(10-02-2016, 07:32 PM)winflop link Wrote:Changing coaches won't help. Vince Lombardi couldn't win with this roster. Irsay needs to fire his GM Griggson, hire a replacement and get out of the way.
I'd normally agree with that statement, but I think there is plenty of blame to share. Grigson has assembled a bad roster, and Pagano has coached it poorly. This commitment to sticking to the run is bewildering when the Colts are a team who can only score when Luck runs the hurry-up and looks downfield. The defense--Pagano's supposed specialty, mind you--is flat-out bad right now (though with a similarly not-great roster last year, I thought they actually played pretty well for the balance of the year, all things considering). Recall that Jacksonville is one of the worst offenses in the league, with a coach that might not have made it on the plane back to the States with a loss, and they rolled all over the Colts.Â
No wonder Andrew sometimes make reckless plays, refuses to give up on plays even when he should, and tries to make too much happen. He knows that unless he's otherworldly, they lose. "Playing it safe" just means they lose by more.Â
The famous "slow starts" are usually a result of coaching strategy. 1st and 10? Run for short gain. 2nd and 8? Run for short gain. 3rd and 6? Sometimes Luck connects with a receiver and sometimes he doesn't, but either way, you've given your best player one opportunity out of three to affect the series. That seems ill-advised. (Of course, this time they
were throwing more early, and guys just couldn't hang on, so there's Grigson coming back for more well-deserved criticism!)
This is why a lot of the Colts bloggers I follow on Twitter were apoplectic when Irsay extended both Grigson and Pagano in the offseason. You had a few years to evaluate them, and you know what you have in them. To extend them (and thus make firing them more expensive) just delays the day when the franchise gets back on the right track.Â
Of course, there have been injuries, but the defense was reasonably healthy. Anderson was back. Vontae Davis was back. The safeties were back. And on offense, I think they might have won that game if Donte Moncrief were healthy, providing Luck a reliable target who can overpower smaller corners. But that game looked like the Colts (sans Luck) were sleepwalking through it.
