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Defense Wins Championships


Caffrey

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Drafting defensive lineman may not be sexy picks but necessary for winning football.  Actually DL/Edge rushers are semi-sexy draftees.   Like when we drafted OL Q. Nelson and B. Smith, not sexy but effective for winning football and is a big reason we are considered an upper echelon team.

 

Ballard's explanation did make sense.  Re-signing Denico Autry and Justin Houston would not be cheap and drafting Paye and Dayo brings in young, quality, super athletic, players in rookie contracts.  We should not be have situations where we are constantly saying the loss of Autry and Houston is having an effect.  Every defense gives up plays once in a while, but these players should help, Dayo later in the season.  Can't wait to see them play with DeForest Buckner.  Ballard said they did check his injury status and feels good about his recovery.  Dayo mentioned the same on his interview.

 

Like mentioned, not sexy picks but as they saying goes: "DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS".

 

Another funny analogy, like in the movie Rounders, at the end of the movie, when KGB (John Malkovich) played against Matt Damon who just made his initial $1000 bet.

KGB said "very aggeeressive", telling Matt Damon (Us/Colts) of his new found confidence and "WE WONT BE PUSHED AROUND".

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There’s a reason that every team in the NFL puts a premium on their blind side offensive tackle.  

 

And, after going through what we went through with Luck, you’d think that nobody would be more sensitive to that than Colts fans...especially now that we have another QB who has missed a lot of time.

 

In retrospect, the Texans’ trade to get Tunsil looks like a debacle for the Texans and a boon for the Dolphins.  It dropped a lot of jaws at the time, too.  But O’Brien saw what happened to Luck and knew they didn’t have their golden ticket well protected.

 

To me, the lesson from that disaster of a trade isn’t so much that they put too much premium on LT and screwed their future, but that they had been derelict in addressing it to that point and thus found themselves in a desperate situation such that they had to give up the farm right at the cusp of the season to keep Watson vertical.

 

I have full trust and faith in Ballard.  And I’m sure they have options they’re considering in case we exit this draft without a starting caliber LT - as, barring a surprise, appears all but certain.  And I don’t disagree that defense wins championships....but injured quarterbacks can lose them, and much more, in an instant.

 

We need a starting caliber LT.

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22 minutes ago, luv_pony_express said:

There’s a reason that every team in the NFL puts a premium on their blind side offensive tackle.  

 

And, after going through what we went through with Luck, you’d think that nobody would be more sensitive to that than Colts fans...especially now that we have another QB who has missed a lot of time.

 

In retrospect, the Texans’ trade to get Tunsil looks like a debacle for the Texans and a boon for the Dolphins.  It dropped a lot of jaws at the time, too.  But O’Brien saw what happened to Luck and knew they didn’t have their golden ticket well protected.

 

To me, the lesson from that disaster of a trade isn’t so much that they put too much premium on LT and screwed their future, but that they had been derelict in addressing it to that point and thus found themselves in a desperate situation such that they had to give up the farm right at the cusp of the season to keep Watson vertical.

 

I have full trust and faith in Ballard.  And I’m sure they have options they’re considering in case we exit this draft without a starting caliber LT - as, barring a surprise, appears all but certain.  And I don’t disagree that defense wins championships....but injured quarterbacks can lose them, and much more, in an instant.

 

We need a starting caliber LT.

I don’t disagree but I am confident there is a plan in place to Address this, I’d estimate by end of the month

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17 minutes ago, csmopar said:

I don’t disagree but I am confident there is a plan in place to Address this, I’d estimate by end of the month

I hope you’re right.  My fear isn’t so much that they don’t have a plan, but that it doesn’t play out as expected.  There are many moving parts, but few that are in any team’s control.

 

And our apparent fallback plan to have Tevi and Davenport compete for the spot gives me the willies — we’ve seen that movie before.

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6 hours ago, Caffrey said:

Drafting defensive lineman may not be sexy picks but necessary for winning football.  Actually DL/Edge rushers are semi-sexy draftees.   Like when we drafted OL Q. Nelson and B. Smith, not sexy but effective for winning football and is a big reason we are considered an upper echelon team.

 

Ballard's explanation did make sense.  Re-signing Denico Autry and Justin Houston would not be cheap and drafting Paye and Dayo brings in young, quality, super athletic, players in rookie contracts.  We should not be have situations where we are constantly saying the loss of Autry and Houston is having an effect.  Every defense gives up plays once in a while, but these players should help, Dayo later in the season.  Can't wait to see them play with DeForest Buckner.  Ballard said they did check his injury status and feels good about his recovery.  Dayo mentioned the same on his interview.

