Colts Beer Episode 11

Today we talk with Kevin Bowen about the Colts

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Welcome to Colts Beer, the podcast where football fever meets cold beer. Here we talk all things Indianapolis Colts. From epic touchdowns to close games to the hottest NFL rumors. Sit back, grab your favorite beverage, and let’s tackle the next quarter together. Go Colts. Hello everybody and welcome back to Colts Beer. It’s the 11th episode, our first live episode. Uh we are going live together because we having a special guest. Kevin Bowen is with us. Uh before I give it to you, Kevin, I introduce my beer of the day. Uh in honor to our Scottish members. I was in Scotland this summer on location. Uh it’s a nice tenant. Uh I bought it there. It’s it’s pretty nice one, pretty smooth one. Uh so yeah, I’m happy. So Kevin, I think most Cold fans will know who you are. Uh but probably will you say some words about yourself? Yeah. So uh first off, thanks for having me guys. Uh really really an an honored you uh you had me at football and beer. You don’t need to say much more than that. So I appreciate it. A little earlier here in the States or else I’d be enjoying a uh a cold one with you. But um yeah, I live here in Indianapolis. Um I work at the radio station where uh Colts games are broadcasted here locally. So, when you hear Matt Taylor and you hear um you know the various voices there that are broadcasting Colts games, uh I work for that radio station. It’s called 1075 The Fan. I’ve covered the Colts for about 15 years and I uh host a morning radio show here in town from uh 7 to 10:00 a.m. Uh that’s Eastern time each and every Monday through Friday. Awesome. Thanks for thanks for coming on, Kevin. Uh my beer of the day. Now, I’m going to apologize to our German listeners in advance. Uh, I was in the shop today and they got me with an Oktoberfest beer. It’s probably got nothing to do with Oktoberfest, but they they brand for me. So, this is Spartan, I believe it’s called. Spartan, I think you said, Andreas Kristoff. Uh, yeah, Oktoberfest. So, uh, cross. Yeah. Hi, Kevin. So, my beer of the day is from Cologne, the Gaff V. Um it is a special kind of the cologne area beers. So it smells really nice. It is a little bit um yeah unfiltered uh gulch. So it smells amazing. Awesome. So yeah, I think uh we we we start with some questions. Uh I think Sam collected some uh questions uh for from from the UK guys. Yeah. as soon as we as soon as you said you were coming on, Kevin, uh I got plenty of questions, so I’ll try and I’ll try and not inundate you with them. Um I think the first one that I’d actually ask is uh as someone who’s been covering Indiana sports for years, has there been a better time to cover Indiana sports as a whole than right now? Yeah, I I I must say I got to make sure that uh hopefully I can come on for a second time because all all the beer descriptions are making me jealous. I need to come along and make sure I’ve I’ve got one the next time. I feel a bit naked here uh without my beer. I just got my uh I just got my water here at uh 2 o’clock in the afternoon. But yeah, it’s it’s an incredible time, Sam. I mean, it’s uh for those unfamiliar, uh Indiana University’s football team about an hour south of Indianapolis. They’re currently ranked number two in all of college football, which is beyond unheard of. It It’s been the lossest college football program uh in history. And Kurt Signetti, their new coach now, two years into it, just absurd what he’s done there. So, uh, they’re having a great season. You know, the Pacers from an NBA standpoint, made a run all the way to game seven, the final game of the NBA Finals. Kind of an underdog story there. Purdue, uh, the other college in the Big 10 located about an hour north of here. They’re the number one ranked basketball team in men’s basketball preseason. And their final four, their their championship game is at Lucas Oil Stadium where obviously the the Colts play. So, if they made it all the way there, they could play for a national title, which would be their first in school history inside of Lucas Oil Stadium, which I can only imagine what the crowd would be like for that. Indiana Fever had a great season as well. Um, so yeah, it it it’s just been an unbelievable time here and and kind of different honestly from what we’re used to here in uh in recent years. Yeah. And I think uh I think at the start of the season after the whole uh QB the QB battle and everything like that, I think it was the Colts that looked like we might be letting the uh the city down, but all of a sudden we’re sitting here six and one and uh I mean dare I say best team in the NFL, I think I think us as Colts fans uh and and you as well, Kevin, obviously reporting on it. I think we we’ve been well aware of how good this Colts team is, but I think after after Sunday’s win, the rest of the league might be uh might be taking notice now. Yeah, I mean I I thought Sunday was kind of a measuring stick game. I think the Colts internally circled that one a little bit more. They realized the schedule had been you know what it was through the first six weeks and and to be fair to the Colts, they had taken care of those teams in a very uh you know emphatic way really and not what we are used to or certainly even NFL teams. They don’t typically you know blow other NFL teams out. Uh but that Chargers game I think meant a little bit more. or Shane Stiken obviously has some history there as a coach, but you know just in terms of the competition, head coach, the quarterback, etc. Game matters and the Colts I thought handle their business in a in a really really impressive way and offensively it’s it’s historic what they’re doing. Um, you know, maybe you can look at the defense right now and and there are some questions there that are probably a little bit fair, but offensively uh it’s surgical. It’s uh it’s absolutely clinical what they’ve done. Mhm. Yeah. I mean, that’s a that’s a pretty good segue actually just talking about the defense. Um, do you get any sense from the organization? Obviously, the fans right now are kind of clamoring for a trade. I think we we see what we’ve got on offense. We see how potent that is and it look it feels like we’re with the injuries obviously adding to it as well. We’re maybe one or two short on the defense. Do you get any sense that the the trade that I think we all want to happen is is coming at some point in the next two weeks? Yeah. So, just a brief little history, you know, with Chris Bower as general manager. They’ve only had one inseason trade. Um, and that was really Nahhem Hines, I think, of the time wanting out of, you know, all that dysfunction that was happening, you know, within that 2022 season. So, we have we’re not used to the Colts being buyers at all. Uh, granted, we’re not used to the Colts being six and one at this point in the season either. Um, yeah. So, given all of that, I do think there is some legit inside the building interest in making a trade. Now, you know, the magnitude of that, what it looks like, um, I think there’s a reason why the NFL typically doesn’t have a lot of inseason trades. You know, it’s a tad complicated when it comes to, you know, doing that. It’s I think it’s a little different than some other sports. Um, and we probably should point out they have already moved one of their day three draft picks. That was