Anthony Richardson starts: It's Shane Steichen's call

[njcoltfan]

Originally Posted by Lov2fish

I want to start the new era as quickly as possible. If he falters and turns out not to be the guy, it will definitely bring out all those wishing him to fail just so they can say I told you so. I made it perfectly clear he was not my choice, but ain't no way in hell I root for him to fail. I would much rather eat a giant plate full of crow for being wrong about him than I ever would just to say I told you so. Lord knows the kid is definitely gifted and intelligent. If Steichen can get him playing to his ability, Good Lord they would unleash a beast. Why would anyone want anything less. Throw him in there and let him get baptism by fire.

I've eaten Crow so many times because of my football knowledge, or lack of, that its on my local McDonalds take out menu !! Tastes like chicken !!!!!!!!!

[CletusPyle]

OL better protect this kid! And if they can't, I don't want to see him beat up just to get some reps! If he knows the offense, and the OL can protect him adequately, let him play, at least he will be entertaining to watch!

[IndyNorm]

My .02 are there are 2 things that need to happen for Richardson to play:

- He needs to have any mechanic improvements down to where he's naturally including them in his throwing motion rather than having to think about them.

- The OL has to have it's shit together. Not necessarily back to where they're one of the best in the league, but at least middle of the pack league-wise instead of the complete shit show they were last year. There's no point in rolling Richardson out there if he's going to get the shit beat out of him while he's trying to develop.

[ukcolt]

The thing, as much as we complained about the offensive line last year, they weren't the worst, especially in the last third of the season and finished statistically speaking at least according to PFF rankings in the middle of the pack.

[IndyNorm]

Originally Posted by ukcolt

The thing, as much as we complained about the offensive line last year, they weren't the worst, especially in the last third of the season and finished statistically speaking at least according to PFF rankings in the middle of the pack.

Not sure what PFF uses to gauge their rankings, but the Colts OL gave up the 2nd most sacks in the league (60) and despite the improvement in the run game over the final 1/3 of the season they still finished in the bottom third of the league in both rushing yards/carry and rushing yards/game (23rd in both).

They were a shit show.

[Oldcolt]

I would add that they are costing the Colts a ton in cap space. When you spend this kind of money and get a shit return you end up with a crap team. The line sucked big time, especially with what they got paid.

[JAFF]

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

My .02 are there are 2 things that need to happen for Richardson to play:

- He needs to have any mechanic improvements down to where he's naturally including them in his throwing motion rather than having to think about them.

- The OL has to have it's shit together. Not necessarily back to where they're one of the best in the league, but at least middle of the pack league-wise instead of the complete shit show they were last year. There's no point in rolling Richardson out there if he's going to get the shit beat out of him while he's trying to develop.

How they run the offense will be a biggest clue on the O line. If I see play action in the first preseason game, I will be optimistic.

Build on the kids mobility, not for running, but setting up play action. The Colts have 2 good running backs, make the D respect the run. Carrol did it with Russel Wilson, and this kid is a better athlete. And make it clear, running out of bounds, throwing the ball away, isnt a sin. Taking a 15 yard loss on 3rd down trying to play hero ball, is unacceptable.

[ChaosTheory]

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

Not sure what PFF uses to gauge their rankings, but the Colts OL gave up the 2nd most sacks in the league (60) and despite the improvement in the run game over the final 1/3 of the season they still finished in the bottom third of the league in both rushing yards/carry and rushing yards/game (23rd in both).

They were a shit show.

I don't know exactly, either, and I don't claim that PFF is anything more than another piece of information among many... But I believe they break down plays, grade them individually, and then aggregate them for an overall score.

In that sense, it's similar to how a position coach would break down game film and give players a grade based on individual plays being scored. Apparently Sparano and these guys watched film and came away thinking they were closer than the results indicate. That doesn't make sense to a lot of us.

This is one of those things where I think we can miss the trees for the forest (when it's typically the other way around) because we don't comb through film play by play or understand assignments. We see the sack totals, the rushing yards, and the losses and conclude that these guys don't even belong in the NFL.

I'm not saying they secretly played well and nobody could see it. Just offering a possible explanation for why they haven't seemed desperate, but actually optimistic in these interviews.

[ukcolt]

I would also say that we are generally only watching the Colts games, and not the entire league. What we deem to be awful play could be equally awful somewhere else, or worse. Sacks etc, are statistics, but maybe the Colts faced blitzes way higher than most other teams, which automatically makes thinks much harder. There are many reasons. the last few games, through my eyes and many others the play was significantly better though, so there is reason for optimism.

I am not going to say PFF are accurate, or even good, just stating what they said at the end of the season.

[IndyNorm]

I'm sure the new coaches have looked at the film and decided that the individual parts of our OL is better than the sum of the whole, and that with having the starting positions settled along with a full offseason and TC spent working together they'll gel and perform better in '23.

While the continuity will probably help this very much seems like past mistakes Ballard has made. Where he/his staff/coaches believe we're fine with what we have in house and/or drafted, and it ends up leaving some gaping holes in the roster. For our new QBs' sakes I hope this is not the case.