My Two Favorite Post-Draft Quotes from the "Experts"

[Archer]

1) SI's Andy Benoit gave the Colts a D+ for their first-round pick of Quenton Nelson (the worst grade he gave in the round).  His logic was this: "…have you seen this defense?  It's only true three-down players are Malik Hooker and corner Quincy Wilson - and both have played just half a rookie season in the NFL.  Every other player, save for maybe edge men Jabaal Sheard and John Simon if we're being generous, is a situational piece.  And with (the new scheme), it's hard to envision many situations where those guys would work."

 

2) This'll have to be a paraphrase, because I haven't been able to find this in writing anywhere.  I think it must of been said by Matt Williamson on his podcast, but I remember it pretty well.  "The Colts are five defensive players short of just being terrible."

 

Wonder how these guys' analysis skills are working out for them...

[gspdx]

Well - since in this capacity of rating someone else's work is actually meaningless I guess they are doing just fine.

 

If they actually had to use their analysis skills to help a team in the draft maybe they would work for Grigson or Chris Polian.

[csmopar]

To be fair, looking at the roster going in, NOBODY expected them to be playing at this level.  And after the first 4 games of the year, they looked like itd be a very long season for the D.  They've grown very well.  

[buccolts]

What do you expect them to say about a team they know nothing about?

[dodsworth]

I don't think these guys realized how many times per game our quarterbacks have been flat backed.

 

The roster was loaded with holes and

to be sniffing the playoffs is pretty

amazing.

[dodsworth]

Ballard and his scouts along with the

imploded new coaching staff deserve

a lot of respect for what they have 

accomplished this year.

[LockeDown]

“Experts” are always predicting stuff.  That’s their problem. They can’t predict stuff.  If You yell Flame On and you aren’t covered with flames  then your not the Human Torch.  

[Boiler_Colt]

Most pro football twitter pundits couldn't find Indianapolis on a map. The talking heads on NFL Network can't even spell it.

[jameszeigler834]

25 minutes ago, dodsworth said:

Ballard and his scouts along with the

imploded new coaching staff deserve

a lot of respect for what they have 

accomplished this year.

Yes they do Colts and their fans are again getting the last laugh here.

[lollygagger8]

I put analysts up there with lawyers and weathermen. 

 

They say whatever they want and get away with it whether they are right or wrong. Seems like they make it up as they go along and people just keep letting them.  

[#12.]

Overall, most pundits were positive about the Nelson pick, especially with Luck coming back after missing time.  

 

After that, people were uncertain, just as many Colts fans were uncertain.  On the draft forum, in the five months leading up to it, one poster picked Turay, and it was an April Fools Day joke.  It was the only time his name was mentioned prior to the draft.

[Scott Pennock]

10 minutes ago, #12. said:

Overall, most pundits were positive about the Nelson pick, especially with Luck coming back after missing time.  

 

After that, people were uncertain, just as many Colts fans were uncertain.  On the draft forum, in the five months leading up to it, one poster picked Turay, and it was an April Fools Day joke.  It was the only time his name was mentioned prior to the draft.

That is very much false.....as far back as January there were posters with Turay in their mock drafts to the Colts.....

 

Which puts the second part of your statement in the very same ballpark as the quoted and paraphrased gentleman the OP listed.

[NewEra]

34 minutes ago, lollygagger8 said:

I put analysts up there with lawyers and weathermen. 

 

They say whatever they want and get away with it whether they are right or wrong. Seems like they make it up as they go along and people just keep letting them.  

I'd put them on par with flat earthers

[Jason_]

1 hour ago, buccolts said:

What do you expect them to say about a team they know nothing about?

 

Nothing...find someone that DOES know something about the team and let them report.

[#12.]

25 minutes ago, Scott Pennock said:

That is very much false.....as far back as January there were posters with Turay in their mock drafts to the Colts.....

 

Which puts the second part of your statement in the very same ballpark as the quoted and paraphrased gentleman the OP listed.

 

Okay, I went back through the threads.  You're right, he was mocked to the Colts once in the 7th in January and once more in the 4th early on.  Yes, Colts fans were all over that one. lol

 

Other than that, he was only mocked to other teams in a league-wide draft or mentioned as a general prospect...  far down the list.

 

 

[braveheartcolt]

16 minutes ago, NewEra said:

I'd put them on par with flat earthers

If the earth was tackled by Big Q, it would be flat. Just sayin'.....

