Good or Bad, Here's The Truth About Caldwell
by deywalka on Jan 18, 2012 12:53 PM EST
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PrintFor the past two days, the firing of Jim Caldwell has dominated the news as far as all things Colts. If you are a non Colts fan and happen to read some of the comments from Colts fans on any of the major blog/team news sites, you will come away with the impression that Caldwell is the "devil" himself. I have to admit I'm not shocked by the public reaction to the news of him being let go by the organization, but I am disappointed by the hypocrisy of it all. For starters, it is a well known fact that Coach Caldwell was basically a "yes man" to Bill Polian. This has been further confirmed by comments made by players such as Justin Tryon: "Caldwell wanted to start me but it wasn't up to him!" Tryon tweeted, according to ProFootballTalk.com . Another tweet later said: "IM BLESSED!! lay off of Caldwell he's a great coach! Peace." I ask the question then and will ask it again now: "How do you judge a coach who is not allowed to do his job?" I have read responses to this from those who say: "I blame Caldwell for being a yes man...He should have the balls to say no to BP and coach his on way." Are you kidding me? Has it ever occurred to any of you that Caldwell has to eat just like all of you do? I wonder if any of you critics if giving the chance to make a six figure income doing what Caldwell did would have "had the balls" to tell your boss: "No I'm going to coach this team my way." I seriously doubt it. Not with the threat of being fired before you could even finish pronouncing the last syllable from the word "no" by BP.
Where is the hypocrisy you ask? Let's go back to the year the Colts went to the SB against the Saints. When the Colts made it, all the "naysayers" gave most of the credit to Manning by saying: "Manning is the real coach of the team and Caldwell is just along for the ride," yet after losing the SB the same Caldwell critics put all of the blame on Caldwell and none of it on Manning. Classic comments like "Caldwell was out-coached in the SB" permeated through comment sections abroad. Again, are you kidding me? What happened to "Manning is the real coach of the Colts?" Had it ever occurred to any of you that it was Caldwell's 1st year as a head coach? To lead a team to the SB in your 1st year as an HC is not a bad way to start a job that not many ever get a chance to in the NFL. Sean Payton has been an HC longer than Caldwell has yet the Colts were in that game until the very end. In all honesty, it is unfair for anyone to judge Caldwell in a situation by which his hands were tied by his employers. If you think that should have had no effect on his coaching abilities you need to go and talk to the long list of coaches who've coached the Raiders. This is classic Al Davis at it's finest. When it comes to judging Caldwell, I will take the perspective his players had of him over the critics any day. They were in the locker room with him and know him best. His critics don't, and quite honestly, the man deserved a lot better than this from a spoiled fan base out of Indianapolis.
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors.
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I GENERALLY AGREE
with this post and feel Caldwell was the right guy to continue the run. Now that they are rebuilding, it makes sense to start fresh.
Part of Caldwells’s problem, it seems to me, is his demeanor. That calm cool and collected approach is fine when you are winning. Colt’s fans were so angry and frustrated by the season I think they wanted a coach that would go crazy as well. I’m sure the losses were eating him up as well.
Caldwell is a pretty good coach and an exceptional man by all accounts. It’s obvious the players liked him and never quit. It would be nice if the “fans” recognized this.
Thanks for the post.
"Colt’s fans were so angry and frustrated by the season-
I think they wanted a coach that would go crazy as well." Uh we had that already. His name was Jim Mora. Remember him? "Playoffs! Don’t talk about playoffs! Playoffs? Are you kiddin me? Playoffs??
Think about this:
As a rookie Head Coach – his team went 14-2 (and potentially 16-0 had they not rested starters), and earned a Super Bowl appearance…
YET JIM CALDWELL DIDN’T GET ANY CONSIDERATION FOR NFL COACH OF THE YEAR!!!
That should give you some indication of how involved he was in the Colts’ success.
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by kmbryant09 on Jan 18, 2012 1:22 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
THOSE AWARDS
are meaningless. Take a look at the Pro Bowl. COY winners almost always come from teams that were lousy one year and good the next. By your logic Mike McCarthey should be COY this season.
by javen on Jan 18, 2012 1:32 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
Most of those awards...
Are voted on by former NFL players/coaches/media members – people who actually know football (not the fans).
The Pro-Bowl (in any sport) is nothing more than a popularity contest – that’s not the case with COTY.
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HOW MANY
votes for COY do you think McCarthey, Belechick, and Payton will get this year?
My guess...
Is not many, because Jim Harbaugh will deservedly run away with the award.
