Ballard isn’t going anywhere (he will be retained for 2023)

[BlueShoe]

43 minutes ago, OLD FAN MAN said:

this is a joke, right

No. 

[James]

 

[BlueShoe]

3 hours ago, chrisfarley said:

Ballard was uncomfortable during a good portion of the press conference.  Body language spoke a million words. 

I disagree. I think he felt uneasy that Jim was talking so highly of him. It’s very awkward to have Jim answering that question, especially while sitting right next to him. What did Jim do… He praised Ballard. He doesn’t want to lose Chris Ballard. And Jim Irsay did what needed to be done, so he could give Ballard another shot at it. 

[James]

This guy currently has a losing record as GM for the Colts and is unable to admit his shortcomings.

 

The Colts will never win a Super Bowl with this man as GM.

[BlueShoe]

3 minutes ago, James said:

This guy currently has a losing record as GM for the Colts and is unable to admit his shortcomings.

 

The Colts will never win a Super Bowl with this man as GM.

Ballard has admitted his shortcomings, and has had some extraordinary situations happen during his time as GM. He has navigated some tough situations very well. And he has learned from the situations he didn’t navigate so well. 

[Matabix]

5 hours ago, Superman said:

 

That's pretty obvious. Ballard had multiple chances to say otherwise, but he danced around it. He didn't want to fire Frank, not right now, and he probably didn't want Jeff Saturday to come in as interim. But it's clear that Irsay is driving the bus right now.

It's not like Saturday won't have help. Fox and Bradley can help with the day to day. 

[KB]

Nobody is perfect and Ballard has made mistakes as a GM, but he is a good one. This team is littered with talent. If just the o line would step up, the rest of the offense would look head over heels better. Which would make the rest of the team look better. 

I know if we do let him go, or he does resign, all the fans wanting him to be let go will be shooting themselves in the foot as we get someone who cannot draft talent, and Ballard's new team gets better year after year.

[krunk]

Outside of what happened with the line i like Chris as the GM. Hopefully Irsay remains wise enough to keep him. Weve always had good talent on our OL up until this fiasco.  I trust his ability to evaluate talent and the way they go about doing it. And i think hes been financially responsible with the cap and his resources.  Overall i think hes done enough good to be retained at least another season or so. The OL has to be retooled and get the right coach and scheme in place though. And of course the QB has to get settled.

[James]

4 hours ago, BlueShoe said:

Ballard has admitted his shortcomings, and has had some extraordinary situations happen during his time as GM. He has navigated some tough situations very well. And he has learned from the situations he didn’t navigate so well. 

 

No, he has not. And now he’s trying to change the narrative, like the fans doesn’t see through his failing.
 

Smart fans know that you can fix both offensive line and wide receiver.

IT’S LITERALLY HIS JOB TO FIX MULTIPLE ISSUES AT ONCE.

 

[smittywerb]

As long as Ballard attacks free agency I’m ok.  If he continues this “delayed gratification” and continue to get outbidded on free agents I want him GONE.

 

he has drafted moderately well.  His problem is he depends so much on the draft that when we can’t fill a need through the draft, we’re screwed because he doesn’t want to overpay in free agency

[coming on strong]

5 hours ago, James said:

 

Even though I go at Ballard hard here I think paye will be elite . Missed like 3 games has 4 sacks he is flashing heavily and a elite run stopper .   What I can can criticize is passing on Leno who got a contract extension for a injured fisher . 

[GwinnettColt]

5 hours ago, James said:

 

Exactly!  I never got why he would "just go with what we have" with the O-line, especially the LT position.  I wanted Darrisaw, also.

[KB]

5 hours ago, James said:

 

Does everyone forget that we needed pass rushers? Does anyone remember that Darrisaw was seen as a RT. He is now over achieving. Good for him. I know that nobody had on their scouting report : "Will only allow 1 pressure through the first 9 weeks of the 2022 season". He also has been addressing WR. He told everyone that he likes the WR core and sees the talent there. He ended up being right. We have solid WRs. I will say no top end talent but the WR core is way better than anyone expected coming into the season.

