Tag: Jeff Saturday

Ranking the Colts’ head coaching candidates after first interviews

With the first round of interviews complete, he’s a ranking of the Colts’ head coach candidates thus far.

The Indianapolis Colts have gotten through their first round of interviews as they search for a new head coach entering the 2023 season.

The process is going to take as long as it takes, but the Colts seem to be leaning on the thorough side of the search when it comes to the number of candidates. We’ve got you covered with the latest updates in the coaching search via our tracker.

In total, the Colts have interviewed 13 candidates since the end of the regular season, two of which were in-house interviews (Bubba Ventrone, Jeff Saturday). One candidate, DeMeco Ryans, was scheduled to interview but canceled/postponed it as the San Francisco 49ers were preparing for their playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys. It isn’t clear if the interview will take place.

The Colts also interviewed Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, but he informed the team he’s remaining with his current role.

The search includes a wide variety of minds. There seems to be no emphasis on either side of the ball, and several of the candidates have experience working both with offense and defense.

As the Colts look to finalize their search, here’s a ranking of the candidates following the first round of interviews.

5 biggest surprises from Colts’ 2022 season

Here are the biggest surprises from the Colts’ 2022 season.

The Indianapolis Colts season was not one to be remembered by most, but it is still good to sit back and reflect on what went down over the 2022 campaign.

The offseason is a chance for the franchise to review what went right and what went wrong in a year they had expectations to still be playing football at the end of January.

Whether it was good or bad, Indy had its moments in the past season. Here are the five biggest surprises of 2022:

Colts complete head coach interview with Jeff Saturday

The Colts completed an interview with Jeff Saturday for their head coach vacancy Thursday.

The Indianapolis Colts completed their head coach interview with Jeff Saturday, the team announced Thursday.

Following his interim tenure during the final eight games of the 2022 regular season, it was expected that Saturday was going to get his chance at interviewing for the permanent role.

Saturday’s interview marks the eighth candidate the Colts have brought in since the end of the regular season.

You can follow along for the latest updates with the head coach search via our tracker.

Despite having no prior coaching experience at either the NFL or college levels, owner Jim Irsay made the decision midseason to hire Saturday following the firing of former head coach Frank Reich.

Saturday’s tenure started off with a bang, defeating the Las Vegas Raiders 25-20 in his first ever game as a head coach. The rest of the season, however, was not as much fun.

The Colts followed that up with a seven-game losing streak to end the season. It was clear Saturday’s inexperience as a coach was a detriment to any chances the Colts had to put together a late-season run.

During his tenure, the Colts had a -87 point differential. That was (surprisingly) the second-worst mark during that time. He also was the head coach for two historic moments. The first came against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 13 when they scored 33 unanswered points in the fourth quarter in primetime.

Then, coming out of the bye in Week 15, the Colts blew the largest lead in NFL history, allowing the Minnesota Vikings to erase a 36-3 lead during the second half of that game.

In any other instance, Saturday wouldn’t even be considered as a head coach candidate. But his excellent playing career with the Colts, his charisma and charm, and his intellect as a former player is why Irsay made the impulsive move in the first place.

The head coaching search will be led by general manager Chris Ballard, but the decision ultimately resides with owner Jim Irsay, which means Saturday is certainly in play.

 

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5 biggest takeaways from the Colts’ 2022 season

Here are five takeaways from the Colts’ 2022 season.

The 2022 season was supposed to be the one that the Indianapolis Colts finally ended their drought of not winning the AFC South with the potential of going on a deep playoff run.

But that wasn’t the case for the franchise. It ended up being the quite opposite of the expectations that the team had heading into the season.

They not only missed the playoffs, but they also couldn’t beat the Houston Texans and finished third in the division. They fired their head coach and offensive coordinator and benched the quarterback that was brought in to get them over the hump.

There were a lot more negatives about 2022 for the Colts than positives, here are my five takeaways from the past season for the organization:

Eagles’ Shane Steichen interviews for Texans head coaching vacancy

The Houston Texans announced that Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen has completed his interview for the team’s vacant head coach position

The Eagles spent this week on a bye and preparing for the NFC Divisional round, but two assistant coaches were busy preparing for job interviews.

The Texans announced that Philadelphia offensive coordinator Shane Steichen has completed his interview for the organization’s head coaching vacancy

Houston (3-13-1) will have the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft after a 32-31 win over the Colts in Week 18.

Steichen has overseen the Eagles’ offensive explosion since taking over play-calling duties during the 2021 season and has a good reputation for a run-centric approach to the offense while helping develop Chargers star signal caller, Justin Herbert.

Steichen has been at the helm of Jalen Hurts’ MVP candidacy, Miles Sanders logging his first 1,000-yard rushing season, along with two 1,000-yard receivers in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.

Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon will interview for the job on Saturday.

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Colts’ MVP for the 2022 season: LB Zaire Franklin

It was a stellar season for Colts LB Zaire Franklin.

After a lot of hype surrounding this team during training camp, the Indianapolis Colts finished the 2022 season with a 4-12-1 record and third in the AFC South.

Math Ryan’s arrival had many analysts and fans predicting Indianapolis would put themselves in a position to contend, but this team came nowhere near those expectations.

One player who had a record-setting year and will be a key piece for the Colts to build off of was linebacker Zaire Franklin.