Payton doesn’t deserve much consideration considering the Saints team got the #3 seed in the NFC, and Payton was even relieved of his play-calling duties for 1/2 season because of his injury.
Belichick (you were close), IMO, always deserves credit – I think he’s one of the greatest coaches the NFL has ever seen. But he is also responsible for trading the Patriots’ picks that could’ve resulted in Clay Mathews and Dez Bryant over the past 3 years. And he’s in charge of that defense that gave up 7,855 yards per game.
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And my point was...
More about how little Jim Caldwell had to do with those 14 wins.
-Peyton Manning was MVP – and rightfully so.
-The team (Manning) had 7 4th quarter comebacks.
-The defense had timely turnovers in the postseason (against the Jets/Ravens).
What about the SB? Sure Manning & Wayne deserve blame for the pick-6. But the onside kick – after Halftime nonetheless! falls on Caldwell’s plate. He also tried to run out the clock at the end of the 1st half, which was a horrible decision. He also called for a 52 yard FG attempt after knowing that our Kicker’s range was ~48 yards all season long.
He’s also single-handedly lost the Colts 2 games, 1 of which was a playoff game, because of his horrendous time management skills.
So let me ask – why do you think he’s a good Head Coach?
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The point that you don't get kbryant09
is you can’t praise Manning for getting to the SB and then turn around and put Caldwell under the bus for losing when you just admitted that your stance is “Caldwell had little to do with the Colts going 14-2.” If you are going to give all of the credit to Manning for the success of the team, then you damn well better blame him for the team’s failures as well. That is a two way street you’re barking up..
Really?
I give little credit to Caldwell because he did very little to actually help the team win 14 games (and 2 playoff games).
A coach can have a positive or negative impact – or not much at all! I’d argue that all season long, Caldwell had very little impact on the Colts. In the SB, giving up an onside kick, killing the final 2:00 of the 1st half, and attempting a FG that every, single Colts fan knew was out of range – I’d consider that a negative impact. Not saying it was the only difference between winning and losing, but those 3 decisions directly lead to 17 points by the New Orleans Saints.
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That doesn't make sense:
Of course we can give credit to someone for doing a good job and not to someone else who didn’t do a good job.
We didn’t see Caldwell really do all that much, but when he did have an obvious influence on the game, it was always for the negative (i.e. bad timeouts, lack of preperation, awful special teams). We wouldn’t blame Manning for those things because he doesn’t do them, but we can give Manning credit for playing lights-out in the fourth quarters of that year.
Who threw the INT that sealed
the game for the Saints in the SB? Manning did. Who called untimely pass plays when he should have called a running play that cost us games in the playoffs? Manning did. You guys give too much credit to Manning when things go right but don’t hold him accountable when things go wrong.
Manning called running plays
Time and time again against the Jets in 2010…how’d that game turn out?
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He also passed the ball
against the Pats in the playoffs at foxburrough as well as Pittsburgh, Miami, and yes your Jets also. How’d those games turn out???
hhmmm
egde runs for 130 on 25 carries against the Steelers in 2005……..come playoff time, he only got 15 carries for the game…..and only two in the 2nd half…..did you notice the two different outcomes to those games?
regular season game was a BLOW-OUT with Edge running the ball…..we lost the playoffs with Peyton passing………don’t forget that Peyton threw 7 picks in the playoffs the year that we won the Super Bowl……..however, we had more rushing yards than all of our opponents on our way to the Lombardi Trophy…….JUST THE FACTS BABY!!! JUST THE FACTS….
by 33rd Street on Jan 19, 2012 11:29 PM EST up reply actions
No Caldwell didn't drop the
onside kick. Hank Baskett did that all by himself. The ball landed right in his mitts. All he had to do was catch it and it’s a whole different ball game. Yeah, you’re wrong again.
And the rest of the kickoff team was right there to jump on it?
I understand there’s a balance between coaching concepts handed down from coaches, and execution by players.
But the Colts were not prepared for that onside kick. Don’t want to blame Caldwell? Fine, then blame the ST Coach – oh wait, Caldwell is directly responsible for his hiring.
You can’t honestly think that Jim Caldwell is a good football coach…
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Agreed...
as the Giants showed vs. the Packers this weekend when they attempted an onside kick…the front guys of a kick return team DO NOT move until they physically see the ball sail over their heads…clearly, there was some miscommunication from the coaches to the players about this in the SB.
Point is, Caldwell sucks…he inherited the job just like Chris Polian (who also sucks). These f*ckers rode the Manning train for years…they refused to adapt or prepare themselves for any sort of change or contingency plan. Glad they got canned…football is about winning, not about being nice.
