It's Done! Frank is gone!

[IndyNorm]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

What specifically is wrong with the building strategy? I hear this all the time from the local media guys and I don't think they know what they are talking about.

Ballard has specifically said we are not going all out till we get the QB in place. He also thinks teams that skirt and manipulate the cap like the Saints are crazy and it will come around to get them. Saints are about to face that. League may also start to close those loop holes bc they want parity. Ballard thinks the team was ready to win now, that is why they were going the vet route. He is right, the team can win now with solid QB play.

I have been criticizing Ballard for years on here for some of his flaws. But I do think the positives outweigh those flaws. He did botch the LT situation. Not saying he didn't. But he has also done a lot of good things as well. This defense is good. I think the oline will get better with a LT in place. The weapons are young and explosive. He continually knocks it out of the park in the draft. A GM's primary job is to find talent and he does that well. That is not easy to find. We have had two good GM's at it in 38 years.

It doesn't matter. Ballard looked pissed yesterday, he may resign, and he will get another job immediately. Meanwhile, we will have trouble finding a good candidate because of this shitshow.

If the measurement is adding talent then I think you have to say we had 3 good GMS and add Tobin to the mix. Tobin actually kind of reminds me of Ballard as he made some damn good draft picks, but he made too many stupid ass decisions and was fired for it. We'll see if that happens to Ballard.

[Racehorse]

Originally Posted by AlwaysSunnyinIndy

Mike Chappell of FOX59 had a conversation with Reich - almost a quasi-exit interview.

Below are a few excerpts along with the link and full interview / story.


https://twitter.com/mchappell51/stat...87909293453312



https://twitter.com/mchappell51/stat...88999485706240



https://fox59.com/sports/colts/frank...ul-to-the-job/

You have to feel for the guy. If he had only let his OC do his job, and had done his own job of managing the team, he might have survived it all.

[Hoopsdoc]

Originally Posted by AlwaysSunnyinIndy

Mike Chappell of FOX59 had a conversation with Reich - almost a quasi-exit interview.

Below are a few excerpts along with the link and full interview / story.


https://twitter.com/mchappell51/stat...87909293453312



https://twitter.com/mchappell51/stat...88999485706240



https://fox59.com/sports/colts/frank...ul-to-the-job/

The guy is a class act and a good coach. He’ll get another chance and if he doesn’t get skull fucked at qb again, he will be successful.

[Hoopsdoc]

Originally Posted by YDFL Commish

There is no way that Ballard is gone unless he finds a way to piss off Irsay.

Ballard has this roster filled with talent and Irsay knows that. Irsay just needs to convince him that it's okay to over spend if it makes the team a contender for Super Bowls.

Ballard fucked up at LT and RG, there's no disputing that. Hell bringing Fischer back would've been a better alternative to what has been done so far.

Dude, Ballard isn’t even calling the shots anymore. Jim is. Ballard is not going to be Irsays pigeon, I’d bet on that.

He won’t be the GM next season, I’d bet a war pension on it. If for no other reason than Jim is gonna need a scapegoat for how disastrous the rest of this season is going to be.

And it’s gonna be a dumpster fire of epic proportions.

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by rm1369

So why in the world do you even acquire Rivers or Ryan? Both had very short windows. Are you really suggesting you have no problem wasting one of those years making sure they were an acceptable answer? That makes absolutely no sense. Or is it that they won’t do it until they have a young QB in place? If that’s the case why get those guys anyway? At best, without full roster support, they make you playoff competitive and lower your draft position- making it harder to acquire the guy you do identify. It makes no fucking sense. It’s the same thing the Pacers did - they tried to ride the middle of the league, keep the fan based inline and strike gold somehow. They failed. Ballard is doing the same thing and I don’t know how in the world you can say it is anything but a failure. You are either pushing to win or rebuilding. He’s trying to ride a line between those two. It has and will fail.

They were looking for their Alex Smith. A vet who could hold the positions for a few years till they found a young QB to develop. Also feasibly the vet allows you to win games if you have a solid roster around him like a Tom Brady situation. I think they would have spent more if they thought one of those vets would get them to the superbowl. NBA and NFL are very different, stop comparing the two. You only need a few guys in the NBA and the pacers can't lure top free agents because indy isn't a destination town. The pacers finally figured out they have no stars and no one even knew who was on the roster. Thats not the case with the Colts.

Its not a binary situation. Look around the league and the records. This is a parity league. Most games are decided by the kicker at the end. The line between winning and losing is razor-thin. It's not terribly complicated what they are trying to do, don't understand why you are having difficulty with it.

Originally Posted by rm1369

This is a big issue I have. He is always going to have a hard time winning titles without accepting the up and down process that even you have mentioned. Teams that manipulate the cap CAN have an advantage in a given year. Yes it’s dangerous, but always worrying about your cap situation 3-4 years from now also comes at a cost. And the down year helps you reload talent.

