The Athletic: Colts disarray, Irsay "a one man crew"

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

7 minutes ago, philba101 said:

I agree. Harbaugh doubled-down today on his statement from December saying he will enthusiastically be coaching Michigan in 2023 so we will see. My worry is if Harbaugh stays and Payton goes elsewhere, a volatile Irsay will hire Saturday. I like Saturday as a player and as a person, but I don't think he deserves this job.

Not exactly what Harbaugh said.  His statement left it open ended.

[DougDew]

2 hours ago, chad72 said:

@DougDew @Nickster and so many of us were calling it. There is your proof. Where there is smoke, there is fire.

 

Irsay should let Ballard completely take the reigns or any new HC/GM combo completely take the reigns and stay out of the way for the Colts to get back in contention, IMO. No more knee jerk meddling. 

Proof of what?  I'm not following.  See my post above for my thoughts.

 

NVM. Copied below:

 

Irsay is saying that he was upset at Reich for bringing in Wentz....convincing Ballard and Irsay since Reich doesn't make the deals.....which kept them from "growing their own" through the draft.   That was the Fields draft.

 

Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars (No. 1 pick)

Zach Wilson, New York Jets (No. 2 pick)

Justin Fields, Chicago Bears (No. 11 pick)

Mac Jones, New England Patriots (No. 15 pick)

And Kyle Trask...Davis Mills.

 

And was upset at Frank for not holding some of his better players accountable...who are the better players?  I assume that means Nelson?

 

Those are not good reasons to fire a HC. 

 

I think it makes things worse more than better.  It doesn't solve the QB problem, and the "accountability" issue doesn't seem to be mattering at the moment.

 

I think Frank should have been fired at the end of this season in order to take the team in a different direction...elevate the offense and the roster if that solves the problem,

 

But firing him for what seems like punishment for getting Wentz wrong (hindsight sees the draft options were not that great) and an accountability issue that has no definition or way of measuring its effectiveness seems pretty shallow and petulant.  JMO. 

[stitches]

5 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

Aside from the 'end of the year with no commotion' part, isn't this what Irsay did with Reich? That's how I see it.

 

Irsay says 'we should probably draft and develop a QB,' Reich says 'I can make it work with Wentz.' Reich admits he was wrong.

 

Irsay says 'don't you think Ryan is cooked? And we're sending him out there behind an OL that's not performing.' Reich says 'give me a couple more weeks, we'll get it right.' Not only does Ryan not get it going, he gets hurt, potentially undermining the team's ability to move on after the season.

 

Irsay gave Reich plenty of opportunity and room to do things his way. Then he fired him. I think it's noteworthy that he did not fire Ballard, but we'll see about that in the coming weeks.

 

Kind of, but not really... because all this was accompanied with numerous other intrusions into the decisionmaking tree by Irsay. He didn't just fire Reich... he got involved with the starting QB decision, he straight up made the interim HC decision over the head of Ballard. I think Irsay has given tons of space to both Ballard and Reich to make their decisions. I just think he should have kept that until the end of the season and fired them both if he didn't trust them. 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

9 minutes ago, #12. said:

 

Philosophically, Ballard and Harbaugh should be a good match.  

 

I could get on board with Harbaugh I guess, but I would prefer to go in a different direction.  I would rather let Ballard hire his own guy, draft a QB and see what happens.

Maybe Harbaugh is also at the top of Ballard list. 
 

I admit everything that has happened this season and what has come out I think I was probably too hard on Ballard. So much of this was beyond his control.

[chad72]

2 minutes ago, DougDew said:

Proof of what?  I'm not following.  See my post above for my thoughts.

 

Proof of the fact that Irsay was the one mandating the QB change from Ryan after the 2nd Titans game. Folks wanted an official report instead of hearsay and conjecture, even if it was reasonable. 

[Fluke_33]

I wonder if ARians was an option for interim.  The article says that he talked to him about the QBs.

