It's Time to Start Questioning Ballard

[Nickster]

I feel that we have a lot of question marks at the most difficult positions to fill.  The Andy Luck thing sucked, but that's over now.  The lack of pass rush and receiving threat is glaring IMO.  Only rush we got was on blitzes and we won't be able to blitz with the deficits in the secondary.  Our Safeties aren't very good.  They can't even hold the top on the defense in deep C2. This was a glaring hole last year and yesterday it looked even worse.  That's uhh, well not good.  

 

I haven't seen the film, but on TV it sure looked like Wentz was struggling finding open receivers even the times he did have time.  My guess is they weren't open. 

 

Leonard was godawful and that contract will not play out well.  Dude can't guard.  Completely lost out there.  Sure he's good for a turnover on occasion, but if he can't cover any better, this will be one of the worst contracts in Colts' history.  The problem will not be so much DLs play, he will be an OK LB at the worst, the problem will be there is so much tied into his money situation that we can't fill positions of need.  We have way too much invested in positions that are more easily replaceable like WILL, LG, RT, C and RB.  Those are literally possibly the easiest 4 positions to fill along with RG and SS.  Ballard has tried to build from the easiest positions to the hardest positions, and I don't think that is going to work ultimately.

 

This team is set up to compete now.   Contracts are coming due, and we don't have banks of picks like CB had been accumulating in order to rebuild it.  So if we don't have what we need on the field now. It's going to be very difficult to build it without the high and numerous picks CB acquired in the past.  

 

I personally don't see a very positive outcome here.  The one thing I will reserve judgement for though is the lines.  The OLINE was nicked the entire preseason, but you can't go into a season with Tevi and/or Davenport expected to take significant snaps and expect to compete.  They should be better, if Smith ain't, we are going to be lucky to win 5 like the one guy predicted.  He was sooooo bad.  I expect this unit to be better.  The Dline still has a year to prove it IMO.  Turay can't get on the field, so it is time to quit considering him.  Didn't expect Paye to get much pressure this year, and he didn't yesterday.  But by next year hopefully we will have something with Paye and Dayo.

 

Thoughts on CB right now?  Not looking for any rah rah homer crapola here.  

 

 

 

 

[lollygagger8]

Hate to burst your bubble... but Ballard ain't going anywhere. 

 

[Four2itus]

This reaction should win some kind of award. Or should I say perhaps....overreaction?

[Nickster]

I'm not talking only about this game Four.  I have been critical of Ballard in the past.  I think he gets a wierd pass on this MB.  I am not saying this thing is bound for failure either, it just looks like it's going to be difficult.  

[RollerColt]

I've been waiting for this type of post to happen. You're not going to get a good concrete answer on Ballard until the season is over, and even then I wouldn't expect a big change in terms of administration. 

 

Question away, but just understand that after one game this season it's going to look more like a knee-jerk reaction. You'll have to look at his entire body of work, and yes that means putting the QB position into consideration on top of everything else. 

[MPStack]

After the first game of 2021, it is definitely premature. However, if the Colts go 1-5 or 0-5 and miss the playoffs, I would say to the “Ballard walks on water folks” he has failed as GM. 

 

 

 

[Nickster]

1 minute ago, RollerColt said:

I've been waiting for this type of post to happen. You're not going to get a good concrete answer on Ballard until the season is over, and even then I wouldn't expect a big change in terms of administration. 

 

Question away, but just understand that after one game this season it's going to look more like a knee-jerk reaction. You'll have to look at his entire body of work, and yes that means putting the QB position into consideration on top of everything else. 

 

I know what it looks like, but these are all things I've discussed in the past.

 

It's just that I've seen all kinds of criticism, and very little at Ballard.  I think it's time to question whether or not this thing is well constructed. 

 

Once the homer guys wade in and out with their indignations that will be largely ignored, I'd be interested to see what people really think of the direction of the talent here. 

 

I am not sure this thing is destined for the Hell of mediocrity, but it appears to be trending in that direction.  I think Rivers covered up a lot of ugly last year and the soft schedule gave us a false sense of the team IMO.

