Let’s cut the crap about this being Ballard’s fault

[Colts And Orioles]

o


When Ballard first came to the Colts in January of 2017, his most emphatic claim was that he was going to build a complete team, not necessarily a team that was heavily dependent on an all-world quarterback (ala Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck.)

The 2023 Colts ...... with Gardner Minshew as their quarterback for most of the season ...... would be 8-4 if not for the robbery in the Browns game. And one of those wins was against the Ravens, on their home-field in Baltimore.

In my rat's ass of an opinion, these 2023 Colts are almost the quintessential example of a GM having built a complete team, not just a team that is heavily dependent on an all-world quarterback.

o

[Racehorse]

Originally Posted by Colts And Orioles

o


When Ballard first came to the Colts in January of 2017, his most emphatic claim was that he was going to build a complete team, not necessarily a team that was heavily dependent on an all-world quarterback (ala Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck.)

The 2023 Colts ...... with Gardner Minshew as their quarterback for most of the season ...... would be 8-4 if not for the robbery in the Browns game. And one of those wins was against the Ravens, on their home-field in Baltimore.

In my rat's ass of an opinion, these 2023 Colts are almost the quintessential example of a GM having built a complete team, not just a team that is heavily dependent on an all-world quarterback.

o

I know the odds are not in favor, but it would be nice to see Minshew being thrown out like Dilfer and Johnson when discussing Marino (and his lack of a ring) as a GOAT candidate.

[Colts And Orioles]

Originally Posted by Colts And Orioles

o


When Ballard first came to the Colts in January of 2017, his most emphatic claim was that he was going to build a complete team, not necessarily a team that was heavily dependent on an all-world quarterback (ala Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck.)

The 2023 Colts ...... with Gardner Minshew as their quarterback for most of the season ...... would be 8-4 if not for the robbery in the Browns game. And one of those wins was against the Ravens, on their home-field in Baltimore.

In my rat's ass of an opinion, these 2023 Colts are almost the quintessential example of a GM having built a complete team, not just a team that is heavily dependent on an all-world quarterback.

o

o


With Gardner Minshew subbing for the injured Anthony Richardson, the Colts have clinched their 3rd winning season in the last 4 years.


https://www.pro-football-reference.c.../clt/index.htm

o

[kitekrazy]

Originally Posted by Colts And Orioles

o


When Ballard first came to the Colts in January of 2017, his most emphatic claim was that he was going to build a complete team, not necessarily a team that was heavily dependent on an all-world quarterback (ala Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck.)

The 2023 Colts ...... with Gardner Minshew as their quarterback for most of the season ...... would be 8-4 if not for the robbery in the Browns game. And one of those wins was against the Ravens, on their home-field in Baltimore.

In my rat's ass of an opinion, these 2023 Colts are almost the quintessential example of a GM having built a complete team, not just a team that is heavily dependent on an all-world quarterback.

o

The franchise QB is extremely rare. The organization ruined the last one.

[Colts And Orioles]

Originally Posted by kitekrazy

The franchise QB is extremely rare ...... the organization ruined the last one.

o


Ballard made that statement in January of 2017, when we still had Luck. He was asserting that even with one (a franchise QB), he was determined to build a complete team. I believe that the Colts having 3 winning seasons in the last 4 years in spite of not having one gives some credibility to Ballard's claim.

o

[Colts And Orioles]

o


After last year's disastrous 4-12-1 season, Ballard DID NOT panic ......


There is one line that Ballard said back then, on January 10th of 2023, which stands out as the Colts prepare for the biggest NFL game Lucas Oil Stadium has seen in nearly a decade ...... ) "Our best players have to play to their standard," Ballard said. "But I don't think we're void of talent" ...... the Colts backed up that statement by retaining a significant number of players from last year's 4-12-1 team, including the entire starting offensive line. Ballard neither hit the detonate nor panic button with the Colts' roster ...... there would be no wholesale sell-off of veterans, and there would be no desperate moves in free agency.


https://www.colts.com/news/shane-ste...s-playoff-game

o

[YDFL Commish]

Originally Posted by Colts And Orioles

o


After last year's disastrous 4-12-1 season, Ballard DID NOT panic ......


There is one line that Ballard said back then, on January 10th of 2023, which stands out as the Colts prepare for the biggest NFL game Lucas Oil Stadium has seen in nearly a decade ...... ) "Our best players have to play to their standard," Ballard said. "But I don't think we're void of talent" ...... the Colts backed up that statement by retaining a significant number of players from last year's 4-12-1 team, including the entire starting offensive line. Ballard neither hit the detonate nor panic button with the Colts' roster ...... there would be no wholesale sell-off of veterans, and there would be no desperate moves in free agency.


https://www.colts.com/news/shane-ste...s-playoff-game

o

Because he knew that coaching was the biggest problem.

