Colts fire OC Marcus Brady

[IndyNorm]

I'm really not trying to be a Ballard apologist here, but I need to disagree. The Colts continue to have financial flexibility despite these deals. They have not engaged in type of financial engineering which other teams have, which ends up painting those teams into a corner and setting them back for years. Even where Colts pay these guys tons of money, they usually have an out after a couple years in the event things don't work out.

We have $56M in guaranteed money tied up between Nelson, Smith, and Kelly in their current contracts. Do you not think that's going to hamstring the Colts ability to fill needs, especially with the way Ballard goes about things? Also, I need to add that with the way those 3 are playing that's $56M too much to be spending on them.

Certainly there's room for criticism here, though both Pryor and Pinter played much better last year. Teams have to make tough decisions all the time and can't pay everyone, so they took a calculated gamble with Pryor and Pinter which hasn't worked out so far. But this is on Ballard to a large degree, no doubt.

You're downplaying how much of a fuck up this is. Ballard handed Pryor the starting spot at the 2nd most important position in football after a whopping 1 ok start there. It was obvious from snap one of game one of this year that he wasn't capable to holding down the LT for an entire season. How the fuck did Ballard and/or his staff not realize this? At the very least bring Fisher back. Yeah he had his struggles, but he's not the dumpster fire of worthless shit that Pryor is.

And the Pinter move was almost as bad. Pinter clearly isn't strong enough to play OG in the NFL. How the fuck did Ballard and his staff not know this? On top of that we had 2 OGs who went to other teams (Glow and Reed) for reasonable and dirt cheap deals. We should have had both of them back, no problem. Of course who wants actually good O Linemen when you can have the extra $12.5M in future cap flexiblity.

AC retired 1.5 years ago (the 2021 offseason), with a year remaining on his contract. The Colts brought in a 30-year old former Pro Bowl LT (Eric Fisher) coming off an injury to replace him, and drafted Paye in the 1st round to address a different area of weakness. Fisher didn't work out as well as hoped. Ballard drafted Raimann this off season. He could have done more I suppose, but its not as though he ignored the issue and didn't devote significant resources to it.

While AC did hold off retiring until after the '20 season, he seriously considered it in '19 which should have motivated Ballard to begin working on his replacement that offseason. The fact that Pryor, who might be the worst starting LT in the history of the NFL, was our starting LT 3 offeasons later shows how unbelievably bad Ballard fucked that up.

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

We have $56M in guaranteed money tied up between Nelson, Smith, and Kelly in their current contracts. Do you not think that's going to hamstring the Colts ability to fill needs, especially with the way Ballard goes about things? Also, I need to add that with the way those 3 are playing that's $56M too much to be spending on them.

How so? If they wanted to do so, the Colts could sign virtually any available player at this point.

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

You're downplaying how much of a fuck up this is. Ballard handed Pryor the starting spot at the 2nd most important position in football after a whopping 1 ok start there. It was obvious from snap one of game one of this year that he wasn't capable to holding down the LT for an entire season. How the fuck did Ballard and/or his staff not realize this? At the very least bring Fisher back. Yeah he had his struggles, but he's not the dumpster fire of worthless shit that Pryor is.

And the Pinter move was almost as bad. Pinter clearly isn't strong enough to play OG in the NFL. How the fuck did Ballard and his staff not know this? On top of that we had 2 OGs who went to other teams (Glow and Reed) for reasonable and dirt cheap deals. We should have had both of them back, no problem. Of course who wants actually good O Linemen when you can have the extra $12.5M in future cap flexiblity.

I don't disagree that the LT and RG positions have been a mess, and that Ballard has a large amount of responsibility for this. All I was saying is that you need to judge the decision based upon info available at the time, not in retrospect now that it hasn't worked out. Is Ballard making rational and logical decisions, and is he taking worthwhile gambles? I agree it's questionable on the positions you pointed out, but its not nearly as obvious as every is saying. A good part of this is on Ballard, no doubt.

