Ballard 2024 end of year presser

[YDFL Commish]

First off, I empathetic to your disillusionment. Believe me, many of us on this board share your sentiment. But you are singling out one individual and no one else for this situation.

The truth is, that none of us know who is running this shit show of a franchise right now. For all we know Carlie has been pulling the puppet strings for 2 years, or maybe it was Jim, or Ballard. Maybe Steichen is getting mixed messages from all of these fools, hence his blundering of everything media related.

All of them have their faults and culpability in this. It's impossible top know, who is most responsible, and to what extent.

That is why I choose to blame players more often than not, because we can see with our own eyes when they are not giving effort, execution and a basic awareness of football intelligence.

JT is my whipping boy in so much of this. He is PFF's lowest rated RB in the league, with lowest amount of yards after contact. He can't block, he can't catch, and he can't think (at least on the football field). That man is a fraud!

There are others though, Blackmon, Speed, Mitchell, AR, Flacco and to a lesser extent, Franklin, who just don't give a shit.

I'll never blame a player for just not being physically, big enough, strong enough or fast enough. But I will blame them for lack of effort, stupidity and lack of improvement.

Give me a team of guys like Jaylon Jones, Pittman, Pierce, Nelson, Moore, Raimann, Fries and Big Grove.

I will say this against Steichen though, WTF is up with 8 captains. WHY...WTF, which of those 8 voices to players look to? Do not use the excuse that, it was a players vote either. Your dumbass decided how many captains we would have.

[Colts And Orioles]

Originally Posted by YDFL Commish

First off, I empathetic to your disillusionment. Believe me, many of us on this board share your sentiment. But you are singling out one individual and no one else for this situation.

The truth is, that none of us know who is running this shit show of a franchise right now. For all we know Carlie has been pulling the puppet strings for 2 years, or maybe it was Jim, or Ballard. Maybe Steichen is getting mixed messages from all of these fools, hence his blundering of everything media related.

All of them have their faults and culpability in this. It's impossible top know, who is most responsible, and to what extent.

That is why I choose to blame players more often than not, because we can see with our own eyes when they are not giving effort, execution and a basic awareness of football intelligence.

JT is my whipping boy in so much of this. He is PFF's lowest rated RB in the league, with lowest amount of yards after contact. He can't block, he can't catch, and he can't think (at least on the football field). That man is a fraud!

There are others though, Blackmon, Speed, Mitchell, AR, Flacco and to a lesser extent, Franklin, who just don't give a shit.

I'll never blame a player for just not being physically, big enough, strong enough or fast enough. But I will blame them for lack of effort, stupidity and lack of improvement.

Give me a team of guys like Jaylon Jones, Pittman, Pierce, Nelson, Moore, Raimann, Fries and Big Grove.

I will say this against Steichen though, WTF is up with 8 captains. WHY...WTF, which of those 8 voices to players look to? Do not use the excuse that, it was a players vote either. Your dumbass decided how many captains we would have.

o


Jonathan Taylor's dropping of the ball at the 1/2 yardline is emblematic of the all of Colts' failures in almost all of their crucial games over the last 4 seasons, since Philip Rivers retired.

I think that Taylor is trying, as he played very well in the Colts' final 4 games of the 2024 season ...... but his dropping of the ball at the 1/2 yardline is worse than not trying, it was absolutely inexcusable for any player at the collegiate or professional level of football.

o

[YDFL Commish]

Originally Posted by Colts And Orioles

o


Jonathan Taylor's dropping of the ball at the 1/2 yardline is emblematic of the all of Colts' failures in almost all of their crucial games over the last 4 seasons, since Philip Rivers retired.

I think that Taylor is trying, as he played very well in the Colts' final 4 games of the 2024 season ...... but his dropping of the ball at the 1/2 yardline is worse than not trying, it was absolutely inexcusable for any player at the collegiate or professional level of football.

o

It's not just his dropping of the ball 1/2 yard line. I have documented on here 4 fatal errors in the Giants game alone. He has no fight, no thrive to improve and no football smarts.

[ChoppedWood]

Originally Posted by YDFL Commish

It's not just his dropping of the ball 1/2 yard line. I have documented on here 4 fatal errors in the Giants game alone. He has no fight, no thrive to improve and no football smarts.

