The OL is a complete mystery. I've seen plays where even their super stud Nelson gets knocked on his ass in a one on one pass blocking exchange. I'm not sure why the OL is as bad as it is, but it's way worse than it should be. Ballard put this OL together, and they're just not performing up to their potential, that is not Ballard's fault. He could have done better, especially in addressing the LT position, but RT has completely shit the bed after a few years of unanimous belief that they had a stud at that position. Nelson was thought to be one of, if not the best guard in the NFL but he's looking like a bottom 10 so far this year. Center had been a strong point but not this year. The whole OL is shit and that's on them and possibly on the coaching.

Last year, the major complaints on this board were the shitty QB and the lack of a pass rush. If you have enough holes, you're in triage, trying to fix the biggest ones first and discovering that you cannot fix them all.

Bottom line, Ryan was not the answer, and the OL is shit. I say, think about trading some of them (especially Nelson) while you can still get value for them. They certainly are not worth the enormous money the Colts are spending on them.

Finally, I'm excited about the new QB. I don't know what to expect, but that's why I'm excited. I knew that Ryan was done, he should retire at season's end. I'm looking at next week with hope and wonder, and to me, that's why I love football.

Thats the most stunning part for me. I never dreamed going into the year that they would be THIS bad. Everything else that has plagued this team has started from how inconceivably bad the o line has been.

It’s just unbelievable. I said before, I want guys cut. Kelly and Braden Smith for sure. It’s inexcusable to be as bad as they are while making the money they do.

reed was the smart choice to keep.

and you can't tell me fries isn't better than pinter

Also, why announce this now? Why not just send him out there Sunday? This way, Washington has the whole week to prepare for him. There was no reason for saying it publicly.

They should have done what Belichick did with Jones and Zappe- just say Ryan is limited in practice all week and then start Ehlinger on Sunday.

There’s literally nothing to gain by announcing it on Monday.

Odds are he’s not or he’d be playing, as desperate as they are.

Except maybe to instill confidence in Ehlinger and let the OL know that they may be the reason Ryan got benched. They've even announced he's the starter from here on out, thus negating the need for him to do or die in his first start. He's under enough pressure as it is.

I think that the shit play of our lineman has been since COVID. This disease, and its still not understood well LONG COVID, affects people differently. Even a small decrease in physical or mental ability, at this level, would be a disaster. I am not discounting the absolutely shit play we have had to endure at LT and RG, they make any putting of blame on anything but them difficult. It just seems that going into COVID we had a top 5 line, coming out a bottom 5. I just can’t believe it is total coincidence. And please if we cannot get into a vaccine argument I would appreciate it. I am just talking about this disease itself.

Or Pryor.

That’s what’s funny to me. Reich says “we think Sam will be a tremendous player for us”.

Yeah well, you thought Matt Pryor could play left tackle.

Matt Pryor doesn't even belong in the NFL.

I dont believe it is physical. Its something personal

In case anyone doesn't know, people who live outside of the Indianapolis area can listen to JMV, Kevin and Quarry, Dakich etc via their podcasts or on the 1070 app. Google podcasts has the shows, I'm assuming Spotify and the others do as well. Entertaining stuff.

JMV has basically become openly hostile towards Frank. It had been Dakic way out front with the overt anger over Frank but JMV is just as open about how bad he thinks Frank is. Dude should just step down.

Is that what you would do if you were Frank?

Looking at this realistically, is there any chance in hell that Frank lasts this season?
Does anyone else think that this move basically forecasts his departure in Indianapolis, staying consistent with Irsay's refusal to fire a coach mid season?
I do.
The more I think about it, and also considering his obvious miscues so far, I think Ballard survives the slaughtering.
I still would take a GM that can consistently hit on mid round picks over most of the rest of the league that typically doesn't. If THAT is your floor as a GM, I will take it. The frugal spending in FA? You can fix that, but I am glad that Ballard hasn't spent big in FA because our team has proven we aren't contenders. Not until we get our QB.
I also think he has learned a big lesson on roster building that I don't expect him to do again with us if he sticks around.
Ultimately, I think Ballard has his core philosophies that he likes to stick to- pay your own guys, build your team through the draft with measurable and character prospects, and focus on the trenches.
If Ballard truly is a guy that rewards based on merit, then in theory he should be a guy that punishes based on merit too- and I think we have seen that with Wentz seeing the door, Ryan seeing the bench, etc.
I wouldn't be shocked at all to see any of our star O-lineman get traded. None of them are playing up to their monetary value.

I would like to think that if I:
- Wasn't very good at what I did, and I knew it
- I was routinely scorned by essentially everyone for my ineptness at what I am paid for

Well I would like to think I would have the stones to step forward and vacate. That said, I would also assume he has a contract clause that says he gets a shit load of money if he is fired and none if just quits, so there's probably that motivation to just ride it till the wheels fall off unfortunately. Which absolutely sucks for the franchise and for us.

I would be surprised if Frank is fired during the season. I can see assigning play calling to someone else, but not replacing the HC mid-season. Having said that, I don't know who I would assign play calling to...

I'd give Matty Ice a crack at it. You can hold a playcalling sheet in a sling, cant you?
I am sure he has better ideas about how to scheme than Franks dusty old tired ideas. He might actually stay with a guy if he is hot.

Because they think the administration should take all their advice and they then call them smug for not doing it. When you go from sports reporter to just another armchair QB. I listen to them too, but they aren't right about everything. I listened to them talk about getting a vet receiver all off-season, but I don't hear them complain now unless there is an injury.

what? with how the coaches have fucked up this oline, how can you possibly say that?

But who will take underperforming overpaid Olinemen?

I think Frank will be replaced after the season, not during.

