September 4, 2025 • 53 mins
Today’s Best of Features:
(00:00-13:10) – IndyCar Driver Will Power joins Query & Company to discuss the decision to move on from Team Penske and go to Andretti Global. Will explains why he felt like it was time for a fresh start somewhere else, evaluates if the recent Team Penske problems were factored into his decision to leave, provides a timeline as to how it all came about, and switching from a Chevrolet to Honda engine.
(13:10-28:48) – Chris Perkins from the South Florida Sun Sentinel joins Jake Query to give the Miami Dolphins perspective ahead of Sunday’s season opening game. Chris believes that the Dolphins need to win a playoff game in order for it to be considered a successful season, accesses where things are at with Tyreek Hill and his teammates, and evaluates the weaknesses and strengths of Miami’s team.
(28:48-53:51) – The radio voice of the Colts, Matt Taylor, makes an appearance on Query & Company to preview Sunday’s game against Miami. He believes that Joe Bachie is a guy that could catch the eye of someone with his playmaking ability, believes the Colts are going to have designed runs for Daniel Jones, and explains the importance behind this game in the grand scheme of things.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Our next guest has won more polls than any driver
in the history of the NTT IndyCar Series. He also
has won forty three races, the majority of those with
Roger Penske and Team Penske, but he would like to
add to that total because of course he now is
no longer with Team Penske, but stays in the series.
(00:20):
That news in the fact that will Power is now
a member of Andretti Global and will drive the number
twenty six car that most recently was piloted by Colton
Herda and he joins us now on the always busy
and available for your company to sponsor guest line, will
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I'm doing well? Thank you? How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I am good? And you know what, I'll tell you.
Part of the reason that I'm good is because and
I feel bad about it. You know, at the end
of the year in Milwaukee and in Nashville, I think
every time that we interviewed you, you know, everybody is
wanting to know the question of what's going to go
on with will Power. We had pretty good indication of
what was going to go on with Willpower, and yet
(00:58):
we've got to ask it. Knowing that you can't necessarily
say what's going on with willpower? So how relieved are
you to just have kind of all of this over
and done and now being able to look forward.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
It was a weight off my shoulders. Sure, it's actually
the go kart trail and there right now just having fun.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
But I just felt a bit of a release.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
So yeah, it was probably subconsciously weighing.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
On me, and I.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Was getting a lot of questions about it and just
sort of you know, the stress was wondering.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
Exactly how is this going to play out?
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Is it going to go easily? You know, the transition,
and it has gone very smoothly. So yeah, you know,
I'm very very excited for the future.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
We did this will I mean, obviously this domino felt
quick and we knew it was going to And then
it was not long after the announcement from Team Penske
that you would not return, that you were announced friend
Ready Global. So when when did this all kind of
get underway? When was the first time that you thought
about the fact that you would not be with Team Penske,
And when was the first conversation you had with n Ready.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Well, it's it has been let's say, you know, definitely
from May onwards, I was starting to, you know, think, well,
you know, maybe maybe I'm going to have to drive
somewhere else I get another ride. The goal was to
resign with Penske. That was kind of you know, I'd
(02:33):
been there seventeen years. I have had great success. I
love the team, the people, Roger. Roger's been great to me.
And you know, I think after the conversation that I
had with Roger, you know, post Indianapolis, you know, he said,
(02:54):
I'm not going to shoot. You've talked to other teams.
I'm not saying that you won't be in the car,
and actually, you know, I'm a allowing.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
You to see what's out there.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
So at that point, you know, when he said that,
I thought, okay, you know they're looking at going in
a different direction.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
There's a chance here that I'm not going to go
to Fancy. So then we started looking.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Around and I would say just about every team owner
and the pit lane spoke to me. But for Andrettie
that sort of came together very quickly at the end. Yeah,
I think the first conversation was that road America just
sort of in passing saw down on a golf cart
(03:33):
and said, oh, you know, what i'd I'd love to
drive for you, and you know, they didn't really have
anything at that point, but yeah, then it probably got
the wheels turning for Dan and you know, an opportunity
for Colton to go somewhere, and then that seed opened up,
so yeah, and then the whole process went very smoothly.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
So and that you know, when we spoke about.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
It, when I signed up to A fourteen management at
the beginning of.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
The year, we thought the most.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Likely thing to happen is that Roger does sign me
for a year or you know, probably just a year,
because that's kind of you know that that's sort of
the trend that Penske has followed over the years with the.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Drivers that are a bit older.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
But you know, but the ideal place to end up
for us was Andretti. We actually said that, not that
there was anything open there when we're talking about that,
but we actually said, Oriel said, you know, my ideal
place for you to end up.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Would be at Andretti. I agreed with him.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
So that's yeah, I agree. They're a great team. You
know that they're you know, Dan's very obviously when I
started talking to Dan, you know, even cemented that more
because he's he's very in touch with what needs to
be done in that team to improve it. They're already
winning races. I think Honda, as you've seen this year
(04:58):
of have a very good vengeance. Yeah it was just
but yeah, just you know, play it out quite smoothly.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Actually, So Dan Twis, by the way, is who Will
is referencing there, who is with originally with Group one
thousand and one and now is involved with the ownership
stakes within Andretti Global. So Will, if you would have decided,
for example, after that meeting with Roger Penske in May,
if if you would have woken up a month ago
(05:29):
and said, you know what, I do want to give
another run with Team Penske. Here would that have been?
Was that offered to you? Was there the possibility from
their end of you returning to them next year?
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I was offered to fly up and we never got
to that point. But after Portland, Johnthon Gibson called me
and said, hey, we'd like to fly you up to
Detroit to meet with Roger and talk about your future,
and you know, and I basically he said, look, I'm
(06:01):
not I'm not going to come back. I'm not coming back.
You know, I've made the decision of my mind.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
And I kind of went from there.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
And Roger called me a day later and said, yeah, look,
we would love to have negotiated with you, but you know,
it sounds like you made the decision.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
It was. You know, Roger was fine with it. He understood,
and you know.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
He he was. And I said, you know, I kind
of didn't want to go through the stress of another
single year of wondering what I'm doing the next year.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
And also, you know, I got the feeling that.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
You're only going to offer me one year, and he said, yeah,
that's true.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
You know, I'm not going to lie to here. We
were going to offer you one year.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
So yeah, there was a chance to go back, but
my mind was made up. So you know, I was
just time for a change and a different challenge. See
if you can, you know, winning a different team. You know,
I think I liked that. It's exciting for me, it's motivating.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Will power my guest here, who will be having Friendreddi
Global coming up in the twenty twenty six IndyCar season,
who will be in car number twenty six, Well, I
want to go back to this, and I talked about
this because you have been and I commend you for it.
You and your wife, Liz, both I think, have been
pretty public about and it's well documented the health challenge
that she had and the balance that you had to
(07:20):
have between being husband and dad and race car driver,
and what I would assume was a difficult distraction for
the last few years as Liz at times her health
was in dire situation. Did that help you navigate this
process in terms of having an understanding of the realities
(07:40):
of what's truly important in life and how did it
all How did you weigh all of that out, because
you you always just seem so kind of relaxed deep
down inside. Were you were you terrified?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
I would never say terrified, but.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Yeah, in twenty three obviously that was a very stressful situation.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
You know, Liz's health has got a lot better. I
don't think.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
We were necessarily thinking of any of that. Yeah, I think, yeah.
My thinking was, look, I'm late enough in my career
to I'm not going to say it's a risk, but
take you know, make a change, because it's not like
you know, it all all went.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Bad or just you know, you know, it.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Just didn't seem like it seemed like that. You know,
I knew in my gut basically, is what I'm trying
to say, is I know him. I knew in my
gut that it was time to move. You just know
at this age, just felt it like it's the right
thing to do and it's the right time, and I
just knew it in my guard I just you know,
I trust that feeling. I sort of don't don't have
(09:00):
a lot of indecision these days to kind of move
forward quickly.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Did some of the things that happened within the team
factor at all. I mean I'm talking about like the
push to pass thing, which you were pleadered of really
but you were kind of caught up in it in
Saint Pete. And then obviously this year at Indie having
to start from the back. Did those things factor in?
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Nah?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I think.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
I think having sort of two Indy five hundreds affected
by those things were disappointing. You know, I'd mistrategist taken
off my car two years in a row, and definitely
that first year it cost us, I think. But no,
you know, they those things were not you know, they didn't. Yeah,
(09:45):
as we've explained many times, there's unfortunate circumstances there, But
it was obviously a lot of things go into it.
You know, you just have a number of different things
that sway your decisions, you know.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
As they add up.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
I wouldn't say that that wasn't one of them. It
was sort of, you know, It's just just many things
that went into that decision, and you know, and one
of them was my got my gut feel for it.
I think this is the right thing to do.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Okay, last thing for you, will and I appreciate your time,
will power joining us here. And I've made a living
asking questions, and about seventy percent of the time I
ask you a question, I think to myself, I think
that might have been a dumb question, you know what
I mean. Yeah, so this is probably a dumb question.
And then I want you to tell me if it's
a dumb question. In winning the Indy five hundred with
Roger Penske, in driving for Roger Penske and driving for
(10:41):
that team, you have primarily been and had success with Chevrolet.
You now will be going to a team that is
kind of a flagship team for Honda. Theoretically, to those
of us that drive cars, you don't really notice any
difference of the engine underneath you as a driver. Will
there be any sort of a different feel or different
style or challenge for you as a driver with a
(11:04):
Honda engine versus a Chevrolet engine.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
I'm sure there is a difference in the way those
engines drive, you know. I think from the outset, the
Chevy sort of I felt like always a really good
top end. I think I've always thought that Honda has
very sort of good lowish mid range.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So I think there is a difference. I think the
performance is very close, and I'll get to feel that.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
You know, I can only sort of wonder what it
feels like until I actually drive a car, so.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I would almost guarantee that will be a difference.
Speaker 5 (11:43):
So that wasn't a dumb question.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
That wasn't That wasn't a dumb question.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
But I've had some dumb questions, right yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
I mean, you know, this whole interview has kind of
been no good. You've got great questions, believe me, good, good,
good questions. They have been. I've I've definitely had some
questions from people of them a time. Yours have been great.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
So all right, so you're gonna go out and you're
just gonna get the go cart and drive around the
track all day to day to just clear the mind
and get back to the roots.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Well there's actually name's David day four A. He's Italian.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
It's like a five time world chance.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
I thought I'd come out and run around with him
just for fun.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Quality definitely a top level job is a bit of
sun for me.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
I mean that's that is different than the way most
of us will spend our off days. But listen, I
know it's been a busy and flurry of activity here,
a busy time for you, and I certainly appreciate not
only the time, Will but also the explanation from all
of it. Our best to you, and you know, to
Liz as well and your son, and certainly look forward
to seeing you're coming up in Saint Pete now A
(12:59):
good stuff.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Man, looking forward to it. It's going to be great.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
Much appreciate it, will enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
That is Will Power joining us on the program today.
The games now count starting on Sunday, starting tonight really
for that matter, in the National Football League, but for
the Colts it is the Miami Dolphins game number one
Lucas Oil Stadium coming up on Sunday. Tailgate by the
way with the fan before that takes place at our
friends at the Slippery Noodle. Marty Bacon and the group
(13:28):
there will be hosting. We would love to have you
come by and enjoy the festivities before the game itself.
But now we take the first of what will be
a season long Thursday road trip, and Chris Perkins is
the columnist for the Miami Dolphins for the Sun Sentinel,
the South Florida Sun Sentinel, joins us now on the program. Chris,
(13:48):
I'm going to get right to this, and that is
the Dolphins are one that from afar lots of talent.
Been times in the last couple of years where that
talent has really shown itself and there's been high promise
and then things kind of plateaued out. What is the
expectation for the Dolphins coming into this season? Is there
more stability than we've seen?
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (14:10):
Boy? First of all, let me just say I've lost
a lot of brain cells in the Slippery Noodles, So
I love I love to hear references to that place.
