Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Reaction to DISASTROUS Press Conference

Starting point is 00:00:00 Unfortunately, after a whirlwind few weeks in Colts Nation, upper management did zero to tamper the bad vibes surrounding this team when they spoke on Monday night. However, it's pretty much YOLO time in Indy, and we'll break it all down in today's episode of Locked on Colts. Let's get to it. You are Locked on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:49 Thank you, Colts fans, for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by BetOnline. BetOnline has you covered this with more props, odds, and lines than ever before. BetOnline, where the game starts. This is Zach Hicks. I am joined by my co-host, my best friend, my buddy, Jake Arthur, and you guys know us from horseshoehuddle.com.

Starting point is 00:01:13 We are switching things up a little bit today. I am serving as Jake today. Jake is going to be me, and when I say that, I mean, yes, you guys can tell I am running the show basically as the host because the way that Jake and I typically do this show, guys, just so you guys can get a little insight into our process. And I'm sure you guys know this from listening. Jake kind of serves as the play-by-play guy. He directs the traffic and he kind of throws things my way. And then I'm just the rambunctious, you know, idiot throwing around my takes and being long-winded and stuff like that.

Starting point is 00:01:44 And that's why you guys tune in. But we have a very, very unique situation here where the Colts had a press conference on Monday night and it was a, you know, it was everything in all of national media when it came to football, even though there was a game being played. And we have a very unique perspective on this podcast because Jake is basically our beat order for horseshoehuddle.com for SI Colts. You know,

Starting point is 00:02:08 Jake is our boots on the ground. He's our guy that's always in the media and at these press conferences. So Jake was there when, when all this was happening. So it makes a lot of sense for Jake to kind of serve as the expert in this situation, even though I typically do that in most situations. So Jake, as today's, you know, expert color commentator stuff, what was it like being at that press conference on Monday night? Yeah, so I mean, we all kind of showed up to the complex having a million questions because just to kind of set the stage for everyone, obviously everyone knows what happened.

Starting point is 00:02:43 The Colts fired Frank Reich, and then you kind of assume it's going to be Bubba Ventrone or Gus Bradley or John Fox, someone with experience as the interim head coach just to get them through the end of the year. They go with Jeff Saturday, who has no head coaching experience outside of high school football. He's not someone that's in the building every day he's a former Pro Bowl player for them so it's basic it's just it's totally out of left field essentially it's it's nothing any other team would have done so of course a million questions and so the press conference was Jim Ursae, Chris Ballard and Jeff Saturday being introduced and so you, of course the main theme is Jim, why, why this move basically. And, you know, throughout, throughout the whole thing, it just, um, there was just very

Starting point is 00:03:37 few questions that, that seemed to be answered. It was just very bizarre. Um was kind of just, you know, trust me on this one. There's, you know, I know what I'm doing. I've never hired a losing coach, this or that. And it's just, at a press conference this important when questions need to be answered, like usually the subject, the person being asked the questions goes into it, knowing what the theme is, what questions are going to be asked this and that. And it just was so aloof and defiant and so odd. And I did an interview with a show this morning, you know, I was, I was there in the room the night Andrew Luck retired and gave a press conference. This was weirder like the tone of this was so weird is i mean i don't know

Starting point is 00:04:27 if they were expecting for this to be some joyous occasion where we're introducing this new head coach you know this beloved guy here in indy but no it we're all like what the hell is this like that's right that's what the theme was from our, yeah, very, very odd evening to say the least. Yeah, and again, I'm asking these questions as someone who I've never been a beat reporter. I've been in a handful of press conferences in my life. Most of them have been at the Senior Bowl or at practices in the offseason and stuff like that. I've never been in a major press conference like that. So you've been around.

Starting point is 00:05:02 How long have you been in press conferences and stuff like this jake i've been i've had i've had full-time credentials with the colts since 2018 um so all of frank reich's tenure essentially and all but one year of chris ballard's yeah so you i mean you've been there you've been in so many press conferences and i don't know just for me as an outsider it it seems so belligerent and just attacking and stuff like that and there were so many shots thrown at media and I think so many people don't realize you know yes I have qualms with beat reporting I will never be a beat reporter I hate it Jake is a bigger man than me for doing it because I I just can't be a beat reporter it's not in my bones but it is an essential part of covering the NFL and NFL media because beat reporters are supposed to be the voice of the fans.

