2 birds , one stone. Indy Star

[JAFF]

https://www.indystar.com/story/sport...n/69815167007/

INDIANAPOLIS – Start with what we know: The Indianapolis Colts are looking for a head coach and a franchise quarterback. They’re doing this at the same time, which means those two hires – and this franchise – will rise together, or fall.

Anyone else around here sick of the Colts falling?

Here’s something else we know: Lamar Jackson, an elite NFL quarterback – he was unanimous MVP in 2019, and he turned 26 just last week – wants out of Baltimore. Now, he might not get his way. The Ravens have been playing hardball with Jackson for the past year, unwilling to give him the contract extension he seeks, and they could do it again. NFL rules allow the Ravens to apply the franchise tag to Jackson, meaning they own his rights for the 2023 NFL season whether he wants to be there or not.


He does not. Do the Ravens really want to go into next season with that headache?

If only there were another NFL team out there who needed a quarterback…

Hey, wait. There is! Quite a few, actually, but we don’t live in those cities. We live in this one, where the Colts finally seem committed to finding their quarterback of the next decade, not just the next season or two. Lamar Jackson, as I’ve said, is only 26.

FILE - In this Aug. 15, 2019, file photo, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) leaps over Green Bay Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander (23) during the first half of a NFL football preseason game, in Baltimore. Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman is tweaking and refining a record-setting unit led by NFL MVP Lamar Jackson, who is expected to again be the key component of an attack with several newcomers in the mix. (AP Photo/Gail Burton, File)
The Colts also need a head coach. If only there were someone with ties to Jackson, someone who has gotten the best out of him, someone qualified to become the Colts’ head coach…

Hey, wait.

Search a sham to justify hiring Jeff Saturday?

Start with what we fear: The Colts are running the farthest-reaching coach search in NFL history – at least a dozen known candidates – because they’re determined, when all is said and done, to hire interim coach Jeff Saturday anyway.

We looked far and wide, and nobody was as impressive as Jeff.

If you recall, Colts owner Jim Irsay made it clear on Nov. 8, the day he shocked the world by firing Frank Reich and replacing him with his buddy Jeff Saturday, that he was hoping Saturday would become the permanent coach. Irsay didn’t say the job was his, but he all but admitted the offseason search that would fulfill the NFL’s Rooney Rule – teams must interview at least two external people of color – would be a sham if Saturday nailed his audition.


Saturday did not nail his audition. He failed majestically, not merely because he went 1-7 and lost the last seven games, but because of how the Colts lost those games: Plumbing new depths, with the worst fourth quarter in NFL history against Dallas followed by the worst collapse in NFL history against Minnesota followed by more stinkers, including that gutless showing against New York when Saturday’s Colts – his offensive line, his guys – allowed Giants defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux to injure and then mock Colts quarterback Nick Foles.


Then came the season-ending loss to a Houston team that needed to lose, but ran into a Colts outfit that was simply better at it.


Saturday wants the job badly, but so what? I want to fight on the UFC’s next pay-per-view card. For the safety of everyone involved – Saturday and me, the Colts and the UFC – neither should happen. Either move would be borderline criminal, and show complete incompetence by those in charge. Dana White is a bad human being, but a brilliant owner. Jim Irsay has a beautiful soul, but if he hires Saturday … well.

Pivot now to what we know: The two hottest names of this offseason coaching cycle are Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh. Another thing we know: The Colts are one of five teams without a permanent coach. The other four – Arizona, Carolina, Denver, Houston – are known to have requested permission to interview Payton from the New Orleans Saints, who own his contractual rights.

The Colts have not requested that permission. Not officially, anyway. Wink wink, and don’t get me started on Wink Martindale. I mean really.

As for Harbaugh, he spoke with the Broncos and Panthers before announcing this week that he remains forever devoted to Michigan for the next 11½ months. Never was connected to the Colts, for whom he played and was inducted into their Ring of Honor. His name is up there on the marquee alongside the likes of Marshall Faulk, Peyton Manning and, ahem, Jeff Saturday. Jim Irsay loves the past, but never tried to interview Jim Harbaugh? Is that what you really believe?


To recap: The Colts are the only team who didn’t get permission to speak with Sean Payton, and one of a handful who didn’t speak with Harbaugh. Those “facts” leave us with four options:

A. The Colts aren’t serious about this coaching search.

B. The Colts, with their unstable front office and cavity at quarterback and left tackle, have the ugliest coaching opening in the NFL and were rebuffed, quietly, by Payton and Harbaugh.

C. The Colts don’t want to insult Payton or Harbaugh because they’re hiring Jeff Saturday.

D. All of the above.

It looks bleak, but I have the solution. Hey, don’t laugh. Who was the one person around here, the only person around here – media, fans, Colts employees, anyone – who said the Colts were wrong in 2018 to hire Josh McDaniels before he sniveled his way out of the job? Damn right I’ll be milking that until I retire. Get used to it.


The solution to the Colts’ 2023 search seems just as obvious – in a good way – as the hiring of Josh McDaniels was obvious in a bad way in 2018.

Remember, the Colts also need a quarterback, but I’m about to solve that little issue too. There’s a saying that applies here, something about getting two Ravens with one stone.

Jan 22, 2020; Kissimmiee, Florida, USA; Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman during AFC practice at ESPN Wide World of Sports. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Lamar Jackson, Greg Roman ... done

The Colts’ solution at quarterback: Ravens QB Lamar Jackson.

The Colts’ solution at coach: Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman.

Some will sneer, because that’s what people with no vision do. They don’t understand complicated concepts lobbed from outside the box, so they sneer. They go to Twitter and, without enough facts to support their side, throw out laughing-to-tears emojis. Like that works.

(It does, actually. Really ticks me off.)

Greg Roman, who is 50 years old and has spent exactly half his time on Earth coaching in the NFL, has been the Ravens’ offensive coordinator since 2019. He’s under fire right now in Baltimore because his offense fell off a cliff late in the season, scoring 82 points in the final six games, including the playoffs. Hell, the Colts can give up half that in one quarter.


Guess what else happened in those final six weeks: Franchise quarterback Lamar Jackson didn’t play. Knee injury. Nothing overly major, nothing requiring surgery anyway. He’ll be fine.

Is Greg Roman worthy of being a head coach? Well, he interviewed for the Cleveland Browns’ opening in 2020, and interviewed last month with Stanford. My point is not: Cleveland and Stanford liked him, therefore he’s great. My point is: The Colts wouldn’t be out in left field by hiring Greg Roman.

I mean, it’s not like hiring Jeff Saturday.

Let’s acknowledge now what most serious NFL observers know, and what we’ve learned around here with emphasis since Peyton Manning arrived in 1998: An NFL team is only as good as its quarterback. Look at the years Manning and Andrew Luck played: 15 playoff appearance in 19 years. Look at the years they were injured: 6-26. Look at what happened since Luck retired in 2019: this once-mighty franchise’s utter collapse.

Lamar Jackson would solve that problem, but only if he’s happy. Unless there was trouble behind the scenes in Baltimore – we know Jackson is unhappy with Ravens ownership and management, and most likely with coach John Harbaugh – Greg Roman seems to make Jackson happy. Seems to make him great, too.

The Colts can give Baltimore the No. 4 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, and whatever else is needed, to acquire Jackson. Then extend his contract, and hire Greg Roman at the end of the farthest-reaching search in NFL history.

We looked far and wide, and nobody was as impressive as Lamar Jackson, we mean, Greg Roman.


Or the Colts could do what they’ve always done, I guess, and rely on the same people who’ve whiffed for years on coaches and quarterbacks. That seems intelligent.