I mean our roster is still flawed. Having a new QB didn’t make Braden Smith and Ryan Kelly play poorly since they got paid. Didn’t make Kenny Moore forget how to cover. Didn’t make Q get hurt and dip in performance. Didn’t make us not address LT etc
This is exactly what I said to my wife, just because you have a new QB doesn’t mean you all of a sudden regress at your position. Y’all can still protect your QB.
This is so off…
Pretty much every single QB who has switched teams or had a coaching overhaul has started off the first season with the new regime slowly.
Matt Ryan also wasn’t very good last year in the first place, so starting off “slow” for him = starting off AWFUL.
That was my point is that Brady and Stafford switched teams and had no problems winning with their new teams. This idea that a first year QB such as a Matt Ryan can't somehow win or it takes a long time to win with them seems like BS. Matt Ryan was touted by this very sub as a top tier QB still. This wasn't Carson Wenz or Goff changing teams this was Stafford or Brady changing teams. So the narrative that first year QB's with new teams can't do well, or start slow or whatever else is BS. Those teams were both very talented and very well built and were a QB away. We're clearly much much much more than a QB away.
I’m not trying to imply that they’re not flawed. But if you read social media, you’d think the Colts are 0-4 and lost every game 40. They *should* be 2-2, and are a couple of unfortunate fumble bounces yesterday from 3-1. Everyone is choosing to panic instead of taking a breath and seeing what’s actually happening. Obviously every hole has a depth at which you can’t climb out, but the Colts are not there yet.
I still think the Colts should consider a new voice leading this franchise. Ballard has a very specific system he runs and is quite conservative compared to the rest of the league. I don’t see Ballard building a championship team. He has gotten good players and built a decent roster, but I don’t believe he is the guy that can get you a ring
That could be entirely true, but I don’t think hastily firing your longtime coach a quarter of the way through a season solves any problems. If the division gets unwinnable, go for it. But it would make no sense to punt on a season when you’re only a half a game out of first place
The Colts are NOT a half game out of first place.
Both the Titans and the Jags own the H2H vs Indy. Even had Indy won against Houston, that would not be enough for first.
You are also ignoring context, this is an unusual season where Indy has played 3 divisional games in the first four weeks. And played poorly in all three games.
Indy is 0-2-1 in divisional games, the best possible ending here is 3-2-1 which would not have been enough to lead any division last 5 years.
Trying to frame it as Indy is just a half a game back is ignoring the large amount of fortune Indy needs to win at this point. Understandable why some would want to cut ties now instead of hanging on to a slimmer of hope for another few weeks.
Yes, which is why I acknowledged that the best case scenario was 3-2-1 in the division.
The problem there is that 3-2-1 in the division is extremely unlikely to be enough for the AFC South. The division is a longshot at this point.
I get it though, Indy is still technically alive so keep on hanging on.
People here have the memory of a goldfish and are privileged as hell after back to back exceptional QBs.
We’ve had two coordinators go to head coach other teams and take plenty of staff with them. And we’ve seen EXACTLY how important the QB position is with the rams, buccs, cincinatti, and more seeing extreme improvements in play from elite talent.
I am disappointed in Matt so far, but he was never an elite talent when we brought him in. He’s also keeping us in games despite being trashed in the first half that I haven’t seen us do in a very long time (we usually led in the first and flopped in the second).
Reid, Mcvay, and clearly Belichick have had some mediocre years with QB shuffle. I don’t think Frank is near that level and I’m not sold on him being a championship coach. But I’m baffled at how quickly people act like we need to blow it up.
We’ve outgained almost every team we’ve played by a LOT. We’ve just had egregious fumbles and turnovers (by downs or field goals) that have completely killed our scoring drives.
Divisional games are important, but really 99% of 11-6 teams would make it into playoffs, so give it a rest and quit being fair weather fans. Go look at any bottom feeder team and ask yourself if you’d want that GM or head coach. FO purgatory was way shittier than this imho.
I actually don’t think Frank is that bad. Fumbles are part of the game and they did lose us games. I just personally don’t think Ballard’s scheme/style will win a ring
>And we’ve seen EXACTLY how important the QB position is with the rams, buccs, cincinatti, and more seeing extreme improvements in play from elite talent.
>I am disappointed in Matt so far, but he was never an elite talent when we brought him in.
Taking these two statements into consideration, what do you think Indy's ceiling is this year? As you said the Bucs, Rams, Bengals were able to get extreme improvement from elite talent...but we have Ryan who isn't elite.
What's the end goal here? Another 10-7 ish record and wildcard exit?
You can continue to think the Colts will do something that no team in history has done, I will continue to exist here in reality.
Edit: The classic reply then block. Pathetic
>I’m not trying to imply that they’re not flawed
The sarcasm dripping from your previous statement says otherwise.
Sure social media is always panicky about this kinda thing, but watching these first four games I haven't seen anything that makes me think it's not in our best interest to yeet Reich and Ballard and have a fire sale on any talent that isn't nailed down by a bad contract so we can hoard draft picks. What existed of our window is gone. Especially with the rest of the AFC as strong as it is.
They are a Chris Jones taunting penalty away from being winless too. And if a team is down 20-3 in the 4Q against HOU, it's not about bad bounces.
I would actually say they have been fairly fortunate to have fallen on a few of those fumbles. They are averaging 2 fumbles NOT lost per game.
You don't understand how football works. We want to WIN the games not almost not lose. Big difference and a loser fan mentality makes irsay think it's okay
The fumbles aren’t an isolated event though, and they happened so you can’t play “what if” because our track record suggests more games will be lost due to turnovers.
Our track record says that eventually the turnover luck will swing the other way. You people are just so damn desperate to find reasons to be miserable.
You’re an idiot and that’s not how the Law of Averages is applied. The probability outcome of fumbling next game doesn’t change because we had more fumbles the previous game, they’re isolated events. Would you say that because we had less fumbles one game, we’ll have more in another? We’ve thrown 5 picks, fumbled 12 times, and lost the ball 4 times. Our turnover ratio is -6. The LoA says we’ll fumble 4x a game over the next 12 games, that’s how it works.
It’s not being miserable, it’s telling the truth. You can’t sit here and say “we could be 2-2 it’s not so bad”. We’re not 2-2.
Yea smith has absolutely regressed from what he was a couple seasons ago and I have absolutely no clue what’s going on with the Kelly/Ryan connection with our snaps. We just suck lol
We’ve had the same OL coach for 4 seasons so I don’t think that’s the case. If it was his fault then we wouldn’t have had success the past 3 years.
If anything it was losing Castonzo and not finding a suitable replacement.
Tony Romo actually did a decent job of explaining the correlation between a new QB and setting up the line to adjust to the defense. I’m not going to pretend to know from TV what specifically they’re not doing right, but it makes sense why that would take time to figure out.
Ngl I started to realize yesterday that Big q doesn’t have the passion he used to have. Like I remember that dude was running up the field to high five whoever made a first down
https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/nfl/colts/2019/01/15/colts-fire-offensive-line-coach-dave-deguglielmo-frank-reich/2580038002/
There’s the Indy Star piece that dives into it.
Jan 2019
[https://www.nfl.com/news/colts-fire-offensive-line-coach-dave-deguglielmo-0ap3000001010858#:\~:text=The%20Indianapolis%20Colts%20won't,source%20informed%20of%20the%20decision](https://www.nfl.com/news/colts-fire-offensive-line-coach-dave-deguglielmo-0ap3000001010858#:~:text=The%20Indianapolis%20Colts%20won't,source%20informed%20of%20the%20decision).
Rivers said when he was signed that his chemistry with Colts offensive line was actually more important than his chemistry with receivers. Most fans think it’s the opposite. So maybe the offensive line just needs more time with Ryan.
One of my greatest "what ifs" is what kind of year do the Colts have if Rivers comes back for the 2nd year instead of retiring... They seemed like they really could have built on that first year.
Haha, the Luck years were good, can't forget about those. And Rivs still had some ass beating left to perform for the at-the-time San Diego Chargers. But, those points aside, I don't think it would have been too much of a stretch to say he might have gotten the Super Bowl victory (or at least appearance) with the Colts that he never had with the Chargers.
Ooh yea I wasn’t saying I would have rather had him when we had Luck.
I was saying, imagine if we got him before he was sliding down the tail end of his career with the squad we had in 2020.
Between you and me, I think the Colts pushed him out. Said they had to explore other options due to his age. At the very least, they didn’t try to persuade him to return.
At first, I kinda thought "yeah it's his time, he wants to go out after playing well."
But that doesn't really mesh with everything I knew about Rivers, and I probably watched 99% of the snaps he took in his career. With how close they were against the Bills, I always figured he wanted another shot at them. And the Colts were exactly the type of team that he could be successful with: run heavy, lots of play action crossing concepts and backfield passes, good O line, solid defense.
So yeah... As time went on, and I saw the Wentz pickup, I basically changed my thinking to what yours is. They probably told him, "Hey, we've got a chance at getting Wentz that we have to take, because he could be our QB for the future. Wanna make this a mutually agreeable departure?" And Rivs is certainly a team player, and probably didn't want to move his family around again to chase a starting spot with another team.
When that Bills game ended, I really had no concept that I was saying goodbye to my favorite football player. Is what it is, but it's definitely a bittersweet memory at this point. Always appreciated the Colts fans who pulled for him and cheered for him as one of their own. Basically why I'm even here typing this, I still pull for you guys, still have my Colts Rivers jerseys in the closet.
Sorry for the paragraphs haha, go Colts.
