POLL: fire ballard?

[AKB]

2 hours ago, John Hammonds said:

I voted "no" to fire Ballard -- yet.

Ballard's job will be tied to Richardson's development as a quarterback and Shane Steichen's success as a head coach.  Both will be need to be fully evaluated after year four.

 

As for Gus Bradley, I've seen pretty much what I want to see.  He's not getting it done after 2 years of being the 28th defense, and this year isn't looking all that promising.  His defense is vanilla and predictable.  Do I think he should be fired during the season?  Only if the defense is so inept to warrant it, and only if it can be demonstrated that it's the scheme and play calling that is the problem rather than the personnel.  Also, you can't just replace him with Jeff Saturday.  You need to replace him with a qualified candidate.  (Yes, we should be looking at them right now.)

you're right, if AR all of a sudden starts balling out the ballard job firing thing might be put on hold

[SOMDColtsfan]

Up til now? Voted yes. His roster build philosophy is flawed. While nobody can force free agents to sign with the Colts, his failures in that department can't be hidden. Speaking of hidden, he takes too much pride in finding the hidden gems in the lower rounds of draft while over complicating the early rounds with questionable picks. His admitting he was wrong in roster philosophy was his 2nd chance and it hasn't worked out. But..my vote might change if he fires Gus Bradley and gets a formidable DC soon   

[ClaytonColt]

Every yeah I'm surprised that element of our fan base keep supporting Ballard. Every year we stay mediocre at best  and then the next year there keeps being support for him. It's like some people think he deserves job for life and I don't get it.

 

His underlying philosophy is wrong and there can no longer be any excuses. Even his list of "achievements" that people credited him with like drafting Nelson, Leonard and Smith are diminishing over time.

[ShuteAt168]

3 hours ago, ColtStrong2013 said:

The Texans had a chance to trade one slot up and ensure Stroud but didn’t. Why? Every qb needy team in the top 10 had the same opportunity. Why didn’t they? 
 

it’s easy to pick in hindsight, but no one knew what Stroud was exactly. There were plenty that thought he was the best of the bunch. I was one of them that thought he was far better prospect than Young. But I had concerns too. Not having to move and getting one of your top qb’s off the board was not a bad move, especially if you weren’t convicted on who you would take at #1. It would have taken a lot to move up ahead of Carolina’s offer. Not sure we could match really with the Bears receiving Moore, who they clearly valued.

I agree with all of what you wrote. I think what’s strange is CB saying the Colts weren’t ready or blind or whatever he said. At that point, the QBs should have been evaluated. Ballard acted like hrrrr drrrrr we just haven’t had time to make an evaluation. He sounded dumb and unprepared. 

[John Waylon]

3 hours ago, John Hammonds said:

Ballard's job will be tied to Richardson's development as a quarterback and Shane Steichen's success as a head coach.

Herein lies the pitfall, though. Even if those guys pan out, we’ve seen the ceiling under Ballard, and it’s not nearly as high as many like to make it out to be. Even if the AR pick pans out and he becomes a perennial pro bowler and all pro, Ballard will be more of an anchor tied to his * than a benefit. We’ve seen his philosophy and its flaws exposed over the duration of his tenure. If AR becomes that kind of player and we’re still the same hapless team at other positions that we always seem to be, how much better off are we? How much is Ballard’s philosophy going to hold AR (and/or Steichen,) back from being as good as they potentially can be? Why are we so content to yet again make it all about one guy?

 

How about a comparison exercise?

 

Would the Manning-era Colts have been better under Chris Ballard than Bill Polian? Let’s give Ballard the highest level of benefit of the doubt in a QB who could bail out anyone else in the organization when it was necessary. Would there be more Super Bowl wins? More regular season wins? Less MVP’s because Peyton didn’t have to be a super player to keep us afloat?

 

I’ve seen enough in Ballard’s two presidential administrations here that I’m not placing that bet. 
 

Even if AR and/or Steichen pan out, they’re panning out far more despite Ballard and his best efforts than because of them. 
 

I’d hate to waste another elite level QB with a feckless GM who is too dumb or stubborn to help build a competent team around him like we did with Luck and Grigson again, and that’s exactly what this feels like. 
 

Even if the good outweighs the bad with Ballard, it’s still probably never going to be good enough. 

