SURPRISE: Daniel Jones Off to Burning Hot Start with Indianapolis Colts

SURPRISE: Daniel Jones Off to Burning Hot Start with Indianapolis Colts

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones leads the NFL in yards per attempt and is leading a top three offense in the league. Is this sustainable? Let’s get to it. You are Locked on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Thank you all for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This your day of the podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every single day. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your first bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Hello everyone, my name is Zach Hicks, your resident film nerd of horsesho.com. And I’m joined today by Ben Boris at Colts Film Room. You guys know him and you love him over there on social media. You can also find some of his work over on stampedeblue.com, a place that’s near and dear to my heart from back in the day as well. We are here diving all into Danny Dimes, Daniel Jones, his hot start through two games. And look, I I think we can confidently say it’s not like even if it regresses a little bit from here, it’s not a fluke because he just did it against the Denver Broncos. So like whatever you had to say after week one with a bad Miami Dolphins team, it carried over against the Denver Broncos. So, we’re feeling good, feeling confident. Uh, to start off today’s show, we’re going to dive into all the positives, what’s getting us excited about Daniel Jones and this offense. We’re going to dive into some popular narratives and see if we can buy or sell on some of those. And then to close out the show, we’ll talk about some areas where this can still even get better for the Colts team. But, Ben, we have to dive into these positives. And yeah, the stats are absolutely insane right now with Daniel Jones. second in the NFL in passing yards, number one in yards per attempt, which is always a metric that he’s been like in the bottom 10 of the NFL across his whole career. Uh he is playing some outstanding football completion percentage at 71%. Like every single number in metric looks great for Daniel Jones. What are you loving that you’re seeing from him so far? Yeah, well I I think um it kind of started from the preseason, but he kind of carried it really into the regular season. I think obviously everyone had a little bit of a question mark around, you know, okay, this is the Miami Dolphins. They had some bad vibes heading into the year, like what is this going to look like versus the Broncos? And it looked really good. I think what’s been working for them is obviously being successful on third down. I think they were like 75% um on conversion rate, which is really good. Um I think that they’ve like just to use some of the cliches that Shane Stiken was using is like finding completions on the football field. I think they’re finding ways to get the ball to Tyler Warren. The run game looks great. Um, and I mean, we were just talking about it before we hit record, but this offense just looks totally different compared to anything that we’ve seen since Shane Styen has been here in the best way possible. So, um, I think I’m really excited to see how this kind of evolves throughout the year, what they find works, what they find doesn’t work. And, um, I I think you can say that Daniel Jones is playing really confident football right now. Yeah. And I think the first thing that I put in my notes every time I watch him these these last two weeks is just his command and confidence controlling this offense through through these two games. I mean, if you’re looking at h how they’re operating from the heavy mo motion usage to uh the dummy counts and and the hard counts that they’re utilizing a lot uh trying to get defenses to expose their hand and give those pre- snap tells. And I think what we’re really seeing from Jones is a player who’s going into each snap very confident with what’s going to work. Uh there was a stat that went out there. It was from Fantasy Points HQ, I think is what it was, that said he had a 97% throw to his first read rate in in week two. Now again, that can be a little up and down from where it actually is, but I I totally believe it’s close to that because he was getting such a tell in the pre- snap going into each play that he didn’t really have to look at second and third reads. He also also didn’t really have time because they were getting blitzed like crazy. Uh, but I think we are seeing a player that’s so confident and I think this also leads to, you know, he’s always been a quarterback that’s struggled against pressure in the Blitz and that’s why these first two weeks teams have been throwing the kitchen sink at him to see defensive coordinator look at it. Right. Right. Right. They’re seeing his pressure numbers throughout his career and they’re saying, “Oh, he struggles with this. We’re going to throw everything we have at him.” But because he’s getting such a clear read snap, he’s not overthinking things. He’s not panicking. He’s just evading the the pressure when he has to and getting it to the guy that he already read pre- snap. You know, oh, I see Josh DS is on an island with a two-way go against an off corner that just traveled with him. I know that when the second he breaks out, that corner is not going to be near him. So, Jones is getting is just so far ahead mentally right now uh and has so much command over this offense that we’re seeing him operate at a very very high level uh on each of these two Sundays that we’ve seen. It’s interesting because the Dolphins and the Broncos kind of took really unique approaches to defending Jones. They now they both sent a ton of pressure, but the Broncos will play more match and man coverage behind it where the Dolphins are going to be more zoneheavy. And it’s interesting because they basically said, “Hey, uh, we saw what you did versus Miami. Uh, we’re going to make you throw into tight windows versus our sticky man coverage in a muddy pocket because we trust our pass rush.” And Dan Jones did that. Like we were just talking about the key third and six. Now obviously the end of clock management is what it is but that third and six like in in midfield on the ball to Pierce I think it was on the shallow like Bonito is almost there for a maybe a strip sack and uh he’s just really confident and I think that that’s it’s one trusting your offensive line. I thought the one thing that was really important is the guard play that he was going to get compared to what he had maybe in New York. I think that it’s really tough for a quarterback when you have a three technique that is just in your face in the A gap and trying to play quarterback like that. And I think, you know, I know you’ve talked about it a bunch, but obviously having Quinton Nelson, Bordellini, and Gonzalez play how they’ve played in the first two weeks, I think has been really important for them because even if you get a Bonito coming off the edge, you can step up, you can make a play that’s it’s obviously not in your direct line of vision. So, I think him playing as well as he has under pressure has been the probably the biggest reason that the Colts are performing the way that they have. Yeah. And also Jonathan Taylor being so great in pass protection, which is the weirdest development of all time, is he’s he’s, you know, when he’s an insert blocker on a blitzing linebacker, he’s meeting them at the offensive line, not meeting them three or four yards in the back field. And he’s just been fantastic in that regard. So, you’re seeing the protection hold up. even if it’s not perfect, they are winning ugly and giving Daniel Jones the time that he needs and he’s delivering. So, credit to them, but also again, credit to Daniel Jones for when the pocket has been muddy, he has still trusted his guys getting open. So, we are seeing again just this perfect meld of Jones knows what’s coming pre- snap. He’s confident post snap because of what he’s seeing pre- snap and is getting the ball out. And then the couple opportunities where we’re seeing where Jones has to extend a play, has to get away from a sack, he’s generally done a pretty good job at it. Like even like the sack he took on Sunday, I think he could have got to Warren pretty like a little like I think he could have gotten back to war. It was tough because he had scat protection. He wanted to get it to the running back. Saw the running back was covered up. And by the time he wanted to get back to Warren, he got sacked. But we’ve only seen two of those moments through two weeks. and he didn’t extra like make the situation worse by fumbling or make the situation worse by trying to throw it out of those sacks. Uh so I think we are seeing safe productive quarterback play and at the end of the day the biggest thing their success rate is really high because they’re always moving forward. They have continually moved forward on every play. They’re the best first down team in football right now. I think they’re like top five and second down play right now as well. They are continually moving forward and as a result their average third down is like third and three like third and four and you keep those teams in that guessing run or pass at every single situation and when you have Jonathan Taylor behind you that is so key to keeping teams in that situation. So it’s like it’s like Stiken and Jones knew exactly what they needed to make this project work and they are doing it at a very very high level through two weeks. Yeah. I think the other thing that’s really interesting and that’s all been awesome. I think the the motion uh part of it is huge, but I also think the diverse personnel groupings they’ve got. Oh my gosh. Like there’s been a real 13 personnel package, which is crazy to say. They went 13 personnel empty, which means they are basically asking they’re they’re trusting Tyler Warren to basically be a receiver in a 12 personnel offense. And uh it’s really been cool to see. They have they’re finding ways to get AD Mitchell the the ball in 12 personnel. They’re um motioning Ashton Doulan like crazy on some of these. Like it’s really, you know, I think the confidence that Jones has played in has really like opened up some of the creativity that I I don’t want to say that wasn’t there in the past, but they just h can when a play caller and an offensive staff can get in front of a whiteboard and draw something up and say, “Yeah, I trust our guys to go be able to do it.” They’re going to be able to do cool things. So, um I think Jones has been a really big part of that. And like I think the you know play point guard narrative sometimes gets overtalked about but like uh because some of these throws aren’t just like you know passing you know just like the the first pass a point guard would make but he’s distributing the ball to his playmakers. He’s been really accurate in the short and intermediate parts of the field. Yeah. And the ball again the ball is just moving forward. But I love what you said about the personnel usage because we look at Shane Styen last year. I think the Colts each of the last two years I think they were in like the top five and 11 personnel usage with Richardson with Mchu even uh with Flaco even but this year again we’re seeing so much more 12 personnel 13 personnel we’re seeing Warren in the back field which you know it depends on how you want to clock that if that’s a 21 personnel for you 22 personnel or if that it falls into that 12 or 13 bundle for you but again we are seeing just the usage of like more tight ends more diverse tight ends and we’re seeing these tight ends play at a better level this year because Warren clearly defined them. Now Moalli Cox looks like a really good tight end because he’s tight end too. Mostly blocking, getting an occasional throw to the flat where he’s turning a two- yard gain into a 15 yard game because nobody can tackle him. Uh I love the personnel usage. I love the way that this offense is performing. And as a result, again, they’re a top three offense in football right now behind a a just a surgical passing game. A surgical passing game. Um, but guys, coming up, we are going to transition this conversation into some popular narratives like, is this sustainable? Is Daniel Jones legit? Do the Colts have a chance at the division because of it? We’re going to talk about all of this in our second segment today. But first, Mazda crafts cars for those who do more than just simply move. From footwork to breath work, athletes sweat all the details, and Mazda brings the same intention to how they craft every single model. You can feel the Japanese craftsmanship every in every detail from the metallic accents to available Napa leather upholstery. With all-wheel drive standard in every crossover SUV, you can drive with confidence through almost any season. 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We’re not going to say that because that would be insane. Even Josh Allen’s Bills and Lamar Jackson’s Ravens are not going to do that kind of stuff. But when it comes to regression, I don’t I don’t I think I’m kind of buying them being a top tw 10 to 12 offense as long as core pieces stay healthy. Again, the the team that gets brought up a lot is the New Orleans Saints last year. Uh Derek Carr and that Saints team were scoring like crazy the first two weeks and then they fell off a cliff. Well, their whole offensive line got hurt, their running back room got hurt, the receiver room got hurt, Carr got hurt, and they were down to just backups. So, yeah, if that happens to the Colts, sure, they will regress to a bottom 10 offense. But as it stands right now, Ben, I don’t really see a path for this offense to fall like completely on its face in its current build. What What do you think of that, though? Uh, yeah, I think that that’s the Saints narrative I think is really popular just because, hey, you know, it’s a team we didn’t expect to be very good throughout the year. Um, and then they randomly look great and then this is the Saints. Um, I I think those I think moving the goalposts for a team and wanting to see more I think is also fair. I mean, the Colts haven’t played a road game yet. So, um, I think it’s it’s it’s kind of lame to come on here and say I don’t want to stamp anything. Um, because, you know, I think the reality is that this league can change so fast. I think we both were kind of saying there’s going to be a game where the Colts offense does have a stinker. It doesn’t look that great. Um, you always hit that kind of wall at some point in the NFL season. Um, but I agree with you. I think that this team right now is really hard to defend and it’s hard to defend because they have a bunch of guys that they can get the the ball to and they can feel really confident that the quarterback’s going to get it there quickly and efficiently. Um, and then I think the other part is like you have a really really good run game and I think that’s that’s been good to take the pressure like we haven’t seen the Daniel Jones have to really be a hero yet and I think maybe if you want to get to the part of where this is going to be sustainable that comes into the conversation. Um, but they’ve been if they can continue to be in this kind of manageable downs and distances every single Sunday, then yeah, they’re gonna be a really good offense. Yeah, I I think that’s the one thing for me when it comes to sustainability is like, yes, you can look at past examples of where this kind of start did peter off with other teams, but when it comes to this Colts team, they have the core ingredients to make something really good where their offensive line, I think at worst, we can agree, is going to be solid this year. Even if Bordolini and Canon can solve hit a wall, which they probably will at some point, I think they’re going to be perfectly fine on the offensive line, unless the injuries pile up. Running back Jonathan Taylor’s having the best year of his career so far, and even if that takes a step back, he’s still Jonathan Taylor. Like, even the threat of him opens things up. And then we look at the wide receiver room, their ability to rotate five guys out there that can all get open and do specific tasks for you is something that most teams can’t match. Oh, and then Tyler Warren, who is just this mismatch nightmare that you can move across the offense. So, I don’t see this falling out completely. I think that there’s just enough there to where even if Daniel Jones gets into some bad habits this season, it’s still going to be a good enough offense because Shane Stiken’s just working with a guy who operates his offense pretty well and they have a lot of weapons that are making plays. There will be some bad moments, but overall, I think this is going to be a good team on the offensive side of the football. The next thing here, Ben, and this is where you and I can really get into the nerdy stuff. They’ve been crazy high on motion rate right now. Uh, and I really want to open the floor just to our conversation on motion. Do you think this is something they can sustain all year, keeping the motion rate high? We saw last year with Richardson, Stiken’s motion rate was at 37%. Uh, Jones’s motion rate with the Giants was typically hovering around 40%. Right now, they’re 60 plus% around 70% in in one of the games. like do we think this is sustainable like leaning on motion pre- snap to kind of get the looks they want? Yeah, I think part of it is the game plans they played, but I do think that I mean because what is it like 60 70 right right now? Yeah, it’s like 60.8% I think right now. It’s really high and there’s some teams right that you’re you probably whatever they defend motion for whatever reason you don’t want to use it or um there’s there’s pros and cons to it for sure but for the most part there’s a lot more pros and I think that the way that they’re using motion right now zone man zone tells they’re using it to create traffic I think the rail route that they’ve used motion on a bunch of the rail routes where they basically hop to the back which means if the back is to your left they just move them to the right and you know he can do that cleanly but the linebacker has to sort through all this traffic. Created some traffic, got JT out free. We saw that a couple times. Um, we’ve seen they love fast motion, which is more like um Josh is going to run as fast as he can across the field into a route concept. You see that with like the Miami Dolphins and some of the McVey offenses as well. Um, that really wasn’t part of the offense last year. And I think it could be a totally a thing of Daniel Jones prefers a lot of motion. We’re going to motion. He he thinks he can handle how the defense changes. I think you look at some quarterbacks and some really good quarterbacks too that don’t like motion as much. Um I think Aaron Rogers is one that that comes has came out throughout his career and say he likes to see the picture, loves to check at the line of scrimmage. A lot of times if there’s a motion, it becomes harder to do that. You can’t play as fast. Tempo is a big part of this offense. So, um I think that how they’re using motion right now is really cool. They’re getting free releases for their guys. They’re getting guys open off it. Um I think about a I think it was a third down that Josh DS runs this like sloppy corner where he uh it’s like a onestep slam from Pierce and then a sloppy corner on the back and the nickel has no chance. He’s covering this from inside leverage because Josh has to chase Josh Downs at full speed across the formation. So um it’s really cool how they’re using motion right now and I can’t wait to see how it um how it continues and shifts too. Like they’re shifting it all the time. Yeah. Know that downs motion was great because they shift they had him doing the speed motion into the bunch set and that bunch set created natural traffic and Riley Moss had to chase him from the outside. This is a boundary corner so he’s not used to the slot corner responsibilities. Chase him from the outside run to inside leverage and then it’s just a quick corner and what are you going to do there if you’re a corner? You have no chance especially against Josh Downs. Josh DS is not going to win in any way or not going to lose in any way in that kind of situation. And that’s what again the Colts have the guys where it’s like they don’t have a Jamar Chase who’s just going to win every single matchup, but they have guys who can situationally win any matchup. And that’s the thing, like we have Downs, if we can get him one-on-one, it in man coverage, it’s over. Like it’s over. Off off coverage, man coverage, it’s over. But one more thing I really wanted to talk about with you, Ben, is the Colts have been just dominant because of their first down success. Their