It's Done! Frank is gone!
 

Per Adam Schefter

Yep. I just heard it on the radio. Worst offense in the NFL. It had to be done. Lord help our hapless, useless, Colts.

Good. Now do the main cause - Ballard.

The coach is usually the fall guy, but that offense was led by a QB who has no business playing in the NFL. I will say between Ballard and Reich, Reich is the one who is more likely to be upgraded in replacement. If they get rid of Ballard, there's potential for another Ryan Grigson or worse.

huh. thought they would wait until the season ended.

Either Frank had no answers or Irsay wants to get a jump on somebody he had in mind.

Arians, Payton? Anybody know any other good HC candidates out there?

I would guess anyone who is good has a job, or is in a bad situation and would be ready to jump to a new opportunity here.

Who cares about waiting until the season ends. The only downside to waiting on that is that the instability could torpedo the chance the Colts have of making the playoffs this year.

Since I believe that chance is a number so low that NASA would have a hard time calculating it, I see now downsides.

The upsides are the Colts can now do a longer search for a better candidate, maybe the team turns it around with Frank gone (again, doubtful), and, most important, it means I can finally go on without begging for the guy to be let go each week.

I think Fox is the interim coach since he has the most experience. Could be Bradley, but going with Fox

Chopped will be along soon, but he has to finish his backflips first.

I don't think it will be Fox....unless Irsay/Ballard really twists his arm.


Keefer speculates that the interim might be Special Teams Coordinator Bubba Ventrone

i vote for bubba!

Who would call plays? Ryan? We fired the OC already.

It will either be Fox or Bubba because they have the least day to day and game day responsibilities.

Maybe Scottie Montgomery?

He has had OC experience in the college game and many view him as someone who will move up in the coaching ranks

Reich had a different starting QB every year, no consistent pass rush, no LT since AC left, and it took 3 years to (hopefully) get competent WR player. K has also been a roller coaster. Ballard has a good eye for talent but he has no idea how to actually build a team. This team is a reflection of what he has built and his philosophy. The ghost of Grigson has made Ballard teflon. Two different methods, same results.

How does Vrable keep winning then? He's got no WR's. Trash at QB. Missing his top pass rusher. His #2 pass rusher is injured. Missing his LT.

The titans clearly do not have the talent of the Colts, but they just keep winning!

I bet Irsay still has a rolodex, and Jim Harbaugh's number is in it....

Unbelievable cluster of a season. It's strangely relaxing to have no expectations at all for Sunday. I'm sure the 2-6 Raiders are looking forward to playing us.

Vrabel was taught how to cheat by one of the best cheaters in the game.

Nobody get your hopes up for Sean Payton. Zero chance of that happening.

Yuck

Reich needed to go, but make no mistake this shit show of a season is at least just as much if not more Ballard's fault. Ballard does have a good eye for talent though. Ideally it'd be good for him to stay on but become more flexible in his approach to the roster, or at least have learned from this dumpster fire and quit making rickolously unbelievable stupid decisions like placing Matt Pryor as our starting LT.

Ballards leash just got much shorter. I hope they show his ass the door sooner rather than later

If you think the issues I listed are a recipe for success then I question your sanity. In a QB driven league changing QBs every year, not being able to pass block, not being able to rush the passer, or having WRs that can’t get open affects wins and losses. Having one of them MAY be manageable. Having more than one isn’t. Ballard has consistently let multiple be an issue. Remember when he started the season with no DE with double digit sacks (in a 4-3 alignment) TOTAL FOR THEIR CAREER? How many winning team do you think have done that in the modern NFL?

The Colts supposedly have a great LG, great off ball LB, and a great RB. Let’s for a second ignore the fact those are three of the least valuable positions in football, but how big a fucking impact have they had this year? Now tell me what Ballard has done at QB, LT, and DE - actual positions that affect winning. Having Tannehill over the last 5 years would be an improvement over what the team has done. Consistency at the position matters.

I’d take Vrabel as a coach, the question isn’t if he’s better than Reich, it’s if anyone could win consistently with the teams Ballard has put on the field. But regardless Reich was Ballard’s second choice at HC. Want to discuss how great his first choice is doing? If Franks sucks as bad as you think, it looks like Ballard has the same eye for HCs that he does QBs, LTs, and DEs.

Well I'd say we also have one of the best interior DT combos in the league with Grover and Buckner. Also I'd lobby for Kwity Paye being the best edge-setting run defending DEs in the league. The secondary is adquate. The pass rush clearly is a weakness, we need a double digit sack guy on this line.

I can agree with all of that. But how big of a weakness is the pass rush really, when they haven't played from a lead all season?

What about Ken Dorsey? I know it's going back down the "hot OC" route, but I'm sure his name is going to be plenty popular in HC searches by the off-season.

What QB has he had a chance at? Josh Allen, but that would've been mindnumbingly stupid at the time given that we had no idea Luck would do what he did. Who else has been available to sign, draft, trade for, etc.? The Texans would not have traded Watson here, and I wouldn't want to be on the other side of that contract if he pulled a Russell Wilson. Speaking of Wilson, he's another guy that could've been overpaid for and flopped. Could've also traded for Stafford, looks like that worked out for 1 season, his statline currently looks as bad as Matt Ryan's. Looking at the draft there hasn't been an opportunity to get a QB without trading up unless they were clairvoyant and drafted Josh Allen somehow knowing Luck would retire. We don't know Ballard's eye for QBs because he's been sifting through the trash heap ever since Luck's retirement. We know his eye for DEs isn't the best, as evidenced by the wasted draft capital at the position, but he hasn't had a chance at QB and he may have found a starting LT in Round 3 of the most recent draft.

