ColtFreaks.com - Indianapolis Colts Fan Forum   ColtFreaks.com Home Page

Go Back   ColtFreaks.com - Indianapolis Colts Fan Forum > Indianapolis Colts Fan Forum > Indianapolis Colts Discussion

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #51  
Old 10-20-2018, 11:04 AM
Oldcolt Oldcolt is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 2,257
Thanks: 2,551
Thanked 2,430 Times in 1,092 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Spike View Post
I agree. But next year will be Ballard's 3rd year and he needs to fix some shit asap. I'm willing to give him a pass this year, but if he doesn't do enough next year, he absolutely needs to be shown the door.
Agreed that next year is key. I'm not in love with Ballard, I just think that right now the rebuild is going about as well as I would have thought (and I am not talking about our record). No matter what happens he won't be shown the door next year. Not by Irsay.
Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to Oldcolt For This Useful Post:
Racehorse (10-20-2018)
  #52  
Old 10-22-2018, 02:23 AM
Chaka's Avatar
Chaka Chaka is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 859
Thanks: 337
Thanked 667 Times in 286 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Spike View Post
This is my biggest problem, Luck won't be here forever. If Ballard shits the bed next year, I'm with Omaha, show the fucker the door.
Gimme a break - you're talking about showing Ballard the door? Why, because he's improved virtually every facet of this team while saving tons of cap space for the future? What would you have done differently? Please be specific with player names.

Let me list for you the things he's done off the top of my head in the short time he's been here:

2017 Draft - Using an inherited scouting staff, and on short notice, still picked up three starters (Hooker, Mack, Walker), three backups (Wilson, Hairston, Stewart). Two ugly misses (Basham and Banner), but unlike most he didn't keep them around making the situation worse in the hope of saving face. When all is said and done, most teams will have at least two ugly misses in any given draft. Ballard just acknowledged his sooner than most.

2018 Draft - Nearly every pick has made serious contributions, except Lewis/Cain (injured) and Fountain (practice squad). I doubt any other team had a better batting average. Seven games in and we already have two high level starters (Nelson and Leonard) from this draft.

2018 free agency - Signed Ebron, Autry and Miller to cap friendly deals. Jury still out on Grant. Struck out on Howard, but again damage was small ($1-2 million) and cut bait quickly to minimize damage.

Traded for Jacoby Brissett in exchange for an underperforming WR from the prior regime (Dorsett)

Cut/traded multiple mediocre vets (Hankins/Anderson/Simon) in favor of much cheaper youth that are now outperforming those vets.

Kept several vets who have performed at or above their contracts (Hunt, Woods, Sheard, Desir), while not resigning others who are now disappointments with their new teams (Melvin, Moncrief)

Rebuilt two critical areas (offensive line and linebackers) into a strength, after years (and years) of underperformance.

Utilized team-friendly contract structures which incentivized performance and gave the team the flexibility to move on without consequence if things didn't work out.

Jettisoned Pagano, brought in Reich and new coaching staff. Notable embarrassment when McDaniels reneged on informal agreement, but Ballard accepted blame and rebounded well in getting Reich.

Jettisoned multiple failed draft picks/projects from the prior regime (TJ Green, Dorsett, Bond, George)

Those are the things I can think of off of the top of my head. The bottom line is that most of his moves have improved this team, and those that haven't didn't cause much damage. And you're talking about getting rid of this guy?
Reply With Quote
The Following 14 Users Say Thank You to Chaka For This Useful Post:
1965southpaw (10-22-2018), Chromeburn (10-22-2018), Colts And Orioles (01-21-2019), Colts fan from BK (10-23-2018), indycolts2 (10-22-2018), JAFF (10-22-2018), nate505 (10-22-2018), Oldcolt (10-22-2018), Pez (10-22-2018), Racehorse (10-22-2018), rcubed (10-22-2018), sherck (10-22-2018), TheMugwump (10-22-2018), YDFL Commish (10-22-2018)
  #53  
Old 10-22-2018, 06:48 AM
sherck's Avatar
sherck sherck is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Dayton, Ohio
Posts: 3,746
Thanks: 1,780
Thanked 1,189 Times in 523 Posts
Default

I think the major rub on Ballard is the HUGE amount of cap space we are sitting on doing nothing. Many fans wanted more of it spent on free agents.

I get it. I also get what Ballard is trying to do in establishing an identity before dropping a ton of cash on "high level" performers. We have signed 4 guys (2 per year) so far to "starter level" contracts (over $5m a year) and one more at $5m a year (Grant).

Of those four over $5m (Hankins, Sheard, Ebron, Autry), Hankins is the only one who has not worked out so far. Sheard and Ebron are delivering starter level performance and so has Autry when heathy.

I fully expect 2019 to be a bit different assuming that this trend continues for the rest of the season of a rising defense of talent (Leonard, Walker, Turay, Hunt, Hooker) and an offense that re-estabilishes itself as a top ten offense.

Those two things happen by the end of 2018, I fully expect the checkbook to be opened in 2019 with us bidding aggresively on veterans who will fit the culture and another draft class hopefully like 2018.