Starting point is 00:05:52 Yes, sometimes some of them don't push as hard as we'd like. And others push way too hard. Then they shouldn't. You know, like you see in like New York market, stuff like that. They'll get up there. They'll just yell at the head coaches and stuff like that. Now, we have some guys that are kind of like that here in the indie media. But for the most part, beat reporters are supposed to be the people asking questions for the fans.

Starting point is 00:06:12 Things that the fans want to learn and things that the beat reporters want to tell the fans. So when beat reporters are just there doing their job, it was a very, very combative press conference, especially at these beat reporters. These beat reporters who I think have been pretty fair to Chris Ballard and Frank Reich and Jim Irsay during this tenure that's been fairly mediocre at best. I mean, Chris Ballard's 44 and 45 as a GM. It's been pretty fair, if not more positive than the negative. And yeah, the dude, the tone of this was so, so combative towards guys like you guys like Zach Kiefer, Stephen Holder, Greg Doyle, like, you know, like you, they were, it was a lot of shots thrown at you guys.

Starting point is 00:06:55 Yeah. So, I mean, this market, a lot of people think, you know, the Colts media, you know, is as soft or we're too buddy buddy with these guys or we don't you know we buy in to them too much we're on their payroll this and that and then so of course you and i are not the only ones who have been more negative this year right we're trying we're trying to cover them you know objectively like i'm sorry but the bad outweighs the good this year that's what we're talking about if if if they put together a great game, we'll present it from that point of view that they had a great game, you know.

Starting point is 00:07:30 So as a group that's often known as being, you know, too generous to them, it did feel very defiant. Like Jim Irsay's tone was very much like, it's just a gut feeling. And trust me, because I've never had, I've never hired a losing head coach. And, you know, you just have these feelings about things. And there was never any real answer. Like, in my opinion, all the important questions that needed to be asked were asked last night. And I don't feel like we got any straight answer on any of it he like he

Starting point is 00:08:06 often does he goes off into this romanticized thing about the peyton manning era and like what guys did then it's like i'm sorry but he's not walking through that door right now none of these guys are some of them literally are here as like position coaches and things like that but that's not what we're we're shooting for. And then, you know, Chris Ballard is the one who really gets a lot of the support. You know, you have some of these screaming, talking heads on the radio or whatever saying that, again, we're on the payroll, all this and that. And, you know, he kind of went out and mentioned the thing about, you know, you guys get on me about needing receivers and now I look up and the offensive line is bad, which really brought me back to something

Starting point is 00:08:48 Ryan Gregson said a while back. They paid Andrew Luck one of that, that big first extension, or they did something offensively to help Andrew Luck or something. And they're like, well, we can't really allocate all this money elsewhere when you have a quarterback like that it was an excuse and it's like i'm sorry you needed us to tell you that this team needed receivers that's what every person who analyzed the colts over the offseason said was their weak point and you have these three pillars on the offensive line already all of them playing below their pay

Starting point is 00:09:22 grade quentin nelson didn't look like himself at all last year and was made the highest paid guard, which was expected. I'm not saying that was the wrong move. But Matt Pryor was signed before the draft. Danny Penner was pretty much given the keys to be the right guard the entire offseason as well. The media didn't say, let Mark Lewinsky and Chris Reed walk.

Starting point is 00:09:46 Danny Penner is the guy. Like, Matt Pryor, with no real extended experience at left tackle, should be the guy. It was so weird because there was just no accountability. Like, fingers pointing all over the place, basically. Like, I don't really, I feel like like they frank really didn't get his flowers in this one either like the guys up there all should have had they they all hold responsibility for what's going wrong it was decisions they made how the roster was constructed how certain money has been given to certain guys playing time for certain guys it was so weird for all

Starting point is 00:10:25 blame to be deflected away like there were key phrases like do i share blame yeah yeah yeah but that's not how the tone of it was like right is i mean it felt like ballard didn't want to be there because he clearly doesn't really seem on board with this this is very much an an ursa decision and it uh yeah i don't know there there's there's a lot more to say this could be a 15 minute longer rant i don't know but yeah there's there's nothing coming out of that that made me feel good and i feel bad for some of the guys who asked awesome questions and got terrible answers yeah Yeah. And guys coming up, we're going to talk about some of the things that were actually said in that press conference,

Starting point is 00:11:09 you know, because outside of just the tone of that meeting and everything was going crazy, there were actually some things said that were even worse in that press conference. But first, if you've ever thought about securing your home with home security, but I've been putting it off,

