Ballard is right

[Zoltan]

4 hours ago, Superman said:

 

We can always go back and imagine the best case scenario. Judging draft picks this way isn't totally fair. But the point is obvious, we didn't exactly get the most out of those drafts, and the coaching staff probably didn't do a great job of developing them. It's just one fringe example, but whatever they had planned for Banogu was obviously flawed, and maybe that's an insight into some of the other player development issues over the last 2-3 years... or maybe it's a stretch. But obviously those guys the decision makers thought so highly of have not panned out.

 

And when you go back and look at those drafts, it's obvious there was talent available all over the place. 

 

Good drafting is always the key to sustained success in the NFL. If your roster starts falling apart because you let a couple of average FAs walk, then the real problem is probably that you haven't been drafting well enough. Ballard's staff obviously has a blind spot at DE at this point. 

 

I don't think they have a blind spot at OL, they've done a reasonably good job of drafting and playing young OL. What's happened since late 2021 is the rock solid veterans have fallen off.

 

Remember wasn't it just last year everyone was super mad about not drafting Chase Claypool, because he had a couple of highlights, now the steelers traded him away because they weren't high on him

[Zoltan]

3 hours ago, John Hammonds said:

Anyway, Superman, I'm looking forward to evaluating the draft with you this upcoming March.  I intend to be at the scouting combine when the QB's throw.  That's gonna be a doosie!

That's cool, I'm jealous

[cdgacoltsfan]

Well, whether you like CB or don't like CB, in a month or so it won't matter. Either Irsay will fire him or he will step down. And based on the last year or so, Irsay won't have a plan in place to replace him.

[Superman]

4 hours ago, John Hammonds said:

Yup, I agree.  It's always easy to pick and choose with hindsight the draft picks that succeeded, and then say, here you could have drafted this guy instead of the guy you chose.  Therefore, normally I don't do it.  For the very reason you stated.

I only bring it up this time because those were arguments that were made at the time that they happened, and not in retrospect.

 

Anyway, Superman, I'm looking forward to evaluating the draft with you this upcoming March.  I intend to be at the scouting combine when the QB's throw.  That's gonna be a doosie!

 

Nice, I'm jealous. Take some good notes to share with us. 

[VikingsFanInChennai]

6 hours ago, John Hammonds said:

 

Anyway, Superman, I'm looking forward to evaluating the draft with you this upcoming March.  I intend to be at the scouting combine when the QB's throw.  That's gonna be a doosie!

 

The advantage of being an Indy fan living in Indy. 

[csmopar]

2 hours ago, cdgacoltsfan said:

Well, whether you like CB or don't like CB, in a month or so it won't matter. Either Irsay will fire him or he will step down. And based on the last year or so, Irsay won't have a plan in place to replace him.

I don’t think so. I think he’d resigned already if that was his intent. Fired? Maybe. 

[coltsfeva]

On 11/24/2022 at 1:19 PM, stitches said:

There are different levels of winning. If you want to be a contender you need to be good everywhere(or almost everywhere). If you are good at the lines you will win some games... but you won't be among the best teams because the best teams have it both the lines and the skill positions/skill defenders. 

 

I completely disagree with Ballard's roster building philosophy. QB/WR/CBs impact winning MUCH more than most OL and DL positions. In a league with limited resources you have to prioritize where to spend most resources and what to emphasize. And in 2022 the positions that impact winning most are the passing positions on offense and the positions that disrupt passing on defense. 

 

We have bad offense mainly because we have sub-par QB and WR play right now. And we are actually legit good on defense because our outside CBs have been great. Rodgers and Gilmore have been one of the best outside CB pairs in the league.  

 

Now, this is not to say that the lines don't matter. They do. And we would be better if our pass-protection was holding up better... but we wouldn't be among the best teams simply because QB and skill positions are sub-par. 

  I would disagree that the QB and WR group is sub-par. Both positions rely on time to throw and should the protection get fixed (this or next year), the WRs we have (including Dulin and Straughn) are very underrated by many.

   Although Ryan is getting older, he was hammered in the beginning of the year and could improve, should the protection improve.

