Apparently Matt Ryan is starting today

[Superman]

9 hours ago, NewColtsFan said:

You didn’t see better pass blocking? 
 

You didn’t see much better run blocking?  
 

Both made Ryan better today. 

 

The OL was so much better, in all areas. Maybe just getting Matt Pryor off the field? But it's also important to acknowledge that the Raiders are bad on defense, hadn't recorded a sack in their last three games, and can't stop the run.

 

Next week is a major test, I'm eager to see what the OL looks like against the Eagles' top five defense. They've been vulnerable to the run lately, but they're much better rushing the passer and getting turnovers.

[2006Coltsbestever]

3 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

The OL was so much better, in all areas. Maybe just getting Matt Pryor off the field? But it's also important to acknowledge that the Raiders are bad on defense, hadn't recorded a sack in their last three games, and can't stop the run.

 

Next week is a major test, I'm eager to see what the OL looks like against the Eagles' top five defense. They've been vulnerable to the run lately, but they're much better rushing the passer and getting turnovers.

We are already 9.5 point underdogs. They are the best team in football so this will be a huge measuring stick. We did beat KC, so it is possible we could pull the upset off. To me KC is the 2nd best team as of now.

[RollerColt]

16 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

To be clear, my comment about Reich was (mostly) tongue in cheek. Matt Ryan was hurt the last two weeks, and didn't practice. Ehlinger was really bad against the Pats. Ryan gets back on the practice field this week. No doubt the coaching change is a major influence, but I don't know what might have happened if Reich was still here. Even Saturday was pretty clear cut about Ehlinger being the starter early in the week, and then all of a sudden there's a chance Sunday morning... 

 

And the one thing has hasn't changed in the last three weeks is Irsay is still the owner. Don't know why he would have tied Reich's hands behind his back, and then let Saturday come out swinging. No doubt he's been heavily involved recently, but I don't think he was trying to sabotage Reich. 

 

I have very mixed emotions about the prospect of Matt Ryan being the QB in 2023. I'll need some time to work through that idea.

 

Posted this in another thread, but Jeff explains what led to his decision in his presser. He saw Matt practice on Thursday and Friday and liked what he saw. Felt Matt gave us the best chance to win. 

[NewColtsFan]

20 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

To be clear, my comment about Reich was (mostly) tongue in cheek. Matt Ryan was hurt the last two weeks, and didn't practice. Ehlinger was really bad against the Pats. Ryan gets back on the practice field this week. No doubt the coaching change is a major influence, but I don't know what might have happened if Reich was still here. Even Saturday was pretty clear cut about Ehlinger being the starter early in the week, and then all of a sudden there's a chance Sunday morning... 

 

And the one thing has hasn't changed in the last three weeks is Irsay is still the owner. Don't know why he would have tied Reich's hands behind his back, and then let Saturday come out swinging. No doubt he's been heavily involved recently, but I don't think he was trying to sabotage Reich. 

 

I have very mixed emotions about the prospect of Matt Ryan being the QB in 2023. I'll need some time to work through that idea.

I don’t think Irsay was trying sabotage Reich.   But I think a decision was made among the Big Three that Ryan was not the future and Reich was the messenger.  The message was delivered when Frank said Ryan wouldn’t play even when healthy.   That only made sense in the context of Ryan isn’t the guy in ‘23. 
 

Saturday saying Ehlinger is the guy on Monday and then deciding by the end of Friday tells me that he saw a giant difference between the two and convinced Irsay and Ballard that Ryan was the far, far better option.   I don’t think you can hire a guy, tell him to do his best, and then tie his hands when he says Ryan should be the guy.   That kind of thing eventually gets out.   I’ve read multiple stories the locker room was said to be angry over the benching of Ryan. 
 

The fact that Sam was terrible against the Pats might’ve been one of the least surprising things to happen this year.   Belichick has been doing that to young quarterbacks (including Peyton) for 40 years.   I wasn’t alone in predicting a long bad day for Sam,  a good number of posters predicted the same.  Honestly, while I’ve been predicting Frank would get fired , I thought doing so after a tough loss to NE made Irsay look bad.   I think it came two weeks after he said he and Chris and Frank were all on the same page with Sam and were re-energized. 
 

Finally, none of my comments in any post were referenced in regard to your post.   Off the top of my head I don’t even recall the specifics of your post except that I recall thinking you clearly didn’t see this overall situation the same as I do.  We see this differently. 
 

[Superman]

4 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

Finally, none of my comments in any post were referenced in regard to your post.   Off the top of my head I don’t even recall the specifics of your post except that I recall thinking you clearly didn’t see this overall situation the same as I do.  We see this differently. 