[Superman]

Just now, stitches said:

 

Kind of, but not really... because all this was accompanied with numerous other intrusions into the decisionmaking tree by Irsay. He didn't just fire Reich... he got involved with the starting QB decision, he straight up made the interim HC decision over the head of Ballard. I think Irsay has given tons of space to both Ballard and Reich to make their decisions. I just think he should have kept that until the end of the season and fired them both if he didn't trust them. 

 

Specific to Reich, though... Aside from heavily influencing the Ryan benching and Ehlinger starting decisions, I think Irsay let him do his thing. In fact, I kind of see it as Irsay constantly trying to prod Reich in the right direction, for his own good. And then finally deciding 'he doesn't get it, I'm moving on.' 

 

And yeah, I think that's not the right way to do it. Just sit back and watch him implode, and make the conventional decision on the conventional timeline at the end of the season. No doubt Irsay introduced a ton of chaos into the mix, but I would say he only did so once I felt like he had to really shake things up.

 

Separate from that is the Ballard dynamic. And while I think Ballard obviously has a better standing in Irsay's eyes, the fact that Ballard has gone completely silent this season might indicate that he's on his way out. And it might be his own decision. Pure speculation on my part.

[DougDew]

1 minute ago, chad72 said:

 

Proof of the fact that Irsay was the one mandating the QB change from Ryan after the 2nd Titans game. Folks wanted an official report instead of hearsay and conjecture, even if it was reasonable. 

Ok.  That's fine.  The idea that it was Reich driven was pure speculation on my part.

 

What I don't get is that Irsay wanted Ryan benched by week 5.  Was he mad that Frank hadn't done it yet?  Was Frank a big player in getting Ryan here?

 

The article might be not touching on other stuff we want to know.

[lollygagger8]

Since Irsay is the one making the moves, go get Harbaugh and be done with it. 

 

I'm just not sure Ballard and Harbaugh can coexist on the same team. 

[RollerColt]

6 minutes ago, DougDew said:

Proof of what?  I'm not following.  See my post above for my thoughts.

 

NVM. Copied below:

 

Irsay is saying that he was upset at Reich for bringing in Wentz....convincing Ballard and Irsay since Reich doesn't make the deals.....which kept them from "growing their own" through the draft.   That was the Fields draft.

 

Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars (No. 1 pick)

Zach Wilson, New York Jets (No. 2 pick)

Justin Fields, Chicago Bears (No. 11 pick)

Mac Jones, New England Patriots (No. 15 pick)

And Kyle Trask...Davis Mills.

 

And was upset at Frank for not holding some of his better players accountable...who are the better players?  I assume that means Nelson?

 

Those are not good reasons to fire a HC. 

 

I think it makes things worse more than better.  It doesn't solve the QB problem, and the "accountability" issue doesn't seem to be mattering at the moment.

 

I think Frank should have been fired at the end of this season in order to take the team in a different direction...elevate the offense and the roster if that solves the problem,

 

But firing him for what seems like punishment for getting Wentz wrong (hindsight sees the draft options were not that great) and an accountability issue that has no definition or way of measuring its effectiveness seems pretty shallow and petulant.  JMO. 

I think he fired Reich mid-season because he was hoping to maybe jumpstart this team and see if they would respond by playing their * off. Instead they collapsed and have become shells of themselves. It's absolutely a culture issue. 

[NewColtsFan]

15 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

Aside from the 'end of the year with no commotion' part, isn't this what Irsay did with Reich? That's how I see it.

 

Irsay says 'we should probably draft and develop a QB,' Reich says 'I can make it work with Wentz.' Reich admits he was wrong.

 

Irsay says 'don't you think Ryan is cooked? And we're sending him out there behind an OL that's not performing.' Reich says 'give me a couple more weeks, we'll get it right.' Not only does Ryan not get it going, he gets hurt, potentially undermining the team's ability to move on after the season.

