Ballard and Versatility

[Lucky Colts Fan]

I want people to really listen to Ballard when he talks about players.  He brings up versatility all the time.  And for good reason.  Injuries are part of the game.  Facing different schemes from week to week is part of the game.  Playing in different locations/climates/conditions/atmospheres is part of the game.  Shoot, just having to react to what the opposing coach is calling on each series is part of the game.  We need a complete team that can compete in any circumstance they might face the upcoming week.

 

There will be times when that's a hot-weather outdoor game in Jacksonville in September, and we need the kind of depth to win a war of attrition when guys start cramping up because of heat and humidity.  Guys might need to be able to slide over or fill in for a few plays, so we need that versatility.

 

There will be times when that's an indoor home game in Lucas Oil in October that turns into a track meet, and we need our workout-warrior athletic-freak of a team to outplay another great athletic team like the Rams in a barn-burning 45-42 victory.  We may have to abandon the run on both offense and defense to keep up with some team at some point, so being able to put certain speed packages together with different versatile personnel could be crucial.

 

There may be a time when we have a road playoff-game in January where we have to go play in the snow in Baltimore or KC or Buffalo.  (God I would LOVE an AFCCG in Buffalo where the Colts win 3-0 with Blankenship kicking a game-winner in OT in a foot of snow)  If we have a late-season bad-weather game, we'll need to be able to play bully-ball with big packages.

 

Almost every player that Ballard acquires is usually really good at one thing, but also versatile enough to do other things well enough to get the job done.  There's a lot of work to do to reach the mountaintop, but Ballard is putting together a team that can handle adversity and win no matter where, when, or who they play.