's all Josh Downs needed was just a little
crack so he can go down the field make a
big play. And that's what you want. And give ad
Mitchell credit for doing those things. I mean, yes, he
won't get a lot of credit because no one's gonna
(10:50):
see the end result. They're going to see just Josh
Downs made a big play. But you look at it,
as you said, it takes other people to make these
successful plays, and Ady Mitchell made a big play by
him participating, getting in a way of the defender, so
Josh Downs can have an opportunity to make a big play.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
All right, before we get back into the run game,
just because I want to dive into just the usage
a little bit more. Just a quick kind of word
on Anthony Richardson's game. So he goes seven of eleven
and you know, he throws the touchdown to Downs, throws
for one hundred and thirty one yards. He does throw
the pick, which he said he probably needed to lock
the safety down with his eyes a little bit better.
(11:29):
Hooker's able to get in there. That was down in
the red zone early on in the game. Kind of
a tough play there. But overall I thought this was
kind of like this was sort of the game script.
I expected the Colts to maybe have a little bit
more this year where Richardson doesn't need to throw it
a whole lot. He gets a lot of yards on
the ground. Anthony Richardson runs it nine times for seventy
(11:50):
yards in this game, including a touchdown in a twenty
nine yard game. And I came away from this game
being like, yeah, it was a pretty good game for
Richardson because he didn't need to do a whole lot
and a lot of a lot of the work he did. Again,
Bill was on the ground, you know, he had good
pockets when he did drop back to pass. I thought
Mackenzalvez had a really good game mm hm. And you
(12:12):
know that's another encouraging thing to kind of stick in
your back pocket. Another really good day for Mackensalvas. But
this I just thought was like, if the Colts are
going to build a winning formula down the stretch against
opponents that they should beat, like the Titans who have
twelve losses, the Giants have thirteen losses, the Jaguars have
twelve losses. I think this is kind of the formula
(12:33):
where you run it a lot. You have Richardson throw
in advantageous situations and he doesn't put the ball into
Harm's way a whole lot. He did once today, but
that was it. I think this is a formula that
the Colts can lean into to win these final couple
of games and give themselves a chance at the very
least of making Week eight team matter.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yeah, I mean, this is what you want to do,
because you know, you see Anthony Richardson going out there
doing what he can do, and what he does real
well at this moment is run the football. He had
an opportunity to run the football. Did a nice job.
As you said, he was what nine for seventy yards
and that's big and you add that to what I
mean with j T can do in the backfield, that's
(13:18):
just a big plus for the offense. So I like
what he did out there today. And you know what, Yeah,
he didn't throw the ball a lot, but there was
one play to me that really stood out. Third down
near the end of the game. Michael Pan Michael Pittman
runs an out route, nice pass, put it right on Pittman.
Big play during that time. You need a first down
(13:38):
at that moment, and Anthony put it right there on Putman.
So Pittman make a catch, catch it got a bounds,
big first down for the Indianapolis coach. So there's gonna
be times where he's going to need to make a
big throw and we know that he can do it.
He just has to be more consistent at it and
do it on a regular basis. But watching him run
the ball, watching him do those things, watching him run
(14:02):
behind his blockers, like what he did on the touchdown
there with Quentin Nelson leading the play and getting into
the end zone. Those are the things that Anthony does well.
You want to do those things and continue to highlight
those things. But also he still will need to make
those big throws, which he did with the throw to Pittman.
(14:22):
But if he's run the ball and the Colts are successful,
why stop it. Keep on doing it and keep on
running it over and over again until the opponent stops them.
All right.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
I love that you brought up that completion to Pittman, Bill,
because I asked Shane's teching about it after the game,
and my question was, like, we've seen Anthony miss that
throw this year where guys open, You're throwing it from
the far hash to the numbers. That's not necessarily an
easy throw. It looks easy because the guy's wide open,
but we've seen Anthony airmail it. We've seen him dirt
(14:57):
it and he hits the back of his drop. Mechanics
are good, as footwork is good. Balls out on time.