[buccolts]

12 minutes ago, J@son said:

 

Nothing...find someone that DOES know something about the team and let them report.

 

Sorry, I was talking about the people who actually said those things.

You're talking about they're bosses...... and I agree with you.       

Heck, I could say that about most of them.

[coltsva]

Having the means to communicate an opinion to the masses doesn't make someone an expert. There are very few experts out there that aren't self proclaimed.

[Hoose]

1 hour ago, Boiler_Colt said:

Most pro football twitter pundits couldn't find Indianapolis on a map. The talking heads on NFL Network can't even spell it.

So true. 

[Four2itus]

 I find Elliot Harrison's preseason ranking of the Colts @ 32nd to be my fave....

[MacDee1975]

2 hours ago, csmopar said:

To be fair, looking at the roster going in, NOBODY expected them to be playing at this level.  And after the first 4 games of the year, they looked like itd be a very long season for the D.  They've grown very well.  

 

The people who scouted, evaluated and signed them did.

[NewColtsFan]

I appreciate that bashing “the media” is a growth industry here....   much of it based on the perceived anti-Indianapolis bias....    but to be honest, most posters here were not happy with Ballard’s draft after the first two days...    

 

Posters didn’t like Nelson at pick 6.

 

Pisters didn’t like Leonard at 36.   Or Smith at 37.    Or Turay at 52.    Or Lewis at 64.

 

There we’re lots and lots of unhappy posters for quite some time...   

 

And even NOW, with the benefit of hindsight, and knowing that the draft was a home run,  I see posts complaining about Cain and Fountain.   A number of posters are quite convinced they know better than Ballard....

[gspdx]

7 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

I appreciate that bashing “the media” is a growth industry here....   much of it based on the perceived anti-Indianapolis bias....    but to be honest, most posters here were not happy with Ballard’s draft after the first two days...    

 

Posters didn’t like Nelson at pick 6.

 

Pisters didn’t like Leonard at 36.   Or Smith at 37.    Or Turay at 52.    Or Lewis at 64.

 

There we’re lots and lots of unhappy posters for quite some time...   

 

And even NOW, with the benefit of hindsight, and knowing that the draft was a home run,  I see posts complaining about Cain and Fountain.   A number of posters are quite convinced they know better than Ballard....

I for one was VERY happy with the Nelson pick.  Certainly wasn't the sexy pick of some great receiver or pass rusher - but he is exactly what we needed, assuming he lived up to the expectations.  So for one guy to say the draft was D- BECAUSE of that pick is just silly.  

 

And what is a pister?

[braveheartcolt]

26 minutes ago, Four2itus said:

 I find Elliot Harrison's preseason ranking of the Colts @ 32nd to be my fave....

Where would you have placed them and why? I think a lot of pundits banked on Luck not being healthy.......most of this kind of stuff is guesswork anyway, not sure why people worry about it.

[csmopar]

51 minutes ago, MacDee1975 said:

 

The people who scouted, evaluated and signed them did.

You know what I mean... I’m talking about the talking heads and 99 percent of those on this very forum 

[BOTT]

Meh, Bill Polian is a legend and he preferred RG3 over Luck.

 

Forum legend BOTT has been wrong on every pass rusher for 3 years.

[Four2itus]

49 minutes ago, braveheartcolt said:

Where would you have placed them and why? I think a lot of pundits banked on Luck not being healthy.......most of this kind of stuff is guesswork anyway, not sure why people worry about it.

Not worried about it, but considering we won 4 games last year without our starting QB, what the heck?

 

Btw....I have watched his rankings ever since, and every week, we had the lowest rankings of teams that we shared the same record with....until this week. 

 

I would have placed them around 23 to 24. New coaching staff that starts with a head coach that was part of the last years SB winning staff, gets a 2 win bump regardless of who plays QB, and a 6 win team does not deserve 32nd. 

[aaron11]

power rankings are a snap shot, not a season long prediction.  they did also start 1-5 to be fair

[Myles]

1 hour ago, gspdx said:

I for one was VERY happy with the Nelson pick.  Certainly wasn't the sexy pick of some great receiver or pass rusher - but he is exactly what we needed, assuming he lived up to the expectations.  So for one guy to say the draft was D- BECAUSE of that pick is just silly.  

 

And what is a pister?

I also was all on board with Nelson.   I thought they should of taken him at #3 if they stayed there.

