NewColtsFan

Do you know what Smiths PFF score was last year? 75, which is very good. It was down from three straight years where he graded at 80, but still very good. This year? Another year of 75. Your reference of Smith last year being dog do do was simply another case of fan opinion, but nothing to back it up. Now you think he’s better this year, and yet he has almost the same score as last year. Facts matter. Opinions matter less. And that’s my opinion.

Yeah…. I think you made a post about the Bradley coaches getting hired elsewhere and offsets and such that frankly I hadn’t considered. Once I read that, that specific issue pretty much vanished for me. Thanks, as always.

I thought Gruden was fired **with cause** which means the Raiders didn’t have to pay him off? If I’m wrong, which I might be, then I’m sure someone will come along and correct me.

I don’t think Shaq is even a little bit close to his old self. I think he’s a fraction of what he once was. If Shaq doesn’t like the scheme, that’s on him. I’m only telling you what Ballard said when Bradley was hired. That it was close enough to the scheme run by Flus. Im hoping Shaq is just talking out of frustration. That he’ll hopefully calm down in the days to come like Pittman did. And if not, then he’d be making the decision to part ways with him next off season that much easier.

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. It’s my view that small market teams like the Colts have to be much more careful with the financial decisions they make than big market teams. Big market teams make far more money in things like the price of a ticket, parking, food, souvenirs, you name it. Big market teams have so many more advantages. The salary cap keeps a level playing field for in-season spending, but the benefits of being a big market team can’t be downplayed, especially in out of season decisions. I’ve publicly given you credit for pointing out that the Colts have recently been among the leaders in in-season spending. But small market teams have to be smarter and more disciplined in their spending. I believe during the Grigson years the Colts spent big on FA just once. 2013. I don’t think it was money well spent and I don’t think the Colts have had another big free agency spending spree again. You and I have had discussions in the past over how long it took Irsay to spend big money to bring the Colts facility up to the standards of most franchises. I believe Ballard convinced him it was in the Colts best interest if they wanted to be competitive going forward. Players want to be in a state of the art facility and the Colts didn’t have one until Ballard convinced Irsay it was important. Im not saying the Colts are poor. Only that they have to be smart with how they spend their money. Hope this explains my views.

Honest answer: I think you’ve made an assumption here and an omission. You’ve assumed Bradley isn’t using Shaq correctly. And you’ve omitted the part where Shaq has been badly injured and is still not playing close to what he once was. Ballard said he picked Bradley to replace Flus because the defenses were similar enough that the defense should be able to make the transition with the least amount of difficulty. The team should be to learn it and react fast. Im not worried about Shaq — yet. And I think Bradley has always been on borrowed time. I think it’s likely he gets replaced this off-season, but I wouldn’t call it a lock just yet.

Huh? A member of the media compares the performance of former all-pro Matt Ryan with career backup Gardner Minshew and is ***surprised*** there are differences?!? Seriously? Dear God! That’s a candidate for dumbest tweet I’ve seen in a long, long time.

Oddly enough…. On the list just posted…. When it came to linebackers, the Colts highest graded linebacker was none other than Shaq Leonard. Yes, higher than Franklin and Speed. I confess I didn’t see that coming.

FWIW: Ballard and the scouts see players in person throughout the season. But it’s at the Senior Bowl where the best players get to go up against the rest of the best players. That gives their performances that week extra weight and importance.

FWIW: A guy like Miles Garrett only comes along perhaps roughly every 5-10 years. Garrett himself was the first overall pick in 2017, and he’s still the best 4-3 pass rushing defensive end in the league. Perhaps only the 49ers Bosa is his equal. That’s how great he is. My point being, would the Colts love a guy like that? Of course. But he’s so good, so rare, that your chances of getting a guy like him are very small.

The person I was inter acting with was explaining to me who Bill Polian was. Perhaps they thought I didn’t know. I was simply trying to explain to them that I know who Bill Polian is and have great respect for him.

Ballard took plenty of heat here when the deal fell through. But most of the heat was that he didn’t understand the rivalry between the Colts and the Patriots. How dare he try to hire someone from the Evil Empire? But that doesn’t change the fact that McDaniel was — at the time — a good hire. He didn’t have the baggage then that he has now. Ballard and McDaniels shared the same agent. He’s the number one agent for coaches and front office execs. His name is Bob LeMonte. He’s easy to Google. LeMonte told McDaniels not to back out, and when he did, LeMonte fired him. Your argument would appear to be McDaniels failing twice to be a good head coach and it’s 2023, well, that reflex badly on Ballard for trying to hire him back in 2018 when he was still viewed as a quality candidate. If that’s the case, there’s not much else to discuss. Ballard has clearly given his critics plenty of ammunition. I just don’t think the decision to hire Josh McDaniels is legit. And I’d say it’s also a big nothing burger to Ballard’s boss, Jim Irsay who signed off on the hiring. Not sure what else there is to discuss….

