The OTP | Preview of Week 4 vs. Colts

We'll actually be going at some point on Saturday. The game is Sunday at twelve o two Central Time. That means it is eleven o'clock Central time for Amy Wells and Rhet Bryan with Titans Countdown on any of our fifty Titans radio stations. And if you are going to the game and you would like to get together with some Titans fans, Titans cheerleaders, Titans mascot t rack, you can do so. The Titans Road Rally. It's presented by

Old Smokey Distillery. There's a pepper rally on Saturday night from seven to ten Eastern six to nine Central at sixteen Bit Bar and Arcade and then tailgate party on Sunday from ten am to twelve thirty eastern at the Airloom right outside of Lucas Oil Stadium. So the road Rally Weekend presented by Old Smokey Distillery PEP Rally at sixteen Bit Bar and Arcade seven to ten Eastern on Saturday night, and then the game day party at the Airloom at Lucas Oil Stadium from ten am to twelve

thirty eastern on Sunday. A road rally a gathering spot. Yes, I like when everybody can get together before the game, celebrate, meet some friends. Well that's the only thing it's really hard about this is very rarely do the Titans play that close to home, because Indianapolis is about four hours away. Atlanta's three and a half. Yeah, New Orleans isn't bad. I think it's probably seven and a half to eight. The Ohio's aren't far. The Ohios aren't far at all.

Cleveland Cincinnati, Cincinnati is about the same distance, maybe just a little further than Indianapolis. But we don't play them every year. Now we're in the same division for thirty plus years. Yeah, and that used to be an annual trip that was really great. And I like Cincinnati very much. It was an easy trip, and Cleveland's not bad. It's considerably further though. Yeah, Cincinnati and Indie are the two

that are very reasonable road trips. Just you can go up and back in a day if you want to, but we suggest going the night before, make a trip of it. Then you can go to all of the festivity. Well. And thanks to Old Smoky Distillery for sponsoring those two events for the fan base, and we know a lot of you like to go up there. It's a it's a great downtown. It's Amy's favorite trip because of the Combine, and Amy continues to celebrate the fact that the Combine

will stay in Indianapolis. I feel like people think that I like work for the Indianapolis like tourism Bureau. Yeah, I don't. I just like the consistency of having that event specifically in Indianapolis. I think that it's a downtown that lends itself so well. So if it were in Oakland every year, you would be for that just because it was in the same spot every year. If it was in Oakland, no, if it was as convenient as what Indie provides Oakland would nobody because traffic is a nightmare.

You are going to have a hard time finding anybody who can do it better than Indianapolis because of a their downtown and be the medical facilities that are close enough to be able to do all of the testing for the players that they want to do. Nobody ever said that it wasn't the best set up, right. It's just the league wants to make more money off of it. And I understand that, and really I get it, and that's why Indy and for all the talk about all

Indie kept it, Indy kept it because they paid more money. Yeah, they were getting, which God love him, and I appreciate that, and I hope it stays there forever. It's not because it is so convenient, and we get the new stadium here, it'll be here well, and that would be very convenient, and I appreciate that. Ease and convenience is what I like. I would say this to all the OT people. It is a great trip. It's a great trip. It's a

really nice city, and the people are friendly. I mean, they want to beat us and we want to beat them. We all get that. And their owners tweeting out today trying to get the fans fired up. I mean, okay, so it's a rivalry, fine, but it's not nasty or I mean, I don't find it to be Did you want them to be primal? Is that the word he used? Primal? Pissed off and primal? Yeah, it's I mean, yeah, whoa, yeah, whoa is right? Whoa? That's he is quite a follow

on Twitter. Oh, he's a great follow on Twitter. Not so great if you work in the public relations department for the Indianapolis Colts. I don't think. Didn't you deal with him regularly when you interned there? Not regularly, but I did have. Well, he has very specific specifications for how he likes his morning news delivered to him. Okay, in his news clippings that go out to the whole organization, they are in a very specific manner. It is organized

in a certain way. He wants to know very specific things about very specific teams, because this is how he gets a lot of his news. It's organized in a specific way. And you understand, let's stop for just a second and explain what lips are. So people, Yeah, every team in the National Football League, and I'm sure a lot of other places have all of the news that has been reported about a team in the last say, twelve to twenty four hours put together in one document.

