The build

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by rm1369

I don’t remember ever complaining about letting Melvin walk, only how young and thin Ballard left the position.

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Ok, now I get your point – so all of the good stuff the Colts have accomplished this year is due to Luck’s return and the change in coaching staff. All the bad stuff – really just the 2-5 record – is due to Ballard’s misguided plan to use younger players in place of the Hankins, Simons and Andersons of the world. Do I have it about right?

The problem with this theory is that, again, it isn’t supported by the facts. The Colts improvement isn’t limited to the offense – as I’ve posted previously, statistically this group of young defenders is outperforming last year’s squad by a large margin in almost every category (actually it is in EVERY category I’ve looked at, but I’ll say “almost every category” because I can’t say I’ve looked at all of them). I suppose this was just as you predicted too, right? That’s why your railed against Ballard’s decisions to get rid of Hankins and the others?

And you really have mischaracterized my points regarding how the team has “looked”. This isn’t a subjective eyeball assessment like you treat it – it’s apparent from the hard numbers, whether you look a points scored, points given up, sacks, turnovers - whatever. Those are undeniable, but you ignore this stuff in favor of vague ideas that we could have signed “someone” who could have improved the team.

Of course we could have signed players who, in retrospect, would have helped out. But then I could be like you and simply respond by saying “we could have signed some bad players who would have made our defense worse and could have destroyed the culture Ballard is trying to create”. Then we can both stare at each other and say nothing, because both statements are true, so long as we keep it vague. That’s why if you’re going to make this type of argument, you should back it up with examples of the players you’re referring to. Look at the CB free agent list for 2018 and tell me who you think the Colts should have signed. You'll see that the list is much more treacherous than you might realize.

And what makes you so certain the Colts would have drafted Leonard had they picked up a few free agent LBs? Isn’t it possible at least that they would have turned their draft focus somewhere else – perhaps CB for example?

I’ve "admitted" they haven’t won as much as I thought they would, no question, but so what? The point is that they’ve improved dramatically from last season – both on offense and defense – and its validated Ballard's approach. The 2017 Colts never held a team to 5 points, not even the Browns, who were the worst team in the league last year (they scored 28 off of Hankins and the D). I’m guessing that if the 2018 Colts had accomplished their improvements by way of a bringing in a bunch of Mike Adams-like free agents, you’d now be trumpeting the masterful success of that plan. But because it was accomplished in a way that was different than you preferred, you have to explain it away by saying its all Luck and the coaching change. But it's simply not true, no matter how much you want it to be. Give credit where credit is due.