Caldwell refused to change his ways…the defense remained vanilla…we used stupid ass conservative playcalling and the only thing he would say after our first 13 losses was, “correctable things”…listen, if shit needs to be corrected, well, your job is to do it and show that you did your job by performing the following week.
I can’t even believe you could stand up for a coach like Caldwell. Not saying Caldwell as a person…but Caldwell as coach. He f*cked us time and time again…we won because of Manning…not cuz of Caldwell.
"No one's gonna take me alive
The time has come to make things right
You and I must fight for our rights
You and I must fight to survive"
What part of "he was a yes man for
BP" do you not understand? You totally missed that point again. I stated in the post above that none of you Caldwell critics can judge a man who didn’t have the freedom to coach his own way and that includes starting his best players (See Justin Tryon). You’re spoiled like the rest of Indy and want to make Caldwell the scapegoat for problems that were with the team before he even to the job. Enough with the BS already.
hello.....(in my Herm Edwards voice)
the onside kick went to the 2nd level……..Basket was in position…..he stumbled…bumbled and BLEW IT………the coaching staff had a wide receiver in the right place at the right time and the PLAYER didn’t make the play….not the coaches or the GM or the owner…..the ball came directly to him and THE PLAYER just didn’t make the play……were you watching the same game that I agonize over everytime I watch it? Actually, if you watched the replay on the NFL Network, the officiials said Blue ball three times during the longest scrum in NFL history…….
by 33rd Street on Jan 19, 2012 11:25 PM EST up reply actions
They are paid to be prepared for whatever and
that’s no excuse to drop a ball that lands right in your hands. BTW you only need one player to recover the kick. You don’t need all the other players to do that. Hank Baskett and Hank Baskett ALONE is the reason why the onside kick was not recovered.
HONESTLY
the one element that people don’t get is that there is a lot of luck in what determines the outcome of a game and the legacies involved. I’ve argued for a long time that if the Colts and Pats switched kickers in 2000 the Colts might have 3 rings and the Pats might not have any. Take most games that are close in the playoffs and you could easily identify 2 or 3 plays that would have changed the outcome of the game. If Harper zigs instead of zags the Colts would have won the Super Bowl that year. Things happen. It doesn’t always mean the Coach sucks or the players stink.
So...
How much luck is involved when a team goes 2-14?
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UNLUCKY
enough to lose the one player you can’t afford to lose.
But wait...
I thought the team could still rely on great coaching to at least offset the loss of one player?
Or are you saying that one player made the Colts? (ie Caldwell had nothing to do with the SB appearance)
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Don't you think...
A good Head Coach could prevent this from happening?
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Ok
So the argument that Caldwell had anything to do with the Colts’ 2009 14-2 record, and SB appearance goes right out the window….
So what has he done to prove that he’s an NFL Head Coach?
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WELL
he coached a team with really good players to the Super Bowl. He coached an injury ravaged team that had to win its last 4 games to qualify for the playoffs and did so. Had a team that had the leagues most indispensable go down right before the season only to be replaced by the leagues worst QB and kept the team playing hard all season.
Like we just established...
Manning was the reason for 14-2 and a SB birth…not Caldwell.
So really all you have going is that he kept his team playing hard all season.
I’m starting to come around – I think Caldwell is the PERFECT coach for your local 4th/5th grade Pop Warner team.
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I GET IT NOW
Colts good because of Manning. Colts bad because of coach.
A good coach should've been able to get more than 2 wins with this team
even if it was a manning-less team.
It’s as simple as that. What’s the debate?
I am a veteran of the Internet - I will suffer fools gladly. And then mock them. And then post cat pictures.
by BoilerUp1982 on Jan 19, 2012 11:37 AM EST up reply actions
You keep forgetting
Who our backup QB was. Jeff Fisher, Bill Cowher, Parcells, Jimmy Johnson, and not even Belichek could get more wins than two with the backup QBs we had. Keep pulling at straws son. You’ll get your house just yet.
wut
I am a veteran of the Internet - I will suffer fools gladly. And then mock them. And then post cat pictures.
by BoilerUp1982 on Jan 19, 2012 2:05 PM EST up reply actions
WITH PAINTER
as the QB how many games do you think he should have won?
The same number of games he should’ve won with Freeney, Mathis, Wayne, Saturday, Bethea, Addai, Clark.
I’m not saying Painter was good – he’s f*cking horrible. But horrible QBs still win football games. Tim Tebow is a bad QB, but he still won 9 games this year.