[lollygagger8]

Ballard, it's: 

[shasta519]

5 hours ago, BlueShoe said:

Ballard has admitted his shortcomings, and has had some extraordinary situations happen during his time as GM. He has navigated some tough situations very well. And he has learned from the situations he didn’t navigate so well. 

You sort of sound like both Irsay or Ballard’s publicist in this thread.
 

I disagree that Ballard is here next year. But we will just have to see. 

[krunk]

38 minutes ago, coming on strong said:

Even though I go at Ballard hard here I think paye will be elite . Missed like 3 games has 4 sacks he is flashing heavily and a elite run stopper .   What I can can criticize is passing on Leno who got a contract extension for a injured fisher . 

I think Fisher is who Reich wanted

[shasta519]

45 minutes ago, James said:

 

No, he has not. And now he’s trying to change the narrative, like the fans doesn’t see through his failing.
 

Smart fans know that you can fix both offensive line and wide receiver.

IT’S LITERALLY HIS JOB TO FIX MULTIPLE ISSUES AT ONCE.

 

Yep. And has he even fixed the skill positions? This team just had their worst offensive performance in decades. 
 

And if you blame that solely on QB and the OL, that’s Ballard as well. 
 

It’s wild how quickly narratives change. 
 

And while the defense is solid, it’s not nearly enough to keep him. And it’s not even all that special when half of the NFL is holding teams to 20 or less points per game. Plus, this team has played one like one good QB in months. 
 

Mea culpa or not, Ballard has shown nothing to suggest that he will get the most important part right…and that’s selecting a QB. And if the idea is to have Jeff Saturday pick one…that’s just crazy. 

[crazycolt1]

10 hours ago, GoColts8818 said:

A week ago Irsay said Reich’s job was safe.  Things can change quickly.

That was before that total disaster in New England.  It's one thing to get beat but to get totally humiliated like the Jacksonville game at the end of last season is unacceptable. It was time for change. 

[shasta519]

36 minutes ago, KB said:

Does everyone forget that we needed pass rushers? Does anyone remember that Darrisaw was seen as a RT. He is now over achieving. Good for him. I know that nobody had on their scouting report : "Will only allow 1 pressure through the first 9 weeks of the 2022 season". He also has been addressing WR. He told everyone that he likes the WR core and sees the talent there. He ended up being right. We have solid WRs. I will say no top end talent but the WR core is way better than anyone expected coming into the season.

But they needed pass rushers because Ballard had already failed to address it with (3) 2nd round picks. Not addressing LT was the opportunity cost of those failed picks. 
 

The DL investments include a #13 pick, #52, #64, #49, #21 and #54…basically 3 drafts worth of picks. It should be incredible. But it isn’t. 

 

[shasta519]

3 minutes ago, crazycolt1 said:

That was before that total disaster in New England.  It's one thing to get beat but to get totally humiliated like the Jacksonville game at the end of last season is unacceptable. It was time for change. 

Definitely needed a change. But clearly disaster is only one week away in the NFL.  So are Ballard and Saturday disaster-proof now?

[crazycolt1]

Just now, shasta519 said:

Definitely needed a change. But clearly disaster is only one week away in the NFL.  So are Ballard and Saturday disaster-proof now?

Probably till the end of the season at least. 

[Defjamz26]

9 hours ago, Nesjan3 said:

I highly doubt what Irsay said today in the conference has any real meaning. As many have said, he said Frank was safe a week or two ago and now he is gone. Owners say crap like this all the time. You really think he is going to answer that question any other way? 

He also fired Grigson a year after extending him. That was also something that fans said wouldn’t happen. Also remember that Irsay also had glowing praise of Grigson, going so far as to say he thought Grigson had outdone Polian. Don’t put too much stock into that.

 

Remember that we will be looking for a new head coach. That coach may not work with Ballard. Ballard has a super specific way that he likes to draft, and he doesn’t really utilize FA. That may be a deal breaker for some coaches. What happens when a coach likes the 5’11” receiver who doesn’t have 4.3 speed? What about if the Coach loves a corner who is 5’10” and only has 30” arms?

 

Ill tell you one thing. You want a guy like Harbaugh, then you definitely can’t have Ballard around.

