I would take Hooker. He has the tools for the modern era NFL. Can throw absolute darts but when necessary can burst out of the pocket for productive yards with his feet. Looks similar to Fields- maybe not as quick but perhaps better anticipation, and throws a beautiful deep ball.

Isn't this like a repeat Irsay did before? Ditch the coach but keep the same GM?

Hendon Hooker's accuracy is not NFL starter level. Not even close.

Slow processor in a one-read offense. He got destroyed by that defense.

I don't see the upside of Saturday, except that he brings an outsider perspective and perhaps an independant review of the staff and players. Jeff is known as a good leader though. Literally everyone who knows Jeff has not been shocked when they hear it and seem to think highly of the guy. I don't know. Outsider, insider, the result should be the same at this point.

We all did at first.

Hooker is not an NFL starting QB. There are no franchise quarterbacks in this draft, and unless someone emerges next year I don't see anyone who is. Everyone screaming for Arch, but kid has not even played a college down yet. Having the pedigree doesn't make it automatic.

For me, and it is my personal opinion, Levi's is the best coming out for the next draft class. He just has that it factor. Playing at UK he doesn't get the TV time the others do, but that is ok, kid is a top 3-4 pick and worth the gamble.

I absolutely LOVE Jim for going here:

Jim Irsay on Jeff Saturday: "I'm glad he doesn't have NFL experience."

He said Saturday lacks the fear that forces many of today's coaches to rely on analytics.

Jim could see it- Frank wasn't really coaching, he was caught up in some bizarre web where that fucking laminated sheet dictated to him every next move. It was sickening to watch. We will be a more engaged team, with a more physical line, with Saturday stepping in and likely ditching all the fucking goofy Frank analytics shit.

Pretty obvious the team had turned against all of his mechanics and I expect they will become a more play with feel type of team in coming weeks.

Ballard, by all accounts, is a very stand up and good human being. Trying to read body language in these circumstances is crazy. The guy feels like shit. He is part of a debacle here and just fired (or watched get fired) a man he thinks highly of. His body language was of a man in pain. He is a great talent evaluator. Hopefully he learns from how this played out. We are in for a few rough years in any event. Those of you old enough will attest to how sweet it is to watch a team go from shit to relevance. I will endure the pain with the rest of you real true fans just to come out the other end-whenever the fuck that will be-and celebrate with you. Go Colts-we are a clusterfuck at this moment.

I agree. Chris was all that, and he was deferring to the man he answers to. He would have seemed much different if he was the top dog in the room. Anyone with any experience leading people would understand this. Those who read something nefarious into it are the ones who have never led anyone at much of anything. They are the types who sit back and pick at every decision made by management and say it is wrong. I ignore those types.

That was my biggest take from this presser. Irsay and perhaps Ballard were sick and tired of the analytics bullshit.

I'm not sure what how successful Saturday will be as HC, but I'm hoping that he'll be able to be totally successful at evaluating the worth of every player on the OL. So we can get rid of the garbage and keep the promising players, regardless of salaries and contractual obligations. It starts there. I do believe we need a franchise QB, but I can't think of any QB who would thrive behind this OL. And to think, almost every talking head rated the OL as the strength of this team just a few years ago.

I am on board with this move now, to me the season is lost and while I dont like seeing the colts lose, I am hoping for the best draft pick we can get now.

I have no idea how saturday will do. Mainly what I am hoping for is he keeps the spirit up so we dont mentally lose players we want back next season.

I dont think he will be a long term solution and I couldn't get a read on what irsay thinks about that. I am hoping they get a progressive offense minded HC that can usher us into a new era of winning.

In general, I like ballard and am good with him staying on. and the way irsay was talking, i dont think ballard will be fired anytime soon. Ballard was clearly agitated/upset/mad at that press conference, which is understandable and I am glad he isnt complacent with how things have transpired the last couple years.

However, he threw one quip out there that irritated me. He said "everyone was clamoring for me to get a WR and then I look up and the line is crap..." or something like that. Fuck off with that bullshit. First, a good GM shouldnt listen to the writers or general public. Second, a good GM shouldnt be petty like that. Third, he royally fucked up the LT, and never properly planned for the future. Ballard had every indication that castanzo was done/almost done, he even talked castanzo into another year. He could have gotten Leno from what I had read at the time. He could have drafted a LT when the draft was stacked at OL, Darrisaw was there and he took Paye instead. He then ended up starting the worst fucking LT in history in pryor. Dont say something shitty like the OL fell apart because you were trying to find us wideouts. Fuck off with that shit.

Now, go work on a plan to fix this shit so we can get back to enjoying watching colts football.

Rant end.

Yeah, such a BS fucking answer. Fuck that guy. People talking about accountability - it sure seems lacking there. Not to mention nobody was saying draft a WR, they said fix WR. It’s a prime example of the mentality that has led to the situation they are in

From his demeanor in the presser, and his patience in general, along with how he and Irsay described their meeting... I don't think Ballard was on board with this. People bitch about Ballard's patience and diligence... so firing Reich mid-season and especially hiring Saturday from left field are two of the most un-Ballard moves I can imagine.


