I come to praise Chris Ballard, not to bury him.

[IndyNorm]

I was out of town this weekend (saw Oasis in Chicago then in Indy for a couple of days visiting family), but I did follow the topic on my phone and have been somewhat chomping at the bit to put in my .02.

I don't think anyone on here is upset w/ Ballard selecting AR. He took a big swing for the fences, and if he ends up striking out then so be it. Where we (or at least I) have issues is with the clear lack of vision in the development plan for AR. They draft one of if not the rawest QB prospects in history, hand him the starters keys from the get go, and just 2 years and 15 starts into his career they've pretty much given up on him. So maybe the issue is more Steichen than Ballard, or maybe there's something to Jim pressuring them to start AR. But Ballard was pretty quick to say that Irsay didn't do this in his presser last week. Of course he could be just saying that to avoid any additional controversy, etc.

I'm guessing that if DJ struggles (which despite what a lot of you believe is a distinct possibility) combined w/ AR not improving both Ballard and Steichen will be gone, since one of the two will in all likelihood have to play well for us to make the playoffs.

I have plenty more thoughts on everything discussed, but it's late so will post more tomorrow.