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throwing BBZ

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Posts posted by throwing BBZ

  1. 1 hour ago, Superman said:

     

    Why would risk prevent you from drafting a good prospect? The draft is a risk in general.

     

    Stitches posted something yesterday, showing that DEs drafted outside of the first round are less likely to be starters than WRs drafted outside the first round. So it seems to me that if you're concerned about the risk of not getting a starter level DE, you'd want to use a first rounder on that position.

     

    Let me ask this, because I think there's a healthy disagreement among a lot of people on this topic. For our defense to work as designed, what's more important, pass rush, or coverage? They obviously rely heavily on each other, but in your opinion, which one is more valuable?

     

     Thats easy. Having great coverage. If noone is open the rush will get there.

     

     Or, I wish we blitzed more like Spaignola does as QB's are considerably less accurate under duress.

     

     The best offenses have QB's that get rid of the ball quickly which negates to a degree the pass rush.

     Scholars here are buzzing madly about pressures. Joey Bosa had a crazy number of pressures but how many resulted in incompletions? He had 2 more sacks than Kwity and played roughly 175 more snaps.

     Detroit's Hutchinson, in their playoff loss, had no pressures, no sacks, and 1 tackle as I recall. And a heckuva player.

    Truth is you better have really good ability at both, including highly intelligent fast players in the back seven.

  2. 1 hour ago, tweezy32 said:

    They definitely know what they are going to do with the pick already. They have had months to prepare for this, if who is available they pick them or if not they pick this person or if these guys are gone, they trade. They have all these scenarios played out for sure. They know exactly what they are doing already. 

     

     Amusingly not so. 

      I suspect Woods is key. If he is still highly favored then Bowers is a luxury.

     And we will have great prospects available at CB, WR, and DE. And certainly those players will be evaluated to the nth degree right up near to draft day.

  3. On 3/26/2024 at 11:07 PM, krunk said:

    The Colts like some of their young cornerbacks and safeties, and believe JuJu Brents, Jaylon Jones, Dallis Flowers, Nick Cross and Daniel Scott all have upside as they enter Year 2 or Year 3 in the NFL. Ballard specifically discussed those cornerbacks on Tuesday.

    "No question we got work to do in the secondary still," Ballard said. "But I like our three young corners. JuJu's gotta be healthy, we gotta get Dallis back healthy, we think we will. We think JuJu will be back healthy. We think both of them are very good. I think we underestimate what Jones did. I thought Jones played really good football last year and did it against some very talented wideouts and never once backed down. He's going to continue to get better. We think these guys are going to continue to get better."

    https://www.colts.com/news/chris-ballard-free-agency-spending-cornerbacks-anthony-richardson-2024

     

     We see many coverage failures by all teams caused by miscommunication.

     Certainly there are exceptional individuals that play CB but experience and intelligence are vital.

     Flowers had size and 4.3's speed, and Jones was decent. Juju has potential but because of his size and speed he will always be successfully targeted. 

     We are desperate for a 4.3's stud that can cover anytime, anywhere. That was Rodgers BTW. 

    • Like 1
  4. 16 hours ago, Pelt said:

    Little more insight into our new DL coach

     

     Isaiah Land he says.

     

     

    Every year it happens. The Dallas Cowboys make some tough roster cuts and we all wait nervously to see if our favorite prospects make it cleanly through waivers. Most do, but every once in a while, a team will scoop up that one guy we were hoping made it to the practice squad. This year, that player is edge rusher Isaiah Land.

    An undrafted free agent from Florida A&M, Land dealt with injuries his final year in college, but had a remarkable season in 2021 when he finished with 19 sacks, 25.5 tackles for a loss, and three fumble recoveries. While there is a lot to be uncovered with him, he still flashed enough to draw interest from the Cowboys. Throughout the summer, the young edge rusher had impressed and it looked like the team had found another diamond in the rough.

    Land was fantastic during the preseason. In three games, he finished with 10 total pressures, which was the second-most of any player on any NFL team this preseason. He also finished with seven hurries on 45 pass-rushing snaps. He only recorded one official sack but finished with a pass rush win rate of 20%. Not only that, he had opposing tackles so worried about his get-off that they were regularly jumping early. There were several instances when tackles would get called for a false start.

     

     Might as well be optimistic about  Woods and Land contributing to our resurrection. :colts:

    • Like 2
  5. 46 minutes ago, stitches said:

    I just saw Pittman's "Reception Perception" charts... so here it goes:

     

     

     

     

     

     Nice catch Stitch.

