Football IndyStar The Colts have no idea what they're doing - Page 5

oaklandhater · 09-10-2017, 09:23 PM

http://www.indystar.com/story/sports...ing/645793001/

The Colts have no idea what they're doing by Gregg Doyel,

LOS ANGELES – The Indianapolis Colts stink, and not just the players on the field for that 46-9 loss Sunday to the Los Angeles Rams in their 2017 NFL opener. The whole damn franchise stinks, starting with the owner and oozing downhill, as this sort of excrement tends to do.

The front office stinks. The coaching staff. The scouting department. The players? Bless their hearts, yes. The players stink, too.

A loss like this, it goes looking for people to blame and it does not go wanting. The difficulty is deciding where to start. Quarterback Scott Tolzien was terrible, but you don’t start there. Tolzien has been something less than an NFL quarterback for years, and he stayed in character Sunday from his first pass of the game: an interception the Rams returned for a touchdown. He threw a second pick-six, and flirted with a third and a fourth, before being benched for Jacoby Brissett.

Tolzien’s amateurish play Sunday – quarterback rating: 33.8 – was as predictable, if not as uncommon, as a lunar eclipse. Where were General Manager Chris Ballard and coach Chuck Pagano looking this summer when they chose Tolzien over Stephen Morris? Directly into the sun.

OK, that’s not the real answer. The real answer is even dumber.

While Morris was fabulous for a second consecutive year of preseason games, Ballard said last week that the job went to Tolzien because he was better than Morris in offseason OTAs and again in the early practices of training camp. And Pagano on Sunday said he “would never second-guess” that decision, because Chuck Pagano is nothing if not reliably prone to say things that sound blatantly untrue.

No, this loss wasn’t Tolzien’s fault, though he did try to take the blame for it. To his credit, he acknowledged that football “is a team effort, but I certainly want to own this” defeat. To Pagano’s credit, he accepted blame for this loss on multiple occasions, even as he referred to the Rams as "the 49ers." To the credit of star receiver T.Y. Hilton, who fumbled his first catch of the season as he was diving to avoid contact – read that again – he tried to take the blame as well, saying: “I fumbled. It started with me.”

Tolzien’s amateurish play Sunday – quarterback rating: 33.8 – was as predictable, if not as uncommon, as a lunar eclipse. Where were General Manager Chris Ballard and coach Chuck Pagano looking this summer when they chose Tolzien over Stephen Morris? Directly into the sun.

OK, that’s not the real answer. The real answer is even dumber.

While Morris was fabulous for a second consecutive year of preseason games, Ballard said last week that the job went to Tolzien because he was better than Morris in offseason OTAs and again in the early practices of training camp. And Pagano on Sunday said he “would never second-guess” that decision, because Chuck Pagano is nothing if not reliably prone to say things that sound blatantly untrue.

No, this loss wasn’t Tolzien’s fault, though he did try to take the blame for it. To his credit, he acknowledged that football “is a team effort, but I certainly want to own this” defeat. To Pagano’s credit, he accepted blame for this loss on multiple occasions, even as he referred to the Rams as "the 49ers." To the credit of star receiver T.Y. Hilton, who fumbled his first catch of the season as he was diving to avoid contact – read that again – he tried to take the blame as well, saying: “I fumbled. It started with me.”

Colts QBs Scott Tolzien and Jacoby Brissett talk to the media after the team's 46-9 loss to the Rams. Matt Kryger/IndyStar

Who’s right? They’re all right. A loss like this, a loss in need of a mercy rule given that one team belonged in Little League, it’s too heavy for any single set of shoulders. It falls on offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski, who called two goal-line rushes, power running plays, with his power back – Robert Turbin – on the sideline. And after those two carries by home-run threat Marlon Mack resulted in a loss of 1 yard, Chud put in Turbin … and called for Tolzien to throw it. Rams cornerback Trumaine Johnson, who delivered the pick-six on the Colts’ first pass of the game, might’ve had another had he hung onto this amateurish toss by Tolzien.

This loss also falls on defensive coordinator Ted Monachino, who either chose converted safety T.J. Green to start and play most of the game at cornerback – or yielded that decision to Pagano, when what Monachino should have done was offer to resign before letting someone as lousy as T.J. Green undermine his defense.

