Chris Ballard Interview @ 6pm tonight (1075 The Fan)

[Superman]

6 minutes ago, Smonroe said:

 

Why do you say that?  Is it an opinion or is it based on something he said?

 

For the right price, he has to be better than anything we have out there right now with Willis out.

 

https://forums.colts.com/topic/58521-tre-boston-explains-his-colts-visit/

[Smonroe]

1 minute ago, Superman said:

 

https://forums.colts.com/topic/58521-tre-boston-explains-his-colts-visit/

 

Ahh yes!  Now I remember his infamous visit.  Did anyone from the Colts ever respond to that?  If it's true, it doesn't seem in line with the way the club operates.  Ballard seems to be pretty good about treating players with respect.

 

[DougDew]

21 minutes ago, Solid84 said:

Well you kinda skipped the part where I explained it. If we keep taking one step back to take two steps forward we’ll get to a point where we have to pay our vets their 2nd or 3rd contracts and we can’t keep them all. Then we will have to replace them and it all basically starts over. At a certain point you have to accept we‘re as good as we’re going to get through the draft and pay FAs to get us over the hump. 

Now is not the time that we need the production, IMO.  I think you've described the formula most teams use.  When the salary cap expands, Ballard will be in a position to spend on vets to get over the hump. 

 

Wentz will still be under contract...if he plays well we got him for 4 more years, IIRC.  Nelson and Leonard and Smith will be into their deals and will seem cheap.  Pittman, JT, Paye, and Dayo will be under rookie contracts, maybe just signed.  And if he drafts well this year and next, they will be under cheap contract.  Ballard wont have a lot of need to resign players from the 2019 draft, so he should then be in position to pay vets to get over the hump.  Not NOW though, IMO.

[Superman]

Just now, Smonroe said:

 

Ahh yes!  Now I remember his infamous visit.  Did anyone from the Colts ever respond to that?  If it's true, it doesn't seem in line with the way the club operates.  Ballard seems to be pretty good about treating players with respect.

 

 

It's not like the Colts to respond to every shot against them, either, so I doubt we'll ever hear the other side of the story on this. And of course, no one in the Colts media asked about it at the time, so it's not like it's going to come back up three years later.

[stitches]

8 minutes ago, Chucklez said:

Seriously? We have been in pretty much every game, we have been 1 or 2 plays away from winning most of the big ones we have lost against good football teams, all while shooting ourselves in the foot repeatedly and a defensive backfield that is in shambles injury-wise?

That's a continuing pattern - we beat the bad teams and we lose to the playoff teams. This is not a one or two game aberration. We lost to every single AFC playoff team we met last year. We have lost to every single playoff team we've met this year too. This is not showing us that we are close. This is showing us just how far we are. 

8 minutes ago, Chucklez said:

This team is a few key defensive pieces away from being a legit contender. The offense is getting better and better every week, even with no TY and the offensive line health issues up until now. 

The defensive front has been good, pass rush a bit lacking, but we only just got Dayo in (who no one expects more than  learning year from this year due to his injury) and Paye who is a rookie, but is doing really well. The safety position has been DECIMATED with injury, and our corners havent fared ideally. The progression of Paye and Dayo, plus maybe an additional Vet, and help in the secondary and this team wouldnt look to have that many (if any) weaknesses.... Other than potentially shooting ourselves in the foot - which any team is capable of.

I don't get the doom and gloom around this team right now.... We knew the start of the schedule was gonna be hard to overcome, but have patience.

There is no doom and gloom. I am not predicting us being one of the worst teams in the league. I'm predicting us being mediocre... which we are... and we will continue being. In a certain way this might even be worse than bottoming out. 

 

The defensive front has NOT been good at all. I have no idea what people are watching that makes them think we've had good DL play. Our best player has been Paye... which fair enough... I guess he's one of the hopes we have for turning this around if he can take a step forward by end of this year or next year. Buckner has been disappointing this year. Lewis was our other good performer but he's injured now with one of the worst injuries in football. We've been solid in run defense and horrible in pass-rush. In other words - we are good at the thing that matter least and bad at the thing that matters most. Our DBs have been horrendous... I have no idea how Ballard is selling this as some sort of "oh it's just a matter of improving technique a bit"... well... duh... The safeties are injured but lets not act like they were some world beaters before it. People here were eating Hooker alive while he was here but he was playing LEVELS above anything any of our current safeties has shown. 

 

Just like last year this defense is HEAVILY reliant on turnovers and this is what's keeping us from being at the very bottom of the league defensively. 

 

Our offense has been showing some glimmers of hope but I am going to wait for them to start showing it against good defenses rather than against the Houstons or Jets of the world. 

 

We are 1st round pick down and we've spent our money on resigning running backs, linebacker and interior linemen. This team has serious issues and we have very limited resources to address them. Is it impossible? No, nothing is impossible. Is it likely we get MULTIPLE impact corners, pass-rusher, WR, TE, LT without our 1st round pick and with close to zero money to spend in FA? I'd say not very likely. Thus I think we will continue hovering in that area we are in right now for this year and next year at the minimum. 