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

While AC did hold off retiring until after the '20 season, he seriously considered it in '19 which should have motivated Ballard to begin working on his replacement that offseason. The fact that Pryor, who might be the worst starting LT in the history of the NFL, was our starting LT 3 offeasons later shows how unbelievably bad Ballard fucked that up.

How do you know what AC was discussing with the Colts? I know it was reported in the media that AC might retire in 2019, but he signed a two-year contract shortly thereafter. And who should the Colts have signed/drafted in 2019 or 2020 that would have satisfied you?

[AlwaysSunnyinIndy]

From Reich's press conference:

https://twitter.com/zkeefer/status/1587841156603383811

First question to Colts HC Frank Reich today is if Marcus Brady was scapegoated:

"I understand that — that should fall on me," Reich says. "Marcus isn’t being scapegoated. I have to own that. We're all responsible."

https://twitter.com/zkeefer/status/1587840418774908929

Colts coach Frank Reich on firing OC Marcus Brady yesterday: "Both things can be true — Marcus can be a really good coach and a really good teammate, and sometimes it’s right for a change and it just makes sense for the team."

https://twitter.com/NateAtkins_/stat...40327930478592

Frank Reich reiterates that firing Marcus Brady was a difficult decision. . . . . Reich was fired once as the OC of the Chargers and hopes Brady can bounce back somewhere else.

https://twitter.com/JoelAErickson/st...40428962992128

Reich says he'll handle the OC duties. "Ultimately, the offense falls on me."

[IndyNorm]

How so? If they wanted to do so, the Colts could sign virtually any available player at this point.

You know damn well that Ballard will use how much he's invested in the OL as an excuse not to invest in FA to fill team needs. He certainly won't invest any more in the OL even thought that's the unit that obviously needs to be fixed. In fact he already did that by letting Glow, Reed, and Fisher walk and going cheap w/ Pryor and Pinter

I don't disagree that the LT and RG positions have been a mess, and that Ballard has a large amount of responsibility for this. All I was saying is that you need to judge the decision based upon info available at the time, not in retrospect now that it hasn't worked out. Is Ballard making rational and logical decisions, and is he taking worthwhile gambles? I agree it's questionable on the positions you pointed out, but its not nearly as obvious as every is saying. A good part of this is on Ballard, no doubt.

You don't judge a decision by the outcome it creates? What kind of dumbass thinking is that? And BTW handing over the starting LT position to a journeyman backup who made a whopping 1 start there is not a reasonable and logical decision. This was pretty obvious to a lot of us on the board here. Pinter wasn't as obvious to us fans, but it should have been obvious to Ballard and his staff. They had 2 years worth of practices and workouts to evaluate him, and the fact that they were so far off on his evaluation as well as Pryor's should say something.

How do you know what AC was discussing with the Colts? I know it was reported in the media that AC might retire in 2019, but he signed a two-year contract shortly thereafter. And who should the Colts have signed/drafted in 2019 or 2020 that would have satisfied you?

AC seemed like a really standup guy. Do you think he'd tell the media that he was considering retiring and not talk to Ballard, Reich, etc. about it?

Off the top of my head I would have either signed Leno instead of Fisher and/or drafted Darrisaw instead of Paye. And as I already mentioned re-signing Fisher would have been a much better move than handing the job over to Pryor. But my opinion doesn't really matter as I don't get paid to make the Colts better. Ballard does, and that's something he's failed at big fucking time over the past couple of off seasons. Fucking Matt Broken Down Turnstyle Pryor at LT. What a fucking joke.

