Gus Bradley likely staying

[ColtStrong2013]

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/nfl/colts/2024/01/08/colts-shane-steichen-on-future-of-defensive-coordinator-gus-bradley/72148737007/
 

 

[ColtStrong2013]

Steichen and Bradley spent four seasons together with the Chargers and know each other well.

“Like I said, I believe in continuity,” Steichen said. “I’ve got a ton of confidence in Gus.”
 

When he was asked about Bradley’s performance during the season, Steichen sounded confident in Bradley’s performance, given some of the personnel changes he faced.

“He’s done a good job,” Steichen said on New Year’s Day. “Shoot, there’s been moving parts on the defense. The d-line has done a heck of a job, obviously, getting all the sacks that we’ve had — credit to him with the pass rush stuff.”

[1959Colts]

great

[Yoshinator]

This is bad news honestly. I understand we need a better secondary, but Gus Bradley is a horrible Defensive Coordinator. We allow too many points, too many chunk plays. We need someone better.

[Indyfan4life]

Then Jim and Chris better * get some actual talent in the secondary and a legit pass rusher. Otherwise we’re gonna keep seeing the same % over and over again with this defense. 

[GoColts8818]

Disappointed but not surprised.  I’ve felt all along Gus was staying.

[Smonroe]

Just now, GoColts8818 said:

Disappointed but not surprised.  I’ve felt all along Gus was staying.

 

I kind of feel the same way.  I'm no fan of his conservative defense.

 

But in his defense, when you're given the D backfield of rookie CBs, and guys off the street, how much faith could he have with them?

 

And, even though we ended up highly ranked in the sack department, do we really have an edge rusher that teams have to gameplan for?  

[IndyEV]

[KB]

I think for Bradley staying, you don't bring in a high pick at CB. Reason being is that's a new body to learn the system. Bring in another depth piece and a veteran for the corners.

 

What we will need for his scheme is a smart playmaking safety. Football smart not Yale smart. The safeties have to be smart in this scheme. The while reason Nico got the TD on the opening drive is because Brent's didn't get help up top from Cross like he was supposed to. Alot of big plays could of been avoided if Thomas was in the right spot. Blackmon did play decent so SS is covered IMO.

[ColtStrong2013]

7 minutes ago, KB said:

I think for Bradley staying, you don't bring in a high pick at CB. Reason being is that's a new body to learn the system. Bring in another depth piece and a veteran for the corners.

 

What we will need for his scheme is a smart playmaking safety. Football smart not Yale smart. The safeties have to be smart in this scheme. The while reason Nico got the TD on the opening drive is because Brent's didn't get help up top from Cross like he was supposed to. Alot of big plays could of been avoided if Thomas was in the right spot. Blackmon did play decent so SS is covered IMO.

 

I'd rather see veteran secondary pieces brought in than through the draft. We have Flowers coming back. We have a decision coming on Blackmon. I like him, but his injuries are piling up and he's going to command a decent amount. We have last year draft pick Scott coming back. I can't see Kenny Moore not being retained.

I feel they'll target free agency for secondary help. 

[chad72]

Our D-line coach needs to be retained at any cost and we should probably look at a different secondary coach to develop our young ones, IMO.

 

I agree with KB, I would try and bring in someone like Xavier McKinney from the New York Giants, he would probably cost us 4 years $40 million but would be well worth it to shore up our safety position. Safety position requires more vet experience than the CB position, IMO.

[richard pallo]

Great news.  The missing piece to make his defense work is a big time ER to bring the pressure.  That will be a top if not the number one priority for Ballard this offseason.

[lollygagger8]

I don't claim to know more that Steichen by any means but......

 

[FanFromtheWasteland]

All I can say is...........ugh

[#12.]

Not surprised.  As Siriani said on the radio last offseason, from their time in San Diego, he and Steichen look up to and respect Gus.  

 

Of course with the way it's going in Philly, Siriani might be back here as OC in the next year or so.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

I am good either way. He didn’t have a lot to work with and I trust Steichen.

[Solid84]

Ugh. Don’t like it at all. 
 

The defense needs a BIG talent infusion for Gus’ scheme to work. Dline, LB, S. Possibly CB. 

