December 24, 2024 • 30 mins
Jeffrey Gorman and Larra Overton take one last look back at a few things from the Colts' 38-30 win over the Tennessee Titans in Week 16 and get into the chances the Colts can actually make a playoff push down the stretch in 2024.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to the Official Colts Podcast. My name is Jeffrey Gorman.
This is Lara Overton. We're coming at you in good
spirits today, obviously after a huge Division win against the
Tennessee Titans. And Lara, and by the way, thank you
for watching on YouTube and our Colts Audio Network listeners
as well. Lara, you were there, I mean you were
everywhere as usual, but boy, that one was fun because
(00:26):
we're gonna talk about the offensive line play in a
little bit, but I heard Ryan Kelly say, there's not
a more beautiful sight in the NFL than watching Jonathan
Taylor run by and beat everybody to the house.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Exactly, all by himself, clear across the goal line. In fact,
even emphatically double classic on that first to touchdown into
the tunnel to reinforce it. The fact that you not
only got one but two of those huge explosive plays
by him, and it was all set up really by
the effectiveness of Anthony Richardson to getting going early on right,
(00:58):
and we're starting to see this was so long awaited.
Of course, Jonathan Taylor, I don't think has that type
of game with that type of production one if you
don't have just incredible o line play. But also if
you don't have the threat of a rushing quarterback. You know,
if you don't have a healthy Anthony Richardson, you don't
necessarily probably see that type of production from Jonathan Taylor
(01:19):
in the run game.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Let me let me just start here. I mean, it's
a head scratcher, but we got so much good to
talk about right now. But is there any concern I
know this is more of a question for Shane Stikeen,
but we're seeing Anthony Richardson's numbers through the air pretty
consistent in that eleven ten, that's twelve, that fourteen times
that they're trying. Is that what this offense is being
(01:41):
built by? Or is there My point is there's two
games left and knock on wood playoffs. We'll get to
that in a minute. But if this young man needs
to put it up thirty two times a game, you
know what I'm saying, in order to be an opponent
coming back from being behind so much, is this team
ready for that sort of scenario?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I think that this is right now, what this team
is going to be. Right You're gonna want to try
to identify with the ground game. That's where you're going
to try to dominate teams and if it's working, if
it's effective, you're not going.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
To go away from it.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
That's something that Shane was asked about on Monday and
his availability. You know about Anthony's numbers, But yeah, when
it's working so well, why do you go away from it? Sure,
we saw the one interception, but we saw some other,
you know, great passes by Anthony over the course of
the day.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
I mean the A d Mitchell catch.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
I mean I thought that kind of highlight A little
bit got buried in the conversation just because you wanted
to go.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
By the way exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
That was a great ball.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
You had the pass to Josh Downs which resulted in
a touchdown off the Kenny Moore interception. So I think
if you're really looking to maybe, okay, this is what
the completions are, I'm rather that I'd rather them just
be productive rather than needing a whole lot of them.
But it's like, Okay, the passes, the completions that were
there were really good ones. Another thing that I talked
(02:53):
with Anthony about last week in the locker room. I
asked him, when you and Shane go back and you
break down philm and you watch games. What are the
areas with which you place the highest priority or you know,
you remember the old weighted grading system, you know.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
So where are you weighing most heavily? Is it? You know,
third down conversion? You know, what is it? You know,
is it completions? Whatever? Those?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
You know, all the different factors are that you take
into account because there's so many of them, of course
with quarterbacks, and Anthony really said it's decision making where
he places the highest priority. So that's one of the
things I think that you want to see him over
the course of these final two games continue to really
prove that astute decision making and put him in position
(03:40):
to do that well based on establishing yourself in the
run game being really productive there. Because one thing I
talked to Shane Steike in early this week about too,
is just how much Anthony's confidence and not to say
he ever lacks confidence, but just how it continues to
spark his confidence when he gets going on the ground
and when he has the ground game.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Working around to He was huge. I mean, he was,
you know, nine for seventy yards plus a great TD
being led by Quentin Nelson and such like that. I mean,
obviously I love watching him. If he can get that
seventy to one hundred and ten yards with his legs
as a quarterback and stay healthy. Boy, you're talking about
a unicorn there. But it's always tough to that. But
you're so right, because if we do have Joe Flack
or this offense was last year with Gardner Minshew, I
(04:21):
don't think the success is there for Jonathan Taylor. Nothing
against those two quarterbacks, but it's the threat of having
Anthony Richardson in there. Ourpo type stuff like that. And
we saw three hundred and I'll say it again, three
hundred and thirty five yards rushing from this Colts offense,
which was absolutely through the roof. Is that all offensive
line or is that a potential MVP candidate in Jonathan Taylor?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Man, I think it is. It's a lot of O.
Line is certainly a lot of Jonathan Taylor. Also, when
I talked to quent Nelson after the game, he said
it's a lot on ar like putting us in the
right situations, making the right reads and of course at
the line of scrimmage, different things like that. And then
I also got to give credit to the height ends
because in the radio broadcast, Matt Taylor and Rick Ventura
(05:04):
were really quick to point out how active and involved
Drew Ogletree was up there.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
So I think that and that is a lot on.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
The coaching and the scheme to use him in those
situations to help get that going as well. And of
course you've got the other tight ends there as well.
It was just a couple of pivotal situations in which
ogle Tree proved how productive he was blocking on some
of those JT runs. But I mean JT just following
Quentin Nelson in so many of those situations. You know,
Ryan Kelly talked about the site of C and JT
(05:34):
break those off, you know, down the sidelines and no
one can catch him. Man, the sight of seeing big
Q just dominate, you know, other massive humans up front.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
I mean, that was a fantastic site. One thing too,
to circle.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Back on Anthony and you're talking about obviously the passing game.
I do think it's worth pointing out that I think
if you had not had as much stop and start
this season for him based on injury, then you brought
Joe Flack, I think those numbers would be higher. But
I think that the fact that you've had these breaks
in the continuity. He hasn't been able to just consistently
(06:08):
build on that weekend and weak out. It's been a
somewhat maybe a little bit more feast or famine. Right
when you see just those beautiful deep shots, you know
that you have to Alec Pierson those situations well. Because
of just missing the games that he has intermittently, I
think that that has stalled maybe some of the growth
that you would have liked to have seen to this point.
So right now, I think you'll look at the opportunities
(06:29):
that you have remaining. You build on the great things
you have in the run game, and then you're gonna
see maybe a little bit of this offense be tailored
to capitalizing on some of that continuity between your quarterback
and the wide receivers as you get through of course,
you know latter part of this season now on into the.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Continuity is so important offensive line talk. This teame, as
we said, three hundred and thirty five yards on the ground.
JT within an incredible day. You know, I'm just adding
two plus two, it's equal in four. Ryan Kelly comes
back after missus five weeks. Is that the cornerstone that says, hey,
if we want to rush the football in Indianapolis, seventy
eight needs to be snapping them.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I kind of teased head coach Shane Steichen about that
when we had him for Coltster sixty this week. I
was like, Hey, and any coincidence that your Pro Bowl
center comes back and you have you know, a single
game franchise record in rushing that day. And he's like, No,
that's a big factor in it, for sure. And that's
not to slight anyone on the offensive line because all
the rotations, I mean, the different combinations you have had
(07:24):
on that front five this year and the level with
which they've played has been incredible. Credit to that entire room,
to coach Sperano, all of that, but I do think
that was a big factor in there. And another thing too,
like I was just looking to I talked to guys
in the locker room about JT having the type of
bounce back that he did coming off of course Denver
(07:46):
the mistake there everything. He really took that to heart.
