Irsay/Ballard presser at 4pm

[Superman]

7 minutes ago, Indeee said:

This is the scenario I presented as well. FA from QB perspective will be key on who swaps/trades picks and who doesn't. I just think that if the Giants are content with Eli one or more years, then they could trade #2 to a team like the Jets. I'm not sure Rosen would want to sit behind eli. From what I have heard big ego on that kid. If Denver doesn't get QB via FA and likes Allen, Browns may take Allen at 1, Jets trade up to get Rosen at 2 and Browns swap with colts to take Barkley at 3 if they believe the niners are leaning towards Barkley. Maybe the Colts take an offer they can't refuse here

 

I don't think Rosen would have a problem with going to the Giants in 2018. I think he's gotten a reputation for being somewhat spoiled and entitled mostly because he's said some less than PC things about polarizing topics, and that includes saying he doesn't want to play for the Browns. But that doesn't mean he won't sit behind a veteran QB for a year.

[GoColts8818]

13 minutes ago, DougDew said:

I know, he didn't say anything specific.  But in the world of pre-draft nuances, he made it fairly clear what he wanted (EJ was picked #4) in terms of a player, but made no mention of the type of coach he wanted, which I think is normal.  He's talking about players and not the coach.  If Irsay is being sincere, I think a GM would want to be able to get him the next EJ.

 

But with sincerity or not, I don't think he had any reason to talk about wanting an EJ type of player next to Luck in this presser unless he wanted the rest of the NFL to hear it.

 

Opposite of that, if he said that he thought an EJ type of player is no longer relevant in the NFL, other teams might not going to have to bid as much to get the pick.

It wouldn’t be the first time Irsay said something he probably shouldn’t have.  The man has no governor.  I can see why the idea of Barkley and Luck would appeal to him but if Ballard falls in love with someone say Chubb (just picking a guy here) I think Chubb will be the pick.  

[Gigc]

1 hour ago, BlueShoe said:

Chris Ballard starts off talking about expectations. Said Chuck never lost the locker room. The players never lost focused, and never tanked. They showed up every week. Without a great locker room it is hard to win in this league. We have to have high standards. Our young players grew as the season went along. 

 

A lot of job openings. We will keep everything internal (in house). It will be a wide-open search. We are going to get the right fit for the Indianapolis Colts. 

 

Now Chris is taking questions. 

 

It is not a requirement for the new coach to have prior NFL head coaching experience. We want a staff full of teachers that can develop players. 

 

Jim was asked what led to making the change of head coach.

 

It was not any secret that we were evaluating Chuck last year. We wanted to have continuity. In the end it came down to the final day, and making sure we were doing the right thing. The decision was made, and it was tough to let a good man go. We were leaning towards making a change as the season went on. The Jacksonville game was very disappointing. We have to give Chuck a lot of credit. In the end, we felt we needed to make a change so we did. 

 

Chris: We are going to take our time to make sure we have the right fit for this organization. At the end of the day it will be the gut feeling of when it is the right guy. After we spend enough time with the person then we will know. Anytime you are a GM and you don't have a short list of names you better always have a running list of the available coaches. 

 

The new head coach will make the decision to keep the current coaches. He does not need to be offensive or defensive minded. I don't want someone to come here for just Andrew Luck. If a candidate is concerned about Andrew Luck then he is not the right fit.

 

Jim: Andrew is coming back, and he makes this job that much more enticing. The great fan base we have. The great tradition we have. The incredible stadium we have. 2012 was absolutely incredible. We had an Executive of the Year award. If you come around the horseshoe then you are coming to something special. Jacoby really did some special things. The commitment we have in winning. This is something that should last for decades and decades.

 

I am thankful, Chris acknowledged to me that he really wanted to come to the Colts. Peopl are going to be excited about coming here and having a chance to get this job. You don't know the fire that is burning in #12's eyes. He ahs a 110 fever. You put him on that field with and Edgerrin James type "BARKLEY! WHOA"... That last part was me. But he said it. LOL

 

Jim continues... Ideally we would like to have someone we can have success for 10-12 years, but we are not ruling out older coaches who might not plan to coach that long either. 

 

I don't have super powers. I cannot see through concrete walls. I can say that from being around football for half a century, that this thing just took longer than we thought it would. The surgery was a success. When I made the comment about being 3-4 inches between you ears, I was talking about myself. I was injured, and questioned should I train or not train. I am not trying to sell something that I don't believe in. This horseshoe is bigger than us all, and it will prevail without me, Chris or Andrew. I do believe that from talking to the doctors that he can come back. My optimism was absolutely genuine. One of the finest shoulder doctors in the world said the shoulder surgery was outstanding. Each case is different. It just longer for the shoulder to heal.