[Flash7]

This is the defense that Ballard wants:

 

"It's always about your fronts," Ballard said. "When you have a good quarterback and you can have a good offensive and defensive line, you've got a chance to win. If that defensive line can get after the quarterback, especially with four people -- I mean y'all lived it. Y'all lived it for a long time here in Indy when you had (Dwight) Freeney and (Robert) Mathis coming off the edge when Tony was the head coach. That makes all the difference in the world and covers up for a lot of your mistakes in the back end."

 

Look, Chris, you can rush 4 people when you have Freeney and Mathis. When you don't, you need to mix it up.

 

Gus runs the defense that Ballard wants in Indy. Rush 4 people and cover on the back end. Bland. Vanilla. Opposing QBs love it.

[runthepost]

14 minutes ago, richard pallo said:

Great news.  The missing piece to make his defense work is a big time ER to bring the pressure.  That will be a top if not the number one priority for Ballard this offseason.

It’s been 7 years I wonder if we will draft another high end RAS player with 10 career sacks in college

[Solid84]

2 minutes ago, Flash7 said:

This is the defense that Ballard wants:

 

"It's always about your fronts," Ballard said. "When you have a good quarterback and you can have a good offensive and defensive line, you've got a chance to win. If that defensive line can get after the quarterback, especially with four people -- I mean y'all lived it. Y'all lived it for a long time here in Indy when you had (Dwight) Freeney and (Robert) Mathis coming off the edge when Tony was the head coach. That makes all the difference in the world and covers up for a lot of your mistakes in the back end."

 

Look, Chris, you can rush 4 people when you have Freeney and Mathis. When you don't, you need to mix it up.

 

Gus runs the defense that Ballard wants in Indy. Rush 4 people and cover on the back end. Bland. Vanilla. Opposing QBs love it.

Our passrush is no where near good enough to run this scheme. 

[jemack]

Even though I'm a little disappointed, both buy into the "keep the play in front of you" zone. I can't blame them, with the lack of experience there is in the secondary.

We'll see the same scheme next year which puts a stud DE either through the draft or FA a huge priority.

[tfunky14]

Good, get him a shut down corner and improve our safeties and we are a playoff team

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

If he does stay at least there won’t be another evaluation year for a new DC. 

10 minutes ago, Solid84 said:

Our passrush is no where near good enough to run this scheme. 

If your corners can’t cover the pass rush can’t get there.  

[Flash7]

1 minute ago, jemack said:

Even though I'm a little disappointed, both buy into the "keep the play in front of you" zone. I can't blame them, with the lack of experience there is in the secondary.

We'll see the same scheme next year which puts a stud DE either through the draft or FA a huge priority.

I don't think it has much to do with the lack of experience. Bradley ran the same defense last year with experienced DBs and Eberflus ran a similar style defense as well for many years before that. This is just what Ballard looks for when hiring defensive coordinators. He believes in this philosophy. The problem is that you need guys like Mathis and Freeney to have an excellent defense. We don't have those guys. No where close to it.

[Flash7]

3 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

If he does stay at least there won’t be another evaluation year for a new DC. 

If your corners can’t cover the pass rush can’t get there.  

Agreed, to an extent. On the other hand, if your pass rush can't get to the QB it makes it much harder to cover. They both go hand-in-hand.

 

 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

1 minute ago, Flash7 said:

Agreed, to an extent. On the other hand, if your pass rush can't get to the QB it makes it much harder to cover. They both go hand-in-hand.

 

 

Yep they do. It will be better next year.

[tweezy32]

i felt like gus had our cbs up more against the Texans in that last game? I think we wernt giving them cushion like we usually do which was good to see. Did anyone else notice that too or was that just me lol

[ColtStrong2013]

30 minutes ago, Flash7 said:

This is the defense that Ballard wants:

 

"It's always about your fronts," Ballard said. "When you have a good quarterback and you can have a good offensive and defensive line, you've got a chance to win. If that defensive line can get after the quarterback, especially with four people -- I mean y'all lived it. Y'all lived it for a long time here in Indy when you had (Dwight) Freeney and (Robert) Mathis coming off the edge when Tony was the head coach. That makes all the difference in the world and covers up for a lot of your mistakes in the back end."

 

Look, Chris, you can rush 4 people when you have Freeney and Mathis. When you don't, you need to mix it up.

 

Gus runs the defense that Ballard wants in Indy. Rush 4 people and cover on the back end. Bland. Vanilla. Opposing QBs love it.

