2022 Colts Thread

[Hoop]

After his first couple of games I was all in on Saturday. Since then, WTF dude. Anyone can see Ryan is done, dead arm and can't move. Start anyone but him, PLEASE.

[Sollozzo]

After his first couple of games I was all in on Saturday. Since then, WTF dude. Anyone can see Ryan is done, dead arm and can't move. Start anyone but him, PLEASE.

Not giving Foles ONE snap in the regular season is clinically insane at this point.

I know the defense has given up some brutal end of games drives, but these guys are humans - not robots. It has to wear on them when they play pretty good for most of the game only for the offense to give them NOTHING. You get a big stop, then the offense goes 3 and out and the d has to go right back out. You gift wrap the offense 7 points with a pick six. You get a turnover in prime field position and all they get is a FG. Just nothing, NOTHING from the offense. At some point it just wears on a defense.

I think this would have been a defense that could have helped carry us on a playoff run in the Manning or Luck days. Hell we wouldn’t even need a QB near as good as those guys - just someone who can get some first downs and touchdowns every once in a while.

What would the record have been with Wentz this year? Maybe not playoffs, but certainly not this level of humiliation. We probably would have at least had a chance of playoffs with a healthy Wentz. He looked like prime Big Ben compared to Ryan.

[Doug]

Since I already knew what was going to happen, I watched the debacle on DVR last last night (AKA early this morning) with a finger on the FF button.

You are a much braver man or better fan that I. I couldn't watch the game due to Christmas stuff. But there was no way in heck I was going to sit through that if I didn't have to given how I know it turned out.

On the plus side, Jeff Saturday has pretty much fixed our "slow start" problem.

[idioteque]

Haven’t watched any Colts this season really, NFL makes to stupid difficult or expensive to watch out of market games compared to the NBA.

So an outsiders perspective - is this just a bad franchise that reverted to the mean after Polian lost his touch and Peyton retired? The discourse around the Colts right now really feels like the early 90’s all over again.

[Sollozzo]

Haven’t watched any Colts this season really, NFL makes to stupid difficult or expensive to watch out of market games compared to the NBA.

So an outsiders perspective - is this just a bad franchise that reverted to the mean after Polian lost his touch and Peyton retired? The discourse around the Colts right now really feels like the early 90’s all over again.

Aside from a few unique situations (like a San Francisco who can just seemingly plug anyone in at QB), it’s really all about who has the quarterbacks in the NFL. Colts looked pretty smart for a while when they had Manning and Luck. They don’t look so smart now. Bengals and Bills had a lot of lean years - now look at them.

Look at the Patriots - Belichick doesn’t look like quite the genius without Brady. They look completely ordinary.

[Bball]

Look at the Patriots - Belichick doesn’t look like quite the genius without Brady. They look completely ordinary.

Man, I wish the Colts could at least look ordinary right now

[Bball]

Haven’t watched any Colts this season really, NFL makes to stupid difficult or expensive to watch out of market games compared to the NBA.

So an outsiders perspective - is this just a bad franchise that reverted to the mean after Polian lost his touch and Peyton retired? The discourse around the Colts right now really feels like the early 90’s all over again.

I don't think so. I think when you have a star quarterback that decides he just doesn't want to play football any longer at age 29, it throws a major monkey wrench into the works. Particularly, when that team was had been and was being built around him. There wasn't any question that Luck was the Colts franchise QB. It was all about the pieces around him. Grigson screwed the pooch with the Trent Richardson debacle and the failure to adequately address the line, but that was dealt with.
Who knew the franchise QB would mess up his shoulder snowboarding, or even take part in anything risky in the off season? But worse, who knew the franchise QB, who actually played at a high level, would be the only know NFL star QB to just WANT to walk away from the game at age 29?? The level of bizarreness that surrounds that is immense! High level athletes want to do whatever it takes to continue playing the game as long as they can. They have to be forced into retirement, sometimes kicking and screaming. But the Colts had the absolute (in hindsight) misfortune of having one of the best QB prospects since Peyton Manning fall into their lap just as Manning was injured and rehabbing in the twilight of his career with no guarantee he could return to form, or for how long.

Then that quarterback turned out to be a quitterback.

Rivers made it SEEM like a team already close to where they needed to be could plug in a QB with the right amount of ability and desire in the tank, and carry on. Unfortunately, that was fool's gold. A one year rental that worked great... except it just delayed the inevitable and made it seem there were answers out there. Wentz wasn't it- A guy who had the arm and wanted to throw the hero ball every play rather than "just taking the layups". So he played reckless and he played dumb. Missing plays in the process.

Then in comes Ryan. Maybe a perfect QB for the Colts... 5 years ago. But now? He makes the line look bad (or worse than they are). No mobility. No arm. No ability to stretch the field. No ability to avoid the rush. No zip on the ball.

So, the Colts now have what could've and should've been a development year for a young QB turning into a lost season. Another lost season. Someone with more of an eye on college talent than me will have to tell me if there are any true, can't miss QB prospects in the draft that the Colts have a shot at.

