Colts Fire Head Coach Frank Reich After 4+ Seasons
IT HAS BEEN AN INTERESTING COUPLE OF MINUTES HERE. FRANK WRIGHT WAS FIRED ABOUT 90 MINUTES AGO, AS HEAD COACH OF THE INDIANAPOLIS COLTS. NOT ENTIRELY SURPRISING COME UP A TEAM WITH ONLY 121 YARDS WITH THE LOSS TO THE PATRIOTS. THE WORST PERFORMANCE BY THE TEAM IN 25 YEARS, THEY ARE 0 FOR 14. BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE. JUST SATURDAY, THE NEW INTERIM HEAD COACH. THE SAME DOPPELGDNGER, AS THE COLTS ARE ON ESPN AS AN ANALYST, SO A FINE JOB. THAT, GETTING SET ON SATURDAY, FORMER HEAD COACH, HIGH THERE, IAN, TOM AND MIKE, WHO WERE AT
THE GAME, 20 AND 16 WITHIN THREE SEASONS. AND AROUND 1100 STUDENTS IN SUBURBAN ATLANTA. MAN. I DON’T KNOW WHERE TO START. TOM, GO FOR IT. >> WELL, LET’S START WITH THE FIRING OF FRANK WRIGHT, SOMETHING THAT SEEMED TO BE AN INCREASING POSSIBILITY HERE, AS HE WAS PLAINLY GRAPPLING WITH HOW TO FIX A TEAM THAT ON PAPER LOOKED LIKE THEY SHOULD BE A CONTENDER AND PLAYED ABSOLUTELY NOTHING LIKE IT. HE BENCHED MATT RYAN A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO AND TURNED THINGS OVER TO SAM EHLINGER WHO HAD NOT THROWN AN NFL PASS. HE FIRED THE OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR,
MARCUS BRADY. THAT ALSO DID NOT REVIVE THINGS, THEY PUT ON A TERRIBLE PERFORMANCE YESTERDAY AGAINST THE PATRIOTS. JUST LAST AUGUST, AUGUST 21, FRANK WRIGHT WAS ON THE WAS SIGNED TO
HONOR, A PART OF THE SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM. HE MADE SIX PRO BOWLS BUT ONLY HAS LIMITED COACHING EXPERIENCE AT THE HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL. BY DOING THAT, THE COLTS MY PATH AND JOHN FOX, BUBBA VENTRONE, A RISING HEAD COACH CANDIDATE, THEY WILL PROBABLY GET A JOB IN THE COMING YEARS. AND YOU GO TO A GUY WHO’S RESUME LOOKS A LOT LIKE THE ONE THAT JOSH McCULLEN HAD, WHEN THE TEXANS WERE CRITICIZED FOR INTERVIEWING HIM AND THEN JANUARY. THEY TOOK THE NEXT STEP I HIRING SOMEONE WHO HAS NEVER COACHED IN COLLEGE OR IN THE NFL. HE’S
FAIRLY APPARENT, THAT THEY HAVE TAKEN THE REINS OF THIS OPERATION AT THIS POINT. AND HE’S HOPING THAT SOME OUTSIDE OF THE BOX THINKING MIGHT YIELD SOME OUT OF THE BOX ANSWERS. >> IMAGINE BEING A VERY QUALIFIED MINORITY CANDIDATE AND SEEING JEFF ON SATURDAY, HIRED AS INTERIM COACH WITH LITERALLY NO EXPERIENCE, EXCEPT BEING A HIGH SCHOOL COACH IN GEORGIA. I MEAN, IT IS MIND-BOGGLING AND THERE IS FRUSTRATION AROUND THE LEAGUE. SO REALLY QUALIFIED ASSISTANTS AND COORDINATORS, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO ARE MINORITIES CERTAINLY, ALL OF THAT IS UNDERSTANDABLE. AND NO DOUBT WE WILL BE HEARING MORE ABOUT THAT
