It was Jim calling the shot

[JAFF]

https://www.indystar.com/story/sport...tz/7124507001/

Colts owner Jim Irsay on Carson Wentz: 'We had to move away. ... It was very obvious.'
Joel A. Erickson
Indianapolis Star
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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — When Indianapolis got past the emotion of the end of the season and evaluated the ugly start to the season, the missed opportunities against Tennessee and ultimately the ugly collapse in the final two games, the answer became very clear to Jim Irsay.

The Colts had to make a change at quarterback.

Carson Wentz was not the answer, no matter if he’d cost the Colts a first- and third-round pick, no matter that he’d only been in Indianapolis a single season.

“I think the worst thing you can do is have a mistake and try to keep living with it going forward,” Irsay said. “For us, it was something we had to move away from as a franchise. It was very obvious.”


Three weeks after Indianapolis traded Wentz to Washington and more than a week after trading for Falcons legend Matt Ryan, Irsay, general manager Chris Ballard and head coach Frank Reich have all been careful this week to say that Wentz is not the scapegoat for the team’s failures in 2021.

But Irsay also laid out a list of reasons that the Colts had to make another change at the game’s most important position, even if Wentz’s numbers on the surface — 27 touchdowns, seven interceptions, 94.7 rating — didn’t seem to warrant the drastic step of getting rid of Wentz without a clear plan in place to replace him.

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Owner of the Indianapolis Colts, Jim Irsay, holds a press conference at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center, Indianapolis, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2020.
The way the season ended, a season-worst 15-point loss to a coachless Jacksonville team headed for the No. 1 pick, still gnaws at Irsay, at Ballard, at Reich.

That night, Irsay called Ballard and Reich into his office for a long meeting, a meeting Ballard later called an “ass-chewing.”

“No disrespect to Jacksonville, but I mean, they’re the worst team in the league. You play well and hard for the first quarter or so, and they’re looking to go to their locker room and clean it out. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life,” Irsay said. “You say, 'My God, there’s something wrong here.' It needs to be corrected. I think that we feel like we did.”

The wheels had started to come off the week before.

Fresh off of big wins over New England and Arizona, the Colts coughed up a lead against the Raiders that would have sent them into the playoffs, but that loss didn’t put the nail in the Indianapolis coffin.


“Your guy’s gotta pick you up and carry you through Jacksonville,” Irsay said. "He has to do it. Not an option. Has to. No excuses, no explanations.”

The more Irsay thought about the loss, the more he saw the Jacksonville failure as the culmination of problems that he’d seen throughout the season, problems that came to light through talking to some of the most important members of the Colts’ roster.


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“In having conversations with trusted veterans on the team, so to speak, when you speak to them in confidence, oftentimes they share really, what’s happening,” Irsay said. “What I found out was very concerning.”

There were leadership questions with Wentz.


Irsay, who has spent his entire life in and around the NFL, is a firm believer that the league is right to place enormous importance on the quarterback position.

“You can argue quarterbacks affect your franchise competitively somewhere between 35 to 45% as individuals, almost,” Irsay said. “They have a profound effect.”

From the conversations Irsay had with the team’s veterans and the way the season ended, the team’s owner concluded there was a disconnect with Wentz at the helm.

“You search for the right chemistry with any team,” Irsay said. “In football, it’s as important as any sport that there is. If that chemistry is off, if it isn’t there, it can be extremely detrimental and lower performance to a degree that is stunning and shocking.”

The way Wentz played also left cause for concern.

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Reunited with Reich, Wentz was able to cut down on the interceptions and sacks that had blown up his spot as the franchise quarterback in Philadelphia, but he often failed to play within the offense, preferring instead to buy time and search for the big play.

Reich’s offense is designed to scheme guys open and give them room to run.


Too often, Wentz missed open receivers, failed to operate within the timing of the offense and held onto the ball too long, trying to make the big play.

“You can’t always persuade people to do things differently if they don’t want to do them differently,” Irsay said. “You’re always trying to look at, in all areas of your team, where the coaches can come in and enhance and lift up a situation and make things better, but in the end, players are out there playing the game, and they’re going to play their game.”

Irsay concluded the Colts needed to make a change.

And although there might not have been total agreement right away, after discussing the move, the three men came to a consensus.

“That was a good debate, that went back and forth,” Ballard said. “Sometimes you hang on just because you made a move, and you don’t want the world to see you in a negative view. But at the end of the day, I’m a steward for the organization, that’s the way I look at it, and we’ve got to always do the right thing, no matter how it might make me look.”