As for Saturday coaching the team... It probably made zero difference to anything EXCEPT the firing of Reich told people heads would roll if the team doesn't do better. MAYBE the team is rallying around Saturday but from the outside looking in, I'm not sure what Saturday would bring to the Colts as a long term hire unless he has a rolodex full of high quality assistants ready to bring in if this gig was to become "for real".

The recent Andrew Luck interview answered a lot of questions on the Luck side of things, except when the Colts first had an inkling he could actually just up and quit... or when they learned for real that he really planned to up and quit.
It's understandable that if you heard an injured player was having 2nd thoughts about the rehab, or just questioning if it was working, that there would be some concerns about the ABILITY tor return... eventually... But, we're talking a lack of DESIRE to return. Who sees that coming in a 29 year old star QB? So, were there REAL signs that Luck truly was someone to just up and quit at any point? And did TPTB believe those signs?

But, it's going to be important now to see how the Colts handle things KNOWING the QB spot isn't plug and play, and that there aren't many plug and play 'good idea' options even out there now. Not in the context of what they know now.

[Sollozzo]

You are a much braver man or better fan that I. I couldn't watch the game due to Christmas stuff. But there was no way in heck I was going to sit through that if I didn't have to given how I know it turned out.

On the plus side, Jeff Saturday has pretty much fixed our "slow start" problem.

Saturday has definitely fixed the slow starts…..Only problem is that one week we allow Dallas to have (I think) the second highest scoring 4th quarter ever, then the following week allow Minny to literally have the biggest comeback ever.

How is it even possible for a team to do that back to back weeks?

[Doug]

Saturday has definitely fixed the slow starts…..Only problem is that one week we allow Dallas to have (I think) the second highest scoring 4th quarter ever, then the following week allow Minny to literally have the biggest comeback ever.

How is it even possible for a team to do that back to back weeks?

I"m thinking we bring Reich back in to coach the 2nd halves. We'll be undefeated!

[Sollozzo]

I don't think so. I think when you have a star quarterback that decides he just doesn't want to play football any longer at age 29, it throws a major monkey wrench into the works. Particularly, when that team was had been and was being built around him. There wasn't any question that Luck was the Colts franchise QB. It was all about the pieces around him. Grigson screwed the pooch with the Trent Richardson debacle and the failure to adequately address the line, but that was dealt with.
Who knew the franchise QB would mess up his shoulder snowboarding, or even take part in anything risky in the off season? But worse, who knew the franchise QB, who actually played at a high level, would be the only know NFL star QB to just WANT to walk away from the game at age 29?? The level of bizarreness that surrounds that is immense! High level athletes want to do whatever it takes to continue playing the game as long as they can. They have to be forced into retirement, sometimes kicking and screaming. But the Colts had the absolute (in hindsight) misfortune of having one of the best QB prospects since Peyton Manning fall into their lap just as Manning was injured and rehabbing in the twilight of his career with no guarantee he could return to form, or for how long.

Then that quarterback turned out to be a quitterback.

Rivers made it SEEM like a team already close to where they needed to be could plug in a QB with the right amount of ability and desire in the tank, and carry on. Unfortunately, that was fool's gold. A one year rental that worked great... except it just delayed the inevitable and made it seem there were answers out there. Wentz wasn't it- A guy who had the arm and wanted to throw the hero ball every play rather than "just taking the layups". So he played reckless and he played dumb. Missing plays in the process.

Then in comes Ryan. Maybe a perfect QB for the Colts... 5 years ago. But now? He makes the line look bad (or worse than they are). No mobility. No arm. No ability to stretch the field. No ability to avoid the rush. No zip on the ball.

So, the Colts now have what could've and should've been a development year for a young QB turning into a lost season. Another lost season. Someone with more of an eye on college talent than me will have to tell me if there are any true, can't miss QB prospects in the draft that the Colts have a shot at.

As for Saturday coaching the team... It probably made zero difference to anything EXCEPT the firing of Reich told people heads would roll if the team doesn't do better. MAYBE the team is rallying around Saturday but from the outside looking in, I'm not sure what Saturday would bring to the Colts as a long term hire unless he has a rolodex full of high quality assistants ready to bring in if this gig was to become "for real".

The recent Andrew Luck interview answered a lot of questions on the Luck side of things, except when the Colts first had an inkling he could actually just up and quit... or when they learned for real that he really planned to up and quit.
It's understandable that if you heard an injured player was having 2nd thoughts about the rehab, or just questioning if it was working, that there would be some concerns about the ABILITY tor return... eventually... But, we're talking a lack of DESIRE to return. Who sees that coming in a 29 year old star QB? So, were there REAL signs that Luck truly was someone to just up and quit at any point? And did TPTB believe those signs?

But, it's going to be important now to see how the Colts handle things KNOWING the QB spot isn't plug and play, and that there aren't many plug and play 'good idea' options even out there now. Not in the context of what they know now.

Really good recap of everything.

Look at a QB like Ryan - he is going to have to basically be drug off the field before he throws the towel in on his career. While I absolutely hate watching him play right now, I do on one hand respect the competitiveness and desire. I don’t doubt for a second that he wanted nothing more than to have a successful playoff season here.