Caldwell’s teams should’ve at least won half as many as Tebow.
I am a veteran of the Internet - I will suffer fools gladly. And then mock them. And then post cat pictures.
by BoilerUp1982 on Jan 19, 2012 3:17 PM EST up reply actions
SO IF CALDWELL
was a good coach he should have won 4 games instead of 2?
No..
IF HE WASN’T A SHITTY COACH!
"No one's gonna take me alive
The time has come to make things right
You and I must fight for our rights
You and I must fight to survive"
Javen don't waste
your time with these clowns. It will only kill your brain cells. The only thing they are good at is not making sense.
OMFG you are
absolutely retarded. Please go back to pop up coloring books and crayons. You’re not even worth arguing with.
See...
here you go with the name calling and punk ass insults…if I recall, you had made multiple screen names for yourself a year ago to back up your own arguments…We were having a discussion, and again, you take it to insults…grow-up.
"No one's gonna take me alive
The time has come to make things right
You and I must fight for our rights
You and I must fight to survive"
I didn't name call
anyone. I called him out according to his comments’ See I know how to read between the lines in dealing with people like you and your friend up there.You’re not here for any type of “football discussion” son. you’re here to get a rise out of people. You’re the Skip Bayless of SB. This clip illustrates you and your friends best as well as your true agenda Jr: http://search.espn.go.com/suggs-vs-skip-bayless/
Are you serious?
you’re here to get a rise out of people
DUDE, you’re the one supporting JIM CALDWELL as a coach…and we’re here to get a rise out of people? Hypocrisy is an ugly color on you…
"No one's gonna take me alive
The time has come to make things right
You and I must fight for our rights
You and I must fight to survive"
Will you stop being so narrow-minded??
Coaches can have very little or very large impacts on individual games.
Throughout the course of the 14-2 regular season (and our first 2 playoff games), Caldwell was nearly invisible. I never once saw him make a great coaching decision – a halftime adjustment, get in someone’s face on the sideline, etc. etc. Sure, he didn’t screw up too many things, but his direct impact on those games was very minimal.
Fast forward to the SB: He fails to prepare his team for an onside kick coming out of halftime. He calls for a cautious approach to run out the final 2:00 of the 1st half, even though our team lead the league in 2-minute scoring that season. He called for a 52 yard FG after knowing better all season long that our range was about 48 yards. Those plays lead to 17 points for the New Orleans Saints. That’s a very large, negative impact on a game.
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Great
So Caldwell is a great motivator and a nice guy. GREAT make “RADIO” the team manager! When it came to coaching he knew very little to nothing. Poor clock managment,Poor decision making,Poor halftime adjustments,Poor Football mind.Poor,Poor,Poor!!! With Manning going down with injury, the Colts still had enough capable ATHELETES to be competative. Especially considering we had a soft schedule. Any coach worth a rat’s ass could have gotten that team to 500, if they were playing so hard like you state!!! For a Guy who say’s Colts NEED to take draft LUCK and release Manning, You do alot of saying we couldn’t win without him!!!
EXCEPT HE
didn’t have a capable quarterback. Maybe that had something to do with the record.
Coming into this season...
The 49ers didn’t have a capable QB. How’s that working out for Jim Harbaugh??
The Patriots didn’t think they had a capable QB in 2008 when Brady went down. How’d that work out for Bill Belichick?
The Steelers didn’t have a capable QB in the SB against Seattle a few years ago. How’d that work out for Mike Tomlin?
We get it. Peyton Manning is irreplaceable. Not even the greatest coach of all-time could have won a SB with this team, this season. But don’t you think a solid coach would at least win a handful of games? Pull off a few upsets? Make a few adjustments?? Take a few chances? This team didn’t hold a lead for nearly 2 months straight! You keep claiming that they played hard all season, good for them. But being an NFL coach is so much more than getting your players to “play hard”.
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Dude you're comparing
apples to oranges. CURTIS PAINTER IS NOT TOM BRADY, OR ANY OF THE OTHER QBs YOU MENTIONED. Your logic is idiotic. The truth of this discussion is that you are a Caldwell hater and your comments are driven by your biased opinions of a situation you clearly know nothing about.
Apples and oranges are both round fruits
your argument is invalid
I am a veteran of the Internet - I will suffer fools gladly. And then mock them. And then post cat pictures.
by BoilerUp1982 on Jan 19, 2012 2:06 PM EST up reply actions
ONCE AGAIN ON THE PATRIOTS
Cassel, is and was a very capable quarterback. Curtis Painter shouldn’t be in the league. Peyton Manning controlled everything on offense. Brady, as good as he is, did not. The Patriots had the easiest schedule in the league that year.
