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Vick Ballard: The Lead Horse


TKnight24

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Why does the team keep this man at his number?  

 

 

Brown is a good player?     Brown is a really good player...    and the TEAM thinks so too...     or he would have been CUT.

I've had disagreements with a few people never said that, i was literally shocked that someone could make a case for Donald Brown being a better runner then Ballard. I thought i would never hear that from a Colts fan that have actually watched Donald  Brown play.

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I've had disagreements with a few people never said that, i was literally shocked that someone could make a case for Donald Brown being a better runner then Ballard. I thought i would never hear that from a Colts fan that have actually watched Donald  Brown play.

 

Once Gavin falls in a love with someone.... well, it's pure LOVE....   :heart:  there's no turning back.    :luv:    :flowers:    

 

He's nothing if not loyal to his guy....     it is what it is.....

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Nothing's changed.  We'll play both backs..

 

When Ballard fumbles or gets hurt, Brown will be back in there.

 

When Brown gets hurt, Ballard will go back in.

 

The guy who finished last season as the starter is still the starter.

 

That's probably not breaking news

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Nothing's changed.  We'll play both backs..

 

When Ballard fumbles or gets hurt, Brown will be back in there.

 

When Brown gets hurt, Ballard will go back in.

 

The guy who finished last season as the starter is still the starter.

 

That's probably not breaking news

huh?

 

I can't wait for the implosion that will occur when Brown starts week one...

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huh?

 

I can't wait for the implosion that will occur when Brown starts week one...

 

Barring injury....that's not going to happen...John

 

Brown was the starter..He got hurt......Ballard took over and had success.

 

I dont think Balllard beat Brown out but he was good when he got his chance..

 

Is anybody surprised that the guy who started the playoff game is stil the starter??  Its fair.

 

I suspect we'll use more than one halfback every game. Just a guess,.

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hehe...   

 

I like Brown...   he was hurt most of last season.    And I realize that.   

 

BUT...  he can really make things happen when he is in the game.

 

 

Time will tell..   

I agree with that...and it sounds like Pagano does too.

 

I think Donald Brown will mhave a big year because we have a better line and teams are quite rightfully likely to use nickel defenses...

 

He'll be open more and he has STILL never lost a fumble in his career./

 

But I would hope we use two backs

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i really hope all this faith in ballard is well placed hopefully we wont have to grab a running back early next year im not sold yet but we'll see i guess

What is it that you don't have "faith" in?  Our old coordinator compared him to Edge http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000111468/article/vick-ballard-a-poor-mans-edgerrin-james-coach-says

I think thats a great compliment personally.

Ballard had the highest drop rate out of any RB in the league. I think im being generous when I say it's a wash.

 

 

According to Yahoo Sports he was 17 for 27.http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/stats/byposition?*=RB&conference=AFCSouth&year=season_2012&timeframe=All&sort=17&old_category=RB

 

That same link has Arian Foster at 40 receptions with 58 drops 

 

 

The kid is a football player!  He's not gonna hit homeruns and breakaway he's a bigger back that is gonna get the tough yards and Williams/Brown will be the 3rd back.  His pass blocking will get better and we also will have a better line.  Brown can't handle every down.  Ballard will be our "bruiser" and Brown/Williams will be our scat. . . .Its perfect

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What is it that you don't have "faith" in? Our old coordinator compared him to Edge http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000111468/article/vick-ballard-a-poor-mans-edgerrin-james-coach-says

I think thats a great compliment personally.

According to Yahoo Sports he was 17 for 27.http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/stats/byposition?*=RB&conference=AFCSouth&year=season_2012&timeframe=All&sort=17&old_category=RB

That same link has Arian Foster at 40 receptions with 58 drops

The kid is a football player! He's not gonna hit homeruns and breakaway he's a bigger back that is gonna get the tough yards and Williams/Brown will be the 3rd back. His pass blocking will get better and we also will have a better line. Brown can't handle every down. Ballard will be our "bruiser" and Brown/Williams will be our scat. . . .Its perfect

That's not drop rate.

This is drop rate: https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2013/01/23/signatrue-stats-drop-rate-running-backs/

Basically dropped 20% of his passes.

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That's not drop rate.

This is drop rate: https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2013/01/23/signatrue-stats-drop-rate-running-backs/

Basically dropped 20% of his passes.

I understand that the number looks staggering but considering he was only targeted 24 times with 17 receptions and 4 drops, to me, that isn't that bad.  He wasn't being paid to catch the ball, he was being paid to run it.  Plus Arians' game didn't have a lot of check downs or Luck didn't want to take them.  Again 20% "sounds" staggering but when put in actual in actual "numbers" I'll take those.  Again I don't believe that's Ballard's strong suit.  He can definitely work on it, but catching out of the backfield is for Brown/Williams. 

I am hoping that with what is to be a better line on paper.  We can have conversations about if he gonna get over 1k rushing :thmup:

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That comparison while makes sense it is skewed somewhat do to th enumber of touches Brown has got over that time period, Look at all of the higher profile Backs below him and then take into accoint the number of carries they have gotten comparitively, Now none of that is to say Brown is an elusive runner because he is obviously not near the most elusive runners out there, he is not even that on his own team but some have gotten completely unrealistic expectations given the number of touches he has had, What more darning to me is he cant stay healthy

 

Just to add more context to the discussion: http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2013/broken-tackles-2012

 

 

Football Outsiders has Ballard with 22 broken tackles (16th in the league) and a 9.7% broken tackle rate (12th best in the league of RBs with 20+ broken tackles).

 

As opposed to Brown who had 5 broken tackles on 117 touches for a 4.3% broken tackles rate (8th worst in the league)

 

So it's not so much having the numbers skewed by the # of touches more so than it is Ballard just being exponentially tougher to bring down.

 

But that's not really Brown's game anyway. He's not the type of back that's going to push the pile or juke 3 defenders on the way to the end-zone so this isn't really a knock on him. I think that he'll be a solid 3rd down back next year because of what he gives us that Ballard doesn't (Pass Blocking and receiving)

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No one who watched the Colts extensively (read: us) would say that Vic is a better blocker than Donald Brown..

 

But Ballard was the starter in the playoff run late last year. He deserves to start the season as No.1  

Lol its not worth arguing over,Ballard earned the starting job and will have to do something to lose it.IMO that doesn't happen only expect better things from him.Not saying DB wont be used as well when hes healthy.Bottom line we have no control over coaching ,just have to see how it plays out,and im ready :thmup:

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Brown has reached his peak. His improvement must come from an improved OL. I expect Ballard to get a little bigger, stronger and faster this season. Last year Ballard was 5-10 and 217 and I believe he was 21 years old when the season started. He should finish growing at 5-11 and about 220 to 225 and still shave a little off of his 40 time. Ballard will be the workhorse and Brown the change of pace.

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I think Ballard can definitely be a workhorse back. I was fairly impressed with how much he did as a back last year and I believe he led the team in rushing and only started 12 games. I honestly think he would've broken the 1000 mark if he started all 16 games, and I stand by that statement for next year unless proven otherwise.

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No one who watched the Colts extensively (read: us) would say that Vic is a better blocker than Donald Brown..

But Ballard was the starter in the playoff run late last year. He deserves to start the season as No.1

So had we kept Manning and Orlovsky, Dan would have started week one last season? I think your reasoning there is pretty poor.
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