Colts
Colts GM Chris Ballard feels like he “failed” this season after the team finished with a 4-12-1 record and that criticism about him is fair.
“I failed. I’m not going to sit up here and make excuses. Failed a lot of people,” said Ballard, via Kevin Bowen. “Highly disappointed about where we’re at, how the season went. I never take lightly what’s at stake here. It’s not the wins and losses. People’s lives are on the line. Player’s families, coaches’ families, front office, people in this building. And I don’t ever take that lightly. And I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed where we’re at and ultimately it falls on my shoulders. I won’t walk away from that; I won’t run from it.
“Saying that, we’ll grow from it and I’ll grow from it and I’ll get better because of it. Unfortunately, our greatest moments of growth and greatest times of growth happen in the darkness and you’ve just got to keep your eyes open and see the light. We had some rough moments this season. Thinking about where we’re at, how we got where we’re at, the mistakes I have made and there’s only one way. You’ve got to go through it. You can’t avoid it. You can’t go over it, can’t go under it. You’ve got to go through it. That’s the only way you’re going to grow. I believe in our people. I believe in our process. There’s really smart, good people in this building and I believe going forward we’ll prove that. I know there’s doubt. There should be. Absolutely there should be. The criticism, it’s warranted. Criticism regarding my job and what I’ve done, it’s warranted. But I’ve not lost any confidence in what we can build here. We live in a world where failure’s not allowed. It’s not allowed. When you fail in this world, you get cancelled and everybody wants your head. And rightfully so in some cases. But if you’re able to go through it and you grow from it, you can reach your greatest heights. And I think we will. All the things written and said, most of is warranted. We didn’t perform well enough. And it falls on me.”
Ballard thinks that not having continuity at the quarterback position has impacted their production, which led to more turnovers and an inability to score in the red zone.
“Looking back on it, when you’re changing quarterbacks every year, it’s tough. It’s tough on everybody. It’s tough on the team. Not getting that position settled, has a little something to do with it. And that’s no indictment on any of the quarterbacks we have. Looking back early in the season, we had some changes to the offensive line and that’s where our struggles occurred early and we just never really recovered from them. And it took us a while to get some continuity. I probably underestimated that. We had been so good up front for the last few years. I thought with the three really good players we had coming back in Braden (Smith), Ryan Kelly and Quenton (Nelson), that we would absorb those other positions and they would come up to speed right away and it just didn’t occur that way. That’s a mistake. Now I will say midseason I did think the line played better. I thought they played better down the stretch. I know they’ve taken a lot of criticism, but down the stretch that wasn’t the reason we were losing. It is a fickle game and I know people say it all the time. But more games are lost than won. We lost them. You cannot be minus-13 in turnover ratio and win. You can’t do it. You can’t be 32nd in the league in the red zone and win. And I think on defense we either finished 30th or 31st in the red zone. Those are key areas of the game that you have to perform to be able to win. There’s a way to win every game. I think you can even look at the playoffs and teams that rebounded from a year ago that everybody said stunk and now they’re in the playoffs. Those teams that got in, they didn’t lose the games. We lost the game. You can’t turn the ball over. You have to execute in the red zone when you get those opportunities, and we didn’t.”
Ballard is looking into how their system fell apart in 2022 and believes he didn’t do well enough in the roster-building process.
“It’s something we’re digging through to figure out. It’s something we’re digging through. It’s a fair question…Ultimately our plan from a roster standpoint wasn’t good enough. That’s one. Then, I think all the change, we didn’t do a very good job of. We didn’t manage expectations very well, at all. At all. We’ve been so process oriented. That’s who I am. It’s who Frank (Reich) was. We want to be process oriented. With a good process, you’re going to lead to a good result. Every time we keep going and getting these vet quarterbacks, this falls on me. ‘Go get a vet quarterback, well, here’s the expectation, we’re going to the Super Bowl. They got a good roster, they’re going to the Super Bowl.’ Well, there was holes in that. Our job is to fix those holes.”
Ravens
Ravens HC John Harbaugh said he’s ignoring speculation that Lamar Jackson‘s absence has to do with his lingering contract situation.
“You learn, I’ll say after all these years – I wouldn’t say that things don’t ever make you mad that you read or you hear, and people do speculate on different things,” Harbaugh said, via Todd Karpovich of FanNation. “Sometimes, you do go, ‘Man, I can’t believe someone would sit there and think that,’ but you try your best not to let it affect you emotionally. So, at this point in time, it’s just kind of ignoring all of that and just focusing on having the team, all of us preparing – myself included, along with every other single individual – together preparing to be as ready as we can to play a very tough opponent in the Wild Card round. All that other stuff just becomes kind of noise, and you just try to just put it out of your mind.”
Titans
Titans first-round WR Treylon Burks spoke about what he learned and will look to improve on following his rookie season in the NFL.
“It’s been a rookie year that I’ll remember,” Burks said, via Jim Wyatt of TennesseeTitans.com. “I’m grateful for every opportunity that I got. Now (I need to) take this offseason like I know how and come back and get better.”
“I want to make sure to be the best version of myself,” Burks added. “Come back, take advantage of every opportunity. Not taking anything for granted. Go out there and approach every day like it’s your last day, and be thankful for your teammates, coaches, and family. Soak all of it in and just have fun.”
Titans HC Mike Vrabel noted that he was proud of Burks but stressed that the next few months could be important for the young receiver.
“It is just to understand that it is not a six-month deal, it is a year-round deal,” Vrabel advised Burks. “I think he realizes what he can do if he is in shape, ready to go, big and healthy. He worked his tail off. He had some unfortunate injuries. He hurt his toe and had a concussion, but I’m excited to work with him. I’m excited for him and his future. It probably got off to a slow start and that is how you learn sometimes, is by going through it.”
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