Saints are about to go into cap hell. He doesn't want to run his cap like that, thinks its nuts. Just the way it is. It is really a separate conversation. You want the team to run that way, fine, I don't. Neither one of us has a say. It seems subjective to me, and short-term gain you get will eventually hurt you in the future.

Originally Posted by rm1369

He didn’t think they were good enough to go all in. Or he’s never going all in. Either answer is damning IMO.

If we had two years of QB play, yeah maybe he would have in that second year. But we never got one to find out.

Originally Posted by rm1369

I understand it can get worse. I want to like Ballard. He does acquire talent. Where I disagree with you is that I believe a GMs primary job is to construct a team, not acquire talent. Acquiring talent is certainly part of that, but the NFL is the ultimate league where you can be more or less than the sum of your parts. Ballard’s teams will always be less until he prioritizes certain positions and, most importantly, understands that huge weaknesses will be exploited and diminish the strengths he built. He has to understand that average isn’t a dirty word in this league.

This is a bunch of gibberish. Talent wins games, he is good at getting it. He prioritizes the same positions everyone else does just places more emphasis on the lines. The Eagles and 49ers prioritize the same strengths and they are doing well. The difference is they have consistency at QB and some of those positions are already filled. We had a LT and a QB when he got here. He needed a better oline, a DE, and a defense. I think we found the DE if Paye continues to improve, we have a defense. Now we need to find the LT and the QB again. And I think this oline gets back to what it was with a good LT in place.

And to compare here is the Raiders picks from 2019-2021
2021 Alex Leatherwood - Cut
2020 Henry Ruggs III - Cut
2020 Damon Arnette - Cut
2019 Jonathon Abram - Cut
2019 Josh Jacobs - 5th year declined
2019 Clelin Ferrell - 5th year declined

It can be so much worse.

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

If the measurement is adding talent then I think you have to say we had 3 good GMS and add Tobin to the mix. Tobin actually kind of reminds me of Ballard as he made some damn good draft picks, but he made too many stupid ass decisions and was fired for it. We'll see if that happens to Ballard.

I thought about Tobin. Faulk, Harrison, Glenn, Meadows, Dilger contrasted by Trev Alberts and Ellis Johnson. In the draft. That's really good.

Led by Harbaugh and they got goose in the middle. The rest of his drafts were filler though and he was a bit of a hot head. The team peaked there for a little bit. But it was a pretty short time.

[IndyNorm]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

I thought about Tobin. Faulk, Harrison, Glenn, Meadows, Dilger contrasted by Trev Alberts and Ellis Johnson. In the draft. That's really good.

Led by Harbaugh and they got goose in the middle. The rest of his drafts were filler though and he was a bit of a hot head. The team peaked there for a little bit. But it was a pretty short time.

Ellis Johnson was actually pretty good: 10 years in the league, 51 sacks and 41 TFL. Not HOF, but pretty good for a DT.

https://www.pro-football-reference.c...J/JohnEl20.htm

Tobin was only here for 4 years and yeah he didn't get a lot from the later rounds. But for the most part he hit it out of the park w/ his 1st and 2nd rounders and left a pretty good foundation for when BP took over and added Peyton.

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

They were looking for their Alex Smith. A vet who could hold the positions for a few years till they found a young QB to develop. Also feasibly the vet allows you to win games if you have a solid roster around him like a Tom Brady situation. I think they would have spent more if they thought one of those vets would get them to the superbowl.

I don’t understand the logic of acquiring Rivers or Ryan unless they were pushing for a SB over the next two years. That’s just me. But at least we seem to agree that in Ballard’s time in Indy he has never once went into a season actively trying to win a SB. You are OK with that, I’m not. I only wish people would quit saying how great the roster is then. If the GM doesn’t even think it’s worth pushing for a SB.

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

Its not a binary situation. Look around the league and the records. This is a parity league. Most games are decided by the kicker at the end. The line between winning and losing is razor-thin. It's not terribly complicated what they are trying to do, don't understand why you are having difficulty with it.

For the life of me I don’t understand how you can preach to me how small the margins are while not understanding that’s the whole damn point. If Ballard does just a little more at WR with Rivers they beat Buffalo. Shore up a couple areas and maybe they do make a SB run. Do a little more at DE with Wentz and they make the playoffs - even with things falling apart at the end. Do a little more on the line and maybe this is a playoff team. But he, and apparently you, are fine letting seasons slip away while looking for the guy to hold the spot until they can find the guy they can eventually win with.

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

Saints are about to go into cap hell. He doesn't want to run his cap like that, thinks its nuts. Just the way it is. It is really a separate conversation. You want the team to run that way, fine, I don't. Neither one of us has a say. It seems subjective to me, and short-term gain you get will eventually hurt you in the future.

