Matt Ryan's Arm

[Chucklez]

The general consensus seems to be that Matt Ryan's (while still a good - great QB overall) arm has dropped off a little due to his age recently. But the top 10 passer rating list for deep passes last year looked like this:

1. Josh Allen (100.7 passer rating, 28 of 68 for 954 yards 5:2 TD/INT ratio)

2. Matt Ryan (107.7 passer rating, 20 of 42 for 718 yards 3:1 TD/INT ratio)

3. Kyler Murray (111.1 passer rating, 28 of 60 for 940 yards 7:3 TD/INT ratio)

4. Justin Herbert (99.3 passer rating, 24 of 60 for 882 yards 8:4 TD/INT ratio)

5. Matthew Stafford (93 passer rating, 27 of 58 for 1,175 yards 7:7 TD/INT ratio)

6. Patrick Mahomes (111 passer rating, 27 of 66 for 916 yards 7:2 TD/INT ratio)

7. Carson Wentz (106.3 passer rating, 23 of 53 for 797 yards 7:3 TD/INT ratio)

8. Russell Wilson (112.5 passer rating, 26 of 71 for 978 yards 9:2 TD/INT ratio)

9. Derek Carr (90.2 passer rating, 26 of 67 for 934 yards 7:5 TD/INT ratio)

10. Aaron Rodgers (97.8 passer rating, 24 of 63 for 873 yards 6:3 TD/INT ratio)


You'll notice that Carson managed number 7 on this list, with let's be honest, Pittman pulling most of the weight on that front. Matt Ryan managed number 2 on the list, with no Calvin Ridley for the vast majority of the season and their offense being mostly Cordarrelle Patterson - and his offensive line was veeery suspect last year and he didnt really have all that much time to throw. 

Am I saying we are getting a vintage Matt Ryan who is going to sling it all over the field all the time? No. But he certainly isn't an almost over the hill QB who only has maybe 1 year left in him if we are lucky kinda guy either.

If opponents are going to be coming up against the Colts this year and expecting Matt Ryan to just be taking the dump offs and "managing" the offense, they got another thing coming.

[shakedownstreet]

9 minutes ago, Chucklez said:

Matt Ryan's Arm

 

I found it lying next to to road on West 56th Street

 

[shasta519]

1 minute ago, shakedownstreet said:

 

I found it lying next to to road on West 56th Street

 

 

Phew! That's only his left arm. I think we are still good to go.

[CrazyHorse]

4 hours ago, shasta519 said:

 

Phew! That's only his left arm. I think we are still good to go.

We left it there last night. I wanted to go back for it, but he said " Screw it! It's just the left one! I got my ring, I'm good!"

[AwesomeAustin]

I think his arm is fine. Ryan will be a good to borderline great QB. I doubt he will be able to play at an elite level for an entire season. I just hope he can operate the offense, especially in the red zone at an elite level. If he can throw close to 30tds and 4K yards we will be in great shape. 

[JediXMan]

Not worried at all.

[shasta519]

1 hour ago, CrazyHorse said:

We left it there last night. I wanted to go back for it, but he said " Screw it! It's just the left one! I got my ring, I'm good!"

 

[PRnum1]

Matt Ryan can still fling it.  Make no mistake.

 

If he can set his feet and go through his progressions, he will deliver the ball accurately on the money and is still one of the best in the league.

 

His weakness is he needs good protection and is not especially mobile.  So you don't want him moving or shuffling his feet or running around.

 

That is why who we pick for LT is so critical.

[Patagonia Chris]

More worried about the 23 turnovers last year and his LT, tbh.

[Boondoggle]

I think he's got "enough" arm.  He can hit deeper passes but his ball floats quite a bit compared to guys with the better arms.  Having him throw deep outs is kind of risky for that reason and the difference between him and a QB with a strong arm is that he cannot throw them late.  Basically arm strength equates into time for the QB.  Mahomes or Stafford can throw a deep out late and still have a good chance for a completion.  Ryan it's a higher chance of being picked.

