Sacks - we're bad at both ends

[Fisticuffs111]

Ballard's always stressed the importance of winning in/building the trenches.

 

I would think, with no more of an informed opinion than anybody else, that he's salivating at the chance to add a top DL/OL prospect. I know he's always stressed BPA (or at least I think he has), but this is a special case that I think might test Ballard's strategy.

This is a great class of RB's as most everybody knows. I could imagine Ballard wanting to get a top OL/DL propsect at #3 or in a trade down, while still being able to grab a very good RB prospect in round 2 or even round 3. As opposed to grabbing Barkley and likely missing out on the top OL/DL prospects.

Who knows though. That's just my guess as to what Ballard's thinking is. I could be totally off, and I assume his input isn't the only one he'll be listening to.

[Coltfreak]

16 minutes ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

 I am of the opinion that Brissett would have done a pretty decent job running the NE offense as the season went along. Just in case you don't get it, that means he would have done fairly well with their quick release passing game.
  Our line was consistently bad, if you watched it.
 And we have zero receivers that run great short to 2nd level routes with quickness. That will soon change.

Except he wasn't  running that offense.   He was running the stupid Pags?Chud system which takes for the plays to even start to develop and then JB wasn't sure where to go with the ball so he held it too long.    Just like Shotty said where he was quoted.

 

I do agree that JB will play much better in the JMcD offense because... for one its not a stupid offense like the one Pags wanted and 2 it will play to both the strengths of the Oline and the QB and other. Weapons 

[jshipp23]

28 minutes ago, Fisticuffs111 said:

Ballard's always stressed the importance of winning in/building the trenches.

 

I would think, with no more of an informed opinion than anybody else, that he's salivating at the chance to add a top DL/OL prospect. I know he's always stressed BPA (or at least I think he has), but this is a special case that I think might test Ballard's strategy.

This is a great class of RB's as most everybody knows. I could imagine Ballard wanting to get a top OL/DL propsect at #3 or in a trade down, while still being able to grab a very good RB prospect in round 2 or even round 3. As opposed to grabbing Barkley and likely missing out on the top OL/DL prospects.

Who knows though. There's a lot of factors, or people, in play here. Ballard, McDaniels, and Irsay who heavily hinted at wanting a Edgerrin James type of player.

Regardless, we are going to get a great player at 3, Barkley, Chubb, or Fitzpatrick in that order..It all depends on which direction we go in free agency...We have to go all in on Norwell, and hopefully get Ansah or Lawrence..No guarantee either gets tagged, Detroit owner is notoriously frugal when it comes to spending big $!, he let Suh walk, and Ansah is good, but no Suh..Dallas has hardly any cap and Lawrence has past trouble where they will be cautious on investing big in him..Carolina also has very little cap and has spent a ton on their offensive line already and have other needs...I look at it like how can we improve and contend the fastest??? If we can shore up pass rusher and guard with young already proven players in free agency we can then have the luxury of using draft picks for Barkley, and Best. MLB/ILB that can cover in round 2, and possibly a slot or big bodied reciever in rd 3...It all depends on free agency..I definitely think we will get a good guard, but pass rusher is a bigger question..That's where I wouldn't be opposed to picking Chubb and hoping for Michel round 2...It'll hurt watching Barkley destroy NFL for another team though...I still think we should pick Barkley even in that scenario, and go best pass rusher early round 2..

[coltsva]

Considering the Colts played with a lead at halftime or in the 3rd quarter in 11 games this season, our sack total is pretty poor. 

[richard pallo]

4 minutes ago, jshipp23 said:

Regardless, we are going to get a great player at 3, Barkley, Chubb, or Fitzpatrick in that order..It all depends on which direction we go in free agency...We have to go wsl in on Norwell, and hopefully get Ansah or Lawrence..No guarantee either gets tagged, Detroit owner is notoriously frugal when it comes to spending big $!, he let Suh walk, and Ansah is good, but no Suh..Dallas has hardly any cap and Lawrence has past trouble where they will be cautious on investing big in him..Carolina also has very little cap and has spent a ton on their offensive line already and have other needs...I look at it like how can we improve and contend the fastest??? If we can shore up pass rusher and guard with young already proven players in free agency we can then have the luxury of using draft picks for Barkley, and Best. MLB/ILB that can cover in round 2, and possibly a slot or big bodied reciever in rd 3...It all depends on free agency..I definitely think we will get a good guard, but pass rusher is a bigger question..That's where I wouldn't be opposed to picking Chubb and hoping for Michel round 2...It'll hurt watching Barkley destroy NFL for another team though...I still think we should pick Barkley even in that scenario, and go best pass rusher early round 2..