3 minutes ago, MPStack said:

After the first game of 2021, it is definitely premature. However, if the Colts go 1-5 or 0-5 and miss the playoffs, I would say to the “Ballard walks on water folks” he has failed as GM. 

 

 

 

 

I am not saying that the jury should be convening on the whole case right now, but what do you think so far of the position the team is in talent/contract wise?  

[Nickster]

9 minutes ago, RollerColt said:

I've been waiting for this type of post to happen. You're not going to get a good concrete answer on Ballard until the season is over, and even then I wouldn't expect a big change in terms of administration. 

 

Question away, but just understand that after one game this season it's going to look more like a knee-jerk reaction. You'll have to look at his entire body of work, and yes that means putting the QB position into consideration on top of everything else. 

and this is season what 5 for Ballard?  So this isn't a one game deal as far as I'm concerned. 

[DougDew]

25 minutes ago, Nickster said:

Ballard has tried to build from the easiest positions to the hardest positions, and I don't think that is going to work ultimately

That's a pretty good way of stating it.  Its also because he inherited talent at many of the hardest positions, so he didn't have to try to fill them. 

 

He's done a pretty good job of finding vets to fill in the positions, but they eventually must give way to permanent replacements.  Its something we're all looking for.

 

But I would give this season a chance to season first. 

[Mr.Debonair]

You’re not allowed to do that here lol. Find someone else to target. 

[coltsfeva]

14 minutes ago, Nickster said:

I feel that we have a lot of question marks at the most difficult positions to fill.  The Andy Luck thing sucked, but that's over now.  The lack of pass rush and receiving threat is glaring IMO.  Only rush we got was on blitzes and we won't be able to blitz with the deficits in the secondary.  Our Safeties aren't very good.  They can't even hold the top on the defense in deep C2. This was a glaring hole last year and yesterday it looked even worse.  That's uhh, well not good.  

 

I haven't seen the film, but on TV it sure looked like Wentz was struggling finding open receivers even the times he did have time.  My guess is they weren't open. 

 

Leonard was godawful and that contract will not play out well.  Dude can't guard.  Completely lost out there.  Sure he's good for a turnover on occasion, but if he can't cover any better, this will be one of the worst contracts in Colts' history.  The problem will not be so much DLs play, he will be an OK LB at the worst, the problem will be there is so much tied into his money situation that we can't fill positions of need.  We have way too much invested in positions that are more easily replaceable like WILL, LG, RT, C and RB.  Those are literally possibly the easiest 4 positions to fill along with RG and SS.  Ballard has tried to build from the easiest positions to the hardest positions, and I don't think that is going to work ultimately.

 

This team is set up to compete now.   Contracts are coming due, and we don't have banks of picks like CB had been accumulating in order to rebuild it.  So if we don't have what we need on the field now. It's going to be very difficult to build it without the high and numerous picks CB acquired in the past.  

 

I personally don't see a very positive outcome here.  The one thing I will reserve judgement for though is the lines.  The OLINE was nicked the entire preseason, but you can't go into a season with Tevi and/or Davenport expected to take significant snaps and expect to compete.  They should be better, if Smith ain't, we are going to be lucky to win 5 like the one guy predicted.  He was sooooo bad.  I expect this unit to be better.  The Dline still has a year to prove it IMO.  Turay can't get on the field, so it is time to quit considering him.  Didn't expect Paye to get much pressure this year, and he didn't yesterday.  But by next year hopefully we will have something with Paye and Dayo.

 

Thoughts on CB right now?  Not looking for any rah rah homer crapola here.  

 

 

 

 

  I expected this team to have a tough start, given the lack of playing together on the Oline, the absence of TY, Wentz missing snaps in OTAs, etc.

   The Colts are going to get better as the season goes on and I think Ballard has done a good job of managing the cap, drafting and getting decent FAs to build a solid team. 
    Your post is a definite overreaction to one loss of a 17 game season. 