a sixth round pick for Mai Blackman just before the start of the season. So, you know, if you were to move another pick, maybe a third or fourth. We know Chris Ballard’s obsessed with draft picks. You know, would that cause any pause? Now, I certainly hear people that are saying, “Hey, you know, in the NFL, it’s not for long. When you’ve got an opportunity to pounce, you you do that.” And I think organizationally, they feel that way. Um, so again, what it looks like over the next two weeks will be interesting. you know, as we record this, the NFL trade deadline is two weeks from today. Um, so November 4th would be to have the NFL, I think, back that up, if I’m not mistaken, a week here recently to try to have more teams kind of involved in it. So, uh, we will see what it looks like because we’ve seen some NFL activity already here around the league. And I when I look at defensive end and I look at cornerback, you could talk me into both of those positions being positions that you should look to uh, upgrade. Yeah, I think for me, I’ve kind of gone back and forth. we’ve we’ve spoke about on the podcast as well uh between defensive end and cornerback after Sunday. I feel like I’m leaning cornerback now maybe. I know obviously we’ve got we’ve got Ward to come back. So that’s great. But for me, I’m thinking, you know, to win in the FC, you’re going to have to go through Josh Allen. You’re probably going to have to go through Patrick Mahomes. You got all these quarterbacks that can extend. So even if you have an elite pass rush, these guys are going to are going to make plays where you’ve got three, four seconds to cover. And I don’t I don’t I feel like if we had an elite cornerback to go alongside what we got with Chavarius Ward when he’s back, that’d be where I go. What What would you do? I I read your column after the game. So, I’ve got a feeling I know where you’d go, but what do you think? Yeah, it’s funny. We had Jo Ericson from the Indianapolis Star, who I respect a ton on our show this morning, and he did go corner as well. Um, I think both are obviously premium positions. Uh, like I said, you could talk me into probably either, but if I had to pick, I would go defensive end. Um, now it’s a bit of a shame that I go there because there’s so much already invested into that position group. You have spent a whole lot draft picks and finances into that room. Um, so that’s kind of a bummer. You know, corner is one where it’s a little bit more patchworky because of all the injuries that they’ve had. Um, you know, you mentioned Ward coming back. To me, I almost look at that a little trade deadliney of like, hey, you’re going to get him back. Who are you going to get back at defensive end? Yeah. to me there’s nobody there. Um, and you know, when you look at things right now, I just feel like they’re not getting pressure to to simplify it, I don’t think they’re getting pressure quick enough. You know, if you look at some of the deep analytics, they actually are pressuring at a decent rate, their sack numbers, albeit a bit skewed based off pass attempts, um, sack numbers are actually top 10, but sacks per pass attempt, which I think is a more of a true indicator of what you’re doing, that’s I think 19th right now. So to me I look at and say well when these quarterbacks can hold on to it and the last two weeks I think both Jacobe Brassette and Justin Herbert have been over three seconds that’s a long time and if you can create some of that pressure but do it quicker with DeForest Buckner getting all these double teams then I think your ability to disrupt impacts the passing game at a greater scale because over the last month it just hasn’t been good enough. You know if you go back to that Rams game uh I want to say you’re allowing over 330 per game from a passing yard standpoint. Um, and that’s I think it’s the second worst four game span of any team in the NFL this season. So, um, you know, you mentioned some of those quarterbacks. I mean, Herbert and Josh Allen and, you know, Patrick Mahomes, they’re a wild card team. You know, right now if they were to, you know, get there, we’ll see how the AFC West plays out. To me, if you can disrupt initially, uh, that is what I would try and do. Awesome. Uh, Andreas, I’ll I’ll I’ll pass it over to you. I don’t want to hug it. Okay. First of all, when we talk about defensive ends, do you have in mind any specific player we could uh we could grab? Yeah, I think anytime you get to the trade deadline, you have to look at teams that are not near the top of the NFL. So, you look at those bottom feeder teams and whether that’s Miami or the New York teams or the Raiders or the Saints, you know, those are the teams that I think you’d be looking at. Miami seems to be the ones with kind of the most popular names mentioned of Jaylen Phillips and and and Bradley Chub. You know, you look at the Saints with Carl Granderson. Um, you know, I know everyone, you know, says Max Crosby and Trey Hendrickson, and I get the intrigue there, but, you know, specifically with with Cincinnati, they seem to me still in the win mode. You know, I thought that was a big win they got on Thursday Night Football. They have the Jets this week if I’m not mistaken. Um, you know, they didn’t trade for Joe Flacco to be tanking. They traded for Joe Flacco to try and save him until Joe Burrow comes back. Um, you know, certainly the Giants, you know, where are they going to be at here in a couple weeks? Brian Burns is, you know, certainly fell. Would they be willing to side with them? They’ve been such a defensive line driven organization, but at some point, do they look at it and say, “All right, we have a lot here. You know, could we try and add other places?” So, you know, those would be some of the teams, some of the names. Um, I really stress too deadline spur action and you know we are two weeks away from it and you know I know that we have seen some trades already in the NFL but two things to keep in mind. One, you know where you at health-wise now with Samson Ebom and Taekquin Lewis dealing with some injuries. I know the Lewis injury doesn’t sound too severe dayto-day. Is Evac going to miss time? If he is, does that impact you further? It’s not just performance. Now it’s available body base because to go back to Sam’s question, they really don’t even have corners or they excuse me, they really don’t have any many defensive ends sitting on the practice squad. You know, as guys they would even bring up there’s just one. You know, JTala, the rookie out of Ohio State, the second round pick, you know, he played a little bit more on Sunday. You know, he right now would be your third defensive end depending on the health of Evaccom and Lewis. I think the other thing too to keep in mind, it’s more of a leaguewide thing, but you know, again, what happens these next two weeks, and I get it’s just two games, but if you’re a team right now sitting at whatever, three and four, you know, three and six versus whatever, five and four sounds a whole lot different, you know, based off how things look from a do you buy, do you sell, do you stay pat? Um, so I think all of those things are um just important to keep in mind, but again, I think the Colts are looking at making a move, but how it all unfolds is um certainly a great mystery. Yeah, you mentioned you mentioned JTT. What sense do you get about JTT from the organization? Do you do you