DougDew

I think Steichen and Gannon are quality coaches who will show to be the best of the group over time.

The UGA game was nice, but anything can be put together one game when you have too. I thought the S2 score was damaging more to Stroud than maybe any other QB because there were already questions around whether or not his success was aided a lot by talent and scheme at OSU. Stroud could certainly throw the ball, but processing well enough for the NFL wasn't something he really had to demonstrate. Not that he didn't have it, it just wasn't evident. Then the test results come out and it didn't answer some of he main questions that were never answered in college. I'm saying this as someone who had Stroud above the other QBs. Stroud was 1a and Levis 1b, but it was always Stroud over Levis if the two were there at 4.

I think its no different than any other company who sees a lot of highly talented contract employees having expiring contracts at the same time this spring, combined with the constant stream of college graduates entering the labor market. Kind of a glut coming in a few months, so why renegotiate your guy at a higher salary now. I don't think the big-bad owners are coordinating anything. I think they are all trying to run their businesses efficiently and all see the supply and demand issues the same. Like others have said, there may be one or two owners who have an atypical market for a RB...they want an upgrade for a playoff run and might pay above current market value for JT.....but about 30 teams read the landscape about the same.

Yep. Like SS said in the Macafee interview, QBs have to know when to run out of bounds, slide, or "go and get it". The two plays that he got hurt were those kinds of plays where he needs to get it, so nothing would have really changed. A pocket passer would not even be in those situations. There is also the possibility that despite being 6'4 250, he might be made of glass and gets injured easily. There is no way for anybody to really know at this point with 15 starts under his belt in college and the NFL.

Employees get paid for contributions made to the company. If they get paid more than they contribute, they get fired. If they get paid less than they contribute, they either quit now and get another job that pays more...or.... If they are a contract employee, they have to wait until the end of the contract (usually non compete clauses).....at which time they then find a better paying job. Hourly wage employees and salaried employees can get fired on the spot if they are not contributing like they should, or threaten to quit every week and renegotiate their compensation every week if they are underpaid. How rich the owner is has nothing to do with it. Maybe NFL players should do the same.....have no contracts at all and be more like the hourly/salaried employee....make it a "right-now" performance based compensation system. At the end of each week, all players on all teams would become available to the highest bidder for the next week's game. That would probably be more fair, but the sport wouldn't work.

I think its all just a contractual language way to say that, once he comes off the 5 week PUP, he has to be activated for at least one game for him to become a FA. The assumption is that the coach will activate him because the player is healthy enough to perform well enough, likely demonstrated in practice.

I wasn't suggesting how to redesign the player compensation system. I was simply saying that I don't think its an injustice to stop paying a player who gets fired.

And CEOs get poached from one company to the next, and usually negotiate an employment contract. So they get paid the full contract value if they get released. Terms of the contract. I guess the NFL treats coaches like Corporate Executives who get paid full value, but treats the players like salaried/contract employees. The NFLPA is apparently okay with it. Its the typical Management/Worker dynamic.

Would you still get paid if you got fired? When a person answers a job posting and is hired, they will be paid according to the terms of the posting for as long as they perform up to that level. If they don't, they get fired. The fact that the NFL job postings have an end date to them....the contract....doesn't change the fact that they can get fired upon notice and never get paid by that company again, just like most people's jobs. Also, the player is not entitled to get a pay raise just because they play better than the terms of the contract. Just like a person doesn't normally get a raise for doing their job exceptionally well. That person simply has earned a competitive place that better positions themselves for a raise (usually a promotion)....when a new job opening comes up. Beats me as to why coaches seem to get paid full contract value when they get fired for bad performance. I guess its in the terms of the contract. I don't get it, they shouldn't get paid either when they get fired.

The 20 to 28 teams are a tossed salad, but I think the Colts are better ranked closer to 20 than 28. I do think HOU is ranked correctly, numerically (not comparing them to Colts as the measure), to follow up on my previous comments.

I value in structure play over off structure play.....by a lot. Off structure play happens when the play call....in structure....doesn't get executed properly. Not executing a play properly is not a good thing for an offense...then the QB has to play off-structure to save the play. Not a good thing at all. I mention it when other comments seem to praise off-structure play as if it has replaced in-structure play as the primary means to run an offense. They read a lot like in-structure play can't be expected because its beyond an Offense's capabilities, and that's okay. That's weird.

