It’s a narrative New York soccer followers shall be aware of.
This one, although, takes place 700 miles to the west.
The Colts don’t lack expertise — however watching them play soccer, many weeks, they appear to lack vitality, enthusiasm, life.
The Week 17 blowout loss to the Giants in MetLife all however cemented what the pundits have been saying because the final days of Andrew Luck: the Colts are listless, and their drawback is tradition.
“There’s no vision,” one nameless veteran participant advised The Athletic. “From the top down — from the front office, to the coaches, to the players — no one is ever on the same page, and every year at the end, we’re sitting here losing.”
If the shedding wasn’t painful sufficient — in a season that started with the proprietor, Jim Irsay, heralding a roster able to “winning playoff games,” the Colts at 7-9, will miss the postseason for the fourth consecutive 12 months — the saga below middle has left an excessive amount of to be desired.
On some Sundays all through his second skilled season, Anthony Richardson has danced and dazzled like Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes.
On different Sundays, the 22-year-old has been completely confined to the bench — has, even, taken himself out as a result of he was, in his phrases, “tired.”
It was an notorious resolution, a humiliation for the ages, an encapsulation of the whole lot ugly inside Indianapolis.
After which it acquired worse.
Head coach Shane Steichen and common supervisor Chris Ballard benched their presumed franchise quarterback in favor of veteran journeyman Joe Flacco.
However Flacco performed sleepy and uninspired soccer, and the Colts have been compelled to return to Richardson simply two video games later.
Below different circumstances, that might be taken as an auspicious signal.
However as Jay Glazer reported on “Fox NFL Sunday,” Indianapolis had supposed to maintain the younger gun benched throughout the season.
Flacco performed such abysmal soccer, although, that the Colts had no selection however to return to their fourth total choice within the 2023 NFL Draft.
All that flip-flopping left a poor impression on followers and a worse impression within the locker room.
“They were trying to hold [Richardson] accountable, which is understandable, but then the guy they put in wasn’t the guy either,” one Colts veteran advised The Athletic. “So when they went back to [Richardson], at that point it’s like, ‘OK, but what are we doing?’ That really affected the team.”
As former Colt Pat McAfee wrote in an prolonged tirade on X, “a blind particular person may see the pink flags on this workforce. Work ethic questions, NEVER occurs on good groups.. Preparation dedication questions, NEVER occurs on good groups.. Late to conferences, NEVER occurs on good groups…
“The franchise QB tapped out of a game.. on 3rd down.. in the red zone.. because he was tired… NEVER HAPPENED in the history of the NFL … Somehow AR thought it was ok to do that. That’s a locker room issue.. that’s a culture issue.. that’s an indicator of a loser attitude radiating thru [sic] a building that was built by greats.”
The loser perspective is pervasive, and attitudes, as New York soccer followers know effectively, stretch from backside to prime and prime to backside.
Even the best buildings have been constructed brick by brick by brick.
That’s how they fall, too.
