ColtsSpeak: Mike Heisz

PhilB: How are you feeling about your Colts for Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens, which is obviously a big game?

Mike: Yeah, Sunday is obviously a big game, especially since we’ve had a bit of a soft schedule. So far, that’s been the talk. To be honest, I’m feeling pretty good about it. I feel like the Colts are definitely the most underrated team in the NFL. Obviously, I know I’m a bit biased, but I think the next four games everyone knows, the next part of the schedule is going to be their opportunity to prove they can hang with the top teams. I think we match up really well with Baltimore, especially the way Baltimore designed their run game and their speed with Lamar Jackson. I think (Colts GM) Chris Ballard essentially built this team to go against this type of physical, running team with a fast quarterback. I think we actually match up really well. And we also caught Baltimore maybe at a good time, when they’re not firing on all cylinders, them missing (cornerback Marlon) Humphrey on defense and they just lost (Ronnie) Stanley, their offensive left tackle. I don’t know if you know anything about (Colts defensive end) Kemoko Turay’s status for Sunday, but I assume even if he plays, he’ll be on a limited snap count.

PhilB: If they’re going to activate him off the physically unable to perform (PUP) list, they’ll announce that today. But my gut tells me they’re a week away on him. When (head coach) Frank Reich was asked about him on Friday, he said Turay was making progress. I just don’t feel it. That means you’ve basically got one more week to decide whether to activate him or not.

Mike: I agree with you. Just the way they’ve played it the whole time, it’s cautious and safe. And especially playing on Thursday night next week, I can’t see them playing him two games in five days. So I think they’re just thinking at this point they’ll bring him back for the Tennessee game, will give him limited snaps there, then he’ll be ready to go for the following games against the Packers and Titans again.

PhilB: Yeah, they said play count, limited snaps, when he’s activated. I can tell from your first answer that you know what’s going on. Not many probably know about Stanley and Humphrey with the Ravens. When I heard Stanley went down, I thought maybe Justin Houston would wake up because he hasn’t done anything in the last two games. Then I saw they’ve got Orlando Brown Jr., “Baby Zeus,” a Pro Bowl right tackle who will move to left. Who else can move a Pro Bowl guy into a spot for an All-Pro guy? That’s pretty impressive.

Mike: It’s not the same thing as the Thursday night game, when San Francisco had to replace Trent Williams with some nobody and the Packers walked around him.

PhilB: That was a train wreck.

Mike: My wife and her family are all Packers fans, so they enjoyed the game.

PhilB: Of course they did. He was getting abused.

Mike: San Fran was at a bit of a disadvantage.

PhilB: I don’t want to put much into this Colts-Ravens game, but I’ve covered the Colts for more than 20 years, so I know what a statement game means. I know fans take a lot away from a game like this. If they get killed at home, you’re still a fan, you’re going to support them, you’re going to care, but you’re also going to feel like, ‘Well, we’re not there yet.’

Mike: Not just from our own fans, but other friends who have watched the NFL, they’re all saying so far, ‘Yeah, the Colts are 5-2, but who have they really played?’ Blah, blah, blah. If they go out and lose to Baltimore, it just feeds that narrative that they can beat up on the soft teams, but they have no chance against the Baltimores and the Kansas Citys come playoff time.

PhilB: Yep, that’s exactly what I’m wondering. When I write stuff like that, some of the diehard fans might get a little snippy. Well, they’ve got to prove it against a legit team.

Mike: Of course a win is better than a loss, but it also depends on how the game goes, right? If it’s a back-and-forth, close game and they lost because it was one play or something, at least you can come away from that and say, ‘OK, we went toe-to-toe with Baltimore, it was a 50-50 game.’ If we look really good, it writes a really good narrative. If we look really bad, it’s like you described it, it’s a statement game. I feel like this month is a statement month actually.

PhilB: There’s no question. When you looked at the schedule, I tried to be objective and keep it real for fans, but I thought, ‘Geez, if they’re any good, they should be at least 5-2, if not 6-1 or 7-0.’

