Risky move by Coach

[NewColtsFan]

3 hours ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Sorry, had to take my dog for a walk, she got up and had to do her business, and I don't like letting her out at night by herself yet. 

 

All I'll say is, by not playing Richardson, Steichen must think he is ready, so we need to hold him to a high standard. No "this is his first game" if he struggles Vs Jax in Week 1. If you blindly support Steichens decision, then you can't say "it's his first game" if Richardson struggles in the regular season and isn't playing in the preseason.

 

He should, at minimum, be better than Young and Stroud to start off the year if he's too good to play in preseason and get reps.

Dear God.   You have WAYYY over-thought this…. 
 

Over the course of a season, Steichen is going to make hundreds, perhaps thousands of decisions concerning Anthony Richardson.    And about 99 percent of them are going to be far more important than whether to play AR a series or two in the second pre-season game.   
 

The OP, while well intentioned, badly over thought this, and for some strange reason you doubled-down on his position.   If Steichen is right most of the time, the Colts will be fine.   I don’t care if AR is better than Young or Stroud in 23, the Colts didn’t make that choice.   I only care about Richardson’s development.  Period.   Not playing in PS game 2 barely moves the needle.  

 

I hope you’ll reconsider….  

[Yoshinator]

46 minutes ago, jvan1973 said:

That's ridiculous.    Playing in a series or 2 yesterday will have zero impact on his success or failure in week 1 vs the Jags. 

In that case, I could say the joint practices with the Bears will have 0 impact. Every little bit adds up when you are as raw as him though.

[Yoshinator]

37 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

Dear God.   You have WAYYY over-thought this…. 
 

Over the course of a season, Steichen is going to make hundreds, perhaps thousands of decisions concerning Anthony Richardson.    And about 99 percent of them are going to be far more important than whether to play AR a series or two in the second pre-season game.   
 

The OP, while well intentioned, badly over thought this, and for some strange reason you doubled-down on his position.   If Steichen is right most of the time, the Colts will be fine.   I don’t care if AR is better than Young or Stroud in 23, the Colts didn’t make that choice.   I only care about Richardson’s development.  Period.   Not playing in PS game 2 barely moves the needle.  

 

I hope you’ll reconsider….  

All I'm saying is everything on its own barely moves the needle. However, everything together adds up. Richardson is not Luck. He's a raw QB that needs as much practice as possible. Even 2nd string backups are valuable to face for him as the only true experience he has gone against is college players for one year. 

 

It's not going to make me quit watching, but it's frustrating seeing that decision made from Steichen and the Colts side. I understand the joint practices, but why limit yourself to them? It's not like the teams can freely play each other whenever they like before the season 

[Stephen]

Just now, Jared Cisneros said:

All I'm saying is everything on its own barely moves the needle. However, everything together adds up. Richardson is not Luck. He's a raw QB that needs as much practice as possible. Even 2nd string backups are valuable to face for him as the only true experience he has gone against is college players for one year. 

 

It's not going to make me quit watching, but it's frustrating seeing that decision made from Steichen and the Colts side. I understand the joint practices, but why limit yourself to them? It's not like the teams can freely play each other whenever they like before the season 

Evaluation of the back up qb position  and backup  olinemen is also part of the coaching decision. Considering  how backups performed  on first game and how banged up first team oline was it was smart to hold him out. There is a such thing as over preparation which can cause injuries. 

[Blueblood23]

8 hours ago, GoColts8818 said:

I’ll take you seriously on this when you can tell me you’ve coached as many Super Bowls as Shane has in any capacity.  Until then I feel safe in saying he’s more qualified to make this call than you, me, or anyone on this forum.

 

Ive lost way fewer games as a coach than any NFL coach in history and yet I am willing to admit they all know way more about coaching than I do.  you know why?  I don’t have the background and I haven’t done the work to get there that they have and you haven’t either.  

Don’t use the excuse that Richardson is inexperienced during the regular season then. The whole coaching staff is inexperienced on the new positions they have. They are all learning how things are done. They will make plenty of mistakes. This is one of them just like the challenge last night. I have a different opinion on getting a raw quarterback ready to play and you defend it to the upmost. Go ahead and dig in. We will see how it goes.

[cdgacoltsfan]

Not playing the starters was the right call. I'm sure the starters will get plenty of action in the upcoming practices and the game against the Eagles. I'm also sure that if any of the starters including AR get injured this week, the very same forum posters that are crying because AR didn't play the Bears game,will cry that they played in the Eagles game.

