Because a lot of the oline issues are communication related. Between QB and Kelly and Kelly along the line. They are getting beat too at times. But they have issues with stunts and blitzes which is mostly just picking up your guy. From what I’ve been hearing on the radio by vets looking at the team they say those issues can get fixed, but it takes time. Usually after a 1/4 or 1/3rd of the season or so. They are showing flashes but not consistency.

I agree… Stop turning the fucking ball over

KC is back to normal it seems. They're smoking Tampa Bay 28-10 two minutes before halftime in Tampa. Last week's Colts win was a fluke and fraud. KC just beat themselves. We need to flush the majority of the Colts out in the off season...from top to bottom.

Gotta protect him. I do blame Ballard in that he fucked around with the LT position for three years. Maybe four. You have to have a good player at that position.

but they struggle with physically blocking people as well. and can't run block at all

BINGO! Right on the money!
But how do you change 'guaranteed money' contracts.

Yeah, it's like he has this fucking participation trophy model going. Johnny got his play so he's getting his medal, need to get Alec his next, and then we gotta get one for Peggy- oh can't forget that we need to get Hines one too- but not too many, don't want to hurt anyone's feelings that they aren't being included in the group.

He is seriously a fucking stooge.

I know people think I am over the top with my ragging on him, but I just can't help it, he is THAT bad at this shit!

If you watch the other games played, even the really bad teams- Chicago, Carolina, etc... They have their share of plays where someone gets behind the D, hits em' with a slant to the house, a go route, a post, etc... you see them run intentional 2-3 step drop and let it go passes- playing at a fast tempo taking little 5-7 yard gains- even the bad teams do this type of thing.

WE DO NOT! Think about it, in the game thread we sarcastically post "look a quick pass" whenever there is one - because they are that infrequent.

I simply cannot convince myself that between Pittman, Pierce, Dulin, Hines, Campbell and Strachan, we have 6 dudes that just can't get separation- that can't cut inside off the line and be ready to catch a slant in rhythm, I can't believe that if you send Campbell or Hines on a straight streak they can't just run by their corner- I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE WE ARE THAT SHITTY, JUST CAN'T DO IT.

So I bring it back to Frank, to all the fucking substitutions, to the lack of tempo. He's so overbaked this fucking thing it's just charcoal at this point.

His shit must be so fucking programmatic and so static that the opposing DC's just go in, watch the film and say "okay, Hines, Dulin, Pittman, Hines in motion, that's a 10 yard out to Pittman", "Strachan flanked wide right, Cox lined up on the line inside him, that's an in route to Cox so shut it down"; Granson and Cox stacked next to Pryor, run off tackle by Taylor".

Seriously this HAS to be the problem- it has to be. And sadly Frank appears to be so proud of his frankenstein that he can't see that everybody knows what the fuck he is running and so all his fucking mad scientist scheming is getting destroyed, and in turn getting his QB destroyed because they cover up the routes and just crush the line resulting in sacks and hits.

Am I wrong about this, am I wrong that he doesn't seem to be willing to adjust at fucking all? Even the announcers were talking about how "that's Frank Reich" at times, dude must be a terrible fucking poker player, though I am sure he could explain to you how to be a great gentleman at the table and respect his competition and be graceful in losing.

This game was flat-out decided by turnovers. No mystery.

-Defense had one truly awful drive. Bad in the 1st Qtr, less bad in the 2nd, then TEN had 28 yards in the second half.

-DEF was fucked having to start at their own 28 and 32. FG's would've been nice, but field position is a thing.

-Fries played better than Pinter has.

-I might be wrong, but the OL was bizarre. Murdered in the run game and got bitch-made on a few key pass-rushes, awful... but they were also somehow able to give Ryan a better pocket to sit in most of the game than he had against JAX or KC...

-...as a result, somehow, the pass-game/receiving corps probably looked better than it has so far, especially TE's.

-Last drive of 1st qtr, last drive of 2nd qtr, first drive of 3rd qtr all looked really good from the passing-game.

-Ryan had some rhythm, time and the guys were making some good catches, YAC, it was there.

-But despite moving the ball on our other drives, they were sniped by 3 fumbles, an INT, and a crucial sack on the final drive that made it 4th-and-21.

-Matt Ryan will fumble if you yell at him. It's utterly astonishing. He has 9 in four games, the record is 23.

-At least JT only dropped the ball after 300lbs of Teair Tart crushed his ankle. Tart also made a great play on the INT.

Looks like they finally broke JT. They’ve been trying their best to do that for two years now.

I personally think Ballard deserves another go, but we need a HC who can take more control. This should be a selling point imo, and give us some leverage in hiring.

