Culture problems started with Joe Flacco

[YDFL Commish]

Flacco was never going to be the right guy to mentor AR, and neither was Minshew...but for different reasons.

Flacco definitely does not add to the culture, because he's a me 1st guy. There's nothing wrong with that if your the best player on the team and at least lead by example.

Minshew had the perfect personality to mentor AR, but his gunslinger style of play cannot be something that rubs off on AR.

I don't know who the perfect backup/competition should be. Any ideas?

[rm1369]

Ballard doesn’t believe in players mentoring players. He doesn’t believe in veterans helping set the culture in the locker room. He believes that should all be from the coaches. He told us this when he first started cutting vets, pitching a slow rebuild while Luck was still on the roster. It was one of the very first things that soured me on Ballard. If Flacco wasn’t mentoring AR that’s not something you can blame him for, it’s almost guaranteed he wasn’t brought in to do that. Which to me just further highlights how fucking stupid Ballard’s philosophy is and how much he has fucked AR and this team in general.

[Kray007]

Originally Posted by rm1369

Ballard doesn’t believe in players mentoring players. He doesn’t believe in veterans helping set the culture in the locker room. He believes that should all be from the coaches. He told us this when he first started cutting vets, pitching a slow rebuild while Luck was still on the roster. It was one of the very first things that soured me on Ballard. If Flacco wasn’t mentoring AR that’s not something you can blame him for, it’s almost guaranteed he wasn’t brought in to do that. Which to me just further highlights how fucking stupid Ballard’s philosophy is and how much he has fucked AR and this team in general.

Of course Chris Ballard started cutting vets. He inherited a team that, apart from Andrew Luck and a few others, was talent poor.

Looking at the roster

The Good:

TY Hilton
Anthony Castonzo
Ryan Kelly
Andrew Luck
Jack Doyle who was a 2nd stringer under Pagano

The Old:

Frank Gore was 34
Mike Adams was 36
Vontae Davis was only 29, but he’d only play 6 more games in his career
D’Qwell Jackson was 34
Robert Mathis was 35
Joe Reitz was 31

The Ugly

Donte Moncrief
Jonothan Harrison
Hugh Thornton
Dwayne Allen
Chase Coffman
Kendall Langford
David Parry
Zack Kerr
Erik Walden
Sio Moore
Patrick Robinson
TJ Green

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by Kray007

Of course Chris Ballard started cutting vets. He inherited a team that, apart from Andrew Luck and a few others, was talent poor.

Looking at the roster

The Good:

TY Hilton
Anthony Castonzo
Ryan Kelly
Andrew Luck
Jack Doyle who was a 2nd stringer under Pagano

The Old:

Frank Gore was 34
Mike Adams was 36
Vontae Davis was only 29, but he’d only play 6 more games in his career
D’Qwell Jackson was 34
Robert Mathis was 35
Joe Reitz was 31

The Ugly

Donte Moncrief
Jonothan Harrison
Hugh Thornton
Dwayne Allen
Chase Coffman
Kendall Langford
David Parry
Zack Kerr
Erik Walden
Sio Moore
Patrick Robinson
TJ Green

Even if he did cut all of the vets because the existing ones sucked, that didn’t stop him from adding some via FA to set a culture. He didn’t. And he specifically said he wasn’t worried about veteran presence in the locker room because he expected his coaches to set the culture. He employed a supposed specialist in getting “good character” players in place. I get it, you are a constant Ballard defender. But Ballard wasn’t forced to do things the way he has. This is his team completely. The losing culture and lack of leadership on this team is a result of Ballard’s methods.

[Kray007]

Originally Posted by rm1369

Even if he did cut all of the vets because the existing ones sucked, that didn’t stop him from adding some via FA to set a culture. He didn’t. And he specifically said he wasn’t worried about veteran presence in the locker room because he expected his coaches to set the culture. He employed a supposed specialist in getting “good character” players in place. I get it, you are a constant Ballard defender. But Ballard wasn’t forced to do things the way he has. This is his team completely. The losing culture and lack of leadership on this team is a result of Ballard’s methods.

This isn’t a matter of a losing culture. It’s a talented offense held back by a QB with serious shortcomings. If Richardson, somehow, morphs into a solid pro, the Colts are a serious playoff contender. If he doesn’t, Ballard is on the outside, looking for a job.

[Hoopsdoc]

Originally Posted by Kray007

This isn’t a matter of a losing culture. It’s a talented offense held back by a QB with serious shortcomings. If Richardson, somehow, morphs into a solid pro, the Colts are a serious playoff contender. If he doesn’t, Ballard is on the outside, looking for a job.

The Colts were held back as much or more by their defense than the were by their offense.

[Kray007]

Originally Posted by Hoopsdoc

The Colts were held back as much or more by their defense than the were by their offense.

No argument here. They need a sea change in defensive philosophy. If the players can’t handle a more complicated, sophisticated scheme, it’s time to find new players.

[ChaosTheory]

Originally Posted by Hoopsdoc

The Colts were held back as much or more by their defense than the were by their offense.

I'm not defending them, they had a bad year and the eyeball test doesn't mitigate the numbers like it did to an extent the previous couple of years.

That said, when your QB is throwing 47%, only like a dozen completions per game, moonshots or short hops easy throws so we can't extend drives, blah blah... It's just a non-starter. It effects both sides of the ball.

The rest of the offense was fine. OL was elite when healthy, had an ugly stretch when 3 starters were out. JT was good, Pitt/Pierce/Downs can play if you can get them the ball, and TEs were underwhelming.