Query & Company Full Show 12/15/25- Colts Fall Short Against Seattle PLUS Mendoza Brings Home The Heisman

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm going to be keeping your company for the next
few hours. You are not going to believe the company,
this company.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
You're going to bankrupt your mama's company.

Speaker 3 (00:06):
At least I have the radio to keep me.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Company for ninety three to five and one oh seven
five the fans.

Speaker 4 (00:11):
The winner of the twenty twenty five Heisman Trophy is
Fernando Mendoza.

Speaker 5 (00:18):
I want every kid out there who feels overlooked.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Underestimated to know I was you.

Speaker 5 (00:24):
I was that kid too, I was in your shoes.
The truth is, you don't need the most stars, hype,
or rankings. You just need discipline, heart, and people who
believe in you, and you need to believe in your
own abilities. I hope this moment shows you that tasting
your dreams are worth it, no matter how big or
impossible they seem. God bless Joe Luivers three YX.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
Three formation for rivers, looking over that defense four on
the plate, Blunk takes a step three step drop, looking ros.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
Inside the box, step for the pulps, and it's.

Speaker 6 (01:02):
Just down pretty special to see that. Now, I'm not
gonna lie it was. It was awesome to see him,
how excited he was. It brought back the flashbacks of
you know, five six years ago and there what he
operated out there, and the communication on the sidelines with
the O line walking up and down. It just it
was the hot ride back into it.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
The crowd is making tons of noise.

Speaker 7 (01:20):
Let's see if young mister group in his third year
can knock down a huge field goal.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Stap placement kick on the way, headed downfield for the uprights.

Speaker 8 (01:30):
Bets god, lot of this is gonna be a fifty
six yard field goal.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
Buyers. Stap gets into it, sends it downfield headed for
the upright, said, it's good vital score. It's Seattle eighteen
at the Indianapolis called sixteen.

Speaker 6 (01:49):
Obviously, it's disappointing any time you lose, but we're guaranteed
three left and had a chance to win one today.
But now we got another opportunity to go do it
again on Monday night against San Francisco, and we're excited.

Speaker 9 (01:58):
For that challenge.

Speaker 7 (02:03):
So that's how it sounded over the course of the weekend,
kind of the tale of two quarterbacks, if you will.
Last week we were talking about the Tale of two cities,
and now it's kind of the tale of two quarterbacks
with Brenanda Mendoza, Philip Rivers. Although I didn't think that Rivers,
you know, we can get into a lot of this,
and I want to know the reaction from both Colts

(02:26):
fans and Indiana fans today.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
It is fitting that this is what ten days now.

Speaker 7 (02:32):
Before Christmas, because we have a lot to unpack, We
have a lot to It's fitting that we're moving into
a new building still because we have a lot to unpack,
we have things to open up, things to discover. And
yesterday was, in fact, let's face it, going into it,
you did not know, nobody knew, and it was the

(02:53):
million dollar question, and that was is this going to
be all in the stocking? Is it going to be
oranges in the stocking? Is it going to be nothing
but chocolates and beautiful stuff in the stuff?

Speaker 1 (03:06):
We didn't know.

Speaker 7 (03:06):
We didn't know what to expect yesterday from Philip Rivers.
We didn't know what to expect or anticipate at the
Heisman ceremony. I think we had a really good idea.
I think we had a really good idea that Mendoza
was gonna win the Heisman, especially after that big ten
championship game. And you know, the thing to me that

(03:27):
was the most interesting about the Heisman was and you
wonder how this would have gone, what it could have
should I realize, But going into the Big Ten Championship game,
the thought process was, the narrative was, the assumption by
most was that it was coming down to two quarterbacks,

(03:49):
Julian Sayan of Ohio State for not of Mendoza of Indiana.
And I was surprised to see the final tally, and
clearly most waited until after that game to make their vote,
and I was surprised though to see it almost felt
like everybody that was voting thought, Okay, I got these

(04:11):
two quarterbacks and then two other players. So these two quarterbacks,
I'm going to figure out which one I put at
the top, which one I'm putting at the bottom, with
the other two sandwiched in between them, which is how
it ended up, obviously in the voting. And then you
have the storyline of one guy that is essentially Timu
Johnny Manziel after the Heisman for somebody that's a five

(04:35):
foot eight hundred and ten pound quarterback or whatever it is,
that is a fringe at best NFL prospect doing his best,
and congratulations for doing his absolute best at making sure
and securing any question about his draft status or stock
because when you look at Diego Pavia and the way

(04:57):
that afterwards, and I mean, look, there's way more important
stuff to get to today. But for those that don't know,
he does not win the Heisman Trophy and then goes
on an anti pr campaign of basically and I know
now he's walking that back of I'm sorry the way
I acted, going into clubs and holding up a big
sign that says, forget Indiana, I'm changing the F word,

(05:20):
and forget the voters. I'm changing the F word. Come on, man,
just literally, if you think that people aren't looking at
that that are influential in your future, you're out of
your mind. But congratulations to Mendoza, Congratulations to Indiana football
fans for seeing the Heisman Trophy in Bloomington and then

(05:44):
you trans you know, you transfer from Saturday into Sunday,
and what happened in Seattle. I thought, personally what we
saw in virtually every aspect of that game. You can
look at optimism and pessimism, depending on which type of
personality you have. You can be optimistic going into the

(06:07):
game of like Philip Rivers, let's see what happens. He's
forty four years old. This is a gunslinger. This is
a guy that knows how to play. This is a
guy that has experienced, this is a guy that has
played well in Seattle in his career. Let's see what happens.
And for the better part of the beginning of that game,
it looked that way.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
He looked.

Speaker 7 (06:25):
Sure, he looked not as in shape as he once was,
but he's forty four years old. But in the outset,
you heard Matt Taylor there with the call. You heard
Fernanda Mendoza, by the way, also in that open but
you heard Matt Taylor on the call there of the
touchdown pass, and Rivers I thought looked efficient and somewhat precise.

(06:46):
At the beginning of the game. Maybe he overstepped or
overextended himself a little bit by rushing up to the
line and making and who knows how much he was
actually calling an audible to a different play and how
much of that wasn't just theater. But in the beginning
of the game, he certainly looked like a guy that

(07:06):
he thought this may actually work. That's the optimism. You're
watching Philip Rivers, and you're saying to yourself, this might
actually work. Chris Ballard may have made a phone call
at the recommendation or the brainstorm of shanees Tyken, and
this may actually work. That's the optimistic side. The pessimistic
side would be work for what? What are they working for?

(07:33):
To make the playoffs? Did anybody? Optimistically you look at
it and go, you want to make the playoffs because
that's what the fan base deserves, that's what the players deserve.
It gives you a chance to then play for a
super Bowl or try to win games in the postseason.
Optimistically and you're saying, Okay, if they can win this,
they're staying on track there with Houston, with Jacksonville, with

(07:54):
those two still on the schedule, and they got a shot.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
Optimistically.

Speaker 7 (07:59):
Pessimistically you look at it and you say, for what
to get into the postseason and then get beat in
the first round on the road, you know somewhere that's pessimistically.
Then optimistically you think, well, at least if that happens,

(08:19):
they can get a good draft pick. And then pessimistically
you think of the reality, which is they don't have
a first round pick. The big question that I have
coming off of this game is the obvious, and that
is in fact, because they're coming closely to a crossroad
here of where do you go from here? Where do

(08:43):
you go from here? But let's go back to why
the Colts lost that game yesterday. The reality is that
they lost that game yesterday because and it took Seattle
time to figure this out. It took Seattle time to
figure this out, and that was, Look, the Colts have

(09:06):
an elite offensive weapon in Jonathan Taylor, and we would
love to just bring the heat and blitz the heck
out of Philip Rivers. But if we do that, then
Jonathan Taylor, if we blitz in and then suddenly Taylor
gets the ball and is now he is off going

(09:27):
in the opposite direction, if we miss on that blitz,
then boom, you're giving up big chunk yardage, big play.

Speaker 1 (09:32):
To Jonathan Taylor.

Speaker 7 (09:33):
And it took Seattle a while to figure out that
they basically didn't have to drop back in coverage beyond say,
seven to ten yards because Rivers if he was going
to get the ball to that and he's never been
a long ball thrower per se anyway, but they knew
Philip Rivers and his operating area is basically shy of

(09:58):
ten yards. So let's just look that box right there
and take away that area of the field because if
he's gonna throw beyond that, and he did make one
beautiful throw to Alec Pearce, but again alec Pearce's only
target in that game, you're taking one of your better
weapons in negating it because you can't zip line get

(10:19):
the ball to that length. And so that made them,
then the Colts, to use a basketball term, pretty easily guardable.
They could get right up in there and they could say, okay,
Jonathan Taylor, you're gonna go right into the meat of us,
and Philip Rivers, you're gonna have to throw right into
the meat of us, and we don't have to get

(10:40):
over the aggressive and blitz. We can sit right in
this area between the line of scrimmage and say seven
yards and then try to beat us. And at that
point it stalled out what the Colts were trying to do.
It just did, and it forced the Colts because of
rivers limitations, even though he was and you have to

(11:01):
give the guy. I want to be very clear here
what we saw yesterday, and it's very easy for any
of us radio talk show hosts print writers, fans, anybody.
It's very easy to look at that and nitpick it
and say, this guy was using and throwing with a

(11:25):
wet noodle arm, didn't have any range or zip on
his football, and what are they doing.

Speaker 1 (11:31):
It's easy to do that.

Speaker 7 (11:32):
That would be actually the easy narrative, probably the obvious, right.
But in reality, if you take a side all of
the implications of it, if you take aside the biology
of all of it, and just look at it for
what it is, what we saw yesterday was really impressive.

(11:58):
It was It was an incredible impressive feat of athletic accomplishment.
And yes, I would expect to anticipate for ninety percent
of people hear in my voice to say, what in
the heck is this guy talking about. A dude went
out there and basically looked like a statue that had

(12:18):
nine flak jackets and six layers of three layer dip
on him and went eighteen of twenty seven for one
hundred and twenty yards. He threw a pick at to
end the game, and he threw a touchdown. He had
a rating of seventy three. And this guy is telling
me that was one of the most impressive athletic accomplishments.

Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yes, it was.

Speaker 7 (12:40):
For a guy at forty four years old, forty four
years old to go out nearly five years removed from
his last game in the National Football League two weeks ago,
not anticipating that he was going to be in an
NFL game, to come in with essentially one accelerated walkthrough practice.