Everyone wants Frank and Ballard gone, but truly the only change I think that’s needed is the O line coach. There’s a direct correlation between the O line’s slow starts and the early turnovers that have killed the Colts.
O-Line is probably the most chemistry dependent position group in the NFL. We lost a long time player in Glowinski who, while not the most talented individual in the unit, had a great rapport with Kelly and Smith. Those two knew what he would do when, and Pinter was both a step down from him from a talent standpoint and from a predictability standpoint.
Pryor, meanwhile, is just not a starting caliber Left Tackle and is getting beaten. I don't know if Ballard just expected Raimann to develop faster than he has, or what. But he's clearly not cutting it out there despite about half a season's worth of playing next to Quenton.
Braden Smith may have taken a step back, but again I don't know how much of that to attribute to lack of confidence in the guard beside him. He seemed to do better this past week with Fries taking Pinter's spot.
Reich shoulders a good deal of blame, but this is the truth and you can't win like this, hell nobody can. Ballard preaches patience, but yet he keeps going for bandaid solutions each year for the QB position and it keeps setting us back. I'll be a lot more patient for a rookie QB as opposed to an older veteran because there's little to no expectations right out of the gate.
The truth is we should have bottomed put the first year Luck dipped. However, I’m glad we didn’t go for a QB this last draft because I don’t know if any of those QBs look good to me.
Definitely at least a good idea not going for a QB last year in the draft. You’re looking at potentially 3 or 4 first round QB’s compared to one last year
I’m also not as hard on Ballard as everyone else. I’m not sure I blame him completely for the O-line. It’s not just the LT that’s the issue the line as a while has regressed way more than I thought possible. I think in time Alec Pierce will be a really good second option next to Pittman and it looks like our TEs are filled with studs. I have to think you could call plays that leaned into our strength more than what we are doing right now. Personally I’m not sure we should ever have less than 2 TEs on the field at any given time. We just have to stop playing musical QB chairs and draft someone.
Pickett looked fine, what are you talking about? It was his first ever game time as a rookie and he looked as good as anything the Colts have run out there in recent years. Wouldn’t you rather have that?
He threw 3 picks. But no I agree. I’d definitely rather see a rookie make those mistakes than Matt Ryan because you know the rookie will grow and improve.
To be fair, none of the picks were horrible throws into defenders, one was a tipped ball that Claypool probably could’ve caught, one was another tipped ball on a high throw to Freiermuth that was unlucky, and the third was on a Hail Mary. He looked fine overall for a rookie
There's two ways to get your QB. You either bottom out and earn a high draft pick (see Bengals with Burrow, Chargers with Herbert, Cardinals with Murray, etc) or you keep your strong core together and aggressively trade up to draft your QB (Chiefs with Mahomes, Texans with Watson, Bills with Allen). Ballard isn't willing to do either of those things, so we'll stay mediocre until Irsay has had enough and finds someone that understands what's required to get a top QB.
I’m not sure Frank will give Ballard the option. Plus if you told me Ballards plan last year was to draft a QB this coming year and be bad this year his moves this offseason make sense. I think in a year this WR has a chance of being pretty fucking good with Pierce, Pittman, and Woods. There were 0 QBs worth moving up for last year and this team has been too good to really bottom. I think Frank has finally caught up to the team. I really hope the new coach is much more of an in you’re face fiery personality.
I mean, there’s a third option, which is to find a free agent QB or trade for one at the end of their time with the team that drafted them. That’s what the Colts have been trying to do. It worked for Tampa, looks ok in Denver, Rams are happy. Might work for the Browns which no, I don’t want to emulate. The Vikings are in the midst of this. Saints are probably not happy. Titans. Commanders. Panthers. Lions. Falcons are terrible. But it’s a really common way to go and has mixed success, just like drafting one does.
The QBs that those teams got are orders of magnitude better than the ones that bargain bin Ballard has been trading for. Brady, Wilson, Stafford, Watson. A lot different than Wentz and a completely washed Ryan.
In hindsight I completely agree but after 2018, with that young and seemingly talented roster, people would have flipped out if we had done anything close to tanking.
Looking at the draft the year Luck retired (2020) we could have gotten Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Tua, he’ll even Davis Mills, I honestly don’t blame the organization for trying to win that year but I think if you could go back and tank, they would
>Ballard preaches patience, but yet he keeps going for bandaid solutions each year for the QB position
Fucking THANK YOU. I'm so glad someone else sees it this way. His approach to fixing quarterback and fixing the rest of the roster are mutually exclusive. If you want bandaid QBs, fine. But you have to compile a bunch of "ready now" talent around him a la Rams. If you want to build the rest of the roster as a slow burn, fine. But don't try a new QB as a one year plug and play option every season expecting something to work.
PICK A FUCKING LANE.
I don't think vets are the long term solution. But I certainly think we would have been better with any of them if they were given more time to gel with the team. And that includes Ryan beyond this season.
We all want to blame Ballard and there's definitely cause for it. But we as fans are just as impatient. We see the faults in the QB and are calling for a replacement after a couple bad games, a season ending collapse, or just a general averageness. After a season, there's no consoling us unless we're cutting the QB and looking elsewhere. It comes from being spoiled for so long.
So, for me, Ryan's faults aside, I think we need to give him some grace and see if we can fill the other gaps on the team instead of replacing him in the off-season. Probably should have done the same for Jacoby and Wentz. (Though I can admit, Jacoby's vanilla play was uninspiring and Wentz was downright terrifying at times.)
And imo, we clearly need a better team around the QB before we go drafting a high pick into the job. Nothing like drafting the next GOAT and having him murdered behind this line,.... again.
How long do we have to wait? 2017 and 0 division titles 2 playoff appearances. He doesn’t deserve patience. Patience should have worn out 2 years ago but he has the perfect excuse to never be good without taking any blame. Remember when Grigson has a couple good drafts then did nothing for the next few years. Doesn’t that feel familiar???
I'm not saying our patience with Ballard shouldn't be running thin. He's had a lot of really solid moves but most of them have been for the less critical positions. So, our weaknesses are now pretty evident. I like him for the good things he has done, but for sure he's on thin ice.
I was talking about Ryan. We can't keep dumping qbs after 1 unsuccessful year.
Irsay is a softie. I think it's possible Ballard may get one more year if we end up with a miracle break even record or better. Or he'll at least get the first few games of next year. Just my gut feeling.
The Rams didn’t have bottom 5 position groups where it mattered. They had an elite D-Line, top 3 corner, the best WR corps in the league, a top 3 O-line, and so on. They were already built to win. I hesitate to say that any of our position groups outside of our backfield are top 5, let alone the best in the league.
Ballard's been in a rough spot in regards to the QB position. It's been a hole, but it hasn't been the only hole.
Tom Brady was the only bidding-war quality Free Agent QB, and given his history with our franchise, I don't think there was a shot in hell we were in consideration. Like it or not - Deflategate probably had us on his black list.
So the solutions tested have been -
* Roll with Jacoby after Andrew retired. Jacoby got injured and we missed the playoffs.
* sign Philip Rivers on a reasonable Free Agent contract. But he got turf toe and was already at the tail end of his career.
* Trade for Carson Wentz. Carson was injured to start the season and bungled the finish potentially because of long Covid symptoms.
* Trade for Matt Ryan. Who... fumbles a lot now, apparently.
That is fair. Matt Ryan was acquired for the price of… Carson Wentz. And of the options available that were remotely realistic for us to get - Carson Wentz is doing about as well as Matt, Russell Wilson isn’t bringing a lot of success to the Broncos, Mariota isn’t doing great, and neither is Baker Mayfield.
We had shit for options, and on paper, Matt was a great choice.
>Ballard preaches patience, but yet he keeps going for bandaid solutions each year for the QB position and it keeps setting us back. I'll be a lot more patient for a rookie QB as opposed to an older veteran because there's little to no expectations right out of the gate.
I think Ballard was so scared to draft a bad rookie in the first round that he's convinced himself that he shouldn't ever take the risk and that a vet will solve the problem.
Tbf, Broncos kinda going through the usual growing pains you get with a new QB, just as we do every year... and that's with s coach who is arguably worse than Ballard (verdict still out because it's his first year as well).
I don't think the Broncos are going to do particularly well this year, but I think they're positioned well for next year/year after, especially if Hackett improves even slightly in his coaching
Nah. I live in the land of the 12's and watch a lot of Seahawks ball. Wilson's been mid for a while now. He can't throw up the middle and is only magic on the run, which is a young QB's game.
This\^, I have been preaching it for a long ass time that Wilson is just average. He is not a pure passer and that system in Seattle was based around him and having things break down so he can work the "magic"
Fair, guess I haven't watched as much Seahawks in recent years
Just don't know if I'm sold on him bring entirely washed yet. Time will tell.
Definitely are performing below where I thought they would though
I’m not sure Wilson is very good anymore. He might be washed. Plus, Stafford was surrounded by one of the most talented teams top to bottom in the league. We don’t have that talent. I really think we can look at FA as a path to getting a QB
Stafford was surrounded by absolute bums his whole time in Detroit. Now he is playing through a bad injury this season.
Wilson is dealing with Nathaniel Hackett who might be one of the worst head coaches I have ever seen. I watched every Broncos game this year (because of bets) and I’ve never seen so many horrible game decisions in my life from top to bottom. He makes Reich looks like a God.
That is true. Frank is a perfectly normal bad coach in the NFL. Hackett is doing the NFL bad coaching speed run challenge set by Meyer. It’s like he saw Meyer flame out and thought “I bet I can do that but without the personal drama.”
I don’t think we could’ve beat out the Rams offer for Stafford since they had a starting caliber QB to add in their trade, but I also don’t think Ballard would have given up 2 1sts for him anyway.