[ShuteAt168]

3 hours ago, richard pallo said:

It is a blind decision.  You don’t know what you’re getting until the player plays.  Carolina made a decision they thought was the correct one.  It looks right now that it might be wrong.  The Stroud decision looks like it could be a good one.  The jury is still out on AR but I believe he was the quarterback they wanted not Stroud. That was the decision the organization made not just Ballard.  Irsay, Ballard, Shane especially were all on board.  Trying to put some kind of blame on Ballard for not trying to get Stroud makes no sense to me.  

I agree with most of that. My point was him saying the Colts just weren’t ready to make a decision or blind. I’m not saying he should have traded up but he should have been knowledgeable enough to do so. His quotes make him sound like they hadn’t finish their evaluations, which didn’t make sense to me and sounded like Colts were twiddling their thumbs. 

[Patrick Miller]

Ballard: 

“You either believe in something or you don’t. This is what we believe.

“If it gets me fired, so be it.’’

 

 

Id say it’s going to get you fired bud. Should have happened a long time ago. This team is trash and keeping Bradley around can be added to the list of mistakes.

[ColtStrong2013]

29 minutes ago, ShuteAt168 said:

I agree with all of what you wrote. I think what’s strange is CB saying the Colts weren’t ready or blind or whatever he said. At that point, the QBs should have been evaluated. Ballard acted like hrrrr drrrrr we just haven’t had time to make an evaluation. He sounded dumb and unprepared. 

seems like smoke based on everything else that came out. They were hot on Richardson. They were staying put, and there were reports that came out just before the draft that Levis was the guy. It was all smoke, imo. 

[ShuteAt168]

10 minutes ago, ColtStrong2013 said:

seems like smoke based on everything else that came out. They were hot on Richardson. They were staying put, and there were reports that came out just before the draft that Levis was the guy. It was all smoke, imo. 

You don’t think Indy would have taken Stroud over AR if they were both there? I don’t know. 

[DavePSL]

It's like Ballard plays by his own  set of rules, as if he's smarter than everybody else, while  the rest of the NFl takes advantage of the rules ,like free agency. How over confident can a GM be by thinking he can build an entire team through the draft. Those years have been  long gone a long time ago. I dont think we have one starter on our team this year that hasn't been drafted by Balllard. We will watch teams continue to blow by us trying to build the Colts that way. Actually we have already seen teams blow by us. I understand the foundation maybe being through the draft but the entire team? It really is a huge Ego and arrogance to believe you can build a winner that way. After 8 years, still the best player on our defense wasn't drafted by Ballard. You would think he would get it by now. After 8 years , the best QB, WR and TE we've had on this team, wasn't drafted by Ballard........I'll give him JT at RB. The guy is just too stubborn to get out of his own way and it's getting to the point that Irsay may be the real problem if he continues to employ this clown. I'll give it to Ballard though, he's a slick dude because as long as he continues to use the draft to fill out the starters on this team, and always ask for patience because we're young, it's a built in excuse to keep himself employed.

[ColtStrong2013]

1 hour ago, ShuteAt168 said:

You don’t think Indy would have taken Stroud over AR if they were both there? I don’t know. 

I’m not sure we’ll ever know. I would like to think they would have, but they probably thought he might go #1. We don’t know what they knew of Frank’s opinion either. Reports were he liked Stroud. When Carolina traded, they might have thought it was certain he’d go #1. Based on Ballard’s track record, I think it’s highly unlikely they take Young, just based on his size alone. I think it was between Stroud and Richardson and they were confident in AR being at 4. They undoubtedly called the Bears to see what it would take. That’s just almost a certainty that Ballard makes the call to see and then backs away. They were never making that trade when they thought one of their 2 qb choices were likely to be there at 4.  

[coming on strong]

After 8 years of building a roster what are the colts good at?    defense is average to below average , and the offense is average . Our offensive line is terrible at run blocking the tightends are horrible .  we have a terrible secondary and  have 0 depth at defensive tackle .  we have a bunch of solid pass rushers but nobody who is great .   The roster as a whole is middle of the pack in the nfl .  The problem is when you stick a raw inaccurate passer into the mix its not going to be pretty .

[BeanDiasucci]

14 minutes ago, coming on strong said:

After 8 years of building a roster what are the colts good at?    defense is average to below average , and the offense is average . Our offensive line is terrible at run blocking the tightends are horrible .  we have a terrible secondary and  have 0 depth at defensive tackle .  we have a bunch of solid pass rushers but nobody who is great .   The roster as a whole is middle of the pack in the nfl .  The problem is when you stick a raw inaccurate passer into the mix its not going to be pretty .

