Colts new GM

[CaptainHook]

Owner Jim Irsay has turned to Ryan Grigson to help return the Indianapolis Colts to prominence.

 

The Highland, Ind. and Purdue University product has been hired as the team's new general manager, the team announced this morning.

 

Grigson is expected to attend a news conference at Colts headquarters this afternoon.

 

Grigson, 39, has spent the past nine seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, the last two as their director of player personnel. He emerged from a list of seven candidates interviewed by Irsay, and met with Irsay a second time Tuesday.

 

Irsay put the Colts on a new course Jan. 2 when he fired vice chairman Bill Polian and vice president/general manager Chris Polian. The decision one day after the team lost at Jacksonville to finish with a 2-14 record, tied with the St. Louis Rams for the worst mark in the NFL.

 

Prior to agreeing to join the Colts, Grigson reportedly met with the St. Louis Rams on Monday regarding their vacant general manager's position.

 

Grigson's football roots stretch back to Purdue where he was a tight end and offensive tackle from 1991-94. He served as team captain as a senior.

 

The Cincinnati Bengals selected Grigson in the sixth round of the 1995 draft, but he spent his rookie season with the Detroit Lions. He was with Toronto in the Canadian Football League in 1997 before suffering a career-ending back injury.

 

Grigson's 13-year career with NFL personnel has included stints with the St. Louis Rams and Eagles.

 

[Whiskey Pimp]

Does he fire Caldwell at his presser this afternoon?

[stevegrab]

Second guy from the Eagles front office to fill a GM position in 2 years. Tom Heckert (Browns GM) previously held the position of director of player personnel and then VP of player personnel and then GM with the Eagles (although Reid was really still in charge of Eagles football matters).

 

Good luck, hope he can return the Colts to prominence (like they fell so far and were an utter disaster)

[BeeR]

So the guy who brought Vick to Philly now leads the Colts? O yay.

 

Mostly kidding, pretty neutral on the guy offhand. I reserve the right to change my mind as new info becomes available or he screws up the team. And if he doesn't draft Luck he's a dead man.

[muck]

And if he doesn't draft Luck he's a dead man.

 

What if he drafts RGIII instead?

[The Next Generation]

The Wilmington News Journal suggests Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg as a head-coaching candidate in Indianapolis.

New Colts GM Ryan Grigson is familiar with Mornhinweg, as they were together in the Eagles' organization from 2004-2011. Grigson and Colts owner Jim Irsay have not yet formally decided Jim Caldwell's fate, but the odds of Caldwell lasting through the front-office transition have to be long. Mornhinweg is a former quarterbacks coach and could be an attractive candidate for a team expected to draft Andrew Luck with the No. 1 pick. Mornhinweg also runs a West Coast-style offense, similar to the system Lucked played in at Stanford. Jan 11 - 3:17 PM

[Big John]

The Wilmington News Journal suggests Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg as a head-coaching candidate in Indianapolis.

New Colts GM Ryan Grigson is familiar with Mornhinweg, as they were together in the Eagles' organization from 2004-2011. Grigson and Colts owner Jim Irsay have not yet formally decided Jim Caldwell's fate, but the odds of Caldwell lasting through the front-office transition have to be long. Mornhinweg is a former quarterbacks coach and could be an attractive candidate for a team expected to draft Andrew Luck with the No. 1 pick. Mornhinweg also runs a West Coast-style offense, similar to the system Lucked played in at Stanford. Jan 11 - 3:17 PM

 

 

And 1 minute too late for Tebow

[godtomsatan]

New Colts GM Ryan Grigson is familiar with Mornhinweg, as they were together in the Eagles' organization from 2004-2011. Grigson and Colts owner Jim Irsay have not yet formally decided Jim Caldwell's fate, but the odds of Caldwell lasting through the front-office transition have to be long. Mornhinweg is a former quarterbacks coach and could be an attractive candidate for a team expected to draft Andrew Luck with the No. 1 pick. Mornhinweg also runs a West Coast-style offense, similar to the system Lucked played in at Stanford. Jan 11 - 3:17 PM

 

....and has a career record of 5-27 as an NFL head coach.