 

[Yoshinator]

11 minutes ago, cdgacoltsfan said:

Not playing the starters was the right call. I'm sure the starters will get plenty of action in the upcoming practices and the game against the Eagles. I'm also sure that if any of the starters including AR get injured this week, the very same forum posters that are crying because AR didn't play the Bears game,will cry that they played in the Eagles game.

I seriously doubt that. Everyone knows he needs practice still and is highly raw. However, all the people that agree he didn't need to play will say "it was only one game" if he looks completely unprepared and we lose to the Jags week 1. That quote has been thrown out there for experienced QBs like Wentz and Ryan, so of course it'll be used for Richardson, when just now, they blindly support Steichen that he doesn't need the practice. 

 

It's always cool to blindly support the new coach, until it ages poorly and it no longer is (Reich). It's ok to have a contrarian opinion from an authority figure.

[Jackie Daytona]

8 hours ago, GoColts8818 said:

Yes I am sure you are in a position to know more than the head coach of the team if he should have played tonight or not.  

I mean, while true....the exact same dismissive statement could be made to refute yours here ...

[jvan1973]

6 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

I seriously doubt that. Everyone knows he needs practice still and is highly raw. However, all the people the agree he didn't need to play will say "it was only one game" if he looks completely unprepared and we lose to the Jags week 1. That quote has been thrown out there for experienced QBs like Wentz and Ryan, so of course it'll be used for Richardson, when just now, they blindly support Steichen that he doesn't need the practice. 

 

It's always cool to blindly support the new coach, until it ages poorly and it no longer is (Reich). It's ok to have a contrarian opinion from an authority figure.

He is gonna be bad against the Jags week 1.  Nothing that happened yesterday is going to change that.   However,  putting him out there without his starting olinemen could result in an unblocked defender cleaning his clock and possibly injured 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

12 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

I seriously doubt that. Everyone knows he needs practice still and is highly raw. However, all the people that agree he didn't need to play will say "it was only one game" if he looks completely unprepared and we lose to the Jags week 1. That quote has been thrown out there for experienced QBs like Wentz and Ryan, so of course it'll be used for Richardson, when just now, they blindly support Steichen that he doesn't need the practice. 

 

It's always cool to blindly support the new coach, until it ages poorly and it no longer is (Reich). It's ok to have a contrarian opinion from an authority figure.

He is a rookie with 13 starts. He is going to look erratic either way. 

[Solid84]

Eh, I would've liked AR to get the extra reps, but if the rest of the starters aren't playing no need to risk injury for it.

[Yoshinator]

2 minutes ago, jvan1973 said:

He is gonna be bad against the Jags week 1.  Nothing that happened yesterday is going to change that.   However,  putting him out there without his starting olinemen could result in an unblocked defender cleaning his clock and possibly injured 

So according to jvan, all these players playing in preseason are just wasting their time? Might as well cancel it as it's irrelevant. 

 

I actually agree a bit with your 2nd point. However, that's on Ballard for not having proper O-Line depth. You also should have played Richardson instead of Minshew yesterday. Minshew didn't need those reps. That just messes up Richardson's chance at reps against real competition before the regular season.

[Yoshinator]

1 minute ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

He is a rookie with 13 starts. He is going to look erratic either way. 

Which is why he needs as many reps as possible. I don't get this mindset from people that practice against a real-life team in preseason doesn't matter. These backups are about equal to the competition he faced in Florida. He only played 1 year in college. Any experience is a good thing. You can't be afraid of injury. He's going to play as our starter anyway and possibly get injured. Young and Stroud are playing. Richardson should have done the same with the 2nd team. Steichen made the wrong decision yesterday.

[krunk]

1 hour ago, stitches said:

We are treating him like he's our starter. Which he is. I'm good with not putting him in when the OL and the rest of the starters are not playing, especially with how shaky the backup OL looked. IMO there are more risks than benefits to playing him in such situation. 

 

The majority of NFL considers the practices as the real valuable part of the week when two teams get together in the pre-season for joint practices. The game is almost always played with the backups. 

