Stampede Blue

The Indianapolis Colts OT loss to the Houston Texans in Week 4 will not soon be forgotten. The final play that the Colts ran offensively, though, certainly does not sum up this game nor should it. Andrew Luck put up a massive stat line (40-62, 464 yards, 4 TDs) that should quiet those saying that his arm can't do this or can't do that due to some lack of arm strength. The Colts defense had themselves a game, too, despite the fact that the Texans finished with as many points as they did. They held the Texans' running backs, forced a turnover and held up in the red zone on some possessions just as they had through the first three games. The Colts offense did gift the Texans 14 points after all. With all of that clearly in the rearview mirror, Frank Reich's 4th-and-4 call to go for it, in his own territory has no shortage of opinions coming out. Of course I've got mine as well, but it goes less towards "should he have gone for it on 4th down in a tie game," and more in the direction of what was happening in t

As always, we find that there are a handful of moves -- both up and down -- for several of the Indianapolis Colts in regards to their respective Pro Football Focus grades. I think you could somewhat guess that the offense and the defense were not equally as impressive to the grading scale. The Colts offense had one of their least impressive outputs in quite awhile with Andrew Luck under center. Nevertheless, some players definitely did impress, some absolutely did not, and some others appear to be stuck in a weird spot with the metric site. Defensively, however, it's quite fun to see what others are thinking about the Colts upstart unit. Naturally, Darius Leonard has been catching everyone's eye, but there is another linebacker who hasn't been playing too shabby himself. The Colts secondary has some interesting results as well, and we see that the Colts are indeed getting some credit at all three levels of their defense. In our look at their individual grades, and where they currently stand, I also will

It's undeniable that this Indianapolis Colts roster is bringing about some surprises already in this young 2018 season. Nobody expected Darius Leonard to be playing at this level, even if they liked him coming into the season, but he's not the only one to be turning some heads. Luke Schultheis joined me today to discuss a little bit of everything, including our most surprising Colts on both sides of the ball thus far, our most underrated starters and rotational players and more organic conversation about the state of the team as well. One of the most interesting positions for the Colts has been the tight end room. The position was considered a major strength coming into the season, but the look of the group has taken on a new form in a very short time. Ross Travis was placed on IR, Darrell Daniels was traded to Seattle, and now the Colts have their most prized tight end, Jack Doyle, out and hasn't practiced yet this week. Luke and Matt briefly discuss the situation surrounding Andrew Luck, the team's seco

The Indianapolis Colts Week 3 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles was a heart-breaker. Maybe the most difficult thing to swallow was the amount of time the Colts' offense was off the field -- and the defense on it -- throughout that possession. This drive's duration featured some bad plays by a few individuals on the defense, but mostly the defense brought their high-energy, fast approach and did a very good job in keeping Carson Wentz guessing. The Colts weren't helped by some awful calls from the officials, and thus we see the creation of a long, sustained drive that ends up with the Eagles getting into the end zone and creating the final scoring gap of 20-16. Today Matt will take you through each of these plays to dissect the Colts defense and describe what he saw after re-watching and gaining some perspective out of the mess that it was. Additionally, Matt brings on David Strauss from Mybookie to go over five of the most interesting matchups for Week 4 in the NFL, as well as the Colts-Texans matchup, and

The Indianapolis Colts found themselves in a familiar position Sunday in Philadelphia. They, despite having an awful day offensively, were in a position to control their own destiny. Unfortunately, and as you already know, the Colts failed to take advantage of that, and several other opportunities throughout the game. Between Andrew Luck and Frank Reich something has got to change with how this offense is performing. Luck threw the ball 40 times Sunday and until late in the final possession, was at a rate of less than 3 yards per attempt. That should be unacceptable by anyone's standards and certainly by Luck and Reich's. The running game is almost non-existent, the receivers aren't getting open regularly enough -- especially not early in their routes -- and they are missing opportunities in the red zone. The Colts missed a couple opportunities for touchdowns with drops, and bad throws, but the lack of aggression that Reich promised this fanbase has been noticeably missing. Yes, Reich will go-for-it more o