 

I am an optimist, but I am also a realist. I am not going to nonsense anyone. I am telling you that I have no doubt in my mind that Andrew is going to come back. That kid is a special kid. He was born to do great things in the NFL and he will do great things in the NFL! That is coming form someone who has been in this game for half a century. And that is coming from someone that was brought into this game by Johnny Unitas, who slapped my butt in the locker room and said get out of the way kid.

 

Irsay continues:

 

Whether we trade the pick or keep the pick, it is a tremendous asset. The type of equity we have with this type of draft pick, plus we were in every game this year. We could have been in the wildcard weekend. That's how close we are.

 

God rest his soul Ron Meyer, he had a car salesman aspect to him and he was fun. I feel that Andrew is going to be back and he will write his name into the NFL in a very important way. If you told me that he was going to miss the entire year last year then I could not have believed you. 

 

Continue on..... Irsay continues... Time will tell, but I am sincere when I tell you Andrew will be back. 

 

Chris: We will continue to add competition. We will start throwing soon and that will tell us a lot. 

 

Press Conference over. 

 

Sorry for the typing mistakes. I was doing this on the fly,  

great synopsis. I think there's a bunch of people who just like to poke fun at Jim. This is what I heard as well. He's obviously in physical pain (that back looks bad), but he's still on top of it. People made a big deal about his enthusiastic response to Doyel. well, think about it, Doyel --- who's a hatchet man and has been for years --- basically accused Irsay of knowing all along that Luck would miss the season and lying to fans to keep them coming to games. Well, this was Irsay's chance to respond to the fans with Doyel sitting there (and not being able to twist a quote). Good for Jim. lastly, i can't blame him for looking at Saquan and seeing a new Edge. 

[stitches]

21 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

I don't think Rosen would have a problem with going to the Giants in 2018. I think he's gotten a reputation for being somewhat spoiled and entitled mostly because he's said some less than PC things about polarizing topics, and that includes saying he doesn't want to play for the Browns. But that doesn't mean he won't sit behind a veteran QB for a year.

 

From what I've seen he seems opinionated but he's also giving thoughtful answers to questions. You may agree or disagree with what he's saying, but I honestly haven't heard him say anything that would even make me think twice before I draft him. 

[King Colt]

Sad, laughable and tragic listening to Irsay stumble after every word. The running comments on Facebook were in the majority on this fact. I once counted Pagano's "ums" a few weeks back at 25 but Irsay is unbelievable. Irsay is hunched over and babbling with a red face. He needs to go in to an assisted living home.  Very painful to watch the old man dissolve between his ears. 

[azcolt]

1 hour ago, RockThatBlue said:

 

Wide open as in any Chiefs' assistant will be considered.

[azcolt]

Just now, King Colt said:

Sad, laughable and tragic listening to Irsay stumble after every word. The running comments on Facebook were in the majority on this fact. I once counted Pagano's "ums" a few weeks back at 25 but Irsay is unbelievable. Irsay is hunched over and babbling with a red face. He needs to go in to an assisted living home.  Very painful to watch the old man dissolve between his ears. 

Yep, drugs will age anyone

[Superman]

11 minutes ago, Gigc said:

great synopsis. I think there's a bunch of people who just like to poke fun at Jim. This is what I heard as well. He's obviously in physical pain (that back looks bad), but he's still on top of it. People made a big deal about his enthusiastic response to Doyel. well, think about it, Doyel --- who's a hatchet man and has been for years --- basically accused Irsay of knowing all along that Luck would miss the season and lying to fans to keep them coming to games. Well, this was Irsay's chance to respond to the fans with Doyel sitting there (and not being able to twist a quote). Good for Jim. lastly, i can't blame him for looking at Saquan and seeing a new Edge. 

 

Yup.

 

Also, Irsay is clearly dealing with some physical issues. Seeing him in the locker room yesterday all hunched over, unable to walk, was really eye opening.

 

I know it's hard to listen to him at times, but it's incredible how petty people can be. 

[DougDew]

12 minutes ago, King Colt said:

Sad, laughable and tragic listening to Irsay stumble after every word. The running comments on Facebook were in the majority on this fact. I once counted Pagano's "ums" a few weeks back at 25 but Irsay is unbelievable. Irsay is hunched over and babbling with a red face. He needs to go in to an assisted living home.  Very painful to watch the old man dissolve between his ears. 

Being a walking pharmacy for many years takes its toll.  It is painful to watch him speak, but I hope most would stop short of thinking its laughable.

[BOTT]

19 minutes ago, azcolt said:

Yep, drugs will age anyone

So will a bad back. Unfortunately, one often leads to the other.

[TheMarine]

1 hour ago, BlueShoe said:

 

That's a Patriot ran site wrapped in an NBC logo. They will do anything to spread negativity about the Colts. 

