Fisticuffs111

No way. By all accounts Benjamin goes against the culture Ballard’s trying to build.

There definitely a lot of hold your breath moments yesterday. The hit after the catch, the hit by Alonso, by then even the Qb sneak made me nervous. He also got hit pretty hard on that sack that was taken back by the flag.

Oof. Having Hooker out for the defense against the Raiders was like having Castonzo out for the offense. If Mariota has time, which it seems like he will with how our pass rush has been lately, he could torch us.

So far I’d say it was petty decent. We got some good pieces out of it. Mack, Walker, and Hooker are legit, just gotta hope they can stay healthy. And Hairston is solid depth at the very least.

Almost seems like the Colts media played themselves. The screaming video went viral and got more eyes, very well could've been what got the league's attention.

Yeah, our defense really benefitted early on from the pass rush that's all but disappeared since. All opposing defenses have to do is dump off the to their RB's with the occasional intermediate pass and they'll get in the red zone with ease.

The DL is the first thing I think of. Then DB and WR in no particular order. Then OL depth, LB'er depth, and so on. The DL was stellar to start off the year but recently the pass rush has been lacking. Plus, even though we have some younger guys like Turay, Lewis, and hopefully Ward if he's brought back/healthy, we could use some more young talent there. Guys like Hunt, Sheard, and Woods aren't getting any younger.

Sad for Ward but hopeful to see Ishmael get a chance to shine, he showed some solid hands in preseason. Also not too surprised Ishmael got the bump over Reece. He was easily our most raw pick so hopefully he continues practicing well.

Wait, doesn't he want out in part because he's not a great fit for their zone defense? He's a great press man guy, I don't think he'd really wanna come here, not to mention we wouldn’t be really using him to his full potential.

Jerry Jones, what is you doing?

I like Eberflus. He seems to be installing the new culture just as much as Reich is. And I think he's been doing wonders for our LB'ers, or at least Leonard and Walker. I don't like the scheme much, but hopefully it'll get better as we get more talent and better fits on defense. Hopefully.

Yeah, those two paragraphs are exactly what I'm thinking. Ballard's not gonna overpay average-above average players. And when looking at FA's I think Ballard is interested in, mostly looking at guys coming off their rookie contract, or just around that mid-late 20's range in general. Unless it's a guy like Slauson, a solid vet at a position of perceived need, to be a place holder starter and overall good veteran presence. And of course low-key solid pickups in young guys like Moore, Ward, Muhammad.

Yeah, it's looking like it could be a pretty uninspiring FA class. Maybe some depth pieces here and there or a veteran placeholder starter, but nothing major. There's a couple big names people point to, Tevin Coleman and Landon Collins being the popular ones, but I don't really see Ballard going after those guys or any other big names too hard.

Yeah, he’s got three more years easy. So 5 total. I’m not ecstatic with our record, we’ve lost a lot of winnable games in by shooting ourselves in the foot, but I remain confident in Ballard. He and Luck are the two main reasons I have faith going forward. Yeah, I know it’s not optimal to have to rebuild with a QB like Luck, but there was no avoiding it. This roster was in shambles when Ballard took over and barring a miracle it was always going to take a few years.

We'd have to go 5-5 just to get 6 wins, and I don't even see that happening.