(13:05):
And yes, maybe he knows the offense, doesn't mean he
knows the vernacular of the offense. Doesn't mean that he
knows even the personnel to a large extent of the offense.
You know, I remember once talking with and we had
him on the show last week. I remember once talking
to Jeff George when he was talking about having Randy

(13:26):
Moss's I think it was a rookie, And he said,
Randy Moss is a rookie because he was new, didn't
know all of the vernacular of the Vikings offense. And
so he would look at him in the huddle and
he could tell that Randy Moss didn't understand the play
that was being called because he was new, he was
a rookie, I mean, it was understandable. And he said

(13:48):
Chris Carter would literally look at him and just give
him like a hand signal like do this, go this way,
go that way. Because Chris Carter and Randy Moss had
been working out together, they knew that they had they
had that biotic just you look at somebody and, you know,
finish each other's sentence, this type thing. Philip Rivers hasn't
even had time to do that, because you know, how

(14:09):
much has he been around Tyler Warren, how much has
he been around you know, the Alec Pierce, you know,
younger guys like that. And so as a result, you're
going in and you're just going into a situation where
you're completely unfamiliar with what it is that everybody around

(14:29):
you wants to do. So to come in and that
situation and play in the National Football League and have
a control to an extent of what it is that's
asked of you is incredibly impressive, but it's very limiting.
And yesterday, offensively speaking, the Colts were very limited.

Speaker 1 (14:51):
And what did them in.

Speaker 9 (14:56):
Was that.

Speaker 7 (14:58):
Necessity to be overly vanilla, the ability for Seattle and
the second half to figure out the limitation that the
Colts had offensively and then being able to essentially take
that away, which then caused the Colts defense to wear
themselves out because they could not get every single time

(15:20):
they came off the field, they're right back on it, right,
I mean, it's three and out, three and out. The
I thought Kevin Bowen said it really well. It was
very apparent by the second half that the Colts offensive
reliability was you know, Taylor for two plays and then
a manageable throw for Rivers and take your shot at it.
And it just became too predictable to Vanilla. And at

(15:44):
the end of the game. What did the Colts in
was the fact that even though their defense clearly played
well and clearly kept Seattle, and you know Sam Darnold.
Sam Darnald is a guy that has weapons on the field,
and yes he utilized those weapons, but nonetheless he did

(16:10):
not get it into the end zone. They were a
bend not break defense yesterday until the end of the game.
The most perhaps indicting thing of all was the fact
that Chris Ballard's biggest area of emphasis as the general
manager of the Colts, he could not get to the
quarterback when it mattered most. They could not get to

(16:32):
Sam Darnald when it most mattered, and they put them
in position to get that field goal now Groupie's field goal.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
Of sixty yards was unbelievable.

Speaker 7 (16:43):
But then the other thing again, optimism pessimism, Optimistically speaking,
guy hits a sixty yard field goal, the longest in franchise, unbelievable,
longest in history, incredible kick pessimism. His kick off after
that allowed for Seattle to put themselves in quick position

(17:03):
to get with infield goal range to then beat them
because they couldn't get to the quarterback and make a
play there. But the thing now moving forward and the
million dollar question is this, and I don't know the
answer to this, per se right now because the postseason
is still in play. The postseason is still in play now,

(17:28):
Kurt Gerald, you're in for Eddie Garrison. Today Eddie picked
up a side gig and this is cool. When Eddie
went up, Eddie Garrison went up to as you know,
the Big Hat Associate, the Big Head Association, for his
hat tryout. One of the things that they noticed when
he was there. They were talking to him, to Eddie
and asking where he was from. Turns out that the

(17:49):
group that put together a lot of the lighting and
things like that for his photo op because of the
Big Head Association, for those that are on familiar Eddie
Garrison was out what was that?

Speaker 1 (18:01):
When was that kurt? Like two weeks ago, a couple
min ago.

Speaker 7 (18:04):
So he went up to Northern Indiana because there was
a company that was looking for a head model of
an eight and five eight's hat. They're coming out with
a new line of bigger hats, and Eddie went up
for that and had to do some photo shoot stuff.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
Turns out I didn't know this.

Speaker 7 (18:19):
He got to know some people that were in line
there and they actually said, hey, listen, do you have
vacation time left?

Speaker 1 (18:25):
Yes?

Speaker 9 (18:26):
I do.

Speaker 7 (18:26):
Well, we are paying top dollar for helping and setting
up the lights for the winter lights out of the Fairgrounds.
So Eddie called and said, hey, is there any way
you know, these folks were impressed with you know, just
in talking to them he had noticed when they were
doing the photo shoot that some of their lighting was off.
And Eddie, working in the studio and knowing lights and

(18:47):
things like that, and having gone through at U Indy
their television program, he was familiar with lights, was telling
them about that and they said, well, you know what,
we actually have some contractual stuff we do with the
winter lights out of the Fairgrounds, setting stuff up for
the evening time, and this is the time of that
really ramps up. So Eddie is actually taking a couple
of days helping them out with that, and I guess
they're paying top dollar.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
And I don't blame him at all. Right, No, I
don't blame one bit. He's out a Wednesday.

Speaker 7 (19:10):
Yeah, well, I mean it's a lot of lights lights.
I mean they've got it going already, but I mean
he is. So you're in here for the half of
the week, right, I'm.

Speaker 10 (19:17):
Here at to stay tomorrow and then I think Thethaniel
fin sho you get him Wednesday?

Speaker 1 (19:20):
Oh, don't call me Atticus? Right there?

Speaker 9 (19:21):
You go?

Speaker 7 (19:22):
Okay, all right, So here's the thing, realistically, Kurt, let
me ask you this. If you were to look at
the Colts going into the play if they were to
make the playoffs, if they were to win yesterday and
they were still in the thick of things, what in
your mind is the ceiling of what you would see
them doing in the postseason.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
I could see them losing in the divisional round, but.

Speaker 7 (19:46):
You don't see them going because the reason I ask it,
as I the reality is this, As I watched that
game yesterday, I was encouraged, and I was thinking to myself,
maybe they did pull a rabbit out of the hat.
Maybe they did come up with a masterful plan. Maybe
they did find an answer here amongst this huge riddle

(20:08):
of what to do with Daniel Jones out and Anthony
Richardson unavailable and Riley Leonard dinged up. Maybe the Colts
in fact reached into the well here and it was
a stroke of genius. And the whole time that I'm
thinking of that, I thought to myself, why what, for
what purpose? For what purpose to get into the postseason.

(20:30):
And then when I was thinking about for what purpose
to get into the postseason, I thought, you may as
well do it now, because it's not like.

Speaker 1 (20:40):
You then turn.

Speaker 7 (20:42):
Around and you know what, let's just scrap this year
and add some pieces and come back next year, because
you're right back to square one. I'm not trying to
be again optimism pessimism. I'm not trying to be overly
pessimistic here, but the reality you don't know who's going
to be your core. And I know there's reports that
Daniel Jones will be ready in week one next year.
That's if you even sign him. He may decide to

(21:03):
go to Minnesota.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
We don't know. But let's say Daniel Jones is your
starter next year. Week one.

Speaker 7 (21:11):
Then you are going with a quarterback who is coming
off an Achilles injury and you don't know the level
of basically athleticism and you know timing and everything else
and how long that's going to take. But that's option one.
Option two, you go with Anthony Richardson. Okay, that's cool,

(21:33):
but you're going with a guy that you already at
least symbolically speaking, turned the page on. Now you're going
back to him. Everybody knows why the reason you're going
back to him, And if he plays really well for you,
that's cool, but he's in a contract year and now
all of a sudden, assuming that you are playing him,
it's while you are temporarily waiting for Daniel Jones to

(21:53):
come back, meaning that you sign Daniel Jones. Now you've
got how much money tied up? If he balls out?

Speaker 1 (21:58):
What are you going to do?

Speaker 7 (21:59):
Because now you've got to pay him also, And do
you realistically believe that Richardson's your future? Then you have
option three, which is okay, you go with Riley Leonard
because you cannot draft a quarterback in the first round.
Sure you can get a second, third round or whatever.
Right Hell, the kid from Vanderbilt will be available, I
can tell you that right now.

Speaker 1 (22:18):
Right so.

Speaker 7 (22:21):
You're at a crossroads there. But because of that, the
one aspect of it is do you know yet what
you have in Riley Leonard? And the reason I ask
it is because this the Colts now are in a
situation where mathematically speaking, they are still alive for the

(22:43):
postseason mathematically speaking, but realistically speaking, if they might be
eligible mathematically for the postseason, but does anybody really believe
that they are a contender or can compete in the
playoffs for Super Bowl run. And if that's the case,
then you say, okay, then maybe it's about building blocks

(23:07):
for next year because you have attrition that's taking place.
You now have on the left and right side your
tackles where you're going into having to go into your
depth chart. And if that's the case, then maybe in
fact you use the end of the year here to
see what you have in Riley Leonard. Because while Philip

(23:28):
Rivers and what he did yesterday is commendable and impressive,
the reality is this, it was vanilla to the point
where Seattle just completely exposed how it is that you
guard it. And there's not much more that you can
bring out of your playbook with Philip Rivers than what
we saw yesterday.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
And in addition to that, if you're going to run
that vanilla at.

Speaker 7 (23:50):
Offense, and yes, I'll give them credit that you know
they started to utilize a Mira Abdullah a little bit
and using him like in the Philip Rivers. Okay, he's
got a Darren's Browls type guy that he can dump
off to and whatever else. But aside from that, if
the offense that you saw yesterday is what the Colts
have to do with Philip Rivers for the remainder, then
what good does it do you?

Speaker 1 (24:12):
What good does it do you?

Speaker 7 (24:13):
Because Philip Rivers ain't going to be here long term,
so you may as well run that sort of a
vanilla offense with a guy that you are at least
seeing what is there so that you have a general
idea of it moving forward. If if Riley Leonard goes
out and plays that vanilla of an offense but at
times has some escapability at times using some athleticism, if

(24:37):
he does those things, okay, then at least you have
a general idea, never as your necessarily starter, but you
have a general idea what you have that you're working
with moving forward as your backup or your you know
what a roster piece for you. If Philip Rivers comes
out and that vanilla offense allows them to win a

(24:59):
game or two, what does that do for your future?
What does it do for your future? It gets a
cool postseason photo of the Colts hanging in a high
school gymnasium in Alabama somewhere as a motivational piece. Bernanda
Mendoza told kids, look look at me, look at me,
and know that I am reflective of the fact that

(25:21):
anything is possible. And Philip Rivers, for the team that
he's coaching in Alabama, can look at them and post
up a picture and say, look at me. And that
tells you that even when you think it's over, there's
always another chance to dig down deep. That's cool, but
that doesn't help the Colts necessarily beyond right now.