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

You know damn well that Ballard will use how much he's invested in the OL as an excuse not to invest in FA to fill team needs. He certainly won't invest any more in the OL even thought that's the unit that obviously needs to be fixed. In fact he already did that by letting Glow, Reed, and Fisher walk and going cheap w/ Pryor and Pinter

An excuse? Do you think he just doesn't want to spend money because he's cheap? And letting Glow, Reed and Fisher walk? Fisher's now out of football, Reed is a Vikings backup who's been designated as inactive for nearly every game this year, and Glowinski was the weakest link on the Colts line asking for a big payday.

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

You don't judge a decision by the outcome it creates? What kind of dumbass thinking is that? And BTW handing over the starting LT position to a journeyman backup who made a whopping 1 start there is not a reasonable and logical decision. This was pretty obvious to a lot of us on the board here. Pinter wasn't as obvious to us fans, but it should have been obvious to Ballard and his staff. They had 2 years worth of practices and workouts to evaluate him, and the fact that they were so far off on his evaluation as well as Pryor's should say something.

Correct. I don't judge a person's decisionmaking simply by the simple bottomline result. This kind of "dumbass thinking" might be beyond you, but think of it like how a poker player makes decisions - a good poker player plays the odds, and makes decisions accordingly. The outcome of those decisions is not always consistent with what the odds would suggest, but the player can rest assured that if you keep making smart decisions, they will prevail in the end. The entire casino industry is based upon this principle.

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

AC seemed like a really standup guy. Do you think he'd tell the media that he was considering retiring and not talk to Ballard, Reich, etc. about it?

Off the top of my head I would have either signed Leno instead of Fisher and/or drafted Darrisaw instead of Paye. And as I already mentioned re-signing Fisher would have been a much better move than handing the job over to Pryor. But my opinion doesn't really matter as I don't get paid to make the Colts better. Ballard does, and that's something he's failed at big fucking time over the past couple of off seasons. Fucking Matt Broken Down Turnstyle Pryor at LT. What a fucking joke.

You missed my point. Do you know what Castonzo told the Colts his intentions were when he resigned for two years? I mean I think the guy was 32 at the time, so it's not unreasonable to think he might follow though on the contract and play for a couple years.

[ChaosTheory]

Originally Posted by Chaka

Correct. I don't judge a person's decisionmaking simply by the simple bottomline result. This kind of "dumbass thinking" might be beyond you, but think of it like how a poker player makes decisions - a good poker player plays the odds, and makes decisions accordingly. The outcome of those decisions is not always consistent with what the odds would suggest, but the player can rest assured that if you keep making smart decisions, they will prevail in the end.

That's the perfect analogy.

[IndyNorm]

An excuse? Do you think he just doesn't want to spend money because he's cheap?

Year in and year out Ballard sacrifices team needs in the name of future cap flexibility. You know damn if left unchecked he'll continue to do so, and since he's already invested so much of the cap space in the OL he'll continue to find cheap band aid like replacements for the open positions rather than do the right thing and actually fix the problem.

And letting Glow, Reed and Fisher walk? Fisher's now out of football, Reed is a Vikings backup who's been designated as inactive for nearly every game this year, and Glowinski was the weakest link on the Colts line asking for a big payday.

After watching the god awful OL play this year it's obvious that Glow wasn't the weak link of the OL. If re-signed he'd be our best OG currently on the roster, and since Nelson's play has gone to complete shit the same can probably be said for Reed as well. Even though he's out of football if we had re-signed Fisher he would have currently been our best LT, and certainly a hell of a lot better than Pryor is. Hell, even if Fisher had sat on the couch since January he'd still be better than Pryor.

Correct. I don't judge a person's decision making simply by the simple bottomline result. This kind of "dumbass thinking" might be beyond you, but think of it like how a poker player makes decisions - a good poker player plays the odds, and makes decisions accordingly. The outcome of those decisions is not always consistent with what the odds would suggest, but the player can rest assured that if you keep making smart decisions, they will prevail in the end. The entire casino industry is based upon this principle.