 

At first I thought he was going to play before the game primarily because the Texans had joint practices with the Dolphins all week.  I watched that game and they gave Stroud quite a bit of playing time.   So I figured with AR lack of experience we would probably handle our situation the same way.   Turns out we didn't, but  Im fine with the reasoning of him getting a good deal of experience in those joint practices with the starters.  Plus he's going to get a lot of snaps against Philly with the number 1 offense and continue building continuity.  Yesterdays game was played with all the backups and guys who may or may not make the team. 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

8 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Which is why he needs as many reps as possible. I don't get this mindset from people that practice against a real-life team in preseason doesn't matter. These backups are about equal to the competition he faced in Florida. He only played 1 year in college. Any experience is a good thing. You can't be afraid of injury. He's going to play as our starter anyway and possibly get injured. Young and Stroud are playing. Richardson should have done the same with the 2nd team. Steichen made the wrong decision yesterday.

He is going yo end up with like 2k reps by the end of the season. Getting 15 reps yesterday isn’t going to determine if he is bad or good this season. Especially playing against Chicago second team. 
 

For the record Richardson had more plays then young and stroud that first game. Do it makes sense he didn’t play yesterday while the other to did. They probably wont play 3rd game and Richardson will. So it doesn’t really make much difference.

[krunk]

I think Steichen is a pretty competent coach so far.  I've got confidence that he knows what he's doing,

especially Xs and Os wise. I can't say that i've felt that way in a while about some of our previous coaches. 

[cdgacoltsfan]

36 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

I seriously doubt that. Everyone knows he needs practice still and is highly raw. However, all the people that agree he didn't need to play will say "it was only one game" if he looks completely unprepared and we lose to the Jags week 1. That quote has been thrown out there for experienced QBs like Wentz and Ryan, so of course it'll be used for Richardson, when just now, they blindly support Steichen that he doesn't need the practice. 

 

It's always cool to blindly support the new coach, until it ages poorly and it no longer is (Reich). It's ok to have a contrarian opinion from an authority figure.

I can see the headlines now..AR would have won rookie of the year if only he had played with the second and third teams against the Bears second and third teams in that pivotal pre season game. 

.

[cdgacoltsfan]

3 minutes ago, krunk said:

I think Steichen is a pretty competent coach so far.  I've got confidence that he knows what he's doing,

especially Xs and Os wise. I can't say that i've felt that way in a while about some of our previous coaches. 

There are a few on here that think ( in their heads) they should be GMs and head coaches. It's funny.

[Yoshinator]

Just now, cdgacoltsfan said:

There are a few on here that think ( in their heads) they should be GMs and head coaches. It's funny.

I think the people that eventually become GMs and HCs started off thinking the same as well. They just created opportunities for themselves and applied for the job. You can literally go to college to learn how to be a scout and work your way up if a team hires you. It's a long process, but common men and women get hired, you don't have to be part of an exclusive club.

 

[cdgacoltsfan]

If it was pre determined between the Bears coaching staff and the Colts coaching staff that they were going to sit the starters,it would have made 0 sense to trot AR out there behind that horrible o line.

[Yoshinator]

Just now, cdgacoltsfan said:

If it was pre determined between the Bears coaching staff and the Colts coaching staff that they were going to sit the starters,it would have made 0 sense to trot AR out there behind that horrible o line.

This is where I get frustrated. I don't know why Steichen would agree to these terms. This benefits the Bears as Fields has more experience than Richardson. We got the short end of the stick here. 

[NFLfan]

41 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

He is a rookie with 13 starts. He is going to look erratic either way. 

 

That probably goes into the thinking that it may have helped him to get some game action, albeit in preseason. While that experience won't determine if he succeeds or fails, it may add to his learning.

 

It seems that the coaching staff had their reasons for not playing the starters, including Richardson.

[RollerColt]

28 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

I think the people that eventually become GMs and HCs started off thinking the same as well. They just created opportunities for themselves and applied for the job. You can literally go to college to learn how to be a scout and work your way up if a team hires you. It's a long process, but common men and women get hired, you don't have to be part of an exclusive club.

 

Most have actual experience playing the game. Ballard for example was a QB. 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

24 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

This is where I get frustrated. I don't know why Steichen would agree to these terms. This benefits the Bears as Fields has more experience than Richardson. We got the short end of the stick here. 

This happens. They even agree to certain schemes they run in practice. Because the schemes they run in these practices is much more complex then the game itself. They don’t want it on tape so they would rather do it in practice.

[2006Coltsbestever]

I really don't have a feeling either way. AR not playing is not a big deal, to me anyway it isn't. I would have liked to see him play 1 or 2 series just for REP purposes, but it is not a big deal. I can already tell by a few threads that have been made, every decision Coach makes and everything AR does is going to be looked at by a microscope in here  . 