[Nickster]

4 minutes ago, DougDew said:

That's a pretty good way of stating it.  Its also because he inherited talent at the hardest positions, so he didn't have to try to fill them. 

 

He's done a pretty good job of finding vets to fill in the positions, but they eventually must give way to permanent replacements.  Its something we're all looking for.

 

But I would give this season a chance to season first. 

 

Oh I will watch the season, but this is an MB Doug, and come on, after what 4+ seasons what are your impressions of where we stand as a franchise going forward?  It's a fan MB for crying out loud.  

[RollerColt]

3 minutes ago, Nickster said:

 

I know what it looks like, but these are all things I've discussed in the past.

 

It's just that I've seen all kinds of criticism, and very little at Ballard.  I think it's time to question whether or not this thing is well constructed. 

 

Once the homer guys wade in and out with their indignations that will be largely ignored, I'd be interested to see what people really think of the direction of the talent here. 

 

I am not sure this thing is destined for the Hell of mediocrity, but it appears to be trending in that direction.  I think Rivers covered up a lot of ugly last year and the soft schedule gave us a false sense of the team IMO.

 

I am not saying that the jury should be convening on the whole case right now, but what do you think so far of the position the team is in talent/contract wise?  

I'll go ahead and tell you my feelings. Unsure. I've played football, coached a little, but as far as the admin side I don't have experience so my opinion is simply an opinion and shouldn't be held in much regard. 

 

I don't think Ballard is as bad as some make him, and I don't he's as good as others make him either. I do seriously like his approach to being honest upfront on what he wants to do with his team. I also think he can be pretty good at finding talent. 

 

I don't know of many GMs who have had to deal with what he's faced in his first five years. Not too many would be that successful with how many problems the teams has had over the years. Luck retiring, Rivers retiring, unexpected coaching changes and so on. And I think that's why Irsay is pretty chill, because he knows it's been quite frankly a ridiculous amount of issues to overcome. 

 

I don't think our team is close to being a contender yet. I think it's going to be a long, long build before we get there. Unfortunately, how long is too long for patience? 

[Nickster]

1 minute ago, coltsfeva said:

  I expected this team to have a tough start, given the lack of playing together on the Oline, the absence of TY, Wentz missing snaps in OTAs, etc.

   The Colts are going to get better as the season goes on and I think Ballard has done a good job of managing the cap, drafting and getting decent FAs to build a solid team. 
    Your post is a definite overreaction to one loss of a 17 game season. 

 

I'm not talking about only one game.  Like I said, I could go back and show that I and a few others have been questioning most of these points for a while now.

 

I'd just like to see if we can break through the ole, Well Ballard thinks so or In Ballard we Trust thing. 

[John Hammonds]

It's one game folks.  It's only one game.

 

Did anything happen in this game that we didn't predict?  That the game plan for Wentz would be fairly vanilla, due to his lack of preseason practice time with the team?  That the Offensive Line would be shaky, both because Fisher wasn't present, and because they hadn't practiced much together due to injury/covid?  That the starting receiving corp was more projection than production at this point, without proven success yet?  That we were relying on a rookie DE and a previous backup DE for our QB pressure, and our best pass rusher was out with an injury?  That with our best corner out with an injury, we had to rely on unproven and shaky DB's?  Yes, it sure felt like we lost 50-6.  But it was 28-16.  About where many of us predicted the game would finish.

 

In the meantime, we play the next game.  And the next game.  And the next game.

 

I'm not going to call for Ballard's head, or Reich's head, or anybody's head after only one game.

 

"We'll see", said the Zen Master -- Charlie Wilson's War

[coming on strong]

What worries me about Ballard is he thought Lewis and aqm were good enough to be starters . Also his depth tackle signings are all really bad . Other than that I think he has done well in finding talent just corner and pass rushers he has gotten no stars . 

[coming on strong]

It’s still to early to question Ballard in my opinion.  if guys like paye Lewis aqm, turray , rock , Willis all flop and the defense goes back wards I will question Him . If all our young wrs flop and wentz plays bad then it’s different .  By the end of the season we will know . 

