Rick Venturi is Right On

[AustexColt]

Reich says that we only play well when our backs are against the wall. Well, then it is the coaches to keep the fire under their pants. They had to just win Jax last year and they all choked. 

 

Rick's audio on how to beat the Titans makes alot of sense. 

One question: How the heck did Ballard let Autry go to the Titans, and keep Kemoko Turay and Ben Banagu.

[Defjamz26]

35 minutes ago, AustexColt said:

One question: How the heck did Ballard let Autry go to the Titans, and keep Kemoko Turay and Ben Banagu.

Ballard’s whole philosophy is that if you draft really athletic guys with traits and great character, they’ll automatically become good starters.

 

 

[NewColtsFan]

4 minutes ago, Defjamz26 said:

Ballard’s whole philosophy is that if you draft really athletic guys with traits and great character, they’ll automatically become good starters.

 

 

Well….   I wouldn’t say automatically.   I’d say he believes traits plus character  increases your chances of hitting on a draft pick.   Nobody is perfect in the draft, it’s obviously frustrating when we miss. 

[NewColtsFan]

43 minutes ago, AustexColt said:

Reich says that we only play well when our backs are against the wall. Well, then it is the coaches to keep the fire under their pants. They had to just win Jax last year and they all choked. 

 

Rick's audio on how to beat the Titans makes alot of sense. 

One question: How the heck did Ballard let Autry go to the Titans, and keep Kemoko Turay and Ben Banagu.

Well….  Autry’s deal is for just over $7 mill per year.   Turay and Benagu together were roughly $2+mill.   That $5 mill spread is a considerable number.  
 

Last year we restructured 3-4 contracts and we were still up against the cap even without Autry.   These decisions are complicated.  If Autry doesn’t have another good year this year, the decision won’t look quite as bad.  

[runthepost]

14 minutes ago, Defjamz26 said:

Ballard’s whole philosophy is that if you draft really athletic guys with traits and great character, they’ll automatically become good starters.

 

 

And if you average 5 sacks a season in college

[Moosejawcolt]

52 minutes ago, AustexColt said:

Reich says that we only play well when our backs are against the wall. Well, then it is the coaches to keep the fire under their pants. They had to just win Jax last year and they all choked. 

 

Rick's audio on how to beat the Titans makes alot of sense. 

One question: How the heck did Ballard let Autry go to the Titans, and keep Kemoko Turay and Ben Banagu.

I am hard on Ballard but u cannot  keep everyone. Autry was good here but he has excelled jn Tennessee.  That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if he came back to earth this year.

[EastStreet]

1 hour ago, AustexColt said:

Reich says that we only play well when our backs are against the wall. 

 

Translate....

 

Our early schemes, calls, and scripts suck.

We get down.

Then Frank has to throw his scheme and scripts away,

Then players are allowed to play, and do better. 

[Defjamz26]

45 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

Well….   I wouldn’t say automatically.   I’d say he believes traits plus character  increases your chances of hitting on a draft pick.   Nobody is perfect in the draft, it’s obviously frustrating when we miss. 

Probably shouldn’t have said automatically. It just seems like that sometimes. So often we’ll have guys like Anthony Walker who are great. Then we’ll draft a guy like Bobby Okereke who’s an athletic guy with great character. He plays sparingly his rookie year, and then gets the starting job by default almost when Walker leaves in FA. The problem is Okereke isn’t as good as Walker was.

 

We’ve seen that a few times in the Ballard era. Enough tines to know that isn’t working as well as he had though.

[Yoshinator]

Ballard is like the kid in high school who gets an A in all the non-premium classes (PE, Weights, Spanish, Drama, Debate, Home Economics, Shop, Computers), and then fails the main courses (Math, English, History, Science), and tries to convince his parents (the fans and media) he's doing a great job in high school (the NFL) even though it'll catch up to him. That's where the Colts are at right now. 

 

Ballard has done well with non-premium positions, but it's caught up to us to where the AFC is so far ahead of us now, that even if Reich was a good coach, he couldn't work with this team, considering how poorly built it is. 

 

I think Reich does do better under pressure, because he's playing under a bit of fear, knowing that his job could be on the line. Also, that when you play from behind, other teams generally play prevent defense a lot more.

 

Our backs are against the wall Sunday. We can't afford to go 0-2-1 against divisional opponents in 4 games. That's just giving up the division early.