So it's a lot of running through the ESPN's all your beat writers, all news articles that have anything to do with, say, the Tennessee Titans, are all compiled into one document. There's a lot of different ways to do it. Every team has certain quirks about the way that it's done, the way that that's assembled. Indie has one of the most thorough clippings documents I've ever seen. So they don't just email links out. Oh no, my friends, do you think they still even ten years later, they still print

everything out for him in this way? Oh, I'm sure, I am sure of it. There was factsing involved. There were I did that. It is your internship duties a variety of places, and most interns that what you did in Baltimore, as we did in Baltimore as well. Were they as stringent about it? Absolutely not. No, just the basic Yeah, just the basic kind of stuff, And the same with here at the Titans. It's kind of your basic form. It's the news of the day, and it's all in a document, and you love to have it,

and it's very helpful there. It was organized, and it was in a certain specific order, and you have a table contents, and it has an appropriate cover sheet, and you include a lot of other things about other teams, because he wants to have a very well rounded perspective of what's going on within an organization. And so that's how he's getting his news. And I mean, you got

to respect it. I do. I mean, if if I own the team and I wanted to take it as seriously as possible, I see nothing wrong with being specific about what you want to read. Because his time is valuable, exactly, he just like Amy Adam strunk Hurt, I'm as valuable. You don't want your owner to waste time looking for something or reading something that has no relevance to what they need to know for their day. And he wants it to be the first thing that he consumes in

the morning. So he get it to him really early, really really how early six am? When I was there. He needed it by six Does he still lift weights like he used to? Is that? Does he read it while he works out? That? I don't know, because he saw him consuming He was a nationally ranked powerlifter at one point in his life. Yeah, and he's had some back issues surgery, I can say, so, Yeah, it's a little bit different. But I mean the pictures of him

back in the eighties like deadlifting and power cleaning. Yeah, I mean it is no joke. It's no joke. He is a renaissance man in that he has a lot of interests that are just why. I mean he has he has collections guitars, all kinds of things, tars, but all kinds of other historical documents and relics and things that he's just kind of gathered over the years. I mean, he is a man of many interests. He's super eclectic,

which is really cool. And his number one thing is the Indianapolis Colts though, and I mean he is all in. There's nothing wrong all over the road in terms of he wants. He has thoughts and ideas here and free here's what I say about this. And I mean people oftentimes joke about certain owners like a Jerry Jones or the late George Steinbrenner with the New York Yankees, And as you know, I'm a Yankee fan. And congratulations, by the way, thank you George Steinbrenner was kind of nuts,

you know. I mean, he did some he did some very strange things. But you know what, Amy, as a Yankee fan, that's what I wanted, because all I'm interested in is winning championships. I want I want the Yankee I mean, I get up. The first thing I do every morning is I get on my phone and I find the box score and I'll sit there while I'm watching TV at night going over the box score and updates on the games and who they're bringing in from

the bullpen. I mean, I'm serious about it. I want my owner to be as serious, if not more serious than I am. So I have mad respect for an owner like Earsay who says, hey, I mean, we want to win the whole thing. This is our goal. We're not getting it done. I mean a lot of people poked fund at his video at the end of last year, and I didn't because I get it. I mean, so that's not normal to some people, but to me as a fan. If I'm a Colts fan, that's what I want.

That's why I win. Our owner stands up and says we want to win a championship, and then she spends a whole bunch of money on a whole bunch of players and coaches, buildings and stuff. That shows me she's committed to winning a championship. Doesn't guarantee that you will, But I want my owner to be as committed as I am as a fan. And the thing about Amy Adams Strunk that makes her so popular beyond just her enthusiasm,

her passion, her obvious complete buy into the organization. With the amount of just the widespread amount of ways that she has invested in this team, you get her without the crazy, which you do, which she's crazy. She's very relatable, she has incredible common sense. Yes, she is very She's someone who you feel like you can have a conversation with. But she's as passionate as earsay is. Absolutely she does. It doesn't come across the same way, but she's like, hey,

we went a ball game. She's happy. We lose a ballgame, she is not happy, right, And when the whole Ken Wizzen Hunt thing was going down and he was three and twenty, she was not happy. Or she said that's enough. Ye when the concessions weren't good enough for the fan base, when she heard that over and over and over again, at Nissan stage. She bought them out. Yep, she she said. If our fans are telling us this is unsatisfactory, I'm

not gonna sit here and and watch this happen. And I think that is the reason we like working for her so much, is you can say something to her like that and she goes, Okay, do that. She's decisive. That's better, she gets it done, what she wants to win in everything. I love it. Yeah. I take her over any owner in any sport, anywhere, all the time of the time, mainly because she gave you a job she did well. Yeah, and I appreciate that and continues to give me a job. And that is also an

important thing. But really, if Amy Adam Strunk said, you know what, I think I'm going to open a bread factory, I would probably try to get a job at that bread would Yeah, because I enjoy working for her as humans. I've said on more than one occasion, these are the good old days. Yeah, this is it. And from our standpoint to six straight winning seasons and being in the middle of it and you know, gonna go out and fight the Indianapolis Colts right now, and neither one of