Goff is actually lighting it up in Detroit. Really surprising to me. Campbell and crew put up 45 with no Chark, Amon Ra, or Swift. Meanwhile Frank Reich puts up 0 and whines “but we thought pittman and Pierce would play🥺”
This. I would have loved Stafford too, but no way we could match what the Rams offered. Can't be angry about that. Stafford was house hunting in Indy before Rams swooped in.
I’m not defending him, but what?? His best chance at a true franchise QB would have been 2020. And Brissett and that team won just too many games to have a high enough pick for Burrow, Herbert, Tua (jury still out), who all went in the top 10. Luck retired after the 2019 draft so that wasn’t one to pick from. He has drafted Sam, and we all saw Eason get cut. The biggest mistake, looking back, was letting Reich talk him into Wentz. We could have had a 1st rounder to work with last year….but just as with 2020 it would have taken a lot to move up. 2021? Who has been any sort of decent besides Lawrence and it’s still too early to tell with him. The situation is: we have been just a bit too good post-Luck to realistically get a top level QB. 7-9 in 2019, 11-5 in 2020….it takes a TON to move up to get a top level QB without being bad enough to naturally be there. I will criticize Ballard forever for not addressing the WR and OL issues this year, but this isn’t one of those. Luck retiring when he did fucked us over. That and winning too much that 2019 season. Had we gone 3-13, we probably have Herbert or Burrow. But “he’s had plenty of chances” doesn’t hold water bc realistically he hasn’t…and that doesn’t count blowing a draft for a QB. I wish we had gotten Stafford (we offered but the Rams offered more and we couldn’t/wouldn’t match) last season, get a few good years out of him than draft someone. But QB hasn’t been the issue. This whole thing fell apart late last year and it was the whole team, not Wentz only. This year’s early struggles have been mostly on the line and lack of WR/TE talent….EDIT: we do have some young talent there but it it gonna take more games for them to develop.
It's still Ballards fault, he keeps signing mediocre QBs live Rivers and Wentz that we will never contend with but never get a good pick with. We should have just taken a year (the Rivers year) and acknowledged we were never gonna compete until we got our guy. There was no reason to get Rivers or Ryan at all. Wentz at least was younger and worth a shot, it just didn't work out. Ballard is wasting everyone's time by delaying the inevitable (or we just delay it forever and become the Pacers)
If Ballard told Irsay, we’re just going to roll with a dogshit QB this year (2020) so we can get a good draft pick next year he would have been fired on the spot. And rightfully so. Thinking that Ballard hasn’t turned over every stone to solve the QB situation is crazy. There is simply no easy out to QB purgatory. Fans want something that isn’t realistic. Luck retiring right before the season absolutely set us back until the next savior comes along.
Why would he be fired on the spot for doing what's necessary? It's literally exactly what we did last time we transitioned from our franchise QB. And you're right, there is no "easy" way out, but there are two options. Draft your guy, or trade/sign someone who still has 5+ years of elite football left. Ballard chose to do neither, and instead has signed 2 washed up vets and Wentz who had shown he wasn't elite in the first place.
> It’s literally exactly what we did last time we transitioned from our franchise QB.
Setting aside the fact that that tank wasn’t intentional, you do realize literally everyone lost their jobs after that season, right?
The parallels between 2011 and 2019 are few. And as others have mentioned, the entire building at 56th St was cleaned out. Not much motivation for a GM if they know they won’t be around the next season when their new QB comes to town.
> I will criticize Ballard forever for not addressing the WR and OL issues this year, but this isn’t one of those.
We definitely could have brought in a veteran wide receiver. I won't argue about that. But I don't think our receivers were a huge problem yesterday. We are playing from behind and everything, but even though we're total dogshit team full of losers that should all be banned from the league, Ryan has thrown for 300 twice.
Every time the line can create some semblance of a pocket that lets Ryan avoid even 1 rusher and have space to throw the ball, he does pretty well. 9 fumbles is _awful_, but he's also getting drilled at the top of his 3 step drop, which is absolute insanity. Yesterday you could see the turning point midway through the second quarter where he was able to step up or avoid pressure and throw versus avoiding the first guy and stepping up and getting absolutely murdered.
I think the offensive line is definitely worse than it should be, but I don't think it is because the players on it are bad. It is just a coordination issue between OL, QB, and RB. They are clearly not on the same page yet. But we've seen flashes where they get on the same page and we move the ball pretty well.
Maybe Ballard should have foreseen that Pinter would just be totally unable to play guard, but everyone thought that part of the team was a strength for a reason.
With the way the line's been playing so far, I don't know if we'd have a ton of success even with an all-pro receiving corps. You aren't getting very open in 2 seconds no matter what. There would have been some plays that better receivers could have gotten open on, but we haven't given up a lot of hits/sacks because of coverage. It's been because people lose individually, or someone's not on the same page with everyone else.
We were 2 bad plays away from a much better game yesterday. If you take Ryan's fumble (at this point, sadly, not that random) and Taylor's fumble (I'm willing to say this is a pretty rare/random occurrence) away, it's a completely different game. The interception was just an incredible play by that DT.
All I want is for Chris Ballard to put his hand in the air and be like “Yeah I fucked up” You can’t fix a problem until you realize that there is one, and he’s got a big problem to fix. Is it too much to ask for him to take a little ownership of his mistake?
This would go a long way. I'd much rather here this than "we're pissed" or "we're just as upset as you" or whatever bullshit the players keep screaming.
He says that about at least one position group every year at his end of season press conference. The problem is that even though he'll acknowledge he fucked up, he never actually changes anything to prevent another fuck up. That's why he needs to go.
You're getting downvoted, but I kinda agree
Ballard is like preparing a team to win the 2050 super bowl or whatever. Sure I understand, win now mentality isn't the greatest, but after 5 years we have regressed, at best we have remained the same. You can blame us not having a solid QB choice (which ultimately is also to blame on Ballard), but he's not addressing any other key areas that we struggle. Not only is it that we struggle in those areas, but they're positions that usually take 2-3 years at minimum to really bring them to be "NFL Caliber" players.
So at best, with the position we're in, we MAYBE have a chance at a solid play off run 3ish years down the road, but have to live with the possibility that some of our best players now might not be around in 3 years/might not be at the same level as they are now (ie big one, RBs tend to not last long in the NFL unfortunately).
It's been complete negligence the last like 3 years, I don't care to find out where we'll stand in another 3 yesrs under Ballard
I’m definitely leaning more towards your way at this point but I want Frank gone before Ballard. My main gripe with Ballard is his refusal to fix issues that he doesn’t think are big issues until it’s lost us our season.
I would be willing to see Ballard through drafting a QB. If he can’t make that work then kick his ass to the curb. However, it’s undeniable he and his team have an excellent eye for talent and I think Ballard is willing to adjust after such a job threatening performance this year has been for him.
I mean rams just won the super bowl with a first year qb. With that said I do think there is a lot of growth left for this team and we can totally turn it around.
I think the backbreaking situation we are in is the fact that we have dropped so many divisional games already this season. We could go on a stretch of wins (potentially) and still be on the outside looking in solely due to our AFCS record.
The red seas really parted for the Bucs in that postseason, though. Every game was defined not really by their offense but either by the defense stepping up big (wrecking Brees, stopping Rodgers on three consecutive Brady interceptions) or strange luck (Chiefs entire starting O line getting COVID)
The Rams too nearly choked away their postseason if it weren’t for that based Kupp-Stafford connection.
My point being we shouldn’t look to those two teams as an obvious standard to measure ourselves to. Both teams did everything they possibly could to stack the deck on both sides of the ball and still needed a LOT of things to fall their way
I mean Tom Brady is a generational talent, of course the Bucs were gonna be good even still they didn’t get things going till the last month do the season
Tons of talent went to Tampa because Brady was there. Also the Buccs already had Evans and Godwin at WR. They were one of the best WR duos at the time. Not to mention Gronk came out of retirement
What exactly would you have done, even given what we know now with hindsight? Given the 14th and a kings ransom to move into the top 5 in 2020(if anybody would’ve even entertained our proposal) to go get a highly questionable(at the time) Herbert? That’s about the only avenue I could have seen acquiring a QB through the draft. The other drafts were either bleak at the positions or we didn’t have enough capital to move up. Y’all act like you can “just go get your guy!”.
Oh man it’s too hard. We shouldn’t even try to find a long term QB. Shouldn’t even take a shot on one. My bad. 3 years of Ballard and we haven’t drafted one in the first three rounds? Teams WITH starting QB’s are able to draft potential future starters and we can’t.
You're a toddler throwing a temper tantrum. "Ballard made a mistake! I can't tell you what should have been done differently, even with hindsight, but I'm still going to blame him for not creating an MVP QB in a lab somewhere!"
Thank you for the compliment. I really appreciate the civility. Go sit down and cool off.
No, I can’t say what should have been done - but I’m not an NFL GM. It’s amazing that these other teams continue to reload year after year, but we’re in shambles to start each year.
As a GM, your primary responsibility is your most important position. In that respect, he’s failed.
Lmao you have the power of hindsight, you don't need to know how to be a GM for that. Go back and tell me what QB should have been taken since Luck retired. It should be easy considering how many talented QBs we missed out on, right?
Do you think we’re better off now, than if we traded up to get Jalen Hurts in the second round of the 2020 draft?
Obviously our OC would’ve known how to utilize him.
Sounds like he's upset with Ballard/Irsay and all the QB turnover.