You can win rushing Mathis and Freeney when Peyton Manning is on the field and especially has a lead late in the game… 

[Solid84]

17 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

If he does stay at least there won’t be another evaluation year for a new DC. 

If your corners can’t cover the pass rush can’t get there.  

If your passrush can’t get there your corners can’t cover. 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

2 minutes ago, tweezy32 said:

i felt like gus had our cbs up more against the Texans in that last game? I think we wernt giving them cushion like we usually do which was good to see. Did anyone else notice that too or was that just me lol

Pretty sure that big play to Collins was man to man.

[tweezy32]

1 minute ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

Pretty sure that big play to Collins was man to man.

They had like two big plays only really that they had. the !st play which the safety was in la la land not helping and the Stroud throw away play that Nico caught. When it was 3rd and long I noticed our corners up a lot more then they usually were. When they completed 1st downs a lot of the plays were the linebackers off too much and giving them too much space 

[krunk]

got no problem with Gus. secondary was young and missing key pieces at various points. problems to be expected

[compuls1v3]

44 minutes ago, Flash7 said:

This is the defense that Ballard wants:

 

"It's always about your fronts," Ballard said. "When you have a good quarterback and you can have a good offensive and defensive line, you've got a chance to win. If that defensive line can get after the quarterback, especially with four people -- I mean y'all lived it. Y'all lived it for a long time here in Indy when you had (Dwight) Freeney and (Robert) Mathis coming off the edge when Tony was the head coach. That makes all the difference in the world and covers up for a lot of your mistakes in the back end."

 

Look, Chris, you can rush 4 people when you have Freeney and Mathis. When you don't, you need to mix it up.

 

Gus runs the defense that Ballard wants in Indy. Rush 4 people and cover on the back end. Bland. Vanilla. Opposing QBs love it.

Problem is we have nowhere near the talent of Freeney/Mathis on this roster.  We need an elite DE badly.

[jemack]

35 minutes ago, Flash7 said:

I don't think it has much to do with the lack of experience. Bradley ran the same defense last year with experienced DBs and Eberflus ran a similar style defense as well for many years before that. This is just what Ballard looks for when hiring defensive coordinators. He believes in this philosophy. The problem is that you need guys like Mathis and Freeney to have an excellent defense. We don't have those guys. No where close to it.

Right, l think we agree on priorities. Playing zone requires QB pressure and since blitzing is minimal in Gus' defense they need to upgrade the line.

[stitches]

I'm not super high on Gus, but it seems like I'm not as down on him as many here as well. To me the guiding philosophy is much more important and IMO that path is being set by Ballard. Ballard wants us to play that type of defense and it will be that type with slight adjustments pretty much whether Gus is the coach or we get another one. Because if we get another one, it will be again a coach that wants to pressure with 4, doesn't blitz, plays largely this type of heavy zone defense that is hugely dependent on the front 4 disrupting the passing game. 

 

It is what it is. Right now IMO the (lack of) talent at key positions for this D is more of a limiting factor than the defensive coordinator. Or are you going to tell me another coach would severely outperformed what Gus did with that secondary? With no household name at EDGE? I think this is about the limit of this group. We need better talent (or the talent on the roster to develop and some of them might because they are young)... 

[2006Coltsbestever]

I would be a fan of Gus' defense if had a Dwight Freeney at DE. We don't, we also need a great Safety, we don't have that either. Back in the day we had Bob.

[richard pallo]

23 minutes ago, compuls1v3 said:

Problem is we have nowhere near the talent of Freeney/Mathis on this roster.  We need an elite DE badly.

Agree.  Ballard has tried through the draft.  Kwity, Dayo, Lewis to name a few.  So far no one elite.  He needs to try again this year or go get a proven guy.  I think there is more pressure on him to find one this offseason.  JMO.

[BlackTiger]

1 hour ago, Solid84 said:

Our passrush is no where near good enough to run this scheme. 

Its not that, we finished 5th in sacks.   The secondary is young and doesnt have a play maker in the group.

 

We will be in the market for line backer with Shaq gone too

[BProland85]

1 hour ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

I am good either way. He didn’t have a lot to work with and I trust Steichen.

I get that but giving up huge numbers to the opponents best offensive receiver every single week has to stop. Especially with what happened against Houston when they had no other WRs outside of Collins. You need a DC who knows how to scheme to limit those players and force the QB to go elsewhere. 

[IinD]