Si if Belichick couldn’t get a Super Bowl team with an above average quarterback to the playoffs with an easy schedule what does it say about his coaching ability? Are you going to hold him to the same standard as Caldwell?
JUST A FEW POINTS
Alex Smith is a decent quarterback with a good running game and an excellent defense. Big Ben is an excellent quarterback who had a bad game. Fortunately for him the Steelers played great defense and the refs blew a bunch of calls.
Colts upset the Texans and almost beat the Steelers and Bengals.
Oh...
You mean we upset a team with a 3rd string, rookie QB – playing on the road the week after clinching their playoff birth to avoid a winless season?
And we were competitive in 2 other games???
Hell, why don’t we give Jim Caldwell a raise!!!
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here's one for you...
what if they would have switched QB’S? How do you think that our beloved Colts would have fared……interesting…..I know that Brady wouldn’t have thrown two passes to the end zone against the Steelers when you had two time outs. We left Vandy with a long field goal attempt instead of taking two checkdowns and having a chipshot for your kicker……(Oh…I forgot….let some of these folks on this blog put it, THAT WAS DUNGY’S FAULT!!! It had to be the coach…..Never Peyton) but you are right…..a play here and a play there during the course of a game changes everything…If we get the 3rd and 7 with a minute to go against the Jets, we aren’t having part of this conversation…………….I stated before, the Colts were in position to recover the onsides kick against the Saints….(who would’ve thought that they would do it….NOBODY!) but they just didn’t execute…..
by 33rd Street on Jan 19, 2012 11:19 PM EST up reply actions
HE IS A LOT
better than most give him credit for.
HOW SO
Give me proof. What do you think makes a great NFL Coach?
I believe it’s a combination of 4 things:
-Time Management
-Adjustments
-Teaching Concepts (practices, knowledge, passing on information, etc.)
-Motivation
Caldwell has flat out failed in the Time Management and Adjustments categories. Neither one of us is informed enough to judge him on how well he prepares his players during practice (teaching concepts). And I find it hard to believe that he can actually motivate players to over-achieve – considering he never shows a lick of emotion, and I can’t remember too many Colts’ players over-achieving because of Caldwell.
Oh, also – he was like 28-63 as a Head Coach in College. And was 26-22 in the NFL. Not bad you say….he was 2-16 in games that Peyton didn’t finish, and 2-28 (including preseason) in games that Manning didn’t play.
Again – how has he proven himself as an NFL-caliber Head Coach?
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And I guess only "you"
know what an “NFL caliber coach” would look like right? Like Belichek right? Sorry but I don’t give credit to cheaters who used an illegal tactic to gain an edge on their opponents.
Okay...
He was the architect behind New England’s defense that completely dominated Peyton Manning for about 6 years. The same defense that slowed down the “Greatest Show on Turf” to win his franchise a SB ring.
He’s now the architect of a New England team that is arguably the best in the league. As far as I know, Belichick is in charge of personnel, and New England has more talent on both sides of the ball that just about any team in the league. And somehow they have like a billion draft picks to go along with that talent.
I know this isn’t a good indication, but have you watched “A Football Life” on NFL Network? They followed around BB for 365 days of the year, taped him during practice, in meetings, contract negotiations, personal life, etc. etc. I watched 5 minutes and instantly grew another level of appreciation for how much that man knows about football. During a practice, he actually took the time out to address the defensive line about a specific tactic: If their defense had an opposing offense pinned down on their own goal-line, that their OLine tried to twitch to draw an offsides penalty – since a False Start was only worth a few feet, but an offsides was worth 5 yards. He pointed out on a separate occasion that the LT of a team was tipping plays – if his left heel was on the ground, it was a running play, if it was raised (ever so slightly) it was a pass play. You think Caldwell knows these things? I’ve watched Jim Caldwell for 3+ years, and I still question how much he knows about football. What does that tell you?
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This link is a perfect example of
your semantics kmbryant09: Guess who you are in this interview? Suggs sums it up best about Belichek and “Brady.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4mHXrnsCc4
“I’ve watched Jim Caldwell for 3+ years, and I still question how much he knows about football. What does that tell you?” It tells me that you’re an arrogant crab apple who thinks he knows more about football than the people who are actually in the game. FYI Jr there’s actually a reason why Caldwell is an NFL coach and you’re nothing more than a wannabe flunky who’s comments on a Colts blog site are about as close as you’ll ever get to an NFL sideline let alone a capacity to coach on any level whatsoever.