 

All fair, but my stance on Matt Ryan was that he was really bad even before his injury, benching him wasn't surprising, and playing Ehlinger was defensible given the state of the team. With a coaching change, a reset is understandable. I still didn't expect Ryan to start this week, that's a really quick switch up, especially when the prevailing narrative has either been 'Irsay wants to tank' or 'Irsay wants to make sure we can get out of Ryan's contract.' 

[throwing BBZ]

40 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

To be clear, my comment about Reich was (mostly) tongue in cheek. Matt Ryan was hurt the last two weeks, and didn't practice. Ehlinger was really bad against the Pats. Ryan gets back on the practice field this week. No doubt the coaching change is a major influence, but I don't know what might have happened if Reich was still here. Even Saturday was pretty clear cut about Ehlinger being the starter early in the week, and then all of a sudden there's a chance Sunday morning... 

 

And the one thing has hasn't changed in the last three weeks is Irsay is still the owner. Don't know why he would have tied Reich's hands behind his back, and then let Saturday come out swinging. No do$1ubt he's been heavily involved recently, but I don't think he was trying to sabotage Reich. 

 

I have very mixed emotions about the prospect of Matt Ryan being the QB in 2023. I'll need some time to work through that idea.

 

  Ryan is very limited to where he can effectively throw the ball.

I have no doubt he will prove we must save the  $17M and take a shot in the draft.

 Anyone want to re-sign Campbell?

[Superman]

9 minutes ago, throwing BBZ said:

 Anyone want to re-sign Campbell?

 

I do, to a reasonable deal. He's staying healthy so far, and he's already more productive through 10 games than our #2 WR was last season. 

[NewColtsFan]

8 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

All fair, but my stance on Matt Ryan was that he was really bad even before his injury, benching him wasn't surprising, and playing Ehlinger was defensible given the state of the team. With a coaching change, a reset is understandable. I still didn't expect Ryan to start this week, that's a really quick switch up, especially when the prevailing narrative has either been 'Irsay wants to tank' or 'Irsay wants to make sure we can get out of Ryan's contract.' 

I’ve considered both of those positions for Irsay, the tank and the contract.   And I wasn’t expecting Ryan either.   Yes, I was stunned. 
 

I guess Ryan will somewhat control his future with the team.   Tough to put it all on him….   New HC, new play caller, and an offensive line that we don’t know just how improved they really are?   The Raiders D is bad and we should know more after seeing the OL against Philly D who is dramatically better.   

[throwing BBZ]

25 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

I don’t think Irsay was trying sabotage Reich.   But I think a decision was made among the Big Three that Ryan was not the future and Reich was the messenger.  The message was delivered when Frank said Ryan wouldn’t play even when healthy.   That only made sense in the context of Ryan isn’t the guy in ‘23. 
 

Saturday saying Ehlinger is the guy on Monday and then deciding by the end of Friday tells me that he saw a giant difference between the two and convinced Irsay and Ballard that Ryan was the far, far better option.   I don’t think you can hire a guy, tell him to do his best, and then tie his hands when he says Ryan should be the guy.   That kind of thing eventually gets out.   I’ve read multiple stories the locker room was said to be angry over the benching of Ryan. 
 

The fact that Sam was terrible against the Pats might’ve been one of the least surprising things to happen this year.   Belichick has been doing that to young quarterbacks (including Peyton) for 40 years.   I wasn’t alone in predicting a long bad day for Sam,  a good number of posters predicted the same.  Honestly, while I’ve been predicting Frank would get fired , I thought doing so after a tough loss to NE made Irsay look bad.   I think it came two weeks after he said he and Chris and Frank were all on the same page with Sam and were re-energized. 
 

Finally, none of my comments in any post were referenced in regard to your post.   Off the top of my head I don’t even recall the specifics of your post except that I recall thinking you clearly didn’t see this overall situation the same as I do.  We see this differently. 
 

 

 With not even knowing if Ryan was able to throw well Mondays answer was the only responsible answer. And how could Irsay want anything more than to WIN for Everyone in the building and the joy of sharing Victory with all his new Haters. I enjoyed Irsay's post game interview. It was modest, honest, and shared again how much he trusted in Saturday's Leadership and infectious enthusiasm.  

[NewColtsFan]

12 minutes ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

  Ryan is very limited to where he can effectively throw the ball.

I have no doubt he will prove we must save the  $17M and take a shot in the draft.

 Anyone want to re-sign Campbell?

Im in on PC, thanks for asking!   Hope we bring him back.   I think a 1, 2, 3 of Pittman, Campbell and Pierce has lots of upside potential. 
 