 

Like mentioned, not sexy picks but as they saying goes: "DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS".

 

Another funny analogy, like in the movie Rounders, at the end of the movie, when KGB (John Malkovich) played against Matt Damon who just made his initial $1000 bet.

KGB said "very aggeeressive", telling Matt Damon (Us/Colts) of his new found confidence and "WE WONT BE PUSHED AROUND".

You think the Colts are upper echelon?  I don’t. I see them as a very solid well built team that are a few players away from being a Super Bowl contender. Lots of question marks. We don’t know who Wentz really is. We hope Reich can rekindle the magic but won’t know until we see him play.  LT situation as of today is still uncertain. I think we improved our pass rush but it’s not like Paye put up big sack totals at Michigan.  He plays with great burst and has good traits but he still must develop at next level.  The guy from a Vandy...I like but he is recovering from a torn Achilles and won’t be available until later in the season. You think he won’t be limited by that?  And as Irsay said...”. we need 3 corners...we got 2.”  Finally we don’t really have that big time playmaker at WR or TE. Maybe Pittman can become that but we don’t know.  Lots of questions for an “upper echelon” team. 
 

The Colts are on the cusp but we have been on the cusp for awhile now. Ballard is a slow and steady builder. He takes his time with things and isn’t the type to make moves to get us over the hump to being upper echelon in one offseason. In his mind, we are never just a player away.  I see the Colts right now as another potential playoff contender amongst a growing list of several other good teams in the AFC.  We barely made the playoffs last year.  But the upper echelon right now belongs to teams like Kansas City and Tampa Bay.   
 

Edit:  I think I took “upper echelon” and treated it like you were saying “elite”. That wasn’t fair. Apologies to you Caffery for doing that. If by upper echelon you mean playoff contender then I agree. Honestly, I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to point out why I don’t  think the Colts are the Super Bowl contender right now that some think we are and took your post as an opportunity to do that. 

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2 hours ago, Coltsman1788 said:

You think the Colts are upper echelon?  I don’t. I see them as a very solid well built team that are a few players away from being a Super Bowl contender. Lots of question marks. We don’t know who Wentz really is. We hope Reich can rekindle the magic but won’t know until we see him play.  LT situation as of today is still uncertain. I think we improved our pass rush but it’s not like Paye put up big sack totals at Michigan.  He plays with great burst and has good traits but he still must develop at next level.  The guy from a Vandy...I like but he is recovering from a torn Achilles and won’t be available until later in the season. You think he won’t be limited by that?  And as Irsay said...”. we need 3 corners...we got 2.”  Finally we don’t really have that big time playmaker at WR or TE. Maybe Pittman can become that but we don’t know.  Lots of questions for an “upper echelon” team. 
 

The Colts are on the cusp but we have been on the cusp for awhile now. Ballard is a slow and steady builder. He takes his time with things and isn’t the type to make moves to get us over the hump to being upper echelon in one offseason. In his mind, we are never just a player away.  I see the Colts right now as another potential playoff contender amongst a growing list of several other good teams in the AFC.  We barely made the playoffs last year.  But the upper echelon right now belongs to teams like Kansas City and Tampa Bay.   
 

Edit:  I think I took “upper echelon” and treated it like you were saying “elite”. That wasn’t fair. Apologies to you Caffery for doing that. If by upper echelon you mean playoff contender then I agree. Honestly, I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to point out why I don’t  think the Colts are the Super Bowl contender right now that some think we are and took your post as an opportunity to do that. 

Great points. I do think the Colts are in position to win the division. I feel like the pieces are there to become SB contenders.


 We need a QB, OT,WR, DE and CB. QB was addressed with a 1st and 3rd, OT with two FA signings(Tevi and Davenport), WR with two 2nds, a 6th and resigning Hilton, DE with four 2nds and a 1st, and CB with a 2nd, 5th and three FA signings(Moore, Rhodes and Carrie). The team is very much addressing positions needed to take the next step. These guys have to step up and develop. 

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Another perspective is the recipe to beat the AFC Champs KC Chiefs is the provide a lot of pressure on Mahomes like Tampa Bay did to him in the Super Bowl.  Granted KC had offensive line injuries but still, the pass rush did make a difference in the Super Bowl.