think from a fan perspective I’m trying to think whether they’re maybe red shirting him almost? They thought we’ve got what we’ve got at defensive end. We’ve got Taekquin Lewis. We’ve got Sensei Cam. You know, you’ve got four or five good pass rushers. Adi Addi, I called him Adi Addi because I still can’t pronounce his name. He looks great when he’s actually playing on third down when he’s in the pass rush mode. Um, do you think that they were trying to red shirt him or do you think he’s maybe not what they were expecting to have coming out of the draft? By the way, I must say I love all your guys setups. I like just found myself like looking deeper into the backgrounds at all you guys. I mean, here I am with a bunch of boxes. I told you guys at the start, we’re uh we’re we’re moving buildings here. uh in downtown Indianapolis. So, I apologize. You guys have such cool setups. I love those helmets. Gosh, I I could look at those all day. Um, you know, as far as tool, I I’m a little confused by it to be totally honest with you. Um, you know, again, for our non-ol football fans out there, this was a guy that played on the best team in college football last year and was a menace in their run to the national championship game. He was a stud against big-time opponents. So you sometimes see this in the draft particularly with pass rusher teams draft more of projects for lack of a better term. You know for example if you look at like Kamoko Turé a second round pick by the Colts in 2018 he didn’t really have much of a bonafide resume collegiately for you know most second round picks but the thought was hey he has these athletic traits you know this little glimmer this little flash we can kind of mold the clay. The thought with Tui Malaw is more of a finished project. You know, highly ranked recruit coming out of Washington. Again, produced at a really high level for several seasons on one of the best teams in college football. Um, you know, Luanumo has had a thing where he just he plays older guys and so, you know, Ebom coming off the Tory Keilles and then Lewis have played over him. So, he’s the fifth defensive end when everyone’s healthy. The Colts have kind of flipped back and forth. some days, some games they’ll address an extra defensive tackle for run, you know, defense, and other games they’ll address an extra defensive end, i.e. Sunday when they play more passing team. So, um, I don’t get the sense that they’re like super disappointed with him. It’s not like work ethic or, you know, NFL life’s too big. They just really haven’t used him. And now they’re going to have to. And I I I don’t think there’s any other choice. I think he’s going to be a rotational guy. So, I’m very eager to see what he can do here because he’s the one that you would maybe say is a little bit like the Chavarius Ward thought at corner. Now, I’m not comparing the two, but like, okay, who is someone that hasn’t played a lot at defensive end who all of a sudden could be kind of like a trade impact guy? I guess it would be him. Now, it’s probably way too much to expect that out of a rookie to all of a sudden go like that midway through his rookie season. But, you know, if he shows you something, you know, do you sit there and say, “Hey, that’s kind of our trade deadline move.” Uh, to me that sounds a bit far-fetched, but it is a thought I’ve had. Yeah. So, we have a question from the community. Uh, and Andy is one of our Irish members. Uh, I guess I know Andy’s name. Yeah, I see Andy on social all the time. What’s up, Andy? So yeah, he’s asking uh about the improvement of the offensive blocking. Uh what do you think about it? I mean, we all didn’t expect uh lo losing uh especially Ryan Kelly in in the middle at center. Uh having such a great O line this year. Uh yeah. What what do you think about our lines? Yeah, I think the offensive line has exceeded my expectations. Now, I was fine with Ryan Kelly and Will Fry moving on. I think just roster construction and mechanics at some point I say this phrase quite often on my podcast you got to pass a torch you can’t resign everybody you know you you have to say at some point the money is here and now we need to try and find cheaper and then you know whatever spend the money elsewhere so um you know Tanner Bordellini and Matt Gonzalez have been I think very good at center and right guard you know when you think about it if I’m not mistaken I believe the Colts offensive line has been intact for six of there seven games and the one time it wasn’t was a loss. It was that Rams game when Gonzalez didn’t play and I thought that was probably the most pressure Daniel Jones has faced all season long. Now granted that opponent I think can um can certainly contribute to that but yeah I would say the O line has gotten back to being elite and that’s a big word to use. Uh you obviously have invested a lot into that group. Shout out to the veterans especially Quint Nelson and Braden Smith and the level that they they’ve played at. I mean, think about Max Crosby a few weeks back, how quiet he was in that game, and he can be such a wrecker. So, yeah, the O line’s great. I mean, Andy, you know, points out here. I mean, they’ve always been very good blocking tight ends and wide outs. That’s been a staple throughout the Ballard era. They they’ve always been super physical. And, you know, Moali Cox, Michael Pitman Jr. probably the two front runners of that over the years. And then Drew Ogleree and, you know, Pierce is a willing blocker as well. And, you know, I think that helps spring some of the Jonathan Taylor runs. I mean, certainly Taylor does, but I think you talk to any coach and they will say, you know, to really create 14 into 40 or seven into 70, you need the perimeter block. You need that, you know, that guy that’s going to seal off there at the second or third level to help spring that back. Yeah, I think I think touching on Jonathan Taylor as well, I mean, this is the best I can remember him ever pass blocking in in the pass blocking game. I think he’s been phenomenal this season. Uh and I mean the the third and 17 play Sunday which I think was when watching it back today it felt like that was the play that shifted the whole game like it didn’t feel like they could come back from that point. Uh the chip block that he threw on Cle Mack was uh was not something I knew that JT necessarily had in his locker but it was great to see. No it’s a great point Sam you know I think as a pass catcher he’s had a drop or two but for the most part he’s been pretty sound there too and that was a question that I had entering the year. So yeah I think it’s a good point. He’s playing so much. You haven’t really found that third bound back, per se, but he he’s playing so much. And one thing, too, and obviously, knock on wood, but man, he’s been just so healthy, you know, amidst the contract issues. He was he was just banged up there for for a while. And, you know, I can’t recall the last time he’s missed a practice. You know, even going back training camp, even going back to the spring period as well. So, he’s just been um very very healthy, which I know is kind of an elementary way to say it, but uh when you’re that healthy, it’s certainly going to impact uh you in a positive uh positive manner. We have some another comment. Uh it for me it feels kind of a hot take, but always he he’s uh the president of our Austrian Colts fans. Uh at the