Category: Latest Colts News

As Shane Steichen heads into this third NFL season as the Indianapolis Colts’ head coach, his messaging to the media has to improve.

“Shane and I have had discussions about that, in terms of pure messaging,” Colts general manager Chris Ballard said via the Indy Star. “You all are going to find out anyways.”

The job of an NFL head coach is all-encompassing and goes well beyond just the Xs and Os component. How that individual addresses the media and the messaging around the team is crucial as well.

And as we saw during the 2024 season, Steichen very much has room to grow in this regard.

Two of the more noteworthy instances centered around quarterback Anthony Richardson.

The first occurrence came when Steichen made the decision to bench Richardson following the team’s Week 8 loss to Houston. This decision, of course, came on the heels of Richardson tapping out for a play against the Texans.

However, to the public, Steichen said that had nothing to do with the decision and that the real reason behind the move was that Joe Flacco gave the team the best chance to win.

But standing in front of the podium for two weeks and repeating that statement tends to fall flat when the offense is struggling mightily with Flacco under center.

It wasn’t until after Richardson was reinstated as the starter that we learned that the team wanted him to focus on the day-to-day preparation that comes with being a starting quarterback–and even the specifics behind that from Steichen wasn’t all that clear.

Then just a few weeks ago, Steichen said that Richardson was dealing with soreness in his back and that was what was keeping him out of practice heading into Week 17.

We would later learn, however, that it was back spasms that Richardson was navigating, which at one point had him crawling around his house because he couldn’t walk.

“He wants to protect the players,” added Ballard, “which I respect — and he should — but there’s certain times where our messaging needs to be better.”

Another instance came when Steichen was questioned about players being late to meetings and he started his reply with “not everyone’s gonna be on time every time.”

While, sure that’s true and Ballard isn’t worried about Steichen holding the team accountable, from a messaging standpoint, it again falls flat.

The media and fans certainly don’t need to know everything that is taking placed behind closed doors, and as Ballard said, Steichen is trying to keep as much as he can internal. But in doing so, he left his quarterback out to dry and didn’t dispel any notions about the work ethic of his team.

Messaging matters and it’s an area that Steichen will have to improve upon.

This season, the Indianapolis Colts’ culture within the organization was brought to the spotlight, and GM Chris Ballard was asked about it on Friday.

Pat McAfee sharing his thoughts on this year’s Colts drew quite a bit of attention, but an “embarrassing” Week 17 performance against the then two-win Giants, along with players sharing their frustrations with the media being a part of that conversation around the Colts’ culture as well.

“I’ve heard everything that’s been said, especially by ex-players,” said Ballard. “You cannot fool players. You can’t do it. I don’t agree with everything Pat (McAfee) said, I don’t, but there’s some truth to it. You can’t fool players. You can’t do it.”

In regards to some of the speculation around players being late to meetings or missing treatments, Ballard does not have an issue with how head coach Shane Steichen handles any of that. The accountability component is there.

“I know there’s been a lot that’s been said about accountability,” said Ballard. “Let me tell you this, Shane–and I do believe this–does a good job of holding guys accountable.”

However, what does have Ballard frustrated is the voicing of any frustrations to the media. Particularly one player, who remained name-less, for sharing his observations in an article with The Athletic, but did so anonymously and said, “there’s no vision,” here.

“Do I like all the things said in the media and not held internally? No, I don’t,” Ballard said. “And the team heard my thoughts on that. I brought those players into the building–that directly falls on me, without question.

“And the one thing I’ll is, at least all but one put their name on it. The one that didn’t put their name on it, that’s even more damning on me, because that chicken-(expletive) wasn’t man enough to put his name on it. That is losing football. Distractions are losing football.”

In addition to addressing the Colts’ culture, Ballard also said that not not bringing in more outside competition in 2024 was a “mistake.” 

Competition, in theory, should elevate the play of a team with each player being pushed and those who are underperforming seeing their playing time reduced.

But in addition to that, there’s value in bringing in players who have won before, particularly for a team like the Colts who don’t have many players with that background.