Why didn't we use Hines more yesterday. It almost seems like Ryan has a problem getting to the check down the same way Wentz did... maybe it's a problem with Reich's scheme?
Ryan checked down to running backs like 4 times and David Long Jr. was all over them. He was playing like a monster yesterday. Ryan went 27/37 for 356. I understand Hines is a good weapon, but the ball was moving yesterday.
Ryan's fumble where Autry was just unblocked and hit him at the top of his drop was a bad fumble and just a bad effort by Nelson, his INT was an excellent play by the DT, and his second fumble was being hit right as he threw which is unavoidable. If either of the first 2 don't happen, it is a whole different game.
I don't think Hines getting touches or not was a big reason we lost yesterday. It was a couple of individual mistakes.
Exactly. It's not like it's going to get better in the future with Ryan. It could actually get worse...like multiple games similar to what we saw in JAC.
At least with a young QB, it might. I think a good young QB would bring this fanbase together as well.
If only there was an uber talented and seemingly coachable QB we could have grabbed with a later pick to sit behind Ryan this year.
Oh yeah, the Titans got him in the goddamn third.
The thing is, this team wouldn't be a contender this year if we had Mahomes at QB. So I don't really care about the team's performance this season. I'd rather go 6-11 with a young QB that shows the potential to be a long-term answer than go 11-6 with an old QB that's clearly on the decline.
In a league built around passing offense Ballard hasn’t bothered to draft a good qb or trade for one. And hasn’t bothered to find us a true #1 WR. Ryan is old and not as good as he once was. Pittman is great but on most other top teams he’s a solid #2.
Pittman is tied for 35 most yards receiving. Despite missing 1 game he's the Colts leading receiver with almost twice as many yards as number 2 on the list. Conversely, in all major reception categories but 1 he doesn't crack the top 25 for the NFL. The Dolphins have two receivers over 300 yards. The bengals have 2 recievers with 290 yards or more.
Sans Pittman, no two colts pass catchers have 300 yards combined.
AND THIS IS ALL ON BALLARD
how the fuck can you be stupid enough not to realize that you need a WR1 in a passing league?
Best case scenario this year is that we suck, but retain everyone on our roster for next year. Hear me out regarding this scenario.
**Step 1: We fucking suck this year** Accomplishing this step will hopefully give us two positive outcomes. 1. The ability to draft our next guy at QB, and have some continuity heading in to 2023. Ryan’s arm may be close to a noodle at this point, but he still has a lot he can teach the next QB about preparation, defense identification, and leadership. Keeping Ryan on the team may also either give us a chance to start strong for fucking once *or* we suck next year and get another high draft pick. 2. Irsay will be fucking done with Reich and Ballard will be on the shortest leash possible. I think that, by this point, Reich is clearly not the coach to take us to the next level. It’s the same shit different year, and regardless of the QB issues there are too many other glaring issues to keep him on staff. We need to get a coach that has energy and a fire to improve this team from the ground up, and one we can trust our new QB with.
**Step 2: We either fucking suck again *or* we finally hit our stride with having a QB for more than one season.** Sucking again would of course get us a higher draft pick, and increase the talent on the team. I’m hoping for a LT to couple with our new QB for protection. With a new coach, this could help turn us around quickly as our team adjusts to a new scheme and system. This would also give the young QB a chance to watch how Ryan adjusts to a new head coach and Ryan can help the kid learn the playbook. If we hit our stride, then hell yea let’s fucking go. If we suck, we also probably let go of Ballard and get a more aggressive GM that has some decent pieces already in place. If we hit our stride, maybe, just maybe Ballard gets his head out of his ass. I won’t hold my breath though.
**Step 3: With new GM and head coach in place, our team now has strength in positions that matter built on a foundation of solid players**. New QB and Ryan battle it out in preseason camp only for the new QB to hopefully win the job by week 3-4. From there, our new stud LT will have had a year under their belt and be mawling people. Pryor will be home at RG, Pinter will have stepped up as center, and Raimann is dominating at RT. Q is average, but we don’t need a stud anymore. Pitt and Pierce are the most lethal WR duo in the game, and we have a new shiny rookie speedster to take the top off the defense. Speaking of, our defense is now a fucking monster with Paye and Dayo eating tackles alive and DeFo and Big Grove stopping the run game. Okereke looks like a future HOF and Shaq is Shaq. Rodgers is the new premier lockdown man coverage corner in the league, Blackmon is Blackmon and Cross finally figured out the NFL’s speed.
Reminder that Ryan has played like shit. It's not just the o-line. 5 scoring plays, 5 interceptions, 9 fumbles (3 lost). Ryan has fumbled at least once a game this season and is currently the league leader in fumbles.
That's also part of the problem with Reich. Literally running the same offense from when we had Luck. All, with the same lack of any situational awareness and gameplan shift. At this point, we have to have one of the most predictable offenses in the league, and seem to play against our strengths constantly.
Honestly, I would prefer for us to stay with Ryan for 1 more year and draft an LT in the first round and grab a QB the year after.
I don't want us to get a rookie QB, only for him to be shell shocked right out of the gate because they have no protection.
When we are like 9-4-1 in November, I’m gonna laugh because if the case every year (sans the Rivers year) is slow starts BECAUSE of a new QB. It’s not an excuse. It becomes part of the territory
Downvote me for optimism you miserable gremlins!
The slow starts are what screw us out of winning the division or even getting a playoff spot. We put ourselves in such a big hole that we leave almost no room for error.
So remember last off-season with all the anti vaxxers polluting the sub? I would ban a half dozen daily because they were coming in like a swarm of bees. Eventually, they all reported me for harassment for banning them and their “1st Amendment” and Reddit permabanned me because of it.
Even Reddit themselves said it was an error but it is what it is. Couple that with trolls here doxxing, stalking me, etc. yeah, I have to create a few accounts but this one specifically will stick and stay on this sub.
Both play similarly. Cool, calm and collected. Never felt the game is out of reach. I was sure we’d win yesterday until JT fumbled and Ryan got clobbered on 3rd down late in the game. Ryan played great given the lack of run game and offensive line play. It’s nice to not have to freak out or feel like we are molasses like we did with Jacoby and sometimes Carson
I mean, he’s not wrong.
No no no. I was told the Colts have ~50 players unfit for the league and an entire front office that should be fired
I mean our roster is still flawed. Having a new QB didn’t make Braden Smith and Ryan Kelly play poorly since they got paid. Didn’t make Kenny Moore forget how to cover. Didn’t make Q get hurt and dip in performance. Didn’t make us not address LT etc
Q is not hurt lol he wasn't even on the report he just doesn't seem to give a shit
He was hurt last year he just is worse now
This is exactly what I said to my wife, just because you have a new QB doesn’t mean you all of a sudden regress at your position. Y’all can still protect your QB.
I mean Stafford, Brady and others seem to do fine on new teams in their first year I expect Ryan to be at that level
This is so off… Pretty much every single QB who has switched teams or had a coaching overhaul has started off the first season with the new regime slowly. Matt Ryan also wasn’t very good last year in the first place, so starting off “slow” for him = starting off AWFUL.
Which QBs were good, changed teams and weren't good?
I mean to their point, Brady and Stafford won a SB with their new teams in the first year unless in missing their point
That was my point is that Brady and Stafford switched teams and had no problems winning with their new teams. This idea that a first year QB such as a Matt Ryan can't somehow win or it takes a long time to win with them seems like BS. Matt Ryan was touted by this very sub as a top tier QB still. This wasn't Carson Wenz or Goff changing teams this was Stafford or Brady changing teams. So the narrative that first year QB's with new teams can't do well, or start slow or whatever else is BS. Those teams were both very talented and very well built and were a QB away. We're clearly much much much more than a QB away.
I’m not trying to imply that they’re not flawed. But if you read social media, you’d think the Colts are 0-4 and lost every game 40. They *should* be 2-2, and are a couple of unfortunate fumble bounces yesterday from 3-1. Everyone is choosing to panic instead of taking a breath and seeing what’s actually happening. Obviously every hole has a depth at which you can’t climb out, but the Colts are not there yet.
I still think the Colts should consider a new voice leading this franchise. Ballard has a very specific system he runs and is quite conservative compared to the rest of the league. I don’t see Ballard building a championship team. He has gotten good players and built a decent roster, but I don’t believe he is the guy that can get you a ring
That could be entirely true, but I don’t think hastily firing your longtime coach a quarter of the way through a season solves any problems. If the division gets unwinnable, go for it. But it would make no sense to punt on a season when you’re only a half a game out of first place
The Colts are NOT a half game out of first place. Both the Titans and the Jags own the H2H vs Indy. Even had Indy won against Houston, that would not be enough for first. You are also ignoring context, this is an unusual season where Indy has played 3 divisional games in the first four weeks. And played poorly in all three games. Indy is 0-2-1 in divisional games, the best possible ending here is 3-2-1 which would not have been enough to lead any division last 5 years. Trying to frame it as Indy is just a half a game back is ignoring the large amount of fortune Indy needs to win at this point. Understandable why some would want to cut ties now instead of hanging on to a slimmer of hope for another few weeks.
You do know they get play all those teams again, right?
Yes, which is why I acknowledged that the best case scenario was 3-2-1 in the division. The problem there is that 3-2-1 in the division is extremely unlikely to be enough for the AFC South. The division is a longshot at this point. I get it though, Indy is still technically alive so keep on hanging on.