Dulin at 4, Strachan at 5, and a draft pick or inexpensive FA at 6.  

[Scott Pennock]

For those that defended FR and said he did not scapegoat Blankenship, Brady and Ryan to save his own butt, what do you have to say for yourselves now? Actions always speak louder than words........always!

 

If Ballard or Irsay TRULY made the decision to sit Ryan the rest of the year the "temporary" hiring of Jeff Saturday wouldn't sway that decision!

 

 

[RollerColt]

Some things that seemed to have helped Matt yesterday:

 

-The playbook was simplified. 

-It looked like we were in gap blocking more often than zone blocking.

 

Does Matt have the arm left to throw further downfield? I still don't think he'll be with us in 2023. 

[2006Coltsbestever]

2 minutes ago, RollerColt said:

Some things that seemed to have helped Matt yesterday:

 

-The playbook was simplified. 

-It looked like we were in gap blocking more often than zone blocking.

 

Does Matt have the arm left to throw further downfield? I still don't think he'll be with us in 2023. 

Lets see how the season plays out. A lot of football left. We are at 4-5-1. We need to get to at worse 9-7-1 to get in IMO. So that would be a 5-2 record from now which is doable even if we lose to the Eagles.

[RollerColt]

16 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Lets see how the season plays out. A lot of football left. We are at 4-5-1. We need to get to at worse 9-7-1 to get in IMO. So that would be a 5-2 record from now which is doable even if we lose to the Eagles.

We'll really need to shock some teams, but hell... Ride on, Indianapolis "Fighting Jeff Saturdays" lol... 

[2006Coltsbestever]

3 minutes ago, RollerColt said:

We'll really need to shock some teams, but hell... Ride on, Indianapolis "Fighting Jeff Saturdays" lol... 

If we beat Philly and get to 5-5-1, we may go on a huge run. This is why I never give up on a season or believe in tanking unless it is actually over, like being 0-8 for example.

[throwing BBZ]

1 hour ago, Scott Pennock said:

For those that defended FR and said he did not scapegoat Blankenship, Brady and Ryan to save his own butt, what do you have to say for yourselves now? Actions always speak louder than words........always!

 

If Ballard or Irsay TRULY made the decision to sit Ryan the rest of the year the "temporary" hiring of Jeff Saturday wouldn't sway that decision!

 

 

 

  I think you are off the rails.

  And i do not believe Frank would scapegoat anyone, ever.

  Clearly something was terribly wrong with our O, MOST definitely the lack of a respectable run game to cool the heals of their pass rush.

 Frank did what he thought would change some dynamic regarding Brady.

 That a move to a mobile Sam made some sense but considering the major acquisition of Ryan and all the ballywho from Irsay and Ballard about it, it makes sense the owner would have the right to have a hand in the decision to bench Ryan. 

 IMO, there had to be considerable optimism that Sam was going to have a level of success. This coming somehow from the same triumvirant that threw $30M at Brissett out of left field.   It is not a perfect world they live in.

[Solid84]

2 hours ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Lets see how the season plays out. A lot of football left. We are at 4-5-1. We need to get to at worse 9-7-1 to get in IMO. So that would be a 5-2 record from now which is doable even if we lose to the Eagles.

So which of the Eagles, Cowboys and Vikings are we beating?

[2006Coltsbestever]

5 minutes ago, Solid84 said:

So which of the Eagles, Cowboys and Vikings are we beating?

If I had to bet, it would be the Cowboys as long as Micah doesn't kill Matty Ice  . I did post we would beat Philly but I know that is a long shot in reality.

[NewColtsFan]

10 hours ago, PRnum1 said:

So why did Irsay reverse himself with Saturday?

 

It doesn't make any sense.

As I said to other posters who asked the same question….    If you hire a guy and tell him to do his best and he says he wants to go to Ryan, it’d be hard for Irsay to say no and tie his hands.    Those kind of things tend to get out.   And I’ve read multiple stories saying the locker room was angry with the decision to bench Ryan. 

[FanOutOfTown]

15 hours ago, RollerColt said:

Some things that seemed to have helped Matt yesterday:

 

-The playbook was simplified. 

-It looked like we were in gap blocking more often than zone blocking.

 

Does Matt have the arm left to throw further downfield? I still don't think he'll be with us in 2023. 

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the game winner to Pierce against the Jags was a 30+ yarder correct? If I’m recalling correctly he was also getting hit low when he threw it. Not saying he has a Josh Allen arm, but I’m guessing Colts just don’t call many shots downfield because they can’t hold up protection. Living where I do I saw the guy a ton last year. He’s never had a rocket arm, but even on that awful Falcon team he could push the ball downfield. 