Speaker 1 (25:37):
And that's the crossroads of where they are.

Speaker 7 (25:40):
The crossroads of where they are right now is mathematically
they are still in it, but realistically and symbolically are
they And there are some things I think that can
happen in the off season that we've seen before. I
talk about precedent a lot conversation last night with somebody

(26:01):
and I said, this is exactly right, this is exactly right,
and it's an interesting crossroads the Colts may be in
right now, and yesterday may have brought it all to fruition.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
We'll get into that next. I will read.

Speaker 7 (26:16):
Also yesterday I asked the question, as I do after
each and every game. I put it in the form
of now that through fourteen games, give me your thoughts
on the Colt season through fourteen games, and fourteen words
are fewer and it didn't take that many words for
most people to voice their opinion.

Speaker 1 (26:30):
We'll get into that today.

Speaker 7 (26:31):
Don Fish are going to join his voice of the
Hoosiers one o'clock Indiana, Kentucky on Saturday, but the Heisman
the Bigger story on Saturday night. Also on the program today,
Mike chap will going to join us. Bob Kravitz as well.
Loaded one lot to unpack. We'll get into what we
have seen from a different administration with the Colts that
we could be seeing repeating itself, and we'll get into

(26:54):
it next. Multiple reports and people are going to get
super excited when they hear this at first, multiple reports
that Anthony Richardson has been medically cleared to return to
the Indianapolis Colts. Now that is not to say, and
there has not been any indication that that means that
he is ready to return to the practice field. But

(27:17):
it is my belief and maybe I'm premature here, but
it's my belief that now you start to analyze moving
forward for the Colts about next year and your best
course of action, in particular if you are Chris Ballard,
because if you are Chris Ballard or Shane Steichen and

(27:39):
yesterday was not I mean, listen, you're on the road,
you are playing against one of the best defenses in
the NFL, and you've got a forty four year old
guy under center. You have your left tackle and Bernard
Rayman that goes down. You have your right tackle and

(28:04):
Braiden Smith that's not there, and you've got to wonder
what the long term future for Braiden Smith is. There
are many area You have no DeForest Buckner, you have
no Sauce Gardner, you have no Shaverius Ward. Some of
those are pieces that may not even be here next year. Admittedly,
Braiden Smith being one, would it surprise anybody if he retires?

(28:24):
Shaverius Ward being won, would anybody blame him if he
decides that enough is enough?

Speaker 1 (28:29):
We've talked about that with Kevin last week. You know
all of those things.

Speaker 7 (28:34):
But even with that, it does feel like because and
none of us know exactly where things stand of what
is the thought process with Carli Ers Gordon and Chris
Ballard and Shane Steiken. But I thought yesterday, even though
it's easy to say, again the pessimist here, If you're pessimistic,

(28:58):
it's easy to say they got in a game they
needed to get in Seattle. Where do you go from here?
But it's easy to also be optimistic and say, but
they're down some of their biggest pieces and still with
a forty four year old off the streets quarterback, found
themselves literally a play away from winning the game, and

(29:25):
winning in Seattle against one of the better and more
balanced teams in the league with one of the better
defenses in the league. But it comes down to with
Chris Ballard, how confident is he that he comes back

(29:46):
and how confident is Carlie Ursa Gordon in bringing him back?
And I don't know that we definitively know either answer.
It is my assumption at this point. It is my
belief that Chris Ballard and shansich And will return. They
are still mathematically within chance here of the playoffs. And
I know, yes, they started seven to one and we

(30:07):
know where they are now, right, we know what's happened
and the losing streak and everything else. But you can
realistically point to injuries with that and the other thing
that comes into play here. And this is what I'm
talking about with precedent, I think the ownership of the
Colts has to realistically think of it like this. If

(30:30):
they were to make a move at the top and
bring in a new general manager, a new GM, and realistically,
when you look at the situation, the Colts are in
a franchise that has some pieces, but big time question
at quarterback, no first round pick the next two years

(30:52):
because they probably pushed into early. If you look at
that situation, then you look at it you say, Okay,
if you're a new GM and taking that job, it's
probably going to be not unlike Chris Ballard and Ryan Grigson,
a general manager that is going to go in because
they want the opportunity to be a GM in the

(31:13):
National Football League. I don't think an established good situation
elsewhere GM leaves a position to come to Indianapolis and
that this is not like when you had Andrew Luck
and it was like people are lining up because they
know that Andrew Luck is going to be there. So
a new GM comes in and realistically probably does the

(31:35):
first year approach that Ryan Grigson did. When Ryan Grigson
took over the Colts. Yes, I know that there were
you know, Gary Brackett and Dallas Clark and Ryan Deam.
There were a number of veteran players on the roster
that were really good players who'd had really good careers
and were really good pillars of this culture and community

(31:58):
and everything else and franch eyes. But Ryan Grigson looked
at it and said, I've got to start over with
my own pieces all the way across the board and
grow it organically with a young quarterback. And when you
think about and consider the ages of some of the
players that the Colts have and what year where they

(32:19):
are and what their value might be, a new general
manager may come in and say, DeForest Buckner really good player,
but not a guy I'm going to have for five years.
Michael Pittman Jr. Really good player, not a guy I'm
going to have in five years. Jonathan Taylor really good player?
Is that a guy I'm going to have in five years?
And they may well look at it and say, there

(32:41):
are pieces here. Zire Franklin, really good player, not a
guy probably going to have in five years, Shaverius Ward
really good player, rins and repeat what I'm saying here.
A new GM could very easily look at this and
say this has the making more for something that needs
a complete rebuild under by footprint if I'm taking over
this franchise versus just the complimentary pieces because of the

(33:05):
age and the quarterback situation and the draft situation that
I'm inheriting. And for that reason, I could see the
Colts basically saying, and Carli Ursa Gordon saying, instead of
bringing in somebody who's going to want to completely tear
everything down, it is better the safety of familiarity of
bringing back someone who can then continue to compliment the

(33:29):
pieces that knows this locker room. Because what I saw
yesterday was this is a team that can still compete
again if you're looking at it optimistically The question then
becomes at the quarterback position, what do you do moving forward?

Speaker 1 (33:44):
And I think the best course of action.

Speaker 7 (33:47):
Is to say to Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen you
are coming back next year, and then let them determine
what they think is the best course of action at
the quarterback moving forward. I don't think it's Anthony Richardson,
even though he's medically cleared to return to the team
and off of IR if those reports are accurate, it
doesn't mean he's ready to get out there in the

(34:07):
line of fire where they are right now. But if
you've got to keep it vanilla for Philip Rivers, you
might as well keep it vanilla and run Riley Leonard
and see what you have there. There are all kinds
of confluences that are taking place. Two three, nine, ten
seventy is the telephone number. Don Fisher are going to
join us top of the hour. We'll talk about Indiana, Kentucky,

(34:29):
as well as the Heisman. But I want the thoughts
of those of you out there. Are you perplexed, are
you encouraged? Are you discouraged about the Colts right now?
Do you want to see Philip Rivers again? Or did
you say you know what. Kudos to them, and kudos
to Philip Rivers. They pushed in on that to see
what could happen. But I saw enough. And if we're

(34:52):
going to be vanilla, we might as well go vanilla
with a young guy as opposed to vanilla with a
guy that probably ain't gonna be here next year. Anything
else that jumped out at you yesterday two three nine
ten seventy is the telephone number I'd love to involve
you in this interactive Monday and Don Fisher coming up
one o'clock two three nine, ten seventy telephone number the

(35:16):
Colts yesterday in Seattle. Again, I'm gonna go back to it,
all things told, and to be credit there better than
probably most people expected, better than most people expected, but
at the same time, still a loss.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
And therefore, because of that, where do you go from here?

Speaker 7 (35:38):
I know that they are still mathematically alive, but don't
look now, but Jacksonville at ten and four, and Trevor
Lawrence yesterday with one of his finest performances as a pro,
and then Houston, who clearly has put things together, and
you have both of them left on the schedule, and
then obviously San Francisco coming up here on Monday night.

(36:01):
But two through nine, ten seventy is the telephone number
on this It's going to be an interactive Monday as well.
I mean, you go to the phone lines where Bryce
joins us.

Speaker 9 (36:10):
Bryce, what's going on, Hey, Jake, I'm doing well. I
mentioned this yesterday to Bill and Greg on the fifth
quarter huddle. But I think you know, yes, it's a loss.
Are you happy about it? No? You would have liked,
you know, to see a win and all those kinds
of things. But I was very encouraged by many things

(36:34):
I saw, both from the quarterback play of Philip Rivers
and on the defensive side of the ball. And then
not to mention, you know, the sixty yard kick by
Groupie kind of forgotten or not forgotten, but I guess
kind of overshadows since it's a loss.

Speaker 7 (36:55):
But here's my thing, and I agree with all those things,
and I want to hear a little bit more from
what you had to say on some of those because
let me let me say this, I don't disagree with
you fundamentally.

Speaker 1 (37:05):
Bryce.

Speaker 7 (37:06):
The problem is each thing that you pointed out, there's
a counter point to it, right. In other words, the
defense You're right, the defense played very well, but in
the end when they needed one time to get pressure
on the quarterback, that couldn't do it. Groupie, that kick
was unbelievable. But the kick off sets up Seattle and
then Rivers. I'd like you to expand on what it
was about. I'm not saying you're wrong. Tell me what

(37:28):
it was you liked about Philip Rivers.

Speaker 9 (37:31):
I think just fundamentally down. Even though you know he
hasn't taken a snap in five years. You know he's
forty four years old. I get all that, but I'm
saying I think the mentality of this group, I mean,
you saw, you know it really kind of they really
started to relax and play as a team. I'm not saying,

(37:55):
you know, last week they didn't play as a team,
but I just feel like, you know, from last week
to yesterday, it was night and day again. Was it
the result we wanted? No? But I think you can
take a lot of positives away from Day's performance.

Speaker 1 (38:13):
I don't disagree with Bryce. I appreciate the call.