[Colts And Orioles]

o


The Colts Were Broken, Now They’re a Playoff Contender ... A Look Inside Indy’s Revival

(By Zak Keefer)

https://theathletic.com/5177604/2024...hane-steichen/

o

[BCN#1]

Originally Posted by Colts And Orioles

o


The Colts Were Broken, Now They’re a Playoff Contender ... A Look Inside Indy’s Revival

(By Zak Keefer)

https://theathletic.com/5177604/2024...hane-steichen/

o

The link wants me to subscribe. Can you or someone (hint - hint) post the contents so some of us do not need to "pay the man"?

[nate505]

Here you go


Chaotic as his tenure’s been — promising at times, aggravating in others, underwhelming as a whole — Chris Ballard has tried to pull pieces from each of his seven seasons as Indianapolis Colts general manager, then learn from them. He wants to use the lessons that come with the disappointment.

There have been plenty of them.

Through it all, Ballard said, he’s found a way to enjoy every season but one. The wins, the losses, the highs, the lows. The rigors of a five-month campaign and the sting that arrives when it’s over.

The lone exception, of course, was 2022.

There was absolutely nothing enjoyable about 2022.

Terrible, Ballard called the job he did last year, which is why two days after it was over, he began his season-ending news conference with a blunt, two-word self-assessment: “I failed.”

He’s right. He did. But Ballard’s hands weren’t the only dirty pair amid the Colts’ disastrous 4-12-1 season, their third in four years without a trip to the playoffs. It was an organizational failure that started at the top and left a once-proud franchise desperate for a reset. Owner Jim Irsay, despite some calls from fans to move on from his GM, backed Ballard, and then entrusted him to clean up the mess.

“Coaching changes, player changes, close losses,” center Ryan Kelly vented last January. “That s— weighs on you. Something was off all year.”

Put it this way: Third-year tight end Kylen Granson admitted recently that when he catches Jeff Saturday on ESPN these days, he’s had to ask himself, “Wait a minute, that guy was really my coach last year?”

It ended appropriately, a year ago Sunday, with an embarrassing Week 18 loss to one of the worst teams in the league. But after they rid the bitter taste of Texans 32, Colts 31 from their mouths, Indy’s top decision-makers weren’t all that mad.

In one afternoon, they’d climbed three spots in the draft, all the way up to No. 4.

That pick, they knew at the time, would be the one they’d use to reshape their future.

Twelve months later so much is different in Indianapolis, and it stretches beyond the optimism that accompanied Anthony Richardson’s arrival in the spring and his performance early on. Saturday night will offer a telling snapshot of how far this franchise has climbed in just a year: The 9-7 Colts will face the same team, the Texans, in a nationally televised game with a playoff berth on the line.

And with a little help a day later, they could win their first division title since 2014.

“We’ve kept it interesting the last few years, huh?” Granson said with a slight chuckle after they beat the Raiders 23-20 on Sunday, Indy’s sixth win in eight games.


The turnaround started with the lessons of 2022 and the humility that came with them, especially for Ballard. “A scar,” more than one player has come to call that season. The GM altered his roster-building approach, at first resisting a move most people around the organization long figured was a no-brainer: extending Pro Bowler Jonathan Taylor.

Pressed on why he wasn’t ready to pay Taylor, Ballard admitted this at the end of a telling news conference days before the season opener: “We won four games last year. We won four games.”

Translation: They’d hit rock bottom, and they weren’t sure where they were going or if it’d work. It was time to rethink everything.

But the ensuing fallout put the Colts in a messy spot: Taylor’s agent beefing with Irsay on social media, the running back absent for all of training camp (with a nagging ankle injury), and new coach Shane Steichen left in the less-than-enviable position of beginning his first season in Indianapolis without the team’s most accomplished offensive player.

Privately, that last part killed Ballard. The last thing his first-year coach needed was a storm at the start.

Then they didn’t end. Richardson played roughly 11 quarters before a shoulder injury knocked him out for the season. Shaquille Leonard, the backbone of the defense for years, returned from injury but wasn’t the same player. In a stunning move, Ballard released him in November. (Just 27 months prior, Leonard had signed a contract worth nearly $100 million.) To this day, a mural of him hangs on the side of Lucas Oil Stadium. “Thanks for the memories” it reads

The team’s top returning outside cornerback, Isaiah Rodgers, was suspended indefinitely for gambling on his own team last season, then later released. Veteran nose tackle Grover Stewart was suspended six games in October for violating the league’s performance-enhancing substance policy. In mid-December, Steichen suspended two more, wideout Isaiah McKenzie and cornerback Tony Brown, for conduct detrimental to the team.

Then just last week, before a pivotal game against the Raiders, tight end Drew Ogletree was arrested on charges of domestic battery, and within a day was placed on the commissioner’s exempt list.

The hits kept coming.

Somehow, the Colts kept winning.

The 38-year-old Steichen is chief among the reasons why. He made it clear to his players back in the spring that he had no intentions of a slow rebuild.

“He let us know he was coming in to win,” linebacker E.J. Speed said. “He don’t f— around with all that losing.”

That’s what most pundits predicted for the Colts this season: four wins, maybe five, six at the most. The rookie quarterback was too green, the secondary too young, the roster too flawed.

Steichen went to work.

