Best Of Query & Company - Wednesday 10/8/25 - Query & Company

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, Eddie forgot to call Joela Ericson and now we
have like four minutes to talk to him, so I've
got to talk really fast like an auctioneer. So let's
bring him on right now. He is on the Java House,
Peel and poor guest line Joela Ericson to The Indianapolis
Star and Joel, we have decided, due to his blunder
that Eddie is getting the Joe Bacci treatment. He's going
on IR. We're not gonna hear from him for a while.

(00:21):
Uh what happened here with Joe Bachi first off, and
the decision to bring in Jermaine Pratt.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
You know that's that's interesting because I don't we were
just talking about this in the media room. We don't
actually know what Bochi's dealing with. He played a smaller
compliment of snaps on Sunday, but it, I mean, all
I all we really saw was, you know, some of
his mistakes. They never announced an injury. There's not one
listed in this in this thing, so it's it's a
little bit of a surprise that they placed him on IR.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Now the when they placed him on IR in pardon
my ignorance here, Joel, This was a because I know,
isn't there like a four week IR and then there's
like the out for the year IR. Do we know
what this is?

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Well, any any player who gets placed on IR during
the season can come back after a minimum of four weeks.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
I thought it was four yeah time.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah, the one where you get placed on and you're
on just season ending IR. That's if it happens before
they get to fifty three man roster.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
The Jermaine Pratt signing is curious because he is still
a young player. He is familiar with Louianna Ramo and
vice versa. He was a third round pick out of Cincinnati,
and then he went to Vegas, where he did not
make the trip here. He had twenty five tackles with
the Raiders and then Pete Carroll just simply said they
wanted to go in another direction. Have you had a
chance to kind of find out what went down there?

(01:37):
Maybe I should text JT to Brick and ask him.
You know, it's just a case of a player slowing
down or a player that just wasn't a fit.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
His numbers seem fine. Even his coverage numbers like next
Gen Stats has him as giving up seven completions in
thirteen attempts when he's the nearest defender. That's way better
than honestly, any of the Colts linebackers so far. So
it is a little bit of a puzzle, and I
try to kind of find out some stuff right before

(02:07):
Shane walked in and it seemed like Raiders people are
a little bit confused as to why that happened too,
So I don't know if it was a coaching disagreement
type thing. It's a little bit of an odd release
based on what I was able to read.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
Joe. When you go Home, Joeli Erickson is our guest
from the Indianapolis Star. When you go home at the
end of the day and you're relaxing with one of
the goods from the beer fairy that has been brought
to you, and you think to yourself, you know, I
do a number of these interviews, and I talked to
my editors, and the storyline around the Colts so far

(02:40):
this year that I'm kind of surprised more people have
not asked me about or that we have not made
more of, is what.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
The offensive line. I kind of think that I kind
of think that the offensive line is always going to
get a little bit less. It's always gonna get a
little bit less, just because it's the offensive line. But
don't like to talk about blocking. But like I know,
on Sunday I wrote something that essentially was about how
Braiden Smith is and the Colts are Max Crosby's ryptonite.

(03:10):
And it came up again and no one read it,
no one, no one paid attention to it. But if
you think about where this line was, they have they
have two guys who are in their first years as
full time starters. They have Braiden Smith coming off of
a very difficult personal battle with mental with mental illness,
and that was a lot of uncertainty coming into the year,

(03:33):
and they've been incredible. They've given up four sacks and
Johnson Tavy leaves the league.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
In rushing the you know, the the thing about an
offensive line as well, Joel, that I've always felt and
I've mentioned this before. They have really good players on it,
don't get me wrong, but I just think that on
offensive line, so much of that is cohesiveness of guys
being familiar with who who's around them, right, and you know,
considering that at the center position and you've got a

(04:00):
new face there, but other than that, you have familiarity,
and to me, that is what goes such a long
way in terms of the stability of a line.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
Right.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
Does that make sense?

Speaker 4 (04:12):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Absolutely, And I think, you know, I think Tony Sperano
probably deserves a ton of credit for making it that way.
It feels like they've been a fairly coh Like even
last year when they had struggles, it didn't feel like
it was communication type stuff. It felt like they've got
a hole at right guard and they're trying to find
a way to fill it and they can't do it.
You know, this year, it's this year, it's they've had

(04:34):
everybody healthy for the most part. And I do think
Sprano does a really really good job of helping that
cohesiveness that you're talking about.

Speaker 5 (04:42):
If Kenny Moore can't suit up on Sunday, who gets
the Trey McBride assignment.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
I like the idea of using cambine them in these
situations with the tight ends, but it's a little bit
hard because then you don't have the free safety. So
it's kind of a kind of a mixed, kind of
a mixed thing there. And I do think I do
think they might be getting close to opening this locker
room here, I'm not sure, okay, the window, trying to

(05:10):
figure it out.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
So Joe, here's the things. Since we're gonna let you
go and you can't see this, but I'm gonna have
Eddie narrated in conclusion. So just and I did this
just for you because you know, before I knew that
Eddie was going to screw this all up and we're
only gonna have two minutes with you, and I thought
we were gonna have a full conversation. I thought we'd
have fun with it. And look, first time, I'm wearing
him too. Now I'm doing this for the YouTube audience. Eddie,

(05:32):
I'd like you to commentate. I'm gonna lift up so
people could see my socks.

Speaker 5 (05:35):
He's lifting up his legs. I can't see. Oh he's
Oh he's wearing Brewers socks.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
Hell yeah?

Speaker 5 (05:41):
Oh is the Champagne ice tonight? Is it ready? Angel
at Eric's Household?

Speaker 2 (05:48):
It's it's not ready, But I would I would really
like to be out of this series tonight.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yes, my entire family are Cubs fans. I have nothing
against the Cubs Northern Brewers. But when I was in
Milwaukee and I inadvertently ended up sitting in the seat
it was a reserved for Bob Buker and didn't realize
why it was open. I went and bought a pair
of socks for the brewers, and I'm wearing them now.
So with that, we'll let you get into the locker room.
And thank you for the abbreviated conversation and for talking fast.

Speaker 3 (06:13):
You bet, you bet, guys, we appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (06:15):
Joel A. Erickson joining us put my shoeback on from
the Indianapolis Star. It's a rough day if your name
is Jake. If you're Jake Browning, you lost your gig
to Joe Flacco, who's a senior citizen. And if you're me,
you're doing the show and Eddie forgets to call people. Right,
So it's I like the fever shirt you have on there. Thanks,
it's a nice shirt. Thanks for the backing of compliments. Listen,

(06:39):
I have you gave me permission? Said, we went to
the break and you said, you know what, Jake, you
have one hour. You have one hour to be able
to get this all out of your system. And but
you did call Pat Boy then.

Speaker 5 (06:50):
Right, I did, and then he didn't answer, and then
I had to text him to say, hey that I'm
calling you.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
Look at you, and he goes, oh, beleep, call me
back please. What's the first letter of the word used?
S Okay, He joins us. Now on the Java House
Peel and Poor Guest line. He is, of course, Pat
Boyland that you hear not only doing television for the
Indiana Fever in their remarkable season, but on the radio
network for the Indiana Pacers as well. Pat, I'll begin

(07:15):
with this last night against Minnesota, I thought there were
several things that jumped out at me, but you see
them with a much more probably trained eye than myself.
What jumped out at you last night? First and foremost
about the twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six Indiana Pacers.