A couple of guys who I talked to are captains
on this team, so I was interested in what they
had to say, and I asked Kenny Moore about it
and Kenny said, from the person side of it, just
talking to him, you know, I met up with him
over the course of the week, talk to him on
the sidelines. Just so proud of how he responded and
(08:07):
seeing him do that shows growth.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
And I talked to Quentin Nelson.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
I thought he was so great after the game, Quentin said,
not surprised in how he responded. He goes Actually kind
of surprised though, because I was expecting him to bounce back,
but seeing him do what he did was crazy. So certainly,
you know, expected that to see a good game from him,
and you know, to see him kind of overcome some adversity,
but even the offensive line was like, man, we didn't
(08:34):
necessarily see a level to this type of production.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
He said, that was just crazy. I love Jonathan Taylor
and appreciate the work that he puts in.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
So I just thought, in a season in which wins
and miles, stones and records have all been so hard
to come by, to have a game like that in
which there was so much to celebrate, and you saw
rewriting of the history books by the way with Drin
James and the how good was that right to have
edge have a gold jacket guy for a day like that.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Maybe we should bring Edgrin along.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
To Easy York.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Can you make that call?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Hey to hey, winter time in New York, I mean
Christmas time in New York. That's an easy get Yeah,
Edge come on here. Yeah hopefully it was. It was
having Edge out there before I forget. I just want
to tip the hat because you said it best offensive Lineman,
great day, tight end unit for the Colts, th bo
Ally Cox obviously with the reception, but you talk about
those guys getting down and dirty, especially like Drew Ogletree.
(09:31):
Like we said, it takes a village to get it
going and to have that sort of output from Jonathan Taylor.
Tip of the hat to you, got you tight ends.
We're not forgetting about it.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I want to bring up too, is a lot of
people were like, oh, yeah, well that's a game you should.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Have won, Like Tennessee's having a down yere.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
I don't care that Tennessee front is as good as
almost any in the league, right.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Andrey Simmons to buy sweat the rookie, Yeah, that's three
hundred and sixty six pounds.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Right there, exactly, know exactly, So just that's that's one
thing too to do it like that with the battle
you had in the trenches.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Let's flip switch a little bit. Hey, hats off and
again clap to you guys on the defensive side of
the ball, because for a long time it was quite dominant. Dominant,
But there was a twenty three unanswered point run. Lara,
touch on that a little bit. What do you think
I didn't have a chance to ask Shane that earlier today,
but we will find out. But just what's your take
on that? Haven't at home game? You're up a lot, obviously,
(10:20):
he sat Jonathan Taylor, then he brought him back into
the game. But twenty three unanswered when you're up at
such a wide margin, a little bit of a cause
for concern? What do you think that was?
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
And Shane said that that's something he's really going to
look deeper into. Certainly, you know, that is an area
that they want to address and things that you want
to tighten up. I talked to Kenny Moore about it
in the locker game after so in the locker room
after the game, and he said, certainly a lot of
room for improvement. And I said, you know, I kind
of teed it up as Hey, how good was it
to finish the game with the ball in your hands
(10:50):
right your second takeaway on the day, and he said,
but he really pointed to he addressed that, but then
quickly turned too without my even provoking him. A lot
of room for improvement, certainly situations that I could have
been better for the team. And he said, just talking
about it, like being complimentary. That is something that they
have harped on and harped on. This was the best
outing in which they'd done that from a standpoint of
(11:11):
the offense, capitalizing on the defense, putting them in good situation.
He said, that's something we take pride in. But he
did see He's like, yeah, it got too close there.
He said, you know there were some things that we changed.
You said whenever you get up big, because something I
noted within our radio broadcast when they were up so significantly,
Matt Taylor asked me like, hey, how's the sideline? And
(11:32):
I was like, man, we haven't been able to breathe
in a game in so long, so, you know, late
in the third quarter or whatever it was, at one point,
things were feeling pretty good.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
So you do have some things that you want to
tighten up.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
I think that that would be something that from you know,
a play call and a situation standpoint, that you would
imagine that Gus and Shane would sit down and evaluate
things that they might do differently in that situation. It's
going to be interesting, of course this week with New York.
Sure who they're going to put in at quarterback? You know,
is it de Vito? Is it back to him?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
But whoever you have a quarterback, you still have the
leak neighbors.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
That's right, And that's that's twenty targets a game.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
I mean, and I mean it was really you know
what you're looking at too. From Tennessee it was Calvin
Ridley and it was Taja Spears.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
The most part, right, So Kenny gets a touchdown, it
seems to.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Have the games Rushbrook.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
He doesn't have a lot of numbers, but he always
seems end up getting such true. It really was a
dominant performance for most of the game like that. And
a couple of picks from Kenny Moore, who you talked about,
you talked with in the locker room. I want to
give Jalen Carlis a tip of the hat. He's been
on the bench. Ben heard obviously an athletic guy, that
Shane Stikeen calls him, but he led the team in
tackles going out there.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I mean the fact that he'd been off I don't
even know how many weeks he'd missed with the shoulder injury,
but comes off of ir and I just him asked
him about how good it was to have such contribution
when you'd been off for so long, and he just
gave a ton of credit. He said, it was so
great to be back out there. Was really hard for
him to be on the sidelines. Gave it ton of
(13:00):
credit for his teammates having faith in him to take
on that heavy of a workload.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Of course, because EJ. Speed was out. And one of
the things that I observed over the course of the
game was that EJ. Speed kept coming up to J. C.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Carlis when he would come off of the field and
was really in his face giving him certain cues, helping
him make certain adjustments that Jalen said really made.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
The difference for him.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
And there were things that he said EJ was telling
him over the course of the week, even that came
up in the game that he went back to and
the impact that EJ had had in making sure that
JC stepped in there to have such a big game.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
Loved to see that from the rookie.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
That's a huge moment for him because when you have
not gone through maybe some of that adversity and you've
missed that degree of time, it can be really difficult
and guys to need a certain degree of time to
get back into you know what we hear guys call,
you know, game shape or game speed. And the fact
that it was almost a snap of the fingers, it was,
(13:57):
you know, back like he never.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Left for futures. Bright Jase played a heck of a game,
right there, Sammy Walmack, that's also a game. That's two
in a row, two games in a row, two first
in his career.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
About consecutive interception games.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Yeah, so we want to give him a game ball,
and I'm just can I tell you?
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Can I tell you though, like, if you can get
Juju Bruns back for these last two obviously he's been
making progress. I would really love to see what he
can do in there. Will be interested to see over
the course of the week. A little bit curious, Jalen
Jones left the game with a throat injury.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
He actually went directly to the locker room.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
So later in the week we will you know, get
the injury report all of those things to see maybe
what their status is. But it's going to be an
interesting week for the secondary. Can Jaln Jones go? Is
this the time for ju ju brunts to come back?