Anyway, I am glad Ballard is here and I am good with his plan. However, if he sits on $50m of cap space in 2019, my opinion will probably start turning.

Walk Worthy,
__________________
==============
Thad
The future is so bright; I gotta triple up!
Reply With Quote
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to sherck For This Useful Post:
Chaka (10-23-2018), Oldcolt (10-22-2018)
  #54  
Old 10-22-2018, 07:00 AM
Racehorse's Avatar
Racehorse Racehorse is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: God's green Earth
Posts: 12,878
Thanks: 16,945
Thanked 4,361 Times in 2,508 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by sherck View Post
I think the major rub on Ballard is the HUGE amount of cap space we are sitting on doing nothing. Many fans wanted more of it spent on free agents.

I get it. I also get what Ballard is trying to do in establishing an identity before dropping a ton of cash on "high level" performers. We have signed 4 guys (2 per year) so far to "starter level" contracts (over $5m a year) and one more at $5m a year (Grant).

Of those four over $5m (Hankins, Sheard, Ebron, Autry), Hankins is the only one who has not worked out so far. Sheard and Ebron are delivering starter level performance and so has Autry when heathy.

I fully expect 2019 to be a bit different assuming that this trend continues for the rest of the season of a rising defense of talent (Leonard, Walker, Turay, Hunt, Hooker) and an offense that re-estabilishes itself as a top ten offense.

Those two things happen by the end of 2018, I fully expect the checkbook to be opened in 2019 with us bidding aggresively on veterans who will fit the culture and another draft class hopefully like 2018.

Anyway, I am glad Ballard is here and I am good with his plan. However, if he sits on $50m of cap space in 2019, my opinion will probably start turning.

Walk Worthy,
I think something people are forgetting is that the big splash contracts usually require money up front. Irsay just paid Grigson to go away and then Pagano. Maybe he doesn't have much liquidity left to go after the top guys, but will have more flexibility next off-season.

Also, businesses that throw around money "just because they have it" do not last very long. That is an awful business model.
__________________
Keep your political crap out of a football forum! Nobody here gives a rat's a**
Reply With Quote
The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Racehorse For This Useful Post:
Chromeburn (10-22-2018), Pez (10-22-2018), rcubed (10-22-2018)
  #55  
Old 10-22-2018, 10:29 AM
Oldcolt Oldcolt is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 2,257
Thanks: 2,551
Thanked 2,430 Times in 1,092 Posts
Default

This offensive line is on its way (hopefully) to being one of the most dominant in the league. It is changing everything about this team. I love the Nelson pick and think, in my mind, he would have been worth the #1 for this team as a guard. Undervalued position my ass. Seeing Luck have a clean pocket two games in a row (not to mention actual holes opening up for the running game) is worth every bit of investment we have in this line. Freaking loving it.
Reply With Quote
The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Oldcolt For This Useful Post:
Racehorse (10-22-2018), sherck (10-22-2018), TheMugwump (10-22-2018), YDFL Commish (10-22-2018)
  #56  
Old 10-22-2018, 10:59 AM
FatDT's Avatar
FatDT FatDT is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 4,252
Thanks: 314
Thanked 1,099 Times in 497 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldcolt View Post
This offensive line is on its way (hopefully) to being one of the most dominant in the league. It is changing everything about this team. I love the Nelson pick and think, in my mind, he would have been worth the #1 for this team as a guard. Undervalued position my ass. Seeing Luck have a clean pocket two games in a row (not to mention actual holes opening up for the running game) is worth every bit of investment we have in this line. Freaking loving it.
I did not love the pick, but was ok with it. Especially with Chubb off the board already. And when it happened, I wanted Ballard to really commit and get a 2nd lineman early to knock the OL out as a big need. So the Smith pick was a good thing IMO. We have 3 1st rounders and a 2nd rounder as our starters. That is more than enough investment in terms of draft capital. With Castonzo back, it appears to be paying off. Now Ballard just needs to maintain it rather than build it. Watching a 220 yard rushing effort was a real treat.
Reply With Quote
The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to FatDT For This Useful Post:
njcoltfan (10-22-2018), Oldcolt (10-22-2018), Racehorse (10-22-2018), rcubed (10-22-2018), YDFL Commish (10-22-2018)
  #57  
Old 10-22-2018, 01:01 PM
Oldcolt Oldcolt is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 2,257
Thanks: 2,551
Thanked 2,430 Times in 1,092 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by FatDT View Post
I did not love the pick, but was ok with it. Especially with Chubb off the board already. And when it happened, I wanted Ballard to really commit and get a 2nd lineman early to knock the OL out as a big need. So the Smith pick was a good thing IMO. We have 3 1st rounders and a 2nd rounder as our starters. That is more than enough investment in terms of draft capital. With Castonzo back, it appears to be paying off. Now Ballard just needs to maintain it rather than build it. Watching a 220 yard rushing effort was a real treat.
I didn't love it at first either. Because I listened to all the so call experts saying that you can't pick a guard at 6 because of it being a 'low value' position. Maybe for some teams, but not for this one. I'm not putting everything on Nelson (Coaching has a huge impact. There was a recent article that stated the Colts start breaking down opponents blitzes on the Thursday 10 days before the game. When we finish a game the coaches have every blitz that the team we are about to face has done in the last 2 years set up on a film ready to be studied) but this offensive line is gelling into something special and I never want to go back to the shit show we have lived with for the last umteen years' Great pick because the line is playing so well. It’s taken forever to get here.