 

I was thinking about this during the game yesterday. What is the strength of the team at this point? I thought it was going to be the line play on both sides, but it hasn't looked that way. After two games, there's still plenty of hope for the offensive line, but I don't know what to think about the defensive line. I hoped wide receiver would become a strength this year and maybe it will be when Downs comes back, but they were terrible yesterday. I thought running back was a strength, but Taylor was benched and we had JAG in when the game was on the line. 

 

Here are the only positives I've seen from yesterday - the replacement cornerbacks were rated pretty well. https://sports.yahoo.com/pff-grades-colts-3-highest-173348520.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAD3FkPilKjNtHUjZxhAcyAIy0uiJuIJ4I9jHUEplQSqxmHCNgs3EZ4UvDWgTwh8-oXxjcqMyfUgga4y9cGcITUafohbn656DE2nd-kOaeiIwyyuvq3NkNU9Tpoe4zt_vP2szqzuiyHK1vyHFbQwGO8ntGDhNCgtdo_-hvM4pcCl3

Quote

 

CB Sam Womack

PFF grade: 68.0

 

Both Womack and Dallis Flowers saw snaps opposite of Jaylon Jones on Sunday. Womack's stat sheet was clean, which I suppose is good for a cornerback. He had one tackle and wasn't targeted in the passing game--although, again, opportunities for that were limited.

 

Honorable Mentions

CB Dallis Flowers: 67.8

S Nick Cross: 66.4

 

 

It's hard to be too optimistic about the pass defense, though, after Malik Willis completes 12-of-14 (85.7%) passes. 

 

[Indyfan4life]

At this point fire Chris and Gus, and Bring in Belichick to be our D coordinator. 
 

Anyone see him on McAfee earlier? Literally pointed out the % Gus ISN’T doing to make adjustments or improvements. Who cares if he was our nemesis for all those years. I’m tired of wasting talent on this GM and cruddy defensive coordinator who got lucky with the LoB talent. I’m tired of losing. This team hasn’t been relevant since Luck, and it’s time to change that. 

[ColtAndOrioles]

I have always thought Ballard was very overrated going back to 7 years ago.   He is too full of himself and unable to change.  Never liked his cocky attitude.   Polian had a right to be cocky.  Not CB.  Who has won nothing. 
 

And the "if I get fired so be it" quote was enough for me.  He has checked out.  If he cannot see that his build the trenches narrative doesn't work in today's NFL by now?  He never will.   He would make a very good scout.  But he is not a good GM. 

[Moosejawcolt]

7 hours ago, SOMDColtsfan said:

Up til now? Voted yes. His roster build philosoph,  is flawed. While nobody can force free agents to sign with the Colts, his failures in that department can't be hidden. Speaking of hidden, he takes too much pride in finding the hidden gems in the lower rounds of draft while over complicating the early rounds with questionable picks. His admitting he was wrong in roster philosophy was his 2nd chance and it hasn't worked out. But..my vote might change if he fires Gus Bradley and gets a formidable DC soon   

There is nothing wrong with building in the trenches. Andy Reid builds in this manner. The problem with Ballard is that he has put tons of money into the O and Dline. Neither are considered to be top 10 in the league 

[John Waylon]

1 hour ago, Indyfan4life said:

At this point fire Chris and Gus, and Bring in Belichick to be our D coordinator. 
 

Anyone see him on McAfee earlier? Literally pointed out the % Gus ISN’T doing to make adjustments or improvements. Who cares if he was our nemesis for all those years. I’m tired of wasting talent on this GM and cruddy defensive coordinator who got lucky with the LoB talent. I’m tired of losing. This team hasn’t been relevant since Luck, and it’s time to change that. 

I don’t think he’s gonna do anything less than be a HC. He can make too much money in media with way less effort lol. 

[RollerColt]

Are fans wanting to fire him now or wait until the offseason?

[DavePSL]

Have to wait til the offseason because we have to figure out the coaches too and that involves the new GM. There was never any doubt Ballard would lead us to a total rebuild again and that is exactly where we are headed. I was hoping I was wrong, but like many others, i knew I was right. Players and coaches have all been scapegoats for Ballard and he has run out of scapegoats...BTW, I would bet the farm that free agents dont want to come to Indy BECAUSE OF BALLARD , not because it's Indy. Looking back ,makes me wonder why  players wanted out of Indy early, including Luck.