 

So you see that effect if you watch his games.  He'll make a lot of throws where he puts it up and the wideout runs under it.

 

Bottom line here is with this offense he should be fine.  9ers got to the NFC Championship game last year with Garoppolo who is similar, but of course Ryan is much more consistent and accurate than he is.  Colts have enough at QB with him, they just need to protect him well, give him a good run game, and have a strong defense to contend.

[Gigc]

I think he'll be fine. He can still throw deep --- enough

 However, the thing that's jumps out from those stats at the top is that Ryan threw a LOT fewer deep balls than anybody else on that list. 

That could be because Atlanta's OL was pretty porous last year.

[EastStreet]

13 hours ago, Chucklez said:

The general consensus seems to be that Matt Ryan's (while still a good - great QB overall) arm has dropped off a little due to his age recently. But the top 10 passer rating list for deep passes last year looked like this:

1. Josh Allen (100.7 passer rating, 28 of 68 for 954 yards 5:2 TD/INT ratio)

2. Matt Ryan (107.7 passer rating, 20 of 42 for 718 yards 3:1 TD/INT ratio)

3. Kyler Murray (111.1 passer rating, 28 of 60 for 940 yards 7:3 TD/INT ratio)

4. Justin Herbert (99.3 passer rating, 24 of 60 for 882 yards 8:4 TD/INT ratio)

5. Matthew Stafford (93 passer rating, 27 of 58 for 1,175 yards 7:7 TD/INT ratio)

6. Patrick Mahomes (111 passer rating, 27 of 66 for 916 yards 7:2 TD/INT ratio)

7. Carson Wentz (106.3 passer rating, 23 of 53 for 797 yards 7:3 TD/INT ratio)

8. Russell Wilson (112.5 passer rating, 26 of 71 for 978 yards 9:2 TD/INT ratio)

9. Derek Carr (90.2 passer rating, 26 of 67 for 934 yards 7:5 TD/INT ratio)

10. Aaron Rodgers (97.8 passer rating, 24 of 63 for 873 yards 6:3 TD/INT ratio)


You'll notice that Carson managed number 7 on this list, with let's be honest, Pittman pulling most of the weight on that front. Matt Ryan managed number 2 on the list, with no Calvin Ridley for the vast majority of the season and their offense being mostly Cordarrelle Patterson - and his offensive line was veeery suspect last year and he didnt really have all that much time to throw. 

Am I saying we are getting a vintage Matt Ryan who is going to sling it all over the field all the time? No. But he certainly isn't an almost over the hill QB who only has maybe 1 year left in him if we are lucky kinda guy either.

If opponents are going to be coming up against the Colts this year and expecting Matt Ryan to just be taking the dump offs and "managing" the offense, they got another thing coming.

 

• I posted this in another thread, and reminded everyone that Wentz was top 10, and so was Rivers in 2021. But both were bottom half of the league in deep attempts. Wentz was top 10 in deep throw attempts last season, so I pray Reich will change his O a bit to let Ryan be Ryan. 
• I agree Pittman helped Wentz out, but that's part of the game. And it wasn't all throws to Pittman. You also need to factor in a very bad pass pro OL... I know you want to poo poo Wentz, and yes, he had issues, but he was also top 10 in money balls... and top 10 in pressure throws. So it wasn't all bad. 
• Ryan will be a lot better than Wentz on the short stuff no doubt, but he was also not good at all in RZ passing. And if we're looking at deep throw efficiency, Ryan had a resurgence there. He was not top 10 the previous two years. I do think he'll be good again this season in that area so long as our OL holds better this year. 
• To your last point. I don't think any team will assume anything early. But they will react after there's film. I also don't see Reich changing his O dramatically. I hope I'm wrong though. Biggest wish is that the OL just improves in pass pro. 