AS WE SHOULD OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS REGARDLESS OF WHAT HAPPENS. WITH THE COLTS HIRING THEM SATURDAY. BUT LET’S GET BACK TO WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT. THE FIRING OF FRANK REICH, HE ACCELERATED THIS. HE WAS IN A SITUATION WHERE HE WAS CONSIDERED SAFE BY OWNER JIM MERCY JUST SEVERAL WEEKS AGO. AND THE BENCHING OF MATT RYAN, AND HE FIRED MARCUS BRADY THEIR OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR. AND YOU DO THAT QUICKLY ENOUGH, AND YOU DO IT IN SUCCESSIVE WEEKS, AND THE OFFENSE AND EVERYTHING ELSE LOOKS BAD, THERE IS LITERALLY NO ONE LEFT TO BLAME DESPITE A
CONTRACT EXTENSION. JIM MERCY DECIDED THAT ENOUGH WAS ENOUGH. AND FRANK REICH WAS FIRED. >> LET’S GET TO GIARDIA HERE, MIKE YOU WERE AT THIS GAME YESTERDAY, AND IT WAS TRULY HARD TO PUT INTO WORDS HOW ONE- SIDED IT WAS, AND HOW POORLY THEY PLAYED OFFENSIVELY. THERE WERE EIGHT GAMES IN THE EARLY WINDOW, THE COLTS GAME AND THE PANTHERS GAME, THE OTHER SIX GAMES KIND OF CAME DOWN TO THE WIRE AND I THINK WE ALL JUST DIDN’T PAY ATTENTION TO HOW THEY COULDN’T GET ACROSS MIDFIELD NOR GET A FIRST DOWN. >> THEY AVERAGED TWO YARDS PER
PLAY YESTERDAY. AS YOU MENTIONED, THEIR LOWEST OFFENSIVE TOTAL SINCE 1997. THAT WAS A YEAR BEFORE THEY DRAFTED PEYTON MANNING IN THE FIRST ROUND AND CHANGED THE FRANCHISES CORES OVER THE NEXT DECADE OR SO. BUT IF YOU LOOK AT FRANK REICH, IN DISMISSING, WELL AND FIRST MAKING THE MOVE OFF OF MATT RYAN, MAY BE MOTIVATED BY MONEY AS MUCH AS ANYTHING BECAUSE HE IS DUE ABOUT $30 MILLION IN MARCH, IF IN FACT HE CAN’T PASS HIS PHYSICAL. INSTEAD YOU OWE HIM 12 1/2 IF HE DOES PASS HIS PHYSICAL AND YOU CAN WALK AWAY FROM HIM IF
YOU DO SO CHOOSE. BUT THEN FIRING MARCUS BRADY LAST WEEK, HE PUT THIS ON HIMSELF, I WAS BROUGHT HERE TO COACH THE OFFENSE AND ATTORNEY OFFENSE INTO SOMETHING. AND QUITE FRANKLY THEY HAVE BEEN PRETTY GOOD FOR THE LAST FOUR YEARS BUT THIS YEAR NO POINTS ON FIVE IN THE FIRST DRIVE OF THE GAME, WHICH IS SOMETHING THAT HAS NEVER HAPPENED, PRETTY HARD TO DO QUITE FRANKLY WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT. 0 FOR 13 AND THIRD DOWNS, SEEMINGLY NO ANSWERS, TURNING TO SAM EHLINGER, AND INEXPERIENCED GUY, DID NOT LIGHTED UP, SOME POSITIVE BUZZ ABOUT HIM DURING
