It's Time to Start Questioning Ballard

[Superman]

31 minutes ago, Colt.45 said:

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

 

What does one have to do with the other?

[GoColts8818]

Over reaction Monday is in full effect I see.  Ballard has made mistakes, show me a GM that hasn’t, and it’s fair to talk about those mistake but the good still way out weighs the bad.

[zibby43]

Call it an eye test, or whatever, but I haven’t seen a Colts roster under Ballard that I feel like can consistently compete with the top tier teams in the league.

 

There’s always that feeling the Colts have to play perfect to have a shot in those games.  The Colts are still missing some explosive players on the Edge and at WR.  The types of guys that coordinators lose sleep over game planning against them. 
 

People routinely over-value the WRs that Ballard drafts.  He seems to struggle with that position, and pass rusher (up until this year).

[Nickster]

28 minutes ago, Superman said:

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. 

 

Did Paye generate a pass rush when we weren't blitzing?  He may have, I am not criticizing him, I just don't think anyone should assume that a rookie is going to sack the QB, it almost never happens and when it does it's usually top 5 type of draft choices.  

 

Well it least one of the coverage busts we we showing a 2 shell anyway. The call I have no idea. But I do now that we graded out poorly over the top last year as S and yesterday we were dreadful.

 

I didn't say easy, I said easier.   I'm sorry but if you don't realize that WR, DE, QB, DT, and LT are much more difficult to acquire than those other positions, then I really don't think you have ANY IDEA what you are discussing.  You seem like a decent FB guy so I doubt that is the case.

DL might be a better player on a team with better coverage, but he's on a team with bad coverage and I wish we would have treated him more like his PFF grade the last 2 years when it comes to salary than a 100 million dollar man. He adds to the coverage problems.  

 

I might have traded Leonard rather than pay that much going forward.  He doesn't cover well enough IMO to tie up that much salary.  I'd maybe rather go with an average WILL who can cover better than Leonard and try to create the TOs that DL creates and the Run stoppage elsewhere.  Again, tough call.

 

I have no idea what I might do for this team right now.  But Ballard had that great draft in 2018 and the bill is coming due, and we are paying out the nose for RT, C, backup RB, and WILL and will soon at LG.  MEanwhile I don't see that we have the other talent that is HARDER to acquire on the roster yet.  

[AustexColt]

Ballard gave Braden Smith and Darius Leonard million dollar extensions. They performed better on their rookie contract, plus no vaccine. Hopefully they will turn this ship around. It will not be hard to get 1% better from their last game.

[Mr.Debonair]

3 minutes ago, zibby43 said:

Call it an eye test, or whatever, but I haven’t seen a Colts roster under Ballard that I feel like can consistently compete with the top tier teams in the league.

 

There’s always that feeling the Colts have to play perfect to have a shot in those games.  The Colts are still missing some explosive players on the Edge and at WR.  The types of guys that coordinators lose sleep over game planning against them. 
 

People routinely over-value the WRs that Ballard drafts.  He seems to struggle with that position, and pass rusher (up until this year).

I dont think he struggles at WR. I just dont think he values the position as he should and as a result feels like he can find sufficient players later on

[Patrick Miller]

19 minutes ago, DougDew said:

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.

I was never impressed with Kelly. I think that's a position we should look to upgrade.

[Les Poulains]

19 minutes ago, MPStack said:

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! 

I think drafting is hard and Ballard has done a good job at finding solid players and value and he deserves credit for that. I don't know honestly if we can really draft better than we have in the last couple of years.

 

But where there's a real problem and where you have to criticize, and you said it, it's that the premium positions just haven't been as good. That's why we won't progress past wild card playoff games and this team has such an obvious ceiling (I know we've only played 1 game but we have to be realistic about our talent level here).

 

 There maybe should be a debate about whether we should even care that we drafted an elite guard or linebacker at this point. It's nice to have good players, but when your Dline hasn't been good (fingers crossed for Paye and eventually Dayo) and your playmakers are average and so is your secondary, it makes having an all pro linebacker and guard look a bit useless.

[DougDew]

13 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

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

I heard "you win in the trenches" before ,  But not inside out.  There is a difference.

