Coaching is about getting the best out of your players, improving the talent, and creating schemes that maximise the talents of the players at your disposal. Coaches who get credit for making a superstar pash rusher are often over hyped, the player had immense talent, was a top 10 draft selection, it is relatively easy as a coach to look good in those situations.
The Colts DLine has had quite a lot of high end talent signed or drafted, Buckner, Paye, Lewis, Dayo all high draft picks, Stewart was a mid rounder. I would expect them to do fairly well based on the college draft talent alone.
The defensive backs are a different story though. Moore was undrafted, as were Flowers and Baker, Rodney Thomas and Jaylon Jones were 7th rounders. We have drafted Cross, Blackmon and now Brents with 2nd and 3rd round picks, so you would like to think that their talents will start to develop. But to expect a coach to create a top notch secondary without giving him the talent to begin with is going to be much harder.
Maybe in an everyday scenario the coaches released weren't getting the most from the players at their disposal, and that is why they were released. NFL rankings may have little to do with things, it is are you coaching these guys as well as someone else could be?
|