Regardless, echoing my own thoughts with that tweet

[Fisticuffs111]

Yeah, I know Irsay has other problems but I couldn't imagine going through the physical stuff he's dealing with. The hip and back stuff. That can just pretty much cripple someone, and I imagine he has a hard time ever getting comfortable.

What gets me are the really uninformed people, usually outside the fanbase, who have no idea the actual physical ailments that Jim has gone through. Especially yesterday when the locker room video made the rounds, lots of fans on reddit seemed to have no idea why he was hunched over, looking in poor health and just took the easy "that's what drugs do" shots.

[2006Coltsbestever]

Not really much to say. I thought the Presser was fine. No matter what anyone Posts, you are going to have your people that are negative and people that are positive about the future. Make fun of Jim all you want to the people that don't like him but he is still a Great owner. Colts have won more games since Jim has been owner than any other team in the league except the Patriots. So I go by results which = Wins/Losses. We have a Lombardi as well. Jim is no doctor, either am I but I think the %'s are on the side of Luck coming back fully 100% with the type of injury he has. Only 28 years old as well so I can see why Jim is optimistic. Jim also knows how important Luck is to the team and he knows the fans know is we he rambles about the subject. Regarding who we pick 3rd, I will be happy with Chubb/Nelson/or Barkley. It's a win/win situation picking 3rd because we are going to get one of those guys in probability. Regarding who our next Coach is, I have a strong feeling it will be Toub or Nagy because of their ties to the Chiefs/Ballard. I am cool with either.

[Virtuoso80]

2 hours ago, BlueShoe said:

Chris Ballard starts off talking about expectations. Said Chuck never lost the locker room. The players never lost focused, and never tanked. They showed up every week. Without a great locker room it is hard to win in this league. We have to have high standards. Our young players grew as the season went along. 

 

A lot of job openings. We will keep everything internal (in house). It will be a wide-open search. We are going to get the right fit for the Indianapolis Colts. 

 

Now Chris is taking questions. 

 

It is not a requirement for the new coach to have prior NFL head coaching experience. We want a staff full of teachers that can develop players. 

 

Jim was asked what led to making the change of head coach.

 

It was not any secret that we were evaluating Chuck last year. We wanted to have continuity. In the end it came down to the final day, and making sure we were doing the right thing. The decision was made, and it was tough to let a good man go. We were leaning towards making a change as the season went on. The Jacksonville game was very disappointing. We have to give Chuck a lot of credit. In the end, we felt we needed to make a change so we did. 

 

Chris: We are going to take our time to make sure we have the right fit for this organization. At the end of the day it will be the gut feeling of when it is the right guy. After we spend enough time with the person then we will know. Anytime you are a GM and you don't have a short list of names you better always have a running list of the available coaches. 

 

The new head coach will make the decision to keep the current coaches. He does not need to be offensive or defensive minded. I don't want someone to come here for just Andrew Luck. If a candidate is concerned about Andrew Luck then he is not the right fit.

 

Jim: Andrew is coming back, and he makes this job that much more enticing. The great fan base we have. The great tradition we have. The incredible stadium we have. 2012 was absolutely incredible. We had an Executive of the Year award. If you come around the horseshoe then you are coming to something special. Jacoby really did some special things. The commitment we have in winning. This is something that should last for decades and decades.

 

I am thankful, Chris acknowledged to me that he really wanted to come to the Colts. Peopl are going to be excited about coming here and having a chance to get this job. You don't know the fire that is burning in #12's eyes. He ahs a 110 fever. You put him on that field with and Edgerrin James type "BARKLEY! WHOA"... That last part was me. But he said it. LOL

 

Jim continues... Ideally we would like to have someone we can have success for 10-12 years, but we are not ruling out older coaches who might not plan to coach that long either. 

 

I don't have super powers. I cannot see through concrete walls. I can say that from being around football for half a century, that this thing just took longer than we thought it would. The surgery was a success. When I made the comment about being 3-4 inches between you ears, I was talking about myself. I was injured, and questioned should I train or not train. I am not trying to sell something that I don't believe in. This horseshoe is bigger than us all, and it will prevail without me, Chris or Andrew. I do believe that from talking to the doctors that he can come back. My optimism was absolutely genuine. One of the finest shoulder doctors in the world said the shoulder surgery was outstanding. Each case is different. It just longer for the shoulder to heal.

 

I am an optimist, but I am also a realist. I am not going to nonsense anyone. I am telling you that I have no doubt in my mind that Andrew is going to come back. That kid is a special kid. He was born to do great things in the NFL and he will do great things in the NFL! That is coming form someone who has been in this game for half a century. And that is coming from someone that was brought into this game by Johnny Unitas, who slapped my butt in the locker room and said get out of the way kid.