Speaker 5 (14:18):
Yeah, it's a great place, man, it is a great place.
Speaker 6 (14:21):
Expectations for the Dolphins are mixed, you know, I've picked
them to go nine and eight this season. I think
a lot of the sportsbooks in Vegas have seven and
a half wins that the over under. Other placers have
eight and a half wins as the over under. The
deal with the Dolphins really is, you know, they're going
through now a transition. They were doing the win now
(14:44):
thing with the veterans and the thirty somethings. Now they've
transitioned to winning with use and draftees, and so what
you're gonna see is a team in flux. You know,
they're trying to rediscover that deep passing game that they
have fueled by Tua to Tie and Tua to Jalen
Waddle that worked so well in twenty twenty two and
(15:04):
twenty twenty three. They need to find a running game.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
You know.
Speaker 6 (15:09):
They have Devon a Chan and he's good as a small,
fast guy, but they need some power. They had signed
Alexander Madison, he went out with a season ending neck injury.
So now that power role is going to be filled
by Oli Gordon, the second, their sixth round pick from
Oklahoma State. They're also with the power. They're trying to
revamp that offensive line, so they have a second round
(15:31):
pick Jonas Vai Naya. They signed James Daniels as a
free agent signee from Pittsburgh. So offensively, they're going through
a lot of things. Defensively, they're fueled by that front seven,
the edge rushers. They've got a four man combo of
Bradley Chubb, Jalen Phillips, Shop Robinson, and Matthew Judahon. That's
really the strength of the defense. Last year they had
(15:53):
the number four defense in the league going into this game. Obviously,
the game plan is to top Jonathan Taylor, so you
can allow the pass rushers to feast, get the Colts
into second and long, third and long. But they really
want to be a balance, a more balanced offense, not
just the deep passing game, but they can have some
(16:14):
power running and then they want that defense to be
lived by the front seven and more specifically the edge rushers.
It's gonna be a mixed bag. I'm not really sure
what to expect. I don't think nine wins is gonna
get you into the playoffs. But if they have a
winning record, I think a lot of fans will be happy.
To me, that's more mediocrity and it's not good to me.
(16:37):
The goal for the season should be they have to
win a playoff game. But I think a lot of
the fans here if they just have a winning record,
they'll be happy.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Chris, It's interesting because you talk about the running game,
and it was just a couple of years ago where
the Dolphins almost seem to be like one of the
trend setters. There were other teams as well where it
was all about open space guys. It was about just
get the ball in space to speed burners and speed
kills offensively, and it almost was like the NFL was
(17:08):
devaluing the running back position. And now there seems to
be a trend the other way, where people realize there
is importance at the running back position. Is that a
fair assessment of kind of where Miami might have been
a trendsetter, but now all of a sudden has to
step back and redirect a little bit.
Speaker 6 (17:26):
It is And I'll give you some numbers about the
Dolphins offense. So you know that the Dolphins in the
last well in the Mike McDaniel era, they're four and
sixteen against playoff teams. The last two years they're two
and ten against playoff teams. And Tua has made all
(17:48):
twelve of those starts. In those twelve games, he's got
fifteen touchdowns fourteen interceptions. But even worse, neither Tyreek Heel
nor Jalen Waddle has a one one hundred yard receiving
game against the playoff team in the last two years.
The reason why is because it's a one dimensional offense.
(18:09):
The good teams are able to shut down that passing game.
You play the two shell safety, the two high safeties,
and you keep that that, you keep that ball in
front of you, and so Waddle and Tyreek can't eat.
There's no run game. There's nobody respects the run game.
The Dolphins are eight and eleven the last two years
when they rush for over one hundred yards. So getting back,
(18:31):
you know, bringing it full circle, Yes, they're trying to
develop a run game so that if teams do play
that too high safety, then okay, the Dolphins can run, run, run,
and that can lead them to victories. They were before
they would just pile up yards and the yards didn't
mean anything because they were kind of cute. The yards
that that, you know, the outside zone runs. They're gonna
(18:53):
pile up yards, but they aren't gonna score a lot
of touchdowns. So now they're trying to get some respect
for that run game. Get teams to drop that eighth
man into the box and then you go over the
top and then you get that deep passing game going.
But yeah, for the Dolphins, the run game is the
key to the pass game. So I'm expecting a fairly
(19:15):
steady diet early of run so that they can try
to force the Colts to drop that eighth man in
the box and then go over the top and wake
up that pass game. But the pass game is no
good without a good run game, So the Dolphins, yes,
are trying to rediscover a run game.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Chris Perkins is our guest. He's what the sun settinely
covers the Miami Dolphins down there, I think, if I'm
not mistaken, he also gets a lifetime of charitable benefit
from the fact that he had to tolerate and work
with mc engle at some point along the line in
his career.
Speaker 5 (19:47):
I think, yeah, yeah, I think that yet. Yeah, I
think that's right.
Speaker 6 (19:50):
Yeah, I haven't heard that name in a while.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Yeah, well, I wish I had neither. Mac and I
grew up together. He's an indie guy and he's been
on the show a lot. But Chris, how are the
Dolphins defensively because cause you know, for the Colts, they
the Colts I think have some and it's going to
be interesting. There's a lot of, I guess interest in
what Tyler Warren can do as the tight end. Certainly
we know of Jonathan Taylor, but what sort of looks
(20:13):
will Miami give Indianapolis and what can Indianapolis exploit?
Speaker 6 (20:17):
So the Dolphins were number four in total defense last year,
they were number nine against the run. So again, what
they really want to do is stop Jonathan Taylor and
get the Colts in the third and long so those
edge rushers can feast. But obviously that starts with not
letting Quinton Nelson dominate you right up front, and that's
a big thing. And then last year when the Colts
(20:38):
beat them, what was its sixteen to ten, Jonathan Taylor
didn't play, Danny Jones, Daniel Jones didn't play, and Tyler
Warren was not there. So this is a kind of
a different Colts offense. You've got some. I mean, when
you add in Tyler Warren and Jonathan Taylor, you know
it's a different offense. Right, So you know the Dolphins
are really going to have to work to figure out,
(21:00):
you know, what can they do to limit the effectiveness
of that of that indie offense or or really the
threat of Jonathan Taylor and Tyler Warren. The strength of
the Dolphins defense is the front seven. It's really the
edge rushers. But you know, they've got a good defensive front,
Zack Steeler, defensive tackle who's coming off of back to
(21:23):
back ten SAX season. They've got Benito Jones up there
to stop the run. He's a veteran. They drafted Kenneth
Grant first round or out of out of Michigan, and
he's a run stuffer. So really, you know, we're we're
gonna see and I'll tell you the other strength of
the defense is the inside backers. Jordan Brooks, who led
the team in tackles last year one forty three, Terrell Dodson,
(21:46):
who led the team in interceptions with three. He's gonna
be charged sometimes with with defending Tyler Warren. And then
the Dolphins definitely had problems stopping tight ends last year.
Trey McBride caused them some some major proper a couple
of other guys Trey mc bride from Arizona. A couple
of other guys caused them some problems. But you know,
the front seven is really the strength of the Dolphins defense,
(22:09):
and that's where they're gonna have to do their best work.
I'll tell you this. The cornerback situation is an absolute
disaster for the Dolphins. One of the outside corners is
stormed up last year. He was an undrafted rookie out
of Louisville. There's some pretty good reason to have faith
in him. He made good progress last year. In the slot,
they'll have Jason Marshall, junior or rookie fifth round pick
(22:31):
out of Florida. The other outside corner probably be Jack Jones,
who they just signed like maybe six weeks ago. Behind
him would be Rasul Douglas who they just signed. He
was a free agent from Buffalo. They just signed him
maybe three or four weeks ago. So the corner of
that situation is a disaster. You know, they got Minka
(22:51):
Fitzpatrick in the Jalen Ramsey trade, so he's one safety.
The other safety will probably be Ashton Davis who comes
over from the Jet. That could be if E Melon
fun Wu. But the secondary is a work in progress
and those corners can be had, so the front seven
has to do good work and those edge rushers have
(23:12):
to be able to take some pressure off of the
corners and put pressure on Daniel Jones.
Speaker 7 (23:18):
Of course, they also added Juju Brentz, former Colts cornerback
after he was waived by Indianapolis. And Storm Duck is
a terrific name. I love that name.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
One of the best names in the league I know.
Speaker 7 (23:28):
And ironically, Jake he played for a school that was
a bird.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
Real yeah, Louisville, Louisville, the Cardinals, Cardinals.
Speaker 7 (23:35):
On the offensive side of things, there's no it's no
secret how much drama there has been around Tyreek Hill
dating back to last year. What is his relationship like now,
I know he's not a captain for Miami with Tua
and with the rest of the Miami team.
Speaker 6 (23:47):
Uh, I think it's fine. I really do think it's fine.
You know, as I always say, Tyreek's done a Tyreek
you know, he look. I think Tyreek is hitted to
the Hall of Fame if he continues doing what he's done.
You know, with the exception of last year, when I
think he slacked off to well, not slacked off, slumped
down to nine hundred and forty nine yards receiving or
(24:09):
whatever it was to a miss six game. So that
was a big reason why. But you know, with Tyreek,
you know that guy produces on the field. You know,
I think the first year he had this is his
fourth year with the Dolphins. First year, I believe with
seventeen hundred and ten yards. Second year seventeen ninety nine,
and he was, you know, unpaid for two thousand until
(24:30):
he got a horse collar tackle against Tennessee late in
the season that slowed him down late. You know, with Tyreek,
he's a lead by example guy. And when you talk
about Tyreek not being a team captain, I think it's
a The story there is the Dolphins have a team
vote for team captains. Seen captains aren't a pointed team
(24:52):
captains are voted on by players, and I think it's
more of a statement that the players decided, no more
of this stuff, no more of this Tyreek nonsense. We're
not going to tolerate him as a team captain when
he's doing all of these things. You know, Tyreek's off
the field behavior. He started last season before the opener
(25:13):
being detained by the police outside of hard Rock stadium.
He ended the season and the finale against the Jets
with the you know what we call the I'm out speech,
where he said, I can't do this anymore. I might
need to be traded. I can't you know, be around here.
We're not gonna be be making the playoffs and winning
playoff games. I thought it was a good thing for
(25:34):
the other players to draw the line in the sand
and say we're not going to tolerate this. So Tyreek's
relationship with them is good. And I think the real
story there is that maybe the team is saying no
more of this foolishness. But Tyreek can lead by example.
He doesn't need that sea on his jersey.
Speaker 5 (25:52):
Like he said yesterday, how did storm Duck not go
to Oregon? Oh?
Speaker 6 (25:56):
Yeah, that's a good one.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Or Miami or I was yeah, I mean you gotta
be a hurricane of cyclone or at Duck, right, I mean,
it's got to be one of those three, all right, Chris.
Last thing before we let you go. You know South
Florida traffic. I mean we all know about South Florida traffic,
and you got you know, six lanes wide and it's
always backed up. But let's imagine the AFC. I want you, Chris,
to think about the AFC in like late November. You
(26:20):
got a six lane interstate. The teams that are on
their way to the fast track to the playoffs are
all in the left lane, and we anticipate that's probably
going to be Kansas City and Buffalo, and you know.
Speaker 5 (26:31):
Those teams are in the left lane.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Ye, it feels like right now that Miami. The Indianapolis
perspective would be that Miami and India are probably in
the same lane and they're both trying to merge over.
And it's like, well that that car there, I'm not
going to let him over.
Speaker 5 (26:48):
That kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
When you look at it, you see the Indianapolis Colts.
I want the outside Indianapolis perspective. You see the Colts
being the majority of this season in what lane of
this Innerscy state and how close to getting their way
into the left lane?
Speaker 6 (27:03):
Oh boy, probably second or third lane trying to merge over.