What is Sam Walmack's role in all of this? Is
going to be some moving parts for the secondary. But
you think about Sam Walmack, I mean he was signed
on August twenty eighth, you know, so it's been really
(14:51):
I think he's been significant, of course for this team
and uh yeah, really really happy to have him as
part of that cult secondary.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
I always do it week in and week out. And
if you don't watch the game, not saying that I do,
I'm a fan just like everyone else is. But what
DeForest Buckner does week in and week out, you may
not see it. In the sacks, the tackles for loss,
you may not see it. But what this gentleman does,
and you can back me up on this, is that
he's gonna get double team quite a bit. And if
he gets double team, they say, hey, pinch him off
(15:21):
on this side and keep him out of the play. Well,
that doesn't happen even on the double team. He wrecks
offensive game plans that double team I talked about, Well,
he'll slip through and he'll go into a slot that
he's not supposed to be yet. But he does that
play in and play out, and it doesn't show up
in the statles and statuet rather and in my book,
you know, if if we're picking an MVP for this team,
(15:42):
the forrest right at the top.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
It's and it's too the way that he dominates. He
doesn't just like make plays every single time that he
comes up with a play.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
It's absolutely dominating.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
The man across from I mean, he is a menace
there up front, and he is the.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Model of consistency for this team.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
That's something that's uh, oh no, you're good water. Are
we gonna call in the career? Greg grab grab JG
some water right here? So last week, DeForest Buckner was
asked about that teammates so frequently refer to him and
they describe how consistent he is, and he said that
(16:25):
that is the ultimate compliment that he can get is
for his teammates to look to him and try to
be consistent. And I think about it's the way that
he models it in wins in losses in seasons. When
you're on win streaks in Susan's in seasons, win you
got a few l's in a row. The approach that
DeForest Buckner has, like, that's a guy who you say
(16:46):
to any you know, rookie, any young player who comes in,
watch how DeForest Buckner does it.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
And I mean just the level with which he has played.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
I'm looking at the line five tackles, a tackle for loss,
and a past defense. He has now five consecutive games
with the TfL, which is tied for the third longest
active streak in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Is believing.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
And here's the other thing too, This might be the
greatest testament that I can give to DeForest Buckner. He
elevates the play of every single guy playing next to him. Sure,
that's the other thing, is the way that he makes
the entire defensive line better. It's no coincidence that Grover
Stewart has a career year season and in season out
since the addition of DeForest Buckner. You look at guys here,
(17:28):
I mean, you know, Taekwon Lewis last year, you know
obviously the year that he has just kind of how
infectious DeForest Buckner is with the way he rises everyone
you know around him, a guy like Quitty pay Laatu
Latu dioid Agbo, like, I mean, just everyone up there.
You know, there's no coincidence that they are getting better
and better the more time that they spend in a
room with DeForest.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
By Absolutely, and he's contagious. That's that's what I love
about him. He's absolutely contagious, and any one of these
general managers across the NFL know what he means to
a defense. So we're talking with Lara Overton right now
about what's happening for the next two weeks. That's where
I want to get into Lara right now is we're
playing a team that really has no identity. And I'm
(18:10):
not the New York Giants certainly have an identity. I'm
just talking about this year. They've had, you know, their
starting quarterback come in and they end up cutting them
during the year and stuff like that. And then there's
you know, the head coaches on the hotchs. You know,
what are they gonna do with all that. It's a
great franchise, but it's a perfect time for the Colts
to go in any thing. Obviously, know one with our
playoff chances. We have to win out. I just want
(18:31):
to look at these guys really quick. And my scouting
report on the New York Giants is who's ever playing quarterback?
Whether it's de Veto, whether it's Lock, whether it's tot
Tim Boyle. Guy, they're gonna look sixteen to twenty times
a game to throw it to Malik Neighbors. That's like
the offense of the Giants right now, is that connection
between quarterback and you know, the top pick that they
(18:53):
got in this recent draft, and they also got a
pretty good running back of rookie running back he's doing
a little bit out of Purdue named Tracy. But it
really is they're just struggling for offensive identity and defensive identity.
What do you think of this thing? What are the
Colts happened? What did they don't have to do? Going
in on the road this time of year, it's going
to be you know, Christmas everywhere in New York City.
(19:13):
But you have to take care of business in order
to move on.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Try to remember, like, did did the Colts face Tim Boyle?
Like I feel like in the last two seasons at
some point I feel like that they saw him briefly,
in some situation, I have to do a.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Deep do I want to say yes, I feel like
we did.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
I know, somebody write in in the comments and help me,
help refresh me. But Brian Dables said on Monday that
Drew Locke is having an MRI on his right shoulder,
So that's kind of the update that you're looking for
from that perspective. Yeah, I think what you gotta do,
it's it's this is nothing novel. But one of the
things is you got to limit the explosives, right, and
that goes to like not allowing Molik Neighbors to single
(19:48):
handed because especially like you saw, that's a little bit
what the Titans were trying to do with you with
Calvin Ridley, right, So you've got to be.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Able to you know, have coverage.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
You gotta be stick on Neighbors, not allow him to
beat in Burnia. And then the other thing is you
got to take care of the football and win the
turnover battle. Of course, you saw Tennessee come up with
one interception and I thought the Colts are obviously adjusted
well off of that. Really stuck with the ground game
for the most part after that. So yeah, really got
to limit the interceptions on that standpoint, would like to
(20:21):
see hopefully, you know, you saw the explosive plays in
the run game obviously with Jonathan Taylor, you saw the one,
I mean, the ad Mitchell catch that that I mentioned.
Hopefully Alec Pierce's back, because if you can get him back,
that's really going to help in the downfield passing game
to have some of those weapons, because obviously everyone's gonna
from a defensive standpoint, they're really going to key in
(20:42):
on trying to limit Pitt and what he's able to do.
And I just think that that next level that Alec
Pierce can give you, especially now if you know, if
you can get ad Mitchell going off of what we
saw last week and those two can continue to be
in compliment with one another, would really love to see
you kind of bring back a little bit of what
we got a glimpse of early on in the season
(21:04):
with that connection between ar And and Alec Pierce.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
So those are a few things I think.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
For me, I just think, though, you know, your your
defense and what they have done of late has been
so strong, and you want to see them, you know,
to have that level of consistency. If I had to
say one thing where the Colts have lacked is it's
playing sixty minutes, it's playing.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
A full four quarters.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
You get kind of these lapses at one point in
another that that there was it was great that you
saw them, you know, win, as coach Venturi calls the roundabout,
finish off that second quarter strong and start the third
quarter strong. You've got to keep that up and just
kind of maintain that throughout the course of the game.
That's one thing I'm looking to.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
It's just there's no lapse.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
There's none of these kind of lulls in the game
that you allow, you know, get a team like Tennessee
to come back in, you know, allow the New York
Giants to you know, find a bit of a rhythm.
You don't want to do that because if it who
whatever is out there, a quarterback, if they get that
rhythm going with neighbors, it's gonna be really difficult to
try to counter that install that.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
To make some sense of the playoff situation. It's pretty easy.
I'm gonna make it. It's pretty easy this week. And
the reason I'm saying is just win baby. The main
concentration is just beating the Giants. By the way, those
Giants thirty four to seven losers to a rookie quarterback
his first time playing in the NFL. Michael Pennix comes
in and torches them for thirty, you know, thirty four points.
(22:28):
I'm just saying, I mean, we are in a good
position to take care of business. What that is is
beat the Giants. Then we'll worry about what Week eighteen
of the NFL season means. But I will say this,
we want to root this season. Excuse me, this week,
root and root hard for the New England Patriots.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Oh that's hard to do.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Vegas, the Vegas Raiders, and we also want to bring
on the Cincinnati Bengals. Cheer them on, and cheer on
Kansas City because those two teams, those four teams are
playing the Chargers and the Denver Broncos, which we get
into it becomes a hornet's nest. I'm not going to
go into it and break it down. Just root on
those teams. Who's ever playing the Chargers and who's ever
played the Broncos, And of course root on the Colts.
