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

[Oldcolt]

Development of young players into impact players (like Latu), continued development of AR and our young players. A team that is coached well enough not to shoot themselves in foot. I don’t even ‘need’ playoffs. I just want to see enough progression that I have something to root for that has what looks like a positive future.

[Dam8610]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

I don’t think expecting a playoff win is unreasonable. This is taking into account injuries, bad calls, and some bad bounces that all teams must contend with. I also expect them to show up prepared to play and be competitive in every game. Even a playoff win followed by a shit-show would be unacceptable.

Unless the Colts win the division, expecting a playoff win is unreasonable, because then you're expecting the team to go on the road against one of the division winners and beat them in their own stadium. Are you saying if the Colts went 10-7, ended up as, let's say, the 6 seed, and lost a close game on the road, that you'd want the whole front office replaced?

Originally Posted by Colts And Orioles

o


My guess would be that their criteria would be 14-3, an AFC Championship, and the Colts' first trip to the Super Bowl since 2009 ...... but then he'll be back hot-seat the following year if the Colts don't win it all in the 2026 season.

o

I doubt anyone is that unreasonable. That said, if that does somehow happen, that would mean actual good QB play from Daniel Jones, and I would want to know how that came to be.

Originally Posted by Oldcolt

Development of young players into impact players (like Latu), continued development of AR and our young players. A team that is coached well enough not to shoot themselves in foot. I don’t even ‘need’ playoffs. I just want to see enough progression that I have something to root for that has what looks like a positive future.

Now this I can get behind. If the team is in the hunt all year, Latu has 12+ sacks and looks like tge disruptive force he was in college, Warren looks like a true TE1 and matchup nightmare, several of the young players make significant contributions, even if they don't make the playoffs, that sounds like a promising future. Since it sounds like they're trying to basically do a reset with AR and give him the Mahomes treatment, all I'm expecting there is health and no reports that he’s slacking off behind the scenes. If he then comes out gangbusters next year, we'll know it worked.

[Oldcolt]

Originally Posted by Dam8610

Now this I can get behind. If the team is in the hunt all year, Latu has 12+ sacks and looks like tge disruptive force he was in college, Warren looks like a true TE1 and matchup nightmare, several of the young players make significant contributions, even if they don't make the playoffs, that sounds like a promising future. Since it sounds like they're trying to basically do a reset with AR and give him the Mahomes treatment, all I'm expecting there is health and no reports that he’s slacking off behind the scenes. If he then comes out gangbusters next year, we'll know it worked.

If this happened Ballard/Steichen would have proved I don't know shit and I would gladly crawl into their corner

[Colts And Orioles]

Originally Posted by YDFL Commish

OK, I want to ask this question ...... what result from this season will get the Ballard haters off of his ass?

Will 10-7, and 1 win in the playoffs do it?

Will a division title do it?

Will winning the opener, beating the Jaguars in Jacksonville, but missing the playoffs at 9-8 do it?

What are you're measurements of success that will convince you that Ballard is the man for the job?

Originally Posted by Colts And Orioles

o

My guess would be that their criteria would be 14-3, an AFC Championship, and the Colts' first trip to the Super Bowl since 2009 ...... but then he'll be back hot-seat the following year if the Colts don't win it all in the 2026 season.

o

Originally Posted by Dam8610

I doubt that anyone is that unreasonable.

o


"Unreasonable" and ColtFreals posts are synonymous concepts.

o

[IndyNorm]

Originally Posted by YDFL Commish

Okay, I want to ask this question...What result from this season will get the Ballard haters off his ass?

Will 10-7, and 1 win in the playoffs do it?

Will a division title do it?

Will winning the opener, beating the Jags in Jacksonville, but missing the playoffs at 9-8 do it?

What are you're measurements of success, that will convince you that Ballard is the man for the job?

For me it's not so much just this year, but IMO it's going to take a few years of sustained success to convince me that Ballard is the man for the job.

