October 16, 2025 • 50 mins
0:00-13:15- Pacers Sideline reporter and Pre/Halftime show host Pat Boylan joins. Boylan breaks down the Pacers through three preseason games, the expectation of TJ McConnell returning to the rotation and more.
13:15-34:44- Radio Voice of the Chargers Matt “Money” Smith joins. Money Smith gives an insider look at the Chargers, discusses the latest injury news on the Chargers, and more.
34:44-50:15- Voice of the Colts Matt Taylor joins. Taylor gives an impression of JMV. Then, the Colts conversation begins, starting with a preview of the Chargers.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Pacers and Action coming up tomorrow night right, Corbyn is
the Pacers and Action in San Antonio. Have you been
to San Antonio, Corbyn? You know they got that Riverwalk.
You can just go out here to the White River
and just walk up and down, or not the White River,
but the canal. Just walk coming down the canal and
it's awesome at the Riverwalk in San Antonio. But then
after about twenty minutes you're like, I think I just
passed that restaurant for the seventh time, and you realize
(00:21):
that you just walk, you go over bridge, you walk
in before you know what you're doing laps.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
But it is very cool.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
A lot of good restaurants in San Antonio and a
team that the Pacers are going to see for the
second time in a week. Joining us now on the
Java House Peel and Port guest line. He is, of
course on the radio network for the Indiana Pacers, Pat Boylan,
joining us. Pat, you have or have not been to
San Antonio?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I have.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
For those who don't know, I don't typically travel with
the Pacers on the road. I'm in the studio that
you're sitting in there right now. My brother lives in Austin,
and I did a one day, like nine to seven
day trips in San Antonio, so try to knock it
out in one day. Have done the riverwalk?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
It is nice.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Did you notice when you do the riverwalk that after
about twenty minutes you've passed the same spot for the
fourth time?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yeah, And when we went it was like late July
and approximately one hundred and five degrees, So I'm not
sure that's the perfect time to take in San Antonio.
But you know, nice, smaller sized, medium city.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
It is that that is a fair way of saying it.
It is also one that is epicentered around their NBA
team in the Spurs. And I want to begin with
this before we get into the Pacers, and there's plenty
to discuss there. But I mentioned this after going to
the game Monday. Pat, I know that we've known it.
I know that we have seen glimpses of it, and
then obviously he was hurt last year. But Victor Webbemyama
(01:42):
is truly the face of positionless basketball. Because to see
a guy that size bring the ball up the floor
and then effortlessly pull up from twenty eight and hit
a shot, all I could think to myself is there's
nothing you can do about this, right, I mean it
it was pretty impressive to witness up close and in person.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
One thing that blew my mind, and I've had the
chance to watch him a couple of times, but at
the center jump circle was Isaiah Jackson, who is maybe
a little undersize for a center, maybe just a little bit,
but in the center jump circle, it looked like a
center going up against the point guard. And Isaiah Jackson
is an NBA center. I mean, it was remarkable. Rick
Smiths was sitting, i think a little down from where
(02:29):
you were, and I wanted him to just go out
on the court and stand next to this guy because
Rick Smith's is seven to four and it just feels
like Victor Webbin Yama has three to four inches on him.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
I mean, it's like you're so used to watching when
you when you get the good fortune of either going
to NBA games regularly or working in the NBA, you're
so used to watching, you know, unproportional body types. And
then you see this guy and he's like his own stratosphere,
He's in his own solar system in that regard, and look,
it's the injury thing is the only thing that I
(03:02):
can possibly imagine that keeps him from being an MVP,
that keeps him from being a champion, that keeps the
Spurs from eventually winning a title at some point over
his career. I do think it's a big, big question
mark though. In fact, I was even reading an article
in the offseason about how the Spurs front office is
being a lot more aggressive than some front offices might
(03:24):
with a young player, thinking I've got, you know, ten
to fifteen years with this guy, because you know, they're
realistic that at age thirty four to thirty five can
he be doing this? We'll find out in ten plus years.
But that said, I mean he is just unicorn. Almost
has been thrown out there too often in sports. This
guy is the true definition of a unicorn. I've never
(03:50):
seen anything like it. And it's just amazing when he's
down there in the post, when he's got six inches
on the center guard him. But also he's got a
great handle. I think the one thing about his game
that you could look at and question would just be
and how could you not for a guy who's seven
to five or maybe taller. He turned it over a lot.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
He did. On Monday, I mean you can get physical
with him for sure, right.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Yeah, yeah, the physicality and then just you know, Durant
figured it out. He's seven foot not seventy five. But
can can a guy dribble at a seven five heights
and not get it swiped away all that often? But
it's nitpicking on what's going to be. I think an
extraordinary career for a player like we.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Never really well listen.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
I made the point on Tuesday, Pat Pat Boiling is
our guest Java House Peel and poor guest line. I
made the point on Tuesday that it's interesting you mentioned
Rick Smtz because they you know, he was sitting down
the way they introduced him. In my mind immediately raced
to when Rick Smitz was a player and that seven
foot four, his ability in nineteen ninety eight to pop
out and hit a ten to twelve footer was almost
(04:57):
an anomaly, you know. That was to drop Patrick ewing
away from below post was Wow, this is really, you know,
transcendent stuff the pacers are doing here, and yet I'm
looking at it and I'm going he would get three
quarters the way down the floor by the time Webb
and Miyama was putting the ball up you know what
I mean.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I mean, it.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Really is remarkable, just the evolution right in the way
that the game has gone. All right, So let's go
to the center position. I want to focus there, Pat
you mentioned it with Isaiah Jackson. Between Isaiah Jackson, obviously
Jay Huff and as well James Wiseman. I'm still waiting,
and I know it's very early for one of these
three to really separate themselves. Am I being too critical?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
No, I don't think you're being too critical. I think
we're all waiting, you know, for somebody to separate themselves. Albeit,
you know, you come into this with a couple of
guys coming off of major injuries, so I think it's
more than fair to give them time to get their
legs underneath them. It is only three preseason games. This is,
you know, perhaps the process that could take a few
weeks with guys come off significant injury.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
You know.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
The frustrating thing for Isaiah Jackson's last year was he
spent a lot of time, you know, as kind of
the third string center and coming in and filling in
spot minutes pretty nicely, I thought, in the first couple
of years of his career, and last year was supposed
to be really the year that we saw what Isaiah
Jackson could do in a regular rotation. Spotty played five
(06:22):
games towards Achilles that never happened. I'm still fairly optimistic
for him. I think it's two early three preseason games
in to say, you know, he doesn't look like the
starting center of the Pacers need him to be. But
you know, at the end of the day, I'm not
sure necessarily the Pacers need somebody who's gonna, as from
a starting center position, come in and play thirty two minutes.
(06:44):
You know, I can imagine a scenario where if Isaiah Jackson,
you know, gets his gets his bounce underneath him and
kind of settles in. You know, are you getting twenty
to twenty five minutes from Jackson, maybe ten to fifteen
minutes from Huff and then the other aspect that played.
You're in dynamic at play here.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
I don't think the.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Pacers are going to have to have a center on
the floor for forty eight minutes. I think they can
play small ball as the Obe top of at the five,
small ball at Pascal Siakam at the five. In fact,
they did a lot of that fairly successfully in the playoffs.
So I think we were talking on your show a
couple of weeks ago. When you look at Miles Turner
and Roy Hibbert, the Pacers for about seventeen years had
remarkable consistency in terms of you knew what your starting
(07:24):
center was going to be. For seventeen years, those guys
were the starting center for fifteen of them, and then
each of them a portion of another season where they
kind of platooned as the starting center. So this is
really hunique territory for Pacers fans to go into a
season and not be totally sure of who your starting
center is going to be. And in fact, when you
talk about Rick Smith, there's not a huge gap between
(07:47):
Rick Smith's days and Roy Hibbert's days. So the Pacers
have had remarkable consistency in that position. But I do
think it's certainly something where you're still looking for somebody
to separate themselves. And I think, you know, Rick Carlisle
goes into this with no pre conceive notions about how
it should look.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
If that's Jay.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Huff At, that seems Wiseman, even Tony Bradley, you know,
I don't think they're afraid to mix the match for combinations.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
There, well, pat the thing to me that stands out,
and I have to keep resetting myself. I mean it's
hard because you know, I think about the loss of
Miles Turner, and we you know, at some point we're
gonna have to quit talking about the loss of Myles Turner.
I get that, right, But we're still navigating through that,
and you almost forget that you're going into a season
(08:30):
with no Tyreese Halliburton, so you're like, okay, there. Does
that allows for some flexibility of figuring things out in
other areas perhaps, But Miles Turner, to me, and I've
made this point a lot on this show, he was
such an important part in terms of offensively being kind
of the center post that the ball went through, in
(08:51):
terms of that kind of weave offense that they run,
and then being able to obviously pop out and hit
a three if need be. Do they look for a
player or hope for a player that can replicate that
sort of style or does that or do they say
that's what made Miles Turner unique, and we cannot rest
on trying to replicate that. We've got to reinvent the
(09:14):
way we're playing.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
I think it's probably a little bit of both. I
think for this season it's probably more of the latter. Now,
you're always open to potential trade talks and conversations and things.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
That could work.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
I mean, we know that from Kevin Pritchard's perspective, he's
always been an aggressive president and general manager in terms
of looking for trades and that type of thing.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
But you know, I do.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Think that skill set is maybe the closest to Jay Huff.
I mean, he's a good perimeter player. I think he's
a pretty good screen setter, which actually Myles is never
a great screen setter, but you're right, he was the
fulcrum of the offense in those kind of dribble handoffs
and pitches between Hyre's Halliburton and Andrew m Hardware remain
stay of the offense with Carliles talked about it a
fair amount. You know, there's an adjustment to the system
(09:59):
around the player too. It's not just forcing these players
into a rigid system and saying, Okay, well this works
with Tyre's Halliburton and Miles Turner, so we have to
force it to work with Andrew Nemhard and Isaiah Jackson.
That's not what's going to happen here. So there's tweets,
there's adjustments, maybe even some significant adjustments in that regard.
You know, the flip side of that is, Miles Turner
(10:21):
never played huge minutes. He wasn't like a forty minutes
per game guy or even a thirty five minute per
game guy. So the Pacers got used to playing plenty
of minutes, especially last year with the rash of unfortunate
injuries to Jackson and to Wiseman. You know, they got
used to playing plenty of minutes per game without Miles
Turner on the floor and still making it work. So
you know, I think Jackson capable of that. I think
(10:43):
huff is capable of that. I haven't seen Wiseman enough
to know. And Bradley that's not his game. But look,
Tony Bradley got some NBA Finals minutes and and bring
some positives to it.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
So you know, you've got four guys. I think they
love Tony Bradley.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Not to cut you off there, I think they love
Tony Bradley's rebounding of physicality, and that's I think Tony Bradley,
of those guys, is the one that is the most specified,
but he does something differently than everybody else in the
fact that he goes in and in there are games,
if there are games where they need to control glass,
that is his role and he knows that's his role,
and it is go in there and get boards and
(11:20):
d up right. I mean he he seems to me
of the of those guys to be the most quintessential
low block down here root player.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Would you agree with that, no question?
Speaker 3 (11:31):
I mean what he is is defined. You know what
Tony Bradley is, which is not the guy that's going
to step out and hit a couple of threes per game.
But is those things that you just referenced, A good
rim protector, a good rebounder.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
And when you.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Look at this season coming up, when you don't have
Tyry Taliburton, you know Miles Turner is not available to
you anymore. Where our area is Okay, those are a
couple of significant losses, sure, and certainly in Halliburn's case,
But where are areas maybe that new players can find
some advantages that maybe how Burton and Turner can't, and
specifically Turner here. Rick Carlisle has been quite optimistic that
(12:04):
the Pacers are going to be a better rebounding team.