[open window]

58 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Ballard is like the kid in high school who gets an A in all the non-premium classes (PE, Weights, Spanish, Drama, Debate, Home Economics, Shop, Computers), and then fails the main courses (Math, English, History, Science), and tries to convince his parents (the fans and media) he's doing a great job in high school (the NFL) even though it'll catch up to him. That's where the Colts are at right now. 

 

Ballard has done well with non-premium positions, but it's caught up to us to where the AFC is so far ahead of us now, that even if Reich was a good coach, he couldn't work with this team, considering how poorly built it is. 

 

I think Reich does do better under pressure, because he's playing under a bit of fear, knowing that his job could be on the line. Also, that when you play from behind, other teams generally play prevent defense a lot more.

 

Our backs are against the wall Sunday. We can't afford to go 0-2-1 against divisional opponents in 4 games. That's just giving up the division early.

And how does that make you feel?

[AKB]

1 hour ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Ballard is like the kid in high school who gets an A in all the non-premium classes (PE, Weights, Spanish, Drama, Debate, Home Economics, Shop, Computers), and then fails the main courses (Math, English, History, Science), and tries to convince his parents (the fans and media) he's doing a great job in high school (the NFL) even though it'll catch up to him. That's where the Colts are at right now. 

 

Ballard has done well with non-premium positions, but it's caught up to us to where the AFC is so far ahead of us now, that even if Reich was a good coach, he couldn't work with this team, considering how poorly built it is. 

 

I think Reich does do better under pressure, because he's playing under a bit of fear, knowing that his job could be on the line. Also, that when you play from behind, other teams generally play prevent defense a lot more.

 

Our backs are against the wall Sunday. We can't afford to go 0-2-1 against divisional opponents in 4 games. That's just giving up the division early.

so you are Ballard's mom?

[Yoshinator]

3 minutes ago, AustinnKaine said:

so you are Ballard's mom?

No, if I was, I would have told him to draft the premium positions when he was a kid. His mom may be the one person he actually listens too. He's too stubborn to listen to anyone else.

[Mr.ZapRowsdower]

3 hours ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Ballard is like the kid in high school who gets an A in all the non-premium classes (PE, Weights, Spanish, Drama, Debate, Home Economics, Shop, Computers), and then fails the main courses (Math, English, History, Science), and tries to convince his parents (the fans and media) he's doing a great job in high school (the NFL) even though it'll catch up to him. That's where the Colts are at right now. 

 

Ballard has done well with non-premium positions, but it's caught up to us to where the AFC is so far ahead of us now, that even if Reich was a good coach, he couldn't work with this team, considering how poorly built it is. 

 

I think Reich does do better under pressure, because he's playing under a bit of fear, knowing that his job could be on the line. Also, that when you play from behind, other teams generally play prevent defense a lot more.

 

Our backs are against the wall Sunday. We can't afford to go 0-2-1 against divisional opponents in 4 games. That's just giving up the division early.

100% agree. The last time we had a true threat at WR1 was 2018 which was probably TY's last elite year. QB Andrew Luck 2018? You would have to go back to 2013 Mathis for DE/OLB? 

 Honestly I wouldn't  be opposed to trading Nelson. Yes I know blasphemy. Just to see if we could accumulate enough picks to move up for a QB. Maybe get in range for Levis so the carousel at QB would stop. 

[Jack86]

Old Rick is pretty knowledgeable, he speaks a lot of sense, a lot of the time!

 

No doubt Reich is great at drawing up plays, but his scripted plays seem to suck, you can’t always be trying to orchestrate a symphony, sometimes you just gotta be predictable and line up your best players in your best plays. 
 

I wonder if Frank has to turn the lights on and off five times before leaving the locker room!

Go with flow Frankie baby!

 

Go Colts.

[Jack86]

5 hours ago, NewColtsFan said:

Well….   I wouldn’t say automatically.   I’d say he believes traits plus character  increases your chances of hitting on a draft pick.   Nobody is perfect in the draft, it’s obviously frustrating when we miss. 

Oh dude, come on! That was total sarcasm on his part! Let’s not take our selves too seriously 

 

Go Colts.

[Myles]

1 hour ago, Jack86 said:

Old Rick is pretty knowledgeable, he speaks a lot of sense, a lot of the time!