 

Irsay gave Reich plenty of opportunity and room to do things his way. Then he fired him. I think it's noteworthy that he did not fire Ballard, but we'll see about that in the coming weeks.

Where are you getting that Irsay was saying “we should probably draft and develop a QB”. ???   I’ve never seen that suggested by anyone. 

 

[Superman]

3 minutes ago, DougDew said:

What I don't get is that Irsay wanted Ryan benched by week 5.  Was he mad that Frank hadn't done it yet?  Was Frank a big player in getting Ryan here?

 

You don't understand wanting Ryan benched after that Denver game? I thought Reich might have been fired after that game, if not for us pulling out a win. 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

1 minute ago, NewColtsFan said:

Where are you getting that Irsay was saying “we should probably draft and develop a QB”. ???   I’ve never seen that suggested by anyone. 

 

It’s in this story. It all makes sense now because he did interviews where he said the same thing. Then he flip flopped because we got a vet.

[Superman]

1 minute ago, NewColtsFan said:

Where are you getting that Irsay was saying “we should probably draft and develop a QB”. ???   I’ve never seen that suggested by anyone. 

 

That's a dramatization, based on my conjecture.

 

But the idea is in the article.

 

Quote

After Philip Rivers’ successful one-year stint in 2020, the owner wanted to find the team’s next quarterback in the draft, and in Irsay’s words, “grow our own.” But head coach Frank Reich wanted Wentz, convinced he could salvage the former No. 2 pick’s career. So the Colts made the move, thinking Wentz would be in Indianapolis for multiple seasons.

 

[DougDew]

7 minutes ago, stitches said:

 

Kind of, but not really... because all this was accompanied with numerous other intrusions into the decisionmaking tree by Irsay. He didn't just fire Reich... he got involved with the starting QB decision, he straight up made the interim HC decision over the head of Ballard. I think Irsay has given tons of space to both Ballard and Reich to make their decisions. I just think he should have kept that until the end of the season and fired them both if he didn't trust them. 

Yes.  Ultimately he is in charge and he executed that power in the management.  If he has that much power, then a true leader would take responsibility for the Wentz trade...after all, the HC can't execute the trade and approve the paychecks...and not blame it on his "advisor".

 

He should have waited until the end of the season to take account of the entire team and the entire history of what was said.  

 

I'm not defending Frank, but the timing of the firing for the reason that are apparent seem to create more problems than they solve.

[RollerColt]

Just now, Superman said:

 

You don't understand wanting Ryan benched after that Denver game? I thought Reich might have been fired after that game, if not for us pulling out a win. 

Hackett for that matter as well. I went into Monday expecting someone from Denver getting axed. 

[cjwhiskers]

Just now, Nesjan3 said:

Yah because his meddling the last year and a half has really gotten us to such a good place. The only good thing that has come from it is we are bad enough to draft in the top 5. Other than that the Org. is on fire.

All a matter of perspective. In my opinion, Irsay is one of the most staff friendly and patient owners out there. He empowers them to make decisions. That’s the kind of boss you want. 

 

I think we all agree we don’t want Irsay to meddle with football ops on a regular basis. I’m 100% on board with that. I just don’t think this past year is a proper indicator of his future behavior nor do I think it’s the main reason we are where we are. 

 

People need to look back on the last 5 years and honestly tell me we performed at expectation.  I didn’t hate Reich but he was frustrating and not the answer. You can blame it all you want on the QB situation but give me a break, teams do more with less. It’s not just about wins and losses either. This team has looked unprepared in nearly every single critical game they’ve played over the last 5 seasons.

 

Irsay wasn’t meddling with a working system, he stepped in and rightfully created more chaos in hope to fix the sinking ship. I’m ok with him not sitting idle any longer. Go get another leader, give him the reigns and try again. That’s just how life works. 
 

 

[RollerColt]

So Irsay will undoubtably have a press conference after the season ends right? I would hope the media is preparing to ask him some strong questions about how his relationship with the organization continues moving forward... 

