quick thoughts on the donkeys

[Lov2fish]

There are probably 10 players on this team I would keep. The rest needs to go and start over. I would include some that need to go that are on the other side of 30 and will serve no purpose in a complete rebuild. This is just a poorly constructed team in every aspect. A big swing and miss on a QB, and a swing and a miss on a receiver who is supposed to take the top off (AD Mitchell) Balard fucked it all up. He has no business being a GM. Roll it back and get in line for Arch.

[sherck]

Originally Posted by Lov2fish

Roll it back and get in line for Arch.

I totally agree.

My biggest Christmas wish for this franchise right now would be:

A. Love ya Jimmy but hand over the reigns of the franchise to Carlie.

B. Carlie, pull up your big girl panties and fire your GM and HC from whom all accountability should flow. Put together a panel of folks to consult for your next GM that should include Bill Polian, Tony Dungy, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, heck....Bill Belicheat if desired and find your next guy.

C. Put your full faith and confidence in that next GM for him to find and hire a staff that can rebuild the franchise.

D. Evaluate every player on the roster and sell. Sell hard in 2025. Get every possible draft pick for the 2026 draft and beyond that you can.

E. Put a team of the field for 2025 that can, perhaps, win one game as you bring in every player you can find who is under 25 years old and evalute them as to their long term viability. Sell EVERYONE over 30 and ALMOST EVERYONE over 25.

F. Get the #1 draft pick for 2026 and go with the QB you think is most able to be a long-term franchise QB. AR is not the guy.

When you need to start over, there is no time like RIGHT NOW to do so.

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by sherck

I totally agree.

My biggest Christmas wish for this franchise right now would be:

A. Love ya Jimmy but hand over the reigns of the franchise to Carlie.

B. Carlie, pull up your big girl panties and fire your GM and HC from whom all accountability should flow. Put together a panel of folks to consult for your next GM that should include Bill Polian, Tony Dungy, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, heck....Bill Belicheat if desired and find your next guy.

C. Put your full faith and confidence in that next GM for him to find and hire a staff that can rebuild the franchise.

D. Evaluate every player on the roster and sell. Sell hard in 2025. Get every possible draft pick for the 2026 draft and beyond that you can.

E. Put a team of the field for 2025 that can, perhaps, win one game as you bring in every player you can find who is under 25 years old and evalute them as to their long term viability. Sell EVERYONE over 30 and ALMOST EVERYONE over 25.

F. Get the #1 draft pick for 2026 and go with the QB you think is most able to be a long-term franchise QB. AR is not the guy.

When you need to start over, there is no time like RIGHT NOW to do so.

One of Ballard’s biggest issues is he believes and has grown a culture of “next year” instead of “right fucking now”. The team has talent, it lacks leadership and direction. His gifting positions to rookies philosophy sucks and I sure as fuck don’t want to repeat them. You need vets to win. So I don’t want a complete rebuild, I want a complete retooling. New leadership, new direction, and accountability. Keep the guys that fit and buy in, and push out the ones that don’t (bye JT). Do that and see what you have in AR. But the roster doesn’t need completely blown up, it needs molded into an actual fucking team instead of just a collection of high ceiling potential players.

IMO it would be stupid to give up on AR at this point. He’s one of the rawest rookie QBs to come out and he’s been surrounded by a shit show with no accountability. I’m not convinced he’s the one, but I’m not sure he isn’t. The team has done him no favors. Put an actual fucking team around him and see what we have.

[Brylok]

Two things I'm afraid of;

1. Fire Ballard and we'll be even worse. Yes, it's possible to get worse. I remember the 80s and 90s until we got Polian and Peyton. Awful. National laughing stock.

2. Colts "fans" don't have the patience to be bad anymore. LOS will be empty, games might be blacked out from TV again, and they could leave town (especially if Jim passes away). Colts fans are, largely, "fair weather" garbage. Y'all are okay though.

Aside from that, blow it all up. This team is unlikable. I feel sorry for Buckner.

