Colts signing Justin Houston

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by rm1369

I think it’s entirely possible that Ballard simply saw a guy on the market that fit an immediate short term need that he knew wouldn’t upset the locker room culture he wants. Pass rushers typically take time to develop so Houston adds some current ability with little risk. In this case, it’s not really a departure from his previous method. More like a rare exception.

What I hope is that Ballard is actually tweaking his methods to match the current team situation and make up. He made comments late last season that the team developed a lot quicker than he expected. And in a recent radio interview he mentioned the team needing to learn to win and alluded to some of the early season losses as not about talent. The optimistic side of me wants to combine those two things with the Houston signing and say Ballard realizes the team can win now and that you shouldn’t waste that always playing for tomorrow. That a more even balance between now and the long term is needed.

The reality is that it’s probably just the first one - a rare exception and not a shift in philosophy.

That's pretty much what I think (and hope) as well. Though I disagree that there's any substantial evidence to this point that Ballard needs to tweak his methods, as I think last year was about as good a year as any Colts fan could have reasonably expected. So, until the evidence suggests otherwise, I'd advocate that we stay the course that Ballard originally set.