 

"Mr. Irsay, do you plan to continue to have a more active role in the development and management of the roster?"

 

Would that be such a hard question to ask him? 

[philba101]

22 minutes ago, stitches said:

It scares me that the guy everybody is blaming for the disarray and chaos with this team seems to have the most clear picture and best philosophy for this team. It scares me that it's Irsay that wanted us to "grow our own" QB after Luck retired and it wasn't the guy who actually should be the one making those decisions with the input of the other guy... Those are the guys that actually wanted a retread after retread at QB. 

 

It scares me that the looney owner was the one with the clear mind who had the clearest picture that this team has serious issues with coaching and that Reich was losing it and changes needed to be made at HC... and it wasn't the GM whose job it is to see this. 

 

It scares me that it was the merchant of chaos who saw that Matt Ryan is done and we actually need to see what we have in Sam Ehlinger. It wasn't the coach. The coach wanted Ryan... and then FOLES before he even gave a thought to Ehlinger. This is freaking insane to me. 

 

Why the hell are those people in those positions? If the GM cannot have a good strategy for the QB position, cannot see that his HC has lost it... if the HC cannot see that Matt Ryan and freaking Nick Foles are done, then what chance do we even have? 

 

This post is NOT an excuse for Irsay going rogue. He might have been right on most issues(excluding hiring Saturday if the goal was to still compete), but this is NOT how you do it. He should have given them all the rope they need to hang themselves and fired them at the end of the year without much noise and commotion in the locker room or within the coaching staff. This post is a total vote of no confidence in Ballard. I do NOT trust him to make the picks for the next HC and QB. Are we even sure it will be him making the pick for HC? 

 

With that said, I really really hope Irsay steps back. I generally love the guy and I think he's been a great owner for this team. But this is not the way. He should keep a hierarchy of responsibilities. If you don't trust your GM to make the decisions - you fire him. You don't make the decision that are in his purview. Then hire a guy you trust for GM and let him make the big decisions. Of course you can have a say if something totally out of order is going on, but for the most part - hire the GM, let him make personnel decisions, let him hire HC and coaching staff... and let them work out the picks for QB and other important roster decisions. 

 

I really really hope, once Irsay decides who his GM will be next year, he would let them do their job and succeed or fail on their own terms. 

 

 

You make some really good points here. As annoyed as we all are that Irsay intervened or felt the need to intervene, the fact that he did it shows he was not pleased by the results he was getting from his coach (which he fired), and apparently his GM who as you stated didn't act if he recognized all of these things as well. Ballard in my eyes bears just as much blame as Reich and Irsay for all of the chaos this year. Yet, we haven't hardly heard anything from Ballard about this. Another puzzling aspect about Irsay is he keeps publicly saying how pleased he is with Ballard and how he expects him to be back in 2023. Why would he be pleased with a GM as was aptly stated above when he has failed at key parts of his job. Failed so much that the owner had to step in and force action. This is why I worry about Irsay moving. I would not question his loyalty or love for the team, but his irrational decisions are puzzling to say the least.

[Superman]

Just now, RollerColt said:

So Irsay will undoubtably have a press conference after the season ends right? I would hope the media is preparing to ask him some strong questions about how his relationship with the organization continues moving forward... 

 

"Mr. Irsay, do you plan to continue to have a more active role in the development and management of the roster?"

 

Would that be such a hard question to ask him? 

 

I don't trust this local media to ask any meaningful questions. I find their way of handling pressers to be VERY frustrating.

[DougDew]

9 minutes ago, RollerColt said:

I think he fired Reich mid-season because he was hoping to maybe jumpstart this team and see if they would respond by playing their * off. Instead they collapsed and have become shells of themselves. It's absolutely a culture issue. 

...by wanting Sam?   That's a heck of a gamble to think that would be a jumpstart.

 

I assumed that Irsay was getting into the middle of decisions and was floundering around trying different things.  Yes, when the owner is doing that its going to create a situation where none of the players will have any confidence that something material won't change on a whim.