And make no mistake: T.J. Green is lousy. Moved from safety midway through the preseason because all he'd consistently done there since last season was miss tackles and deliver cheap shots, Green missed a tackle early in the second quarter when Rams running back Todd Gurley was fighting for extra yardage near the goal line. With Gurley’s entire body as a target, Green went for a cheap shot – he targeted Gurley’s head – but glanced off Gurley’s helmet, allowing the Rams running back to fall forward, into the end zone for a touchdown.

Oh, and Green was in coverage on Rams receiver Cooper Kupp’s 18-yard TD catch that gave the Rams a 24-3 lead. At the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Kupp ran the 40-yard dash in 4.62 seconds. Green ran it in 4.34 seconds. On the touchdown in question, Kupp was wide open because he was running away from Green.

Don’t ask me to explain that. Still can’t believe I saw it.

Can’t believe what happened on the Colts’ second series, either, after Tolzien completed a short pass to Marlon Mack and Mack sprinted toward the end zone. When 5-8, 190-pound Rams safety Lamarcus Joyner approached near the goal line, he nudged the 5-11, 210-pound Mack pushed out of bounds. It was a soft play by Mack, a play the Colts have become famous for in recent years as their blowout losses have mounted – and then it became something much worse.

Because Chuck Pagano didn’t challenge the official ruling that Mack was pushed out of bounds before reaching the end zone.

No, Pagano was too busy hurrying his next play onto the field – a power rush that Chudzinski gave to speed back Marlon Mack, who had just demonstrated that power is not his thing. With the Rams unable to substitute, Pagano was looking for a personnel mismatch, and he found one: His personnel was outmatched.

Pagano outsmarted himself, the only NFL coach I’ve ever seen him outsmart, and afterward said that whole sequence was on him.

And it was. But other sequences were on the defense, which put almost no pressure on Rams quarterback Jared Goff (career-best 117.9 quarterback rating) and allowed multiple Rams receivers to run wide open. The defense has been completely remade from the Colts’ 2016 opener, literally 11 new starters, which means that’s on the general manger who put the unit together. And his name isn’t Ryan Grigson.

The Colts offensive line, meanwhile, allowed four sacks and nine quarterback hits in a game where they attempted just 21 passes. It was this past week when Pagano had decided “I’ve never felt better about an offensive line,” but again, that’s what he does: He says things that simply don’t sound honest. Pushed on that piece of Pollyanna a few days ago, Pagano doubled down:

“Never felt better,” he said again. “You guys can write it. You can put it on the record and hold it to me.”

Done. And now let's move on and remember what Colts owner Jim Irsay had said this summer about the biggest problem of the Andrew Luck era: his lack of protection.

“I’m telling you,” Irsay said in June, “the offensive line is fixed.”

I'm telling you something else: The people who run this team, from the owner on down, have no idea what they’re seeing, saying or doing.

Pueblo Chieftan · 09-11-2017, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mile High Mania

If only... Denver is the place where former #1 QB picks by the Colts go to end their careers with SB titles though.

What makes you think Elway is sold on Luck...other than the name factor?

chiefzilla1501 · 09-11-2017, 04:35 PM

Colts fans are the worst. They haven't endured what we have to understand what bad means.

Ballard isn't stupid. I doubt he wants to keep Pagano. And he knows all that matters is what they do when Luck is healthy. And I think he knows that years of goof-ups leave him with a roster mess that won't get fixed overnight.

But I hope Ballard does fail because this team doesn't deserve success. And dumb shit like this is a good example why.

Pueblo Chieftan · 09-11-2017, 04:42 PM

Luck is another Kirk Cousins who is another Dalton, whom is another Jay Cutler..

**Easy 6** · 09-11-2017, 04:47 PM

When your head coach comes out to the presser and cant remember which team just kicked his ass... its bad, really bad

Pueblo Chieftan · 09-11-2017, 04:51 PM

Same goes as follows for head coaches..