LOL
Glad we’ve resorted to immature digs over the internetz.
I’ve never once stated (or believed) that I know as much, if not more, than any NFL Head Coach.
My point is, I want a Coach who goes above and beyond “being liked by his players”. I want a HC who knows how to handle time management. I want a HC who is a step ahead of the opposition when it comes to gameplans and schemes. I want a HC who at least LOOKS like he knows what the fuck he is doing on the sidelines.
You keep supporting a coach that just went 2-14, was constantly ridiculed for his horrible Timeouts, made no adjustments from week-to-week, half-to-half, and literally wasn’t involved in much that went on during the actual games – or ya know, we’d at least see him talking to somebody…ANYBODY! You keep backing that horse, Junior.
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I will and you keep judging
coaches who haven’t had the freedom to coach their way because of stubborn, old GMs (like Polian).
Umm...
So u are saying that if Polian wasn’t around this past season, and Manning was still hurt, Caldwell would have led this team to even 6 wins?
C’MON MAN
"No one's gonna take me alive
The time has come to make things right
You and I must fight for our rights
You and I must fight to survive"
What else do you have to go
by Z.Pain? How do you know we would not have done a better job? I can tell you this, our defense would have looked a LOT better with Justin Tryon starting instead of Jacob Lacey. And judging by Grigson’s track record with evaluating talent, Caldwell would have a much better hand to work with than the misfits he’s been given at the hands of the Polians. But I already know how this is going to playout. You and the rest of your “critics” will all be swinging from the nuttsack of the soon to be head coach whoever he will be and credit him for bringing the Colts from the depths of the 2-14 abyss and think he did it all by himself by not taking into account the much better hand he will be dealt from the new GM. I say that if you give Caldwell a better cast to work with plus the freedom to coach his way, the Colts are SB team again with the same pieces that the new HC will get which makes firing him a mute point.
Really?
First off – I don’t want a Head Coach that rolls over just because somebody tells him to. You think Bill Belichick would put up with that? Sean Payton? Jim/John Harbaugh? Mike McCarthy??
Beyond that – you’re stating that Jim Caldwell is an NFL Coach simply because his “suckiness” has come from obeying his boss?
I understand the concept that Caldwell wasn’t 100% in charge – and that alone can be an annoyance for someone trying to do their job. but Bill Polian had nothing to do with the Timeouts that Jim Caldwell called against the Jaguars and Jets. Polian had nothing to do with the lack of in-game adjustments, or the lack of gameplan adjustments once Peyton Manning went down. Bill Polian had nothing to do with Painter’s and Orlovksy’s LACK of development, considering Caldwell was a former QB’s coach. Polian had nothing to do with Caldwell’s horrendous record as a COLLEGE Coach. Polian had nothing (at least very little) to do with the hiring of the Colts’ ST Coach and DC – both of whom were Caldwell’s guys – and both of whom sucked nearly as much as Caldwell has…they’ve recently been fired.
Enough of excusing Caldwell’s mistakes. What has he done to prove that he’s an NFL Head Coach. Has he proven as much as Brian Billick? Jon Gruden? S. Spagnuolo? P. Carmichael? J. Fisher?
You get the point (well – you should by now, Junior).
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WAKE UP
are you employed?
Don’t you get it? You NEVER go wrong if you do what your boss tells you to do….NEVER……(as long as he remains your boss) So, what does that say, Caldwell would still be the coach if Bill was still in charge period……….
by 33rd Street on Jan 19, 2012 11:40 PM EST up reply actions
And...
This team would be worse off…
How can you seriously be backing Jim Caldwell as an NFL Head Coach?
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huh?
So your implication is that Polian was in his ear during games telling him when to call terrible time outs, to give up on running after the first failed attempt, to not adjust whatsoever between halves, telling him to hand-pick terrible assistant coaches deliberately, telling him to punt when punting makes no sense, and telling him when to make the simplest coaching mistakes.
by LeftNutForAStarCenter on Jan 18, 2012 5:51 PM EST up reply actions
Polian decided which
players he could start and which ones he couldn’t. That’s like telling someone in a card game “you’re not allowed to use a joker if you have one in your hand.” Like I said before, there’s a reason why people like you are on a Colts blog site running your mouth and not on a sideline coaching in the NFL.
BTW Caldwell never lost
the locker room. His players support him and alone says enough about his leadership abilities.