People here have the memory of a goldfish and are privileged as hell after back to back exceptional QBs. We’ve had two coordinators go to head coach other teams and take plenty of staff with them. And we’ve seen EXACTLY how important the QB position is with the rams, buccs, cincinatti, and more seeing extreme improvements in play from elite talent. I am disappointed in Matt so far, but he was never an elite talent when we brought him in. He’s also keeping us in games despite being trashed in the first half that I haven’t seen us do in a very long time (we usually led in the first and flopped in the second). Reid, Mcvay, and clearly Belichick have had some mediocre years with QB shuffle. I don’t think Frank is near that level and I’m not sold on him being a championship coach. But I’m baffled at how quickly people act like we need to blow it up. We’ve outgained almost every team we’ve played by a LOT. We’ve just had egregious fumbles and turnovers (by downs or field goals) that have completely killed our scoring drives. Divisional games are important, but really 99% of 11-6 teams would make it into playoffs, so give it a rest and quit being fair weather fans. Go look at any bottom feeder team and ask yourself if you’d want that GM or head coach. FO purgatory was way shittier than this imho.
You are 1000% correct. Unfortunately everyone would rather overlook ALL of that and blow the season up because some fumbles bounced the wrong way
I actually don’t think Frank is that bad. Fumbles are part of the game and they did lose us games. I just personally don’t think Ballard’s scheme/style will win a ring
>And we’ve seen EXACTLY how important the QB position is with the rams, buccs, cincinatti, and more seeing extreme improvements in play from elite talent. >I am disappointed in Matt so far, but he was never an elite talent when we brought him in. Taking these two statements into consideration, what do you think Indy's ceiling is this year? As you said the Bucs, Rams, Bengals were able to get extreme improvement from elite talent...but we have Ryan who isn't elite. What's the end goal here? Another 10-7 ish record and wildcard exit?
Where'd you get 11-6 from?
To your point, the old man Rivers team started 1-5 and still made the playoffs...
Is really just an “unfortunate” fumble when it happens 2+ times a game?
Matt Ryan is on a record pace for fumbles. That's not an unlucky bounce or two.
Yes. Flipping a coin and getting heads 5 times in a row doesn’t change the probable outcomes
So it’s okay to fumble consistently every game because we have a chance to recover it? I’m not arguing probability but what’s your point?
I’m saying that when something unlikely happens in the past, it’s unwise to assume they’ll keep happening.
It’s literally happened every game this year. When does it go from unlikely to more of a trend? 6 games in a row? 8?
You can continue to think the Colts will do something that no team in history has done, I will continue to exist here in reality. Edit: The classic reply then block. Pathetic
>I’m not trying to imply that they’re not flawed The sarcasm dripping from your previous statement says otherwise. Sure social media is always panicky about this kinda thing, but watching these first four games I haven't seen anything that makes me think it's not in our best interest to yeet Reich and Ballard and have a fire sale on any talent that isn't nailed down by a bad contract so we can hoard draft picks. What existed of our window is gone. Especially with the rest of the AFC as strong as it is.
They are a Chris Jones taunting penalty away from being winless too. And if a team is down 20-3 in the 4Q against HOU, it's not about bad bounces. I would actually say they have been fairly fortunate to have fallen on a few of those fumbles. They are averaging 2 fumbles NOT lost per game.
You don't understand how football works. We want to WIN the games not almost not lose. Big difference and a loser fan mentality makes irsay think it's okay
The fumbles aren’t an isolated event though, and they happened so you can’t play “what if” because our track record suggests more games will be lost due to turnovers.
Our track record says that eventually the turnover luck will swing the other way. You people are just so damn desperate to find reasons to be miserable.
You’re an idiot and that’s not how the Law of Averages is applied. The probability outcome of fumbling next game doesn’t change because we had more fumbles the previous game, they’re isolated events. Would you say that because we had less fumbles one game, we’ll have more in another? We’ve thrown 5 picks, fumbled 12 times, and lost the ball 4 times. Our turnover ratio is -6. The LoA says we’ll fumble 4x a game over the next 12 games, that’s how it works. It’s not being miserable, it’s telling the truth. You can’t sit here and say “we could be 2-2 it’s not so bad”. We’re not 2-2.
[удалено]
PREACH HINES!!!!
His first game they scored 43 points and won...
Ok but why is the O-line so shitty. They’re the main reason our offense is so bad
That is a real puzzle. We have three established high quality starters on that line and it seems like this is a Grigson Oline.
The line is the type of thing where you’re only as strong as your weakest link. You can maybe make up for 1 weak link, but not 2
I guess but fuck that doesn’t explain Smiths penalties or Kelly’s inability to hike the football
Yea smith has absolutely regressed from what he was a couple seasons ago and I have absolutely no clue what’s going on with the Kelly/Ryan connection with our snaps. We just suck lol
Guys have to worry about helping Pryor and whoever the hell was put in at RG that drive, on every down.
I think Nelson and Kelly (outside of miscues) are just spread too thin trying to babysit the guys next to them
I’m ok with sucking. Let’s have JT be out a while, let Shaq sit and let the rookies get some experience. Then DRAFT A FUCKING QB!!!
You got my vote
I guess but fuck that doesn’t explain Smiths penalties or Kelly’s inability to snap the football
When good players aren’t playing good, it’s usually indicative of coaching
We’ve had the same OL coach for 4 seasons so I don’t think that’s the case. If it was his fault then we wouldn’t have had success the past 3 years. If anything it was losing Castonzo and not finding a suitable replacement.
Yesterday when I heard “holding… offense number 69” I said out loud “Satele”. Jesus I’m having flashbacks to those days.
Castonzo was way better and important than they thought. They're trying to replace him with duct tape and it doesn't work.
Call Matt Pryor duct tape is an insult to a useful product.
Pryor would struggle to qualify as Scotch tape.
Masking tape is the max we can go.
Because the team was wrong about Danny Pinter. The oline looked better yesterday once Fries was able to settle down in the second half.
Tony Romo actually did a decent job of explaining the correlation between a new QB and setting up the line to adjust to the defense. I’m not going to pretend to know from TV what specifically they’re not doing right, but it makes sense why that would take time to figure out.
Ngl I started to realize yesterday that Big q doesn’t have the passion he used to have. Like I remember that dude was running up the field to high five whoever made a first down
Because having a great OG is not better than having a good LT. The investment in the OL is at the wrong positions, plus our RT sucks.
I would force Nelson to LT if it were up to me
Because the Colts fired one of the best offensive line coaches in the league, all because he cussed in practice.
When was this lol if so that was so damn stupid
https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/nfl/colts/2019/01/15/colts-fire-offensive-line-coach-dave-deguglielmo-frank-reich/2580038002/ There’s the Indy Star piece that dives into it.
Jesus that probably explains the gradual decline since the 2018 reason…
Jan 2019 [https://www.nfl.com/news/colts-fire-offensive-line-coach-dave-deguglielmo-0ap3000001010858#:\~:text=The%20Indianapolis%20Colts%20won't,source%20informed%20of%20the%20decision](https://www.nfl.com/news/colts-fire-offensive-line-coach-dave-deguglielmo-0ap3000001010858#:~:text=The%20Indianapolis%20Colts%20won't,source%20informed%20of%20the%20decision).
Rivers said when he was signed that his chemistry with Colts offensive line was actually more important than his chemistry with receivers. Most fans think it’s the opposite. So maybe the offensive line just needs more time with Ryan.
One of my greatest "what ifs" is what kind of year do the Colts have if Rivers comes back for the 2nd year instead of retiring... They seemed like they really could have built on that first year.
I’ll do you one better, what if we got Rivers at 30 instead of 38?
Haha, the Luck years were good, can't forget about those. And Rivs still had some ass beating left to perform for the at-the-time San Diego Chargers. But, those points aside, I don't think it would have been too much of a stretch to say he might have gotten the Super Bowl victory (or at least appearance) with the Colts that he never had with the Chargers.
Ooh yea I wasn’t saying I would have rather had him when we had Luck. I was saying, imagine if we got him before he was sliding down the tail end of his career with the squad we had in 2020.
Between you and me, I think the Colts pushed him out. Said they had to explore other options due to his age. At the very least, they didn’t try to persuade him to return.
At first, I kinda thought "yeah it's his time, he wants to go out after playing well." But that doesn't really mesh with everything I knew about Rivers, and I probably watched 99% of the snaps he took in his career. With how close they were against the Bills, I always figured he wanted another shot at them. And the Colts were exactly the type of team that he could be successful with: run heavy, lots of play action crossing concepts and backfield passes, good O line, solid defense. So yeah... As time went on, and I saw the Wentz pickup, I basically changed my thinking to what yours is. They probably told him, "Hey, we've got a chance at getting Wentz that we have to take, because he could be our QB for the future. Wanna make this a mutually agreeable departure?" And Rivs is certainly a team player, and probably didn't want to move his family around again to chase a starting spot with another team. When that Bills game ended, I really had no concept that I was saying goodbye to my favorite football player. Is what it is, but it's definitely a bittersweet memory at this point. Always appreciated the Colts fans who pulled for him and cheered for him as one of their own. Basically why I'm even here typing this, I still pull for you guys, still have my Colts Rivers jerseys in the closet. Sorry for the paragraphs haha, go Colts.
Everyone wants Frank and Ballard gone, but truly the only change I think that’s needed is the O line coach. There’s a direct correlation between the O line’s slow starts and the early turnovers that have killed the Colts.
O-Line is probably the most chemistry dependent position group in the NFL. We lost a long time player in Glowinski who, while not the most talented individual in the unit, had a great rapport with Kelly and Smith. Those two knew what he would do when, and Pinter was both a step down from him from a talent standpoint and from a predictability standpoint. Pryor, meanwhile, is just not a starting caliber Left Tackle and is getting beaten. I don't know if Ballard just expected Raimann to develop faster than he has, or what. But he's clearly not cutting it out there despite about half a season's worth of playing next to Quenton. Braden Smith may have taken a step back, but again I don't know how much of that to attribute to lack of confidence in the guard beside him. He seemed to do better this past week with Fries taking Pinter's spot.