 

Irsay continues:

 

Whether we trade the pick or keep the pick, it is a tremendous asset. The type of equity we have with this type of draft pick, plus we were in every game this year. We could have been in the wildcard weekend. That's how close we are.

 

God rest his soul Ron Meyer, he had a car salesman aspect to him and he was fun. I feel that Andrew is going to be back and he will write his name into the NFL in a very important way. If you told me that he was going to miss the entire year last year then I could not have believed you. 

 

Continue on..... Irsay continues... Time will tell, but I am sincere when I tell you Andrew will be back. 

 

Chris: We will continue to add competition. We will start throwing soon and that will tell us a lot. 

 

Press Conference over. 

 

Sorry for the typing mistakes. I was doing this on the fly,  

Thanks for the transcript.  It means a lot since I am deaf and would like to know what is being said.  You did the best you could that’s all that matters. Thanks again!

[Tracy Denton]

3 hours ago, DougDew said:

Its not a matter of believing Irsay.  As in not telling the truth. Irsay is expressing his confidence.  He's not sharing or concealing actual knowledge.

 

The shoulder needs to heal then go through the stress of throwing with no pain or setbacks.  Irsay doesn't actually know if that will happen or not.  Even though he promises, Andrew's shoulder health is beyond Irsay's ability to promise.

 

It was the same last year.  He wasn't concealing information that was contrary to what he said.

 

Doyel doesn't get that.  He thinks there is a constant conspiracy by the Colts who's sole purpose is to make money off of fans by stringing them along.  Or else he's pretending to take Irsay literally in order to then knock him down.

Real fans don't need strung along !!!

[Four2itus]

Heads up bulletin:

 

Next presser with Mr Irsay....he will say um a lot, and will be exuberant about the Colts to the level that some will doubt his sincerity. There, now that you have been warned, you won't have to watch it and then complain about it later. 

 

Just doing my part to hep out with the frustration. 

[Coltsman1788]

7 hours ago, indy1888 said:

Irsay is hard to listen to anymore. Honestly wish he would just stop speaking altogether.  I feel he does more harm then good anymore.  Ballard did not want this to be about Luck that was obvious in how he answered the question about guys wanting to come here because of Andrew.  Then Irsay goes and rambles for 10 minutes all about Andrew. I personally don't believe a word Irsay says anymore anyway.

Unfortunately, the older Irsay gets the more embarrassing he becomes. He really needs to fade into the background more and let Ballard speak for the franchise. 

[#12.]

6 hours ago, BR-549 said:

You put him on that field with and Edgerrin James type "BARKLEY! WHOA

 

Certainly sounds as though they have been discussing it.  

 

If you're opposed to it, better hope he goes #1 or #2 because I have a strong feeling they are taking him.  Ballard has repeatedly said he will take the best player in the draft, and not only is Barkley the most talented player, he also fills a need.  We need a RB.  

[King Colt]

As an executive speaking skills are essential. As a veteran of thousands of company meetings Irsay's inability to connect his brain to his mouth would never be tolerated. One has only so much time to say his piece then it is on to the next person. Meeting rooms are often reserved say for 30-60 minutes then the next meeting happens. This means you have a limited amount of time to speak your piece so if one person is unable to perform basic human functions like     Jimbob Irsay he would not be allowed in the room and subsequently fired. I can imagine in owners meeting all the other owners are either sleeping or on their phones playing games while Irsay stumbles incoherently over a subject everyone in the room has lost interest in due to extended time.

[JColts72]

That was probably one of the worst press conferences on his part since his dad's denial of moving the Colts. It was like a rambling barfly without the booze.

[azcolt]

23 hours ago, Fisticuffs111 said:

Yeah, I know Irsay has other problems but I couldn't imagine going through the physical stuff he's dealing with. The hip and back stuff. That can just pretty much cripple someone, and I imagine he has a hard time ever getting comfortable.

What gets me are the really uninformed people, usually outside the fanbase, who have no idea the actual physical ailments that Jim has gone through. Especially yesterday when the locker room video made the rounds, lots of fans on reddit seemed to have no idea why he was hunched over, looking in poor health and just took the easy "that's what drugs do" shots.

He's both a recovering drug addict and recovering alcoholic and it shows.

[BOTT]

20 hours ago, #12. said:

 

Certainly sounds as though they have been discussing it.  

 

If you're opposed to it, better hope he goes #1 or #2 because I have a strong feeling they are taking him.  Ballard has repeatedly said he will take the best player in the draft, and not only is Barkley the most talented player, he also fills a need.  We need a RB.  

He also talks about being a building a team that is tough on defense/in the trenches.  Many people are going to be disappointed when he passes on Barkley.