 

No doubt Reich is great at drawing up plays, but his scripted plays seem to suck, you can’t always be trying to orchestrate a symphony, sometimes you just gotta be predictable and line up your best players in your best plays. 
 

I wonder if Frank has to turn the lights on and off five times before leaving the locker room!

Go with flow Frankie baby!

 

Go Colts.

He's just not good at the play calling duties.   he neglects the rest of the football game.  It will be his downfall here as it was in San Diego.  

[groundnpound]

2 hours ago, Myles said:

He's just not good at the play calling duties.   he neglects the rest of the football game.  It will be his downfall here as it was in San Diego.  

 

I'm not 100% sure on your second point here(didn't follow him closely with Chargers). I definitely agree on your first two.

[Indy87]

It seems Ballard banks on “he will be good in a year or 2” guys. Or at least that’s been my observation.

 

Frank needs to implement the no huddle offense with this team. Ryan is smart enough to run this, and every time this team runs no huddle up tempo offense, the team thrives. I don’t understand why he stops doing what works and tries force what doesn’t: Hines up the gut on 4th and goal. And who goes for it on 4th down on the 50 yard line when mahomes is sitting across the field???? It’s stuff like this that loses you ball games, and if it wasn’t for the fact that Andy Reid is 3-10 vs the Colts every other team would take advantage of that. It’s becoming *ic how much he goes for it, and loses, on 4th down. But ya know analytics.

 

the other thing is the defense was giving KC problems all day and you give mahomes the ball at mid field. Pin them deep Frank!!!! My god. He’s so frustrating. 

[chad72]

9 hours ago, Defjamz26 said:

Probably shouldn’t have said automatically. It just seems like that sometimes. So often we’ll have guys like Anthony Walker who are great. Then we’ll draft a guy like Bobby Okereke who’s an athletic guy with great character. He plays sparingly his rookie year, and then gets the starting job by default almost when Walker leaves in FA. The problem is Okereke isn’t as good as Walker was.

 

We’ve seen that a few times in the Ballard era. Enough tines to know that isn’t working as well as he had though.

 

When drafting is an inexact science to begin with anyways with nothing automatically guaranteed, that is why I always felt stick to the big FBS schools and conferences for Day 1 and Day 2 picks where the guy has had good production against good competition, or if you get a non-FBS conference guy, he better have outstanding production like Darius Leonard did at South Carolina State. There is a reason why T Y Hilton didn't get drafted till Round 3, and Robert Mathis wasn't drafted till Round 4 by Polian. Strength of competition and production does matter and GMs that take bigger chances on athletic attributes with less production over athletic attributes plus production should expect to see lower hit rates, IMO.

[Nickster]

9 hours ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Ballard is like the kid in high school who gets an A in all the non-premium classes (PE, Weights, Spanish, Drama, Debate, Home Economics, Shop, Computers), and then fails the main courses (Math, English, History, Science), and tries to convince his parents (the fans and media) he's doing a great job in high school (the NFL) even though it'll catch up to him. That's where the Colts are at right now. 

 

Ballard has done well with non-premium positions, but it's caught up to us to where the AFC is so far ahead of us now, that even if Reich was a good coach, he couldn't work with this team, considering how poorly built it is. 

 

I think Reich does do better under pressure, because he's playing under a bit of fear, knowing that his job could be on the line. Also, that when you play from behind, other teams generally play prevent defense a lot more.

 

Our backs are against the wall Sunday. We can't afford to go 0-2-1 against divisional opponents in 4 games. That's just giving up the division early.

 

Love the HS kid grade comparison.  I agree.  Good kid.  Believed to be of better ability than he is. Not great.  Pretty good.  

[Blueblood23]

11 hours ago, AustexColt said:

Reich says that we only play well when our backs are against the wall. Well, then it is the coaches to keep the fire under their pants. They had to just win Jax last year and they all choked. 

 

Rick's audio on how to beat the Titans makes alot of sense. 

One question: How the heck did Ballard let Autry go to the Titans, and keep Kemoko Turay and Ben Banagu.

So then what happened last year in the final 2 games? They just packed it in. And no it wasn’t just Wentz who was to blame. All of them didn’t play hard or had a desire to win. 