The Colts had pretty much the one and only QB in NFL history who was just content to walk away from the opportunity. It’s unprecedented. Manning literally had his neck cut into but still wanted to play. Imagine what Luck could have accomplished with that sort of desire. His life and his decision, but it definitely screwed the Colts for years. Where would Reich’s coaching career be with Luck? Can you imagine the W-L record? Probably would have been pretty damn good.

[Bball]

Well, Ryan benched again. Finally.
Now it's Foles' turn...

[Sollozzo]

Imagine before the season if someone would have told you that

1) The Colts would beat Kansas City

2) The Titans would start off 7-7

You probably would have felt REALLY good about our chances, right?

We can’t even compete in a division where the leading team is 7-7. There is nothing else to discuss with Ballard at this point. That single fact is worth a termination.

[Bball]

Imagine before the season if someone would have told you that

1) The Colts would beat Kansas City

2) The Titans would start off 7-7

You probably would have felt REALLY good about our chances, right?

We can’t even compete in a division where the leading team is 7-7. There is nothing else to discuss with Ballard at this point. That single fact is worth a termination.

Questions, questions, questions... random thoughts on a season gone off the rails...

It will be interesting hearing how some of this downfall is explained.
Reich fired midseason.
Ryan benching #1 for the young QB with a SB winning QB on the roster and a lot of season left.
Ryan reinstated after coaching change and ultimately still looks old and the team has two monumental 2nd half point giveaways.
Ryan benched again, with only 3 games remaining, and now the SB winning coach is given the opportunity to start those 3 games.

The O-line, allegedly one of the best in the league... wasn't...

The WR corps, questionable heading into the season, is still questionable. But then again, with Ryan, how do you know how much of that is on the QB or the receivers (and play calls, and going away from Ryan's inability to get the ball downfield)?

JT... the season that wasn't.

Darius Leonard left the team, replaced by Shaq Leonard... Maybe bring back Darius?

The defense has looked, at times really good... but a lot has been asked of them. Meanwhile, they've given up some monster numbers too. Sometimes looking good, and bad, in the same game. But how much of that is an anemic offense forcing the defense to put a BUNCH of minutes into the game and try and keep the game in reach because the offense can't score TDs?

Were their lockerroom issues this season?

Was everyone happy to see Wentz go, or did he have some followers and supporters on the team?

Was Ryan embraced like we thought he was, or was that a PR job by the Colts and a willing to believe fanbase and soft press?

Was Ballard, Irsay, and Reich on the same page... ever... and when did it diverge and where was the divergence?

And who is on the same page NOW?

Irsay and Saturday?

Irsay and Ballard?

Who in the organization is now in a position to say "I told you so!"?

Who is hearing "What were you thinking!?"?

JT's injury isn't anything too concerning (unless it was Andrew Luck it had happened to), so does the team plan on JT next season, or is he a trade piece?

The NFL has morphed away from 'star' running backs... It seems most teams can plug and play a young RB into their system and get decent enough results that you don't have to throw tons of money at the position. But you do need backups there too for the inevitable injuries. But what does that mean for the Colts whose biggest position of need, or positions of need, isn't necessarily RB.

Is the team bought in on being a team with a heavy focus on the run game? Irsay has always been infatuated with star QB's, so maybe the passing game is so ingrained into the culture to the point THAT has to be there first, and then the running game follows. I think it likely is with fans. But that said, Ryan was a QB not getting it done. There HAD to be some questions amongst the players and coaches. Stick with your guy? Give the young guy a chance? Try the other veteran?

At what point as a player do you look at the record, the still possible playoff chances, and compare to pre-season expectations and start mumbling "try something different!" as Ryan doesn't get it done and clearly looks washed? Meanwhile, things just continue to go downhill.

The league has teams paying 800 million to fired coaches. The Colts are part of that. You have to wonder how sustainable that really is.

[Hoop]

Well, Ryan benched again. Finally.
Now it's Foles' turn...

For a chance to win, probably the best option. At this point I'd rather lose out and get top 5 pick.

[Sollozzo]

I still don't think our overall roster is THAT bad. Just 2 years ago we went 11-5. Last year we controlled our own fate at the end of ths season before the hideous collapse. This is a roster that SHOULD be able to certainly contend for the division title......except for that pesky problem at QB which of course has just brought the entire team down to this nasty record.

You can't underestimate how bad QB play can depress an entire team. You can almost see it on the defense's faces every game when it hits them that the offense just isn't going to give them anything to help win the game. They had a pick six against Minny and we returned a blocked punt for a TD. The offense STILL couldn't do enough to win with that gift-wrapped to them.

In the modern NFL, you just have to be able to score points even if you have a great defense. There is too much offensive talent and the rule changes have helped offenses over the years.

The 2011 2-14 Colts that got beat 62-7 in New Orleans had a lot of the players who went to the Super Bowl two seasons prior when Manning was the QB. Great QB play can elevate the rest of the team to high levels, or it can completely depress a team to what we've seen this year. At this point they really have no other option than to finally bite the bullet and draft a high QB.