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

[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.