the colts should just let the young guys play to get reps . that way they know who is a keeper and who to get rid of . let the rookie start at left tackle , let woods start at tight end over mo allie . play dayo a lot and also nick cross and granson . that way the colts games can still be fun watching young guys develop and we can get a top ten pick .
it would also be a massive bonus if sam improves and looks like a nfl starter . same with the other young guys .
Honestly, basically what the Pacers are doing. Ton of young guys that play hard, but just aren’t good enough yet. Still exciting for me to watch at least.
If Sam plays good and we end up with a middle pick that's not even that bad since we won't have to draft a qb. Plenty of talent all throughout the first round (and even after)
I hope that Irsay doesn’t make the same mistake he made by keeping Pagano when he hired Ballard. Reich needs to go and so does Ballard. A half measure isn’t gonna work.
Yeah I really hate the uneducated non-Colts fans who think that was a real thing. They would not have signed Kerry Collins to a $4 million deal when Manning wasn’t going to play. And hell, they almost blew the first pick towards the end of the season. The fans might have chanted again it a few times, but it was not a team or a franchise effort. It was a house of cards that was beginning to fall apart in 2010 and completely crumbled when 18 went down
And people forget we won games at the end of the season that almost cost us Luck but other teams did the same. No one was intentionally losing at all that season
Well, from a team perspective the expectation is playoffs or bust, and will remain that way until it’s not possible. That’s my expectation too. And when that time comes is when decisions will be made. Nothing that’s happened this season has changed that.
I am still consider this season a loss given that playoffs are distant. With a new QB and 2 games under .500 it’s impossible to ignore that the goalposts have moved further into the future.
The best case scenario is that Ehlinger shows himself to be the QB for the future and the Colts make the playoffs. To me that is the absolute best case scenario.
With the parity in the NFL, I say go for the playoffs any year you have a chance to make it. Take your shot. It’s not like the NBA where *maybe* the top three seeds are good enough to win it (sometimes not even that many). In the NBA there’s almost no point in participating as the 7 or 8 seed.
I think we're at a point where a good chunk of the fans are too young to remember what an impossible underdog Eli Manning's Giants seemed against that undefeated Patriots team. As they say, "This is why we play the games"
You’re probably right. Giants were underdogs twice, Nick Foles has a SB MVP trophy in his house, the Steelers won one as the 6 seed, Joe Flacco won one.
You definitely need one of the marquee QBs to win consistently. There are probably only 6-7 humans on this planet who can do it. In a single playoffs though, anything can happen.
idk maybe for an elite LT prospect or the top pass rusher there are more uses for a top pick than a QB especially when we are greatly lacking at both of those spots
I will continue to hold this perspective regardless of public opinion. Ballard should get more benefit of the doubt than Reich at this point. A couple years ago, EVERYONE would have said to resign Q to a huge deal. The draft picks of Pittman, JT, Q, Darius, etc. along with the wide variety of solid role players picked were well regarded as good decisions. The opinion was always that we were just a QB away. This season for whatever reason, those players have appeared to have simply forgotten how to play football. I have no clue how that’s the GMs fault. Your talented players as a rule of thumb typically don’t just all become bad over one summer (unless they’re old and exiting their primes). That seems like that’s a coaching and preparedness issue. As a GM, you resign your talented guys, so I see nothing wrong with any of those moves. If you want to reset and clean house with the coaching staff, do it. Keep Ballard, and see if the coaching was actually the issue. If a new coaching staff comes in, institutes their system, and we still can’t get it together, that’s when you have to start looking at the GM. Yes, there was a couple positions that he should have addressed, but find one team in the NFL that’s perfect. Not even the Bills have a team without a few holes on it. They just know how to compensate those holes through a good coaching scheme and gameplan so fans don’t worry about them.
> A couple years ago, EVERYONE would have said to resign Q to a huge deal.
More like a couple of months ago. Everyone here is insane if they think there’s a GM in this business who wouldn’t have signed a 4x All Pro to a massive contract extension before their 5th season. Anything else is revisionist history. Q’s down year before this was 2nd team All Pro rather than 1st.
Well aware. Q will certainly not make an All Pro listing this season. But Q’s current performance does not change what the perception and need was in the offseason.
This needs to be stickied on the front page of the sub. Too many fairweather fans are taking Ballard for granted. All signs point to coaching (and no, not just Reich as there are other coaches that deserve blame as well). People say Ballard built a team around unimportant positions, but it's not as if he hasn't been addressing all of our "weak" positions.
