Jim Caldwell is a Donk. (1 Viewer)

[gradin123]

I don't know how many of you are poker players. But, if you are Jim Caldwell is a donk!

Two horrible moves by Jim Caldwell very may have well cost the Colts the game.

The first and lesser of Jim Caldwell's mistakes was not to push the envelope at the end of the first half. Yes, the Colts had a 7-0 lead and were at about the 25 yard line with 45 secs left but you have the best Qb in NfL history and the best kicker in Nfl history. To just give that up is donkey like. Not to mention they had at 2 timeouts left.

The second and most indefensible move by Caldwell was the 3rd timeout with about 25 seconds left the Colts made on defense.

After the first down run bv the Jets made at the end of the game it seemed like they were content to use their last timeout and try about a 50 yard field goal with the ultra questionable Nick Folk to win the game.

Instead, Jim Caldwell decided to give the Jets a free play on offense by calling a timeout. The result was a big pass play to Edwards and a much easier 32 yard field goal field for the ultra shaky Nick Folk.

Peyton Manning himself shaked his head in disgust after the timeout. That timeout very may have well cost the Colts the game.

Honestly,at this point I think the Colts should just make Peyton Manning the player coach and stop pretending Jim Caldwell has any brains.

If Peyton Manning was a player/coach I think the Colts would win. Unfortunately in our era that designation is likely one we will we never see again. If the Colts would they would likely have more than one championship

 

[Dr. Awesome]

I'm not sure if I'd put him in the top half of coaches in this league.

 

[kerpow]

I would think it would be impossible to focus on the QB position during a game and also coordinate at the same time. Would he throw in a red flag whilst on the field?

Teams tried this in English soccer leagues in the 80s and 90s but, with a couple of exceptions (Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool), most proved unsuccessful.

With hindsight, that time-out decision wasn't a smart move but to say it cost them the game is simply exaggerating.

 

[simsarge]

I would think it would be impossible to focus on the QB position during a game and also coordinate at the same time. Would he throw in a red flag whilst on the field?Teams tried this in English soccer leagues in the 80s and 90s but, with a couple of exceptions (Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool), most proved unsuccessful.With hindsight, that time-out decision wasn't a smart move but to say it cost them the game is simply exaggerating.

Way too many moving parts on an NFL Team for one guy to focus on and play the game the way Manning does now. He's arguably the Co-OC anyways and probably as close as anyone in the league for as long as I can remember to being a "Player-Coach" and from all accounts his level of authority over the Offense is unheard of in the league.Granted even I was curious about the TO. But every game has those hindsight moves by a coach that are headscratchers.

 

[Masked Vigilante]

Some very questionable play calling on offense by the Colts last night. I'm not really sure who to blame for that.

 

[JetMaxx]

The end of game decision was bad but I saw at least 3 or 4 plays that Manning left on the field due to a bad read or throw which would have resulted in a drive sustaining first down/big play. Plenty of blame to go around.

 

[Canadian Content]

The end of game decision was bad but I saw at least 3 or 4 plays that Manning left on the field due to a bad read or throw which would have resulted in a drive sustaining first down/big play. Plenty of blame to go around.

Perhaps but the least you can do is make is Folk try a 50+ yarder. That time out gave the NYJ a free 20 yards as far as I'm concerned.... Jim Caldwell has made plenty of in game management mistakes, this is just one of them (the timeout in Jacksonville was equally stupid). While the notion of a player coach is ridiculous, the Colts seriously need to contemplate firing Caldwell if they want to compete in Peyton's last few years. He's not fit to be NFL head coach.

 

[Summer Wheat]

Caldwell may not survive these last couple of blunders.

 

[Cheesedawg]

The end of game decision was bad but I saw at least 3 or 4 plays that Manning left on the field due to a bad read or throw which would have resulted in a drive sustaining first down/big play. Plenty of blame to go around.

Perhaps but the least you can do is make is Folk try a 50+ yarder. That time out gave the NYJ a free 20 yards as far as I'm concerned.... Jim Caldwell has made plenty of in game management mistakes, this is just one of them (the timeout in Jacksonville was equally stupid). While the notion of a player coach is ridiculous, the Colts seriously need to contemplate firing Caldwell if they want to compete in Peyton's last few years. He's not fit to be NFL head coach.