[superrep1967]

On 9/15/2024 at 4:30 PM, Moosejawcolt said:

K.....here it is. I am giving AR the full year much like they did with Manning. There are going to be a lot of ups and downs, and we will have a verdict on him at the end of the season. I am not really going to post on him this season in terms of his failures. Let him go and give him 17 games to prove he is the guy. Now Ballard and Gus. I have posted enough on those two and they both need to be gone today. I hear people say the D didn't lose the game. They gave up I  think 250 yards or more rushing. 

 

People said the Colts have a great D line. I said all year and even before this year they were average. I said don't buy into the sacks from last year. This team was facing Willis and gave up 250 yards rushing. We knew Green Bay was going to run it and they did. To show that Irsay still has some ability to make a sound decision. Ballard and Gus need to be gone today. This defense is Ballard's mastermind from the ground up. He has a horrible record as a GM, and it is not going to change. 

 

I hear people say it is Gus and yes it is to a point.  Ballard has put tons of money and assets into this D line. It should be the strength if this team. Two games in and it's a joke. The Oline is also over rated and this TE room is also absent. I think Irsay needs to send a message before this gets ugly. I also found it laughable when people predicted playoffs. I pointed to the fact that last years schedule was basically against college teams, lol, and the talent level is getting exposed. I really am dumb founded by the faith in Ballard. I don't like his ability to construct and draft players for a defense. Sure he has drafted some good offensive players, but I think his resigning of players to a second contract has been very disappointing. He does not like to let things play out in terms of contracts. I find him to be quite an arrogant man down deep and he loves to sign his own as I feel it validates his drafting.

What I don't like about Ballard is that he doesn't do whatever it takes to win games by bringing in the necessary talent. He is a stubborn man by not addressing the depth on the D-line and the secondary, and we probably will not win a game now because our depth in the secondary and defensive line is terrible, and we can't stop the run at all. Bryan might be our team's worst player, and they keep rotating him in. Cus Badly doesn't know what he's doing, and Steichen said he believes in him 1000 percent. And that's crazy. We need someone to come in and clean the house because this regime has failed miserably. 

[RollerColt]

17 minutes ago, DavePSL said:

Have to wait til the offseason because we have to figure out the coaches too and that involves the new GM. There was never any doubt Ballard would lead us to a total rebuild again and that is exactly where we are headed. I was hoping I was wrong, but like many others, i knew I was right. Players and coaches have all been scapegoats for Ballard and he has run out of scapegoats...BTW, I would bet the farm that free agents dont want to come to Indy BECAUSE OF BALLARD , not because it's Indy. Looking back ,makes me wonder why  players wanted out of Indy early, including Luck.

I’m willing to see how the season goes from start to finish. 
 

It’s a rookie QB season for us. Usually that means a lot of losses and another high pick in the draft. 
 

Peyton Manning went 3-13. Stafford 2-8. Elway 4-7. Montana went 2-14. Aikman 0-11. Eli Manning was 2-7 (48.2% completion). 
 

We’re probably going to keep sucking this year.

 

As far as players not wanting to come here? Ballard has a role in it I agree. I also think Irsay damaged the reputation during that awful 2022 season. Indiana isn’t exactly a destination location either. 
 

Add all of things together and you get a franchise where free agents are hesitant to come to. 
 

 

[Indyfan4life]

1 hour ago, John Waylon said:

I don’t think he’s gonna do anything less than be a HC. He can make too much money in media with way less effort lol. 

More than likely. But, at this point, I’d gladly welcome it. 

[SR711]

Ballard should have been let go after 2022 and let a new GM and coach start fresh at that time.   Ideally, in my opinion, Ballard is probably best suited to be an assistant GM type who focuses mostly on draft scouting and helping finalize a team's draft board. He lacks the necessary aggressiveness it takes to build a winning team in the NFL.  

 

That being said, I do think any criticism of the front office over the past several years should also be directed at Jim Irsay who, has gotten odd, bizarre over the past several years IMO and I think it has carried over to how he runs the team.  

 

Increasingly, I wonder if the reason Ballard has so much leash with Irsay is because he is perfectly fine with letting Jim interject himself into certain personnel decisions instead of leaving those matters solely to the football people that were hired as it perhaps was during the Bill Polian era.  In return, Ballard gets job security and no real accountability for his decisions/results.  