[BeeR]

What if he drafts RGIII instead?

I'll kill him AND his family.

 

 

The Wilmington News Journal suggests Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg as a head-coaching candidate in Indianapolis.

New Colts GM Ryan Grigson is familiar with Mornhinweg, as they were together in the Eagles' organization from 2004-2011. Grigson and Colts owner Jim Irsay have not yet formally decided Jim Caldwell's fate, but the odds of Caldwell lasting through the front-office transition have to be long. Mornhinweg is a former quarterbacks coach and could be an attractive candidate for a team expected to draft Andrew Luck with the No. 1 pick. Mornhinweg also runs a West Coast-style offense, similar to the system Lucked played in at Stanford. Jan 11 - 3:17 PM

Irsay might make that list if this goes down too. Good gravy wtpho

[Egret]

....and has a career record of 5-27 as an NFL head coach.

How's the wind in Indy?

[ebartender]

Never heard of the guy. And this is coming from an Eagles fan. But I guess when the guy was 4th or 5th on the depth chart when it came to making decisions you wouldn't hear much from him.

[CaptainHook]

I asked Howard Mudd on Wednesday what he thought about the Indianapolis Colts' new general manager, Ryan Grigson.

 

Mudd, a former Colts offensive line coach who is now with the Philadelphia Eagles, was among the many people who shared a glowing recommendation with owner Jim Irsay.

 

"I don't think he'll go in there and start running people off," said Mudd, who worked with Grigson in Philadelphia. "He's going to roll up his sleeves and work. He's going to take his time, and he's going to make smart decisions."

 

In Oakland, the new general manager, Reggie McKenzie, whacked coach Hue Jackson hours before McKenzie's introductory news conference.

 

In Indianapolis on Wednesday, Grigson committed to nothing beyond hard work and methodical, informed decision-making.

 

Will he keep Jim Caldwell? He said he didn't know.

 

Will he keep Peyton Manning? He said he didn't know.

 

Will he keep a Tampa-2 defense or try something else? He said he didn't know.

 

"I literally just got here," Grigson said, shrugging.

 

That's true, of course. But he knows. He has to know, or at least he has to have a strong inclination in all of those areas. What do you think Grigson and Irsay talked about during all those interviews? The Grateful Dead? (OK, I guess that's entirely possible.)

 

You don't interview a new editor without knowing his or her plans for the newspaper, and you don't interview the next architect of the franchise without sharing thoughts about the epic, franchise-shaping decisions that await.

 

Lack of experience?

 

In 1985, a personnel man named Bill Polian was promoted by the Buffalo Bills. He worked out OK.

 

It's time for the new wave of NFL general managers, just as it was in baseball, where young guns such as Theo Epstein emerged.

 

"We knew this time would come," Eagles general manager Howie Roseman told Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Daily News. "He was too talented for it not to come."

 

Grigson arrived Wednesday with a nice mix of confidence and humility, even if he was a bit uncomfortable under the klieg lights for the first time. He knows what he wants but knows he doesn't know it all. And he's not going to pull the trigger on massively important decisions without thinking it through thoroughly.

 

Do I think Caldwell stays? History says no. New people bring in their own people. In every business. But Grigson kept the door open.

 

"I've been on teams before where guys were just run out for the sake of running them out," he said. "The way I look at even players is, if there's talent or there is someone who is productive or good at what they do, to me that makes no sense.

 

"So we haven't gotten into any of that, but that's not my mind-set. My mind-set is not someone that is like that. I like to salvage things. If there is ability, why get rid of it if it's going to see us through to where we want to go and the vision of being great?"

 

Should Caldwell stay? From a public-relations standpoint, a change would be best. But the best PR is winning, and if Irsay and Grigson believe Caldwell is the right guy, that he was severely limited by Bill and Chris Polian and can flourish without them looking over his shoulder, I'm not going to argue.