As the Indianapolis Colts prepare for their Week 3 matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles the personnel availability for both teams is not pretty. Each squad faces a loss of multiple heavy contributors, which ironically also will feature the return of Carson Wentz for his 2018 debut. The Colts won't have Jack Doyle, Anthony Castonzo or Marlon Mack against a very stout Philly front seven, but the Eagles' backfield is coming in with a depleted backfield and receiver corps which may be a lot for Wentz to deal with in his first game back. Today we welcome Kevin Hickey (Colts Wire) to dive into what the Colts have left for them to throw at the Eagles on both sides of the ball, and Michael Kist (Bleeding Green Nation) joins in the second half of the show to take a look at the other side of the equation. The Colts certainly have their hands full this Sunday, and will likely see tight end Erik Swoope elevated to the active roster in place of Doyle, and we should expect Margus Hunt to pull double duty with, both, D

The Indianapolis Colts have been a roster that has shown that the youth and speed brought in throughout the offseason has become a huge benefit for the long-term success of the team. Something that cannot be overstated, though, is Frank Reich's scheme and playcalling. Last week the Colts floundered against the Bengals in the second half as they held a sizable lead, but in Week 2 the Colts held on to their lead and dominated on both sides of the ball for large portions of the matchup. Today, we'll look at how the Colts have progressed -- according to Pro Football Focus -- form Week 1 to Week 2, and I'll discuss my thoughts on their respective movement. While we can't really nail down whether we should be in a agreement with the actual grade itself, we can come up with a vague agreement/disagreement with where they sit in regards to the rest of the league at their positions. We already know, and have spoken much about, Darius Leonard rising to the occasion against the Redskins, but there are more Colts who

After a disappointing loss in Week 1 after the Colts held a 13-point lead, the team bounced back in a major way yesterday against the Redskins. The defense was swarming all day, the offense was methodical for large stretches of the day and the coaching was excellent as well. Today we look back on Darius Leonard's fantastic performance and what that means for the Colts' defense going forward, the offensive line and how, with subs getting significant snaps at tackle, they continue to protect Andrew Luck enough to allow him to be successful at all depths of the field and what Frank Reich did before the game that may have been as important as anything he did all day. The Colts held the Skins to 65 rushing yards, zero touchdowns and disrupted their backfield all day with 11.5 tackles for loss. Additionally, the Colts are putting Reich's system to good use as Luck is spreading the ball around and Jordan Wilkins is showing his vision in the running game which allows for the dink-and-dunk attack to stay unpredictab

The Indianapolis Colts weren't in top form Sunday in their loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. You have to like what you saw from Andrew Luck, and depending on your viewpoint of where the Colts' defense is heading, there were some good signs of growth there as well. Who graded well, and who didn't? Which grades do I relatively agree with and which aren't up to snuff? Today I take you into the Colts top PFF grades at each position to see how they were seen from another point of view. Going through these should, as always, be taken with a grain of salt, but at least we believe that the grades are given by someone who actually watched the game. I'll admit, there were some surprises. I think there were a couple Colts who were given too much credit, and evening out the conversation, I felt a couple players weren't appreciated enough. Such is life. The Colts will face off against the Washington Redskins in Week 2, and they had some nice performances in Week 1 as well. For the team's sake, let's hope that more than

Today we begin to look at the Indianapolis Colts Week 2 opponents, the Washington Redskins. The Colts were first half warriors last week, but the Redskins put nearly all of their points up in the second quarter. What does this mean, if anything? Maybe nothing, but we do know that the Colts are going to have to be much better late in the game if they're going to stand a chance in Washington. The Colts will be dealing with an extremely efficient quarterback in Alex Smith, a resurgent Adrian Peterson, a do-it-all running back in Chris Thompson, tight ends Jordan Reed and receivers Jamison Crowder, Paul Richardson and Josh Doctson. How will the Colts' defense deal with, and limit this offensive attack? On the other side of the ball Andrew Luck will be seeing another impressive defense across the line of scrimmage from him. Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, Ryan Kerrigan, Ryan Anderson, Preson Smith, Zach Brown, Quinton Dunbar and Josh Norman will be working within Greg Manusky's scheme to tear up the Colts' protecti