Speaker 6 (07:30):
Well, first of all, allow me to defend myself, even
though I know this isn't.

Speaker 7 (07:34):
The most ventilating radio.

Speaker 6 (07:35):
The number that usually calls me Eddie dialed in on
a different number, so and you know.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
And listen, I'm with you there because I don't know
about you, Pat, But what we were going to do
was call you to tell you a couple of things.
Number one that you you right now you have a
week left to call about your tax lean that's out
on you. And also if you want a new car warranty,
we can get that taken care of, a new health
insurance that we can get you signed up for. Those
are the three things that we were going to call
from from the unknown number, which is why you probably

(08:04):
declined right Well.

Speaker 7 (08:05):
Sadly, that's exactly correct.

Speaker 6 (08:07):
You get so many spam calls these days that if
you don't recognize the number, you just let it go.
But I probably should have also realized that it was
one o'clock the times life.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
Do you know I have it? By the way, have
you ever eaten spam?

Speaker 6 (08:18):
I actually don't think I have, unless it was one
of those like fancy attempts at a spam dish at
like a nicer restaurant.

Speaker 7 (08:27):
But I don't think I have.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
I have a friend, I kid you not, there's a
spam museum. I kid you not. I have a friend
that went to the spam museum at Hormel I think
is the company that makes it, and they've got like,
you know, the the years of spam and all that
kind of thing. And the one thing I told them
when they when they went in and bought their tickets,
I said, I am praying you didn't give me your email,
because that would have been a complete disaster, right.

Speaker 6 (08:48):
Am, I right, very quickly than spam spam.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yeah, that's exactly correct. Okay, So what jumped out at
you last night?

Speaker 7 (08:58):
Gosh, you know, I think a few things.

Speaker 6 (09:00):
You know, just the the up and down nature of
the game, which I think you tend to expect in
the preseason, but it was really up and down.

Speaker 7 (09:05):
I mean, the Pacers were.

Speaker 6 (09:07):
Playing at a fast pace, but also that you know,
they got up by twenty four, lost the lead, went
to overtime one and overtime. I thought it was a
really good opportunity for some of those guys that you know,
frankly might be playing on the boom by the time
things are all said and done, but a good opportunity
for them to get some extra minutes and in those
crunch time situations, even though preseason overtime is not always

(09:30):
what jumps out at you. I thought Jarris Walker, you know,
got not only some good minutes, but showed some nice
things as well. And I think the portions of the
game where you saw the starters on the floor, I
think you had to be pretty happy with.

Speaker 3 (09:43):
Now.

Speaker 6 (09:44):
Unfortunate Isaiah Jackson picked up a couple of fouls early,
didn't play very much. I'm not a big plus minus
guy in individual games at all, in fact, but when
you can look at units and you see all of
the unit with kind of the same numbers, I think
that stands out.

Speaker 7 (09:59):
And to me, the pace to play.

Speaker 6 (10:00):
That the starters were playing with seemed to be about
what you would have expected with Tyreese Halliburton out there,
So we'll see if that sticks. But also just that
group as a whole, the other four starters besides Jackson
were all plus double digits, and they're obviously going against
the starters for Minnesota for a good.

Speaker 7 (10:18):
Portion of that time.

Speaker 6 (10:19):
So yeah, just one game, just one preseason game, albeit,
but those are probably the things that sit out the
most to me.

Speaker 1 (10:24):
Pat, Let me let me share with you one thing
that I saw, and then feel free to tell me
that I'm being too nuanced here, okay, or if you
noticed it. I was very curious about the center position
for Indiana and replacing Miles Turner. And yes, it's one
preseason game, and one preseason game does not need, you know,
even a two season pre preseason schedule make But while

(10:48):
I love Isaiah Jackson, and I love him. I think
he's athletic, he's bouncy. You know, we'll see how the
Achilles is. James Wiseman showed promise last year before he
got hurt through preseason and that kind of thing. I
didn't know a lot about Jay Huff. What I've noticed
about Jay Huff that to me I really liked. He
seems to have. Miles Turner was such a good top

(11:09):
of the key facilitator in terms of their offense by
being your entry level passing point to getting that offense
going and getting that kind of weave going. And I
thought Turner's ability vision passing, et cetera facilitated that in
so many different possessions. Jay Huff, to me, from the
very limited time that I saw him, appeared to have

(11:31):
a very similar skill set in terms of passing and
vision facilitation. Am I giving him way too much credit
and way too small a sample size?

Speaker 3 (11:41):
No?

Speaker 6 (11:41):
I don't think so, although with the obvious disclaimer that
you just gave. It is one preseason game, and you
know oftentimes you need a couple of regular season months
to get a real feel for a guy.

Speaker 7 (11:51):
But it's all we have right now. It's all we
have to talk about.

Speaker 6 (11:53):
And he's a new guy, and you know, it's interesting
to me. First of all, I agree with that. You know,
I think he does a lot of the things Miles
Turner does well, which is, you know, it's kind of
funny you look at those two and you don't necessarily
immediately assume they have the same skill sets, but they
Jay Huff. The fascinating thing to me about Jay Huff
is if you look at what he did last year,

(12:16):
especially really efficient numbers, you know, kind of an analytics
whiz kid. But there's the huge yeah, but which is
he just didn't play a ton of minutes. He did
all those in eleven twelve, thirteen minutes per game somewhere
around that number. So can he take those numbers and
if he is going to get more minutes, which the
center position I think is the most interesting position battle

(12:39):
the Pacers have had in a preseason in quite some time,
If you take those minutes and if he's able to
play twenty five, can he still do those same things?
And if so, you maybe really have something there. And
the point is nuanced, but I think it's it's interesting
for discussion at bare minimum, and I would agree with you.
In the nineteen minutes that he played last night, I

(13:00):
thought he was a pretty good facilitator and maybe a
little bit better than I realized. You want to see
more games to continue to have that opinion. And I
think that's an interesting point about Turner too, because I'm
not sure that's you know, one of the first few
things that would have jumped out to you know, the
average fan about what Miles Turner does well. But I
do think he found a good niche in that role,

(13:22):
especially with Tyree's Halliburton and you know, the dribble handoffs
or the pitch handoffs.

Speaker 7 (13:27):
That the Pacers like to run. So yeah, there may.

Speaker 6 (13:30):
Be something there, and with him and the whole center
position as a whole. You know, I was looking this
up yesterday. Roy Hibbert's first year and Miles Turner's first year.
Each of those guys started about half of the season,
and if you take those years away, or even if
you include them, the Pacers have had remarkable stability at
starting center for seventeen years now, that's with those rookie

(13:53):
years included. So for the first time in a very
very long time, there's a position battle at starting center,
and you know, I really like Isaiah Jackson too. I
think he's a fantastic prospect. I think, you know, from
a physicality standpoint, just physical skills set, he's you know,
about what you would work up in a lab. And

(14:15):
so I hope that he's somebody that you know, wins
that job because I think he has the highest feeling
that's it. I think Jay Huff might be your most
solid guy and your most dependable guy right now.

Speaker 7 (14:26):
And I thought he showed it in those nineteen minutes
last night.