[richard pallo]

5 minutes ago, Smonroe said:

 

Why do you say that?  Is it an opinion or is it based on something he said?

 

For the right price, he has to be better than anything we have out there right now with Willis out.

Back in 2018 we brought him in for a tryout didn’t sign him and he complained about how his visit went so he’s assuming he doesn’t want to be a Colt.  That was three years ago.  His agent is out there trying to drum up interest mid season.  If he has come out and said it recently I haven’t seen it.  He’s even willing to sign on with a practice squad. That’s where he is at now.

[chrisfarley]

2 hours ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

  Just plain WEIRD!

 What is being done? You play with the players you have. What the heck else do you do? You could discuss scheme as it relates to players, adjustments in more detail.  There are a plethora of things that could be expanded on

 He said everything one should already know. Our young pass rushers will keep working to get better. It is a learning experience. Lewis was a loss! Detail out more about Kwity's progress, speak a bit more to Dayo's reps and how that's coming along.

 Our secondary is not up to snuff. Tough luck. Really, tough luck !!??? He could speak more to the absolute disappearing of the secondary and why adjustments weren't made. Perhaps you think Ballard should threaten Odum to play like Jamal Adams next Sunday or we will cut you. Now you're just being ridiculous. Same with Rock, do it, or be cut. Leonard for gosh sakes cover somebody!  And just like that your something is done. You are just throwing out random nonsense at this point. 

 Our safeties? Below mediocre and no experience playing together.

 SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!  That's his and their job.

 Pretty cool how KC & Buffalo collapses are because D'S ARE playing them with cover-2, making them throw underneath and run the ball. They are turning the ball over, sound familiar, and not running well. 

  GET a CLUE!  You get a clue, and all the while try to understand what I'm trying to convey instead of trying to twist it into your narrative that there's really nothing to say outside of the mini-snippets we got, which is total crap and as another poster said, State Controlled Media.

  

 

 

[stitches]

16 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

I don't think that's it. And you're far more pessimistic than I am about the state of the team. Regardless, Ballard has never run away from the media, and I don't think that's what he's doing now. But I expected a quarterly update, and it didn't happen. Then yesterday's interview was kind of pointless. 

 

I've been a Colts fan for a long time. I remember The Polian Corner, an hour each week, with lots of insight and perspective. I don't need that, but more than 10 minutes every 9 weeks would be nice.

 

And maybe it's due to Hard Knocks, where we'll get plenty of insight and perspective. 

 

 

Tre Boston does not want to be a Colt.

Lets be honest about what this Ballard "interview" was. This was not really an interview... that was a press release by the GM. I would almost rather he didn't do it at all. I don't mind it that it was 10 minutes long. I mind that it was soft-ball after soft-ball after soft-ball for the GM of a team that told us we are close and half way throught he season we are 3 games down on the Titans for our own division. 

[Solid84]

5 minutes ago, stitches said:

That's a continuing pattern - we beat the bad teams and we lose to the playoff teams. This is not a one or two game aberration. We lost to every single AFC playoff team we met last year. We have lost to every single playoff team we've met this year too. This is not showing us that we are close. This is showing us just how far we are. 

There is no doom and gloom. I am not predicting us being one of the worst teams in the league. I'm predicting us being mediocre... which we are... and we will continue being. In a certain way this might even be worse than bottoming out. 

 

The defensive front has NOT been good at all. I have no idea what people are watching that makes them think we've had good DL play. Our best player has been Paye... which fair enough... I guess he's one of the hopes we have for turning this around if he can take a step forward by end of this year or next year. Buckner has been disappointing this year. Lewis was our other good performer but he's injured now with one of the worst injuries in football. We've been solid in run defense and horrible in pass-rush. In other words - we are good at the thing that matter least and bad at the thing that matters most. Our DBs have been horrendous... I have no idea how Ballard is selling this as some sort of "oh it's just a matter of improving technique a bit"... well... duh... The safeties are injured but lets not act like they were some world beaters before it. People here were eating Hooker alive while he was here but he was playing LEVELS above anything any of our current safeties has shown. 

 

Just like last year this defense is HEAVILY reliant on turnovers and this is what's keeping us from being at the very bottom of the league defensively. 

 

Our offense has been showing some glimmers of hope but I am going to wait for them to start showing it against good defenses rather than against the Houstons or Jets of the world. 

 

We are 1st round pick down and we've spent our money on resigning running backs, linebacker and interior linemen. This team has serious issues and we have very limited resources to address them. Is it impossible? No, nothing is impossible. Is it likely we get MULTIPLE impact corners, pass-rusher, WR, TE, LT without our 1st round pick and with close to zero money to spend in FA? I'd say not very likely. Thus I think we will continue hovering in that area we are in right now for this year and next year at the minimum. 