The Indianapolis Colts came into their Week 1 battle against the Cincinnati Bengals on a mission. Andrew Luck was back under center, the defense is young and was excited to show off their speed and on top of all that, a new play-caller in head coach Frank Reich as well. 34-23 looks bad, but this game was so much closer than the final score suggests. The Colts built themselves a halftime lead, and put up some cushion on their second drive of the second half to lead 23-10 halfway through the third quarter. But, it was the Bengals who put up 24 straight points to steal a game in Indy where they've never played well. We saw some very good things out of the offense; a patchwork offensive line did pretty well for themselves, they were excellent on third downs and we saw how quickly Andrew Luck could strike once he gets into a rhythm. Defensively, all Colts fans should be excited about what they saw out of the group despite the rushing yards, and a few hiccups throughout their performance. This group created pre

The Indianapolis Colts have a lot to look forward to with their youthful roster. But, will that be a delayed in the Colts' home opener against the powerful defense of the Cincinnati Bengals? Joe Goodberry (from the Athletic Cincinnati) joins Matt Danely to discuss every facet of the team's 2018 season debut. The Bengals offense will be one where we largely know what we're getting. A.J. Green, Andy Dalton, Joe Mixon and more will be squaring off against an inexperienced Colts defense in which the Colts find themselves in a situation where their season will largely weigh on forcing turnovers and outplaying their expectations. Several rookies and second-year players will be taking on this task against a quick-passing offense in which creating pressure on the passer may be slim pickings. The Colts offense will have a rough matchup out of the gate as well. Can the Colts backfield become a legitimate force as a unit, or will they struggle to complement the offense, making them one-dimensional? Additionally, can

Saturday the Indianapolis Colts set their initial 53-man roster. For the most part, they put together a group that most of us saw coming. There were some surprises, and those moves set the Colts fan base down a strange path. Fans and analysts alike didn't agree with them, but Chris Ballard certainly has his process that he believes in and is sticking to it. Two of those moves were the release of John Simon, and Ryan Delaire being waived after making the initial roster. One that is also of a bit strange for some is the trade that sent Darrell Daniels to the Seattle Seahawks in return for receiver Marcus Johnson. I look at all of these and try to make sense of it all. We discuss the current 53-man group as a whole, looking at the initial roster and what the subsequent moves that have changed it since. The Colts' lack of movement on the waiver wire, and how the roster is currently structured lends one to believe that more changes will be coming soon. The Colts have also began setting up their practice squad. At

The Indianapolis Colts, like every other NFL team, will be getting that chance to see a ton of their depth players tonight in the fourth preseason game of the year against the Cincinnati Bengals.  Today we'll take a look at each of the positions, and which players there will need to put on a show in order to make their case for the initial 53-man roster. The offensive line needs to show up, playmakers need to be formed in the back-7 of the Colts' defense, and some of the depth along the defensive line needs to prove they can get to the passer as well. The running back situation is so fluid right now, that this group must put on a good performance. With Marlon Mack likely out for at least Week 1 and Robert Turbin sidelined with his suspension even the immediate backups have to show their worth tonight.  Waiver claims still present a challenge for the backend of this roster, though. There is so much on the line for the depth players as the preseason comes to a close. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podc

With 53-man roster cuts looming throughout the league, we know that the Colts can be expected to be active as waivers start going through. There are plenty of positions in which the Colts could use an influx of more talent in order to improve their roster. Today we take a quick look at a handful of players who may be cut at the end of the week, at positions the Colts might need to take a look at. Naturally, we can't possibly know who all will be available around the league, but there are certainly some names we continue to hear who are firmly on the roster bubble. A couple receivers, corners, defensive ends and more that may not be massive upgrades, but the fact remains that the talent level will be increased with their presence. Also, I talk to Davis Strauss (mybookie) about some of the betting odds on the Colts 2018 season. The over/under on Adam Vinatieri breaking the all-time scoring record, Andrew Luck being the comeback player of the year, the Colts chances of winning the AFC South, and who the team off