     Year two of Steichen, our very functional TE group and Downs gives me very high expectations that we will be highly effective attacking the middle of the field. If we do add another WR to help complement the other side of the field, Pittman's ability to be even more outstanding only goes up. And I feel confident another guy will be added. Our offense should be very strong for 2024.

    • Like 3
  6. 1 hour ago, stitches said:

    When we trade Buckner? 

     

     It is certainly possible we are really good by seasons end in 2024 and more likely in 25. And Buckner absolutely is a stud and should be for the next three years. That said, if there was a high end 3 tech DT say at 15, we get him, then trade Buck to a contender. I think Detroit still has money and certainly could extend him and make him fit. Their D would be fierce.

     And we grab their first and get something fine late first rd. If it were on the table it would be conidered. Again Buck is great so...

  7. 1 hour ago, chad72 said:

     

    If you are getting someone for those high pointing while having the burst to create separation with height, Adonai Mitchell is your guy. Just get your draft position locked in before the Bills, Ravens and Chiefs if you are going to trade back because he is a top target for all those 3 teams, IMO. Brian Thomas Jr., hands down The Bengals will swallow him up to pair with JaMarr Chase eventually, force Higgins to play on the tag and let him go for a possible compensatory pick (unfortunate side of business) after the 2025 season. So, if you want BT Jr., stay put at No.15 and get him.

     

     For a guy that size, Thomas has it all, lightning strait line speed, i was shocked with how fast he could stop on a dime, he has smooth moves and great hands. I would rather get our Deon Sanders shut down corner  Q Mitchell, but Thomas would be a grand slam Colt too. 

    • Like 1
  8. On 3/23/2024 at 2:53 PM, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

    I don’t think edge will be an option. Tells you how bad his team building is that he was going to pay a 31 edge rusher when the secondary is that bad.

     

     If you could possibly grasp that Ballard really wasn't in on Hunter, despite what was floated in the "news", and if you could somehow appreciate our 4 very solid edge rushers, maybe you wouldn't drift out into left field like so many of our silly posters.

     Cross and Juju should be good players, Jones might be pretty good, I recall the completion % against him was maybe 59%.  That is very good considering he was a rookie and playing Gus's ugh D.

     Knowing we still have many good options, why be cry babies over our secondary until we get to our final 53? 

  9. On 3/20/2024 at 6:37 PM, stitches said:

    Both Thomas and Mitchell are better separators than AP IMO and have better and more expansive, even if still unpolished, route tree. Mitchell has some really nice ball skills too... 

     

     Pittman, Mitchell, Downs, Woods, Taylor could become as good a group as their is. 

     

     Using next years one and whatever, my dream draft we wheel and deal for this.

     CB Mitchell  our Island CB

     WR Mitchell  a faster with moves Pierce, that can block

     RG Bebe  a huge upgrade in run and pass blocking - the #1 line

     

  10. 2 hours ago, stitches said:

    I'm happy with 51 sacks. But that's not sustainable if we play the same way. If we continue playing at that level, chances are we will be closer to 40 sacks than 50 next year... or in the long run in general. 

     

    What would constitute good season for the DL in your estimation? What would constitute the new DL coach having made a good positive impact? What improvements do you want to see? I'm trying to understand just what do you think the imact of the new coach will be... we were bottom 5 in the league in pressures and top 5 in the league in sacks. Based on some of your posts I feel like you have unrealistic expectations about the improvements a DL coach can bring to a team, but I'm not sure... that's why I'm asking. 

     

     How about we have our d-line quit focusing so much at stopping the run and more attacking like it's always a pass play and Steichen orders Gus to disguise his coverages like good defenses do and also we blitz 30% more like average teams do.

     Lets get the pressures up to suit our most knowledgeable fans. 

    • Like 2
  11. 26 minutes ago, Solid84 said:

    I wish we’d try starting Lewis instead of Paye. 
     

    Lewis was our #2 DE in pressures behind Ebukam (44 and 48 - PFF numbers), but Lewis did it in far fewer pass rush snaps (259 to Ebukam’s 450). 
     

    Paye is far behind with 28 pressures on 410 pass rush snaps. 

     

     Your funny. You don't understand why Paye starts. Also, maybe ask how many of Lewis's pressures occurred when Paye was in the game at the same time.  Time to put you on IGNORE. 

  12. 32 minutes ago, Superman said:

     

    I agree with this. I've tried to make the same point.