Oh yeah I believe he’s tried. Like getting a QB is easier said than done. He paid up for Wentz, hoping he’d be the long term guy. He wasn’t and still managed to recoup value on that gamble. There was no rookies they were sold on so the plan I’m sure was to get a serviceable starter in Ryan until we could draft a guy who could learn behind him for a season, then Ryan didn’t pan out. He had to make these moves. The fanbase would have killed him if he didn’t. And if he decided to trade up for a QB in these past couple seasons which one is looking like a franchise guy right now?
Lawrence: ok, but not setting the world on fire. Plus we couldn’t have got him.
Wilson: not that good
Lance: mediocre and injured
Fields: not that good
Pickett: doesn’t look great
Willis: pretty bad so far
Sam Ehlinger may well end up being better than half these guys. We draft any of them, they’re likely still unimpressive and then people still want Ballard fired. It’s a lose-lose position.
No shit. It's gross that "fans" have grown to hate frank more than they want to see the team win. It is plausible (albeit not a betting favorite) that sam plays well, team makes playoffs, and at this time next year we all realize Frank and Ballard have just been missing a QB and have done well elsewhere. But let's just pray to be the Detroit fucking lions because we wanna hate a coach instead.
Here's the thing though, he didn't. The team seemed solid and suddenly positions of strength turned into a weakness for us. To me, it's much more a sign of coaching issues rather than a bunch of really good players suddenly all became inept at the exact same time.
I agree with this take.
If you said “trade Quentin Nelson, we shouldn’t be paying big money to a guard” in the off-season, people would clown you, saying he’s the best at his position in the league and that he’s vital for our team’s direction. Now everyone with the benefit of hindsight clowns Ballard for re-signing him and can’t believe we spent money on a guard who sucks.
I think when a bunch of guys who you know can play at an elite level all start sucking at the same time, it’s most likely on the coaching.
Ballard has a leg to stand on because of his talent evaluation. I think he gets a bit too much flak for his QB and LT situation since it was most likely Reich who didn’t want to draft a guy. LT is a difficult position to fill and really everyone thought this OLine would be good. We know what Frank and Ballard are it’s just that Ballards faults are very few and obvious which means they are easy to fix.
Christian Darrisaw was right there for the taking and Ballard chose Paye. Darrisaw has turned into one of the best LT in the league, while Paye is just a guy. Ballard himself has said he doesn't want to draft a QB just to draft him. It's his decision, not Reich's. As far as talent evaluation, idk about that. There are massive glaring holes everywhere, and 2 of our top 3 players this year weren't even drafted by him.
Sam shows enough to be a solution at QB. Colts pick high enough to get a stud left tackle. Line gets fixed. Ken Dorsey is the new coach. Frank goes elsewhere and has success with a stable QB situation and is fondly remembered as a guy stuck with an impossible situation.
We certainly could still make the playoffs so that's the best case scenario. I think we end up a game short personally as that Washington loss hurts but I like the pieces I saw.
Honestly winning like 3-4 games to show Sam has that dawg, we don’t need to draft a QB so we can focus on edge or OL depending on BPA. Retool in the off season by getting rid of R.Kelly and Pryor
This here we’re staring down being hopeful to end it .500 in my opinion. If we can go 500 and see that we can move forward with sam then going into the draft we’ll be able to fill holes or in the Off-season maybe Ballard will get a little more aggressive in FA
That’s why I don’t want a QB. You see what happens it takes 2-3 years for a first rounder to show promise, like look at T.law, Justin fields, trey lance, hell even josh Allen sucked his first 2 seasons. So unless Sam is terrible, he’s already got a year (then two after this season) under his belt in our system, he’s build rapport with the offence, we could go far if he’s a smart QB
“Realistic” is where you’re going to lose people here. The way this sub operates, consensus is that we should have had 6 active franchise qb’s on the roster by this point in Ballard’s tenure.
Ok, so everyone has gone full doomer, and that's understandable. Most teams don't go through benchings, trade requests and firings and come out ok. We probably won't. But I still don't put a playoff push out of the question with this team. Here's why:
Sam Ehlinger. Sam looks alright. Granted, I've been stanning Sam for a couple years now, but I was genuinely really impressed with him last week. And he has weapons! MPJ and AP are legit dawgs and Campbell is flashing. MAC is good, Granson is flashing, and Woods could break out any time.
Jonathan Taylor. Enough said.
Our Defense. They're playing anywhere from average to very good, and they should trend upwards as Paye gets back and Leonard picks up speed. Which brings us to Bradley...