[Nickster]

51 minutes ago, DougDew said:

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.

 

I don't like the WRs.  I really hope I'm wrong here.  We need the draftees to be good badly.  But IMO, Campbell was a project that was going to be limited ala Tavon Austin or that one percy guy, and I think Pittman is going to be too slow to be a leading type of pass catcher. 

 

This is one area about the Colts that I could really see me misjudging and I hope I have. 

I really think our secondary is not good though and don't see much of a way forward with it.  

[IndyD4U]

Nope. Not playing this game 

 

Go Colts

[Colt.45]

Just now, Superman said:

 

What does one have to do with the other?

From a philosophy pov....everything. Philosophically it's the banner Mr Ballard believes in and values. 

[John Waylon]

I still approve of Ballard’s job overall. There’s some unsavory bits, but I have much more confidence in him than I ever had in Grigson, so…

[Colt.45]

5 minutes ago, Patrick Miller said:

I was never impressed with Kelly. I think that's a position we should look to upgrade.

I think he's a good center. Much like AC, i think we appreciate more when he's not there. We have a good center, there's no need to 'upgrade', Jeff Saturday isnt winning games without Peyton. We have a good center who does the job competently, that's all we need from the position. 

[Dark Superman]

I was waiting for a thread like this to surface either about Frank Reich or Chris Ballard. Here we go!

[GoColts8818]

13 minutes ago, AustexColt said:

Ballard gave Braden Smith and Darius Leonard million dollar extensions. They performed better on their rookie contract, plus no vaccine. Hopefully they will turn this ship around. It will not be hard to get 1% better from their last game.

The vaccine has nothing to do with this so why bring it up?

 

Also it’s been one game so let’s pump the breaks on trying to phrase it like it’s pattern that they have been bad since they got their extensions.  I can promise they had bad games on their rookie deals too.  If it becomes the norm after their extensions that they are bad then it’s a valid point.  For now it’s cherry picking.

[compuls1v3]

12 minutes ago, Patrick Miller said:

I was never impressed with Kelly. I think that's a position we should look to upgrade.

You must miss Satele then?

[Dark Superman]

1 hour 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.  

 

 

 

 

Ryan Grigson? Is that you? Haha.

[throwing BBZ]

26 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

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

 

 Who ever heard of protecting the QB or having a top D-line/pass rush?

 It is meltdown Monday

[MPStack]

18 minutes ago, Les Poulains said:

I think drafting is hard and Ballard has done a good job at finding solid players and value and he deserves credit for that. I don't know honestly if we can really draft better than we have in the last couple of years.

 

But where there's a real problem, and you said it, is that the premium positions just haven't been as good. That's why we won't progress past wild card playoff games and this team has such an obvious ceiling (I know we've only played 1 game but we have to be realistic about our talent level here).

 

 There maybe should be a debate about whether we should even care that we drafted an elite guard or linebacker at this point. It's nice to have good players, but when your Dline hasn't been good (fingers crossed for Paye and eventually Dayo) and your playmakers are average and so is your secondary, it makes having an all pro linebacker and guard look a bit useless.

Ballard has whiffed on several high picks and yes, all GMs do. But if, he’s going to build almost exclusively through the draft and sign tier 3 bargains in FA, he needs to draft better and nail more of those high end selections.

 

I think CB can and needs to draft better, if he’s not signing tier 1 FA types, which I’m fine with. 
 

Ballard’s got a ways to go, before being crowned top GM. I think he can be that guy, but how long does it take with his philosophy building a team? 

[GoColts8818]

20 minutes ago, Patrick Miller said:

I was never impressed with Kelly. I think that's a position we should look to upgrade.

You aren’t impressed with a pro-bowl center you are a hard one to please.  I get he was bad yesterday but I believe that is an exception.

[DougDew]

7 minutes ago, Nickster said:

I don't like the WRs.  I really hope I'm wrong here.  We need the draftees to be good badly.  But IMO, Campbell was a project that was going to be limited ala Tavon Austin or that one percy guy, and I think Pittman is going to be too slow to be a leading type of pass catcher. 

 

This is one area about the Colts that I could really see me misjudging and I hope I have. 

I don't really think our secondary is not good though and don't see much of a way forward with it.  