Mike: I said the exact same thing to a friend at the beginning of the year. Even now, 5-2, don’t get me wrong, after losing that first game to Jacksonville, 5-2 is fine. But at this point, the worst-case scenario was 5-2. It’s not bad, but if they were 4-3 at this point, with whom they’ve played, I’d say, ‘What’s going on?’

PhilB: We’re on the same page then. What has been most encouraging about the team you’ve seen so far?

Mike: The most encouraging thing has been the depth. For me as a Colts fan since I was a teenager, that was what we were missing, the defense too, but it goes hand-in-hand. For all those years with (GM Ryan) Grigson, when they had (Andrew) Luck, and even when they had Peyton Manning and won the Super Bowl, the defense never had depth. They were never able to sustain. When this team lost Malik Hooker, Marlon Mack, or even now with T.Y. Hilton being on and off injured or playing a little bit older, they never had the ability to sustain and still be able to throw out all these guys that Ballard is picking, like in the third round, (safety) Julian Blackmon. All of a sudden, Hooker is gone. You’re losing a potential Pro Bowl-talent safety and you throw this rookie in there, and he’s like already even better than Hooker ever did.

PhilB: Blackmon is stunning.

Mike: I remember when they drafted him. I’m big about the draft, me and my buddies would do mock drafts all the time. We didn’t even have Blackmon in the top three rounds. Ballard takes this guy, and you’re like, ‘OK, I thought he was injured. I thought he was out for a year. Why would they take him now? They’re a team that’s ready to win now.’ And, all of a sudden, he’s playing in the third and fourth game at an All-Rookie level.

PhilB: Yeah, that was a stunner. When he was drafted, I read several opinions that Blackmon was a reach. I was like you, based on when he had surgery after his last college game, I know from experience it usually takes guys a year to get back on the field after ACL surgery, then it takes another year to trust it. This guy came out and was a freak of nature. I remember Edgerrin James, one of the greatest warriors of all time, and he showed he was human when he tore up his knee on a Thursday night at Kansas City. It took him more than a year. What Julian Blackmon has done, it blows my mind. I think to myself, Ballard continually impresses me. Whether or not the team is improved incrementally as people want, I think it’s trending in the right direction.

Mike: I have a buddy here who is a sports writer also, he works for Yahoo! Sports and all that. Everybody talks about how Ballard is the best talent evaluator, Ballard is the best leader, Ballard knows what he’s doing. Going back to the depth thing, I guess what I’m most impressed with or most happy and secure with is even if we lost a game or two, I believe in the team going forward because I believe in what Ballard is doing. Every GM is going to make mistakes here and there, but for the most part, since he’s come to the Colts every year and every pick, (Ballard has done well). Even when we took (linebacker) Darius Leonard in the second round, when we took (right tackle) Braden Smith, people were saying ‘Why is he taking another O-line? They just took Quenton Nelson,’ and they said Smith was a reach too, but Braden Smith is a perfect example of how the Colts go underrated. If I went to one of my buddies in Toronto, he’s a Steelers fan, and I go to him and say, ‘We got Braden Smith in the second round.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, OK, I heard his name. Everyone has Braden Smith (on their board).’ That’s not true. They don’t.

PhilB: The thing I’ve liked the best about this team is the defense. The deal for DeForest Buckner, and watching that defensive tackle play, if I’m a Colts fan, that makes me excited every day.

Mike: Yeah, I completely agree. It’s also another reason the whole team is underrated. A guy like DeForest Buckner, I notice him, you notice him, and everyone in the league knows he’s a top player, but the truth is, the interior D-line guys besides maybe Aaron Donald don’t get as much recognition. And especially in the scheme we play on defense, he completely changed everything. Once you get Turay back in the mix, I feel like right now like that’s going to be a game-changer on defense. It changes Buckner and it also changes Justin Houston. If Houston draws protection, what are you going to do with Turay, and vice versa? One of them is going to get more of a one-on-one path to the quarterback. And you’ve got Buckner, like you said, pushing it up the middle, that’s trouble.

