One year later
After the disappointing loss, where the whole team played awful, in the clichéd "all three phases of the game", it is good to consider the larger picture of where the team is now vs a year ago.
One year ago :
Don't know if our franchise QB will be back again and healthy
Left at the altar by a dick move by a potential head coaching hire
Still were not really sure how good Ballard was as a GM.
No offensive or defensive identity
OL was awful
No pass rush
Bottom of the division
ANd now :
Have a great coach for the next decade probably and a perfect pairing between him and Luck
Luck is back and obviously healthy, his game yesterday not withstanding
Ballard had a great draft and following the weasel pulling out of a contract offer at the last minute, turned that fiasco into a huge positive by hiring an even better coach.
OL is the best it has been in years and was one of the best units in the league this year, and that despite many injuries. I would argue there is still room for improvement, especially right side of the line, but cannot complain about the gains in a year
There is an offensive identity between Luck, Reich and Quenton Nelson at guard, added some badly needed edge to this team
The defensive has at least a leader in Leonard, though again need some upgrades at other positions on D and still not sure the defensive philosophy beyond the dreaded Cover 2 "but but don't break" idea, which I am not a huge fan of. But also on defense, Eberflus is a solid coordinator if nothing else
Back near the top of the division
There are still areas of improvement of course. Need pass rush, a #2/1 WR, upgrade at LBers and secondary. But I don't think any of us would argue this was not a successful season despite the loss. And I think we have seen Ballard can fix problems quickly with the way the OL performed this year.
And he has lots of picks and FA money to do it with
Its hard to win in this league consistently without three 3 things at the top
GM
Head Coach
QB
A year ago, we were not sure we had any of that. Now we now know all of those are covered for now and the focus can be on other still important but less critical areas.
When was the last time, before this year vs. Houston, the Colts went into a playoff game where you actually thought the team had a coaching advantage? I would argue its been over a decade, since way back when Dungy was coaching.
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