   It all goes back to the topic at hand. This team could be a contender with better Oline play.

[Moosejawcolt]

Intersting that our 20 million dollar man isn't on the list. Makes u feel all wayrm and fuzzy inside doesn't  it  lol??

[MikeCurtis]

5 hours ago, csmopar said:

Perhaps, but again, who do you propose in THIS COMING draft.

 

Quick Update on the QBs that COULD be in consideration for the Colts in round 1 or 2

 

QB                                            TDs         INTs       Completion %                 

Anthony Richardson                11             8             55.7%                       

Max Duggan                            26             3             66.2%                         

Will Levis                                  17            10            65.9%           

H. Hooker                                 27             2            69.6%

 

Since QB1 and QB2 are off the board and too early to trade up to

 

My rankings from this list are

H. Hooker - Just two 2 INTS and near 70% completions are amazing in the SEC

His completion percentage is actually better than QB1 and QB2.

From interviews He is an intelligent and mature kid as well (I hope we take him)

Max Duggan - The guy just wins, and his 4.5 speed makes him a threat

From interviews he is an intelligent and mature kid

Will Levis, The INTS scare me, but the kid does have one of the fastest releases in the draft

Anthony Richardson  (If I was him, Id stay in school)

 

[crazycolt1]

5 hours ago, cdgacoltsfan said:

Well, whether you like CB or don't like CB, in a month or so it won't matter. Either Irsay will fire him or he will step down. And based on the last year or so, Irsay won't have a plan in place to replace him.

Ballard ain't stepping down. He is under contract till 2026. You, me nor anyone else knows what the end results will be. IMO Irsay will keep Ballard around for at least another draft and another season. Irsay will give Ballard a chance to fix the O line and QB issues.  

[csmopar]

8 hours ago, MikeCurtis said:

 

Quick Update on the QBs that COULD be in consideration for the Colts in round 1 or 2

 

QB                                            TDs         INTs       Completion %                 

Anthony Richardson                11             8             55.7%                       

Max Duggan                            26             3             66.2%                         

Will Levis                                  17            10            65.9%           

H. Hooker                                 27             2            69.6%

 

Since QB1 and QB2 are off the board and too early to trade up to

 

My rankings from this list are

H. Hooker - Just two 2 INTS and near 70% completions are amazing in the SEC

His completion percentage is actually better than QB1 and QB2.

From interviews He is an intelligent and mature kid as well (I hope we take him)

Max Duggan - The guy just wins, and his 4.5 speed makes him a threat

From interviews he is an intelligent and mature kid

Will Levis, The INTS scare me, but the kid does have one of the fastest releases in the draft

Anthony Richardson  (If I was him, Id stay in school)

 

Any of them at least 3 year starters?

[masterlock]

On 11/24/2022 at 12:28 PM, crazycolt1 said:

Yes Ballard has made some mistakes but at the same time he has made some really good moves. 

When you concentrate on the negative you overlook the positive.  

As of this writing, under Ballard, the Colts are 45-46-1. This takes into account the positive and negative.

[Yoshinator]

4 minutes ago, masterlock said:

As of this writing, under Ballard, the Colts are 45-46-1. This takes into account the positive and negative.

Don't forget that's just regular season. Ballard also has never won the AFC South and has only one playoff win in his tenure here (since 2018 with Andrew Luck over the Texans). The guy is a solid scout, but he can't build a team and sucks as a GM. 

 

The only positive at this point with Ballard is you know he probably won't bomb draft day and can have some confidence in his picks. Even then, the team is useless without a young franchise QB, and it'll always be in the back of our minds whether or not he'll draft one if he is here next year until it actually gets done.

[MikeCurtis]

1 hour ago, csmopar said:

Any of them at least 3 year starters?

