VIP 2020
Head Coach: Frank Reich. Let’s go back briefly to the two seasons of the Colts under the Reich. He got the gig because the guy the Colts originally wanted – Josh McDaniels – bailed out at the last minute, like how Chip Matthews ghosted Rachel the night of their prom friends. It was then that Reich stepped in as Ross swinging this tuxedo to save the day. And I realize that this analogy is not perfect because Chip finally presents himself and takes Rachel to the prom in the series. But Ross ends up marrying her, so there is that.
Either way, Reich had an incredible first year with the Colts. He led them to a record 10-6, good for second place in AFC South. They won a playoff game and everything seemed incredible. Then you came in last August thinking that Andrew Luck was going to take your team to the next level (we already covered what happened with Luck earlier in this room; no need to come back to that). Ultimately, 2019 was not a great year for the Colts. It was like one of those situations where everything that could go wrong went wrong. Almost as if there were forces of nature working against you or something. Take this miss by Adam Vinatieri that I mentioned earlier, for example. What was Mike Vanderjagt? I’m a fan of the Bears. I know bad kicks. It was something else. When a guy like Vinatieri – one of the most decorated kickers in NFL history – misses the clutch like that, I wouldn’t have blamed the Colts if they walked away from the table and said they were done for the season.
Let’s talk about the positives, however. Despite everything that was wrong (and seriously, I can’t stop looking at this missed basket), the team still won 7-9. It was pretty incredible. Now the future looks bright again. General manager Chris Ballard did another remarkable job in the draft. I would conclude that the 2018 version of the Colts is more revealing of what you will see from the Colts this season. And you have the guy we are going to discuss next …
Quarterback: Philip Rivers. Look, Brissett performed admirably in a pretty difficult situation last year. But you can’t blame the Colts for wanting to call on one of the best in the industry to give it one last run before ending up with Trevor Lawrence next year.
Yes, I was a huge fan of the Colts’ decision to sign Rivers this offseason. I love how it is the opposite of Johnny Unitas leaving the Colts to end his career with the Chargers, although Rivers has more juice than Unitas had for this past season in San Diego. Either way, Rivers had 4,615 yards past last year, which was great. But he had a touch-to-interception ratio of almost 1: 1 (23:20). It’s a skill level close to Jameis Winston. And believe me, I had to live with the emotional ups and downs of the Chargers because my wife is a fan (maybe not as much now as Rivers is leaving). And if you’ve seen a Chargers game, you’ve basically seen them all. It’s like watching NCIS when you understood the villain in five minutes. But then they spend 30 minutes trying to convince you that it’s other guys. Then at the end you find out, no, he was the guy you suspected for a long time. In the case of the Chargers, they will make you think they are going to win a game, and they will somehow find a way to lose it. And normally, the blame fell on Rivers, who would be sent there with a minute to win, playing behind a fragile offensive line, so he must resort to throwing YOLO balls to bail out his team.
But part of this code is already fixed in Indianapolis. The Chargers ‘offense line has been flawed for years (and come back to read my entry on the Chargers in this series to see how I feel when they get a good attack line after Rivers’ departure). They weren’t the same after Nick Hardwick left. It won’t be a problem for the Colts, who have one of the best offensive lines in the league. In fact, they could have the best offensive lineman in the league …