 

Well, not loudly, anyway.

 

Irsay wanted a young, up-and-comer who could grow with a rebuilding team. And he got one.

 

"Seeing guys like (Grigson) move up makes me happy for the industry," Mudd said. "It's nice that it's a young guy who started out beating the bushes for players, who worked his way up with hard work. I respect that a lot.

 

"He's a former offensive lineman and has that mentality. He has very definite opinions, but he's not unwilling to listen to other people. He'll go in there, roll up his sleeves and get to work."

 

From the start, Grigson was a talent evaluation geek. (Did I just call a 6-foot-6, 290-pound guy a geek?) But it was something he loved from the beginning, even while he was playing at Purdue and then for a short time in the NFL.

 

"I'd be in meetings and (Bengals offensive line coach Paul Alexander) would ask about a player, and he might be from a small school or something like that, and I always had an answer for him," Grigson said. "I took some ribbing for it. We would have to evaluate the weekly opponents and the defensive linemen we'd be facing, and I did extensive tape study and research because I figured that's what I was supposed to do.

 

"So he (Alexander) kind of got a kick out of that. He'd always ask: 'Grigson, who's this right tackle here?' in the late fourth quarter of this preseason game, and usually I'd know and I usually would know a couple tidbits about him. Even in college, I used to take the media guides from the coaches even before I probably should have and have them back in my apartment because I just loved reading.

 

"When I got this job, all my buddies were reaching out to me saying, 'Maybe now you're not so crazy for all the information you were into back then,' because they thought it was quirky. But it's what I love."

 

It would be misguided to fully judge Grigson based on all the decisions the Eagles made over the years. In his position there, he was the Philly version of Colts director of player personnel Tom Telesco; he set up the draft board and was consulted by his superiors, notably team President Joe Banner, Roseman and coach Andy Reid. But he wasn't always the one making the final decision, not the way Bill Polian did in Indy.

 

Here, his only boss is Irsay.

 

"He's one of those guys who never undermined anybody or used politics to get where he's gotten," Mudd said. "He's done it the hard way. The right way."

 

Time to get to work.

 

[CaptainHook]

There will be time, sooner rather than later, for Ryan Grigson to deal with the coaching staff, Peyton Manning, pending free agents, the first overall pick in the April draft and a roster that must be rebuilt and rebound from a 2-14 season.

 

As each issue was broached during his Wednesday introduction as Indianapolis Colts general manager, Grigson smiled, paused and fell back on a familiar refrain.

 

"First and foremost,'' he said, "I literally pretty much just got here.''

 

For emphasis, Grigson nodded in the direction of his wife, Cynthia, who was seated in the front row of the audience with the couple's five children.

 

"My wife brought me fresh clothes,'' he said, looking right at home in a spiffy dark suit.

 

Those quickly will be replaced by more casual attire. The time is fast approaching for Grigson to roll up his sleeves and get down to some serious work.

 

"I have so many things to iron out,'' he said. "We're going to do this thing from A to Z, and we're going to cover every corner of the building.

 

"This is big and we want to do it the right way.''

 

Owner Jim Irsay held an exhaustive interview process that followed the Jan. 2 firing of vice chairman Bill Polian and vice president/general manager Chris Polian. He whittled a list of approximately 25 candidates to eight and completed the first round of interviews Monday.

 

Irsay sensed something special in Grigson the first time they met. He detected "a riser."

 

"You try to identify a rising superstar, so to speak, in the business of player evaluation,'' Irsay said. "He has all the tools, all the talent to continue to rise up to this next level of being a general manager.''

 

Irsay brought in Grigson for a second chat Tuesday. He offered him the job.

 

"We got our man,'' Irsay said.

 

Grigson's contract is for four years, with the Colts holding an option for a fifth. Financial terms were not disclosed.

 

Grigson is entering his 14th season in the NFL talent business, but his first as the leading man. He spent the past nine seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, the last two as director of player personnel.