It's to Pittman ites a completion and Bill, if the
Colts don't get that, let's just set up what happens here.
It's a warning Tennessee. Is all three timeouts left and
you're punting the ball back to them with the Titans
having a lot of momentum on offense.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
That was a bit that was a.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Huge play in this game where if that pass is airmailed,
it's that we might be talking about a game that
comes down to a two point conversion at the end
of game that might go to overtime, and instead the
Colts are able to grind the clock out, they're able
to win the game with an interception. Kennymore the second
(15:39):
that play right there, Bill, You're right to bring that
one up where maybe it looked easy, but we haven't
seen enough of the easy plays looking easy this year,
and I thought that was just a really nice little
marker in this game where Okay, yeah it should be easy,
and it looked like it from that throw.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah it looked it looked easy, but it wasn't. I mean,
as you stated, it's there's a pressure time for the
Colts where they had to get a first down to
continue to drive or they're punk the ball away back
to the Titans and then get the ball to have
a chance to go down and score a touchdown to
possibly tie the game or go for a two point conversion.
But it was a big play by the Colts at
(16:17):
that time, Anthony Richardson made a throw. The defender was off,
so Pick had a free release, ran the route, and
Ar just put it right on him. And it looked
like I mean, it looked like what you want to
see in practice when you're doing routes on air. That's
what it looked like to me. As far as Ar
back there throwing it, he just laid it right there.
(16:38):
Pitt got it, caught it, made sure he had control
of it before he went out of bounds, and that's
what you want to do. Those are the plays that
look easy but aren't easy. So it's good that they
were able to complete that, and hopefully those are things
that we will see continually going in the future, both
from Ar and Pit.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
All Right, Bill, before we continue on this episode of
instant Reaction to quick word from our friends at Sony, Bill,
you know, I travel a lot during the season, and
I could not live without the Sony one thousand XM
five noise canceling headphones. Whether I'm listening to music on
the plane or trying to listen back to interviews I
do in the postgame locker room, these headphones keep me
in the zone. Whether I'm relaxing or working the premium
(17:18):
noise cancelation on these things. Bill, it is great for
hearing you and for keeping me locked into our podcast
or just hanging around the house. Take it from me,
these are my favorite headphones I've ever owned. The Sony
one thousand XM five headphones are the official headphones of
the Indianapolis Colts. All right, Bill, So let's talk about
run pass balance here, because this was a heavy run game.
(17:44):
To say that Anthony Richardson is fourteen dropbacks in this game,
the Colts have designed runs. They have let's see forty
eight designed runs, which like feels like I keep doing that,
being like, is that really true? No, they had forty
eight design runs. Two of those Richardson runs were scrambles.
So you're talking about a forty eight to fourteen run
(18:08):
pass ratio in this game. But the Titans couldn't stop it.
