Ballards press conference 12:30 Jan 11th

[Solid84]

I didn't get the impression we were looking at WR?

 

I think we'll find competition at CB, but again didn't get the impression this was a position we're all in on.

 

He specifically mentioned FS though.

 

Always looking at the trenches.

[Aaron86]

11 hours ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

The point is that backups can play at a high level for a short time. Which Foles did. But you usually can’t rely on them for an entire season.  Foles only had to play 5 games I believe.

In the playoffs which is the best of the best going at it. I don't want a backup to play the entire season either. And I don't disagree with Easy, you or anyone else in that regard. I was trying to be funny more then anything else. But for whatever reason it was Foles lit it up that year in the playoffs. And I think a high end backup could get you there. 

[GoColts8818]

7 minutes ago, Aaron86 said:

In the playoffs which is the best of the best going at it. I don't want a backup to play the entire season either. And I don't disagree with Easy, you or anyone else in that regard. I was trying to be funny more then anything else. But for whatever reason it was Foles lit it up that year in the playoffs. And I think a high end backup could get you there. 

Minshew is a high end backup.  Also for comparison sake the Colts had Foles last year.  Which QB looked better?

[Aaron86]

1 minute ago, GoColts8818 said:

Minshew is a high end backup.  Also for comparison sake the Colts had Foles last year.  Which QB looked better?

Last year nobody looked good.

But at this point in each players career Foles has a ring to back up that argument. Minshew is in a great system with a very good coach. I think Ryan or Foles would have been just as or more successful with Shane.

[Tsarquise]

On 1/12/2024 at 11:22 AM, Superman said:

 

I'm curious about this. From your perspective, what are you seeing/hearing that you would classify as "praise"? 

From my perspective, many fans praise him; far more than the amount of fans that criticize him. Media praises him, Colts twitter influencers praise him, Colts reddit also praises him; if you criticize him, you'll usually get down voted. 

 

Of course he has his critics. I just feel they're the vocal minority. 

 

Also, some don't look at the results to assess the job of a GM but the process, which they tend to think he adheres to well and that it is a successful one. 

 

The praise usually comes in the form of how great of a drafter he is. And it's often repeated that he would immediately be hired by another team if he was fired. 

 

[Moosejawcolt]

21 minutes ago, Tsarquise said:

From my perspective, many fans praise him; far more than the amount of fans that criticize him. Media praises him, Colts twitter influencers praise him, Colts reddit also praises him; if you criticize him, you'll usually get down voted. 

 

Of course he has his critics. I just feel they're the vocal minority. 

 

Also, some don't look at the results to assess the job of a GM but the process, which they tend to think he adheres to well and that it is a successful one. 

 

The praise usually comes in the form of how great of a drafter he is. And it's often repeated that he would immediately be hired by another team if he was fired. 

 

Name me another GM in the history of the NFL who was fired and picked up immediately? With coaches it happens but I cannot recall it happening with a GM. When a GM is fired it is usually after he has been thru 2 coaches and he gets more of a leash than a coach. When a GM is fired there is suusally a long enuff tenure to show that he has failed. If Ballard got fired he would have a below 500 record, no titles and I cannot even recall playoff appearances but it is very few. Do u really think a GM with that resume is getting a 2nd chance if he is terminated? He deserved to get fired last year and I truly beleive the only reason he is still here because Irsay loves his personality and thinks one day he will become a GM if he is able to learn from his mistakes.  

[ShuteAt168]

3 hours ago, Tsarquise said:

From my perspective, many fans praise him; far more than the amount of fans that criticize him. Media praises him, Colts twitter influencers praise him, Colts reddit also praises him; if you criticize him, you'll usually get down voted. 

 

Of course he has his critics. I just feel they're the vocal minority. 

 

Also, some don't look at the results to assess the job of a GM but the process, which they tend to think he adheres to well and that it is a successful one. 

 

The praise usually comes in the form of how great of a drafter he is. And it's often repeated that he would immediately be hired by another team if he was fired. 

 

Plus, don’t forget that Luck put CB in an impossible situation and bought him a lifetime appointment as Colts GM. That’s among the greatest hits. 

