It's Done! Frank is gone!

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by rm1369

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.

Because you want the equation to be binary, you are either a SB team or you are picking at the top of the draft. But they wanted to win games while looking for the next QB. I don't think Irsay wants to have a bunch of down years, he saw that in the 80's and 90's. We have a lot of good players on the team, they want to win. They went out and tried two vet QBs and they tried a guy that they hoped would return to being a franchise QB. It didn't work. So Irsay said fuck it and is tanking. You want him to blow the cap out for a QB they don't even know is the answer or not. And yeah there is talent on this team.

Originally Posted by rm1369

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.

I actually was wanting him to do those things, but that was when we had cap space. I wanted more commitment at LT, Ballard likes to clear the room for a rookie to step into a job (Raimann). I would rather get more redundancy. Like I said, the guy isn't perfect. If you want to go find the perfect GM then feel free and let us all know who that is. Because this fanbase was screaming for Frank to be fired and now we have Jeff Saturday. I'll take the guy who is a good drafter and hope he can learn and fix the other aspects of his philosophy.

Originally Posted by rm1369

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.

Hines asked to be traded because they just weren't using him and with Cambell healthy, his role is diminished.

The worst that can happen is you suck and are in cap hell and you stay there. You don't need to be in the top ten to find a Mahomes, that guy went what? 11th? 12th? Saints didn't win a Superbowl with their strategy. The Rams, Bucs, and Broncos have in the last ten years using a vet QB coming into a good team. Eagles won it with freaking Foles. If we made the playoffs he might decide to spend more, but Rivers retired.

Originally Posted by rm1369

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.

I think he wants to find a young QB to build around, use the cap space to get a few extra vets while that QB is on his rookie contract. But we are still in the Alex Smith phase.

Originally Posted by rm1369

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 rm1369

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

The team is competitive, despite having rollercoaster QB play last year with bad kicking they were going to make the playoffs till covid rolled around. Made the playoffs the year before. Wheels came off this year because they messed up the oline. Frank had a top-ten offense every year except this year and the Brisset year despite changing QBs every year. I'm kinda surprised they had the success they did considering how bad the QB play has been at times.

Originally Posted by rm1369

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.

Ballard wants to build through the draft. Sometimes I think that is a detriment. He wants to draft pillar positions if he can. High-character athletic guys. They gambled and lost. It doesn't always work out. But it isn't all bad. The receivers look like they have a bright future. The defense is very good. You can't just look at the mistakes but look at the whole.

Originally Posted by rm1369

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!

It's not five years in, we had those positions filled when he got here. When he got here we needed a franchise DE, a defense, and an offensive line.

I would bet on the guy who is a good talent evaluator filling those positions over the guy who isn't. Whole lotta average GM's out there.

Originally Posted by rm1369

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.

That was a Gruden administration. We can pick another team though if you want.

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

I mean thinking he could get by with a complete garbage player who shouldn't even be in the league at the most important position on the OL. Clearly shows he either doesn't prioritize the OL, or he doesn't really value the LT position for some reason.

And actually if you look at the overall lack of investment he's put into bringing in new OL since the '18 draft he's clearly de-prioritized the group.

Pryor regressed, he was the best performer at tackle last year. That is what the analytics came back as. I said it was the most important move in the offseason and I was right. I also pointed out the lack of high investment through the draft since Nelson/Smith just a couple weeks ago.

I will say, the group had been performing at a high level for awhile. It's not like his decisions did not have an effect. Ballard doesn't like to make the competition too tough for a rookie to come in and take over. I think he should have more redundancy at positions personally.

So unless it was all a conspiracy like Polian getting the most immobile QB ever to take over for Manning after he goes down.

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

No doubt BP was head and shoulders better than Tobin, and that's fair on Ellis. You just had him lumped in w/ Trev Alberts so wanted to show that he was at least decent and not pretty much a waste of a pick like Alberts ended up being.

