ColtStrong2013

“Shane we need to inform you that we’ve fired Chris Ballard.” -Jim Irsay “what? Why?” - Shane “it’s time to move on.” -irsay ”Mr. Irsay, Chris hired me, you let him handle that entire process remember?” “yeah it doesn’t matter now. We’ll be naming a gm soon.” - Irsay “I don’t know what to say. Chris and I were aligned on what the goals were going forward. We were close to exceeding every expectation with minshew, which wasn’t the plan as you know.” -Shane “listen, @shasta519, @OLD FAN MAN , turtle man @PRnum1, and the gang on the colts forum wanted him gone… and he’s gone so it’s time to move on Shane…” - Irsay “The colts forum, are you kidding me?” “no Shane… they know football. Let me tell you. turtleman not only didn’t want us to NOT pick cj stroud or Anthony, he didn’t want us to pick anyone at all last draft. I think he’s brilliant. I’m actually thinking about naming him assistant co-owner.”

because, uh, news flash… Steichen came here because of Ballard. Their ideals are aligned. If you think Steichen wasn’t massively influenced by the vision of drafting Anthony Richardson, I’m not sure what to tell you. Steichen could have told Ballard no, you do realize that right? He would have had plenty of other opportunities. And according to you and half of this board, plenty of opportunities to go to a place with a better GM. Except he didn’t. He chose to come to Indianapolis and work with Chris Ballard.

I just saw your name on the poll back in April for who you wanted the colts to draft at qb… you said none of the above. I don’t think you are a credible poster. lol. And the turtle talk is just weird. So I don’t think you are a serious poster either. have a good night turtle man

This is true. Good point. But that is a rare situation. and I think @Superman is correct, there was more than that was told leading to his abrupt firing.

Ballard 3-2-1 against Caserio head to head… one had a higher draft pick last year, with both taking qbs. Both teams had the same type of turnaround, except one had their drafted qb on IR and the other’s played mvp level. Division came down to a head-to-head matchup and the Texans won on a 4th down stop. If I didn’t know any better, I would think you were being sarcastic, but you aren’t. You are totally serious and think you are “reasonable” to think Caserio runs circles around Ballard. lol.

Don't disagree. I think it's maybe more likely that there is dysfunction at the team level and changes there could be made before Brown is dealt. I read an interesting bit earlier that said the exit interview from Jason Kelce, and a discussion with AJ Brown could be the pieces that start a shakeup in the organization. It's certainly something to watch moving forward.

If you are stating that favoring disposing of Pagano and Reich more quickly, then I would suppose Jim Irsay would argue that he learned being patient and keeping the emotional stuff out of professional decisions was from the way his father ran things, which was on the opposite end of the spectrum.

I'd like to see it, but it's not visible.

I don't think they'll sit on him if he is willing to play hard ball and hold out. Especially if there is issues, but I doubt it's just with him. Eagles seem like they fell apart, and now that they are losing a leader in Jason Kelce, there's a lot of question marks. That o-line could be vastly different come training camp... I don't disagree that there might be concerns with the personality... And Ballard's also spoke of the ability to add explosive players in this draft, so it might be a massive reach, even if he were available. But if Vegas is throwing odds out there that he's likely gone, then it's worth paying attention to.

He said if they identify a game changer, then they will make it happen. He just said that last week… If Steichen says do it, then I think he’ll do it. AJ Brown would dramatically alter the offense. I doubt Ballard cares if his two biggest game changers were brought in by trading 1st round picks.

that’s more Jim Irsay’s philosophy on coaching than anyone… Ever heard the story of his dad firing the head coach after a preseason game? Jim was a kid and was humiliated. Sat and cried on the bus with the players he was so embarrassed. Swore he would never run the team like that. He’s been more than generous with coaches. It’s a large reason why Ballard is still handling things.