time to acknowledge Chris Bard’s teams were always a quarterback away. uh the team’s work with Andrew Luck, Philip Rivers, and now with Daniel Jones. Uh was it always just a quarterback away on a team? Yeah, you know, it certainly is a thought that I’ve had, you know, throughout this this season. You know, when you look at the nine years of Ballard, the luck season as your last playoff win, you know, back in 2018 and then with Rivers, you obviously got to the playoffs and very easily could have won that game with uh with Buffalo. Um you know, I I I still think there are, you know, some misses that have happened. Uh, you know, we’ve talked a lot on this podcast today, for example, about pass rush and defensive end specifically. You know, that’s been a highly invested position when you look back on it. And that’s one of the premium ones. You know, to me, from an NFL sense, quarterback, wide out, offensive tackle, defensive end, and cornerback are kind of those premium positions that kind of stand above the rest. And investments in particularly at DN and corner. um they have tried particularly in the draft to draft those and for the most part just haven’t hit on really anyone um in a significant manner in the early rounds. Um you know when you look at other positions he’s definitely hit I mean linebacker he’s hit extraordinarily well. Um, you know, I think some of the interior offensive line spots, you know, finding Wolf Rise in the seventh round and turning into whatever he was a 60 hell, he might have been more than 60 million type of guy, you know, would be one that falls into that boat there. So, um, yeah, to say, you know, to say you’re a quarterback away. I mean, I I can understand where the where the question comes from. I mean, it’s not like the Colts have ever, you know, truly bottomed out outside of 2022. 17 of course was he had a lot of the previous regime um players on that and really overhauled the defense in that first off season there um but yeah this is a team that you know when you look at where it has been built the one gripe that I think is pretty legit I know hindsight sounds 2020 but and not to rehash all of this but I think the moment Andrew Luck shocks the world you have to look at quarterback right away in that next draft. I mean again trying to play the band-aid game. I know maybe you know this Daniel Jones thing obviously looks like it is working out right now but it’s it’s difficult you know and it’s it’s something where I think in an ideal world to build that true 5 to sevenyear window to create that window to me that quarterback has to come from the draft and if you look at the AFC in this time frame you know Kansas City Buffalo Baltimore they’ve had that window open for that time I think having the rookie contract quarterback and this is more of a financial thing more than anything. Having that guy uh is huge. You know, we’re already talking about, wait, do you have money for Alec Pierce? Do you have money for Nick Cross? Do you have money for Braden Smith? Welcome to paying Daniel Jones next year. I mean, that’s just that that’s a reality of where you’re at. Great problem to have, but it’s the difficulty when you do have that quarterback reach year seven or whatever Jones is and he’s obviously not on the rookie deal anymore. To be fair, when you said they they should have a draft quarterback immediately in the draft, I’m pretty sure if Green Bay didn’t uh took away uh Jordan Love in 2020, uh the Colts have picked him instead of Michael Pitman. So, yeah, it it was just probably super surprising Green Bay took him right in front of us, though there wasn’t a plan B. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. just to yeah go over that that draft. Um the Colts were at 13 overall. They traded that for for Buckner, which you know obviously has worked out uh you know from a player standpoint, but it gets into positional impact. You know, you’ve had a great defensive tackle. Unfortunately, you know, the playoff success has been not with that during that time frame. Yeah. Jordan Love, you know, in the 20s. Jaylen Herz was the other quarterback that went, you know, in that in that second round. I’ve, you know, had the feeling that the Colts weren’t maybe totally in love with Love. I sorry to use both those words. Um, but, you know, I think there was some intrigue and some curiosity about him, but you know, it just didn’t feel like because Green Bay, I think, traded back into round one if I remember correctly to to take him. So, um, again, hindsight’s 2020, but I do think that probably should have been explored a little bit more than just the All right, let’s try to bandaid it up and see if we’ve got enough here. Yeah to to Oh, go on Kristoff. Yeah, for me it’s a question around the quarterbacks. What you think about Anthony Richardson? Is there any future in Indianapolis for him or on any team in the NFL? Uh because we all are the whole time have a discussion because him I tell his reads are not NFL like the rest is nice. He’s a really strong arm. He’s fast. But so what do you think about him and his future? Yeah, I mean I would be surprised if they’ve moved him in the next two weeks. I know a lot of people have asked me about that. I I just don’t see that. Um yes, he’s going to get a chance somewhere. I mean, you know, quarterbacks don’t get drafted that high and have, you know, traits that he clearly has that um that just are one and done in this league. I I I don’t see that. Obviously, he’s got a ton of questions to answer and his next stop, wherever that is. I I just don’t envision it here. Clearly, his camp, I don’t think, has been thrilled with how the Colts blueprinted it or implemented the the blueprint. And now the Colts would probably counter that and say, well, you know, we don’t feel like he executed it very well. It’s probably a lot of he said, she said sort of situation here. Um, you know, if I’m Richardson, I probably just ride the year out and then, you know, obviously try to get healthy, of course, and then at the end of the season, you know, probably, uh, probably request a trade. He’s got one more year, you know, left on on the rookie contract. I just for all parties involved, assuming Daniel Jones continues on this pathway, I I don’t really see uh him coming back here. At some point, he probably gets a little distraction, frankly. um as well. Uh I’m not acting like you can get a great draft pick for him, but you know, could you trade a pick here in the next two weeks for a defensive end and then, you know, re re reprieve that pick back, you know, in in the offseason by trading Richardson at that point there. So, it’s a bummer because I think there are a lot of super intriguing traits and, you know, I think the longer Daniel Jones plays, the more people act like Dan like Anthony Richardson was just this utterly horrific quarterback and I think that’s overblown. I don’t think he was as bad as people have all of a sudden made him out to be. He definitely had some deficiency in in some areas that he wasn’t good in, but you know, win loss record for your quarterback was eight and seven with Richardson and you fired the defensive coordinator that was with him the whole time. So, you know, clearly he was doing something halfway decent to at least, you know, keep you in games of that magnitude. We have another question about another young kid and you’re pretty close to the team. Uh