[throwing BBZ]

10 hours ago, Defjamz26 said:

Probably shouldn’t have said automatically. It just seems like that sometimes. So often we’ll have guys like Anthony Walker who are great. Then we’ll draft a guy like Bobby Okereke who’s an athletic guy with great character. He plays sparingly his rookie year, and then gets the starting job by default almost when Walker leaves in FA. The problem is Okereke isn’t as good as Walker was.

 

We’ve seen that a few times in the Ballard era. Enough tines to know that isn’t working as well as he had though.

 

 Your point is dead in the water when you say Walker was great.
 Our opponents could EASILY game plan for him. Anytime they wanted 6-7 yards they passed to whoever he was trying to cover. He Had to go.
 Yes it is time that Oke should be very good in coverage. And i don't like what i see. How that would look week to week if we had a really good pass rush??? Right now, i want better so he hasn't Earned a new contract worth much IMO. 14 more games for him to improve.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Sometimes you just have to draft productive college players. Sometimes players are just good at football.

[Nickster]

9 hours ago, Jared Cisneros said:

No, if I was, I would have told him to draft the premium positions when he was a kid. His mom may be the one person he actually listens too. He's too stubborn to listen to anyone else.

Me too Jared.  I'd say Christopher, Young Man, You to go out and focus on a dynamic playmaker at pass catcher and trade up if you have to.  Son.  This team needs to quit moving down in the draft and move up because it lacks impact talent Mister.   Listen Boy, this team really needs a long term LT solution more than a LG solution.  

 

And other stuff like that. 

[Nickster]

6 hours ago, Mr.ZapRowsdower said:

100% agree. The last time we had a true threat at WR1 was 2018 which was probably TY's last elite year. QB Andrew Luck 2018? You would have to go back to 2013 Mathis for DE/OLB? 

 Honestly I wouldn't  be opposed to trading Nelson. Yes I know blasphemy. Just to see if we could accumulate enough picks to move up for a QB. Maybe get in range for Levis so the carousel at QB would stop. 

Nelson's basically untradeable now with the contract.  As is Leonard.  As is Buckner. 

[Nickster]

1 hour ago, Indy87 said:

It seems Ballard banks on “he will be good in a year or 2” guys. Or at least that’s been my observation.

 

Frank needs to implement the no huddle offense with this team. Ryan is smart enough to run this, and every time this team runs no huddle up tempo offense, the team thrives. I don’t understand why he stops doing what works and tries force what doesn’t: Hines up the gut on 4th and goal. And who goes for it on 4th down on the 50 yard line when mahomes is sitting across the field???? It’s stuff like this that loses you ball games, and if it wasn’t for the fact that Andy Reid is 3-10 vs the Colts every other team would take advantage of that. It’s becoming *ic how much he goes for it, and loses, on 4th down. But ya know analytics.

 

the other thing is the defense was giving KC problems all day and you give mahomes the ball at mid field. Pin them deep Frank!!!! My god. He’s so frustrating. 

 

To the bolded, almost everybody now.  I don't like it but analytics show that it is more conducive to winning. 

 

Again, personally not a fan, but most teams do this now. 

[jbaron04]

11 hours ago, runthepost said:

And if you average 5 sacks a season in college

Some of them have 5-10 total sacks in college career lol 

[chad72]

7 minutes ago, Nickster said:

 

To the bolded, almost everybody now.  I don't like it but analytics show that it is more conducive to winning. 

 

Again, personally not a fan, but most teams do this now. 

 

There is also a feel for the game and how you feel your D matches up with the opposing QB and how confident you are w.r.t your special teams unit to pin them on or behind their 10 yard line. 

 

Tom Coughlin, during the Giants days, felt pretty confident to pin Tom Brady to force him to take long drives to go down the field to get points. He won enough of those battles in both those SBs 42 and 46.

[NewColtsFan]

6 hours ago, Jack86 said:

Oh dude, come on! That was total sarcasm on his part! Let’s not take our selves too seriously 

 

Go Colts.

Oh Dude…..

 

The person I responded to wasn’t being sarcastic.   At all.   I know this because he responded to me.   Not sarcastic.   That poster and I have been friends for nearly 10 years. 
 

The only person here who took himself seriously,  would appear to be…..   you.

[TheShadow]

2 hours ago, Indy87 said:

It seems Ballard banks on “he will be good in a year or 2” guys. Or at least that’s been my observation.