Speaker 7 (38:15):
I don't disagree with the problem I would have is
this and that is and I don't mean this in
I'm not picking on you and I say this, I'm
saying this generically.

Speaker 1 (38:24):
We're at the point of the year where moral victories
are don't count. They just don't.

Speaker 7 (38:28):
And yes, I agree, I mean Rivers and what he
did yesterday for that age and that situation, everything else
was impressive.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
It was impressive.

Speaker 7 (38:36):
But the problem is you were trying to steal one
with it, and I don't know now that you I
think we have a very good idea what the limitation
is there. And now that everyone knows what that limitation is,
it allows for San Francisco, Jacksonville, Houston to completely differently
game plan if in fact he is the guy that's

(38:57):
going to be under centered? Now is Rich available? A
big question mark there, right, big one? John's up next?

Speaker 1 (39:05):
John? What's up?

Speaker 9 (39:07):
Hey?

Speaker 2 (39:07):
Good afternoon, Jake.

Speaker 4 (39:08):
I had a couple of points on the game.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
First, the wife and I love Philip Rivers.

Speaker 4 (39:14):
She was wearing a Philip Rivers jersey yesterday. But I
will say I thought the result was disappointing exciting. But
we're only playing two dimensionally versus three dimensional games. What
I mean by that is no RPOs because you're always
out of the shotgun, no scramble ability, and no down

(39:36):
the field, right, I think Riley Leonard is the choice.

Speaker 3 (39:45):
Because we don't have much else I think to win.

Speaker 7 (39:48):
Well, John, tell me if you I think you'll agree
with this. And the thing about the thing between Rivers
and Leonard would simply be the basement's problem. The floor
is the same on both, but with Leonard maybe there
is more of a ceiling, just because at the very
least you get a glimpse as to and you are

(40:09):
getting reps for somebody that's never going to be your starter.
But if in fact he's going to be your backup
for a couple of years, you need to know it
now whether or not there's something there. Whereas with if
Rivers comes out and plays really really well, to what, Okay, great,
he's back to coaching high school in six months.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
Right, right, and get it.

Speaker 7 (40:29):
I agree with that and the other thing, and I
appreciate the call. The other thing, like I said with Rivers,
is we saw the limitation, and Seattle saw it and
was able to just simply say, Okay, look we're going
to We're going to take away this area of the
field real quick. Let's squeeze in Courtney Don Fisher coming
up top of the Hour of Courtney.

Speaker 1 (40:49):
What's up, Courtey?

Speaker 2 (40:53):
There?

Speaker 1 (40:55):
All right? Don Fisher's going to join us, coming up
the voice of the Hoosiers. How about this?

Speaker 7 (40:59):
Did you ever think I think the day would come
where Indiana football would not only be winning the Heisman,
but be featured on sixty Minutes. And and this is
the crazy thing. I watched the Indiana basketball team get
in fall victim to like a what was it at

(41:20):
one point a twenty nine to nine run something like
that against Kentucky and have a seven point lead get
squandered away in Rupperena and the blood boil of Repperena,
the nightmares of Repperina.

Speaker 1 (41:31):
Yes, it's where Indiana beat Duke. I love it.

Speaker 7 (41:34):
It's where Indiana beat kent State, correct and up. And
when I see that floor, I still think of Tom
Coverdale backing down Douhan and hitting a shot to give
them the lead. Don't get me wrong, but house of
horrors when it comes to Indiana and Kentucky. And for
Indiana to have an opportunity and be leading in rup
against Kentucky and perhaps knock a huge blow to the

(41:56):
Kentucky basketball program for the season, squander that away and
yet hardly it mattered to the Indiana fan base because
everybody was still glowing in what happened with the Heisman
ceremony right as that game was getting underway. I never
thought I would utter those two things happening within the
same timeframe. But Don Fisher will join us to talk

(42:18):
about that in more next. You know, there's an age,
old adage when it comes to doing broadcasting that you know,
it's kind of like doing a play. If you miss
a line or you know, a prop isn't there, the
audience doesn't know it, and the audience typically is like, yeah,

(42:39):
I'm I don't that doesn't even concern me, but I
do feel like and so my point being, you know,
when there are little nuances that we notice here, Kurt,
you and I at the fault of literally no one,
because we are operating in a brand new facility with
brand new studios, and the engineering team here has been
unbelievable in moving us from you know, from our old

(43:01):
building to this new location and building us literally state
of the art set. I mean, it's a gorgeous studio
that we're in. There are a ton of things to
be grateful for and thankful for, and everybody's hard working
diligence and doing this especially during the holidays, when some
people are on, some people are off. But with that said,
it does complicate at times things that the listener may notice,

(43:24):
you know, connectivity issues or the inability to play certain
things on the show that we're used to playing, or
letting people hear from things. And it would normally be
naive of me to point that out, maybe even counterproductive,
except for that, you know, we're obviously all aware of it.
It's a little beyond anyone's control. But I'm sitting here

(43:47):
in our new studios, I'm overlooking and I can see outside,
and it's five or ten degrees outside, and.

Speaker 1 (43:55):
I can see guys and.

Speaker 7 (43:56):
Gals that work a lot harder than I do, that
are doing jobs far more important than mine right now
out there, in terms of clearing the street and working
on infrastructure of the city and really important impactful jobs
and doing it in not great weather conditions and difficulty
and challenge. And the reality is that we get to

(44:17):
have a super fun job talking about sports, doing what
we can to have fun each and every day and
hopefully add a little bit of fun to people.

Speaker 1 (44:25):
And so therefore, who in the world would.

Speaker 7 (44:27):
I be to complain about any of it or to
point out about any of it, other than to say
I appreciate anybody's patience if they do notice a little
thing here and there where we're aware of it and
moving forward. And it's all short term. I mean, it's
all going to be probably within a week or so,
that it's all worked out. But nonetheless, I appreciate people
that actually have legitimate, important jobs where they work very

(44:49):
very hard in far more adverse conditions. I appreciate those folks,
And it does put in perspective the fact that essentially
what we're doing is having fun on a playground. I mean,
that's basically what it comes down to. But joining me now,
because there is plenty to talk about with it, Joining
us now in the Java House Peel and Poor guest line.
Java house dot com is the website. Jake twenty five.

(45:13):
You're a way to get twenty five percent off your
order at Java House, including the Peel and Poor pods,
whether it be the Wrangler Energy drink, the Liquid Science
hydration drinks, or the Colombian Coffee, all of it available
by bundle by entering my name at Java house dot com.
Bob Kravitz joins us now from Bob Kravitz dot com.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
Of course the.

Speaker 7 (45:33):
Lead authority on many subjects when it comes to talking
about them and covering them for many years here in
Central Indiana.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
And Bob, I will give you your choice.

Speaker 7 (45:40):
We can talk colts from yesterday, we can talk your
alma mater and Indiana football. Which one would you like
to lead with?

Speaker 3 (45:46):
Let's start with the beloved alma mater.

Speaker 7 (45:49):
Okay, did you ever think, Bob, in a ga billion
years and a gabillion years that the Heisman Trophy would
be at Indiana? And your overall thoughts on Mendoza's speech
and just the vibe of Indiana football.

Speaker 3 (46:03):
Yeah, I thought his speech was great. You know I
saw where Skip Bayliss, who has no soul, said it
was to rehearse and memorize. I'm like, dummy, it's on
a teleprompter. You know, of course he's reading it. I
mean he's of course he's memorized it to a certain degree.

(46:27):
In fact, the day after, not the day after the
night of the Big Ten game, he couldn't sleep, so
he put on a bunch of Heisman Trophy speeches that
he had collected just to study up, which gives you
some idea what this kid is all about.

Speaker 7 (46:48):
Obviously, it also gives you an idea that he knew
this was a reality. He had to know that the
Big Ten title game. You know, Bob, I was intrigued
by this for all of the discussion and narrative that
the Big Ten Title Game was going to be for
the Heisman, and Gus Johnson only said at six hundred
and forty six times on the broadcast, Julian Sane finishing
fourth surprised me?

Speaker 1 (47:08):
Did that surprise you?

Speaker 9 (47:11):
Not?

Speaker 2 (47:11):
Really?

Speaker 6 (47:12):
Not?

Speaker 3 (47:12):
After that game, I think he he would drive. I
figured he dropped down one or two spots. I think
there was a lot of momentum for Diego Pavia coming
into it, So I was not surprised at all that
it went the way it went.

Speaker 7 (47:28):
You know, the good will that Diego Pavia had going
into the Heisman, he did a nice job of flushing
that away by Sunday afternoon.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
Didn't know, my lord.

Speaker 3 (47:37):
You know, I'm glad he had an apology, but I
can promise you that a lot of people a lot
smarter than him forced the issue that's gonna really I
don't know when he's gonna go pro but that's going
to follow him around for a very long time. I mean,

(47:58):
if he's trying to be Johnny Man, go right ahead.
But things didn't work out well for manziel.

Speaker 7 (48:04):
I saw somebody that said he's Team MoU version of
Johnny manziel I thought it was perfect, good player, no question,
but yeah, bad spin on it. Okay, Bob what I
was just talking about, And I want the opinion of
Bob Kravitz. As I was watching Mendoza's speech. It was
not long after that that I then, you know, hit

(48:26):
the the other option in my sports viewing on Saturday evening,
and that was Indiana Kentucky and Rup. There was a
time in this state, with this fan base and this
university that everything was secondary to that game. And yet
as Indiana saw that game get away from them, it
was consoled by the fact that there was this glow
of a Heisman Trophy winner. And I know the easy

(48:48):
question would be, is Indiana now football school? But in
terms of resources, has Indiana shifted its financial resource away
from basketball to the point where they are now dialed
in with the rest of the country of this is
a football first financial investment in basketball than his secondary

(49:09):
you know, I don't.

Speaker 3 (49:10):
Think they move the money around. I think with more
money coming in from you know, from from all kinds
of different sources, that they're putting more money now into football.
I mean, Brian Haynes has gotten what four raises in
the last year. I mean every time somebody expresses some interest,

(49:34):
but that that's great. It's great for Brian Haynes, it's
great for Indiana University. You know, I'm old enough to
remember that the day is when a top assistant was gone.
You know, as soon as they got I got a
decent offer, and I you would not try to match.
So I don't know that they're necessarily moving more money

(49:59):
from basket ball to football. I should know the answer.
But I think because they got more money coming in,
more money is than going to both sports, but football
in particular, because football pays the bills.