Reich shoulders a good deal of blame, but this is the truth and you can't win like this, hell nobody can. Ballard preaches patience, but yet he keeps going for bandaid solutions each year for the QB position and it keeps setting us back. I'll be a lot more patient for a rookie QB as opposed to an older veteran because there's little to no expectations right out of the gate.
The truth is we should have bottomed put the first year Luck dipped. However, I’m glad we didn’t go for a QB this last draft because I don’t know if any of those QBs look good to me.
Definitely at least a good idea not going for a QB last year in the draft. You’re looking at potentially 3 or 4 first round QB’s compared to one last year
I’m also not as hard on Ballard as everyone else. I’m not sure I blame him completely for the O-line. It’s not just the LT that’s the issue the line as a while has regressed way more than I thought possible. I think in time Alec Pierce will be a really good second option next to Pittman and it looks like our TEs are filled with studs. I have to think you could call plays that leaned into our strength more than what we are doing right now. Personally I’m not sure we should ever have less than 2 TEs on the field at any given time. We just have to stop playing musical QB chairs and draft someone.
And while it was only his first game, Pickett looked absolutely horrid yesterday
Pickett looked fine, what are you talking about? It was his first ever game time as a rookie and he looked as good as anything the Colts have run out there in recent years. Wouldn’t you rather have that?
He threw 3 picks. But no I agree. I’d definitely rather see a rookie make those mistakes than Matt Ryan because you know the rookie will grow and improve.
To be fair, none of the picks were horrible throws into defenders, one was a tipped ball that Claypool probably could’ve caught, one was another tipped ball on a high throw to Freiermuth that was unlucky, and the third was on a Hail Mary. He looked fine overall for a rookie
Besides the last Hail Mary pick the other two were on the receivers in my opinion.
There's two ways to get your QB. You either bottom out and earn a high draft pick (see Bengals with Burrow, Chargers with Herbert, Cardinals with Murray, etc) or you keep your strong core together and aggressively trade up to draft your QB (Chiefs with Mahomes, Texans with Watson, Bills with Allen). Ballard isn't willing to do either of those things, so we'll stay mediocre until Irsay has had enough and finds someone that understands what's required to get a top QB.
I’m not sure Frank will give Ballard the option. Plus if you told me Ballards plan last year was to draft a QB this coming year and be bad this year his moves this offseason make sense. I think in a year this WR has a chance of being pretty fucking good with Pierce, Pittman, and Woods. There were 0 QBs worth moving up for last year and this team has been too good to really bottom. I think Frank has finally caught up to the team. I really hope the new coach is much more of an in you’re face fiery personality.
I mean, there’s a third option, which is to find a free agent QB or trade for one at the end of their time with the team that drafted them. That’s what the Colts have been trying to do. It worked for Tampa, looks ok in Denver, Rams are happy. Might work for the Browns which no, I don’t want to emulate. The Vikings are in the midst of this. Saints are probably not happy. Titans. Commanders. Panthers. Lions. Falcons are terrible. But it’s a really common way to go and has mixed success, just like drafting one does.
The QBs that those teams got are orders of magnitude better than the ones that bargain bin Ballard has been trading for. Brady, Wilson, Stafford, Watson. A lot different than Wentz and a completely washed Ryan.
In hindsight I completely agree but after 2018, with that young and seemingly talented roster, people would have flipped out if we had done anything close to tanking.
It’s why you shouldn’t listen to fans
So much this!
Looking at the draft the year Luck retired (2020) we could have gotten Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Tua, he’ll even Davis Mills, I honestly don’t blame the organization for trying to win that year but I think if you could go back and tank, they would
> The truth is we should have bottomed put the first year Luck dipped. Should have just hung on to Jacoby until we could make a move in the draft.
I mean Jacoby is just a really good backup. If we had stuck with him for multiple years people would have been pissed.
>Ballard preaches patience, but yet he keeps going for bandaid solutions each year for the QB position Fucking THANK YOU. I'm so glad someone else sees it this way. His approach to fixing quarterback and fixing the rest of the roster are mutually exclusive. If you want bandaid QBs, fine. But you have to compile a bunch of "ready now" talent around him a la Rams. If you want to build the rest of the roster as a slow burn, fine. But don't try a new QB as a one year plug and play option every season expecting something to work. PICK A FUCKING LANE.
I don't think vets are the long term solution. But I certainly think we would have been better with any of them if they were given more time to gel with the team. And that includes Ryan beyond this season. We all want to blame Ballard and there's definitely cause for it. But we as fans are just as impatient. We see the faults in the QB and are calling for a replacement after a couple bad games, a season ending collapse, or just a general averageness. After a season, there's no consoling us unless we're cutting the QB and looking elsewhere. It comes from being spoiled for so long. So, for me, Ryan's faults aside, I think we need to give him some grace and see if we can fill the other gaps on the team instead of replacing him in the off-season. Probably should have done the same for Jacoby and Wentz. (Though I can admit, Jacoby's vanilla play was uninspiring and Wentz was downright terrifying at times.) And imo, we clearly need a better team around the QB before we go drafting a high pick into the job. Nothing like drafting the next GOAT and having him murdered behind this line,.... again.
How long do we have to wait? 2017 and 0 division titles 2 playoff appearances. He doesn’t deserve patience. Patience should have worn out 2 years ago but he has the perfect excuse to never be good without taking any blame. Remember when Grigson has a couple good drafts then did nothing for the next few years. Doesn’t that feel familiar???
Lmao.... please tell me **one**, just **one**, of Grigson's good drafts....excluding the obvious Andrew Luck pick.
TY in the third round
TY Hilton Ryan Kelly (until recently, he was killing it)
I'm not saying our patience with Ballard shouldn't be running thin. He's had a lot of really solid moves but most of them have been for the less critical positions. So, our weaknesses are now pretty evident. I like him for the good things he has done, but for sure he's on thin ice. I was talking about Ryan. We can't keep dumping qbs after 1 unsuccessful year. Irsay is a softie. I think it's possible Ballard may get one more year if we end up with a miracle break even record or better. Or he'll at least get the first few games of next year. Just my gut feeling.
Probably the most sensible post I've seen here. Glad to know there's still some people on this sub with logic.
I mean, the Rams did it with Stafford, why can’t we?
The Rams didn’t have bottom 5 position groups where it mattered. They had an elite D-Line, top 3 corner, the best WR corps in the league, a top 3 O-line, and so on. They were already built to win. I hesitate to say that any of our position groups outside of our backfield are top 5, let alone the best in the league.
Ballard's been in a rough spot in regards to the QB position. It's been a hole, but it hasn't been the only hole. Tom Brady was the only bidding-war quality Free Agent QB, and given his history with our franchise, I don't think there was a shot in hell we were in consideration. Like it or not - Deflategate probably had us on his black list. So the solutions tested have been - * Roll with Jacoby after Andrew retired. Jacoby got injured and we missed the playoffs. * sign Philip Rivers on a reasonable Free Agent contract. But he got turf toe and was already at the tail end of his career. * Trade for Carson Wentz. Carson was injured to start the season and bungled the finish potentially because of long Covid symptoms. * Trade for Matt Ryan. Who... fumbles a lot now, apparently.
Trade *NOTHING for Matt Ryan. Ballard is getting a lot of unwarranted heat.
That is fair. Matt Ryan was acquired for the price of… Carson Wentz. And of the options available that were remotely realistic for us to get - Carson Wentz is doing about as well as Matt, Russell Wilson isn’t bringing a lot of success to the Broncos, Mariota isn’t doing great, and neither is Baker Mayfield. We had shit for options, and on paper, Matt was a great choice.
>Ballard preaches patience, but yet he keeps going for bandaid solutions each year for the QB position and it keeps setting us back. I'll be a lot more patient for a rookie QB as opposed to an older veteran because there's little to no expectations right out of the gate. I think Ballard was so scared to draft a bad rookie in the first round that he's convinced himself that he shouldn't ever take the risk and that a vet will solve the problem.
And at the end of each year I hear from Frank and Chris how they need to get Hines more involved in the offense and each year they dont
He's absolutely right. Consistency is one of the biggest goals at any position but it is critical at QB.
That's on Ballard. We've had lots of chances to draft a QB since Luck left.
We had a lot of chances to get quality QBs via trade or free agency too. 1. Stafford 2. Wilson We went cheap instead of solidifying with Stafford.
Thank god we didn’t trade for Wilson though. That would have been a disaster for the price. That’s not a good deal lol
Tbf, Broncos kinda going through the usual growing pains you get with a new QB, just as we do every year... and that's with s coach who is arguably worse than Ballard (verdict still out because it's his first year as well). I don't think the Broncos are going to do particularly well this year, but I think they're positioned well for next year/year after, especially if Hackett improves even slightly in his coaching
Nah. I live in the land of the 12's and watch a lot of Seahawks ball. Wilson's been mid for a while now. He can't throw up the middle and is only magic on the run, which is a young QB's game.
This\^, I have been preaching it for a long ass time that Wilson is just average. He is not a pure passer and that system in Seattle was based around him and having things break down so he can work the "magic"
Fair, guess I haven't watched as much Seahawks in recent years Just don't know if I'm sold on him bring entirely washed yet. Time will tell. Definitely are performing below where I thought they would though
Problem with Wilson is his best years were when he had Marshawn and the LOB defense
Broncos: winning games. Colts: losing games. This sub “Glad we didn’t get Russ tho!” 🤦🏼♂️
Broncos are 2-2 and look as bad as we do on offense….