His lack of football smarts is something really really really fucked up. The guy is a genuinely smart person but he steps on that field and has ZERO game time intelligence. So fucking strange.

[CletusPyle]

To me there are athletic highly skilled players and there are football players. The Colts need more football players! It's not enough just to be athletic, you have to have that competitive fire, fearlessness, and love for the game. Guys that possess those qualities are the ones that take teams from middle of the road to contenders. Not saying those guys are easy to find, but it doesn't look like the Colts even look for them!

[ChoppedWood]

Originally Posted by CletusPyle

To me there are athletic highly skilled players and there are football players. The Colts need more football players! It's not enough just to be athletic, you have to have that competitive fire, fearlessness, and love for the game. Guys that possess those qualities are the ones that take teams from middle of the road to contenders. Not saying those guys are easy to find, but it doesn't look like the Colts even look for them!

Absolutely agree. I don't think Ballard even knows what the difference is. FUCK CHRIS BALLARD!

[Indystu2]

Originally Posted by rm1369

Or is it a guy that doesn’t know what it takes to improve? Similar to not understanding the level of preparation that’s required weekly? Both scenarios are issues but one is completely on him and one is more on the team. I honestly can’t get a sense if AR is lazy / unwilling to work or just naive and not being mentored properly. I see little indication the team has done him many favors. I’m often not a fan of the play calling, he’s lacked the typical security blankets (pass catching RB and TE), their handling of the benching and the back injury were shitty, and we’ve seen no indication anyone is really mentoring him. Whatever the reason, it doesn’t lead me to much optimism.

Pass catching RBs and TEs are a struggling QBs best friends. Colts have neither. I think the team has failed AR, but in saying that, I realize AR has to drive his own success as much as he is able.

[IndyNorm]

Originally Posted by CletusPyle

To me there are athletic highly skilled players and there are football players. The Colts need more football players! It's not enough just to be athletic, you have to have that competitive fire, fearlessness, and love for the game. Guys that possess those qualities are the ones that take teams from middle of the road to contenders. Not saying those guys are easy to find, but it doesn't look like the Colts even look for them!

Unfortunately you're probably going to end up in this situation when the GM prioritizes RAS scores by far more than anything else.

[sherck]

Is it the culture inside the locker room that is the problem?

Is it the culture of the owners and managmeent that is the problem?

Is it picking RAS scores over football players that is the problem?

Is it the scheme? Is it the playbook?

Do we have accountability on the field? In the locker room? Among leadership?

Do we have an NFL capable QB?

Reality is that it is probably some of all the above and the only way to change most of that is to BLOW IT THE F UP!

However, we are choosing not to do that for 2025 which means we will, again, have a middle of the road season (because I do not think AR is the guy) that will result in a middle of the road draft pick that has a low chance of delivering our next franchise QB which is the #1 need of any NFL franchise that does not have one.

While I am a lifelong Colts fan, I have about zero enthusiasm to look forward to the 2025 version of the Colts because I think we are just on the wrong path and until the team gets blown up, we have no chance to get on the right path.

[IndyNorm]

I read the RATS 10 thoughts on Ballard's presser article earlier this week. Not much was mentioned that hasn't been hashed out on this thread so not going to post the whole thing, but the below section really stuck out to me, especially the stat included at the end. Hope Ballard read that

4. Ballard used the term "competition" 10 different times in nearly 50 minutes at the podium. It was the theme he took away of why this year's team fell short.

I think that's right to a degree: The starters he rolled back with major extensions on defense didn't face any threat to playing time. He had some other unproven players who didn't feel a legitimate push to the role they had, from running back Trey Sermon to the tight ends to outside cornerbacks JuJu Brents and Jaylon Jones.

But the primary issue right now is still talent. Free agency isn't the primary avenue to add talent at a number of positions, but it can fill a void on the roster, and the Colts needed that at running back, tight end and in the secondary.

The draft cannot find all of the answers and certainly not the immediate ones. Using that alone to address the secondary was a good indication the Colts weren't going to improve on last year's 9-8 finish.

That's how every playoff team wound up adding at least one starter through free agency, and the Colts added none.