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Starting point is 00:12:56 on Reggie Wayne up there um there were so many guys in house that they could have gone with and I I think the thing that I go back to and I I think Stephen Holder did a great job of just writing this on Twitter, and I think he wrote in his article as well, is going into this press conference, was this a gut thing? Was this an emotionally charged decision? Or was there some thought behind it? And I think we all came away from this press conference saying, this was an emotionally charged decision. There was no thought behind this. It was all emotion. Yeah, absolutely. Because, I mean, Jim Irsay will always tell you after some big decision is made, he'll talk about all the people he consulted with and this and that. And two of his biggest confidants when he makes an enormous decision are Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy, both of whom have been interviewed since this came out have strong ties

Starting point is 00:13:47 to jeff saturday too of course and both have said you know no this is you know when the news broke it was news to me i they didn't ask me about it so on and so forth so basically yeah and you know ursa called jeff about it sunday night i guess and And it seemed, you know, kind of listening, it seemed as if, like, maybe Frank is still there if Jeff's already turned him down. Like, which is, it seems very disrespectful to Frank, to begin with. Disrespectful to Frank and to other guys on staff,

Starting point is 00:14:19 Gus Bradley, John Fox, Reggie Wayne. So, like, the last question of the night it was uh nate atkins asked you know a week ago a report came out that frank was safe and chris was safe this and that and now here we are like eight days later and frank has been fired why are we to trust that this that jeff saturday is the right guy for this job and is going to last eight weeks. And then it was just some non-answer again. I forget exactly what he said. And he's like, because he's the right guy for the job or because I've never hired a losing coach

Starting point is 00:14:56 or something that wasn't a real answer, basically. And it was a lot of deflection and not wanting to answer the real questions like because he can't deny that Saturday really has no resume for this he's he just kind of went off and story told like he always does about these things and uh that just doesn't sit well it's not a real answer like you have all the eyes of the NFL on you about this because it's so unprecedented like you would think you would come up with acknowledge like yeah guys i know this is weird but like i really feel strongly about it because here here here like here's why you can feel comfortable with this not like yeah i just

Starting point is 00:15:35 feel like it's the right thing to do like that's not an answer yeah yeah just give some insight into the thought process that went there, not just my gut said so. Or didn't Jeff Zeller say at one point that he was shocked to get the call and he was like, why me? Yeah, exactly. Himself, you know, he was shocked and he was like, what about me to you qualifies? Like, what are you seeing in me that makes me an ideal candidate for you and this and that? And, you know i i'm not going to put anything on saturday i thought saturday was great uh in this press conference you know

Starting point is 00:16:11 he you know he just seems happy to be here he handled all the questions well and like obvious obviously most of the questions were in place about like maybe doubting this whole thing working while he's sitting right there. But yeah. You know, I think the other biggest thing that's, that's kind of got a light shown on it was he was asked about the Rooney rule. Right. And whether, whether this complies with it.

Starting point is 00:16:38 And when you're hiring an interim head coach, the Rooney rule, you don't have to do the minority thing. I think just because it's such a more fast-paced thing and you have to get something figured out quick. When you're interviewing for a permanent spot, like after the season when the Colts are looking to fill the position in full permanently, they will have to abide by the Rooney rule and this and that. And I will start by saying I don't think Jim Irsay is racist. He's just not that guy.

Starting point is 00:17:07 That's not what I'm going to get at whatsoever. But for him, it turned into another media thing. Even though everyone, that was a very popular question after this came out, is like, ooh, this is kind of sketchy. Are they allowed to just do this um and not have to hire or interview any minority candidates or anything he said it was a non-story unless we all made it a story and kind of tried to you know i was a broadcast journalism guy too and sometimes i wonder how your editors let you guys run with this stuff, basically putting it on us again.

Starting point is 00:17:45 And it's like, okay, have you not been listening to anything? Anyone has been saying all day since this, since this has been introduced, it was just very tone deaf. That's actually what I'm going to say as my favorite adjective of the whole thing was tone deaf. Yeah. And, and let me, let me just pull it back a little bit with that Rooney rule stuff. Let's ignore the Rooney rule for what it is right now.