Speaker 1 (50:13):
Okay, Bob, let me ask you. This is it just me?
It seems to me. I just got done talking about this.

Speaker 7 (50:23):
It seems to me that right now, in twenty twenty five,
college football is on this meteoric rise in terms of
its popularity. It's relevance, it's discussion, it's finances, it's television,
all of it, and college basketball is on this either
plateau or decline of it in terms of all of
those things that I just mentioned. Is that reality or

(50:45):
is that because I went to Indiana which is now
having football success and struggling in basketball.

Speaker 2 (50:51):
Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (50:52):
About excuse me about basketball diminishing in the public guy,
but certainly, you know it's funny. Whenever and Nil and
the transfer portal came in, everybody was saying they're going
to be the death knell of college football.

Speaker 2 (51:08):
The halves are.

Speaker 3 (51:08):
Gonna the halves are going to dominate. The have nots
are going to struggle, And exactly the opposite has happened.
You've got Vanderbilt, You've got IU, you've got Texas Tech.
Now the the the ground is flatter, you know, like
they say the world is flat, the old Thomas Friedman book.

(51:32):
And that's kind of the way it is with college
with college football these days. I think the as much
as we all hate the idea of the portal and
guys getting paid, it's been great for college football. I mean,
look at how competitive things are right now.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
Bob.

Speaker 7 (51:53):
Should Philip Rivers start Monday night against San Francisco. Anthony
Richardson by the way, for those that are just joining
the Programulipall reports now Anthony Richardson medically cleared to return
of the Colts. That does not mean that he is
ready to play on Monday Night, but medically cleared to
go back on the field in practice. Uh, should Philip
Rivers be the starter Monday Night?

Speaker 9 (52:13):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (52:13):
I think he should. Look for a guy to come
back after five years off and have three practices. What
did anybody expect? I thought he exceeded what I thought
he could do. I thought it was going to be
something of a clown show and it was not. You know,
he did trip over the logo at midfield one time,

(52:37):
which is pretty funny, but uh, you know, I thought
he handled himself really well. The only the only way
I start ar is if with a game or two
left there they're they're mathematically out of it and he's
ready to go, because they got to find out at
some point what this guy has to offer. Can he

(52:59):
get Kenny come back as a backup? Do they want
him to be a backup next year to Daniel Jones?
I think all those things are still to be determined
by Chris Ballard or whoever's running the show.

Speaker 7 (53:14):
Well, okay, and I want to get to that, Bob,
but real quick, my thought is this, though I agree
with you on Rivers. I mean I thought yesterday, look,
the Colts were within a whisky, you know, a whisker
winning that game.

Speaker 1 (53:25):
I mean, kudos to them. And I thought Rivers was
a very good game manager, right.

Speaker 7 (53:30):
And I have no knock on Philip Rivers or the
way he played except for this, and that is that
because of the fact that as the game went on,
Seattle figured out, look, we don't need to drop back
here because you know he is not with the exception
of the one past a Peers, he's a dunk and
dunk quarterback at this point, right, And their their game

(53:50):
plan was fairly vanilla. If that's the case, why not
go with the guy that you know is at least
going to be on your roster. And I'm not talking
about Richardson and Leonard. If you're going to go with
a super vanilla game plan, why not go ahead and
go with the guy that at least you can find
out what is there for you moving forward. In terms
of a depth piece in Riley.

Speaker 3 (54:09):
Leonard, I still think that your best chance if you're
still in it I believe your best chance of winning
is with Philip Rivers, which you know you're talking about Ar.
He hasn't practice, he hasn't done much of anything for
months and months and months. To expect him to come

(54:31):
off this terrible injury and be and have a modicum
of success, I think is I think that's a long shot. Now,
if they're mathematically out of it, put Ar in there.
What can it hurt? You know, he needs the reps.
But as long as they're still in this thing, and

(54:54):
they are just barely.

Speaker 9 (54:57):
I go with Philip Rivers.

Speaker 1 (54:58):
Mathematically, Bob, they're in it, Okay, yes, legitimately speaking, are
they in it?

Speaker 3 (55:05):
No, they're not. They'll be very fortunate to win one
of these last three games, and that's not gonna be
enough to knock off Houston or certainly Jacksonville.

Speaker 1 (55:16):
Do you believe that Anthony Richardson will play again this year?

Speaker 9 (55:26):
Yeah? I do.

Speaker 3 (55:27):
I think he might get a shot in the last
game of the season, or possibly the last two games,
you know, uh, yeah, sure, you know. I mean, if
he's healthy and ready to go, get him in there,
if it doesn't matter, then yeah, sure, then I would
play him.

Speaker 7 (55:46):
Do you believe that Chris Ballard is the guy that's
making decisions for next year.

Speaker 2 (55:52):
Oh yeah, no doubt.

Speaker 3 (55:54):
And you know, to follow up, you know, to answer
your expect could follow up question. I believe Baler will
be back next year. I believe stich And will be back.
I think they're going to be given a mulligan for
this season. I think they she carly erse Gordon went
into this thinking it's playoffs or bust. But given the circumstances,

(56:20):
given the seven and one eight and to start with
Daniel Jones, I think they're going to give the front
office a mulligan and see if they can't get it.

Speaker 1 (56:29):
Right next year. Okay.

Speaker 7 (56:30):
And then the other thing, Bob, that I was talking about,
I want your your thoughts on this, Bob Kravitz, my
guest Jaba house Peel and poor guest line. The Jones injury,
bad as it may be, If there's a silver lining there,
it's the fact that now theoretically his price tag, yeah,
you could franchise tag him, but his price tag to

(56:51):
bring him back is not going to be what it
was anticipated it was going to be if he's healthy
and they were on the trajectory they were headed. Now
question is do we know for certain that when it
comes to the rehab and re entering back into a place,
that this is where Daniel Jones wants to be.

Speaker 6 (57:09):
You know.

Speaker 3 (57:10):
I got to think though, just because of his relationship
with Shane Stike and the success that he had throughout
the first nine to ten games of the season, I
think I think you would be foolish to go elsewhere.
I think he's comfortable here. He's a low key guy,

(57:30):
that's a low key town. He's not built for New York.
That's not a good thing or a bad thing. It's
just not his personality.

Speaker 2 (57:40):
So I think you will be back.

Speaker 3 (57:43):
I think the price tag won't be quite what it was,
as you mentioned, But he'd be crazy to go elsewhere
because he's he resurrected his career here. Why would he
want to go anywhere else.

Speaker 7 (57:57):
The only place that I've heard with a possible of that,
and after yesterday, who knows, right what the but I
the only other place I heard was was Minnesota. The
fact that because he has familiarity with Minnesota, that if
they wanted to do a one eighty and say, you
know what, we will bring you back after all that
that would be a possibility or something that could intrigue him.

(58:18):
That's the only thing that I've heard.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
Yeah, well, you know, and if he goes to Minnesota,
he's not he's going to have to fight for a
job with McCarthy. If if he stays in Indianapolis, it's
his job.

Speaker 1 (58:33):
Well that's what I mean. Only Minnesota.

Speaker 7 (58:35):
Only if they said, hey, you know what, like I said,
if they did a one eighty on it and said,
you know what, this is not the guy.

Speaker 3 (58:39):
So and I'm okay, okay, Yeah, I guess. I guess
that is a possibility. But to me, you don't don't
mess with Happy. And I've done that in my career
and it hit me in the ass. So you know,
you don't mess with Happy. And I think he's got
a good situation here with a coach who's who gets him,

(59:03):
and I think he'd be crazy to look elsewhere.

Speaker 7 (59:06):
Bob Kravitz Musings of an old sports writer. Bob Kravitz
dot Com is the website and you can read all
of his work there. Bob Kravitz Musings of an old
sports writer at Bob Kravitz dot com.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
Java House, Peel and poor.

Speaker 7 (59:18):
Guest line Bob, been too long You need to have
you back on man, but I appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (59:22):
Sounds good, buddy, Take care of you out.

Speaker 7 (59:24):
Bob Kravitz joining us, Java House, Peel and Poor guest Line.
All right, we mentioned the Anthony Richardson news.

Speaker 1 (59:29):
What does it mean.

Speaker 7 (59:29):
We'll get into that. Mike Chappel, who was on top
of this story, going to join us here coming up
within ten minutes. Mike Chapel is the dean of Coltswriters
w XI in Fox fifty nine and CBS four joins us. Now, Java, House,
Peel and Poor guest line. Mike will get right to
the big story in terms of today versus yesterday to start,
and that is that Anthony Richardson medically cleared for the Colts. Now,

(59:52):
if you could please elaborate for me on what that
means in terms of Anthony Richardson's availability short, you know,
and say Monday night against San Francisco.

Speaker 2 (01:00:04):
Zero a little more than zero. But he hasn't practice
since he fractured is that overall bone? Gosh October twelfth.
So all this means and I realized people get all
hyped up because he's been cleared for the next step,

(01:00:24):
but they have a you know, the first The next
step has to be them opening the twenty one day
practice window and then see how practices a week, two weeks,
and then and then see, well, there's only three weeks
to go Monday night. Would be would be beyond any expectation.

(01:00:46):
I just I just don't see it. I mean the
fourth Butner played, you know, most of the season, then
he had the neck injury, and they opened up his
practice window. Last week he practiced three times limited and
they didn't activate him. I would be I would be
so beyond shocked. I think there's a better chance of

(01:01:07):
you playing well Anthony Richardson.

Speaker 1 (01:01:11):
And I'm saying this to play Devil's Advocate Chap.

Speaker 7 (01:01:13):
But at the same time, if Anthony Richardson is not
able to play because he hasn't practiced since October twelfth,
that means that they actually will go with the guy
that hadn't played in five years, right, I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:01:25):
That well, yeah, but see that that would But let's
take let's take Rivers out of the mix. If not
for Rivers, then then it wouldn't change the rehab process,
the return process of Anthony Richardson. If you're sitting here
today with Riley Leonard and Brett Rippon, there'd be a

(01:01:48):
third guy here obviously, that wouldn't That wouldn't mean well, well,
we gotta get ar up to speed by Monday. No,
because his his is a separate His is a separate
storyline as opposed to what they need at quarterback right now.
So that's that's how people have to understand. Is one

(01:02:10):
he hasn't He hasn't practiced, you know, Alan Iris in
practice since since the middle of October, and you're talking
about a fractured face. A part of his face has
been fractured, and he's been able to do lifting, he's
been able to do some light running. But to think
that he's close to getting hammered by a defensive player

(01:02:36):
or two, I think that just strains uh reality myself.