I have no idea

 

The draft is SUCH a crapshoot

 

But you have to try

 

Hooker would be a great pickup, but not a lock

[csmopar]

4 hours ago, MikeCurtis said:

I have no idea

 

The draft is SUCH a crapshoot

 

But you have to try

 

Hooker would be a great pickup, but not a lock

Hooker is injured. Likely not ready for next season. Plus, no guarantee he regains form from that either. 
 

yes, the draft is a crap shoot but you can lessen the risks of missing. 
 

now if Hooker drops to the 3rd, sure why not. But I’m not taking him 1st or 2nd

[coltsfeva]

5 hours ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Don't forget that's just regular season. Ballard also has never won the AFC South and has only one playoff win in his tenure here (since 2018 with Andrew Luck over the Texans). The guy is a solid scout, but he can't build a team and sucks as a GM. 

 

The only positive at this point with Ballard is you know he probably won't bomb draft day and can have some confidence in his picks. Even then, the team is useless without a young franchise QB, and it'll always be in the back of our minds whether or not he'll draft one if he is here next year until it actually gets done.

 Some broad-brush statements here. If Ballard is above average, when it comes to scouting, it would follow that in time, the culminate results would be above average but some people are impatient these days. 

[MikeCurtis]

1 hour ago, csmopar said:

Hooker is injured. Likely not ready for next season. Plus, no guarantee he regains form from that either. 
 

yes, the draft is a crap shoot but you can lessen the risks of missing. 
 

now if Hooker drops to the 3rd, sure why not. But I’m not taking him 1st or 2nd

ACL takes 9 Months or so

 

Some sooner, some later

 

I dont think he will last till the 3rd

 

Watch his games...... the kid is very good

 

He MAY last until round 2 because of the injury

 

 

 

 

[GoColts8818]

9 minutes ago, MikeCurtis said:

ACL takes 9 Months or so

 

Some sooner, some later

 

I dont think he will last till the 3rd

 

Watch his games...... the kid is very good

 

He MAY last until round 2 because of the injury

 

 

 

 

He was being projected as a possible second pick for the Colts BEFORE the injury.  

[MikeCurtis]

43 minutes ago, GoColts8818 said:

He was being projected as a possible second pick for the Colts BEFORE the injury.  

Yep

 

And still should be

[Yoshinator]

4 hours ago, coltsfeva said:

 Some broad-brush statements here. If Ballard is above average, when it comes to scouting, it would follow that in time, the culminate results would be above average but some people are impatient these days. 

The problem with it following him being above-average is that there is a lot of roster turnover every year. It is nearly impossible to only build a team through the draft. Even Ballard can't do it. I can do it on Madden, but that's on Madden where I have lots of advantages he doesn't. You have to supplement the draft with FAs. Ballard generally doesn't like doing that. He has been stubborn on that front even after teams have shown how important FA is that have succeeded. He has also been stubborn on not drafting a franchise QB and WRs in general. Yes, we took Pierce, but Ballard insinuated in the presser with Irsay and Saturday that he wasn't able to get O-Line help because the media "forced" him to grab a WR in the draft.

 

If he used all his avenues, we'd be either rebuilt by now, or at the very least, have everything but the franchise QB ready (whether he missed on one, or he was still developing). Ballard is too conservative though, and he has also made bad judgment decisions when he paid Leonard and Nelson when they have had health problems/declining, and those are probably going to be albatross contracts at non-premium positions we are stuck with for years.

 

You can call it impatient, but he's on the back end of what an average GM last for (5 years or close to it). So, Ballard is no longer invincible, whether it's to the fans, the media, or to Irsay himself. Even the most homeristic Colts fans and Media members are figuring out that Ballard isn't doing things correctly anymore. 

 

It's put up or shut up time for Ballard now. It may come down to the fact that he will either have to change his philosophies, or Irsay will fire him and hire a new GM. There are no more scapegoats.

[Moosejawcolt]

23 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

The problem with it following him being above-average is that there is a lot of roster turnover every year. It is nearly impossible to only build a team through the draft. Even Ballard can't do it. I can do it on Madden, but that's on Madden where I have lots of advantages he doesn't. You have to supplement the draft with FAs. Ballard generally doesn't like doing that. He has been stubborn on that front even after teams have shown how important FA is that have succeeded. He has also been stubborn on not drafting a franchise QB and WRs in general. Yes, we took Pierce, but Ballard insinuated in the presser with Irsay and Saturday that he wasn't able to get O-Line help because the media "forced" him to grab a WR in the draft.

