Jim Irsay, Chris Ballard air grievances as Colts interim coach Jeff Saturday introduced
INDIANAPOLIS — They’re angry over there at the Indianapolis Colts complex. Owner Jim Irsay and general manager Chris Ballard, that is. Angry, frustrated, probably a little embarrassed. More than a little defensive.
On Monday night, at an event meant to introduce beloved former Colts center Jeff Saturday as the new interim coach, Irsay and Ballard used the evening to air their grievances. Who are they mad at? You. Me. Everyone. That about covers it.
You understand why they’re so mad, so defensive. They’ve taken one of the winningest franchises in NFL history — “the top quartile of the top quartile,” Irsay reminded us — and run it into the ground. The Colts are in trouble, and not just for this season. If they have a quarterback, left tackle or No. 1 receiver on the roster for the future, they’ve disguised it well. Their vaunted offensive line is falling apart. Their defense is good, very good. But this is a league where offense wins championships, and the Colts stink there with no obvious plan for recovery.
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So they’re upset, Irsay and Ballard, and you can’t blame them. If it wasn’t Irsay wondering why reporters aren’t fired more often, it was Ballard moaning about the media “kicking the (expletive) out of me for years for not drafting wideouts.”
If it wasn’t Ballard mocking all the quitters out there — Colts fans or local media or some combination of the above, anyone daring to read the writing on the wall about this 3-5-1 season — it was Irsay reading us his resume. Remind me, is he the first owner in NFL history, or the only owner in NFL history, to hire a Hall of Fame coach (Tony Dungy), general manager (Bill Polian) and quarterback (Peyton Manning)? He said it just three times.
He must have run out of time. Everyone ran out of time on an evening that could’ve been triumphant, about the return of a franchise favorite son, but instead became a microcosm of the Colts’ 2022 season:
A waste of time. Because this wasn’t about Jeff Saturday at all. The Colts just made the most fascinating hire most of us have ever seen — an ink blot test, see what you want — but spent most of it telling you and me to have respect and kiss the ring and remember how good the Colts are.
How good they used to be, rather.
Rooney Rule complaints not fair
Lots to say about Jeff Saturday, and while there’s much more headed your way before his debut Sunday at Las Vegas — #columncoming, all that — let’s get the basics out of the way here:
Yes, this hire could work. No, it doesn’t violate the Rooney Rule. Not in reality, not in spirit, not anywhere. That’s not what you’re hearing, probably, if you turn on the television or click on social media. Everyone’s saying the Colts’ hiring of Jeff Saturday off the set of ESPN, a man whose only coaching experience is at a high school in Dacula, Ga., proves everything fired Dolphins coach Brian Flores said about Miami and highlights longtime Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy’s futile quest for a head coaching job. Or something like that.
Look, the only thing that wins the news cycle more than anger is volume. And the reaction to the Jeff Saturday hire has both. Lots of anger, being shouted by lots of people.
Never mind that Jim Irsay’s Colts have never been part of the NFL’s history of racist hiring practices. The first Black coach in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Dungy. Irsay hired him. Even hired him as a so-called retread, after Dungy had been fired by the Buccaneers in 2001. When Dungy had to step away from the Colts during the 2005 season, Irsay replaced him on an interim basis with another Black coach, Jim Caldwell. When Dungy retired after the 2008 season, Irsay hired Caldwell.
Two of the Colts’ last four permanent head coaches have been Black. So have two of their last four offensive coordinators (Pep Hamilton, Marcus Brady).
When Irsay was deciding whether to fire Frank Reich after that 26-3 loss Sunday at New England — “We saw things collapse,” Irsay said of the game. “I’ve seen things go from bad to worse” — there was no time to interview multiple candidates for the interim position. There was no time to interview anyone.
This isn’t the offseason, when these things can take weeks. Colts players reported Monday to the Colts’ facility for rehab and recovery. Coaches will begin formulating a game plan for the Raiders on Tuesday. When, in that timeline, was Irsay supposed to interview a kaleidoscope of coaches?
No time for that. In Irsay’s mind, it was Jeff Saturday or bust. He didn’t choose to fire Reich until he had Saturday lined up, discussions that started shortly after the final horn at New England.
“If he says no,” Irsay was saying Monday night, gesturing at Saturday, “we’re not here today.”
Saturday is inexperienced, yes, but so promising. He has the resume to pique the interest of the locker room, and the personality to seal the deal. He’s humble and fiery and just real.
Can he coach? Depends. Who’s calling the plays on offense? That’s everything in the NFL these days, that and your starting quarterback. Saturday can’t win without quality at both spots. But if he gets inspired playcalling from running backs coach Scottie Montgomery or QB’s coach Scott Milanovich or receivers coach Reggie Wayne, and inspired QB play from Sam Ehlinger, Saturday will do fine. If the Colts fail under his watch, it won’t be his fault.
It will be the fault of two men with him at the podium, Irsay and Ballard. That’s probably why Irsay spent most of his time talking angrily about how much he knows about football, and why Ballard spent most of his time seething quietly, pulling at his beard, his hair, his face.
'Your opinion doesn’t matter'
If you don’t think Reich (40-33 in 4½ years) had a good run with the Colts, shut up. Seriously, keep it to yourself.
“If anyone wants to diminish what Frank did, you’d be wrong,” Irsay said. “Your opinion doesn’t matter. Numbers don’t lie.”
If you don’t think Ballard has been a hell of a general manager, keep shutting your trap.
“You guys can try to diminish him all you want, but those are just your words. There’s no substance to it,” Irsay said. “There’s no truth. The guy’s a winner. He’s been immensely successful.”
And don’t even think about giving up on the 3-5-1 Colts, with their inoperable offensive line and inexperienced quarterback and suddenly pencil-thin running back room.
“I’m not ready to fire the towel in like everybody else,” Ballard said. “The world’s going to fire the towel in. We’re not.”
Well, the world is full of stupid people. At one point Irsay was wondering how come nobody holds us buffoons in the media accountable. Social media does a fairly good job of that, I’d suggest, and layoffs take care of the rest, but Irsay’s not satisfied. He was seriously wondering Monday night why reporters aren’t fired more often.
Poor Jeff Saturday, he’s sitting there at the end of the table, the guest of honor, and hardly anyone’s talking to him or even about him. This became a night for Ballard and Irsay — mainly Irsay — to blow off steam. When Irsay was asked about the Rooney Rule, if he could understand why Black coaches would be frustrated to see a (white) man like Saturday get this shot with zero NFL or college coaching experience, Irsay put the blame where it goes:
On the media.
“There’s no problem or perceptions unless you guys make a problem or perception,” he told the roomful of reporters. “You guys need (Internet) hits, and I understand. I was a broadcast journalism major.”
Yeah, that happened.
So did Irsay’s comparison of Ballard to Michael Jordan, and Saturday to Don Shula. So did Irsay’s reaction when reminded that he’d promised Matt Ryan two or three years as the Colts’ starting quarterback before pulling the plug after seven games, and when reminded that he had told ESPN’s Chris Mortensen he was “in a great spot with Frank” — a week before firing him. Why, someone asked Irsay, should anyone believe in what you’re doing now?
Grab a pen and some paper. This is gold.
“I’ve never hired a losing head coach,” he said. “It’s not about believe, it’s about fact, about what we’ve done. We’re better than most. It’s that simple. Our record proves it over a space of time. You don’t have to believe much when it’s there in black and white.”
It was all very performative, the anger and arrogance coming from Ballard and (mainly) Irsay. It was probably meant to be convincing. I just wonder, with their franchise in the throes of collapse, who they were trying to convince.
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar.