Indianapolis Colts – Shane Steichen talks new kicker, DJ progress, and uncertain weather!

Indianapolis Colts – Shane Steichen talks new kicker, DJ progress, and uncertain weather!

This is a huge week for the Indianapolis Colts. They got five games left, three of them inside the division. They’re tied for the lead in the division. And the team they’re tied with, they play this week at their place. And the Colts haven’t won a game down there since 2014. We’ll see if they can get it done. Here’s Shane Stiken talking about those challenges. All right. Um looking forward to the opportunity uh to go down to Jacksonville this week. Uh they’re playing good football, so it’ll be a hell of a challenge for us. one we’re definitely looking forward to getting back on the practice field and getting ready for our opponent. Was it was it familiarity how much of the familiarity that Blake has with Brian playing into the decision to sign him? Yeah, I thought Blake had a really good workout. Uh so we’re excited to add Blake to the fold. Um you know, he’s done some good things in New Orleans. Um and so we’re excited to have him. Yeah. What what do you notice about Jacksonville? You know, they haven’t been a big topic of discussion nationally this year. What what do you see them? I think when you watch them, they fly around. I think they’re doing a good job in all three phases. Offensively, I think interesting. Um, you know, offensively, Trevor Lawrence is doing some good things. Um, ETN’s a hell of a runner. Um, they’re doing some good things there. And then defensively, you know, Hines Allen, I think, you know, he just broke the record for most sacks in franchise history there. So, um, a lot of good things, a lot of respect for them in all three phases. Their return game’s good. So, um, got to be on our details. Um everything the urgency the energyy’s got to be great this week going down the same same practice plan for Daniel this week. Yeah, he’ll be good to go. Yep. Limited full. Yeah, we’ll see. Yeah, he’ll be good. We’re going to conduct a walk through today. So, I’ll refer to the injury report on that. He should be good. Shane, so much of like with the kicker, it’s it’s I think you mentioned it ma is trust. You’ve got to trust on how your game plan and all that. How does a kicker that you’ve not had gain your trust then? Well, I think you got to do it at practice. Obviously, you watched the tape and what he did in New Orleans. Um, got a big play, does some good things. So, we’re excited to see him here in practice. Uh, and then be ready to roll from there. You guys made that decision yesterday. Um, I know the PATs of the last couple games have moved large with uh with Michael. Um, Blake’s been perfect on PATs this year. Kind of struggled on field goals. How did you guys ultimately weigh the decision to um bring someone in when there’s obviously probably not a perfect decision? Yeah, I know. It’s always tough when you make those decisions. Like I said before, I love Badgely. I love Badgely the person. Um, and sometimes you got to make tough decisions like that. And, uh, we’re excited for Blake, you know, and his opportunity. You guys, you guys always talk about like it’s it’s every week you don’t feel momentum, that kind of thing. When you lose three or four, is it difficult to keep the team from feeling that kind of I I don’t cuz I think we got the right guys in the locker room. You know what I mean? There’s going to be es and flows in every NFL season. You got to stay steady through the es and flows and especially when you get in December. Um obviously there’s a lot on the line going into December and uh we got to play at our best. Our urgency levels got to be there. Our guys are great. Um team meeting was good this morning. Uh we’re looking forward to that opportunity of going out and improving every week and uh every opportunity we get, you know, we got to try and take advantage of. Is is it one of those things where if you get stuck in, we’ve lost three or four, that kind of thing, that’s that’s how you deepen this deepen it. Yeah. I mean, anytime you lose games, you don’t want to lose games. you’re going to have these games that come down to the fourth quarter. A lot of these games um are going to come down to the fourth quarter and you got to find ways to win them at the end. You know, it comes down to about three or four plays, these tight games. Um we’ve had five tight games this year. We’ve won three of them, lost, you know, two of them. And so at the end of games, we got to find ways to win those tight games, you know, moving forward. You talk about this streak at all streak? I do not. All I know is that we play Jacksonville in Jacksonville this week and we’re excited for that opportunity. Um, I know you told us on Monday that you expect Sauce to miss some time. Is there any more players? Is he definitely out on Sunday or were you guys Yeah, he’s rehabbing. He’s feeling good right now, but yeah, he’ll probably miss some time. Yeah. Shane, any chance he returns this year? Um, I don’t know. We’re hopeful for that. You know what I mean? He’s just resting his eye right now. And, you know, when that time comes, I’ll let you guys know for sure. Yeah. It looks like the forecast is rain in Jacksonville. It’s only Wednesday, so who knows? But how do you prepare for that? you know, you do wet ball drills in practice and stuff with the quarterbacks and the receivers. Um, and you know, going down to Jacksonville, playing there a whole bunch of times, uh, coaching there, obviously through my career, and I feel like it’s never a steady rain down there. It might be pregame rain, it might be a quarter of rain, and then it stops. Um, so we just got to be ready to adjust, you know, throughout the game on how that goes. But there have I’ve gotten a lot of questions by Anthony, I guess, probably because Daniel’s hurt, but fine. Um, but can you just get any any clarity to like what the issue is there? Like I guess that thing is a very it takes a while to heal. Is that basically what it is? Yeah, it’s an it’s an eye issue and so we’re just waiting for that to get clearance. You know what I mean? Obviously, anytime you’re dealing with an eye, you want to make sure he’s got full vision in that eye. Um and you know, he’s resting it right now and once he’s cleared to go, I’ll let you guys know. So, he’s