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The Titans stole their guy round 2 IMO, right in their faces.  I think Ballard has done a good job as usual (his picks are all players I like) but he got outmaneuvered with the most important hole in his roster.  Which is also really important for maximizing return on Wentz.

 

Not gonna complain and moan about it.  Is what it is.  I'm just really surprised they didn't add an OT they really like.

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9 hours ago, Coltsman1788 said:

Edit:  I think I took “upper echelon” and treated it like you were saying “elite”. That wasn’t fair. Apologies to you Caffery for doing that. If by upper echelon you mean playoff contender then I agree. Honestly, I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to point out why I don’t  think the Colts are the Super Bowl contender right now that some think we are and took your post as an opportunity to do that. 


Upper echelon roster that is going to compete every year... absolutely

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I agree whole heartedly. I believe we just had an amazing draft. If Paye and Dayo live up to our staff’s expectations, our defense just transformed from “good” to “elite.” I understand the concern with the ? at LT, but 3/5 of the OL are pro bowl caliber players - that’s probably tops in the NFL. Even with perhaps a slightly below average LT, our OL as a whole will still be one of the best in the league. Conversely, as good as the defense was last year, pass rush was glaringly weak, particularly at the end of the year. Paye and Dayo, as Irsay stated, have the potential to push our team to a Super Bowl caliber level. There’s a lot of reason for excitement.

 

As alluded to by others in this thread already, just look at Tampa Bay last year as an example. You know why the Bucs were able to come out of Green Bay with a victory despite Tom Brady throwing 3 INTs? Pass rush. The lack of is why Indy come up short vs Buffalo despite Rivers playing a nearly flawless game. If you think a 1st round or 2nd round selection would have solved our issue at LT, then apply that same logic to our back to back selections of edge rusher. Get excited about it, because if they elevate our pass rush, our defense just became maybe the best in the league. With Wentz and our run game, that will equate to a lot of wins, and a team no one will want to face in the postseason.

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On 5/1/2021 at 6:25 AM, luv_pony_express said:

There’s a reason that every team in the NFL puts a premium on their blind side offensive tackle.  

 

And, after going through what we went through with Luck, you’d think that nobody would be more sensitive to that than Colts fans...especially now that we have another QB who has missed a lot of time.

 

In retrospect, the Texans’ trade to get Tunsil looks like a debacle for the Texans and a boon for the Dolphins.  It dropped a lot of jaws at the time, too.  But O’Brien saw what happened to Luck and knew they didn’t have their golden ticket well protected.

 

To me, the lesson from that disaster of a trade isn’t so much that they put too much premium on LT and screwed their future, but that they had been derelict in addressing it to that point and thus found themselves in a desperate situation such that they had to give up the farm right at the cusp of the season to keep Watson vertical.

 

I have full trust and faith in Ballard.  And I’m sure they have options they’re considering in case we exit this draft without a starting caliber LT - as, barring a surprise, appears all but certain.  And I don’t disagree that defense wins championships....but injured quarterbacks can lose them, and much more, in an instant.

 

We need a starting caliber LT.

Just a reminder that Castonzo was Luck's LT.

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On 5/1/2021 at 1:47 AM, Caffrey said:

Drafting defensive lineman may not be sexy picks but necessary for winning football.  Actually DL/Edge rushers are semi-sexy draftees.   Like when we drafted OL Q. Nelson and B. Smith, not sexy but effective for winning football and is a big reason we are considered an upper echelon team.

 

Ballard's explanation did make sense.  Re-signing Denico Autry and Justin Houston would not be cheap and drafting Paye and Dayo brings in young, quality, super athletic, players in rookie contracts.  We should not be have situations where we are constantly saying the loss of Autry and Houston is having an effect.  Every defense gives up plays once in a while, but these players should help, Dayo later in the season.  Can't wait to see them play with DeForest Buckner.  Ballard said they did check his injury status and feels good about his recovery.  Dayo mentioned the same on his interview.

 

Like mentioned, not sexy picks but as they saying goes: "DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS".

 

Another funny analogy, like in the movie Rounders, at the end of the movie, when KGB (John Malkovich) played against Matt Damon who just made his initial $1000 bet.

KGB said "very aggeeressive", telling Matt Damon (Us/Colts) of his new found confidence and "WE WONT BE PUSHED AROUND".

I'm giving this a like without even reading it. (Promise I will). It's true. It's proven. Anyone who's ever played in the snow knows why this is just true.

 

 

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