I'm looking at the Colts. Probably they were eight wins
last year. If I'm not mistaken, I'm looking at the
same thing from the Colts this year. Maybe they get
to nine wins. I don't see them as a playoff
team at this point. And so I see both the
Dolphins and the Colts going into December around five hundred
(27:27):
whatever that number would be, what six and six may be,
or you know, seven and six, whatever it would be.
For the Dolphins, you know, one of their big problems
is they don't play well in December and January, and
so they've got a pretty full schedule the Dolphins do
in December and January. They're playing Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh on
(27:50):
Monday Night, They're playing Tampa Bay, They're playing Cincinnati, and
so it's gonna be rough for them down the stretch.
I don't know what Indie schedule is down the stretch,
but I see them both at five hundred ishes just
trying to merge over into that left lane going into
December and January. Injury they're going to be a factor.
Schedule is going to be a factor. I don't know
(28:12):
how it turns out for either of them. But I've
got the Dolphins of a nine win team and Indy
as an eight win.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Team, okay, and both of them are looking at the
ways about the car that's broken down.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
That's Cleveland, that's right.
Speaker 6 (28:23):
You gotta from Cleveland, New Orleans.
Speaker 5 (28:27):
New Orleans. Yeah, New Orleans was a couple exits back,
but yes, yeah, Mills back right, that's right, hey man.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
We appreciate the time as always. All right, certainly enjoy
the slipper noodle.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
If you're going to be in town, all right, I'll
try to get make a visit down there. Thanks guys.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
All right, much appreciated, much appreciated. Chris Perkins joining us
from South Florida Colts Dolphins Sunday Lucas Oil Stadium. You
can hear that game, of course on this radio station,
and when doing so, you will be hearing the dulcet
tones of Matt Taylor describing me and the action. He
joins us now on the always Busy and Available to
(29:03):
be sponsored guest line. Matt, I'm going to begin with
a question that I was just posing to Eddie. Allow
me to lay down for you the groundwork have said question,
and then we want the Matt Taylor answer.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
Are you ready?
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Let's do it?
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Okay, if you were to take every season ticket holder
in the NFL, Let's say there's roughly one point three
million people that have season tickets to their respective cities
NFL franchise, and you were to simply say to all
of those people, you get to select five road games
to attend, not to see your team, but just five
(29:38):
NFL franchises to go and see a home game in
that team's stadium, not based on a place that you
think would be a fun city, not based on the weather,
but simply based on what you would believe to be
the best in game experience in a stadium, and just
a legendary must do sports bucket list item in the NFL,
(30:03):
what do you believe would be the five franchises that
would tabulate the highest number of votes of season ticket
holders within the NFL saying I want to see a
game there.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
Green Bay, Kansas City, Yep, probably Dallas because of the
magnitude of the facility.
Speaker 5 (30:26):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
Right in the big scoreboard, that's three.
Speaker 5 (30:32):
Right, I think undoubtedly the Big three. Right. I think
that's almost undoubtedly the Big three.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
And then I think you're going to have people that
are I know you're asking people not to do this,
but I think inevitably people will. They'll just pick whether
so they'll pick Tampa Bay or Miami or Arizona or La.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Yeah, I think La would be up there because that
kind of has same level of venue intrigued, does it not?
Speaker 4 (30:58):
Yeah? It does. Yeah, And selfishly I'm excited to go there.
We go there twice this year in a span of
like six weeks, so I'm excited to kind of cross
that one off my bucket list. I would put Soldier
Field up there, but I've never been there. I swear,
I've been doing this car for fourteen years and I've
never been to Soldier.
Speaker 5 (31:16):
Here's what's interesting about Soldier Field. I went.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
I've not been to a football game there, but I've
been to the venue. I saw guns and roses at
Soldier Field a couple of years ago. And one of
the things, this sounds ridiculous. One of the things I noticed.
You don't realize with super old stadiums until you go
to them. This is true of Wrigley, It's certainly true
of Fenway. You realize that one hundred years ago every
(31:40):
American was five nine and one hundred and thirty five pounds. Yeah,
you know what I mean, Like the walkways are, the
concourses are narrow. The I mean the seats, obviously they've
changed them to an extent, but if you're in some
of the original ceded areas, you're like, Holy cow. I
mean it's amazing, you know, it just is not It's different.
(32:02):
Now you've been to Los Angeles the city correct, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
I mean I love LA and the weather's fabulous. But yeah,
I think Green Bay, Kansas City, and Dallas would be
probably almost undoubtedly the top three in that.
Speaker 7 (32:18):
Okay, Matt, I tossed in Buffalo because of Bill's maffiam.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Buffalo's there too, I think, yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
Yeah, but Buffalo, I mean, I like the stadium, but
there's not as much like history in Buffalo. There's like
there's charm in Buffalo, but like there I mean, lambas Lambo,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Like, but I think Matt that Buffalo has a little
bit of the same intrigue that Green Bay has in
the fact that it just represents tough as day's blue
collar football, you know what I mean. Just the fans
are just it's there's just something about when you watch
a game in Buffalo, you think to yourself, that's a
(32:57):
fan base with a dedication that goes to depth I
can't grasp, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
Without a that I mean, and when you're in Buffalo,
I mean, to your point, Bill I mean, you can't
escape the bills. There's bill stuff everywhere. Every bar, every
restaurant is just decked out and bills, and every person
at the bar, every person at the table is probably
having some sort of conversation about either the current team
or nostalgia or you know, bills of of you know, yesteryear.
(33:25):
But I don't know, Like, they're building a new stadium
right next to the existing stadium right now.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
I was just there. Yeah, I was just there like
a month ago.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
So I mean, that's going to be a big time upgrade.
Whereas Lambeau they would never think to build a new stadium.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Well, you and I might have talked about this. What
is the awkward teenage years of a stadium? In other words,
what how long does a stadium have to go being
a dump before then it becomes retro cool.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
That's a good question, you know, because I'm sure Wrigley
was outdated and antiquated at some point, and now it's
like a destination whereby has to cross it off their
list because of how historically Yeah, yeah, exactly, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
That's a good question.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
I think Market Square Arena was probably on its way
there to becoming I mean, it was antiquated, but it
was also like to it was it was it was
our place, you know what I mean, Like it was
our small arena. You know, it kind of represented the city.
But at the same time, like there was no place
to build suites, there was no place for modern amenities
(34:34):
and scoreboarders and things like that, so it had to go,
but you know, it was on its way to becoming
you know, classic Matt.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
You know what's fascinating. I think about this a lot
with Market Square and then I want to get to
the Colts Dolphins game obviously coming up on Sunday. But
I think about this a lot with Market Square. And
I've mentioned it a few times, but we don't think
about this. But if you think about the fact that
Market Square Arena was an elevated arena that had Market
Street running just below it, four stories above it, but
(35:04):
you literally you could drive underneath it. I mean, I
think the road was closed during games, but the bottom
line being you could get directly underneath it. When you
think about the world, and I don't mean this to
be trivial, but after particularly nine to eleven, and then
I guess Oklahoma City, even though when you think about
those aspects of the world that we live in today.
(35:27):
There's no way they would have been able to have
live events there anymore.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
Right, man, I never have thought about that.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
I know that that's a really dark thing, but I
was like, gosh, you know what, Like, it's amazing to
think that you had immediate access directly underneath it, with
eighteen thousand people above you.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
No, I mean to your point though. I mean I
remember going to games as a kid and parking around
the block and walking, you know, to that door right
at Market Square or Market Street.
Speaker 5 (35:53):
Yeah, going up the steps.
Speaker 4 (35:55):
Going up the steps, going up through the stairs, and
I could just I don't know, just things about your
childhood you can appreciate this, Like I remember you walked
you you open up the door that led into the
concourse at Marcus Square Arena, and I think, if I
if I stop and close my eyes and think real hard,
I can still smell it. Oh you know what I mean.
The stickiness of the concourse.
Speaker 5 (36:19):
Was Kent cigarettes, right.
Speaker 4 (36:22):
Yeah, that that was definitely baked into the walls for sure. Yeah,
you know, it's just I mean I used to beg
my dad, my dad, you know, he worked in an
office where that he would get pacer tickets thrown his
direction a couple of times a year, and then obviously
the better they got, the harder it was to get
tickets and freebies. But I mean when we did, I
(36:42):
just felt like you were on top of the world.
Speaker 5 (36:43):
And totally.
Speaker 4 (36:44):
I always remember those moments and how special they were
going to games with him, and you know, the whole
experience getting to our seats, Matt.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
It's what I said when they were in the finals.
This year is all of that reawakened for me, right
going down to see Wayman Tisdale and John Long and
you know what I mean, step Bo and all right,
So for kids, obviously today in twenty twenty five, those
memories are going down to Lucas Oil. It's to watch
the Colts. It's to see this time of year when
hope spring's eternal and there's optimism. And I've said I
(37:12):
do like the roster. I know the quarterback position is
one that is of intrigue, but I like the roster
in general. But from what you have been able to tell,
we just talked about it with Chris down in Miami.
From your perspective, the thing about the Dolphins that the
Colts might be able to take advantage of or is
this even matt at this time of year. Are they
(37:33):
even game planning of breaking down film on what they
think Miami's going to do, or do you just in
week one kind of push in on who you are
and wait to see what the opponent does.
Speaker 4 (37:46):
Yeah, I still think you can gain plan based on
personnel in tendencies of coordinators and things like that. Defensively,
they still have the same coordinator from last year, Anthony Weaver,
and you know, this was a top ten defense last
year across the board and front seven wise, it's still
pretty good and they still have a lot of the
core guys that were really really stingy in twenty twenty four.
(38:09):
But the back end is completely different, and I think
you can exploit it. I mean guys like I mean,
Mika Fitzpatrick is back and so like I think he's
one of my favorite safeties in the league. But he's
only been there for about a month. You know, he
was traded right before traded from Pittsburgh right before training
camp started. But I mean the other names Rasul Douglas
(38:30):
and a Fadi melifon Wu and you're gonna love this guy.
From Louisville Storm Duck, remember him.
Speaker 5 (38:35):
Coming to Oregon. That's what I was saying.
Speaker 4 (38:39):
I mean completely marketing dropped the ball right there. But
I think defensively, you know, the Colts can get some
things done. I think personnel wise against that secondary now
obviously way easier said than done, but at least on paper,
that is going to be the weakness of that defense,
whereas being able to stop the run and putting pressure
on Daniel Jones at least initially is their strength. But
(39:01):
I think if guys on the outside can win their
one on one matchups and pittman and downs and certainly
pierce to get some of those big plays that you
have to have to expedite scoring, I think the secondary
can be had in this game. But again, like you said,
it's week one, not a ton of film on these
guys playing together within this game, and you know, in
this defense under Anthony Weaver. But I think it's exciting
(39:24):
to think about, you know, the yards after the catch
and the screens and the over routes and exploiting the
middle of the field that we've talked agnauseum all off
season about from Daniel Jones that could be on display
prevalent early on in week one.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
When you look Matt at Daniel Jones, and you know,
I do think that Daniel Jones is a better athlete
than is given credit. I think that he has some
wheels about him. But I don't know that you'd design
plays for him in that area, right, I mean, he can,
he can extend plays. I don't know that you design
running plays for him. But the offense that we became
(40:01):
accustomed to, un excuse me, under Anthony Richardson, will be
different than under Daniel Jones.
Speaker 5 (40:07):
How I don't think that it will.
Speaker 4 (40:10):
I think the only difference is you may not, to
your point, see as many design runs. You know, with Richardson,
towards the end of last year, you've got about five
or six design runs, depending on the matchup in the game.
With Daniel Jones, you might see one or two. But
that's not to say that you know, he can't scramble
out of the pocket and produce big time with his feet.
(40:31):
I mean, Jonathon Taylor today talked about just that about
he tried to use the word deceptive. But I think
it's inappropriate to talk about Daniel Jones's athleticism because.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
It's not deceptive.