Assuming Irsay hires someone competent, they could have more agency in drafting talent and Ballard can serve more as a resource as opposed to the decision maker there (at least in 100% capacity).

I would like to see them work for Payton.

Reich looks totally lost on the sidelines, kinda like a deer in the headlights thing !! He has to go !!

This is what pisses me off about yesterday. The second half proved that we can beat them. WE just wait until after halftime to demolish them. They got about 25 yards from scrimmage after the half. Where was that in the first half? We play like that in the first, and they roll over. Are you hearing me, Frank?

On the long pass to Pierce, I was surprised by how under thrown the pass was. Pierce was behind the defender and to me the pass needed to be 10 to 15 yards further downfield. Ryan actually wound up and threw the pass with everything he had and was still way too short. The only reason it worked was that Pierce saw it and the defender did not. I don't want to judge Ryan's arm on just this one pass, but I'm getting the impression that the reason we don't go deep is that Ryan doesn't have the needed arm strength.

Yeah that was pretty alarming even though it was a long catch.

This has been a steady decline over more than a year. We have small upticks where we look like a decent team but those seem just to be teases so they can break your fucking heart the next week. These are professional football players who a third of the way thru a season cannot pick up a stunt or run block for shit. This team is getting worse not better and like i said it has been going on for over a year. The fantasy island that some of us live on where just a little tweak to the mental side of things and we are on the road to being relevant again is nice but not real. These players stink, they keep showing us year after year that they lack the internal fortitude to compete but we don’t want to believe what they are telling us with their play. Instead we are buying their lame excuses. All they have for us is talk. Wish they would shut up and just execute on the field but that ain’t ever going to happen with this bunch of shitheads.

Racehorse, every game has a what if we did this better we would have won. Crappy teams are like that, they find a way to lose. We are a crappy team. We are not going to clean this up, we are getting worse not better. And if we clean one thing up it will be another issue that raises its head, it always is with this group. When teams are consistently moving in the wrong direction game after game, year after year the core is rotten. I think that is where we find ourselves. If this was the first time it had happened I would be all on board that we an turn it around. It isn’t the first time by a long shot. I have a hard time believing that this team has any belief in itself or the coaches. They have been down this road to many times and have been complete failures to many times in their attempts at sustaining any form of excellence. I root for a team that is complete shit. It has taken me two years of declining play to get here but here I am.

Sorry about two rants in a row. I am just so frustrated and pissed. Not meaning to take it out on your Freaks.

The Colts have a shitload of money tied up in the OL, and now that they are being paid, they have relaxed and are not performing. Even Nelson looked like shit yesterday.

We are all with you brother.

This is insane.

There is little question this team has sufficient talent to compete at the highest level.

They is also little question that they are not being properly motivated to do so and it has become acceptable to suck. I thought Caldwell as a cardboard cut out, Frank may be the pulp used to create the cardboard. Dude has NO gravitas on that sideline, he does nothing to prove that he can inspire this squad, he brings ZERO to this team and there is ZERO reason for him to continue at the helm- ZERO!

There are none or not many RBs faster than JT. Yet, we never seem to see any outside runs. I just think it would loosen up the middle where he really had been effective last year.

I am done with this coaching staff, we need a new one next year. I am fine with ballard for now but he needs to adjust some, which he probably wont.

We haven't done many outside runs in general. Even Hines/WR's on jet sweeps like we've done before. I feel like I see soft looks quite a few times when they do the jet sweep motion, but they aren't calling it. I agree, it would loosen up the box and create some false-steps by defenders.



Yesterday was like the HOU game, especially offensively. It wasn't like JAX or KC. Our OL wasn't constantly allowing the pocket to collapse. But they did get flat out beat in some 1-on-1's against some good D-lineman.

But then Matt Ryan takes it from being a negative play to a full-blown fucking catastrophe with the fumbling. If it's not giving TEN the ball already in scoring range, it's creating a 3rd-and-impossible when it should be 3rd-and-medium.

Not only is it stopping our own offense which is moving the ball effectively even with zero running game... but it's pinning our defense in terrible position while they otherwise played plenty well enough to win.

I would guess we will win just enough games to put us out of contention for drafting a top QB and we know ballard isnt moving up to get one, so.......

What would a new coaching staff have provided us yesterday? Extra time in practice not turning the ball over at your own 30?

Mediocrity sucks. Although this might be a deep QB class with guys that have potential but need developing. I don’t know if I love the top couple guys.

Only takes one failed block to collapse the hole. They just aren’t playing as a unit. I don’t know. That’s what the oline vets were saying last week. We will find out soon.

I feel like we have been in constant decline with this group for a while. Seems like we could use a new voice next season.