 

No longer will his role primarily be to offer heavily-researched input in personnel matters. While Irsay retains final veto power on all decisions affecting the franchise, it's Grigson's charge to shape the 53-player roster.

 

"You know that I believe in letting my people -- my general manager, my head coach -- do their job,'' Irsay said. "I can never tell all of the stories from behind the curtain. It's critical for an owner to step up at real critical times for the franchise.

 

"It's always been that way, but you hope it's not a lot.''

 

So many of the decisions will resonate from Grigson's office.

 

The first order of business, other than learning to maneuver the team's West 56th Street complex without a GPS, is to decide the fate of coach Jim Caldwell and his staff.

 

"A front-burner issue,'' Irsay said.

 

Grigson met Caldwell for the first time Wednesday, and the discussion revolved around "family, things on a human level,'' he said.

 

Irsay and Grigson will meet over the next few days, likely including Caldwell in the discussions. They hope to have a decision on Caldwell by early next week, mid-week at the latest. "In the end,'' Irsay said, "this is about what's best for the franchise, what gives us the best chance to win.

 

"It's just not change for change.''

 

Grigson has yet to talk with Manning, whose future with the Colts is uncertain after he underwent Sept. 8 neck surgery; Manning also is due a $28 million option bonus by March 8. Grigson also has only a cursory impression of the roster he's inheriting.

 

So much to do, so little time to do it.

 

"I don't think that I'm going to have much time to do anything else but to grind tape,'' Grigson said. "I need to lock myself in my office, put a 'Do not disturb' sign on the door and knock it out and know exactly what I have before I can really evaluate and speak on players with Mr. Irsay.''

 

Seldom has a 39-year-old personnel man assumed control of an established franchise -- one that has reached two Super Bowls since 2006, winning one -- facing so many difficult issues.

 

"He's not walking into a normal situation,'' Irsay said. "When you have the No. 1 draft pick, when you have a veteran roster with salary-cap problems, when you have injured players, whether it's Peyton or Melvin Bullitt or Gary Brackett or Gonzo (Anthony Gonzalez) . . . the coaching situation . . .

 

"This is a difficult job to come into.''

 

It's one Grigson is eager to embrace.

 

"My goal is to bring this team back to where it was and build off that and do great things,'' he said. "Why else would you want to be in this position if you weren't going to do great things?''

 

[detlef]

How's the wind in Indy?

And what gets forgotten in that whole OT debacle is that, after he refused the ball to begin the OT period, the Lions stopped the other team on 3rd down. However, rather than forcing them to punt, he accepted a penalty against them and backed them up. The opponent then converted the long 3rd down, kept the ball, and ultimately scored.

 

Wind or no, all I could think about was that dude simply did not want the ball.

[BeeR]

If the choice is Caldwell or MM, God help us. Cmon Grigson.

[detlef]

All kidding aside, maybe MM isn't so bad. This was Detroit during the Millen era, no? Now, maybe Marty had some say in personnel and is nearly as culpable as Millen was. But Schwartz doesn't seem like the greatest coach in the league and now the Lions are winning. So maybe it was the players Marty was dealt up there. I mean, let's not pretend that he was the only bad thing that happened to that team over the past 20 odd years.

[Egret]

All kidding aside, maybe MM isn't so bad. This was Detroit during the Millen era, no? Now, maybe Marty had some say in personnel and is nearly as culpable as Millen was. But Schwartz doesn't seem like the greatest coach in the league and now the Lions are winning. So maybe it was the players Marty was dealt up there. I mean, let's not pretend that he was the only bad thing that happened to that team over the past 20 odd years.

Personnel was bad, but so was the coaching. It was his first head coaching gig, but I don't remember a lot of highlights. He took over a 9-7 team and won just five games over the next two seasons. Millen didn't help, but Marty made it worse.

[BeeR]

^ What he said. No thx.

[keggerz]

And what gets forgotten in that whole OT debacle is that, after he refused the ball to begin the OT period, the Lions stopped the other team on 3rd down. However, rather than forcing them to punt, he accepted a penalty against them and backed them up. The opponent then converted the long 3rd down, kept the ball, and ultimately scored.