Speaker 4 (40:43):
It's pretty obvious how fast and fleet of foot this
guy is. I mean, he's got the sixth most rushing
yards among quarterbacks since twenty nineteen. He's averaging five point
six yards per carry for his career, and he's actually
got the Giants all time rushing record for a single
season back twenty twenty two when he was over seven
hundred yards for that season. But like I said, it's
(41:05):
not a lot of design runs, just a couple. But
I think that's important to display those to a certain
degree because it will keep defensive ends honest in the
red zone game. It will, you know, keep those linebackers
sucked up in the line of scrim a is just
a hair. I mean, the NFL is all about timing
and you know, milliseconds of you know, angles to be
(41:26):
able to get footballs into in the passing game. That's
why play action is important for defenses to respect the
running ability from from Daniel Jones. So yeah, again, I
don't think you're gonna see aesthetically a ton of difference
between Richardson Richardson led team or a Jones led team.
Just think you're probably not going to call as many
(41:46):
design runs as you would with Richardson, but that's not
to say the Colts won't prioritize that with Daniel Jones.
Speaker 5 (41:52):
Matt, you've ever seen the movie Bad Santa.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
With Billy Bob.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
Yeah, when I say this is probably going to offend you,
but we've known each other a long time now. When
I think of the kid in that movie, you know,
the kid in Bad Santa.
Speaker 5 (42:07):
Yeah, the kid.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
The look on that kid's face to the majority of
that movie, and just his overall stature, that's I kind
of think of, like nine year old Matt Taylor finding
out that he can't go to the Pacer game as
that kid wearing tough skins.
Speaker 5 (42:22):
Is that about right?
Speaker 4 (42:24):
Yeah? I mean if I had a mirror at the time,
you know, dad comes home and got shut out on
tickets is probably what it looks like.
Speaker 6 (42:30):
Like.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
I mean, I'm not saying that you were a portly kid,
because you're not now, but you're a bigger bone guy, right,
your a football stature. Were you a portly kid?
Speaker 4 (42:39):
No? No, I mean I was. I actually didn't really
fill out until I got to college. I had a
hard time keeping on weight, to be honest with you,
So me, I was yeah, yeah, I mean, I probably
weighed under two hundred and twenty pounds until I was
a junior in college.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
Okay, yeah enough, all right, Matt Taylor, by the way,
the voice of the Colts, our guest, Colts and Dolphins
coming up Lucas Oil Stadium here in week number one.
It is a fun time of year because you just
you look at it and you start kind of trying
to figure out where the wins are gonna come, what
games are going to be tough. I just look at it, Matt,
and I want your thought on this. I think these
first two games are so important, not just because they're
(43:21):
at home and you want to get off on a
good start, but because they are two teams that I
look at and say, if the Colts were to hit
their ceiling this year, these are two teams that are
going to be kind of hanging around their neighborhood the
whole time.
Speaker 5 (43:34):
You agree with that, I could.
Speaker 4 (43:36):
Agree with that more. I mean, you look at the
AFC East with the Dolphins and their representation. Buffalo's won
that division five years in a row. Here comes the
Broncos in Week two. You know they're in the AFC West.
The Chiefs have won that division you know, nine years
in a row, so they definitely have some you know,
road blockages to winning their division historically, and so you thought,
(43:58):
you start thinking about wild card amplifications right out of
the gate, and you know, these head to head matchups
are going to I think, just hold a kind of
weight and hold a lot of magnitude when you start
getting out the tie breaker situations like we always do
inevitably towards the end of the season, you know, weeks fifteen, sixteen,
seventeen and so on and so forth. So it's really
(44:20):
really important for that. But I just think it's really
you know, the whole Jim Mersey component for Sunday matters,
the whole We have a one a week, one game
since twenty thirteen that matters. I mean, it doesn't, but
it also does just because the fans know about it,
and the fans are jaded, and the fans want to
see results and trying to make the playoffs for the
(44:43):
first time in four years. Why is this year going
to be different? Why should we believe in Daniel Jones? Right,
We've had eleven different quarterbacks start a game since twenty nineteen.
Why is this going to be different? Why is Daniel
Jones gonna you know, produce big time results. Like I
totally understand all of that. And so just from a
I guess from a marketing angle and from you know,
(45:05):
a team locker room angle that's tired of hearing about
all those things, those things can all go away just
by winning, you know, just by putting your best foot
forward and all of those things. It's like a big
domino effect. If you win, all of those things just
sort of take care of themselves and naturally just go away,
and people start to pay attention more, and people start
to believe a little bit more and buy into, you know,
(45:28):
the plan here. So it's a it's a results driven league.
It's put up or shut up time. And that's why
I'm excited about Sundays because you know, since March when
there was a quarterback battle announced between Anthony Richardson and
Daniel Jones, and you know, we were going to kind
of reset things in terms of consistency and all of
that stuff. It's just been talked, it's been conjecture. You know,
(45:49):
things have progressed a little bit obviously during training camp
and the preseason, but we talked about this last week.
You simply do not know until you start playing regular
season games. Like things you think you are confident in
that are going to be strengths of your team, you
just do not know how those things are going to
unfold and still you start playing regular season games. So,
(46:12):
like from a personally, I'm really excited for Sunday because
we're going to get some concrete answers to some questions
that we've been debating and kind of kicking around for
the last you know, five or six months.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
There has been you know, one of those questions, Matt
is that of when are we finally going to see
Ady Mitchell show why he was drafted where he was
and why there has been belief in him. And my
concern would be that now schematically they do things that
are not necessarily there to showcase Ady Mitchell.
Speaker 5 (46:43):
Am I wrong?
Speaker 2 (46:47):
No?
Speaker 4 (46:48):
I mean last year, last year, schematically A. D. Mitchell
was very much involved in this offense and for him,
getting open was never the problem. It was just finishing routes,
interpreting defenses, and finishing the play. I mean his catch
rate last year was like forty seven percent, you know,
(47:08):
like that was one of the worst catch rates in
the league. I think actually it was based on the
requirements that you have to be to qualify for for
that that measurement. So him, his playmaking ability has never
been the question. It's just him trying to mature and
grow and finish those plays that you know, he's doing
(47:30):
a nice job of setting himself up for success by
his athleticism, his speed, his route running ability. He's just
got to finish them off. So I mean to say
that a d Mitchell is not a emphasis to to
draw up going into the season. I don't. I don't.
Speaker 1 (47:47):
I don't at all, because I think of him as
a behind the defense guy. Maybe he's maybe he is
a little bit more like a quick down and out guy,
but I think of him as more like the deep
ball home run threat, like an Alec Pierce is sure
and then and that's what I mean is does Daniel Jones?
Will they set those kinds of plays for Daniel Jones
(48:09):
to take advantage of that?
Speaker 4 (48:11):
Yeah? Good, good point. And I think they have to,
I really do. I mean, I've talked about this a lot.
I mean, Jonathan Taylor is going to be the focal
point of the offense and every defense is going to
sell out to, you know, take him away first and foremost.
But in order for Jonathan Taylor to reach his full potential,
if that's the right way to put it within the
(48:31):
offense is you got to have more in the passing game, right,
I mean twice in his career, Jonathan Taylor's been over
fourteen hundred rushing yards and the Colts haven't made the
playoffs in either one of those seasons. They have to
have more in the passing game, and they have to
have more in the explosive passing game where Mitchell and
Pierce specifically, you know, are accentuated. And it's just hard
(48:53):
to score on drives when you're going ten to twelve plays.
It just is a lot of things can screw it up.
You know, you can get a pre snap, you can
get sacked, and all of a sudden you're behind the chains.
So you got to have the threat of those big
plays to widen up the box and then to also
widen out the defense so that they respect what you're
going to do on the outside, big play potential outside
(49:16):
the numbers, so that you can then take advantage of,
you know, the defense in terms of how it reads.
Then to run Taylor, you know, on the downs where
it's appropriate. So yeah, I mean for his career, Daniel
Jones is like six point eight yards per attempt and
for those that don't know, like a good yards per
attempt number is like seven point five, seven point eight
(49:37):
somewhere in there. So he's I mean, Shane Styken I
think is definitely stressing that to Daniel Jones that hey,
we got to hunt those completions, like we've talked about,
you got to be consistent. But also this offense has
to have those big plays to help mitigate scoring. And
you know, for this offense to reach its full potential
with all the weapons, you know, Taylor in the running
(49:58):
game over the middle of Tyler Warren and and then
on the outside, we have to be able to incorporate
Pierce and Mitchell, you know, to stress the defense fully.
Speaker 1 (50:06):
Okay, lastly, Matt, here we go. I want you to
get me. I think we did this last year as well.
I want you to give me two names. You can
do three if you'd like, but give me a name,
a couple of names on this Colt roster that you
need to introduce people to it and prepare them now
because you're going to be saying their name a lot
this year, and people might not be familiar with them,
(50:28):
they might not heard the name. They may it's a
new face, it's a new name, it's a new scheme,
whatever it might be. But when you look at it,
you go, yeah, I better. You know you're you're sitting
around the house going, I gotta practice saying this guy's
name because they're going to be saying it a lot.
Speaker 2 (50:42):
Well.
Speaker 4 (50:42):
I think on defense, Joe Bachi is going to get
a tremendous opportunity right now. He's listed as the starting
linebacker along with Zaire Franklin. And Joe was with lou
Ana Rumo for the last four years and Cincinnati was
primarily a core special teams guy for the Bengals. I mean,
I think last year he only played thirty seven snaps
on defense and he's only made two starts in his
(51:04):
career on defense. But he was behind some really good
linebackers there in Cincinnati, so he really didn't kind of
get his chance. But here with the Colts, you know,
Jalen Carlile starts the year on IR he's kind of
bating for time with guys like Cameron mcgroan and Austin
a GK, and he earned that starting job. So you're
gonna see number forty eight out there a lot for
(51:26):
the Colts. That is Joe Bachi with a Stuttn college
at Michigan State AND's really excited about, you know, taking
on more of an opportunity here and knows this defense
like the back of his hand. Like I said, he's
been with Loui an Arumo for the last four years
since he broke into the league, so he's been teaching
that defense to a lot of guys that are you know,
in that first year under this scheme. So I'm excited
(51:48):
about his opportunity and what he can add to the defense.
Now that being said, Loui an Arumo is also a
big sub package guy, so he's gonna play with you know,
five cornerbacks or five different defensive back sometimes fix which
will then take Botchie off of the field depending on
the matchup. So you know, just kind of keep an
eye on him in terms of his playing time and fluctuation.
(52:11):
And then on offense, I'm still excited about DJ Gettons.
He's going to be, at least as of right now,
probably the primary backup running back to Jonathan Taylor. Now,
right away we've talked about this internally, you know, he's
a rookie and Sunday is going to be his first
taste of the NFL in the regular season. I would
suspect just to hunch or make the assumption that, you know,
(52:34):
right away, he's probably not in store for ten to
twelve carries. That's asking a lot right out of the gate.
I think the colt are trying to kind of steal
him out. But you know, in college, he was a
thirteen hundred yard rusher in each of the last two
years in the Big twelve at Kansas State. Big yards
per carry guy and catch the ball out of the backfield,
really deceptive, you know, out of the backfield catching the
ball too. So he's going to be a big time playmaker,
(52:57):
and I think he's going to take on a bigger
role as the season goes on. But it's kind of
up in the air what we see see out of
him on Sunday, just because he's going to be doing
it for the first time and there's a lot of
trust that kind of goes into that. So it wouldn't
surprise me to see Taylor get is typical, you know,
eighteen to twenty two, twenty three carries, in this game
on Sunday, and then the Colts try to reevaluate just
(53:19):
how you know, up to speed. DJ Gidtons is after
watching the game field and then a game film, I
should say, and then kind of reevaluate his role, you know,
weeks two and three and beyond.
Speaker 5 (53:30):
First concert you saw at Market Square Arena, Tom Petty.