We should have known it was coming when we saw this!:D

Without trading up is the qualifier. That’s what Ballard is scared to do. He’s basically said it could cost him his job if he did it and missed. So serious question - where was the QB supposed to come from if you never trade up but have a decent roster otherwise. You don’t bottom out to get a top guy. You simply wait and hope to get lucky. That’s shitty team management considering it’s the single most important position in sports.

Ballard passed on Hurts and he’s better than the team has. And I advocated in 2020 to do whatever necessary to go get someone, and I said if you didn’t like one of them then they needed to trade one of their seconds for a future first to have ammunition in 2021 to go get their guy. The idea Ballard couldn’t do more than he’s done or that he’s even managed it reasonably well is BS.

He is kinda right. Looks at this list. It is exactly what the Chiefs did and it worked. You don't take a QB because you're forced to, you take him because you think he will succeed. Its been a minefield of bad QBs.

2019
Kyler Murray, 1st
Drew Lock
Dwayne Haskins
Ryan Finley
Jarrett Stidham
Daniel Jones
Clayton Thorson
Will Grier

2020
Joe Burrow, 1st
Justin Herbert
Jordan Love
Tua Tagovailoa
James Morgan
Jacob Eason
Jake Fromm
Jalen Hurts*

2021
Trevor Lawrence, 1st
Zach Wilson
Trey Lance
Justin Fields
Mac Jones
Davis Mills

2022
Kenny Pickett (Steelers)
Malik Willis (Titans)
Sam Howell (Commanders)
Desmond Ridder (Falcons)
Matt Corral (Panthers)
Chris Oladokun (Steelers)
Bailey Zappe (Patriots)
Brock Purdy (49ers)
Skylar Thompson (Dolphins)

That’s most years - especially evaluated so early. I’ve never suggested it’s easy and it’s not my biggest complaint with Ballard. But the team has a brighter future with Tua, Herbert, Hurts, and Fields. All expensive, but all obtainable. I get the risk. If you aren’t going to swing for a franchise guy then you need stability and support - like an OL and WRs. You can’t rotate QBs while taking 3-4 years to solve LT and WR. Not if you expect to win. Chiefs had stability with Smith. No coach will win with what Ballard has done.

That is a scary proposition when you look at this list. Giving up multiple picks to move up and getting a bust will cost your job. That said, I wish we could draft one in the first or second round and not have to keep looking. Others think just picking one in the first is a lock for a good QB. It isn't.

The list almost always looks like that. If it didn’t there wouldn’t always be so many teams desperate for a QB.

This! IMHO you can't blame Ballard for our QB situation. Yes, in hindsight he should have drafted Hurts in '20, but there were a lot of questions on him coming out of college. But you sure as shit can blame Ballard for the LT and RG situation as well as the WR situation over the past couple of years.

IMO you can’t blame him for the lack of a franchise guy. You can blame him for the ridiculous constant rotation and overall lack of a coherent plan.

That's completely unrealistic. Basically, you are saying "yeah well you should have traded up for 1 of the 4 successful QBs out of the 30 available." No one can live up to that standard. Plus the Dolphins and Chargers wanted those QBs, they had deals in place with the Lions and Giants if anyone tried to leapfrog them. You wouldn't be able to outbid them, there is a cap on how much you can offer. Everyone passed on Hurts bc he couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. And Fields maybe if they hadn't traded for Wentz who, if he worked out, would be a franchise QB.

He does have a plan, keep looking till you find one. Would it be better to have kept Brisset for several years?

There is nothing unique here. Every team looking for a QB is faced with the same dilemmas. To me that is literally the job for the GM of a rebuilding team. I’m not suggesting it’s easy by any means. You are pointing out how hard it is while saying the plan is to luck into a franchise guy falling to them that everyone else misses. I’m sorry, I don’t follow the logic. The way I see it you have three legit options: tank and earn a high enough pick to draft one, pay the price to move up to get one, or build the team around a mediocre vet and build up the supporting cast to help him. Ballard has done none of the three. He gets Rivers but doesn’t go in on the rest of the roster (especially WR) and then doesn’t want him back for a 2nd year. He gets Ryan then rolls the dice at LT, RG, WR, and TE. He hit at WR, but missed on the others. TE will be good in the future - a common theme. He can’t even find an average guy worthy of building around, so everything else becomes irrelevant. Buckner, JT, Grover, Okereke, Leonard, etc all waisted because he’s trying to half ass the most important position in sports.

The issue isn’t that Ballard hasn’t magically found a franchise QB, it’s that he has no logical plan to win given the teams current circumstances. Wait until something falls in our lap is not an acceptable plan. Pacers destroyed their entire fan base using the same philosophy. Ballard’s Colts are well on their way.

And can I ask what is unrealistic about not taking 3-4 years to address WR and LT? Maybe one of their attempts at lucking out with someone else’s cast off would have worked if there was a better supporting cast. Rivers and Ryan both may have been good enough given enough support.

I’m curious, how long is to long on the QB carousel before you think they need to try something different?

Now, come on...Ballard never said he was scared to draft a QB. Please cite to this source if you think he said anything close to this. I recall him saying that he won't pick a QB just to get the media off his back, because the media would love him at first, but over the long term making decisions just to please the media or fan base is a good way to lose your job. But that's nowhere close to saying he's scared to pick a QB. It's absurd to suggest this.