Rick Venturi On The State Of The Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars v Indianapolis Colts

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The NFL Playoffs are underway, and once again, the Colts find themselves on the outside looking in.

It’s become an all-too common occurrence for this team. For too many years now, the Colts have found a way to shoot themselves in the foot when it mattered most, and blown winnable games late in the season to end their playoff hopes. Despite the continued lack of results, general manager Chris Ballard will be back for a 9th season, along with his 3rd-year head coach and quarterback. His hand-picked defensive coordinator, Gus Bradley, was not so lucky. The Colts parted ways with him after the season-finale and will now begin to look for a new man to coach the unit.

During the Tuesday edition of The Ride With JMV, Rick Venturi, the former NFL coach now with the Colts Radio Network, joined the show. Rick gave his thoughts on the issues that have plagued the Colts overall.

“We’ve been delusional for so long, and one of the things that I think has been a huge mistake here…is not a great self-analysis, not a lot of self-criticism, kind of a delusional look at our team. Really, without question, overvaluing our own players and being hesitant to go out and get better. That’s permeated here now for years, and years, and years. You just look at somebody like the Texans, who aren’t a great team, but they won the division last year, and went out and got Mixon, Diggs, Hunter, Autrey, Al-Shaair, Murray, Ward…it’s preposterous to think that you can build a championship team with the draft alone. That’s just absolutely impossible.”

He also spoke about Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson, and where he’s at entering Year 3.

“What I see at this point is a quarterback who is, I would say, a two-trick pony. He’s a guy who is a beast as a runner. He’s really running back #2; he’s got the 5.7 (yards-per-carry) average, he’s tough in the redzone. I mean when he runs the football, he is a beast, and if you don’t run him, you’re crazy…He really is almost more of a wildcat quarterback, he’s more Taysom Hill than he is [C.J] Stroud to be honest with you, if you want to really look at it. His other trick is he throws the deep ball really well, he’s not afraid to throw it…he reminds me of an NBA player who is either a slam dunk guy, or a three-point shooter. He has no midrange game; he has no midrange jump shot…I don’t think that’s sustainable.”