luv_pony_express

In fairness to Chris Ballard, he did have to somehow make room on the 53-man roster for Taven Bryan (the 10th D lineman). And doing what's best for the team requires hard choices to be made.

Thank God we didn't use the cap space we have to sign a free agent safety and cornerback. Can you imagine the pickle we'd be in if we had done that?

That's because those are the only years I looked at to make the list. I'm sure I'd find plenty of Patriot trades and FA pickups in the late 90s, too. The reason I looked only at their dynasty years is because I was responding to the suggestion that dynasties have to be built from within. And I just don't think that's the case. In fact, I'd go farther to say there's no such thing as an NFL team that's been built entirely through the draft and UFDAs. It may be the case that dynasties like the Brady-era Pats were less engaged in free agency and trades than other teams. But to say that they stayed away from FA and trades just isn't correct. That said, I do agree that it all starts with the franchise QB. And I'd also agree that few franchise QBs have been acquired from elsewhere (at least for their prime). There are some notable exceptions (Steve Young, Drew Brees, and Warren Moon come to mind). But they're mostly drafted.

I was going to say that they're all offensive players. But Talib was a cornerback. OK, I give. What do they all have in common?

It would take something really bad for Bradley (or any other coach) to be fired after Week 2 -- like him getting arrested or something along those lines. I don't remember a coordinator ever being fired that early in a season, even if things have started out badly. I'm sure it's happened before. But the mid-season coordinator firings I can remember are mostly like when Pagano fired Pep Hamilton in 2015. We were 3-5 when he was fired. We ended up at 8-8, but missed the playoffs. In that instance, the Colts had been one of the top offenses in the NFL the previous season -- and the offense was spotty those first 8 games.

Mike Lombardi is somebody whose opinion I place a pretty high amount of value on. This is somebody that Bill Belichick basically created a coaching staff position for at the Patriots (although he's mostly been a front office guy). And I remember hearing that Belichick sought and followed his counsel quite a bit during that period. What's that tell you? And he has been incredibly critical of Gus Bradley -- more than people in his position usually are. I realize that he's now cashing his checks from his commentary. And living on clicks and eyeballs can make people be a little more pointed in their rhetoric than they might otherwise be. That said, he's not pulling any punches. He thinks that Gus Bradley is a poor defensive coordinator who employs a "vanilla defense" that any other team is going to have little problem exploiting.....and that he only has the job he has because of his personal relationship with Shane Steichen.

While I agree that there's a difference between building a one-and-done and building a program to succeed over years, I do not agree that this means avoiding trades and free agency. Let's look at some of the players from the Patriots dynasty... Mike Vrabel - spent 4 seasons with Steelers, acquired as FA Corey Dillon - acquired in trade from Bengals Rodney Harrison - spent 9 seasons with Chargers, released and picked up as FA Randy Moss - acquired in trade from Raiders Wes Welker - acquired in trade from Dolphins Rosevelt Colvin - spent 4 seasons with Bears, acquired as FA Rob Ninkovich - spent 2 seasons each with Saints and Dolphins, acquired as FA LeGarrette Blount - acquired in trade from Buccaneers Aqib Talib - acquired in trade from Buccaneers Darrelle Revis - played 1 year for Pats, acquired as FA after being released by Buccaneers Brandon LaFell - spent 4 seasons with Panthers, acquired as FA Danny Amendola - spent 4 seasons with Rams, acquired as FA You get the idea. The Patriots engaged in plenty of trades and free agency to build and maintain their dynasty. Yes, most of their guys were Patriots from the start. But nobody is that great of a drafter that they can build a great team exclusively through the draft. And it's also OK to have guys on 1 year deals. Darrelle Revis was 1st Team All-Pro in his only season with the Pats -- which was 2014. He also picked up a Super Bowl ring that season.

While I sympathize with your point, share your frustration with Ballard, and literally just posted that this forum is the best place for Colts fans to vent our frustrations… …do we really a thread that is nothing more than this? At the end of the day, Chris Ballard will be judged on his results. I think his choices will do him no favors on that end. But (a) it’s only a guess after only one game in (and a game where a lot went right, too!), and (b) I’m absolutely cheering for his plan to succeed. And it very much could.