(23:06):
Now next week, at this time, we get a win
that one of these two things happened right there. Now
we're talking because It could come down to a one
game showdown beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, have another opponent one
of these Broncos or Bengals, lose like that, and you
are in the playoffs with a win. So I don't
want to get in front of myself. But that's what
we're looking at.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Can I throw something out sea?
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Do you think there is any benefit or advantage for
the Colts and the fact that they are going to
New York and they played in this venue earlier on in.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
The season when you played the Jets.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Obviously you're probably staying in the same hotel room.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Miss Overton different.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
It was a different place, unfortunately, because we didn't know
if the game would be Saturday or Sunday, of course
until just two weeks ago. So no, weren't able to
get the same hotel. But we've not played out there,
you know, a couple of times in the last two years.
So yeah, second home exactly in New Jersey. I'm a
second residence.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
We get a peloton, we get one of those pelotons
in Oh.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
No, the studio. No, I won't be able to do it.
That's okay, they probably have one at the hotel. I'll
hop on but the benefit for the Colts, the fact
that they played in this very stadium and Anthony Richardson
engineered a game winning drive to close it out.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
You think that there's benefit there, absolutely. I think so
as a little.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Bit affiliate, even though even though, as Shane pointed out
to me, you're actually in the opposite locker room and
on the opposite.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Sideline from the previous because of yes.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Yeah, because you're now in the Jets locker room, whereas
last time you were there.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
The Giants locker room. Interesting.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
I don't know if anyone else finds that interesting. I
kind of do. Hey, some creatures can I I'm going
to get into what's the forecast? Have we done this?
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Or are fifty degrees and you're looking good?
Speaker 3 (24:42):
You're serious looking.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Good on Sunday in that Manhattan area in Jersey, you're
looking good right around fifty degrees. So weather shouldn't be
an issue out there. I love that about that.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Fantastic.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
It is that time of year. It's the Christmas This
is our Christmas edition. I guess miss Lera over tonight
it is jj Sek. It usually joins us. He's on
assignment somewhere. I think he's near the North Pole actually
right now. So we will say hi to him next week.
But I gotta ask you, hey, Christmas in Indiana in
in December. Nothing to be greater than just to have
(25:13):
after the up and down season, the peaks and valleys,
the benching of this, the Joe Flacco that, and stuff
like this, Colts win the final three games, get a
little bit of help from their friends on the outside
and dog Doug on it, go on the road and
play a playoff team. But I'm bringing that up is
because this team could be one of the hotter teams
in the NFL if the reddling off three losses. I
know they're not great opponents, but get Anthony Cook and
(25:34):
tell me who wants.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
To try to face Jonathan Taylor right now?
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Like who are or Anthony yeah? Or this offensive line
or you know the defense that had three takeaways in
consecutive weeks, right, I mean, goodness, gracious.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Not one couch that happens.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
I'm right.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
It is also like, let's also note the fact that
this defense has been really good against the run since
coming out of the bye week as well, Like that's
another factor that I thought that you know, there was
some question about it, right around. You know, I don't
know a quarter to midway through the season, and you
know the way certain teams had been able to be
effective on the ground. But I think that they've really
tightened things up, you know, from a run defense stand point.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Normally, sorry, normally Tuesdays are off in the NFL season. Yeah,
Tuesdays are on this week.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Yeah, alter schedule so the guys can get so Wednesday
with Christmas.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
So Wednesday they can spend Christmas with their families that
includes you two need to touch on the overten. I
love the Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving holidays, the plan that you guys have.
I love it because you ended up at the horse track,
which I love, and you guys are down at Churchill
Downs as a family unit. What goes on in the
Overton household for this week? Hey, you're working.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
It's busy. Yeah, it's work busy.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
We'll spend Christmas Eve with my in laws and then
we will get up on Christmas Morning and we hide
down to my parents and we all get together with my.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Siblings and my niece and we spend the.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Entire day like all together, telling stories, talk and opening
up gifts, eating together. There's quite often we venture down
the street, uh for hibachi. Okay, Christmas tradition, right, just
like Santa intended, you know, but yeah, so that's normally
what we did. So it is it's it's really fun
(27:14):
and I'm gonna steal a little extra time and hopefully,
uh stay down on Thursday so i can see see
my grandma, get a.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Little time with her. And I know, I know, I'm
really worried.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
I'm on the don't I made a joke on Twitter
last week that my toxic trait is that I can
pretty much find a promo code for any item I'm
purchasing online, only for it to be negated by the
fact that I procrastinated and have to pay expedited shipping
to get it. So I'm like feverishly refreshing to be like,
where's you know, my tracking, you know, all of those things.
(27:45):
So my niece's gift is in transit, so she she
may have to open something else.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
That's okay, that's okay. Those day after Christmas gifts are
even great too, because you think everything's done, but then
you know, and l O comes in with from the
from the rafters.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Yeah, you know, that's what I try to finish it
off and that's what they remember.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
The last thing, man is exactly well, have fun and
you mentioned Twitter on that. Follow Lara Overton on Twitter,
ax at Lara Overton and of course at Colts dot com.
The latest news always there for you. The Giants, await.
I mean, we know what the situation is. We're gonna
be scoreboard watching. But bottom line, at the end of
the day, lo before we say goodbye, this team's humming
right now. They put on an incredible performance rushing the football,
(28:24):
carry whatever you have to over get, take care of business,
get a thirty four to seven win, and have a
nice ride home and get ready for the Jaguars and
knock on wood, roll it out. The Colts are playing
for a playoff berth come week eighteen.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Hey, my thing is, just play your best football of
the year in these final two games. Let everything else
take care of itself. That's that's where I stand. Best
games of the year coming up, That's what you need
to see.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
They're coming. Something's happening in this locker room right now.
Some people say it might be a little late. I say, no,
it's right on time for where we're at right now.
Win three out, get some help on the outside and
watch this team go into the playoffs. As usual, we
say thanks to Abo who's taking care of us behind
the camera. But we also have an extra VIP guest
new studio today. Will you share with us who's watching
(29:06):
this podcast.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Yeah, we've got hanging out with us for the holiday.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Samaria Stewart, the sister of linebacker Grant Stewart.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Love Grants.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
She is an.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Aspiring star in sports media and studying communications and broadcasting
and all of those things. So she is in town
for the holiday and decided to come hang out with
us for a little bit. So it's great to have her,
and we're going to see a lot more of her
because she's gonna be around.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Okay, stick around because we could be using you in
a couple of weeks. We need some info on the
playoff team. So thanks for being here today, and thank
you for being here today. As usual, Elo love chatting
with you. This is the hit and run edition of
Colt's official podcast. Rather the Official Colts podcast. We're coming
back with more this week. Colts dot Com will be
loaded at Letra Overton on Twitter will be loaded. It
(29:49):
is a Christmas holiday, but at the in the back
of your head, keep it in mind. It's a big
week for the Colts, a big week on the road,
getting a win against the team that they should and
of course the Jacksonville Jaguars in those dice and it
could be a heck of an NFL story that nobody
wants to play the Colts come first week of the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
Hello, you with me, I'm with you, Jeffrey, all right.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Have a great time in New York, but we'll see
you in a couple of days leading up to that.
For Larra Overton, I'm Jeffrey Gorman. Thanks for you guys
for watching on the on the YouTube channel as well
as the Colts Audio Network. You listeners, we got more
coming from you. Always check Colts dot com and let's
go this. This season far from over right there, keep
the faith, let's go have am Marry Christmas.
