Many saw the Frank Reich firing coming for the stumbling Colts. The decision to replace him with Jeff Saturday, not so much.
Saturday, who played for the Colts for over a decade, has no college or NFL coaching experience. At the time of his hire, Saturday was an ESPN analyst and a Georgia high school coach.
“Shocked would be an understatement,” Saturday said at his introductory press conference on Monday, which was twice delayed and played out while most of the NFL world was tuned into “Monday Night Football.”
“We had a conversation and it escalated quickly. He asked me and my wife. He told me he was going to meet with [general manager] Chris [Ballard] about it. As the day progressed, we finally came to a conclusion. It was a 12-hour whirlwind. It was a late call.”
The NFL world was taken aback by the decision given the Colts legend’s lack of experience and that the 47-year-old was only connected to the team as an advisor. In the strange press conference, however, owner Jim Irsay made it sound like getting Saturday was a coup for the franchise.
“I’m glad he doesn’t have any NFL experience,” Irsay said. “I’m glad he hasn’t learned the fear that’s in this league, because it’s tough for all our coaches. They’re afraid. They go to analytics and it gets difficult.
“He doesn’t have all that. He doesn’t have that fear. And there was no other candidate. We were fortunate he was available. And he has tons of experience. He knows this game inside and out with relationships with coaches and players. I understand that he’s fully capable of doing this.”
The “no other candidate” comment is particularly curious given that the Colts had a former NFL coach in Gus Bradley as defensive coordinator, and another in John Fox who is an assistant. Is Bradley, who went a dismal 14-48 in four seasons as Jaguars coach, the future of the franchise? Probably not, but he is familiar with the players and could have helped ease the transition into the offseason.
Furthermore, Irsay insisted that “there’s no question” GM Chris Ballard — who constructed this flawed 3-5-1 roster and is behind the rotating door of placeholder quarterbacks that has plagued the franchise — will be back next season.
“The guy is a winner and he’s been immensely successful.” Irsay said. “No one is perfect in this game. We all lose a lot in this league. You know how many shots Michael Jordan has missed? You know how many games Michael Jordan has lost?
“I mean, in this league it’s tough and sometimes you don’t understand how fortunate you are when you’re around success because you think that’s the norm. But it’s not. And he fits right into that culture.”
The hope is Saturday can find a solution to Indy’s most glaring problem, an offensive line that has allowed a league-high 35 sacks in nine games. It had been one of the league’s top units from 2018 through last season but has been in flux most of this season.
On Sunday, during a lifeless 26-3 loss to the Patriots, the Colts pulled right guard Matt Pryor and left tackle Dennis Kelly and replaced them with Will Fries and rookie Bernhard Raimann in yet another attempt to improve the pass protection.
“We’ve tried to hire Jeff as a coach a couple of times, the timing didn’t work out,” Ballard said. “It doesn’t take long to figure out he’s got leadership, real special leadership in him. So for this eight-game stretch and where we’re at, we thought it would be a really good fit for us.”
— With AP
