Eberflus
 

1st of all I am not calling for his firing.....

Wondering since he was not a Reich hire that unless he does a stellar job he will be replaced and Frank brings in his own guy?

I am wondering about the draft picks on the D side. Were they picked specifically for a T2 D? I dont see us going back to a 3-4 but maybe not T2

If not.... next yrs draft and FA will have to produce 2 pass rushers, a 3 Tech and 2 more cornerbacks. I dont see how we get 5 starters in the draft so he is going to have to use FA to fill in the gaps somehow.

All this to say is this why he didn't spend on the D this yr? He is not counting on Eberflus being here and has spoken to Reich about what he wants to do next yr. Reich agreed to keep him this yr because it was so late in the hiring process and has the option to chose his guy next yr. Much like Ballard and Pagshit

Just a thought

Dave DeGuglielmo is the coach that should be under the microscope. He was McDaniels hand picked guy & he wasn't that good in NE or Miami. I wouldn't be surprised if Reich brings in his own O-line coach next year.

Agreed. And I shouldn’t have excluded the other coaches. But especially the coordinators But Reich is calling plays so the OC is running his offense. So he may be safer than Eberflus

Ballard seems intent on a 43 defense.

I am not sold on us running a Tampa 2. I know I saw some man on the outside. Which could have been a cover 3.

I think they run a fair bit of cover 3 in Dallas.

I certainly hope not. As down as I’ve been on Ballard’s rebuild this is a level of dysfunction even I don’t want to believe is possible. I think Ballard is simply telling the truth when he talks about stacking 3-4 successful drafts back to back. Free agency will be used sparingly to supplement the draft with bargains and team flexible contracts.

Its one game, first of all. Give the guy some time.

The D did produce two turnovers, one that should have resulted in an easy TD by the offense, but they did nothing with it.

I am not thrilled with the Tampa 2 but the D wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. The biggest disappointment is the run D, still awful

And Wilson sucks. Wasted second rounder. Yes that was a cheap penalty on him at the end of the half, but he got beat on that play pretty bad and he is lucky it wasn't a catch anyway.

Then the Green TD, I don't know how you let that happen in this type of D, supposed to keep things in front of you and not let the WR run right by you.

If this scheme continues though obviously have to generate pass rush somehow. Otherwise the Tampa 2 is just a slow death normally for the D

The turnovers were a mirage because the Bengals aren’t very good. To consistently produce turnovers you need good corners and pressure on the quarterback, both things that the Colts lack.

I don’t think they’ll get more TO’s than that in a game the rest of the year.

Not calling for him to be fired. Wondering about not using cap money more than anything.

Maybe in the back of his mind he needed to make sure Luck was back and if not use money on a QB?

I understand he only wants to use FA to fill gaps but there are a lot of gaps in that defense

I pretty much agree with this except the D not being as horrible as thought. I think you have to take into account how bad the Cincy offense was last year. No gaurentee they aren’t improved obviously, but I seriously doubt they are in the upper tier in the league. I’d feel better if the Colts were limiting them but were getting killed by big plays as a result of confusion, missed assignments, etc. I see that as more correctable and a better indication of talent being hurt by youth. The D simply lacks talent and couldn’t compete with an average at best O on a down by down basis. That to me was the worst case scenario and exactly what I saw.

Ballard shit the bed this off-season. This isn’t the old nfl. There is room in the salary cap to add talent via free agency. Why wouldn’t you? Adding just cheap dudes is fine at times but our roster needed and needs playmakers.

Elberflus was pretty highly regarded, and was the d-coordinator-in-waiting in Dallas. They weren't happy that they lost him to Indy, but Marinelli wasn't ready to retire.

I'm not going to judge Elberflus until we actually get some talent on this defensive unit.

Wilson was playing with a broken hand. Let's see how he looks when healthy.

Overall, everyone saw what they knew they were going to see. A defense lacking talent and too many young guys making mistakes like young players do.

A broken hand is not causing Wilson to :

Get beat badly by Green on the pass int call, even if it was a bad call

Get beat easily on the short TD pass

Run into his own player and loose the guy he was supposed to be covering as he ran across the line of scrimmage getting open. Wasn't a pick play, Wilson on how own just ran into someone else.

Also the horse collar tackle was a BS call. grabbed his jersey, not the pads. And that was a huge call. first and ten instead of second and 20.

Puck, why the resistance to believing Ballard is doing a 3-4 yr rebuild? When you cut through the GM speak and listen to what he says and match it with what he’s done to me it’s the most logical answer. Frustrating as hell, but his actions start to make more sense. I keep going back to Irsay’s criticism of only getting one title in the Manning era and saying he’d rather lose more but win more titles. This right here is the losing more. If you give Luck any help you are competing for a playoff birth. Harder to build “greatness” that way. They will hold the team back through the forced youth movement for this season and next. Then they will start making moves to compete the following season. The hope is to get more than one title with Luck. I don’t agree with it, but I’m fairly confident that is the plan.

Did he get beat badly? He was right there with him and got into his hands as the ball got there.

As far as running into someone, mistakes happen. That's not a technique issue or something that he does on a regular basis. Just a silly mistake. If he keeps running into his own players, then I'll worry. Otherwise I'm not going to hold something so silly against a player.

The worrying play was the TD. He played badly on that play.

While that is true, it is also not the old NFL in the sense that you can push cap forward. I think he views this year as a push.

He didn't get his hands on the ball that I recall. Green had at least a step and Green just dropped it.

I don't mind that much if this year is a development year. But next offseason he needs to bring serious talent in to round out the roster and contend for playoff wins. I see the same Andrew Luck out there, willing to take big hits to make something happen, he is not going to be around until his 40s. So this cannot be some 4 year rebuild. Not with Luck nearing 30.

I didn't say he got his hands on the ball. I said he got his hand into AJ Green's hands. He may have gotten a step on Wilson, but Green is a great receiver, and Wilson was at least there close enough to get into Green's hands. We'll see how he does when healthy. He may be bad, he may not. I'm just not going to judge him for trying to play with one hand.

And Boom