stitches

Feels like the only one I've seen anywhere go with the Colts.

Seems like people(neutrals) don't just think Houston will win in Indy. They are actively rooting for it. I guess it's somewhat understandable... wanting to get the the new hot thing at QB to the playoffs... I just really wish we play the spoiler this time. We need to set the tone for the next decade of AFC South football and IMO we need to do it now!

I think Steichen's offense and playcalling has been fantastic when you consider the limitations of what he's working with and the sheer ammount of injuries at key positions/players. I'm never watching a game with Steichen on the sidelines and worrying about what he's going to call this time the way I used to with Reich. To me it feels like he has a good rhythm about his playcalling and he the problems of the offense are much more talent-based than coaching based.

Do you think we would have done better with someone like... lets say Marcus Mariota, who has strengths and weaknesses closer to that of our starter? I'm not dying on the hill of "We should bring back Minshew" and I kind of agree we probably could do better, but I also think we can do worse. I think we all know what Minshew is... hell even Minshew knows what Minshew is... and in a certain way that's a plus. When AR is healthy you know you have a great locker room guy in Minshew who will help your starter prepare and help the team. You know he can actually play in the league. He's not great... he's not a starter... but he can actually run an offense competently and you can win some games with him if you end up in a situation when you need to play him. I think I will be OK with bringing him back... plus he seems to have great relationship with both AR and Steichen so... that's another plus.

Ballard is a fan of players with positions mismatching their talent at the NFL level. For example Marvel Tell was a safety in college but we drafted him to be a CB for us. @Superman just mentioned Ronnie Harrison. Rodney Thomas was a linebacker in Yale... Julian Blackmon played more at CB than Safety in Utah. In general, it seems like Ballard and his scouting staff is evaluating not just their play at the positions they play, but also their traits and possible transitions to other positions if those traits translate better at a new position in the league. So, to answer your question - no idea about those specific players, but IMO Ballard is very open to picking players and moving them to other positions if he thinks they will be better suited there and if he thinks there is unexplored value there...

Happy new year, everybody! Wish you all the best in the new year

Merry Christmas all!!

Ballard's best decision in the off-season was probably picking Steichen as his HC. And that's before we know how AR will pan out. If he does, this is a great way to change the fortunes of your team - finding two keepers at the most important positions on the team.

As much as my curiosity makes me want to know what exactly they did, ultimately this is probably the better way to handle it. Everybody who needs to know knows what they did, no point to add extra drama if it's not needed.

I mean... most of the players we are talking about were taken with Brian Decker's approval.

I would half agree with this. The sense of leadership is emerging from the new coaching staff. And the myriad of suspensions to me is a sign that such leadership has been lacking in the last few years.

#leadership And since it feels like there is lack of leadership on the roster, it's nice to see the coach taking the lead here and hopefully building on it for the future.

There were rumors floating around that Frank didn't hold players accountable and that was especially true about the best players and leaders of the team. And this was shared/hinted/alluded to by some serious people in Colts media(Bowen, JMV, etc)... Of course no way to know for sure, but it tracks with how player friendly Frank seemed to be.

I hate that reasoning... "Oh the QB threw a bad ball? Well I guess you can do whatever to the receiver then... might as well kill him on the spot... cuz you know... the QB should know better". I swear this incident has awakened some of the worst takes I've heard recently.

The more I'm thinking about it, the more * off I get at Mike Mitchell... what an absolutely horrible thing to say the day after your own WR1 got taken out by one of the dirtiest hits of the season.

Yep... If you are going to teach your guys that the only way to defend such a pass is to launch yourself head first into another player, then you are putting not just the other guy in danger but your own players too.

If you cannot teach proper tackling technique and pass contest, you probably don't need to be coaching in the league...

I just rewatched the final 2 minutes since I had to miss them during the game. I freaking love Steichen. He assumed the Steelers will let the time run out since it would have left them something like 35 seconds for a 3 score game otherwise and let Minshew kneel it down. The Steelers decided to be smartasses and called the timeout. What did Steichen do? You could see him on the sidelines * off. "Oh, you gonna play those games?" Two runs down the middle to waste a bit more time and make the FG even easier and he let Gay kick the FG. Steichen has the killer instinct. He doesn't let anything slide and he extracts everything he can from a game. If there is a coaching thing to do to give the team an edge he will do it. Love it.

Agreed... The only thing that's a huge negative is AR's injury and him missing on opportunities to get experience and development during the season. But other than that... I love that Shane has brought back the spirit of this team after they seemed so soulless by the end of last year. This team seems to have character and some juice. IMO we still need talent infusion at certain positions if we want to be a serious contender, but it looks like this season at least gave us the answer on the HC position.

You are joking but, it's insane how... playable our OL has been with so many injuries and so much turnover all over the line. Our starting OL has played a grand total of 1 full game and two half games together the entire season. And it has not been all smooth sailing, but we've been... solid. Big props to the players that have stepped up and the coaching staff for getting them ready and putting them in position to succeed.

How are you liking Addison, NFLfan? Has he won you over already?

Bill decided to screw up their tank for Caleb since it become known he will be out after the season. I don't mind that

Levis still has some rookie moments and he just got blown up by a free rusher he didn't see, but I like what I'm seeing from him in general. He looks like an NFL QB. Doesn't look out of place at all... BTW, Levis is taking worse shots than AR took(and a lot of them are self-induced). Just comes to show how chance plays part in injuries...

That was indeed probably our worst game this season. Serious failures in all aspects of the game. Kind of disappointing when chasing a playoff spot, but not entirely shocking when you consider the talent level at some important areas of the team. My position has been that Steichen has been making chicken soup from chicken % for a lot of the season and it was just about time some of our deficiencies showed up. On to the next one...