Welcome to the Official Colts Podcast. My name is Jeffrey Gorman.
This is Lara Overton. We're coming at you in good
spirits today, obviously after a huge Division win against the
Tennessee Titans. And Lara, and by the way, thank you
for watching on YouTube and our Colts Audio Network listeners
as well. Lara, you were there, I mean you were
everywhere as usual, but boy, that one was fun because
(00:26):
we're gonna talk about the offensive line play in a
little bit, but I heard Ryan Kelly say, there's not
a more beautiful sight in the NFL than watching Jonathan
Taylor run by and beat everybody to the house.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Exactly, all by himself, clear across the goal line. In fact,
even emphatically double classic on that first to touchdown into
the tunnel to reinforce it. The fact that you not
only got one but two of those huge explosive plays
by him, and it was all set up really by
the effectiveness of Anthony Richardson to getting going early on right,
(00:58):
and we're starting to see this was so long awaited.
Of course, Jonathan Taylor, I don't think has that type
of game with that type of production one if you
don't have just incredible o line play. But also if
you don't have the threat of a rushing quarterback. You know,
if you don't have a healthy Anthony Richardson, you don't
necessarily probably see that type of production from Jonathan Taylor
(01:19):
in the run game.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Let me let me just start here. I mean, it's
a head scratcher, but we got so much good to
talk about right now. But is there any concern I
know this is more of a question for Shane Stikeen,
but we're seeing Anthony Richardson's numbers through the air pretty
consistent in that eleven ten, that's twelve, that fourteen times
that they're trying. Is that what this offense is being
(01:41):
built by? Or is there My point is there's two
games left and knock on wood playoffs. We'll get to
that in a minute. But if this young man needs
to put it up thirty two times a game, you
know what I'm saying, in order to be an opponent
coming back from being behind so much, is this team
ready for that sort of scenario?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I think that this is right now, what this team
is going to be. Right You're gonna want to try
to identify with the ground game. That's where you're going
to try to dominate teams and if it's working, if
it's effective, you're not going.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
To go away from it.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
That's something that Shane was asked about on Monday and
his availability. You know about Anthony's numbers, But yeah, when
it's working so well, why do you go away from it? Sure,
we saw the one interception, but we saw some other,
you know, great passes by Anthony over the course of
the day.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
I mean the A d Mitchell catch.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
I mean I thought that kind of highlight A little
bit got buried in the conversation just because you wanted
to go.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
By the way exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
That was a great ball.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
You had the pass to Josh Downs which resulted in
a touchdown off the Kenny Moore interception. So I think
if you're really looking to maybe, okay, this is what
the completions are, I'm rather that I'd rather them just
be productive rather than needing a whole lot of them.
But it's like, Okay, the passes, the completions that were
there were really good ones. Another thing that I talked
(02:53):
with Anthony about last week in the locker room. I
asked him, when you and Shane go back and you
break down philm and you watch games. What are the
areas with which you place the highest priority or you know,
you remember the old weighted grading system, you know.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
So where are you weighing most heavily? Is it? You know,
third down conversion? You know, what is it? You know,
is it completions? Whatever? Those?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
You know, all the different factors are that you take
into account because there's so many of them, of course
with quarterbacks, and Anthony really said it's decision making where
he places the highest priority. So that's one of the
things I think that you want to see him over
the course of these final two games continue to really
prove that astute decision making and put him in position
(03:40):
to do that well based on establishing yourself in the
run game being really productive there. Because one thing I
talked to Shane Steike in early this week about too,
is just how much Anthony's confidence and not to say
he ever lacks confidence, but just how it continues to
spark his confidence when he gets going on the ground
and when he has the ground game.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Working around to He was huge. I mean, he was,
you know, nine for seventy yards plus a great TD
being led by Quentin Nelson and such like that. I mean,
obviously I love watching him. If he can get that
seventy to one hundred and ten yards with his legs
as a quarterback and stay healthy. Boy, you're talking about
a unicorn there. But it's always tough to that. But
you're so right, because if we do have Joe Flack
or this offense was last year with Gardner Minshew, I
(04:21):
don't think the success is there for Jonathan Taylor. Nothing
against those two quarterbacks, but it's the threat of having
Anthony Richardson in there. Ourpo type stuff like that. And
we saw three hundred and I'll say it again, three
hundred and thirty five yards rushing from this Colts offense,
which was absolutely through the roof. Is that all offensive
line or is that a potential MVP candidate in Jonathan Taylor?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Man, I think it is. It's a lot of O.
Line is certainly a lot of Jonathan Taylor. Also, when
I talked to quent Nelson after the game, he said
it's a lot on ar like putting us in the
right situations, making the right reads and of course at
the line of scrimmage, different things like that. And then
I also got to give credit to the height ends
because in the radio broadcast, Matt Taylor and Rick Ventura
(05:04):
were really quick to point out how active and involved
Drew Ogletree was up there.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
So I think that and that is a lot on.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
The coaching and the scheme to use him in those
situations to help get that going as well. And of
course you've got the other tight ends there as well.
It was just a couple of pivotal situations in which
ogle Tree proved how productive he was blocking on some
of those JT runs. But I mean JT just following
Quentin Nelson in so many of those situations. You know,
Ryan Kelly talked about the site of C and JT
(05:34):
break those off, you know, down the sidelines and no
one can catch him. Man, the sight of seeing big
Q just dominate, you know, other massive humans up front.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
I mean, that was a fantastic site. One thing too,
to circle.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Back on Anthony and you're talking about obviously the passing game.
I do think it's worth pointing out that I think
if you had not had as much stop and start
this season for him based on injury, then you brought
Joe Flack, I think those numbers would be higher. But
I think that the fact that you've had these breaks
in the continuity. He hasn't been able to just consistently
(06:08):
build on that weekend and weak out. It's been a
somewhat maybe a little bit more feast or famine. Right
when you see just those beautiful deep shots, you know
that you have to Alec Pierson those situations well. Because
of just missing the games that he has intermittently, I
think that that has stalled maybe some of the growth
that you would have liked to have seen to this point.
So right now, I think you'll look at the opportunities
(06:29):
that you have remaining. You build on the great things
you have in the run game, and then you're gonna
see maybe a little bit of this offense be tailored
to capitalizing on some of that continuity between your quarterback
and the wide receivers as you get through of course,
you know latter part of this season now on into the.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Continuity is so important offensive line talk. This teame, as
we said, three hundred and thirty five yards on the ground.
JT within an incredible day. You know, I'm just adding
two plus two, it's equal in four. Ryan Kelly comes
back after missus five weeks. Is that the cornerstone that says, hey,
if we want to rush the football in Indianapolis, seventy
eight needs to be snapping them.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I kind of teased head coach Shane Steichen about that
when we had him for Coltster sixty this week. I
was like, Hey, and any coincidence that your Pro Bowl
center comes back and you have you know, a single
game franchise record in rushing that day. And he's like, No,
that's a big factor in it, for sure. And that's
not to slight anyone on the offensive line because all
the rotations, I mean, the different combinations you have had
(07:24):
on that front five this year and the level with
which they've played has been incredible. Credit to that entire room,
to coach Sperano, all of that, but I do think
that was a big factor in there. And another thing too,
like I was just looking to I talked to guys
in the locker room about JT having the type of
bounce back that he did coming off of course Denver
(07:46):
the mistake there everything. He really took that to heart.