Moley Cox Bill told us after the game that he
overheard a Titans player. So they go to line up
for a play and one of the Titans defensive players goes, hey,
they're about to run a screen and one of their
defensive linemen goes, man, Now they're about to hand off
to Jonathan Taylor in that moment, Moe kind of was like,
(18:31):
he's about to go for like three hundred yards today,
So that that right there.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Like that.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
I always equate this, Bill, and this is because I'm
just like a baseball guy at heart. But when you
can do this, when you can run the ball on
a team without them stopping you, when they know you're
gonna do it, it's like Mariano Rivera's cutter, which I'm
sorry you're a Red Sox guy to bring up, like,
you know, yeah, but Bill, you knew what pitch he
(19:00):
was gonna throw, oh, and you weren't going to hit
it unless you got lucky you blooped one into the
outfield like Luis Gonzales did in the World Series. Anyways,
that's what it's I kind of equate it to of
like Tennessee knew the Colts are gonna run the football
in this game, and they ran it a ton and
they could not stop it. To me, Bill, that has
to be the most demoralizing thing for a defense when
(19:24):
you know what the offense is going to do and
you cannot stop it because you are getting out, you're
getting out physical, you're getting out out thought you're just
you're getting flat out beat every single time they hand
the ball off to twenty eight or to five, or
to twenty seven or thirty one.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
It's frustrating. I mean when you're knowing that they're going
to run the ball, and you know pretty much where
they're going to run it at off tackle, maybe up
the middle, but there's nothing you can do about that
and you can't stop them. That's very frustrating. Like in
anything else, if a if I'm a baseball player and
I know that they're gonna throw me the fastball and
I can't do anything about it, that's very frustrating for
(20:06):
me as a batter. And you know what is as
as frustrating as it is for the defense to stop them,
it's that much better for the offense knowing that, hey,
you guys know we're running the ball, but you can't
stop us. We're just going to continue to run the
ball and impose I WILL on you and run the
ball down your throat as much as we want to.
(20:27):
And that's what the Coast did. They could not stop
the Coats. So basically the coach said, hey, look, if
you can't stop us, we're going to continue to do
this until you do stop us. And if you don't
stop us, we're just going to do it all day.
And the coach did that tonight. They made it all
day against the Tennessee Titans. There's nothing that the Tennessee
Titans could do about it. Now.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Having said that, the Colts go up thirty eight to
seven in this game Bill midway through the third quarter,
and the Titans rip off twenty three unanswered points to
make it a game. And I asked the Forrest Buckner
after the game, like, how do you kind of balances
the you know, Okay, we won, We're still in it.
This is great. We needed to win versus just kind
of the end of the game. And he was just like,
(21:08):
we have to develop that killer instinct and you could
tell it. It kind of ate at him a little
bit that this was a one score game. The Colts
every single one of their wins Bill has been by
one score. This is their largest margin of victory this year,
by eight points. But I think a lot of players
in that locker room felt like it should have been
by more. And Tennessee was able to get some explosive plays.
(21:28):
The Colts pass rush was not quite able to get
home late in the game, and Tennessee went from averaging
four point six yards per play on their first nine
possessions to seven point five yards per play on their
final three possessions. Tennessee on those last three possessions bill
where they scored all twenty three of those points. They
gained more yards on those three drives than they gained
(21:51):
on their first nine in this game. So that right there,
I think the Colts need to look at, you know,
take a hard look at that and say, hey, we
had this game in our control, we let Tennessee back
into it. How do we make sure over these final
two games that we don't leave this thing to chance
that if we do get a big league lead, we
kind of put our thumb on it and we make
sure that that opponent does not get to come back
(22:12):
in the game and of a shot to win it.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, you want to put them away. You want to
put a team away so they don't have a chance.
And I think there was a one point in the
game where the Coats had an opportunity to go up.
I think it would have been forty one to fifteen.
They had a chance for a fifty yard field fifty
five yard field goal, they missed the field goal, and
Tennessee got the ball in good field position at the
(22:35):
at their own forty five yard line. So when they
got the good field position, they went down and scored
and it changed to me. It changed the game a
little bit at that point. So the Coats have to
figure out a way to make sure that Hey, look,
if they don't make the field goal, the defense has
to come up big and stop them from scoring a touchdown.
Because Tennessee went down, had a good field position that
I said, and scored a touchdown to make it thirty
(22:59):
eight I think at that time. So it was a
big play for the Tennessee Titans, a big swing right there.
So the Coasts have to figure out how they can
put teams away. You want to put teams away. When
you get teams down, you don't want to give them
any life at all. You just want to put them away. So,
you know what, it's an easy coast to the end
of the game. It won't be easy, but you won't
(23:21):
be stressed like the Coats were today where Tennessee Titans
came back, they made it a one score game and
having a chance to possibly tie the game if things
didn't go the way they went today, and the Coast
didn't make the plays they needed to make in that
last drive and then some other plays earlier.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Yeah, I mean that. I think that this is kind
of another one of those games to the Colts defense
where they played awesome for call it forty minutes forty
five minutes of this game, and I think they're gonna
they're gonna think more about the last fifteen to twenty
minutes of this game than they are the first forty. Now,
(24:01):
having said that, Kenny Moore the second had another awesome game.