[Never_Quit]

10 hours ago, Gigc said:

The problem is that Ballard BROKE the line by letting fish, chris Reed and glowinski walk. The replacements they signed have led to becoming one of the worst offensive lines in the league.

And make no mistake, this season fell apart because of the collapse of the offensive line. 

 

At the time of the decision, I agreed with you. Except Fischer, he sucks.

 

Glow and Reed are currently both sucking this year. 

 

None of this points to anything good. 

 

I think Ballard should get another year to right the ship with it's glaring issues, as much as that pains me to say. Its not an easy call either way.

[Never_Quit]

6 hours ago, James said:

 

I've been banging the Darrisaw take since the day of the draft. One of Ballard most ridiculous moves, and it rarely gets called out.

[cjwhiskers]

11 minutes ago, Never_Quit said:

I've been banging the Darrisaw take since the day of the draft. One of Ballard most ridiculous moves, and it rarely gets called out.

 

I can understand and appreciate this criticism. However, it's easy to play MMQB and its really tough to judge a strategy when looking at in a vacuum of a single pick. We don't have full insight into if they had other plans at LT. Obviously we drafted BR this past year and perhaps he will show something with some stronger coaching/guidance. 

 

I know nothing is working right now but Kwity is a player too and when on the field we've easily had one of the best run defenses in the league between him and Grove. Kwity has been incredible at setting and holding the edge which has helped significantly when playing mobile QBs. 

 

Ballard has his faults and misses but he isn't the biggest problem of this organization. Other teams win and look far more competitive and prepared with less talent. This ultimately isn't a talent issue at all IMO. Even our star players who we KNOW can perform and have performed at a high level are not performing. Not just one of them, mostly all of them. What is the common denominator there? 

[DougDew]

6 hours ago, BlueShoe said:

Ballard has admitted his shortcomings

He hasn't been specific. 

 

He says things like...I haven't been perfect....I have shortcomings.....I've made mistakes.....like he knows that he has because he can see the results but still hasn't figured what the mistakes were.  He's honest, in a white wash brushing sort of way. 

 

How much does he value the LT position as a component of the oline?  That's what I would like to know.  If he says....all positions are equal across the oline so it doesn't matter where the talent is.....(which he has kinda said before), I'd say that he has yet to figure out where his shortcomings are.

[OffensivelyPC]

7 hours ago, James said:

 

That's not a good take from Kollmann.  Ballard's right, the local media has been criticizing Ballard, probably more than anything over the last year or two about how he's addressed the WR position, not the LT.  Well, at least before the season started becoming a disasterpiece.

 

Kollmann also said that on a hierarchy, top tier LTs should be prioritized over top tier Edge rushers.  I think he's flat wrong there.  I think that's a matter of scheme and preference, but I think most would agree they are 2 and 3 behind QB as the most important position.  QBs that get the ball out in under 2.2 seconds neutralize the pass rush and diminish the importance of edge protection.  But entering into the 2021 season, our OL was a top ten unit but our edge rushers were a clear need since we lost both Jusstin Houston and Denico Autry.  So in FA, we signed Eric Fisher thinking he would be an above average stop gap and punted a long term solution to another year.  Obviously Kollmann can look back on that and criticize the decision because that choice didn't pan out and this year everything is going wrong.  But he can't explain why a once top 5 OL - that Ballard built by the way - is all the sudden a bottom 5 OL any better than anyone else can.  Kollmann is ignoring the obvious first choice, which is coaching.  Ballard doesn't get a pass because he's not found a LT long term solution. But criticizing him for drafting a clear need at DE - one that's been pretty good also - and not drafting Darrisaw who had serious boom or bust potential is a hindsight weak argument.

[2006Coltsbestever]

I like Paye but I wanted Darrisaw and posted that in here. Ballard kept ignoring LT and now it has bit the whole team. 

[GoColts8818]

1 hour ago, crazycolt1 said:

That was before that total disaster in New England.  It's one thing to get beat but to get totally humiliated like the Jacksonville game at the end of last season is unacceptable. It was time for change. 

