Quote:
Originally Posted by Kray007
After years of trying and striking out, Ballard found a quarterback in Daniel Jones.
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o
I would say that Ballard didn't strike out in 2020 also, when a 39 year-old Philip Rivers led the Colts to an 11-5 record and a playoff berth. The largely immobile 39 year-old Rivers was playing behind an excellent offensive line that season ...... Rivers was not sacked once and was literally untouched in the Wildcard playoff game against the Bills, a game which went right down to the wire on the Bills' homefield in northwestern New York State.
I wouldn't count the 2019 season against Ballard because of the fact that Andrew Luck retired abruptly only 2 weeks before the start of the regular season ...... Ballard had no choice but to roll with Jacoby Brissett that season.
So Ballard had 4 consecutive seasons of being unable to find a solid quarterback from 2021 through 2024, although Carson Wentz was close ...... Wentz gets blamed for shitting the bed at the worst time in the final 2 games of the lone season that he played for the Colts, as he should ...... but he also led that Colts to a 9-6 record prior to that late-season collapse, and had 27 TD's, 7 INT's, and a passer rating of 93.1 for that season.
So Ballard's inability to find a solid quarterback for the team spanned 4 seasons, from 2021 through 2024.
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On the other hand, I would put the disastrous 2022 season entirely on Ballard, as I thought that it was a minor miracle that Matt Ryan had the Colts with a record of 4-5-1 after 9 games with that atrocious line blocking for him. That offensive line was nothing short of awful that year ...... in fact, if Philip Rivers had had that same terrible offensive line "protecting" him, I think that that 2020 solid, playoff season would have resembled the disastrous 2022 season. Philip Rivers had the mobility of a statute at that point in his career, and there is almost no way that he would have survived that season without getting killed, let alone led the team to an 11-5 record and a playoff berth. Philip Rivers had one of the best offensive lines in all of football blocking for him in 2020, which is the complete opposite of the line that Matt Ryan had "blocking" for him.
o