He gets two picks, including the one that seals the game, which,
by the way, I want to if anyone in the
stadium notice this, I want to hand up apologize. I
thought Will Levis was in the game. I'm looking at
I didn't have binoculars on, and I'm looking at I'm thinking, Oh,
they're gonna put Levis in because he's got a bigger
(24:22):
arm for you know, the last second play of the game.
So I actually announced that Kenny Moore picked off Will
Levis to end the game or the PA It was
not Will Levis. I'm very sorry to Will Levis. He's
thrown a lot of picks this year, that was not
one of them, so full on apology hand ups. Screwed
that one up. But shout out to Kenny. He had
a really good game today. Sam Wollmacket's an interception, He's
(24:45):
got picks and consecutive games. That's really neat to see
for him. But yeah, game that I think the defense
is probably gonna be a little just not fully celebrating
given that. I think they feel like they should have
won this game by multiple scores.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yeah, they're happy that they won, but I'm sure that
they look at it hey and look and say, hey, look,
there are some things that we could have done better
out there. There's some things that we probably could have
done better to maybe ice the game a little bit
earlier and get off the field and give the ball
back to the offense. But unfortunately that didn't happen. And
you know, they have to learn from that, learn from
it going forward and just hopefully don't make those same mistakes,
(25:27):
but hopefully get off the field a little bit earlier
and those things are going to happen. It's tough to
win football games in the National Football League, and it's
tough very really do you see blowouts in the National
Football League. These players are competitive, they have pride, they
want to go out and they don't want to be
embarrassed out there in the football field. So they're going
to do their best to try to close that gap.
(25:49):
So it doesn't look the score doesn't look that bad.
So give it Tennessee Tighten some credit for what they
did to come back to try to try to tie
the game up. And you know, probably they want to
go into over time and see if they can win
it in overtime. But the Coast did enough just to
win the game, and that's all you want to do.
You want to win the game. But there are things
that Coats are going to need to clean up. You
(26:11):
want to play betty, you want to play good football.
They want to clean up, need to clean up some
things moving forward, and definitely want to do it this
week in preparation for the New York Giants.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Thirty eight points Bill is the most point scored by
the Colts in the game since last year in Week
seven or eight when they lost to the Cleveland Week
seven when they lost to the Cleveland Browns thirty nine
to thirty eight. It is their highest point total in
a win since they went and beat the Buffalo Bills
back in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
That was the.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Jonathan Taylor five touchdown game. So it's been a little
bit since the Colts have scored the points and left
the stadium feeling pretty good about themselves. Hopefully again, Bill,
you're right, you take that momentum into New York next week.
The Giants are two to thirteen. They got boat raced
by the Atlanta Falcons today, a team that is having
some real issues this year. They are competing for the
(27:01):
number one overall pick next year, if you can call
that competing. By the way, shout out to the Las
Vegas Raiders. They won their game nineteen to fourteen over
the Jaguars. So now actually the Giants have sole possession
of the number one overall pick, if that is something
that anyone on that Giants team is so concerned about.
But Bill, just real quick, but before we get into
(27:22):
that game, like you've been on teams that have been
you know, in that realm right of how are we
gonna get the number one overall pick or not? Players
don't care about that, right, That's not something that you're
like discussing in the locker room of like, hey man,
we lose this game, We're about to get a really
good player to come in and take someone else's job
on this team. Like that, I can't imagine that's something
that's really talked about a whole lot.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
No, the guys aren't thinking about the draft next year
in twenty twenty five. The guys are thinking about the
game they have to play coming up against the New
York Giants. That's what they're thinking about. They want to
go out there, they want to compete. These guys are competitors.