[coltsfan_canada]

I honestly still don’t understand why Frank refused to give up play calling duties:- stubbornness, pride, ego? Which one was it? Because I really think his multiple refusals to give the plays to someone else ended up costing him his job, or it was a pretty big reason I think.

[RollerColt]

4 hours ago, FanOutOfTown said:

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the game winner to Pierce against the Jags was a 30+ yarder correct? If I’m recalling correctly he was also getting hit low when he threw it. Not saying he has a Josh Allen arm, but I’m guessing Colts just don’t call many shots downfield because they can’t hold up protection. Living where I do I saw the guy a ton last year. He’s never had a rocket arm, but even on that awful Falcon team he could push the ball downfield. 

It was. But it was also kind of a floater. BUT. Perhaps him missing these past few weeks gave him a chance to rest of and strengthen a bit. The ball seemed to be coming out a lot faster against the Raiders than I've seen since the first few weeks. 

[w87r]

1 hour ago, coltsfan_canada said:

I honestly still don’t understand why Frank refused to give up play calling duties:- stubbornness, pride, ego? Which one was it? Because I really think his multiple refusals to give the plays to someone else ended up costing him his job, or it was a pretty big reason I think.

Things to be thankful for

[RobertAP]

22 hours ago, Superman said:

 

All fair, but my stance on Matt Ryan was that he was really bad even before his injury, benching him wasn't surprising, and playing Ehlinger was defensible given the state of the team. With a coaching change, a reset is understandable. I still didn't expect Ryan to start this week, that's a really quick switch up, especially when the prevailing narrative has either been 'Irsay wants to tank' or 'Irsay wants to make sure we can get out of Ryan's contract.' 

I'd argue that Matt Ryan was playing bad because he was running for his life. When QB's get pressured like he has been, they get happy feet. While I was unhappy with the benching, I understood why it happened. Then I saw Sam get sacked NINE TIMES. That told me everything I needed to know about why Ryan looked so horrible.

I'm glad that Saturday saw things for what they were and gave Ryan the go ahead. I'm also happy to see Ryan make another 4th quarter drive for the win. He is still Matty Ice, even if the stats aren't as good as they were 6 years ago. I really wish that the Colts had the OL that Ryan was sold.

[luckyBatistuta]

I wasn’t a big fan of signing Ryan, as he was yet another stop gap QB. Obviously delighted we won against the Raiders and a big part of that success was Matt Ryan. I’m not saying it was the wrong decision for Saturday to reinstate Ryan, but if we are trying to find out whether Ehlinger is a long term option, we haven’t done him any favours. We come out and state that he’s our QB until the end of the season. We put him in there and the play calling was awful. We then bench him for the guy that he had replaced. Not the greatest of management of a young QB’s development imo.

[Nickster]

20 hours ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

  I think you are off the rails.

  And i do not believe Frank would scapegoat anyone, ever.

  Clearly something was terribly wrong with our O, MOST definitely the lack of a respectable run game to cool the heals of their pass rush.

 Frank did what he thought would change some dynamic regarding Brady.

 That a move to a mobile Sam made some sense but considering the major acquisition of Ryan and all the ballywho from Irsay and Ballard about it, it makes sense the owner would have the right to have a hand in the decision to bench Ryan. 

 IMO, there had to be considerable optimism that Sam was going to have a level of success. This coming somehow from the same triumvirant that threw $30M at Brissett out of left field.   It is not a perfect world they live in.

 

I have a hard time believing that the braintrust actually thought going to Sam would help us win games this season.  I guess it's not out of the realm of possibility that someday he'll be NFL starter material, but this year?  

 

If Matt was injured, then it seems that we should have gone to SB champ Foles.  Don't like Foles, but he's gotta be better thrown into a situation like this than Sam is likely to be. 

 

Benching Ryan wasn't weird but saying it was for the season was IMO.  That was strange. 

[coltsfan_canada]

10 hours ago, Nickster said:

 

I have a hard time believing that the braintrust actually thought going to Sam would help us win games this season.  I guess it's not out of the realm of possibility that someday he'll be NFL starter material, but this year?  

 

If Matt was injured, then it seems that we should have gone to SB champ Foles.  Don't like Foles, but he's gotta be better thrown into a situation like this than Sam is likely to be. 

 

Benching Ryan wasn't weird but saying it was for the season was IMO.  That was strange. 

 

Impressed and Respect for Matty Ice. He did not hold the grudge against Colts for benching him when the guy has missed only 3 games in his career, and 2 already with Colts.