[Indianapolis-Colts-Fan]

It took Peyton 9 years to finally reach a SB. There were many who had started to doubt his ability to get to and win the big one. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to doubt Ballards ability to build a contender going into year 8 or want him gone if he can’t reach the playoffs this coming year, and he has done way less than make the playoffs every year. 

[NewColtsFan]

On 1/11/2024 at 6:28 PM, ColtStrong2013 said:

 

https://www.si.com/nfl/eagles/opinion/the-domino-effect-of-losing-dallas-goedert-should-shift-work-to-wrs

 

Great article on losing Goedert that season. 

 

 

"With a healthy Dallas Goedert, one of the most talented tight ends in football, the Philadelphia offense was in 11 personnel (1RB, 1TE, 3WR) nearly 70% of the time."

 

I've stated on this forum many times this season I feel a tight end like Bowers would go further from day 1 than bringing another receiver in and bumping pierce down. I don't feel Pierce has gotten a great shake at his potential. Having an AR- JT,  Pitt, Pierce, Downs and Bowers 11 personnel would be the closest I think we can do to giving Steichen similar tools he had in Philly.

Regarding Goedert….    I believe he’s a Y.   He can block and catch.  
 

But Bowers is an F.   A receiving tight end like Granson and Mallory.   So I’m not sure he fits the profile of the type of tight end the Colts might be in the market.  
 

And I’ll tip my hand on something….  Depending on whatever good or bad issues surface with Ogletree, I think Balllard and Steichen might try to find a way to keep him.   I think they are that high on him.   If possible,  why should they end up cutting him only to have another team claim him the way Philly claimed Rogers.  Too early to know, and it’s only a hunch, but after listening to Ballard,  I think it’s possible.  

[Tsarquise]

13 hours ago, Moosejawcolt said:

Name me another GM in the history of the NFL who was fired and picked up immediately? With coaches it happens but I cannot recall it happening with a GM. When a GM is fired it is usually after he has been thru 2 coaches and he gets more of a leash than a coach. When a GM is fired there is suusally a long enuff tenure to show that he has failed. If Ballard got fired he would have a below 500 record, no titles and I cannot even recall playoff appearances but it is very few. Do u really think a GM with that resume is getting a 2nd chance if he is terminated? He deserved to get fired last year and I truly beleive the only reason he is still here because Irsay loves his personality and thinks one day he will become a GM if he is able to learn from his mistakes.  

Lol what? Those were not necessarily my opinionS. 

[Tsarquise]

10 hours ago, ShuteAt168 said:

Plus, don’t forget that Luck put CB in an impossible situation and bought him a lifetime appointment as Colts GM. That’s among the greatest hits. 

Lol a bit of hyperole, but, yeah, that is often brought up by Ballard fans. 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Going back and listening to Ballards presser. He said personal character is different the football character. Then talked about mistakes. That tells me McKenzie and brown getting suspended had something to do with meetings or something around the game.

[Superman]

On 1/13/2024 at 4:37 PM, Tsarquise said:

From my perspective, many fans praise him; far more than the amount of fans that criticize him. Media praises him, Colts twitter influencers praise him, Colts reddit also praises him; if you criticize him, you'll usually get down voted. 

 

Of course he has his critics. I just feel they're the vocal minority. 

 

Also, some don't look at the results to assess the job of a GM but the process, which they tend to think he adheres to well and that it is a successful one. 

 

The praise usually comes in the form of how great of a drafter he is. And it's often repeated that he would immediately be hired by another team if he was fired. 

 

I agree about Reddit, downvoting makes that place an echo chamber. I don't pay attention to Twitter. I don't see people calling him a great drafter, that doesn't seem like a popular opinion. I've defended Ballard, but I don't think he's a great drafter.

 

I don't think media praises him. I think they like him, and they appreciate how he interacts with them. Some might defend him at times... This speaks to your point about charisma, for sure.

 

I guess from my perspective, what I see is more defense of Ballard. And in that area, I think there's plenty of room to defend him, especially against some of the more rabid and illogical criticisms. Big picture, the results definitely haven't been good enough, but I think a lot of the results-based criticism is willfully dismissive of the circumstances. (And at the same time, a team like the Niners hasn't had great circumstances and have been limited by QBing, but they probably have the best roster in the league.)

