GoColts8818

It’s just a sign of what some fans do. They nitpick their own and expose that the Colts player isn’t perfect (which no player is even the great Peyton Manning had flaws) focus in on those flaws and only those flaws because they get tunnel vision on it and then use that to justify saying this player isn’t worth X because he can’t do Z while ignoring the rest of the alphabet of the things that player can do or taking them for granted. Then they see highlight of another player and go oh I want that without studying that players flaws nearly to the level they did of the Colts player. That’s only natural because they aren’t fans of the team the other player plays for so they of course they don’t follow him as close. I saw it for years when the Colts had Harrison and Wayne and then later Wayne and Hilton all fans wanted was a big physical position WR to the point people questioned if Hilton was a number one because he couldn’t be a position WR and all he could do is catch deep passes down the field. Now the Colts have their position WR and some fans want to show him the door because he’s not a true number one (even though he’s one of four Colts receivers in history to have 100 catches in a season and one of 27 or 28 WRs to go over 1000 yards with a backup QB most of the season) because he can’t go deep like TY Hilton. Not every WR can do everything. No Pittman isn’t the best WR in the NFL but he’s a darn good one. Not every team in the league can have a top 10 WR. So if you don’t of course you keep looking for one but you don’t toss a really good one a way while you look. Keeping Pittman doesn’t prevent the Colts from adding to the WR room. They could easily still draft one in the first or second round. The key is add to it so you have as many weapons as you can for Richardson. How good do you think Reggie Wayne would have been if when he came along the Colts went sorry Marvin we don’t need you anymore? How good would Hilton have been if the Colts went sorry Reggie we drafted this Hilton kid we don’t need you anymore. You want as many good receivers as you can get and when you have a darn good one like Pittman you keep him and look to add a complementary player. They added one in a slot guy in Downs. What they are missing is the burner which they hope Pierce will be. There is evidence to suggest simply keeping Richardson healthy will get him to be that but if not you draft a guy who can compete with him. Say that kid works out or Pierce figures it out. That would be one deadly WR room that says pick your poison. Now add Richardson and Taylor running and Shane’s creative mind and that’s an offense a lot of teams won’t want to face. I don’t know about most of you but I prefer that over the option of well we don’t want to pay Pittman so we will let one third of the offenses production last year leave and we will depend on Pierce to be our number one next year with Downs as our only proven WR coming back and really hope this rookie the Colts draft works outs, which he might not, look at Moncrief, Dorrsett, and Campbell as examples. Being drafted high doesn’t guarantee success. You don’t make the room better by getting rid of the best player you have in there and hope you can find someone else who can give you the production you are already getting. Pittman is a good player and good players cost money. That’s just the way it is. Will he probably get paid more than people think his performance is worth? Yes he will but that’s how contracts work in the NFL. One guy gets a contact the next guy comes along and gets a bigger one so on and so on. That’s why I said the numbers don’t matter. It’s how it’s structured and one thing that’s been common during Ballard’s time as GM is when you see the structure of the contract it almost always favors the Colts and gives them flexibility. I see no reason to think Pittman’s contract won’t ultimately follow the same pattern. I also find it ironic that so many of the same fans who like call Ballard bargain bin Ballard and mock him for not spending money are the same ones saying don’t pay your good players! Who’s really the cheap one?

You can’t be blanketed on run plays. The Colts called very few pass plays in the second half and at least a couple of those went his way. I think the chase as a number two was a typo and he meant Higgins.

And listen to what he says not listen for what you want to hear. So it’s now Ballard’s fault the Colts didn’t convert the fourth and one? That’s a stretch.

In order to get a chance vs Houston you’d have to throw the ball which the Colts didn’t virtually the whole second half and the few times they did it went to him for the most part.

Yep some Colts fans are real good at hating their own, not wanting to pay them market value, developing grass is greener on the other side syndrome for other players, and then blaming the GM if they let that player walk and that position is now a struggle.

That’s why I am not even considering FA here. Aside from Pittman what big star WR is going to be a free agent? It sounds like the Bengals have promised Burrow they will keep Higgins and I doubt they are going to lie to their franchise QB and tick him off.

Happily. The Colts don’t really have a choice here unless Ballard has some monster trade cooking like the Dolphins did with Hill a few years ago, and even then they already had Waddle or fans are willing to sit through more delayed gratification, which they love to mock, because that’s what you are going to get with a WR core that has Piece as the number one, Downs, and a rookie first round pick and a QB who has started all of four games in his NFL career. Also, if they let Pittman walk you are telegraphing to the world you are going WR with your first pick and that’s dangerous at 15 as there is plenty of chances of other WR needy teams to jump in front of you and get the guy you want.