Bewbies · 09-11-2017, 05:11 PM

If Luck Sits out all year I hope they win enough games to not have a valuable QB pick where they could net a huge haul in trade.

saphojunkie · 09-11-2017, 05:23 PM

This reminded me of the Kent Babb scorched earth article about Piloi, but way worse. Dude went straight nuclear on everyone.

saphojunkie · 09-11-2017, 05:26 PM

You don't trade Luck. You tank for the top pick, get a king's ransom from another QB hungry team. Then use your shit load of picks to actually, you know, draft competent players for your new head coach to use as a team around Luck.

KChiefs1 · 09-11-2017, 05:28 PM

I feel bad for Ballard.

BryanBusby · 09-11-2017, 05:34 PM

I don't. He knew exactly what he signed up for.

**Easy 6** · 09-11-2017, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KChiefs1

I feel bad for Ballard.

He still has one of the best young QBs in the game to build around, if he is as sharp as many think he'll be fine... if you have to start a rebuild, its nice to have the single most important position covered from day 1

tredadda · 09-11-2017, 05:42 PM

My issue with the Colts is the fact that in the last 30+years there have been three generational QBs (Elway, Manning, Luck) and every time they came out the Colts had the #1 pick. Granted Elway never played for them but it's because that franchise was a mess. It still doesn't change the fact they drafted him #1. Either they are the luckiest franchise ever or something is just not quite right. I am glad to see them be awful after all they have done to KC in the playoffs over the years.

eDave · 09-11-2017, 05:53 PM

Yeesh.

Deberg_1990 · 09-11-2017, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tredadda

My issue with the Colts is the fact that in the last 30+years there have been three generational QBs (Elway, Manning, Luck) and every time they came out the Colts had the #1 pick. Granted Elway never played for them but it's because that franchise was a mess. It still doesn't change the fact they drafted him #1. Either they are the luckiest franchise ever or something is just not quite right. I am glad to see them be awful after all they have done to KC in the playoffs over the years.

Don't forget they took Jeff George #1 overall too. Not that he turned out great, but that they were able to draft a QB 4 times #1 overall in 28 years is incredible

oaklandhater · 09-11-2017, 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pueblo Chieftan

Luck is another Kirk Cousins who is another Dalton, whom is another Jay Cutler..

have you seen what the colts look like with out luck ?

With out luck they might be the worst team in the nfl with Luck they are a top 15 team.

Luck is not the reason the Colts suck.