us are where we want to be right now. But there's nobody that I know who has a brain that's ruling either one of us out right now. Oh no, so good. I mean it's gonna be that kind of game. I love those games. The Titans added Mario Edwards defensive linemen off the Jacksonville practice squad, lot Raven Clark offensive linemen off the Philadelphia practice squad. They signed Joe Schobert to the practice squad. He's a linebacker. Do you know Joe Schobert's story? Not very well? No? Okay, So I

love this story. I mean, you know when I go to the Senior Bowl, I love these backstories. Yes, you do. That's my thing. And I want to apologize to the OT people right now because we're gonna Uncle Mike's gonna tell a story because because I love these stories. Okay, So this Joe Schobert, he's an All American at Wisconsin. You know, Wisconsin has been good for thirty years since Barry Alvarez got there. I mean they've been they've been really good. They produced all kinds of players. So here's

another All American, Joe Schobert. So I'm reading about this guy and he is so not the five star all the way through, projected to be an All American. He comes out of this place called Waukashaw, Wisconsin. It's town of seventy thousand. Waukeshaw, Wisconsin is in Waukashaw County, which is the same county that produced the Watt brothers. Oh, okay, okay, they're from Colwaukee, Wisconsin. Colwaukee, Wisconsin. It's a great name.

It's a great name. There have been other players, other, various people in sports come out of that county, including the man who invented spaghettios. No kids, true, So Joe Schobert goes to Waukeshaw West. He's a record setting running back. His junior year he rushed for two hundred ninety six yards in the state championship game. He's also a great safety.

He's one hundred ninety five pounds. He's two times All conference on the basketball team, and he's third in the state as a high jumper, which if you've ever done that, you know how hard that is. You got to be an athlete to be a high jumper. Yeah. So, no scholarship offers nothing, MADA. He's gonna walk on at North Dakota there's a coach in Kenosha, Wisconsin at Bradford High

School named Jed Kennedy. He's probably best known because he was Melvin Gordon's high school coach, Melvin Gordon who went on to become a great running back at Wisconsin and then of course has been in the league for a long time. He calls the Wisconsin staff and he goes this, Joe Schobert, you need to get him to walk on at Wisconsin. You need to make that happen. This guy can really play. So they go get him before just before he leaves for North Dakota. He goes to Wisconsin. Well,

he puts on fifty pounds. He's a special teams player, he's a backup, then he becomes a starter, and then he's an All American in twenty fifty sure from Walker. Yes, so he gets drafted right at the start of the fourth round by the Cleveland Browns. Second year, becomes a starter, goes to the Pro Bowl, plays four years for the Browns, signs a big free agent contract with Jacksonville, and has a great year with Jacksonville in twenty twenty one hundred

and forty one tackles. Well. Of course, they change coaches and guess who doesn't want him on the team. Yeah, probably because he went to Wisconsin, So Noah urban Meyer. So they trade him to Pittsburgh. We played against us last year and he had over one hundred tackles last year. Well, he's going into the third year of that contract that he signed in Jacksonville Steelers. They're saying, we can't afford it. So they let him go, and they let him go

right into free agency. They cut him on seventeenth, So the first wave of free agency is already over at that point, that big you know, the big running shoot period where everybody goes out and signs the massive contracts. So he gets cut right there. Well, now he's between a rock and hard plays. He figures, I'm gonna wait. Denver signs him on August the fifteenth because they've got injuries. But if you've seen Denver's defense pretty good, they just

need him because they have some guys injured. And so after eight days they say, well, we're you know, you're a veteran, we're gonna let you go. And so he hasn't been playing football for the past five weeks. Well, now he's on the Titans practice squad, and there is a reasonable shot that Joe Schobert is going to be activated on Sunday, might even start who knows, who knows, But I mean, we've seen those sorts of things happen with Terrence Mitchell and whatever. I mean, we'll see it

may not, but we'll see. But theoretically it's out there that he could be playing against the Indianapolis could on Sunday. Joe, what a wild ride. Well, so, the reason I found his story and got so interested in him and have always been a fan is because he was such a good guy at the Senior Bowl. He was a lot of fun to talk to because he's had all this stuff going. So when he gets here, I requested an interview with him and he was gracious enough to grant it.

And so here he is Joe Schobert talking to the OT people more specifically me, but threw me to the OT people are the OT peol. So you have played against the Tennessee Titans six times in your career for three different teams. Is it a little odd to be part of the Tennessee Titans after facing them so many

times on the field? Yeah. I think the weirdest thing is when you get into the building and you see the day to day operations, he said, this side of the team in the locker room and the meeting rooms and the cafeteria, and it's just different because, like, especially when you're a division arrival, like when we're in jackson When I was in Jacksonville, it's like aimless gray faces.