A couple of guys who I talked to are captains
on this team, so I was interested in what they
had to say, and I asked Kenny Moore about it
and Kenny said, from the person side of it, just
talking to him, you know, I met up with him
over the course of the week, talk to him on
the sidelines. Just so proud of how he responded and
(08:07):
seeing him do that shows growth.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
And I talked to Quentin Nelson.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
I thought he was so great after the game, Quentin said,
not surprised in how he responded. He goes Actually kind
of surprised though, because I was expecting him to bounce back,
but seeing him do what he did was crazy. So certainly,
you know, expected that to see a good game from him,
and you know, to see him kind of overcome some adversity,
but even the offensive line was like, man, we didn't
(08:34):
necessarily see a level to this type of production.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
He said, that was just crazy. I love Jonathan Taylor
and appreciate the work that he puts in.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
So I just thought, in a season in which wins
and miles, stones and records have all been so hard
to come by, to have a game like that in
which there was so much to celebrate, and you saw
rewriting of the history books by the way with Drin
James and the how good was that right to have
edge have a gold jacket guy for a day like that.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Maybe we should bring Edgrin along.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
To Easy York.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Can you make that call?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Hey to hey, winter time in New York, I mean
Christmas time in New York. That's an easy get Yeah,
Edge come on here. Yeah hopefully it was. It was
having Edge out there before I forget. I just want
to tip the hat because you said it best offensive Lineman,
great day, tight end unit for the Colts, th bo
Ally Cox obviously with the reception, but you talk about
those guys getting down and dirty, especially like Drew Ogletree.
(09:31):
Like we said, it takes a village to get it
going and to have that sort of output from Jonathan Taylor.
Tip of the hat to you, got you tight ends.
We're not forgetting about it.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I want to bring up too, is a lot of
people were like, oh, yeah, well that's a game you should.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Have won, Like Tennessee's having a down yere.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
I don't care that Tennessee front is as good as
almost any in the league, right.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Andrey Simmons to buy sweat the rookie, Yeah, that's three
hundred and sixty six pounds.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Right there, exactly, know exactly, So just that's that's one
thing too to do it like that with the battle
you had in the trenches.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Let's flip switch a little bit. Hey, hats off and
again clap to you guys on the defensive side of
the ball, because for a long time it was quite dominant. Dominant,
But there was a twenty three unanswered point run. Lara,
touch on that a little bit. What do you think
I didn't have a chance to ask Shane that earlier today,
but we will find out. But just what's your take
on that? Haven't at home game? You're up a lot, obviously,
(10:20):
he sat Jonathan Taylor, then he brought him back into
the game. But twenty three unanswered when you're up at
such a wide margin, a little bit of a cause
for concern? What do you think that was?
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
And Shane said that that's something he's really going to
look deeper into. Certainly, you know, that is an area
that they want to address and things that you want
to tighten up. I talked to Kenny Moore about it
in the locker game after so in the locker room
after the game, and he said, certainly a lot of
room for improvement. And I said, you know, I kind
of teed it up as Hey, how good was it
to finish the game with the ball in your hands
(10:50):
right your second takeaway on the day, and he said,
but he really pointed to he addressed that, but then
quickly turned too without my even provoking him. A lot
of room for improvement, certainly situations that I could have
been better for the team. And he said, just talking
about it, like being complimentary. That is something that they
have harped on and harped on. This was the best
outing in which they'd done that from a standpoint of
(11:11):
the offense, capitalizing on the defense, putting them in good situation.
He said, that's something we take pride in. But he
did see He's like, yeah, it got too close there.
He said, you know there were some things that we changed.
You said whenever you get up big, because something I
noted within our radio broadcast when they were up so significantly,
Matt Taylor asked me like, hey, how's the sideline? And
(11:32):
I was like, man, we haven't been able to breathe
in a game in so long, so, you know, late
in the third quarter or whatever it was, at one point,
things were feeling pretty good.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
So you do have some things that you want to
tighten up.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
I think that that would be something that from you know,
a play call and a situation standpoint, that you would
imagine that Gus and Shane would sit down and evaluate
things that they might do differently in that situation. It's
going to be interesting, of course this week with New York.
Sure who they're going to put in at quarterback? You know,
is it de Vito? Is it back to him?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
But whoever you have a quarterback, you still have the
leak neighbors.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
That's right, And that's that's twenty targets a game.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
I mean, and I mean it was really you know
what you're looking at too. From Tennessee it was Calvin
Ridley and it was Taja Spears.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
The most part, right, So Kenny gets a touchdown, it
seems to.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Have the games Rushbrook.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
He doesn't have a lot of numbers, but he always
seems end up getting such true. It really was a
dominant performance for most of the game like that. And
a couple of picks from Kenny Moore, who you talked about,
you talked with in the locker room. I want to
give Jalen Carlis a tip of the hat. He's been
on the bench. Ben heard obviously an athletic guy, that
Shane Stikeen calls him, but he led the team in
tackles going out there.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I mean the fact that he'd been off I don't
even know how many weeks he'd missed with the shoulder injury,
but comes off of ir and I just him asked
him about how good it was to have such contribution
when you'd been off for so long, and he just
gave a ton of credit. He said, it was so
great to be back out there. Was really hard for
him to be on the sidelines. Gave it ton of
(13:00):
credit for his teammates having faith in him to take
on that heavy of a workload.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Of course, because EJ. Speed was out. And one of
the things that I observed over the course of the
game was that EJ. Speed kept coming up to J. C.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Carlis when he would come off of the field and
was really in his face giving him certain cues, helping
him make certain adjustments that Jalen said really made.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
The difference for him.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
And there were things that he said EJ was telling
him over the course of the week, even that came
up in the game that he went back to and
the impact that EJ had had in making sure that
JC stepped in there to have such a big game.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
Loved to see that from the rookie.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
That's a huge moment for him because when you have
not gone through maybe some of that adversity and you've
missed that degree of time, it can be really difficult
and guys to need a certain degree of time to
get back into you know what we hear guys call,
you know, game shape or game speed. And the fact
that it was almost a snap of the fingers, it was,
(13:57):
you know, back like he never.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Left for futures. Bright Jase played a heck of a game,
right there, Sammy Walmack, that's also a game. That's two
in a row, two games in a row, two first
in his career.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
About consecutive interception games.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Yeah, so we want to give him a game ball,
and I'm just can I tell you?
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Can I tell you though, like, if you can get
Juju Bruns back for these last two obviously he's been
making progress. I would really love to see what he
can do in there. Will be interested to see over
the course of the week. A little bit curious, Jalen
Jones left the game with a throat injury.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
He actually went directly to the locker room.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
So later in the week we will you know, get
the injury report all of those things to see maybe
what their status is. But it's going to be an
interesting week for the secondary. Can Jaln Jones go? Is
this the time for ju ju brunts to come back?
