This has been my criticism of him. Great he acknowledges it post-season. Be nice if he recognized it before the season started.

Less about Qb, more about him

Probably talked too much to the press about kicking Reich's door down. But I can understand him wanting to get ahead of the media. The fanbase really hates him in Detroit and it probably started with the bad press.

I don't think the "kicking Reich's door down" quote was the issue. The issue was the drama from his decision to shut it down for the year and proceed with surgery on his ankles.

The Colts claimed they were "blindsided" by the news. Ebron and his agent then followed up by saying the Colts knew how bad the ankles were and that Ebron played in severe pain all year long.

Wasn't really a good look from either side of the issue. There was a communication breakdown somewhere.

Yeah, I guess I consider that all one big event, or that's when it started to go downhill. But yeah shutting it down pretty much sealed his fate. But I think he knew that. He concluded that he wasn't going to do anything with JB and with Luck gone he figured he would move on to a team with a better QB.

I don't think he will. He's under-delivered on two teams now, and bailed on one of those. Really the only team I can see him playing for is the Patriots.

He conceded no such thing. The quote I read was "As of now, he's our starting quarterback." Cool. It's January 2nd, and as of now, Chad Kelly would basically be Ballard's only other option, so of course Briskett is the starter as of now. On March 18th, several interesting QB names come available unless they're franchised, and the Saints can only franchise one. Bridgewater would be a good option, as would drafting an heir apparent. If the latter option is enacted, then Briskett probably is the starter going in to 2020, but it's not a position I can see him holding for long in that scenario. If they don't address the QB position somehow, I'll assume the strategy is tank for Trevor.

I can see him sticking with Brissett. Ballard has been extremely conservative in nearly all of his moves. I don’t see him pursuing Bridgewater as a FA - he’s going to get a good contract. That’s risky. I don’t see him trading up as that is a significant risk as well. If he’s in love with someone at 13 he’ll pull the trigger. Other than that I believe Ballard when he says he’s not going to panic and set the team back by making a mistake. I’m not saying that’s the right path, but I’d be surprised if it’s not the one he takes. Hope I’m wrong.

Honestly with our O-line and Reich as a coach I like our chances with any QB not named Hoyer

So you would be happy with Trubisky or Winston?

I hope you're wrong, too. I see Ballard's approach as methodical and aware of the fact that a franchise QB is necessary for consistent success in the modern NFL. He's not going to overreact and sell himself on someone who won't fit the bill, nor should he. However, I do see him doing what it takes to get the guy he thinks will be able to take the team to the next level, should that opportunity present itself.

Briskett got exposed once NFL defenses got tape on him. This team needs a better QB.

What indicates to you that he is aware that a franchise QB is necessary for consistent success? Certainly seems obvious but Ballard was content to slow roll his roster building with a franchise QB in place. That doesn’t scream to me that he knows the value of a franchise QB. I’ll be very surprised if he risks the rest of his build shooting for a QB.

Ballard acknowledged the obvious and didnt commit himself to any one course. There is a lot of time between now and camp.

Teams don’t care. If he can win them games they will sign him.

I thought the snake had burned coaching opportunities. Nope. Teams are lining up to interview him.

Unless your a nut job like AB, teams will try to sign you.

So because he didn't blow his wad on a bad free agent class in his first year, he doesn't understand the importance of a franchise QB? Just confirming that's what you're trying to say.

No, I’m saying in the 3 offseasons that Ballard has ran the organization he has bargain shopped, sat on cash, and himself said he was building through the draft - not free agency. He has preached its about the team, not one person. And he has followed through with those statements. He has built his team in a slow deliberate manner even when he had the single most important piece in place. So I’m asking what the fuck you have seen or heard that suggests he’ll make an extremely risky move now? He literally said a day or so ago that a wrong move at QB sets you back 4-5 years. Everything he has said and done in the past contradicts what you are saying he obviously knows. I’m asking you what the hell you base your comment on.

