Originally Posted by IndyNorm (Post 273087)

For 2018 we could have brought in someone better than Ryan Grant via FA to be WR2 is what I was mostly getting at, but we had enough draft capital that year we probably could have moved up and taken Kirk instead of Turray.

Where Ballard really fucked up w/ WR was in 2019 where he passed on all 3 of Deebo Samuel, AJ Brown, and DK Metcalf in the 2nd round for Rock, Banogu (gah), and Campbell.

Originally Posted by IndyNorm (Post 273097)

As stated in the other post I'm sure they'll be better. Until the injuries hit and then they'll probably be really bad again. Also, hate to brake the news to you guys but this improvement by the OL in the 2nd half of the season really wasn't all that great. At least from a pass blocking standpoint. Our OL gave up 25 sacks in the final 8 games after Pryor was benched, which prorates to 53 for a 17 game season. That would have ranked them as the 4th worst in the league instead of 2nd.



Ebron was a good pickup, and Hines and Doyle were good that year too. I recall that the offense struggled until Inman came in and gave Luck at least a dependable WR2. Either way, the fact that Ballard ignored WR early on and royally fucked up by passing on all 3 of Samuel, AJ Brown, and Metcalf in the 2nd round in 2019 are 2 big contributors as to why we have such an underwhelming and thin WR group.

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I agree, which is why IMO we should have drafted Darrisaw in '21, or at least kept Fisher on until Raimann was ready.

No one is expecting Ballard to be perfect, but we should expect him to learn from his mistakes. And while he may have admitted he fucked up on the OL last offseason his complete lack of investment in the OL this offseason shows he hasn't learned from those mistakes.

Originally Posted by IndyNorm (Post 273097)

As stated in the other post I'm sure they'll be better. Until the injuries hit and then they'll probably be really bad again. Also, hate to brake the news to you guys but this improvement by the OL in the 2nd half of the season really wasn't all that great. At least from a pass blocking standpoint. Our OL gave up 25 sacks in the final 8 games after Pryor was benched, which prorates to 53 for a 17 game season. That would have ranked them as the 4th worst in the league instead of 2nd.

Originally Posted by IndyNorm (Post 273097)

Ebron was a good pickup, and Hines and Doyle were good that year too. I recall that the offense struggled until Inman came in and gave Luck at least a dependable WR2. Either way, the fact that Ballard ignored WR early on and royally fucked up by passing on all 3 of Samuel, AJ Brown, and Metcalf in the 2nd round in 2019 are 2 big contributors as to why we have such an underwhelming and thin WR group.

Originally Posted by IndyNorm (Post 273097)

I agree, which is why IMO we should have drafted Darrisaw in '21, or at least kept Fisher on until Raimann was ready.

No one is expecting Ballard to be perfect, but we should expect him to learn from his mistakes. And while he may have admitted he fucked up on the OL last offseason his complete lack of investment in the OL this offseason shows he hasn't learned from those mistakes.

Originally Posted by Chromeburn (Post 273136)

Because we were starting a rookie on the left side and Q was injured. Kelly didn't help things with whatever was up with him. The rookie was going to make rookie mistakes. However, Smith returned to form as a top ten RT. And by the end of the year, Raimannn was in the top three of rookie LT's.

Originally Posted by Chromeburn (Post 273136)

Maybe, of course everyone would be complaining about DE then. Paye had six sacks last year and looked like he was going to take a step till injury. I hope he turns the corner this year, he is already a great run defender. What I do like is they had Darisaw and Paye even with each other on their board, just DE won out with positional value. But they seem to be targeting the right players. So if Raimann turns out as he is trending, they found a LT and a DE with both picks.

Originally Posted by rm1369 (Post 273169)

They were starting a rookie LT because of Ballard’s previous “kick the can down the road” mentality.




Considering his previous inability to address DE and his handling of Denico Autry you are likely right. He put the team in a position where they had nothing at DE going into that draft. It’s a consequence of Ballard’s methods.

Ballard has drafted individual players fairly well, what he hasn’t done is assemble good teams. His major hits are almost all at positions that are devalued in the current NFL. And he leaves gaping holes to be addressed later. He also gifts positions to his players and is also nearly allergic to mid level vets. We’ll see how Paye and Raimann turn out and that may change the dynamic some. No matter how you slice it though Ballard has been in charge of the Colts for 6 years the team currently has no proven top end players at the most important positions in football - QB, LT, DE, WR, CB. Some decent players. Some players with potential. No one you can bank on. It’s hard for me to agree that’s the product of a good GM.

Originally Posted by ChoppedWood (Post 273170)

Good shit

Originally Posted by Racehorse (Post 273171)

Well, you got it right that it was shit.

Originally Posted by rm1369 (Post 273169)

They were starting a rookie LT because of Ballard’s previous “kick the can down the road” mentality.




Considering his previous inability to address DE and his handling of Denico Autry you are likely right. He put the team in a position where they had nothing at DE going into that draft. It’s a consequence of Ballard’s methods.

Ballard has drafted individual players fairly well, what he hasn’t done is assemble good teams. His major hits are almost all at positions that are devalued in the current NFL. And he leaves gaping holes to be addressed later. He also gifts positions to his players and is also nearly allergic to mid level vets. We’ll see how Paye and Raimann turn out and that may change the dynamic some. No matter how you slice it though Ballard has been in charge of the Colts for 6 years the team currently has no proven top end players at the most important positions in football - QB, LT, DE, WR, CB. Some decent players. Some players with potential. No one you can bank on. It’s hard for me to agree that’s the product of a good GM.