General off-season news thread

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by Chaka

What’s wrong with not panicking and setting the team back by making a mistake? Everyone can nitpick, but the truth is that Ballard’s long term strategy appeared to be working exactly as planned until the rug got pulled out from beneath him by the Luck retirement a couple weeks before the season was to begin. Even then, we demonstrated a marked improvement from the last time we were without Luck (2017), when we went 4-12 and looked depressingly bad.

Honestly, with even an average kicking game we might be in the playoffs this season (though admittedly probably one-and-done) despite the Luck retirement. Criticize Ballard all you want keeping Vinatieri around too long, but the guy had perhaps the best track record of any kicker EVER, so betting that Vinatieri would right the ship over the alternative - bringing in an unproven or disgraced kicker jettisoned by other teams - did not seem too unreasonable to me. Notably, he jumped on McLaughlin when he became available, so hopefully we caught a break there.

Bottom line: the future remains bright, despite all the hand-wringing here, though finding a workable QB is undeniably a major issue that will dictate the success of Ballard’s plans going forward.

Where did I criticize Ballard for not panicking? My point with dam is that nothing Ballard has done previously indicates he values the QB position to the degree he would make the risky decision to sign Bridgewater to a big contract or trade all of his draft capital to move up in the draft. He’s pretty much said and done the exact opposite in his time here. That’s my point with dam.

As to the rest of it, you and I will never agree, but it’s not nitpicking to criticize Ballard’s decision to follow a long term rebuild with a franchise QB on the roster. I’ve been saying it since he started. With a franchise QB in place it was the wrong decision. I stand by that assessment. I’m sure you’ll point out Luck’s retirement was unforeseen and screwed it all up. I get that, however I’m on the record in our discussions saying that he shouldn’t be looking more than about 2 years ahead anyway because shit changes too quickly for a 4-5 year plan. So while the specific circumstance was unforeseen the fact something changed everything before he completed his master plan is not.

Look, I like the guy. I have never asked for him to be fired. You can spin how close they were to a one and done playoff birth all you want, but IMO this team is further away from a title today than it was the day Ballard was hired. Thats with or without Luck ever coming back from the shoulder injury. The roster is just improved enough that they won’t be in the running for a top QB prospect without mortgaging the future to move up.

The three most important positions for winning in the NFL are QB, LT, and pass rusher. Right now the Colts have questions or holes at all 3, so I’m not nearly as optimistic as you. And I sure as hell don’t see any glimpse of the dynasty you and Ballard have been envisioning.