I would be fine with Chubb and I would be hoping for Guice in rd. 2 but he might not get there. 

[jshipp23]

2 minutes ago, richard pallo said:

I would be fine with Chubb and I would be hoping for Guice in rd. 2 but he might not get there. 

I like Guice a lot too...I wouldn't be sad if we took Chubb, just hope we don't have to...

[throwing BBZ]

1 hour ago, jshipp23 said:

Zeke isn't as fast, as powerful, doesn't have the hands for the passing game, and has character issues...Barkley is better than Zeke and it's not close...We will never agree on this subject..

 

 JMO that Fournette, Gurley, Zeke, Le Bell are Great Proven Backs.
 The idea that Barkley is certainly going to be as good or better than them is hypothetical. Blather!
  I have watched enough of him to love what i see. He should become a great weapon.
  It is a a show me as far as his ability to run up the middle and take the pounding.

[throwing BBZ]

1 hour ago, jshipp23 said:

Zeke isn't as fast, as powerful, doesn't have the hands for the passing game, and has character issues...Barkley is better than Zeke and it's not close...We will never agree on this subject..

 

 JMO that Fournette, Gurley, Zeke, Le Bell are Great Proven Backs.
 The idea that Barkley is certainly going to be as good or better than them is hypothetical. Blather!
  I have watched enough of him to love what i see. He should become a great weapon.
  It is a a show me as far as his ability to run up the middle and take the pounding.

[jshipp23]

1 minute ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

 JMO that Fournette, Gurley, Zeke, Le Bell are Great Proven Backs.
 The idea that Barkley is certainly going to be as good or better than them is hypothetical. Blather!
  I have watched enough of him to love what i see. He should become a great weapon.
  It is a a show me as far as his ability to run up the middle and take the pounding.

Nothing is guaranteed, but I think likelihood of Barkley being on that level is higher than Chubb being on a Joey Bosa level...Just my opinion which means nothing..

[markabrown96]

 Need a good running game to take pressure off the QB and stop having Casper the ghost playing OT

[Fluke_33]

Can you re-title this: sacks - coming out the roof and the basement?  All I think is the hassleback quote when I see it 

[jskinnz]

3 hours ago, Smonroe said:

 

Problem is - there aren’t going to be any FA edge rushers like Ansah.  Lions have plenty of cap to re-sign him.  Cowboys won’t let Lawrence get away.  That spot will will have to be filled via the draft.

 

We have to make Norwell a priority FA acquisition.  

 

 

 

In last year's free agency market there were two moderate to high end pass rushers that the board was in a lather for - Melvin Ingram and I forget the other one.  Neither made it to free agency.  I suspect the same will hold true this year as well.  Great QB's, LT's and edge rushers do not frequently get to the open market.

 

[Rally5]

16 hours ago, LockeDown said:

Let's say over the next 3 seasons, a team consecutively drafts for a needed position and each time they forego picking a player with better talent despite the position.  After 3 years, they will be a less talented team by anyone's logic.   If Chubb is graded as high as Barkley, then no big deal, we get him, but if he's not, then my point stands.  

If you open/close quote this it would be Ryan Grigson! 

 

This is how we ended up with Dorsett and Werner, the flaw in going BPA exclusively is there is under a 50% hit rate on first-round draft picks.  So when you go 50/50 on your pick and ignore your positions of need you end up with massive holes all over your team.  Sound like anyone we know?

 

I do think Ballard is smart and I do think he understands all this where Grigson was an arrogant *. For all those pinning for Barkley, the RB position still has a 40% success rate with the highest rate of injury in the NFL.  OL 1st rounders not only have nearly a 100% hit rate but over 40% turn out to be pro bowlers.  So, I do like the combination of sure things in positions of need with a likelihood of being a pro-bowler.  One thing I know for sure, if we do pick Barkley he might benefit from having a hole to run through.  If we address OL in FA then awesome.  

 

One more piece of quiet contemplation, we now have to contend with a very talented Jags DL, the road to the South now runs through JVille and we'd better be able to win the battle up front.

[coach kline]

20 hours ago, crazycolt1 said:

No sacks for the defense? Lets draft a RB.