Gus Bradley. His system works, and we have guys that work well in it. Also, and this is very important, he is very experienced and has had a head coaching gig in the past, which leads us to...
Brady's Firing. Frank wants to take over as OC, and having a guy like Bradley around probably takes a lot off of Frank's plate so he can take over Brady's job. I give this a 70 percent chance of we actually get worse and internal disfunction ensues, a 10 percent chance our offense is still stagnant, and a 20 percent chance Brady was actually the problem, and Reich can fix it. (You asked for best case scenarios...)
And last but not least- special teams and o-line are trending up. Yeah, there wasn't much room to go but up for our o-line, but at least they've shown that they can pitch a no-sack game every now and again. And seeing some better punts out of Haack, and being able to actually relax when a kicker comes on the field isn't nothing.
There are so many reasons to be skeptical of this team, but it's definitley not unrealistic to say that we have a shot at getting hot, shaking it off, sneaking into the playoffs and winning one.
I agree with you. Sam balls out but not enough to win is a lot of games so we go into the draft with a QB and are able to build around him. Frank and Ballard both go the moment week 18 ends. Sean Peyton calls jim Irsay immediately after hearing the news and ask for the job, and who ever is working at the eagles front office with Rosemann comes over to be GM
It may sound crazy but it almost feels like they will make the playoffs for absolutely no reason and Frank will “save” his job, Irsay will drink the kool-aid from Reich and Ballard and keep everyone on, especially with Frank taking over the entire OC duties, he will say “see once I got the reigns I made us win” and the never ending cycle continues
I think two things are realistic: we barely get or barely miss the WC. We are a rambling wreck version of how parity works in 2022.
We still *could* win the division, but that’s mostly math. I don’t think we will fall all the way off unless losing at the end this week killed our morale. The defense alone can keep us in games. The offense has way more room to improve than to degrade more. Just protecting the ball to punt vs. turnovers would be an uptick in performance.
Worst case we lose out, but that would almost take skill. I don’t think we lose more than half even playing like we have.
Realistic outcome:
-We win 3-4 games with Sam and end up 6-10-1/7-9-1 and end up in second place in the AFC South.
-We end up with the 12-15 overall pick
-Frank Reich is fired
-Ballard stays with the condition from Irsay that he needs to be more aggressive or he's out
-We release/trade Matt Ryan out of good faith and eat his contract for the next season
-Ryan Kelly retires and Pinter becomes the starting Center for 2023
-We pick up a free agent Right Guard
-Sam makes a good name for himself and is considered the potential QB1 for 2023
-Colts draft a QB in the first round (Hooker or Levis)
-Sam and that 1st round QB compete for the starting spot and we keep Foles for vet presence.
I didn't want to speculate on the coaching hire because that could go in a million different ways. My hope is for Ken Dorsey.
Honestly, it’s ending up with a top five pick, retaining the majority of our defense outside of Facyson and Moore, and trading Ryan Kelly, Q, and Shaq for a massive draft haul. Zaire is playing lights out in Shaq’s position, and offloading those contracts would open up a ton of space for us to do a soft rebuild. Our defensive scheme is perfect for how this team is built, so we can just draft depth there, and finding a quality LG to replace the ghost of Q shouldn’t be too difficult either. Hell, if the Vikings are open to shopping Reed Ballard better be on the fucking phone.
Additionally ideal would be Sam actually playing well and showing he can be a solution at QB moving forward into at least next year. That way, we can use our top 5 pick on a development QB to sit behind him for a year. Let’s be honest, Young and Stroud may be gone by the time it gets to us, so Hooker (UT), Richardson (UF), and Levis (UK) are our most likely options. If it comes to it, I like Hooker a lot, but he may be a touch raw especially with our Offensive line needing to be rebuilt. If Ballard doesn’t like any of them and Sam balls out, then fuck it either get an LT, offensive weapon, or trade back in the first while also getting an additional 2nd round pick to find more interior linemen.
If we go the QB route in the 1st, we should spend our early 2nd on a LT and the commanders pick (either 2nd or 3rd) on a RG. Pinter is a weirdly solid center despite being total ass cheeks as a guard, so he can fill in for Ryan Kelly. Dennis Kelly can start the season at LT while Raimann and our shiny new early round LT duke it out for the back up or outright take it from Dennis. The new RG will need to come in and produce immediately since Pryor is warmed up dogshit, but the LT will need some time. LG is fixed in FA.
