Chris Ballard Says Colts Need More Tough Guys

Source: Justin Casterline / Getty

INDIANAPOLIS – It hasn’t been an anomaly, and that’s the scary part.

No, the Colts losing very meaningful late-season games, to bad/mediocre quarterback, by a significant margin, has become the norm lately.

There was the win and get in Week 17 game in 2021 in Jacksonville, with the Colts losing to the 2-win Jaguars by 15 points, when a win would have clinched a playoff berth

In 2023, a playoff-pushing Colts lost December games to backup quarterbacks Jake Browning and the Bengals (by 20 points) and then Taylor Heinicke and the Falcons (by 19 points). The Colts fell one game short of the playoffs that season.

And this past season, there was the New York humiliation of allowing 45 points to 2-win Giants and their backup Drew Lock, losing that must-have game by 12 points.

Earlier this month, Chris Ballard fielded a question on why his Colts have been unable to win those late-season games.

As Ballard made his way through an answer which spanned 289 words, he pointed out what having Andrew Luck meant for that 2018 team getting those wins, or even Philip Rivers in 2022—the franchise’s last playoff squad.

Well, Luck and Rivers won’t be showing up any time soon.

And as Ballard went on and on in answering that question, he almost seemed to come to that realization, pointing out another eye-popping reason the Colts haven’t gotten it done in those moments.

“There’s ways to win, and we’ve got to figure out why,” Ballard said towards the end.

“I know this, when you when you have enough tough guys, they usually battle through, and fight, and get it done. Ultimately, I’ve got to fill a team with more of them.”

Tough guys.

That term in describing football players offers quite the compliment.

Used in the way Ballard used it though, is certainly a call out of his roster, and one with a finger pointing directly back at the Colts GM, as he’s the one who has constructed this roster for 8 years.

So if Ballard’s words are that—“I’ve got to fill a team with more (tough guys)”—how will he go about changing that this offseason?

Chris Ballard Says Colts Need More Tough Guys  was originally published on 1075thefan.com