And we know that Miles Turner. I was a big
Miles Turner fan when he was here. I thought he
brought so much that he didn't always get credit for,
but rebounding was always a problem spot for him. Well,
I don't know if Tony Bradley is even going to
make the roster. I mean, it's a it's a fascinating
preseason in training camp because of that. You know, I
(12:26):
can't remember when things felt this open and this fluid
at a couple of positions. But if Bradley makes this roster,
I think part of the argument is, you know, he's
a he's a good rebounder, and this team feels like
they can rebound better and probably, you know, to be
Frank is going to need to rebound better than they
did last year to make up for some of the
things that they lost. And there's no question that Bradley's
(12:48):
good there and he's solid, and you know what you're
getting night in and night out, and there's there's certain
there's a certain advantage to having a player like that,
no question.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Pat is it going to be tough for Indiana after
this season because I think and I know it's early again,
but clearly they are going to have offensive sets that
are going to run through Benedick Matherin. Now, I know
that Rick Carlisle has said that Matherin is at his
best when he's kind of allowing offensive flow to dictate
his shots. But he is going to be a centerpiece
(13:18):
and perhaps even their leading scorer. I know Siakam obviously
is a big part of that as well. But then
to have to retweak that again once Halliburton comes back.
How do you see that Yin and Yang playing out?
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Yeah, I think first and foremost, you're hoping for the
type of season from Benedict Matherin that when Tyree Halliburton
does come back that you're saying, Okay, the development and
growth that Mathern got in twenty five to twenty six
without Tyree's Halliburton was tough, but ultimately it perhaps led
to a level of growth that maybe he couldn't have
(13:53):
gotten to otherwise. I mean, I think big picture here
is I zoom out on your question a little bit.
That's kind of my hope for this entire season. Look,
I'm not putting any ceiling on what this team can accomplish,
because if you would have done that each of the
last two years, I don't think many people saw what
happened happened, so I'm not doing that, But I do
think you look at the season and you say, Okay,
if the Pacers in a few years from now down
(14:14):
the road can have the level of success that they're
hoping to, maybe even win a championship, can they look
back at the twenty five to twenty sixth season as
a growth season that helped lead to that. And when
you take it from that premise, Benedict Matherin to me
is the guy that jumps out the most in you
know that concept, and I think I think it's a
(14:36):
big year for him to figure those things out at
a higher level so that when Tyrese Haliburton comes back,
it's not the adjustment that you know if it might
potentially be. I think if various he's improved upon. I
think he's quicker from a decision making perspective, I think
if it's processing and trending in the right direction. But
(14:57):
I think he has a lot of growth there and
I think the two way game of his will be
really important. Andrew Nemhard might not be able to defend
the best player on the floor like he did this
past year because they're going to need to ask him
to do a lot more offensively, so Benedict Matherin then
gets a much bigger spotlight on the defensive end potentially.
(15:18):
You know, Aaron Smith obviously will play a significant role
there too, and can he have the type of growth
defensively and then from a decision making perspective and a
ball movement perspective that makes the rest of this team work.
I think it's a huge storyline here for twenty five
twenty six, you.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Know, And it's interesting you mentioned the point, and you
know nim hard and running the offense and defensively, and
you know all the balance of that. TJ McConnell comes
into play there in terms of being able to spell
at that position as well. But I'm going to make
a statement and then Pat Boyl, and I want you
to critique for me how off base the statement is.
Because I'm wrong about you know, eight percent of the
(15:56):
time of things that I say. So I want you
to tell me if I'm wrong here. Okay, TJ McConnell
in coming off injury here in the preseason, you treat
it with kid gloves and you take as much time
as possible to get him back, partially because of the
fact that it is a season that you can perhaps
see what other players can do in that area, and
(16:18):
also partially because he is such a critically important piece
for them from an energy standpoint that because of his age,
you want to wait and preserve some of that for
when Halliburton comes out and not put too many miles
on it this year.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Your thoughts, I think.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
The general concept there is absolutely accurate. There's no reason
to try to rush TJ McConnell back until he is
one hundred percent and risk any sort of extra injury,
and that's never really been, you know, something that the
Pacers have done. They've almost always been cautious in these
type of scenarios for that exact reason. I think the
two reasons you bring up are potentially valid. And the
(16:58):
other one, you know, for this year is that without
Tyreeve Halliburton, when you lose another point guard like they
currently have with TJ McConnell, he will not be available
for the season opener. And the last we've heard from
him was Rick Carlisle saying, you know, we'll talk again
November nights, because it was October Nights when he announced
that he would be out for probably about a month
(17:19):
and said we'll talk again November nine. So he's going
to potentially miss, you know, upwards of ten games with
this hamstring injury.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
And then you look.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
At your point guard depth and maybe your strongest, deepest
position is now potentially a little bit in peril. You've
got Andrew Nemhart, it was as solid as they come.
But after that you're looking at you know, Cameron Payne,
who's who's a NBA vet and been a point guard
for a long time in this league, about ten years.
You know, you've got Quinton Jackson, although he suffered a
(17:50):
recent injury, Ray J.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Dennis.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
You've got players in there who are potentially intriguing, maybe
even a little bit of Pale and Peter. But that's,
you know, from from an expectations for that's very different
than going from Tyreese Halliburton to Andrew m Hart to
TJ McConnell. So the other reason why I think that's
accurate is because you can't risk pushing him back too
early and then having him sustain a longer injury that
(18:15):
keeps him out this year. I think the Pacers from
a depth and a point guard perspective, are just fine,
but if they start to suffer more injuries, I think
the margin for error in terms of injuries is a
lot less than it was last year. So you know,
I was on a podcast yesterday and I said, if
I could wave a magic wand and grant one Pacers
(18:36):
player health this year, my question is undoubtedly androinem Hart
because I think it's the most important player in terms
of the position that they need to be healthy. If
they lose him, you know, then they're really in a
challenging situation. Along those similar lines, you know, they're going
to need TJ McConnell to be healthy for a vast
majority of this season. So if he's not out there
(18:57):
for the first handful of games, you figure it out
in the meantime, but you get him back to one
hundred percent because it's obvious how impactful and important he
is on this team. We just saw it last year.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Pat most importantly, Red Panda back this year. Do we know?
Speaker 3 (19:10):
I thought I saw something that she is she's getting
back into the flow of things.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
I think that answer is yes, Okay, well we'll look
forward to it. You know how I am with the
halftime shows right likewise, Yeah, that's the gold standard with
that question.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
All right, Pacers and Spurs, that is going to be
tomorrow night, eight o'clock. You can hear that right here
on this radio station, Pat Boiling, along with of course
Mark Boyle and the Pacers Radio Network Eddie Gale also,
I assume going to be on that broadcast tomorrow night,
right Pat, Yes, sir, all right, we appreciate the time
as always, Pat, have a good weekend and chirp, chirp, good.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Luck to your cards. He thanks you good to talking
to Pat Boyl and.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Joining us on the progrem Speaking of this weekend, it
is cults out in La taking on the Chargers.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Corbin.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
I don't know if you happen to have the like
a little thing of peanuts or if you're going with
the cookies, but we are going to go ahead and
hop on a burd and take a road trip. Right,
wouldn't be a road trip if we're in a plane,
it's a plane trip. But nonetheless, we're gonna go out
to La. We will get the Chargers viewpoint on things.
We'll do it with the voice of the Chargers, and
we'll do it next. Did I say Matt Smith is
(20:14):
the voice of the Rams. I will confuse that ten
thousand times. Admittedly, Rams and Chargers. I obviously know he's
the voice of the Chargers, but when I think LA,
I still think Ram.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Now I don't.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
It's weird because I don't think San Diego Chargers per se.
But when I think La, Rams is the first thing
that comes to mind right off the top of my head.
I mean, they both are blue and yellow, they both
got the yellow thing going across the helmet, they're both
in LA, and now they play in the same stadium.
I'll get this confused until the end of time. I'm
(20:47):
gonna be completely screwed. When I'm older and I'm having
like some sort of cognitive issue and they're giving me
some sort of cognitive exam and they're like, well, just
ask him the simple question of which team plays in LA.
I'm like, oh, man, which one? And I'm gonna confuse it.
I'm gonna be completely like as I was at fifty three,
but I'm going to confuse it, no question about it.
Pacers in Action Tonight Tomorrow night, or excuse me, Pacers
(21:08):
and Action tomorrow night taking on the Spurs down in
San Antonio, and the the thing that's interesting to watch
because it's preseason, and I've never really gotten much into preseason,
but this year there is just so much question about
(21:32):
what they do roster wise, and furthermore, what they do stylistically.
And you know they've had already. I think a couple
of players that you look at and it's very easy.
Taylan Peter, by the way, you know, they're he has
(21:53):
a Ben Shepherd type feel about him. Their draft pick
from this year. And I don't mean that in the fact,
because they both came from, you know, a smaller school
and they are guys that got a little bit overlooked
and have the ability to hit an open shot or
a knockdown three if left open, and yet they also
(22:14):
can defend a rebound. And you know Cam Jones. We
haven't seen yet who was their first pick this year
in the draft because of injury. But Peter I think
has played. He looks like a Ben Shepherd player in
terms of and this might be the same situation that
took place with Jerrifs Walker and Ben Shephard. You know
(22:37):
Ben Shephard when those two came in. Just based on
rotation and other such things, Ben Shephard was getting minutes
before Jeris Walker and I think it was hard for
Jeris Walker. I think it was hard for Jeris Walker
to rotate in and to see those minutes be taken
(22:59):
by Ben Sheppard. But we'll see what happens with Cam
Jones now and Talon Peter.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Did you say we have Matt Corman? Is that what
you said? Yes, we do.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Joining us now on the Jaba House Peel and poor
guest line and his patients is greatly appreciated. Matt Smith
is the radio play by play voice of the Los
Angeles Chargers, and I made specific note to say Chargers
there because I still have that block with Chargers and Rams. Matt,
First off, man, how are you thanks for joining us?
Speaker 5 (23:25):
That's funny, like it's usually the opposite. It's not Chargers
Rams in Los Angeles, it's San Diego, Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Yes, people typically right, for sure, get wrong.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
Yeah, no worry on the patients. I'm just sitting on
the one ten Nightmare making my way over to Dodger Stadium.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
So all good.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Oh listen man, that means you've got you've gone what
probably two miles in the last forty five minutes or
something like that.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
It's not too bad.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
It's I'm coming from the Chargers facility in Elsa, Gundos,
not to get who cares about logistics, But yes, I've
just hit the log jam. I was cruising for a
while and now I'm staring it down and yeah, it's
gonna take a while.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yeah, here's what's interesting. So we anticipated that the Colt
season was going to look like rush hour on the
one ten and the fact that we didn't know, you know,
how it was going to go. And yet lo and behold,
the ways has been good for them because they're off
to the start that is surprising, and the Chargers is
a matchup that from the get go I thought was
going to be a challenge for them. I really like
(24:23):
Justin Herbert, but from the outside it seems as though
LA has had problems at times protecting him. Is that
too nuanced a statement to make?
Speaker 5 (24:33):
No, not at all, And they wouldn't have had any
problems protecting him had they not been dealing with these
catastrophic injuries across that front. Because Zion has really turned
into a heck of a guard after struggling his first
three seasons, and they signed McKay Beckton, who when he's
out there is fantastic. Then you got Slater and Alt
on the outside, and man, you got yourself a conversation
(24:56):
for the best O line in the league. Unfortunately, you know,
Rashaan Slater and All is gone in training camp, Joe All,
you know, gets rolled up on in the New York game,
and now you're on literally tackles six and seven. Their
backups Tray Pipkins and Jamari Sawyer were out last week,
so you're on Austin Deculis, a practice squad tackle, and
(25:16):
Bobby Hart, who they signed to the practice squad about
two weeks ago and hasn't started a game since twenty
twenty one. We're out there on Sunday, So that's that's
certainly what's led to it. They've had to adjust the way,
you know, this offense not looking like we think it
should look, and a lot a lot of these deep
shots taken advantage of all that strength that Herbert has
(25:37):
in that right arm of his.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
You know, it's interesting when you look at, for example,
Matt the way that they distribute the ball through the
air with Justin Herbert, it seems as though, from a
receiving standpoint that they've got a pretty balanced core of players.