[Lucky Colts Fan]

As @EastStreet pointed out, Wentz was “money” on the money balls, and that was also mentioned in the original NFL.com article, that Wentz didn’t go deep often because this offense leans on Taylor, but that when he did, it was usually because defenses were selling out to stop Taylor, leaving a guy like Pittman one-on-one deep.

 

I think that’s our MO going forward: force defenses to sell out to stop the run, then kill ‘‘em with the deep play-action.

 

Which makes Ryan the perfect QB to replace Wentz in this offense. He really excels when he has a strong OLine and running game, giving him one-on-ones downfield that he can attack.

 

And as @Chucklez pointed out in the OP, we just replaced the 7th-best “deep passer” (according to the metrics from the article) with the “2nd-best”. So there’s reason to be optimistic about this offense taking a step forward, especially in big “splash” plays downfield.

 

[EastStreet]

11 minutes ago, Lucky Colts Fan said:

As @EastStreet pointed out, Wentz was “money” on the money balls, and that was also mentioned in the original NFL.com article, that Wentz didn’t go deep often because this offense leans on Taylor, but that when he did, it was usually because defenses were selling out to stop Taylor, leaving a guy like Pittman one-on-one deep.

 

I think that’s our MO going forward: force defenses to sell out to stop the run, then kill ‘‘em with the deep play-action.

 

Which makes Ryan the perfect QB to replace Wentz in this offense. He really excels when he has a strong OLine and running game, giving him one-on-ones downfield that he can attack.

 

And as @Chucklez pointed out in the OP, we just replaced the 7th-best “deep passer” (according to the metrics from the article) with the “2nd-best”. So there’s reason to be optimistic about this offense taking a step forward, especially in big “splash” plays downfield.

 

 

My two biggest hopes...

• The OL improves it's pass pro
• Reich is less short and possession oriented than he has been the last several years. 

[Lucky Colts Fan]

6 minutes ago, EastStreet said:

 

My two biggest hopes...

• The OL improves it's pass pro
• Reich is less short and possession oriented than he has been the last several years. 

Totally agree on the first point.

 

I really can’t speak on the second point. Of course I want the Colts to be #1 in every quantifiable metric (like my madden franchises, lol), but I have to accept that in real life, as long as the offense takes what the defense gives them, and don’t force it downfield just to improve stats that don’t look so good on paper, and we WIN the game, then I don’t really have an opinion on the play-calling.

 

UNLESS… Reich runs Hines up the gut on 4th and goal from the 3 and it doesn’t work (surprise!) again… then I’ll have a very vocal opinion about play-calling! Lol

[EastStreet]

2 minutes ago, Lucky Colts Fan said:

Totally agree on the first point.

 

I really can’t speak on the second point. Of course I want the Colts to be #1 in every quantifiable metric (like my madden franchises, lol), but I have to accept that in real life, as long as the offense takes what the defense gives them, and don’t force it downfield just to improve stats that don’t look so good on paper, and we WIN the game, then I don’t really have an opinion on the play-calling.

 

UNLESS… Reich runs Hines up the gut on 4th and goal from the 3 and it doesn’t work (surprise!) again… then I’ll have a very vocal opinion about play-calling! Lol

 

I don't want to force anything either. I just want a well rounded offense that makes Ds defend the entire field. Haven't had that for quite a while. 

 

On Hines up the gut lol.... I think they finally have a good strategy for getting Hines on the field more and putting him the best position to succeed. The last two weeks they've made a point to run him with the WR groups. 

[stitches]

5 hours ago, EastStreet said:

 

My two biggest hopes...

• The OL improves it's pass pro
• Reich is less short and possession oriented than he has been the last several years. 

The second one relies heavily on the first one happening. We've already seen what Frank does when he doesn't trust his OL in pass-pro - he peppers the field with tons and tons of short passes. 