[2006Coltsbestever]

I could have seen it now, had AR played a whole half and then suffered a knee injury late in the 2nd Qtr, the same people now saying he should have played would be trashing Ballard, Irsay, and Shane. Saying, why did he play that long in a meaningless pre-season game, etc.. This team can't win for losing no matter what decisions they make in some people's eyes. 

[throwing BBZ]

12 hours ago, indyagent17 said:

Yes however I see no idea what he didn’t play a quarter tonight 

 

 Thank you for admitting you have no idea. Give Steichen the credit he has richly earned, instead of blathering on about that which "WE" have little understanding of.

 A bare to the bones, SIMPLE point is that this is a Multi-Year learning proc ess. So what in the world does 10-15 snaps in this game mean in the Grand Scheme. Steichen believes ZILCH!  Carry on.

[Dingus McGirt]

Yes.  Play your team’s future against back-enders trying to make an impression by hitting everything that moves.  I’m sure that’s the thing to do.

[krunk]

2 hours ago, Jared Cisneros said:

All I'm saying is everything on its own barely moves the needle. However, everything together adds up. Richardson is not Luck. He's a raw QB that needs as much practice as possible. Even 2nd string backups are valuable to face for him as the only true experience he has gone against is college players for one year. 

 

It's not going to make me quit watching, but it's frustrating seeing that decision made from Steichen and the Colts side. I understand the joint practices, but why limit yourself to them? It's not like the teams can freely play each other whenever they like before the season 

Are we not having joint practice with the Eagles as well?  How many teams are having 2 sets of joint practices with teams? Is this common practice this season?  Because if it's not then he'll more than make up for those snaps against Philly. Im sure he'll take the bulk of those snaps including the bulk of the playing time in the actual Eagles Colts game. He's going to learn a ton against Philly because that team is stacked as well. I get your view point, but I think it's better for him at this point to play against the 1s since he is the starter.  He needs the right kind of experiences, not just any experience.  I don't think he missed much by not playing yesterday. 

[stitches]

Just now, krunk said:

Are we not having joint practice with the Eagles as well?  How many teams are having 2 sets of joint practices with teams?

Is this common practice this season?  Because if it's not then he'll more than make up for those snaps against Philly.

Im sure he'll take the bulk of those snaps including the bulk of the playing time in the actual Eagles Colts game. 

Yes, we have joint practice, but I think it's only 1 practice because we play on Thursday... I don't think this is the norm, but I've been seeing more teams do joint practices last few years. Maybe they will become regularity in the future. 

[krunk]

2 minutes ago, stitches said:

Yes, we have joint practice, but I think it's only 1 practice because we play on Thursday... I don't think this is the norm, but I've been seeing more teams do joint practices last few years. Maybe they will become regularity in the future. 

When I say 2 I mean how many teams are holding joint practices with 2 different opponents?

[Blueblood23]

25 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

I could have seen it now, had AR played a whole half and then suffered a knee injury late in the 2nd Qtr, the same people now saying he should have played would be trashing Ballard, Irsay, and Shane. Saying, why did he play that long in a meaningless pre-season game, etc.. This team can't win for losing no matter what decisions they make in some people's eyes. 

Getting injured happens all the time in practice too. Maybe he shouldn’t practice due to a potential injury. Look how many of our guys get hurt just running around in practice with limited or no contact. 

[MacDee1975]

I think AR's career will take on a new trajectory now that he didn't play an quarters in that preseason game last night.

 

I foresaw good things for  him up until yesterday;  now I don't.  At all.  Thanks alot Steichen, for ruining a prime draft pick with unlimited potential.

[GoColts8818]

2 hours ago, Blueblood23 said:

Don’t use the excuse that Richardson is inexperienced during the regular season then. The whole coaching staff is inexperienced on the new positions they have. They are all learning how things are done. They will make plenty of mistakes. This is one of them just like the challenge last night. I have a different opinion on getting a raw quarterback ready to play and you defend it to the upmost. Go ahead and dig in. We will see how it goes.

 I’ve said several times there is going to be growing pains.  Do you really think a series or two last night vs the Bears second stringers was going to prevent that?  Also you are defending your opinion too so let’s not pretend that you aren’t dug in.  

[throwing BBZ]

7 hours ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Sorry, had to take my dog for a walk, she got up and had to do her business, and I don't like letting her out at night by herself yet. 