You hate these guys at big rivals, and then you just make them up to be like people who aren't just like you, and then you pop in the building like Matt, everybody's cool, they do things good here, Like, it's definitely interesting to be part of the environment. How much has it helped you stepping in because you had to do the same thing in Pittsburgh last year in training camp when you were traded from Jacksonville to the Steelers. Yeah, I think I've I mean, this is my eighth different

scheme I've had to learn in seven years. So I've got a lot of training and learning new stuff. And thankfully for me the package this week for the mentally, I'm able to start picking it up pretty quickly. I got a lot of time with Zach, the insistent linebackers coach, and just one on one time being able He's really helped pulling me along, getting things installed, making sure I'm dotting my eyes and crossing my teas before I get

out here on the practice field. All right, So you had eight days in Denver, but otherwise you haven't been with a football team since then. Is it hard to get back in that Maybe not football shape, but just in that mode? Yeah, Like nothing simulates playing football like. No, I'm a train like I've been training and working out the whole off season. I've been up in Denver at

altitude like working out, breathing heavy. But nothing no matter where you go, if I wouldn't Sea level, if I'm up in the mountains playing football, you can't replicate it. As soon as you got on the field, you start getting that cotton mouth. You start to see yelling, communicating, run around, hitting people one hundred miles an hour, and it's something you have to get adjusted to. But I mean, at this point in my life, I've got a lot of a lot of miles on the legs playing football.

So they just need to knock the rest off and get back at it. You've got a lot of success. Started in this league for five years, five straight years with one hundred plus tackles. Knowing what your resume says, it would seem like this offseason would have been hard for you based on the fact that you've done a great job everywhere you've been. Have you stayed positive? Yeah, I think I've just got to take what life gives you.

I mean, the way I got released in Pittsburgh last year, it was kind of behind the eight ball and free agency, so there wasn't a lot of opportunities. So just take it as a positive and the fact that I can work out at home, I can see my family every single day from April until I got here and be able to just enjoy those moments and just keep ready to stay ready for when I get the call, so I know that wherever I go, I'll be able to contribute and help the team in any way I can well.

On the bottom line, too, is you did it the hard way coming out of high school. So this is just sort of going back to those roots for you, isn't it. Yeah, definitely. I mean, once you're a walk on, you're always a walk on, So you care that mentality wherever you go on a football field to the rest

of your life. And Wisconsin is a huge a great tradition of walk on is just being not even just the guys who made it to the NFL, but guys who some of my teammates who have just gone on and be super successful in their personal lives, and just a badge of pride you carry with you and chip on your shoulder that never goes away and it just makes you appreciate where you came from. So the challenge this weekend for the Titans is another Wisconsin man talking

about Jonathan Taylor. You guys missed each other by two years in Madison. You've played against him twice. You're on the field for a game where he gained two fifty three, so you know exactly what he's all about. What stands out about Jonathan Taylor. I mean the first thing is to speed. I mean I remember when he came to Wisconsin. Ever just talking about I tend to one hundred meter dash at two hundred and twenty pounds, and you see

that on the film. You see it when he gets out in the open field, a lot like the guy we have in the backfield here. When he gets an open field, very few people catch him. And then he yeah, obviously pairs that with a great offensive line and great vision to exploit it. And they like to hand him the ball twenty plus times a game and hope he just breaks one or two and that's good for them. So he's a work course. He's been healthy his career

so far. He carried about thousand times at Wisconsin, gained two thousand plus yards every year, and he's just keeping on that track in the NFL. So it's going to be our job to slow him down limited him on Sunday. You've really done everything. You've rushed the passer in the league. You've been the guy who's called the signals and made sure the gaps are filled. You've been excellent in pass coverage.

You said you've played in eight different schemes, so even on short notice, whatever they ask you to do, you could probably do that. Yeah, that's a good thing about If there is a good thing about learning eight different schemes,

is that there's a lot of carryover. May not be the verbiage or may not be the exact calls, but you can only play cover three so many different ways, and you just got to learn how this team communicates that and how they communicate all their checks and balances, and just get in there and pull back on the information you learn in the fast It's like just opening a little a little lot container right back in the back of your mind and pulling that stuff out and

just applying it to the football field right here right now. You gotta like that down. Yeah, Oh, well, but the whole thing. I mean, the guy's nearly twenty nine years old and he's had this wild ride throughout football and he's just been He's been a great pro. I mean, you start five years in the league, you have over one hundred tackles a year, you play a position that doesn't play all three downs on defense all the time. Now, it's so in terms of supply and demand, the supply

way exceeds the demand. Yeah, and for him torn, Yeah, if he were a corner or a wide receiver, no problem. But if you played to that level at those positions, you would have a job forever. But linebackers are just viewfferently now. Well, it is so nice for him to be able to be a consistent performer regardless of kind of the circumstances. It sounds like wherever he has landed, whatever he's doing, he's been able to perform well. And