That was an incredibly dumb time out and there is no doubt that it very well might have been the difference in the game. If I was the owner I would fire him for it. Inexcusable. I'm not a Colts homer and didn't really care who won the game. Just one of the millions of people who knew immediately that Caldwell had made a decision that can only be characterized as amateurish.

 

[comfortably numb]

I'm a very grateful Jets fan for Caldwell taking that time out not allowing a 2nd year QB to have to rush the biggest pass of his short career on the road.

 

[Summer Wheat]

Article:

I guess we shouldn't be surprised by Caldwell's decision last night. When asked by the press about the timeout after the loss to the Jags, Caldwell said

Asked whether he would handle it differently, Caldwell said, "No sir. Same thing."

As the famous saying goes, the definition of insanity is doing the same task over and over again, but expecting a different result. While I'm not ready to call Jim Caldwell insane, I am ready to say that while he deserves create for getting Indy to the post-season, he is most certainly not the kind of coach that will lead the Colts to a Super Bowl victory.

His terrible decision last night to call timeout was the third such situation this year where he mis-used his timeouts. Factor in his questionable decision-making in Super Bowl 44, and the mood of fans after last night's brutal loss is that Jim Caldwell should be fired.

Obviously, he won't. Jim Irsay thinks he's Coach of the Year, and Bill Polian has a hard enough time admitting he makes errors in player evaluation, let alone coaching hires. It seems clear to me that Colts fans have lost faith in Caldwell, and if the voice of fans means anything to Jim Irsay, he should reconsider his options at the head coaching position heading into 2011.

 

[comfortably numb]

Manning hides many coaches flaws.

I am not sure Manning can co-exist with say a Cohwer or Gruden, but Manning already is an All Time great, and I believe his post season record is 8-10?

 

[cobalt_27]

I really agree, Caldwell needs to go. He is not HC material. Whether the Colts would have advanced to the SB or not is immaterial. Moving forward, they have the reincarnate of Barry Switzer at the helm, and Caldwell's team is not good enough to win in spite of himself.

 

[Ghost Rider]

It is a credit to Peyton Manning that he is often so great in the regular season, that the Colts often win many more games than they would with most other quarterbacks, but them winning so many games every year makes it a lot less likely that they smarten up and fire a stooge like Caldwell, who clearly is in over his head.

 

[Sinrman]

He's a mediocre head coach that inherited a great team. It's not to say he completely sucks, I mean, they DID go to the Super Bowl just last year. But having

Peyton Manning, as another poster said, helps cover up a LOT of coaching mistakes.

 

[Wilbur Wood]

I thought that Caldwell's timeout call was a questionable move (liked it as a JETS fan).

However, it did not give the Jets an extra or free play. The Jets effectively forewent running at least 2 plays as the Edwards catch at the 14 concluded with 20 seconds left and the Jets intentionally alllowed 17 seconds (hence 2 plays worth of time) to run off of the clock before kicking the FG.

I also do not think that the Jets would have run the ball again had the Colts not called timeout as the prior run was aimed at catching the Colts off-guard (which it did not). Perhaps without the timeout the Jets don't have time to regroup and attack with Edwards downfield (who was constantly open in the 4th qtr). That said, Sanchez was converting on "easy" 10 yard out passes, so I would have fully expected another 10 yards to have been gained.

Again, a bad call but it is overstated to say it cost the Colts the game or provided the Jets with extra plays (at least plays that the Jets actually used)

 

[fatness]

Honestly,at this point I think the Colts should just make Peyton Manning the player coach

I would love to see this trainwreck.

 

[kylechoffman]

I still dont understand why on 3rd and long, down 4 with over 4 minutes left, you call a run play when the strength of your offense is P manning. They ran the ball, didnt get the 1st and kicked a FG. I didnt get that call at all. Im suprised manning didnt audible out of that one at the line and throw a pass.

