Hold Off On Ruling Jeff Saturday Out

As of this writing, the Indianapolis Colts have not selected a coach. As I read and listen to the sports pundits, I hear something rarely heard in the sports world – unanimity. Jeff Saturday must go. Owner Jim Irsay would be committing franchise suicide should he drop the interim title from Saturday’s coaching resume and hire him for the gig going forward.

I’m not kidding. The opinions being offered are in lockstep.

Saturday. Must. Go.

They are wrong.

Not sure whether this missive is more of an indictment of the sports media community or a pitch for Saturday. But there are several key factors you aren’t hearing much about.

First and foremost is that the folks in sports media often get it wrong. Look, my career started in sports. I still recall a conversation I had with a coach more than 40 years ago. The season was over and I asked if we could sit down and talk – off the record. I used that opportunity to ask what I could have done better and what I need to improve on going forward.

This was no spring chicken. He said in all his years, no sports writer had ever asked. He said players did all the time, but no one from the other side of the notebook. So we sat there for a while and he offered his observations – some critical, some not so much. But I remember the biggest thing he told me – know the job. Know the difference between a 4-3 and a 3-4 defense. Know what a box-and-one Know when a bunt is called for. Understand what NCAA rules mean for the sport you are covering. And on and on.

It seems a lot of folks are missing that point on interim coaches. Let’s look at some facts. First, Saturday inherited a mess. The Colts started the season with a tie and a loss . . . to the worst two teams in the AFC South. But Coach Frank Reich rallied the troops and they won three of their next four.

And then the roof caved in.

The Colts lost three straight and the season was basically over.

Owner Jim Irsay pulled the plug and did the unthinkable – he brought in Jeff Saturday. Never before had someone without big-time coaching experience been hired to lead an NFL team. Former Pittsburgh Coach Bill Cowher called the decision to hire Saturday a “travesty” and “disgrace.” Newspaper, radio and Internet reports ripped the hire as well.

Until the Colts won the first game Saturday coached, a 25-20 victory at Las Vegas.

Until the Colts lost a one-point hearbreaker against the best team in the NFL, Philadelphia, a team coming in with only one loss.

All of a sudden we were hearing, hey, maybe the hire wasn’t so bad.

Once more, the roof caved in.

The Colts lost the next seven in a row, several in unbelievable and embarrassing fashion, and Saturday is once again the dumbest hire in the history of football . . . according to the media.

Poppycock.

There are a few important factors being left out.

First, there was little opportunity for anyone to win with the Colts the last half of the season. The quarterback merry-go-round was already out of control before Saturday was hired. Not long after he started Jonathan Taylor, the reigning NFL leading rusher from a year ago, was hurt and lost for the season.

Think about that for a second – a revolving door of mediocrity at QB and the best offensive player gone. And the losses were Saturday’s fault?

Let’s also not forget a big reason the QB situation was so bad – the offensive line was so soft the girls flag football team could have made mincemeat out of them.

No QB, no leading rusher, a porous offensive line . . . not to mention a depleted coaching staff . . . and Vince Lombardi would have been hard-pressed to win a game with what was left.

That same coach I mentioned earlier once told me that a coach can only work with the talent he has on hand. His words? “You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken . . . “ Well, let’s just leave it at that.

Saturday had piles and piles of it. Yet did we ever hear him use that for an excuse? Nope. Did we ever hear any excuses at all? Nope.

Here’s what we do know.

• Jeff Saturday’s leadership with the NFLPA was often cited as the main factor in ending the NFL lockout in 2011. The owners and players were settling in for what could have been a long work stoppage and under Saturday’s leadership a new contract was hammered out. And Mr. Cowher, I don’t think it was a disgrace to union officials everywhere that Saturday had no experience in that job either.
• There’s little doubt and plenty of evidence that the offensive line improved while Saturday was there.
• We know that the running back replacements coached by Saturday did a phenomenal job replacing the injured Taylor.
• We know that the offense – which only scored above 24 points once in the first nine games under Reich – scored more than that three times in the final eight. With backup upon backup at QB, Saturday’s offense showed a 25 percent increase in scoring.

What could any coach do with those limitations? What could any coach do who didn’t have a training camp and off-season OTAs to work with? What could any coach do without key offensive coaches? Very little. But know this. It is important to note that Saturday did do something: he made what he had better.

Did it show up as wins? Absolutely not. And we all know that in sports – especially pro sports – the bottom line is the bottom line. The Saturday-led Colts did not win. The sports media, in typical short-sighted fashion, seems to forget that no one else would have either.

Despite what they are overlooking, here’s hoping a guy who has been a leader, a straight-shooter and an achiever gets the chance to see what he can do when given all the tools and a full season. Stay tuned.

Two cents, which is about how much Timmons said his columns are worth, appears periodically in The Times. Timmons is the chief executive officer of Sagamore News Media, the company that owns The Noblesville Times. He is also a proud Noblesville High School graduate and can be contacted at ttimmons@thetimes24-7.com.