what do you think about AD? Uh actually I mean he made one stupid mistake. U I I I don’t get how how people get that mad about him uh for for long term. Uh so what do you think? What do you see uh every day uh about AD? How how is this process actually? Yeah. So, I mean, I don’t think it’s like a work ethic thing or anything internally where the Colts are upset about his character, things like that. It’s just on Sundays, you know, there been multiple occasions where the reliability is not there for him. I did think he had a nice catch on on Sunday um and securing that ball there. He actually played a special teams rep, too. Um, I think he was out on Gunner, which I think is important for him to try and incorporate that. Um, I know it’s not him playing receiver, but I think it’s critical for him uh to just prove to be more dress gamew worthy, frankly. You know, Shane Syen has clearly punished him, you know, and I would say in a more significant manner than I thought. I thought it would be a oneweek thing or at least, you know, to put myself in a sty shoes. I thought, you know, one week is fine, you know. To me, it was not only that play, but the holding penalty later in that Rams game, you know, was such a backb breakaker as well. Um, so I kind of looked at Mitchell and thought it’d be one week and really it’s been two. And then if you look at last week, the Chargers game, he only played five snaps. Um, which I thought he maybe would play a little bit more, especially with Josh Downs out, but they really opted for a lot of Anthony Ghoul. Now, I I you know, this guy’s two years into a four-year rookie deal. I don’t I’m not looking to trade him. I’m not looking to cut him. I’m not looking to do any of that. He is an insanely talented individual and sometimes guys need more nurture and like I think at times we’re all we’re we’re so quick to kind of cast off some of these you like I was fine with Galani Woods getting another chance in training camp like you know he’s making what $900,000 who cares if he you know the worst thing is all of a sudden he leaves and then he lost him somewhere else because you didn’t see out the whole you know project if you want to label someone like that. Now, I think the unfortunate thing with Mitchell this year is Alec Pierce is going to command major money. You know, the Colts had turned down a second round pick for him back in April. I mean, that goes to show you what the NFL world thinks of him. And I would argue Pierce more to improve his, you know, overall repertoire this season. So, you know, can you resign Pierce? This gets back into the conversation we had a few minutes ago about Daniel Jones and the money and all of it. You know, Michael Pitman Jr., does he get a third contract here? you know, Pitman only resigned for three years. His thought was, let me get two years into it and then do another one. So, you know, these are all questions that you’re about to have. But as far as Mitchell is concerned, I mean, this sounds bad to say, and I don’t mean it in this light, but you know, if Pitman or Pierce were to go down for an extended period of time and Mitchell was forced into, you know, now, of course, they might just say, “Do you’re back in there. But if Mitchell was forced into a month of playing time, could you get a better idea of exactly what it looks like if you had to live with some of the growing pains and you almost couldn’t take him out and then all of a sudden you got to the end of the game and you’re like, well, you know, he did have those one or two screw-ups, but he also made, you know, six catches for 72 yards and, you know, something along those lines. What could you see there? So obviously no one is rooting for injuries here, but you know, for the Mitchell side of it, um it almost seems like he’ll need something like that to happen in order to get a true evaluation on him, or I I should say a further evaluation on him. Yeah. And a quick a quick followup on uh what you just mentioned there and and shout out to Chris from the UK group who asked this. Obviously this off seasonason now we’ve got Daniel Jones, Braden Smith, Quitty Pay, AP, and Nick Cross. Yeah. I mean, you probably can’t resign all five guys would be my guess. If you were if you were to rank those to which ones you wouldn’t wouldn’t sign. Where would you go with that that list? Yeah. Jones, Pierce, give them to me again. Braden Cross, who’s the fifth one? Uh, Quitty. Quitty pay. Quitty. Yeah, I definitely let Quiddy walk. I think I’d let pro Braden Smith falls into the pass the torch. Um, again, in an ideal world, yeah, you would bring back everybody, but I just don’t think that’s realistic. You know, you got to look at the dollars in the sense of it. Um, you know, Jaylen Travis, a fourth round pick out of Iowa State. I think there is some intrigue there and what he could be. Um, Gonzalez, I do think is going to be a guard. I know some people have debated, could you bump him back out to tackle? Um, but those three, you know, paying safety, two safeties big money, I don’t think is ideal NFL uh, puzzle pieces putting together, but I I you know, Cross has played really sound football and I don’t know what your depth looks like there. So, yeah, Jones and Pierce, I think, are the big ones. Um, it’s probably worth pointing out, too, you know, some other extensions have to be thought about. Pitman, Nelson. Um, I’m trying to think who else falls into that camp there. There’s got to be somebody else defensively. You know, maybe Taylor. Maybe it’s a little early on that you given a running back a third contract. Sounds wild. But Taylor again, you know, he could be one that defies a little bit of those odds there. So maybe Kenny Moore as well, I think. Ah, look at that. Yes, I should have known the old 23 jersey. Yeah. And you know, again, do you pass the torch there? Is that Justin Wall-E time coming off the torn ACL? You know, all of these are just fascinating debates, but they’re great debates. I mean, we’re we’re you know, because we’re kind of saying it in the light of like, wait a minute, is this window with kind of this group, this this Ballard, Kenny, Franklin, Buckner, Nelson, Braden Smith, you know, with this kind of Ballard core, does it have a two to three year run left in it? Because, you know, Nelson is getting up there, Kenny’s getting up there, you know, Buckner’s getting up there, Grover is getting up there. You do have a lot of guys nearing 30, early 30s. You know, do you view it of, hey, we might have, you know, two-ish years. Jones, you know, you would hope age-wise would have a lot longer than that, but is that a thought that you would have here? But definitely some uh some decisions to be made with that list. Yeah. When we talk about decision- making, uh we have another question in the comments. Uh Peter, he’s from Germany. Uh if if you ever need any statistic, ask Peter. He know everyone. And hi Kevin, owner question. Uh what what’s your feeling about Kie uh having input decisions uh like trades, drafts or contracts? How hands on is she actually and how much she will be? I mean, she’s pretty close to the team, much closer than probably every other owner in the league. Uh, so yeah, what’s your opinion about that? Yeah, it’s a great question, Peter. I mean, certainly there’s a bit of an unknown. Um, I think Carly is extremely thorough in her football education and has been that um throughout the