He finished the season with 164 tackles, a franchise record. He broke Shaquille Leonard’s previous mark of 163 that he set in his rookie year back in 2018. Franklin also contributed two sacks, five quarterback hits, two forced fumbles, and six pass breakups. It was an impressive year for the heart and soul of this Colts defense.

Franklin was mostly used on special teams during the first few years of his career, but under Gus Bradley, he flourished into a 17-game starter that was vital to this team. He also managed to have 10 games with at least 10 tackles, another franchise record.

How this team will look next season is a mystery. Plenty of changes are ahead through free agency and the draft, and some familiar faces may be wearing other colors come September.

One thing is certain, Zaire Franklin is one player that is going to be a crucial part of rebuilding this team and contending for a title once again.

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Jeff Saturday: There would be ‘significant change’ if hired as Colts HC

If hired as the Colts HC, Jeff Saturday said there would be ‘signficant change’ made.

The Indianapolis Colts have begun their process of hiring a new head coach, and former interim head coach Jeff Saturday is one of the candidates.

Though Saturday hasn’t had his interview as of Wednesday, he’s expected to get one. Considering how much owner Jim Irsay likes Saturday, he’s expected to be in the running.

If he winds up getting the job, Saturday admitted he has a lot of changes in mind.

“If I get this job, there is going to be significant change. The way I do things is not the way things necessarily have been done,” Saturday told reporters Tuesday. “I have my own way. I think that’s the part that as you’re thinking about the way you want to run an organization as the head coach, that would be my responsibility.”

Saturday took over the Colts following the firing of Frank Reich. They were 3-5-1 at the time coming off a brutal 26-3 loss to the New England Patriots. Though Saturday won his first game, the Colts finished the season on a seven-game winning streak.

Even though he was the head coach, Saturday believes the habits that were formed during the offseason weren’t going to change during his interim tenure.

“When I came in, I’m thrust into how things had been done for the past however many years,” Saturday said. “I’m appreciative of that, the work that they’ve done and the success that they’ve had, but it will look different.”

Saturday didn’t go into the details of what those changes would be. But he believes his vision is something that could give him an advantage during the interview.

“Listen, I have a very clear vision of how I can turn this football team around. I have a plan of attack, that I understand this is what I believe has to happen for us to turn a corner,” Saturday said. “There are going to be principles of this team, just generally – like from a practice perspective, what does this thing look like? From a schedule perspective, what does it look like? From an organization, what does alignment look like from training, equipment, practice – all those different things. All of that stuff, I have a very clear vision on what that looks like and I’ll save the details of how I would separate that.”

We’ll see if Saturday will get his chance to make changes as the Colts begin what is expected to be an exhaustive process of finding a new head coach.

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Panthers request permission to interview Eagles OC Shane Steichen for coaching job

The Panthers are joining the Colts and Texans in requesting permission to interview Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen for their head coaching vacancy

Jonathan Gannon was the perceived big name from the Eagles set to draw coaching interest, but it is offensive coordinator Shane Steichen who has the buzz early on.

According to Ian Rapoport, Carolina has requested to interview the Eagles’ offensive coordinator for their vacant head coaching job.

The Panthers fired Matt Rhule and replaced him with Steve Wilks as the interim coach.

Wilks went 6-6 as the interim head coach after Carolina got off to a 1-4 start. The Panthers were 4-1 at home under Wilks and nearly won the NFC South.

Steichen has overseen the Eagles’ offensive explosion since taking over play-calling duties during the 2021 season and has a good reputation for a run-centric approach to the offense while helping develop Chargers star signal caller, Justin Herbert.

Steichen has been at the helm of Jalen Hurts’ MVP candidacy, Miles Sanders logging his first 1,000-yard rushing season, along with two 1,000-yard receivers in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.

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Colts request permission to interview Eagles OC Shane Steichen for coaching job

The Indianapolis Colts have requested permission to interview Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen for their head coaching vacancy

According to Ian Rapoport, Indianapolis has requested to interview the Eagles’ offensive coordinator for their vacant head coaching job.

The Colts fired Frank Reich and replaced him with former franchise great, Jeff Saturday as the interim head coach.

Saturday was 1-7 as head coach and Indianapolis finished the season 4-12-1.

Steichen has overseen the Eagles’ offensive explosion since taking over play-calling duties during the 2021 season and has a good reputation for a run-centric approach to the offense while helping develop Chargers star signal caller, Justin Herbert.

Steichen has been at the helm of Jalen Hurts’ MVP candidacy, Miles Sanders logging his first 1,000-yard rushing season, along with two 1,000-yard receivers in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.

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Takeaways from Jeff Saturday’s end-of-season press conference

Jeff Saturday held his end-of-season press conference. Here are the highlights.

Jeff Saturday spoke to the media Monday for the final time as the interim head coach of the Indianapolis Colts following the conclusion of the 2022 season.

If Saturday does meet with the media again, it’s likely because he will be hired as the permanent head coach moving forward. However, those interviews haven’t even started as of Monday.

Saturday touched on several topics while reiterating how difficult of a situation it was for him to take over in the middle of the season. Like he really wanted us to know how difficult it was to win over the final eight games of the season because of the situation he inherited.

Saturday also said he does have interest in becoming the next head coach and that he would change a lot of things about the process the team currently goes through.

Here’s a quick rundown of the highlights from his end-of-season press conference Monday.