Is there a better venue for fans to vent our frustrations? I can’t think of one. And I don’t see anything wrong with it, either - as long as it’s done respectfully, tastefully, and within the rules of the forum. We’re only bantering with and among each other. And there are a range of opinions represented here. Very, very few of us have access to ask questions of the coaches or players. The GM only has a handful of pressers each season (and, to his credit, he’s usually very forthcoming in them). So I say: vent away. We all ultimately have the same objective, I think.

Well, if I turn out to be wrong and Ballard is vindicated, I’ll be the first one to point it out while eating a heaping helping of crow. I’d love to eat that crow. Because all I want is for the team to succeed. That means I want Ballard to succeed. But I simply don’t have the confidence that he’s making the best decisions we need for the team to succeed. Not all of them. I’m supportive of many things he’s done. But I think he’s too quick to talk himself into believing that things are OK as they are when, to me anyway, they clearly aren’t. But here’s to hoping he proves this rando fan wrong. I’d love nothing more.

I should add that I fully realize that no GM is ever going to listen to some random fan (or group of fans) bellyaching, griping, giving opinions, etc. And I’m not even saying that they should. Those guys know a great deal more about football than I ever will…and that probably goes for the rest of us, too. But it’s clear from Ballard’s presser the other day that he knows his decision to stand pat on the secondary is a pretty lonely one…and not just among random fans.

I don’t know what other people said or didn’t say. But I know what I said and didn’t say. And I was screaming about every one of those issues long before Ballard addressed them. That’s the reason I listed them. And I don’t recall being a lonely voice on any of them. I got a lot of flak on Vinny, because of who he was. But there were others here and elsewhere who were also out on AV at the end of the 18-19 season. His 2019 season was bad, predictable, and could’ve and should’ve been avoided. Keeping him was hugely costly to us. I thought we should’ve drafted a LT in ‘21 draft. There were good ones available. And Fisher was below average…but at least better than who came next. I was beside myself that we went into a season expecting Matt Pryor to protect Ryan’s blind side. And I was saying it before the season. It was an unconscionable decision. Ballard does a lot of things well. I’m a fan. But, man, when he’s wrong…he’s way wrong. And, worse, he seems incapable of considering any suggestion that he might be wrong….until later, when he’ll at least concede to publicly saying “I failed.”

From your keyboard to God's ears, chloe. I certainly hope that is the case. I guess we'll find out soon enough. But I'm just saying that guys coming back from Achilles' often start off somewhere less than 100% and take a good while to get their way back to 100%. And it's hardly any secret that Flowers was not looking good at OTAs, camp, preseason games, etc. So there are obvious reasons to be pessimistic about his ability to capably jump into a starting role.

How would any of us know? That may be the case. But it may not be the case. Either way, nobody with knowledge of what, if any, discussions were had among the people who matter is talking about it or is likely to do so.

There's nothing smug about having a fear based on observations, expressing related reservations and criticisms, and then taking note when the criticisms go unheeded and the fears are realized. Gobs of people -- Colts fans and media, other observers outside the building -- have been saying that Ballard was playing with fire with the secondary....that one key injury would put the team in a terrible predicament. There were guys available, and he had money to spend. But he didn't do it. To me, the issue isn't so much last year as it was how evident it was that our roster was deficient coming into this year. And the important context is that Ballard had the opportunity to address it and refused to. It would be different if he was out of cap space or this just came out of nowhere with a series of ill-timed injuries or whatever. But it's been a sitting duck. I actually like Ballard and have generally been a proponent. But he's so dang hard-headed about certain things. He can't get out of his own way. He's always trying to find unconventional solutions to conventional problems....when sometimes the answer is staring him straight in the face. Cut Vinny, he's done and misses too many important kicks. No. Replace Castonzo...he's giving you an entire year's notice he'll be retiring. No. Hot Rod is not an NFL kicker. Sure he is. Matt Pryor can't play LT in this league. Yes he can. Our secondary is young, thin, and injury prone....there are guys available and you have money. No. It seems like he's almost wired to be contrarian. Why can some of these things be so obvious to everybody BUT our General Manager?