One thing we continue to admit, regardless of how successful the 2018 Indianapolis Colts are, is that there are multiple areas of the roster that will bring excitement to the season. Today Stephen Holder joins me to examine some specific roster battles, and concerns that we may find with certain players. The defensive end position continues to draw some real interest in regards to how real Ryan Delaire is and what he could bring to the position. The obvious questions surrounding Tarell Basham and his viability on the roster as well as how the rest of the position works out with a focus on who gets the snaps in different packages. We dive into the right tackle debate as well. Is the Austin Howard expirement worth ending if he's not the starter? Can Braden Smith become the starter at the position with consideration to his ups and downs, as well as a look at his ceiling at right tackle in spite of his being a natural guard?  Nyheim Hines has obviously been taken away from punt return duties, but what's with his

Andrew Luck is still back. Despite the national craziness over his second preseason outing, Luck proved to everyone that he simply didn't have his best day. Saturday, he actually did have his best day in the preseason and led the Colts to a 23-17 victory over the 49ers. Luck wasn't the only one who stood out, though. At least one player at each position had some positive to discuss, but there were a few who made it quite clear that they aren't where they need to be quite yet. A lot of rookies impressed Saturday including Darius Leonard, Skai Moore and Zaire Franklin.  On the other hand, the Colts learned that at least one right tackle has no business in the starting lineup, they may have lost another who was just getting back into action, and now the waiting game begins on how the Colts are going to find an answer at the position. The Colts defensive line needs to address some issues as well, that we'll get into in this episode. Why were they allowing so much yardage on the ground and how are they going to mi

There were a few interesting developments regarding Oakland Raiders' stud defensive end Khalil Mack yesterday. There was a tweet from Eric Galko stating that he was indeed on the trade block. Then there was a tweet stating virtually the opposite from Ted Nguyen of the Athletic. https://twitter.com/OptimumScouting/status/1032634100342030336 https://twitter.com/FB_FilmAnalysis/status/1032677701528641536 At any rate, this conversation is simply too fun not to have. I take a look at what we don't know yet about Chris Ballard's philosophy, and how despite understanding that he wants to build through the draft, and he won't pay top-dollar for mid-tier talent, but neither of those have anything to do with a dominant pass rusher with more than 40 sacks in his first 4 years in the league if he is indeed available. I examine how even if Ballard were to use a couple first rounders in order to acquire Mack it wouldn't necessarily break any of his own rules in how to build a contender. I discuss what holes Mack could cove

The Indianapolis Colts took a loss in their second preseason game of the 2018 season to the Baltimore Ravens. Nobody is excited about what they saw from Andrew Luck, but that doesn't mean that anyone's concerned by it either. On the other hand, there were other individual performances that did catch our attention and should lead to some intrigue when looking ahead to the 2018 regular season.  While the Colts have an extremely young roster right now, the focus is naturally going to be on those rookies and second-year players who could have an impact on the season this year. Darius Leonard, Skai Moore, Matthew Adams and Zaire Franklin all forced us to take notice for positive reasons. A few young receivers made some impressive catches Monday night and could very well find themselves in the thick of the roster race as injuries and poor play from others have become pretty common lately. Chris Shepherd joins me today to discuss al of this as well as a host of other topics. We talk about the impact the return of Ma

It's finally here. The Indianapolis Colts seem to have had a massive layoff between their first and second preseason game, but Monday night the Colts host the Baltimore Ravens. The Colts will then have their third and fourth preseason games within the next 11 days. Today we touch on some of the latest news surrounding the team, including the joint practices with the Ravens, new injuries who will keep some players out as well as the news surrounding the iconic voice of the Colts and his decision to retire. Matt takes a look at some of the more interesting players/positions to keep an eye on for the Colts-Ravens matchup. There are positions to look at mainly to see if they have improved after a week of practice and film review to work out some kinks, but there are also some to watch to see if anyone can step up and make the position itself better based solely on talent. Injuries have been a real factor with the Colts as of late. A handful of rookies have been out lately, but will be back in action Monday night.