Nobody has any idea of what Ballard is going to do, probably including him. He doesn't seem to be blowing smoke up our asses and knows that Brissett has big time limitations. I'm sure he wants an upgrade but who and how much does it cost? We are in a bad place, middle of the road team that needs a quarterback.

agree, this puts ballard in a really tough spot. middle of the pack needing a franchise QB is about the worst place to be. I dont think he will panic and do something stupid like sign winston or make a trubisky trade. however, I dont think he has many good options.

What’s wrong with not panicking and setting the team back by making a mistake? Everyone can nitpick, but the truth is that Ballard’s long term strategy appeared to be working exactly as planned until the rug got pulled out from beneath him by the Luck retirement a couple weeks before the season was to begin. Even then, we demonstrated a marked improvement from the last time we were without Luck (2017), when we went 4-12 and looked depressingly bad.

Honestly, with even an average kicking game we might be in the playoffs this season (though admittedly probably one-and-done) despite the Luck retirement. Criticize Ballard all you want keeping Vinatieri around too long, but the guy had perhaps the best track record of any kicker EVER, so betting that Vinatieri would right the ship over the alternative - bringing in an unproven or disgraced kicker jettisoned by other teams - did not seem too unreasonable to me. Notably, he jumped on McLaughlin when he became available, so hopefully we caught a break there.

Bottom line: the future remains bright, despite all the hand-wringing here, though finding a workable QB is undeniably a major issue that will dictate the success of Ballard’s plans going forward.

Where did I criticize Ballard for not panicking? My point with dam is that nothing Ballard has done previously indicates he values the QB position to the degree he would make the risky decision to sign Bridgewater to a big contract or trade all of his draft capital to move up in the draft. He’s pretty much said and done the exact opposite in his time here. That’s my point with dam.

As to the rest of it, you and I will never agree, but it’s not nitpicking to criticize Ballard’s decision to follow a long term rebuild with a franchise QB on the roster. I’ve been saying it since he started. With a franchise QB in place it was the wrong decision. I stand by that assessment. I’m sure you’ll point out Luck’s retirement was unforeseen and screwed it all up. I get that, however I’m on the record in our discussions saying that he shouldn’t be looking more than about 2 years ahead anyway because shit changes too quickly for a 4-5 year plan. So while the specific circumstance was unforeseen the fact something changed everything before he completed his master plan is not.

Look, I like the guy. I have never asked for him to be fired. You can spin how close they were to a one and done playoff birth all you want, but IMO this team is further away from a title today than it was the day Ballard was hired. Thats with or without Luck ever coming back from the shoulder injury. The roster is just improved enough that they won’t be in the running for a top QB prospect without mortgaging the future to move up.

The three most important positions for winning in the NFL are QB, LT, and pass rusher. Right now the Colts have questions or holes at all 3, so I’m not nearly as optimistic as you. And I sure as hell don’t see any glimpse of the dynasty you and Ballard have been envisioning.

I agree that this happened, but I think it is an over simplified view. Briskett was injured, then our #4 wr was playing in ty Hilton's spot. There's not much to figure out when we are holding up a sign saying we cant pass the ball.

Yes brissett had a bad second half of the season, but I dont think you can attribute more than a third of that to teams getting tape on him.

I guess what would be an example of something they are seeing brissett do on film that teams were able to adjust for?

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Can’t be giving away draft plans to ease fan anxiety. We are just going to have to wait and see.

No id stick with brissett over those 2, I was thinking more like whatever QB they draft because I don’t see Ballard signing another QB to take brissett spot

I hope fromm declares. We could likely get a dt in the first and then trade up to get fromm in the early second. I like his decisiveness and accuracy. If anything he holds on the the ball a bit too long.

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I think you should be able to pick Fromm up in the 3rd round

Agree that Bridgewater isn’t likely the way that Ballard would go, but I could see an expensive trade up if he believed the target was a likely to be a franchise QB.

Well said, but I disagree. I won’t rehash our old debates here, but suffice it to say that I do not see Ballard’s approach as conservative or risk averse, but rather simply practical. The guy has always been a long term thinker, and clearly has a very specific idea about building a team – create a culture first, keep young, and use competition as a motivational factor. Reward those who excel in your system. That kind of an engine takes a few years to build, but should produce reliable performance once constructed.