THE COURSE OF THE OFF-SEASON AND DURING THE PRESEASON. BUT A TALL TASK TO ASK THAT PLAYER TO FIX THE OFFENSE WHEN IN PARTICULAR THE OFFENSIVE LINE IS BROKEN IN FRONT OF HIM. FRANK REICH TOUTED THEIR OFFENSIVE LINE COACH SAYING, I BELIEVE IN HIM. TAKING NINE SACKS YESTERDAY, THEY ARE ON THEIR SIXTH DIFFERENT OFFENSIVE LINE CONSTANT COMBINATION, AND THEY HAVE UNDERPERFORMED DRAMATICALLY. SO, FRANK REICH WAS AN EXCELLENT TO FALL HERE. I START TO WONDER ABOUT CHRIS BALLARD AND HIS FUTURE GOING FORWARD. >> IS UNKNOWN, THERE WILL BE A PRESS CONFERENCE AND HE WILL BE ASKED THESE
QUESTIONS. LET ME ASK YOU THIS THOUGH, TOM. NUMBER ONE, DID FRANK REICH BENCH MATT RYAN, OR DID JIM PER SE BENCH MATT RYAN? AND CAN MATT RYAN COME BACK? >> CERTAINLY EVERYTHING IS ON THE TABLE AT THIS POINT, IN TERMS OF POTENTIAL CHANGES, TO TRY TO FIX A STRUGGLING TEAM. BUT WHAT WE DO KNOW IS THAT FRANK REICH, MET THE NIGHT BEFORE, MATT RYAN WAS BENCHED AND SAM EHLINGER WAS PLACED IN THE LINEUP, NOW OF COURSE, MATT RYAN WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO PLAY IMMEDIATELY ANYWAY BECAUSE OF THAT SHOULDER INJURY THAT HE HAS, HE
WAS ROLLED OUT EACH OF THE PAST TWO WEEKS, THEY HAVE NOT GOT A RECENT UPDATE AND HOW CLOSE HE WOULD EVEN BE TO PLAY BUT REMEMBER THAT HE ALSO SAID THAT IT WAS GOING TO BE SAM EHLINGER, OR THE REST OF THE 2022 SEASON, WHICH IN HINDSIGHT SEEMED LIKE AN ODD THING TO DO, WITH THE PLAYER WHO HAD AT THAT POINT NEVER THROWN AN NFL PASS. THEN AGAIN, THE SAME FRANCHISE THAT JUST NAMED SOMEONE WHO HAS NEVER COACHED A COLLEGE OR PROFESSIONAL GAME, THE INTERIM HEAD COACH FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON. AND IT IS
TO SAY THE LEAST A BIZARRE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS FOR A FRANCHISE THAT HAD A LOT OF BIZARRE THINGS HAPPENING OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS OR SO, GOING BACK TO THE RETIREMENT. AND THE CYCLE OF CHANGES TO TRY TO REPLACE HIM. AND OF COURSE TO MATT RYAN AS WELL. THEY HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO GET OUT OF THAT CYCLE AND NOT BEEN ABLE TO BE A GOOD OFFENSIVE TEAM, OTHER CHALLENGES THIS SEASON, JONATHAN TAYLOR AND SHAQ LEONARD HAS MISSED A BUNCH OF TIME. SUCH THAT HAVEN’T BEEN OUT THERE. JEFF, SATURDAY, THE FORMER OFFENSIVE LINEMAN, THEY HAVE
THE ANSWERS FOR THAT. WE ARE ABOUT TO FIND OUT. THERE IS GOING TO BE A LOT OF SNARKY HER, AND I THINK EVERYBODY LIKES SATURDAY AS A PERSON THAT HAS BEEN MOVED AS WE ALL AGREE, THE COLTS ARE STILL ONLY A GAME AND A HALF OUT OF FIRST IN THE AFC SOUTH. AND THE TITANS LOSS, WE WILL GET TO THAT IN A SECOND. THIS WEIRD COSMIC CONVERGENCE. THE COLTS THIS WEEK PLAY IN VEGAS AGAINST JOSH McDANIELS, THE COACH WHO SPURNED JIM PER SE AND CHRIS BALLARD AND THEN FRANK REICH GOT THE JOB. AND IN THE
COACH ABOUT WHOM HIS OWNER SAID LAST WEEK AS FRANK REICH, HEARD THE SAME THIN