Is that because Herbert has the ability to create extent
and go through his reads and get to a second
(25:59):
and third check. Or is it by design of Jim
Harbaugh to consistently keep defenses guessing as to where they're going.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
Yeah, I think it's probably a product of just the roster.
You know, last year it was pretty much Lad and
almost nothing else, And even when teams were doubling in
the playoff game, even triple teaming LAD, he's still, you know,
against Houston, even though it was a mess of a game,
put up one hundred and ninety seven yards and a touchdown.
This year is much more similar to what we've seen
in the past, Like his rookie year when favorite people
(26:30):
in all of football Shane Steichen was his offensive coordinator.
He just threw to who was open. And even though
he had Keenan Allen and Mike Williams on the team,
at the end of the year, you look at the
stats and you're like, who's Tyron Williams And why does
he have four hundred and fifty yards and three touchdowns?
Who's Jalen Dighton and why does he have four hundred
yards and three touchdowns? Like that's just the way Herbert's
always been if you're open, as long as you don't
(26:52):
drop the ball and you don't mess with you know,
kind of what he thinks, you're supposed what you're supposed
to be doing, and where he's going to throw it,
you're going to get the ball. And I think that's
like we just saw this last week right where Tyler
Conklin was getting snaps and now Aronde Gadston, fifth round
rookie out of Syracuse, has just kind of stepped in there.
He fumbles on the first reception, turns it over to Miami,
(27:13):
but he's you know, trying to get a first down
and extend the play. And the guy ends up with
eight more targets, seven more catches, and seventy more yards
just because Herbert's, Hey, if you're open, I'm gonna throw
it to you. That's just kind of the way he's
always operated.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
And that's the tight end position you speak of there,
which has become for Indianapolis. You know, Tyler Warren just
solves so many things, Matt in terms of when you
get a tight end that you can line up in
different spots, right, then you can take advantage of a
defense or stretch of defense out defensively, what will Daniel
Jones see informs of the Chargers and what is their
(27:46):
strength and their deficiency.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
Well, I think the hope is that what he sees
isn't what it is. That's sort of what Jesse Minner's
secret sauce is, right. It's a lot of simulated pressures.
It's a lot of thinking what you see is what
it's going to be, and it's not. The one issue
that they've had is for whatever reason, this year and
it was not the case last year. Last year when
(28:09):
they were the best scoring defense in football seventeen to
six a game, and they were top ten and every metric,
they were sound tacklers, and they were good against the run,
really good against the run. This year, they I don't
know what's going on, if it's injury or if for
whatever it just different personnel because some people left last year.
(28:30):
They have had just way too many mistackles and that
obviously is a big concern against the Colts because of
what Jonathan Taylor can do and then how that opens
up play action and especially you know the physicality you
mentioned Tyler Warren, Like, this is a team you'd better
be able to tackle or else they're going to punish you.
In terms of the Colts, and so I think that's
that's the one thing they have to get cleaned up. Typically,
(28:51):
the scheme is sound, the players are usually in the
right places. We've seen a little bit more of that
this year that we didn't see last year. You know,
the Darren Waller touch found last week is a perfect
example of passing a guy off to nobody. That hasn't
happened a lot. But I think ultimately it's it probably
unless the Chargers change some things that we've seen in
the last three four games. It lines up okay for
(29:14):
the Colts because this run defense with the absence of
Khalil Mack, with the absence of Denzel Paraman, has gotten
real leaky. In a hurry. Now, Paraman should be back
out there the linebacker. I know he's not a big name,
but he's a thumper. He's exceptional at finding the right
run fit and making it happen and so, and Khalil
Mack started practicing yesterday. I don't think he's going to
(29:35):
be out there to go a long way long term
for them to get this thing fixed. But as far
as this Sunday is concerned, I just you know, you'd
have to say based on what we've seen with a
Chan last week with Crosskey Merat, the week before with
Skataboo and Darth the week before. As you know, teams
have been able.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
To run on them.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Matt money Smith is our guests. He's on the job House,
Peel and Poor Guest Line. He is the radio voice
of the Los Ange List Chargers Matt. Jim Harbaugh was
very complimentary of his time with Jim Mersay. He had
very nice things to say about the Lake Colts owner.
What sort of I guess I'll use the word attitude
or just tone has Jim Harbaugh been able to bring
(30:16):
to the Chargers since becoming their head coach.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (30:19):
Winning. I think that's number one. Toughness and winning. You know,
it's he is so good at getting players to believe
in what he's selling. And I think that's, you know,
such an underrated skill for a head coach. It's like, Hey,
I'm sending you out onto this field in a plastic
(30:41):
outfit and asking you to commit random Mattlin, not random,
but designed acts of violence? Will you do it for me?
And I think, you know, with coaches in the past,
we've seen some guys are like, no, no, I won't
because I don't believe in and what you have us doing,
where the positions you're putting us in, and that this
is necessarily in our best interest. With Harbaugh, he is
(31:02):
all about his players. He is all about like you
will never hear him say a bad word about anyone,
regardless of how you know how many challenges they made,
challenges they may have had in the game prior, but
appreciate that he walks in that door and it's like, hey,
I understand that there's a verb out there called chargering
that has nothing to do with me. Okay, I'm a winner.
(31:25):
I win everywhere I go. I just won a national
championship at Michigan. I went to a super Bowl in
San Francisco. I took an afterthought of a program at
San Diego made him relevant, and then I was so
good at Stanford. I ran off Pete Carroll to the
NFL like I win, so follow my lead, and I
think that's what they needed. You know, they're so talented
(31:45):
with Derwin James and Justin Herbert, like, these guys are
so talented, find ways to lose games. So I think
that's more than anything what he was able to bring
to this team and just say let's go win games
twenty good enough, and.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
He should have taken the Colts to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
But Cordel Stewart got credit for a touchdown when he
stepped out of bounds ahead of time. But that's you know,
been thirty years, so we can let that go, all right. Lastly,
we have a mutual friend, as you know in my
buddy track Dude, Michael Young, who calls turn three the
eighty five hundred or turn two, and I'm in turn three,
so Michael throws it to me. He tells me that
he knows you because back when he was a rock DJ,
(32:25):
you were a record label like promoter basically for a
record company. Fact or fiction in terms of that.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
One hundred percent fact.
Speaker 5 (32:36):
Em Young is one of my absolute favorite guys on
the face of the earth. We've remained friends despite me
not being in the record business since two thousand and five,
is when I made the transition to sports. Yet we
still see each other whenever I go to Indy and
I go a lot to call Big ten tournament basketball,
or whenever he comes here. Track Dude, as people know him,
(32:58):
is just an autoin guy. And he was a pain.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
He was I'll say it. I'll put it this way.
Speaker 5 (33:05):
He was a pain in my ass while also being
one of my best partners. And give my.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Records play it.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
Ah, that's exactly correct, rights, It's like it's both sides.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
I imagine this, Imagine having to wait for him to
have the brevity of making a radio call in eleven
seconds before he drops it to you, and having him
actually get it within eleven seconds. Right, so here, let
me ask you this in your time doing that, give
me the band, give me the musical act that when
you look back on it, you most aggressively tried to
promote or get played on radio that you were constantly selling.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Which one comes to mind?
Speaker 5 (33:43):
I think the one I had the most belief in
was was Jimmy World. The guys were just such good dudes,
and they worked so hard, and so I wanted it
so badly for them, and I just thought the middle
and sweetness and that they were just like yeah that
there were just like five or six hits on that record,
(34:03):
and I was like, there's no way we're not going
to have this work, but like, oh, they like that
that was going to be their single.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
It was like this song bunklow. Okay, I hate saying it.
I appreciate the time for Matt.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Unfortunately, uh, Jimmy E World did kind of work, and
then at the very last second that our connection did not.
But uh certainly appreciate the time. Matt money Smith, the
voice of the Chargers, joining us here on the program.
We will take a break, we'll come back. JMV. Is
(34:51):
it Joe's grill in Westfield? We will throw it out
to him here in about thirty minutes or so. But
before we do so, and it has come by very
specific request that our next guest, apparently, and I know
that obviously Matt Taylor has done Don Fisher impersonations. I
am told on the text line, Hey Jake, can you
(35:12):
please ask Matt Taylor to do his impression of JMV.
It is spot on and I have not heard it forever.
Matt Taylor, that is true or false that you do
a JMV impersonation.
Speaker 6 (35:22):
Here's the deal, Jake, I mean, where do you want
to start with this bad boy? We just heard the
promo right there from the Great Rick ventury five and
one offense off the charts. Defense as of last year
no longer fu bar. It is absolutely fans stink fantastic
to be on your show.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
By the way, is Matt Taylor there also just out
of curiosity.
Speaker 6 (35:47):
Here's the deal, Jake, I mean, where do you want
to start here? I got three hours, I got three hours.
I want you, I want me, and we are live
at whatever tavern you just said that.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
I am live at here.
Speaker 6 (36:00):
I follow my savings, follow my voice. I will pied
Piper you down the line, admire the official super center
of the ride with JMB Here. Jake, We're gonna have
a fan stink fantastic time here for the next three hours.
I'm gonna drink, people are gonna come up to me.
I'm gonna talk on the air. It's gonna be awesometime here. Uh,
(36:22):
three hours of the ride with JMV on the fan
bad boy, this is awesome.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Now Here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
I will know I've arrived and I've been here long
enough when you finally have an impersonation of me.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
I'll be honest with you.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
I don't even want to know which buzzwords I say
all the time, but I know they're out there right.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
Uh, he's listen. It's all in jest, right, it's all.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Of course solid though. That's solid, right.
Speaker 6 (36:44):
I say it all the time, like if that means
people are paying attention to you know what I mean?
That's that's I think a high praise, a high Uh.
It's the ultimate compliment.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
It is, indeed, all right, Matt, let's let's talk about this.
The the ultimate compliment for the Colts is the fact
that they are right now the number one seed in
the AFC if the playoffs began today, which.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Guess what, they don't.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
But this is one to me that's tricky with the
Chargers because at the beginning of the year it jumped
out as probably would you would say, what one of
the two or three toughest matchups on paper. But here
we are now and it's still a challenge. But obviously
the culture playing well. What jumps out at you about
the Chargers that maybe we didn't anticipate.
Speaker 6 (37:26):
Well, they're banged up and they're slowly starting to get healthy.
Speaker 4 (37:29):
I mean, their offensive line has just been in shambles.
Speaker 6 (37:32):
They've had some key injuries on both sides of the
ball to some skilled players. Quinton Johnston didn't play last week,
but I think he's trending towards having a pretty good
chance of playing on Sunday. I think they're really deceiving
because you know, right now, they're still like look at
them on offense. They're right, they're only scoring about twenty
one points per game, but they are top ten and
(37:54):
just about everything, I mean, rushing and passing third down.
What's really killing them is just red zone. They are
the worst red zone team in the NFL. So for
whatever reason, they.
Speaker 4 (38:07):
Just can't finish drives.
Speaker 6 (38:08):
They only have seven red zone touchdowns the entire season,
So if they were able to finish more drives off
they would be I think right there. Kind of the
same conversation with the Colts, as you know, elite offense
and really tough to game plan for, and I think
they are right. They've got three receivers over three hundred yards.