 

Other teams know damm well they are not making the playoffs, and have KNOWN IT ALL SEASON, but they haven't had an upheaval of changes going on by an owner that hopes a magic elixir combo of something will turn them into a playoff team.

 

Irsay should have just quietly realized that the team was going nowhere and evaluated things until the end of the season.  JMO.

[stitches]

2 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

Specific to Reich, though... Aside from heavily influencing the Ryan benching and Ehlinger starting decisions, I think Irsay let him do his thing. In fact, I kind of see it as Irsay constantly trying to prod Reich in the right direction, for his own good. And then finally deciding 'he doesn't get it, I'm moving on.' 

 

And yeah, I think that's not the right way to do it. Just sit back and watch him implode, and make the conventional decision on the conventional timeline at the end of the season. No doubt Irsay introduced a ton of chaos into the mix, but I would say he only did so once I felt like he had to really shake things up.

Agreed on this. 

2 minutes ago, Superman said:

Separate from that is the Ballard dynamic. And while I think Ballard obviously has a better standing in Irsay's eyes, the fact that Ballard has gone completely silent this season might indicate that he's on his way out. And it might be his own decision. Pure speculation on my part.

The Ballard thing is really interesting. I wonder if Ballard actually wants this job right now? Like... you can argue there have been 4 huge decisions for this team that are in his purview in the last year or so. And he's made NONE of them. Irsay has made ALL the most important decisions for this team in the last year - moving on from Wentz, firing Frank, benching Ryan, hiring Saturday.

 

To me it feels like Irsay doesn't trust Ballard. In a weird way there are very similar indications that Irsay has been prodding Ballard and guiding him towards what he thinks is right and he's finally given up and is deciding "he doesn't get it, I will have to make those decision". But at the same time publicly he's shown much more support for Ballard than for Reich. 

 

I don't know how Ballard continues in this situation. If Irsay picks the next coach, how is Ballard going to take that? What about the QB... lets say Irsay loves Levis(who seems to have the Peyton Manning seal of approval, BTW), but Ballard likes Stroud. Who makes that decision? IMO the worst case scenario is Irsay doesn't trust Ballard but keeps him and keeps meddling. 

 

Or is Ballard a goner and Irsay is just waiting for the season to end? I have no idea. 

[RollerColt]

Just now, DougDew said:

...by wanting Sam?   That's a heck of a gamble that it would be a jumpstart.

 

I assumed that Irsay was getting into the middle of decisions and was floundering around trying different things.  Yes, when the owner is doing that its going to create a situation where none of the players will have any confidence that something material won't change on a whim.

 

Other teams know damm well they are not making the playoffs, and have KNOWN IT ALL SEASON, but they haven't had an upheaval of changes going on by an owner that hopes a magic elixir combo that will turn them into a playoff team.

 

Irsay should have just quietly realized that the team was going nowhere and evaluated things until the end of the season.  JMO.

That's a whole different ball game there Doug... I was meaning directly the firing of Frank, which happened after Sam started two games. By the way, I don't disagree with you. I'd love to ask Irsay what his overall intentions were for benching Ryan, and then firing Reich after Sam performs so terribly. 

 

It's not a good look for Irsay. At all.

[RollerColt]

4 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

I don't trust this local media to ask any meaningful questions. I find their way of handling pressers to be VERY frustrating.

Get me a media badge, and I'll ask him myself for the greater good. 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

4 minutes ago, RollerColt said:

That's a whole different ball game there Doug... I was meaning directly the firing of Frank, which happened after Sam started two games. By the way, I don't disagree with you. I'd love to ask Irsay what his overall intentions were for benching Ryan, and then firing Reich after Sam performs so terribly. 

 

It's not a good look for Irsay. At all.

Sometimes I think his intentions were to look really bad so he could fire Frank and tank for a QB.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

6 minutes ago, stitches said:

Agreed on this. 

