Colts fire Frank Reich

EvilEmpire

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Maybe Saturday sucks. But Bradley definitely sucks. Fox - I mean whatever, I feel like if you name Fox coach then you're kind of in a position where if he has this team rally for a bit you're forced to bring him back next year. But Fox sucks too.
Yeah. I don't think Irsay has confidence in any of the staff that is left, but with the season still going just decided to fire Reich. Hiring Saturday is stupid unless you plan to blow everything else up after the season is over and would like to start with a high draft pick. The NFL is a terrible place to be learning on the job. But if you want to bottom out? Sure, yeah, go for it.
 

Van Everyman

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Old friend Bob Kravitz, who just wrote a glowing Irsay feature a few weeks ago during the Snyder mess, absolutely crushes his decision to can Reich and hire Saturday in The Athletic:

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.
 

Anthologos

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Yeah. I don't think Irsay has confidence in any of the staff that is left, but with the season still going just decided to fire Reich. Hiring Saturday is stupid unless you plan to blow everything else up after the season is over and would like to start with a high draft pick. The NFL is a terrible place to be learning on the job. But if you want to bottom out? Sure, yeah, go for it.
it seems like an odd choice (to me) to hire a beloved former player for the job of tanking. Seems like it might be embarrassing for Saturday. He isn’t ML Carr…he is a multi-year Pro Bowler who would be in the Colts Stable of Honor, if they have one. Maybe like us hiring Tedy Bruschi perhaps? Maybe Saturday is ok with it…there are probably many examples I am just not thinking of right now…
 

EvilEmpire

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it seems like an odd choice (to me) to hire a beloved former player for the job of tanking. Seems like it might be embarrassing for Saturday. He isn’t ML Carr…he is a multi-year Pro Bowler who would be in the Colts Stable of Honor, if they have one. Maybe like us hiring Tedy Bruschi perhaps? Maybe Saturday is ok with it…there are probably many examples I am just not thinking of right now…
Well, let's put it this way, I think Irsay really likes Saturday and Saturday knows what he is getting into. I can't imagine that Irsay expect JS to do the job well or get good results, and is OK with it. And if JS turns out to be a natural-born kung-fu genius, well, Irsay will be even happier to have found that out.

But yeah, I think Saturday knows the deal.
 

jsinger121

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Trollin Volin has his panties in a bunch over the Colts not going through with the Rooney Rule to hire an interim coach except you don’t need to go through the rule for it. He’s so lazy.
 

Anthologos

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Well, let's put it this way, I think Irsay really likes Saturday and Saturday knows what he is getting into. I can't imagine that Irsay expect JS to do the job well or get good results, and is OK with it. And if JS turns out to be a natural-born kung-fu genius, well, Irsay will be even happier to have found that out.

But yeah, I think Saturday knows the deal.
This is probably all true.
 

BigJimEd

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Trollin Volin has his panties in a bunch over the Colts not going through with the Rooney Rule to hire an interim coach except you don’t need to go through the rule for it. He’s so lazy.
You don't have to go through the rule but it's a bad look at minimum. When you hire a guy whose experience is an under .500 record in high school, you deserve all the criticism you get.
 

Granite Sox

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Hard to grasp the appeal of Saturday as interim HC. Could it be as simple as the fact that he’s an ex All-Pro Center and the Colts have one of the most expensive OLs in the league that is playing like shit? They may be tanking, but the D is pretty good. Fix/stabilize the OL and suddenly you may have the pieces that you need minus a QB. Draft one in the offseason and you’re back on track in a horrible division.
 

Mystic Merlin

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Hard to grasp the appeal of Saturday as interim HC. Could it be as simple as the fact that he’s an ex All-Pro Center and the Colts have one of the most expensive OLs in the league that is playing like shit? They may be tanking, but the D is pretty good. Fix/stabilize the OL and suddenly you may have the pieces that you need minus a QB. Draft one in the offseason and you’re back on track in a horrible division.
If he wants to coach the OL, then hire him to do that.
 

j-man

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wish i had indy this week instead of tenn

there is a lot of bad head coaches

the only good ones are bill reid
 

sodenj5

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That Irsay press conference tweet was pure gold. I would love to watch Pat McAfee break that down.
 

snowmanny

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I’m confused. Isn’t the upper quartile of the 32 NFL teams the top 8? And the upper quartile of the upper quartile would therefore be top 2? And they are fourth (NE,PIT, GB)?
so top half of the upper quartile?

And that was about the most lucid thing he said.
 

j44thor

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I liked the part about not sending a fighter he loves into the ring just to get pummeled right after the team got absolutely pummeled. So does he not love the team or are they forfeiting the rest of the season?
 