 

Frank needs to implement the no huddle offense with this team. Ryan is smart enough to run this, and every time this team runs no huddle up tempo offense, the team thrives. I don’t understand why he stops doing what works and tries force what doesn’t: Hines up the gut on 4th and goal. And who goes for it on 4th down on the 50 yard line when mahomes is sitting across the field???? It’s stuff like this that loses you ball games, and if it wasn’t for the fact that Andy Reid is 3-10 vs the Colts every other team would take advantage of that. It’s becoming *ic how much he goes for it, and loses, on 4th down. But ya know analytics.

 

the other thing is the defense was giving KC problems all day and you give mahomes the ball at mid field. Pin them deep Frank!!!! My god. He’s so frustrating. 

Totally agree with last comment.

[Nickster]

15 minutes ago, chad72 said:

 

There is also a feel for the game and how you feel your D matches up with the opposing QB and how confident you are w.r.t your special teams unit to pin them on or behind their 10 yard line. 

 

Tom Coughlin, during the Giants days, felt pretty confident to pin Tom Brady to force him to take long drives to go down the field to get points. He won enough of those battles in both those SBs 42 and 46.

 

Hey man don't kill the messenger.  I punt there. 

 

Tom was perdy old school even in the SB years.  

 

But I will say, our D is nowhere near the level of those nasty ole NYG pass rush with Strahan and later JPP.   

[shasta519]

1 hour ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

 Your point is dead in the water when you say Walker was great.
 Our opponents could EASILY game plan for him. Anytime they wanted 6-7 yards they passed to whoever he was trying to cover. He Had to go.
 Yes it is time that Oke should be very good in coverage. And i don't like what i see. How that would look week to week if we had a really good pass rush??? Right now, i want better so he hasn't Earned a new contract worth much IMO. 14 more games for him to improve.

 

Yep. A lot of revisionist history with Walker. He was pretty bad here...and definitely not a fit in this defense. Ballard drafted Okereke because he knew he needed a new MIKE.

[sb41champs]

TRAMPLE THE TITANS!!

[Defjamz26]

6 hours ago, chad72 said:

 

When drafting is an inexact science to begin with anyways with nothing automatically guaranteed, that is why I always felt stick to the big FBS schools and conferences for Day 1 and Day 2 picks where the guy has had good production against good competition, or if you get a non-FBS conference guy, he better have outstanding production like Darius Leonard did at South Carolina State. There is a reason why T Y Hilton didn't get drafted till Round 3, and Robert Mathis wasn't drafted till Round 4 by Polian. Strength of competition and production does matter and GMs that take bigger chances on athletic attributes with less production over athletic attributes plus production should expect to see lower hit rates, IMO.

I think that’s the part of the equation that Ballard is missing. Production. More than often guys that produce at a high level in college, will do so at the next level IF they’ve also got the athletic traits and character to go o along with it. Jonathan Taylor, Quenton Nelson, and Pittman are our best players on offense. If you look at their college careers, they all produced. They weren’t guys who just “flashed”.

 

You look at Banogu, Turray, Lewis, and Campbell, and none of them had great college production. Maybe some flashes here and there but no consistent dominance. 
 

But those are the guys Ballard keeps swinging on. Those are the guys we keep letting more talented veterans walk for.

[rock8591]

17 minutes ago, Defjamz26 said:

I think that’s the part of the equation that Ballard is missing. Production. More than often guys that produce at a high level in college, will do so at the next level IF they’ve also got the athletic traits and character to go o along with it. Jonathan Taylor, Quenton Nelson, and Pittman are our best players on offense. If you look at their college careers, they all produced. They weren’t guys who just “flashed”.

 

You look at Banogu, Turray, Lewis, and Campbell, and none of them had great college production. Maybe some flashes here and there but no consistent dominance. 
 

But those are the guys Ballard keeps swinging on. Those are the guys we keep letting more talented veterans walk for.

Banogu averaged 7-9 sacks a year in college.

 

Campbell 900ish yards per season.

 

Lewis 7-8 sacks a year, plenty of TFLs to go with that.

 

My thought is that all are tweeners without a true position in the pros, which have limited their production.

[Defjamz26]

14 hours ago, rock8591 said:

Banogu averaged 7-9 sacks a year in college.

 

Campbell 900ish yards per season.

 

Lewis 7-8 sacks a year, plenty of TFLs to go with that.

