Quick thoughts on Dolphins-Colts

[omahacolt]

Originally Posted by Chaka

Look, there’s a long term plan in place which, for some reason, you seem intent on torpedoing. You’re preferred approach has been proven incorrect over and over again, but you still insist on whining about the Colts’ free cap space. I gave you a perfectly good real-world example of this, but you ignore it because it doesn’t fit your world view and then you whine even more.

Yes, it’s easy enough to identify the good moves the Colts made after the fact (Mitchell, Glowinski, Inman, etc.), but how about providing some specific recommendations going forward? I’ve invited you to do this repeatedly, and you just ignore it. I get that this seems to be your shtick here, but who did you advocate the Colts use their cap space to sign this last offseason? Let talk about how those moves would have played out.

The Colts have exceeded nearly everyone’s expectations so far. That’s a fact. Yet you still criticize and complain that they should have done things differently. Yes, of course it is good to surround Luck with “as much talent around him as you can” – but I’ve challenged you to explain what talent you are referring to, and whether it would be any better than what we currently have. All I hear in response is crickets.

The colts are one game over 500. I am pretty sure that is about where most people here expected them to be. We will see where they end up. If they are 9-7 or 10-6, that is awesome. But how could anyone not wonder what they could have been if they tried harder.

The packers have an all world qb and they have 1 super bowl win to show for it. They believe in Ballard’s approach. Polian was the same way with manning. They won 1 super bowl.

The patriots on the other hand use any means necessary to add talent. They are constantly in the super bowl or the afc title game.

Andrew Luck is an all world qb. Why anyone would want to limit him at any time? You go all in every year. I will never fault a coach or gm for trying to win.

I am not going to name guys I wanted at this point. I don’t remember. And it doesn’t matter. It’s not my job. I don’t have all the information Ballard does.

[Racehorse]

Originally Posted by JAFF

They did that with Pagano and Grigson. Threw money and picks around and it didn't work well.

I like what Ballard is doing. He has HIS guys as a foundation. When there is a free agent he thinks will work here, he's going to go get him. He didn't flinch going after McDaniels as a coach. He didn't hesitate when McDaniels screwed us, (thank you Jesus) he was decisive and Reich was perfect.

And while hindsight is perfect, what top name, top of his game player was going to sign in Indy with Luck's health a major mystery. Luck's play is going to increase interest in this next off season.

I hear Bell is intrigued about playing alongside a healthy Luck.

[Racehorse]

Originally Posted by omahacolt

The colts are one game over 500. I am pretty sure that is about where most people here expected them to be. We will see where they end up. If they are 9-7 or 10-6, that is awesome. But how could anyone not wonder what they could have been if they tried harder.

The packers have an all world qb and they have 1 super bowl win to show for it. They believe in Ballard’s approach. Polian was the same way with manning. They won 1 super bowl.

The patriots on the other hand use any means necessary to add talent. They are constantly in the super bowl or the afc title game.

Andrew Luck is an all world qb. Why anyone would want to limit him at any time? You go all in every year. I will never fault a coach or gm for trying to win.

I am not going to name guys I wanted at this point. I don’t remember. And it doesn’t matter. It’s not my job. I don’t have all the information Ballard does.

I know I wanted Norwell, as did most of us on here. However, hindsight says I was wrong about him. Now, did Ballard know how it would work out without him? I doubt he did and think he likely feels very fortunate in how it ultimately worked out for us.

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by VeveJones007

And I'm not claiming it's "right." I'm just saying you and rm are getting your panties in a twist for no good reason. Only championships matter and no big UFA signings last offseason would have made a material difference in this team's odds to win their next Super Bowl, this season or in the future.

The cap space has to be used at some point. Why not use it when it maximizes the team's chance to win a title?

My panties aren’t in a twist. I’m fully enjoying watching the young guys. I just believe the team could easily be in a better position than they are now if not for the forced youth movement. And where you apparently don’t see value in a playoff appearance, I see a lot of value for a young team. Especially with an elite QB playing at the top of his game.

[albany ed]

Just curious, and don't feel like doing the research, but does anyone know which free agents performed equal or better for the amount of the signing this year.

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by albany ed

Just curious, and don't feel like doing the research, but does anyone know which free agents performed equal or better for the amount of the signing this year.