This! So much this! Ballard is pushing sunshine. Our DL isn’t getting neither pressure nor sacks and they are okay against the rush. Anyone believing otherwise are lying to themselves. Our secondary is horrible and our injured DBs coming back don’t change that by any significant margin. 
 

We may have capspace next year but Ballard won’t use it on signing anything but B-grade or lower players and those of his draftpicks that do pan out. 
 

We’re stuck at mediocracy, beating the bad teams and losing to anything resembling a contender for the next few seasons IMO. 

[stitches]

5 minutes ago, Solid84 said:

This! So much this! Ballard is pushing sunshine. Our DL isn’t getting neither pressure nor sacks and they are okay against the rush. Anyone believing otherwise are lying to themselves. Our secondary is horrible and our injured DBs coming back don’t change that by any significant margin. 
 

We may have capspace next year but Ballard won’t use it on signing anything but B-grade or lower players and those of his draftpicks that do pan out. 
 

We’re stuck at mediocracy, beating the bad teams and losing to anything resembling a contender for the next few seasons IMO. 

We won't have much capspace when we give Nelson 20M a year. Plus we will have to go get a LT... or shed some money to keep Fisher. Also... like you said... even if we had money, Ballard is not one to go out and spend it on FAs. 

[DougDew]

3 hours ago, throwing BBZ said:

Pretty cool how KC & Buffalo collapses are because D'S ARE playing them with cover-2, making them throw underneath and run the ball. They are turning the ball over, sound familiar, and not running well. 

I did not notice this.  What a smart scheme to play!

[Moosejawcolt]

11 hours ago, WoolMagnet said:

More man coverage? Yes please.

I’d rather get beat bad being aggressive than die a slow death playing it conservatively.

We’ll have to see if anything changes.

Yra but their corners due not have those elite traits to play man corner.   U go man a lot with these corners and be prepared for a shoot out and a lot of long passes.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

You guys realize if he took the blame for some of the positions that are weak or said some wild truths about the defense he would be throwing players and coaches under the bus that are still on this team trying to figure things out. That is not Ballard’s style. That is something jerry  Jones would be doing. I really don’t know what you guys want. If he says he screwed up not getting the right players then players on this team are just going to quit because they have been told they are bad.  This was no different then his normal updated that are done during the season.

[Moosejawcolt]

2 minutes ago, DougDew said:

I did not notice this.  What a smart scheme to play!

Mahommes and Allen like to play hero ball. A lot of very good qbs will pick the cover 2 system apart. 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

5 minutes ago, stitches said:

We won't have much capspace when we give Nelson 20M a year. Plus we will have to go get a LT... or shed some money to keep Fisher. Also... like you said... even if we had money, Ballard is not one to go out and spend it on FAs. 

14 million is already accounted for nelson. So really we only have to pay him about a extra 5 more out of the cap space. We have plenty of money to go sign a couple FA CB or another position. People worry way to much about the cap. If there is a player out there Ballard really wants he will find a way. Plus most of our players are now locked up for a few years while the cap keeps going up.

[richard pallo]

4 minutes ago, stitches said:

We won't have much capspace when we give Nelson 20M a year. Plus we will have to go get a LT... or shed some money to keep Fisher. Also... like you said... even if we had money, Ballard is not one to go out and spend it on FAs. 

I think this is the year Ballard should do it.  Spend on a major FA addition.  We need a WR1 more than we need a LG.  I wouldn't spend the money on Nelson this year.  Franchise him and postpone it a year.  Let the cap continue to rise.  Resign Fisher for three years.  It looks like he's close to his old self.  Resign our own.  Then I think Ballard has to go and do what Buffalo did. Go get a player similar to Stephon Diggs to open up the offense for Wentz.  They traded for him.  We should go and sign Davonte Adams.  He is a FA.  I wouldn't be surprised if Rogers is traded.   If so Adams will most likely want to leave.  He will be expensive but we could do it.  We will save some additional cap space with TY and maybe even Doyle retiring.  I think Paye and Dayo are showing their high upside right now.  We need the speedy deep threat to finish the offense.  We have our big armed QB.  I think this could be the year Ballard pulls the trigger for the offense like he did with Buckner last year.  

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

4 minutes ago, richard pallo said:

I think this is the year Ballard should do it.  Spend on a major FA addition.  We need a WR1 more than we need a LG.  I wouldn't spend the money on Nelson this year.  Franchise him and postpone it a year.  Let the cap continue to rise.  Resign Fisher for three years.  It looks like he's close to his old self.  Resign our own.  Then I think Ballard has to go and do what Buffalo did. Go get a player similar to Stephon Diggs to open up the offense for Wentz.  They traded for him.  We should go and sign Davonte Adams.  He is a FA.  I wouldn't be surprised if Rogers is traded.   If so Adams will most likely want to leave.  He will be expensive but we could do it.  We will save some additional cap space with TY and maybe even Doyle retiring.  I think Paye and Dayo are showing their high upside right now.  We need the speedy deep threat to finish the offense.  We have our big armed QB.  I think this could be the year Ballard pulls the trigger for the offense like he did with Buckner last year.  