Speaker 1 (14:29):
I thought, last night, Pat Boyling is our guest. He's
on the job house Peel and poor guest line. I
thought last night, Pat that jeris Walker notably, and he
started to show this last year. It was part of
the real I mean, aside from the obvious, you know,
with his injury, one of the real disappointments was it
was right when I thought the game started to really

(14:51):
slow down for him on a nightly basis and he
was able to just kind of play his game. I
thought last night he looked as comfortable and as the
flow of what they wanted to do as anybody. Did
you observe the same?

Speaker 6 (15:05):
Yes, I did, And I'll give Tony e some credit here.
I believe it was Tony who asked the question on
media Day, but it was one of those that kind
of made a lot of sense to me the way
he asked it, and Dearris Walker answered it in a
way where he very much agreed with it. And paraphrasing here,
but Tony has something along the lines of you'll hear
players say, and I think Tyree Taliburton had referenced this,

(15:25):
experiencing the same kind of phenomenon in his career that oftentimes,
going into your second year, you think you have things
figured out, and it's not until your third year when
you look back at your second year and realize, wait, no,
I didn't, but now I really kind of do, at
least for the players that progress in the way that
you want them to. I think that oftentimes is kind
of a timeline. And when Tony asked Jaris about that,

(15:49):
you know, he almost he almost cracked up because it
just seemed to feel so true for him. I think
he was looking back probably at this time last year
and realizing that maybe he wasn't quite where he was
thought he was mentally, but how much he has grown
over the past year. I think I think the playoff
run was really big for him, you know, Unfortunately it

(16:10):
ended a little prematurely. Didn't get to play in the finals,
turned his ankle, and then, you know, I personally had
some concerns just hearing that he didn't get back to
full health until late August, and you think, well, you
have a season that runs into June and then you've
missed a couple of months with an injury.

Speaker 7 (16:26):
Does he have enough time to ramp back up?

Speaker 6 (16:28):
But Rick Carlisle's commentary on him was that, actually, he's
in I believe Rick said far and away the best
shape of his three years with the Pacers, which is
good to see because sometimes you know, an ankle injury
can limit your conditioning and from the comfortability perspective that
you bring, I think that's absolutely true, and I think
it's an extension of what you started to see maybe

(16:48):
in the back half of last year, the game just
slowing down for him a little bit. It was moving
pretty fast, I think his rookie year and part of
his second year, but I think that started to really
slow down, and I think you hoped to continue to
see the continuation of the game slowing down for him,
which again with the disclaimer and everything we're talking about
here one preseason game, but one preseason game is all

(17:10):
we have to go off of, and I thought there
certainly was some evidence that that appeared to be true
last night.

Speaker 1 (17:16):
Pat. I want you to think back to last year. Okay,
and I listen this. Sometimes what I'm about to ask
you is difficult because the years start to kind of
run together and it becomes difficult of like, wait a minute,
was that last year, two years ago? Whatever? But since
we're still freshly removed from it, I want you to
think about the twenty twenty four twenty twenty five NBA season,

(17:39):
and I want you to tell me the team from
a competitive standpoint, from a consistency standpoint, from a number
of wins standpoint. Don't look at the standings, but tell
me the team from a year ago that you would anticipate,
barring injury, that this year's Indiana Pacers will replicate their
season this year and the regulars season should look about

(18:01):
like what we saw from who last year.

Speaker 6 (18:05):
You're saying the Pacers hopefully will look like this team
what they did last year?

Speaker 1 (18:11):
Correct? Last year's correct, this year's Pacers team. No. Tyree's
Halliburton no Miles Turner, obviously, but with the pieces they have,
with the things they could do, then, assuming that they
stay healthy, you would anticipate that their year from a
wins and loss and competitive standpoint would look very similar
to what this team just completed last season. What franchise No.

Speaker 6 (18:35):
I guess the reason I'm having trouble answering that or
the reason a team isn't immediately jumping out as I
was having this conversation.

Speaker 7 (18:42):
That not on air earlier this morning.

Speaker 6 (18:44):
I just think there's such a high variance in what
this team could accomplish.

Speaker 7 (18:48):
When you look at it.

Speaker 6 (18:48):
From the potential upswing side, you've got a brilliant head
coach and a great coaching staff that almost is guaranteed to.

Speaker 7 (18:55):
Get everything out of this group.

Speaker 6 (18:57):
And when you look at this team, even without Tyree Caliburn,
without Miles Turner, you look at them and I at
least still see a team that should be pretty good,
you know, a team that was a big reason why
the Pacers or went away from agreed even without those guys.
The flip side of that, which you know this can
just be a big challenge is your margin for error,
I think is a lot less and so you can't

(19:19):
afford a rash of injuries, and that obviously can go
a long way in limiting consistency. So because of that,
you know, I think there's a high level of variance
with what the Pacers could look like. I'm quite optimistic,
albeit maybe.

Speaker 8 (19:32):
At this point, of what they could do, but from
from a wins loss perspective, I don't know if you
mean that or just kind of how the team put
things together.

Speaker 1 (19:42):
Okay, let me let me give you a couple of
teams from last season, and you tell me on par
with above or below in terms of there's a reason
I'm going here. Okay, I'll begin with this Chicago Bulls
of a year ago.

Speaker 6 (19:55):
I would like to think the Pacers are above that.

Speaker 7 (19:57):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (19:58):
The Atlanta Hawks are a year ago.

Speaker 7 (20:00):
I would also like to think they're above that.

Speaker 1 (20:02):
Okay. The Memphis Grizzlies of a year ago.

Speaker 6 (20:07):
Yeah, that's that's a tough one because they went through
just so many injuries but came out in a pretty
good spot.

Speaker 7 (20:15):
Forty seven maybe.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
Wins forty eight?

Speaker 7 (20:18):
Yeah, forty eight.

Speaker 6 (20:20):
And then obviously just the gauntlet that is the Western Conference.
If you're asking me if you could give the Pacers
forty eight wins right now?

Speaker 7 (20:28):
Would I take it? Absolutely?

Speaker 1 (20:30):
Okay? Orlando Magic of a year.

Speaker 9 (20:31):
Ago, Yeah, that's that's a decent comp maybe on where
they landed, although again another year where they were just dismantled.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
Here's the Eieson I mentioned it, Pat like, I don't
know if you have big you know, vacationing plans coming
up during the holidays, probably tough for you to do
during the NBA season or at the end of the year,
right And I'm not anybody it would be irresponsible to
me to sit here and tell people to gamble per se.
But I'm willing to push all in on the thirty

(21:05):
eight and a half over under for Indiana this year.
I just think it's insane. Who is who is watching
this group? Who is watching Obi Toppin, who was watching
TJ McConnell, who was watching Andrew Neimhard, Pascal Siakam and
saying to themselves, yeah, that's a thirty seven win team.
What I think? It's ludicrous? Last night to me, I'm

(21:29):
looking at him going, yeah, forty two to forty five
probably right?

Speaker 6 (21:33):
Yeah, I completely agree. You know, I will just add
the asterisk for myself that I very clearly cannot give gambling.

Speaker 1 (21:42):
Well, and I'm not either. I mean, listen, I'm not either.
I'm just saying the I think they are, and this
is to shift that conversation away from that legal aspect
of it. You know, Andrew Nemhart for example. I think
it was Aaron Nesmith, who I haven't even mentioned yet,
but Aaron Nismith I think is one that was like, yeah,
I mean, listen, we've been under sold every year. People

(22:05):
expect less of us every single year, so we're comfortable
with that. It just feels to me like a year
where people are sleeping on them. I'm not saying they're
gonna win the East, but I think they're gonna make
the playoffs if they're healthy.

