Caldwell, It's Time To Show Us You Can Really Coach

[19colt]

Jeff Fisher.

[LUVTHESHOE]

Don't blame coaches for anything a player controls. How is it Caldwell's fault that Collins fumbled twice? How is it Caldwell's fault that our defense was tackling poorly? These guys are all in the NFL, they all know how to tackle. If the schemes or play calls are bad, then you can't point the finger at the coach(es), but don't blame the coaches for anything a player controls

do you think dallas wanted to be one on one with mario williams, who caused a fumble. no that was a coaching scheme, and a poor one at that

[21isSuperman]

do you think dallas wanted to be one on one with mario williams, who caused a fumble. no that was a coaching scheme, and a poor one at that

Can't be sure of that. On that fumble play, it is possible that Link missed his assignment. If I remember the play correctly, Link went to help but was late. It could have been that Link was the primary blocker and Clark was there to help him double Williams. I can't say for sure that's what happened, but I'm sure the Colts coaches have more common sense than to leave a 250 lbs Clark one on one with a nearly 300 lbs Williams

[manningstheman]

This is something that may work to the positive this year. If the colts perform poorly all year and don't compete at all there is no reason caldwell should stay. If he is fired and we bring in a new guy (it needs to be a defensive guy obviously) we could get a new defensive system. Obviously if we can get a little better run game the offense will be fine.

I have been hoping for a defensive philosophy switch for several years. I don't think we can try anything like a 3-4 switch but just a new coaching style and a different draft approach.

Trying to look for positives.... and just saw the first texan punt of the day

Lets not forget. We brought Dungy in because he was a defensive minded coach. He never really was able to get a great defense out there. I am not saying they had a good year usually at the end of the year. They played well the superbowl year, but only in the playoffs. they have never been able to stop the run. Peyton has had to bring this team back for wins from behind more then i can even remember. I know the defense has to step up for those come backs, but why dont they play well from the start. Frankly, caldwell is no head coach. he has no swagger, no look, no emotion, really no game time decision making. the dude needs to go and we need someone to come in and start a new era in indy. I hope we wont have to do a total rebuild, i want to see peyton win one more title before he is done. but something needs to change. ever since the on sides kick in the super bowl we lost a few years ago, this team hasnt looked the same.

[scorptile]

Lets not forget. We brought Dungy in because he was a defensive minded coach. He never really was able to get a great defense out there. I am not saying they had a good year usually at the end of the year. They played well the superbowl year, but only in the playoffs. they have never been able to stop the run. Peyton has had to bring this team back for wins from behind more then i can even remember. I know the defense has to step up for those come backs, but why dont they play well from the start. Frankly, caldwell is no head coach. he has no swagger, no look, no emotion, really no game time decision making. the dude needs to go and we need someone to come in and start a new era in indy. I hope we wont have to do a total rebuild, i want to see peyton win one more title before he is done. but something needs to change. ever since the on sides kick in the super bowl we lost a few years ago, this team hasnt looked the same.

i agree after that onside kick its like even the coaching staff is still in denial it ever happend and is stuck in that "omg they kicked and onside kick" moment. look at caldwells face yesterday that said it all. we need a coach to be fiery and get the team motivated. dungy did that without being firey but not man ycan do that. we need these guys getting chewed out for not doin what they are supposed to do. we have talent just not the fire that the coaching staff is supposed to give on gameday. usually you see a team getting fired up but wiht the colts you dont see that.

[Green And Gold]

Sorry Colts fans, just couldn't help myself. Playoffs...Playoffs!

[CaliColt]

Caldwell has no answers. Just a blank stare. Andrew Luck here we come.

That Coyer is worse than Caldwell. He makes me pine for Ron Meeks! lol

!! RON MEEKS!!! Sigh, wouldn't mind getting Luck and grooming him like Farve did with Rodgers !

[Mosath]

About Caldwell, I never been a big fan of his, but, I still think he should at least get 3-4 weeks without Manning (I know he will) before we crush him and demand a new coach;D

[John Waylon]

Can't be sure of that. On that fumble play, it is possible that Link missed his assignment.

No it's not. Such an occurrence is metaphysically impossible. You must now be trotuslapped for thinking otherwise.

lololol

[LUVTHESHOE]

FIRE caldwell! FIRE him! How does he not challenge that Collie catch? He is a joke! We have the worst coach in the NFL!

the timeout and replay coach is suspended for 6 weeks, we will call

timeouts and challenge plays then. be patient!