Speaker 4 (53:34):
And the Heartbreakers in nineteen ninety seven.
Speaker 5 (53:37):
That's pretty good. That's solid. Yep, solid, hard to beat.
That is all right, Matt.
Speaker 1 (53:42):
We look forward to it coming up Sunday, Colts Dolphins,
Lucas Oil Stadium.
Speaker 5 (53:45):
We'll be listening to it.
Speaker 4 (53:47):
I appreciate you guys.
Speaker 5 (53:48):
Be well, all right, Matt Taylor, the Voice of the
Colts
Our next guest has won more polls than any driver
in the history of the NTT IndyCar Series. He also
has won forty three races, the majority of those with
Roger Penske and Team Penske, but he would like to
add to that total because of course he now is
no longer with Team Penske, but stays in the series.
(00:20):
That news in the fact that will Power is now
a member of Andretti Global and will drive the number
twenty six car that most recently was piloted by Colton
Herda and he joins us now on the always busy
and available for your company to sponsor guest line, will
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I'm doing well? Thank you? How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I am good? And you know what, I'll tell you.
Part of the reason that I'm good is because and
I feel bad about it. You know, at the end
of the year in Milwaukee and in Nashville, I think
every time that we interviewed you, you know, everybody is
wanting to know the question of what's going to go
on with will Power. We had pretty good indication of
what was going to go on with Willpower, and yet
(00:58):
we've got to ask it. Knowing that you can't necessarily
say what's going on with willpower? So how relieved are
you to just have kind of all of this over
and done and now being able to look forward.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
It was a weight off my shoulders. Sure, it's actually
the go kart trail and there right now just having fun.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
But I just felt a bit of a release.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
So yeah, it was probably subconsciously weighing.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
On me, and I.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Was getting a lot of questions about it and just
sort of you know, the stress was wondering.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
Exactly how is this going to play out?
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Is it going to go easily? You know, the transition,
and it has gone very smoothly. So yeah, you know,
I'm very very excited for the future.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
We did this will I mean, obviously this domino felt
quick and we knew it was going to And then
it was not long after the announcement from Team Penske
that you would not return, that you were announced friend
Ready Global. So when when did this all kind of
get underway? When was the first time that you thought
about the fact that you would not be with Team Penske,
And when was the first conversation you had with n Ready.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Well, it's it has been let's say, you know, definitely
from May onwards, I was starting to, you know, think, well,
you know, maybe maybe I'm going to have to drive
somewhere else I get another ride. The goal was to
resign with Penske. That was kind of you know, I'd
(02:33):
been there seventeen years. I have had great success. I
love the team, the people, Roger. Roger's been great to me.
And you know, I think after the conversation that I
had with Roger, you know, post Indianapolis, you know, he said,
(02:54):
I'm not going to shoot. You've talked to other teams.
I'm not saying that you won't be in the car,
and actually, you know, I'm a allowing.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
You to see what's out there.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
So at that point, you know, when he said that,
I thought, okay, you know they're looking at going in
a different direction.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
There's a chance here that I'm not going to go
to Fancy. So then we started looking.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Around and I would say just about every team owner
and the pit lane spoke to me. But for Andrettie
that sort of came together very quickly at the end. Yeah,
I think the first conversation was that road America just
sort of in passing saw down on a golf cart
(03:33):
and said, oh, you know, what i'd I'd love to
drive for you, and you know, they didn't really have
anything at that point, but yeah, then it probably got
the wheels turning for Dan and you know, an opportunity
for Colton to go somewhere, and then that seed opened up,
so yeah, and then the whole process went very smoothly.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
So and that you know, when we spoke about.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
It, when I signed up to A fourteen management at
the beginning of.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
The year, we thought the most.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Likely thing to happen is that Roger does sign me
for a year or you know, probably just a year,
because that's kind of you know that that's sort of
the trend that Penske has followed over the years with the.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Drivers that are a bit older.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
But you know, but the ideal place to end up
for us was Andretti. We actually said that, not that
there was anything open there when we're talking about that,
but we actually said, Oriel said, you know, my ideal
place for you to end up.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Would be at Andretti. I agreed with him.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
So that's yeah, I agree. They're a great team. You
know that they're you know, Dan's very obviously when I
started talking to Dan, you know, even cemented that more
because he's he's very in touch with what needs to
be done in that team to improve it. They're already
winning races. I think Honda, as you've seen this year
(04:58):
of have a very good vengeance. Yeah it was just
but yeah, just you know, play it out quite smoothly.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Actually, So Dan Twis, by the way, is who Will
is referencing there, who is with originally with Group one
thousand and one and now is involved with the ownership
stakes within Andretti Global. So Will, if you would have decided,
for example, after that meeting with Roger Penske in May,
if if you would have woken up a month ago
(05:29):
and said, you know what, I do want to give
another run with Team Penske. Here would that have been?
Was that offered to you? Was there the possibility from
their end of you returning to them next year?
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I was offered to fly up and we never got
to that point. But after Portland, Johnthon Gibson called me
and said, hey, we'd like to fly you up to
Detroit to meet with Roger and talk about your future,
and you know, and I basically he said, look, I'm
(06:01):
not I'm not going to come back. I'm not coming back.
You know, I've made the decision of my mind.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
And I kind of went from there.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
And Roger called me a day later and said, yeah, look,
we would love to have negotiated with you, but you know,
it sounds like you made the decision.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
It was. You know, Roger was fine with it. He understood,
and you know.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
He he was. And I said, you know, I kind
of didn't want to go through the stress of another
single year of wondering what I'm doing the next year.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
And also, you know, I got the feeling that.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
You're only going to offer me one year, and he said, yeah,
that's true.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
You know, I'm not going to lie to here. We
were going to offer you one year.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
So yeah, there was a chance to go back, but
my mind was made up. So you know, I was
just time for a change and a different challenge. See
if you can, you know, winning a different team. You know,
I think I liked that. It's exciting for me, it's motivating.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Will power my guest here, who will be having Friendreddi
Global coming up in the twenty twenty six IndyCar season,
who will be in car number twenty six, Well, I
want to go back to this, and I talked about
this because you have been and I commend you for it.
You and your wife, Liz, both I think, have been
pretty public about and it's well documented the health challenge
that she had and the balance that you had to
(07:20):
have between being husband and dad and race car driver,
and what I would assume was a difficult distraction for
the last few years as Liz at times her health
was in dire situation. Did that help you navigate this
process in terms of having an understanding of the realities
(07:40):
of what's truly important in life and how did it
all How did you weigh all of that out, because
you you always just seem so kind of relaxed deep
down inside. Were you were you terrified?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
I would never say terrified, but.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Yeah, in twenty three obviously that was a very stressful situation.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
You know, Liz's health has got a lot better. I
don't think.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
We were necessarily thinking of any of that. Yeah, I think, yeah.
My thinking was, look, I'm late enough in my career
to I'm not going to say it's a risk, but
take you know, make a change, because it's not like
you know, it all all went.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Bad or just you know, you know, it.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Just didn't seem like it seemed like that. You know,
I knew in my gut basically, is what I'm trying
to say, is I know him. I knew in my
gut that it was time to move. You just know
at this age, just felt it like it's the right
thing to do and it's the right time, and I
just knew it in my guard I just you know,
I trust that feeling. I sort of don't don't have
(09:00):
a lot of indecision these days to kind of move
forward quickly.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Did some of the things that happened within the team
factor at all. I mean I'm talking about like the
push to pass thing, which you were pleadered of really
but you were kind of caught up in it in
Saint Pete. And then obviously this year at Indie having
to start from the back. Did those things factor in?
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Nah?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I think.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
I think having sort of two Indy five hundreds affected
by those things were disappointing. You know, I'd mistrategist taken
off my car two years in a row, and definitely
that first year it cost us, I think. But no,
you know, they those things were not you know, they didn't. Yeah,
(09:45):
as we've explained many times, there's unfortunate circumstances there, But
it was obviously a lot of things go into it.
You know, you just have a number of different things
that sway your decisions, you know.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
As they add up.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
I wouldn't say that that wasn't one of them. It
was sort of, you know, It's just just many things
that went into that decision, and you know, and one
of them was my got my gut feel for it.
I think this is the right thing to do.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Okay, last thing for you, will and I appreciate your time,
will power joining us here. And I've made a living
asking questions, and about seventy percent of the time I
ask you a question, I think to myself, I think
that might have been a dumb question, you know what
I mean. Yeah, so this is probably a dumb question.
And then I want you to tell me if it's
a dumb question. In winning the Indy five hundred with
Roger Penske, in driving for Roger Penske and driving for
(10:41):
that team, you have primarily been and had success with Chevrolet.
You now will be going to a team that is
kind of a flagship team for Honda. Theoretically, to those
of us that drive cars, you don't really notice any
difference of the engine underneath you as a driver. Will
there be any sort of a different feel or different
style or challenge for you as a driver with a
(11:04):
Honda engine versus a Chevrolet engine.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
I'm sure there is a difference in the way those
engines drive, you know. I think from the outset, the
Chevy sort of I felt like always a really good
top end. I think I've always thought that Honda has
very sort of good lowish mid range.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So I think there is a difference. I think the
performance is very close, and I'll get to feel that.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
You know, I can only sort of wonder what it
feels like until I actually drive a car, so.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I would almost guarantee that will be a difference.
Speaker 5 (11:43):
So that wasn't a dumb question.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
That wasn't That wasn't a dumb question.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
But I've had some dumb questions, right yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
I mean, you know, this whole interview has kind of
been no good. You've got great questions, believe me, good, good,
good questions. They have been. I've I've definitely had some
questions from people of them a time. Yours have been great.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
So all right, so you're gonna go out and you're
just gonna get the go cart and drive around the
track all day to day to just clear the mind
and get back to the roots.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Well there's actually name's David day four A. He's Italian.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
It's like a five time world chance.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
I thought I'd come out and run around with him
just for fun.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Quality definitely a top level job is a bit of
sun for me.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
I mean that's that is different than the way most
of us will spend our off days. But listen, I
know it's been a busy and flurry of activity here,
a busy time for you, and I certainly appreciate not
only the time, Will but also the explanation from all
of it. Our best to you, and you know, to
Liz as well and your son, and certainly look forward
to seeing you're coming up in Saint Pete now A
(12:59):
good stuff.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Man, looking forward to it. It's going to be great.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
Much appreciate it, will enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
That is Will Power joining us on the program today.
The games now count starting on Sunday, starting tonight really
for that matter, in the National Football League, but for
the Colts it is the Miami Dolphins game number one
Lucas Oil Stadium coming up on Sunday. Tailgate by the
way with the fan before that takes place at our
friends at the Slippery Noodle. Marty Bacon and the group
(13:28):
there will be hosting. We would love to have you
come by and enjoy the festivities before the game itself.
But now we take the first of what will be
a season long Thursday road trip, and Chris Perkins is
the columnist for the Miami Dolphins for the Sun Sentinel,
the South Florida Sun Sentinel, joins us now on the program. Chris,
(13:48):
I'm going to get right to this, and that is
the Dolphins are one that from afar lots of talent.
Been times in the last couple of years where that
talent has really shown itself and there's been high promise
and then things kind of plateaued out. What is the
expectation for the Dolphins coming into this season? Is there
more stability than we've seen?
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (14:10):
Boy? First of all, let me just say I've lost
a lot of brain cells in the Slippery Noodles, So
I love I love to hear references to that place.
Speaker 5 (14:18):
Yeah, it's a great place, man, it is a great place.
Speaker 6 (14:21):
Expectations for the Dolphins are mixed, you know, I've picked
them to go nine and eight this season. I think
a lot of the sportsbooks in Vegas have seven and
a half wins that the over under. Other placers have
eight and a half wins as the over under. The
deal with the Dolphins really is, you know, they're going
through now a transition. They were doing the win now
(14:44):
thing with the veterans and the thirty somethings. Now they've
transitioned to winning with use and draftees, and so what
you're gonna see is a team in flux. You know,
they're trying to rediscover that deep passing game that they
have fueled by Tua to Tie and Tua to Jalen
Waddle that worked so well in twenty twenty two and
(15:04):
twenty twenty three. They need to find a running game.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
You know.