organization. And I think she’ll ask a lot of questions of why and why not. And I think those are important questions to ask when you’re a person in that position of authority. But I also, she doesn’t strike me as one that would cross the line in terms of, you know, demanding certain things. Um, and for the most part, I think her dad was like that. I think at times he kind of got painted a little unfairly. Yes, there were some things he definitely wanted and demanded. And anytime the owner says they want something, you’re probably a little bit more prone to go ahead and do that. I think we speak for everybody in uh in in work. So, um, you know, again, I see Carly being very educated in it and is going to, you know, ask those questions. Um, but, you know, I think you hire people in those positions for reasons. And, you know, I think if Carly looked organizationally and said, “Hey, why are we bottom third in anything?” She’s going to ask that question and she’s going to want to get answers to it and commit resources to try and improving in those areas. So, um, you know, for example, right now, I would assume she’s asking, hey, pass rush wise or defense-wise, you know, we got two weeks. Uh, is there something we can do? You know, what are the pros? What are the cons of it? And to me, she is, you know, a person that you want in a position like that because I think she’s going to ask the right questions without crossing that line of demanding things just to demand things and be, you know, maybe an emotional decision maker, which was probably one of her dad’s, you know, bigger faults. Yeah. I mean, quick follow up on that one. Obviously, I think at the start of the season with with all the quarterback battle decision, everything like that, I think the question was how hot was Chris Ballard and Shane Stiken’s seat now seven games and we are I mean we should say we’re only seven games in so there’s still a long way to go. Are we are we now more thinking about extensions for those guys as opposed to whether they’re going to be here next year? Yeah, I it’s a yeah, definitely a totally fair question and one that I’ve thought about. Hey, I’m trying to think back to I want to say Ballard and Reich got extended through 2026 if I remember correctly. So assuming that hasn’t been touched, Ballard’s got what, one more year. And then Stiken, I want to say it was originally a six-year deal. So he was 2023 higher. So you still have several more years on that. Um yeah, I it’s to me it’s one of the bigger unknowns of just we just don’t know. Um, you know, in an NFL life, yeah, I I would assume those extensions would occur, but the reason why you I do pause just a little bit is we don’t know how Carly Ers will run the show, truly run the show. And when she was hired, she was not in a position, just with how the NFL calendar works to do anything. Uh, um, even if, you know, whatever, she felt like the previous resume deserved to have some action there. Um, so that is where I just I can’t answer it totally confidently and like yeah I mean if this trajectory goes and knowing how GMs and head coaches typically work um you don’t want to you know let go of Shane Stiken I mean with how well he has coached and you know obviously from a GM standpoint the GM typically hires the head coach so you know letting go of Ballard but keeping stiken is that awkward You know, we’ve seen that happen around the league where teams have, you know, had GMs that haven’t hired that coach and then boom, they make a move. Tennessee being the poster child of it with Mike Frael, you know, a couple years ago and that thing got awkward quick and I think Tennessee is highly regretting it now. So, that’s just the one unknown of like, you know, I I’ll speak from my, you know, personal background here at the radio station. When you get new bosses, usually change happens. So, that’s just how it goes. whether those people are doing great things or not doing great things. You know, they want to hire their own people. But in this case, Carly obviously has relationships with Chris and with Shane. Probably more involved with Shane uh than you know, Chris going all the way back. You know, I think her dad was much more involved with that hire back in 2017. So my assumption would be yes they are here and you know potentially extensions would be there but you know there’s just the old unknown of how quickly does she want to make her stamp and what would that look like uh if and when she does. Mhm. So, and again I I love it that the chat is pretty active uh on my first live episode. Uh always again uh he he’s asking for JT uh having that huge amount of workload he actually have. You you said luckily uh he he’s healthy probably as never. Uh but if we get closer to the playoffs and he still will play or have to play actually he he will play that much. Uh will it be an issue going down the stretch? Yeah, this is a real question that I have as well. I I think they’d be wise to try and scale back a little bit with him right now. If you look at the games where they’ve played competitive teams, you know, Denver, the Rams, you know, th those games that have been really close, he is playing a ton of snaps. I mean, it’s right up there with Christian McCaffrey in terms of how many snaps he’s playing. And it’s a grind, man. 17 weeks is a grind and then you tack on whatever you are going to tack on from a January standpoint. Uh, you know, I want him as fresh as possible and I get it. some of his great success is because he plays so much and in the third and fourth quarter um he can outlast a lot of these guys and you know to me Amir Abdullah has proven to be pretty reliable here in the last couple weeks. Um I’d be curious if they go back to DJ Giddons at all. Um but I think it, you know, I’m not saying Taylor’s got to sit the whole series. Uh you know, you do see some teams that literally do that. They will sit their starting running back for an entire series. Uh but you know sitting him a little bit more than they currently are. I’m trying to think of Sunday. Sunday he probably was right around 90% of the snaps again. I mean that’s a big no in a game you won by two scores. I mean that is a big big number. So um yes that is something that I think I would like to see them do but I’m not holding my breath knowing how they operate. I’m not saying that’s a guarantee at all. So Kevin you you told us you have about 30 minutes uh in here. Uh we we actually took you for 40. Um I got I got I got five more minutes if we want to chat about anything else. This has been terrific. Yeah. Uh so yeah before you leave uh just two more quick questions. Will will you be able to come to Berlin? So unfortunately I will not. My wife is actually due with her third kid um the Monday after um the Monday after the game. Right. Isn’t it the ninth? Yeah. Yeah. Um, so I will not, um, I’ve shared the story before. I went to the game in at Wembley in 16 against Jacksonville. I mean, to say I loved it would be an understatement. U, now it was my first time um, overseas and so there was probably an element of that, but I I just I thought it was awesome. We stayed up at the Grove. I remember I still think NFL teams are utilizing that facility that come over there. I was blown away by Wembley. Regent Street that Friday before was one of the coolest things I’ve seen. I remember Bejorn Verer. I remember seeing him in the crowd uh walking up