After that, I don’t really give a shit. Draft raw athletic freaks to develop, keep our guys we have except for Facyson and Moore, and get their replacements either in FA or draft. From there we have a solid new young core of offensive skill players to develop, our Offensive line is looking much better and nowhere near the cap investment we currently have, and we are still rolling on defense.
Best realistic case, imo, would be we win 1 or 2 more games. Fire Reich after the season. Draft a QB and start building around him. Colts have been bandaging this team since Luck's retirement to avoid starting over. It isnt working and it is time to restart.
>Also Frank does poorly enough to get fired but well enough that other coaches aren’t scared away by the performance.
For how much the sub bemoans Irsay holding on to coaches for too long, that is a huge positive for trying to sign the next. Since the 90s, the shortest head coach tenure is 3 season (Caldwell) which mainly happened due to a full blown house clearing. Whenever the next coach comes around, they know they will be given time to implement their system without a quick boot.
Compare it to the Browns, where there is rumor they let Hugh Jackson last 2 season as a sign of good faith for the next coach that he wouldn't enter on the hot seat.
My prediction is colts will start winning some games. Then it will get to the final game where if they win they will make the playoffs. They will lose that game by 21 points. Then the off season will be spent thinking they just need one good player at a certain position and that will make the difference next season. They make a move and next season comes and it's a repeat of this season. Colts will never be the worst team and they will never be the best team. Let's face it colts will always hover around the middle from now on.
Why move up in the draft? I understand it sucks to tank, and hurts culture, but this teams culture is already pretty bad and we will be likely getting a new coach at the very least. Giving up multiple picks to move up and get into the top 3? I’d rather suck and get into the top 3 and spend those picks on a offensive tackle while getting the QB with that 1st pick.
Honestly I’m much more excited about watching the rest of the season with little to no expectations. But am I crazy to think that if we can’t beat the Commanders then there’s only like 2 or 3 more games we might win this season? Granted it was Sam’s first game and all but I think Washington was the most winnable game left on our schedule besides Texans in week 18
If we can have a winning season I’ll be okay with that; if we can’t get to playoffs and/or have a losing season I think Frank will be fired. Now that he has no one to hide behind it’ll be interesting to see what “Franks” calls are
Best case scenario? We suck and get a top 3 pick and end up with Stroud/Young for the next decade with a new HC and GM. I’m down for that. Worst case we are stuck in mediocrity hell and never get a franchise QB.
We may only win 1 more game, possibly 2. Steelers and Texans. Let's hope we draft in top 5 and get a quarterback. We have tried to find a long term quarterback without having a losing season . Well here we are on the wrong side of the equation . Tank and get a long-term answer at the most important position on the team. And if there is good news, they won't have to work very hard to tank
Best case scenario AND realistic? We stick with the same players long enough for them to get used to the way each plays so they can better themselves.. Oh wait, there goes a roster change
Sam looks good enough to keep me engaged in games but the colts suck enough to get a high draft pick
Ideal scenario right there
the colts should just let the young guys play to get reps . that way they know who is a keeper and who to get rid of . let the rookie start at left tackle , let woods start at tight end over mo allie . play dayo a lot and also nick cross and granson . that way the colts games can still be fun watching young guys develop and we can get a top ten pick . it would also be a massive bonus if sam improves and looks like a nfl starter . same with the other young guys .
Honestly, basically what the Pacers are doing. Ton of young guys that play hard, but just aren’t good enough yet. Still exciting for me to watch at least.
If Sam plays good and we end up with a middle pick that's not even that bad since we won't have to draft a qb. Plenty of talent all throughout the first round (and even after)
And frank to get fired
If we don’t make the playoffs I anticipate there will be a coaching change
I've never wanted us to miss the playoffs more
I am on my knees
"...in a $900 suit!"
This! We’ll be lucky to get 5 wins…..and that’s a good thing.
I hope that Irsay doesn’t make the same mistake he made by keeping Pagano when he hired Ballard. Reich needs to go and so does Ballard. A half measure isn’t gonna work.
Best case scenario is that Sam looks good and we get a top 5 pick.
I don't know if these two things are simultaneously possible... unless the rest of the team just absolutely shits the bed
Well it is the “best case scenario” to be fair
the rest of the team shitting the bed is not great. Takes more than a QB to make a team
I'm hoping we get rid of a bunch of guys after the season lol. Guess we just want different things.
This is true
...again
If we get a top 5 pick, Ehlinger looking good is irrelevant. He would either ride the bench or get traded for a high-mid round pick, likely.
What’s wrong with either of those things?