Speaker 7 (01:02:41):
So Mike, the reality is Mike chap On, my guest.
I thought yesterday Philip Rivers, and you you tell me
where you disagree here. Okay, I thought Rivers, all things considered,
it was remarkable what he was able to go out
and do, just at the age of forty four or
five years off, et cetera. But as the game went on,

(01:03:02):
I think it was very clear that Seattle figured out. Look,
we don't have to drop back and protect against the
long ball. Here, we just need to basically put enough
in the box to spy on Jonathan Taylor and not
allow Rivers to make a an eleven yard completion and
just keep it as dank and dunk. And my thought
process is, while I have the utmost respect for Philip

(01:03:23):
Rivers and the Colts yesterday attempt at what they did
and you know, to be within that game, I get it,
or you know, close in that game, I get it.
But if you are going to have to vanilla down
your offense and keep it relatively limited in terms of
your play call, why not go with the guy that
is the younger player that has a chance to be

(01:03:43):
on your roster next year and see what you have
in him for a depth piece moving forward.

Speaker 1 (01:03:48):
Tell me why I'm wrong.

Speaker 2 (01:03:50):
Well, I'm not seeing you're wrong. I just don't think
they see it your way. They I believe that they
believe that Rivers with all of his limitations, and there
are limitations, we saw them all yesterday. Forget that he
can't forget his forty four because he's forty four. But
with all the limitations, physically, the arm strength is not

(01:04:14):
what it was in twenty twenty. It's not still give
him a better chance to win if everything else works.
You know, I don't know that I can depend on
Blake Groopy hitting sixty yard field goals all the time.
And I really don't know that I can expect this
defense to keep the opposition Frisco, Jacksonville and Houston to

(01:04:39):
no touchdowns. That was a superb effort by the defense
until until they needed a shop you know, want to
you know, stop at the end forty two seconds to
play and Darnold had to make a couple of completions
having set up. I still believe that internally they think

(01:05:00):
Rivers and all that he does. Remember when at the
start of the season when Change Styken talked about why
he chose Jones over Richardson, it was it was the
command of the game, command of the line of scrimmage,
the operation of the offense. And I still believe that
their thought process is that he does all that stuff

(01:05:22):
getting into a good play, getting out of a bad play,
and recognizing defenses that helps compensate for what he can't
do with his arm that he used to do every week.
If that's an indictment of right at entered and so
be it. I just that'll be one of the first

(01:05:43):
couple of questions that changed. I can in about a
half an hours. Is Rivers going to start on Monday night?
And I've got to believe he's gonna say yes that
They both he and and Rivers talked after the game
about how, you know, only had three days practice and
you know, I thought things done pretty well. And the
more I play, the more I can, the more the

(01:06:04):
offense can expand, although there's there's limitations on how much
it can expand.

Speaker 8 (01:06:10):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:06:11):
With with Rivers limitations, I just I don't think that
the fan base needs to understand that. I, barring injury,
I think the plane is for for Rivers start the
last three games now, maybe sike and throw the curveball today,
I don't think so. Uh, And the Richardson thing has

(01:06:32):
juiced to it from the outside. But I just I
wonder if the team really expects him to play in
the second in two or three games. I don't think so,
but maybe Shansich can will expand on that in a
bit as well.

Speaker 1 (01:06:49):
Jap, do we have any update on Bernard Ryman?

Speaker 4 (01:06:53):
No?

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
Uh, they were waiting for an MRI. I they don't
think it's I are level injury, But keep in mind
there's only three games left.

Speaker 9 (01:07:07):
And to have.

Speaker 2 (01:07:10):
A tackle with if you know he was out there.
Brett Bensley had a good picture our potec guy audio
or a video guy a good picture of Ryman back
at there yesterday with a big brace or or whatever
on his arm. But to have at least it well,
at least it's his right arm to where he can
still reach out with his left arm at left tackle

(01:07:33):
and play, I guess. But injuries at this time of
the year are not good because you're running out of
time to rehab. So hopefully he's back. I would be
surprised this week, I just would. But hopefully he's back
before this thing's over.

Speaker 7 (01:07:48):
Chap I look at if you look at the fact,
you know the Colts are now down two tackles right
on both sides, and you know Brayden Smith will see
what happens long term with that off the ir But
the best protection at this point for the quarterback, whether
it be Philip Rivers or whoever it may be, I thought,
was in fact Jonathan Taylor, because conventionally you would think

(01:08:12):
Seattle would have just said we're just gonna blitz from
the left and right side, you know, at nauseum here
right and get after Philip Rivers. Except that I think
they didn't want to run past their coverage of Taylor,
so they were better off just kind of keeping it
right behind the line, stacking the box to spy on Taylor.
Limit the pass game to say seven yards and in,
and not get too aggressive as to not then get

(01:08:34):
beat by a draw if you will to tailor or
let Taylor beat them. Is that overthinking it or do
you think that's the way that played out.

Speaker 2 (01:08:42):
No, that's how it played out. And if I'm Seal,
if I'm friskco or anybody, I'm not overly concerned with
Philip Rivers. I'm just not you know, didn't convince yourself
all you want. At some point, more times than not,
something's going to go wrong, a bad throw, some might
drop in the ball, a sack, a holding penalty. If

(01:09:04):
ball start, you get behind the chanes and then you're
in trouble. I would make Jonathan Taylor beat me all
the time. And you know that, you know, people should
notice they ran the ball thirty times yesterday and through
it twenty seven. I'm sort of surprised it was that
in balance. I thought they may run the ball more so,
and it's gonna if they're really gonna test Jonathan Taylor's

(01:09:27):
stamina and patience, because this is a guy that was
averaging like six yards of carrier or you know, mid
season and now it's it's like three five three six
because it's just tough sledding and the only way to
back people off is to be aggressive down the field.
And do you I don't see that happening a player

(01:09:50):
I feel bad for. It is not like Pierce because
I just don't see them.

Speaker 7 (01:09:55):
And he really wanted to target yesterday. I mean he
second highest number of snaps in one part right, there was.

Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
Really two because one of them was wiped out by
a penalty I think, but no one official target and
on that great back shoulder throw. But you know, so
you can't maximize what some of your players do. But
this is where they are and it's got the potential
to be not very We've had the entertaining part, you

(01:10:23):
know we have. Yesterday was was almost almost movie like.
It almost was again if the defense makes one more
play and you win a game that you know would
have really added something to Rivers legend, and it's already
pretty good. But I just don't I don't see a

(01:10:46):
steady dose of this type of an offense was at
three point seven yards a play. That's just hard, and
I just wonder how much the defense has left in
it when you're playing with that Buckner and Ward and Gardner.
Maybe they get bucked back this week, maybe they get
Gardner back. But I just I thought the defense gave

(01:11:11):
all it had until it didn't have enough to give
it the end. But that's just a that's just asking
him a lot for the rest of the team to
do so much more because the offense just can't do enough.

Speaker 9 (01:11:25):
Chap.

Speaker 7 (01:11:25):
I thought Amir Abduli yesterday was involved, obviously more than
we have seen him in the past. Is that because
they wanted to keep balance with Jonathan Taylor or is
that because he has a capability that is within the
comfort zone of what Philip Rivers likes?

Speaker 2 (01:11:41):
Probably both. Again, I mentioned on social media yesterday that
JT needed twenty five carries minimum, and that's what he got.
But they can't. They're not going to run him thirty
to thirty five times. They just aren't. They They just
wear him out and wear him down and all that.
So I duly gave him a pretty good, pretty good chae.
If somebody mentioned that he was almost like nahim Hinz,

(01:12:03):
like how he can do things. He's better out of
the backfield than JT is.

Speaker 1 (01:12:07):
He just is.

Speaker 2 (01:12:09):
So that's where game planning I thought, game plan wise,
considering the personnel limitations, I thought stich And had a
really good offensive game plan and Rumo had a really
good defensive game.

Speaker 7 (01:12:21):
Point No, it was Chap. It was actually and people
can feel free to comb at me with this. Maybe
I'm wrong, but in my opinion, it was actually a
well coached game. I thought, given some of the handcuffs
put on them, I thought it was a well coached game.

Speaker 2 (01:12:36):
They were thirteen point underdogs. I mean, with my great knowledge,
I had him getting I picked him to get beat
thirty one thirteen in my game preview, just because I
didn't think that they could do enough in other areas,
and they did. Again, I'm not gonna just bank on
you know, if we just get in positioned to have group,

(01:12:57):
you hit a sixty yarder, I mean, go there, because
that's asking too much because you know, so again I
just wonder what they've got for an encore after doing
allmost everything right and you lose with a fifty six
yard field goal at the end. I just I wonder

(01:13:18):
how they regroup. They will. These guys are prideful, they
get paid well, and this is their job. I mean,
they're not going to go out there and to lay
down at all, but at some point, and they do
not talk about it internally, they don't, but at some point,
your your personal limitations keep you from doing what it

(01:13:39):
takes to win a game. And I'm just wondering how
close to could start of that with three extremely tough
opponents coming.

Speaker 1 (01:13:47):
Up, Chap.

Speaker 7 (01:13:49):
I know that, if I'm not mistaken, you're getting ready
to go in Shane Stecken's availability real quick. The things
that we're wanting to learn today, the question marks today
that you are looking for answers for that you'll have
at CBS four, n w x A and Fox fifty
nine are.

Speaker 2 (01:14:03):
First is is river?

Speaker 1 (01:14:04):
Are you?

Speaker 2 (01:14:05):
Are you going on with rip with Rivers? And I
think they are. And then the follow in some form
or fashion will be but what what what what will
make you think that'll be? It'll be better marginally better
this week and the week after and they're going you know,
it's gonna be repetitions and familiarity.

Speaker 3 (01:14:24):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:14:25):
And then and then we'll ask ar questions. And I
don't think he'll move the needle much on that. I
don't think we'll get much of an update on Bernard Rayman.
But it's gonna be about about Rivers and moving forward
with him. How how did he feel today when he
get out of bed after you know, he went at
there mowing the grass at age forty four, he was

(01:14:45):
getting beat on pretty good. Right, So that's it'll be
Philip Rivers driven.

