It has come to my attention that I lean towards giving our GM more credit than he deserves. I’ll admit that given the massive amounts of blame placed at CB’s feet, going against the flow might paint me in that apologist light. I thought I was pretty clear that I was ready to move on, prior to last season and I would have signed off on a new regime after this past year as well, had that been CIG’s choice. Where I differ from many, is that I think enough talent has been assembled, but finding a coach, which for lack of a better analogy, “is a hard-ass”, has eluded him.
Maybe the fact that some can’t talk about the Colts without a good Ballard jab, makes me want to zag while other are zigging. Some fans will go straight to the bottom line. This long without winning the South. This long without making the playoffs or winning a playoff game. Pardon me if it does not remind me of Shooter in “Hoosiers” pacing the floor, smacking his hands and proclaiming his small school accolades in his hospital robe.
Now it seems like that anytime I write anything positive, whether it involves our GM or not, it is taken as my acceptance and even promotion of CB. There is a line in “Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie” that sees Chong upset with Cheech and says, “Every time I do cocaine, you go on that every time I do cocaine rant.” Let’s set aside why that strikes a chord with me as A) I am old enough to remember watching that movie at the drive in, and B) I was young once, although long ago.
I honestly just consider myself a Colts fan. I choose to believe that we can have a chance, look good, or even look great from year to year. I was in the building for every home game during the first 10 years and even though I knew that there was a damn good chance that we would lose, I cheered until it was out of our grasp. This lasted longer than some in my section would like to hear, but hey, they were leaving early anyway. We actually were outscored by 1000 points during my first 10 years as a fan.
I am going to look for and find reasons to be optimistic. I’m also going to acknowledge when something goes well. I prefer that outlook over the gloom and doom with no chance at winning as long Ballard is calling the shots. So call me Pollyanna over Chicken Little. I find myself more willing to be supportive and happy, over being able to point to faults and say I told you so.
So yeah, I’m happy with the offseason so far. I think we signed the best QB that has laced them up since Luck. If this current version of the AFC South resembled the AFC South that Luck faced, the Colt win the division, even with Rivers or Leonard. Luck went 16 – 2 against the division in his first three years and around that midland record that everyone hates, against the rest of the league. No one points to him putting up stats against the bad teams. Jones’ 68% completion rate tops any season that Captain Andrew ever had.
He could be worse next year, but an optimist might say that another camp will be beneficial. Steichen has had a long offseason to figure out how to expose what defenses started doing to the Colts. When Jones is fully healthy, he should be able to implement that plan. He has weapons and a line that will have another year to gel. He also has some incentive. The money grab is over after this year, if he proves to be a fluke.
We still haven’t dented the defensive deficiencies, which are of far more concern than our QB to me. Pierce’s contract does now appear on Spotrac and he will only cost 9.2 against the cap this year. We should have the money to trade for, or make room for a roster cut from another team. If you already hate Ballard, you are now pointing to him putting us into “Cap Hell”, after years of bashing him for frugality. This is what spending looks like.
I’ll take my lumps and hope the Colts get off to another good start and see that momentum carry on the kind of season many fans feel they deserve.
Go Colts!
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