to the stage. I still look at the pictures on my phone uh from that FanFest and we were at Admir Admirality I believe was the pub that we did some radio from there on Friday as well. Um and the stadium was just awesome. So, uh I think the international games are so great. I want NFL. I, you know, I hope that we get to a point in time, you know, the whole franchise debate. I get there are some difficulties there, but you know, I’d love to see where uh every, you know, every team is playing probably every other year. I mean, can you go eight games? You know, that’s what 16 teams every year. I mean, that to me seems very doable. Um, so yeah, I I I I hope it’s a great game. I mean, I’m glad that the Colts are playing this well and finally Germany or finally one of the international games will have some marquees and I think Atlanta’s a fun team. You know, I think they’ve got some entertainment as well. Um, and Raheem Morris was a guy the Colts really loved in their head coaching search uh that settled on Shane Syen. So, unfortunately, I will not be there in spirit and brewing the coffee early in the morning and uh hopefully a little more entertaining than uh Colts Patriots in in Frankfurt. Yeah, the the beer definitely got us through that one. Yeah, I can imagine. So, before we uh let you pick the Titans game before you leave, uh you talked about your kids. I think uh Dan had a question from the UK crew, too. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I was going to ask, do we have any early indication on which way Max is leaning for Sunday? Yeah, that is a great question. I actually just moved the helmets up to our kitchen before uh before work today. I’m like, “All right, got to make sure that we uh that we do them tonight.” Helmet pick, I you know, he picked Colts over Titans back in week three. That was of course an outdoor pick. I I I go outdoors for the outdoor games. We’ll be inside uh tonight, assuming that we do the pick tonight. So, little humbled after last week, you know, he had five straight wins. So, yes, this is my three-year-old son. Yeah, I saw he went for the tie initially and then then had to had to had to pick someone. I know. And I was like thinking to myself, “Oh my gosh, if Herbert leads this back and all of a sudden this game goes into overtime. I’m gonna we need to move to Las Vegas and all of a sudden get this kid into some uh, you know, bigger and better things.” So his record is uh is a pretty good record here. So I I assume he’ll go Colts. You know, the Titan helmet a little bit intimidating on the side of it. U but we’ll see how it unfolds. You know, for the for the for the Berlin game a little I’m a little nervous. you know, the Falcon and and you he’s got affinity for animals on the side of helmets. So, we’ll see how that goes. No. Yeah. Uh last one. Uh give us a peak for Sunday. Yeah. I think the Colts will roll. Um absolutely roll. Um, you know, I know Cam Ward’s probably been a little bit better than some of the numbers have indicated, but you know, one thing about the Colts, and this credit to Chris Ballard, you know, he has really prided himself on, you know, high individual character players. And to me, that means when you get into games where you’re this massive favorite, your football character so high, you don’t overlook them. You don’t necessarily treat them, you know, in a cocky manner. So, I’d be surprised if if the Colts, you know, came out slow or sluggish or things like that. Um, you know, they’ve handled their business so well in these games already this season and this one, you know, probably to another level considering they’re a 14-point favorite, which is obviously a big number in the NFL. But, yeah, I uh I fully expect them to handle their business well. And then I I’m really looking forward to the rest of the schedule. you know, for those that watch Seattle last night, um, you know, games like Pittsburgh and, you know, at Kansas City after the buy and, you know, San Francisco’s a Monday night game here at Lucas Oil. I mean, once you get through Tennessee, you’re really facing a lot of teams right there, either playoff teams or right there in the mix. So, I I think it’ll be really healthy for the Colts to face that competition in the second half of the season uh to kind of ride into whatever the postseason run looks like. Yeah, maybe some uh maybe some more games to be flexed. Looking at the schedule, I think that Chiefs game that Chiefs game has got a flex written all over it, which is not not good for you guys from a sleep. It’s the It’s that middle window game which is just an odd one for me. Like if it’s 1:00 in the morning, it’s better because you kind of just you set yourself up for that day, but it’s that 9 till 12. It’s just like no, that’s a bit of an odd one. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you that you uh took your time. Uh thank you for for being with us. Uh you said you you would like to come back uh in the beginning. Uh you are always welcome here. Uh so yeah, I I I will leave you a message after after we’re done. Uh thank you very much. Uh we are really honored to to have you here. Uh yeah, definitely. Well, thank you guys for having me. I was uh I was honored when I saw the message and uh yeah, I genuinely mean it. I I I I’d love to come back. I think one of the coolest things about doing this job is seeing how global um you know there are fans out there and how much people appreciate your work. So, um it’s a one of the many reasons why I love sports. So, you guys enjoy it. For those that are going to the Berlin game, have have an absolute blast and hopefully we can do this again maybe uh maybe around playoff time. That sounds good. So, cheers, Kevin. Cheers, guys. Cheers. Thanks. So for for all the others uh look still looking uh we will keep on staying for a while. Uh we going to get closer I think into the Titans game. Uh yeah. How do you guys feel about uh basically it feels like no one is playing on Sunday? Uh is it again like Arizona kind of a two game? Uh or is it just roll over them? Yeah, I mean I saw that Simmons isn’t playing. So they released Lockit. Simmons isn’t going to play. Uh who else are they missing? I I felt like I read they’re missing someone else. Sne [Music] can be trappy. It just feels honestly right now at home I don’t know if any game feels particularly trappy with what the way this offense is playing. Like I can see on the road if the crowd’s loud the offense could get out of sync. You know in the Chiefs game for instance that could be a tough a tough one for the offense to stay in rhythm but just at home I don’t know. It feels like another game where anything less than points would be a surprise for us. For me, the game is I hope JT can stay sometimes at the bench. Uh, and our starter sitting there uh because usually you need to destroy the Titans. The the team is really bad. The the owner says, “Holy, we’re really bad.” So, yeah, you don’t can can say we we lose there. So I hope brings our starters at the bench sometimes. So Ady Mitchell good, maybe Dulan comes back. So they they are our starters at this game. It is a little bit easier and Pierce is healthy. Pitman is healthy. Um Abdullah makes a good job. So this may be better to let him bring more snaps. Uh that’s my hope for this weekend. A safe win. No, no discussion about the win. And maybe Tyler Goodson as well at running back. I think he’s