The rise and fall of the third Reich?
 

Three seasons into his tenure with the colts and despite two playoff appearances coach Reich is on the hot seat with some of the fans.
How do you feel about his abilities at this juncture? IMO he certainly deserve a measure of credit for the teams success however I do wonder how his questionable decisions through the season have affected team confidence.
Will we look back on today’s loss as a significant event in his downfall or will year four show marked improvement in his coaching with corresponding results on the field?

As I just posted in the game day thread, how about a little love for the OL today, no sacks given up!!

Fortunately Jim Irsay is smart enough to know he has the right coach and GM. This roster has done nothing but improve under Reich and Ballard and there's no reason to get rid of either of them. They need to find a QB, but once they do, they'll be competing for a Super Bowl every year.

I’m not nearly as down on Reich as it seems most are.

I was fine going for it on 4th. I figured Buffalo would get points before half and I didn’t think FG’s would beat them. Getting 7 or having them pinned deep was worth the risk IMO. They made some great plays. That’s really the difference in the game - they

Reich, Rivers and 2021
 

Keep Reich, let Rivers go, sign Carson Wentz and draft a QB

IMO Reich deserves credit and should not be on the hot seat, which seems like a knee jerk reaction to the loss today. Even though today was disappointing, 11-5 and giving probably the 2nd best team in the AFC (and possibly NFL) everything they could handle is overall a really good season and definitely improvement YOY.

There are definitely some things he needs to improve on:

- Our end of half/game clock management needs a lot of improvement.
- He should probably reign in passing on FGs a bit. Not only did it cost us today, but it should have lost the game at Hou.
- He gets too cute on his play calling at times. The set of downs that led to said passed on FG being prime examples.
- He definitely needs work on his in game adjustments and inexplicably abandons the run too often.

If he cleans up some of that then he'll be a top flight coach IMO.

The point of trading for Wentz is to put off the QB position for one more year. You draft a LT if you trade for Wentz.

They are going to have to find an LT in the next two years and I think they'll have to invest high but god I pray Wentz and his glass skeleton are not under center for Indianapolis next year.

They should have a plan to compete for rings in the next two years and playing games like this is going to waste the prime years for the youth they have in the trenches now.

Draft the fucking LT, or draft the kid out of Alabama who just runs - different (because TY can't beat 1 on 1 coverage), and then break the fucking bank and give Rogers whatever the fuck he wants.

First off Reich is going nowhere and I don't question his decisions, just the execution and the personnel when he calls them.

I have no interest in Wentz and don't believe that LT is our biggest need. We need an Edge rusher that can be a force on every down. We have not fared well against mobile QB's this season because we have no speed on the outside.

If they trade for wentz I would guess they plan on him playing more than one year.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The bolded is my main issue today.

I don't mind playing to win. I hate overtime on a meaningful level.

But HOW he went about doing that today. I don't understand it and I feel they overthink things.

I just hope Reich isn’t sentimental wrt Rivers. They need to be exploring every single available option to secure the qbotf. Rivers will win games but he’s not winning Super Bowls and every year with him under center is a year spinning their wheels.

I was thinking about this today and I believe this roster is top 5 in the entire league in terms of top to bottom talent, outside of quarterback. It’s a damn shame that that position is holding us back.

Was listening to Keefer and Holders podcast last week and they made an interesting point re Reich- he has always been and will always be unique in the way he calls an offense. When it works, it looks amazing, but when it doesn’t, it can look bad. That’s the trade off you have to make with him.

I think he’s an excellent coach and I think he’s getting better every week. It’s games like today and Pittsburgh that make you wonder, but you have to take the good with the bad. I think with Luck this offense would have been nigh near unstoppable by now.

I didn’t like going for 2 the first time


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nor did I. I know what he was thinking, but I still don't like the call

If you hear anybody make this comment, you need to ask them who do they think the Colts could hire that would be significantly better.

I still view Reich as an above average coach - I don't think he is a top 5 coach, but I think he is in the next tier. The Colts could certainly do worse if they had to pick a new coach.

The players like playing for him.

He has had a different starting QB every year he has been head coach - will there be a 4th different QB next year?

The challenge on that fumble was so mind numbingly bad that is hard to fathom that people who get paid a lot of money for these decisions made it. It wasn't close, it has no chance on hell of being overturned, and it cost the team a timeout when they really, v really, really could have used it at the end.

I didn’t have a problem with the call. With the investment the team has made on the oline they should be able to convert from the one. And if they failed they had another shot to make the point back (as happened). I don’t think it was the obvious call, but I don’t see it as a bad one.

Reich is ok with me. Just stop getting so cute all the time at the goal line.

No on Wentz. He is too fragile and not that great. Draft a QB, see what’s available on the market. We need accuracy at the position. Rivers missed guys in key situations. Gotta be able to hit open guys.

Strengthen the roster. We need pass rush, corner, WR. Hopefully LT isn’t a need yet.

Reich is not and should not be on the HOT seat, he needs to dial back some of his aggression and "cute" plays, but he is a solid coach and I think will continue to get better.

I agree. Especially about the "cute" plays... That's one of the reasons I hope Brissett moves on.

Either they get Wentz and he's the franchise QB we all want, in which case you've put it off for much more than 1 year, or he's not, in which case he'll perform poorly and put the Colts in striking distance of drafting a franchise QB with a Top 10 pick.

The Colts should get their LT of the future in this draft. Castanzo is incredibly likely to retire in 2022 if he doesn't in 2021.

Eason, PJ Walker , or a rookie QB

That’s my list no need to pay a guy 25 mil or up

I’d be really interested in Walker

Or, he misses games each year we get 8-9 wins and pick middle of the pack


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Isn't he in Carolina?

Yea but they have bridge water and were showing interest in Haskins

I could see them letting him go

If they do, wouldn't that mean he isn't worth much?

Or they feel like Haskins has more potential/ higher ceiling

If he misses a bunch of games, then the Colts would be likely to get the top 10 pick and draft a guy. I want to see what this coaching staff can do with a complete team.

If he were to miss 3-4 games a year that doesn’t guarantee a top 10 pic.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, any plan can go worse than expected. So doing nothing is better, then?

Do nothing? Thats not what i said at all. If we have to give up decent capital, plus pay him a lot and he has a history of getting hurt, its doesn’t seem like a good idea to me.

Now he does have familiarity with reichs system and has played well in the past so maybe it would work out fine....but as the saying goes “the best ability is availability “


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Pederson was just fired, so I'm thinking that this may decrease the likelihood of a Wentz trade. Hard to say for sure though.

My Coach!

Jim did good this time.