Speaker 6 (22:16):
I think, yes, that last part is exactly what I
was gonna say, if they get a reasonable amount of health.
Not no team goes through the year healthy, but if
they have a reasonable amount of health and don't experience
some severe health issues, I completely agree with that. And
you just look at the core of this team. I mean,
we all understand how important Tyrese Haliburton is to the Pacers,

(22:38):
and I think that the biggest thing that Tyre's Halliburton
doesn't get enough credit for is the fact that every
player around him when they come here or he comes
and the players already there, they seem to have kind
of a career year or a career few years. So
I do think that is something to watch because all
these guys have been playing so well, and I think
a big part of that is just the elite level

(22:58):
connector that Tyree Saalibon is. That said, this group got
to Game seven of the NBA Finals not just because
of Tyris Halliburt. He had some incredible shots, had a
great playoffs, but not just because of Tyres Haliburt, And
it was because of their death and not just their depth,
but how many high level players that they could move
in and move out of that top seven, top eight rotation.

(23:20):
And you know, you look at the core of guys
that are still available even without Turner and without Aliburton,
you know, you're talking about guys that were really proven
players in the playoffs. Andrew Nemhard, Benedict Mathniel Mathern helped
it win the Pacers game number three. Aaron nee Smith,
Pascal Siakam speaks for himself. Obi Toppin TJ McConnell, Jerris Walker,

(23:40):
Ben Shepherd, Johnny Furphy. I mean, you can even you
can play that game. And it's amazing that you can
do this because the last couple of years around this time,
all the questions that you know, I got on the
radio interviews that I did, were how are the Pacers
going to fit all these guys.

Speaker 7 (23:54):
Into the rotation?

Speaker 6 (23:55):
They had eleven, maybe even twelve guys who were capable
of being in a rotation. Well, you still I'd have
got that problem because and it's a good problem because
even with those two out, I think I just named
nine guys right there, and there's probably another guy or too,
Jay Huffidiah Jackson. I mean you can get to again
eleven or twelve guys that are probably worthy of rotational minutes,

(24:18):
and so their depths I think has the potential to
be very good. I think they've lost some of their
margin for error for injuries, and I think that can
be you know, maybe the biggest challenge to this season
is if the injury luck were to continue to go poorly,
you just don't have, you know, quite the depth that
you did last year. But there's no question to me
and no doubt in my mind, if this team experience

(24:40):
is a reasonable amount of health with the core they
had together, it's still plenty plenty good enough to make
the playoffs. And and this team the last couple of
years has shown you that it's a fool's errand to
put some sort of ceiling on it. You wouldn't have
guessed the Pacers did what they did last year, and
you wouldn't have guessed the Pacers would have done what
they did the year before either.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
Pat lastly, in this this is the most important question
of the day. If you could get in your size
of the just a pair of the shoe that any
pacer player wears, which one would you go with?

Speaker 7 (25:17):
I think I should probably.

Speaker 6 (25:19):
I will start this by saying I am not a
sneaker head, so I'm probably not the best person to
ask this, but I would. I should probably say then
Tyree Saliburt shoe, right, So I'll take Yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
I mean, I get it. I I think and listen,
I understand. I mean, there was you know, it's cool
the marketing promotion they did and all of that, simply
esthetically speaking. And I think maybe part of this is
just because, like you know, when I go to bed
at night, I wear Aaron Nee Smith pajamas because I
have like he's my favorite player, right, I make no

(25:51):
bones about it, but I think Nie Smith has a
very Those new balance that he has are extremely underrated.
They're kind of a neon and like light blue mixture.
And we had them on and I told him I
thought they were the best shoe on the roster. And
now I'm looking and I don't think they sell them anymore.
And I was I was late to the party. That's
kind of par for the course.

Speaker 6 (26:09):
For me, you know, well, as it relates to this,
I'm not even late to the party.

Speaker 7 (26:14):
I never got to the party, but.

Speaker 6 (26:16):
I will pay more attention. It's just something that, for
whatever reason, it doesn't register in my brain.

Speaker 1 (26:23):
And I'm kind of with you on that. I'm not
like a I've never really understood the hole I'm going
to buy that shoe just because my favorite player wears it. Guy,
Even though I just said that about Nie Smith, I
really liked the shoe that he wears. I think they're
cool looking. But when I go to games, I oftentimes
say to the people I'm sitting with, Okay, if you
could pick the shoe of any guy on the floor

(26:43):
right now? Which one do you like the most? And
invariably it's more about the one that I find tolerable
versus the like seven on the floor I find absurd.

Speaker 6 (26:53):
You know what, I will, I will do my best
this year to keep that in the front of my
mind as a watching these games, because hopefully gets you
a better answer, because this has been just uh, you know,
a whole lot of filibustering from me. But yeah, give me,
give me a couple of months on this season, maybe
even a few weeks, and I'll get you a better act.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
I think John J and V like Siakam's shoes, Eddie,
who do you go with?

Speaker 5 (27:16):
I don't really care. I don't pay attention. I'm not
a sneaker head.

Speaker 1 (27:20):
Okay, thanks.

Speaker 7 (27:21):
It's a little harder in Eddie's defense. It's a little
harder in his position.

Speaker 1 (27:26):
True, very very good point. That's fair. Eddie also took
the day off today, Pat, so I mean that that.
You know that helps?

Speaker 7 (27:32):
Like he put last night off too. He's on a roll.

Speaker 1 (27:36):
That's right, all right, Pat. We appreciate it as always, man,
look forward to talking to you over the course of
the season.

Speaker 7 (27:41):
Likewise, appreciate you guys.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
Pat Boy than joining us on the Java House Peel
and poor guest line. I'm telling you, I am you
are hearing the voice right now of one of the
seven people probably on Earth that as a kid, we
would have spam. I mean, I realize now it was
an economic thing from my parents, but I loved it.
I love spam. I don't think there's probably much nutritional

(28:04):
value in anything that. Actually you could open a can
right now that was produced in nineteen fifty eight and
it would still be fine. But I love it. I
think it tastes good, but it's probably not the healthiest thing.
I'm not totally aware. Probably not a lot of elite
athletes are eating spam, but elite athletes, when it comes
time for any sort of treatment athletically speaking for training,

(28:26):
would be familiar with Ralph Reef because he's been doing
it since nineteen eighty one. Reef Executive Performance Solutions is
where he can now be found. He is organized and
put together the training staff for five different final fours
for US Track and Field Olympic Trials, World Basketball Championships,
the Olympic Games, you name it. Ralph Reef is the guy,
and so he joins US once again on the Java

(28:48):
House Peel and Port guest Line to talk about some
of the different injuries that we're hearing about in Sport today. Ralph,
first off, welcome back. I know you were just on
vacation and it looked spectacular.

