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Ballard looking like a genius


danlhart87

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2 minutes ago, danlhart87 said:

Drafting Taylor and Blackmon to replace Mack and Hooker...

 

Imagine if he didn't 

Yep.

He's done well enough with previous picks that he can now draft depth and replacement parts for contracts that are about to expire.  Hitting in the draft makes everything else easier.  He's been really good.

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Just now, jvan1973 said:

He is a rookie.   The penalties came on run blocks.  Pretty sure that's easily cleaned up.   

 

How about Buckner 

Buckner is an elite player.  I think Colts had a great game on D. However , I really think the Diggs trade was disastrous for them. Thielen is over rated and not a #1. I think it allowed the Colts to play a lot of man as they didnt have to deal with a lot of team speed on the Vikings side of the ball. I will reserve judgement  until they play an offence with more weapons.

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1 hour ago, jvan1973 said:

He is a rookie.   The penalties came on run blocks.  Pretty sure that's easily cleaned up.   

 

How about Buckner today??

Buckner was a beast. Honestly, his numbers looked really good for an interior D lineman last week.  6 tackles. 4 solo. 1.5 tackles for loss.  He’s another sign that Ballard is on his game.  Taylor, Blackmon, Pittman, & Buckner all made plays today.  If Campbell is done for the season, watch out for Patmon being another new addition that contributes. Oh and Rodrigo was money in the bank...

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Ballard is channeling his inner "Madden" during every draft (to anyone who plays Madden Franchise mode and excels at the drafts, they know I'm giving Ballard the ultimate compliment). He has basically mastered the draft down to a T at this point where we have unfair expectations for him. I love it! :) 

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5 hours ago, danlhart87 said:

Drafting Taylor and Blackmon to replace Mack and Hooker...

 

Imagine if he didn't 

lol.

 

Last game Mack was out, Williams ran for 100+ yards in two straight games against division foes. Williams is now on the Lions practice squad. Not saying Taylor isn't going to be awesome, and not saying he wasn't a great pick in the 2nd... Just saying the genius stuff is a little out there.

 

On Blackmon, way too early. Super glad to have him. I was hoping he'd replace Wills though. We still haven't seen him alone in coverage, or against a good passing O/QB. He's definitely a thumper though. He laid wood big time at Utah. Likely a steal due to the injury. The bag on him is range. I like his chances though. If he wasn't here, I think Odom would have been just fine vs Cousins. He played very well last year when Hooker was out.

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The rookies all played pretty well yesterday.  Taylor, Blackmon, and Hot Rod had the biggest games.  Pittman keeps finding a spot in the offense and helping which is good for a rookie WR early in the year.  He needs to clean up his blocking but seeing as he’s a rookie with no real off-season program and limited training camp I think he’s struggling adjusting to the speed of the game a little bit.  He looked a half step slow on the two flags and just blocked late.  That will come in time.  Painter is the sixth offensive linemen and the line had a good day.  I have a feeling we are going to see a pass to him out of the formation before the year is over.  Rodgers and Glasgow both had a tackle and the later is finding a role in special teams.  
 

Clearly we didn’t see Eason but reports are he looked good in warmups and continues to put in the work and improve.  That was knock on him coming out of college was that he wouldn’t put in the work so that’s good to see he is.  
 

The only other guys were Patmon and Windsor.  Both of which are little bit of projects and will probably only see time this year with injuries and with Windsor he would have to be signed to the active roster first.  
 

 

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9 hours ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Ballard is channeling his inner "Madden" during every draft (to anyone who plays Madden Franchise mode and excels at the drafts, they know I'm giving Ballard the ultimate compliment). He has basically mastered the draft down to a T at this point where we have unfair expectations for him. I love it! :) 

Gotta say, a positive post from you is a welcomed thing. :thmup:

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10 hours ago, pgt_rob said:

It sucks that it’s happening how it did so early on.  But it’s exciting to see the next man up actually play well. Remember the Grigson days? A starter would get hurt and there would Joe Blow from the street get thrown in and get torched. 


 

what I hate about those days is that people really don’t understand how bad our team really was because luck masked a lot of our weaknesses kind of like how Peyton did.

 

 

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10 hours ago, pgt_rob said:

It sucks that it’s happening how it did so early on.  But it’s exciting to see the next man up actually play well. Remember the Grigson days? A starter would get hurt and there would Joe Blow from the street get thrown in and get torched. 

And yet he never had a losing season, even the year he had to use 5 QBs he still went 8-8.

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I thought it was a stroke of obvious common sense to not extend Hooker and Mack, when they aren't very special.  And since that would leave a hole at two starting positions after this season, it was another stroke of common sense to draft their replacements.

 

Looks like that's happening sooner than expected.

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10 hours ago, AZColt11 said:

It's funny how much this forum swings week to week.  What will it be like when they lose to the Jets next week?  Stay tuned......

 

Joking of course

 

The Jaguars are still looking like a pesky team we should have won against, if we would have played up to our talent. The margin of winning and losing, however, is thin in the NFL and if you bring your B game versus A game, you always stand a good chance of losing. 

 

Even in 2018, after we started 0-1, we tied with the then Alex Smith led Redskins (now WFT) to 1-1. Then, we went down a spiral to go down 1-5. As much as the Jets may look weak on paper, we have to go out there and play our A game to win. If we win by double digits, that would be as expected in fans' eyes but most coaches and players will tell you, no apologies for a win even if it is by the skin of your teeth.

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11 hours ago, EastStreet said:

lol.

 

Last game Mack was out, Williams ran for 100+ yards in two straight games against division foes. Williams is now on the Lions practice squad. Not saying Taylor isn't going to be awesome, and not saying he wasn't a great pick in the 2nd... Just saying the genius stuff is a little out there.

 

On Blackmon, way too early. Super glad to have him. I was hoping he'd replace Wills though. We still haven't seen him alone in coverage, or against a good passing O/QB. He's definitely a thumper though. He laid wood big time at Utah. Likely a steal due to the injury. The bag on him is range. I like his chances though. If he wasn't here, I think Odom would have been just fine vs Cousins. He played very well last year when Hooker was out.

I still think that speaks to Ballard's genius.  Yeah Williams isn't with the colts anymore and on the Lions practics squad, but it's pretty ingenious to be able to put in RBs for career performances, whether they come form the street or the 2nd round.  It's even more genius to hire the head coach that understands how to use those players and get them to perform above the expectation . . . even if for a game or two.

 

Also agree on Blackmon.  Still good to see him come in and perform.  That still speaks loudly, IMO.

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3 hours ago, JPFolks said:

And yet he never had a losing season, even the year he had to use 5 QBs he still went 8-8.

I can't wait for the day when people stop saying this sort of thing.  Bottom line is Grigson left the Colts in worse condition overall than he found it, despite taking over after the lost 2011 year without Manning.  Yes, he went 8-8 in 2015 with 5 QBs.  Then he went 8-8 again with a full year of Andrew Luck.  Grigson was not good.  Please stop romanticizing it...

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