 

My thought is that all are tweeners without a true position in the pros, which have limited their production.

Campbell’s best season was 581 receiving yards

 

Banogu had 8.5 sacks twice, but iirc he never actually was taught how to rush the passer at TCU so it was mostly just scheme that got him those stats.

 

Same for Lewis, but to your point they were Tweeners.

[CurBeatElite]

On 9/28/2022 at 11:18 PM, NewColtsFan said:

Well….  Autry’s deal is for just over $7 mill per year.   Turay and Benagu together were roughly $2+mill.   That $5 mill spread is a considerable number.  
 

Last year we restructured 3-4 contracts and we were still up against the cap even without Autry.   These decisions are complicated.  If Autry doesn’t have another good year this year, the decision won’t look quite as bad.  

 

And Autry was also on the wrong side of 30 when the decision to sign him to a long-term deal came back... we also brought in Isaac Rochelle last year who had a very similar resume to what Autry had when he first became a Colt.

[Solid84]

On 9/29/2022 at 5:18 AM, NewColtsFan said:

Well….  Autry’s deal is for just over $7 mill per year.   Turay and Benagu together were roughly $2+mill.   That $5 mill spread is a considerable number.  
 

Last year we restructured 3-4 contracts and we were still up against the cap even without Autry.   These decisions are complicated.  If Autry doesn’t have another good year this year, the decision won’t look quite as bad.  

I don’t necessarily think letting Autry go was a mistake. Letting him go without having a definite replacement (production wise) was a mistake. Same with Houston. 

[Hoose]

On 9/29/2022 at 11:08 AM, Nickster said:

Nelson's basically untradeable now with the contract.  As is Leonard.  As is Buckner. 

No need to get rid of any of them. Ballard just needs to balance out the O-line roster by inexpensively (we hope) replacing Kelly at C when his contract is up, and find a permanent answer at LT. Hopefully that's Raimann, but no telling. He also needs to invest in the receiving room via the draft and FA. Re-prioritize some of the payroll to bring more talent to the O and that should help significantly.

[Nickster]

5 minutes ago, Hoose said:

No need to get rid of any of them. Ballard just needs to balance out the O-line roster by inexpensively (we hope) replacing Kelly at C when his contract is up, and find a permanent answer at LT. Hopefully that's Raimann, but no telling. He also needs to invest in the receiving room via the draft and FA. Re-prioritize some of the payroll to bring more talent to the O and that should help significantly.

 

My response was in reference to a dude talking about trading Nelson to get more impact talent.  But how are we going to reprioritize the payroll?  i mean that was kind of the point of Zaprows post and my response  A ton of it is spent on LG, ILB, RT, DT.  Where is the money going to come from if we don't trade those high salaries?  Point I was making is we don't have tradeable assets now even if we did want to try to retool with picks.  Pittman before signing could bring us some good picks, but he's a really solid X and we need more WR talent not less.   JT would bring something, but he's just an RB.  Other than that, I am not seeing any talent that others would give anything up for with salaries considered in.  

 

We could draft and pay a rookie QB and get rid of Ryan next year I guess, but the hope is he is going to play at a level that we don't consider that as an option. 

 

You need money to get the best FAs and valuable traded players at premium positions.  We don't have money for this type of talent with all the money we've invested in ILBs and interior linemen. 

 

  It is pretty clear how important impact talent at WR is this year especially so far.  GB and KC are quite noticeably much more limited than last year losing their #1s, and MIA and look more dangerous. LV is struggling majorly.  Haven't seen what's going on there.   But I watch GB almost every week with my youngest, and they are much less dangerous on O without Adams. I'd much rather risk overpay on WR than the positions we risk overpay.   Kirk for JAX doesn't look like an overpay either.  I'd rather see him on our team than any of the 3 guys I mentioned right now.  It appears that JAX FO accurately  looked past the weak passing QB he has been playing with, and so far smell like a rose signing Kirk.  His numbers are likely even better if they weren't blowing the last 2 opponents out in the entire 2nd halves of the last two games.

 

We decided to spend on Nelson rather than one of these types of guys. 

 

Hopefully we will have gotten lucky with a guy like Pierce and he's a superstar pass catcher in year or two.  That does happen with WR at a relatively decent rate, but we also are going to need a QB if not next year, and they might be considering signing our running back to more big money.