PhilB: You remember from the Peyton days, that was a great weakness for protecting Peyton. If you’re rushing off the edge, Peyton doesn’t mind that because (O-line coach) Howard Mudd would teach these guys to push out or push in, and it gave Peyton an angle to sidestep. If you’re coming up the middle, right up the gut, it doesn’t give Peyton anywhere to go, and he has to take a seat. The Steelers playoff game, you remember that.

Mike: That’s essentially what Ballard has done. The two strengths to this team are the O-line and the D-line. Anyone who knows football knows that you need a good O-line. That’s been the whole thing about (quarterback) Philip Rivers. Going into the season, a lot of people were saying, ‘This guy is old. He’s done. He’s washed up.’ I said, ‘Look at his O-lines for the last four years. You take any good quarterback and put him with one of the worst O-lines in the league, they might still do OK, but it’s going to be trouble.’ Look at Rivers now. He doesn’t have to be the All-Pro, top-five hero. He just has to limit mistakes and take a few more shots than they were taking last year, and a little more aggression. He has the ability to do that.

PhilB: I always ask fans about Rivers. I see the good and the bad. I’m not trying to bait you here, but if we operate on the principle that Ballard had to take a shot because they knew Jacoby Brissett wasn’t the guy, I don’t mind them taking a shot. No matter how it works out with Rivers, I’ve never minded they took a shot. I just don’t know if that shot is going to be worth more than one year. Where are you at with Rivers?

Mike: I always look at it like this. Someone says to me, ‘Why did they sign Rivers?’ Brissett improved himself last year. I’m still a fan of Brissett. I think he’s a good leader and a great backup. He’s a bit overpaid, right? But for one year, it doesn’t matter. With Rivers, my first question always is, ‘If you didn’t get Rivers, who were you going to get?’ The answer is, ‘Out of everyone available, Rivers was the best fit.’ Even if you look at someone like Tom Brady, with the pandemic and COVID-19 and no training camp, Rivers knows the (offensive coordinator Nick) Sirianni offense. Even Brady, when he went to Tampa admitted, and you saw it, it wasn’t an easy transition to learn a new playbook and a new offense. Putting aside the whole Colts rivalry with Brady, even if you were putting up the read that those were the two best available quarterbacks, Rivers was the better fit. That’s what it came down to. And on top of that, Rivers fits very well into that whole Ballard mold of he wants these guys who are tough and leaders and who know the offense, they’re smart, they love football. I’m not saying that every QB doesn’t have that, but Rivers had it. And on top of everything, it wasn’t an expansive risk. It’s a one-year deal that’s coming off the books. Rivers, so far, if he keeps up what he’s doing, they just franchise him and keep him for another year, and Jacoby is coming off the books. Either he stays for less money, or maybe Jacob Eason is ready to be the backup. When people say, ‘What are they doing?’ It’s not like they signed Rivers to a four-year, $100-million deal. It was a one-year deal. And he’s the perfect mentor for Eason, and again, which was no risk. The one thing Ballard does, and I love it, he takes all these situations that are low-risk and high-reward. Rivers is one of those. Eason is another, drafted in the fourth round. He’s learning with Brissett and Rivers. What a QB room for that kid. He sits there and learns all year. Next year, I think they’re going to franchise Rivers. That’s just my opinion. I’ve thought that from day one, as long as he doesn’t completely bust. I’m very happy with the Rivers signing. There’s a lot of noise, and a lot of it is, he has an unconventional throwing method. I always laughed at him when he wasn’t on my team. He throws the ball very funky. If you look at his overall numbers, his overall accuracy, and his overall percentage, everything is there. I think he’s a winning quarterback. He was worth the risk.

PhilB: So if we summarize, you like the way the team is going, you trust in Ballard, and you hope the next four-game stretch shows the team has made strides and has improved. It’s going in the right direction.

Mike: Branching off that, they’re set up, going forward. Hopefully, the plan is that it works out this year. But there’s other teams that are in positions that if it doesn’t work out this year, they’re in trouble. We have all our draft picks, we have the most salary cap in the league or are up there near the top going into next year. Everyone on the team is seemingly 25 years old, a lot of them are still on rookie contracts. It’s a good problem to have with all those young players you’re going to have to eventually pay. And Ballard likes to pay his own guys.

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