not even clear to practice yet. I mean, not practice, but correct. Do much on field stuff. Yeah. Yeah. He’s just doing some stuff in the weight room right now, getting back into it. But that’s where it’s at. on the try out yesterday. Um the guys that you guys choose to bring in, is that Chris? Is that you? How does that Yeah, Chris and his staff handle that stuff. Um the I know there’s some folks that had questions about bringing Justin Tucker in knowing his background. Um why did you guys ultimately want to bring him to the facility? We wanted to bring him in, talk to him, see him work out, see him kick and stuff, but you know, at the end of the day, we went with group and we’re excited for group. Shane, did you get any player in the league on some of the follow? Yeah, I mean I’m not going to get into that. We’re moving on to Jacksonville and you know things happen in games sometimes that you can’t control and you got to move on and that’s the way football is. Does Caris have a chance this week or not? Yeah, we’ll see how the week progresses but he still will. What stands out to you about King Moore like I guess off the field is how he’s wired. Yeah, I think he does everything the right way. Um he kind of embodies the character of what we look for in a cult. Um what he does in the community with his charity um is very impressive. So, I can’t say enough good things about Kenny, the person he is in the building, out outside the building, helping out uh young kids and the community and all the stuff he does with his charity. Like I said, it’s it’s pretty impressive. You guys haven’t really been a big push push team. What are the reasons behind why previous did it here? Yeah, I think uh I think it’s something you got to work at a lot, you know? I mean, some teams do it around the league. Obviously, Philly does it at a high level. Um, you know, I think it’s uh certain looks that you can get, whatever it is, whether how teams are playing it. Um, but teams have success sometimes not doing the push as well, too. And just sometimes if you’re not all up in there, they’re not all up in there and you have success doing it. Um, I don’t know. I think there’s a there’s a lot that goes into it. Um, and I think it’s the repetition, too. It is hard to rep the QB sneak in practice. A lot of teams, you know, it’s a lot of walkthrough stuff that you got to do because it is a lot of bodies banging in there. Um, so yeah, to answer that question, I think it’s a team by team basis on how they feel about it. Was it just a month or a snap with Tyler? Yeah, we just didn’t get there on that one. Shane, earlier in the year, um, Daniel MVP conversation t now, not that MVP level is kind of the borderline of where he has to play, but what has what about what’s changed? Um, I think it’s an NFL season. And I mean, you’re going to have highs and lows, and I think he’s still been playing great football for us. Obviously, through the first eight weeks, he was at an MVP level, and I still think he’s playing at a really high level. I think he’s top 10 in almost every category still around the National Football League for the quarterback position. Um, and I think he’s still playing really good ball for us. Shane, Alec has just been a guy it seems like last few games. Why do you credit him taking that to the next level? I think it’s work ethic. I think he the way he goes about his business every day, the detail that he puts into the route, the questions that he ask. Um I think Reggie does a great job with him getting him prepared each and every week. Um and he’s making a ton of plays, the contested catches, he’s been doing that his whole career, but the intermediate stuff, the different things we’re able to do with him now. Um he’s taking great strides, you know, in all those areas. Has there any kind of is there any kind of like motivating factor for other guys when they see Daniel go out there, you know, less than 100% put it on the line? And I mean, just how do you think that impacts other guys? Oh, yeah. I think it’s a huge impact. I mean, when a guy’s out there um dealing with an injury, um it just shows the toughness and what he’s willing to put on the line for the guys. And I think that shows the guys how much he cares, that he wants to be out there with them and playing. Um still playing great ball. Um and so it’s it’s pretty impressive to watch. I think Vox had it where they said like his college roommates created something, some pre cast, whatever, to help him with his legs. So that in mind, what are your college roommates up to? Would you trust me with something like that? Absolutely. Well, I I went to UNLB. I’m not a Duke graduate, so nothing to get. I love my moder, but dude, the high there’s a high level IQ there. And so I did I did hear about all that how they made the 3D printing stuff for guys and players. I guess it was a couple players there that were walk-ons that were like, “Hey, what if we do this and create this system?” And they’ve been doing good. I think they’re doing stuff for the NBA and they’re doing a whole bunch of different things, you know, with the mask and all that stuff. So, it’s pretty impressive. A couple more. There goes you being the commencement speaker at UNLB. Do you stress or point any numbers of like divisional importance in a game like Sunday? I mean to your team, do you point to anything of like guys the magnitude of this game is here or is it just to me it’s each and every week I just talk about getting better and executing at a high level instead of talking about numbers. You know, we got a tough task ahead of us. Um, you know, we’re going to get their best shot. We’re going to give them our best shot. Uh, it’s going to be a hell of a football game and we got to go execute. I got to tell you, I’m not sure whether Shane Stiken has taken the right tack in dealing with a game like this. You You’ve got a game against the Jaguars. This is an important game and you have got to be ready to play at an urgent level. You got to raise your game a little bit. And what Stiken continues to talk about is how this team needs to be about the process. It needs to be about getting better today than it was yesterday. All right. But what they really need to do is they need to win this damn game. That’s what they need to do.

Shane Steichen talks about everything BUT Sunday’s bad calls.