     

     

    That might be true, but I think we're still light in specific areas that correlate to winning at a high level, especially on defense. And that's partly why I'm not all that excited about the idea of keeping the core together.

     

    Again, my earlier point was that there are a times where a premier talent at a premier position is more valuable to a team than lower tier talent at less critical positions. In theory, having a dynamic, standout WR at $30m is more valuable than having a second tier WR at $23m + a rotational DT at $7m.

     

     Recalling Irsays penchant making numerous players the highest paid at their position, including Gosder, I believe Marvin got that.

     We had the 

    #1 pick Manning a 5 time MVP challenging for the GOAT

    #4 pick Edge in the HOF

    #16 pick Marvin in the HOF and a top 3 WR most any given year.

    #16 Maybe TE Dallas

    #31 ? Reggie probably HOF

      And we beat Rex Grossman when we finally had a good defense.

     Brady had 1 great WR for 1 year in NE.

    Mike Evans is consistently really good, so yeah he was a difference maker. But he didhave the GOAT.

     

      Today, our back seven to me definitely looks more like a bottom 5 unit, so ugh! Ballard/Dodds has a below average record back there. Have they hit with Juju and Cross? They better have. 

     If they were to add Arnold or Mitchell and a vet safety it should things considerably. Here is hoping. 

     Time for me to be done on the subject. I appreciate your take and time. lol

     

    • Like 1
  13. 16 hours ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

    This is probably the first offseason though where I truly don’t understand what the heck Ballard is doing or trying to accomplish with this secondary .  It makes zero sense to me. Maybe in a few weeks it will make more sense but right now it doesn’t. There is no way Bradley is ok with this secondary.

     

     It's good that you have enough sense that things could make sense in only a few weeks. 

     It would be fun to know when thinking long term, if Bradley was a no on Blackmon.

    My eyes saw Blackmon not getting to the ball as was likely his assignment. There were nice flashes for sure, but... his grades by our staff might have been mediocre.

  14. 13 hours ago, Nate! said:


    Well, they got lucky their franchise QB turned out to be a rapist and demand a trade which netted them the god awful teams and additional draft capital to do said moves.  Would’ve been lucky for the Colts if Luck had done that instead of just quit to where the Colts got absolutely nothing for that.   
     

    Texans did get lucky.  The staff of the Panthers wanted Stroud, but the owner went executive decision and overruled them.  Had that not happened, Stroud is in Carolina, Bryce likely in Houston and the situations look completely different.

     

    again though, they got extremely lucky their franchise QB became a rapist, demanded a trade, and then immediately became injury prone and no longer talented as a QB

     

     Actually, Stroud would have looked very mediocre and Young might have won ROYear.

  15. 18 hours ago, Superman said:

     

    It was a philosophical question. We're not trading for JJ, especially not with Pittman at $23m/year (although I'd point out that's only a 23% increase, and I'd argue JJ is worth the premium).

     

    I guess this is your answer below... 

     

     

    That's logical. This is how you build a good roster and manage the cap wisely to keep that roster together. You'll make the playoffs most years. It's basically what the Chiefs and Ravens are doing. 

     

    I think there's one flaw in this approach. In any given year, there's a team like the Rams or Bucs from 3-4 years ago, or like the Browns or Eagles right now, spending cash way over cap, to try to push their way to the top of the league. They know they'll have to reset and get rid of some players in a couple years, but they hope to increase their odds to compete for a short period of time. And if they win a SB, then it's worth it.

     

    The Chiefs have one of the most special QBs of all time. The Ravens have a two time MVP at QB. I would say both teams draft better than the Colts (especially the Ravens), and Steichen is still new but for right now I'd say they're both better coached as well. Their margin for error is much greater than ours. 

     

    The way you offset having a $30m WR is to draft well multiple years in a row, have a good HC, and have a really good QB. And that just so happens to be the formula for success in the NFL in general. 

     

     

     When we have our top 8 QB in 2025 and our roster looks overall really solid, we can trade for our Tyreke and go "all out". I would have to go back and look to see how far Tyreke has carried the Dolphins in the playoffs.

     Unfortunately, our Colts big all out move was to trade for a SB caliber Wentz, then following that with a very large financial commitment at the time for Ryan. Ballard went big for it and face planted. Frankified! I have no doubt Irsay listened to Frank and agreed that is how he wanted to go.

     So Every 3-4 years rosters churn 75-80% by nature.