That's more supportable than the OP. The OPs ranking really has teams 20 through 28 kind of a toss up as to where they should be this early.

When used at BUF as their RB, I thought he was very good RB....couldn't figure why he wasn't on the field more than he was. Small-ish and injury prone at BUF, but high quality when on the field. I was happy to see the swap for Moss especially considering what we gave up. I wish the Colts would find another RB just like him as our #1 RB, except bigger and more durable. Then let Moss have the lighter work load.

You should have been here in the days when we had Coby Fleener and Dwight Allen. Couldn't have a post about one of them without another post comparing the one to other soon after. "Yeah, but the other guy...."

Well, you're the one that said a different QB came in during the last few minutes of game 2. I guessed it was Sam because Minshew came into the game at the 12:45 mark of the second quarter of game 2 and took over a 14-7 lead. The Colts scored an additional 17 points in the second and third quarters under Minshew, who played the 4th quarter. Most of game 2 was played with Minshew at QB.

Was Pat and SS serious about SS calling Irsay to express condolences over the whale dying? I couldn't tell.

No, that was Sam, IIRC. AR was knocked out earlier in the game.

Ok, that might explain this game. I don't recall if they were designed runs or not. I would think that a 20 yard scramble after the oline gave up a bad pass rush would still be categorized as bad pass blocking, and not necessarily help the run game grade (obviously not good run blocking since it was a pass play). Its a point I'm tossing around. If a QB gets a lot of positive yards by scrambling, is that really a good thing.....if its the result of his bad passing game skills? Its logged as rushing yards and a ypc stat.

I don't know enough about BALs injury situation to compare those games. I don't think the rankings go by who beat who as a strict measure. I think its hard to evaluate what the Colts are as a team based upon these three games. The first one being ARs first ever NFL game, and the other two being run by Minshew. HOU got better in the second half. carving up our D, IIRC, then smoked JAX all game with the same players. Rankers may take a look at a lot of stuff. I'm saying that I like their HOU ranking better than I like their TEN ranking.

Going by the record would be simply....The Standings. They do these rankings to take a deeper look into the wins and losses. I think they are trying to evaluate the teams as they are going to be in the immediate future. Since our 2 wins have come with our QB that will be riding the bench, its kind of hard to say that our ranking is much different than how the season started, IMO. I think HOU has clearly gotten better each week with the major players that comprise their team going forward.

I didn't see the entire game, but I assume our run defense and tackling...and their run game...was impacted by broken play scrambles by Lamar scored as rushing plays? Does PFF view a broken/failed pass play QB scramble/sack escape as the "run game"? Or as a mark against the passing game, like it probably should be.

I don't know about 28th, but its right to have HOU ranked ahead of us. They beat JAX badly and their starting QB for the rest of the season, Stroud, took a step ahead. We didn't beat JAX with our starting QB, and got our 2 wins with the QB we are not going to start going forward. Jets have a good defense that will keep them in games/win games. I have questions about the TEN ranking.

Between the short/right targets in the first game and the scripted plays in the second game, the 60% completion rate feels manufactured to me. Its a good thing to aid in ARs comfort level and his development, but I think its a bit of a nonobjective number at this point. Before the beginning of the season, most folks just wanted AR to develop, and didn't care much about how many games we win. You might have changed how you're looking at the season? I don't care if we win, I just want AR to start and play.

Ok, that's your opinion. Please don't feel a need to defend it in the face of something said to the contrary. I'm not really interested in debating the point of Minshew vs AR. I'm looking more about how we are looking at each QB now, after 3 games. I think your observations about Minshew in this game are nothing that we didn't already know going into the season, and most thought that he gave us the best chance to win individual games. And there is nothing that AR has really done to say that he is a better NFL passer at this point than what we thought, so the idea that he has surpassed Minshew as the best QB for the Colts to win individual games...I don't follow. I like AR and think that we should keep playing him so he develops quicker. I'm not looking at it from the point of who might win us a game, so the debate isn't even that material.

Yeah right. LOL. Raimann and Nelson currently play for the Colts.