you heard what he just said. He's played in eight different defensive systems in his time in the league, and that's because he started his career with the Browns. I'm not trying to make fun of the Browns, but the Browns have run through some coaches, they have run through

some assistant coaches. Then he goes to Jacksonville and he plays for one coach and they get rid of him, and then they bring in Urban Meyer and he works for several months in that system, then gets traded to Pittsburgh and then he goes out to Denver only for eight days. So he's seen eight systems through the course of his career. And he's a brain. Yeah, you can hear the way he talks. But I just love guys

with that sort of perspective. And you know, you think about Kevin Byard and what's going to happen Friday night at MT issue, same age guy. I think they're three months apart in age. But you're married, you've got kids. You can see there's gonna be life without football. You're probably closer to the end than you are the start. And you have friends in the neighborhood who have real

jobs and they're just normal. Yeah, people who are experiencing real life as they are still playing in the NFL are I am finding some of my favorite players because they have that perspective. They have a vision of the bigger picture of what this opportunity and what this job means for them right now, and they can see how it will help them in their future once the game is over correct And I think that that is a valuable perspective to have, and I think it makes them

better players. I think it makes them better players too, because I think they're more focused on the important things. Yep. I don't think they waste time on the silliness of this, that or the other, like all of us did when we were twenty three or twenty four years old. You know what's really important once things are put in front of you from real life. Yeah, I had an apartment in Silly Bow when I was twenty four. I'll tell

you right well, you know everybody did. So. Speaking of Kevin Byrd, Friday Night, MT Issue, they are retiring his number twenty. They're playing the University of Texas San Antonio. Kickoff at Floyd Stadium is six thirty. I know everybody from MTSUE is going to be there because that's their night. I know Titan fans who are just going to go because they want to see a good football game, a team that just beat Miami of Florida, and because they

want to support Kevin Byard. Rutherford County in particular is proud of him. And I'm looking forward to being there tomorrow night. Rhet, Bryan and I are going. I think there are other people going, but I just want to see that moment for him. Yeah, it's going to be so cool. It was very fun to be a part of telling him that this was going to be happening and kind of surprising him at practice. There were not a lot of dry eyes in the joint when he

found out. It was just a very cool thing. So now to actually have the ceremony and the game and the full experience with all of the kind of pomp and circumstance that comes with that, such an awesome thing. And you couldn't find a more deserving human. You couldn't. It's really going to be a great thing, and I'm really excited about having a chance to be there. I'm glad you're going. Well, Rhet and I are fired up. We're pumped. Yeah, we'll get all the work done and

then we're going to the ball game. Oh, Mike, that'll be a nice night out for you for us. Yeah, looking forward to it. You know, Kevin Byrd was the hero of the Indianapolis game last Halloween. He intercepted the pass in overtime set up the game winner. Oh yeah, remember that? Oh yes, So that's how we're transitioning. I said earlier this week wrongly that the Titans had won two in a row and in Annapolis. They've won three

in a row at Indianapolis. So now they've won three in a row at Indianapolis, three in a row in the series, and four of the last five. That's why Jim Eersay wants to win this game so badly. Yeah, And I think it's interesting also there are so many things about the Titans and the Colts that are similar. They're kind of built the same way in terms of what they want to do and what kind of a team and what kind of identity they want to have. So to have someone beat you at your own game

that many times, it's got to be frustrating. Well, and they've been a good team, right, Oh yeah, they they've been a good club. They are a good club. They're one one and one. On Monday, we had a chance to visit with the outstanding young voice of the Indianapolis Colts, Matt Taylor. Amy was there, Rhett Brian was there, I was there. We had a chance to talk to him, and we weren't able to play all of it on

Mike Vrabel Show because it was a long conversation. So we want to give you the meat of what we got from Matt Taylor about where this ball club is interesting place for the Indianapolis Colts right now without a doubt. So here's our chat with Matt Taylor, the voice of the Indianapolis Colts. Matt Taylor, the voice of the Indianapolis Colts with us, let's talk about your outstanding running back

Jonathan Taylor. So far this year, sixty one carries, two hundred and eighty six yards a touchdown, eight catches for forty three yards. How would you characterize Jonathan Taylor's first three games in twenty twenty two. Yeah, I'd say it's been good, but it's certainly not been you know, statistically speaking on par with how he closed last season. And

I think a lot of that has to do. It's just how teams are playing the Colts, they're selling out to stop the run, and quite frankly, the offensive line. I think when you look at the Colts up and down nature of the season to begin with, here, I think the most disappointing factor, and that has been the

offensive wine. Teams are blitz the Colts like crazy. You're seeing stunts and twists and text games at the line of scrimmage, and the offensive line just isn't doing as good enough job as they need to picking those things up. I mean, Matt Ryan's been sacked twelve times already on the season, five times in each of the last two games. It's not just the sacks, it's it's when they're coming.