The Colts made the decision to move on from Wentz without a clear replacement, a decision that underscores their commitment to the evaluation of the quarterback.

“You play that out, where we don’t want to have seller’s remorse,” Reich said. “I think we had already determined that wasn’t going to happen.”


The price Ballard was able to extract from the Commanders in exchange for Wentz ensured there was no remorse.

Indianapolis moved up five spots in the second round, picked up an extra third-round pick this April and a conditional third-rounder that can turn into a second-rounder next season if Wentz plays 70% of the snaps in Washington.

“I think it was really quite remarkable and a great tribute to Chris, to generate strong trade interest and get the deal done with Washington,” Irsay said. “I don’t lose the fact that it was a pretty big blessing from the football gods, where we were and where we could be if things don’t materialize to that level. You end up cutting Carson, and we’d get nothing.”

Irsay, Reich and Ballard refused to bury Wentz this week in West Palm Beach.

All three have said he might be able to reach the ceiling in Washington that he failed to reach in Indianapolis.

“For us, the fit just wasn’t right,” Irsay said. “I don’t know why. A lot of times you don’t know why, but you know it isn’t, and it was important for us to move in a different direction.”

Ultimately, the Colts decision to move on from Wentz paid off in the trade for Ryan, a proven commodity Reich praised this week for elite leadership, accuracy, remarkable consistency and a history of carrying teams in critical moments.

A lot of the traits Wentz wasn’t able to provide last season.

“Knowing you have that guy on Sunday, that no matter what, he’s going to have a chance to win, he’s gonna execute, that bleeds through to everybody,” Ballard said.


From the sounds of Irsay’s comments, the Colts ultimately decided Wentz wasn’t that kind of guy.

[ChoppedWood]

Weren't willing to bury him this week in West Palm. I think that is a literal statement only because figuratively, that dude is under the dirt! DAMN THEY TRASHED HIM AND CALLED THE COMMANDERS IDIOTS!

WOW!

[Lov2fish]

There was never a doubt in my mind Irsay called the shot on getting rid of Wentz. His post game meltdown was the writing on the wall. Seeing Carson interact on the sidelines you could see the disconnect with players. You kinda knew it was a short lived marriage

[apballin]

I’m guessing Big Q had a huge voice in this

Could see and hear the frustration in the Tampa Bay game begging for a straight run call

Reichs love for Wentz clouded his judgment on game day

[ChoppedWood]

Originally Posted by apballin

I’m guessing Big Q had a huge voice in this

Could see and hear the frustration in the Tampa Bay game begging for a straight run call

Reichs love for Wentz clouded his judgment on game day

It's sounding more and more and more and more like pretty much 5/6 times an RPO was called he chose the pass. That's ass. That's also a terrible reflection on the coaches inability / unwillingness to force change- and that's not a good long term prognosis. Frank should be held just as culpable for the Wentz fiasco.

[Oldcolt]

I disagree that Wentz was a fiasco. At the time the decision was made the argument that Frank could turn him around was a reasonable argument. It was never 100% We had nobody on the team other than Wentz (QBs) so it made sense to me to keep trying to get thru to him until the end. Obviously it didn't work out. The thing that Irsay said that stuck out to me was “I don’t lose the fact that it was a pretty big blessing from the football gods, where we were and where we could be if things don’t materialize to that level. You end up cutting Carson, and we’d get nothing.” That last line. I have to give it to Irsay, he saw it and called it in the most clear way. Wentz was gone, period. If we held on to him after we knew for a fact he was shit it would have been a fiasco. Irsay kept it from becoming one and now we have a QB who has the most important thing that a QB can have, accuracy/timing. He is a much better owner than I have been giving him credit for. This is going to work out fine for Irsay and for us.

[CletusPyle]

The only thing about this that really bothers me...if Washington doesn't step up these three look like the biggest fools in the NFL. The way they trashed Wentz I am surprised any team was willing to take a chance on him again. It worked out great, and I am happy about that, but I refuse to give any of these three too much credit, they screwed up big time and simply got away with it!

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by CletusPyle

The only thing about this that really bothers me...if Washington doesn't step up these three look like the biggest fools in the NFL. The way they trashed Wentz I am surprised any team was willing to take a chance on him again. It worked out great, and I am happy about that, but I refuse to give any of these three too much credit, they screwed up big time and simply got away with it!