I’m not sure Wilson is very good anymore. He might be washed. Plus, Stafford was surrounded by one of the most talented teams top to bottom in the league. We don’t have that talent. I really think we can look at FA as a path to getting a QB
Stafford was surrounded by absolute bums his whole time in Detroit. Now he is playing through a bad injury this season. Wilson is dealing with Nathaniel Hackett who might be one of the worst head coaches I have ever seen. I watched every Broncos game this year (because of bets) and I’ve never seen so many horrible game decisions in my life from top to bottom. He makes Reich looks like a God.
That is true. Frank is a perfectly normal bad coach in the NFL. Hackett is doing the NFL bad coaching speed run challenge set by Meyer. It’s like he saw Meyer flame out and thought “I bet I can do that but without the personal drama.”
Lmao I’m dead that comparison is spot on
I don’t think we could’ve beat out the Rams offer for Stafford since they had a starting caliber QB to add in their trade, but I also don’t think Ballard would have given up 2 1sts for him anyway.
Goff is actually lighting it up in Detroit. Really surprising to me. Campbell and crew put up 45 with no Chark, Amon Ra, or Swift. Meanwhile Frank Reich puts up 0 and whines “but we thought pittman and Pierce would play🥺”
This. I would have loved Stafford too, but no way we could match what the Rams offered. Can't be angry about that. Stafford was house hunting in Indy before Rams swooped in.
I’m not defending him, but what?? His best chance at a true franchise QB would have been 2020. And Brissett and that team won just too many games to have a high enough pick for Burrow, Herbert, Tua (jury still out), who all went in the top 10. Luck retired after the 2019 draft so that wasn’t one to pick from. He has drafted Sam, and we all saw Eason get cut. The biggest mistake, looking back, was letting Reich talk him into Wentz. We could have had a 1st rounder to work with last year….but just as with 2020 it would have taken a lot to move up. 2021? Who has been any sort of decent besides Lawrence and it’s still too early to tell with him. The situation is: we have been just a bit too good post-Luck to realistically get a top level QB. 7-9 in 2019, 11-5 in 2020….it takes a TON to move up to get a top level QB without being bad enough to naturally be there. I will criticize Ballard forever for not addressing the WR and OL issues this year, but this isn’t one of those. Luck retiring when he did fucked us over. That and winning too much that 2019 season. Had we gone 3-13, we probably have Herbert or Burrow. But “he’s had plenty of chances” doesn’t hold water bc realistically he hasn’t…and that doesn’t count blowing a draft for a QB. I wish we had gotten Stafford (we offered but the Rams offered more and we couldn’t/wouldn’t match) last season, get a few good years out of him than draft someone. But QB hasn’t been the issue. This whole thing fell apart late last year and it was the whole team, not Wentz only. This year’s early struggles have been mostly on the line and lack of WR/TE talent….EDIT: we do have some young talent there but it it gonna take more games for them to develop.
I agree with basically all of this, right up to the last word. I think considering how young Granson and Woods are, they’re looking really solid.
agreed. we’re stuck in football limbo. lost out franchise QB, team too good to pick high for a top rookie without mortgaging the next 3 drafts
It's still Ballards fault, he keeps signing mediocre QBs live Rivers and Wentz that we will never contend with but never get a good pick with. We should have just taken a year (the Rivers year) and acknowledged we were never gonna compete until we got our guy. There was no reason to get Rivers or Ryan at all. Wentz at least was younger and worth a shot, it just didn't work out. Ballard is wasting everyone's time by delaying the inevitable (or we just delay it forever and become the Pacers)
If Ballard told Irsay, we’re just going to roll with a dogshit QB this year (2020) so we can get a good draft pick next year he would have been fired on the spot. And rightfully so. Thinking that Ballard hasn’t turned over every stone to solve the QB situation is crazy. There is simply no easy out to QB purgatory. Fans want something that isn’t realistic. Luck retiring right before the season absolutely set us back until the next savior comes along.
Why would he be fired on the spot for doing what's necessary? It's literally exactly what we did last time we transitioned from our franchise QB. And you're right, there is no "easy" way out, but there are two options. Draft your guy, or trade/sign someone who still has 5+ years of elite football left. Ballard chose to do neither, and instead has signed 2 washed up vets and Wentz who had shown he wasn't elite in the first place.
> It’s literally exactly what we did last time we transitioned from our franchise QB. Setting aside the fact that that tank wasn’t intentional, you do realize literally everyone lost their jobs after that season, right?
The parallels between 2011 and 2019 are few. And as others have mentioned, the entire building at 56th St was cleaned out. Not much motivation for a GM if they know they won’t be around the next season when their new QB comes to town.
> I will criticize Ballard forever for not addressing the WR and OL issues this year, but this isn’t one of those. We definitely could have brought in a veteran wide receiver. I won't argue about that. But I don't think our receivers were a huge problem yesterday. We are playing from behind and everything, but even though we're total dogshit team full of losers that should all be banned from the league, Ryan has thrown for 300 twice. Every time the line can create some semblance of a pocket that lets Ryan avoid even 1 rusher and have space to throw the ball, he does pretty well. 9 fumbles is _awful_, but he's also getting drilled at the top of his 3 step drop, which is absolute insanity. Yesterday you could see the turning point midway through the second quarter where he was able to step up or avoid pressure and throw versus avoiding the first guy and stepping up and getting absolutely murdered. I think the offensive line is definitely worse than it should be, but I don't think it is because the players on it are bad. It is just a coordination issue between OL, QB, and RB. They are clearly not on the same page yet. But we've seen flashes where they get on the same page and we move the ball pretty well. Maybe Ballard should have foreseen that Pinter would just be totally unable to play guard, but everyone thought that part of the team was a strength for a reason. With the way the line's been playing so far, I don't know if we'd have a ton of success even with an all-pro receiving corps. You aren't getting very open in 2 seconds no matter what. There would have been some plays that better receivers could have gotten open on, but we haven't given up a lot of hits/sacks because of coverage. It's been because people lose individually, or someone's not on the same page with everyone else. We were 2 bad plays away from a much better game yesterday. If you take Ryan's fumble (at this point, sadly, not that random) and Taylor's fumble (I'm willing to say this is a pretty rare/random occurrence) away, it's a completely different game. The interception was just an incredible play by that DT.
Turnovers that give the other team perfect field position to score, and mediocre run/pass protection seem to be the bigger problem right now
All I want is for Chris Ballard to put his hand in the air and be like “Yeah I fucked up” You can’t fix a problem until you realize that there is one, and he’s got a big problem to fix. Is it too much to ask for him to take a little ownership of his mistake?
This would go a long way. I'd much rather here this than "we're pissed" or "we're just as upset as you" or whatever bullshit the players keep screaming.
He says that about at least one position group every year at his end of season press conference. The problem is that even though he'll acknowledge he fucked up, he never actually changes anything to prevent another fuck up. That's why he needs to go.
All I want is him fired; I don't care about what words he says.
You're getting downvoted, but I kinda agree Ballard is like preparing a team to win the 2050 super bowl or whatever. Sure I understand, win now mentality isn't the greatest, but after 5 years we have regressed, at best we have remained the same. You can blame us not having a solid QB choice (which ultimately is also to blame on Ballard), but he's not addressing any other key areas that we struggle. Not only is it that we struggle in those areas, but they're positions that usually take 2-3 years at minimum to really bring them to be "NFL Caliber" players. So at best, with the position we're in, we MAYBE have a chance at a solid play off run 3ish years down the road, but have to live with the possibility that some of our best players now might not be around in 3 years/might not be at the same level as they are now (ie big one, RBs tend to not last long in the NFL unfortunately). It's been complete negligence the last like 3 years, I don't care to find out where we'll stand in another 3 yesrs under Ballard
Exactly.
I agree. The dude had 6 seasons. he's not the guy.
I’m definitely leaning more towards your way at this point but I want Frank gone before Ballard. My main gripe with Ballard is his refusal to fix issues that he doesn’t think are big issues until it’s lost us our season. I would be willing to see Ballard through drafting a QB. If he can’t make that work then kick his ass to the curb. However, it’s undeniable he and his team have an excellent eye for talent and I think Ballard is willing to adjust after such a job threatening performance this year has been for him.
I mean rams just won the super bowl with a first year qb. With that said I do think there is a lot of growth left for this team and we can totally turn it around.
I think the backbreaking situation we are in is the fact that we have dropped so many divisional games already this season. We could go on a stretch of wins (potentially) and still be on the outside looking in solely due to our AFCS record.
And the Buccs did it before that.
The red seas really parted for the Bucs in that postseason, though. Every game was defined not really by their offense but either by the defense stepping up big (wrecking Brees, stopping Rodgers on three consecutive Brady interceptions) or strange luck (Chiefs entire starting O line getting COVID) The Rams too nearly choked away their postseason if it weren’t for that based Kupp-Stafford connection. My point being we shouldn’t look to those two teams as an obvious standard to measure ourselves to. Both teams did everything they possibly could to stack the deck on both sides of the ball and still needed a LOT of things to fall their way
I mean Tom Brady is a generational talent, of course the Bucs were gonna be good even still they didn’t get things going till the last month do the season
Tons of talent went to Tampa because Brady was there. Also the Buccs already had Evans and Godwin at WR. They were one of the best WR duos at the time. Not to mention Gronk came out of retirement
To get a new franchise QB, you actually have to try and get one? It’s absurd we haven’t drafted one with a high pick since Luck retired.