The Ballard thing is really interesting. I wonder if Ballard actually wants this job right now? Like... you can argue there have been 4 huge decisions for this team that are in his purview in the last year or so. And he's made NONE of them. Irsay has made ALL the most important decisions for this team in the last year - moving on from Wentz, firing Frank, benching Ryan, hiring Saturday.

 

To me it feels like Irsay doesn't trust Ballard. In a weird way there are very similar indications that Irsay has been prodding Ballard and guiding him towards what he thinks is right and he's finally given up and is deciding "he doesn't get it, I will have to make those decision". But at the same time publicly he's shown much more support for Ballard than for Reich. 

 

I don't know how Ballard continues in this situation. If Irsay picks the next coach, how is Ballard going to take that? What about the QB... lets say Irsay loves Levis(who seems to have the Peyton Manning seal of approval, BTW), but Ballard likes Stroud. Who makes that decision? IMO the worst case scenario is Irsay doesn't trust Ballard but keeps him and keeps meddling. 

 

Or is Ballard a goner and Irsay is just waiting for the season to end? I have no idea. 

Which is why I am softening my stance on Ballard. I think I was too hard on him. 

[stitches]

1 minute ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

Which is why I am softening my stance on Ballard. I think I was too hard on him. 

Why are you softening your stance on Ballard? He's still responsible for a lot of where this team is right now. 

[DougDew]

11 minutes ago, RollerColt said:

That's a whole different ball game there Doug... I was meaning directly the firing of Frank, which happened after Sam started two games. By the way, I don't disagree with you. I'd love to ask Irsay what his overall intentions were for benching Ryan, and then firing Reich after Sam performs so terribly. 

 

It's not a good look for Irsay. At all.

Yeah, firing Frank and hiring Jeff was seen as a possible jump start.   I understood what you meant...I jumped on to the second thought. 

 

I think its interesting that Irsay appears to be the one of the three that wanted Ryan benched first.  Is that a money issue that was tweeted?  Or was there a desire to try a jump start by starting Sam.  

 

It seems to me that Irsay was floundering around....because he thought his team was actually playoff quality.  That to me seems like the entire root of the problem.  Where as other teams are quietly and professionally playing their season and building their team in hopes of getting better.  They know who they are, and Irsay seems to have not and thought some jump starting was need to get them to their rightful place.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Just now, stitches said:

Why are you softening your stance on Ballard? He's still responsible for a lot of where this team is right now. 

It just makes me wonder if his Oline decisions ect would of worked had this team not had so much dysfunction. I think with the dysfunction it’s hard to know if his players decisions were right or wrong. And he clearly wasn’t in charge of these big decisions Irsay made. The dysfunction seemed to start the last two games of last year and didn’t stop when the season started this year.

[philba101]

30 minutes ago, stitches said:

No, not really... when I say "once he decides who his GM is".... this includes the possibility of keeping Ballard. But IF he keeps Ballard, I do NOT want to hear stories about him meddling into the HC search or QB pick. Sure... give the final OK to the picks, but if Ballard stays, I want him to have all the power to do what he feels is right. And IF he fails again, I want to know that it was HIM failing and not wonder if Irsay set him up for a bust. 

I guess my question to this is that we need to know who was making all of the decisions before Irsay started intervening. If it was Ballard whether he was getting pressure from Reich or not, he deserves a fair share of the blame for the current state of this team. If it was indeed Ballard making all of the decisions without undue influence from Irsay, then I don't trust Ballard to make these decisions going forward. He has had plenty of opportunities to get this right and has failed to do so. I don't think he deserves another chance.

[Nesjan3]

23 minutes ago, cjrulli said:

All a matter of perspective. In my opinion, Irsay is one of the most staff friendly and patient owners out there. He empowers them to make decisions. That’s the kind of boss you want. 

 

I think we all agree we don’t want Irsay to meddle with football ops on a regular basis. I’m 100% on board with that. I just don’t think this past year is a proper indicator of his future behavior nor do I think it’s the main reason we are where we are. 