Speaker 7 (01:14:51):
Uh, of course, all right, chap We appreciate the time.
As always, we'll let you get to it all right.
Thanks you well, my Chapel joining a CBS four n
W saying Fox is nine. He's right though about Philip Rivers.
You know, you know it when all of a sudden, listen, folks,
there's a reason why you start seeing guys like in
their you know, early to mid forties into their fifties

(01:15:14):
wearing slip on shoes, right, I mean, I'm telling you,
like just the little things first thing in the morning,
when you get out and you gotta put your shoes on,
You're like, oh wait, a minute, and I can only
imagine for Philip Rivers and yes, you know, he clearly
was wearing a lot of protective gear. I thought they
had to water it down an awful lot in terms
of what they wanted to do offensively. And I think

(01:15:35):
at the beginning of the game, Seattle clearly was trying
to feel out, find out and sort through who he
was and what he could do. And then once they
had enough looks at it, they were able to tell, okay,
this is in fact not a threat for certainly deep ball,

(01:15:56):
and that just changed the way, you know, you saw
the way they were able to defend it. Now from
the Colts standpoint, I thought, defensively they played.

Speaker 1 (01:16:05):
Very well, obviously, but.

Speaker 7 (01:16:09):
At the end they needed one play, They needed one
play and they could not get it, and the kickoff
did not help to put Seattle in good position. But
then you have invested an awful lot in that front
four in terms of that elusive pass rush. I remember

(01:16:32):
asking Chris Ballard a couple of years ago, what is
the one thing that keeps you awake at night that
you just can't get a feel for or a hold on,
and he said, depth building, depth finding, depth and pass
Rush certainly feels like that is the elusive enigma that

(01:16:53):
he is not able to totally grasp, just in terms
of depth and.

Speaker 1 (01:17:00):
And getting guys.

Speaker 7 (01:17:02):
You know, if Quinny pays not able to give you
something to get a Taekwon lewis going or Buckner's out
to get that to have the depth there Leatu Latu,
you know, he has his moments. But for where he
was selected and for being the first defensive players selected,
I think at this point you were expecting more or
more consistency at that college back and by the way,

(01:17:25):
I'm going to read some of that, there were some
good ones too, reactions from yesterday, the social media ex
post Twitter reactions to yesterday and what people had to
say about the Colts doing that just about ten minutes
from now. But back to college basketball. We talked plenty
and enough about Indiana and Kentucky. I thought Purdue taking

(01:17:47):
on Marquette. I was in Milwaukee. Actually it was only Kurt.
You want to guess the temperature of Milwaukee on Saturday Saturday.

Speaker 1 (01:17:53):
Evening, can you give me an over under.

Speaker 7 (01:17:57):
I will tell you this, I've never believed you know
when they say wind chill and this is a rant
I've been on forever. When they say the temperature outside
is such and touch, but the wind chill is such
and touch, meaning it feels like this, well then that's
what it is. If that's what it feels like, that's
what it is.

Speaker 1 (01:18:14):
Right.

Speaker 7 (01:18:15):
Yeah, you don't imagine the wind chill the wind hills.
And it was windy in Milwaukee. So we left Saturday
and from eight sixty five, meaning the road eight sixty
five until like the wind farms north of Lafayette. It
was basically it wasn't a wide out, but it was
not pretty. And then as soon as I got north

(01:18:38):
to Lafayette, it was it looked like this outside. It
was very clear out, but you could just tell it
was cold. And as I went further and forth, I've
never had like frost on the inside of the window,
but like like on my on the driver's side window,
but that's it was like whoa.

Speaker 1 (01:18:53):
And then I looked, I'm like, okay, it's cold. We
got up there.

Speaker 7 (01:18:57):
I checked the wind chill as we were walking around.
Stayed at the Paps brew House, which is fabulous in
downtown Milwaukee and it's part of the old Paps Brewery.
And then the best place which is one of my
favorite bars ever. It's got a little fireplace and it
is in the original Papst Banquet Hall, and they're at

(01:19:18):
the best place. They got the fireplace, they got a
pbr Undraft and Schlitz and blats Undraft. So we were
there and we were going to go to a Christmas
market and Shannon's like, you know, it is so cold outside.
There's a restaurant also adjacent. This whole area is not
like Bottleworks, but kind of more like down by Gamebridge,

(01:19:39):
you know what I mean, Like the city like that
little area. So it feels kind of like it looks
kind of like that right off of the shadows of
five ser Arena. So we walked outside and she's like,
it is so cold, let's just go to the to
the restaurant right here in the hotel.

Speaker 1 (01:19:53):
And I said, okay, good deal.

Speaker 7 (01:19:55):
So we sat down and that's when I checked my
phone the windshield to I'm going wind chill, you want
to guess the wind chill, which and it was windy
the entire time, so this was the reality. I'm gonna
go twelve below, close, sixteen below, sixteen below, So that
gave plenty of time to just basically sit and watch
college basketball. But Purdue and Marquette Shaka smart. One thing

(01:20:16):
you know about Marquette, and I think we saw this
when Indiana played them. You anticipate that Marquette is going
to defensively really give you something, but they have not
this year.

Speaker 1 (01:20:27):
They gave up one hundred Indiana. They gave up over
ninety five to Wisconsin and Purdue.

Speaker 7 (01:20:32):
I think that was a good, like kind of get
back on track game for Purdue. And the good news
for Purdue is they were able to get back on
that track, get back on that horse, if you will,
again because of what is a growing and budding piece
of that puzzle that's going to really help them in March,

(01:20:52):
and that's the play of Oscar Cluff and you know
what he's able to do to then allow Trey Kaufman
to get down on the low block and the balance
between those two underneath and then Braden Smith again, I'm
gonna go back to best player in college basketball. Butler
got a big win. That was an unbelievable game for Butler.

(01:21:13):
And we haven't talked enough Butler, and maybe I should
get more into that because what you're starting to see
in Butler now is I think Thad Mada in revamping
and redoing that roster. The big thing for Butler has
been challenging themselves or just finding out where they are

(01:21:33):
within the league, because yeah, they have had the over
the course of the last couple of years, the Big
East it just seemed like and I know that this
is perhaps a naivete of mine, but in my mind,
this stereotype for Butler is that the Big East is
like bigger and faster than they type thing. And yet

(01:21:58):
Thad Mode I think, has done an outstanding of kind
of redoing this roster, putting pieces out there that give
them an offensive balance. But that game against Providence, I
mean in double overtime, and that's the kind of atmosphere
that you need. You know, they in terms of Big

(01:22:19):
East player and I have no idea how good Providence
is going to be this year, but to go in
and get yourself a league win and do it at home,
and I think that you can anticipate now that that
they are going to be you know, they're going to
win some Big East games this year and they are
no longer the team nil standpoint, Butler probably.

Speaker 1 (01:22:38):
Is a you know, at a disadvantage I would assume.

Speaker 7 (01:22:41):
I don't know that in terms of some of the
other you know, Yukon certainly right, but I thought a
really good win for them, and certainly an entertaining one.
I saw the you know, the the two overtimes is
what I saw. I did not see the rest of
that game. One of the teams that they beat, and
I talked about this team because I went to their

(01:23:01):
game last week and have not gotten into a lot
is IU Indy. And IU Indy to me is fascinating
because they when I watched them against Doug Gottlieb's Green
Bay team, who is not a very good Horizon League team.
And what I think Ben Hallett is wanting to do

(01:23:23):
at IU Indy is come out with a system that
he had utilized.

Speaker 1 (01:23:29):
He is a.

Speaker 7 (01:23:32):
The mold of I'm not saying that he's going to
have the success of, but the mold of Kurt Signetti
of a ton of success at a smaller school, smaller level,
now trying to bring that with him to IU Indy.

Speaker 1 (01:23:45):
And he brought a number of.

Speaker 7 (01:23:46):
Players with him, and the system they run is essentially
a press and then fast three point shooting and try
to basically wear down opponent system. And I think that
he thought that he could bring that system immediately in
and have some success in the Horizon League, and so
far they're not athletic enough within even in that league.

(01:24:08):
I don't think that the players he brought with them
have the athleticism necessarily necessary for it. But I think
what Ben Halltt's hope is is that people see that
system and say that's something that I want to play in,
and then he brings athletes with them, or I'm sorry,
brings in athletes, say next year or for two years
from now, and then you get a general idea of

(01:24:31):
what it is that they want to be, which is
almost like a hybrid of Arkansas Loyal and Merrymount of
the nineties, and that that level of play, that excitement
of play, brings them players. But we'll see whether or
not that comes to fruition when we come back. Your
thoughts on the Colts yesterday tooth or nine, ten seventy
will open that back up, and I will read some
of the best from the ex post Twitter yesterday fourteen

(01:24:54):
words are fewer on the Colts through fourteen games. I'll
read you some of the good ones. Next two through
nine ten seventy if you would like to join the conversation.
I am genuinely curious whether or not people are wanting
to see Philip Rivers for the remainder. I thought again yesterday,

(01:25:15):
you cannot complain with what Rivers did in going out
there and playing. Was impressive for certain But at the
same time, if that's the ceiling in terms of the
level of how much you can open up the playbook,
if that's the ceiling, then do you not just stick
with Riley Leonard because at least he has a capability

(01:25:35):
number one and then number two? But I get it
if you feel that Rivers gives you a better chance
to win the game, But does he because the game plan?
I thought the playbook was pretty vanilla. So yesterday I
asked the question, tell me in fourteen words or fewer
your thoughts on the Colts twenty twenty five season through

(01:25:57):
fourteen games. Tim says, if the Colts are winning, enjoy
it while you can. It won't last long, okay, Tyrone
fun then disappointing so far?

Speaker 1 (01:26:13):
Thanks defense, Hey, Jake.

Speaker 7 (01:26:17):
Colts rely on unreliable quarterbacks and a fool's gold start
returns to reality. This from Scott, which I think a
lot of people probably.

Speaker 1 (01:26:30):
Agree with.

Speaker 7 (01:26:31):
Santa Claus is coming to town, and IU football is
in the College Football Playoff. Rejoice now, Seawan, who is
the brother of What's happening Todd? So optimism runs a
muck within the Hall family, Shawn sends me, no one cares.

(01:26:53):
Now you can Christmas shop.

Speaker 1 (01:26:55):
Thanks.

Speaker 7 (01:26:57):
Wow, they're still mathematically in it, and you've got two
of three heading down the stretch with the two teams
that they're right behind. And as I mentioned earlier, though,
it's pretty remarkable that Jacksonville what Jacksonville's done. I mean,

(01:27:17):
no one talks about it, but here's Jacksonville at.