There is plenty room between the Saints and the Colts methods for there to be a middle ground. But honestly, so what the saints are going in to cap hell. What’s the worse that can happen? After 5 years of rebuilding they are sitting at 3-5-1 with an interim coach, players asking to be traded, and are a laughingstock? Sounds horrible.

But in all seriousness, if you understand how thin the margins are I don’t get how you can’t understand my point on cap use. In any given year there are teams rolling more dollars into that year in an attempt to win. That gives them a slight advantage in those years. With the margins as small as they are Ballard’s teams will have a harder time peaking in a window than other teams. What’s so complicated to understand? At various points you’ve indicated that when the time is right then you think Ballard will push more. If that’s true great! Then we don’t disagree on how it should work (I’m not necessarily advocating Saints level cap manipulation). Where we disagree is on when that push should come. You think it’s reasonable he’s never done it. I don’t think it is.

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

If we had two years of QB play, yeah maybe he would have in that second year. But we never got one to find out.

I don’t understand how you think it’s reasonable to acquire Rivers and Ryan and then wait a year before actually pushing to win. They both had maybe two years of adequate play left and since it was age related the first year was probably the best. Yet you want to waste that year as a prove it year before actually trying? I’m sorry man, that’s fucking retarded. Especially because you keep saying they have a good roster.

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

This is a bunch of gibberish. Talent wins games, he is good at getting it.

Shouldn’t the team be more successful then? Seems pretty simple.

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

He prioritizes the same positions everyone else does just places more emphasis on the lines. The Eagles and 49ers prioritize the same strengths and they are doing well. The difference is they have consistency at QB and some of those positions are already filled.

Kind of ironic that both those teams QBs were available to Ballard and he passed. Also ironic that he supposedly prioritizes line play but hasn’t prioritized LT. Especially considering the OL is the reason this season is trashed.

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

We had a LT and a QB when he got here. He needed a better oline, a DE, and a defense. I think we found the DE if Paye continues to improve, we have a defense. Now we need to find the LT and the QB again. And I think this oline gets back to what it was with a good LT in place.

Only a QB and LT away? Damn I bet they are the envy of the league. They’ve set the standard for rebuilds. 5 years in and all they need are 2 or the top 3 most important positions filled!

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

And to compare here is the Raiders picks from 2019-2021
2021 Alex Leatherwood - Cut
2020 Henry Ruggs III - Cut
2020 Damon Arnette - Cut
2019 Jonathon Abram - Cut
2019 Josh Jacobs - 5th year declined
2019 Clelin Ferrell - 5th year declined

It can be so much worse.

I was going to make a smart ass comment about them likely losing to the disaster of a team you chose to use as an example of the horrors of a bad GM. Then I remembered that the Raiders are coached by Ballard’s first choice as a coach and decided to hold back. Colts could honestly win this one thanks to Ballard’s first choice.

[Dewey 5]

https://deadspin.com/chris-ballard-r...1849759846/amp

[IndyNorm]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

They were looking for their Alex Smith. A vet who could hold the positions for a few years till they found a young QB to develop. Also feasibly the vet allows you to win games if you have a solid roster around him like a Tom Brady situation. I think they would have spent more if they thought one of those vets would get them to the superbowl. NBA and NFL are very different, stop comparing the two. You only need a few guys in the NBA and the pacers can't lure top free agents because indy isn't a destination town. The pacers finally figured out they have no stars and no one even knew who was on the roster. Thats not the case with the Colts.

Its not a binary situation. Look around the league and the records. This is a parity league. Most games are decided by the kicker at the end. The line between winning and losing is razor-thin. It's not terribly complicated what they are trying to do, don't understand why you are having difficulty with it.



Saints are about to go into cap hell. He doesn't want to run his cap like that, thinks its nuts. Just the way it is. It is really a separate conversation. You want the team to run that way, fine, I don't. Neither one of us has a say. It seems subjective to me, and short-term gain you get will eventually hurt you in the future.




If we had two years of QB play, yeah maybe he would have in that second year. But we never got one to find out.




This is a bunch of gibberish. Talent wins games, he is good at getting it. He prioritizes the same positions everyone else does just places more emphasis on the lines. The Eagles and 49ers prioritize the same strengths and they are doing well. The difference is they have consistency at QB and some of those positions are already filled. We had a LT and a QB when he got here. He needed a better oline, a DE, and a defense. I think we found the DE if Paye continues to improve, we have a defense. Now we need to find the LT and the QB again. And I think this oline gets back to what it was with a good LT in place.

And to compare here is the Raiders picks from 2019-2021
2021 Alex Leatherwood - Cut
2020 Henry Ruggs III - Cut
2020 Damon Arnette - Cut
2019 Jonathon Abram - Cut
2019 Josh Jacobs - 5th year declined
2019 Clelin Ferrell - 5th year declined

It can be so much worse.

Three words that prove this statement wrong: Matt Fucking Pryor.