Starting point is 00:18:07 Let's completely ignore it. Let's just talk about this whole situation. By even addressing the Rooney Rule stuff and addressing the lack of looking at minority candidates or this hiring as, you know, in a broader sense, whatever, no one that jim ursae is a racist nobody's saying that that's there's like people can say that this is a bit sketchy but nobody's saying he's a racist yes he hired tony dungy he hired uh jim caldwell like you guys can go back to that that has nothing to do with this current conversation this current conversation is the nfl has a real problem and this is a fact the nfl has a real problem with pushing minority coaches up into prominent positions and the colts are going to be a part of that because they grabbed a non-minority coach from an esbn job with no experience and made him

Starting point is 00:18:57 the head coach and then that you know jim arce said you know we hope he's our the colt the colts coach for the long future and stuff like that and pass this which would make you know we hope he's our the colt the colts coach for the long future and stuff like that and pass this which would make you know when the interview someone fulfilled the rule after the season a sham thing and and it goes back to some of the issues with the rooney rule so even mentioning the rooney rule and mentioning how minority assistants around the league are upset about this there are a lot of guys you know our boy rashad mentioned that he was texting some of the assistant coaches he knows around the league that are minority candidates that are upset about this and that's a real thing again I'm nobody's saying that because the Colton fulfilled Rooney rule for interim coach job that they are this

Starting point is 00:19:36 racist awful organization it's just saying in the grand scheme of all the issues with minority coaches not moving up to head coach and not getting these chances this is going to be another thing that people look at because again it's a non-minority ESPN analyst that has not been coaching in the NFL once skipping all these rungs on the ladder to get into this interim head coaching job with a chance to become a head coach you know long term I'm not saying it's a it's a whole like I'm not saying that this move itself is racist or awful or anything it's just that's why it's being looked at like this I'm not saying it's a, it's a whole, like, I'm not saying that this move itself is racist or awful or anything. It's just, that's why it's being looked at like this. I'm not saying I agree with that conversation. I'm not saying I disagree with the conversation, but that's why those questions were being asked. It wasn't to paint Jim Irsay as a racist. It was look in the grand

Starting point is 00:20:18 scheme of the NFL, minority candidates are not getting these chances that Jeff Saturday is, and not saying again, that it should have been a minority that was just thrown into this job just because. But that is an issue with the NFL. And this is just going to be further evidence with all that because, again, it's a guy who skipped all the rungs to become a head coach. So that's why the questions were asked. And, yeah, the very, very – I mean, it's a very simple thing to talk down. All you got to say is look jeff siren and i have a relationship i wanted someone i trust and i just wanted someone i trust to finish out the

Starting point is 00:20:50 season for for this year and then we can reevaluate after the year that's all you had to say you didn't have to get combated you didn't have to you know accuse journalists of yellow journalism and stuff like that and hyperbolic stuff to get clicks like it was just a very very tone-deaf answer for something that was a real question that didn't even have to be a huge story but Jim Ursae made it a huge story by going off the way he did there's another bit of news to talk about coming up guys we're going to get off this press conference stuff because the Colts have a brand new offensive coordinator and before we talk about him, I got to talk to you guys about Blue Nile. It's one of my favorites.

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Starting point is 00:22:52 was named the offensive coordinator today. He's the guy who is going to be calling the plays going forward. They're going to give him a real shot at it. And while I'm not saying it's the move I would make or that I love the move, I kind of understand just, you know, give a shot to the 30-year-old kid and see if you stumble upon the next Sean McVay. I doubt that's what happens here, but I get it. I get it.

Starting point is 00:23:17 But I'm curious just how the response is from Scott Milanovich or Scotty Montgomery or something, you know, the running back coach, like how do those guys respond who, you know, Milanovich has called plays in the NFL before five for five games with the Jaguars. And he was a Canadian, uh, heck, he was a CFL head coach calling plays there. Montgomery has called plays at the college level. I wonder how they feel about some kid getting the chance.

Starting point is 00:23:44 Who's never really called plays before. Uh, I'm so curious about the dynamic in that locker room right now. I'm so, so curious. Yeah, yeah, no doubt. I'm curious how they may be pretty accepting of it, though, because like they already had to get more on their plate when Marcus Brady was let go. So then adding this on top of it may have, I don't know, maybe perhaps been out of their comfort zone. Parks was the assistant quarterback's coach in a passing game specialist, so he probably had a little more room on his plate to take that over. I'll be honest, I don't hate the move.