You aren’t going to find a team that doesn’t make mistakes on personnel decisions. Especially at QB where there simply aren’t enough to go around and the costs to acquire one (through any scenario) are highly inflated. Wentz wasn’t my desired QB target but he was a reasonable acquisition with upside. And for all the Reich blaming, he did milk more out of Wentz than the Eagles did. Just not enough.

I think media statements are largely overblown when it comes to front offices (not players opinions). You can’t trade Wentz without making it known he isn’t the solution. You don’t trade for a QB and then be willing to trade him the next off season (after missing the playoffs in that fashion) without it being well know in league circles he didn’t fulfill expectations. Irsay’s comments affected the fans (and maybe Wentz), but I doubt it affected Washington much at all.

I can find some fault with all three for different things, but the way the QB position has played out makes me thankful that the team has the owner, GM, and coach it does. It could possibly be slightly better, but god damn it could easily be a whole lot worse.

[CletusPyle]

Originally Posted by rm1369

You aren’t going to find a team that doesn’t make mistakes on personnel decisions. Especially at QB where there simply aren’t enough to go around and the costs to acquire one (through any scenario) are highly inflated. Wentz wasn’t my desired QB target but he was a reasonable acquisition with upside. And for all the Reich blaming, he did milk more out of Wentz than the Eagles did. Just not enough.

I think media statements are largely overblown when it comes to front offices (not players opinions). You can’t trade Wentz without making it known he isn’t the solution. You don’t trade for a QB and then be willing to trade him the next off season (after missing the playoffs in that fashion) without it being well know in league circles he didn’t fulfill expectations. Irsay’s comments affected the fans (and maybe Wentz), but I doubt it affected Washington much at all.

I can find some fault with all three for different things, but the way the QB position has played out makes me thankful that the team has the owner, GM, and coach it does. It could possibly be slightly better, but god damn it could easily be a whole lot worse.

You make valid points, I just have a problem with the "Ballard is a genius" crowd...I'm not saying he is inept, just saying that in this case, in my opinion, he was lucky as hell that Washington bailed him out. I doubt the Colts could have gotten Matt Ryan otherwise and I'm not sure he and Reich could have survived a losing season in 2022. Irsay really wants to win, I love that about him....for me, the jury is still out on Reich as a head coach, but as a person he seems to be one of the good guys!

[MeSayDayo]

Originally Posted by CletusPyle

You make valid points, I just have a problem with the "Ballard is a genius" crowd...I'm not saying he is inept, just saying that in this case, in my opinion, he was lucky as hell that Washington bailed him out. I doubt the Colts could have gotten Matt Ryan otherwise and I'm not sure he and Reich could have survived a losing season in 2022. Irsay really wants to win, I love that about him....for me, the jury is still out on Reich as a head coach, but as a person he seems to be one of the good guys!

I agree. But in the NFL, any GM has to get a little lucky to bring a Lombardi to their franchise. You either have to shit the bed enough to land a Manning, Luck or Burrow- and the difference between the worst team in the league every year and 3rd or 4th worst team in the league is very minimal.
The other option, which also requires a perfect storm, is landing a savvy veteran whose team is ready to rebuild ala Manning, Brady, Ryan, Rivers, Wilson, etc. Your team has to have the roster AND cap room to bring in a guy like this or it isn't worth the effort. In our case, we may be close to having both so making the move for Ryan made sense. I also agree that if we didn't, Ballard and Reich's seat might both be very warm next offseason.

Of all the top guys, I think Reich's seat is unquestionably the warmest and if he doesn't have a good season- he's gone. I like him, I think he motivates decently- but also has shown BIG flags in this regard and how our team showed up to the most important 2 games of the season last year.
Reich coached some great games but for the most part had all of us scratching our head about personnel utilization and gameflow/aggression decisions. If he wants to cool his seat, he should have someone else calling his plays so he can blame them if it doesn't go well.
Most importantly, Reich became the poster boy for the Wentz' debacle. This alone was enough to make his seat hot (how could Reich's love for Jesus completely overshadow the red flags regarding Wentz' leadership inability to be coached?)
Reich and Ryan will have a good season together and I think that will settle this narrative down plenty anyway.

Ultimately, I think Ballard has done so admirably with his damage control job this offseason, he is more than safe in his role. At least straight through the swing at a new young franchise QB- and if he fails, I suppose all bets are off- but that won't be until around 5 years down the road.