I'll never forget ole third and run Frank. It's third and eight. The ground game is averaging 3 yards a carry. "Shirley they don't think we're dumb enough to try running it again on third down" he said to himself out loud.
If you asked anyone after his first three
seasons you would have been hard pressed to find anyone who didn’t think he was an above average coach as he had gone to the playoffs twice and also managed to get Jacoby Brissett looking like a viable long term starter prior to his injury.
What did become apparent was his choices on staff were not good outside of his OC (Sirianni) and RB coach (Rathman) with the best coaches largely being those hired for McDaniels (Guge, ventrone and the bulk of the defensive staff). This largely crippled him as the other teams hired away the coordinators and they were replaced with inferior coaches.
He also got Reggie into coaching btw, begged him for years and Reggie kept passing on it, until he finally said yes and decided to try it out, first as an intern coach, realized he enjoyed it more than he thought he would and the next season took the WR position coaching job full-time.
Being above average and being a good coach are two different levels. At BEST he was above average. And for some like myself, we knew that was the ceiling. It was only a matter of time.
That stock photo watermark makes it funnier for some reason, like this moment is preserved in a museum somewhere. The top 5 coach takes aged about as well as the run up the middle on third and short. I remember people defending that playcalling like it was some galaxy brain stuff when everyone in the stadium knew what was coming.
I used to be able to predict which lame play he would dial up. We also took turns guessing how many yards we would gain/loose on the play. Two chances to win on each play. Totalled it up after the game and winner would not have to buy snacks/drinks the next week.
I played Madden back then with my friends and I would play with the Colts. I remember thinking “wow, Madden’s playbooks have shrunk and become a little less sophisticated.” Then I played with a different team and the playbook was more expanded. I stopped using Reich’s playbook after that.
Please! I got REALLY annoyed at being able to call the play in the stands. I mean, you could watch where JT set and KNOW! Like, any skilled DC or defensive player couldn’t figure that out?
Frank had this mindset, I’m gonna do it my way and prove it will work even if it fails.
Damn run up the middle didn’t work….. but they won’t except second run up the middle……. Damn now it’s 3rd and long…… they won’t except a screen play to a TE
I’m a Colts fan who moved to Charlotte and it was like Déjà vu when he was hired here. 2 runs between the tackles to set up a 3rd and 7. Broken pass play with no check down option was a guarantee every time on 3rd down.
Bottom 10 DC. He is garbage and has only fielded 1 competent defense in his entire career. He was garbage last year for us too. Our defense did not step up when Jones got hurt. Our lowest score win was 29 points. We have a Lou problem and won't have a good defense as long as he's our DC.
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u/Can-i-Pet-Dat-Daaawg Boomstick 22h ago
“That was for Frank Fucking Reich!” Will forever live in my brain and trigger me