(38:29):
You know, they got a pretty good up and coming
tight end and rond Gatson. You know, the running game
has sustained even though they've had some key injuries to
their top backs Naji Harris and Omari and Hampton. Harris
is on ir for the season. Hampton I think has
a good chance to come back sooner than later, but
that leaves them with asan Haskins and Kamani Videll and
(38:52):
you know, Vadell last week stepped up.
Speaker 4 (38:55):
And ran over one hundred yards.
Speaker 6 (38:56):
And to me, the Chargers Jake kind of look like
when I look at them on the surface, they kind
of look like they remind me of like the twenty
fifteen twenty sixteen Colts right where they've got a lot
of injuries and it just seems like the quarterback is
good enough to just kind of carry them, you know
(39:17):
what I mean, like keep them in every game. And
that's what Justin Herbert is able to do. And he's
coached really well by Jim Harball. Really, they had no
business winning that game the other day, but they were.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
You know, they got a good kickoff.
Speaker 6 (39:31):
Return at the end, and then Herbert made the great
play the houdiniac climbing up in the pocket, hits Lad
mcconkeye for a big game and then they win a
walk off winner. So they're a very good team despite
some of their overall statistics. But I think if they
were better in the red zone, they would be one
of the best elite teams in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
On offense.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
But you know, one of the signs of a good
team Matt, Let's be real, and I know it's a cliche.
Good teams find ways to win games, right. You know,
you look at whether we're talking about or for that matter,
for the Colts this year games. To me, the Colts
game against Arizona was signed of a good team because
they they kind of slogged their way through that game,
(40:11):
but when it came down to it, they made the
plays they needed to to win. And that's what good
the great teams do, right.
Speaker 6 (40:18):
And I think last Sunday's game is way more the
norm in the NFL than the previous Sunday's game.
Speaker 4 (40:23):
When you blow out the Raiders forty to six.
Speaker 6 (40:26):
I mean, I think Jacoby Brissett and you know some
of their backs, Michael Kurter, I mean they were down
their top two backs last week as well. I Mean,
the NFL is just next man up, and these guys
are just Krim de Lakrim. I think that's what most
people don't really understand, is like there's just not a
huge drop off at most positions. I mean, you can
(40:46):
plug and play because they're just these guys are so
good and every team is operating under the salary cap, right,
I mean every team has only so much money to
pay their guys, which means there's gonna be a lot
of parody in the NFL, which is why all these
games seemingly come down to the fourth quarter and the
final four minutes. That's why it's way more, you know,
(41:07):
the exception than the rule. To see the Colts blow
three teams out by twenty plus points. It just hasn't
happened here since twenty twenty one. So I thought it
was important, especially the way that the date started.
Speaker 4 (41:21):
For the Colts.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
Jake.
Speaker 6 (41:21):
I mean, you know, two major injuries before the game
even starts. Like what I'm thinking of myself in the
press box, like what what is going on?
Speaker 4 (41:30):
Like this is this is unheard of?
Speaker 6 (41:32):
And then it's you know, you're you're starting, you know,
your top cornerback is unavailable to play, and that changes
the personnel, It certainly changes the game plan.
Speaker 4 (41:40):
It's kind of a scramble job by lou Ane.
Speaker 6 (41:42):
Rumo and the defensive staff to make it work, and
they did make it work. It wasn't pretty, but they
got to stop when they needed. It was fourth down
inside the ten yard line, under minute to go, So yeah,
I think that was very indicative of where the Colts
are at right now, just finding a way to win.
And that's what teams do is just make more plays
in crunch time. The offense score two fourth quarter touchdowns,
(42:06):
the defense got the stop.
Speaker 4 (42:07):
They needed and it was just enough.
Speaker 6 (42:09):
And more often than not in the NFL, that's what
it comes down to.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Okay, So let's talk about the injuries. You know a
couple of them. Josh Downs not practicing yesterday due to concussion,
Ashton Dulan didn't practice yesterday due to a chest injury.
Obviously we know now Anthony Richardson on ir after that incident,
and then Mooney Ward with the concussion. Where do things
stand right down, Matt.
Speaker 4 (42:32):
Well, that's currently where they're at too.
Speaker 6 (42:33):
So the practice report is going to come out here
in about an hour, right around four o'clock. And you
know the one I'm going to be watching the most
is probably Josh Downs. I mean to Oarvarius Ward, I mean,
this is really unfortunate for him, right This is a
second concussion of the season, and it's just hard. History
shows us that, and rightfully so it should be hard
for players and the idea of player safety. It should
(42:56):
be tough to come back from a concussion a week later.
It's tough to clear the five step process. And that's
on purpose because you know, the NFL wants to continue
player safety with head injuries, and so you know that's
in place for a reason. So I think ward is
it's gonna be tough. I don't know where Josh Downs
(43:17):
is because there just wasn't I mean, they didn't report
that until the injury report came out yesterday, So you know,
you can't sit here and speculate.
Speaker 4 (43:24):
Okay, maybe on Monday or Tuesday he.
Speaker 6 (43:26):
Cleared a couple of those phases and then yesterday was
still in the protocol, and it has a decent chance.
I mean, we're not going to know on that until
tomorrow when Shane Stiken meets with the media. But I'll
be really interested to see where Josh Downs is here
in terms of the injury reporting about an hour because
he's the big one. I'm not saying he's not replaceable,
(43:47):
but man, he's just so good.
Speaker 4 (43:49):
In the slot.
Speaker 6 (43:49):
I mean, he's already one of the best slot receivers
in the game. He's clutched for the Colts on third down.
I think he's got the second most first down catches
this year among slot receivers, and so he just does
a lot for you in those short yardage.
Speaker 4 (44:03):
Situations in the passing game.
Speaker 6 (44:05):
And so how the Colts would adjust with his absence
is a big storyline going into this game.
Speaker 2 (44:10):
Matt.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
When you look at Matt Taylor is our guest, he's
on the Java house, peel and poor guest line. When
you look at the Colts overall, and maybe that's an
area they've already been tested and been able to prove it.
But in your opinion, the area where they have the
most depth is where.
Speaker 4 (44:28):
Oh that's a good question. I mean a lot of
areas which is good.
Speaker 6 (44:33):
I mean, just initially thinking about that, there's a couple
of answers that come into my head.
Speaker 4 (44:37):
I mean, I think offensive line.
Speaker 6 (44:40):
I mean, you still have, you know, guys like Danny
Pinter and Dalton Tucker. You know, I think you're you're
pretty good there defensive line.
Speaker 4 (44:49):
You know, you've had some.
Speaker 6 (44:50):
Guys really show up the last couple of weeks, and
specifically in the interior of that defensive line like Neville
Gallimore and I think's playing pretty well.
Speaker 4 (44:58):
And the guy that I think has taking a bit
step from.
Speaker 6 (45:01):
Year two to year three, or maybe it's year three
to year four now that I think about it, because
drafted in twenty two is at a tomil out of Barre.
Speaker 4 (45:08):
He's really done a nice job.
Speaker 6 (45:09):
And we've talked about this before in the past, right
when when Buckner and Stewart are out of the game.
In the past, it's just been kind of like, you know,
there's a guy up in the press box for the
opposing team with binoculars and he's relaying down to the
head coach or the offensive.
Speaker 4 (45:23):
Coordinator saying, hey, ninety nine and ninety you're out of
the game.
Speaker 6 (45:26):
Let's pound it. And that's what they've done. Teams have
done to the Colts. They just haven't had that backup
interior tackle depth, and I think out of barras giving
him that depth and that productivity both in the run
game and in his pass rush too. So that's been
good to see. You know, wide receiver is a good
depth position. I mean when things are normal. Obviously, right
(45:50):
now things aren't normal with with Josh Downs being the
concussion protocol and Ashton Doling, as you said, dealing with
the chest injury, and then also too, I mean ad
Mitchell still in the doghouse right. He was relegated to
the an active list last week and we'll see where
that is. But if those two guys can't play, Mitchell's
got a play, and it'll be interesting to see and
(46:11):
Nott how he's matured and how he's bounced back from that,
and that.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
You know what I was saying, for his confidence standpoint,
this might be what's needed is for them to go
to him and say we need you. It's not we're
not just putting you out there because you are a
top draft pick and we see potential in you.
Speaker 2 (46:27):
We actually need you.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
And for you know, for the first time, maybe he
he'll realize And that sounds condescending, but you got what
I'm saying right that that will awaken him. Before I
let you go, I wanted to ask you about one
other guy, because you have to Matt Taylor as the
voice of the Colts, you literally watch every snap and
one guy that I have been impressed by. But I
want you to tell me if my if I'm giving
(46:50):
too much credit here, not that he hasn't played well,
but I think Tanner BORDERLINI to me, has really been
impressive because not only has he is he locked down
just that position, but I watch him as well, almost
a center doesn't pull per se, but he will continue
and follow through a block and spring. Jonathan Taylor notably
(47:14):
open in situations that I think is impressive and beyond
almost even what you would expect. And for a guy
that you know was a spot fill in last year
and now a full time starter, I think he has
been very very solid.
Speaker 2 (47:28):
Your thoughts, Yeah, agreed.
Speaker 6 (47:30):
I mean he's been an iron man out there. I mean,
he's played one hundred percent of the snaps in four
of the six games this season, and the only reason
why he didn't play one hundred percent in the other
games is because the Colts are beating.
Speaker 4 (47:40):
The crap out of the teams, you know what I mean.
Speaker 6 (47:43):
And he's done a really really good job, like you said,
of opening up runs in the interior of the offensive
line for Jonathan Taylor. I mean, those guys are just
playing so well. I mean, gonzalveez Is he's really assimilating
well to his new position at right guard. And then
obviously Quentin Nelson just he's on another level. I mean,
he just I mean, Rick, you asked Rick Venturi about
(48:04):
Quentin Nelson, and I hope you got about three hours
because he's gonna talk your ear off about how well
he's playing. No doubt, he's one of the best guards
in the league. And you know, Shane Stike in the
other day kind of called him. I know we're kind
of veering off on Nelson a little bit, but you know,
Shane Stike and actually schemes up ways to get Nelson,
you know, sort of out of the pocket on the move,
(48:26):
so that he can be a road grader and kind
of a lead blocker for you know, whether it's Daniel
Jones on a rollout or you know, a polling guard
for for Jonathan Taylor. But yeah, going back to Bordolini,
he's you can tell he's really comfortable in year number two,
settling in with the idea that he's going to be
the starting center for this team for for a long
(48:46):
long time.
Speaker 4 (48:47):
And he's remained durable.
Speaker 6 (48:49):
He's playing at a high level, and you can tell
those five guys along along that offensive line are just
completely bought in. They're all doing a good job of
playing with each other. And then I think to give
credit for Jonathan Taylor because he has to know sort
of the ins and outs and the makeup of the
blocking abilities or maybe some of the deficiencies of the
(49:11):
offensive line, and then just you know, changing his running
style play by play based on where the play is going,
you know, in the direction of certain offensive linemen. So
he's showing great patience, he's showing great burst when he
needs to have a burst.
Speaker 4 (49:27):
And I mean this offensive line is just playing at
a very very high level.
Speaker 6 (49:30):
It's spearheaded by Tanner Bordolini, but certainly Jonathan Taylor is
making all of those guys look great with some individual
effort as well. But the running game is in a
great spot right now.
Speaker 1 (49:42):
And the play by play will be provided by Matt
Taylor on this radio station. Coming up on Sunday, Colts
in Los Angeles, back to SOFI Stadium this time to
take on the Chargers. Matt appreciate it as always, enjoy
the great weather out in Los Angeles.
Speaker 4 (49:58):
All right, we'll do Jake Man, I'll talk you next week.
