The white flag has already been waived, and now we can simply hope that our remaining players stay healthy enough to fight another day. If they can improve a little along the way, that would be great as well. With the passing of the trade deadline, It is unlikely that the Colts make news nationally, unless CIG gives Steichen an ultimatum to sit Jones and Shane refuses. Then we would get a new interim coach to toss into the mix and give the talking heads some material.
I’m surprised that we are apparently
going to finish the season with lame duck coaches. It seems like you would get maximum effort from a coach who wanted to get some experience? I would guess that at minimum, they would be willing to veer from the approach of their predecessor. It could be that they had a different idea of what the call should be in any given situation and could now be allowed to see if they would have any success. They might try some different players or game plan in a different way, or maybe just be willing to sit players that are not performing.
This year isn’t much about winning and losing anyway. Some have said that they hate to see the Jets get a top 5 pick, but does it really matter? If they choose a QB, they’ll muck it up anyway. I also do not think the difference between say, 35 – 40, is all that large and I do not know how we could slide past 40 in the 2nd round. This season is seeing what upper level management thinks about their roster, and it’s professionalism and fight.
What Carlie should most be concentrating on, is what kind of identity that she believes serves the Colts best, the day after the GM is hired. It should be the main factor in her choice and should become apparent as soon as the GM names a coach. If she has leaned as much as hoped, she knows what she wants to see, and chooses a leader that assembles a roster accordingly. Identity needs to be more of the focus than what sort of offense or defense we will be running.
What is our current identity or the one we have taken over during Ballard’s term? Starting with the positives: Ballard was always considered loyal to Colts players. He also had a good reputation among agents as being fair in negotiations. We didn’t do much public airing of anything from the complex. We generally had good citizens and avoided a lot of negative press for player conduct. You might say that the entire building tried to do things the right way. Maybe you do not see all of these as positives.
As for the negative: Historically bad starts. Struggles with finishing games and seasons. Prone to laying an egg against weaker competition. A long line of poor defenses, with a reputation for being pushed around. We have extended periods of poor tackling and have had a gap in the intermediate to deep middle for some time now. On offense, other than a brief period last year, we have trouble getting receivers open. We’ve not been able to run screens. We spend a lot of time in shotgun and we don’t have much of a chance if we can’t run the ball. For all of the attempts to play bully ball, it has had only limited success.
Oh, the elephant in the room: The inability to find a franchise QB, without the assistance of the first pick of the draft.
Since Luck’s retirement, we have banked on an offensive minded coach, far more than letting a QB have much control of the offense. Rivers’ brief run last year, was one of the few times we let the QB react to what the defense was showing. We have won some games, but how often has it been solely based on the play of the QB? For this reason, I’m hoping that a new regime finds a HC that doesn’t really have a hand in the offense, or the defense for that matter. Watch the game and get a sense of adjustments that need to be made, then relay that to your coordinators.
I’d like it if the HC that doesn’t come in with a predetermined alliance with either side of the ball, In other words, don’t come in and say we need a shutdown defense and an offense that doesn’t get in the way. Or, a star wars offense, with a defense that just needs a couple of stops or force a couple of FGs to get a win. Spend your time on both sides of the ball in practice and know your personnel. Loyalties can be good, but let the coordinators know that if you think someone needs to be off of or on the field, you will be making that call.
Lastly, lets hope that the new GM will hire someone with coaching experience, preferably with positive results. Keep your unproven “genius” types for the coordinator position and let them do what they do. The GM and the HC need to be in lock step, when identifying the QB (and all players for matter) that will lead the Colts to the other side of this rebuild.
So, as much as we want to do mock drafts ad nauseum, the important part of the rebuild will happen when CIG and her team steps to the podium and announces our next GM/Personnel Director. From there, we can start building a new identity.