What is Sam Walmack's role in all of this? Is
going to be some moving parts for the secondary. But
you think about Sam Walmack, I mean he was signed
on August twenty eighth, you know, so it's been really
(14:51):
I think he's been significant, of course for this team
and uh yeah, really really happy to have him as
part of that cult secondary.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
I always do it week in and week out. And
if you don't watch the game, not saying that I do,
I'm a fan just like everyone else is. But what
DeForest Buckner does week in and week out, you may
not see it. In the sacks, the tackles for loss,
you may not see it. But what this gentleman does,
and you can back me up on this, is that
he's gonna get double team quite a bit. And if
he gets double team, they say, hey, pinch him off
(15:21):
on this side and keep him out of the play. Well,
that doesn't happen even on the double team. He wrecks
offensive game plans that double team I talked about, Well,
he'll slip through and he'll go into a slot that
he's not supposed to be yet. But he does that
play in and play out, and it doesn't show up
in the statles and statuet rather and in my book,
you know, if if we're picking an MVP for this team,
(15:42):
the forrest right at the top.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
It's and it's too the way that he dominates. He
doesn't just like make plays every single time that he
comes up with a play.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
It's absolutely dominating.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
The man across from I mean, he is a menace
there up front, and he is the.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Model of consistency for this team.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
That's something that's uh, oh no, you're good water. Are
we gonna call in the career? Greg grab grab JG
some water right here? So last week, DeForest Buckner was
asked about that teammates so frequently refer to him and
they describe how consistent he is, and he said that
(16:25):
that is the ultimate compliment that he can get is
for his teammates to look to him and try to
be consistent. And I think about it's the way that
he models it in wins in losses in seasons. When
you're on win streaks in Susan's in seasons, win you
got a few l's in a row. The approach that
DeForest Buckner has, like, that's a guy who you say
(16:46):
to any you know, rookie, any young player who comes in,
watch how DeForest Buckner does it.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
And I mean just the level with which he has played.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
I'm looking at the line five tackles, a tackle for loss,
and a past defense. He has now five consecutive games
with the TfL, which is tied for the third longest
active streak in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Is believing.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
And here's the other thing too, This might be the
greatest testament that I can give to DeForest Buckner. He
elevates the play of every single guy playing next to him. Sure,
that's the other thing, is the way that he makes
the entire defensive line better. It's no coincidence that Grover
Stewart has a career year season and in season out
since the addition of DeForest Buckner. You look at guys here,
(17:28):
I mean, you know, Taekwon Lewis last year, you know
obviously the year that he has just kind of how
infectious DeForest Buckner is with the way he rises everyone
you know around him, a guy like Quitty pay Laatu
Latu dioid Agbo, like, I mean, just everyone up there.
You know, there's no coincidence that they are getting better
and better the more time that they spend in a
room with DeForest.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
By Absolutely, and he's contagious. That's that's what I love
about him. He's absolutely contagious, and any one of these
general managers across the NFL know what he means to
a defense. So we're talking with Lara Overton right now
about what's happening for the next two weeks. That's where
I want to get into Lara right now is we're
playing a team that really has no identity. And I'm
(18:10):
not the New York Giants certainly have an identity. I'm
just talking about this year. They've had, you know, their
starting quarterback come in and they end up cutting them
during the year and stuff like that. And then there's
you know, the head coaches on the hotchs. You know,
what are they gonna do with all that. It's a
great franchise, but it's a perfect time for the Colts
to go in any thing. Obviously, know one with our
playoff chances. We have to win out. I just want
(18:31):
to look at these guys really quick. And my scouting
report on the New York Giants is who's ever playing quarterback?
Whether it's de Veto, whether it's Lock, whether it's tot
Tim Boyle. Guy, they're gonna look sixteen to twenty times
a game to throw it to Malik Neighbors. That's like
the offense of the Giants right now, is that connection
between quarterback and you know, the top pick that they
(18:53):
got in this recent draft, and they also got a
pretty good running back of rookie running back he's doing
a little bit out of Purdue named Tracy. But it
really is they're just struggling for offensive identity and defensive identity.
What do you think of this thing? What are the
Colts happened? What did they don't have to do? Going
in on the road this time of year, it's going
to be you know, Christmas everywhere in New York City.
(19:13):
But you have to take care of business in order
to move on.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Try to remember, like, did did the Colts face Tim Boyle?
Like I feel like in the last two seasons at
some point I feel like that they saw him briefly,
in some situation, I have to do a.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Deep do I want to say yes, I feel like
we did.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
I know, somebody write in in the comments and help me,
help refresh me. But Brian Dables said on Monday that
Drew Locke is having an MRI on his right shoulder,
So that's kind of the update that you're looking for
from that perspective. Yeah, I think what you gotta do,
it's it's this is nothing novel. But one of the
things is you got to limit the explosives, right, and
that goes to like not allowing Molik Neighbors to single
(19:48):
handed because especially like you saw, that's a little bit
what the Titans were trying to do with you with
Calvin Ridley, right, So you've got to be.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Able to you know, have coverage.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
You gotta be stick on Neighbors, not allow him to
beat in Burnia. And then the other thing is you
got to take care of the football and win the
turnover battle. Of course, you saw Tennessee come up with
one interception and I thought the Colts are obviously adjusted
well off of that. Really stuck with the ground game
for the most part after that. So yeah, really got
to limit the interceptions on that standpoint, would like to
(20:21):
see hopefully, you know, you saw the explosive plays in
the run game obviously with Jonathan Taylor, you saw the one,
I mean, the ad Mitchell catch that that I mentioned.
Hopefully Alec Pierce's back, because if you can get him back,
that's really going to help in the downfield passing game
to have some of those weapons, because obviously everyone's gonna
from a defensive standpoint, they're really going to key in
(20:42):
on trying to limit Pitt and what he's able to do.
And I just think that that next level that Alec
Pierce can give you, especially now if you know, if
you can get ad Mitchell going off of what we
saw last week and those two can continue to be
in compliment with one another, would really love to see
you kind of bring back a little bit of what
we got a glimpse of early on in the season
(21:04):
with that connection between ar And and Alec Pierce.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
So those are a few things I think.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
For me, I just think, though, you know, your your
defense and what they have done of late has been
so strong, and you want to see them, you know,
to have that level of consistency. If I had to
say one thing where the Colts have lacked is it's
playing sixty minutes, it's playing.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
A full four quarters.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
You get kind of these lapses at one point in
another that that there was it was great that you
saw them, you know, win, as coach Venturi calls the roundabout,
finish off that second quarter strong and start the third
quarter strong. You've got to keep that up and just
kind of maintain that throughout the course of the game.
That's one thing I'm looking to.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
It's just there's no lapse.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
There's none of these kind of lulls in the game
that you allow, you know, get a team like Tennessee
to come back in, you know, allow the New York
Giants to you know, find a bit of a rhythm.
You don't want to do that because if it who
whatever is out there, a quarterback, if they get that
rhythm going with neighbors, it's gonna be really difficult to
try to counter that install that.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
To make some sense of the playoff situation. It's pretty easy.
I'm gonna make it. It's pretty easy this week. And
the reason I'm saying is just win baby. The main
concentration is just beating the Giants. By the way, those
Giants thirty four to seven losers to a rookie quarterback
his first time playing in the NFL. Michael Pennix comes
in and torches them for thirty, you know, thirty four points.
(22:28):
I'm just saying, I mean, we are in a good
position to take care of business. What that is is
beat the Giants. Then we'll worry about what Week eighteen
of the NFL season means. But I will say this,
we want to root this season. Excuse me, this week,
root and root hard for the New England Patriots.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Oh that's hard to do.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Vegas, the Vegas Raiders, and we also want to bring
on the Cincinnati Bengals. Cheer them on, and cheer on
Kansas City because those two teams, those four teams are
playing the Chargers and the Denver Broncos, which we get
into it becomes a hornet's nest. I'm not going to
go into it and break it down. Just root on
those teams. Who's ever playing the Chargers and who's ever
played the Broncos, And of course root on the Colts.