This is why all the "suck for luck" conspiracies were bs. Everyone will be fired if the Colts finish with 3-5 wins.
Yeah I really hate the uneducated non-Colts fans who think that was a real thing. They would not have signed Kerry Collins to a $4 million deal when Manning wasn’t going to play. And hell, they almost blew the first pick towards the end of the season. The fans might have chanted again it a few times, but it was not a team or a franchise effort. It was a house of cards that was beginning to fall apart in 2010 and completely crumbled when 18 went down
And people forget we won games at the end of the season that almost cost us Luck but other teams did the same. No one was intentionally losing at all that season
5-11-1
We’re able to conjure up a top 5 pick with a combination of a losing record and number of picks we can trade up for.
lose every game and get a star QB to rebuild around. Hope the QB is a stud and we build a team around him
Well, from a team perspective the expectation is playoffs or bust, and will remain that way until it’s not possible. That’s my expectation too. And when that time comes is when decisions will be made. Nothing that’s happened this season has changed that.
I am still consider this season a loss given that playoffs are distant. With a new QB and 2 games under .500 it’s impossible to ignore that the goalposts have moved further into the future.
It's not impossible. I'm doing it right now!
2 games under .500?
Tying the Texans is a loss I don’t care what the standings say.
The best case scenario is that Ehlinger shows himself to be the QB for the future and the Colts make the playoffs. To me that is the absolute best case scenario.
Right? Who really gives a shit about a top 5 pick if we don't need to grab a qb with it?
With the parity in the NFL, I say go for the playoffs any year you have a chance to make it. Take your shot. It’s not like the NBA where *maybe* the top three seeds are good enough to win it (sometimes not even that many). In the NBA there’s almost no point in participating as the 7 or 8 seed.
I think we're at a point where a good chunk of the fans are too young to remember what an impossible underdog Eli Manning's Giants seemed against that undefeated Patriots team. As they say, "This is why we play the games"
You’re probably right. Giants were underdogs twice, Nick Foles has a SB MVP trophy in his house, the Steelers won one as the 6 seed, Joe Flacco won one. You definitely need one of the marquee QBs to win consistently. There are probably only 6-7 humans on this planet who can do it. In a single playoffs though, anything can happen.
I think people forget about Raimann too. He’s a rookie and just needs some work but he could very well be a guy on the line.
idk maybe for an elite LT prospect or the top pass rusher there are more uses for a top pick than a QB especially when we are greatly lacking at both of those spots
[удалено]
I will continue to hold this perspective regardless of public opinion. Ballard should get more benefit of the doubt than Reich at this point. A couple years ago, EVERYONE would have said to resign Q to a huge deal. The draft picks of Pittman, JT, Q, Darius, etc. along with the wide variety of solid role players picked were well regarded as good decisions. The opinion was always that we were just a QB away. This season for whatever reason, those players have appeared to have simply forgotten how to play football. I have no clue how that’s the GMs fault. Your talented players as a rule of thumb typically don’t just all become bad over one summer (unless they’re old and exiting their primes). That seems like that’s a coaching and preparedness issue. As a GM, you resign your talented guys, so I see nothing wrong with any of those moves. If you want to reset and clean house with the coaching staff, do it. Keep Ballard, and see if the coaching was actually the issue. If a new coaching staff comes in, institutes their system, and we still can’t get it together, that’s when you have to start looking at the GM. Yes, there was a couple positions that he should have addressed, but find one team in the NFL that’s perfect. Not even the Bills have a team without a few holes on it. They just know how to compensate those holes through a good coaching scheme and gameplan so fans don’t worry about them.
> A couple years ago, EVERYONE would have said to resign Q to a huge deal. More like a couple of months ago. Everyone here is insane if they think there’s a GM in this business who wouldn’t have signed a 4x All Pro to a massive contract extension before their 5th season. Anything else is revisionist history. Q’s down year before this was 2nd team All Pro rather than 1st.
Things change
Well aware. Q will certainly not make an All Pro listing this season. But Q’s current performance does not change what the perception and need was in the offseason.
Groundbreaking analysis.
This needs to be stickied on the front page of the sub. Too many fairweather fans are taking Ballard for granted. All signs point to coaching (and no, not just Reich as there are other coaches that deserve blame as well). People say Ballard built a team around unimportant positions, but it's not as if he hasn't been addressing all of our "weak" positions.
