Colts HC Shane Steichen Talks Daniel Jones, Jonahtan Taylor & More with Rich

Shane Steichen has one regret from his television career, and it costs exactly eight dollars.

Long before he was the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, Steichen sat on Contestants' Row on The Price Is Right and never made it to the stage. He guessed 650 on a tennis ball machine. The guy next to him smiled, said 651, and that was that. "That pissed me off a little bit," Steichen said, still holding the receipt decades later.

The business at hand is a quarterback coming back from an Achilles tear. Daniel Jones spent the offseason grinding, and Steichen did not soften the description. "He did a hell of a job this offseason with his rehab, getting his body right. He was tirelessly working at it, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day."

More to the point for Week 1, Jones is not being managed. "He's hit the ground running since training camp started. He's taking every first team rep." Steichen said Jones is still working through the strength piece but is in a really good place, and when Rich asked whether the guy who nearly reached an NFC Championship game in New York is the same guy in Indianapolis now, the answer was immediate. "Yeah, for sure. I think so."

Alec Pierce is the other player carrying a can-he-do-it question, now that he has been paid. Steichen would not put a date on his return, saying only that Pierce is making really good progress in his rehab. On whether Pierce can be a true number one receiver, though, he did not hedge at all.

"If you look at it statistically, there's no doubt about it," Steichen said. "He's led the league in yards per catch the last two seasons. Had a thousand last year." The bigger point is what comes next. Pierce's role is expanding this season, and Steichen credited receivers coach Reggie Wayne for developing the intermediate parts of his route tree beyond the deep shots. "It's been a tremendous growth."

Jonathan Taylor's two-year extension landed the same day, and Steichen made clear that side of the building is Chris Ballard's lane, then smiled his way through the answer anyway. "You never want to lose great players. And he's a great player. He's a home run threat. When we need a play, he's usually the guy that makes it."

Asked for a Taylor story, Steichen came up empty on funny and went straight to Berlin instead. Taylor took over that game against Atlanta, Steichen said, including an 83-yard touchdown down the sideline on second and two. "That's the clip right there." Then in overtime the Colts got an unblocked defender on a blitz, Taylor made him miss to avoid a loss, and later scored a walk-off out of a counter gap scheme after beating a safety one on one in the hole.

A full season of Sauce Gardner is the defensive version of the same conversation. The Colts gave up real draft capital, last year did not go the way anybody wanted because of the injury, and Steichen framed the expectation plainly. "You need a lockdown corner in this league to take away number one receivers, and he's that type of player." He listed Mooney and Cam Bynum among the group behind him, and had nothing but affection for coordinator Lou Anarumo, thick Staten Island accent included. "He uses it when he gets after the players every once in a while pretty good."

On the notebook that Rich cannot stop wondering about, Steichen said Carlie Irsay-Gordon takes notes during games and brings them to Monday briefings. "She sits in meetings, she understands the play calls. So when she hears a call, she knows what's coming." He called her a tremendous leader who will do anything for the organization.

As for whether the Colts are overlooked, Steichen refused the bait and the schedule talk with it. "Everyone in this league's good. Anyone can get beat on any Sunday." He does believe his division is loaded.

He also checked in on Philip Rivers, back on the school pickup line in Alabama with a national TV game coming for the high school team he coaches. Steichen called last season's return, after five years off the couch, tremendous for the young players in his locker room to witness. "He played darn good football for us."

Week 1 is September 13 at Lucas Oil against the Ravens. Steichen's mind at kickoff? "You're locked in and you're ready to call the game."