Well, Pittman is not your primary threat.  The problem could be that we maybe found a better #2 in the 7th round this year.  Its a nice problem to have, but if your 7th rounder gets PT over your 2nd rounder because of the same kind of talent, its just more wheel spinning of resources.

 

And yet Pascal seems to be the go to guy.  Did well this game with Wentz after a season of doing well with Rivers.

 

As for Parris, TY got by with speed and precision, as did Marvin, so maybe Parris can channel that.  I think Parris has to go there, because there are not enough positions for Pitt, Straw, and Pascal to play if Parris is in the slot.  

[throwing BBZ]

3 minutes ago, compuls1v3 said:

You must miss Satele then?

 

Satele looked bad while trying to play injured. Kelly can't possibly be100% with that elbow. Neither is Q. Their conditioning and weight room work must be way behind. And won't be fixed soon. Stuff happens.

[EastStreet]

1 hour 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.  

You meander quite a bit, so I'll try to keep things short

• Yes we have a lot of ?... It's week 1 and we have a new QB, without our LT, and have new bookends on the DL... It's pretty obvious we'd have questions in those areas. Those areas are ones that need time, and really not something to plant a flag on (unless you want to complain in general about T depth).
• Your him hawing about the WRs in week one when Wentz was a punching bag the entire game is pretty silly. Not saying our WRs are an elite unit, but saying they are trash is pretty silly.
• Yes Leonard had a bad game, and Oke probably the worst of his carrer.
• Yes the OL was atrocious, and is paid too much to look like that. It was uncharacteristic for a lot of guys not named Davenport, so one game isn't getting anyone fired.  
• If you think WILL is easy to fill, or is an easy position in our D, you don't know our D. Both LB spots require a lot since we're mostly a 4-2-5. 
• Yes, we seemed to get most pressure on blitzes, and the Paye had no QBHs or Sacks.... The other side wasn't exactly stellar either... It's early though. People expecting that Paye would be a wrecking ball in game 1 vs a decent OL were probably sunshine pumping. He'll be good in time though. Wrecking camp bodies and preseason jags is not the same, and he'll learn from his time vs starters. 

 

Overall, there are valid criticisms or questions for Ballard, but week 1 probably isn't the time unless you want to talk about general unpreparedness on the roster. But mostly, best to see how things, especially the new additions/changes, turn out.

[LJpalmbeacher2]

1 hour 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.  

 

 

 

 

 

Amen.

[Nickster]

11 minutes ago, Andrew_Luck said:

Ryan Grigson? Is that you? Haha.

Uh, no.  This is not Grigs.  But he was crapola.  I am not comparing Ballard to crap.  

[DougDew]

19 minutes ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

 Who ever heard of protecting the QB or having a top D-line/pass rush?

 It is meltdown Monday

The discussion was about the notion "from the inside out".  Its prioritization.  It implies that you want the G before the T, the ILB before the EDGE, The FS before the Corner.  And the oline in its entirety before you address WR.  

 

(hmmm, just like Ballard happened to draft players)

 

You also protect the Qb and the rush the QB from the edge players on the lines.  We have not rushed well from the EDGE, and the entire oline fails pass protection when AC hasn't played.  That's our history.  It s not just one Monday.

 

Except a couple of games when Veldheer played.

[Thebrashandthebold]

The biggest problem with CB is the coach he hired. Reich loses games for the Colts every year with his poor in game calls. I think that is the single biggest problem the Colts have. The coach is not very good at play calling and making those in game decisions.

[Nickster]

9 minutes ago, GoColts8818 said:

You aren’t impressed with a pro-bowl center you are a hard one to please.  I get he was bad yesterday but I believe that is an exception.

Ryan Kelly graded out 69 according to PFF last year.  This is a good player but far from great.  He was drafted I think 8th in the draft or so, and is paid like one of the best.  To me, yeah, he's good, but with the capital invested he needs to be better. 

[Nickster]

12 minutes ago, DougDew said:

Well, Pittman is not your primary threat.  The problem could be that we maybe found a better #2 in the 7th round this year.  Its a nice problem to have, but if your 7th rounder gets PT over your 2nd rounder because of the same kind of talent, its just more wheel spinning of resources.