No, what you're saying isn't beyond me, and nothing you've ever posted on here is beyond me or anyone else on the board. And yes, it's a dumbass line of thinking. For starters Ballard's role is nothing like being a professional gambler and running a football team is nothing like running a casino where the odds are always in your favor.

Ballard is essentially a VP of talent acquisition at a midsized company. Imagine if he was in the business world and decided due to potential future budget constraints to let ~half of the company's experienced talent in their top division leave rather than pay them a manageable salary increase. Then he backfills them w/ substandard talent who's completely incapable of performing at the required level, and as soon as this turnover happens the division begins to grossly underperform so much so that it drags the entire company down from being in the black to the heavy red. Do you think wise investors would say "That's ok. You gambled and lost, but I'm sure you'll get it right next time." No, they would (rightfully so) be calling for his head.

On top of that even if Ballard's job was exactly like a professional gambler, Pryor and Pinter were two of the worst horses in the history of the league to wager the season on, and Ballard should have known that.

You missed my point. Do you know what Castonzo told the Colts his intentions were when he resigned for two years? I mean I think the guy was 32 at the time, so it's not unreasonable to think he might follow though on the contract and play for a couple years.

Do you honestly think Castonzo told the entire world that he was seriously considering retiring and then told Ballard that he'd stick around for the foreseeable future? If so then I have a great bridge investment opportunity I'd like to tell you about. And even if AC did say he'd stick around the fact that he was considering retiring at the end of the '19 season shouldn't have surprised Ballard when he did retire after '20. But the fact that Matt Fucking Pryor was our starting LT this season seems to speak otherwise.

[YDFL Commish]

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

Year in and year out Ballard sacrifices team needs in the name of future cap flexibility. You know damn if left unchecked he'll continue to do so, and since he's already invested so much of the cap space in the OL he'll continue to find cheap band aid like replacements for the open positions rather than do the right thing and actually fix the problem.



After watching the god awful OL play this year it's obvious that Glow wasn't the weak link of the OL. If re-signed he'd be our best OG currently on the roster, and since Nelson's play has gone to complete shit the same can probably be said for Reed as well. Even though he's out of football if we had re-signed Fisher he would have currently been our best LT, and certainly a hell of a lot better than Pryor is. Hell, even if Fisher had sat on the couch since January he'd still be better than Pryor.




No, what you're saying isn't beyond me, and nothing you've ever posted on here is beyond me or anyone else on the board. And yes, it's a dumbass line of thinking. For starters Ballard's role is nothing like being a professional gambler and running a football team is nothing like running a casino where the odds are always in your favor.

Ballard is essentially a VP of talent acquisition at a midsized company. Imagine if he was in the business world and decided due to potential future budget constraints to let ~half of the company's experienced talent in their top division leave rather than pay them a manageable salary increase. Then he backfills them w/ substandard talent who's completely incapable of performing at the required level, and as soon as this turnover happens the division begins to grossly underperform so much so that it drags the entire company down from being in the black to the heavy red. Do you think wise investors would say "That's ok. You gambled and lost, but I'm sure you'll get it right next time." No, they would (rightfully so) be calling for his head.

On top of that even if Ballard's job was exactly like a professional gambler, Pryor and Pinter were two of the worst horses in the history of the league to wager the season on, and Ballard should have known that.



Do you honestly think Castonzo told the entire world that he was seriously considering retiring and then told Ballard that he'd stick around for the foreseeable future? If so then I have a great bridge investment opportunity I'd like to tell you about. And even if AC did say he'd stick around the fact that he was considering retiring at the end of the '19 season shouldn't have surprised Ballard when he did retire after '20. But the fact that Matt Fucking Pryor was our starting LT this season seems to speak otherwise.

No Glow did god damn job, which is all you can expect of any player.

[IndyNorm]

Originally Posted by YDFL Commish

No Glow did god damn job, which is all you can expect of any player.

Yeah he did. And if it wasn't clear before this year then it sure is now. At least to those of us with at least half a brain.