Colts fire OC Marcus Brady

[ChoppedWood]

Originally Posted by Oldcolt

This firing makes me wonder how good of people Ballard and Reich really are. I hate it when you talk being a man and taking responsibility and it is only talk-in reality you actually make others take the blame by getting them fired. These good men don’t seem so good to me today. But then I tend to believe what you do rather than what you blab.

Frank Reich is proving to us over and over and over and over, Frank Reich's loyalty is to Frank the genius Reich and to NO ONE else!

[Dewey 5]

Originally Posted by ChoppedWood

Frank Reich is proving to us over and over and over and over, Frank Reich's loyalty is to Frank the genius Reich and to NO ONE else!

The grossly overrated Ballard is no better

[YDFL Commish]

Originally Posted by Dewey 5

The grossly overrated Ballard is no better

Other than LT and RG this team has talent oozing from every position. If this were a PM led team running a PM offense, this team would be 7-1 right now.

Yeah, Ballard seems to blunder 1 or 2 things every off season, but so did Polian.

Some of Polian's blunders were drafting Rob Morris, Tony Ugoh. Letting go Jake Scott, Ryan Lilja, David Thornton. Complete inability to draft competent DT's. It goes on and on.

You put the right QB in place and it will mask many warts, just ask Pagano.

[HoosierinFL]

I don’t buy the idea that this oline sucks because they got paid, and that Ballard was wrong about them.

It’s coaching 100%, their technique and their toughness has regressed and it’s because the coaches are not holding anyone accountable or working them hard enough.

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by ChaosTheory

This doesn't compute. Your question essentially points out how unexpected and baffling that our O-line, particularly our three stalwarts, have played so poorly this year after having been arguably our biggest team strength since 2018. How do we then turn around and shit on him for paying those three guys when the time came?

I have to agree here. Kelly got his money in 2020, and Smith got his in 2021. If greed was the explanation, then it stands to reason that this would have happened earlier. Further, it looks like most of Kelly's guaranteed money comes off the books after this year, so if greed was the motivating factor then you'd think he'd be pulling out the stops this year so he doesn't lose out on the nonguaranteed parts of his contract starting next year. Smith's guaranteed money mostly runs out after next season, so he'd have the same concern perhaps but to a lesser degree.

These guys are all young, and there are no injuries to speak of, so its perplexing.

[IndyNorm]

Originally Posted by ChaosTheory

No, I actually think I followed it. Ultimately you're saying Ballard should have known that our players (Kelly, Smith, and Nelson) are motivated solely by money. Which is why we all had the rug pulled out from under us nobody saw this poor performance coming. But Ballard, claiming he drafts players with character, should've seen through the facade. Essentially he let our vet OL trick him into second contracts.

Well, claiming that Kelly, Smith, and Nelson are solely motivated by money unfounded at best (mind-reading). Something is wrong with a unit that has been our team's strength the past several years and it's thrown us all for a loop. But you're saying that the answer is simply that they're greedy and don't care about winning. That ascribes motive to guys who have never been close to giving off that impression since 2018.

Your characterization of Ballard is that he "kept bragging" about his "great acumen." That is to say that he presents himself in an outwardly arrogant and boastful manner and that it's led to him actually drafting very low-character guys. I've never gotten that impression and it strikes me as no different than Chopped constantly telling us that Frank Reich is "arrogant", "thinks he's so smart", "has to be the smartest guy in the room", etc.

I won't go as far as Oldcolt and say that Ballard should have known these guys would turn into turds as soon as they were paid (to be fair Kelly played well for 2 seasons after being paid, so I think his problem(s) is elsewhere), but I think we can all agree in hindsight that Ballard has sunk a shit ton of money into guys he shouldn't have. So much so that it's actually set the franchise back several years.

He also completely destabilized the OL by handing the starting LT job over to Pryor and letting Glow walk for Pinter.

And then there's the fact that it took him 3 off seasons to draft a replacement for AC. Of course we have no idea if Raimann is any good since he doesn't play b/c the coaches/FO have such a hard on for Pryor, but I guess that's another story.

I do agree with Oldcolt that on our WRs and D. WRs have talent but are currently around league average. And our D isn't as good a lot of people on here think it is. They're better than last year and mostly keep us in the game. But they always start slow and haven't been able to make a stop with the game on the line. Even against bad offenses like Wash.

[IndyNorm]

Originally Posted by Chaka

I have to agree here. Kelly got his money in 2020, and Smith got his in 2021. If greed was the explanation, then it stands to reason that this would have happened earlier. Further, it looks like most of Kelly's guaranteed money comes off the books after this year, so if greed was the motivating factor then you'd think he'd be pulling out the stops this year so he doesn't lose out on the nonguaranteed parts of his contract starting next year. Smith's guaranteed money mostly runs out after next season, so he'd have the same concern perhaps but to a lesser degree.

These guys are all young, and there are no injuries to speak of, so its perplexing.

Agree on Kelly. Smith's play declined right out of the gate last year. He did right somewhat the ship after he came back, but he still wasn't as good as he had been in '18-'20. And he absolutely sucks this year.

[IndyNorm]

Also, I should add that Brady being the scapegoat and Strausser somehow still having a job is absolutely fucking mind boggling.

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by HoosierinFL

I don’t buy the idea that this oline sucks because they got paid, and that Ballard was wrong about them.

It’s coaching 100%, their technique and their toughness has regressed and it’s because the coaches are not holding anyone accountable or working them hard enough.

But the same coaches did it last year? Somehow Reich was a good enough to coach Nelson to multiple Pro Bowls? Not buying it

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

I won't go as far as Oldcolt and say that Ballard should have known these guys would turn into turds as soon as they were paid (to be fair Kelly played well for 2 seasons after being paid, so I think his problem(s) is elsewhere), but I think we can all agree in hindsight that Ballard has sunk a shit ton of money into guys he shouldn't have. So much so that it's actually set the franchise back several years.

I'm really not trying to be a Ballard apologist here, but I need to disagree. The Colts continue to have financial flexibility despite these deals. They have not engaged in type of financial engineering which other teams have, which ends up painting those teams into a corner and setting them back for years. Even where Colts pay these guys tons of money, they usually have an out after a couple years in the event things don't work out.

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

He also completely destabilized the OL by handing the starting LT job over to Pryor and letting Glow walk for Pinter.

Certainly there's room for criticism here, though both Pryor and Pinter played much better last year. Teams have to make tough decisions all the time and can't pay everyone, so they took a calculated gamble with Pryor and Pinter which hasn't worked out so far. But this is on Ballard to a large degree, no doubt.

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

And then there's the fact that it took him 3 off seasons to draft a replacement for AC. Of course we have no idea if Raimann is any good since he doesn't play b/c the coaches/FO have such a hard on for Pryor, but I guess that's another story.

AC retired 1.5 years ago (the 2021 offseason), with a year remaining on his contract. The Colts brought in a 30-year old former Pro Bowl LT (Eric Fisher) coming off an injury to replace him, and drafted Paye in the 1st round to address a different area of weakness. Fisher didn't work out as well as hoped. Ballard drafted Raimann this off season. He could have done more I suppose, but its not as though he ignored the issue and didn't devote significant resources to it.