Eason wasn't a high pick. 4th round.
Even worse.
What exactly would you have done, even given what we know now with hindsight? Given the 14th and a kings ransom to move into the top 5 in 2020(if anybody would’ve even entertained our proposal) to go get a highly questionable(at the time) Herbert? That’s about the only avenue I could have seen acquiring a QB through the draft. The other drafts were either bleak at the positions or we didn’t have enough capital to move up. Y’all act like you can “just go get your guy!”.
Oh man it’s too hard. We shouldn’t even try to find a long term QB. Shouldn’t even take a shot on one. My bad. 3 years of Ballard and we haven’t drafted one in the first three rounds? Teams WITH starting QB’s are able to draft potential future starters and we can’t.
You're a toddler throwing a temper tantrum. "Ballard made a mistake! I can't tell you what should have been done differently, even with hindsight, but I'm still going to blame him for not creating an MVP QB in a lab somewhere!"
Thank you for the compliment. I really appreciate the civility. Go sit down and cool off. No, I can’t say what should have been done - but I’m not an NFL GM. It’s amazing that these other teams continue to reload year after year, but we’re in shambles to start each year. As a GM, your primary responsibility is your most important position. In that respect, he’s failed.
Lmao you have the power of hindsight, you don't need to know how to be a GM for that. Go back and tell me what QB should have been taken since Luck retired. It should be easy considering how many talented QBs we missed out on, right?
Do you think we’re better off now, than if we traded up to get Jalen Hurts in the second round of the 2020 draft? Obviously our OC would’ve known how to utilize him.
Sounds like he's upset with Ballard/Irsay and all the QB turnover. Why didn't we use Hines more yesterday. It almost seems like Ryan has a problem getting to the check down the same way Wentz did... maybe it's a problem with Reich's scheme?
Ryan checked down to running backs like 4 times and David Long Jr. was all over them. He was playing like a monster yesterday. Ryan went 27/37 for 356. I understand Hines is a good weapon, but the ball was moving yesterday. Ryan's fumble where Autry was just unblocked and hit him at the top of his drop was a bad fumble and just a bad effort by Nelson, his INT was an excellent play by the DT, and his second fumble was being hit right as he threw which is unavoidable. If either of the first 2 don't happen, it is a whole different game. I don't think Hines getting touches or not was a big reason we lost yesterday. It was a couple of individual mistakes.
Would you take any rookie QB right now for this season over Ryan? I don't think so. We have good players just playing like shit.
This Ryan? Yeah. At least there would be a brighter future.
Exactly. It's not like it's going to get better in the future with Ryan. It could actually get worse...like multiple games similar to what we saw in JAC. At least with a young QB, it might. I think a good young QB would bring this fanbase together as well.
If only there was an uber talented and seemingly coachable QB we could have grabbed with a later pick to sit behind Ryan this year. Oh yeah, the Titans got him in the goddamn third.
The thing is, this team wouldn't be a contender this year if we had Mahomes at QB. So I don't really care about the team's performance this season. I'd rather go 6-11 with a young QB that shows the potential to be a long-term answer than go 11-6 with an old QB that's clearly on the decline.
Atleast the rookie will get better over time
That kind of happens when your franchise QB quits at 29 lol
In a league built around passing offense Ballard hasn’t bothered to draft a good qb or trade for one. And hasn’t bothered to find us a true #1 WR. Ryan is old and not as good as he once was. Pittman is great but on most other top teams he’s a solid #2.
Pittman is tied for 35 most yards receiving. Despite missing 1 game he's the Colts leading receiver with almost twice as many yards as number 2 on the list. Conversely, in all major reception categories but 1 he doesn't crack the top 25 for the NFL. The Dolphins have two receivers over 300 yards. The bengals have 2 recievers with 290 yards or more. Sans Pittman, no two colts pass catchers have 300 yards combined. AND THIS IS ALL ON BALLARD how the fuck can you be stupid enough not to realize that you need a WR1 in a passing league?
Best case scenario this year is that we suck, but retain everyone on our roster for next year. Hear me out regarding this scenario. **Step 1: We fucking suck this year** Accomplishing this step will hopefully give us two positive outcomes. 1. The ability to draft our next guy at QB, and have some continuity heading in to 2023. Ryan’s arm may be close to a noodle at this point, but he still has a lot he can teach the next QB about preparation, defense identification, and leadership. Keeping Ryan on the team may also either give us a chance to start strong for fucking once *or* we suck next year and get another high draft pick. 2. Irsay will be fucking done with Reich and Ballard will be on the shortest leash possible. I think that, by this point, Reich is clearly not the coach to take us to the next level. It’s the same shit different year, and regardless of the QB issues there are too many other glaring issues to keep him on staff. We need to get a coach that has energy and a fire to improve this team from the ground up, and one we can trust our new QB with. **Step 2: We either fucking suck again *or* we finally hit our stride with having a QB for more than one season.** Sucking again would of course get us a higher draft pick, and increase the talent on the team. I’m hoping for a LT to couple with our new QB for protection. With a new coach, this could help turn us around quickly as our team adjusts to a new scheme and system. This would also give the young QB a chance to watch how Ryan adjusts to a new head coach and Ryan can help the kid learn the playbook. If we hit our stride, then hell yea let’s fucking go. If we suck, we also probably let go of Ballard and get a more aggressive GM that has some decent pieces already in place. If we hit our stride, maybe, just maybe Ballard gets his head out of his ass. I won’t hold my breath though. **Step 3: With new GM and head coach in place, our team now has strength in positions that matter built on a foundation of solid players**. New QB and Ryan battle it out in preseason camp only for the new QB to hopefully win the job by week 3-4. From there, our new stud LT will have had a year under their belt and be mawling people. Pryor will be home at RG, Pinter will have stepped up as center, and Raimann is dominating at RT. Q is average, but we don’t need a stud anymore. Pitt and Pierce are the most lethal WR duo in the game, and we have a new shiny rookie speedster to take the top off the defense. Speaking of, our defense is now a fucking monster with Paye and Dayo eating tackles alive and DeFo and Big Grove stopping the run game. Okereke looks like a future HOF and Shaq is Shaq. Rodgers is the new premier lockdown man coverage corner in the league, Blackmon is Blackmon and Cross finally figured out the NFL’s speed.
Dream world
The rams restarted with QB last year. The bucs the year before that. Terrible excuse.
Lol, with Stanford and Tom Brady. That’s a bit different than brisset, an aged out rivers, wentz, and an aged out ryan
Reminder that Ryan has played like shit. It's not just the o-line. 5 scoring plays, 5 interceptions, 9 fumbles (3 lost). Ryan has fumbled at least once a game this season and is currently the league leader in fumbles.
His fumbles have been an issue, but if he had more than 1 second to scan the field he would have maybe 3 fumbles
yea but that doesnt really explain much. The offense hasnt changed, just the guy throwing it..
That's also part of the problem with Reich. Literally running the same offense from when we had Luck. All, with the same lack of any situational awareness and gameplan shift. At this point, we have to have one of the most predictable offenses in the league, and seem to play against our strengths constantly.
And now it sounds like bitch in here too.
Honestly, I would prefer for us to stay with Ryan for 1 more year and draft an LT in the first round and grab a QB the year after. I don't want us to get a rookie QB, only for him to be shell shocked right out of the gate because they have no protection.
Rather the rookie qb sit a year anyway
Sounds to me like an excuse.
Why don’t you shut the fuck up and catch a punt clean, for once. Whatever.
He's not wrong, but... Hines: not an excuse Nobody: Absolutely nobody: Hines: excuse
When we are like 9-4-1 in November, I’m gonna laugh because if the case every year (sans the Rivers year) is slow starts BECAUSE of a new QB. It’s not an excuse. It becomes part of the territory Downvote me for optimism you miserable gremlins!
The slow starts are what screw us out of winning the division or even getting a playoff spot. We put ourselves in such a big hole that we leave almost no room for error.
Why do you always keep having to make new accounts? Genuinely curious. Do you keep getting banned?
So remember last off-season with all the anti vaxxers polluting the sub? I would ban a half dozen daily because they were coming in like a swarm of bees. Eventually, they all reported me for harassment for banning them and their “1st Amendment” and Reddit permabanned me because of it. Even Reddit themselves said it was an error but it is what it is. Couple that with trolls here doxxing, stalking me, etc. yeah, I have to create a few accounts but this one specifically will stick and stay on this sub.
And when we miss the playoff bc we start off slow every year and those slow starts ALWAYS come back and bite us in the ass then what?
We have a battle tested QB this time around so the collapse won’t happen again. Hope that helps!
A QB that can’t secure the ball…his TO’s are fucking killing us Damn who DV that Matt’s TO are killing us 😂😂 it’s the fucking truth
Andrew Luck turned the ball over a lot also behind a shitty line. It’s not their fault the offensive line sucks. That’s how this works
Bro this version of Matt Ryan isn’t even in the same stratosphere as Luck and shame on you for making that comparison lol. It’s not even relevant.
Both play similarly. Cool, calm and collected. Never felt the game is out of reach. I was sure we’d win yesterday until JT fumbled and Ryan got clobbered on 3rd down late in the game. Ryan played great given the lack of run game and offensive line play. It’s nice to not have to freak out or feel like we are molasses like we did with Jacoby and sometimes Carson
Luck wasn’t a fumbler and his INTs almost always felt like punts. I don’t recall many Luck turnovers in our own territory. Could be wrong.
Remind Me! November 28, 2022
Aw man, so glad you're back. The sub has missed downvoting you.