Starting point is 00:24:22 Outside of Frank Reich, no one has been as entrenched in this system, in this playbook, over the last four or five years than Parks. So, yes, he doesn't have experience as a play caller, but really no one on the staff has extensive experience doing it, I guess. It'll be something new he has to try but i i really i don't mind it uh parks himself you know he's he's a climber uh i this wasn't going this wasn't going to be his peak uh assistant qb coach and passing game specialist whether it was with frank reich or not i I fully believed he was going to go on to keep doing bigger and better things I don't know where he was going to top out at but I knew he wasn't done here with this so shoot let's give him the opportunity I know players have a good

Starting point is 00:25:16 relationship with him I you know I know him a little bit so you know I observe him in practice and stuff when I'm out there sometimes and he's, I think he'll do all right. I mean, he knows the system. He just has to know how to pull the strings on game day. I mean, that's, that's a tough ask. I've never had to do it. So I can't say how monumental of a leap that is, but no one in there really knows the system at all points and all units, position groups, as well as he does. So why not?

Starting point is 00:25:50 Yeah, the one thing I'll add is the best thing I think that came out of this press conference, and again, it came from Jeff Saturday, because he's the only one who said the right things in this press conference. He did say Sam Ellinger is going to be the quarterback the rest of the year, or at least as of right now, Bernard Ryman will will be the left tackle so they are going young at these positions and i'm not saying that this is them embracing the tank but it's them embracing the let's evaluate these young kids you know there's no point in playing a 30 year old matt prior or 30 something year old dennis kelly at left tackle over a young left tackle that needs snaps. There's no point in

Starting point is 00:26:25 playing Nick Foles or Matt Ryan over Sam Ellinger in what's probably a lost season. So using that logic and going to the offense coordinator spot, like I totally get going to the, you know, the 30 year old kid, you know, 30 year old kid, you know, in football terms as a player, 30 is old, but 30 as a play caller or 30 as a coach is pretty young. You know, he's younger than some of the players on this team. So I totally get them trying to just swing with a kid on the roster or a kid on the coaching staff that could have some potential. Again, you might stumble into the next Sean McVay

Starting point is 00:27:00 or Michael Fleur or something like that. You never know. Or Mike McDaniels. That's another one that kind of had a similar rise as Parks Frazier. So, I mean, I get it. Again, it's probably a fascinating dynamic in that locker room with the other coaches on staff. But it was already going to be fascinating when Jeff Saturday just, you know,

Starting point is 00:27:19 walks in there the first day after the press conference. So, yeah, I don't really mind this one as much again when you're kind of evaluating the young talent on your roster parks frazier is kind of the same in the same little little realm there you know he's a young young talent on the coaching staff that you want to see what you can do with him yeah absolutely and for the ted lasso fans he might be like nate i don't know if you saw Ted Lasso's act. No, I haven't. Well, that's not going to resonate with you then.

Starting point is 00:27:53 But yeah, he could be non-evil Nate for those of you who like Ted Lasso. But yeah, man, not the craziest part of this all, but the fact that they have a game to play on Sunday. Oh, yeah. That part of it's wild like the fun part of it is that Josh McDaniels is the Raiders head coach and this is how kind of all of this even started you know what I mean like he's the guy that spurned the Colts and then here comes Frank Reich how all this kind of came to be this is gonna be full circle so uh things are already not great for the raiders

Starting point is 00:28:25 like they're they're dwindling they lose a bunch of big leads this and that they're kind of the opposite colts um if if his seat is hot at all and they lose to this ragtag bunch of colts right now and send him packing and he goes off to new England again, like, would that not be sweet justice? Oh, man. I'm telling you, the NFL is so weird and stupid that the Colts aren't 100% winning this week. But I think that's all we have for today, guys. That is all we have for today.

Starting point is 00:28:57 We'll be back tomorrow with a crossover with the Raiders. Oh, man. Is it already crossover time? Is it tomorrow that's the crossover? Yeah, I think tomorrow is. We'll record tomorrow with the crossover. Oh, my gosh. Tomorrow is the crossover.

Starting point is 00:29:12 Man, I'm just going to get laughed at on that. But, yeah, you guys make sure to tune in to that crossover episode where we break down the Colts and Raiders matchup. And make sure you guys are following us on social media at BigArthurNFL, at Zach Hicks too. And at locked on Colts also subscribe to our show on YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. And thanks again for making locked on Colts.

Starting point is 00:29:32 Your first listen every day for your second, listen today, check out locked on sports today from the games that matter the most to the biggest sport stories in sports go beyond the scoreboard behind the scenes of local experts and insights that only Locked On can provide. Locked On Sports Today, available on this app, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. We'll see you guys tomorrow.

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Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Reaction to DISASTROUS Press Conference

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