Gash Prex

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I liked the part about not sending a fighter he loves into the ring just to get pummeled right after the team got absolutely pummeled. So does he not love the team or are they forfeiting the rest of the season?
I honestly think half way through he forgot where he was going with it (or realized that Saturday was about to get pummelled)...so then just carried on like it was what he meant all along.
 

E5 Yaz

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I've always liked Saturday as an analyst -- his instant reaction to the 28-3 comeback is one I've heard a number of times -- so I want to say that I feel sorry for him in all this. But I can't, because he agreed to do it
 

Shaky Walton

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Leave it to the Colts to push the Boston Bruins a little bit off the CLUSTERFUCK FRANCHISE DU JOUR stage.

Thanks, Bob.
 

Rick Burlesons Yam Bag

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You don't have to go through the rule but it's a bad look at minimum. When you hire a guy whose experience is an under .500 record in high school, you deserve all the criticism you get.
This. Off the top of my head I can name 9 African-American coaches who are eminently more qualified for the job than Saturday. While the Saturday hiring does not NEED to follow the Rooney Rule, that it was so abjectly "hooking a buddy up" vs hiring the best football mind is a horrible look.

Ben Volin is like the ex who drives a certain segment of Patriot nation irrationally insane. He was right to call this out.
 

RedOctober3829

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Joe Thomas let Irsay and Saturday have it:
View: https://twitter.com/zkeefer/status/1591082413878177792?s=20&t=Q7izSTJ49iHJwHUh8snOlQ


Sorry if the link doesn’t work for some, it’s a video of Thomas on Good Morning Football this morning.
Joe Thomas has to get his mind out of the old stereotypes of football coaches. There aren't many coaches anymore who work 20 hours a day or something like that. I get his frustration about the whole thing, but if you're a coach and you only see your kids twice a week for minutes at a time you either don't want to be around or you don't know how to delegate. It's not a healthy way of living and it's why there's been a change in that type of lifestyle for coaches. Don't get me wrong they still work long hours but the days of sleeping in the office are mostly gone.
 

Rick Burlesons Yam Bag

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Joe Thomas has to get his mind out of the old stereotypes of football coaches. There aren't many coaches anymore who work 20 hours a day or something like that. I get his frustration about the whole thing, but if you're a coach and you only see your kids twice a week for minutes at a time you either don't want to be around or you don't know how to delegate. It's not a healthy way of living and it's why there's been a change in that type of lifestyle for coaches. Don't get me wrong they still work long hours but the days of sleeping in the office are mostly gone.
I thought the same thing. I think the point he was trying to make more broadly is that it is a very complex job with a lot of moving pieces, and taking someone who has never coached on an NFL or college sideline, and wasn't that good on a HS sideline, is a black eye on the league. Doug Pederson did a great interview a few years back on how it took him and his coaching group nearly 10 games (give our take some games, I don't remember exactly) to be able to insert effective analytics into the playcalling process during a live game. And that is something that, at least on the surface, seems pretty easy.
 

RedOctober3829

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I thought the same thing. I think the point he was trying to make more broadly is that it is a very complex job with a lot of moving pieces, and taking someone who has never coached on an NFL or college sideline, and wasn't that good on a HS sideline, is a black eye on the league. Doug Pederson did a great interview a few years back on how it took him and his coaching group nearly 10 games (give our take some games, I don't remember exactly) to be able to insert effective analytics into the playcalling process during a live game. And that is something that, at least on the surface, seems pretty easy.
Yeah no question it's a slap in the face to the coaches who have paid their dues. I was just frustrated with Thomas glorifying the type of lifestyle Chud lived.
 

InstaFace

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Joe Thomas has to get his mind out of the old stereotypes of football coaches. There aren't many coaches anymore who work 20 hours a day or something like that. I get his frustration about the whole thing, but if you're a coach and you only see your kids twice a week for minutes at a time you either don't want to be around or you don't know how to delegate. It's not a healthy way of living and it's why there's been a change in that type of lifestyle for coaches. Don't get me wrong they still work long hours but the days of sleeping in the office are mostly gone.
Has there been? I was under the impression that the Belichick, married-to-the-job style was very much the norm. I thought Andy Reid was similar, with arguable consequences for his parenting outcomes, and had heard similar for several other coaches. Perhaps the info is dated, but I thought it was very much a truth that Thomas was stating: NFL coaches lead very monochromatic lives, not that dissimilar from investment bankers or your prototypical startup founders.

I also didn't get the feeling Thomas was glorifying that lifestyle choice. Just point out that, when surrounded by a pool of people who will gladly stay married to the job in order to get that chance, hiring Jeff Saturday is a slap in the face to them. Didn't seem that much of a stretch to me.
 

RedOctober3829

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Has there been? I was under the impression that the Belichick, married-to-the-job style was very much the norm. I thought Andy Reid was similar, with arguable consequences for his parenting outcomes, and had heard similar for several other coaches. Perhaps the info is dated, but I thought it was very much a truth that Thomas was stating: NFL coaches lead very monochromatic lives, not that dissimilar from investment bankers or your prototypical startup founders.