Speaker 6 (15:09):
They have Devon a Chan and he's good as a small,
fast guy, but they need some power. They had signed
Alexander Madison, he went out with a season ending neck injury.
So now that power role is going to be filled
by Oli Gordon, the second, their sixth round pick from
Oklahoma State. They're also with the power. They're trying to
revamp that offensive line, so they have a second round
(15:31):
pick Jonas Vai Naya. They signed James Daniels as a
free agent signee from Pittsburgh. So offensively, they're going through
a lot of things. Defensively, they're fueled by that front seven,
the edge rushers. They've got a four man combo of
Bradley Chubb, Jalen Phillips, Shop Robinson, and Matthew Judahon. That's
really the strength of the defense. Last year they had
(15:53):
the number four defense in the league going into this game. Obviously,
the game plan is to top Jonathan Taylor, so you
can allow the pass rushers to feast, get the Colts
into second and long, third and long. But they really
want to be a balance, a more balanced offense, not
just the deep passing game, but they can have some
(16:14):
power running and then they want that defense to be
lived by the front seven and more specifically the edge rushers.
It's gonna be a mixed bag. I'm not really sure
what to expect. I don't think nine wins is gonna
get you into the playoffs. But if they have a
winning record, I think a lot of fans will be happy.
To me, that's more mediocrity and it's not good to me.
(16:37):
The goal for the season should be they have to
win a playoff game. But I think a lot of
the fans here if they just have a winning record,
they'll be happy.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Chris, It's interesting because you talk about the running game,
and it was just a couple of years ago where
the Dolphins almost seem to be like one of the
trend setters. There were other teams as well where it
was all about open space guys. It was about just
get the ball in space to speed burners and speed
kills offensively, and it almost was like the NFL was
(17:08):
devaluing the running back position. And now there seems to
be a trend the other way, where people realize there
is importance at the running back position. Is that a
fair assessment of kind of where Miami might have been
a trendsetter, but now all of a sudden has to
step back and redirect a little bit.
Speaker 6 (17:26):
It is And I'll give you some numbers about the
Dolphins offense. So you know that the Dolphins in the
last well in the Mike McDaniel era, they're four and
sixteen against playoff teams. The last two years they're two
and ten against playoff teams. And Tua has made all
(17:48):
twelve of those starts. In those twelve games, he's got
fifteen touchdowns fourteen interceptions. But even worse, neither Tyreek Heel
nor Jalen Waddle has a one one hundred yard receiving
game against the playoff team in the last two years.
The reason why is because it's a one dimensional offense.
(18:09):
The good teams are able to shut down that passing game.
You play the two shell safety, the two high safeties,
and you keep that that, you keep that ball in
front of you, and so Waddle and Tyreek can't eat.
There's no run game. There's nobody respects the run game.
The Dolphins are eight and eleven the last two years
when they rush for over one hundred yards. So getting back,
(18:31):
you know, bringing it full circle, Yes, they're trying to
develop a run game so that if teams do play
that too high safety, then okay, the Dolphins can run, run, run,
and that can lead them to victories. They were before
they would just pile up yards and the yards didn't
mean anything because they were kind of cute. The yards
that that, you know, the outside zone runs. They're gonna
(18:53):
pile up yards, but they aren't gonna score a lot
of touchdowns. So now they're trying to get some respect
for that run game. Get teams to drop that eighth
man into the box and then you go over the
top and then you get that deep passing game going.
But yeah, for the Dolphins, the run game is the
key to the pass game. So I'm expecting a fairly
(19:15):
steady diet early of run so that they can try
to force the Colts to drop that eighth man in
the box and then go over the top and wake
up that pass game. But the pass game is no
good without a good run game, So the Dolphins, yes,
are trying to rediscover a run game.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Chris Perkins is our guest. He's what the sun settinely
covers the Miami Dolphins down there, I think, if I'm
not mistaken, he also gets a lifetime of charitable benefit
from the fact that he had to tolerate and work
with mc engle at some point along the line in
his career.
Speaker 5 (19:47):
I think, yeah, yeah, I think that yet. Yeah, I
think that's right.
Speaker 6 (19:50):
Yeah, I haven't heard that name in a while.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Yeah, well, I wish I had neither. Mac and I
grew up together. He's an indie guy and he's been
on the show a lot. But Chris, how are the
Dolphins defensively because cause you know, for the Colts, they
the Colts I think have some and it's going to
be interesting. There's a lot of, I guess interest in
what Tyler Warren can do as the tight end. Certainly
we know of Jonathan Taylor, but what sort of looks
(20:13):
will Miami give Indianapolis and what can Indianapolis exploit?
Speaker 6 (20:17):
So the Dolphins were number four in total defense last year,
they were number nine against the run. So again, what
they really want to do is stop Jonathan Taylor and
get the Colts in the third and long so those
edge rushers can feast. But obviously that starts with not
letting Quinton Nelson dominate you right up front, and that's
a big thing. And then last year when the Colts
(20:38):
beat them, what was its sixteen to ten, Jonathan Taylor
didn't play, Danny Jones, Daniel Jones didn't play, and Tyler
Warren was not there. So this is a kind of
a different Colts offense. You've got some. I mean, when
you add in Tyler Warren and Jonathan Taylor, you know
it's a different offense. Right, So you know the Dolphins
are really going to have to work to figure out,
(21:00):
you know, what can they do to limit the effectiveness
of that of that indie offense or or really the
threat of Jonathan Taylor and Tyler Warren. The strength of
the Dolphins defense is the front seven. It's really the
edge rushers. But you know, they've got a good defensive front,
Zack Steeler, defensive tackle who's coming off of back to
(21:23):
back ten SAX season. They've got Benito Jones up there
to stop the run. He's a veteran. They drafted Kenneth
Grant first round or out of out of Michigan, and
he's a run stuffer. So really, you know, we're we're
gonna see and I'll tell you the other strength of
the defense is the inside backers. Jordan Brooks, who led
the team in tackles last year one forty three, Terrell Dodson,
(21:46):
who led the team in interceptions with three. He's gonna
be charged sometimes with with defending Tyler Warren. And then
the Dolphins definitely had problems stopping tight ends last year.
Trey McBride caused them some some major proper a couple
of other guys Trey mc bride from Arizona. A couple
of other guys caused them some problems. But you know,
the front seven is really the strength of the Dolphins defense,
(22:09):
and that's where they're gonna have to do their best work.
I'll tell you this. The cornerback situation is an absolute
disaster for the Dolphins. One of the outside corners is
stormed up last year. He was an undrafted rookie out
of Louisville. There's some pretty good reason to have faith
in him. He made good progress last year. In the slot,
they'll have Jason Marshall, junior or rookie fifth round pick
(22:31):
out of Florida. The other outside corner probably be Jack Jones,
who they just signed like maybe six weeks ago. Behind
him would be Rasul Douglas who they just signed. He
was a free agent from Buffalo. They just signed him
maybe three or four weeks ago. So the corner of
that situation is a disaster. You know, they got Minka
(22:51):
Fitzpatrick in the Jalen Ramsey trade, so he's one safety.
The other safety will probably be Ashton Davis who comes
over from the Jet. That could be if E Melon
fun Wu. But the secondary is a work in progress
and those corners can be had, so the front seven
has to do good work and those edge rushers have
(23:12):
to be able to take some pressure off of the
corners and put pressure on Daniel Jones.
Speaker 7 (23:18):
Of course, they also added Juju Brentz, former Colts cornerback
after he was waived by Indianapolis. And Storm Duck is
a terrific name. I love that name.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
One of the best names in the league I know.
Speaker 7 (23:28):
And ironically, Jake he played for a school that was
a bird.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
Real yeah, Louisville, Louisville, the Cardinals, Cardinals.
Speaker 7 (23:35):
On the offensive side of things, there's no it's no
secret how much drama there has been around Tyreek Hill
dating back to last year. What is his relationship like now,
I know he's not a captain for Miami with Tua
and with the rest of the Miami team.
Speaker 6 (23:47):
Uh, I think it's fine. I really do think it's fine.
You know, as I always say, Tyreek's done a Tyreek
you know, he look. I think Tyreek is hitted to
the Hall of Fame if he continues doing what he's done.
You know, with the exception of last year, when I
think he slacked off to well, not slacked off, slumped
down to nine hundred and forty nine yards receiving or
(24:09):
whatever it was to a miss six game. So that
was a big reason why. But you know, with Tyreek,
you know that guy produces on the field. You know,
I think the first year he had this is his
fourth year with the Dolphins. First year, I believe with
seventeen hundred and ten yards. Second year seventeen ninety nine,
and he was, you know, unpaid for two thousand until
(24:30):
he got a horse collar tackle against Tennessee late in
the season that slowed him down late. You know, with Tyreek,
he's a lead by example guy. And when you talk
about Tyreek not being a team captain, I think it's
a The story there is the Dolphins have a team
vote for team captains. Seen captains aren't a pointed team
(24:52):
captains are voted on by players, and I think it's
more of a statement that the players decided, no more
of this stuff, no more of this Tyreek nonsense. We're
not going to tolerate him as a team captain when
he's doing all of these things. You know, Tyreek's off
the field behavior. He started last season before the opener
(25:13):
being detained by the police outside of hard Rock stadium.
He ended the season and the finale against the Jets
with the you know what we call the I'm out speech,
where he said, I can't do this anymore. I might
need to be traded. I can't you know, be around here.
We're not gonna be be making the playoffs and winning
playoff games. I thought it was a good thing for
(25:34):
the other players to draw the line in the sand
and say we're not going to tolerate this. So Tyreek's
relationship with them is good. And I think the real
story there is that maybe the team is saying no
more of this foolishness. But Tyreek can lead by example.
He doesn't need that sea on his jersey.
Speaker 5 (25:52):
Like he said yesterday, how did storm Duck not go
to Oregon? Oh?
Speaker 6 (25:56):
Yeah, that's a good one.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Or Miami or I was yeah, I mean you gotta
be a hurricane of cyclone or at Duck, right, I mean,
it's got to be one of those three, all right, Chris.
Last thing before we let you go. You know South
Florida traffic. I mean we all know about South Florida traffic,
and you got you know, six lanes wide and it's
always backed up. But let's imagine the AFC. I want you, Chris,
to think about the AFC in like late November. You
(26:20):
got a six lane interstate. The teams that are on
their way to the fast track to the playoffs are
all in the left lane, and we anticipate that's probably
going to be Kansas City and Buffalo, and you know.
Speaker 5 (26:31):
Those teams are in the left lane.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Ye, it feels like right now that Miami. The Indianapolis
perspective would be that Miami and India are probably in
the same lane and they're both trying to merge over.
And it's like, well that that car there, I'm not
going to let him over.
Speaker 5 (26:48):
That kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
When you look at it, you see the Indianapolis Colts.
I want the outside Indianapolis perspective. You see the Colts
being the majority of this season in what lane of
this Innerscy state and how close to getting their way
into the left lane?
Speaker 6 (27:03):
Oh boy, probably second or third lane trying to merge over.
I'm looking at the Colts. Probably they were eight wins
last year. If I'm not mistaken, I'm looking at the
same thing from the Colts this year. Maybe they get
to nine wins. I don't see them as a playoff
team at this point. And so I see both the
Dolphins and the Colts going into December around five hundred
(27:27):
whatever that number would be, what six and six may be,
or you know, seven and six, whatever it would be.
For the Dolphins, you know, one of their big problems
is they don't play well in December and January, and
so they've got a pretty full schedule the Dolphins do
in December and January. They're playing Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh on
(27:50):
Monday Night, They're playing Tampa Bay, They're playing Cincinnati, and
so it's gonna be rough for them down the stretch.