Speaker 4 (28:58):
Yeah, it was absolutely wonderful. My wife and I was
a bucket list trip to drive through the western southwestern
corner of Colorado and we hit the aspen trees at
their brilliance. It was. It was really great. But hey,
let's talk about let's talk about spam. So in nineteen eighty,

(29:19):
my roommate at Miami of Ohio, I was in graduate school.
We didn't have two nickels to rub together, so we
would walk to the Kroger in Oxford, Ohio and buy
a couple of boxes of macaroni and cheese, which were
about seventy nine cents a box, and we would buy
the tin containers of spam to forget the cost. But

(29:43):
we could eat pretty efficiently a macaroni and cheese and
spam in graduate school.

Speaker 1 (29:50):
Listen, so are you number six in terms of the
fact that you will admit that you like spam?

Speaker 4 (29:56):
I ate it, and I would admit that I tolerated
it and joined. We cooked it every way you could.
We sliced it and grilled it, and we actually baked it.
We did everything you could do.

Speaker 1 (30:06):
Spam including you know, and I've always, Ralph, I've always
wondered when you probably just could have said, you know,
like had it sitting out and now forty five years
later it would still be there and good right along
with your twinkies. But you know, he tasted good. And
like I said, I realized now when I look back

(30:28):
on it, that my parents were playing the same economic games, right,
But you knew what you got to do. Uh. I
want to begin with this one because we had a
scary incident that took place in the WNBA when Kelsey
Mitchell got you know, goes down and who has been
a great player for the fever, And initially it was

(30:49):
just okay, she's got severe cramping. Then we found out
and thank goodness that they were able to get on
this quickly. But it was a more complex issue than that.
What exactly was it that took place?

Speaker 4 (31:01):
Yeah, this is a very rare situation that occurs from
within the course of competition or within practice. Rab doough
myele isis referred to short term as RAB dough is,
it's an injury to the muscle of skeletal muscles. So
the skeletal muscles primarily occurs in the big thick muscles

(31:23):
of the biceps, the chest, the quadriceps, and what happens
is that there's sort of three phases that the muscles
go through. From an injury standpoint, you can get cramps,
muscle cramps from lack of fluid, or they're just the
muscles get fatigued and they cramp. That's you're over that

(31:45):
pretty easy. The second one is that we see often
and you've probably experienced this getting back into training, or
you finish the mini marathon and a day or two
later you're still pretty sore. That's called delayed on set
muscular soreness DOMS the MS. The third level you get

(32:07):
to is rabdo myolysis, and rabdomyolysis is where the cells
within the muscle tissue basically explode due to intramuscular pressure
and it releases everything within the cells and then the
body responds to that as a toxin and the body

(32:31):
becomes very allergic, if you will, to what the proteins
and the electrolytes that are pushed out into the blood system.
So yeah, great job by doctor Amy Corrigan who's the
team physician for them, and Todd Champlain and to recognize
that it takes a little bit of time and because

(32:56):
you know, Kelsey's obviously something didn't respond right, like I
read they gave her ivy fluids, okay, and maybe that
didn't take well, and all of a sudden she's still
complaining or she can't function, and then it becomes pretty painful.
And so it typically occurs, Jake, you may if you

(33:19):
went in and studied it, or maybe somebody listening was
a part of a training program where their strength and
conditioning program took them to a level of failure or fatigue,
and the muscles can get that intracellular pressure and can
basically rupture and all that fluid rushes into the bloodstream

(33:42):
and acts as a toxic chemical to the body, so
very dangerous.

Speaker 1 (33:47):
For a patient that gets at ralph Is it something
that typically is an anomaly or is it, unfortunately the
introduction to something that can be chronic.

Speaker 4 (33:57):
No, it's it's not a chronic condition. And you know,
I just keep thinking, how did this occur? This is
really unusual because within a game within a contest, and
so you go back and you look at the level
of intensity of play of Kelsey, and just from a spectator,

(34:22):
you know she's she plays hard. I have no idea
about her lifestyle. I have no idea about if she
had trouble sleeping the night before, you know, you would think,
you know, they had about fifty hours five zero hours
between the end of their game four and then they
fly to Vegas and you've got a full day off,

(34:47):
well not off, but but you're not playing, and so
something occurred within her system unbeknownst to her. It could
have been a factor of fatigue, lack of sleep, could
have been altitude, could have been from the airplane I'm
talking about, and it could have been a low hydration factor,

(35:09):
could have been a number of things that just created
the perfect storm. And yeah, they're in the middle of
a third period. She bails out. And it was interesting
in watching the game how she sort of stopped like
she was stunned and asked the official for help because
that was the closest person to her. And then then

(35:30):
she just sort of sat down and and it was
it was odd when I saw that, But then again,
you know, Okay, they do the right thing from television view, right,
they think it's a dehydration, so let's go ahead and
put an IV in her. Well, maybe that didn't work
best at the arena, so they go to the hospital

(35:51):
and then they probably did some blood tests and so
forth and figured out, yeah, we've got rabdo here, and
so then it's just a matter of continue, you need
to hydrate, nutrition, rest, recovery. There will be some period
of time where she has to readjust to resistance training,

(36:12):
but that's pretty quickly, you know, that'll be a quick
off season.

Speaker 1 (36:16):
And is it possible ninety days, Is it possible that
that our weekend warriors that are on the treadmill or
just you know, prepping for a run or just trying
to stay in shape could experience this and not realize
that they are experiencing it and then the body just
naturally works itself through it. Or is it basically a
muscular paralysis where the body says, look, you didn't hey, dumb, dumb,

(36:38):
you didn't see what I'm trying to tell you here,
So I'm just gonna let it be known and then
you immediately have to get treatment for it.

Speaker 4 (36:44):
Yeah, it's the second one. It's painful. You have a
lack of control over your extremities, your large muscle groups.
You might have a it might be let's say in
your biceps, and all of a sudden you've got dinosaur arms.
You can't extend your arm because your bicep is contracted
and in a state of shock. So it's a it's rare,

(37:08):
it's extreme. We like to think it should never happen.
But the human body is amazing and she'll she'll recover.

Speaker 1 (37:18):
Yeah, okay, now let's get to because you talk about
the human body and just you know, it's amazing, right
because it's you know, it's a little bit ralph like
when you were just an aspen and you're looking at
the beauty of the leaves that are changing, right, because
what makes that tapestry so amazing is that every leaf
is different. And in some cases medically speaking, I'm not
a doctor, but there are some things where every case

(37:42):
is different, every person in every body is different. And
that's to some extent, can be the concussion protocol. And
we see with Alec Pierce where people would say, well,
how do you go from concussion protocol to practicing to
back into the concussion protocol. I would imagine that is
one where there's kind of a a last frontier there,
right of trying to navigate through what they're looking for,

(38:04):
and still a lot of uncertainty with that. Is that
fair to.

Speaker 4 (38:07):
Say, Yeah, there's a there's a pretty black and white
protocol within the NFL that you have to pass five stages.
They refer to the as five stages. The first stages
is on field management, whether that's at practice or within
a game, and so really the other four have to

(38:27):
do with some type of activity. And so if he's
listed as going to be in practice today, that means
he's either doing sports specific growth, which would be the
fourth stage, or he would be in full contact, which
would be the fifth and final stage. So if regardless

(38:49):
of which stage he is in, he will then have
a period of time in which he will be observed
or he will self report with Usually it's a twenty
four hour window. So if they practice today, they get done,
let's say four o'clock, he's gone through full contact. Then

(39:11):
by you know, tomorrow morning, they come back to the complex, Hey,
how you're doing, And it's not just a hey, how
you're doing, and they walk by the training room door.
There's protocol of evaluation. There's a baseline that he'll be
compared against, and that baseline can be a neurocognitive test,
it can be a balance test, it can be a

(39:35):
visual exam, it can take a look at the very technically,
you can look at the eye and determine its movements
on a microscopic level to see how the brain is
responding to that activity. So it's a very precise protocol,
and we've gotten really past the stage of relying upon

(39:59):
the players perception of how they feel. There are a
lot of objective tests. I don't know if you remember back,
I've lost track of time here, but reportedly Peyton Manning said, hey,
I feel fine, right, and.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
I remember this, and didn't he make the wise crack
that he initially tanked the precursor test so that there
would be a lower bar for him. And then people
are like, whoa wait a minute, and then he, you know,
said listen, I was right exactly.