[blue bags]

do you think dallas wanted to be one on one with mario williams, who caused a fumble. no that was a coaching scheme, and a poor one at that

that all gos to the responsabilty of the head coach hes the one with that brillant game plan him and coyer r also the 1s that game plan the defence.a 5 year old could had a better game plan then that crap.iam 51 i could of thrown passes all over r defence they were open every play.and probly ran 4 100 yrds myself this defence stinks and its been stinking awhile and houston exposed them 4 who they really are this has been going on wey to long just think how many points new england will score.

[bdogg]

You know, I was never real vocal about getting rid of Caldwell, though some other prospects seemed interesting, but now, I think Ive changed my mind.

Something is seriously wrong at the Colts facility/offices when with all the talent on the roster, this performance is the best they can do.

I didnt expect to come out guns blazing, putting up tons of points and shutting out the Texans, but really, this is awful.

They SHOULD have started Painter. He wouldnt have done any worse (not that its Colllins, but rather the line)...no time to throw, nothing.

And the D...wow. Just wow. Do SOMETHING!

Oh, and anyone else think we could use Tommy Harris today besides me?

ST...do the Colts actually do any coaching with the special teams groups? Or do they just assume they know what to do and go play cards or something?

Oh, and I know its been pounded to death, but why again did DeVan and Johnson get to walk and Richard, Pollak, and Linkenbach are still here?

DeVan in place of Reich, and Johnson in place of Link and the line is instantly better...but maybe they were going for the bad record this year ala Major League. Maybe we can get Lou to stop selling tires and come coach the Colts...after he sells the set of whitewalls to the guy on line 4.

What I do know is after watching the first half shellacking, the only word I have to describe the entire coaching staff and front office is:

INEPT.

I am 100% for starting Painter for the rest of the season. We got a small glimpse of what this guy is capable of in the preseason. If he can start performing like that consistently, we will have a decent quarterback. Collins is OK. That's it, OK. Lets give the opportunity to a good backup quarterback that has the ability to still grow into a great quarterback. Collins has peaked, and will not ever be any better than he already has. Why are we feeding off other NFL team's scraps? Obviously we drafted Painter for a reason. Lets use him to "paint" the Browns red!

[bdogg]

http://youtu.be/88j3ylqRriE

Painter can and will perform.

[CoachLite]

Improve our coaching. Bring back Frank Kush.

[Lodogg2221]

I am 100% for starting Painter for the rest of the season. We got a small glimpse of what this guy is capable of in the preseason. If he can start performing like that consistently, we will have a decent quarterback. Collins is OK. That's it, OK. Lets give the opportunity to a good backup quarterback that has the ability to still grow into a great quarterback. Collins has peaked, and will not ever be any better than he already has. Why are we feeding off other NFL team's scraps? Obviously we drafted Painter for a reason. Lets use him to "paint" the Browns red!

I think you misunderstood what I meant...I meant he would have done no better behind the awful blocking.

Given time to throw, Collins is worlds better than Painter, he just had no time at all most of the game.

[HeavyC]

I can't believe the stuff that came out of Polian's mouth or the stuff he just didn't address on his show last night. Maybe it's time for him to move on too. It's been good while it lasted.

[Smitto]

I dont think the colts will fire caldwell, some players have a better chacne of losing their jobs than he does... you never know though maybe Jim Tressel is the new under study... with his record in college i would say yes to him compared to caldwells sorry college record. But i will hold my bashing of caldwell until after the browns game... once is a mistake, twice is just plain habit.

[sfergson727]

I'd tend to agree. I'll give Caldwell this season, (which is a stretch for me, as I've been calling for his firing since the Superbowl, those from the old forum can attest) but I pray that if this season plays out the way I suspect it will, Caldwell will be shown the door. I strongly feel he was never qualified to be the head coach to begin with, and this season will pretty much prove it.

But...I suppose he should have at least a few games to turn it around before we bring in the future head coach.

[coltsdan]

i never understood why we tolerated mediocrity. i dont beleive it is lack of talent in the nfl as a whole, so there should be guys we could get. it seems we have drafted poorly these last couple of years, and have just kept the guys on, hoping and praying that they will catch on. there is a reason why so many of the people we let go are still not picked up, or it took them forever to get picked up. if a guy cant play, get rid of him. if a guy cant coach, get rid of him. if a guy whiffs on the past 5 or 6 drafts, guess what, get rid of him. maybe some of these guys would catch on, if they were actually worried about losing their job if they couldnt or werent performing. the game at houston was ridiculous, and to see caldwells face, was astonishing, why he wasnt ripping into someone for doing some of the things we were/werent doing blows my mind. our scheme as a whole is old and predictable. that goes for the O as well as the D.

sorry for the rant.

[ColtsHoosiersBB]

Sorry Colts fans, just couldn't help myself. Playoffs...Playoffs!

I thought Packer fans were pretty cool, guess not.

