Ballard and Steichen are safe

[ChoppedWood]

Originally Posted by Puck

Honest question. Do you think that Jim had any influence on the way CB built the team? The way he used FA? Who he drafted?

Really really really interesting question. I can't say that I am confident in an answer one way or another.

I think Jim was definitely a shit stirrer. I am confident the Saturday debacle was Jim just being so fucking pissed he just made a desperate reach to something he personally trusted- which to me is a sign Ballard should have been canned right then and there due to a lack of trust.

In terms of team design though, I am not sure I go there too much. Jim clearly loved the fireworks and gonzo offense and I think he put Polian in a position where he was challenged to field a defense that could hold up because so much of the money went to Peyton and co. So looking at it from that prism, perhaps he and Ballard had more of a relationship where Ballard convinced him we needed to be more balanced and focused on the big uglies to compete in today's NFL- the whole build from the inside out model he always espoused.

I think Ballard is a cocky fuck that isn't good at identifying football players. I look at a guy like Cignetti- dude could give no fucks if you ran a 4.2 or benched 590 20 times- he gives a fuck whether or not you love to beat the shit out of people and think that the only fucking thing that is fun, is putting pads on and getting into a fucking physical war. Instead my read is Ballard is obsessed with your fucking metrics and your character assessment. So, when it comes time to just line up 22 fucking dudes, we frequently find that the 22 dudes on the other side, they are just better football players than our 22, which then extends well into the 30-40, and even 50 players on the roster. I think our "back end" roster guys are typically very very low quality football players, whereas when I watch other teams, I don't always look at their 2nd, 3rd tiers and see guys that just BLOW at the game of football.

We were really good early in the year. A lot of his high metrics guys were on the field. But he doesn't have very many of them, so when they go down, well the quality of play just immediately begins to dramatically decline because he hasn't assembled enough of them. I see other teams that still look good even when a couple "stars" go down, we sure as fuck don't though.