 

[Sam Quentin]

Caldwell is one of the worst coaches in the league

 

[tombonneau]

I still dont understand why on 3rd and long, down 4 with over 4 minutes left, you call a run play when the strength of your offense is P manning. They ran the ball, didnt get the 1st and kicked a FG. I didnt get that call at all. Im suprised manning didnt audible out of that one at the line and throw a pass.

This to me was a bigger gaffe than the time out and end of half wuss out. Playing for the fg when you have Manning is amateur hour. Would love to see a stat re: how 20-something yard FGs correlates to W/Ls. I'm guessing that paradoxically the more short FGs you kick the worse your chances of winning.

 

[Garts]

I still dont understand why on 3rd and long, down 4 with over 4 minutes left, you call a run play when the strength of your offense is P manning. They ran the ball, didnt get the 1st and kicked a FG. I didnt get that call at all. Im suprised manning didnt audible out of that one at the line and throw a pass.

didn't Manning audible to the run when he saw the 2 safeties playing deep?

 

[thetman]

Caldwell is a bad head coach, but Manning shares a lot of the blame for last night. His decision to just ignore Wayne because Revis was on him was DUMB.

 

[kylechoffman]

I still dont understand why on 3rd and long, down 4 with over 4 minutes left, you call a run play when the strength of your offense is P manning. They ran the ball, didnt get the 1st and kicked a FG. I didnt get that call at all. Im suprised manning didnt audible out of that one at the line and throw a pass.

didn't Manning audible to the run when he saw the 2 safeties playing deep?

I posted to see if someone had an explanation as I was in a restaraunt having dinner. If thats the case I get it but still shocked they ran it.

 

[Kool-Aid Larry]

I still dont understand why on 3rd and long, down 4 with over 4 minutes left, you call a run play when the strength of your offense is P manning. They ran the ball, didnt get the 1st and kicked a FG. I didnt get that call at all. Im suprised manning didnt audible out of that one at the line and throw a pass.

This to me was a bigger gaffe than the time out and end of half wuss out. Playing for the fg when you have Manning is amateur hour. Would love to see a stat re: how 20-something yard FGs correlates to W/Ls. I'm guessing that paradoxically the more short FGs you kick the worse your chances of winning.

I think they had already made two of those in the game --- why isn't anybody complaining about those calls?

 

[Kool-Aid Larry]

I would think it would be impossible to focus on the QB position during a game and also coordinate at the same time. Would he throw in a red flag whilst on the field?

you'd get somebody's kid in there to be the flag boy, so when you wanted a flag thrown you'd just yell over from the field, "THROW THE FLAG BOY -- NOW, NOW, NOW!!!!!!!!!"

 

[Boston]

I'm a very grateful Jets fan for Caldwell taking that time out not allowing a 2nd year QB to have to rush the biggest pass of his short career on the road.

This is pretty much what I thought...that time-out allowed the Jets to catch their breath, have the game slow down and get focused...it seemed to cut-down the potential for an unforced error due to hurrying-up...

 

[cvnpoka]

I still dont understand why on 3rd and long, down 4 with over 4 minutes left, you call a run play when the strength of your offense is P manning. They ran the ball, didnt get the 1st and kicked a FG. I didnt get that call at all. Im suprised manning didnt audible out of that one at the line and throw a pass.

didn't Manning audible to the run when he saw the 2 safeties playing deep?

I posted to see if someone had an explanation as I was in a restaraunt having dinner. If thats the case I get it but still shocked they ran it.

they ran on 3rd and long on at least 2 other sequences that i remember from that game, one of which was like a 3rd and 9. they got both of them. running is whatever, the amazing mistake was kicking the fg to get withing a point with 5 minutes left. ofc, very few ppl and certainly no media will criticize that. in the nfl, you can make as many dumb kicks on 4th down as you want and it wont be questioned.

 

[Northbound Train]

Caldwell + Dungy are both horrible Coaches made to be OK because of Manning.

He was an average Coach that couldn't win a PLayoff game until Peyton carried him...

 

[tombonneau]

Tony Dungy's hand picked successor is the worst coach in the NFL! The window on Peyton Manning's career is closing. They really need to get a good head coach in there. I am sure that Manning has the clout to demand a coaching change if he really wants one.