[MPStack]

18 minutes ago, Nickster said:

 

I am not saying that the jury should be convening on the whole case right now, but what do you think so far of the position the team is in talent/contract wise?  

Firstly, I support Ballard. I think he’s done some good things for the organization. 
 

I think the Colts are still lacking in a lot of talent and there are several high draft capital picks taking up space. Turay, Banogu and Lewis. 
 

Personally, I think he went the cheap route at QB with Wentz. Now, Wentz might work out, but I’m very skeptical. I didn’t like the trade, especially if the Colts miss the playoffs and Wentz plays 75% of the season (no 1st).

 

There is a lot invested in non-premium positions, like Dougdew pointed out. 
 

This team could very well being heading in the wrong direction in year five with Ballard and without a first Rd pick in 2022. 
 

Hope I’m wrong, wrong and wrong. 

[Nickster]

1 minute ago, RollerColt said:

I'll go ahead and tell you my feelings. Unsure. I've played football, coached a little, but as far as the admin side I don't have experience so my opinion is simply an opinion and shouldn't be held in much regard. 

 

I don't think Ballard is as bad as some make him, and I don't he's as good as others make him either. I do seriously like his approach to being honest upfront on what he wants to do with his team. I also think he can be pretty good at finding talent. 

 

I don't know of many GMs who have had to deal with what he's faced in his first five years. Not too many would be that successful with how many problems the teams has had over the years. Luck retiring, Rivers retiring, unexpected coaching changes and so on. And I think that's why Irsay is pretty chill, because he knows it's been quite frankly a ridiculous amount of issues to overcome. 

 

I don't think our team is close to being a contender yet. I think it's going to be a long, long build before we get there. Unfortunately, how long is too long for patience? 

 

Well see this is just it for me.  What kind of wiggle room do we have after we sign Nelson?  Not a great deal it seems.  So I don't see how this 5 year tenure works out by trying to rebuild the rebuild.

 

The Oline will be better, and the Dline could be dominant some time next year assuming Paye and Dayo both play like 1st rounders.  That would take the pressure off of everywhere else.  

 

The secondary for instance, I feel pretty confident that they aren't very good and aren't going to get much better.   I think Leonard is not good in coverage, and the way we pay him, that shouldn't even be a consideration in today's NFL.  

 

The RB situation just seems out of proportion when considering how NFL games are won and played today.

 

SO that is what I'm saying, we are pretty set with personnel going forward and I've never thought we were a contender yet. At least for a season or two.

[Patrick Miller]

8 minutes ago, RollerColt said:

I'll go ahead and tell you my feelings. Unsure. I've played football, coached a little, but as far as the admin side I don't have experience so my opinion is simply an opinion and shouldn't be held in much regard. 

 

I don't think Ballard is as bad as some make him, and I don't he's as good as others make him either. I do seriously like his approach to being honest upfront on what he wants to do with his team. I also think he can be pretty good at finding talent. 

 

I don't know of many GMs who have had to deal with what he's faced in his first five years. Not too many would be that successful with how many problems the teams has had over the years. Luck retiring, Rivers retiring, unexpected coaching changes and so on. And I think that's why Irsay is pretty chill, because he knows it's been quite frankly a ridiculous amount of issues to overcome. 

 

I don't think our team is close to being a contender yet. I think it's going to be a long, long build before we get there. Unfortunately, how long is too long for patience? 

You really think we're that far off? If so what do you think the Colts should do to close the gap? I think it might just be an overreaction to losing this first game. I know I overreacted but past experience tells me that you can't gauge a whole season by the first game. I still think this Colts team can get it together and make a run this season.

[Colt.45]

He's going to be open to these questions until he nails the skill positions....starting with QB.

It's a passing league. He hasn't nailed pass rush, he hasn't nailed wide receivers (the team's best wideout is the guy who the old GM traded up for), and the QB position is still influx. I'm not saying Ballard hasn't been handed a tough hand, he has, but that's the nature of the job as he'd tell you, and he has to put out a better product.

There's no point nailing LG if you have not drafted one star pass catcher in your time here. 