They're coming on third down, or they're knocking the Colts at a fuel goal range, or they're striped sacks that

are being recovered by the opposition. Those are the things that are killing the Colts in terms of efficiency on offense, and I think that's going into the running game or the lack there off in terms of the push of the offensive line is giving for Jonathan Taylor, so you certainly haven't seen nearly as many big explosive runs where he's ripping off ten twenty yards at a time like was the case routinely last year to end the season,

they've been there. This year, they've They've been kind of been sprinkled in here and there, but not nearly as consistent as last season. And I think that a lot has to do with the offensive line and they're inconsistencies of wing up front getting that push. But again, the Colts just if you if you look at the three games in totality, they haven't been in favorable third down

situations a ton. Now you've seen it here and there, but a lot of times they're not worth winning on first and second down, getting in the third and long where you're not going to run the ball with Jonathan Taylor, I think all of those factors have contributed to the Colts not being as explosive in the running games so far. With number twenty eight, I'm mean to switch you over to the defensive side of the ball. How has the absence of linebacker Shack Leonard been felt on this team?

And who do you feel has really stepped up to fill that role? Yeah, great question, and I think you know there's no there's no question, there's no denying that Shag Shack Leonard is the you know, the heart and soul or whatever you want to call it, the guy that brings the juice and you know, mentally psychologically takes

that defense to the next level. And you just can't take anything away from him and his takeaway ability and his game changing ability, the way that he plays the game, his propensity to you know, knocked the ball out or get a strip sack or you know, just have a huge impact when he's out there. But I tell you, I've been really impressed with the Colts defense and their ability to step up without him on the field and against the run, you know, they really haven't missed a beat.

You know, they're giving up less than three yards per carry on the season against the run. Against the Chiefs, you know, they ran for only like fifty eight yards and their lead back Clyde Edwards, a layer, only had like seven carries for no yards when you look at it the box score at the end of the game. So guys that have stepped up in a big way. You've got Zayo Franklin, twelve tackles. E J. Speed's played great, you know, covering as a linebacker. Bobby Okaake, those guys

really have stepped up without shack Leonard. I think the biggest thing to this team when this defense is missing. So far, they've been great. I'm pretty consistent. You know that sack numbers aren't there and mass numbers, but again, the pressure on Mahomes was really good. They're the running game or the ability to stop the run that's been there through three games. I guess what's missing is, again what I just said earlier is Leonard's ability to take

the football away. Because this Colts defense only has two takeaways through three games. That was a hallmark Last year they had thirty three takeaways as a defense for the season, so they're not on pace to duplicate that. That's where Leonard was so so good at just having this knack of, you know, watching a ball carrier hold the ball and being able to know when he can strike and go after it and create a big play. So if they get him back in this game, that would be big.

But it's I think you have to kind of curb your enthusiasm if you're a Colts fan, considering this guy hasn't played since January ninth. I think it was against the Jacksonville Jaguars of last year, missed all of the

offseason workout program, missed all of training camp. He still might have to come back slow if indeed he gets back on the field coming up this Sunday, Matt Taylor, I don't want to go back to what you said about the people selling out to stop the run and Jonathan Taylor, and you made note of, you know, the receivers that have been missing in spots before last week with Michael Pittman and Alex p Year fourteen to forty

on third down. What are some of the other issues as to why the Colts have had so much trouble in converting third downs. Well, let's first and second down. Like I said, I mean, teams are stopping the run, you know, not as many big plays for Jonathan Taylor. And if you go back to Week two against the Jaguars, you know, again they were down without Michael Pittman and Alec Pierce and no excuses, right, injuries happened to every team, but guys in that game specifically just didn't step up.

You know, you had some drop third downs by Desmond Patman. You know Paris Campbell didn't have a catch in that game. You know, the tight ends weren't utilized a ton in that game, So I think that's kind of a microcosm for how the season has gone through three games. As their struggles on third down against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Colts didn't get into nearly as many third downs as they did the week before because they were better on first and second down, especially on that last drive of

the game. I think the Colts went sixteen plays seventy five yards eight minutes, and I think they only face two third downs on that possession. So that speaks to their efficiency on first and second down, which they're trying to duplicate going forward. But yeah, there's no question that just again, the offensive line push, the reliability within the past catchers outside of Michael Pittman Junior hasn't been there as consistently as it needs to be. But again, yesterday

was a little bit better. They're taking incremental strides forward as far as those things are concerned, and just trying to put it all together in Week four against a good Tennessee team, and it's obviously a huge game in terms of the standings and what this game has meant