[Jason_]

What in the world did he have our boys in blue do this training camp? As a loyal fan I am embarrassed that we are playing this way. Our O line is failing, thank God Peyton isn't under center, he would have gotten hurt. I am speechless when it comes to our defense....or lack there of!

How long is Bill Polian going to make us live with Caldwell...this guy has ruined this team. He displayed his incompetence last year with his "time outs", and will continue until our front office wakes up and cans his butt.

Available talent: Gruden, Cowher, Fisher....all top caliber coaches.

Frustrated in South Carolina!

Go Colts!

What training camp? The lack of training camp is a large part of why the team looked so awful. Both the OL and DL need time to gel together to be able to work as a unit. That's not going to happen over night and things would have already been much improved if they'd had a full offseason and training camp.

The personnel is only good to run the scheme. The scheme is not good and needs to be retired.

This isn't true. If the scheme didn't work then Tampa and Chicago would not continue to use it. It can work when used properly and with the right personnel. We don't have the right personnel but we're slowly getting there.

I don't understand this for the life of me!....year after year after year..this run defense..or lack thereof...it's ALWAYS bad..we're constantly getting dominated in time of possession, and we can never get off the field on 3rd down. This is infuriating to watch over and over. When are they going to give up this idea of playing small ball on the d-line??..will we EVER get bigger?..meaner?

I fully agree but you also have to admit that they are gradually getting bigger and stronger. We have guys now like Angerer (235 lbs), Wheeler (240 lbs), Moten (230 lbs) and Brackett who is reportedly now at 235 lbs. though I'll be the first to admit that Brackett should be the first to go or at the very least be moved to a different position. This compared to years past where we had guys like Gilbert Gardner (228 lbs), Freddy Keiaho (226 lbs), Cato June (who was no more than 220 when he played here even though nfl.com now has him listed at 227 lbs) and so on. Now we have DTs like Antonio Johnson, Fili Moala, and Drake Nevis who are all at or at least close to 300 lbs. Eric Foster being the obvious exception who should, imo, never play another down at DT but instead be moved to DE. We also have a few bigger DE's now in Anderson and Brayton. The point is we are on our way to getting bigger and stronger which is huge imo for improving the defense. I was never a fan of Dungy's philosophy of small but fast players and that dates back to his days in Minnesota. The only reason Dungy's defense starting working in Tampa is because of the players he had. I think the first things we need to do are pick up another big DT and a true monster of a MLB and go from there.

Caldwell is not a good coach and today proves it. He rode off of Dungy's coat tails and Manning coaches himself.

Bill Polian is a horrible GM. He should have hired a QB as soon as the lockout lifted. Total incompetence.

Peyton has been battling uphill his whole career with no supporting cast like Brady has had.

If you want to see how an organization is ran, look no further than New England. They have positioned themselves for another 5 years of success.

Polian, Irsay, and Caldwell are a horrible combination.

Just want to point out that Bill Polian is no longer our GM....Chris is and I like what I've seen so far in Chris.

Don't blame coaches for anything a player controls. How is it Caldwell's fault that Collins fumbled twice? How is it Caldwell's fault that our defense was tackling poorly? These guys are all in the NFL, they all know how to tackle. If the schemes or play calls are bad, then you can't point the finger at the coach(es), but don't blame the coaches for anything a player controls

A lot of what you mentioned can also be blamed on the fact that these guys simply have not had a chance yet to come together and become a unit. This will only come with time and working together. However, the Colts in general have had poor tackling for the last several years with only a few exceptions here and there. It is the coaching staff's job to teach the fundamentals and (as for the OL) teach them the proper techniques to make effective blocks. How much blame should be placed on coaches vs. players will never truly be known unless we're at the practices and team meetings.

Caldwell has no answers. Just a blank stare. Andrew Luck here we come.

That Coyer is worse than Caldwell. He makes me pine for Ron Meeks! lol

Nothing could ever make me pine for Ron Meeks I do feel Coyer is a step up from Meeks but that still doesn't mean he's the best for the job. I've wanted to see us go after Ron Rivera for some time until he signed as HC with Carolina.

The players get some of the blame because of they were not fired up and not making any plays and not attacking. The coaches get 75% because they did not get the team ready and personal moves during off season. The Head office get all the blame not getting this team prepared with out manning not draft a DT that can help stop the run and Oline that can help protect the QB it okay to get undrafted free agents there is a gem in alot of them but but if you load up the team with them you get a bunch of rejects playing on a team

Well it's already since been pointed out, but our first 3 picks in the most recent draft were to help bolster the OL and DL. ;)

On offense I was expecting to look the way they did today. The defense didn't play up to their true potential at all today. I know they can play alot better then what they did. Come on defense you guys need to step it up!