Chaka made a thread a week or two ago about an article from sportrac ranking teams free agent hauls. It attempts to evaluate players against their contracts.

http://www.coltfreaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58190

[Colt Classic]

People keep throwing out the biggest of the big name free agents from last year. This team has lost 4 close games that came down to just a few plays. You don't need a $20 million free agent to swing 4 games that are that close, at least to the point where two of the four would become wins--and at that point, they would be fully in the driver's seat for the division. Forget Norwell, remember all the drops from the receivers over those close games? Sure, that's hopefully behind them now, but one more veteran receiver for 1 year, $6 million could've been useful when no one else could catch the ball. I've given the example of John Brown before, yet everyone is too busy citing Norwell as the only example since I guess he was linked to a bit of interest from the Colts. I don't care who wanted Norwell--that takes one Google search for "top free agents by position" to come to that brilliant idea that the Colts should have him on their want list.

I'll offer another option--trades. If you honestly looked at the depth and thought the WR position was good to go at the start of the year, great. It has turned into a strength, but again, those close games with the drops told a different story at the time. Kevin White on the Bears. Bears fans seem to think he's a bust, but who knows if it's just because he had a shaky Trubisky throwing to him last year. Maybe he does suck, but maybe he's better than Chester Rogers as your best option when another guy gets dinged.

[Oldcolt]

Is anyone up for making a run at Le'veon Bell next off season? Good runner, great pass blocker and catcher. Had a rep for being good in locker room. Hard nose player that seems to fit in what we are trying to build around here. Would improve running and passing game. We keep our draft picks. Cost us a ton of money but then what are we saving it for if not an elite difference maker in his prime? For me, this is the kind of guy you throw money at.

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by omahacolt

The colts are one game over 500. I am pretty sure that is about where most people here expected them to be. We will see where they end up. If they are 9-7 or 10-6, that is awesome. But how could anyone not wonder what they could have been if they tried harder.

The packers have an all world qb and they have 1 super bowl win to show for it. They believe in Ballard’s approach. Polian was the same way with manning. They won 1 super bowl.

The patriots on the other hand use any means necessary to add talent. They are constantly in the super bowl or the afc title game.

Andrew Luck is an all world qb. Why anyone would want to limit him at any time? You go all in every year. I will never fault a coach or gm for trying to win.

I am not going to name guys I wanted at this point. I don’t remember. And it doesn’t matter. It’s not my job. I don’t have all the information Ballard does.

So you're "pretty sure" that most people were expecting the colts to be above .500 at this point? Really? Because I distinctly recall a lot more dire predictions, particularly when the Colts didn't sign the big name free agents that they were rumored to be interested in. I also recall several people, yourself included, openly complaining about Ballard's draft picks and the terrible roster he had assembled. Now you want to rewrite history to suggest that you expected this all along. Not so.

And I don't accept your premise that the Manning-led Colts failed to win more than one Super Bowl because they weren't spending in free agency. Please back up that statement with some facts because, honestly, your posts are pretty light on them. Talent was never the problem with those Colts - we had plenty back then. We won the division nearly every year, and set plenty of offensive records. But we lost a lot of playoff games we should have won, whether due to coaching, player performance or just plain bad luck. And before your Patriots envy gets out of control, remember who you're speaking about - they're convicted cheaters, so please don't cite to them as an example of model organization.

The idea that you go "all in" on free agency every year is short-sighted and limiting. This isn't FanDuel - you can have a long term plan. For the umpteenth time, I'll repeat again that the unused cap space this year is NOT LOST - it will still be there next year, and the next. The idea is to get the most out of your resources. Ballard's plan, as he has expressed it himself, is to let the team create a culture organically before adding big personalities/paychecks - particularly on defense. This plan is working. Not only are we outperforming this year, but we will have a built-in competitive advantage going forward for then next several years by virtue of our increased cap space.

But yet you endlessly complain about their failure to spend THIS year, and the Colts failure to sign these theoretical "good" players who would have improved the Colts without disturbing the progress they have already made. It's an easy and cheap complaint, but has no substance.

[VeveJones007]

Originally Posted by rm1369

My panties aren’t in a twist. I’m fully enjoying watching the young guys. I just believe the team could easily be in a better position than they are now if not for the forced youth movement. And where you apparently don’t see value in a playoff appearance, I see a lot of value for a young team. Especially with an elite QB playing at the top of his game.

And that better position in 2018 could have hurt their chances in future years. For example, say you sign Norwell to a massive deal and he goes the way of Jack Mewhort. That cap burden limits your flexibility to add or re-sign an important player or players in a year when you actually have a chance to win a title.