[Wyatt]

I've listed a few of my favorite Ballard Quotes from this interview one of the best articles yet that I've found on Ballard's change of culture.


Referring to Luck's presser after the Chiefs put an ass whooping on us

“And so I watched the press conference with Andrew, and he owned it all,” Ballard said from his new office on Tuesday. “Didn’t throw anyone under the bus. He owned everything. His mistake or not, he owned everything. And I’ll never forget going down, and I told [Chiefs GM John] Dorsey, ‘Boy, I just watched one of the best press conferences I’ve ever seen.’ A kid who owned it all. And that’s what the great leaders do—they don’t point fingers and they don’t blame.

The defense stands to have five new starters in the front seven and, if rookies win jobs in the secondary, seven new starters overall. And yet, the offensive lineup may well not undergo a single change.

Regarding Jack Doyle

“We liked him in Kansas City,” Ballard said. “And finding out what he stood for—he was an undrafted kid who was cut, claimed by Indy, who had to earn his way and earn everyone’s respect, and earn his playtime. And then he produced. And he’s great in the locker room, he’s great in the community. He’s everything we want a Colt to be. That was priority No. 1, to make sure that we got Jack Doyle done.”

“When you pay a player who has not earned it, who is not a great worker, who doesn’t make an impact in the locker room, [players] know it,” Ballard said. “They know who’s earned it. … I’ve never been around a good team in this league where the locker room didn’t hold each other accountable, didn’t put pressure on each other to win. That’s what you have to have. They know. They know.”

Regarding the FA Signings

“We wanted to do shorter-term deals, that way all of them have a chance to hit free agency again,” said Ballard. “The flip side, for us, we know we’re gonna get the best out of them, because they know there’s another contract on the back side of this.”
After saying that, and going back to “the locker room knows” theme, the Colts GM was quick to reinforce that “every guy we’ve signed, from John Simon to Hankins to Sheard, have all earned it. All of them have earned it.” This just gives them a shot to earn even more.

Talking about the O-line

“I’ll give [previous GM[ Ryan Grigson a lot of credit for this—he drafted [center Ryan] Kelly, [tackle Joe] Haeg and [tackle] Le’Raven Clark all in one year,” Ballard said. “Thank god he did, because [the 2017 draft] was a down year for offensive line. We gotta let those guys develop. So it’s the combination of [left tackle] Anthony Castonzo, [guard] Jack] Mewhort, Kelly, Haeg, L’Raven Clark, Denzelle Good, we signed Brian Schwenke from Tennesse, we drafted [Zach] Banner. ...
“Are we perfect yet? No. But do we have a good group to work with? I do believe that. There’s definitely hope there. Now we gotta let those guys develop.”

More than just Luck

“Everybody knows how hard that position is to find,” Ballard said. “When you have a guy with special talent at the position and he’s got special character on top of it, that’s a pretty good thing. But the one big thing I’ve made a point of here, it’s not just Andrew. We’ve got to have the best 53-man roster, and that includes Andrew.
“That’s how we’ll help him, by making the roster around him better both offensively and defensively. That’s what we’re gonna do. It can’t be just about Andrew.”

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/05/11/i...d-nfl-notebook