[Kray007]

Okay, almost 24 hours later, and it’s time for everyone to turn off the gas and pull their heads out of the oven. No one is more disappointed with yesterday’s game than me. But, the cupboard is not dry and there is hope just over the horizon.

The defense played well, they throttled an offense that had begun to run on all eight cylinders. They took some of the gloss off Bo Nix and made him look like exactly what he is… a rookie. For a defense that specializes in making nondescript quarterbacks book like Dan Marino, that was a welcome sight.

The game, of course, hinged on Jonathan Taylor’s miscue. Calling it a miscue has a certain quality, almost like calling the Titanic, a minor traffic mishap. But, without a doubt in my mind, that play and the interception/fumble that was returned for a touchdown were the only things that stood between the Colts and victory.

[Kray007]

And, let’s not be hypocritical. Of the 14 people who put their cojones on the line and picked the game in the sodas contest, eight of you picked Denver to win the thing. Congratulations on your insight, but now some of you seem to be complaining that you were right.

[Dewey 5]

This team has no leadership or discipline. It starts with asshole Ballard & works down to Shane Stinkin. Flip the entire fucking building. The Colts flat out suck.

[Kray007]

Originally Posted by Dewey 5

This team has no leadership or discipline. It starts with asshole Ballard & works down to Shane Stinkin. Flip the entire fucking building. The Colts flat out suck.

Leadership and discipline…for most teams, those attributes flow from the Quarterback position. The Colt’s problem is that Richardson simply doesn’t yet have the experience or the skill set he needs to operate at an elite level. Personally, I think that, given time, reps, and coaching, his ceiling is high. But, 14 games as a starter is simply not enough.

At this stage of his development, he needs a clean pocket, he doesn’t handle pressure well. Knowing that, confidence for victory in yesterday’s game was never high. The right side of the Colts Offensive Line was crippled by injuries. Matt Goncalves is a rookie, Mark Glowinski is a has been, and Danny Pinter is a never was.

Anthony Richardson dropped back and passed 38 times. On 21 of those snaps, he was under pressure. With a healthy OL, with Raimann, Nelson, Kelly, Fries, and Smith, they would have taken a 20-7 lead, then pounded away with Jonathan Taylor. The problem was that the line had an equally futile time blocking for the run.

There are, of course, other issues. After Pierce went down, the Raider D could breathe just a little easier. And, Richardson is set up for failure by the lack of a viable TE and Taylor’s shortcomings as a receiver. There’s also a critical need for a big time receiver, a Marvin Harrison for a new generation.

The idea of firing Ballard and Steichen, then tearing the team down to the foundation is too painful to contemplate

[omahacolt]

Originally Posted by Kray007

And, let’s not be hypocritical. Of the 14 people who put their cojones on the line and picked the game in the sodas contest, eight of you picked Denver to win the thing. Congratulations on your insight, but now some of you seem to be complaining that you were right.

just because I think something is going to happen, doesn't mean I can't be upset when it does happen.

[apballin]

Originally Posted by Kray007

Okay, almost 24 hours later, and it’s time for everyone to turn off the gas and pull their heads out of the oven. No one is more disappointed with yesterday’s game than me. But, the cupboard is not dry and there is hope just over the horizon.

The defense played well, they throttled an offense that had begun to run on all eight cylinders. They took some of the gloss off Bo Nix and made him look like exactly what he is… a rookie. For a defense that specializes in making nondescript quarterbacks book like Dan Marino, that was a welcome sight.

The game, of course, hinged on Jonathan Taylor’s miscue. Calling it a miscue has a certain quality, almost like calling the Titanic, a minor traffic mishap. But, without a doubt in my mind, that play and the intersection/fumble that was returned for a touchdown were the only things that stood between the Colts and victory.

I’m with you on this, that blunder by JT was the difference in the game.

Outside of that this roster is definitely flawed and in need of some tweaking… AR reminds me a lot of Cam Newton, it would benefit this offense to be run heavy and involve some dual threat TEs which we currently have zero

It’s still not as bad as it looked, JT runs that in and there’s no doubt in my mind we win that game convincingly