Look I want Pittman re-sign you don’t. You aren’t going to change my mind and I am not going to change yours so I am not going to waste my time trying.

I bet the Chiefs would give their right arm for Michael Pittman right now with all their struggles at WR. also yeah he had better numbers than the Ravens, Packers, and, Steelers number one WR and similar numbers to the Bucs, Browns, Bills, and, Texans number one WR. so the numbers say he would have been the number one WR on about half the teams in the playoffs.

I don’t know about that. That’s not his game. That’s Pierce. Pittman is the you have to have this catch move the chains guy. A lot like Wayne the later part of his career.

I agree I find it hard to believe there is enough passes for Higgins but wouldn’t be for Pittman if you swapped them.

Yes but often times you extend players going into their final year of the contract. That’s why he brought up this year. However, I think Ballard has enough real free agents he’s not going to busy with extensions right now. I also don’t think Franklin is the kind of guy you need to extend a year early.

Top tier ends don’t make it to free agency.

If someone was going to trade for Taylor and make an offer the Colts would accept it would have happened when they let him try to find a trade and before they gave him a new contract and would take a significant cap hit to trade him. Taylor isn’t getting traded. For better or worse the Colts made their decision on Taylor and he’s here for the foreseeable future.

Exactly. Your market is what teams will pay you not what fans feel a guy is worth. If Pittman truly hits the open market he’s going to get a big contract from someone because players like him don’t reach free agency and then the Colts will have to figure out how to replace him and the fact he’s a third of the offense. I can guarantee that if the Colts truly let him go because they don’t want to pay him like some fans are saying some of those same fans will be ripping Ballard for not giving Richardson weapons and depending on Pierce to be the number one WR (which is what’s going to happen if you let Pittman leave) and how “bargain bin Ballard” was too cheap to sign Pittman.

But that’s my favorite part of the Colts off-season. GM tells you from the jump he doesn’t do splash free agents. Fans ignore this because it’s not what they want to hear. Fans decide the Colts will sign free agents Fans develop their shopping list. Fans decide because they want the player that means the Colts are actively trying to sign them. player signs somewhere else Fans get upset because Ballard let them get away.

Apparently fans on a message board who are looking for reasons to not like Pittman. I have a feeling Pittman and his agent won’t take the same approach to Pittman’s value.

Because Gus’s contract is up. Also, there is always the chance that Ballard or Irsay orders a change, Polian did it to Mora and ultimately lead to Mora being fired. With that said I don’t expect that to happen. It probably depends on Gus’s contract and does he want to comeback and Shane probably hasn’t had that conversation yet.

Awfully quiet in New England, and the Pats local reporter was on Dan Patrick last week and said BB and Kraft’s meeting would be today. Makes me wonder if BB was able to pull a Pagano in his meeting today and convince Kraft to let him stay and they are figuring out how.

yep I think he knows that is coming too based on his comments today. I think Pittman knows he’s going to be in Indy next year but this is part of negotiations. If you just say yeah I am not leaving what incentive does Ballard have to pay him market value?

The whole point of the surgery was to repair it so that wouldn’t happen again. When he had the injury before he didn’t have the surgery which leads to a higher chance of it happening it again. What concerns me is all the other injuries he’s suffered. I’ve said all along if he had just had the one injury where he got slammed into the turf at an awkward angle with a defensive player I wouldn’t worry about it, injuries like that sometimes happen. However he’s finished one game he’s played and even in that game he got banged up late but was able to finish it.

For some reason Colts fans here are really good at hating their own when it comes time to pay a guy and develop a real case of the grass is greener on the other side real fast. Did you see the Atlanta game? Did you see how bad the receivers were in that game? Are you really ready to live in that world because star WRs rarely get to free agency and even if you draft one they are going to be a rookie and give you limited production. Look at Downs he just broke Marvin Harrison’s rookie team record for catches in a season with 66. There is going to be an adjustment period even if some how the Colts got Marvin Jr which they won’t. Fans get way too worked up about what players get paid. The number is just a number. What matters is how the contract is structured and Ballard has been a master of that since he’s been here. I would anticipate Pittman’s contract once it’s signed, and yes he’s going to get one, to be the same.

Not to mention chase and Pittman are different type of WRs. Higgins is much more fair comparison in terms of style of WR.

12.2. Pittman was 10.6 but has had two years of over 12 ypc when he had Rivers and Wentz as his QB which are probably the best two QBs he’s had in terms of getting the ball down the field. For comparison sake Chase had 12 ypc last year with Burrow. Pittman isn’t as bad as some want him to be and would be a lot harder to replace than some think.

There is a reason he won three games in his career as a head coach…