“With Shane,” added Kelly, the longest-tenured Colt, “it’s about accountability, execution and fun. He empowers his players to go out and play well. He set a standard that everybody knows, whether you’re a rookie or you’ve been in the league for 10 years. As professional athletes, that’s all you wanna know: What’s the standard?”

Richardson’s prodigious talents opened up the Colts’ playbook early in the season, his upside obvious to anyone watching. But it’s been Gardner Minshew for 12 starts since, and the fact that the Colts are still in the playoff hunt is a testament to Steichen’s acumen as a play caller and his unflappability as a coach.

Asked when he knew this season wasn’t going to be like the last, Speed thought for a moment.

“S—,” he finally said, “when we re-signed JT. When you get a player like that back, everything changes.”

That didn’t happen until after Week 4, and even after the deal was announced, Irsay admitted it came “sooner” than he would have preferred. But the team was 2-2, Richardson was still healthy, and Steichen had proved he was the real deal. The players had bought in. The belief was building. The move felt like an acknowledgment from Colts brass that they liked the direction they were headed, and they were ready to compete.

An offense that finished at or near the bottom in every offensive metric in 2022 — scoring just 15.7 points per game, finding the end zone on just 12.8 percent of their drives, both last in the league — is by no means scary. But the uptick in efficiency, especially in dicey spots, has been critical.

Players have felt it.

“Last year, we were always in third-and-short and we couldn’t convert anything,” tight end Mo Alie-Cox said. “This year, our numbers, they gotta be drastically better, right?”

They are, to no surprise: Entering Week 18, they are eight spots improved in third-and-short situations, 10 spots better in third-and-medium, nine spots better on fourth down. (They’d likely be much higher with Richardson healthy.) Even more telling, the Colts — with a backup quarterback for most of the year and Taylor only starting six games — have generated nine explosive plays on fourth down this season, second-most in the league. That’s the Steichen effect.

And that’s what the Colts were chasing during their grueling, 35-day coaching search last winter, one that included 13 candidates and 21 total interviews. Irsay conducted a five-hour sitdown with Steichen one night. A day later, a larger contingent put Steichen through a series of tests designed to assess how his mind works in stressful situations: late-game decision-making, short-yardage calls, even timeout usage.

One person in the room was so impressed he compared Steichen’s mind to that of Peyton Manning, about as big a compliment as you can get in Indianapolis.

During the search, Irsay sought out his former quarterback, Philip Rivers, for counsel. Rivers played under Steichen in San Diego and Los Angeles and offered a rave review; maybe most impressive, Rivers told him, was the time Steichen ditched the play sheet during a game and started calling them from memory.

“A special mind for football,” Irsay called Steichen the day he hired him.

That intuition has paid off: Steichen has kept the Colts competitive this season despite Richardson’s absence, an inconsistent defense and an inexperienced secondary (the Colts’ defensive backs count just $15.3 million against the salary cap, 27th in the league.)

Steichen has excelled repeatedly in dicey moments, the very situations the Colts folded in so often last year.

Alie-Cox cited a crucial play from Sunday’s win, a 58-yard touchdown to wideout Alec Pierce in the second quarter that came on a third-and-1 from the Colts’ 42-yard line. All week in practice, the coaches told the players there was little to no chance they’d face a Cover-0 defense in a third-and-short situation in the middle of the field.

But in their walkthrough a day before the game, Steichen had the unit rep the play anyway, just in case.

“We go through so many plays in our walkthroughs,” Alie-Cox said. “Shane told us, ‘We mostly likely won’t get this look, but if we do, this is how we’re gonna beat it.'”


Sunday it paid off. Minshew’s play-action fake drew the Raiders defense in, then just before the pocket collapsed, he lofted a beauty to Pierce, who burned cornerback Amik Robertson for the touchdown.

Five weeks prior, in a tight game against the Bucs, Steichen dialed up another gem in a critical short-yardage situation. On fourth-and-inches from Tampa’s 49-yard-line early in the fourth quarter, the Bucs defense bit hard on Minshew’s play-action fake, then the quarterback hit a wide-open Alie-Cox for a 30-yard gain — his first and only catch all game.

Taylor found the end zone three plays later. The Colts won 27-20.

“Shane is dialed in those types of situations" backup quarterback Sam Ehlinger said.

Another critical element has been the gradual revival of the offensive line, headed by new position coach Tony Sparano Jr. A year ago the unit regressed into one of the worst in the league, allowing 237 QB pressures (ninth-worst in football) and 60 sacks (second-most only to Denver). It was among Ballard’s biggest mistakes, betting on a unit that had obvious holes heading into the season.

This year, through 16 games, the Colts have allowed 20 fewer sacks and 26 fewer pressures.

There have been bad days — a 29-10 drubbing in Atlanta on Christmas Eve comes to mind — but Kelly said the group has found its footing.

“When Tony brought us in in April, I think he saw a group that was broken,” the veteran center said. “But, like, also extremely hungry to resurrect our name.”

In a lot of ways, that was the Colts’ aim at the outset of the season: revive a shaken franchise and climb back from the embarrassment of 2022.

With a game to go, that much has been accomplished. Shane Steichen showed up, proved his mettle and has his team in a position no one thought they’d be in.