Speaker 2 (50:00):
All right, it sounds good.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
Matt Taylor, the voice of the Colt speaking of JMV
and his fabulous impersonation of him. He will join us
next on the other side as we do the JMB Crossover,
brought to you by the good guys at Love Heating
and Air Love dash hvac dot com three one seven,
three five three twenty one forty one
Pacers and Action coming up tomorrow night right, Corbyn is
the Pacers and Action in San Antonio. Have you been
to San Antonio, Corbyn? You know they got that Riverwalk.
You can just go out here to the White River
and just walk up and down, or not the White River,
but the canal. Just walk coming down the canal and
it's awesome at the Riverwalk in San Antonio. But then
after about twenty minutes you're like, I think I just
passed that restaurant for the seventh time, and you realize
(00:21):
that you just walk, you go over bridge, you walk
in before you know what you're doing laps.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
But it is very cool.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
A lot of good restaurants in San Antonio and a
team that the Pacers are going to see for the
second time in a week. Joining us now on the
Java House Peel and Port guest line. He is, of
course on the radio network for the Indiana Pacers, Pat Boylan,
joining us. Pat, you have or have not been to
San Antonio?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I have.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
For those who don't know, I don't typically travel with
the Pacers on the road. I'm in the studio that
you're sitting in there right now. My brother lives in Austin,
and I did a one day, like nine to seven
day trips in San Antonio, so try to knock it
out in one day. Have done the riverwalk?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
It is nice.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Did you notice when you do the riverwalk that after
about twenty minutes you've passed the same spot for the
fourth time?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yeah, And when we went it was like late July
and approximately one hundred and five degrees, So I'm not
sure that's the perfect time to take in San Antonio.
But you know, nice, smaller sized, medium city.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
It is that that is a fair way of saying it.
It is also one that is epicentered around their NBA
team in the Spurs. And I want to begin with
this before we get into the Pacers, and there's plenty
to discuss there. But I mentioned this after going to
the game Monday. Pat, I know that we've known it.
I know that we have seen glimpses of it, and
then obviously he was hurt last year. But Victor Webbemyama
(01:42):
is truly the face of positionless basketball. Because to see
a guy that size bring the ball up the floor
and then effortlessly pull up from twenty eight and hit
a shot, all I could think to myself is there's
nothing you can do about this, right, I mean it
it was pretty impressive to witness up close and in person.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
One thing that blew my mind, and I've had the
chance to watch him a couple of times, but at
the center jump circle was Isaiah Jackson, who is maybe
a little undersize for a center, maybe just a little bit,
but in the center jump circle, it looked like a
center going up against the point guard. And Isaiah Jackson
is an NBA center. I mean, it was remarkable. Rick
Smiths was sitting, i think a little down from where
(02:29):
you were, and I wanted him to just go out
on the court and stand next to this guy because
Rick Smith's is seven to four and it just feels
like Victor Webbin Yama has three to four inches on him.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
I mean, it's like you're so used to watching when
you when you get the good fortune of either going
to NBA games regularly or working in the NBA, you're
so used to watching, you know, unproportional body types. And
then you see this guy and he's like his own stratosphere,
He's in his own solar system in that regard, and look,
it's the injury thing is the only thing that I
(03:02):
can possibly imagine that keeps him from being an MVP,
that keeps him from being a champion, that keeps the
Spurs from eventually winning a title at some point over
his career. I do think it's a big, big question
mark though. In fact, I was even reading an article
in the offseason about how the Spurs front office is
being a lot more aggressive than some front offices might
(03:24):
with a young player, thinking I've got, you know, ten
to fifteen years with this guy, because you know, they're
realistic that at age thirty four to thirty five can
he be doing this? We'll find out in ten plus years.
But that said, I mean he is just unicorn. Almost
has been thrown out there too often in sports. This
guy is the true definition of a unicorn. I've never
(03:50):
seen anything like it. And it's just amazing when he's
down there in the post, when he's got six inches
on the center guard him. But also he's got a
great handle. I think the one thing about his game
that you could look at and question would just be
and how could you not for a guy who's seven
to five or maybe taller. He turned it over a lot.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
He did. On Monday, I mean you can get physical
with him for sure, right.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Yeah, yeah, the physicality and then just you know, Durant
figured it out. He's seven foot not seventy five. But
can can a guy dribble at a seven five heights
and not get it swiped away all that often? But
it's nitpicking on what's going to be. I think an
extraordinary career for a player like we.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Never really well listen.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
I made the point on Tuesday, Pat Pat Boiling is
our guest Java House Peel and poor guest line. I
made the point on Tuesday that it's interesting you mentioned
Rick Smtz because they you know, he was sitting down
the way they introduced him. In my mind immediately raced
to when Rick Smitz was a player and that seven
foot four, his ability in nineteen ninety eight to pop
out and hit a ten to twelve footer was almost
(04:57):
an anomaly, you know. That was to drop Patrick ewing
away from below post was Wow, this is really, you know,
transcendent stuff the pacers are doing here, and yet I'm
looking at it and I'm going he would get three
quarters the way down the floor by the time Webb
and Miyama was putting the ball up you know what
I mean.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I mean, it.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Really is remarkable, just the evolution right in the way
that the game has gone. All right, So let's go
to the center position. I want to focus there, Pat
you mentioned it with Isaiah Jackson. Between Isaiah Jackson, obviously
Jay Huff and as well James Wiseman. I'm still waiting,
and I know it's very early for one of these
three to really separate themselves. Am I being too critical?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
No, I don't think you're being too critical. I think
we're all waiting, you know, for somebody to separate themselves. Albeit,
you know, you come into this with a couple of
guys coming off of major injuries, so I think it's
more than fair to give them time to get their
legs underneath them. It is only three preseason games. This is,
you know, perhaps the process that could take a few
weeks with guys come off significant injury.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
You know.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
The frustrating thing for Isaiah Jackson's last year was he
spent a lot of time, you know, as kind of
the third string center and coming in and filling in
spot minutes pretty nicely, I thought, in the first couple
of years of his career, and last year was supposed
to be really the year that we saw what Isaiah
Jackson could do in a regular rotation. Spotty played five
(06:22):
games towards Achilles that never happened. I'm still fairly optimistic
for him. I think it's two early three preseason games
in to say, you know, he doesn't look like the
starting center of the Pacers need him to be. But
you know, at the end of the day, I'm not
sure necessarily the Pacers need somebody who's gonna, as from
a starting center position, come in and play thirty two minutes.
(06:44):
You know, I can imagine a scenario where if Isaiah Jackson,
you know, gets his gets his bounce underneath him and
kind of settles in. You know, are you getting twenty
to twenty five minutes from Jackson, maybe ten to fifteen
minutes from Huff and then the other aspect that played.
You're in dynamic at play here.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
I don't think the.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Pacers are going to have to have a center on
the floor for forty eight minutes. I think they can
play small ball as the Obe top of at the five,
small ball at Pascal Siakam at the five. In fact,
they did a lot of that fairly successfully in the playoffs.
So I think we were talking on your show a
couple of weeks ago. When you look at Miles Turner
and Roy Hibbert, the Pacers for about seventeen years had
remarkable consistency in terms of you knew what your starting
(07:24):
center was going to be. For seventeen years, those guys
were the starting center for fifteen of them, and then
each of them a portion of another season where they
kind of platooned as the starting center. So this is
really hunique territory for Pacers fans to go into a
season and not be totally sure of who your starting
center is going to be. And in fact, when you
talk about Rick Smith, there's not a huge gap between
(07:47):
Rick Smith's days and Roy Hibbert's days. So the Pacers
have had remarkable consistency in that position. But I do
think it's certainly something where you're still looking for somebody
to separate themselves. And I think, you know, Rick Carlisle
goes into this with no pre conceive notions about how
it should look.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
If that's Jay.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Huff At, that seems Wiseman, even Tony Bradley, you know,
I don't think they're afraid to mix the match for combinations.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
There, well, pat the thing to me that stands out,
and I have to keep resetting myself. I mean it's
hard because you know, I think about the loss of
Miles Turner, and we you know, at some point we're
gonna have to quit talking about the loss of Myles Turner.
I get that, right, But we're still navigating through that,
and you almost forget that you're going into a season
(08:30):
with no Tyreese Halliburton, so you're like, okay, there. Does
that allows for some flexibility of figuring things out in
other areas perhaps, But Miles Turner, to me, and I've
made this point a lot on this show, he was
such an important part in terms of offensively being kind
of the center post that the ball went through, in
(08:51):
terms of that kind of weave offense that they run,
and then being able to obviously pop out and hit
a three if need be. Do they look for a
player or hope for a player that can replicate that
sort of style or does that or do they say
that's what made Miles Turner unique, and we cannot rest
on trying to replicate that. We've got to reinvent the
(09:14):
way we're playing.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
I think it's probably a little bit of both. I
think for this season it's probably more of the latter. Now,
you're always open to potential trade talks and conversations and things.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
That could work.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
I mean, we know that from Kevin Pritchard's perspective, he's
always been an aggressive president and general manager in terms
of looking for trades and that type of thing.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
But you know, I do.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Think that skill set is maybe the closest to Jay Huff.
I mean, he's a good perimeter player. I think he's
a pretty good screen setter, which actually Myles is never
a great screen setter, but you're right, he was the
fulcrum of the offense in those kind of dribble handoffs
and pitches between Hyre's Halliburton and Andrew m Hardware remain
stay of the offense with Carliles talked about it a
fair amount. You know, there's an adjustment to the system
(09:59):
around the player too. It's not just forcing these players
into a rigid system and saying, Okay, well this works
with Tyre's Halliburton and Miles Turner, so we have to
force it to work with Andrew Nemhard and Isaiah Jackson.
That's not what's going to happen here. So there's tweets,
there's adjustments, maybe even some significant adjustments in that regard.
You know, the flip side of that is, Miles Turner
(10:21):
never played huge minutes. He wasn't like a forty minutes
per game guy or even a thirty five minute per
game guy. So the Pacers got used to playing plenty
of minutes, especially last year with the rash of unfortunate
injuries to Jackson and to Wiseman. You know, they got
used to playing plenty of minutes per game without Miles
Turner on the floor and still making it work. So
you know, I think Jackson capable of that. I think
(10:43):
huff is capable of that. I haven't seen Wiseman enough
to know. And Bradley that's not his game. But look,
Tony Bradley got some NBA Finals minutes and and bring
some positives to it.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
So you know, you've got four guys. I think they
love Tony Bradley.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Not to cut you off there, I think they love
Tony Bradley's rebounding of physicality, and that's I think Tony Bradley,
of those guys, is the one that is the most specified,
but he does something differently than everybody else in the
fact that he goes in and in there are games,
if there are games where they need to control glass,
that is his role and he knows that's his role,
and it is go in there and get boards and
(11:20):
d up right. I mean he he seems to me
of the of those guys to be the most quintessential
low block down here root player.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Would you agree with that, no question?
Speaker 3 (11:31):
I mean what he is is defined. You know what
Tony Bradley is, which is not the guy that's going
to step out and hit a couple of threes per game.
But is those things that you just referenced, A good
rim protector, a good rebounder.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
And when you.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Look at this season coming up, when you don't have
Tyry Taliburton, you know Miles Turner is not available to
you anymore. Where our area is Okay, those are a
couple of significant losses, sure, and certainly in Halliburn's case,
But where are areas maybe that new players can find
some advantages that maybe how Burton and Turner can't, and
specifically Turner here. Rick Carlisle has been quite optimistic that
(12:04):
the Pacers are going to be a better rebounding team.