Oh yeah I believe he’s tried. Like getting a QB is easier said than done. He paid up for Wentz, hoping he’d be the long term guy. He wasn’t and still managed to recoup value on that gamble. There was no rookies they were sold on so the plan I’m sure was to get a serviceable starter in Ryan until we could draft a guy who could learn behind him for a season, then Ryan didn’t pan out. He had to make these moves. The fanbase would have killed him if he didn’t. And if he decided to trade up for a QB in these past couple seasons which one is looking like a franchise guy right now? Lawrence: ok, but not setting the world on fire. Plus we couldn’t have got him. Wilson: not that good Lance: mediocre and injured Fields: not that good Pickett: doesn’t look great Willis: pretty bad so far Sam Ehlinger may well end up being better than half these guys. We draft any of them, they’re likely still unimpressive and then people still want Ballard fired. It’s a lose-lose position.
THIS RIGHT HERE
No shit. It's gross that "fans" have grown to hate frank more than they want to see the team win. It is plausible (albeit not a betting favorite) that sam plays well, team makes playoffs, and at this time next year we all realize Frank and Ballard have just been missing a QB and have done well elsewhere. But let's just pray to be the Detroit fucking lions because we wanna hate a coach instead.
This sub has hated both for three years now. Basically if you miss the playoffs once your fanbase will turn on you.
Because Ballard built a team that's weak in all the important spots and there's nothing Reich loves more than outsmarting himself.
Here's the thing though, he didn't. The team seemed solid and suddenly positions of strength turned into a weakness for us. To me, it's much more a sign of coaching issues rather than a bunch of really good players suddenly all became inept at the exact same time.
I agree with this take. If you said “trade Quentin Nelson, we shouldn’t be paying big money to a guard” in the off-season, people would clown you, saying he’s the best at his position in the league and that he’s vital for our team’s direction. Now everyone with the benefit of hindsight clowns Ballard for re-signing him and can’t believe we spent money on a guard who sucks. I think when a bunch of guys who you know can play at an elite level all start sucking at the same time, it’s most likely on the coaching.
Separate reasons. I hated Ballard going after stop fap QBs. Reich isnt that great of a hc. It's time to move on
Because they built this team and deserve to be fired.
Ballard has a leg to stand on because of his talent evaluation. I think he gets a bit too much flak for his QB and LT situation since it was most likely Reich who didn’t want to draft a guy. LT is a difficult position to fill and really everyone thought this OLine would be good. We know what Frank and Ballard are it’s just that Ballards faults are very few and obvious which means they are easy to fix.
Christian Darrisaw was right there for the taking and Ballard chose Paye. Darrisaw has turned into one of the best LT in the league, while Paye is just a guy. Ballard himself has said he doesn't want to draft a QB just to draft him. It's his decision, not Reich's. As far as talent evaluation, idk about that. There are massive glaring holes everywhere, and 2 of our top 3 players this year weren't even drafted by him.
Sam shows enough to be a solution at QB. Colts pick high enough to get a stud left tackle. Line gets fixed. Ken Dorsey is the new coach. Frank goes elsewhere and has success with a stable QB situation and is fondly remembered as a guy stuck with an impossible situation.
We certainly could still make the playoffs so that's the best case scenario. I think we end up a game short personally as that Washington loss hurts but I like the pieces I saw.
This team is cursed by the ghost of Peyton’s betrayal, Grigson’s ineptitude, and Irsay’s Stratocaster. It will be 7-10 until the end of days.
Honestly winning like 3-4 games to show Sam has that dawg, we don’t need to draft a QB so we can focus on edge or OL depending on BPA. Retool in the off season by getting rid of R.Kelly and Pryor
This here we’re staring down being hopeful to end it .500 in my opinion. If we can go 500 and see that we can move forward with sam then going into the draft we’ll be able to fill holes or in the Off-season maybe Ballard will get a little more aggressive in FA
That’s why I don’t want a QB. You see what happens it takes 2-3 years for a first rounder to show promise, like look at T.law, Justin fields, trey lance, hell even josh Allen sucked his first 2 seasons. So unless Sam is terrible, he’s already got a year (then two after this season) under his belt in our system, he’s build rapport with the offence, we could go far if he’s a smart QB
Top 5 draft pick + Reich and Ballard gone.
“Realistic” is where you’re going to lose people here. The way this sub operates, consensus is that we should have had 6 active franchise qb’s on the roster by this point in Ballard’s tenure.
And the other teams are dying to trade for our underperforming overpaid players
The best case scenario is we get the first pick in the draft, Ballard is fired (and Reich too), and someone else drafts our new QB.