for the ultimate winner of the AFC South. When the dust settles after a seventeen game schedule, Matt new quarterback Matt Ryan thrown for over sixty thousand yards in his career three hundred seventy touchdowns, but a new team settling in figuring it all out. Is Matt Ryan coming off his best game so far as an Indian Appea's cold Yeah so far? Absolutely. Now, he had a great four quarter against the Texans when they were down twenty to three and rallying back to tie that game in Week

one was his best game. So he's been there before. I mean, that's that's why the nickname exists, right, Mattie Ice just being cool and comfortable in late game situations when the game is on the line, and I think you're seeing that trust. I think you're seeing that buy

in from the rest of the offense. But they just got to get some of those little things corrected, like again, pressures and blitzes and let's pick up from the offensive line, because there's been a lot of times where Ryan and I know it's a new system and I know it's a new scheme, but he just has he does not have a lot of time to think out there because guys are in his face and the Colts are going

to continue to see this. You guys know this. It's a copycat league, and that leaky faucet is going to continue to leak so long as you you know, you don't fix those problems. And I would fully expecting his seat to continue to bring people, you know, bring multiple people off the edge or you know, provide those those stunt games and the line of scrammlers to kind of

fool the Colts offensive lineman. There's just been a lot of times where a thirty seven year old quarterback was not a lot of mobility to begin with, is under siege as soon as he takes a shotgun snap and he's got to make quick decisions. He's trying to throw the ball away or a guy's coming from behind him and you know, creating a strip sack, as was the case twice against the Chiefs. So they're trying to put

those things together to help Matt Ryan. But when he's been protected, I mean, this goes this is an obvious statement, certainly, but when he's been protected and he's got time, you know, he's still pinpoint accurate, he's got great ball placement, and he's still you know, one of the best quarterbacks in terms of just throwing of the football. The accuracy is still playing in the NFL, just like a Brady or Rodgers, but he's got to have time and so far this year,

consistently it hasn't been that way by the Colts offensive line. Matt, you had said that the Colts best football is still ahead of them. So in your mind, what area do the Colts need to tighten up a little bit to consistently be playing their best football? Well, I think the strength of this team so far, are you know, stopping the run? I would say, you know, you know, you've got Jonathan Taylor, so you need to have him continue to be, you know, a major part of this offense.

Get him anywhere between eighteen to twenty five carries per game. But I hate to just be a dead horse. But it's the protection upfront that's what's holding this team back right now. And then on defense, they were stopping the run, but they were also giving up a high completion percentage. You know, I think, you know, Davis Mills and Trevor Lawrence, who I think are going to be good quarterbacks that

are growing into their own. But as of right now, you wouldn't categorize these guys as elites, you know, top five quarterbacks just yet. But the Colts allowed those guys to complete over seventy percent of their passes and get some easy chunk plays and had a hard time slowing people down in front of them. So I think those are the two areas they're trying to shore off on

on both sides of the ball. Is better push, better protection up front and slowing down the big plays and not giving up such easy pletions to quarterbacks get into a groove and get into a rhythm early. I think if Ryan Tannehill gets into an early rhythm in this game, that could be bad for the Colts, especially if Derrick Henry's running the football and they're winning up front on first and second down. So I think those are the

things the Colts are trying to shore up. Special teams wise, Like I said as he began, I think they've been really, really solid. They kind of tweaked some things in the second Dary. They played Isaiah Rogers Moore when they went Nickel package over a guy like Brandon facing That seemed to help a little bit. The Colts knew they had to plaster receivers with Patrick Mahomes running all over the place.

Ryan Tannehill not so much that guy. So it'll be interesting to see what they do in the secondary to kind of combat the strengths of this Titans defense. But high completion percentage has definitely been a bugaboof for the Colts through three games. You mentioned the protection issues along the offensive line. Is it in one particular place or is it coming from everywhere? With the twelve quarterback sacks they surrendered in the first three games, Yeah, say right now,

I mean it has. Everybody's been guilty of it, right and when you play five is one as the offensive line tries to do, you know, everybody's going to be culpable. But I would say more often than not, it's coming from the interior. It's center in both guards, and I think that's the stunts in the text games, you know, especially when you've got defensive ends swinging inside and coming right up the gut. You know, when when a center declares I'm gonna help on on one side or the other.

In terms of more protection from a guard, you know you've got a defensive end or safety blitzing late coming right at the quarterback unscathed, untouched. That's been the problem. So I think you know your two guards. You know, obviously, Quentin Nelson is you know, he's he's the best guard in the NF Valley. He was paid as such a couple of weeks ago, right before the start of the season. You know, he's on pace to be, you know, one

of the best players in franchise history. But then you've got a guy that's only played three games at the right guard position and Danny Pinter and it's been up and down for him, and they're trying to figure out the best combination of offensive linemen out there. You know, could it be you know, put your rookie Bernard Ryman a left tackle, have left tackle Matt pryor swing at

the right guard position. I think everything right now is sort of on the table as the Colts figure out who they are up front, where they need to be, and what their best personnel lineup should be to protect a thirty seven year old quarterback. Matt Taylor. Thank you as always, and we look forward to seeing you in the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium. My pleasure, guys. All right, that's Matt Taylor talking about the Indianapolis Colts.