(23:06):
Now next week, at this time, we get a win
that one of these two things happened right there. Now
we're talking because It could come down to a one
game showdown beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, have another opponent one
of these Broncos or Bengals, lose like that, and you
are in the playoffs with a win. So I don't
want to get in front of myself. But that's what
we're looking at.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Can I throw something out sea?
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Do you think there is any benefit or advantage for
the Colts and the fact that they are going to
New York and they played in this venue earlier on in.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
The season when you played the Jets.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Obviously you're probably staying in the same hotel room.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Miss Overton different.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
It was a different place, unfortunately, because we didn't know
if the game would be Saturday or Sunday, of course
until just two weeks ago. So no, weren't able to
get the same hotel. But we've not played out there,
you know, a couple of times in the last two years.
So yeah, second home exactly in New Jersey. I'm a
second residence.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
We get a peloton, we get one of those pelotons
in Oh.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
No, the studio. No, I won't be able to do it.
That's okay, they probably have one at the hotel. I'll
hop on but the benefit for the Colts, the fact
that they played in this very stadium and Anthony Richardson
engineered a game winning drive to close it out.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
You think that there's benefit there, absolutely. I think so
as a little.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Bit affiliate, even though even though, as Shane pointed out
to me, you're actually in the opposite locker room and
on the opposite.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Sideline from the previous because of yes.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Yeah, because you're now in the Jets locker room, whereas
last time you were there.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
The Giants locker room. Interesting.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
I don't know if anyone else finds that interesting. I
kind of do. Hey, some creatures can I I'm going
to get into what's the forecast? Have we done this?
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Or are fifty degrees and you're looking good?
Speaker 3 (24:42):
You're serious looking.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Good on Sunday in that Manhattan area in Jersey, you're
looking good right around fifty degrees. So weather shouldn't be
an issue out there. I love that about that.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Fantastic.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
It is that time of year. It's the Christmas This
is our Christmas edition. I guess miss Lera over tonight
it is jj Sek. It usually joins us. He's on
assignment somewhere. I think he's near the North Pole actually
right now. So we will say hi to him next week.
But I gotta ask you, hey, Christmas in Indiana in
in December. Nothing to be greater than just to have
(25:13):
after the up and down season, the peaks and valleys,
the benching of this, the Joe Flacco that, and stuff
like this, Colts win the final three games, get a
little bit of help from their friends on the outside
and dog Doug on it, go on the road and
play a playoff team. But I'm bringing that up is
because this team could be one of the hotter teams
in the NFL if the reddling off three losses. I
know they're not great opponents, but get Anthony Cook and
(25:34):
tell me who wants.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
To try to face Jonathan Taylor right now?
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Like who are or Anthony yeah? Or this offensive line
or you know the defense that had three takeaways in
consecutive weeks, right, I mean, goodness, gracious.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Not one couch that happens.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
I'm right.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
It is also like, let's also note the fact that
this defense has been really good against the run since
coming out of the bye week as well, Like that's
another factor that I thought that you know, there was
some question about it, right around. You know, I don't
know a quarter to midway through the season, and you
know the way certain teams had been able to be
effective on the ground. But I think that they've really
tightened things up, you know, from a run defense stand point.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Normally, sorry, normally Tuesdays are off in the NFL season. Yeah,
Tuesdays are on this week.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Yeah, alter schedule so the guys can get so Wednesday
with Christmas.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
So Wednesday they can spend Christmas with their families that
includes you two need to touch on the overten. I
love the Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving holidays, the plan that you guys have.
I love it because you ended up at the horse track,
which I love, and you guys are down at Churchill
Downs as a family unit. What goes on in the
Overton household for this week? Hey, you're working.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
It's busy. Yeah, it's work busy.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
We'll spend Christmas Eve with my in laws and then
we will get up on Christmas Morning and we hide
down to my parents and we all get together with my.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Siblings and my niece and we spend the.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Entire day like all together, telling stories, talk and opening
up gifts, eating together. There's quite often we venture down
the street, uh for hibachi. Okay, Christmas tradition, right, just
like Santa intended, you know, but yeah, so that's normally
what we did. So it is it's it's really fun
(27:14):
and I'm gonna steal a little extra time and hopefully,
uh stay down on Thursday so i can see see
my grandma, get a.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Little time with her. And I know, I know, I'm
really worried.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
I'm on the don't I made a joke on Twitter
last week that my toxic trait is that I can
pretty much find a promo code for any item I'm
purchasing online, only for it to be negated by the
fact that I procrastinated and have to pay expedited shipping
to get it. So I'm like feverishly refreshing to be like,
where's you know, my tracking, you know, all of those things.
(27:45):
So my niece's gift is in transit, so she she
may have to open something else.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
That's okay, that's okay. Those day after Christmas gifts are
even great too, because you think everything's done, but then
you know, and l O comes in with from the
from the rafters.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Yeah, you know, that's what I try to finish it
off and that's what they remember.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
The last thing, man is exactly well, have fun and
you mentioned Twitter on that. Follow Lara Overton on Twitter,
ax at Lara Overton and of course at Colts dot com.
The latest news always there for you. The Giants, await.
I mean, we know what the situation is. We're gonna
be scoreboard watching. But bottom line, at the end of
the day, lo before we say goodbye, this team's humming
right now. They put on an incredible performance rushing the football,
(28:24):
carry whatever you have to over get, take care of business,
get a thirty four to seven win, and have a
nice ride home and get ready for the Jaguars and
knock on wood, roll it out. The Colts are playing
for a playoff berth come week eighteen.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Hey, my thing is, just play your best football of
the year in these final two games. Let everything else
take care of itself. That's that's where I stand. Best
games of the year coming up, That's what you need
to see.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
They're coming. Something's happening in this locker room right now.
Some people say it might be a little late. I say, no,
it's right on time for where we're at right now.
Win three out, get some help on the outside and
watch this team go into the playoffs. As usual, we
say thanks to Abo who's taking care of us behind
the camera. But we also have an extra VIP guest
new studio today. Will you share with us who's watching
(29:06):
this podcast.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Yeah, we've got hanging out with us for the holiday.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Samaria Stewart, the sister of linebacker Grant Stewart.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Love Grants.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
She is an.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Aspiring star in sports media and studying communications and broadcasting
and all of those things. So she is in town
for the holiday and decided to come hang out with
us for a little bit. So it's great to have her,
and we're going to see a lot more of her
because she's gonna be around.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Okay, stick around because we could be using you in
a couple of weeks. We need some info on the
playoff team. So thanks for being here today, and thank
you for being here today. As usual, Elo love chatting
with you. This is the hit and run edition of
Colt's official podcast. Rather the Official Colts podcast. We're coming
back with more this week. Colts dot Com will be
loaded at Letra Overton on Twitter will be loaded. It
(29:49):
is a Christmas holiday, but at the in the back
of your head, keep it in mind. It's a big
week for the Colts, a big week on the road,
getting a win against the team that they should and
of course the Jacksonville Jaguars in those dice and it
could be a heck of an NFL story that nobody
wants to play the Colts come first week of the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
Hello, you with me, I'm with you, Jeffrey, all right.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Have a great time in New York, but we'll see
you in a couple of days leading up to that.
For Larra Overton, I'm Jeffrey Gorman. Thanks for you guys
for watching on the on the YouTube channel as well
as the Colts Audio Network. You listeners, we got more
coming from you. Always check Colts dot com and let's
go this. This season far from over right there, keep
the faith, let's go have am Marry Christmas.
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