I also didn't get the feeling Thomas was glorifying that lifestyle choice. Just point out that, when surrounded by a pool of people who will gladly stay married to the job in order to get that chance, hiring Jeff Saturday is a slap in the face to them. Didn't seem that much of a stretch to me.
It’s not to the point where coaches sleep in their offices every night anymore. Don’t t get me wrong: it’s still a ton of hours. With younger guys getting head jobs, it’s changed. More days leaving the office early, going to see your kid’s games, etc.
 

Van Everyman

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It’s not to the point where coaches sleep in their offices every night anymore. Don’t t get me wrong: it’s still a ton of hours. With younger guys getting head jobs, it’s changed. More days leaving the office early, going to see your kid’s games, etc.
OK, what are you basing this on? I do think the typical red ass culture stuff is changing in part because of the young guys coaching.
 

johnmd20

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OK, what are you basing this on? I do think the typical red ass culture stuff is changing in part because of the young guys coaching.
What are you basing this on? Are you sure guys like McVay and McDaniel aren't burning the midnight oil?

It's weird to suggest the young people don't work hard. NFL coaches all work their asses off, no matter the age. No one really ever "slept in the office", too.
 

Van Everyman

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View: https://twitter.com/NFLonCBS/status/1591846601328246784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1591846601328246784%7Ctwgr%5E7e15811360878bed4118b031a5881f220711da3e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbssports.com%2Fnfl%2Fnews%2Fnfl-hall-of-fame-coach-bill-cowher-calls-colts-jeff-saturday-hiring-a-disgrace-to-the-coaching-profession%2F


The over the top reaction to the Saturday hire makes me wish Irsay had done this with a Black coach. White dudes have been getting hired for or promoted to positions they haven’t deserved for decades and it would be great for once for a POC to just coast past all these more deserving people on the way to the boss’s office.
 

Garshaparra

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Back in the win column with Matty Ice under center, who despite shortcomings, is far better than Ehrlinger. I guess Irsay decided the risk of having to pay Ryan more in injury settlement terms (should he get injured) next year was outweighed by the idea of, like, winning football games. As the lucky beneficiaries of that Ehrlinger start, Pats fans can raise a banner that says Thank You.
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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Back in the win column with Matty Ice under center, who despite shortcomings, is far better than Ehrlinger. I guess Irsay decided the risk of having to pay Ryan more in injury settlement terms (should he get injured) next year was outweighed by the idea of, like, winning football games. As the lucky beneficiaries of that Ehrlinger start, Pats fans can raise a banner that says Thank You.
This game is why Reich deserved the boot.

Is the offense good? Nope. Can it win with Taylor as the focus and Matt Ryan at the helm? They just did.
 

BaseballJones

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It’s not to the point where coaches sleep in their offices every night anymore. Don’t t get me wrong: it’s still a ton of hours. With younger guys getting head jobs, it’s changed. More days leaving the office early, going to see your kid’s games, etc.
I don’t know how it is in the pros but I can tell you from up close personal observation that at least at the D1 university I work at, the coaching staff is at the football building frigging nonstop. Like they arrive before 6:00am and they don’t leave til after 9:00 ever. That’s just normal days. Then on Friday and Saturday, basically the entire two days are nothing but work as they get away with the team (even home games they go stay in a hotel off campus). They must put in 100+ hours a week, easy. And that’s WITH one day “off” (Sundays), which even then they have a team dinner, so they’re still working a few hours that day too.

It’s absolutely nuts.

Maybe it’s less work in the pros but…… I find that hard to believe.

I’ve always said that the guy who figures out how to be a great coach while working “only” 60-70 hours a week will have cracked the code and will revolutionize the industry.
 

RedOctober3829

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I don’t know how it is in the pros but I can tell you from up close personal observation that at least at the D1 university I work at, the coaching staff is at the football building frigging nonstop. Like they arrive before 6:00am and they don’t leave til after 9:00 ever. That’s just normal days. Then on Friday and Saturday, basically the entire two days are nothing but work as they get away with the team (even home games they go stay in a hotel off campus). They must put in 100+ hours a week, easy. And that’s WITH one day “off” (Sundays), which even then they have a team dinner, so they’re still working a few hours that day too.

It’s absolutely nuts.

Maybe it’s less work in the pros but…… I find that hard to believe.

I’ve always said that the guy who figures out how to be a great coach while working “only” 60-70 hours a week will have cracked the code and will revolutionize the industry.
Usually on Fridays for home games, coaches can get out of the office pretty early as it's just meetings and a walk through practice. At our place, the coaches are out of the office by 3 or 4 pm on those days because everything is in the morning.