[Indyfan4life]

I think people are a little too concerned about this. Ryan had zero offense or offensive line last year. He knew they weren’t winning or doing anything in that division, and still won 7 games while throwing for almost 4,000 yards. I don’t expect to see him throw 50-60 yard passes, but I fully believe if he’s got a guy open 30-40 yards down field that he’ll be able to connect. 

[lollygagger8]

I'm not listening to any of these so-called "experts" that say Matty Ice is too old, or lost some of his juice.....I'm telling you he still has it. 

 

Plus, he won't be throwing to a triple covered WR deep while the RB underneath is wide open, so that's an upgrade in itself. 

[sb41champs]

Honestly - I'm more excited about our acquisition of Matt Ryan than I was of Philip Rivers.

 

Can hardly wait until the season begins!!

[EastStreet]

12 hours ago, stitches said:

The second one relies heavily on the first one happening. We've already seen what Frank does when he doesn't trust his OL in pass-pro - he peppers the field with tons and tons of short passes. 

When he had a great OL / pass pro in 2019 and 2020, he still was peppering short lol.. 

[stitches]

10 hours ago, EastStreet said:

When he had a great OL / pass pro in 2019 and 2020, he still was peppering short lol.. 

IMO some of this was QB related. Jacoby for some reason refused to let it loose(in most cases wasn't seeing them) and Rivers's arm seemed to be dead by that point. I feel like Matt Ryan has more in the tank at the current moment. But lets see... 

[chad72]

Man coverage is where I have seen Matt Ryan have his issues against, we will see. Most of my bad memories of Matt Ryan have come on 4th down failures against man coverage. He is no spring chicken to throw it into tight spaces vs man coverage but he is not 2015 noodle arm Peyton either. 

 

As long as Frank does not forget about the running game like Kyle Shanahan did in that SB, and Frank did vs the Bucs, we should fare good.

[DougDew]

A few thoughts:

 

I've wanted Ryan in this offense for a couple of years.  Its not a vertical attacking offense, and features power running (between the tackles), so the deep shot attempts are never going to rank among the highest teams.  I'd be happy with top 18 in deep attempts.  

 

Ryan's arm is fine for this.  And I'm surprised that he did so well with so little last year.  Could be play calling.  Could be vet QB seeing the D well.

 

I would not describe Ryan as a statue, but yes, a pocket passer.  I think he has always had enough wheels to extend a play sideways and out of the pocket for a while, but he's not going to convert many first downs by running vertically.

 

I'd be surprised to see the offense not be more vertical than it was with Wentz and Rivers.  If you simply look at the additions of Pierce and a healthy Campbell....two of the top 4 receivers having actual vertical speed...you can see the challenges Reich faced last year with the vertical game...TY aside (don't know if he has really been viewed as reliable the past two seasons).  And how some of the criticisms placed on Wentz were unfair, IMO.   If PC stays healthy and AP can contribute by mid season, I think it will show up clearly in the passing game and decision making (whether that is the QB or the sideline play caller)

 

Additions of AP and Woods will help Ryan's red zone game, but maybe not until mid season.  And will Strauchan earn PT this year?

 

[shasta519]

 

On 6/1/2022 at 8:37 AM, Chucklez said:

The general consensus seems to be that Matt Ryan's (while still a good - great QB overall) arm has dropped off a little due to his age recently. But the top 10 passer rating list for deep passes last year looked like this:

1. Josh Allen (100.7 passer rating, 28 of 68 for 954 yards 5:2 TD/INT ratio)

2. Matt Ryan (107.7 passer rating, 20 of 42 for 718 yards 3:1 TD/INT ratio)

3. Kyler Murray (111.1 passer rating, 28 of 60 for 940 yards 7:3 TD/INT ratio)

4. Justin Herbert (99.3 passer rating, 24 of 60 for 882 yards 8:4 TD/INT ratio)

5. Matthew Stafford (93 passer rating, 27 of 58 for 1,175 yards 7:7 TD/INT ratio)

6. Patrick Mahomes (111 passer rating, 27 of 66 for 916 yards 7:2 TD/INT ratio)

7. Carson Wentz (106.3 passer rating, 23 of 53 for 797 yards 7:3 TD/INT ratio)

8. Russell Wilson (112.5 passer rating, 26 of 71 for 978 yards 9:2 TD/INT ratio)

9. Derek Carr (90.2 passer rating, 26 of 67 for 934 yards 7:5 TD/INT ratio)

10. Aaron Rodgers (97.8 passer rating, 24 of 63 for 873 yards 6:3 TD/INT ratio)


You'll notice that Carson managed number 7 on this list, with let's be honest, Pittman pulling most of the weight on that front. Matt Ryan managed number 2 on the list, with no Calvin Ridley for the vast majority of the season and their offense being mostly Cordarrelle Patterson - and his offensive line was veeery suspect last year and he didnt really have all that much time to throw. 

Am I saying we are getting a vintage Matt Ryan who is going to sling it all over the field all the time? No. But he certainly isn't an almost over the hill QB who only has maybe 1 year left in him if we are lucky kinda guy either.

If opponents are going to be coming up against the Colts this year and expecting Matt Ryan to just be taking the dump offs and "managing" the offense, they got another thing coming.

 

Last season, Wentz's overall deep ball accuracy was 54% (#10 in the NFL). 

 

Ryan's overall deep ball accuracy was 46% (#22 in the NFL).

 

In every deep passing situation: under pressure, throwing into tight/open windows, throwing inside/outside the pocket...Wentz was actually more accurate (far more in some cases). Most notably was "under pressure," where Wentz was #3 in the NFL with 70% accuracy, while Ryan was #19 with 44% accuracy.

 

Posted in another thread, but here is the 2021 Deep Ball Project:

 

 

If Wentz was carried by Pittman, then the less accurate deep ball thrower definitely had help.

 

Especially when you consider that Ryan, while being less accurate, had a higher completion % and a much higher CPOE

CPOE (completion % over expectation) on deep passes. 

 

This is why I don't buy that narrative that ATL had a lack of weapons. Bad OL...yes. Bad pass catchers...no. Pitts is a stud and Patterson was a strong deep threat when they used him that way. 

[DougDew]

2 minutes ago, shasta519 said:

 

 

Last season, Wentz's overall deep ball accuracy was 54% (#10 in the NFL). 

 

Ryan's overall deep ball accuracy was 46% (#22 in the NFL).

 

In every deep passing situation: under pressure, throwing into tight/open windows, throwing inside/outside the pocket...Wentz was actually more accurate (far more in some cases). Most notably was "under pressure," where Wentz was #3 in the NFL with 70% accuracy, while Ryan was #19 with 44% accuracy.

 

Posted in another thread, but here is the 2021 Deep Ball Project:

 

 

If Wentz was carried by Pittman, then the less accurate deep ball thrower definitely had help.

 

Especially when you consider that Ryan, while being less accurate, had a higher completion % and a much higher CPOE

CPOE (completion % over expectation) on deep passes. 

 

This is why I don't buy that narrative that ATL had a lack of weapons. Bad OL...yes. Bad pass catchers...no. Pitts is a stud and Patterson was a strong deep threat when they used him that way. 

So then what's the discrepancy with the two stats being shown.....OPs deep ball passer rating and your deep ball accuracy percentage?

[shasta519]

To expand on this, here is Ryan's deep passing accuracy (from the 2020 Deep Ball Project):

 

 

https://brickwallblitz.com/2021/02/16/the-2020-21-deep-ball-project-part-2-3/

 

So it's 2020 and 2021, not just last season.

 

And these past two seasons show a quick decline when compared to the previous two seasons:

 

2018: #3 (59%)

2019: #4 (57.4%)

2020: #19 (49%)

2021: #22 (46%)

 

One really noticeable drop-off was passing deep to the left:

 

2018: #5 (60.7%)

2019: #3 (69.2%) 

2020: #21 (41.7%)

 

Maybe he became Zoolander, or perhaps his arm strength is lessening for those types of throws. Unfortunately, that's also where Pittman typically lines up.

