5 questions with Stampede Blue
September wasn’t kind to the Las Vegas Raiders, getting off to a slow 1-3 start to the 2025 NFL season. So, the Raiders can’t afford any more missteps, which heightens the stakes for the Week 5 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts. To preview the game for Raider Nation, Chris Shepherd from our friends at Stampede Blue was kind enough to answer a few questions about the Colts.
Q: Daniel Jones has gone from being run out of New York to leading the Colts to a 3-1 start, which could easily have been 4-0 had it not been for Adonai Mitchell’s miscue last week. What’s been the difference between Danny Dimes with the Giants and at the beginning of this season? Also, how surprised is the fanbase at his play so far?
A: Daniel Jones has benefited greatly from having a complete team around him. The Colts’ offensive line has yet to look great, but they’re better than average and they’re far and away the best line Jones has ever played behind. Then you go to his receivers and the Colts have three legitimately solid starters in Michael Pittman Jr., Alec Pierce and Josh Downs.
While I’m not ready to forgive Ad Mitchell for erasing not one but two touchdowns last week, Mitchell wouldn’t have been in position to botch a celebration by fumbling a football out of the back of the endzone had he not made an absolutely insane catch, spun out of contact and then won a 76-yard foot race to the end zone. So while Mitchell had the very rare honor of actually being the entire reason an NFL team lost a game, he is wildly talented. And we haven’t even talked about what rookie tight end Tyler Warren brings to the offense in a multitude of ways.
Then, when you combine all of that with the offense Shane Steichen has designed around his players, the answers he’s giving Jones and the confidence he’s allowed him to play with, it starts to make a lot of sense why Jones is having this much success.
And that’s not to take away from Jones himself. His effort outside of practice and the games was the reason he won the starting job to begin with. He has total control of the offense, and it’s obvious he has put in a ton of work to know the system as well as he does just four games into his first year with the team.
And how surprised are fans? Unless you’re speaking to the boldest of liars, no one thought this was coming. Not one single soul. Plenty of people thought he would be better than Anthony Richardson, but no one thought this would happen.
Q: Jonathan Taylor currently leads the NFL in rushing yards with 414 and is averaging 5.4 yards per carry. The latter is only 0.1 ypc less than his season average in 2021, when he was the rushing champ with 1,811 yards. How would you compare his performance during the first month of the season four years ago to this past September? Does he have a legitimate chance to keep this pace up and replicate the best campaign of his career?
A: I’m really glad you asked about Jonathan Taylor. Pre-2025, he averaged 76 rushing yards per game in the month of September during his career. In October, he averaged right around 72 yards per game, in November it bumps to 82 yards per game, and then in December he averages just a tick under 106 yards per game.
Every year in his career, Taylor has gotten stronger and been more productive as the season has gone on. In short, Jonathan Taylor has never looked this good in September, and in many ways, he’s never looked this good at all.
Taylor has never been a good pass blocker, and he struggled reeling in dump-offs and just making routine catches. It got to the point that he was finding himself on the bench on many obvious passing downs. This season, however, Taylor looks possessed as a blocker and has had sure hands reeling in balls from Daniel Jones.
Taylor is playing better now than he ever has, and historically, he becomes more prolific as the season progresses while doing all of the things he needs to do to make sure he never comes off the field. The only thing that could slow him down is an injury, and that’s true for everyone. It’s certainly early in the season to make this statement, but if he can stay healthy, Jonathan Taylor might be putting together a very special season.
Q: Indianapolis moved on from former Raiders defensive coordinator Gus Bradley and hired former Bengals DC Lou Anarumo in the offseason. What have been the biggest changes you’ve noticed in the Colts’ defense this year compared to last year?
A: The biggest difference is in how much disguise is built into Lou’s system. If Gus Bradley shows you a single high safety before the snap, the chances that he would roll coverage to a two-high shell were almost zero. Anarumo’s defense, on the other hand, looks like organized chaos with different people dropping to different spots, and stunts, loops and blitzes are alive and well in Indy. Lou hasn’t been perfect (neither is his talent to work with), but his defense is a lot of fun to watch. Gus’ defenses were…less fun.
Q: Las Vegas is coming off a game where rookie running back Ashton Jeanty finally broke through, which unsurprisingly, coincided with the offensive line’s best performance of the season. How do you think the Raiders’ rushing attack and o-line match up with the Colts’ front seven?
A: If the Raiders are smart, they’ll do well on the ground. The first thing they should do is find Laiatu Latu before the snap and make him prove he can maintain his gap. The next thing they should do is wait until either DeForest Buckner or Grover Stewart (both defensive tackles) are off the field and run it directly at the guys who replaced them, and I mean run it at their backups every down. Third and seven, and Grover is off the field? Hand it off, you’ll pick up 6-10 yards.
The rush defense has been hit or miss this season, but I’m not confident this is something that we’ll see improve for Indy as the season goes on.
Q: Can you give us one “under-the-radar” player on each side of the ball for Indianapolis who you think will have a significant impact on this game?
A: On offense, it’s tough. There aren’t many under-the-radar guys whom I can really point out, but I’ll give you center Tanor Bortolini. Bort is in his second year out of Wisconsin and his first season as a full-time starter, with Ryan Kelly leaving for Minnesota. Bort has done a very good job taking over and looks like a guy who is going to ascend to the highest levels of his position in short order.
On defense, I’m going to have to say Nick Cross. Cross is a fourth-year safety out of Maryland. Cross was a superb athlete coming into the draft; he just needed time to sit and grow as a player before getting on the field. This is his second season as a starter, and this Sunday you’ll see Cross all over the field.
Category: General Sports