And we know that Miles Turner. I was a big
Miles Turner fan when he was here. I thought he
brought so much that he didn't always get credit for,
but rebounding was always a problem spot for him. Well,
I don't know if Tony Bradley is even going to
make the roster. I mean, it's a it's a fascinating
preseason in training camp because of that. You know, I
(12:26):
can't remember when things felt this open and this fluid
at a couple of positions. But if Bradley makes this roster,
I think part of the argument is, you know, he's
a he's a good rebounder, and this team feels like
they can rebound better and probably, you know, to be
Frank is going to need to rebound better than they
did last year to make up for some of the
things that they lost. And there's no question that Bradley's
(12:48):
good there and he's solid, and you know what you're
getting night in and night out, and there's there's certain
there's a certain advantage to having a player like that,
no question.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Pat is it going to be tough for Indiana after
this season because I think and I know it's early again,
but clearly they are going to have offensive sets that
are going to run through Benedick Matherin. Now, I know
that Rick Carlisle has said that Matherin is at his
best when he's kind of allowing offensive flow to dictate
his shots. But he is going to be a centerpiece
(13:18):
and perhaps even their leading scorer. I know Siakam obviously
is a big part of that as well. But then
to have to retweak that again once Halliburton comes back.
How do you see that Yin and Yang playing out?
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Yeah, I think first and foremost, you're hoping for the
type of season from Benedict Matherin that when Tyree Halliburton
does come back that you're saying, Okay, the development and
growth that Mathern got in twenty five to twenty six
without Tyree's Halliburton was tough, but ultimately it perhaps led
to a level of growth that maybe he couldn't have
(13:53):
gotten to otherwise. I mean, I think big picture here
is I zoom out on your question a little bit.
That's kind of my hope for this entire season. Look,
I'm not putting any ceiling on what this team can accomplish,
because if you would have done that each of the
last two years, I don't think many people saw what
happened happened, so I'm not doing that, But I do
think you look at the season and you say, Okay,
if the Pacers in a few years from now down
(14:14):
the road can have the level of success that they're
hoping to, maybe even win a championship, can they look
back at the twenty five to twenty sixth season as
a growth season that helped lead to that. And when
you take it from that premise, Benedict Matherin to me
is the guy that jumps out the most in you
know that concept, and I think I think it's a
(14:36):
big year for him to figure those things out at
a higher level so that when Tyrese Haliburton comes back,
it's not the adjustment that you know if it might
potentially be. I think if various he's improved upon. I
think he's quicker from a decision making perspective, I think
if it's processing and trending in the right direction. But
(14:57):
I think he has a lot of growth there and
I think the two way game of his will be
really important. Andrew Nemhard might not be able to defend
the best player on the floor like he did this
past year because they're going to need to ask him
to do a lot more offensively, so Benedict Matherin then
gets a much bigger spotlight on the defensive end potentially.
(15:18):
You know, Aaron Smith obviously will play a significant role
there too, and can he have the type of growth
defensively and then from a decision making perspective and a
ball movement perspective that makes the rest of this team work.
I think it's a huge storyline here for twenty five
twenty six, you.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Know, And it's interesting you mentioned the point, and you
know nim hard and running the offense and defensively, and
you know all the balance of that. TJ McConnell comes
into play there in terms of being able to spell
at that position as well. But I'm going to make
a statement and then Pat Boyl, and I want you
to critique for me how off base the statement is.
Because I'm wrong about you know, eight percent of the
(15:56):
time of things that I say. So I want you
to tell me if I'm wrong here. Okay, TJ McConnell
in coming off injury here in the preseason, you treat
it with kid gloves and you take as much time
as possible to get him back, partially because of the
fact that it is a season that you can perhaps
see what other players can do in that area, and
(16:18):
also partially because he is such a critically important piece
for them from an energy standpoint that because of his age,
you want to wait and preserve some of that for
when Halliburton comes out and not put too many miles
on it this year.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Your thoughts, I think.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
The general concept there is absolutely accurate. There's no reason
to try to rush TJ McConnell back until he is
one hundred percent and risk any sort of extra injury,
and that's never really been, you know, something that the
Pacers have done. They've almost always been cautious in these
type of scenarios for that exact reason. I think the
two reasons you bring up are potentially valid. And the
(16:58):
other one, you know, for this year is that without
Tyreeve Halliburton, when you lose another point guard like they
currently have with TJ McConnell, he will not be available
for the season opener. And the last we've heard from
him was Rick Carlisle saying, you know, we'll talk again
November nights, because it was October Nights when he announced
that he would be out for probably about a month
(17:19):
and said we'll talk again November nine. So he's going
to potentially miss, you know, upwards of ten games with
this hamstring injury.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
And then you look.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
At your point guard depth and maybe your strongest, deepest
position is now potentially a little bit in peril. You've
got Andrew Nemhart, it was as solid as they come.
But after that you're looking at you know, Cameron Payne,
who's who's a NBA vet and been a point guard
for a long time in this league, about ten years.
You know, you've got Quinton Jackson, although he suffered a
(17:50):
recent injury, Ray J.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Dennis.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
You've got players in there who are potentially intriguing, maybe
even a little bit of Pale and Peter. But that's,
you know, from from an expectations for that's very different
than going from Tyreese Halliburton to Andrew m Hart to
TJ McConnell. So the other reason why I think that's
accurate is because you can't risk pushing him back too
early and then having him sustain a longer injury that
(18:15):
keeps him out this year. I think the Pacers from
a depth and a point guard perspective, are just fine,
but if they start to suffer more injuries, I think
the margin for error in terms of injuries is a
lot less than it was last year. So you know,
I was on a podcast yesterday and I said, if
I could wave a magic wand and grant one Pacers
(18:36):
player health this year, my question is undoubtedly androinem Hart
because I think it's the most important player in terms
of the position that they need to be healthy. If
they lose him, you know, then they're really in a
challenging situation. Along those similar lines, you know, they're going
to need TJ McConnell to be healthy for a vast
majority of this season. So if he's not out there
(18:57):
for the first handful of games, you figure it out
in the meantime, but you get him back to one
hundred percent because it's obvious how impactful and important he
is on this team. We just saw it last year.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Pat most importantly, Red Panda back this year. Do we know?
Speaker 3 (19:10):
I thought I saw something that she is she's getting
back into the flow of things.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
I think that answer is yes, Okay, well we'll look
forward to it. You know how I am with the
halftime shows right likewise, Yeah, that's the gold standard with
that question.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
All right, Pacers and Spurs, that is going to be
tomorrow night, eight o'clock. You can hear that right here
on this radio station, Pat Boiling, along with of course
Mark Boyle and the Pacers Radio Network Eddie Gale also,
I assume going to be on that broadcast tomorrow night,
right Pat, Yes, sir, all right, we appreciate the time
as always, Pat, have a good weekend and chirp, chirp, good.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Luck to your cards. He thanks you good to talking
to Pat Boyl and.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Joining us on the progrem Speaking of this weekend, it
is cults out in La taking on the Chargers.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Corbin.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
I don't know if you happen to have the like
a little thing of peanuts or if you're going with
the cookies, but we are going to go ahead and
hop on a burd and take a road trip. Right,
wouldn't be a road trip if we're in a plane,
it's a plane trip. But nonetheless, we're gonna go out
to La. We will get the Chargers viewpoint on things.
We'll do it with the voice of the Chargers, and
we'll do it next. Did I say Matt Smith is
(20:14):
the voice of the Rams. I will confuse that ten
thousand times. Admittedly, Rams and Chargers. I obviously know he's
the voice of the Chargers, but when I think LA,
I still think Ram.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Now I don't.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
It's weird because I don't think San Diego Chargers per se.
But when I think La, Rams is the first thing
that comes to mind right off the top of my head.
I mean, they both are blue and yellow, they both
got the yellow thing going across the helmet, they're both
in LA, and now they play in the same stadium.
I'll get this confused until the end of time. I'm
(20:47):
gonna be completely screwed. When I'm older and I'm having
like some sort of cognitive issue and they're giving me
some sort of cognitive exam and they're like, well, just
ask him the simple question of which team plays in LA.
I'm like, oh, man, which one? And I'm gonna confuse it.
I'm gonna be completely like as I was at fifty three,
but I'm going to confuse it, no question about it.
Pacers in Action Tonight Tomorrow night, or excuse me, Pacers
(21:08):
and Action tomorrow night taking on the Spurs down in
San Antonio, and the the thing that's interesting to watch
because it's preseason, and I've never really gotten much into preseason,
but this year there is just so much question about
(21:32):
what they do roster wise, and furthermore, what they do stylistically.
And you know they've had already. I think a couple
of players that you look at and it's very easy.
Taylan Peter, by the way, you know, they're he has
(21:53):
a Ben Shepherd type feel about him. Their draft pick
from this year. And I don't mean that in the fact,
because they both came from, you know, a smaller school
and they are guys that got a little bit overlooked
and have the ability to hit an open shot or
a knockdown three if left open, and yet they also
(22:14):
can defend a rebound. And you know Cam Jones. We
haven't seen yet who was their first pick this year
in the draft because of injury. But Peter I think
has played. He looks like a Ben Shepherd player in
terms of and this might be the same situation that
took place with Jerrifs Walker and Ben Shephard. You know
(22:37):
Ben Shephard when those two came in. Just based on
rotation and other such things, Ben Shephard was getting minutes
before Jeris Walker and I think it was hard for
Jeris Walker. I think it was hard for Jeris Walker
to rotate in and to see those minutes be taken
(22:59):
by Ben Sheppard. But we'll see what happens with Cam
Jones now and Talon Peter.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Did you say we have Matt Corman? Is that what
you said? Yes, we do.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Joining us now on the Jaba House Peel and poor
guest line and his patients is greatly appreciated. Matt Smith
is the radio play by play voice of the Los
Angeles Chargers, and I made specific note to say Chargers
there because I still have that block with Chargers and Rams. Matt,
First off, man, how are you thanks for joining us?
Speaker 5 (23:25):
That's funny, like it's usually the opposite. It's not Chargers
Rams in Los Angeles, it's San Diego, Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Yes, people typically right, for sure, get wrong.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
Yeah, no worry on the patients. I'm just sitting on
the one ten Nightmare making my way over to Dodger Stadium.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
So all good.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Oh listen man, that means you've got you've gone what
probably two miles in the last forty five minutes or
something like that.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
It's not too bad.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
It's I'm coming from the Chargers facility in Elsa, Gundos,
not to get who cares about logistics, But yes, I've
just hit the log jam. I was cruising for a
while and now I'm staring it down and yeah, it's
gonna take a while.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yeah, here's what's interesting. So we anticipated that the Colt
season was going to look like rush hour on the
one ten and the fact that we didn't know, you know,
how it was going to go. And yet lo and behold,
the ways has been good for them because they're off
to the start that is surprising, and the Chargers is
a matchup that from the get go I thought was
going to be a challenge for them. I really like
(24:23):
Justin Herbert, but from the outside it seems as though
LA has had problems at times protecting him. Is that
too nuanced a statement to make?
Speaker 5 (24:33):
No, not at all, And they wouldn't have had any
problems protecting him had they not been dealing with these
catastrophic injuries across that front. Because Zion has really turned
into a heck of a guard after struggling his first
three seasons, and they signed McKay Beckton, who when he's
out there is fantastic. Then you got Slater and Alt
on the outside, and man, you got yourself a conversation
(24:56):
for the best O line in the league. Unfortunately, you know,
Rashaan Slater and All is gone in training camp, Joe All,
you know, gets rolled up on in the New York game,
and now you're on literally tackles six and seven. Their
backups Tray Pipkins and Jamari Sawyer were out last week,
so you're on Austin Deculis, a practice squad tackle, and
(25:16):
Bobby Hart, who they signed to the practice squad about
two weeks ago and hasn't started a game since twenty
twenty one. We're out there on Sunday, So that's that's
certainly what's led to it. They've had to adjust the way,
you know, this offense not looking like we think it
should look, and a lot a lot of these deep
shots taken advantage of all that strength that Herbert has
(25:37):
in that right arm of his.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
You know, it's interesting when you look at, for example,
Matt the way that they distribute the ball through the
air with Justin Herbert, it seems as though, from a
receiving standpoint that they've got a pretty balanced core of players.