 

And yet Pascal seems to be the go to guy.  Did well this game with Wentz after a season of doing well with Rivers.

 

As for Parris, TY got by with speed and precision, as did Marvin, so maybe Parris can channel that.  I think Parris has to go there, because there are not enough positions for Pitt, Straw, and Pascal to play if Parris is in the slot.  

Parris has never been accused of being precise though.  Pre Draft or since draft, and this is not necessarily something in the cards for this guy.  

[luv_pony_express]

1 hour 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.  

 

 

 

 

All things considered (and there’s a lot to consider), this is preposterous.

 

Yeah, we’ve got injury problems - a couple of which CB knowingly adopted.  Yeah, several of our OLs (not just JD) got outplayed and absolutely must do better.  Yeah, the D (missing KT and XR, not to mention Dayo) had a horrible first half.

 

But to go from recognizing all these problems and the roles they played in the loss yesterday to questioning the very foundation of the franchise is an obvious overreaction.

 

 

[EastStreet]

1 hour ago, Superman said:

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. 

Leonard did have a pretty poor showing, so some criticism if fair, but not panic level.

The DL didn't play well though. Not atrocious, but they weren't any better than last year. Only 1.5 sacks from DL, and one was from Defo. I didn't think Paye played awful, but he didn't get home either. It's early though.

1 hour ago, Superman said:

 

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. 

Bingo!

[JMichael557]

The bottom line yesterday is we lost for 3 reasons.

 

1. Defense was not ready to play. (see 2nd half). The defense not being ready to play has been a continuing theme.

2. The offensive line was terrible. This team is built on the offensive line (i agree with this concept). If the offensive line plays well we  have plenty of playmakers. The question is what happened? Clearly Ballard did not do a good job at LT. Quenton and Kelley were either hurt or on Covid so they missed most of training camp. The big concern is Smith. Is he going to take the big money and reqress (which can happen) or was something else going on. 

3. Total lack of offensive discipline and play calling. We had the ball several times inside the 30 in the second half and got zero points. Bad 4th down play calls and the fumbled snap are inexcusable. 

[CoachLite]

Maybe I'm nuts, but I don't see us having a talent issue. I do wonder how the talent we have is being developed and used in both offense and defensive schemes. It may simply be the lack of a winning attitude - an expectation of winning that is missing.

[JediXMan]

What’s the point of keeping Ben on the roster if you don’t even play him. They didn’t last year and looks like the trend will continue. It’s very strange to me. Don’t you want to see if he’s good, average or bad?

[GoColts8818]

Just now, JediXMan said:

What’s the point of keeping Ben on the roster if you don’t even play him. They didn’t last year and looks like the trend will continue. It’s very strange to me. Don’t you want to see if he’s good, average or bad?

No they want to win games and are going to play the guys they feel are the top guys.  They kept Ben because they need depth incase of injuries and he was better than other players they cut.

[LJpalmbeacher2]

1 hour ago, MPStack said:

Ryan Kelly either. 

 

And TE Doyle.

[EastStreet]

1 hour 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. 

 

Wouldn't say failed, but the knives would be out for sure. 

There are way too many walk-on-water worshipping folks though I agree.

 

It's easy to improve a horrible roster. Ballard did that. Ballard also hit big on some draft picks. But that's not really enough.

 

Like @Superman mentioned, maintaining a good roster and taking it to the next level is another thing we haven't see Ballard do.

He has made moves though, and it's too early to know if those will pay off. Not .Not sure if an 0-5 start answers those questions though given our tough early stretch and timing of some of our injuries.

 

And if knives do come out, they'll come out for Reich first. We've seen that a little already, and will grow if the losses pile up. Frankly how Ballard might handle that, is very interesting.

[The Fish]

FWIW I just flipped on Bowens podcast and around the 17 min he brings up the performance yesterday and juxtaposes it against the extensions Ballard and Reich got. 

 

 

 

[EastStreet]

1 hour ago, coming on strong said:

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 . 

I think Lewis was a fair projection to take over for Autry given what we saw last year (not to mention both are tweenerish). I know Lewis was injured not long ago, so not sure if AQM is a temp fix, or if he actually won the job.