 

People need to look back on the last 5 years and honestly tell me we performed at expectation.  I didn’t hate Reich but he was frustrating and not the answer. You can blame it all you want on the QB situation but give me a break, teams do more with less. It’s not just about wins and losses either. This team has looked unprepared in nearly every single critical game they’ve played over the last 5 seasons.

 

Irsay wasn’t meddling with a working system, he stepped in and rightfully created more chaos in hope to fix the sinking ship. I’m ok with him not sitting idle any longer. Go get another leader, give him the reigns and try again. That’s just how life works. 
 

 

Good post I actually agree with most of what you say.

 

Except a couple of things, I think he could have just let go of Frank and Ballard go either after last season or after this season and hired a new regime to make the decisions. Instead of overstepping other people.

 

I also think we don't know for sure if this indicates future behavior or not. He has never done this before. Seems erratic. Who is to say this is not how he will operate from now on. 

[Fluke_33]

21 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

I don't trust this local media to ask any meaningful questions. I find their way of handling pressers to be VERY frustrating.

That is what i loved about NY media.  They were never afraid to offend coaches.  Now that I'm in Massachusetts the media cowers to Belichick.  Why become a reporter if you're afraid to ask the important questions?

[RollerColt]

11 minutes ago, DougDew said:

I think its interesting that Irsay appears to be the one of the three that wanted Ryan benched first.  Is that a money issue that was tweeted?  Or was there a desire to try a jump start by starting Sam.  

I think he wanted to see if Sam could be the guy before completely pulling the chain off the drain and rebuilding. Once he saw Sam was indeed not the guy for the future, perhaps then he decided it was time to just move on from Reich, and essentially all but declare we were going to rebuild for a rookie QB. 

[OLD FAN MAN]

39 minutes ago, stitches said:

 

Kind of, but not really... because all this was accompanied with numerous other intrusions into the decisionmaking tree by Irsay. He didn't just fire Reich... he got involved with the starting QB decision, he straight up made the interim HC decision over the head of Ballard. I think Irsay has given tons of space to both Ballard and Reich to make their decisions. I just think he should have kept that until the end of the season and fired them both if he didn't trust them. 

maybe irsay just couldnt take it anymore and is fed up with losing. that is why i think ballard is gone too. ballard built this mess

 

[philba101]

40 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

Not exactly what Harbaugh said.  His statement left it open ended.

I don't think the following statement seems unclear: There is always a chance something unexpected can happen which Harbaugh acknowledge but that does not contradict what was actually said:

In an oddly worded Thursday afternoon statement issued by the program, Harbaugh acknowledged “the rumors and speculation over the past few days” and reiterated his earlier statement that he expects to return as head coach at Michigan for the 2023 season. Yes, caveats included. “As I stated in December, while no one knows what the future holds, I expect that I will be enthusiastically coaching Michigan in 2023,” Harbaugh said in the statement. “I have spoken with President Santa Ono and Athletic Director Warde Manuel and appreciate their support of me and our program. Our mission as Wolverines continues, and we are preparing for the 2023 season with great passion and enthusiasm.

 

“As our legendary coach Bo Schembechler said … ‘Those who stay will be champions.’”

https://www.mlive.com/wolverines/2023/01/jim-harbaugh-reiterates-i-expect-to-coach-michigan-in-2023.html

[csmopar]

30 minutes ago, DougDew said:

Yes.  Ultimately he is in charge and he executed that power in the management.  If he has that much power, then a true leader would take responsibility for the Wentz trade...after all, the HC can't execute the trade and approve the paychecks...and not blame it on his "advisor".

 

He should have waited until the end of the season to take account of the entire team and the entire history of what was said.  

 

I'm not defending Frank, but the timing of the firing for the reason that are apparent seem to create more problems than they solve.