 

Wind or no, all I could think about was that dude simply did not want the ball.

from the comments part of that link:

 

he Lions are certainly better off without Mornhinweg, but taking the wind was statistically the right call. unquestionably.

 

The percentage of advantage going to the team that starts with the ball in overtime is not as great as the scoring percentage advantage of the team that had the wind in that game -- it wasn't EVEN CLOSE.

 

FACT: while playing into the wind during in the last half of that game, the Lions had been outscored by their opponent 0 - 10. But while playing with the wind during last half of that game, they had outscored their opponent 14 - 0.

 

Neither QB in that game was capable of moving the ball into the wind. Check those 4th quarter stats again -- the combined offense of the Lions and the Bears in the entire last half of that game while playing into the wind was a whopping 57 yards of total offense and ZERO scoring. You can claim that the wind wasn't that strong during the game, but the statistics don't lie.

 

So, let's recap the options:

1) The Lions take the ball and attempt to score while playing into the wind - a feat they had only managed to do once during the entire game. You do this with the added knowledge that the Lions' offense couldn't even manage more than a 34 yards of total offense in the entire 4th quarter while playing into the wind - and the last drive ended with a punt of less than 30 yards due to the wind and ended on the 50 yard line - this is the situation that led to overtime in the first place.

 

or option 2:

 

2) Rely on the statistically good chances demonstrated in that game that the other team will continue to be unable to score (or even move the ball) when playing into the wind. In that entire game, prior to overtime, Chicago had only managed to score once when playing into the wind and that was on a 14 yard drive after a Lions turnover - and it only got worse for Chicago later on. During the 3rd quarter when Chicago's offense was again playing into the wind, it only managed to gain 23 yards of total offense on three possessions!

 

According to the Bears kicker Paul Edinger, the Bears themselves had decided to do the same thing--kick off with the wind at their backs had they won the toss.

 

The bad call in that game, the one everyone should remember as among the worst, was the call to accept that holding penalty and give the Bears a second chance to get a first down. Now THAT was one of the worst calls I've seen in a decade.

 

Let me break this down to make it a little simpler for you all to follow:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Half With Wind:

24 points scored, 330 yards of total offense

 

2nd Half Against Wind:

0 points scored, 57 yards of total offense

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

That's 24 - 0, a blow-out.

Total and complete domination by the team with the wind over the team against it.

 

The average total yards gained per drive (i.e. per possession) by the offensive team playing against the wind in the second have of that game was ... wait for it ... 9 yards of total offense !

[CaptainHook]

But it's now sudden death. Any score ends the game. You have to take the ball.

 

I found it humorous that some thought that with the new OT rules, the team that wins the coin toss may elect to go on defense first. WHY? If the other team scores a TD, the game is over. You must take advantage of that chance if you win the toss.

Edited January 13, 2012 by CaptainHook

[BeeR]

So, about this Grigson....

[ebartender]

I was listening to Mike Missanelli on 97.5 The Fanatic in Philly on my way home from work. He said someone from the Indy press called him and asked if he could give some comments of Grigson coming to Indy and Missanelli said "Honestly, I don't know who the guy is". From what everyone in the league seems to be saying the guy is pretty bright and a hell of a talent evaluator. I never meant for it to sound like I was ripping the guy, I just never heard of him which is odd if he was involved in personnel decisions for the Eagles.

[CaptainHook]

I was listening to Mike Missanelli on 97.5 The Fanatic in Philly on my way home from work. He said someone from the Indy press called him and asked if he could give some comments of Grigson coming to Indy and Missanelli said "Honestly, I don't know who the guy is". From what everyone in the league seems to be saying the guy is pretty bright and a hell of a talent evaluator. I never meant for it to sound like I was ripping the guy, I just never heard of him which is odd if he was involved in personnel decisions for the Eagles.

I didn't take it as a rip. I'm not sure many people could be naming directors of player personel around the league.