NewColtsFan

Seriously? You think it’s easy to pick up a franchise level quarterback? Just go down to the local Franchise Quarterbacks R US store and pick one up? There are 32 starting QBs. In any given year there might be 10 to 12 really high level quarterbacks that a team might feel great about. Someone who might be your guy for 10-12 years. That’s it. The rest of the teams hope they have someone who is good enough, but they may not be entirely convinced. Cousins? Tannehill? Carr? The rest just have guys. Finding a Franchise Level Quarterback is the hardest thing in all sports because there are are so few. Finally…. why do you think 4 years is enough? Miami has gone over two decades looking for the guy to replace Marino, Denver has taken more than two decades to replace John Elway. How long has Chicago gone to replace Jim McMahon or Detroit finding any decent Franchise QB? And Houston? How many examples do you need? And why do you count 2019? Luck retires two-three weeks before the start of the season and you count that as a Ballard fail?Amazing. For what it’s worth, at Irsay’s Training Camp Presser he called Ballard THE BEST GM in football. Then added, if he’s not, he’s on the very short list. And you wonder why we see so much so different? Speaking of which…. Weren’t you asking me about paying Jonathan Taylor more than Quenton Nelson? Ball in your court.

And none of those guys are 30. None of them. If any have fallen off there are reasons, typically ranging from injuries like Nelson and Kelly to Buckner being the only real threat last year so he got doubled all the time. There is usually a good explanation when good players fall off unexpectedly. And if you’re not impressed with Ballard then I don’t know what to tell you? It’s a stunning admission by you. He’s done extra ordinary work under enormously difficult circumstances. He’s widely regarded as one of the best in the business.

It’s conjecture for fans, and to a lesser extent, to informed media. But for the coaching staff, scouts and front office types, if those people don’t know, then no one does. Part of my defense of this regime is that they’ve had enough success to earn my trust. So if they’re NOT making a move then there’s likely a good reason. They have faith in the unproven kids. They’ve shown enough to give the coaches and staff confidence that the kids will deliver when the season unfolds. As for older players…. We have almost none. We’re one of the youngest teams in the NFL. And the few older players don’t have to get better. They just need to be who they are.

The first line of your post that I responded to….. “We so far lack talent on the DL.” Perhaps if you had said PROVEN TALENT, I might not have responded. We do not lack talent. We do lack proven talent. Big difference.

You continue to look backward and refuse to recognize that young players get better. The DL is loaded with young players. Paye, Dayo, Lewis, Johnson, Brooks, etc. They should get better, especially with this new defense.

This comes from people who cover pro football for a living, and not fans posting in a web page. But beyond that, even if you think they’re wrong, and it’s not our strongest position group, they’re clearly a strength, which is a much much better review than yours.

For whatever it’s worth, ESPN just named our DL group the strongest group on the team.

No, he’s put on some muscle!

It was hard but it wasn’t THAT hard. And we didn’t come out of the 5 game stretch 2-3 or better. We came out 1 and 4. And from where I sit it was mostly due to our early injuries…. Wentz, Fisher, Nelson, Kelly, Smith and TYH. That’s 6 key players at the start of the season. To me that’s what hurt us the most. You want to see a hard schedule? Look at what the Rams faced all season long. Brutal.

Bravo!! Very well done!! This will easily be my favorite post of the day, maybe even of the week!! It’s not that I agree with every point, I don’t — but most. But I do love how smart and thoughtful it is! This is why I stay an active member, for posts like this!

Really? I certainly hope you’re right, but even if we have a very good draft — which I expect — I don’t see a Super Bowl team today. I see a playoff caliber team. I see a team that can win the AFC South, but still has to do so. I see a team that I think can make a run in the playoffs, but I don’t know just how far we can go? And I likely won’t know until after the 2022 regular season is over and know who is healthy and who is hurt? How good was Ryan? How good was Taylor and Pittman and all our other UNPROVEN weapons which we have many. But, as of today, I don’t see a Super Bowl caliber team. I may see one by next January, but that’s still a long, long way off. Don’t mean to be Donnie Downer, but wanted to offer another perspective.

I think anyone who creates their own formula where the outcome is roughly Ryan Grigson and Chris Ballard are pretty close to the same has an agenda and is selling something. Fortunately there don’t appear to be many subscribers to this unique point of view.