 

End of the day, I think Ballard has been in a new era, starting in January 2023. I think Irsay decided that Ballard wasn't the problem, and hit the reset button. And now, it's time to see results. Not 9-10 wins a year results, but competing with the heavyweights results. And if we don't see that soon, I think he'll have to be replaced. 

[NewColtsFan]

On 1/13/2024 at 4:37 PM, Tsarquise said:

From my perspective, many fans praise him; far more than the amount of fans that criticize him. Media praises him, Colts twitter influencers praise him, Colts reddit also praises him; if you criticize him, you'll usually get down voted. 

 

Of course he has his critics. I just feel they're the vocal minority. 

 

Also, some don't look at the results to assess the job of a GM but the process, which they tend to think he adheres to well and that it is a successful one. 

 

The praise usually comes in the form of how great of a drafter he is. And it's often repeated that he would immediately be hired by another team if he was fired. 

 

Im not disagreeing with anything you wrote, but I’d add this and maybe it helps…

 

I no longer read here that Ballard is a top-5 or even a top-10 GM.   Even people who love Ballard have stopped saying that.  I’m as big a Ballard as there is here (though Im OFF the Ballard bandwagon).

 

Around mid-season, PFF had a poll of the 32 GMs, and Ballard was ranked 14th.  I don’t think there was a single objection here.  No one complained.  I called it appropriate.   I think Ballard is still viewed as a good GM, but I don’t see anyone saying he’s a great GM as they once did. 

 

Hope this helps and gives you a different perspective. 

[NewColtsFan]

I thought this years year end presser was better than last years but that’s a low and easy bar to clear.  
 

But I thought there was one topic that Ballard’s answer was completely unacceptable and desperately needed a follow up or three.  
 

To his credit, @ShuteAt168 said BEFORE the presser that the Indy media is not good at needed follow up questions.  He called it and nailed it. 
 

The hot topic was the 8 suspended players this season.  Ballard’s answer made it seem like it was no big deal.  “Players are young and they make mistakes…”.  I think he ended by saying he’d worry about it if it happened again next year.   Next year?!?!    There were tons of obvious follow ups to ask, and the media asked none.   My initial reaction was that Ballard pulled a Jedi Mind Trick and the Indy media, which I often defend, fell for it. 
 

I was seriously disappointed. 

[harrisoncolts88]

1 hour ago, NewColtsFan said:

I thought this years year end presser was better than last years but that’s a low and easy bar to clear.  
 

But I thought there was one topic that Ballard’s answer was completely unacceptable and desperately needed a follow up or three.  
 

To his credit, @ShuteAt168 said BEFORE the presser that the Indy media is not good at needed follow up questions.  He called it and nailed it. 
 

The hot topic was the 8 suspended players this season.  Ballard’s answer made it seem like it was no big deal.  “Players are young and they make mistakes…”.  I think he ended by saying he’d worry about it if it happened again next year.   Next year?!?!    There were tons of obvious follow ups to ask, and the media asked none.   My initial reaction was that Ballard pulled a Jedi Mind Trick and the Indy media, which I often defend, fell for it. 
 

I was seriously disappointed. 

 

I'm definitely not excusing him and think you are right in that hopefully we get some answers, but I think it may actually take next year to find out. And I say that because I wonder how much of it was purely Shane's accountability measures this year. It's all speculation on my end, but maybe Frank's accountability just sucked and caused things to worsen, and over the years people just got accustomed to doing "what they want".

[lester]

7 minutes ago, harrisoncolts88 said:

 

I'm definitely not excusing him and think you are right in that hopefully we get some answers, but I think it may actually take next year to find out. And I say that because I wonder how much of it was purely Shane's accountability measures this year. It's all speculation on my end, but maybe Frank's accountability just sucked and caused things to worsen, and over the years people just got accustomed to doing "what they want".

 

I believe you are closer to the truth than we'll ever actually know.

 

Three of the suspensions didn't even need to be suspensions. The TEAM did that on their own and won't tell outsiders why. The new regime is not playing.