 

 

[Superman]

I have specific disagreements with OP. Like the fact that the coverage busts weren't necessarily in deep cover 2, the pass rush was actually pretty good (Paye had a good game, don't know why you're taking issue with him), being critical of Darius Leonard seems pretty unreasonable, and the way they've approached team building over the last few seasons has turned over a pretty bad roster into a good roster. 

 

That said, questioning Ballard is not out of bounds. I've always said that there's a difference between building a good roster and building a great roster, and Ballard hasn't done the second yet. I said this about the last GM also. 

 

But be fair about it. The idea that Will, LG, C, RT are sooo easy to find is laughable when you consider the fact that our OL was atrocious for almost a decade, we didn't have good LB player since 2009 (and that's being generous), and now that we have good players at those positions, you propose we let them walk? That's not sustainable. 

[DougDew]

28 minutes ago, Nickster said:

 

Oh I will watch the season, but this is an MB Doug, and come on, after what 4+ seasons what are your impressions of where we stand as a franchise going forward?  It's a fan MB for crying out loud.  

Well, the salary cap pretty much makes all teams in the NFL talent equal.  Its how that talent is allocated.  IMO, you pay big money for Gs and WILLS as the last pieces of the puzzle....when the window is open, go get the vets...not really as the first pieces of a team.  Like you said, its harder to find the other positions, so securing those should be the first priority. 

 

Usually the interior OL and ILBs are not resigned because their old teams don't want to spend the money.  They're good players, but they get replaced in the draft.  OTOH, the edge positions are let go because there is usually something about the player that is suspect...or else the team would be holding on to that player at that position.  Or they are old and near the end.  A team needs to draft these players and then those are the players to resign, IMO.

 

I think the team Ballard inherited had talent where it needed it.  That, and the way the drafts fell sort of put the roster in the structure that it is.  I get it.  I don't think its a structure that goes deep into the playoffs.  Ballard is fighting the tide of reality to some degree.  I remember it took Bill Polian 10 years to find a decent 3 tech, when he finally traded for an old Booger who had some gas left.

 

But the idea I get from the MB is that this structure must be the ideal structure, simply because Chris Ballard has done it, and since he's infallible, this must be the way to do it.  Its certainly is not the way I see it, LOL.

 

The Luck retirement hurt.  But the head scratcher picks of Turay, Ben, and Lewis seemed bad from the beginning, and it sort of wasted the second round capital he got from the Nelson trade down.  The prospects in the secondary seem slim.  Frankly, we need 4 better players there.  Rock and Blackmon might get there via development, maybe, but the other two spots have little future.

 

If Parris can do 75% of what TY did, the O will be okay, IMO.  We've finally got enough big, competent WRs.

 

[RollerColt]

14 minutes ago, Patrick Miller said:

You really think we're that far off? If so what do you think the Colts should do to close the gap? I think it might just be an overreaction to losing this first game. I know I overreacted but past experience tells me that you can't gauge a whole season by the first game. I still think this Colts team can get it together and make a run this season.

It's why I think I'll be waiting until after this season to truly gage where the team is at. We've got some significant holes in the roster that may or may not be filled by our new FAs and rookies. For all I know, we could be a lot closer by December. 

[Superman]

2 minutes ago, DougDew said:

But the idea I get from the MB is that this structure must be the ideal structure, simply because Chris Ballard has done it, and since he's infallible, this must be the way to do it.  Its certainly is not the way I see it, LOL.

 

 

Nonsense.

[superrep1967]

51 minutes ago, Four2itus said:

This reaction should win some kind of award. Or should I say perhaps....overreaction?

Well it is overreaction Monday after all....lol

[The Fish]

I've been saying I dunno why he got extended for 5 more years as of now. Little that's happened suggests that's actually warranted based on outcomes. I'm not saying firing him is the move (at all), I'm saying letting this be an extended, extended rebuild on the chance all of the pieces come together is going to get noticed before long- because that's what's going on. They're still building this thing, perhaps they're piecing together the chopped wood Chuck left behind? I'd like a bit more urgency, ultimately. 

