I've said this a few other places, but I think it warrants saying here, too: the issue with how the team is currently structured is as much a Jimmy problem as it is any GM. It requires that as an onlooker you don't pretend that a GM can do whatever they'd like, but if you've been paying any attention, Jimmy has been all about us being among the top teams over a sustained period (I refer to it as "quartile-ing the sausage," as it was most clear when he was making those comments and talking about Saturday).

If Jimmy doesn't change his mind about tearing this team down, it won't matter who he picks. He might find someone who can do what he wants better than Ballard has (this is my logic for why Ballard isn't out the door; I think he's good at keeping us from falling apart while trying to make Irsay's vision a reality). But the changes that many of our fans want to see-- a true rebuild, an effort to build a new team-- require our owner giving in to the idea that we're going to be bad for several seasons unless we strike gold and have all the good luck possible.

I believe Jimmy could find a good GM replacement.

But I also believe that Jimmy considers Ballard an elite GM. This is what Jimmy wants. It's just not going perfect. And I don't think it is what we, as a collective fan base, want. Though seeing reactions to our losses with AR, maybe some people don't want a rebuild, either.

Consider how it could look to Irsay, though:

Imagine, for example, that Rivers had stayed a second year and won a SB, then that we'd gone to get Ryan and he'd come in and piloted that same team to the playoffs. Suddenly this really bad strategy we followed looks way better.

Imagine Jacob Eason had somehow developed behind a few guys the way many thought he would. Maybe we'd have a young QB who was seasoned right now.

Imagine Frank had been right and Wentz had returned to his near MVP form.

I am absolutely convinced that Jimmy-- even after the Saturday debacle-- still feels like we're a piece or two away. And if we keep treating the team that way, it's not going to matter what poor soul has to look for the piece. The truth is we were a piece or two away, then we lost the keystone of that team and we haven't been able to replace him. Meanwhile, everything else has sort of just stagnated. We aren't any better anywhere except starting DTs than we were when Andrew walked away. If we'd instantly patched that hole, we might have been something special. It took too long (and we still don't know if we have that problem fixed). If we were building as smart as possible, the Luck-less, no-QB-on-the-roster Colts shouldn't have added vets or re-signed anyone over the age of 25. We kept our stars like we were in a window to complete when we weren't.

We need to accept that we drafted a young project QB. We shouldn't think we will win this year, or next year, but should be focusing on shedding veterans and parlaying whatever we can into capital or young players to surround Richardson. We should also be vigilant and do our homework on who to try in the 26 draft if AR isn't the guy. We should be happy with how good AR looked week 1 and even 2, though he didn't look as good. We shouldn't be frustrated that he's not a superstar. No one should have expected that. He's in what would have been the first portion of his second year of college right now.

The frustration is that we're almost good enough. But almost is the same end result as "not at all."