 

From the outside looking in; it appears that Shane is doing what Frank did not.

 

[Colt27]

3 Questions for Ballard or Shane:

1 - Can you as GM or head coach force Gus to blitz more\flex more the scheme?

2 - If Leonard decides to retire, Is there a LB coach place for him on the team?

3 - Is there a "how to be tackled" training AR can go thru this summer (similar to how RBs, TEs and WRs train their bodies to take hits)?

 

[GoColts8818]

16 hours ago, Colt27 said:

3 Questions for Ballard or Shane:

1 - Can you as GM or head coach force Gus to blitz more\flex more the scheme?

2 - If Leonard decides to retire, Is there a LB coach place for him on the team?

3 - Is there a "how to be tackled" training AR can go thru this summer (similar to how RBs, TEs and WRs train their bodies to take hits)?

 

1.  Can they?  Yes absolutely they are his boss.  Will they?  Probably not, I know it’s not what fans want to hear they like the way he runs their system.

2.  Probably not.  They have good linebacker coaches as is.  There is also nothing to show Leonard wants to or would be a good coach.

3.  Is there?  Yes.  I am also sure the Colts are working with him to protect himself.  Still with his style you can only do so much.

[DougDew]

On 1/13/2024 at 8:03 PM, Moosejawcolt said:

the only reason he is still here because Irsay loves his personality

Growing a beard and dropping cool street-cred F bombs in front of a mic strikes me as someone who feels he's losing fan appeal, so he goes back to his Well of "everyman, every fan" schtick to regain some popularity he's been losing with his record.  Tight weightlifter jock (non executive) shirts alone aren't cutting it anymore.

 

 But that's one of those perceptive takes others would call "bad" , LOL. 

[ShuteAt168]

4 hours ago, DougDew said:

Growing a beard and dropping cool street-cred F bombs in front of a mic strikes me as someone who feels he's losing fan appeal, so he goes back to his Well of "everyman, every fan" schtick to regain some popularity he's been losing with his record.  Tight weightlifter jock (non executive) shirts alone aren't cutting it anymore.

 

 But that's one of those perceptive takes others would call "bad" , LOL. 

Yep. Ballard dropped more F bombs in that presser than he has playoff wins. The cursing was no doubt planned to show that good ‘ol boy Chris just hates losing, hates it so much he can’t control his language! 

[lukec1995]

20 hours ago, ShuteAt168 said:

Yep. Ballard dropped more F bombs in that presser than he has playoff wins. The cursing was no doubt planned to show that good ‘ol boy Chris just hates losing, hates it so much he can’t control his language! 

I spoke with Ballard in Frankfurt and had a chat with him, and he came across down to earth and cares for the franchise

[Orioles22]

On 1/12/2024 at 10:43 AM, Moosejawcolt said:

Richardson doesn't need to change his playing style and I really question if people actually watched the games he got injured. He didn't get injured vaulting over the pile and/or taking on tacklers. He really got hurt on typical  football plays. If you watch those plays over, they were not cringe plays. He got hurt on your every day average football plays and that is what is concerning. He doesn't need to change his playing style, he just needs to get his body right so that he can absorb hits without ending up on IR.

I don't get all the complaints about Richardson's style when you see Josh Allen run 50-plus yards for a touchdown in the playoffs. So many quarterbacks these days make plays with their feet, and that's one big reason we drafted Richardson.

[Moosejawcolt]

On 1/17/2024 at 9:20 PM, Orioles22 said:

I don't get all the complaints about Richardson's style when you see Josh Allen run 50-plus yards for a touchdown in the playoffs. So many quarterbacks these days make plays with their feet, and that's one big reason we drafted Richardson.

The difference in this. Allen gets up after a football hit; Richardson has not on to many occasions in his rookie year.

[NewColtsFan]

On 1/16/2024 at 7:33 PM, ShuteAt168 said:

Yep. Ballard dropped more F bombs in that presser than he has playoff wins. The cursing was no doubt planned to show that good ‘ol boy Chris just hates losing, hates it so much he can’t control his language! 

I love when you make your posts this obvious……