 

 

[Surge89]

3 hours ago, #12. said:

 

Okay, I went back through the threads.  You're right, he was mocked to the Colts once in the 7th in January and once more in the 4th early on.  Yes, Colts fans were all over that one. lol

 

Other than that, he was only mocked to other teams in a league-wide draft or mentioned as a general prospect...  far down the list.

 

 

 

That's still incorrect. Me and stitches (might have been another poster) both had Turay in our lists of potentials almost the entire process.  

 

I didn't have him valued as a 2nd rounder though because of how raw he was. (Glad I was wrong) and he was more of a 6th on my sheet so you do have a point there.

[Scott Pennock]

3 hours ago, #12. said:

 

Okay, I went back through the threads.  You're right, he was mocked to the Colts once in the 7th in January and once more in the 4th early on.  Yes, Colts fans were all over that one. lol

 

Other than that, he was only mocked to other teams in a league-wide draft or mentioned as a general prospect...  far down the list.

 

 

I was more or less giving you the business....lol

[braveheartcolt]

1 hour ago, Four2itus said:

Not worried about it, but considering we won 4 games last year without our starting QB, what the heck?

 

Btw....I have watched his rankings ever since, and every week, we had the lowest rankings of teams that we shared the same record with....until this week. 

 

I would have placed them around 23 to 24. New coaching staff that starts with a head coach that was part of the last years SB winning staff, gets a 2 win bump regardless of who plays QB, and a 6 win team does not deserve 32nd. 

I'm not a fan of his, nor David Carr, who does his best not to like Luck.

 

A rookie HC could still have taken us backwards. I had us at 11-5, based on Luck being CBPOY and our easy schedule....

 

But I could have been way out.

[coltfaninnewyork]

Ballard a genius ,were not worthy!

[horseshoecrabs]

3 hours ago, BOTT said:

Meh, Bill Polian is a legend and he preferred RG3 over Luck.

 

Forum legend BOTT has been wrong on every pass rusher for 3 years.

He did get Manning over Leaf right. 

[#12.]

2 hours ago, Surge89 said:

 

That's still incorrect. Me and stitches (might have been another poster) both had Turay in our lists of potentials almost the entire process.  

 

I didn't have him valued as a 2nd rounder though because of how raw he was. (Glad I was wrong) and he was more of a 6th on my sheet so you do have a point there.

 

Well yeah, if you make a seven round list of 2018 DE prospects, he's bound to pop up somewhere on the list.  

 

Look, I didn't go through everything with a fine tooth comb, but what I went through genereally matched my memories of it.  Outside of this guy picking him in the 7th round in January and someone else in the 4th round in February, he was only mentioned as a general prospect.  No one saw Turay coming.

[rock8591]

6 hours ago, NewEra said:

I'd put them on par with flat earthers

 

As Bob Knight would say, 10 levels below prostitutes.

[Surge89]

27 minutes ago, #12. said:

 

Well yeah, if you make a seven round list of 2018 DE prospects, he's bound to pop up somewhere on the list.  

 

Look, I didn't go through everything with a fine tooth comb, but what I went through genereally matched my memories of it.  Outside of this guy picking him in the 7th round in January and someone else in the 4th round in February, he was only mentioned as a general prospect.  No one saw Turay coming.

 

Yeah as I was typing out my response I was like "actually this guy has a valid point" lol.... 

[ColtsBlueFL]

4 hours ago, gspdx said:

I for one was VERY happy with the Nelson pick. 

 

Same here, especially at #6.

 

4 hours ago, gspdx said:

Certainly wasn't the sexy pick of some great receiver or pass rusher - but he is exactly what we needed, assuming he lived up to the expectations.  So for one guy to say the draft was D- BECAUSE of that pick is just silly.  

 

And what is a pister?

 

An upset poster?

[jvan1973]

4 hours ago, BOTT said:

Meh, Bill Polian is a legend and he preferred RG3 over Luck.

 

Forum legend BOTT has been wrong on every pass rusher for 3 years.

Yeah,   I'm not sure that's correct

[Yoshinator]

I personally loved Nelson, and I liked our day 2 picks as players, I just thought they were mostly 3rd round talent drafted in the 2nd round. Maybe Ballard had to take them in those spots or they would of went. He had more info in that regard. Just glad we got Leonard, Smith, Turay, and Lewis where we did.