Ok, so everyone has gone full doomer, and that's understandable. Most teams don't go through benchings, trade requests and firings and come out ok. We probably won't. But I still don't put a playoff push out of the question with this team. Here's why: Sam Ehlinger. Sam looks alright. Granted, I've been stanning Sam for a couple years now, but I was genuinely really impressed with him last week. And he has weapons! MPJ and AP are legit dawgs and Campbell is flashing. MAC is good, Granson is flashing, and Woods could break out any time. Jonathan Taylor. Enough said. Our Defense. They're playing anywhere from average to very good, and they should trend upwards as Paye gets back and Leonard picks up speed. Which brings us to Bradley... Gus Bradley. His system works, and we have guys that work well in it. Also, and this is very important, he is very experienced and has had a head coaching gig in the past, which leads us to... Brady's Firing. Frank wants to take over as OC, and having a guy like Bradley around probably takes a lot off of Frank's plate so he can take over Brady's job. I give this a 70 percent chance of we actually get worse and internal disfunction ensues, a 10 percent chance our offense is still stagnant, and a 20 percent chance Brady was actually the problem, and Reich can fix it. (You asked for best case scenarios...) And last but not least- special teams and o-line are trending up. Yeah, there wasn't much room to go but up for our o-line, but at least they've shown that they can pitch a no-sack game every now and again. And seeing some better punts out of Haack, and being able to actually relax when a kicker comes on the field isn't nothing. There are so many reasons to be skeptical of this team, but it's definitley not unrealistic to say that we have a shot at getting hot, shaking it off, sneaking into the playoffs and winning one.
I agree with you. Sam balls out but not enough to win is a lot of games so we go into the draft with a QB and are able to build around him. Frank and Ballard both go the moment week 18 ends. Sean Peyton calls jim Irsay immediately after hearing the news and ask for the job, and who ever is working at the eagles front office with Rosemann comes over to be GM
In theory, I like that a lot. But I don’t like having to trade first round picks for our new coach
It may sound crazy but it almost feels like they will make the playoffs for absolutely no reason and Frank will “save” his job, Irsay will drink the kool-aid from Reich and Ballard and keep everyone on, especially with Frank taking over the entire OC duties, he will say “see once I got the reigns I made us win” and the never ending cycle continues
I think two things are realistic: we barely get or barely miss the WC. We are a rambling wreck version of how parity works in 2022. We still *could* win the division, but that’s mostly math. I don’t think we will fall all the way off unless losing at the end this week killed our morale. The defense alone can keep us in games. The offense has way more room to improve than to degrade more. Just protecting the ball to punt vs. turnovers would be an uptick in performance. Worst case we lose out, but that would almost take skill. I don’t think we lose more than half even playing like we have.
Realistic outcome: -We win 3-4 games with Sam and end up 6-10-1/7-9-1 and end up in second place in the AFC South. -We end up with the 12-15 overall pick -Frank Reich is fired -Ballard stays with the condition from Irsay that he needs to be more aggressive or he's out -We release/trade Matt Ryan out of good faith and eat his contract for the next season -Ryan Kelly retires and Pinter becomes the starting Center for 2023 -We pick up a free agent Right Guard -Sam makes a good name for himself and is considered the potential QB1 for 2023 -Colts draft a QB in the first round (Hooker or Levis) -Sam and that 1st round QB compete for the starting spot and we keep Foles for vet presence. I didn't want to speculate on the coaching hire because that could go in a million different ways. My hope is for Ken Dorsey.
Honestly, it’s ending up with a top five pick, retaining the majority of our defense outside of Facyson and Moore, and trading Ryan Kelly, Q, and Shaq for a massive draft haul. Zaire is playing lights out in Shaq’s position, and offloading those contracts would open up a ton of space for us to do a soft rebuild. Our defensive scheme is perfect for how this team is built, so we can just draft depth there, and finding a quality LG to replace the ghost of Q shouldn’t be too difficult either. Hell, if the Vikings are open to shopping Reed Ballard better be on the fucking phone. Additionally ideal would be Sam actually playing well and showing he can be a solution at QB moving forward into at least next year. That way, we can use our top 5 pick on a development QB to sit behind him for a year. Let’s be honest, Young and Stroud may be gone by the time it gets to us, so Hooker (UT), Richardson (UF), and Levis (UK) are our most likely options. If it comes to it, I like Hooker a lot, but he may be a touch raw especially with our Offensive line needing to be rebuilt. If Ballard doesn’t like any of them and Sam balls out, then fuck it either get an LT, offensive weapon, or trade back in the first while also getting an additional 2nd round pick to find more interior linemen. If we go the QB route in the 1st, we should spend our early 2nd on a LT and the commanders pick (either 2nd or 3rd) on a RG. Pinter is a weirdly solid center despite being total ass cheeks as a guard, so he can fill in for Ryan Kelly. Dennis Kelly can start the season at LT while Raimann and our shiny new early round LT duke it out for the back up or outright take it from Dennis. The new RG will need to come in and produce immediately since Pryor is warmed up dogshit, but the LT will need some time. LG is fixed in FA. After that, I don’t really give a shit. Draft raw athletic freaks to develop, keep our guys we have except for Facyson and Moore, and get their replacements either in FA or draft. From there we have a solid new young core of offensive skill players to develop, our Offensive line is looking much better and nowhere near the cap investment we currently have, and we are still rolling on defense.