That could then potentially help with some of the off-field issues the Colts ran into this season. As Ballard referenced, that outside noise was created by players he brought in, and he acknowledged that he didn’t do a good enough job of setting the expectations.

“All the guys we did, they played well and deserved to get second contracts but bringing them all back and expecting them to hold the line of accountability and standards,” Ballard said. “I either didn’t make the message clear enough of what I expected from them and that’s where I have fell short and that’s where change is good.”

However, ultimately, it’s wins and losses that can play the biggest factor in determining a team’s culture.

In a recent meeting, Ballard addressed the team about these issues and challenged them to be a part of solving these problems as they arise rather than further voicing the issue.

“Players in that locker room, they can B.S the media, they can B.S. their family, but they cannot B.S. each other,” Ballard said. “And Pat was on good teams, Pat was a great player, Pat knows what it looks like, so he saw the cracks.

The biggest issue and our players know this because I voiced it, how about solving the problem? Like it’s easy to voice the problem in public, but how being part of solving the problem. That’s what we need.”

After moving on from Gus Bradley earlier in the week, the Indianapolis Colts will reportedly be interviewing long-time coach Steve Wilks for their defensive coordinator opening, according to Tom Pelissero.

In addition to Wilks, Pelissero would also report that former Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo will be interviewing as well.

Wilks’ background as a defensive coach is with the secondary, having held a number of roles over the years, both at the college and NFL levels, as a defensive backs coach.

He also has head coaching experience, holding that title with the Arizona Cardinals in 2018 and then as the interm head coach for the Carolina Panthers in 2022.

Most recently, Wilks was the San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator in 2023 and after being let go, has been a volunteer advisor with the University of Charlotte in 2024.

In 2023, that 49ers’ defense ranked fourth in points per game allowed, giving up just 18.8 per game, and Wilks was apart of that run to the Super Bowl that ultimately ended in defeat.

Despite the on-field results for the 49ers that season, as noted in an article by FOX Sports, the 2023 season was a “turbulent” one for Wilks and 49ers’ head coach Kyle Shanahan.

The San Francisco run defense during that playoff stretch particularly struggled under Wilks, giving up 149.3 yards per game.

Before that, the last time that Wilks held the defensive coordinator title was in 2019 with the Cleveland Browns, who ranked 20th in scoring that season.

After moving on from Gus Bradley earlier in the week, the Indianapolis Colts will reportedly be interviewing Lou Anarumo for their defensive coordinator opening, according to Tom Pelissero.

Anarumo was most recently the Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator from 2019-2024 but was let go following the conclusion of the regular season.

This past season, the Bengals defense ranked 25th in scoring, allowing 25.5 points per game and ranked 17th in yards per play surrendered, but losing key contributors to free agency in Jessie Bates, DJ Reader, and others, did not help.

The Cincinnati defense would finish the 2024 season strong over the last five weeks, but early season struggles doomed the Bengals’ playoff hopes and Anarumo’s time with the team.

Following the decision to fire Anarumo, The Cincinnati Engquirer’s Jason Williams would call Anarumo the “scapegoat” in what had been a disappointing season for the Bengals overall.

During Anarumo’s tenure as defensive coordinator, which included helping Cincinnati make a Super Bowl appearance, here is how each of his defensive units ranked in scoring:

2024: 25th
2023: 20th
2022: 5th
2021: 13th
2020: 21st
2019: 25th

Pelissero added that this interview will take place next week.

At 58 years old, Anarumo has been coaching in the NFL since 2012, holding various roles with Miami and the New York Giants before joining the Bengals.

The offseason has arrived for the Indianapolis Colts, and at this point of the year, we are both looking forward to what’s ahead along with reviewing what took place in 2024.

Part of that review process can be checking on where this team ranked in several key statistical categories, providing us with some insight into what areas the Colts could potentially build upon in 2025 and what needs to be addressed.

In an effort to be concise while still highlighting pertinent information, I boiled down my stat selection to the basics of football: run game performance, passing game performance, pressures, turnovers, third down and red zone success, and points.

So coming out of the regular season, here is where the Colts stand in those key categories with the help of Team Rankings and Pro Football Reference.