 

I am not saying is Ryan is washed or a bad QB. But the numbers show a potential decline in arm strength and a QB that is probably past his prime (which is not surprising). The overall passing stats also show a decline over the past few years, so it's not just deep passing.

 

But he's still a good QB. And even as a middle of the pack deep passer, they will be able to utilize that element of the passing offense. I just don't think deep passing is going to be what this passing offense is about.

 

[shasta519]

20 minutes ago, DougDew said:

So then what's the discrepancy with the two stats being shown.....OPs deep ball passer rating and your deep ball accuracy percentage?

 

I think the discrepancy is in the how or why those results happened...and what that means for the Colts.

 

OP posited that Wentz's stats were great because he was carried by Pittman, while Ryan's stats were great because he was able to overcome a lack of weapons. This is a pretty common narrative from last season.

 

But in reality, while having Pittman certainly did help, Wentz also helped by being top 10 in deep ball accuracy.

 

Ryan was less accurate on deep passes, so help must have come from somewhere to yield equal or better results. And that would likely be from pass catchers making plays.

 

Why it's important to the Colts is because accuracy is going to be a better indicator of what we can expect for deep passing results than what happened last season in ATL. The personnel will change, but the accuracy part will come with Ryan. 

 

[chad72]

36 minutes ago, shasta519 said:

 

I think the discrepancy is in the how or why those results happened...and what that means for the Colts.

 

OP posited that Wentz's stats were great because he was carried by Pittman, while Ryan's stats were great because he was able to overcome a lack of weapons. This is a pretty common narrative from last season.

 

But in reality, while having Pittman certainly did help, Wentz also helped by being top 10 in deep ball accuracy.

 

Ryan was less accurate on deep passes, so help must have come from somewhere to yield equal or better results. And that would likely be from pass catchers making plays.

 

Why it's important to the Colts is because accuracy is going to be a better indicator of what we can expect for deep passing results than what happened last season in ATL. The personnel will change, but the accuracy part will come with Ryan. 

 

 

Choke the middle and underneath, force him to throw outside the numbers is what teams are going to do with Matt Ryan, just like good teams do with Brady, except Brady's arm is at a better level than Matt Ryan's and Pittman is no Mike Evans.

[DougDew]

55 minutes ago, shasta519 said:

Ryan was less accurate on deep passes, so help must have come from somewhere to yield equal or better results. And that would likely be from pass catchers making plays.

I think that has to be the answer.  He was not accurate, but completions happened because of the skills...probably catch radius a big part....of Patterson and Pitts.  I think ATL had another WR that was pretty decent but is a bit of a no name.

 

Still though, passer rating could be achieved by decision making, where Ryan throws a ball to a receiver that is open at the correct time (albeit slightly off target) and Wentz just chucks it into triple coverage and its broken up, but the pass was accurate...LOL. 

[chad72]

1 hour ago, shasta519 said:

 

I think the discrepancy is in the how or why those results happened...and what that means for the Colts.

 

OP posited that Wentz's stats were great because he was carried by Pittman, while Ryan's stats were great because he was able to overcome a lack of weapons. This is a pretty common narrative from last season.

 

But in reality, while having Pittman certainly did help, Wentz also helped by being top 10 in deep ball accuracy.

 

Ryan was less accurate on deep passes, so help must have come from somewhere to yield equal or better results. And that would likely be from pass catchers making plays.

 

Why it's important to the Colts is because accuracy is going to be a better indicator of what we can expect for deep passing results than what happened last season in ATL. The personnel will change, but the accuracy part will come with Ryan. 