Last edited by Oldcolt; 10-22-2018 at 02:16 PM.
Reply With Quote
The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Oldcolt For This Useful Post:
Racehorse (10-22-2018), sherck (10-22-2018), Spike (10-22-2018)
  #58  
Old 10-22-2018, 04:26 PM
Chromeburn's Avatar
Chromeburn Chromeburn is offline
Post whore
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 5,253
Thanks: 1,407
Thanked 3,582 Times in 2,004 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chaka View Post
Gimme a break - you're talking about showing Ballard the door? Why, because he's improved virtually every facet of this team while saving tons of cap space for the future? What would you have done differently? Please be specific with player names.

Let me list for you the things he's done off the top of my head in the short time he's been here:

2017 Draft - Using an inherited scouting staff, and on short notice, still picked up three starters (Hooker, Mack, Walker), three backups (Wilson, Hairston, Stewart). Two ugly misses (Basham and Banner), but unlike most he didn't keep them around making the situation worse in the hope of saving face. When all is said and done, most teams will have at least two ugly misses in any given draft. Ballard just acknowledged his sooner than most.

2018 Draft - Nearly every pick has made serious contributions, except Lewis/Cain (injured) and Fountain (practice squad). I doubt any other team had a better batting average. Seven games in and we already have two high level starters (Nelson and Leonard) from this draft.

2018 free agency - Signed Ebron, Autry and Miller to cap friendly deals. Jury still out on Grant. Struck out on Howard, but again damage was small ($1-2 million) and cut bait quickly to minimize damage.

Traded for Jacoby Brissett in exchange for an underperforming WR from the prior regime (Dorsett)

Cut/traded multiple mediocre vets (Hankins/Anderson/Simon) in favor of much cheaper youth that are now outperforming those vets.

Kept several vets who have performed at or above their contracts (Hunt, Woods, Sheard, Desir), while not resigning others who are now disappointments with their new teams (Melvin, Moncrief)

Rebuilt two critical areas (offensive line and linebackers) into a strength, after years (and years) of underperformance.

Utilized team-friendly contract structures which incentivized performance and gave the team the flexibility to move on without consequence if things didn't work out.

Jettisoned Pagano, brought in Reich and new coaching staff. Notable embarrassment when McDaniels reneged on informal agreement, but Ballard accepted blame and rebounded well in getting Reich.

Jettisoned multiple failed draft picks/projects from the prior regime (TJ Green, Dorsett, Bond, George)

Those are the things I can think of off of the top of my head. The bottom line is that most of his moves have improved this team, and those that haven't didn't cause much damage. And you're talking about getting rid of this guy?
Well said, I think Ballard has done a ton already to prove he deserves time. Just hitting on draft picks is a huge step in the right direction.

I really am glad we got Reich over McDaniels. A former QB, a great offensive mind, a much better leader for a head coach. McDaniels is such a worm, reneging on his word just shows what his character is like. I was in Denver when he was there, he rubbed ALL the players wrong. All of them. No one liked him, guys didnt want to play for him. I remember talking to one of their players out one night, a DB I think, and he said McDaniels was a dodgy pos who would duck you in hallways rather than talk to you. You can come up with all the great routes and schemes you want, but if your players hate you, you’re not doing much. Gruden is the only other coach I can think of that is so despised by his players.
Reply With Quote
The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Chromeburn For This Useful Post:
Chaka (10-23-2018), sherck (10-23-2018), TheMugwump (10-22-2018)
  #59  
Old 10-22-2018, 06:50 PM
rm1369 rm1369 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 1,074
Thanks: 287
Thanked 730 Times in 404 Posts
Default

Any talk of firing Ballard next year (or whenever) is crazy. I’ve been a critic of some of his moves, but even I see the good in what he has done. And you have to give a GM a chance to implement their plan and their vision.
Reply With Quote
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to rm1369 For This Useful Post:
Maniac (10-22-2018), Racehorse (10-22-2018)
  #60  
Old 10-22-2018, 07:07 PM
Maniac's Avatar
Maniac Maniac is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Home
Posts: 1,772
Thanks: 782
Thanked 1,304 Times in 712 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by rm1369 View Post
Any talk of firing Ballard next year (or whenever) is crazy. I’ve been a critic of some of his moves, but even I see the good in what he has done. And you have to give a GM a chance to implement their plan and their vision.
Anyone calling for Ballard to be fired anytime soon are just ridiculously impatient.
Reply With Quote
The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to Maniac For This Useful Post:
Butter (10-22-2018), Oldcolt (10-22-2018), Racehorse (10-22-2018), sherck (10-23-2018), VeveJones007 (10-23-2018)
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:28 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
ColtFreaks.com is in no way affiliated with the Indianapolis Colts, the NFL, or any of their subsidiaries.