 

If he used all his avenues, we'd be either rebuilt by now, or at the very least, have everything but the franchise QB ready (whether he missed on one, or he was still developing). Ballard is too conservative though, and he has also made bad judgment decisions when he paid Leonard and Nelson when they have had health problems/declining, and those are probably going to be albatross contracts at non-premium positions we are stuck with for years.

 

You can call it impatient, but he's on the back end of what an average GM last for (5 years or close to it). So, Ballard is no longer invincible, whether it's to the fans, the media, or to Irsay himself. Even the most homeristic Colts fans and Media members are figuring out that Ballard isn't doing things correctly anymore. 

 

It's put up or shut up time for Ballard now. It may come down to the fact that he will either have to change his philosophies, or Irsay will fire him and hire a new GM. There are no more scapegoats.

Wow...The way people defend Ballard is almost like he is a Cult leader mesmerizing the masses. He is below 500 in 5 years as a GM. If a qb had 150 touchdowns and 155 interceptions in 5 years as aa Colts qb would u call him a success? What does next year look like wirh Ballard at the helm? He has failed and time to pull the cord.

[Yoshinator]

12 minutes ago, Moosejawcolt said:

Wow...The way people defend Ballard is almost like he is a Cult leader mesmerizing the masses. He is below 500 in 5 years as a GM. If a qb had 150 touchdowns and 155 interceptions in 5 years as aa Colts qb would u call him a success? What does next year look like wirh Ballard at the helm? He has failed and time to pull the cord.

Yeah, people take forever to understand the obvious sometimes. There are literally people who thought Reich was a top 10 coach at the beginning of this year despite what he did before then, and he was one of the odds-on favorites in Vegas to be fired first. Ballard is equally a problem.

 

I think it's pointless to debate who between Reich and Ballard is/was the problem. IMO, Ballard needs to be shown the door, just like Reich. We can't risk more years of this anymore. At this point, Ballard is a good scout, but he's a bad GM and refuses to change. It's a point where I'm willing to risk it, just like I was (and still am) replacing Reich. 

 

The grass isn't always greener on the other side, but anything is better than mediocrity, whether it be making the playoffs, or having a top 5 pick.

[compuls1v3]

On 11/25/2022 at 10:33 AM, John Hammonds said:

Agreed.  If you're going to build through the draft, you need to hit on your draft picks.  He blew the 2019 draft.  And his decisions regarding the 2021 free agents were poor.  Those two things have overshadowed the good things he did (2018, 2020).

 

Imagine what this team would be like if he simply made these decisions:

2019 round 2 pick 34 - WR Deebo Samuel instead of CB Rock Ya-Sin

2019 round 2 pick - WR AJ Brown instead of DE Ben Banogu

2021 Re-sign DE Denico Autry

2021 Re-sign G Mark Glowinski

2021 round 1 pick 21 - LT Christian Darrisaw instead of DE Kwity Paye

2021 round 2 pick 54 - TE Pat Freiermuth instead of DE Dayo Odeyingbo

 

It was Ballard's 2019 and 2021 decisions that are having negative effects in the current team.

Hindsight is ALWAYS 20/20.  However, based on what he knew already, letting Autry go and letting Glow go was inexcusable.  Also, not planning for LT is also on him.  And at some point, we gotta take a shot at a QB.  Yes, a team isn't just about one player, but a good QB can mask some deficiencies.

[Moosejawcolt]

7 minutes ago, compuls1v3 said:

Hindsight is ALWAYS 20/20.  However, based on what he knew already, letting Autry go and letting Glow go was inexcusable.  Also, not planning for LT is also on him.  And at some point, we gotta take a shot at a QB.  Yes, a team isn't just about one player, but a good QB can mask some deficiencies.