Speaker 4 (40:27):
Yeah. Made a big impact on all of us in
the healthcare field.

Speaker 1 (40:30):
Believe me, I'll bet yeah. Ralph Reef is our guest,
by the way, Ralph Reef dot com. That's r E
I F F. Where you can uh see about everything
that he does. Also find out in the areas in
which you might be able to get a hold of
him with Ralph with REEF Executive Performance Solutions Ralph. Last
one would be with Tyre's Halliburton. And I know that
you and I want to make this disclaimer you are

(40:51):
not specifically working with or on Tyre's Halliburton, but from
you know, an observational standpoint with a least in terms
of the update. I know we've talked to you about
this before. We are now and it's hard to believe
this what probably three and a half months or so
removed from that injury, we've started to see video of
him just kind of you know, with a little bit

(41:13):
more freedom of range of motion. From your observation, does
that appear to be basically on schedule, ahead of schedule,
or even behind schedule on what we are accustomed to
for that injury.

Speaker 4 (41:25):
He's in a window that I would say predictable on schedule. Okay,
So and I say that going back to all right,
you have a discussion with the surgeon, the surgeon and
the rehabilitation team to say, hey, here's our typical pattern
that we see with this and I would say based
on number of days, the injury, the surgery date, and
so forth, he is in that window of predicted pace

(41:50):
of return.

Speaker 1 (41:51):
You know, if you ever go camping out and aspen
again to read take in all of the beauty. Now
that your bucket list is complete. You know what's an
excellent morning camping meal? Spam? Just so you know, right, you.

Speaker 4 (42:03):
Know, well, I've experienced it all three meals of the day,
and spam if you dice it up and put it
in that macaroni and cheese, My lord, is that something?

Speaker 1 (42:14):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (42:15):
Hey, but it never beats Java house right.

Speaker 1 (42:18):
Yes, yes, Ralph, Yes, I love it. That's exactly correct.

Speaker 4 (42:22):
You always got to have a pod of that Liquid
Science hydration pod with you.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
This is unbelievable, I'm telling you. And it is does it?
And it's economy like spam, it's economic, right, because it's economical.
Can you just pour the pod in water and you're
good to go and it's easy peasy for the kids
and everybody. Right, it's recycling.

Speaker 4 (42:39):
Yeah, we had we had Carpenter and Tim Broyle's you know,
showing me that stuff at one of the races. I
was like, really, it comes out of that pod really
and it tastes good, he says. Ralph poured over that
ice and I was hooked on that ice tea, and man,
it is great stuff it is.

Speaker 1 (42:55):
I love it, Ralph, absolutely love it. All right, Ralph,
we appreciate it. As always. We would love to have
you back on. It is always good information. And I
could listen to you the read the phone book to me,
so I appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (43:06):
You're very welcome, Jake.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
Ralphree of joining us on the program. Really good stuff.
Matt Taylor is the voice of the Colts, and of course,
as you just heard, he fills us in on what's
happening on West fifty six brought to you by Shelby Materials.
He is on the Java House peeling for a guest line. Matt,
I'll begin with asking this what's happening on West fifty sixth?

Speaker 3 (43:31):
All right? Now, we are doing some practicing in the
background here and getting ready for a Cardinals team that's
coming in two and three, and they've lost three in
a row, heartbreaking fashion. They've lost three straight games, as
you know, I'm sure on last second field goals. So
they got a really good defense. Offense is kind of middling,
right now, and you know, dealing with some injuries. But yeah,

(43:54):
it's a really important week to you know, keep on
going and make making sure the complacency doesn't set in
and another chance to get a victory in front of
the home crowd.

Speaker 1 (44:03):
And one of the players that will be keeping an
eye on, whether it be Kyler Murray, we keep an
eye on a foot injury for him. The playmaker for
the Cardinals at quarterback, Jacoby Brissett would be as backup
if Murray can't go. One of those that would have
been keeping an eye on that would be the linebacker
Joe Bachi for the Colts. The announcement earlier today that
he goes to IR Matt. Has there been any clarification

(44:26):
on what that injury was.

Speaker 3 (44:28):
No, I'm I'm I'm kind of wondering that too. I mean,
they they said undisclosed, So I mean we'll find out
perhaps more coming up on Friday when Shane Stiken meets
with the media again before the game on Sunday. But yeah,
that one, I mean went from you know, went from
from going on John should say having an injury to

(44:50):
going on IR you know obviously had kind of an
up and down game last week with the penalties and
you know, had the big holding call and the kickoff
return on the ninety eight yarder that would have been
on the return by Ashton Dowland. But so they bring
in Jermaine Pratt and that's kind of a mystery too
because Pratt, you know, played basically every snap the week

(45:11):
before for the Raiders and they're lost to the Bears,
and then you know, didn't make that trip. They came
out early, I understand, on Friday, you know, get ready
for that game last week at Lucas Oil Stadium, and
he didn't make the trip, and so you know that
one's kind of curious as to you know, what's going
on there. Why did he make the trip, But you

(45:31):
know they said it was for personal reasons. And then
you know, being picked up by the Colts today, it's
kind of a mystery on three different levels. A third
phase of that is who's going to play linebacker next
to Zaire Franklin. It's been kind of a revolving cast
of players at that position this year. I mean Chad
Moomas played some Austin and GK Cameron mcgrone is no

(45:53):
longer on the team. I think that's one of the
you know, the few spots on defense they're still trying
to figure out and solidify, you know, that will linebacker
spot next to Zire Franklin.

Speaker 1 (46:02):
You know, and Matt, we've talked about this before, but
I want you to to opine on it. Is we
talk about offensive line a lot in terms of you
and I've had this discussion the fact that I just
think it's a position where continuity and understanding of tendency
of the guy lined up next to you is so important, right,

(46:23):
So it's hard sometimes it's hard to just air drop
in alignment, right because so much of it is reliant
on cohesiveness. Would you put linebacker in that same category
or is that Is it a unit where no matter
who you put in there, Zire Franklin, they're not as
it's they're not as reliant on tendency of what's happening
next to them.