success rate is insanely high this year. success rate I think is above 50% on the year and on first down they are by far in a way the fir the best first down offense if you cons if you put first and second down together the best first and second down offense in football as well do we think this kind of success rate is sustainable their ability to just get positive plays early because I think this is going to be vital for how good of an offense this can be this year yeah I think that’s a really good point I think the one interesting thing to kind of go off that is we haven’t seen a lot of quarterback run up so far it’s been a lot of you’ve seen a lot of under center run. You’ve seen a lot of you’ve seen some RPO for sure, but the quarterback run isn’t the same way. And I wonder when they hit that wall, they’re not the runs aren’t hitting the same way that they are. And obviously Jonathan Taylor is playing it and like some of the runs he had is just like I I’m not sure that they’re I think I can count on one hand the amount of people that could make that play. When that happens, you’re not running the ball. Like we’ve seen this team go through lulls. Even with Jonathan Taylor, when it comes to running the ball, they’re going to find a time where they hit that kind of lull. Are they going to lean on the quarterback run now? Like because Jones does have that ability. I think part of it is like you don’t want to have the injury is also a real concern and I think that if they’re running the ball the way they are, why are we running Jones? But I’m not even sure how much they had up in the game plan because it’s really not a part of it right now. And I think when you think about keeping this offense on schedule, I just wonder when they turn to that at some point. Yeah. No, I think that’s going to be the biggest thing is keeping the offense on schedule moving forward, avoiding penalties, which is going to be tricky with their motion rate and with their RPO rate is it’s going to be tough to avoid penalties all year long. Uh to the Colts credit, so far when they’ve been backed up on penalties, they’ve somehow gotten to second and three still. Uh they’ve been that just says that you’re on a heater right now through two games. Uh, but yeah, as of right now, they’re moving everything forward, doing a great job of staying ahead of the sticks. And I do think like the QB run aspect could be big of that. But also, I think it is kind of sustainable because you have Jonathan Taylor like at the end of the day, like Taylor this year too in particular has been so good at avoiding negative plays. He said that was a focus of him on the off seasonason is making sure he’s always falling forward, turning negative two yard runs into two yard runs, turning two yard runs into six yard runs. And we’ve seen that through two weeks. and that keeps the offense on schedule. So, I think I like I don’t think it’s sustainable at the 50 plus percent rate they’re at right now, but I think it’s sustainable to be like a top 10 success rate offense, top eight su success rate offense. And if they have that with the guys they have on this team, they’re going to be able to put up points in most games this year. Yeah, I think that that’s I mean it provided they all stay healthy and everything because I think that’s always a part of it when you when you talk about the Indianapolis Colts, but like that’s that’s been such a key to their success and I think that that’s the stuff they’ve been able to do with the run and then the like then we were just talking about like some of the naked keepers and the movement passes like you go through and chart this and it’s like I don’t think I’ve seen Shane Stiken call the amount of like moving the launch point off of it like like establishing the run just obviously it’s a cliche but it opens everything up for him like having Tyler Warren there who is a credible blocker and is blocking his butt off and then also you know now defenses have to honor that and then create that sort of conflict the same way that we’re talking about the quarterback run and and reading conflict defenders. So like it’s been really really fun and I think we’re both really excited to see just how it evolves throughout the year. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. But coming up guys, we’re going to talk about some negatives. We’re going to be some pessimists now on this show but not not actually. We’re going to talk about some areas where like if we think some regression is coming with these positive areas, where could we see some negative regression where some negative areas get better throughout the season? We’re going to talk about that here in just a second. But first, the NFL season is here and FanDuel is making sure you’re ready for kickoff with a can’tmiss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your first bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. I love using FanDuel because it just fits however I like to bet. Player props, building a same game parlay, or even jumping in live as the action unfolds. It makes every game more exciting, whether you’re watching your team or just keeping an eye on your fantasy lineup. It’s quick, easy, and the best way to add a little more energy to Sundays. So, are you guys ready to play? Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanduel.com to get started. That’s fuel.com to place your first $5 bet. All right, locked on Colts every day as we are back with our big Daniel Jones episode. I’m joined as always by Ben Bor. Not as always. Last year was as always, but I’m joined by Ben Boris at Colts film room. We’re going to get Ben back on here more often. We had him on quite a bit. Last year, this year we’re still trying to find our rhythm here uh with lockdown Colts early in the season. But let’s talk about some negatives, some areas they can get better. And I think the biggest thing we have to start with is the red zone struggles. Now, I had a radio spot this morning where I talked about this in detail. So, I have my answer kind of locked and loaded. But, Ben, what what is your thoughts on just the red zone inefficiency we’re seeing from the Colts so far? Yeah, I I think it’s one of those things because the offense has performed so well that like now we’re like where where’s the blind spot of this? Like where’s the weakness? And uh this has been an issue actually for a long time. like they have been I think the 21st 22nd ranked red zone offense and scoring percentage like converting um into touch uh field goals into touchdowns and I think eventually that’s going to catch up to them. I it really does like I think that that’s something that like you look at this personnel and it’s almost shocking like my whole thing of like since I’ve been on the Tyler Warren train forever is like hey we like need someone who is a 66 256 pound guy in the middle of the field to be able to score more touchdowns instead of kick field goals. I think the chip shot field goal is great. It’s always great to get points on the board but I think there’s too many missed opportunities that we saw. I think Josh Downs should have had a touchdown um early in that game that you know I think you tweeted out during the game. It’s like the Colts might that might come back to haunt the Colts and and it and it really did if they didn’t if that penalty didn’t help like that’s a play you look back and you’re like we got to hit those. But I also think it’s a type of thing of like maybe it’s been a three-year issue with this personnel. And I think it comes down to a execution and then b like not getting yourself into like some of the negative plays in the high red zone I think just killed them sometimes. And I’m not saying necessarily about this year, but just the Shane Stiken era I think has killed them. And it just makes it hard to like when the space gets tighter, you have a a tight window throw. you don’t have some of it. Some of the stuff that they like to do in the middle of the field doesn’t necessarily work like and especially obviously with Anthony Richardson, those are different unique challenges. But I I think that that’s the weakness that we’re all looking at. Yeah, I agree. Our our two sacks we’ve seen the Colts give up this year both have happened in the high red zone, a couple penalties. I think there’s been two holding penalties in the high red zone, a couple negative runs in the high red. So yeah, those negative plays that they’ve been avoiding so well between the 20s, once they get in that high red, we’ve seen them pile up. And to your point, uh, this is this was my point on the radio this morning is like this has been a striking issue for for years. And like here’s the thing, we can say all we want about Anthony Richardson, right? Anthony Richardson, good and bad, all these things, but there’s no excuse you shouldn’t have a top 10 red zone offense with Anthony Richardson because you don’t even need to throw the ball with him. You just use the running game. And it’s it’s it’s hilarious, too, because they’re they were so good in short yardage. like that’s they had all these options on fourth and short, third and short that they were executing so well in the middle of the field that when they got into the red zone and I think they’re good actually and I I want to look this up after the uh this episode is like they’re so good in the low red zone like when they get in great, you know, they’re score. That’s where they’re scoring. But I think when drives stall out in that mid to high red zone, that’s when things get a little bit tough. So, I think that’s going to be a point of like that if you want to look at this and be like where is this going to where’s the blind spot? Where could this catch up to them is like it almost did. They just have to be able to, you know, get the ball in the paint when they’re in the red zone. Yeah, there’s no excuse the game should have been as close as it was because of how often the Colts got to the red zone where the Broncos punted three times and they had an interception. The Colts didn’t punt in this game or sorry, they had Did they have one punt? No, they had zero punts. Zero punts because they went for it on two fourth downs and didn’t get him. And like there was no excuse for this game to be as close as it was. The Colts had to settle for so many field goals and the Broncos converted their opportunities. So that is going to come back to bike them when that