Indianapolis Colts must factor in highs and lows of team management

Chuck Pagano’s Biggest Flaws

There are, unfortunately, a lot to choose from. Honestly it is tough to figure out where to start. Let’s go from least to most important.

First, his overuse of cliches and positive thinking. Fans and players alike have to be tired of “wood chopping” and “iron sharpening iron.” It has led to recurring segments on radio shows pointing out all the cliches in his press conferences. He gave players poker chips last year to signify them being “all-in” on the season. Frankly, these are the motivational techniques you should be using with professionals. This is suited more to a high school team, or maybe a lower tier college program.

Next, his inability to develop talent. This falls to the coaching staff as a whole, but it doesn’t feel as if the Colts understand how to effectively utilize certain players. This has become more pronounced with Rob Chudzinski taking over as offensive coordinator, who was hand picked by Pagano. At the same time, we’ve also seen a lot of Colts failures flame out of the NFL which makes it a combo problem between Pagano and Grigson.

Third, his seemingly utter lack of game planning. Far far too often the Colts have been blowout during Pagano’s tenure. There are so many examples of games where the team got onto the field and just looked completely lost. No plan, no energy, and sloppy execution. The have looked like the least prepared team in the NFL far too often and only seem to exploit opponent’s flaws when they are obvious to even a casual fan.

Fourth, his philosophy on football is antiquated and shows no awareness about where the NFL is right now. In his first press conference with the Colts, Pagano talked about “running the ball, and stopping the run.” It was alarming, but seemed to be more of a euphemism for being a tougher team. Well he meant just that.

Despite having the best QB prospect in a decade, Pagano wanted a ground and pound offense with a defense that wouldn’t give up yards to the run. He’s done neither of those things while in Indy. This goes beyond personnel too as Pagano would rather line up in an I-formation and pound the ball  for a yard than spread an opposing defense out and get bigger chunks of yardage.

He doesn’t grasp the strengths of his team or the trends of the NFL. The Colts are at their best in a spread formation, running an up-tempo offense. They can run very effectively like this too and it helps keep the ball in Luck’s hands. Pagano likes to point to a defense like the Broncos that won a Super Bowl, but overlooks the fact that they did so with a great secondary and an epic pass rush, and not because they could shut down the run (although that helped).

The Colts only implore their offensive strengths when they have to, down multiple scores after a slow start to the game due to a bad opening plan. Pagano would rather play not to lose than play to win. There are plenty of games that should have resulted in a double-digit victory but turned into a slugfest due to his overly conservative game planning.

The biggest issue isn’t just that these problems exist, it is that they are the exact same problems we’ve been watching for the past five seasons. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. Pagano never changes, he just keeps doing the same thing hoping that with slightly better execution they can be a great team but it just doesn’t happen.

Irsay said that the Colts could easily be 10-3 this year if the ball bounced a little differently, but they could just as easily be 3-10. Pagano and Grigson have become the definition of mediocrity and owe Luck for their moderate level of success.

But those two are holding Luck and the franchise back. If Irsay keeps them, the Colts will more than likely suffer through another mediocre season and waste yet another year of this talented quarterbacks career. Irsay needs to make a change now, before Luck decides he wants out of Indianapolis.