As far as free agents are concerned, he’s called free agency “fool’s gold”, so he obviously doesn’t see it as a desirable way to build a team. No surprise there. Nevertheless, he’s been in the bidding for a number of high profile free agents, but the prices just went too high for the value he placed on the player. He also signed two risky free agents - Funchess and Houston – to large (though short) contracts last off-season.

To suggest that we are further from a title now than when Ballard was hired seems ludicrous, particularly since you exclude Luck from this analysis. Go look at our 2017 roster, excluding Luck. We are now younger at nearly every position, and as good as or better at nearly every position as well – particularly RB, OL, and LB. Complain all you want about our current stable of WRs, but we were severely hampered by injuries, and in 2017 we were fielding the likes of Kamar Aiken, Donte Moncrief and Quan Bray.

I suppose your point is that by being merely average now, it will be harder to get the high draft picks to launch yourself to the head of the class. However, that hasn’t necessarily been true in recent years either, as the top recent QBs (Mahomes, Jackson, Watson) have all be drafted in the mid-to-late first round.

Anyway, I’m glad you like the guy, because my hope is that he stays around a long time. I think he’s one of the best – if not THE best – GM in the league, though his resume doesn’t show it yet. It’s a real bummer that Luck retired.

I think that’s pretty unfair to say - 2 of the 3 positions you mentioned (QB and LT) were locked down prior to the season (albeit by people drafted pre-Ballard), and Ballard had no reason to think otherwise until the Luck retirement and the threat of a Castonzo retirement reared its head.

As for pass rusher, he’s drafted a few promising ones (Turay and Banogu) and signed a big name free agent DE (Houston). Admittedly still a work in progress, but outside of taking Chubb instead of Nelson in 2018, what moves didn’t Ballard make that you believe would have helped here? I don't think keeping John Simon would have made that big a difference.

The constant talk that this team is years away from good is just plain stupid by some.

Fact is they were Super Bowl contenders if Luck had not retired.... and Luck wasn’t an elite QB.....yet.

The fact this team won 7 games (beat 3 playoff teams that are still in it) with Brisset (a QB that is a backup on ALL 32 teams and 3rd string on a few) is why this team is not years away. Just stupid talk!

Tannehill for example, not even on Lucks level but a hell of a lot better than Brisset takes this Colts team deep into the playoffs.

Fact is, a capable starting QB on this team makes them a playoff team. Anything close to Luck a contender for sure.

Stop the doom and gloom we are closer than you think.

Chaka, haven’t you been one of the guys arguing with me from the beginning when I said that Ballard’s plan was a 3-4 yr process?

A great example of our different views on risk. To me, there was very little (almost zero) risk in those two signings. They stopped no move this year and have almost no risk for future years. 1 and 2 year contracts generally have very little risk when you are sitting on piles on salary cap space.

Roster is better in most areas, I won’t disagree at all. Just not at the positions most necessary for high level success. Yes, I think being a middle of the road franchise with no QB is a bad place to be. I’ll have to look up the numbers again, but every analysis I’ve ever seen suggests the percentages are better at the top of the draft, although obviously you can strike gold later.

My comment on QB, LT, and pass rusher were not meant specifically as a knock on Ballard, more as a comment on the state of the roster and whether or not we should be happy that they could have almost conceivably backed in to a playoff spot - if things had went their way more during the second half of the season AND you ignore when things went their way during the first half of the season.

But again, I want to point out that while Castonzo considering retirement can seem like a huge surprise (just like Luck’s) it is exactly why I was against such a long term vision with (as you noted) 2 of the 3 most important positions seemingly in place. Shit changes quickly in the NFL.

Also, needing an eventual replacement for AC was talked about by plenty of people. Here is part of one of my posts regarding the drafting of Nelson. I love the guy. How could you not? But a lot of people at the time were concerned about the tackle position more than guard. An immediate upgrade at RT that could replace AC down the road was a viable option to improve the line. And would have added an additional piece with the trade back. I don’t want to turn this in to a Nelson debate - if ever a guard was worth the 6th pick it’s Nelson. I’m simply pointing out that it is not a huge surprise that tackle is a need. And for as great as Nelson is, the line hasn’t played great without a good LT (with AC out).