09-10-2017, 09:23 PM
oaklandhater future chiefs fans Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: oakland california Casino cash: $7598993	IndyStar The Colts have no idea what they're doing http://www.indystar.com/story/sports...ing/645793001/ The Colts have no idea what they're doing by Gregg Doyel, LOS ANGELES – The Indianapolis Colts stink, and not just the players on the field for that 46-9 loss Sunday to the Los Angeles Rams in their 2017 NFL opener. The whole damn franchise stinks, starting with the owner and oozing downhill, as this sort of excrement tends to do. The front office stinks. The coaching staff. The scouting department. The players? Bless their hearts, yes. The players stink, too. A loss like this, it goes looking for people to blame and it does not go wanting. The difficulty is deciding where to start. Quarterback Scott Tolzien was terrible, but you don’t start there. Tolzien has been something less than an NFL quarterback for years, and he stayed in character Sunday from his first pass of the game: an interception the Rams returned for a touchdown. He threw a second pick-six, and flirted with a third and a fourth, before being benched for Jacoby Brissett. Tolzien’s amateurish play Sunday – quarterback rating: 33.8 – was as predictable, if not as uncommon, as a lunar eclipse. Where were General Manager Chris Ballard and coach Chuck Pagano looking this summer when they chose Tolzien over Stephen Morris? Directly into the sun. OK, that’s not the real answer. The real answer is even dumber. While Morris was fabulous for a second consecutive year of preseason games, Ballard said last week that the job went to Tolzien because he was better than Morris in offseason OTAs and again in the early practices of training camp. And Pagano on Sunday said he “would never second-guess” that decision, because Chuck Pagano is nothing if not reliably prone to say things that sound blatantly untrue. No, this loss wasn’t Tolzien’s fault, though he did try to take the blame for it. To his credit, he acknowledged that football “is a team effort, but I certainly want to own this” defeat. To Pagano’s credit, he accepted blame for this loss on multiple occasions, even as he referred to the Rams as "the 49ers." To the credit of star receiver T.Y. Hilton, who fumbled his first catch of the season as he was diving to avoid contact – read that again – he tried to take the blame as well, saying: “I fumbled. It started with me.” Tolzien’s amateurish play Sunday – quarterback rating: 33.8 – was as predictable, if not as uncommon, as a lunar eclipse. Where were General Manager Chris Ballard and coach Chuck Pagano looking this summer when they chose Tolzien over Stephen Morris? Directly into the sun. OK, that’s not the real answer. The real answer is even dumber. While Morris was fabulous for a second consecutive year of preseason games, Ballard said last week that the job went to Tolzien because he was better than Morris in offseason OTAs and again in the early practices of training camp. And Pagano on Sunday said he “would never second-guess” that decision, because Chuck Pagano is nothing if not reliably prone to say things that sound blatantly untrue. No, this loss wasn’t Tolzien’s fault, though he did try to take the blame for it. To his credit, he acknowledged that football “is a team effort, but I certainly want to own this” defeat. To Pagano’s credit, he accepted blame for this loss on multiple occasions, even as he referred to the Rams as "the 49ers." To the credit of star receiver T.Y. Hilton, who fumbled his first catch of the season as he was diving to avoid contact – read that again – he tried to take the blame as well, saying: “I fumbled. It started with me.” Colts QBs Scott Tolzien and Jacoby Brissett talk to the media after the team's 46-9 loss to the Rams. Matt Kryger/IndyStar Who’s right? They’re all right. A loss like this, a loss in need of a mercy rule given that one team belonged in Little League, it’s too heavy for any single set of shoulders. It falls on offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski, who called two goal-line rushes, power running plays, with his power back – Robert Turbin – on the sideline. And after those two carries by home-run threat Marlon Mack resulted in a loss of 1 yard, Chud put in Turbin … and called for Tolzien to throw it. Rams cornerback Trumaine Johnson, who delivered the pick-six on the Colts’ first pass of the game, might’ve had another had he hung onto this amateurish toss by Tolzien. This loss also falls on defensive coordinator Ted Monachino, who either chose converted safety T.J. Green to start and play most of the game at cornerback – or yielded that decision to Pagano, when what Monachino should have done was offer to resign before letting someone as lousy as T.J. Green undermine his defense. And make no mistake: T.J. Green is lousy. Moved from safety midway through the preseason because all he'd consistently done there since last season was miss tackles and deliver cheap shots, Green missed a tackle early in the second quarter when Rams running back Todd Gurley was fighting for extra yardage near the goal line. With Gurley’s entire body as a target, Green went for a cheap shot – he targeted Gurley’s head – but glanced off Gurley’s helmet, allowing the Rams running back to fall forward, into the end zone for a touchdown. Oh, and Green was in coverage on Rams receiver Cooper Kupp’s 18-yard TD catch that gave the Rams a 24-3 lead. At the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Kupp ran the 40-yard dash in 4.62 seconds. Green ran it in 4.34 seconds. On the touchdown in question, Kupp was wide open because he was running away from Green. Don’t ask me to explain that. Still can’t believe I saw it. Can’t believe what happened on the Colts’ second series, either, after Tolzien completed a short pass to Marlon Mack and Mack sprinted toward the end zone. When 5-8, 190-pound Rams safety Lamarcus Joyner approached near the goal line, he nudged the 5-11, 210-pound Mack pushed out of bounds. It was a soft play by Mack, a play the Colts have become famous for in recent years as their blowout losses have mounted – and then it became something much worse. Because Chuck Pagano didn’t challenge the official ruling that Mack was pushed out of bounds before reaching the end zone. No, Pagano was too busy hurrying his next play onto the field – a power rush that Chudzinski gave to speed back Marlon Mack, who had just demonstrated that power is not his thing. With the Rams unable to substitute, Pagano was looking for a personnel mismatch, and he found one: His personnel was outmatched. Pagano outsmarted himself, the only NFL coach I’ve ever seen him outsmart, and afterward said that whole sequence was on him. And it was. But other sequences were on the defense, which put almost no pressure on Rams quarterback Jared Goff (career-best 117.9 quarterback rating) and allowed multiple Rams receivers to run wide open. The defense has been completely remade from the Colts’ 2016 opener, literally 11 new starters, which means that’s on the general manger who put the unit together. And his name isn’t Ryan Grigson. The Colts offensive line, meanwhile, allowed four sacks and nine quarterback hits in a game where they attempted just 21 passes. It was this past week when Pagano had decided “I’ve never felt better about an offensive line,” but again, that’s what he does: He says things that simply don’t sound honest. Pushed on that piece of Pollyanna a few days ago, Pagano doubled down: “Never felt better,” he said again. “You guys can write it. You can put it on the record and hold it to me.” Done. And now let's move on and remember what Colts owner Jim Irsay had said this summer about the biggest problem of the Andrew Luck era: his lack of protection. “I’m telling you,” Irsay said in June, “the offensive line is fixed.” I'm telling you something else: The people who run this team, from the owner on down, have no idea what they’re seeing, saying or doing.
Posts: 23,762