Speaker 1 (01:27:24):
Ten and four. I mean that literally, like objects in
rear view mirror have blown past you, not just larger
than they appear. This from Blaine.

Speaker 7 (01:27:37):
The scheme is sound, players are talented, Injuries have been killer.
Eyes on the ahead. Old man Rivers still a better
option than Richardson. I love this from Colts Coverage. Fourteen
words or fewer. I got to count how many there

(01:27:58):
are here? Three six, eighteen, fourteen exactly? This is perfect.
Roses are red, violence are blue. We've seen this before,
and so have you. Okay, there needs to be a
change for the better, says Jeff In twenty twenty six

(01:28:18):
about what I expected before the season. Wish they didn't
get my hopes up, says Scott. Earle points this out.
Everyone needs to be fired seven to one. Missing the
playoffs unacceptable.

Speaker 1 (01:28:34):
I get it. But you have to factor in the injuries.
You do have to factor in, do you not the injuries?

Speaker 2 (01:28:44):
Right?

Speaker 1 (01:28:47):
I mean when Daniel Jones?

Speaker 7 (01:28:52):
And yes, I think there might have been a little
bit of fools gold with Daniel Jones as well in
the beginning because it was like, oh my gosh, MVP
and then the injury. What the injury to Daniel Jones
kind of overshadows is the fact that we were starting
to see a little bit of who Daniel Jones has
been in the past. Terry at two nine ten seventy Terry,

(01:29:17):
what's up, hey, Jake?

Speaker 3 (01:29:19):
Yeah, I saw exactly what I thought i'd see yesterday.

Speaker 8 (01:29:22):
And I thought i'd see a forty four year old
Philip Rivers, who I loved do the best he could,
which I knew and I don't know why Shane Stike and.

Speaker 3 (01:29:31):
Didn't know would not be good enough to win an
NFL game.

Speaker 1 (01:29:35):
I believe that was one of.

Speaker 8 (01:29:36):
The lowest yardage totals for a total offense in a decade.
They definitely if Riley was even remotely possible, he should
have started. Rivers should have been a backup. They should
have looked for someone else before Rivers bustn't playing football anybody.

Speaker 1 (01:29:53):
That was a big mistake.

Speaker 8 (01:29:54):
They cannot go with him again.

Speaker 3 (01:29:56):
He's a nice guy.

Speaker 8 (01:29:57):
I love Rivers. He shouldn't be on the field with
that team. He held the team back and it was
a big mistake. And I put it on a Styke,
not Rivers.

Speaker 7 (01:30:05):
Okay, So you would not let me let me ask
you this, Terry, because I think you and I are
on the same page here. If Shane Styken calls you
right now and says, Terry, I've got healthy Philip Rivers,
I've got healthy Riley Leonard, I've got back to practicing.
Anthony Richardson ranked for me in priority Terry's wish list
of where they should turn that quarterback one through three.

Speaker 8 (01:30:26):
Go Riley is first.

Speaker 9 (01:30:32):
What's the guy?

Speaker 3 (01:30:33):
The second guy?

Speaker 8 (01:30:33):
I'm sorry he's hurt with the facial thing.

Speaker 3 (01:30:36):
Anthony, Anthony, Anthony second. You know he can run the ball.
He can do a few things and Philip third.

Speaker 8 (01:30:43):
Again, nothing wrong with Philip. Riley looked really good when
he played that game the other It's a price how
calm he was. He's got a good arm, he knew
where people were going. Philip can't throw it fifteen yards
on a diamond.

Speaker 7 (01:30:55):
And that's the problem. Terry Listen, I thought, and I
appreciate the call. The if you were to analyze Rivers
versus Leonard and take the past out of the equation
in twenty twenty five, right now, in December, ten days
before Christmas, and you got to analyze and weigh out

(01:31:16):
Philip Rivers and Riley Leonard, the reality is this, And
I thought Rivers yesterday. Yes, he's a cerebral guy. It's fun,
it's a great story. And trust me, you know he
the touchdown, passed the back shoulder pass to Alec Pierce.
He had his moments, for certain, But if all things

(01:31:43):
are given equal, in my opinion, the tie has to
go to the one that has viable future with you
and Riley Leonard. Never if Riley Leonard is the Colts
starting quarterback of the future, then they are in real trouble.

(01:32:07):
But if he's going to be your sam Ellinger or
your emergency quarterback or your bailout quarterback moving forward, then
you may as well go with him now, because if
they if Philip Rivers throws a hail mary, which, by
the way, a hail mary for Philip Rivers at this
point is like twelve yards. But if he throws a

(01:32:28):
hail mary for them literally or figuratively speaking, and they
get into the playoffs, does anybody really think they're gonna
make noise?

Speaker 1 (01:32:37):
I get that.

Speaker 7 (01:32:37):
The Colts brass has to think that. I get it,
But in reality I look at it and I go,
you know what, you may as well if you're gonna
have to go vanilla, and if you're gonna have to
utilize Jonathan Taylor, at the very least have a quarterback
that has maneuverability in the pocket to keep a defense

(01:32:58):
softer against Taylor. Because Rivers there, they basically said, yeah,
just buy one, get one. We're just gonna load everybody
up from eight yards to the line.

Speaker 1 (01:33:08):
Stack it.

Speaker 7 (01:33:10):
That way, we can keep an eye on Taylor and
Rivers can't throw over us. And I'm not saying Leonard
could throw over you, but he at least can get
around you with his legs, and that's the difference. You
might as well go with the one that gives you
a little bit more flexibility. Ken, Ken, what's up?

Speaker 9 (01:33:27):
Hey?

Speaker 2 (01:33:27):
How you doing.

Speaker 10 (01:33:29):
I'm gonna go off of the quarterback situation for a minute, Okay.
I think it all has to stem with and I'm
not a lifelong Colts fan.

Speaker 3 (01:33:41):
I'm not being negative, but as long as.

Speaker 10 (01:33:45):
Greg Ballard is in charge, Chris Ballard, Chris Ballard, I mean, sorry, no, understandable.

Speaker 3 (01:33:51):
It is in charge, We're not going anywhere.

Speaker 9 (01:33:55):
We're not going anywhere. And Shane is too soft of
a coach.

Speaker 10 (01:34:01):
And I think the conditioning of the players. They don't
condition like they used to. I think is why we're
seeing so many injuries.

Speaker 3 (01:34:11):
It's sad.

Speaker 10 (01:34:13):
You us just my opinion, but Chris Ballard needs to go.
I'm not sure what we need to do with Shane,
whether we keep him or toughened him up, but it's
just too soft.

Speaker 7 (01:34:25):
I think this, and I appreciate the call, Ken from
an injury standpoint, you know, league wide, I mean that
discussion will be and we've had a bunch, right, I mean,
is it lack of conditioning, lack of training and there
are a million things. You can look at the part
of it being players are bigger, stronger, faster, you know,
collision not contact sport more so than forty years ago.

Speaker 1 (01:34:46):
I get it.

Speaker 7 (01:34:47):
I've also wondered with injuries, whether or not it's the
fact that we now have the ability to diagnose more
so than we did thirty years ago. Thirty years ago,
we're guys playing with a fracture in their fibula, but
we just didn't know it, you know, a CAF strain,
but we just didn't know.

Speaker 1 (01:35:05):
You know, I don't know.

Speaker 7 (01:35:05):
I mean, Ralph Free when we have them on next
would be able to answer that for me how much
the advance has allowed us to be more aware of
things and thus more preventative. But the part about Chris Ballard,
I do think that Chris Ballard will be back. I
do think probably for two reasons. Number One, I think

(01:35:29):
that Carl orse Gordon when you are a new owner,
and I know that she's been around it and involved,
but in terms of the buck stopping with her, that's
a new thing this year, right, And I think when
that happens, you do want to lean into familiarity, and
Chris Ballard is familiarity and You could also very astutely

(01:35:53):
make the point if you wanted to, there would be
plenty of evidence. If this was high school debate class
and you were assigned the assignment of bait, why Chris
Ballard should return. There is plenty of evidence you can
point to that this year we forget through eight weeks,
people were talking about how that was one of the
best rosters in the NFL, the most balanced, This incredibly

(01:36:14):
explosive offense and a defense that was with lou Ana
Roumo was pushing all the right buttons. And the only
difference between those that time and now to a large
extent is injuries to Forest Buckner. Daniel Jones goes without saying, right,
Braden Smith, now you know, I mean you have players

(01:36:36):
across the board that have been out and those you know,
and Daniel Jones is a big one. Now, with all
of that said, I certainly understand that the push in
and the one thing that if there's one thing that
you want to be truly that five years from now
we'll look back on in twenty twenty five and say

(01:36:57):
was an egregious error on the part of Chris Ballard.
And by the way, Ken, I know no harm at
all on the Greg Ballard Chris Ballard Freudian slip. Greg
Ballard being a mayor here for a number of years
in a prominent part of the city, It's totally understandable
and an easy thing to do. But if there's one

(01:37:17):
thing that you will pinpoint or look back on potentially
in the future with Chris Ballard, in my opinion, it
is the possibility that getting too aggressive on that Sauce
Gardner move is what really is going to hurt him.
Because when you were watching that game as I was yesterday,
and I'm thinking, oh, wow, they might have found something

(01:37:37):
here with Philip Rivers look at this, and then as
Seattle started to kind of figure things out of the
course of the game, then you're thinking to yourself, so
if they lose this, then what they're probably out of
the playoffs, So not mathematically out, but they're probably symbolically out. Okay,
Well then well, gee, I don't know, are they better
not making the playoffs because it's a better draft pick

(01:37:58):
and you keep forgetting that two first round picks, two
of them, two for a corner, Two first round picks
for a corner. To me, it feels like if the
Pacers had traded two first rounders for a power forward.
You know, it's just like, I mean, they're important to have,

(01:38:20):
they're good to have, but did they get too aggressive
that that right there is the one thing I don't
think I should cost Chris Ballot his job, But I
do think it's something that we're going to look back
on and say that it was of significance.

Speaker 9 (01:38:34):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:38:34):
Jaymv's in studio I saw walking around.

Speaker 7 (01:38:36):
We'll do the Love Heating and Air Crossover, brought to
you by love Dash HVAC dot com Love Heating an
Air three one seven, three five three twenty one forty one.
We'll find out what John's got cooking in his thoughts
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and we'll do it next