 

Seems like he's got some tropes he's really committed to, and maybe it's not serving the purpose of getting the very best guys- could be wrong, understand there's an argument for what he's doing, but it's gotta pan out eventually, or the peanut gallery is going to have thoughts.

 

 

 

12 minutes ago, Colt.45 said:

He's going to be open to these questions until he nails the skill positions....starting with QB.

It's a passing league. He hasn't nailed pass rush, he hasn't nailed wide receivers (the team's best wideout is the guy who the old GM traded up for), and the QB position is still influx. I'm not saying Ballard hasn't been handed a tough hand, he has, but that's the nature of the job as he'd tell you, and he has to put out a better product.

There's no point nailing LG if you have not drafted one star pass catcher in your time here. 

 

 

^ this is the sprit of my thoughts

[throwing BBZ]

59 minutes ago, Nickster said:

I feel that we have a lot of question marks at the most difficult positions to fill.  The Andy Luck thing sucked, but that's over now.  The lack of pass rush and receiving threat is glaring IMO.  Only rush we got was on blitzes and we won't be able to blitz with the deficits in the secondary.  Our Safeties aren't very good.  They can't even hold the top on the defense in deep C2. This was a glaring hole last year and yesterday it looked even worse.  That's uhh, well not good.  

 

I haven't seen the film, but on TV it sure looked like Wentz was struggling finding open receivers even the times he did have time.  My guess is they weren't open. 

 

Leonard was godawful and that contract will not play out well.  Dude can't guard.  Completely lost out there.  Sure he's good for a turnover on occasion, but if he can't cover any better, this will be one of the worst contracts in Colts' history.  The problem will not be so much DLs play, he will be an OK LB at the worst, the problem will be there is so much tied into his money situation that we can't fill positions of need.  We have way too much invested in positions that are more easily replaceable like WILL, LG, RT, C and RB.  Those are literally possibly the easiest 4 positions to fill along with RG and SS.  Ballard has tried to build from the easiest positions to the hardest positions, and I don't think that is going to work ultimately.

 

This team is set up to compete now.   Contracts are coming due, and we don't have banks of picks like CB had been accumulating in order to rebuild it.  So if we don't have what we need on the field now. It's going to be very difficult to build it without the high and numerous picks CB acquired in the past.  

 

I personally don't see a very positive outcome here.  The one thing I will reserve judgement for though is the lines.  The OLINE was nicked the entire preseason, but you can't go into a season with Tevi and/or Davenport expected to take significant snaps and expect to compete.  They should be better, if Smith ain't, we are going to be lucky to win 5 like the one guy predicted.  He was sooooo bad.  I expect this unit to be better.  The Dline still has a year to prove it IMO.  Turay can't get on the field, so it is time to quit considering him.  Didn't expect Paye to get much pressure this year, and he didn't yesterday.  But by next year hopefully we will have something with Paye and Dayo.

 

Thoughts on CB right now?  Not looking for any rah rah homer crapola here.  

 

 

 

 

 

 Take a vacation. You are not a good fan and are not able to grasp the big picture. This is a building year.

[#12.]

With Castonzo retiring and TY on the shelf, this is almost entirely Ballard's team now.  They appear to be not ready for primetime.

[DougDew]

3 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

Nonsense.

"Build from the inside out" has been spoken heavily over the years.  Never heard that before until Ballard started doing it, so that must be a big part of the motivation to say it.

[Les Poulains]

With Ballard and the FO in general, I like that we have a defined style and specific types of players we look for. That's served us well in the draft. We seem to know exactly what we want and that's served us well there.

 

But I agree with you about the roster. I don't get the emphasis on certain positions and paying guys big bucks in less important positions while letting other more important position groups become quite frankly below average. It is weird. It feels like at times we're zagging from the conventional wisdom of the rest of the league just for the hell of it. 

[MPStack]

1 minute ago, #12. said:

With Castonzo retiring and TY on the shelf, this is almost entirely Ballard's team now.  They appear to be not ready for primetime.