Agree on Glenn and Marvin, although I'd lump Marshall Faulk in there as well. Not Tobin's fault that BP decided to trade Faulk and got minimal return for him.

Anyway, if you draft 2 HOFers, a multi-time pro bowler and ROH member, and several other long lasting productive players in just 4 years then you're doing pretty well at that part of the job IMHO.

I mean two HOF'ers, that is great; but if you get out of the first round it's not good. It's like he was only good at picking in the first. I'm kinda split on him, its an interesting argument.

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by Hoopsdoc

The logical choice was to finish the season with Frank and go from there, which Jim basically said would have happened if Saturday said no.

And of course no one knows with 100 percent certainty what will happen, but if Jeff Saturday ends up being successful, whether it’s this season or in the future, he’ll be one of the greatest coaches of all time.

He’s in an impossible situation with a deeply flawed team facing a tough schedule and he’s never done any of this before.

If they wanted to win they would have kept Brady and Frank and would be starting Ryan. Irsay just said screw it. They must like a QB or two in the draft. At the very least we can get a franchise LT.

[Oldcolt]

If you think keeping Ryan and Reich would have been a winning move well shit, I guess we just disagree I must have been watching a different Colt team these last few months.

[Hoopsdoc]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

If they wanted to win they would have kept Brady and Frank and would be starting Ryan. Irsay just said screw it. They must like a QB or two in the draft. At the very least we can get a franchise LT.

I sure hope that’s what’s going on but I don’t believe it. Why on earth would you bring in one of your franchises great historical players to oversee a tank job? That makes no sense.

I think in Jim’s drug addled mind he honestly believes Saturday can turn this around.

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by Hoopsdoc

I sure hope that’s what’s going on but I don’t believe it. Why on earth would you bring in one of your franchises great historical players to oversee a tank job? That makes no sense.

I think in Jim’s drug addled mind he honestly believes Saturday can turn this around.

Could be that too, or an undercover boss situation. Funny thing is, if they started winning they could make the playoffs. The AFC is completely up for grabs, there is no dominant player this year. We beat the chiefs with all these problems. We will find out in a couple of months.

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by Oldcolt

If you think keeping Ryan and Reich would have been a winning move well shit, I guess we just disagree I must have been watching a different Colt team these last few months.

If you want to win, you keep things in place and try to eliminate the problems you have. You don't create new problems on top of the old. They threw a monkey wrench into the engine to make sure things don't run. Hell the reason we even have wins is that Ryan was getting us there. Not like the run game was helping.

[Oldcolt]

We were not winning shit with Reich/Ryan and this offensive line.

[Hoopsdoc]

The Colts will regret firing Frank.

Good coaches adjust their strategy to the roster they’re given. For Reich, this strength was evident in the carousel of quarterbacks he rode. From 2018 to 2021, the Colts’ leading passer changed in each season: Andrew Luck to Jacoby Brissett to Philip Rivers to Carson Wentz. The few teams that endured this level of quarterbacking instability suffered far worse offensive performances than Reich’s Colts. The Commanders had three different leading passers in the same four years, and were a bottom-five offense by DVOA in three of those four years. The Broncos had five different leading passers in five seasons, from 2017 to 2021, and never made the playoffs, never had a winning record, and produced three seasons of bottom-eight offenses. The Panthers have also primarily featured six different QBs in the last five years if you include this season, for which we can safely say they will once again have a below-average offense—as they have in the last three years.

Reich sustained transitions at quarterback so well it made the team-building strategy almost seem viable. The Colts went from Brissett’s poor downfield focus to Philip Rivers’s lightning-quick running back dump-offs to Carson Wentz’s RPO reliance and cement feet without a hiccup. They didn’t reload the entire offensive roster each season—they just plugged in a new centerpiece and ran a new system. Other coaches can’t do that. Reich can."

https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2022/1...-jeff-saturday