ColtsSpeak: Paul Craig

The latest conversation is with Indianapolis Colts fan Paul Craig, 46, of Pataskala, Ohio. Originally from Pendleton, Ind., he’s been a Colts fan since 1988. He shares his views in a question-and-answer chat with AllColts.com editor Phillip B. Wilson.

PhilB: Your thoughts on the Indianapolis Colts’ NFL draft?

Paul: I actually was thinking about this. I wouldn’t call myself a casual fan. I’m really interested in the team. I follow the team every day. I’ve got like three or four Colts sites that I go and get on, so I’m constantly watching. The draft is like this thing with all this expectation and hope for the future. I was impressed. I guess I don’t know how I feel about the quarterback situation because the quarterback is so important. But if they didn’t feel like somebody was really available to go back into the first round and get him, I didn’t want to see them over-spend or reach for somebody that may not be the answer. That’s the reality of the NFL. You reach, and you set yourself back for years to come. The second round, when they went with Michael Pittman Jr., that’s a pick where they needed a good, big receiver for years and that guy kind of fits the bill. I don’t know a lot about him because I didn’t really watch a lot of USC football. Being an Ohio guy, I follow the Buckeyes and Notre Dame and a few other teams, but I don’t follow college football on a big scale. As far as the rest of it, the running back Jonathan Taylor was awesome. I love that. I was disappointed maybe that J.K. Dobbins didn’t get the pick because he’s an Ohio State guy. But at the same time, there’s kind of a caveat to that. I’m a little disappointed with all the Buckeyes guys that have come out and the Colts have picked and they haven’t turned out. Which, you know that, because you’re an Ohio State guy, too.

PhilB: Yeah, I hate to write that Malik Hooker didn’t deserve his fifth-year option or that Tyquan Lewis has to show something this year or he’s done. I hate defending Parris Campbell, people thinking he’s brittle. I saw all of those guys excel at Ohio State. They were great.

Paul: This is one of the things I was thinking about as a fan, because of the amount of time I’ve been a fan, I kind of consider myself an old, nostalgia guy. Mike Doss (of Ohio State) was a guy I loved, but he really wasn’t that great of a safety in the NFL. He was just so-so. He didn’t stick around. All the guys that come through, I don’t know what it is. That part is frustrating. I like the depth the Colts have created, with all the players that they can come up with throughout the draft. The funny part is, these guys, I don’t even know who they are. I’ve never even heard of most of them. I’m more about the potential. I read about them after the Colts draft them and what they’re made of. I was very happy with the draft. Overall, I’ve been very pleased with the team, how management has done picking players, and guys like Darius Leonard who have come on and are blowing it up. I guess I’m kind of a passive fan. I really like to sit back and watch. I don’t get into the analysis of it. I’m not like a stats guy. I don’t really watch the stats stuff. What they do on the field and how they perform and when they come up in big moments, that’s my thing for watching football in general and watching and following the Colts.

PhilB: Gotcha. Any other thoughts on other offseason moves?

Paul: Obviously everybody is talking about the DeForest Buckner trade. That’s the kind of splash move they’ve never really done. I think for fans who have been around for a while haven’t seen the Colts make a lot of big, offseason moves. But that was a big, offseason move. I was just reading a little bit ago about (San Francisco’s) Nick Bosa talking about the loss (Buckner) will be for them and trying to replace him on their D-line. He was talking about leadership and all of those things that you can’t really put stats to because they’re not statistical things, they’re intangibles. It was interesting to hear Bosa saying that. He’s a new and young guy. He said he was going to miss him because Buckner was also a friend. That’s a big deal. I’m trying to think of the other one. Tight end was a need. I know they want to do more tight end stuff.

PhilB: They signed Trey Burton.

Paul: Yeah, the Chicago tight end. I didn’t clarify, then I jumped to the whole Philip Rivers thing.

PhilB: I ask everybody about Rivers. What do you think of Philip Rivers, Paul?

Paul: Oh my gosh, Phil, listen, I have tons of friends in Indiana because that’s where I’m from, graduated there, all of the people I went to high school with are constantly floating stuff. When they started floating the idea of Philip Rivers to Indianapolis, it made me sick a little bit. I want to like the guy, but all I can think of is all the awful stuff he did to us for years. It’s painful, but at the same time, they had to do something. I’m disappointed that Jacoby Brissett didn’t seem to me to have, I don’t know, there was just something missing and you can’t find that. It’s something you either have or you don’t. So the Philip Rivers thing is kind of a bitter pill that I guess I have to swallow because I’m going to watch, but I’m not necessarily going to like it unless he does amazing things. That would be my response, I guess.

PhilB: You still remember Rivers barking up at the stands at fans?

Paul: Aww, yeah. The thing is, here’s the funny part, he did that when he was at N.C. State. He did that when he came to Ohio State, running his mouth, and then they lost. You probably remember that, too?

PhilB: Yeah, he threw for a ton of yards and it was a high-scoring game.

Paul: Yep, but he still lost and he was running his mouth. I don’t know, it’s not my kind of guy. I don’t like those kinds of people, like Baker Mayfield up in Cleveland. He’s the same kind of guy. But I digress.

PhilB: I’ve learned a little about Rivers. I talked to a buddy in L.A. who knows him and says Rivers is the ultimate team guy, fights for his teammates, doesn’t take crap from anybody, and all that trash talk on the field or with fans is good-natured. He never swears because he’s devout and doesn’t want to set the wrong example. I wrote a story that included a quote from an NFL cornerback who said Rivers’ trash talk is funny and harmless.

Paul: I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I can still remember the Colts’ playoff loss at San Diego in 2009. I’ve never seen the (overtime) touchdown that Darren Sproles scores. I’ve never seen it because when it happened, when I saw him turn the corner, I got up and turned the TV off. I was so mad, I was so angry. To this day, I’ve never seen it. I’ve never watched a video of it. It made me so angry at the time, it makes me angry thinking about it.

PhilB: I was there.

Paul: I really do hope that Rivers can bring some of the juice that he has and it can turn into a good season. I don’t know what I think about this team in terms of the Super Bowl. I think they can make the playoffs. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. If they can stay healthy and they have those breaks go their way. Super Bowl? I don’t know. Anything is possible. But Rivers is a good move for a year, and then I guess we’ll see what happens down the road from there.

PhilB: So you like how the season is trending. They had to reboot after Andrew Luck retired. I think they’re going in the right direction. I could be wrong, but I think so.

Paul: I feel that way, too. I feel pretty positive about where they’re going. Listen, I really like coach Frank Reich and GM Chris Ballard. I like how they’re thinking. The running back pick of Taylor and pairing him with Marlon Mack this year with that offensive line, it’s exciting to think about, what they can be. They haven’t been that for the last couple of years. They’ve started to go that direction, being a little more old school. It’s exciting to think about where they could be at the end of this upcoming season.

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