been practicing at least for the past couple weeks. He just hasn’t made the game day roster yet. So, he could be back. Another another guy to take some of the load off of JT maybe because yeah, I mean the Chargers game like I mean I think it was that on that final drive where you know we’re up two scores and I think it was like three minutes on the clock and we still had JT out there and I’m like why is JT still out there? Please, please put anyone else out there right now. uh the these two scores against the Chargers. I mean, we we are all fans for a long time. Uh it was like two minutes ago, two scores ahead, and I was still sitting in front of my TV. Oh, I I hope they didn’t blow Yeah, their final drive, the fourth downs were killing me. Even at fourth and 27 or what it whatever it was, it was absolutely killing me. I was like, “Oh, I just felt like I’d seen it before.” But I mean, I guess that is the one thing that I think is a bit different to us this year is we we don’t seem to be touchwood doing things like we did against the Vikings. I think the Cowboys we did it where we just get like blown out like for for like a quarter. A bit like what happened to the Giants on Sunday. We just all of a sudden put like give up 30 points in a quarter. It right now touch it doesn’t feel like this team’s going to do that. So it’s it’s been fun to watch. What about you Andreas? That’s what you’re saying about Sunder. I think yeah, on Arizona I was more afraid of that this could go wrong. I mean, it barely went wrong. Uh but yes, this this Sunday, last time the coach played at Lucas Oil, uh I was there. It was really fun. Uh we we we played three awesome quarters. uh in last quarter we just stopped playing football but it still was enough uh till uh though yeah I think uh it will be a dominant win against these Titans team it should be Mhm. Yeah. I mean the the big question for me is is who’s who’s booking their flights to Indie for sort of mid to late January. That’s why that’s what I keep looking at at the moment. Wait, let me then you can book San Francisco. Well, yeah. You know, I was thinking about this, but I feel like going to watch the like let’s I mean, obviously it’s too early to say, but say we’re we’re the number one seed. No, I felt like I feel like a home a home Lucas Oil playoff game would be awesome to go see. Yeah, it would be nice. Yeah, but I think home playoff game is then you go and go to San Francisco is maybe cheaper. So I remember last time the calls um we was there two years ago at the loser Texans. Mhm. Marceli was staying there in hope of a playoff game at Indie. So after the lose outside was Caleb Bailey uh the event manager the event director of the Colts. So and the Colts have buy some drones to make a horseshoe and um yeah celebrate the playoffs and then the only thing was the horseshoe. Thank you for it. So um and and the franchise was buying some draw for a special moment outside you come off the stadium and then yeah you lose with one pass. So uh I think it is big in Indie. All Indie fans told me hey if you stay here and we go in the playoffs the whole city is blue. We make all in blue. So and to see it one times live. Yeah it’s a good thing. Yeah. Yes, we have Brody. He was there in that 2020 Steelers. Uh yeah, it was Kristoff Mar and me was there too at the Texans game. Uh Marcel and me were lucky enough to get invited to suit uh right behind uh the the uh the end zone. Uh though the last play happened right in front of us. Uh, so yeah, it was really a rough day. Yeah, that I mean I still see that play right now. So that was a killer that play. It was so Katie. I was staying with some guys of the blue crew in the in the area. So you start with this bomb uh touch on you seven. Okay, that’s over. The whole game was going to to the Texas. Oh god, why? So then we come back and you see on how we get it that playoff save and why he dropped this ball. This was not a nice moment. This was the ball comes down. Okay, we go out. Nope. No, it’s over. So no. Yeah. Uh one of the craziest moments for the cardiac codes for me. Like 0 and three in Perth. That’s tough. Okay. But you need to think the best part for me and Marcel of this game is uh we we got some little giveaways. So Mari was driving with the car with the blueprint. Andreas was driving to a hotel and it was raining. So it was a paper bag. So Andreas was driving on electric scooter and sent this message. my back is broken. They sign the ball and the helmet are dropping back on the three. So the whole time Marcel and me we see Andreas, we are laughing about this. So it it it was really awesome. The the the Colts gave us we we don’t know why. Uh they gave us all a signed football uh a signed helmet, a signed blue was in there and I don’t know if something huge else was in it. Uh yeah, and I was after the game it was snowy, rainy, damn cold, uh drunk. Uh and yeah, having all this stuff took with me, it was it was such a mess. So yeah, about Poly’s message. Uh yeah, probably you’re actually you you’re actually not allowed to go to games this year. Yeah. Yeah. I’d ask is Brody coming to Berlin? That’ be ask obviously we didn’t we didn’t fully touch on it this week just obviously with with Kevin, but what do we think about the Chargers game? I mean, the offense just were humming, right? I mean, looked unstoppable on offense. those offense just can if they play like the Chargers most of the time every team uh will have stress with with with that offense. I mean, what JT is doing, how the O line’s blocking, uh, Tyler Warren, Daniel Jones. Oh, wait, wait. You You talk positive at Daniel Jones. I I never talk I never talk bad about him. Uh, I just don’t rank him top five or stuff like that. That uh that tenants beer must be strong, right? That must be some serious alcohol in that one. My on my list is after the Super Bowl is his shame walk around the stadium. I’m I’m still on it. If if Daniel Jones brings a Super Bowl, I will be in India and take the ball of shame and I’m I’m pretty sure a lot of people need to join me. Yeah. Yeah. I think Yeah, there’s there’s a fairly long list, I’d say, of us that were were out on Daniel Jones. Definitely at the start. So we have I think it’s it’s it’s it’s flow from the profile picture. He said to Brady, “Yeah, just just stay away from the playoffs and then you’re good for one or two this season.” That’s a good point. Who thought Who thought as Colts fans we’d be talking about the playoffs in week seven the way the season? Didn’t see it coming. So yeah, guys, I think we we had an awesome win against the Chargers. We we didn’t talk about it much, but yeah, uh we we have an an awesome guest. Uh Kevin, if if you watch it still, thank you again. Uh really appreciate uh the activity in the chat. Uh thanks everybody for watching us going live with us for the first time. Uh so next week we’re going to be live again. Uh so guys help me. I think it’s Monday or is it Tuesday? Tuesday. Tuesday. It it’s Tuesday. Uh 7:00 for Germans and 6:00 for the UK’s and we we will have uh another two tremendous guests. Uh it’s JJS Denovitz uh will join us next week. Uh we will do it live again. Uh so if you have any questions to JJ uh save it, let us know. You you can join us. Uh you can ask it in the chat or you can send it to us before. So yeah, thanks everybody for watching. See you next week with another win hopefully. Cheers. Cheers. Go Colts.