Colts hire Raven DC Chuck Pagano as Head Coach

[Bear Pand]

I wonder if they'll be better then The Titans this year.

Who cares? Colts aren't winning the SB next year. Colts fans are worried about 2-4 seasons from now, not whether or not they'll be better than the Titans next year.

 

[Bear Pand]

Also I'm happy with this hire. I didnt want them to hire Pagano, don't know much about him really. But I was on the no-Tressel, no-Caldwell, no retread coach (except fisher) no random college guy bandwagon. Also wanted a defense-minded guy. He fits the bill. No clue whether or not he'll work work out but I like what I've heard from him so far.

 

[f16harm]

Awesome hire. When I first saw his name as a candidate, I was enthusiastic. I'm excited with the changes and possibility of a revamped (3-4?) Man D over the next couple yrs. We will overhaul most of the roster, take Luck with the first pick, then focus our draft and FA on OL, LB, CB, WR and RB. Colts fans will all be like kids at Xmas and be chomping at the bit for next season.

I could see Pagano cherry picking current Ravens defensive FAs Redding, McKinney or Johnson, or even targeting Miami's promising project, Paul Soliai, as his next Haloti Ngata.

Soliai is not a "project", and he's the same age as Ngata. Soliai may have made the Pro Bowl this year, but he didn't play anywhere near like he did the year before. I can see Miami letting him walk, he's going to want $$ near the highest of nose tackles in the league since he was franchised this last season. Word is we are switching back to a 4-3 under Philbin.

 

[Rblake]

Soliai is not a "project", and he's the same age as Ngata. Soliai may have made the Pro Bowl this year, but he didn't play anywhere near like he did the year before.

The project label came from the fact that he unexpectedly declined last season, which may require working w/him to focus on fundamentals, nutrition, health, etc. I suppose he could just as easily had an injury and be back at 100% with some rest.

 

[Woy]

I wonder if they'll be better then The Titans this year.

Enjoy your moment in the sun, cause you go back to irrelevancy next season.

 

[Rblake]

Sounds as though a hybrid 3-4 defense is his goal, but the implementation time frame will depend upon available staff & personnel.

With your background on defense in 3-4, opposed to scheme this team has run, do you try to bring your philosophy here or in order to build it’s about the talent that is here?

[Coach Pagano] “I’ve got countless, countless hours of film to watch. I can sit back and we spend a season watching tape, but I’ve got to dive into this and evaluate every player in that locker room. I’ve got to look at every player on the defense. I’m not going to be hard-headed enough and certainly the defensive coordinator that we bring in here and the defensive coaching staff we bring in here, we’re not going to try to jam a square peg into a round hole. We’re going to find out the strengths of this unit, the weaknesses, and we’re going to put them in the best possible position to be successful to win games.

“If we can move towards the type of defense, the brand of defense that we’ve been playing where I just came from, we can evolve to that. I was talking to Mr. Irsay, if Wade Phillips can go to the Houston Texans and install the 3-4 with no offseason and make Mario Williams an outside linebacker and stand him up on early downs, that the two explosive, great athletes, the great pass rushers that we have on the edge here, I don’t see an issue. Our motto is simple me, complex you. To say I’m a 3-4 guy, we want to build a defense that is really flexible. It’s going to be really simple for our guys to execute, but when the offense prepares for it and they see it on Sunday, it’s going to look very complex to them. Just because we may line up and they say ‘Hey, look, they’re a 3-4 team,’ we could be a 4-3 team on first down, we could be an odd 3-4 look on second down and the Lord only knows on third-and-7-plus. That’s our goal. That would be my answer to that.

http://blogs.indystar.com/philb/201...-from-colts-head-coach-chuck-paganos-presser/

 

[Colts44]

Hiring Bruce Arians for OC

 

[NAHSTE]

Doesn't seem like a bad idea on the surface.