OK I"LL TAKE STAB AT IT
His time management was iffy but frankly, a lot of coaches in the league are bad at it. Check out Andy Reid sometime. Can’t speak to any adjustments but if they came from behind in so many games that probably means adjustments were made at some point in the second half. I’m guessing you will argue that Manning made those adjustments. Good stuff because of Manning, bad stuff because of Caldwell. Teams always seemed very well prepared to me and never took a lot of penalties. Teams always played hard and he kept them together enough in 2010 to make the playoffs after a ton of injuries. I suppose that was Manning again. The team never quit this year even though they had a pretty good excuse to quit. Shouldn’t he get some credit for that?
What killed him and what he deserves blame for was his defensive coordinator. Never loved Coyer and I think it caused the defense, which was never great to begin with to get worse.
'his time management was iffy'
You’re making a joke, right?
by Ayrshire on Jan 18, 2012 2:50 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs
Not making sense
His time management was piss-poor indefensible. Period.
On adjustments, what adjustments? Did you see the second half of that Saints game?
The reason people see Manning as having more of an impact than Caldwell is because you can see it in Manning’s eyes every time Caldwell made some cowardly or boneheaded play and Manning walked off the field or stood on the sidelines in disbelief. That’s why the mistakes fell on Caldwell.
Manning’s adjustments when play-calling are Manning and not Caldwell.
Caldwell making foolish calls off the field by making terrible time outs or taking Manning off the field on must-go-for situations are on Caldwell.
The distinction between things being attributed to Caldwell and other things being attributed to Manning are based on basic observation. Yes, players love him and never quit on him, and this speaks volumes to the man’s character and motivational skills. However, his in-game coaching is more or less indefensible.
Caldwell is a great personnel guy. He is a great motivator. He is a great person. He is a great character.
Caldwell is also a terrible clock-manager. He is a terrible game-time decision maker. He is a terrible at coaching staff evaluation. He is terrible at talent evaluation (Lacey, Tryon, Painter playing time of players, etc.).
He does get credit for his team playing hard for him. He also gets credit for not putting them in a position to succeed, even though many games this season were winnable, if his game-planning had not been so abjectly laughable. Great man, great motivator, absolutely horrible coach.
by LeftNutForAStarCenter on Jan 18, 2012 5:48 PM EST up reply actions
no credit....
so Coach Caldwell didn’t make any adjustments at all to get us to 14-2? OH, that’s right…..it was ALL PEYTON………Some of you all need to stop worshiping the GOD of Peyton!!! There is absolutely no question that Peyton is arguably one of the greatest (if not the) regular season QB of all time…..(by the way, Eli is the better playoff QB because he doesn’t change every play like his brother does, running plays do work in the playoffs…..check the stat’s)..but you give Peyton ALL of the credit when we win and none of the blame when we loose….absolutely none……who was the blame for the Colts losing in Foxboro last year? Caldwell? The D? NO, it was Peyton…he threw 4 picks and one after we fought back, got into FG range and he threw the pick on 1st down….OOPPSS, I forgot, that was Caldwell’s fault…..did you see Caldwell making faces when Peyton blew that game as well as the Cowboys game NO because he is a class act? Wasn’t that 12 picks in four games last year? Help me out here!!! Just be careful for what you ask for…….Gruden is a fraud…….It took Cowher 15 yrs to get it done (Seatlle couldn’t get a call that game either)………now….let’s be honest…..other than the TO versus the Jets and the TO against the Jag’s, what else could you possibly say that Caldwell did so wrong? REALLY……both instances were explainable……..however, the team just didn’t execute the plan……….you don’t have to like the decision but if the team executes, we aren’t having this conversation…….again…..be careful what you ask for………..
by 33rd Street on Jan 19, 2012 11:11 PM EST up reply actions
Caldwell's a good coordinator, not a good coach. Good guys aren't always good coaches
We’ll see how quickly he gets snatched up in the NFL Coaching carousel, but my best guess will be he’ll get hired as an assistant or a coordinator somewhere long before he’ll ever get another HC gig. He may get interviewed for HC positions to satisfy the Rooney Rule, but that’d be more of an insult than anything imo.
I’ve met Caldwell and I like the guy a ton, and it’s obvious the players liked him – but that doesn’t mean he’s cut out for HC duties.
I am a veteran of the Internet - I will suffer fools gladly. And then mock them. And then post cat pictures.
You can't judge what kind of coach he is
when he wasn’t allowed to coach the team his way. His situation with Polian is not different than all the coaches who coached the Raiders during Al Davis’ tenure.