I don't know what Indie schedule is down the stretch,
but I see them both at five hundred ishes just
trying to merge over into that left lane going into
December and January. Injury they're going to be a factor.
Schedule is going to be a factor. I don't know
(28:12):
how it turns out for either of them. But I've
got the Dolphins of a nine win team and Indy
as an eight win.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Team, okay, and both of them are looking at the
ways about the car that's broken down.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
That's Cleveland, that's right.
Speaker 6 (28:23):
You gotta from Cleveland, New Orleans.
Speaker 5 (28:27):
New Orleans. Yeah, New Orleans was a couple exits back,
but yes, yeah, Mills back right, that's right, hey man.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
We appreciate the time as always. All right, certainly enjoy
the slipper noodle.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
If you're going to be in town, all right, I'll
try to get make a visit down there. Thanks guys.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
All right, much appreciated, much appreciated. Chris Perkins joining us
from South Florida Colts Dolphins Sunday Lucas Oil Stadium. You
can hear that game, of course on this radio station,
and when doing so, you will be hearing the dulcet
tones of Matt Taylor describing me and the action. He
joins us now on the always Busy and Available to
(29:03):
be sponsored guest line. Matt, I'm going to begin with
a question that I was just posing to Eddie. Allow
me to lay down for you the groundwork have said question,
and then we want the Matt Taylor answer.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
Are you ready?
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Let's do it?
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Okay, if you were to take every season ticket holder
in the NFL, Let's say there's roughly one point three
million people that have season tickets to their respective cities
NFL franchise, and you were to simply say to all
of those people, you get to select five road games
to attend, not to see your team, but just five
(29:38):
NFL franchises to go and see a home game in
that team's stadium, not based on a place that you
think would be a fun city, not based on the weather,
but simply based on what you would believe to be
the best in game experience in a stadium, and just
a legendary must do sports bucket list item in the NFL,
(30:03):
what do you believe would be the five franchises that
would tabulate the highest number of votes of season ticket
holders within the NFL saying I want to see a
game there.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
Green Bay, Kansas City, Yep, probably Dallas because of the
magnitude of the facility.
Speaker 5 (30:26):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
Right in the big scoreboard, that's three.
Speaker 5 (30:32):
Right, I think undoubtedly the Big three. Right. I think
that's almost undoubtedly the Big three.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
And then I think you're going to have people that
are I know you're asking people not to do this,
but I think inevitably people will. They'll just pick whether
so they'll pick Tampa Bay or Miami or Arizona or La.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Yeah, I think La would be up there because that
kind of has same level of venue intrigued, does it not?
Speaker 4 (30:58):
Yeah? It does. Yeah, And selfishly I'm excited to go there.
We go there twice this year in a span of
like six weeks, so I'm excited to kind of cross
that one off my bucket list. I would put Soldier
Field up there, but I've never been there. I swear,
I've been doing this car for fourteen years and I've
never been to Soldier.
Speaker 5 (31:16):
Here's what's interesting about Soldier Field. I went.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
I've not been to a football game there, but I've
been to the venue. I saw guns and roses at
Soldier Field a couple of years ago. And one of
the things, this sounds ridiculous. One of the things I noticed.
You don't realize with super old stadiums until you go
to them. This is true of Wrigley, It's certainly true
of Fenway. You realize that one hundred years ago every
(31:40):
American was five nine and one hundred and thirty five pounds. Yeah,
you know what I mean, Like the walkways are, the
concourses are narrow. The I mean the seats, obviously they've
changed them to an extent, but if you're in some
of the original ceded areas, you're like, Holy cow. I
mean it's amazing, you know, it just is not It's different.
(32:02):
Now you've been to Los Angeles the city correct, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
I mean I love LA and the weather's fabulous. But yeah,
I think Green Bay, Kansas City, and Dallas would be
probably almost undoubtedly the top three in that.
Speaker 7 (32:18):
Okay, Matt, I tossed in Buffalo because of Bill's maffiam.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Buffalo's there too, I think, yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
Yeah, but Buffalo, I mean, I like the stadium, but
there's not as much like history in Buffalo. There's like
there's charm in Buffalo, but like there I mean, lambas Lambo,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Like, but I think Matt that Buffalo has a little
bit of the same intrigue that Green Bay has in
the fact that it just represents tough as day's blue
collar football, you know what I mean. Just the fans
are just it's there's just something about when you watch
a game in Buffalo, you think to yourself, that's a
(32:57):
fan base with a dedication that goes to depth I
can't grasp, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
Without a that I mean, and when you're in Buffalo,
I mean, to your point, Bill I mean, you can't
escape the bills. There's bill stuff everywhere. Every bar, every
restaurant is just decked out and bills, and every person
at the bar, every person at the table is probably
having some sort of conversation about either the current team
or nostalgia or you know, bills of of you know, yesteryear.
(33:25):
But I don't know, Like, they're building a new stadium
right next to the existing stadium right now.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
I was just there. Yeah, I was just there like
a month ago.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
So I mean, that's going to be a big time upgrade.
Whereas Lambeau they would never think to build a new stadium.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Well, you and I might have talked about this. What
is the awkward teenage years of a stadium? In other words,
what how long does a stadium have to go being
a dump before then it becomes retro cool.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
That's a good question, you know, because I'm sure Wrigley
was outdated and antiquated at some point, and now it's
like a destination whereby has to cross it off their
list because of how historically Yeah, yeah, exactly, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
That's a good question.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
I think Market Square Arena was probably on its way
there to becoming I mean, it was antiquated, but it
was also like to it was it was it was
our place, you know what I mean, Like it was
our small arena. You know, it kind of represented the city.
But at the same time, like there was no place
to build suites, there was no place for modern amenities
(34:34):
and scoreboarders and things like that, so it had to go,
but you know, it was on its way to becoming
you know, classic Matt.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
You know what's fascinating. I think about this a lot
with Market Square and then I want to get to
the Colts Dolphins game obviously coming up on Sunday. But
I think about this a lot with Market Square. And
I've mentioned it a few times, but we don't think
about this. But if you think about the fact that
Market Square Arena was an elevated arena that had Market
Street running just below it, four stories above it, but
(35:04):
you literally you could drive underneath it. I mean, I
think the road was closed during games, but the bottom
line being you could get directly underneath it. When you
think about the world, and I don't mean this to
be trivial, but after particularly nine to eleven, and then
I guess Oklahoma City, even though when you think about
those aspects of the world that we live in today.
(35:27):
There's no way they would have been able to have
live events there anymore.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
Right, man, I never have thought about that.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
I know that that's a really dark thing, but I
was like, gosh, you know what, Like, it's amazing to
think that you had immediate access directly underneath it, with
eighteen thousand people above you.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
No, I mean to your point though. I mean I
remember going to games as a kid and parking around
the block and walking, you know, to that door right
at Market Square or Market Street.
Speaker 5 (35:53):
Yeah, going up the steps.
Speaker 4 (35:55):
Going up the steps, going up through the stairs, and
I could just I don't know, just things about your
childhood you can appreciate this, Like I remember you walked
you you open up the door that led into the
concourse at Marcus Square Arena, and I think, if I
if I stop and close my eyes and think real hard,
I can still smell it. Oh you know what I mean.
The stickiness of the concourse.
Speaker 5 (36:19):
Was Kent cigarettes, right.
Speaker 4 (36:22):
Yeah, that that was definitely baked into the walls for sure. Yeah,
you know, it's just I mean I used to beg
my dad, my dad, you know, he worked in an
office where that he would get pacer tickets thrown his
direction a couple of times a year, and then obviously
the better they got, the harder it was to get
tickets and freebies. But I mean when we did, I
(36:42):
just felt like you were on top of the world.
Speaker 5 (36:43):
And totally.
Speaker 4 (36:44):
I always remember those moments and how special they were
going to games with him, and you know, the whole
experience getting to our seats, Matt.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
It's what I said when they were in the finals.
This year is all of that reawakened for me, right
going down to see Wayman Tisdale and John Long and
you know what I mean, step Bo and all right,
So for kids, obviously today in twenty twenty five, those
memories are going down to Lucas Oil. It's to watch
the Colts. It's to see this time of year when
hope spring's eternal and there's optimism. And I've said I
(37:12):
do like the roster. I know the quarterback position is
one that is of intrigue, but I like the roster
in general. But from what you have been able to tell,
we just talked about it with Chris down in Miami.
From your perspective, the thing about the Dolphins that the
Colts might be able to take advantage of or is
this even matt at this time of year. Are they
(37:33):
even game planning of breaking down film on what they
think Miami's going to do, or do you just in
week one kind of push in on who you are
and wait to see what the opponent does.
Speaker 4 (37:46):
Yeah, I still think you can gain plan based on
personnel in tendencies of coordinators and things like that. Defensively,
they still have the same coordinator from last year, Anthony Weaver,
and you know, this was a top ten defense last
year across the board and front seven wise, it's still
pretty good and they still have a lot of the
core guys that were really really stingy in twenty twenty four.
(38:09):
But the back end is completely different, and I think
you can exploit it. I mean guys like I mean,
Mika Fitzpatrick is back and so like I think he's
one of my favorite safeties in the league. But he's
only been there for about a month. You know, he
was traded right before traded from Pittsburgh right before training
camp started. But I mean the other names Rasul Douglas
(38:30):
and a Fadi melifon Wu and you're gonna love this guy.
From Louisville Storm Duck, remember him.
Speaker 5 (38:35):
Coming to Oregon. That's what I was saying.
Speaker 4 (38:39):
I mean completely marketing dropped the ball right there. But
I think defensively, you know, the Colts can get some
things done. I think personnel wise against that secondary now
obviously way easier said than done, but at least on paper,
that is going to be the weakness of that defense,
whereas being able to stop the run and putting pressure
on Daniel Jones at least initially is their strength. But
(39:01):
I think if guys on the outside can win their
one on one matchups and pittman and downs and certainly
pierce to get some of those big plays that you
have to have to expedite scoring, I think the secondary
can be had in this game. But again, like you said,
it's week one, not a ton of film on these
guys playing together within this game, and you know, in
this defense under Anthony Weaver. But I think it's exciting
(39:24):
to think about, you know, the yards after the catch
and the screens and the over routes and exploiting the
middle of the field that we've talked agnauseum all off
season about from Daniel Jones that could be on display
prevalent early on in week one.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
When you look Matt at Daniel Jones, and you know,
I do think that Daniel Jones is a better athlete
than is given credit. I think that he has some
wheels about him. But I don't know that you'd design
plays for him in that area, right, I mean, he can,
he can extend plays. I don't know that you design
running plays for him. But the offense that we became
(40:01):
accustomed to, un excuse me, under Anthony Richardson, will be
different than under Daniel Jones.
Speaker 5 (40:07):
How I don't think that it will.
Speaker 4 (40:10):
I think the only difference is you may not, to
your point, see as many design runs. You know, with Richardson,
towards the end of last year, you've got about five
or six design runs, depending on the matchup in the game.
With Daniel Jones, you might see one or two. But
that's not to say that you know, he can't scramble
out of the pocket and produce big time with his feet.
(40:31):
I mean, Jonathon Taylor today talked about just that about
he tried to use the word deceptive. But I think
it's inappropriate to talk about Daniel Jones's athleticism because.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
It's not deceptive.
Speaker 4 (40:43):
It's pretty obvious how fast and fleet of foot this
guy is. I mean, he's got the sixth most rushing
yards among quarterbacks since twenty nineteen. He's averaging five point
six yards per carry for his career, and he's actually
got the Giants all time rushing record for a single
season back twenty twenty two when he was over seven
hundred yards for that season. But like I said, it's
(41:05):
not a lot of design runs, just a couple. But
I think that's important to display those to a certain
degree because it will keep defensive ends honest in the
red zone game. It will, you know, keep those linebackers
sucked up in the line of scrim a is just
a hair. I mean, the NFL is all about timing
and you know, milliseconds of you know, angles to be
(41:26):
able to get footballs into in the passing game. That's
why play action is important for defenses to respect the
running ability from from Daniel Jones. So yeah, again, I
don't think you're gonna see aesthetically a ton of difference
between Richardson Richardson led team or a Jones led team.