[John Waylon]

20 minutes ago, Indyfan4life said:

More than likely. But, at this point, I’d gladly welcome it. 

Hell I’d probably take the reanimated corpse of Larry Coyer at this point. Is Ron Meeks still around anywhere?

[Dobbinblitz]

7 minutes ago, John Waylon said:

Hell I’d probably take the reanimated corpse of Larry Coyer at this point. Is Ron Meeks still around anywhere?

They really need to bring back the laughing emoji

[Mitch Connors]

10 hours ago, RollerColt said:

I’m willing to see how the season goes from start to finish. 
 

It’s a rookie QB season for us. Usually that means a lot of losses and another high pick in the draft. 
 

Peyton Manning went 3-13. Stafford 2-8. Elway 4-7. Montana went 2-14. Aikman 0-11. Eli Manning was 2-7 (48.2% completion). 
 

We’re probably going to keep sucking this year.

 

As far as players not wanting to come here? Ballard has a role in it I agree. I also think Irsay damaged the reputation during that awful 2022 season. Indiana isn’t exactly a destination location either. 
 

Add all of things together and you get a franchise where free agents are hesitant to come to. 
 

 

Other than Staffford all of the QBs you listed are close to 30 years ago. The league is not the same and college QBs aren't either. They are much more ready to complete when they get here than when Peyton came into the league. 

 

Lets go back 8 years to around when Ballard started and see how many 1st round QBs started good. Haskins is excluded for obvious reasons. 

 

Good early:

  Mahomes, Watson, Mayfield, Allen, Lamar, Kyler, Burrow, Tua, Herbert, Hurts, Lawrence, Stroud, Love

 

Not good early:

 Trubisky, Darnold, Rosen, Z Wilson, T Lance, M Jones, Pickett, Young

 

Questionable:

 Fields, Daniel Jones, AR

 

Sure we can argue about where someone falls on this list but the reality is more 1st round QBs succeed now than ever. Of those 1st rd QB's how many are currently starters: 18 of 24. 6 sure fire early busts? That's it? 

 

 

[RollerColt]

3 minutes ago, Mitch Connors said:

Other than Staffford all of the QBs you listed are close to 30 years ago. The league is not the same and college QBs aren't either. They are much more ready to complete when they get here than when Peyton came into the league. 

 

Lets go back 8 years to around when Ballard started and see how many 1st round QBs started good. Haskins is excluded for obvious reasons. 

 

Good early:

  Mahomes, Watson, Mayfield, Allen, Lamar, Kyler, Burrow, Tua, Herbert, Hurts, Lawrence, Stroud, Love

 

Not good early:

 Trubisky, Darnold, Rosen, Z Wilson, T Lance, M Jones, Pickett, Young

 

Questionable:

 Fields, Daniel Jones, AR

 

Sure we can argue about where someone falls on this list but the reality is more 1st round QBs succeed now than ever. Of those 1st rd QB's how many are currently starters: 18 of 24. 6 sure fire early busts? That's it? 

 

 

Let's all just give up and burn everything down each year. 

[Solid84]

I've grown pretty disillusioned with the Colts over the last few years. They keep disappointing. Ballard is at the heart of that, but that being the case I think we're stuck with him for at least a few years more.

 

Firing Ballard would likely mean the team gets blown up - new GM + straff, new HC + staff and new players across the board over several years. I would like to see what we have in AR before we go that route.

 

I thought next season (2025) would be a target for the Colts, but now I'm thinking that's just not realistic anymore. I don't think we will see it really clicking for AR until mid-way through next season. Also, it seems this roster has more holes than I thought possible at this stage. I'm not at all confident Ballard can fix the roster, but at least we should get a good idea of what we got in AR. I'm fine with that for a couple more years.

[KB]

5 minutes ago, Solid84 said:

I've grown pretty disillusioned with the Colts over the last few years. They keep disappointing. Ballard is at the heart of that, but that being the case I think we're stuck with him for at least a few years more.

 

Firing Ballard would likely mean the team gets blown up - new GM + straff, new HC + staff and new players across the board over several years. I would like to see what we have in AR before we go that route.

 

I thought next season (2025) would be a target for the Colts, but now I'm thinking that's just not realistic anymore. I don't think we will see it really clicking for AR until mid-way through next season. Also, it seems this roster has more holes than I thought possible at this stage. I'm not at all confident Ballard can fix the roster, but at least we should get a good idea of what we got in AR. I'm fine with that for a couple more years.

