Saturday is clueless

[Chaka]

Saturday's statement is being taken out of context, and it just seems like this is more about people going out of their way to criticize Saturday b/c they didn't like the fact that Irsay hired him in the first place.

First, it literally had no impact on the game, so it's all about nothing. They didn't run out of time, they lost the ball on downs. You can argue that they wouldn't have needed to rush the Taylor run, but Saturday explained that already had the next play decided and it's not crazy to think that rushing the play could work to your advantage if the Steelers were tired or unprepared. Granted it didn't work out that way, but it's a defensible position.

Second, I watched the post-game questions and he wasn't saying that they weren't rushed or anything, just that it wasn't necessary in his mind to use a timeout at that moment, as he felt the remaining time was adequate (i.e. time was not of the essence). On the prior play, Ryan was down with 50 seconds left on the clock, and they next hiked the ball with 33 seconds left (Saturday did say he wished they had hiked the ball a little faster, and it looks like they could have saved a few seconds by doing so).

So, in the end, they chose a timeout over 17 seconds (assuming the timeout was called the moment Ryan stopped sliding forward). I'm sure most HCs would have taken a timeout but, again, I think Saturday's position is defensible and it hardly merits treating him like an idiot. He had 33 seconds left, with three timeouts, and they were at the Steelers' 26 yard line. That should be plenty of time to score, and they could use the entire field in doing so. By using a timeout, they'd have 50 seconds and two timeouts. Maybe the latter is slightly better, but not dramatically so.

Look, I thought hiring Saturday was crazy and potentially disastrous as well, but give the guy a fair chance. Many of these commentators seem so ready belittle the guy so they can prove their working thesis that you can only hire an experienced coach. I mean, everyone's focused on whether the Colts are playing any better under Saturday, but nobody ever asks whether they're playing any worse. If Saturday and Frazier are that bad, then you'd expect them to play worse than when they were being coached by an experienced coach/playcaller, right? Yes, you're of course looking for improvement, but the thesis that he's unqualified rests on the assumption that he can't perform as well as an experienced coach.

It's all so absurd. Keep an open mind and give the guy a fair chance.