Considering he's not under contract, I'd say he has a ton of leverage if he wants a coaching change. (On a side note, pretty funny that in the preseason Brady not being extended was front page news, yet here we are going into a lock out and nary a Tweet about Manning being a pending FA. Is it just assumed fait accompli he gets what he wants from Indy?)

 

[slayer666]

The second and most indefensible move by Caldwell was the 3rd timeout with about 25 seconds left the Colts made on defense. Peyton Manning himself shaked his head in disgust after the timeout. That timeout very may have well cost the Colts the game.

Yep, horrible call and it might have cost them the game.

 

[pghrob]

Not completely on topic, reading these posts, I am reminded of how very impressed with Jeff Saturday's cerebral approach and understanding of the game. I heard him as a guest on the NFL Insider weekly radio show with Mark Malone and Steve Tasker.

http://www.shows.westwoodone.com/audio-txt...nfl-insider.mp3

 

[TheWheel]

I think the Jets D just played Manning. They had five in the box the whole fourth quarter. The most advantageous play is to run it. It worked once. The second time, not so much. Somebody said Rex Ryan wanted to take the ball out of Manning's hands. That is how he did it.

And make Manning a coach and he can't study the opponent or practice. He has to go teach others instead of work on his game.

 

[No Way Jose]

Not to mention that terrible challenge on the first punt to Holmes. That was obvious the ball didn't touch him.

Caldwell has the constant blank stare/deer in the headlights look to him. I would not want him as the coach of my team.

It's funny how when the Colts go out early in the playoffs, it's Peytons fault. However, when the Chargers do their usual collapse it's Turners and not Rivers.

 

[TheWheel]

Well Peyton calls his own plays and Rivers doesn't.

 

[Kool-Aid Larry]

I think the Jets D just played Manning. They had five in the box the whole fourth quarter. The most advantageous play is to run it. It worked once. The second time, not so much. Somebody said Rex Ryan wanted to take the ball out of Manning's hands. That is how he did it.And make Manning a coach and he can't study the opponent or practice. He has to go teach others instead of work on his game.

worked twice.second time it did.

 

[Lash]

he audibled to run on 3rd and 9 and 3rd and 7 earlier and gashed the defense so i cant blame that audible

of course the Jets may have shown the same 5-box look but being so close to their goalline that box is alot smaller and thus it didnt work the third time

or MAYBE the Jets showed the 5-box look and sprinted up on the snap, would have to see the coaches' tape (wider angle) to know for sure

 

[jackdubl]

I'm a very grateful Jets fan for Caldwell taking that time out not allowing a 2nd year QB to have to rush the biggest pass of his short career on the road.

This is pretty much what I thought...that time-out allowed the Jets to catch their breath, have the game slow down and get focused...it seemed to cut-down the potential for an unforced error due to hurrying-up...

Plus, you gain nothing by calling it. Jets can still run the clock all the way down. The way Sanchise was looking most of the game, I'd rather have him hurried. I thought it was pretty dumb.

 

[TheWheel]

Well if Ryan is going to play that way you have to believe the players knew what was going on.

Whether it is two or three, the Jets weren't going to be burned by the run after Manning did it before. This game has to go to defensive gameplanning. The man-to-man is how you beat teams that pass like that. Every zone coverage has a beatable gap. Man-to-man requires athletism. It isn't like Manning can run to beat the man.

 

[identikit]

I listened to Polian on the local postgame radio show, and he blamed the loss largely on '3-4 big plays' that the Colts ST allowed.

I'd say at the very least the ST coach is history.

 

[pittstownkiller]

I'm not sure if I'd put him in the top half of coaches in this league.

Peyton may not be in the top half of coaches, in this league, but is he better than Caldwell?

 

[Yenrub]

Caldwell + Dungy are both horrible Coaches made to be OK because of Manning.He was an average Coach that couldn't win a PLayoff game until Peyton carried him...

Yet somehow Dungy went to the NFC title game with Shawn King as his QB

 

[Gachi]

Why the hell doesn't he talk on the sideline? How does he communicate with the coaches in the booth?