Maybe you're right, and maybe you're wrong - but Polian wasn't overseeing his stint as a college HC when he went 26-63
I am a veteran of the Internet - I will suffer fools gladly. And then mock them. And then post cat pictures.
by BoilerUp1982 on Jan 19, 2012 2:08 PM EST up reply actions
SO GREAT COLLEGE COACHING RECORDS
equates to success in the NFL? I think Spurier, Saban and Petrino would disagree with you.
Wake Forest is historically the worst team in the ACC.
Of course, some successful college coaches succeed in the NFL but just as many do not. Try again.
I assume you were trying to reply to me.
and thank you for the capital letters, they really help me to identify the children who are about.
Let me get this straight, if you’re saying great college coaches don’t necessarily find success in the NFL, how do you think horrible college coaches are going to fare?
I am a veteran of the Internet - I will suffer fools gladly. And then mock them. And then post cat pictures.
by BoilerUp1982 on Jan 19, 2012 3:20 PM EST up reply actions
EASY MAN
its just a discussion. Off the top of my head, Dennis Green was awful at Northwestern but pretty good in the NFL and Bill Walsh was lousy at Stanford, after the Niners of course. Bobby Ross had some success in college but was awful at other places. The point is that some college situations are very difficult to win at. Good coaches could still come out of those schools. Historically, good academic schools like Northwestern, Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, Rice etc that play in major conferences always have trouble competing. Doesn’t mean the coaching is bad.
by javen on Jan 19, 2012 3:30 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
soooooo
HEY fellow Colts fans, don’t forget that if the O gets the first down with a minute to go against the Jets, the Jet’s never see the ball again….I think that Manning threw the ball into the ground on 3rd and 7 so we had to kick the FG…….that’s not on the head coach or maybe it is…..Jerry Hughes feeble attempt to tackle Cromartie was Caldwell’s fault huh? The back-up corner who didn’t stay in his lane was Caldwell’s fault huh?……I’ve said this before….I wouldn’t have called time out BUT the Jets were going to call time out anyways…they did have one left……..Hey let’s face it……we all know that the coach gets the blame regardless. It doesn’t mean that he can’t coach. Caldwell’s team was in position to recover the onside kick…they just did not do it. Baskett blundered. How is that Caldwell’s fault? Obviously, some you folks never coached before……I can’t believe that I haven’t heard Manning’s pick six being blamed on Caldwell…..IT HAD TO BE CALDWELL’S FAULT!!!!..The Colts literally dropped three interception in the Super Bowl……I guess that’s Caldwell’s fault too…..Caldwell may not have been the greatest (but time would would have told) BUT the Colts had some success…..Who would have won games with Curtis Painter? (being forced to play Painter) Oh, under his watch… don’t give that crap about him not having the backbone to stand up to STubborn Bill……Tell me how it works out for you all to defy your boss’s wishes………let us know how that works out. Dungy experienced Polian’s stubborness with Rob Morris…….he proved his point and then was allowed to replace Morris with Brackett. Heck, Morris’s inability to play the Mike cost Jim Mora his job……… Don’t forget that Belichick BOMBED with the Browns…..It took Cowher 15 yrs………Fisher went to one Super Bowl after 15 years……..Reid hasn’t won anything yet…..What about Smith from ATL…..so, he’s a better coach than Caldwell? How many times did he go for it on 4th down instead of kicking the FG……..Norv Turner is worse than Caldwell could ever be, period! OH WELL…..that’s how it goes…….Good Luck to Coach Caldwell, nonetheless, he IS a CLASS ACT
@ kmBRYANT09
SO, who do you want the Colts to hire as their new head coach? You also need to be on amber alert…..we don’t want you committing suicide if Peyton gets CUT!!!!
I'm fine
Which alter ego am I speaking with??
Honestly, I’d love to see a strong, defensive minded coach like Bill Cowher get hired, but I know that won’t happen.
I’m very intrigued by Mike Zimmer (defensive minded) and Pete Carmichael (offensive minded) – yes, they are unproven as Head Coaches – but they will undoubtedly be better than Jim Caldwell (no minded).
Also, they’ve at least earned a shot at a Head Coaching position in the NFL – unlike Caldwell, who just happened to know Tony Dungy.
www.Coltsider.com
check out the new Colts blog!
Agree!
I agree with your post. I would be fine with either candidate as long as they get some EXPERIENCED coordinators!. I to would prefer a defensive minded coach with fire and toughness. Cowher would be great, but I think we all know that isn’t going to happen. BUT we can hope!
So...
Peyton Manning got Jim Caldwell fired, and we should all be ashamed of ourselves? Is that what we’re saying here? Jeebus…
"I guess no one told him justice was a team sport"
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