    Fans complaining Ballard is doing the same thing as over his prior 7 years must account that we are still early in the post Frank reboot. New HC, finally have our Great QB prospect, only 1 new draft class under our belt. But what we do have is a pretty good core of in their prime veterans that can play good  football. We have a 8-9 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year players that can be expected to play better than last year. With 2-3 good draft picks coming and no doubt a veteran safety, our Colts should be a tough out on any given Sunday.

     We can see the competition getting tougher now in our own division so that alone is our important opportunity for iron to sharpen iron. Survive the gauntlet and we just might be a contender. This coming season, one wouldn't think so based on our overall need for improvement. 

     But I think our offense is going to be rather good 👍  so...

  16. On 3/20/2024 at 3:46 PM, Solid84 said:

    Well, like I said - I don't think the problem is coaching, I think it's talent and IF that's true then this is Ballard trying to cover his *.

     

    Look, I'm not saying Charlie Partridge can't wring a little more performance out of this group, but I don't think that's going to take it into the good or even "good enough" category. I think it's talent. Happy to be wrong of course.

     

    Not my intention to pad it, but I wanted to show the full picture of how much we've invested in that position. Now, Green and Leo may amount to zip value-wise, but we're still using picks hoping to at least get solid backups right?

     

    Oh sure, "nothing to show for the investments" is hyperbole, but let me rephrase it to "not enough to show for the investments" then.

     

     You people are hilarious. We have four outside pass rushers all Just hitting their Prime, we had over 50 sacks with little help from the DC disguising coverages, and a pathetic blitz rate, and you all whine about last years results being next seasons. 

     You haven't a infinitesimal clue who will be our starting secondary or how they will play, nor Steichen's influence on how Bradley runs our D.

     So much hopelessness here, kicked the dog lately?

  17. 1 hour ago, lester said:

     

    We don't know that. We only know the other teams have signed more players and more 'popular' players than we, the Colts, have. We cannot know, nobody can know, if they are now better teams for it.

     

    That is Chris Ballard's point. It is a point he has made consistently. It is a core team building belief that he is very open about. That is: Adding a bunch of really good players, some in and some just past their primes, for more money than their existing team was willing to pay them; does not make them a sure thing (and he adds, they are usually not worth it). The teams who win Free Agency are almost never the teams that win the post season.

     

    Chris Ballard believes and Bill Polian believed (so that makes me have faith that Jim Irsay also believes) that true, sustainable, repeatable, predictable, and long term success only comes from adding in the draft and coaching them well. Then reward them and keep them.

     

    I think he will add a piece or two yet, but he is not going to (now or ever) build this team with famous players from other teams.

     

     These naysayers have a entrenched outlook that our recent and future draft picks will not pan out good enough to make us a SB contender. 

     There were many really good playoff teams built the same way Ballard and Dodds scout teams pursued players. 

     We have to hit big the next couple drafts to go on a multi-year SB pursuit.

     And AR has to be available. It's just life in the NFL. 

  18. 14 hours ago, Superman said:

     

    I think you're dodging the question, but fine. Ebukam, Kelly, Stewart, for Justin Jefferson. Put it this way -- would the Vikings accept that trade offer? 

     

    If we offered those three guys, plus two firsts, the Vikings would say 'we don't want those players, so throw in another high draft pick, and then we'll seriously consider it but probably still tell you no after a couple hours.' 

     

    My team building philosophy is get the QB, support the QB with high value positional players, fill out the rest of the roster however you can. If it costs you a few Ebukams and Kellys, so be it.

     

    And you're not seriously asking about a WR's playoff record, right? (Especially not a WR with four years in the league...) What was Larry Fitzgerald's playoff record before 2008? Be serious, please.

     

     The whole point of adding a single great player at a particular cost is can they make the difference getting the team to the SB. Seriously!

     KC's defense was just as good as their offense, and their receiving core had one kid WR that stuck out. I thought the QB play from the final 8 teams in the recent playoffs was extraordinary. And the talent and coaching on those defenses was very impressive.

     My breakdown for this not happening trade. I am certain we have an issue with Fries giving up pressure up the middle, his inability to command respect getting push in short yardage. Smith has his issues with speed rushers. This is a huge deal when trying to win multiple playoff Games. You take Kelly out of the equation and don't have his equal... that is a serious issue regarding the running game and pressure in AR's face. 

     Jefferson, Pittman, Downs, Woods, Ogletree, Mallory, and add a good rookie, would be a juggernaut combined with Taylor and a really good AR. If you can have enough o-line. Fun to watch. 