Is that because Herbert has the ability to create extent
and go through his reads and get to a second
(25:59):
and third check. Or is it by design of Jim
Harbaugh to consistently keep defenses guessing as to where they're going.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
Yeah, I think it's probably a product of just the roster.
You know, last year it was pretty much Lad and
almost nothing else, And even when teams were doubling in
the playoff game, even triple teaming LAD, he's still, you know,
against Houston, even though it was a mess of a game,
put up one hundred and ninety seven yards and a touchdown.
This year is much more similar to what we've seen
in the past, Like his rookie year when favorite people
(26:30):
in all of football Shane Steichen was his offensive coordinator.
He just threw to who was open. And even though
he had Keenan Allen and Mike Williams on the team,
at the end of the year, you look at the
stats and you're like, who's Tyron Williams And why does
he have four hundred and fifty yards and three touchdowns?
Who's Jalen Dighton and why does he have four hundred
yards and three touchdowns? Like that's just the way Herbert's
always been if you're open, as long as you don't
(26:52):
drop the ball and you don't mess with you know,
kind of what he thinks, you're supposed what you're supposed
to be doing, and where he's going to throw it,
you're going to get the ball. And I think that's
like we just saw this last week right where Tyler
Conklin was getting snaps and now Aronde Gadston, fifth round
rookie out of Syracuse, has just kind of stepped in there.
He fumbles on the first reception, turns it over to Miami,
(27:13):
but he's you know, trying to get a first down
and extend the play. And the guy ends up with
eight more targets, seven more catches, and seventy more yards
just because Herbert's, Hey, if you're open, I'm gonna throw
it to you. That's just kind of the way he's
always operated.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
And that's the tight end position you speak of there,
which has become for Indianapolis. You know, Tyler Warren just
solves so many things, Matt in terms of when you
get a tight end that you can line up in
different spots, right, then you can take advantage of a
defense or stretch of defense out defensively, what will Daniel
Jones see informs of the Chargers and what is their
(27:46):
strength and their deficiency.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
Well, I think the hope is that what he sees
isn't what it is. That's sort of what Jesse Minner's
secret sauce is, right. It's a lot of simulated pressures.
It's a lot of thinking what you see is what
it's going to be, and it's not. The one issue
that they've had is for whatever reason, this year and
it was not the case last year. Last year when
(28:09):
they were the best scoring defense in football seventeen to
six a game, and they were top ten and every metric,
they were sound tacklers, and they were good against the run,
really good against the run. This year, they I don't
know what's going on, if it's injury or if for
whatever it just different personnel because some people left last year.
(28:30):
They have had just way too many mistackles and that
obviously is a big concern against the Colts because of
what Jonathan Taylor can do and then how that opens
up play action and especially you know the physicality you
mentioned Tyler Warren, Like, this is a team you'd better
be able to tackle or else they're going to punish you.
In terms of the Colts, and so I think that's
that's the one thing they have to get cleaned up. Typically,
(28:51):
the scheme is sound, the players are usually in the
right places. We've seen a little bit more of that
this year that we didn't see last year. You know,
the Darren Waller touch found last week is a perfect
example of passing a guy off to nobody. That hasn't
happened a lot. But I think ultimately it's it probably
unless the Chargers change some things that we've seen in
the last three four games. It lines up okay for
(29:14):
the Colts because this run defense with the absence of
Khalil Mack, with the absence of Denzel Paraman, has gotten
real leaky. In a hurry. Now, Paraman should be back
out there the linebacker. I know he's not a big name,
but he's a thumper. He's exceptional at finding the right
run fit and making it happen and so, and Khalil
Mack started practicing yesterday. I don't think he's going to
(29:35):
be out there to go a long way long term
for them to get this thing fixed. But as far
as this Sunday is concerned, I just you know, you'd
have to say based on what we've seen with a
Chan last week with Crosskey Merat, the week before with
Skataboo and Darth the week before. As you know, teams
have been able.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
To run on them.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Matt money Smith is our guests. He's on the job House,
Peel and Poor Guest Line. He is the radio voice
of the Los Ange List Chargers Matt. Jim Harbaugh was
very complimentary of his time with Jim Mersay. He had
very nice things to say about the Lake Colts owner.
What sort of I guess I'll use the word attitude
or just tone has Jim Harbaugh been able to bring
(30:16):
to the Chargers since becoming their head coach.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (30:19):
Winning. I think that's number one. Toughness and winning. You know,
it's he is so good at getting players to believe
in what he's selling. And I think that's, you know,
such an underrated skill for a head coach. It's like, Hey,
I'm sending you out onto this field in a plastic
(30:41):
outfit and asking you to commit random Mattlin, not random,
but designed acts of violence? Will you do it for me?
And I think, you know, with coaches in the past,
we've seen some guys are like, no, no, I won't
because I don't believe in and what you have us doing,
where the positions you're putting us in, and that this
is necessarily in our best interest. With Harbaugh, he is
(31:02):
all about his players. He is all about like you
will never hear him say a bad word about anyone,
regardless of how you know how many challenges they made,
challenges they may have had in the game prior, but
appreciate that he walks in that door and it's like, hey,
I understand that there's a verb out there called chargering
that has nothing to do with me. Okay, I'm a winner.
(31:25):
I win everywhere I go. I just won a national
championship at Michigan. I went to a super Bowl in
San Francisco. I took an afterthought of a program at
San Diego made him relevant, and then I was so
good at Stanford. I ran off Pete Carroll to the
NFL like I win, so follow my lead, and I
think that's what they needed. You know, they're so talented
(31:45):
with Derwin James and Justin Herbert, like, these guys are
so talented, find ways to lose games. So I think
that's more than anything what he was able to bring
to this team and just say let's go win games
twenty good enough, and.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
He should have taken the Colts to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
But Cordel Stewart got credit for a touchdown when he
stepped out of bounds ahead of time. But that's you know,
been thirty years, so we can let that go, all right. Lastly,
we have a mutual friend, as you know in my
buddy track Dude, Michael Young, who calls turn three the
eighty five hundred or turn two, and I'm in turn three,
so Michael throws it to me. He tells me that
he knows you because back when he was a rock DJ,
(32:25):
you were a record label like promoter basically for a
record company. Fact or fiction in terms of that.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
One hundred percent fact.
Speaker 5 (32:36):
Em Young is one of my absolute favorite guys on
the face of the earth. We've remained friends despite me
not being in the record business since two thousand and five,
is when I made the transition to sports. Yet we
still see each other whenever I go to Indy and
I go a lot to call Big ten tournament basketball,
or whenever he comes here. Track Dude, as people know him,
(32:58):
is just an autoin guy. And he was a pain.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
He was I'll say it. I'll put it this way.
Speaker 5 (33:05):
He was a pain in my ass while also being
one of my best partners. And give my.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Records play it.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
Ah, that's exactly correct, rights, It's like it's both sides.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
I imagine this, Imagine having to wait for him to
have the brevity of making a radio call in eleven
seconds before he drops it to you, and having him
actually get it within eleven seconds. Right, so here, let
me ask you this in your time doing that, give
me the band, give me the musical act that when
you look back on it, you most aggressively tried to
promote or get played on radio that you were constantly selling.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Which one comes to mind?
Speaker 5 (33:43):
I think the one I had the most belief in
was was Jimmy World. The guys were just such good dudes,
and they worked so hard, and so I wanted it
so badly for them, and I just thought the middle
and sweetness and that they were just like yeah that
there were just like five or six hits on that record,
(34:03):
and I was like, there's no way we're not going
to have this work, but like, oh, they like that
that was going to be their single.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
It was like this song bunklow. Okay, I hate saying it.
I appreciate the time for Matt.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Unfortunately, uh, Jimmy E World did kind of work, and
then at the very last second that our connection did not.
But uh certainly appreciate the time. Matt money Smith, the
voice of the Chargers, joining us here on the program.
We will take a break, we'll come back. JMV. Is
(34:51):
it Joe's grill in Westfield? We will throw it out
to him here in about thirty minutes or so. But
before we do so, and it has come by very
specific request that our next guest, apparently, and I know
that obviously Matt Taylor has done Don Fisher impersonations. I
am told on the text line, Hey Jake, can you
(35:12):
please ask Matt Taylor to do his impression of JMV.
It is spot on and I have not heard it forever.
Matt Taylor, that is true or false that you do
a JMV impersonation.
Speaker 6 (35:22):
Here's the deal, Jake, I mean, where do you want
to start with this bad boy? We just heard the
promo right there from the Great Rick ventury five and
one offense off the charts. Defense as of last year
no longer fu bar. It is absolutely fans stink fantastic
to be on your show.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
By the way, is Matt Taylor there also just out
of curiosity.
Speaker 6 (35:47):
Here's the deal, Jake, I mean, where do you want
to start here? I got three hours, I got three hours.
I want you, I want me, and we are live
at whatever tavern you just said that.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
I am live at here.
Speaker 6 (36:00):
I follow my savings, follow my voice. I will pied
Piper you down the line, admire the official super center
of the ride with JMB Here. Jake, We're gonna have
a fan stink fantastic time here for the next three hours.
I'm gonna drink, people are gonna come up to me.
I'm gonna talk on the air. It's gonna be awesometime here. Uh,
(36:22):
three hours of the ride with JMV on the fan
bad boy, this is awesome.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Now Here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
I will know I've arrived and I've been here long
enough when you finally have an impersonation of me.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
I'll be honest with you.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
I don't even want to know which buzzwords I say
all the time, but I know they're out there right.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
Uh, he's listen. It's all in jest, right, it's all.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Of course solid though. That's solid, right.
Speaker 6 (36:44):
I say it all the time, like if that means
people are paying attention to you know what I mean?
That's that's I think a high praise, a high Uh.
It's the ultimate compliment.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
It is, indeed, all right, Matt, let's let's talk about this.
The the ultimate compliment for the Colts is the fact
that they are right now the number one seed in
the AFC if the playoffs began today, which.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Guess what, they don't.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
But this is one to me that's tricky with the
Chargers because at the beginning of the year it jumped
out as probably would you would say, what one of
the two or three toughest matchups on paper. But here
we are now and it's still a challenge. But obviously
the culture playing well. What jumps out at you about
the Chargers that maybe we didn't anticipate.
Speaker 6 (37:26):
Well, they're banged up and they're slowly starting to get healthy.
Speaker 4 (37:29):
I mean, their offensive line has just been in shambles.
Speaker 6 (37:32):
They've had some key injuries on both sides of the
ball to some skilled players. Quinton Johnston didn't play last week,
but I think he's trending towards having a pretty good
chance of playing on Sunday. I think they're really deceiving
because you know, right now, they're still like look at
them on offense. They're right, they're only scoring about twenty
one points per game, but they are top ten and
(37:54):
just about everything, I mean, rushing and passing third down.
What's really killing them is just red zone. They are
the worst red zone team in the NFL. So for
whatever reason, they.
Speaker 4 (38:07):
Just can't finish drives.
Speaker 6 (38:08):
They only have seven red zone touchdowns the entire season,
So if they were able to finish more drives off
they would be I think right there. Kind of the
same conversation with the Colts, as you know, elite offense
and really tough to game plan for, and I think
they are right. They've got three receivers over three hundred yards.
(38:29):
You know, they got a pretty good up and coming
tight end and rond Gatson. You know, the running game
has sustained even though they've had some key injuries to
their top backs Naji Harris and Omari and Hampton. Harris
is on ir for the season. Hampton I think has
a good chance to come back sooner than later, but
that leaves them with asan Haskins and Kamani Videll and
(38:52):
you know, Vadell last week stepped up.