I am not arguing that.  My point is just because Irsay said Ballard’s job is safe now doesn’t mean he won’t change his mind come January.

[crazycolt1]

9 minutes ago, GoColts8818 said:

I am not arguing that.  My point is just because Irsay said Ballard’s job is safe now doesn’t mean he won’t change his mind come January.

That may be true but IMO I think Ballard will be the GM for the remainder of his contract. 

[DougDew]

You need both an edge and an LT.  Its not an either/or issue.  They both impact the respective defensive and offensive units more so than other individual positions.  Paye and Darrisaw were picked Top 20...which is where you generally need to find them each year.  Its a broader issue than just Paye vs Darrisaw.

 

Its harder to have the draft picks each year that you need to pick these elite positions...including QB... if you use the picks to pick Gs, Cs (yes this was Grigson), FSs, vet bad QBs, vet DTs, trading down and taking RYS, etc. 

 

 The Colts simply do not have the amount of picks they need to fill the positions that tend to need first round picks, because they previously used their first round picks on positions that don't need first round picks.  

 

This is why some of us saw that Ballard was digging himself into a hole.  He is now near the bottom of that hole and has to work really hard...or get lucky....to get Jimmy out of it.

[Rhodelesstraveled]

13 hours ago, BlueShoe said:

Ballard isn’t going anywhere and it’s the right call. 
 

Jim Irsay can come off as very goofy. We all know that. But today’s decisions were all about trying to keep this team together. 
 

The Colts have a top notch defense and Gus Bradley is taking them to new heights. Bubba Ventrone is one of the best special teams coordinators in the business. Losing them would set this franchise back an additional 2-3 years. 
 

We need to fix the offense. That’s not a reason to blow this team up. 
 

As crazy as Jim can sound sometimes, he made the right decisions today. 
 

It might be a bumpy ride for the rest of the season. But Jim Irsay is keeping this team intact. It’s the smart play. 

If he stays we will continue to LOSE

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

He is getting a lot of heat today for being so arrogant yesterday. I am not so sure.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

42 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

I like Paye but I wanted Darrisaw and posted that in here. Ballard kept ignoring LT and now it has bit the whole team. 

Both positions are of equal importance. Paye is really good so it’s not like he is a bust.

[2006Coltsbestever]

2 minutes ago, TaylorTheStudMuffin said:

Both positions are of equal importance. Paye is really good so it’s not like he is a bust.

If Matt Ryan had a Line, he would still be our QB.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Just now, 2006Coltsbestever said:

If Matt Ryan had a Line, he would still be our QB.

LT hasn’t even been the biggest issue on the line. It’s the other side and up the gut.

[Moosejawcolt]

4 hours ago, KB said:

Nobody is perfect and Ballard has made mistakes as a GM, but he is a good one. This team is littered with talent. If just the o line would step up, the rest of the offense would look head over heels better. Which would make the rest of the team look better. 

I know if we do let him go, or he does resign, all the fans wanting him to be let go will be shooting themselves in the foot as we get someone who cannot draft talent, and Ballard's new team gets better year after year.

3-5-1. That's not a team littered with talent. Teams littered with talent make thr playoffs. We have once under Ballard.

[#12.]

21 minutes ago, Moosejawcolt said:

 We have once under Ballard.

 Twice.

[Superman]

8 hours ago, Matabix said:

It's not like Saturday won't have help. Fox and Bradley can help with the day to day. 

 

It doesn't really who the interim HC is, either the offense starts playing well or it doesn't, and I'm not optimistic either way. But it's strange to bring in someone who isn't already on the daily staff, and even more strange to bring in someone with no real experience. It's unorthodox, and it's probably not going to produce a better outcome on Sundays. We still don't have a playcaller, and the two guys most familiar with our weekly game planning and play calling have been fired in the last 9 days. So whatever help he has probably won't matter. 

 

Also, Fox and Bradley are defensive guys, so the offense will still have some problems. 

[KB]

42 minutes ago, Moosejawcolt said:

3-5-1. That's not a team littered with talent. Teams littered with talent make thr playoffs. We have once under Ballard.

The Rams are littered with talent and arnt looking good atm. If our oline was performing then everything else would fall into place.