success rate when the uh like the quantity of red zone trips starts dropping. You need to convert those into touchdowns. That’s going to be a huge huge part here. And I do think Shane Stiggan’s play calling is part of it. think a little bit of it is on Daniel Jones because if we have one concern I guess with him and I don’t know if you share this Ben but we haven’t seen him really like layer many passes over linebackers yet this year and I think the Colts are specifically avoiding those because I don’t know if he has trust or faith in those throws either. We saw in the preseason there was a couple where he kind of backed off of throws that he could have layered over top of or in between linebackers. So I’m curious if that’s like the thought process there. Uh which again calls into question why the Broncos did so much man. But I digress. I digress. Um, but yeah, I think you though. Yeah, I think it’s tighter in the red zone though, so it’s you’re, you know, he’s not pushing windows like maybe he should, but I think they just got to run the ball more in the red zone. Like lean on the run game, the high red zone. I think that’s, you know, I think what they’re trying to do is take some shots there because that once you get into that 30, that’s when, you know, you’d love to push the ball down the field, get you into that those situations. um because the space is tighter. If you can just, you know, get into the low red zone where you you feel really good, like that’s that’s where that comes into. And then you can obviously the down distances and the route depth is all part of that as well. But like um I think I think that that’s really the struggle of this team. I think the other part too is like eventually what’s what’s this going to look like in terms of a complimentary football perspective when there’s a turnover. I think like Dan Jones obviously has not thrown an interception so far. what’s that what’s that going to look like um complimentarywise and like where does the turnovers come back to how do they look after a turnover um I know that like when you’re when you’re game planning like that’s studies that people will do like what kind of calls do you call after a turnover um and that type of stuff so um I think that’s where that could catch up to them but like I think when you it’s really hard to kind of like nitpick a team that hasn’t punted all year so yeah yeah my only slight other concern or I guess I can’t even call this a concern because it hasn’t been a concern through two games. But I’m just curious to watch the development because I think in neutral situations, this offense is going to be really good all season. When the run pass threat is there at all times, they’re going to be really good. But I’m curious to see what this offense looks like. Backed up on their own 30, one minute left. Run is not an option. Jones has to throw us down the field. Uh we or you know, again, late late game situation. Jones needs to go down and get us a touchdown to win the game. We have to throw every single one. Can they do that? And I don’t think there’s been many questions of that so far through two games. But I want to see what this offense looks like when run pass is not available. Or maybe like what you said where the run game is bogged up and they’re averaging two yards a carry. You still want to keep a defense honest and throw a couple in there, but you’re not going to lean on the run game the rest of the game. Can Jones put a passing offense on his back when it’s not neutral? That’s going to be the biggest question for me. And then also on top of this, I know I’m kind of rambling here, but No, you’re not. Something we’ve seen with the first two weeks is both these teams have blitzed a lot. How does this offense respond when going forward now teams are going to rush four and they’re going to sit back seven? They’re going to drop seven into zone and they’re going to dare Jones to push those tighter windows or take checkdowns and have guys have to create after the catch. So, can these offense can this offense respond to those two questions? I think it’s the biggest question on how high they can get. I feel really good about the floor being like a top 12 to 15 offense because of their neutral success. But them being a top 10, top five offense comes down to those two questions. Can Jones lead when the when the neutral situation is off the table, when it’s a pure passing situation, and can they find success when teams are backing off of the blitz and dropping into zones and tightening those windows down the field? I think Jones will throw the ball short, but can they create after the catch in those situations? That’ll be a big question for this offense. Yeah. And I think that that’s, you know, Bruce Arens put in his book like the best quarterbacks are good on third down and two minute. And like he’s Jones, to Jones’s credit, he’s been good in those areas. Uh that’s why we’re talking about him the way we’re talking about him right now. Um I think the difference is some of the two-minute drives or two-minute situations that they’ve had. It’s kind of been like a two-minute 45 situation. They’ve run the ball a little bit more. They’ve kind of, you know, dink and dunked their