Big Blue fell beneath the offensive onslaught of the Kansas City Chiefs and the Arctic-like conditions of Arrowhead Stadium last Saturday. The Colts were doomed by penalties, dropped passes, and an ineffective pass rush. Quite frankly, however, the Chiefs simply outplayed the Horseshoe. Patrick Mahomes continued to be the irresistible force that he had been during the regular season and the Chiefs defense was the immovable object that the Colts offense could not thwart. Adam Vinatieri suffered the shortest field goal miss of his storied career just before the half. So the 2018-19 season comes to an end.
The season has to be considered a major success. Led by Andrew Luck’s spectacular comeback and Frank Reich’s emergence as a top drawer head coach, the team experienced a totally unexpected resurgence. General manager Chris Ballard provided some very workable draftees and free agents that made major contributions to the team’s playoff run. It was a very positive year for both the team and the fans.
Andrew Luck is a shoe-in to be “Comeback Player of the Year.” Chris Ballard is a strong candidate for Executive of the Year. Darius Leonard could be “Defensive Rookie of the Year.” and Matt Eberflus could be named “Assistant of the Year.”
The 2019 Draft picks have been tentatively set. The Colts have 8. The 26th pick in the first round, 34th and 50th in the second round, 90th in the third, 23rd and a compensatory pick in the 4th. And picks in the 5th, 6th, and 7th round.
The team has 15 unrestricted free agents including Adam Vinatieri. They also have $60 million in cap space to work with. This means the Colts could retain any free agent they wished to retain on the roster. Once again do not look for Chris Ballard to go after any high priced free agents from other teams when the signing period comes up in March.
New Offensive Line Coach
The news is that the Colts fired offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo, and was almost too much to believe. DeGuglielmo’s work in turning the Horseshoe offensive line from one of the worst in the league to one of the best in one short season is the stuff of legends. DeGuglielmo was the only assistant hired by Josh McDaniels during his one day run as the Colts head man. Supposedly Reich wants his own pick as the line coach, although he has given Dave the highest recommendations to the rest of the league.
It may be the Denzelle Good situation. Good is a third year man who was a valuable reserve in both guard and tackle on offense. He also played special teams. In December, Good experienced a devastating family tragedy and asked for time off to deal with it. He got the time off. He then, however, called out DeGuglielmo for trying to bully and intimidate him into coming back earlier than he felt he was ready to. Good asked for and was granted his release from the team. He signed with the Raiders. DeGuglielmo never commented on the situation but this may have been a bone of contention between him and coach Reich.