I think his biggest mistake was LT the last couple of years. Not going to harp on but the Nelson contract hung around this org as dead weight. The fans and the FO couldnt wait for  his contract to come due. For some odd reason, we couldn't wait till we had the distinction of having the highest paid guard in the NFL.  Been saying it for years but when your guard is the identity of your team u r in big trouble. The Colts  put 20 million aside for him the last 2 years, and this team severely limited in what it could do at LT. U had RT and Center making a ton. To me paying a guard 20 million was absolutely the stupidist move when u have no LT. Can u think of another team making that move??? Armstead was a guy I am wanted at beginning of season. He's killing it in Miami.  Take the money u r paying Leoanrd and Nelson and u could have an elite LT and a good R and LG.

[AKB]

Ballard should be fired. 

 

We have no Oline depth.

No Dline depth.  (if Buck or Grove get injured, we have late rounders backing them up, Ben Banagou is still on the roster somehow?)

Hole at QB 

Our best secondary player is an aging veteran that we signed in FA, behind him is Moore and Rogers ..) Moore probably not gonna be here too much longer, and Rogers Sr is the only quality depth piece there. 

 

We drafted well at safety this year, and he had a quality signing with McLeod (bridge player) Thomas II has played above expectations, and Cross needs some time. 

 

The main problem is there's no depth for the Oline (hole at RG, possible need at LT)

Similar problem at DE --> Yannick hasn't been all that great, probably lost the trade overall. Kwity is often injured. Dayo is alright but nothing special yet, Tyquan Lewis is solid but often injured. Turay isn't on the team, Banagou is a bust. 

 

for DT depth we have Cowart and Johnson II ? It's poor, it's very poor when you look at it. We've got some real talent in the starting spots, but when you really look at the roster, to use ballard's own terminology, "the cupboards are bare"

 

 

[Dark Superman]

On 11/24/2022 at 11:49 AM, bleed blue4life said:

The more I think about it he is right the games are won upfront. Look at this year we cannot run the ball because teams know we cannot pass over  15 to 20yards because of the oline not giving the Qb enough time . What I do fault him for is not fixing the rg and Lt positons. All the so called experts give him heck for not signing a one receiver.Would that really help with this line. I say no . thoughts ?

This post couldn't be further from the truth. Ballard's ego failed to re-sign two starting caliber guards and decided to take the cheap route by not signing a legit LT in free agency. He opted for a guy who is a backup talent on his best day and refused to bring in any legit competition to the LT/LG positions and basically handed the starting roles to Pryor and Pinter. The collapse of the offensive line this season is 100% on Chris Ballard.

[John Hammonds]

18 hours ago, Jared Cisneros said:

The problem with it following him being above-average is that there is a lot of roster turnover every year. It is nearly impossible to only build a team through the draft. Even Ballard can't do it. I can do it on Madden, but that's on Madden where I have lots of advantages he doesn't. You have to supplement the draft with FAs. Ballard generally doesn't like doing that. He has been stubborn on that front even after teams have shown how important FA is that have succeeded. He has also been stubborn on not drafting a franchise QB and WRs in general. Yes, we took Pierce, but Ballard insinuated in the presser with Irsay and Saturday that he wasn't able to get O-Line help because the media "forced" him to grab a WR in the draft.

 

If he used all his avenues, we'd be either rebuilt by now, or at the very least, have everything but the franchise QB ready (whether he missed on one, or he was still developing). Ballard is too conservative though, and he has also made bad judgment decisions when he paid Leonard and Nelson when they have had health problems/declining, and those are probably going to be albatross contracts at non-premium positions we are stuck with for years.

 

You can call it impatient, but he's on the back end of what an average GM last for (5 years or close to it). So, Ballard is no longer invincible, whether it's to the fans, the media, or to Irsay himself. Even the most homeristic Colts fans and Media members are figuring out that Ballard isn't doing things correctly anymore. 

 

It's put up or shut up time for Ballard now. It may come down to the fact that he will either have to change his philosophies, or Irsay will fire him and hire a new GM. There are no more scapegoats.

I don't always agree with you.  But this statement is true as the day is long:

"Ballard is no longer invincible"

Yeah.  Heck yeah.  Absolutely right.