Huh? What are you talking about? McDaniels started at NE, went to Denver, fired there and went back to NE. He was successful at NE both times. He was a good candidate. He was in demand. The choice was fine. What McDaniels did from there reflects badly on McDaniels, not Ballard. When McDaniels dumped the Colts the football world trashed McDaniels, not Ballard. Fans trashing Ballard over this have been upset primarily over trying to sign someone from New England. The rivalry was angry, ugly and bitter in 2018. Even McDaniels own agent dumped him as a client. Ballard didn’t make a mistake. McDaniels did.

Completely different. Some here said Pitt did it because he was a bad guy, a selfish guy only worried about his next contract. They assumed the worst. I literally told one poster he was trashing Pitt the person because he wasn’t a fan of Pitt the player. I thought it was a sad thing to do. There was a LOT of Pitt hate here. Pitt said he shouldn’t have said it because he was angry after a tough loss, which is what I said in multiple posts. Not the same at all. I’m not being dramatic.

Well…. For Ballard, character counts. It’s a very big piece of the evaluation puzzle. Some posters here want a few more tough guys who might not have the best character. Not sure how many of those types Ballard has ever signed. Few, if any.

Since this is of great interest to the state of Indiana, just wanted to alert this community that Bobby Knight has passed. He was 83. His family was with him, so it was expected. More details will soon follow.

I don’t understand this perspective. I’m not here just to make my posts. I’m here to read what others have to say as well. I view this place as a community, and I want to know what people think. That includes people I don’t agree with, and who might not like me as a poster. I’m interested in all perspectives. But bad posts, silly posts, posts that are not thoughtful hurt the quality of these message boards, IMO. On yesterday’s trade deadline, there was lots of anger over Ballard NOT making a deal. I decided to stay mostly out of the discussion. I made a few select posts, but decided it would be better to mostly stay out of the discussion because there was nothing I could say that was going to be well received on a day like that. Whatever I could say would likely be better said today, or tomorrow or another day. Im here for the community, not just expressing my viewpoints. Hope that clarifies.

I know who Bill Polian is. I’m a longtime admirer of his. He didn’t get elected into the NFL Hall of Fame on the first ballot for nothing. My only point was that no one is perfect. Honestly, that’s all.

I posted several times that I thought Pitt was talking out of frustration over a difficult loss. I got a lot of pushback from others here who insisted that Pitt was being selfish and was only concerned about his next contract. He makes one bad comment in 3.5 years and people turned on him. I thought it was a bad look for some in this community.

Good questions…. And the honest answer is…. I don’t know. But perhaps @w87r and @Superman could weigh in with what they know. I know nearly a year ago I read a story that said when Eason was claimed off the Colts PS, that Ballard and Reich tried to convince him to stay and turn down the claim made by another team. I didn’t know that was allowed.

You're allowed to talk about whatever anyone wants to talk about. But when people make silly comments, some people notice. You want to talk about Pitt making a silly comment go right ahead. But I think it’s counter productive to good discussion. I’m not a moderator. I have zero authority. I encourage people to post. But personally, I try to notice who makes good arguments and who makes bad arguments. I know who I’d rather interact with and who I’d avoid. But maybe that’s just me? You think Pitt’s history doesn’t change what he said? I think the opposite is true. Sorry, but I don’t see much we agree on.

Look at Polian’s last 5 drafts. Pretty much terrible. Even a first ballot Hall of Fame GM has his missed. And his last 5 drafts were not so good.

Yes…. People are calling him out for it. A player who has made zero silly comments in 3.5 years finally makes a silly comment and he gets criticized for it. I think it reflects poorly in those same people. But I’m not surprised. Just disappointed.

Yeah…. The GM got fired too. It’s not even Nov 1, makes me wonder if that’s typical or early on a yearly basis? As for McDaniels…. Seems his best level would appear to be OC. He is not a HC. And after stiffing the Colts, I won’t have any sympathy for him.

I appreciate that the current view among many here is that Frank is a bad coach and that he was never a good coach. I’ve never believed that. He may not have been great, but for most of his time I thought he was good. At the end, he just wasn’t good enough and it was time for a change. As I like to say, you’re the right coach right up until the moment that you’re not.