 

 

In other words, Wentz was not as bad as he was made out to be, and Matt Ryan is not THE QB savior he is made out to be but should be very effective in our system and we are happy to have him. Given that Reich got one of Rivers' career best completion percentages in his very last year, I think the combination of Ryan and Reich will serve the Colts team and their fans well enough to win the division, IMO, given all the personnel assembled with the team and coaches.

[shasta519]

34 minutes ago, DougDew said:

I think that has to be the answer.  He was not accurate, but completions happened because of the skills...probably catch radius a big part....of Patterson and Pitts.  I think ATL had another WR that was pretty decent but is a bit of a no name.

 

Still though, passer rating could be achieved by decision making, where Ryan throws a ball to a receiver that is open at the correct time (albeit slightly off target) and Wentz just chucks it into triple coverage and its broken up, but the pass was accurate...LOL. 

 

Yes. This is true. 

[EastStreet]

11 hours ago, stitches said:

IMO some of this was QB related. Jacoby for some reason refused to let it loose(in most cases wasn't seeing them) and Rivers's arm seemed to be dead by that point. I feel like Matt Ryan has more in the tank at the current moment. But lets see... 

 

I bought into the whole QB arguments for a time. Not so much anymore. Through 3 QBs and 2 very good OLs, I think it's simply more logical to say it's more the O scheme. Wentz and Rivers were top 10 in deep ball efficiency, yet bottom half in deep ball attempts. Simple/typical strategy (not just football) would be to push frequency when efficiency is high (until you started to see a drop in efficiency). We never did push frequency to see if efficiency would erode. Then just add some really illogical or manic type game plans that totally ignored the opponents clear weaknesses. 

 

I truly hope we something different this season. One thing about Ryan, is he is strong willed. And he has the experience/pedigree to back his strong will. So I'm hoping he puts a moderately heavy thumb on the play calling scale lol... They already reported (MAC's comments and someone else I can't recall) that Ryan was already changing a lot of plays at the line. Hope that continues as he's got a good O mind. 

 

 

[stitches]

19 minutes ago, EastStreet said:

 

I bought into the whole QB arguments for a time. Not so much anymore. Through 3 QBs and 2 very good OLs, I think it's simply more logical to say it's more the O scheme. Wentz and Rivers were top 10 in deep ball efficiency, yet bottom half in deep ball attempts. Simple/typical strategy (not just football) would be to push frequency when efficiency is high (until you started to see a drop in efficiency). We never did push frequency to see if efficiency would erode. Then just add some really illogical or manic type game plans that totally ignored the opponents clear weaknesses. 

 

I truly hope we something different this season. One thing about Ryan, is he is strong willed. And he has the experience/pedigree to back his strong will. So I'm hoping he puts a moderately heavy thumb on the play calling scale lol... They already reported (MAC's comments and someone else I can't recall) that Ryan was already changing a lot of plays at the line. Hope that continues as he's got a good O mind. 

 

 

Frank is definitely on the conservative side of play calling, I agree. The thing you are suggesting here(Ryan to take charge as a QB of part of the play calling by changing plays at the LoS) is what I suspect happened in the second half of Luck's last season. But that's kind of a good side to Frank - he actually gives his QBs a lot of freedom to run the offense and make adjustments as they see fit. I guess we will see what type of offense this will result in with Ryan as QB.

[shasta519]

24 minutes ago, chad72 said:

 

In other words, Wentz was not as bad as he was made out to be, and Matt Ryan is not THE QB savior he is made out to be but should be very effective in our system and we are happy to have him. Given that Reich got one of Rivers' career best completion percentages in his very last year, I think the combination of Ryan and Reich will serve the Colts team and their fans well enough to win the division, IMO, given all the personnel assembled with the team and coaches.

 

Well, we are just looking at deep passing here. But Wentz definitely struggled with accuracy in the short passing game. 

 

But I do think he has been scapegoated for last season. 