Zero chance. Again, there is no justification to firing Ballard and keeping everything he brought to the organization in tact. If you are firing the gm, you are moving in a different direction than the one they brought, not just kicking the tires on a fresh person making the final decisions that they were heavily involved in to begin with.

it is if we are looking for a year with them together for evaluation before a longterm deal…

tag Pittman and decide if it’s worth keeping him. AJ Brown is the WR1 everyone on this forum should want…

https://www.si.com/nfl/colts/news/indianapolis-colts-among-favorites-land-eagles-aj-brown Here we go…

yada yada. It’s the same thing with you too… works both ways. “There’s no winning… but while I’m here, I might as well say something” lol. What a 🤡

Why? Those are Ballard's guys... They were involved in the decision-making and scouting process. Firing Ballard and hiring from within is saying "We like what you've done, especially the personnel you have brought in the front office and coaching staff which we are retaining, as well as a good deal of the roster you have drafted/assembled, as well as the overall philosophy you have implemented here... But it's just not working out" That doesn't make much sense to me. Again, I have yet to hear a reasonable take on what happens after he's fired. A new outside GM comes in and works wonders with Shane Steichen, who came here to work with Chris Ballard? I'm not sure. Do they feel they need to blow up a great deal of the roster? That's not moving in the right direction after nearly winning the division with the starting qb on the sideline.

No one can answer that question. The ones calling for his removal can’t even entertain the concept that the replacement could be really bad… I’m thankful those individuals aren’t making the decisions for the company I work for and those that I’m invested in, that’s for sure.

I can’t say regarding Ryan. But it’s well known and documented on Reich’s apology for Wentz. I think Ballard obviously was hopeful, but if he had his hands tied when he preferred to look at the draft for a qb that offseason, then it’s 100% on Irsay. Even looking back at those years, they were really weak qb classes. 2022 especially. There wasn’t many options, that’s for sure.

We don’t know this. By all accounts, he didn’t cave, Irsay did. And the postseason apology by Reich to Irsay pleading for his job and the abrupt midseason firing of him/continued support of Ballard at GM tells me everything I need to know regarding that. i don’t think it’s ironic that after Frank was fired, Ballard drafted a quarterback…

so essentially, you just don’t believe in the concept of a steal in the draft… I’m not lashing out, so I hope you aren’t referring to me in that statement. I would agree there is seemingly a lot of aggressive behavior on this forum lately.

there’s an entire discussion going on in “Kudos to Raimann” thread regarding being “lucky” with picking players. You should check it out and offer thoughts. As it relates to this, I can’t help but respond that Ballard hasn’t been a “bad gm.” He hasn’t, or else we wouldn’t have made a few playoffs, had all pro players, and have been a play or two away from even more playoff births/even a division title or two… Based on that fact and the fact that he’s not had “luck” at getting the qb position figured out (which, let’s be honest, it’s usually luck, unless you have the #1 pick, which is still not an exact science)- he’s not been bad, he’s just had bad luck leading to mediocrity, as some say on here…

Nor did Bill Bellichick when he picked Tom Brady at pick 199… It was lucky, and it was also the steal in all of NFL history.

This is how I feel. I have been called a "ballard fangirl" a few times on this forum. But I can at least understand the frustration from colts fans regarding him and the lack of playoff competitiveness. I think Ballard is probably his own biggest critic. That's what you want in a GM, someone who can learn from their mistakes. I think growing is a huge part of football. He's shown me over the past season alone that he's trying to focus hard on the premium positions, but he's sticking to his process which is largely drafting and retaining those players. That process is what got him hired by Irsay, which some on this forum seem to forget. Irsay bought into the idea of it going to take time and requiring patience. My education and career has been in management. It's not for the faint of heart. I think for me, I just appreciate being willing to be patient and develop a core of players that will ideally lead the Indianapolis Colts to a run of 5-10 years of highly competitive football. After Luck retired, it wasn't there... Finding and developing a QB, receiver, left tackle, edge rusher, and strong cornerbacks aren't easy. None of those things were handed to Ballard and it's been a hell of a time getting any single one of them. Some of those pieces seem to be coming together. We might be a few of many that think that statement you made that is in bold, but I would rather wait and see what this young core develops into over the next few years, than to start all over and find out that they are legit, but our new GM is dog crap...