Ryan Kelly either. 

[DougDew]

19 minutes ago, Colt.45 said:

There's no point nailing LG if you have not drafted one star pass catcher in your time here. 

That's probably the best way to sum it up.

[superrep1967]

It's funny to me that people overreact after one game with 16 to go. I guess they want us to win them all if not fire everyone clean house. This team will be fine I think this team will be better in the second half than the first. I still think 3 and 2 in the first 5 is doable. Do we need Fisher in the lineup yes is there things they need to cleanup with the online yes but they'll get it done be patient. 

[DougDew]

4 minutes ago, Les Poulains said:

With Ballard and the FO in general, I like that we have a defined style and specific types of players we look for. That's served us well in the draft. We seem to know exactly what we want and that's served us well there.

 

But I agree with you about the roster. I don't get the emphasis on certain positions and paying guys big bucks in less important positions while letting other more important position groups become quite frankly below average. It is weird. It feels like at times we're zagging from the conventional wisdom of the rest of the league just for the hell of it. 

You pay your best players.  You can't run away from that.

 

Our best players have been G, C, RT/G, and WILL.  We're stuck with that for a while.  Maybe Kelly will fall apart and his money will go towards a Corner or a real C2, multi-skilled S.  That would be the quickest path to change.

[#12.]

2 minutes ago, superrep1967 said:

is there things they need to cleanup with the online yes

 

Yeah, like don't get your * kicked every play.

[MPStack]

Just now, Les Poulains said:

With Ballard and the FO in general, I like that we have a defined style and specific types of players we look for. That's served us well in the draft. We seem to know exactly what we want and that's served us well there.

 

But I agree with you about the roster. I don't get the emphasis on certain positions and paying guys big bucks in less important positions while letting other more important position groups become quite frankly below average. It is weird. It feels like at times we're zagging from the conventional wisdom of the rest of the league just for the hell of it. 

Nelson was the safest pick in the 2018 draft. And he, Smith and Leonard earned every bit of their new contracts. 
 

Problem, is with so many other needs, the Colts have limited $ for premium positions. Which means CB needs to draft better than he has IMO, because he doesn’t go after high priced FA’s. I have no issues with that. But you don’t draft projects or non 3 down players with high draft capital and hope they develop in year four. I expect a 2nd RD guy to be starting by year 2. 
 

Just my two cents! 

[Colt.45]

36 minutes ago, coming on strong said:

It’s still to early to question Ballard in my opinion.  if guys like paye Lewis aqm, turray , rock , Willis all flop and the defense goes back wards I will question Him . If all our young wrs flop and wentz plays bad then it’s different .  By the end of the season we will know . 

I started questioning him from the minute he thought it would be a good idea to hire 'the snake' as the head coach. The fact that he thought it'd be a good idea to hand that guy the keys to his franchise...yeah, that was not great. And before anyone thinks i'm being harsh, Mr Ballard admits that he was extremely f00lish thinking it was a good idea. He's open to questioning. It is the way of the business. He knows that more than probably anyone on this forum. Right now, if he was fired today, his legacy would be....Quenton Nelson.

[The Fish]

Just now, Colt.45 said:

I started questioning him from the minute he thought it would be a good idea to hire 'the snake' as the head coach. The fact that he thought it'd be a good idea to hand that guy the keys to his franchise...yeah, that was not great. And before anyone thinks i'm being harsh, Mr Ballard admits that he was extremely f00lish thinking it was a good idea. He's open to questioning. It is the way of the business. He knows that more than probably anyone on this forum. Right now, if he was fired today, his legacy would be....Quenton Nelson.

This is on point also..

 

Honestly, why'd he think Josh McDaniel's was even a thing... especially here. I mean. Yeah, that's a red flag, no doubt. But it didn't happen so that's cool. 

[Superman]

12 minutes ago, DougDew said:

"Build from the inside out" has been spoken heavily over the years.  Never heard that before until Ballard started doing it, so that must be a big part of the motivation to say it.

 

I don't believe you never heard it before Ballard.