Ballard will be retained but I bet Irsay works with him to adjust some of the philosophy. They cant have another issue like the LT situation again. They had plenty of warning and opportunity to find a replacement for castonzo and failed badly.

Well, if they keep Ballard, which I think they will and should do, it'll be because of the philosophy. They were either wrong about Pryor or they couldn't get another guy they wanted. But they did draft Raimann and I don't remember anybody throwing their hands up when he signed Eric Fisher last year.

Also, we needed guys on DL which fans were screaming about at the time. In Castonzo's last year, he brought Buckner in. Then he spent draft picks on Kwity and Dayo. And this year he brought Ngakoue in. Fans would be upset if he didn't address this.

Washington, Dallas and of course, the Jets.

fans are always upset

I think it would be crazy to sell low on these guys. Nelson and Smith are 26, Kelly is 29. They're all high draft picks, and they've all shown the ability to play at a high level in prior seasons, in most cases even after getting big contracts (Nelson excluded since his big contract was just this last offseason). Absent an injury explanation, it seems like an obvious coaching issue to me, so dumping these guys based upon this year's performance would be a mistake.

Agree. It reeks of desperation, and it's a mistake.

Sam has the legs of Bobby Douglas.

Unfortunately, he has the arm of Bernie Kosar.

(That's for you, C&O).

I've been saying it was a coaching issue that has accumulated over the last few seasons because even last year the oline wasn't as good as they were in 2019 and 20. I keep thinking that after firing DeGuglielmo that the line as turned soft.

Here’s what I think is happening. Pryor is 6’7 350lbs. He is too big and slow to play either position. He isn’t fast enough for speed on the outside and was getting beat even by stunts. In comparison Smith is like 50lbs lighter, he can keep up with guys. It messed up the spacing and Nelson feels he has to cover both sides and worry about his guy. Move him to guard and yeah he is good when he gets hands on you, but he is too slow to do that with anyone but NTs. So he can’t drop faster enough so that makes Smith not drop enough bc he doesn’t want to create a huge hole every down for delayed blitzes. Teams are just throwing their speed at the line and crowding running lanes.

This is not a great QB class, it’s just better than last year. There are some projects in there if you want one. If they don’t like a QB, they should take the best tackle they can. Maybe Raimann can play guard or RT. He’s only a 3rd rounder. I would also think about replacing Kelly, but let’s see how he does with Ehlinger. Next year is a better QB class.

I'm not advocating selling low, but I would be listening to any offers with no exceptions. Clearly, there are no OLmen on this squad that are being under paid. And the way they're playing this year, their paychecks should come gift wrapped. Nelson and Smith (26) and Kelly (29) count for over 30 million against the cap. I'm not sure how much their cap hit will be next year, but it's a big hit. Worth it? Certainly not this year.

It might end up being that way, but as of now I can't see the harm. Ryan is decent when the line gives him time, but unfortunately, the line does not give him time. Or they are extremely inconsistent at it.

Everyone wants Ballard's head, but IMO, this is either coaching or the players themselves. Yeah, I get it, LT sucks, but it doesn't suck to the point that everyone just completely forgot how to play football. Even Nelson looks quite bad, and just on one on one plays.

I've got 40 questions in my head that all end with ^^^ that statement.

I don't know about the rest of you guys, but it's only Wednesday and the wait this week is fucking killing me. Can't even start to answer any of these questions until Sunday.

If someone wants Kelly, I wouldn’t hesitate to trade him. Pinter has shown he’s MUCH better at center than he is at guard.

I actually don’t want either fired. You can’t switch the QB every year and expect success. Just doesn’t work that way. When a new QB comes in it takes half a year at least to learn a new system. I bc actually thought Ryan would do better next year than this one.

Ballard irritates me some especially when he doesn’t address a problem. But he is an astute talent evaluator and that’s the biggest part of the job. Eventually we will get a QB for longer than one year and I think the rest of the talent will form around that. Also I think Reich would be a good developer of a rookie QB. Everyone just got impatient with the retreads.

And yes I’m ok with the build style. Everyone thinks you have to build a team with QB and weapon to throw all the time but forgets we were sporting that build before everyone else. Got just one super bowl win, and that was only because the running game and defense peaked. Now we have the other elements but need the smart qB play to go with it.

You switch the coach, you are likely looking at a full rebuild. He will want his own DC, OC. Will want to run his own style and then the talent to fit that system.

People always just assume that the next guy will be better and that’s hardly ever the case. Reich is way better than Pagano but before that you have to go all the way back to Dungy replacing Mora to find the a Colts coach who was better than the one he replaced.

Odds are that if they fire Reich, the guy that replaces him will be worse, or at least no better.

Personally, I don’t think Reich is a terrible coach. The slow starts are a pain in the ass but he generally fields a decent offense and let’s his defensive coordinator handle the defense.

He got career years out of Luck and Brissett and resurgent years out of Wentz and Rivers. He’s generally good with quarterbacks, at least until this year and this year has been a clusterfuck all the way around. In my opinion mainly because of how bad the offensive line is.

I’d like to see the Colts draft a quarterback high and let Reich work with him for more than one season. Hell, the man won a super bowl with Nick Foles.

Boys, I just rolled my bicycle off the Navajo Nation, returning to internet, and I find the whole thing hilarious after watching that game on rerun. Go Jim! We all know Reich is gone, but who replaces him? I think Ballard stays just because of some of the gems he has been able to discover.

Go get Eric Bieniemy, get a dude that runs an offense that is present day NFL standards.

Interesting, but I believe Reid is the architect and play caller for the Chiefs offense.

i think we likely would have a hard time finding a better coach.

if he is kept, we need to get some players that are real leaders. not the me first guys like Leonard. we need a manning type that will get the guys in the mindset to perform.

there is a reason he isn't a hc