o


In the long run and the short run, I want a coach to make wise decisions. He wasn't playing for the tie or not to lose by punting. He had already played for the win, and they didn't get it.


o

In most cases I'd probably agree with you, but Ballard seems to have placed a special emphasis on culture building, so that's the main reason for my take on the situation you mentioned. Here's a quote from an article last week on Colts.com:

Ballard: “Look: I think your culture is everything. I think it’s everything. And I think I’ve talked a lot about this with our young players that we have. I mean, not only being aggressive and putting it on the players in terms of, ‘Hey look, we’re gonna take some chances here, and we’re gonna put it on you to perform. We’re gonna do it, and you have to do it in practice.’ But from the way we do everything here — the way we practice, the way we study, the way we hold ourselves professionally, the way we support each other, the way we support our teammates and our coaches. Everything we do plays into the culture that we’re building right now.”

https://www.colts.com/news/chris-bal...-opportunities

I hope he engineers a season comeback to steal the division. It is ripe for the taking.

o


I think so too, although it's going to be tough to overcome the 1-4 start.

Tennessee just lost to Buffalo and Jacksonville got pounded by the Chiefs, so I think that the AFC South is wide open ........ with the Colts at a slight disadvantage because of their current record.


o

3 winnable games coming up, then a bye, and then 4 out of 5 games vs division opponents.

even with the current record, still very much in the division race. So yes its still wide open with the colts not too far behind.

Need to get at least 3 of those 4 division games after the bye though

I wish more companies put an emphasis on this. Many give it some lip service, but don’t really care at the end of the day. It isn’t something you can always measure, but impacts so many things. Glad our GM seems to be actively working on it.

The '75 team won 9 straight to close out the season, '99 it was 11 straight and '09 it was 9 straight.

It can be done.

In '99 Colts did lose the finale to Buffalo and Biscuit getting hurt in that game really killed our playoff chances.

BTW, this is probably when Polian developed his rest the starters playoff strategy.

o


That was '08.

That really pissed me off because the Colts beat the Steelers on their home-field during that 9-game winning streak, and I felt that they were the only AFC team that REALLY had a chance to beat them in those '08 playoffs.


They had to travel to shitty San Diego's homefield for the Wildcard playoff game, even though the Colts were 12-4 and the Chargers were 8-8, and even though the Colts beat them head-on in the regular season.

The last game that the Colts lost that season was a Monday night contest against the Titans. They were leading 7-6 at halftime, and then Manning drive them to a touchdown to start the 3rd quarter to make it 14-6. Then the defense got a stop, but the refs bailed out the Titans with a chintzy INT call. The Titans proceeded to take advantage of that call, and subsequently scored a TD and took control of the game after that. That game (and possibly that crucial INT call) likely cost the Colts the division title, and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

And that overrated Titans team lost to the Ravens in the divisional playoff game ........ 2008 was such a wasted opportunity in which fate was not on the Colts' side.


o

That’s the thing, he has gone after free agents. Ballard inquired about Robinson but he wasn’t interested. He went after Norwell, got outbid. He also wanted Calais Campbell, he wanted to go to the jags. He wanted AJ Bouye, not interested. Ballard has been selective about who he has pursued, and he has tried the best FA’s out there. I think he does have a price in his head and won’t get into a bidding war for a guy.

What Ballard doesn’t want is to sign mediocre players for big money. He wants to build a base core through the draft and let them define the culture of the team. He doesn’t want a problem child, he doesn’t want negative locker room presences. I’m ok with this. We need talent at core positions. Probably since 2008-09 this team has overly relied on QB play. Too much bad drafting. I’m hoping that is about to change.

Once we got some talent on this team I can see him getting a FA or two. I want super bowls, I don’t want a decade of good not great like the Pacers. And I feel like getting some FA’s now just makes us decent so we are picking in the middle of the draft.

I don’t remember hearing about him going after those guys. Other than norwell