[John Hammonds]

11 hours ago, AustinnKaine said:

Ballard should be fired. 

 

We have no Oline depth.

No Dline depth.  (if Buck or Grove get injured, we have late rounders backing them up, Ben Banagou is still on the roster somehow?)

Hole at QB 

Our best secondary player is an aging veteran that we signed in FA, behind him is Moore and Rogers ..) Moore probably not gonna be here too much longer, and Rogers Sr is the only quality depth piece there. 

 

We drafted well at safety this year, and he had a quality signing with McLeod (bridge player) Thomas II has played above expectations, and Cross needs some time. 

 

The main problem is there's no depth for the Oline (hole at RG, possible need at LT)

Similar problem at DE --> Yannick hasn't been all that great, probably lost the trade overall. Kwity is often injured. Dayo is alright but nothing special yet, Tyquan Lewis is solid but often injured. Turay isn't on the team, Banagou is a bust. 

 

for DT depth we have Cowart and Johnson II ? It's poor, it's very poor when you look at it. We've got some real talent in the starting spots, but when you really look at the roster, to use ballard's own terminology, "the cupboards are bare"

 

 

Ballard's problem was that he had to draft DL in the 2021 draft because all of the DL's he drafted in 2018 and 2019 didn't work out.  Kimoko Turay didn't work out.  Ben Banogu didn't work out.  Tyquan Lewis couldn't stay healthy.  If even just one of those guys worked out, he wouldn't have had to draft Kwity Paye or Dayo Odeyingbo.  Heck, even if he'd simply re-signed Denico Autry, it wouldn't have been necessary.  That's where the dominos fell from.  Because these guys didn't work out, he couldn't draft Christian Darrisaw.  Thus, he had to rely on smoke and mirrors on his OL.  Dominos, dominos, dominos.  Until it all unraveled, and we're sitting here at 4-7-1.

[AKB]

2 hours ago, John Hammonds said:

Ballard's problem was that he had to draft DL in the 2021 draft because all of the DL's he drafted in 2018 and 2019 didn't work out.  Kimoko Turay didn't work out.  Ben Banogu didn't work out.  Tyquan Lewis couldn't stay healthy.  If even just one of those guys worked out, he wouldn't have had to draft Kwity Paye or Dayo Odeyingbo.  Heck, even if he'd simply re-signed Denico Autry, it wouldn't have been necessary.  That's where the dominos fell from.  Because these guys didn't work out, he couldn't draft Christian Darrisaw.  Thus, he had to rely on smoke and mirrors on his OL.  Dominos, dominos, dominos.  Until it all unraveled, and we're sitting here at 4-7-1.

I agree that him letting Autry walk was bad, but at the end of the day the big misses on Turay and Ben really set us back. Letting Autry go too was just compounding the issue. same with houston. 

 

It doesn't help that Kwity has been injured recently, and Dayo began his NFL career recovering from a serious injury. 

 

And then we drafted a LT this year that has a medical history and was removed from quite a few boards due to it. 

I think Raimann is going to be alright but it's still a questionable pick, and I agree if we didn't need to take DE back to back we probably could've gotten a LT that draft. 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

2 hours ago, AustinnKaine said:

I agree that him letting Autry walk was bad, but at the end of the day the big misses on Turay and Ben really set us back. Letting Autry go too was just compounding the issue. same with houston. 

 

It doesn't help that Kwity has been injured recently, and Dayo began his NFL career recovering from a serious injury. 

 

And then we drafted a LT this year that has a medical history and was removed from quite a few boards due to it. 

I think Raimann is going to be alright but it's still a questionable pick, and I agree if we didn't need to take DE back to back we probably could've gotten a LT that draft. 

Or maybe keep Autry or houston and go get that LT in the first. Then you could still take Dayo in the second.

[ClaytonColt]

Ballard could be right in theory - I'm not completely sure he is - but when you're spending the money we are on the O and D lines and getting the production we're seeing it's surely unarguable that there is an enormous disconnect between the theory and what's put into practice.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Wrong thread