Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you're in control, they're in control. - Tom Landry
Coach Caldwell is losing control.
Before kicking off the second half, Michele Tafoya reported that, 'Coach Caldwell was not happy' and that he had told her, "the Colts needed to get back to the basics and that they need to fix the details" because they weren't doing the little things well.
I am not a coach, but I am pretty sure it wasn't just the little things. To be honest, if the little things were to blame, then that reflects even worse on Caldwell's abilities as a coach. It's also a cop out that shields his game plans and schemes from criticism and shifts the blame on the players. I am willing to give Coach Caldwell the benefit of the doubt by saying that Coach Caldwell was probably so shell-shocked that he spouted meaningless coaching jargon in the heat of the moment. If not saying that the Colts were down 34-7 at half time because the players couldn't perform basic fundamentals is pretty detestable.
I am also confident in saying that after about 20 Pro Bowls and three times as many collective years in the league, that players such as Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Jeff Saturday, Robert Mathis, Dwight Freeney and Antoine Bethea have mastered the 'little things.'
Something tells me the problems lie with the coaching staff. Tonight's 62-7 loss was very telling.
The game showed a troubling stubbornness to stick with coaching philosophies that didn't work and allowed the Colts to get exposed all night long.
The disillusionment is not so much in the play calling (it's bad) but rather the fact that week in and week out the Caldwell blames poor fundamentals and the 'little things' yet the Colts are 0-7. How does that happen? In seven weeks we can't fix the little things!?!?
"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." Henry Ford
It was one thing for the Colts to use a vanilla game plan against the Saints with no success in the first half (not to mention the first six weeks) with no success.
Yet after coming out down 34-7, the Colts were continually outplayed. It got worse! How can you lose the second half after being down by 27 points through two quarters. It's simply unfathomable.
Coach Caldwell decided to have his team 'focus on the little stuff' instead. It was a classic case of a guy coaching for his job. Starting the season 0-6 you've already failed. So after falling behind 34-7, while continue to employ the same failed strategies.
Why not blitz 11?
Why not drop 11 back into coverage?
Why not bench Lacey for good.
The last one was more tongue-in-cheek but the point is, the Colts defense showed very few, if any wrinkles or adjustments to their approach after the half. The Saints came in with a competitive advantage, shredded what should have been 'our best defensive schemes' early and we still didn't try something new?
What was the coaching staff doing? It was literally handicapping an already underwhelming secondary. At some point if the Colts coaching staff refuses to make changes, management should.
If you fail fine. We all do. But refusing to make adjustments because that is not Colts football or its the little things cannot and should not be tolerated.
Henry Ford would have pointed out the obvious. Through now seven losses, time and again the coaching staff has had an opportunity to begin again and has failed to do so intelligently.