They've been competing for a long time in their lives.
So they want to go out and make sure that
they put out a good product on the football field,
(28:04):
show people that, hey, look we are a good football team.
We want to go out and play well, and we
are going to try our best to play well. So
they're not thinking about the draft position, They're not thinking
about getting a good pick or anything like that. They're
thinking about going out playing what well, playing hard. They
set a stand up for themselves how they want to play,
(28:26):
and they want to try to meet that standard when
every time they go out there and play on the
football field. So that's what that's what those guys are
thinking about, not thinking about anything else, not thinking about
twenty twenty five, what draft picks are going to Coats
are going to get because they don't know, and a
lot of things can happen between now end of the
(28:47):
season and the draft next year in April. So the
guys are only concerned about right now, and they're concern
is celebrate today's when tonight, then tomorrow it comes time
to get ready to prepare for the Giants. That's where
their mind is and that's where they're focused on.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
All right, Well, we're gonna have a lot more answers
bill about the AFC playoff race the next time you
and I talk on this podcast. After the Colts played
the New York Giants next weekend on Saturday, Before the
Colts play the Giants, you've got two huge games. You've
got Chargers at Patriots, a game the Colts need the
Chargers to lose if they have any shot at catching
Los Angeles. And then you've got Denver at Cincinnati, a
(29:27):
game that if Denver loses, that Cincinnati wins, all that
has to happen in quotes is the Colts then beat
the Giants. Week eighteen would then matter if there would
be a three way tie. So if Denver would have
lose in Week eighteen to the Bengals, the Bank or
to the Chiefs, excuse me, the Bengals win in the
Week eighteen, you would have a three way tie of
teams at nine and eight. If the Colts beat the
(29:48):
Jaguars in that scenario, the Colts get in the playoffs.
Same goes if the Miami Dolphins go nine to eight,
the Broncos go nine to eight, and the Colts go
nine to eight. So a lot of scenarios still could
play out. I think all that all that you're hoping for, Bill,
is that one of those results breaks your way on
Saturday and the Colts then win Sunday, and that Week
(30:09):
eighteen game against the Jaguars matters in some way, shape
or form, whether you know it works out for the
Colts and you make the playoffs or not having a
game in Week eighteen that matters, I think is really
important for this football team and it's something that they
absolutely will will take at this point in the season.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Definitely, and as far as right now, if the coach,
if you tell the players, hey, week eighteen, you're going
to have an opportunity to play to get in the playoffs.
Each player and that team will take that right now
something that they would want to do, because then it's
it's pretty much in their hands. And that's what you want,
a lot of it. You want to have control of
(30:47):
your own destiny, and right now the Coats don't have that.
But if they have the opportunity in week eighteen to
get that as far as have their their destiny as
far as making the playoffs in their own hands, they
would take that. And that's what you want. So we'll
see what happens. Just the Coats have to just worry
about the Colts right now. They can't worry about what
(31:08):
other teams are doing or not doing. Just worry about
the Coats and make sure they put themselves in position
if the opportunity comes that they can get into the
playoffs by playing well and wearing the final two games
of the regular season.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
We'll still need a lot of help, but they yes
business on Sunday against the Titans. All right, real quick,
before we wrap up, another word from our friends at Sony.
This NFL season, feel every play, every hit, every moment
with the Sony one thousand XM five noise canceling headphones.
The official headphones of the Indianapolis Colts with premium noise cancelation.
You're in the zone, no distractions, just pure football. Whether
(31:45):
you're in your living room or on the go. You'll
never miss a beat with Sony headphones. All right, that's
going to do it for us here on this episode
of Instant Reaction presented by Sony for Bill Brooks. I'm
JJ Stankomitz. We will talk to you next week after
the Colts face the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
So long,
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