We don’t have to franchise Nelson until after 22. We actually have two more years of control.

[TimetobringDfence!]

46 minutes ago, stitches said:

Lets be honest about what this Ballard "interview" was. This was not really an interview... that was a press release by the GM. I would almost rather he didn't do it at all. I don't mind it that it was 10 minutes long. I mind that it was soft-ball after soft-ball after soft-ball for the GM of a team that told us we are close and half way throught he season we are 3 games down on the Titans for our own division. 

A GM that said Wentz won't have to be the man guy...then let's his coach play that way for half the season before honestly running the ball for a full game...we have arguably the best 1 2 punch in the game and a great pull blocking line and alept.on them... trying to play Air raid with Dulin and Parris Shambles as key contributors, not to say they don't pull their weight but they are far from Hines talent as a reciever or JT pounding the Rock. INDs coaching is reactive not proactive...Ballard cant see this with Frank and Flus...they react with flaw like behavior instead of potentially productive adjustments. Time management has been horrible in wins and losses...

[NannyMcafee]

4 hours ago, Solid84 said:

First of all you obviously missed the point of me talking about THIS season. We may get better next season. We may get better in 4 seasons. Doesn't change the fact we have regressed THIS season.

 

Second, my response isn't build on this season alone. We have needed a better pass rush for multiple seasons now (time enough to start questioning Ballard's approach) and Ballard has been unable to improve it. I get you at some point have to let your aging DEs walk, but replacing them with rookies is not the way to improve it when we need the production NOW.

 

Building through the draft is hit and miss even for the best GMs. It'll get to the point where we have to let our elite veterans walk before we get anywhere near the Super Bowl if we keep using a "1 step back, 2 steps forward" approach. At some point we have to bring in elite FAs to get over the hump.

 

 

 

This is FA football. It is hard to win in today's league because of FA. You have limited time to continue building before inevitably you start losing players to age or, FA. It is quite the task to do so. Only so much money to go around, having to draft or sign the right players to win games. 

 

No matter what Ballard does there will be weaknesses on this team. If it wasn't pass rush it would be our rushing offense kind of like during the end of Mannings time here. 

 

There will always be weaknesses. Some GMs do better than others. Some of them luck out. 

 

The only GM to do it consistently during the FA era, is Bill Belichick. Or we all have to admit Tom Brady is a God among men and truly is the Greatest of All Time, past, present, and future. 

 

[Superman]

1 hour ago, stitches said:

Lets be honest about what this Ballard "interview" was. This was not really an interview... that was a press release by the GM. I would almost rather he didn't do it at all. I don't mind it that it was 10 minutes long. I mind that it was soft-ball after soft-ball after soft-ball for the GM of a team that told us we are close and half way throught he season we are 3 games down on the Titans for our own division. 

 

State controlled media.

 

I don't have a problem with Ballard not trashing his team. The nature of the engagement wasn't impressive to me at all, though.

[#12.]

7 hours ago, stitches said:

Because him and Irsay bumped up expectations, gave up big money and pick compensation for QB, spent all the money we had in reserve for extensions and we are under .500 3 games under AFC South lead. 

 

It's easier to talk when there are positives to sell in the grand picture. It's much harder when you look mediocre and set up to be mediocre going forward.  This team is stuck in mud and quite honestly I don't see much of a path to legit contention in the foreseeable future. 

 

Thankfully the AFC is wide open.  There are no 2000's Patriots, Steelers or Chargers.  If they somehow get in, I like their chances more than I did in some of those years.  

[Nickster]

46 minutes ago, stitches said:

That's a continuing pattern - we beat the bad teams and we lose to the playoff teams. This is not a one or two game aberration. We lost to every single AFC playoff team we met last year. We have lost to every single playoff team we've met this year too. This is not showing us that we are close. This is showing us just how far we are. 

There is no doom and gloom. I am not predicting us being one of the worst teams in the league. I'm predicting us being mediocre... which we are... and we will continue being. In a certain way this might even be worse than bottoming out. 

 

The defensive front has NOT been good at all. I have no idea what people are watching that makes them think we've had good DL play. Our best player has been Paye... which fair enough... I guess he's one of the hopes we have for turning this around if he can take a step forward by end of this year or next year. Buckner has been disappointing this year. Lewis was our other good performer but he's injured now with one of the worst injuries in football. We've been solid in run defense and horrible in pass-rush. In other words - we are good at the thing that matter least and bad at the thing that matters most. Our DBs have been horrendous... I have no idea how Ballard is selling this as some sort of "oh it's just a matter of improving technique a bit"... well... duh... The safeties are injured but lets not act like they were some world beaters before it. People here were eating Hooker alive while he was here but he was playing LEVELS above anything any of our current safeties has shown. 