I do think a decent year this year at 10+ wins or at the very least the team shows clear signs of improvement should get him a stay of execution.

Something I'd really like to see this team do is not play down to the level of competition and certainly not shit the bed against really bad teams (@Jagoffs and NYG last year).

[Dam8610]

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

For me it's not so much just this year, but IMO it's going to take a few years of sustained success to convince me that Ballard is the man for the job.

I do think a decent year this year at 10+ wins or at the very least the team shows clear signs of improvement should get him a stay of execution.

Something I'd really like to see this team do is not play down to the level of competition and certainly not shit the bed against really bad teams (@Jagoffs and NYG last year).

At this point, it all comes down to one question: Can they make AR into a franchise QB? And it seems like they've found a way to buy another year of time to answer that question. Ballard has effectively adopted Dorsey's model 2 years late, with his hope being that Janiel Dones can play the part of Alex Smith. For our sakes, I hope it works, because I'm tired of watching bad football and not dominating this shit division.

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

For me it's not so much just this year, but IMO it's going to take a few years of sustained success to convince me that Ballard is the man for the job.

I do think a decent year this year at 10+ wins or at the very least the team shows clear signs of improvement should get him a stay of execution.

Something I'd really like to see this team do is not play down to the level of competition and certainly not shit the bed against really bad teams (@Jagoffs and NYG last year).

I agree, I’m less concerned about the single season outcome than seeing something real and sustainable being built. My issues with Ballard have been with his team building philosophy so seeing (and believing) he has changed that philosophy is what it would take for me. It will be hard to convince me at this point that I was wrong in my criticisms of his philosophy because I have so many seasons of mediocrity to reinforce my beliefs. I will say, this is the most complete team I have seen him put together. Right now I believe it’s only because his job depends on it. If they have a good enough season to save his job I still won’t start believing until I see a continuation of the somewhat more aggressive approach.

[Voosh]

I've been down on Ballard for a while, but if the team shows improvement and has a winning record I would be fine with rolling with him another season. I don't think we have an answer at QB right now and wouldn't mind seeing what he could build with a good young QB.

Wouldn't it be nice if Riley Leonard caught fire? I don't know... at this point I just want us to not lose the opener or to the Jags.

[Kray007]

Originally Posted by rm1369

I agree, I’m less concerned about the single season outcome than seeing something real and sustainable being built. My issues with Ballard have been with his team building philosophy so seeing (and believing) he has changed that philosophy is what it would take for me. It will be hard to convince me at this point that I was wrong in my criticisms of his philosophy because I have so many seasons of mediocrity to reinforce my beliefs. I will say, this is the most complete team I have seen him put together. Right now I believe it’s only because his job depends on it. If they have a good enough season to save his job I still won’t start believing until I see a continuation of the somewhat more aggressive approach.

It’s hard to build a team when your Quarterback is completing less than 50 percent of his passes and has no clue how to run an NFL Offense. This year, Chris Ballard rolled the dice, hoping that Daniel Jones can rediscover the spark that propelled the Giants into the playoffs a couple of years ago. If Jones succeeds, no one will ask questions about Ballard’s team building ability.

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by Kray007

It’s hard to build a team when your Quarterback is completing less than 50 percent of his passes and has no clue how to run an NFL Offense. This year, Chris Ballard rolled the dice, hoping that Daniel Jones can rediscover the spark that propelled the Giants into the playoffs a couple of years ago. If Jones succeeds, no one will ask questions about Ballard’s team building ability.

That’s a cop out. For one, there’s been one season for Ballard that fits that description. And Ballard owns the QB situation on this team. His philosophy has been part of the issue. Two, the team building aspect goes way beyond the QB. If you haven’t seen the holes that he has left at various positions over the years then we just aren’t going to see things the same. If you’ve seen them and excuse them that’s fine, but then the issues extend a lot further than the simplistic excuse you are trying to make for him. I get that he’s teflon for a certain section of the fanbase though.