     How would his roughly $30M a year effect keeping our other players over the length of his contract? 

     I believe Steichen can build a passing attack using 7-8 players that can get an offense to the SB. I'll go with spreading a singular huge contract around to build a SB caliber team. 

     

  19. 42 minutes ago, Superman said:

     

    Philosophical question: How many "good players" does it take to offset the absence of one "great" player? Would losing Ryan Kelly, Mo Alie-Cox, and Grover Stewart be worth adding a player like Justin Jefferson?

     

     Let's play hypothetical. Since it's Jefferson, gonna have to insert Ebukam for the not so good Mo. And the only answer is, make the deal and see what happens.

     My prediction is we add a WR in rd 3 fits in very nicely in Steichen's pass attack.

     We are going to run the ball more than most teams (lowering Jefferson value), and be using many good assets to disect the D. He is an incredible talent, what is his playoff record?

  20. 3 hours ago, stitches said:

    I think the offense will go as far as AR takes it... BUT... if we want consistent excellence... rather than being just OK to good, we need better weapons for him. We need better/more dynamic WR, we need better TE... + yeah... better depth at OL. 

     

    It's hard to say what would have brought us a better(or even good enough) WR or TE in FA. IMO we need to either trade up in the draft for one of the top 3 receivers or we need to try trading for Justin Jefferson or Aiyuk or someone of that sort. We kind of ... don't really need depth at those position. We already have depth. What we are lacking is top tier talent. 

     

    On the TE front... Brock Bowers I guess is our best bet at getting elite player right now? Maybe Kyle Pitts if he's available for trade somehow? I have my doubts about Bowers but I cannot deny that he looks like a very good player who knows how to play the game and plays with force and determination. 

     

     So paying a Jefferson or Aiyuk $25-30 M would make us better.

    We would be losing several good players to  do that.

  21. 1 hour ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

    Sadly the colts arw probably going to have to take a corner at 15 instead a WR or TE. I guess Ballard could always circle back after the draft for a corner if he goes offense at 15. Listening to the blue zone podcast much better hit rate with offensive pass catchers on first round then corners.

     

     Our biggest need is a shutdown corner.

    And our TE room is stuffed.

      We need a fast, twitchy WR and that can easily be found in rd 3, a safety that is long term starting caliber, and a pass rusher.

    • Like 1
  22. 8 minutes ago, DougDew said:

    With everybody saying that Bowers will not fall to us, I would not at all be surprised if Ballard trades up to get him.  

     

    It would take a second round pick to trade up.  Do we need more young corners with that second round pick...or more young edges (that don't seem to work out when drafted there anyway).  With Downs, and Pitt on board, Ballard's words suggest he's not ready to give up on AP.   How do you get more "explosive" in Ballard's words. if you don't replace AP?  He's not replacing Downs, and obviously not Pitt.

     

    With Grover and Davis signed, is Ballard going to pick a DT with that second round pick he would use to trade up for Bowers?

     

    Not making a prediction.  But you heard it here first if Ballard does the out of character thing and gets more explosive by trading up for Bowers.

     

     We will get more explosive with a much better QB.

     One that can see over the line and doesn't duck and run at the sign of pressure.

     In the 2nd year of our Mastermind Steichen we will be refining our timing and execution. Smarter/Faster.

     We needs Woods.

  23. 37 minutes ago, MikeCurtis said:

    I think we need FA FS more than anything at this stage

     

     I would say we are desperate for a smart, experienced safety to help QB our secondary. 

     Surely Simmons will wait it out for a highly competitive team to sign with.

     Hyde makes sense but he probably has a list of places he prefers. lol

     

     I was sickened by the CB Baker Jr. Signing. He looked that bad to me. Oh well, prove me wrong.

     T Bryan was generally not so good, But, he actually did make some good plays at 3T later in the season. He will compete for his roster spot.

     I really like the splurge for Raekwon Davis. We had a big need for a quality interior rotational guy. Johnson absolutely could not hold his own inside. Playing beside Davis should make Bryan more effective. Let's hope.

    • Like 5
  24. 2 hours ago, DaColts85 said:

    I think he would be a good singing. Long rangy corner who is still only 28. Came off a solid season after staying healthy finally. Would be a good cheaper option to help add a vet to the room. Would be outside starting day 1 and could help Jaylen Jones and Brents improve with competition. Any thoughts?

     

     Terrion Arnold will be our starter but I like him as an idea 

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