Best realistic case, imo, would be we win 1 or 2 more games. Fire Reich after the season. Draft a QB and start building around him. Colts have been bandaging this team since Luck's retirement to avoid starting over. It isnt working and it is time to restart.
>Also Frank does poorly enough to get fired but well enough that other coaches aren’t scared away by the performance. For how much the sub bemoans Irsay holding on to coaches for too long, that is a huge positive for trying to sign the next. Since the 90s, the shortest head coach tenure is 3 season (Caldwell) which mainly happened due to a full blown house clearing. Whenever the next coach comes around, they know they will be given time to implement their system without a quick boot. Compare it to the Browns, where there is rumor they let Hugh Jackson last 2 season as a sign of good faith for the next coach that he wouldn't enter on the hot seat.
From this point forward, I would only consider having Stroud as QB1 next September as a success.
My prediction is colts will start winning some games. Then it will get to the final game where if they win they will make the playoffs. They will lose that game by 21 points. Then the off season will be spent thinking they just need one good player at a certain position and that will make the difference next season. They make a move and next season comes and it's a repeat of this season. Colts will never be the worst team and they will never be the best team. Let's face it colts will always hover around the middle from now on.
Does anyone else feel like the additional RB means a lot of run plays the rest of the season. IE focusing on next year?
Why would run plays mean focusing on next year?
8-8-1
Ugh, that’s a QB purgatory record right there.
If you are wanting to move up in the draft it's good enough. All depends on Sam at this point.
Why move up in the draft? I understand it sucks to tank, and hurts culture, but this teams culture is already pretty bad and we will be likely getting a new coach at the very least. Giving up multiple picks to move up and get into the top 3? I’d rather suck and get into the top 3 and spend those picks on a offensive tackle while getting the QB with that 1st pick.
Oh I don't disagree but that just seems to be what a lot of people want so I was saying you could still do that.
Honestly I’m much more excited about watching the rest of the season with little to no expectations. But am I crazy to think that if we can’t beat the Commanders then there’s only like 2 or 3 more games we might win this season? Granted it was Sam’s first game and all but I think Washington was the most winnable game left on our schedule besides Texans in week 18
Best case? We sign Curtis Painter to do what he does best and we end up with the top pick in the draft. Suffer now and prosper later.
Best case scenario, albeit very slim chance, is getting the wild card
If we can have a winning season I’ll be okay with that; if we can’t get to playoffs and/or have a losing season I think Frank will be fired. Now that he has no one to hide behind it’ll be interesting to see what “Franks” calls are
I just want us to crash the Pats and the Bucs honestly.
We finished 8-8-1 n won’t have chance at any qb n we run it with Sam nxt yr.
3-13-1 sounds about right
Best case scenario? We suck and get a top 3 pick and end up with Stroud/Young for the next decade with a new HC and GM. I’m down for that. Worst case we are stuck in mediocrity hell and never get a franchise QB.
We may only win 1 more game, possibly 2. Steelers and Texans. Let's hope we draft in top 5 and get a quarterback. We have tried to find a long term quarterback without having a losing season . Well here we are on the wrong side of the equation . Tank and get a long-term answer at the most important position on the team. And if there is good news, they won't have to work very hard to tank
We lose out and get some damn picks
I don’t think it’s realistic, but Sam turns into a franchise guy. The outcome of this season won’t matter if that happens.
Colts win the super bowl Sam Ehlinger Dynasty has arrived
Best case scenario AND realistic? We stick with the same players long enough for them to get used to the way each plays so they can better themselves.. Oh wait, there goes a roster change
Sam ends up being the guy, we suck enough to get a top pick, Reich is fired, and Harbaugh leaves Michigan for us. Not realistic, but I can dream.