Don’t get me wrong, Sunday was a disaster.
Reich’s offense was impotentduring a 26-3 loss to the
Patriots that included nine sacks, 0-for-14 on third-down conversions and just 121 yards in total offense — the team’s worst output since the year before Peyton Manning arrived (1997). But that outcome doesn’t make Reich’s firing anything less than a horrible look for Irsay. In fact, firing Reich now makes him look lost, impetuous and disingenuous.
It was also hugely unfair to Reich, who has generally been left to take the fall for the misplays by the owner and the general manager.
Reich wanted to stick with quarterback Carson Wentz for a second year, but the owner threw a temper tantrum and Wentz was turned into a scapegoat and national punching bag.
Reich wanted to stick with Matt Ryan, who, by any objective analysis, was awful. But again, the Colts were still 3-3-1 at the time, and Reich believed he could still salvage the season with his veteran QB rather than Sam Ehlinger, who
we’ve now come to recognize as a human white flag.