 

All I'll say is, by not playing Richardson, Steichen must think he is ready, so we need to hold him to a high standard. No "this is his first game" if he struggles Vs Jax in Week 1. If you blindly support Steichens decision, then you can't say "it's his first game" if Richardson struggles in the regular season and isn't playing in the preseason.

 

He should, at minimum, be better than Young and Stroud to start off the year if he's too good to play in preseason and get reps.

 

 So you have expectations that he won't struggle in every game this season?

Very odd thinking, for such a follower of the NFL. 

 EVERYTHING about this new season projects a huge reset that requires everyone to become highly synced in a new system. We are at Minimum, a season and 1/2 away from being consistently good on offense. 

 

[Blueblood23]

23 minutes ago, GoColts8818 said:

 I’ve said several times there is going to be growing pains.  Do you really think a series or two last night vs the Bears second stringers was going to prevent that?  Also you are defending your opinion too so let’s not pretend that you aren’t dug in.  

To be absolutely clear he should have played a half not a series or two. He needs a lot of game experience not just practice reps. 

[GoColts8818]

9 minutes ago, Blueblood23 said:

To be absolutely clear he should have played a half not a series or two. He needs a lot of game experience not just practice reps. 

Well not according to his coach and as much as you don’t want to hear this you don’t know more than his coach and you aren’t in a better position than his coach to make that decision.  
 

Last night was not going to make one bit of difference in Richardson being ready for week one for the reasons discussed in this thread.  I go back to what I said to start this thread Richardson isn’t going to be a success or bust because he did or didn’t play in week two of the pre-season of his rookie year.

 

Dont believe me don’t believe the head coach fine.  Maybe you’ll believe Rick Venturi who said last night is what teams did was adjust the pre-season schedule and how you play people after the fourth pre-season game went away.  He said what teams have done is pretty much schedule two joint practices to replace what was the old second pre-season game and then use the pre-season game that followed the practices to replace the old fourth game where no starters played.  
 

If you don’t want to believe any of those people and still hold your opinion that you some how know more and are in a better position to make those decisions go ahead.  

[Blueblood23]

7 minutes ago, GoColts8818 said:

Well not according to his coach and as much as you don’t want to hear this you don’t know more than his coach and you aren’t in a better position than his coach to make that decision.  
 

Last night was not going to make one bit of difference in Richardson being ready for week one for the reasons discussed in this thread.  I go back to what I said to start this thread Richardson isn’t going to be a success or bust because he did or didn’t play in week two of the pre-season of his rookie year.

 

Dont believe me don’t believe the head coach fine.  Maybe you’ll believe Rick Venturi who said last night is what teams did was adjust the pre-season schedule and how you play people after the fourth pre-season game went away.  He said what teams have done is pretty much schedule two joint practices to replace what was the old second pre-season game and then use the pre-season game that followed the practices to replace the old fourth game where no starters played.  
 

If you don’t want to believe any of those people and still hold your opinion that you some how know more and are in a better position to make those decisions go ahead.  

Every year for a decade,  the Colts aren’t ready to play once the season starts. They don’t play their starters enough in pre season and when the regular season begins they aren’t prepared to perform. As a fan, just tired of losing the first two games of the season. I don’t care what the other teams do or don’t do. Things need to change for the Colts as it’s not working. 

[Mr. Irrelevant]

2 hours ago, RollerColt said:

Most have actual experience playing the game. Ballard for example was a QB. 

Yeah? I didn’t know that, he look more like a guy that have been exercising to become a Center! 

[cdgacoltsfan]

36 minutes ago, GoColts8818 said:

Well not according to his coach and as much as you don’t want to hear this you don’t know more than his coach and you aren’t in a better position than his coach to make that decision.  
 

Last night was not going to make one bit of difference in Richardson being ready for week one for the reasons discussed in this thread.  I go back to what I said to start this thread Richardson isn’t going to be a success or bust because he did or didn’t play in week two of the pre-season of his rookie year.

 

Dont believe me don’t believe the head coach fine.  Maybe you’ll believe Rick Venturi who said last night is what teams did was adjust the pre-season schedule and how you play people after the fourth pre-season game went away.  He said what teams have done is pretty much schedule two joint practices to replace what was the old second pre-season game and then use the pre-season game that followed the practices to replace the old fourth game where no starters played.  
 

If you don’t want to believe any of those people and still hold your opinion that you some how know more and are in a better position to make those decisions go ahead.  

Ding ding ding....we have a winner!