I think the defense did show improvement as the game went on. This could be attributed to a number of things..maybe Houston took their foot off the pedal. Maybe the guys just started working better as a unit. Or maybe they weren't exhausted from getting hardly any time to rest in the first half (especially the first quarter). I do think our D will continue to improve but we've still got a long ways to go. I do think we're moving (slowly) in the right direction though.

Since most of you seem like caldwell needs to be fired who do you think should be hired? What about for a defensive cordinator? This is my first post don't yell at me if i did something wrong.

I'll tell you who I would personally want to see brought in as HC if they decided to cut ties with Caldwell and it's not Gruden, Cowher or Fisher...I would most like to see us go after Brian Billick. No he's not a defensive coach per se but he was HC of a team who had one of the best defenses of the decade so he had to have picked up a thing or 2 along the way. Some would ask why we would bring in an offensive minded coach (well not those clamoring for Gruden of course ) but I would answer that he would fix the one thing that's been the worst part of our offense for the past several years and that's the OL. He would help build a bigger, stronger offensive line and a more powerful running game. Plus I think he would be instrumental in bringing a bigger, stronger and more physical philosophy to our defense as well. We don't have to change the entire scheme on defense, we just need to make some adjustments and stop building a defense that is only capable of rushing the passer. Don't get me wrong, I think our current D will be better than in years past about doing more than just rushing the passer as they get more experience playing together but our D still clearly needs some work. I don't think he would come in and try to change everything but he would make sure the things that need to get changed actually do get changed. Plus, he's been out of coaching for a few years so he wouldn't necessarily lead to an overhaul of the entire staff because most of the guys who coached for him before are coaching elsewhere now....though if he could persuade Rex Ryan to come here and coach our defense I'd be all for it. lol

So anyway...yes if we go after a new head coach then Brian Billick is my top choice. So many people used to always say, "imagine what Brian Billick could do if he actually had a QB"

[weneedjefffisher]

read my name lol i knew we were in trouble when last year against the jets caldwell didnt call a time out and let the time run out then in post game he said what does the time have to do with anything lol wow then sunday we are losing 34 -o and first drive after half we get to 40 yard line and we punt it wow why not just forfeit? any ways we punted it into the end zone so we neted 20 yards good call then we finally score and instead of trying a onside kick we kick off wow maybe he didnt know we were losing and the most points win lol when peyton is on the field he does all the coaching thank goodness without peyton we can see what we really have as a coaching staff i understand we are not going to be as good without peyton but i want a coach that trys and never gives up and fights until the end not get blown out put the white flag up and say well it is a marathon lol well as of now we wont win another game we will get blown out by the browns at home our special team sucks defense has always sucked and our grandpa quarter back had the worst quarter back rating in the league lol then in the second half texans played prevent defense and we still only scored 7 points we have alot of play makers but when you dont get them the ball they might as well be on the bench i have been a colts fan since they came to town good or bad i want a coach that knows the game of football and that has a fire for the game and wants to win we need a coach like jeff fisher or denny green or mooch i dont care if brett favre or cary collins or curt painter is our quarter back but please mr irsey get us a new coach that atleast trys and has a compassion for winning

[Jason_]

A little more about Brian Billick...here is a link I found http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/11/brian-billick-would-be-interes.html

One particular quote of his that really stood out to me (granted he was referring specifically to the Dallas Cowboys situation when Jason Garrett took over as interim head coach but still very true)

"Jason Garrett's an excellent coach, he's a good man. I like Jason Garrett. Whether his personality and style, and he's going to have to learn on the run, there's no question he's a good football man, but now when you step in you have to make those decisions, separate yourself from being the offensive coordinator. Not only coaching the players but you got to coach your coaches. They all talk about culture change there, well that doesn't just happen. That doesn't just happen by putting pads on any given practice or giving a good pre-game locker room speech. It starts from the top-down...."

The biggest point in blue....the HC has to coach the coaches too.

[JoKeR]

What teams use 10 yard cushions when they're getting routed?

I sure it wasn't but the game felt like a lay down. Im embarrassed, and as far as being a colts fan, I can't truly remember being embarrassed. Week 1 last year was close. Maybe this is a new tradition, play like its preseason in week1.

[HouFan]

Didn't we get beat pretty bad in HOU in game 1 last year? We made an All-Pro out of Foster.

Yeah the 1381 yards and 13 TDs he got in the remaining 15 games had nothing to do with it.

[Jason_]

What teams use 10 yard cushions when they're getting routed?

I sure it wasn't but the game felt like a lay down. Im embarrassed, and as far as being a colts fan, I can't truly remember being embarrassed. Week 1 last year was close. Maybe this is a new tradition, play like its preseason in week1.

Well, considering the lockout and the greatly reduced offseason, week 1 this year essentially was preseason.