You can't tell me that if Luck hadn't retired and if we had stayed healthy that this team couldn't have competed with the top of the league this year, or at least the top of the AFC. Ballard did it right, but things went very south for us from the day Luck retired all through the myriad of injuries, from Turay to TY.

Racehorse, when I said the team is further away regardless of Luck I think I should have clarified. I didn’t mean with Luck on this current team they are further away (yes that would be a ridiculous statement), I meant if Luck had never came back from the shoulder injury. That was the concern at the time Ballard took the job - that Luck would never recover and was done. IIRC there were rumors of him considering retirement then. That’s what I’m referring to. And again, that wasn’t so much a knock on Ballard (I understand he wouldn’t be looking for a QB if he expected Luck to return) as a comment on the perceived optimism because of the mediocre season and facing an offseason with no QB, possibly no LT, and huge question marks on the pass rush.

I disagree that Ballard did it right though even when I agree Lucks retirement screwed him. They lost to KC in the playoffs largely because of holes that were evident before the season started. Ballard did little to address them because of his long term plan. And if Luck had played this year IMO Ballard still was rolling with the long term over what was lacking for this season. If they went to the AFC title game with Luck but lost because of a lack of a pass rush and poor interior DLine play, you’d be saying the plan was all working. I’d see it as a missed opportunity. Just the difference in our views.

Again, I’ll point out that the exact reason I believe in being more aggressive is because of how quickly it all changes. Did I expect Luck to retire because of an off season leg injury? Of course not. But I absolutely did realize he was always one play away from not being the Colts QB going forward. That’s why wasting seasons banking on guys like Tyquan Lewis, Terrell Basham, and Quincy Wilson pissed me off. It’s why I thought it was stupid to cut guys like Simons and Hankins. You don’t gift guys spots, you make them earn it. But Ballards plan wasn’t to put the best team he could out there last year or this year. It was to do exactly what Chaka said - build that supposed base for long term success. Sounds great, but don’t use the unpredictable nature of the NFL as an excuse when it’s the very reason I argued against that method.

Chaka?

It’s a constant, irritating, narrative that we are constantly rebuilding. Really we had a shot to win it all in Luck’s last year and if he stayed this year as well.

I don’t see any evidence that Ballard’s method is superior to any other team’s method. Grigson has more winning seasons than Ballard at this point in their careers and it was really due to having a franchise QB. Ultimately you have to win no matter how much everyone likes the guy and his strategy.

Sorry, I fixed it after I seen it.

Seems the thinking is that if Grigson failed then doing the opposite must me the way to go. However, his plan was right. He just sucked as a talent evaluator and was an asshole. Ballard owes Grigson a huge thank you for the patience the fan base is willing to have after Grigson’s failures.

so tua officially declared for the draft.

if he is available would you draft him assuming the doctors think he will make a full recovery? is he too much of a future-injury risk?

Absolutely. He seems a perfect fit with Reich. To me the question is how much are you willing to give up to go get him? I think you’d have to move up to the Giants spot at 4 to get him. 5, 6, 7 are all possibilities for a QB. That will take a lot of draft capital

Absolutely would draft Tua, if healthy. Not a question in my mind.

The fan base will not be as patient as you think...

Ballard addressed the glaring problem the right way in the Oline where as Grigson kept throwing band-aids at it. The right QB in the next 1-2 years and I think we all fully understand his worth.

You forgot the use of two roster spots for long-term projects at WR, which became quite the problem when injuries hit. I've said it many times before, but a certain receiver who threw a touchdown pass this past weekend has been on the free agent market each of the past two years and would not have slowed any sort of long-term plan. If anything, having long-term projects on the roster slowed any real long-term growth at the receiver position.

With his health questions, he might be available at 13. If the Colts doctors think he'll recover, he fits Reich's offense well. I think he has some accuracy questions beyond the injury, and that may be a reason not to draft him, but he does make NFL throws frequently.