Speaker 3 (46:44):
No, I think it is important. You know, I think
Zire Franklin's played enough football. You know, he's almost has
one hundred games in the NFL and you know, close
to around seventy starts, you know, so he's played enough
football to be instinctual. But no matter who you're going
to put him next to you know, he's still to
be productive. But you know, I do think there is
something too. You know, when that defense was humming back

(47:05):
in the day and that had two healthy linebackers and
Zaire Franklin and Shack Leonard, I mean, they just fed
off each other. And I think it's important to know
who you're playing next to, uh, in the middle of
that defense, because I think instinctually, you know, in the
back of your mind, you know when you can maybe
take a chance, right, maybe when you can, you know,
go inside a block. Not that you're taught to do that,

(47:28):
but like, hey, if you get into a bind, you know,
maybe you go inside a block when you're not supposed
to because you know that you can trust that the
guy next to you, you know, he's going to be
in the right place, right. I mean, sometimes it's about
setting the edge and sometimes it's about forcing things back
into the rest of that defense. You know, maybe it's uh,
you know, you're you're being sent on a blitz and

(47:48):
you can trust that you know, if this guy, you
know leaves his position, I got you covered and vice versa.
So I do think it's important, you know, I think
offensive line and linebacker is one of those positions where
you need newity and trust and you know, just a
lot of experience playing next to one another. So you know,
that's that's the biggest thing the cult are still looking for, because,

(48:09):
like I said, it's it's been you know, a different
cast of character seemingly every week. And it's not even just.

Speaker 7 (48:15):
Week by week.

Speaker 3 (48:15):
It's like down by down, series by series where you know,
you're just trying to you know, from my perspective, you know,
you're looking at who's in the game and scanning the field,
and seemingly, you know, every other play there's a different
linebacker in next to playing next to Zaire Franklin based
on the situation of the game.

Speaker 1 (48:32):
You know, one of the things where I feel for
you is it'd be nice for you if one of
these guys one of these days they could just sign
like Bill Smith. Right, they got some tricky names in
there for you, Right, They throw you some curveballs, man.

Speaker 3 (48:46):
Well, the Raiders had a bunch too. I mean they
had some guys brought up off the practice squad that
played a lot on Sunday. You know, a guy that
was brought up off the practice squad Saturday and thankfully
I kind of had familiar with them. Was al A
Kuwei Budam, who's a tight end. He was actually with
the Colts for a couple of weeks during training camp

(49:07):
before they started playing preseason games. So, you know, you
and I talked about this a lot. I mean, it's
the game is way more international now and every team
has it.

Speaker 1 (49:15):
They play, they're gonna find you, man.

Speaker 7 (49:17):
That's it.

Speaker 3 (49:18):
That's it. And you know, you got to stay on
top of your your fanatics, if you will, because each
team has, you know, five or six guys that you know,
they got some tough syllable pronunciation, and they play and
they're gonna make a difference, and it's your job to
try to get it right.

Speaker 1 (49:35):
Matt, when I was you've seen the movie The Hangover,
right obviously?

Speaker 7 (49:38):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (49:38):
Yeah, Matt Taylor, I guess the voice of the Colts.
When I went to go see The Hangover, I knew
nothing about it going in. I was on a family vacation.
Everybody else was doing something else. I'm like, God, I'm
gonna go to a movie. And I went to the
theater and I knew nothing about this movie and I'm
watching it and as as the movie's going on. Part
of the fun of it was just I was like, man,
I knew nothing about this and it's just this NonStop

(50:01):
thrill ride of just the next scene was more fun
than the first, right, And that's what a Doug And
that's what makes it great, right exactly right, Like, hey, man,
he'll be your Doug.

Speaker 3 (50:11):
Right.

Speaker 1 (50:11):
So, having said that, tell me the movie that fits
into that. For you. Tell me a movie that you
went into it and you knew nothing about it, and
then the whole time you're just going, man, I don't
know how I didn't know about this, but this is great.

Speaker 3 (50:24):
Like you want me to give you a movie or
a Colts Player that fits that.

Speaker 1 (50:27):
Well, So there's a reason I'm going with that because
so we'll skip the movie portion of it, right, Well,
give me the movie, give me the movie.

Speaker 3 (50:34):
Well this is I mean, you know, I was really young.
I think I was probably like seven or eight, and
I'm sure it was like in the dog days of
the summer, you know, when your mom's like ready to
pull her hair out and kick you out of the
kick you out of the house, you know, waiting for
school to start. So one day she packs us up
and we go to the movies, and you know, you're

(50:56):
supposed to, like when your mom takes you to the
movie theater, you're supposed to go see a kid's movie. Right, Yeah,
Well I think she was just like so frustrated, Like
I got to get out of the house, and you
guys are coming with me, and we're just gonna go
see a movie. I think that's what it was. So
we go see again. I'm very young, but I remember
it distinctly because I don't remember anything about like hearing
about this movie before it. But we go see A

(51:18):
League of our Own and I knew it was a
baseball movie, but I didn't know anything about it. And
I mean, it's still one of my favorite movies to
this day because of that story, like going in blind,
didn't know anything about it, and it still resonates, still hits,
you know, to this day. Tom Hanks one of his
best movies ever.

Speaker 1 (51:36):
It is a great movie, for sure. Filmed in southern Indiana. Okay.
So having said that is the Daniel Jones Colts season
right now, exactly that and the fact that you're sitting
there and you're going I had no idea it was
going to go this way. I had no idea it
was going to be this enjoyable. But I'm just gonna
sit back right now and enjoy what's taking place, because

(51:58):
this is a pleasant surprise where each scene seemingly is
better than the one before it.

Speaker 3 (52:03):
Man, Jake, you couldn't have put it any better. I mean,
what you're getting right now out of Daniel Jones, even
the most optimistic Daniel Jones supporters could not have seen
this coming. The NFL put out a stat I think
it was last night, and I mean, it's just amazing,
like you know, you look at all. And the reason

(52:23):
why it's astonishing is because the Colts do not beat themselves.
They're absolute playmakers and all the different aspects of the offense,
they don't beat themselves. And when there's a play to
be made, they're just making the play. And I think
the biggest thing that just speaks to that is the
league put this out last night. So when you add

(52:45):
up punts and giveaways and sacks taken, So if you
were to combine all three of those numbers so far
this year again, punts, giveaways, and time sacked for the Colts,
those three numbers add up to only fourteen for the
entire season. That is the fewest amount or the fewest

(53:08):
total in the NFL through five games by any team
since nineteen fifty. So I mean, it's just I mean,
it's better than the two thousand and five Colts, it's
better than the two thousand and seven Patriots. It's better
than any year that the the Saints got off to
with Drew Brees. And it's and you're doing it with

(53:29):
the guy that was signed in March and everybody in
New York was upset over and you know, he's he's
a free agent and a cast off guy. And that's
that's what's fascinating about it, is like this isn't supposed
to be happening, but it's career resurgence from a guy
who's a total pro and you pair him with a
mastermind like Shane Steiken. And that's what I said about

(53:51):
this team all off season. Again, I'm not going to
sit here and say that I forecast that they score,
you know, forty points in two games and have the
best point differential at seventy four through five games. I'm
not going to sit here and lie to you on that.
But what I will say that I was kind of
right about is that even with that defense last year, right,

(54:12):
he was up and down a season ago, even with
all of that stuff going on on that side of
the ball, if he just had a little bit more
consistent quarterback play last year, that was a playoff team.
And not only are you getting consistent quarterback play this year,
you're getting maybe the best quarterback play through five games.
He leads the NFL and QBR he's third and passing

(54:32):
and yards per attempt and all of this stuff. So
it's just it's sort of unfair that one guy makes
such a big difference, but it's so true. And you know,
he's one of the biggest leaders on this team, and
I think he's one of the biggest factors as to why,
you know, the culture and the atmosphere inside the locker
room is as seemingly healthy as it is so far.