You could say it was petty, sure. With the whirlwind of emotion he was sitting on, I think that little bit of steam came out. Ha, I wish he would've gone in more, but I hate these mainstream writers so I'm biased. The younger ones especially want him to build the team like they would do it on Madden.


Yeah and when he did that, we really needed an upgrade at DE. Obviously they had a higher grade for Paye than Darrisaw. And Paye is becoming a really good player for us. He doesn't have flashy sack numbers yet, but he's 4 sacks in 6 games this season. He's only 21 games in and getting better.

He's a real monster against the run. Excluding the DEN game we've given up 86yd/gm rushing with Paye and 159yd/gm without him. I separate the DEN game because Pay got hurt at the beginning of the 4th qtr. Up until the injury, DEN rushed for 58yds, 3.4ypc. After Paye got hurt, DEN had 8 rushes for 63yds, 7.9ypc and finished with 125yds.

Ballard still fucked up with Pryor for sure. And Darrisaw looks like a good player. But Paye was a good pick.

Nobody said draft a WR? Are you high? Everybody wanted us to draft a WR, draft another WR, and sign Robinson and Beckham... even Cole fucking Beasley. Remember that? When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had real leadership because they needed a WR and went and got Cole fucking Beasley and that was another indictment of Ballard?

I am fine with paye, I think he is a good edition to the team, but LT was a bigger need. The big issue I have here is his quip about WR and then the line fell apart. He had pleny of chances to fix it and ran a turd out there instead.

I agree that I dont think ballard was on board with either the reich or saturday decisions. looks like he will have one more chance to get a HC unless irsay takes that away from him, which if that happens he should probably just resign.

also, is it just me or was that press conference just embarrassing?

Its you

Everyone wanted us to FIX wr, I don’t remember anyone saying that had to be in the draft. I specifically remember many suggesting they fix it through FA since they had other needs in the draft. That’s my point. Ballard intends to fix every issue through the draft. We’ve been saying for years you can’t draft for every hole. Ballard still doesn’t understand that, so you get Matt Pryor as your starting LT with a 37 yr old immobile QB.

The whole situation is embarrassing - not just the press conference. Everyone here defending it would be laughing their asses off if this was the Titans or Jags. The team is an absolute shit show right now.

I'm still at a loss for words. Irsay looked deranged. Ballard looked angry and fed up. Saturday looked okay. Like he just hit on a scratch off ticket. I don't expect to win another game this year. Clown show. Whatever

I will wait until the end of the 4th quarter of this weeks game.

Sure, but I'd also be laughing my ass off if the Jags and the Titans had a Frank Reich as their head coach. So nothing would have really changed.

Few random thoughts:


1) NFL Films and HBO must be kicking themselves for producing Hard Knocks with the Colts last year instead of this year. One can only imagine what is going on behind closed doors at the facility right now.


2) If this week's changes were made one week earlier and before the trade deadline - wonder how many more players would have requested to be traded.

In a vacuum Paye was a good pick, but as very much evident from the current situation having a good LT is much more critical to success in the NFL than a good edge setting complimentary DE. If Ballard had adequately addressed the need at LT most of us would be perfectly happy w/ the Paye pick. But Ballard not only didn't adequately address LT, he made it an epic fucking disaster.

Did he really say that? What a fucking dumb fuck. He's used 3 out of 7 2nd round draft picks in the past 4 drafts to address WR. That's it. He knows damn well that his complete shit decision making is the main cause that the OL sucks, or at least he should.

I took that as him saying that the line was good, so he went for WR, and then the line went bad very quickly. Kind of like when you buy a house and fix the leaking chimney, only to have the foundation slip due to a sinkhole or something else unexpected. I mean, we had a top 5 line not that long ago after the guy inherited Satele and McGlynn as the current turnstyles of that day. He fixed the line, and it should have been solid. Nobody expected Smith, Nelson and Kelly to suddenly struggle. I still think a lot of the issue is the poor QB play of Wentz and of Ryan, but it could also be something else that may correct itself in a short time.

Maybe a better analogy is when you start to get ahead financially, and then an appliance or auto breaks down without warning. We all know how that feels.

I am sure the quote isnt word for word, but yeah.

Thats not how I took it. And if thats the case he could have worded it better.

He definitely could have been less defensive.

For what it's worth, I took it more like Racehorse did. I guess some people think he was saying something like, "I went and got a WR 'cause you were bugging me and you made me forget about the O-line", which I don't think is anything near accurate.

I could be wrong, but personally, I initially took it as him pointing out to a bunch of writers who (not all, but most) badgered him about bringing in flashy WR's over the years that, no, it's the boring OL having the impact. The WR are fine and OL is underperforming (key word). And basically, you guys don't know what you're talking about.

I don't think it was worded better because it was just an impromptu jab. A quick fuck you to the writers on the heels of A.) a 12-hour shitty, heated, stressful session, and B.) like three straight attacking questions, including asking the owner right next to him if he's going to fire Ballard.

I think three seconds of steam blew off.