No

[ColtsFanMikeC]

22 hours ago, LJpalmbeacher2 said:

 

Guess which team ranked 22nd in rushing. ... Guess who ranked even lower in 20 plus yard runs?

 

We haven't had a good/consistent run blocking OL for a long time.  Gore is also not much of a 'home run hitter', he never really has been.  Improving the OL should help greatly with both the run and pass game (more holes for the runners, more time for the QB).

 

 

21 hours ago, ColtsBlitz said:

Sheard and Simon are run stoppers, edge setters. We need a pass rusher and offensive linemen, but offensive line is much more glaring. We have Basham to groom and the two I already mentioned did well for us.

 

We have no one to look to on the offensive line, just Mewhort if he ever gets healthy again. O-line, O-line, O-line. Protect Luck. 

 

Kelly is a stud, if he can just stay healthy.  I tend to think we've seen the last of Mewhort.  I don't think Castonzo is great, but he's a solid player (I think he'd be an excellent RT and is an above average LT).  LeRaven Clark I still think has upside, but I have no idea what the coaches see in him or what goes on behind the scenes -- Philbin was supposed to be the OL Whisperer and he didn't seem capable of fixing our problems.

 

21 hours ago, LJpalmbeacher2 said:

Here's the deal: We need a lot, just about everywhere. In fact we now know we need more now than we did this time last year. This time last year Irsay said the the OL was fixed and Luck was coming back.

We now know the line is broke and Luck is a question mark.

So last time I checked we have more than one draft pick to address our needs PLUS FA which we once again have lots of cap space to spend.

 

To bypass a Super Star, game changer, playmaker generational talent at a much needed position for us because of needs elsewhere is foolish. We still have plenty resources besides the 3rd overall pick to acquire talent. 

As far as Chubb vs Barkley, either one woyld be a good pick but Barkley is the higher rated prospect and also the safer pick and would get immediate production from like the Cowboys got from Zeke.

Im done talking about it.

 

 

It may be moot anyway. If Luck is still hurt we may be drafting Darnold. How does that grab you? 

 

The Cowboys had, hands down, the best run blocking OL in the league when Zeke joined them.  Not fair to assume a good RB will do great in our system unless we improve the OL.  Still not even a lock Barkley doesn't go to the G-Men (Why did we have to win that last game???), as their new GM says he's looking at Eli to be their QB this year (the other logic is maybe they draft a QB early to be groomed by Eli for a year or 2).

 

20 hours ago, LockeDown said:

Let's say over the next 3 seasons, a team consecutively drafts for a needed position and each time they forego picking a player with better talent despite the position.  After 3 years, they will be a less talented team by anyone's logic.   If Chubb is graded as high as Barkley, then no big deal, we get him, but if he's not, then my point stands.  

 

Depending on how the first 2 picks go, we will also have the opportunity to trade down and acquire more picks.  Having 4 first and second round talents on our roster in three years may be better than having 2 (assuming we don't trade).  There are 11 teams that need a QB (maybe 9 or 10 if you expect Redskins to resign Cousins and the Vikings to resign Keenum, Bridgewater, or Bradford).  There are 3 QBs in this draft thought to be capable of being franchise QBs (Rosen, Darnold and Josh Allen), and another couple who are on the cusp (Mayfield, Lamar Jackson and some others).  If Luck is healthy, we are the only team in the top 6 picks who doesn't need a QB (the Giants may also wait a year to find Eli's replacement).  We are  going to be in position to be able to acquire multiple additional picks in this draft.  The question for Ballard is going to be "is there a guy at 3 that is more valuable than acquiring more early picks for?" 

 

17 hours ago, Alex22 said:

Our pass rush isnt that bad. Its the game situation that limits their sack numbers. We really never played with a lead but in the games we did the pass rush looked promising. If Luck comes back and scores some points, My boy fatmanhankins is right - this D could be special. 

 

See @coltsva post below -- we had a lead at half or in the 3rd in 11 games this year.  I would say our offense never really put the fear of scoring into other teams, which could be a reason our defense didn't have a ton of opportunities for sacks (e.g., when Peyton was here we almost always played teams that knew they'd have to throw a lot to keep up and therefore Freeney and Mathis were able to pin their ears back and dial in on the QB -- Freeney was one of the worst run-defense DEs I remember watching, but only games in bad weather against top teams like Pitt or NE was he unable to be a single-dimensional DE).