 

Just like last year this defense is HEAVILY reliant on turnovers and this is what's keeping us from being at the very bottom of the league defensively. 

 

Our offense has been showing some glimmers of hope but I am going to wait for them to start showing it against good defenses rather than against the Houstons or Jets of the world. 

 

We are 1st round pick down and we've spent our money on resigning running backs, linebacker and interior linemen. This team has serious issues and we have very limited resources to address them. Is it impossible? No, nothing is impossible. Is it likely we get MULTIPLE impact corners, pass-rusher, WR, TE, LT without our 1st round pick and with close to zero money to spend in FA? I'd say not very likely. Thus I think we will continue hovering in that area we are in right now for this year and next year at the minimum. 

Man are you sure you aren't living in the Nickster's head?  This sounds like my brain. 

 

I've said many times that we could be heading to the purgatory of mediocrity.  Not bad enough to draft top talent, not good enough to really compete.  I said before the season started that we would be able to tell if this thing was going to work in the 2nd half of the season.  I didn't think we'd be a playoff type team and probably aren't except for the rest of the AFC has very mediocre records this year so we are in this thing.  

 

I am not all that optimistic.  Like you said, we seem to be good at things that aren't as important as the things we are bad at. I need to see us beat good teams before I'm on board.  

 

Now if we run the table the next 3 weeks, then maybe we are headed to greener pastures.  I wouldn't be shocked but I'd be darn surprised.  Buffalo doesn't look all that invincible cough Jags.  Brady should shred our D though, but they've struggled on the road with 2 losses including to  Trevor Simien  and narrow wins v. a bad Eagles team and the mediocre Pats.

 

But this squad seems like fool's gold to me. 

 

 

[Nickster]

1 hour ago, Wentzszn said:

14 million is already accounted for nelson. So really we only have to pay him about a extra 5 more out of the cap space. We have plenty of money to go sign a couple FA CB or another position. People worry way to much about the cap. If there is a player out there Ballard really wants he will find a way. Plus most of our players are now locked up for a few years while the cap keeps going up.

 

Why would you say people are too concerned with the cap?  We are essentially immobile this season with CAP issue, and although the cap raises, is raises for everyone, so we still have to compete with other teams.

 

Reality tells us that our 4 wins come against 4 of the worst if not absolute worst teams in the game.  Our wins are from teams that are 8-26 combined and it looks worse when you examine who the 8 wins came against. 

 

We may be decent.  We will find out by the 1st of December.  But I would say it's possible if not probable that we are a 5-7 football team by then with no money and no 1st rounder.  

 

So I am not so sure that people "worry" to much about the cap man.  Do we have a LT option going forward?  Maybe, maybe not.  Are we set at WR or TE to really compete?  Dubious IMO.  And Good God the defense.  So I think there is a lot of cause for "worry".

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

1 minute ago, Nickster said:

 

Why would you say people are too concerned with the cap?  We are essentially immobile this season with CAP issue, and although the cap raises, is raises for everyone, so we still have to compete with other teams.

 

Reality tells us that our 4 wins come against 4 of the worst if not absolute worst teams in the game.  Our wins are from teams that are 8-26 combined and it looks worse when you examine who the 8 wins came against. 

 

We may be decent.  We will find out by the 1st of December.  But I would say it's possible if not probable that we are a 5-7 football team by then with no money and no 1st rounder.  

 

So I am not so sure that people "worry" to much about the cap man.  Do we have a LT option going forward?  Maybe, maybe not.  Are we set at WR or TE to really compete?  Dubious IMO.  And Good God the defense.  So I think there is a lot of cause for "worry".

Because I always feel if someone is out there Ballard really feels will make a difference he will find a way to get it gone.  Maybe I have to much faith in Ballard.

[GoColts8818]

2 hours ago, stitches said:

Lets be honest about what this Ballard "interview" was. This was not really an interview... that was a press release by the GM. I would almost rather he didn't do it at all. I don't mind it that it was 10 minutes long. I mind that it was soft-ball after soft-ball after soft-ball for the GM of a team that told us we are close and half way throught he season we are 3 games down on the Titans for our own division. 

It was done by the Colts, literally Matt Taylor is the Colts play by play guy.  I don’t know what some were expecting but I think some had unrealistic expectations.

[chad72]

2 hours ago, Wentzszn said:

You guys realize if he took the blame for some of the positions that are weak or said some wild truths about the defense he would be throwing players and coaches under the bus that are still on this team trying to figure things out. That is not Ballard’s style. That is something jerry  Jones would be doing. I really don’t know what you guys want. If he says he screwed up not getting the right players then players on this team are just going to quit because they have been told they are bad.  This was no different then his normal updated that are done during the season.

 

To me, this also sets the tone for him moving on from Eberflus at the end of this year. This is the most I have even heard Ballard and Frank hint at the smallest form of displeasure with the secondary coaching, IMO. The reality could be more grim for Eberflus.

 

I have to say - I am impressed with what Phil Snow has done with the Panthers. 