Im with you on this. With all the contracts the were signed last offseason I don't think we can even blow it up. There's to much dead cap. It might be best to let these contrqcts ride and slowly replace. 

 

The defense is a complete rebuild. Linebacker, corner, and safety have to restart from the ground up. There are a few on the line that's worth keeping but by the time we get the rest of the defense built up they will be retired.

 

Offense is a bit trickier. I'd say we let AR have his shot until it's time for a new contract. That's 3 more years after this. Let WR develop. Blow up TE room. Churn through RBs. Keep talent flowing across the o-line. Don't resign Kelly or Smith. Nelson and Fries should be resigned but at team friendly deals. Can't be the highest paid guards anymore. 

[Solid84]

3 minutes ago, KB said:

Im with you on this. With all the contracts the were signed last offseason I don't think we can even blow it up. There's to much dead cap. It might be best to let these contrqcts ride and slowly replace. 

 

The defense is a complete rebuild. Linebacker, corner, and safety have to restart from the ground up. There are a few on the line that's worth keeping but by the time we get the rest of the defense built up they will be retired.

 

Offense is a bit trickier. I'd say we let AR have his shot until it's time for a new contract. That's 3 more years after this. Let WR develop. Blow up TE room. Churn through RBs. Keep talent flowing across the o-line. Don't resign Kelly or Smith. Nelson and Fries should be resigned but at team friendly deals. Can't be the highest paid guards anymore. 

I agree.

 

I'm mostly down on the defense. It just needs at complete rethink - coaching and players. I'd like to just fire Bradley and take it from there. Keep the overall scheme 4-3 front + zone, but we need a DC who knows how to implement misdirection, blitzing and just more than only Cover2+3. Bradley's playcalling is hopelessly outdated.

[Defjamz26]

I voted no. As I’ve said in the past, he’s great at drafting. Idk if it’s possible, but they need someone else besides him to manage FA. That’s where he’s failing. If you look at some of the better teams in the NFL, they bring in vets. Not all of them are high priced FAs either. Just guys who are maybe average players at best, but are certainly better than a UDFA out of Pittsburgh State or a 7th round pick from Yale. 

This creates a timeline issue. By the time these young guys develop (most probably won’t) or you hit on an absolute stud in the draft at that position, the Buckners, Stewart’s, and Ryan Kelly’s of the world will be retired or no longer in their prime. Now you’re back to having needs at those positions. When you don’t supplement with FA, you never build a real championship team. You’re supposed to draft as best you can and whatever position group you haven’t hit at, you’re supposed to throw vets at it and settle for it being average or great depending how much money you spend.

 

In our case, we’ve drafted well at WR, RB, OL, and have/had a solid D-line. We were supposed to throw some money into the secondary by getting a Snead and Justin Simmons. Instead we were the least active team in FA out of our entire division. Titans, Texans, and Jags all brought in a decent number of people. 
 

Not bringing in FA starters or FA depth at positions with glaring weaknesses 

just can’t happen. Now look. Your D-line and secondary is suspect. And yes there are injuries, but that is exactly why you are supposed to go get even average veterans for depth. So that you don’t have to start Flowers and Jones at CB, and have Womack and Lammons as backups. 

[KB]

6 minutes ago, Defjamz26 said:

I voted no. As I’ve said in the past, he’s great at drafting. Idk if it’s possible, but they need someone else besides him to manage FA. That’s where he’s failing. If you look at some of the better teams in the NFL, they bring in vets. Not all of them are high priced FAs either. Just guys who are maybe average players at best, but are certainly better than a UDFA out of Pittsburgh State or a 7th round pick from Yale. 

This creates a timeline issue. By the time these young guys develop (most probably won’t) or you hit on an absolute stud in the draft at that position, the Buckners, Stewart’s, and Ryan Kelly’s of the world will be retired or no longer in their prime. Now you’re back to having needs at those positions. When you don’t supplement with FA, you never build a real championship team. You’re supposed to draft as best you can and whatever position group you haven’t hit at, you’re supposed to throw vets at it and settle for it being average or great depending how much money you spend.

 

In our case, we’ve drafted well at WR, RB, OL, and have/had a solid D-line. We were supposed to throw some money into the secondary by getting a Snead and Justin Simmons. Instead we were the least active team in FA out of our entire division. Titans, Texans, and Jags all brought in a decent number of people. 
 