 

12 hours ago, ClaytonColt said:

Is there any deficiency on our 30th ranked defense that hasn't actually been blamed on the offense at some point? 

 

It is a team game... if the offense does well it takes pressure off the defense and if the defense does well it takes pressure of the offense (and if the STs does well hopefully it takes pressure off both by giving us good field position).  I guess the point of me creating this thread was just to point out that we need help on both sides of the ball, in multiple positions.  Ballard will have a lot of options when the clock turns to us -- it'll be very interesting to see what he does with the pick.

 

7 hours ago, coltsva said:

Considering the Colts played with a lead at halftime or in the 3rd quarter in 11 games this season, our sack total is pretty poor. 

 

Agreed!!

[NDcolt]

#3 pick has to be a game changer.  Will opposing offense coordinators be up all night in fear of Chubbs or  defense coordinators scared %less w/ a Luck/Barkley combo?    Generational QB w/ a Generational RB or an avg & not a sure thing pass rusher that today’s DC’S can gameplan against to be a non factor?  

[Smonroe]

4 minutes ago, NDcolt said:

#3 pick has to be a game changer.  Will opposing offense coordinators be up all night in fear of Chubbs or  defense coordinators scared %less w/ a Luck/Barkley combo?    Generational QB w/ a Generational RB or an avg & not a sure thing pass rusher that today’s DC’S can gameplan against to be a non factor?  

 

You know, just when I was getting over wanting that new Corvette and accepting that I need to fix the roof...you have me coveting the Vette again.  

[ColtsFanMikeC]

7 minutes ago, NDcolt said:

#3 pick has to be a game changer.  Will opposing offense coordinators be up all night in fear of Chubbs or  defense coordinators scared %less w/ a Luck/Barkley combo?    Generational QB w/ a Generational RB or an avg & not a sure thing pass rusher that today’s DC’S can gameplan against to be a non factor?  

 

1 minute ago, Smonroe said:

 

You know, just when I was getting over wanting that new Corvette and accepting that I need to fix the roof...you have me coveting the Vette again.  

 

http://www.espn.com/blog/indianapolis-colts/post/_/id/22637/mel-kiper-could-make-the-argument-bradley-chubb-is-the-best-player-in-the-draft

 

I don't necessarily think Mel Kiper is the greatest, but he (and many others) think this Chubb guy is pretty legit.  He's had 10 or more sacks in 2 consecutive seasons.  At 6'4" 275 lbs., he's also got the frame to be a force to be reckoned with in the NFL.  If we are going to switch to a 4-3 D, he's a guy that could fit very nicely.

 

 

[richard pallo]

1 hour ago, ColtsFanMikeC said:

 

 

http://www.espn.com/blog/indianapolis-colts/post/_/id/22637/mel-kiper-could-make-the-argument-bradley-chubb-is-the-best-player-in-the-draft

 

I don't necessarily think Mel Kiper is the greatest, but he (and many others) think this Chubb guy is pretty legit.  He's had 10 or more sacks in 2 consecutive seasons.  At 6'4" 275 lbs., he's also got the frame to be a force to be reckoned with in the NFL.  If we are going to switch to a 4-3 D, he's a guy that could fit very nicely.

 

 

Hurst had 14 sacks and was the second most effective run stopper in the country.  Ballard really has his work cut out for him.  

[gacoop1]

Get both, Chubb and Barkley.  Trade somebody to move up.  

[BleedBlu8792]

1 hour ago, gacoop1 said:

Get both, Chubb and Barkley.  Trade somebody to move up.  

 

 this isn't Madden man...

[crazycolt1]

13 hours ago, Andrew Luck fan club said:

A lot = a ton. Petty. He held the ball for 6 seconds. Like I said, I don’t think you even watch games. 

Edit* there’s like three guys above this comment saying the same thing lol. He holds the ball too long. 

Three out of how many that thinks the Colts offensive line is good?  OK. if you say so.

[Andrew Luck fan club]

1 minute ago, crazycolt1 said:

Three out of how many that thinks the Colts offensive line is good?  OK. if you say so.

Just take your L like a man crazycolt. 

[crazycolt1]

1 minute ago, Andrew Luck fan club said:

Just take your L like a man crazycolt. 

Play your childish games for someone else.

[Andrew Luck fan club]

14 minutes ago, crazycolt1 said:

Play your childish games for someone else.

For them or with them?