09-11-2017, 04:35 PM	#62
chiefzilla1501 In Search of a Life Join Date: Aug 2008 Casino cash: $2104497	Colts fans are the worst. They haven't endured what we have to understand what bad means. Ballard isn't stupid. I doubt he wants to keep Pagano. And he knows all that matters is what they do when Luck is healthy. And I think he knows that years of goof-ups leave him with a roster mess that won't get fixed overnight. But I hope Ballard does fail because this team doesn't deserve success. And dumb shit like this is a good example why.
Posts: 48,098

09-11-2017, 04:42 PM	#63
Pueblo Chieftan Banned Join Date: Feb 2017 Location: Pueblo,CO Casino cash: $10000400	Luck is another Kirk Cousins who is another Dalton, whom is another Jay Cutler..
Posts: 2,315

09-11-2017, 04:47 PM	#64
Easy 6 pie is never free Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: the drivers seat Casino cash: $3727775	When your head coach comes out to the presser and cant remember which team just kicked his ass... its bad, really bad
Posts: 91,712

09-11-2017, 04:51 PM	#65
Pueblo Chieftan Banned Join Date: Feb 2017 Location: Pueblo,CO Casino cash: $10000400	Same goes as follows for head coaches..
Posts: 2,315

09-11-2017, 05:11 PM	#66
Bewbies Ith Fuhtbawl Time Join Date: Apr 2010 Casino cash: $9999900	If Luck Sits out all year I hope they win enough games to not have a valuable QB pick where they could net a huge haul in trade.
Posts: 10,085

09-11-2017, 05:23 PM	#67
saphojunkie MVP Join Date: Aug 2011 Casino cash: $4746250	This reminded me of the Kent Babb scorched earth article about Piloi, but way worse. Dude went straight nuclear on everyone.
Posts: 12,572

09-11-2017, 05:26 PM	#68
saphojunkie MVP Join Date: Aug 2011 Casino cash: $4746250	You don't trade Luck. You tank for the top pick, get a king's ransom from another QB hungry team. Then use your shit load of picks to actually, you know, draft competent players for your new head coach to use as a team around Luck.
Posts: 12,572

09-11-2017, 05:28 PM	#69
KChiefs1 I’m a Mahomo! Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Mid-Missouri Casino cash: $6771021	I feel bad for Ballard. __________________
Posts: 54,038

09-11-2017, 05:34 PM	#70
BryanBusby In Search of a Life Join Date: Mar 2006 Casino cash: $3779900 VARSITY	I don't. He knew exactly what he signed up for.
Posts: 22,208

09-11-2017, 05:42 PM	#72
tredadda Three-Pat Join Date: May 2011 Location: Colorado Springs Casino cash: $1865053	My issue with the Colts is the fact that in the last 30+years there have been three generational QBs (Elway, Manning, Luck) and every time they came out the Colts had the #1 pick. Granted Elway never played for them but it's because that franchise was a mess. It still doesn't change the fact they drafted him #1. Either they are the luckiest franchise ever or something is just not quite right. I am glad to see them be awful after all they have done to KC in the playoffs over the years.
Posts: 17,025

09-11-2017, 05:53 PM	#73
eDave Banned Join Date: Jan 2013 Casino cash: $9998560	Yeesh.
Posts: 53,803