Not bringing in FA starters or FA depth at positions with glaring weaknesses 

just can’t happen. Now look. Your D-line and secondary is suspect. And yes there are injuries, but that is exactly why you are supposed to go get even average veterans for depth. So that you don’t have to start Flowers and Jones at CB, and have Womack and Lammons as backups. 

I'd say Ballard normal issue with FA is usually just the big names. The bargain bin/no name free agents have done great for us. Those bargain bin free agents were honestly the missing ingredient from this offseason.

[Defjamz26]

1 hour ago, KB said:

I'd say Ballard normal issue with FA is usually just the big names. The bargain bin/no name free agents have done great for us. Those bargain bin free agents were honestly the missing ingredient from this offseason.

Yeah. Guys like Mark Glowinski, Samsun Ebukam, Denico Autry, and Gillmore were great for us. The issue is that it’s few and far in between. Plus he only does it for starters and not for depth. IMO we should be signing 3-5 low tier FAs. Even if they don’t start, they should be your 2nd and 3rd options.

 

Why is Akhello Weatherspoon not on this team? You can’t tell me Dallis Flowers or Jaylon Jones are better right now. Eli Apple, J.C. Jackson, Jalen Mills,  Steven Nelson? None of these guys were better than any corners on the team? I’m not including Howard because I heard about the off the field stuff.

Again my issue isn’t not getting Sneed. My issue is not getting Sneed or literally any other FA CB. May issue is letting your entire secondary be comprised of young unproven players outside of Kenny Moore.

[Thunderbolt]

I totally agree, Ballard needs to go, he's destroyed this team. No progression in 7 years, only two playoffs to show for it. He's quoted saying, he's not changing his approach, and if he get's fired so be it.. Irsay honor that quote. Give him his pink slip as in yesterday.

[Thunderbolt]

Yes, bring in Bellicheck, despite his age he's still has a few years left to  get us in the big game.  Jim Harbaugh is 2-0 with the Chargers, so it's possible.

[Moosejawcolt]

15 hours ago, superrep1967 said:

What I don't like about Ballard is that he doesn't do whatever it takes to win games by bringing in the necessary talent. He is a stubborn man by not addressing the depth on the D-line and the secondary, and we probably will not win a game now because our depth in the secondary and defensive line is terrible, and we can't stop the run at all. Bryan might be our team's worst player, and they keep rotating him in. Cus Badly doesn't know what he's doing, and Steichen said he believes in him 1000 percent. And that's crazy. We need someone to come in and clean the house because this regime has failed miserably. 

I like Steichen and he seems like a very intelligent man. However, he has strike one. His retention of Gus confounded me and it made no sense.  Steichen has to take responsibility for the defenses performance the last 2 games. If he would have cut ties with Bradley last year, we could have  started to construct the defense starting with the draft.  Most likely Bradley will be gone at the end of this year. We have just added more players in this draft and free agency that fit this scheme. It now puts us another year behind in terms of building this defense. I would love to add a coach like Martindale. I actually believe he could save this defense and maybe institute a 3-4. I think Latu and Paye could play linebacker in his scheme. Would need a whole retooling of  the corner back room, but I dont think the shift to his defense would need for a lot of change.

[Moosejawcolt]

21 hours ago, DavePSL said:

It's like Ballard plays by his own  set of rules, as if he's smarter than everybody else, while  the rest of the NFl takes advantage of the rules ,like free agency. How over confident can a GM be by thinking he can build an entire team through the draft. Those years have been  long gone a long time ago. I dont think we have one starter on our team this year that hasn't been drafted by Balllard. We will watch teams continue to blow by us trying to build the Colts that way. Actually we have already seen teams blow by us. I understand the foundation maybe being through the draft but the entire team? It really is a huge Ego and arrogance to believe you can build a winner that way. After 8 years, still the best player on our defense wasn't drafted by Ballard. You would think he would get it by now. After 8 years , the best QB, WR and TE we've had on this team, wasn't drafted by Ballard........I'll give him JT at RB. The guy is just too stubborn to get out of his own way and it's getting to the point that Irsay may be the real problem if he continues to employ this clown. I'll give it to Ballard though, he's a slick dude because as long as he continues to use the draft to fill out the starters on this team, and always ask for patience because we're young, it's a built in excuse to keep himself employed.