Speaker 4 (38:55):
And ran over one hundred yards.
Speaker 6 (38:56):
And to me, the Chargers Jake kind of look like
when I look at them on the surface, they kind
of look like they remind me of like the twenty
fifteen twenty sixteen Colts right where they've got a lot
of injuries and it just seems like the quarterback is
good enough to just kind of carry them, you know
(39:17):
what I mean, like keep them in every game. And
that's what Justin Herbert is able to do. And he's
coached really well by Jim Harball. Really, they had no
business winning that game the other day, but they were.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
You know, they got a good kickoff.
Speaker 6 (39:31):
Return at the end, and then Herbert made the great
play the houdiniac climbing up in the pocket, hits Lad
mcconkeye for a big game and then they win a
walk off winner. So they're a very good team despite
some of their overall statistics. But I think if they
were better in the red zone, they would be one
of the best elite teams in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
On offense.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
But you know, one of the signs of a good
team Matt, Let's be real, and I know it's a cliche.
Good teams find ways to win games, right. You know,
you look at whether we're talking about or for that matter,
for the Colts this year games. To me, the Colts
game against Arizona was signed of a good team because
they they kind of slogged their way through that game,
(40:11):
but when it came down to it, they made the
plays they needed to to win. And that's what good
the great teams do, right.
Speaker 6 (40:18):
And I think last Sunday's game is way more the
norm in the NFL than the previous Sunday's game.
Speaker 4 (40:23):
When you blow out the Raiders forty to six.
Speaker 6 (40:26):
I mean, I think Jacoby Brissett and you know some
of their backs, Michael Kurter, I mean they were down
their top two backs last week as well. I Mean,
the NFL is just next man up, and these guys
are just Krim de Lakrim. I think that's what most
people don't really understand, is like there's just not a
huge drop off at most positions. I mean, you can
(40:46):
plug and play because they're just these guys are so
good and every team is operating under the salary cap, right,
I mean every team has only so much money to
pay their guys, which means there's gonna be a lot
of parody in the NFL, which is why all these
games seemingly come down to the fourth quarter and the
final four minutes. That's why it's way more, you know,
(41:07):
the exception than the rule. To see the Colts blow
three teams out by twenty plus points. It just hasn't
happened here since twenty twenty one. So I thought it
was important, especially the way that the date started.
Speaker 4 (41:21):
For the Colts.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
Jake.
Speaker 6 (41:21):
I mean, you know, two major injuries before the game
even starts. Like what I'm thinking of myself in the
press box, like what what is going on?
Speaker 4 (41:30):
Like this is this is unheard of?
Speaker 6 (41:32):
And then it's you know, you're you're starting, you know,
your top cornerback is unavailable to play, and that changes
the personnel, It certainly changes the game plan.
Speaker 4 (41:40):
It's kind of a scramble job by lou Ane.
Speaker 6 (41:42):
Rumo and the defensive staff to make it work, and
they did make it work. It wasn't pretty, but they
got to stop when they needed. It was fourth down
inside the ten yard line, under minute to go, So yeah,
I think that was very indicative of where the Colts
are at right now, just finding a way to win.
And that's what teams do is just make more plays
in crunch time. The offense score two fourth quarter touchdowns,
(42:06):
the defense got the stop.
Speaker 4 (42:07):
They needed and it was just enough.
Speaker 6 (42:09):
And more often than not in the NFL, that's what
it comes down to.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Okay, So let's talk about the injuries. You know a
couple of them. Josh Downs not practicing yesterday due to concussion,
Ashton Dulan didn't practice yesterday due to a chest injury.
Obviously we know now Anthony Richardson on ir after that incident,
and then Mooney Ward with the concussion. Where do things
stand right down, Matt.
Speaker 4 (42:32):
Well, that's currently where they're at too.
Speaker 6 (42:33):
So the practice report is going to come out here
in about an hour, right around four o'clock. And you
know the one I'm going to be watching the most
is probably Josh Downs. I mean to Oarvarius Ward, I mean,
this is really unfortunate for him, right This is a
second concussion of the season, and it's just hard. History
shows us that, and rightfully so it should be hard
for players and the idea of player safety. It should
(42:56):
be tough to come back from a concussion a week later.
It's tough to clear the five step process. And that's
on purpose because you know, the NFL wants to continue
player safety with head injuries, and so you know that's
in place for a reason. So I think ward is
it's gonna be tough. I don't know where Josh Downs
(43:17):
is because there just wasn't I mean, they didn't report
that until the injury report came out yesterday, So you know,
you can't sit here and speculate.
Speaker 4 (43:24):
Okay, maybe on Monday or Tuesday he.
Speaker 6 (43:26):
Cleared a couple of those phases and then yesterday was
still in the protocol, and it has a decent chance.
I mean, we're not going to know on that until
tomorrow when Shane Stiken meets with the media. But I'll
be really interested to see where Josh Downs is here
in terms of the injury reporting about an hour because
he's the big one. I'm not saying he's not replaceable,
(43:47):
but man, he's just so good.
Speaker 4 (43:49):
In the slot.
Speaker 6 (43:49):
I mean, he's already one of the best slot receivers
in the game. He's clutched for the Colts on third down.
I think he's got the second most first down catches
this year among slot receivers, and so he just does
a lot for you in those short yardage.
Speaker 4 (44:03):
Situations in the passing game.
Speaker 6 (44:05):
And so how the Colts would adjust with his absence
is a big storyline going into this game.
Speaker 2 (44:10):
Matt.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
When you look at Matt Taylor is our guest, he's
on the Java house, peel and poor guest line. When
you look at the Colts overall, and maybe that's an
area they've already been tested and been able to prove it.
But in your opinion, the area where they have the
most depth is where.
Speaker 4 (44:28):
Oh that's a good question. I mean a lot of
areas which is good.
Speaker 6 (44:33):
I mean, just initially thinking about that, there's a couple
of answers that come into my head.
Speaker 4 (44:37):
I mean, I think offensive line.
Speaker 6 (44:40):
I mean, you still have, you know, guys like Danny
Pinter and Dalton Tucker. You know, I think you're you're
pretty good there defensive line.
Speaker 4 (44:49):
You know, you've had some.
Speaker 6 (44:50):
Guys really show up the last couple of weeks, and
specifically in the interior of that defensive line like Neville
Gallimore and I think's playing pretty well.
Speaker 4 (44:58):
And the guy that I think has taking a bit
step from.
Speaker 6 (45:01):
Year two to year three, or maybe it's year three
to year four now that I think about it, because
drafted in twenty two is at a tomil out of Barre.
Speaker 4 (45:08):
He's really done a nice job.
Speaker 6 (45:09):
And we've talked about this before in the past, right
when when Buckner and Stewart are out of the game.
In the past, it's just been kind of like, you know,
there's a guy up in the press box for the
opposing team with binoculars and he's relaying down to the
head coach or the offensive.
Speaker 4 (45:23):
Coordinator saying, hey, ninety nine and ninety you're out of
the game.
Speaker 6 (45:26):
Let's pound it. And that's what they've done. Teams have
done to the Colts. They just haven't had that backup
interior tackle depth, and I think out of barras giving
him that depth and that productivity both in the run
game and in his pass rush too. So that's been
good to see. You know, wide receiver is a good
depth position. I mean when things are normal. Obviously, right
(45:50):
now things aren't normal with with Josh Downs being the
concussion protocol and Ashton Doling, as you said, dealing with
the chest injury, and then also too, I mean ad
Mitchell still in the doghouse right. He was relegated to
the an active list last week and we'll see where
that is. But if those two guys can't play, Mitchell's
got a play, and it'll be interesting to see and
(46:11):
Nott how he's matured and how he's bounced back from that,
and that.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
You know what I was saying, for his confidence standpoint,
this might be what's needed is for them to go
to him and say we need you. It's not we're
not just putting you out there because you are a
top draft pick and we see potential in you.
Speaker 2 (46:27):
We actually need you.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
And for you know, for the first time, maybe he
he'll realize And that sounds condescending, but you got what
I'm saying right that that will awaken him. Before I
let you go, I wanted to ask you about one
other guy, because you have to Matt Taylor as the
voice of the Colts, you literally watch every snap and
one guy that I have been impressed by. But I
want you to tell me if my if I'm giving
(46:50):
too much credit here, not that he hasn't played well,
but I think Tanner BORDERLINI to me, has really been
impressive because not only has he is he locked down
just that position, but I watch him as well, almost
a center doesn't pull per se, but he will continue
and follow through a block and spring. Jonathan Taylor notably
(47:14):
open in situations that I think is impressive and beyond
almost even what you would expect. And for a guy
that you know was a spot fill in last year
and now a full time starter, I think he has
been very very solid.
Speaker 2 (47:28):
Your thoughts, Yeah, agreed.
Speaker 6 (47:30):
I mean he's been an iron man out there. I mean,
he's played one hundred percent of the snaps in four
of the six games this season, and the only reason
why he didn't play one hundred percent in the other
games is because the Colts are beating.
Speaker 4 (47:40):
The crap out of the teams, you know what I mean.
Speaker 6 (47:43):
And he's done a really really good job, like you said,
of opening up runs in the interior of the offensive
line for Jonathan Taylor. I mean, those guys are just
playing so well. I mean, gonzalveez Is he's really assimilating
well to his new position at right guard. And then
obviously Quentin Nelson just he's on another level. I mean,
he just I mean, Rick, you asked Rick Venturi about
(48:04):
Quentin Nelson, and I hope you got about three hours
because he's gonna talk your ear off about how well
he's playing. No doubt, he's one of the best guards
in the league. And you know, Shane Stike in the
other day kind of called him. I know we're kind
of veering off on Nelson a little bit, but you know,
Shane Stike and actually schemes up ways to get Nelson,
you know, sort of out of the pocket on the move,
(48:26):
so that he can be a road grader and kind
of a lead blocker for you know, whether it's Daniel
Jones on a rollout or you know, a polling guard
for for Jonathan Taylor. But yeah, going back to Bordolini,
he's you can tell he's really comfortable in year number two,
settling in with the idea that he's going to be
the starting center for this team for for a long
(48:46):
long time.
Speaker 4 (48:47):
And he's remained durable.
Speaker 6 (48:49):
He's playing at a high level, and you can tell
those five guys along along that offensive line are just
completely bought in. They're all doing a good job of
playing with each other. And then I think to give
credit for Jonathan Taylor because he has to know sort
of the ins and outs and the makeup of the
blocking abilities or maybe some of the deficiencies of the
(49:11):
offensive line, and then just you know, changing his running
style play by play based on where the play is going,
you know, in the direction of certain offensive linemen. So
he's showing great patience, he's showing great burst when he
needs to have a burst.
Speaker 4 (49:27):
And I mean this offensive line is just playing at
a very very high level.
Speaker 6 (49:30):
It's spearheaded by Tanner Bordolini, but certainly Jonathan Taylor is
making all of those guys look great with some individual
effort as well. But the running game is in a
great spot right now.
Speaker 1 (49:42):
And the play by play will be provided by Matt
Taylor on this radio station. Coming up on Sunday, Colts
in Los Angeles, back to SOFI Stadium this time to
take on the Chargers. Matt appreciate it as always, enjoy
the great weather out in Los Angeles.
Speaker 4 (49:58):
All right, we'll do Jake Man, I'll talk you next week.
Speaker 2 (50:00):
All right, it sounds good.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
Matt Taylor, the voice of the Colt speaking of JMV
and his fabulous impersonation of him. He will join us
next on the other side as we do the JMB Crossover,
brought to you by the good guys at Love Heating
and Air Love dash hvac dot com three one seven,
three five three twenty one forty one
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