To the best of my knowledge the person who brought up Grigson was @shasta519 And he did so in an almost positive way. That’s the way I took it. Saying he didn’t understand why so many here don’t think Grigson was good at his job. That’s what I responded to. I wasn’t trying to hijack the thread, If you want to bring up Polian and Tobin, I don’t think anyone is stopping you.

I think the debate is…. Was Grigson good or bad?

OK.... offer accepted. But I don't know why anyone would want to risk an ounce of their credibility by trying to publicly defend Ryan Grigson. But, be my guest! I responded to your last sentence in your defense of him.... "for some reason".... fans get upset over Grigson's time as GM for some reason. What? Like you don't know? Itr's a mystery? I'll offer up some facts that you conveniently left out.... 1.) Grigson's drafts were terrible. That's why the team went down hill in 15 and 16 and 17. The players he drafted didn't produce for the Colts, and when they went elsewhere, they didn't produce much for other teams and were soon out of football. 2.) Grigson's free agent signings were terrible. See #1 above. 3.) Grigson tried to blame Pagano for the team's struggles and tried to get his own coach fired. Irsay brought in a marriage counselor or a couples counselor to try to see if the two could work together. Grigson got fired one year after getting a new 4-year contract. 4.) Grigson forced the coaches to play Trent Richardson when the coaches wanted to use other running backs. They were anonymous coaches comments that went public about everyone knew who ordered Trent to start and why. Grigson wanted to protect his reputation when the Richardson trade went bad. 5.) Grigson was hated by the players. Reggie Wayne and Pat MacAfee have been public and on the record how they had no relationship with him. Grigson would walk past them in the hallway and not say a word. Grigson put the screws to both in contract talks and it took Irsay stepping in to get them re-signed. These were two respected team leaders and Grigson treated them like scrubbs. For the record, even as perhaps the top fan here of Andrew Luck, I don't believe I ever blamed Grigson for Luck's career. I have never felt that way, and don't recall ever blaming him. It's not that he didn't try, but he failed over and over and over. But he certainly didn't build a good team around Luck. And that goes to your point about not understanding the idea that Luck dragged average teams to winning records his first 3 years, and Luck dragged bad teams to 500 records in 15 and 16. The idea that you either don't agree or even understand that is not a position I would ever feel comfortable with. I can't even imagine how you'd defend that viewpoint. So, there's my case. Ball is in your court.....

For some reason….. Dear God…. Did you just try to wipe the Grigson slate clean, or what? For some reason…. Wowza.

Like I said yesterday…. Anyone with this view has an agenda. They’re selling something. Appreciate you making my point for me like that.

Sincere question: What makes you think we’ve made any offer at all to Landry. I’ve never seen that anywhere. Have you read something that claims that? Ive seen us connected to Mathieu and Bradberry (via trade) but not Landry at all. What can you tell us?

For whatever it’s worth, a few weeks back I saw a headline that said last year the Colts spent the 5th most money in the NFL. I didn’t see any details.

If this goes well, I will not be surprised to see this get extended by a year. I’m talking it happening after next season.

I believe Matt is signed for two more years, not three. I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong.

Ok…. At least you’re on the record. Props for that. Lucky to win 5 games. That’s your call. I hope you have the courage of your convictions, because I don’t think your prediction is going to age well. At all. For the record, this past season, when we started off 1-4, this website was melting down. Fans here predicted our first round pick, which was going to Philly, might be top-5, and probably top-10. I said then — that week — that not only wouldn’t our pick be top-5 OR top-10, it would be no worse than pick 15-18. I predicted no worse than a 9-8 record. And what happened? A 9-8 record and our pick turned out to be 16. Just what I predicted. But what do I know? According to you, I’m just a know it all. But keep being you. It’s working out so well for you!

Fair enough. I don’t know that I fully embrace your definition of elite, but you made a good and fair argument and that’s all I ever ask. Good post.

I'm actually confident our friend CDGA is talking about me.... he's been using the "know it all" insult on me in several recent posts. But, to copy a very good comment from you, I've been wrong plenty of times as well, and also have zero problems admitting it. I try to own as much of my poop as possible. We're all fans on a message board. Being wrong from time to time just kinda comes with the territory. Know way of getting around it.....

Perhaps the funniest post you’ve ever made! I believe agents have voted Ballard the fairest GM two years in a row. Best to work with. It’s been posted here and talked about. That former GM sounds bitter and jealous.