The Indianapolis Colts injury report for Thursday saw them get the majority of their players back. Only safety Julian Blackman, with an ankle, did not practice for the second straight day, and DeForrest Buckner, defensive tackle, did not practice for the second straight day with an elbow. He did work out on the side, though, with some sort of contraption on his elbow. I think he's playing, yeah, to find Gilmour was back to practice. Pro Bowl center Ryan Kelly was

back to practice. Outside linebacker yannicking Goaquay was back to practice, and so was Jonathan Taylor, the talented running back. He was back to practice today. Do you feel kind of bad he broke that streak he had? It's really remarkable. So he missed practice on Wednesday. And in case you

didn't know it, Adam Schefter pointed this out. Jonathan Taylor never missed a practice in high school, never missed a practice at Wisconsin, and had never missed a practice in the National Football League, and yet he missed yesterday's practice. But here's what's really fascinating. You know, this is a third year in the league. He did miss a game against the Titans two years ago, but he practiced leading

up too. He got COVID or he was he was put into the protocol the day before the game, and there is no practice the day in that way, and so then he was able to get back by the following Wednesday. I feel I mean, you know, we're going up against them and so whatever for a lot of things. But I feel kind of bad that. I mean, it seems like he's okay, he was a full participant. He's gonna play. Yeah, he's gonna play on Sunday. I'm sure of it. Sure, And here he is starting over at

day one after all of that time. I think I'm gonna make it. I just here's the Titans injury list. Traylan Burkes was back from illness. Zack Cunningham did not practice for the second straight day with an elbow. Amani Hooker did not practice for the second straight day with a concussion. Austin Hooper didn't practice yesterday with the neck, but he did practice in a limited fashion today. A Dainty a second straight day of limited participation with a neck.

Ugo Amadi limited yesterday with his ankle, did not practice today. Don't know what that means. Sometimes a guy is a setback. Sometimes they just decide to hold him the day after and then they'll come back tomorrow and see if he could go. Would be good to have Ugo back. Christian Fulton with a knee limited yesterday, full participant today. Kyle Phillips with a shoulder limited again today after being limited yesterday. Bud Dupree with a hip, full participant yesterday, limited today.

Nate Davis did not practice with a knee that has been kind of common for him. Is taking some Thursdays off, so hopefully he'll be back tomorrow. Cody Hollister out with a back injury, and that is apparently something that has just occurred because he did practice yesterday. The injury report very interesting. Thank you yep? Are you ready to go do this thing? Oh? I'm ready, You're ready to go. I'm fired up. Love an indie trip. I know everyone knows every not for the reasons you think every one

of the ot people knows. I just like to go eat a good meal and then play a ball game, get a win, and go home. Tomorrow night we're going to celebrate the mayor of Murfreesboro, and then on Saturday and Sunday will celebrate you the mayor of INDIANAPPI I am not the mayor of Indianapolis. It's not me as somebody else. I just like a good meal in a place that I can walk everywhere. And I like winning,

and we do that a lot in Indie. No matter your life stage, you can plan on Farm Bureau Health Plans for great healthcare coverage with a sensible price tag. Visit FBHP dot com. I just like big games. Division games are big games and it's fun. You know, people say, oh, Houston's record or Jacksonville's didn't make any difference. Every division game is a big game because if you go five and one in the division, you're probably going to win

the division. That's true, you know, because you'll do enough everywhere else to fill it in. But for all the people when this team was ozin two, we're saying, well it's over, it's like, well, you've still got six division games, and the more of those you tick off, the better chance that you have. And I'm not talking about going seven and ten and winning the division. I'm saying that

normally like what Cincinnati did last year. They won ten games, but I think they were five and one in the division. This is what it's all about. Yep, you got to win those division games. Well, it's it's just and when you go on the road, it's an opportunity. When you're at home, you have to hold serve. Like in tennis, the pressure is on the home team. Yeah. Yeah, And Indianapolis has made it very clear that they know who

this opponent is. Primal passionate. It's a thing. I just want to know what a Primal fan base looks like. Are they wearing like furs, like some sort of animal skin this Like? I don't think that would go over Oh I don't know. I mean, I just don't even know what that would look like. I think it's time to go. Thank you for joining Amy Wells and me Mike Keith for this edition of the O T P. Primal Welcome to the Big Show where the legends go.

Everybody knows it's our house, fighting thoughts. Tennessee making its three greatness is meant to be