[EastStreet]

27 minutes ago, stitches said:

Frank is definitely on the conservative side of play calling, I agree. The thing you are suggesting here(Ryan to take charge as a QB of part of the play calling by changing plays at the LoS) is what I suspect happened in the second half of Luck's last season. But that's kind of a good side to Frank - he actually gives his QBs a lot of freedom to run the offense and make adjustments as they see fit. I guess we will see what type of offense this will result in with Ryan as QB.

 

I don't view Luck's last season (Reich's first) in 2018 like you do. 

 

Luck was Luck from the beginning despite coming back from injury, and the O was not really changed from 2016. He threw for 300+ in game one, and IIRC, tossed for almost 500 yards in game 3 or 4. 

 

Purely my opinion, but Reich was pretty hands off his first year. He wasn't even in the first round of coaching candidates, and was not top 3 in the second round. I'd wager a decent amount he wasn't trying to fix what wasn't broken. The big change in 2018 was DeGuglielmo's masterful job of finding the best 5 OL (despite assumed positions and assumed starters), and going from 50+ sacks to sub 20. Aside from that, we still had pedestrian pass catchers and just added Ebron who turned out to have great chemistry with Luck. Who then was diminished in the game plan next season... 

[chad72]

53 minutes ago, shasta519 said:

 

Well, we are just looking at deep passing here. But Wentz definitely struggled with accuracy in the short passing game. 

 

But I do think he has been scapegoated for last season. 

 

Did you know Wentz still maintains a home in Zionsville (where lots of Colts players live)? His wife was a special guest at the church I frequent, that I drive to from Brownsburg where I live. In other words, Wentz liked it very much here that he has not sold his home here, and he had been in Indiana just for 1 year.

 

Also makes you wonder if it was more of an Irsay and Ballard move than Reich's first choice, to move on from Wentz. 

[EastStreet]

13 minutes ago, chad72 said:

 

Did you know Wentz still maintains a home in Zionsville (where lots of Colts players live)? His wife was a special guest at the church I frequent, that I drive to from Brownsburg where I live. In other words, Wentz liked it very much here that he has not sold his home here, and he had been in Indiana just for 1 year.

 

Also makes you wonder if it was more of an Irsay and Ballard move than Reich's first choice, to move on from Wentz. 

 

IIRC, he bought a bunch of land for development and hunting. He was pumped about building a house and putting down roots here, and sold his NJ house and hunting land. He's probably hating that he sold it lol. 

 

Doubt he keeps the property in Indy. It's not been a year yet so assume he doesn't want to lose money on anything not fully developed. 

 

I'm sure it was pretty much a directive by Irsay. Reich likely wanted another year, and Ballard was either Switzerland, or did the smart career thing, and back the boss lol. 

[cdgacoltsfan]

6 minutes ago, EastStreet said:

 

IIRC, he bought a bunch of land for development and hunting. He was pumped about building a house and putting down roots here, and sold his NJ house and hunting land. He's probably hating that he sold it lol. 

 

Doubt he keeps the property in Indy. It's not been a year yet so assume he doesn't want to lose money on anything not fully developed. 

 

I'm sure it was pretty much a directive by Irsay. Reich likely wanted another year, and Ballard was either Switzerland, or did the smart career thing, and back the boss lol. 

Carson's a good guy. Too bad it didn't go like most wanted. I hope he does well in Wash ...I have a feeling it will. The trade was obvious all Irsay..Frank and Chris had to eat crow to save their skins.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

44 minutes ago, chad72 said:

 

Did you know Wentz still maintains a home in Zionsville (where lots of Colts players live)? His wife was a special guest at the church I frequent, that I drive to from Brownsburg where I live. In other words, Wentz liked it very much here that he has not sold his home here, and he had been in Indiana just for 1 year.

 

Also makes you wonder if it was more of an Irsay and Ballard move than Reich's first choice, to move on from Wentz. 

Gio the podcaster(the young kid from Phili that moved to Indy who was a huge Wentz  fan) posted on Twitter a community event he did in Indy. It was sponsored or held by Wentz a01 foundation.