Chris Ballard plans to spend offseason finding solutions to Colts woes
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard skipped the excuses during his end of season news conference.
He refused to blame the franchise’s second-half collapse and five-year playoff drought on injuries — or anything else.
Instead, Ballard said he intends to spend this offseason finding solutions for Indy’s continual late-season failures.
“In ’21, we’re 9-6 and if we win one of the last two, we’re in the playoffs,” he said. “In ’23, we win the last game, we win the division. Last year, at the end, and we go to New York and lay an egg (against the Giants). This year, we have a chance, and we lose seven in a row. So I’ve not lost confidence. We want to win the division, we want to win the Super Bowl and ultimately that’s what need to be able to get to make this city proud.”
Colts fans have heard this all before and are hoping this time will be different.
Last season, the late Jim Irsay gave Ballard and coach Shane Steichen another chance to prove they could get Indy (8-9) back to the postseason. Ballard changed his approach by signing several high-priced free agents and making a blockbuster deal at the trade deadline.
It almost worked. Indy jumped out to an 8-2 start only to watch it all unravel as Ballard’s highest-profile acquisitions — quarterback Daniel Jones and cornerbacks Sauce Gardner and Charvarius Ward — each went down with injuries.
But Irsay’s daughters — Carlie Irsay-Gordon, Casey Foyt and Kalen Jackson — are giving Ballard and Steichen yet another chance to get it right.
On Monday, Irsay-Gordon repeatedly told reporters the urgency of returning to the playoffs has never been higher. On Tuesday, they released a letter to the public.
Ballard responded Thursday by citing some of the changes that must made if the Colts intend to overcome injuries and have a stronger finishing kick.
“We’ve got to handle adversity better, we’ve got to finish better,” he said. “We were 2-7 in one-possession games. We’ve got to flip that trend. There are things in two-minute that we have to look at because we were giving up too many scores at the end of halves. That’s something that’s got to be corrected. I’m not necessarily saying I have the answers right now, but we’re working toward that.”
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