Just think you're probably not going to call as many
(41:46):
design runs as you would with Richardson, but that's not
to say the Colts won't prioritize that with Daniel Jones.
Speaker 5 (41:52):
Matt, you've ever seen the movie Bad Santa.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
With Billy Bob.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
Yeah, when I say this is probably going to offend you,
but we've known each other a long time now. When
I think of the kid in that movie, you know,
the kid in Bad Santa.
Speaker 5 (42:07):
Yeah, the kid.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
The look on that kid's face to the majority of
that movie, and just his overall stature, that's I kind
of think of, like nine year old Matt Taylor finding
out that he can't go to the Pacer game as
that kid wearing tough skins.
Speaker 5 (42:22):
Is that about right?
Speaker 4 (42:24):
Yeah? I mean if I had a mirror at the time,
you know, dad comes home and got shut out on
tickets is probably what it looks like.
Speaker 6 (42:30):
Like.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
I mean, I'm not saying that you were a portly kid,
because you're not now, but you're a bigger bone guy, right,
your a football stature. Were you a portly kid?
Speaker 4 (42:39):
No? No, I mean I was. I actually didn't really
fill out until I got to college. I had a
hard time keeping on weight, to be honest with you,
So me, I was yeah, yeah, I mean, I probably
weighed under two hundred and twenty pounds until I was
a junior in college.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
Okay, yeah enough, all right, Matt Taylor, by the way,
the voice of the Colts, our guest, Colts and Dolphins
coming up Lucas Oil Stadium here in week number one.
It is a fun time of year because you just
you look at it and you start kind of trying
to figure out where the wins are gonna come, what
games are going to be tough. I just look at it, Matt,
and I want your thought on this. I think these
first two games are so important, not just because they're
(43:21):
at home and you want to get off on a
good start, but because they are two teams that I
look at and say, if the Colts were to hit
their ceiling this year, these are two teams that are
going to be kind of hanging around their neighborhood the
whole time.
Speaker 5 (43:34):
You agree with that, I could.
Speaker 4 (43:36):
Agree with that more. I mean, you look at the
AFC East with the Dolphins and their representation. Buffalo's won
that division five years in a row. Here comes the
Broncos in Week two. You know they're in the AFC West.
The Chiefs have won that division you know, nine years
in a row, so they definitely have some you know,
road blockages to winning their division historically, and so you thought,
(43:58):
you start thinking about wild card amplifications right out of
the gate, and you know, these head to head matchups
are going to I think, just hold a kind of
weight and hold a lot of magnitude when you start
getting out the tie breaker situations like we always do
inevitably towards the end of the season, you know, weeks fifteen, sixteen,
seventeen and so on and so forth. So it's really
(44:20):
really important for that. But I just think it's really
you know, the whole Jim Mersey component for Sunday matters,
the whole We have a one a week, one game
since twenty thirteen that matters. I mean, it doesn't, but
it also does just because the fans know about it,
and the fans are jaded, and the fans want to
see results and trying to make the playoffs for the
(44:43):
first time in four years. Why is this year going
to be different? Why should we believe in Daniel Jones? Right,
We've had eleven different quarterbacks start a game since twenty nineteen.
Why is this going to be different? Why is Daniel
Jones gonna you know, produce big time results. Like I
totally understand all of that. And so just from a
I guess from a marketing angle and from you know,
(45:05):
a team locker room angle that's tired of hearing about
all those things, those things can all go away just
by winning, you know, just by putting your best foot
forward and all of those things. It's like a big
domino effect. If you win, all of those things just
sort of take care of themselves and naturally just go away,
and people start to pay attention more, and people start
to believe a little bit more and buy into, you know,
(45:28):
the plan here. So it's a it's a results driven league.
It's put up or shut up time. And that's why
I'm excited about Sundays because you know, since March when
there was a quarterback battle announced between Anthony Richardson and
Daniel Jones, and you know, we were going to kind
of reset things in terms of consistency and all of
that stuff. It's just been talked, it's been conjecture. You know,
(45:49):
things have progressed a little bit obviously during training camp
and the preseason, but we talked about this last week.
You simply do not know until you start playing regular
season games. Like things you think you are confident in
that are going to be strengths of your team, you
just do not know how those things are going to
unfold and still you start playing regular season games. So,
(46:12):
like from a personally, I'm really excited for Sunday because
we're going to get some concrete answers to some questions
that we've been debating and kind of kicking around for
the last you know, five or six months.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
There has been you know, one of those questions, Matt
is that of when are we finally going to see
Ady Mitchell show why he was drafted where he was
and why there has been belief in him. And my
concern would be that now schematically they do things that
are not necessarily there to showcase Ady Mitchell.
Speaker 5 (46:43):
Am I wrong?
Speaker 2 (46:47):
No?
Speaker 4 (46:48):
I mean last year, last year, schematically A. D. Mitchell
was very much involved in this offense and for him,
getting open was never the problem. It was just finishing routes,
interpreting defenses, and finishing the play. I mean his catch
rate last year was like forty seven percent, you know,
(47:08):
like that was one of the worst catch rates in
the league. I think actually it was based on the
requirements that you have to be to qualify for for
that that measurement. So him, his playmaking ability has never
been the question. It's just him trying to mature and
grow and finish those plays that you know, he's doing
(47:30):
a nice job of setting himself up for success by
his athleticism, his speed, his route running ability. He's just
got to finish them off. So I mean to say
that a d Mitchell is not a emphasis to to
draw up going into the season. I don't. I don't.
Speaker 1 (47:47):
I don't at all, because I think of him as
a behind the defense guy. Maybe he's maybe he is
a little bit more like a quick down and out guy,
but I think of him as more like the deep
ball home run threat, like an Alec Pierce is sure
and then and that's what I mean is does Daniel Jones?
Will they set those kinds of plays for Daniel Jones
(48:09):
to take advantage of that?
Speaker 4 (48:11):
Yeah? Good, good point. And I think they have to,
I really do. I mean, I've talked about this a lot.
I mean, Jonathan Taylor is going to be the focal
point of the offense and every defense is going to
sell out to, you know, take him away first and foremost.
But in order for Jonathan Taylor to reach his full potential,
if that's the right way to put it within the
(48:31):
offense is you got to have more in the passing game, right,
I mean twice in his career, Jonathan Taylor's been over
fourteen hundred rushing yards and the Colts haven't made the
playoffs in either one of those seasons. They have to
have more in the passing game, and they have to
have more in the explosive passing game where Mitchell and
Pierce specifically, you know, are accentuated. And it's just hard
(48:53):
to score on drives when you're going ten to twelve plays.
It just is a lot of things can screw it up.
You know, you can get a pre snap, you can
get sacked, and all of a sudden you're behind the chains.
So you got to have the threat of those big
plays to widen up the box and then to also
widen out the defense so that they respect what you're
going to do on the outside, big play potential outside
(49:16):
the numbers, so that you can then take advantage of,
you know, the defense in terms of how it reads.
Then to run Taylor, you know, on the downs where
it's appropriate. So yeah, I mean for his career, Daniel
Jones is like six point eight yards per attempt and
for those that don't know, like a good yards per
attempt number is like seven point five, seven point eight
(49:37):
somewhere in there. So he's I mean, Shane Styken I
think is definitely stressing that to Daniel Jones that hey,
we got to hunt those completions, like we've talked about,
you got to be consistent. But also this offense has
to have those big plays to help mitigate scoring. And
you know, for this offense to reach its full potential
with all the weapons, you know, Taylor in the running
(49:58):
game over the middle of Tyler Warren and and then
on the outside, we have to be able to incorporate
Pierce and Mitchell, you know, to stress the defense fully.
Speaker 1 (50:06):
Okay, lastly, Matt, here we go. I want you to
get me. I think we did this last year as well.
I want you to give me two names. You can
do three if you'd like, but give me a name,
a couple of names on this Colt roster that you
need to introduce people to it and prepare them now
because you're going to be saying their name a lot
this year, and people might not be familiar with them,
(50:28):
they might not heard the name. They may it's a
new face, it's a new name, it's a new scheme,
whatever it might be. But when you look at it,
you go, yeah, I better. You know you're you're sitting
around the house going, I gotta practice saying this guy's
name because they're going to be saying it a lot.
Speaker 2 (50:42):
Well.
Speaker 4 (50:42):
I think on defense, Joe Bachi is going to get
a tremendous opportunity right now. He's listed as the starting
linebacker along with Zaire Franklin. And Joe was with lou
Ana Rumo for the last four years and Cincinnati was
primarily a core special teams guy for the Bengals. I mean,
I think last year he only played thirty seven snaps
on defense and he's only made two starts in his
(51:04):
career on defense. But he was behind some really good
linebackers there in Cincinnati, so he really didn't kind of
get his chance. But here with the Colts, you know,
Jalen Carlile starts the year on IR he's kind of
bating for time with guys like Cameron mcgroan and Austin
a GK, and he earned that starting job. So you're
gonna see number forty eight out there a lot for
(51:26):
the Colts. That is Joe Bachi with a Stuttn college
at Michigan State AND's really excited about, you know, taking
on more of an opportunity here and knows this defense
like the back of his hand. Like I said, he's
been with Loui an Arumo for the last four years
since he broke into the league, so he's been teaching
that defense to a lot of guys that are you know,
in that first year under this scheme. So I'm excited
(51:48):
about his opportunity and what he can add to the defense.
Now that being said, Loui an Arumo is also a
big sub package guy, so he's gonna play with you know,
five cornerbacks or five different defensive back sometimes fix which
will then take Botchie off of the field depending on
the matchup. So you know, just kind of keep an
eye on him in terms of his playing time and fluctuation.
(52:11):
And then on offense, I'm still excited about DJ Gettons.
He's going to be, at least as of right now,
probably the primary backup running back to Jonathan Taylor. Now,
right away we've talked about this internally, you know, he's
a rookie and Sunday is going to be his first
taste of the NFL in the regular season. I would
suspect just to hunch or make the assumption that, you know,
(52:34):
right away, he's probably not in store for ten to
twelve carries. That's asking a lot right out of the gate.
I think the colt are trying to kind of steal
him out. But you know, in college, he was a
thirteen hundred yard rusher in each of the last two
years in the Big twelve at Kansas State. Big yards
per carry guy and catch the ball out of the backfield,
really deceptive, you know, out of the backfield catching the
ball too. So he's going to be a big time playmaker,
(52:57):
and I think he's going to take on a bigger
role as the season goes on. But it's kind of
up in the air what we see see out of
him on Sunday, just because he's going to be doing
it for the first time and there's a lot of
trust that kind of goes into that. So it wouldn't
surprise me to see Taylor get is typical, you know,
eighteen to twenty two, twenty three carries, in this game
on Sunday, and then the Colts try to reevaluate just
(53:19):
how you know, up to speed. DJ Gidtons is after
watching the game field and then a game film, I
should say, and then kind of reevaluate his role, you know,
weeks two and three and beyond.
Speaker 5 (53:30):
First concert you saw at Market Square Arena, Tom Petty.
Speaker 4 (53:34):
And the Heartbreakers in nineteen ninety seven.
Speaker 5 (53:37):
That's pretty good. That's solid. Yep, solid, hard to beat.
That is all right, Matt.
Speaker 1 (53:42):
We look forward to it coming up Sunday, Colts Dolphins,
Lucas Oil Stadium.
Speaker 5 (53:45):
We'll be listening to it.
Speaker 4 (53:47):
I appreciate you guys.
Speaker 5 (53:48):
Be well, all right, Matt Taylor, the Voice of the
Colts
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