[richard pallo]

2 hours ago, Wentzszn said:

We don’t have to franchise Nelson until after 22. We actually have two more years of control.

That’s even better.  No need to sign him to a long term deal this off season.  

[Superman]

1 hour ago, chad72 said:

 

To me, this also sets the tone for him moving on from Eberflus at the end of this year. This is the most I have even heard Ballard and Frank hint at the smallest form of displeasure with the secondary coaching, IMO. The reality could be more grim for Eberflus.

 

I have to say - I am impressed with what Phil Snow has done with the Panthers. 

 

I'm done with Eberflus and this defensive approach.

 

There are ways to play Cover 2 effectively. We don't. We give up 69.3% completions (third worst), and a passer rating of 104.4 (6th worst). Yeah, we can stop the run (usually), but that doesn't really matter when we give up 8 yards per pass attempt (tied for 5th worst). It's a passing league, and we can't stop the pass.

 

There are ways to send additional pressure; we're the 4th lowest blitzing team, and the worst pressure team. The typical counter is 'we can't blitz more, we'd be exposed in the secondary!' See above; we're already exposed in the secondary. We don't give up huge pass plays (usually), but we do give up intermediate pass plays, and we can't get off the field on third down.

 

I don't think Eberflus has been given the personnel he needs to make his defense work (pass rush, healthy and disciplined corners, and now the safeties are hurt), so it's not all his fault. But I definitely prefer a different scheme and approach, and the only hope of that happening is with a different coordinator. 

 

So if your read of the tea leaves indicates that maybe they're thinking of making a change, then I hope you're right.

 

Edit: By the way, when I say "Cover 2," I really mean any zone heavy defense. We play plenty of coverages in this defense. None of them well...

[chad72]

 

For our next DC, I want John Butler who is the defensive backs coach of the Bills.

 

https://bufbills.com/player-bios/john_butler.pdf

 

I am really really impressed with his resume. Anyone else with me?

 

Dungy, Leslie Frazier, Mike Tomlin all came from a defensive back coaching background, so I would definitely like this path for him.

 

[NewColtsFan]

5 hours ago, Solid84 said:

Good on you. Sorry I missed those posts, I apologise for that, sincerely. 

 

But... going by your own words here, I'm guessing you no longer are a Colts fan then? I mean, you've had patience, but have now given criticizism of Frank, his offensive staff and the defense. You're off the bandwagon, right?... I'm guessing no. I cheer for our guys in blue and white every week. I compliment the good, I criticize the bad. Criticizing doesn't mean I'm not on the bandwagon and don't even insinuate that, I take offense to it...

 

Don't apologise for the long post. I called you out, you responded in kind. No harm in that. 

No, I’m very much still a fan.   I’m willing to ride out the storm of what looks to me like a probable 9-8, 8-9 season because I believe in Ballard, Reich and Irsay.  
 

I believe in their vision of the future.   I believe in the high character players they bring in.   I believe in the assistant coaches and the rest of the front office.   I believe in Ballard’s “Delayed Gratification”.   When I say I’m a patient fan, I sincerely mean it.   Doesn’t mean I won’t get mad when I think they’ve screwed up.   But on balance, I look forward to being a Colts fan for many years to come. 

 

Appreciate your response.   Thank you!   

[Superman]

7 minutes ago, chad72 said:

 

For our next DC, I want John Butler who is the defensive backs coach of the Bills.

 

https://bufbills.com/player-bios/john_butler.pdf

 

I am really really impressed with his resume. Anyone else with me?

 

Dungy, Leslie Frazier, Mike Tomlin all came from a defensive back coaching background, so I would definitely like this path for him.

 

 

It's a similar defensive philosophy, especially from a team building/resources standpoint. I don't know a lot about Butler (and many people won't acknowledge this, but personality and fit are very important on a coaching staff), but the scheme the Bills run makes sense for our team. 

 

No matter who the DC is, we need better DL play, and better corner play. That probably needs to come from better players, at least partly.

[stitches]

31 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

I'm done with Eberflus and this defensive approach.

 

There are ways to play Cover 2 effectively. We don't. We give up 69.3% completions (third worst), and a passer rating of 104.4 (6th worst). Yeah, we can stop the run (usually), but that doesn't really matter when we give up 8 yards per pass attempt (tied for 5th worst). It's a passing league, and we can't stop the pass.

 

There are ways to send additional pressure; we're the 4th lowest blitzing team, and the worst pressure team. The typical counter is 'we can't blitz more, we'd be exposed in the secondary!' See above; we're already exposed in the secondary. We don't give up huge pass plays (usually), but we do give up intermediate pass plays, and we can't get off the field on third down.

 

I don't think Eberflus has been given the personnel he needs to make his defense work (pass rush, healthy and disciplined corners, and now the safeties are hurt), so it's not all his fault. But I definitely prefer a different scheme and approach, and the only hope of that happening is with a different coordinator. 