Speaker 1 (54:53):
Which is a more true statement. Shane Steichen is able
to haul a vast number of plays because of the
versatility of Daniel Jones, or Daniel Jones is able to
execute things offensively because of the brilliant play calling and

(55:14):
the keeping it within limitation of his strengths and weaknesses.
By Shane Stikeen.

Speaker 3 (55:21):
That's a good one I think they both probably Drew
And I asked Shane on Monday night on our Colts
Around Table Live show. You know, I was trying to
get something out of him, but of course, you know,
he always says the right thing. I said, like, how
much in the zone are you as a play caller?
You know, because it's like it's not all of a
sudden Shane Stiken became, you know, this great coach overnight. No.

(55:42):
I mean he's just he has a guy that is
I mean perfect for this offense and is is you know,
putting in the work and is so high football IQ
intelligent and knows how to get the Colts into good
plays and out of bad plays in the line of scrimmage.
I said, would you if you were to just trust
Daniel Jones to call the plays in the line of scrimmage?

(56:04):
How often do you think he would call what you
had in mind? He's like, well, probably a lot, you know,
maybe more than you think, because I think they are
that on the same page and they are thinking that
much alike. And you know, Shane always talks about how
he's getting text messages from Daniel at like nine thirty
ten o'clock at NY on a Wednesday or Thursday or

(56:27):
vice versa. And you know, like I heard there was
a report, you know, in the locker room after the
game where they they won by thirty four stinking points.
And they're in the locker room after the game, sitting
at Daniel's locker stall, and they're just they're going over
game situations, like just talking ball still, like, hey, you
know in the second quarter, we got this and we

(56:47):
missed it. Next time we see you know X, we're
gonna do why. I mean, that's just how those two
guys are and how they're wired, and you know, it
just seems like a you know, through five games, just
they had perfect marriage for you know, how the the
potential for this offense because you know, the same core
of guys that you have this year have been here

(57:07):
for the last couple of years. Jonathan Taylor and Michael
Pittman Junior and Josh Downs and you know all the
offensive line with Quintin Nelson and Bernard Rayman and Braden Smith.
You know, the potential has always been there. It's just
fun to see them reach it with you know, a
quarterback that you know has a chip on his shoulder

(57:27):
and it's just playing at a an extraordinary high level
right now, Matt.

Speaker 5 (57:32):
Of course, if you listen to the show, you know
we have a text line three one seven three seventy.
This one just came across the wire a little bit ago.
Uh hey, I'm Matt Taylor's neighbor on the south side.
Tell him he is his yard is nice, but if
he needs my edger, I'll bring it by.

Speaker 3 (57:49):
Well, which neighbor is it.

Speaker 5 (57:52):
Did not identify which neighbor.

Speaker 3 (57:54):
Oh, well, come on, now, are they saying I need
to edge? I need to have better hedge, better line?

Speaker 1 (58:00):
You know? I don't know if you, Matt. Here's the thing.
You can talk to Chris Ballard. He's been trying to
find a better edge for like three years now, right.

Speaker 3 (58:07):
Well, as it relates to my yard, I I have.
I don't know if I should admit this, but once
training camp starts, I don't do anything in the yard.
The yard gets I.

Speaker 1 (58:18):
Think that's I think it's fairly excusable. Right, you're a
little tied up, right, Your weekends are fairly busy, right.

Speaker 3 (58:24):
I don't I don't do any any more yard work.
I just write that check.

Speaker 1 (58:28):
And let's see this guy, Kerry Lanier and I'll send
her up and down the floor all day.

Speaker 5 (58:32):
Maybe you just need to ask this neighbor.

Speaker 3 (58:35):
Yeah, that's right, Yeah, I need to know which neighbor
it is. Is it is it Dave? Is it Craig?
Is it Bill? I need to know because they're all
great guys, and they all could let the hand come
on now, and.

Speaker 1 (58:46):
You'd love to have their name at linebacker. That'd be great, right, hey.

Speaker 3 (58:51):
If they could. I'll tell you, don't listen, you don't
want Craig at linebacker.

Speaker 7 (58:54):
I'll tell you that.

Speaker 1 (58:56):
Fair.

Speaker 3 (58:59):
But he's like like pounds.

Speaker 1 (59:02):
Craig also likes to apparently sit on the sidelines and
coach from there and just tell everybody how to do it.

Speaker 7 (59:07):
Matt.

Speaker 1 (59:07):
Here's lastly, I'll say this, and I think this will
make sense. I've come to the I have come to
the conclusion that the reason Daniel Jones should be a
Colts fan's one of their favorite players is because of
the fact that it's really hard to determine why it
is that he's your favorite player. There's like nothing about
him that jumps out where you go. He does this

(59:29):
outstanding He just literally seemingly is a guy that doesn't
care about that puts the bag over his shoulder, goes
out and just does what needs to be done and
then goes home.

Speaker 3 (59:42):
Right, Well, I think that's sort of you know, if
there are any more critics nationally, and I think the
one component to any critics Arsenal or Ammo is that
the schedule. Right, I mean, hey, okay, you're you're you're
beating the craft out of Miami and Tennessee and the Raiders.
You know, those teams are combined three and twelve, and

(01:00:04):
I get it right. While that's true, Uh, it's it's
one thing to have victories over those teams. It's one
thing that just beat the holy blank out of them,
like the Colts are doing. And that's hard to do.
Like I mean, it's hard to beat a team by
almost forty points, and the Colts have done that. They
have three wins over twenty on the season that hadn't
happened to them as a franchise. They haven't experienced that

(01:00:26):
since twenty twenty one. So it's hard. Like every spread
in the NFL, as you guys know, is like a
high one is like seven points, Like man.

Speaker 1 (01:00:36):
I want to blowout right, yeah, no question.

Speaker 3 (01:00:38):
Yeah, one hundred percent so you know, I think Daniel
Jones just is mastering right now of just making unbelievably
good decisions. Like I can't stress that enough. You know,
it goes back to what we talked about earlier, that
the Colts just aren't beating themselves like that is such
a an underrated part of football because especially in the

(01:01:01):
NFL way, more games are lost than one. And you
know the one loss this year for the Colts, well,
guess what happened. They beat themselves. So you know, it's
hard to be as perfect as they have been consistently
in four out of five games, and it's just Daniel
Jones not putting the ball in harm's way, knowing where

(01:01:21):
to go with the football. He's been incredibly decisive. I mean,
if you just watch the film, it's three step drop,
boom balls out, know exactly where to go with it,
and he's putting it on the money. The ball placement
is fantastic, It's Sunday level accurate. And you know it's
it's not all him. You know, if you do want
to downplay Daniel Jones and say well he's just the

(01:01:43):
point guard of the offense, you're right, absolutely right.

Speaker 1 (01:01:48):
Dare I say dare I say, at this point in
a league of his own, see what I did there?
See what I did there? Right? Yeah, I thought you
were going to say your mom took you to go
see porkies. But nonetheless, all right, Matt Taylor will be
on the call this Sunday. Colts and Cardinals will be
listening to it. Matt, I appreciate the time as always.

Speaker 7 (01:02:06):
Man, you got it.

Speaker 3 (01:02:07):
Have a great rest of the weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:02:08):
Matt Taylor, Voice of the Cults,

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