way. I’m I’m curious when that second down success does inevitably, you know, it things happen in the NFL. Like it’s not there’s no guaranteed football play ever. So like what happens when you have a drop? You’re in a third and long situation we haven’t seen. But it’s a got to have it. You got to have it. Um I’m I’m really interested to see how that offense responds, especially in, you know, a fourth quarter down, you know, two minutes. like you know Jonathan Taylor obviously we’ve talked a lot about his pass protection his ability in the pass game but there have been times where he’s like straight came off the field for like a quarter in those kind of situations so I think that’s that is might be a reason that helps them but um it’s it’s such a small sample size to truly throw a stamp on anything. So, I think there’s going to be situations that are truly going to like apply some more pressure and then, you know, are they going to have to lean on the run game if they’re going to, you know, drop seven more, play too high to try and stop some of these passes over the middle and like then where does Tyler Warren come into play there? So, yeah, Warren, look, at the end of the day, and maybe this is like just a precursor to a future episode you and I do, but Warren really is the key to everything. I mean, when we talked about in the draft, you and I did a lot of Tyler Warren episodes prior to the draft and then postdraft and how excited we were about his potential in this offense, but you know, when when you talk about the missing piece for an offense, Tyler Warren was so the missing piece for everything. He was like, it was everything in my wildest dreams because I was like Warren is so great because Syiken will be creative with him because he’s such a a a unicorn of a player, but I didn’t think it would be to this level. And it makes life so much easier for and I’m not trying to take away things from Daniel Jones. When I say motion is an easy button for him, when I say Tyler Warren’s made life easier for him, it’s not saying that Jones is doing something easy, but like this offense just complements itself so much better now when you have something like Tyler Warren. He is just so good, man. He’s so good. Shane I know Shane Stiken has a folder on his computer cool Tyler Warren plays I can’t wait to run and like he’s already trying it like obviously some of them that not every single one’s gonna work but I want them to keep trying like the obviously they ran the zone read on fourth and short didn’t work they had another um uh they basically faked a quarterback sneak to him like he went to go sneak it then lines up in fullback then they run an RPO doesn’t work scrambled whatever uh but like I want him to keep trying because the fullback sale which I think we’ve talked about obviously before we record was incred like I feel like that’s just the tip of the iceberg and there’s so much more that that we’re going to see. Give me the Q counter sweep uh that we gave with Richardson last year, but with Warren at quarterback I and I and I’ll die happy. I’ll die happy this year. It be really fun. Uh but one thing I want to answer real quick is Ben mentioned how the conversion to Pierce was like a third and seven. Uh Jones has delivered on those third downs. Got to have it so far through two games. It’s just can he continue delivering because week one I talked about a lot. That was my biggest takeaway from week one was him delivering on all those got to have it moments and that’s why the Colts won 33 to8. I think Jones has been fantastic in answering pretty much every question so far through two games. It’s just can he sustain those moments because I think the neutral situations will sustain but will the third down got to have it sustain? Will the u what was the other one I had which was like the pressure and yeah will all that stuff just kind of sustain for him essentially going forward. But we’re running out of time here guys. We’d love to keep talking for hours because that’s what Ben and I do. But we do want to thank you guys for making lockdown culture first listen today and every day. The NFL season is finally here. So for your next listening, get a double dose of the lockdown NFL podcast. Tyler the madman rolling gives you a shot of espresso to start your football day while Tony Wiggins takes you to the barber shop for the smoothest breakdowns to end the day. And find Locked on NFL on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. And if you guys want to become a locked on Colts insider, chat us directly. Get that insider scoop. Follow the link in our show notes and make sure you guys are following Zack Hicks 2, Lockdown Colts, Jake Arthur and of course Colts Film Room all on socials. He does some great work over there. That’s why we always have him on the show. Also subscribe to us on YouTube wherever you listen to your podcast. We love you guys rings reviews and we’ll catch you guys back here tomorrow afternoon.

Indianapolis Colts QB Daniel Jones has been on fire to start the season, leading one of the best offenses in the NFL and boasting a league-best yards per attempt. Is this success sustainable?

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