 

So if your read of the tea leaves indicates that maybe they're thinking of making a change, then I hope you're right.

This is the thing that gives me pause with Eberflus. I hate how we play defense. We haven't really developed talent well, either. But Eberflus hasn't really been given the players to play that defense either. This defense relies so much on the ability of the DL to create quick pressure with rushing just 4... and we just... can't seem to do it. Noone on that line has good pass-rush stats this year. But still... even with that said I feel like we should be doing more, especially when the way you are playing doesn't seem to be working.

[Superman]

2 minutes ago, stitches said:

This is the thing that gives me pause with Eberflus. I hate how we play defense. We haven't really developed talent well, either. But Eberflus hasn't really been given the players to play that defense either. This defense relies so much on the ability of the DL to create quick pressure with rushing just 4... and we just... can't seem to do it. Noone on that line has good pass-rush stats this year. But still... even with that said I feel like we should be doing more, especially when the way you are playing doesn't seem to be working.

 

I forgot to mention talent development. There hasn't been enough of that, especially at DL. 

 

But yeah, the DL has to be really good, particularly rushing the passer, and that's never been the case. But we know it's not. And still we are allowing open receivers right away, including on third down. Some of this is poor execution -- Darius Leonard overran his coverage on third down last week; I think Rhodes misplayed his assignment on the first TD also. A lot of it is a byproduct of not being engaged with defenders.

 

Through the first two games of the season, I don't know if we deflected a single pass on the outside. I was thrilled when someone finally got a PI call, because it meant we were near the receiver when the ball arrived. It was maddening. And it hasn't improved sufficiently. I was saying the same thing last season. The DL played better, but our pass rush still wasn't good enough, and good QBs picked apart our pass defense.

 

I would think we'd be more aggressive early in the route, and try to disrupt the timing on pass plays. That leaves us open to bigger plays down field, but those plays are more difficult to connect on, and we at least have the potential for safety help. This doesn't even require more blitzing, just being able to rely on corners to not get beat within 2 seconds. 

 

Bigger picture, we were relying on young players to play better this season -- Rock, Willis, Blackmon, Okereke, Lewis, Turay, Banogu, etc. Some of them have done a pretty good job, some of them are hurt, some are meh, others are bad. The plan didn't come together as intended. Whatever the plan is moving forward, it has to include different, better players. 

[Nickster]

46 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

No, I’m very much still a fan.   I’m willing to ride out the storm of what looks to me like a probable 9-8, 8-9 season because I believe in Ballard, Reich and Irsay.  
 

I believe in their vision of the future.   I believe in the high character players they bring in.   I believe in the assistant coaches and the rest of the front office.   I believe in Ballard’s “Delayed Gratification”.   When I say I’m a patient fan, I sincerely mean it.   Doesn’t mean I won’t get mad when I think they’ve screwed up.   But on balance, I look forward to being a Colts fan for many years to come. 

 

Appreciate your response.   Thank you!   

That's great.  I'm a fan too.  I think your record prediction is in line with what I am thinking. 

 

But I don't necessarily believe in the vision of the coach, GM, and Owner.   I think what a lot of people call high character guys are often just guys who know how to appear to be high character. Irsay, although a seeming nice guy was a pill popping pickle nose drunk who endangered others lives by operating a motor vehicle (I ain't judging other than the endangerment of others but I just glaze over on the character thing when it comes from a pill popping pickle nose drunk who endangered others lives by operating a motor vehicle at 54 years of age or whatever it was) then you have Marvin Harrison and the murder or whatever it was as a seeming character guy,  I believe in delayed gratification, but if this group don't work it's going to be quite a long delay.  I get mad too.

 

See you have your opinion, I have mine.  We both get upset or mad, for me it's just a flash during a game and immediately ends when it's over.  I look forward to being a Colt fan too, I am just not overly bullish on what is going on here. 

[Smonroe]

59 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

No, I’m very much still a fan.   I’m willing to ride out the storm of what looks to me like a probable 9-8, 8-9 season because I believe in Ballard, Reich and Irsay.  
 

I believe in their vision of the future.   I believe in the high character players they bring in.   I believe in the assistant coaches and the rest of the front office.   I believe in Ballard’s “Delayed Gratification”.   When I say I’m a patient fan, I sincerely mean it.   Doesn’t mean I won’t get mad when I think they’ve screwed up.   But on balance, I look forward to being a Colts fan for many years to come. 

 

Appreciate your response.   Thank you!   

 

I'm with you on the O side of the ball.  Even with injuries to a bunch of starters (on the O line, Campbell, TY, and even Wentz) that squad has played well and gets better each week (yes, I know Wentz made a few bonehead plays).

 

But I don't agree on the D side.  From the DC down to the position coaches, draft picks, and the depth.  Fluse has seen that scheme fail in big games so often it's like he's the definition of a guy who doesn't understand what insanity means.