 He has a philosophy that you build in the trenches. There  is nothing wrong with that if it pans out. The big problem with Ballard's philosophy is that he has not been able to turn all those picks on defense into bona fide starters. No legit rush end, no legit corners, no legit safeties after 8 years. Think about that. It has been eight years and how many players has Ballard drafted at the premium positions on defense that that have turned into stars?  What is even worse is that he has had to go back to  the well and continue to draft on the D line because it hasn't panned out. If some of those guys contributed, it would have allowed him to use those picks on other positions. For example look at the Chiefs and what they have done with an elite qb and how they have built up that defense. I would say that their defense is actually more responsible for their success dating back to last year than Mahonnes.

[Superman]

3 hours ago, Defjamz26 said:

I voted no. As I’ve said in the past, he’s great at drafting. Idk if it’s possible, but they need someone else besides him to manage FA. That’s where he’s failing. If you look at some of the better teams in the NFL, they bring in vets. Not all of them are high priced FAs either. Just guys who are maybe average players at best, but are certainly better than a UDFA out of Pittsburgh State or a 7th round pick from Yale. 

This creates a timeline issue. By the time these young guys develop (most probably won’t) or you hit on an absolute stud in the draft at that position, the Buckners, Stewart’s, and Ryan Kelly’s of the world will be retired or no longer in their prime. Now you’re back to having needs at those positions. When you don’t supplement with FA, you never build a real championship team. You’re supposed to draft as best you can and whatever position group you haven’t hit at, you’re supposed to throw vets at it and settle for it being average or great depending how much money you spend.

 

In our case, we’ve drafted well at WR, RB, OL, and have/had a solid D-line. We were supposed to throw some money into the secondary by getting a Snead and Justin Simmons. Instead we were the least active team in FA out of our entire division. Titans, Texans, and Jags all brought in a decent number of people. 
 

Not bringing in FA starters or FA depth at positions with glaring weaknesses 

just can’t happen. Now look. Your D-line and secondary is suspect. And yes there are injuries, but that is exactly why you are supposed to go get even average veterans for depth. So that you don’t have to start Flowers and Jones at CB, and have Womack and Lammons as backups. 

 

I'm really disappointed in how the team is playing, and it's very possible that this team needs a systemic reset, which would include replacing Ballard. This is how I felt early in 2022, and the fact that I'm getting the same vibes after we grabbed a new HC and have a new QB isn't good. 

 

But I think the secondary is a red herring, just the boogeyman that everyone wants to focus on. I agree that we should have signed a vet corner and/or safety this offseason, and the fact that we didn't is probably emblematic of systemic issues -- namely, Ballard's overly conservative team building. I also agree that "better" corners might have been able to get stops on some of the plays that we've given up so far, like the bomb to Collins, or the 3rd down clincher to Collins, or the 3rd down conversion to Doubs. (I'd definitely like to have Witherspoon or Mills; no thanks on Apple or Jackson.) But so far, it's not the secondary that's falling apart, aside from the injuries. So the focus on the secondary is, to me, misplaced, at least to this point.

 

What's more concerning to me is that we seem to have one glaring issue after another. It feels like we don't have enough fingers to plug the holes in the dam. It also feels like there's a general lack of urgency among the coaches and players; from the opening plays on Sunday, it seemed like the team was unprepared and unengaged. To me, these are much bigger issues than whether we're good enough in the secondary (and my underlying belief about the defense is that Gus Bradley is the main problem, no matter who we have at corner or safety). 

 

I don't agree with most of the discourse about Ballard. I think most of it is ridiculous, to be honest. But what he's doing isn't producing good results. I didn't think this season would start the way it has -- not being able to stop the run, receivers dropping passes, questionable game management and play calling, etc. I did not expect the Colts to come out and light the league on fire, and I'm fully prepared for the ups and downs of having a raw, inexperienced QB. But the team feels like it's gone backwards in several areas. And again, that's very disappointing. 

[lollygagger8]

It's the same stuff, different year (after year) 

 

Ballard really thinks he's smarter than everyone in the room, and sees himself as Polian reincarnated. Which he ain't. 

 

Maybe those "supplements" are seeping into his melon 

 

 

 

 

[ColtStrong2013]

 

24 minutes ago, Moosejawcolt said:

I would say that their defense is actually more responsible for their success dating back to last year than Mahonnes.

 

That's a stretch... Take away pieces of their defense (they did) and they still have a good defense. Now do that same exercise with Mahomes...