He likely wanted to see if the cream would rise or not. Irsay likely had told Frank way back in Dec 2021 that he was on a short leash. After more uninspired play and regression, Irsay probably had a date in mind in which if things weren’t showing improvement, he was going to can Frank. Now the Saturday thing, it may be more knee jerk but part of me wonders if Frank firing Brady wasn’t a lame attempt on his part to show Irsay he’s willing to make changes. Which obviously takes out any potential successor to Frank in the process. Irsay said screw it, blow it up and brought in Jeff. Which I still believe wasn’t to win games but to give a new prospective and an in locker room and practice assessment of who’s actually trying and who’s riding the waves

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Just now, philba101 said:

I don't think the following statement seems unclear: There is always a chance something unexpected can happen which Harbaugh acknowledge but that does not contradict what was actually said:

In an oddly worded Thursday afternoon statement issued by the program, Harbaugh acknowledged “the rumors and speculation over the past few days” and reiterated his earlier statement that he expects to return as head coach at Michigan for the 2023 season. Yes, caveats included. “As I stated in December, while no one knows what the future holds, I expect that I will be enthusiastically coaching Michigan in 2023,” Harbaugh said in the statement. “I have spoken with President Santa Ono and Athletic Director Warde Manuel and appreciate their support of me and our program. Our mission as Wolverines continues, and we are preparing for the 2023 season with great passion and enthusiasm.

 

“As our legendary coach Bo Schembechler said … ‘Those who stay will be champions.’”

https://www.mlive.com/wolverines/2023/01/jim-harbaugh-reiterates-i-expect-to-coach-michigan-in-2023.html

While no one knows what the future holds and saying I expect leaves it open ended. He is trying not to offend Michigan while looking at nfl jobs.

[DougDew]

1 minute ago, RollerColt said:

I think he wanted to see if Sam could be the guy before completely pulling the chain off the drain and rebuilding. Once he saw Sam was indeed not the guy for the future, perhaps then he decided it was time to just move on from Reich, and essentially all but declare we were going to rebuild for a rookie QB. 

Yeah.  I think two games under the circumstances Sam was thrown into isn't a good evaluation period...its why Frank said it would be the entire season.  I think Marcus Brady was fired around that time too by somebody, putting Sam in a real difficult situation.

 

Irsay must have had enough after the NE game......takes losing to BB personally after all of these years?

[OLD FAN MAN]

1 minute ago, philba101 said:

I don't think the following statement seems unclear: There is always a chance something unexpected can happen which Harbaugh acknowledge but that does not contradict what was actually said:

In an oddly worded Thursday afternoon statement issued by the program, Harbaugh acknowledged “the rumors and speculation over the past few days” and reiterated his earlier statement that he expects to return as head coach at Michigan for the 2023 season. Yes, caveats included. “As I stated in December, while no one knows what the future holds, I expect that I will be enthusiastically coaching Michigan in 2023,” Harbaugh said in the statement. “I have spoken with President Santa Ono and Athletic Director Warde Manuel and appreciate their support of me and our program. Our mission as Wolverines continues, and we are preparing for the 2023 season with great passion and enthusiasm.

 

“As our legendary coach Bo Schembechler said … ‘Those who stay will be champions.’”

https://www.mlive.com/wolverines/2023/01/jim-harbaugh-reiterates-i-expect-to-coach-michigan-in-2023.html

harbaugh cant fix this team unless he is given full control to pick players, he cant fix it with ballards bargain bin talent

[DougDew]

7 minutes ago, csmopar said:

Which I still believe wasn’t to win games but to give a new prospective and an in locker room and practice assessment of who’s actually trying and who’s riding the waves

I'm speculating, but what if one of the better players not being held accountable was actually Quenton Nelson. 

 

Just saying.....have we ever heard of what his practice habits or work habits are?  Lifting, conditioning, diet, attention to detail.   We have heard how gifted he is, but I never read much about how hard he works or how dedicated he is from a mental standpoint.  I think we just make assumptions about that.