 

I know it's simplistic and I'm not going to lay out all the reasons it's wrong.  But in my mind, if you're going to play the loose zone and let the other team score, then you may as well apply some pressure to the QB.  He's going to find the open guy in the zone anyway if you let him stand back there and scan the field.

 

And for goodness sake, please teach them to watch out for the bootleg!  

[Shive]

39 minutes ago, Superman said:

I would think we'd be more aggressive early in the route, and try to disrupt the timing on pass plays. That leaves us open to bigger plays down field, but those plays are more difficult to connect on, and we at least have the potential for safety help. This doesn't even require more blitzing, just being able to rely on corners to not get beat within 2 seconds. 

This has been my biggest gripe. I get wanting to play zone coverage, but that doesn't mean you have to consistently play 10-15 yards off the LOS. We have 2 CB's on the outside that are physical and can mix it up at the LOS. That momentary disruption of the route could make all the difference for our DL.

[EastStreet]

2 hours ago, stitches said:

This is the thing that gives me pause with Eberflus. I hate how we play defense. We haven't really developed talent well, either. But Eberflus hasn't really been given the players to play that defense either. This defense relies so much on the ability of the DL to create quick pressure with rushing just 4... and we just... can't seem to do it. Noone on that line has good pass-rush stats this year. But still... even with that said I feel like we should be doing more, especially when the way you are playing doesn't seem to be working.

We spent a lot of draft capital on the DL.

• A 1st round pick for Defo
• And since 2017 and in addition to the above, 1x1st, 4x2nd, a 3rd, and a 4th.
• That's 6 total early round picks, and 2 mid rounds in 5 years. Even if you discount the 2 early from 2021, 4+2 is still a major investment.

Call it a mix of failure to develop, busts, injury, etc., but we've fallen flat in this area. 

 

And one question that is very interesting to me... Why are the 3 front 7 guys we let go, doing better on other teams. How much of that is scheme (vanilla front 4, low blitz, etc).

1 hour ago, Shive said:

This has been my biggest gripe. I get wanting to play zone coverage, but that doesn't mean you have to consistently play 10-15 yards off the LOS. We have 2 CB's on the outside that are physical and can mix it up at the LOS. That momentary disruption of the route could make all the difference for our DL.

Yup. The constant cushion is frustrating. That really doesn't have a lot of bearing on the DL. That's pure scheme. If you beg for quick dink/dunks, doesn't matter how good your DL is on a good portion of passes. And the cushion we give up at times on like 3rd and 5 or 3rd and short is mind bending. 

[jvan1973]

What did anyone expect him to say?  Our defensive philosophy sucks?   He isn't going to say that.    If Flus is fired at years end, we will know what he thinks.    I always think it's funny when fans are surprised that coaches and front office folks don't call out players our other coaches in the media.     Like that is going to help things

[chickenMan]

8 hours ago, richard pallo said:

I'll say it again and I apologize for keep bringing it up but he should sign Tre Boston to play FS and one major hole in the defense is filled for the remainder of the year. JMO

Hell, he can’t be worse than Sendejo, so why not kick the tires?

[Stephen]

8 hours ago, stitches said:

That's a continuing pattern - we beat the bad teams and we lose to the playoff teams. This is not a one or two game aberration. We lost to every single AFC playoff team we met last year. We have lost to every single playoff team we've met this year too. This is not showing us that we are close. This is showing us just how far we are. 

There is no doom and gloom. I am not predicting us being one of the worst teams in the league. I'm predicting us being mediocre... which we are... and we will continue being. In a certain way this might even be worse than bottoming out. 

 

The defensive front has NOT been good at all. I have no idea what people are watching that makes them think we've had good DL play. Our best player has been Paye... which fair enough... I guess he's one of the hopes we have for turning this around if he can take a step forward by end of this year or next year. Buckner has been disappointing this year. Lewis was our other good performer but he's injured now with one of the worst injuries in football. We've been solid in run defense and horrible in pass-rush. In other words - we are good at the thing that matter least and bad at the thing that matters most. Our DBs have been horrendous... I have no idea how Ballard is selling this as some sort of "oh it's just a matter of improving technique a bit"... well... duh... The safeties are injured but lets not act like they were some world beaters before it. People here were eating Hooker alive while he was here but he was playing LEVELS above anything any of our current safeties has shown. 

 

Just like last year this defense is HEAVILY reliant on turnovers and this is what's keeping us from being at the very bottom of the league defensively. 

 

Our offense has been showing some glimmers of hope but I am going to wait for them to start showing it against good defenses rather than against the Houstons or Jets of the world. 

 

We are 1st round pick down and we've spent our money on resigning running backs, linebacker and interior linemen. This team has serious issues and we have very limited resources to address them. Is it impossible? No, nothing is impossible. Is it likely we get MULTIPLE impact corners, pass-rusher, WR, TE, LT without our 1st round pick and with close to zero money to spend in FA? I'd say not very likely. Thus I think we will continue hovering in that area we are in right now for this year and next year at the minimum. 

The front has been good versus run but bad versus pass