'This is the Situation': Colts React to Wild Week

There was obviously quite a bit to discuss between the media and the Colts' players and coaches this week. Here is what players and coaches had to say.

The Indianapolis Colts took drastic measures to attempt to restore their season this week after a 3-5-1 start, firing head coach Frank Reich and bringing in former Colts Pro Bowl Jeff Saturday from the outside as the interim. Saturday has yet to coach at the professional or even college level.

They then promoted assistant quarterbacks coach Parks Frazier to offensive play-caller despite not yet calling plays in a game setting. All of this after recently benching quarterback Matt Ryan for Sam Ehlinger, who had yet to play in a game, trading beloved running back Nyheim Hines, and firing offensive coordinator Marcus Brady.

This amount of change in a small amount of time in the middle of the season — and some of the changes themselves — are unprecedented.

There was obviously quite a bit to discuss between the media and the Colts' players and coaches this week. Here are the highlights.

© Jenna Watson/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK

QB Matt Ryan

On his thoughts on the week:

“Anytime there’s a move made, it’s difficult. I’ve gone through it a couple of times throughout my career. In-season is always extra difficult just because the show moves on and it moves on quickly. I have a tremendous, like you guys know, a tremendous amount of respect for Frank and who he is as a coach, who he is as a person, and ultimately, I think all players feel disappointed because you’re not getting the job done. Wish him the best. Was able to talk to him Monday afternoon to just tell him those things, but it’s hard. It’s disappointing but as players, as somebody who’s gone through it, you try and emphasize, ‘Hey we’ve got to get back to work because we’re playing Sunday.’ As a team, we’ve got to go out there and try and perform the best we can.”

On Saturday becoming the interim head coach rather than an internal candidate:

“For sure. I’m not sure if it’s unprecedented or not so if it had been done or not done before, I think everybody was surprised for sure. I happen to have known Jeff from before from his playing days and just in seeing him in different passing situations. Listen, I know he cares about this place. That is evident. He knows football. It’s a lot and I completely understand that, that he’s got a lot on his plate and just a lot of moving parts. So, it is. It was surprising for sure but I’ve learned as life goes on, there’s a lot of surprising things that happen that you have to handle the situations that are in front of you and that’s where we’re at. I thought Jeff did a good job of that this morning, of kind of saying the same thing. This is the situation and it’s about what we choose to do with it.”

Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

QB Sam Ehlinger

On how bizarre the week has been, and when he found out about Reich's firing:

“We found out all as a team together. Chris (Ballard) came in on Monday morning and informed us. It’s been a hectic week and there’s a lot of moving parts. But we’re all pros and we’re paid to do these jobs so we just have to control what we can control and do our job.”

On his reaction to finding out Saturday would be the interim head coach:

“Honestly like I’ve told you guys, I have no idea – this league it’s very surprising and over the past few weeks, everything that has happened – nobody has been expecting anything that has happened. I didn’t know who was going to be the head coach and that was completely out of my control. I was working out, I heard and I was fired up because it’s a great opportunity to move forward and get behind Jeff and finish the season strong.”

On hearing from Saturday:

“He’s a genuine guy. He’s been in the locker room before and obviously had a very successful career. He knows what it’s like to play here and to play on this team. He has a great approach. He’s a great human being. He’s a great leader and he was very transparent and honest with us. I’m looking forward to getting to know him.”

On how Saturday can gain the trust of the team:

“I think just like anybody else – consistency, time. That’s what he’s made of and that’s the type of person that he is and I think he’ll do a great job of that.”

On having three different offensive coordinators over the last three weeks:

“I think it comes down, for me, just having a process at the line of scrimmage and having non-negotiable items that go into playing the position. Eliminating emotion, eliminating anything that doesn’t help me get the play, call the play, and execute the play at a high level. That’s just what I have to focus on.”

On his relationship with Frazier:

“Parks has been amazing since I’ve gotten here. He’s kind of been, when I was drafted, he was the guy that taught me the offense. We have been very close since then and I’m really fired up for his opportunity.”

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

RB Jonathan Taylor

On his first impression of Saturday:

“I love his energy. You can tell he truly cares about this organization. Obviously being here for so long, he just cares about not only the people in here, but the organization as a whole and he wants this organization to succeed. Being able to feel that from the first meeting, it says a lot. Of course, out on the practice field, you can tell he has passion and he wants us to continue to work every day to get better.”

Parris Campbell on Frank Reich's firing:

"It hurt me personally to see him lose his job. I feel someway responsible. Not only me but as a team. Because the product on the field is why you lose or keep a job. I get emotional talking about it because Frank was my guy."

— Nate Atkins (@NateAtkins_) November 9, 2022

© Jenna Watson/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK

LB Shaquille Leonard

On how the week has been:

“It’s a challenging week, but luckily for the past five years we’ve been here, Coach Frank has done a great job of teaching us how to face adversity and teaching us how to face it head on, no excuses. I think that what makes this, not going to say an easier process, but gives you more confidence that we’re able to withstand any adversity that’s faced before us. Just holding the guys accountable and just making sure that they understand that the show doesn’t stop. We have eight more games, and we still can find a way to hopefully get into the dance.”

On his first impressions of Saturday:

“His energy. He has great energy. For a guy, especially me, who brings a lot of energy. For him to come in with as much energy that he has and holding guys accountable and then you go out to practice and see what pace he wants everybody at – it’s amazing, especially for a former player. He understands the player side, coach side so it’s great to kind of have that. I’m definitely looking forward to it. It’s amazing to have someone who’s such a great spirited guy as Coach Saturday. I’m looking forward to it.”

On how much responsibility the players shoulder for how things have transpired:

“At the top. I feel like as leaders you have to for one, hold yourself accountable before you can hold somebody else accountable. It’s all about not making any excuses. I think there are a lot of excuses throughout this year and you’ve got to have the uncomfortable conversations with teammates, coaches, or whatever it may be to get to the ultimate goal and that’s to win. Let them know that we want the best and I want to win. That’s my main thing, I want to win by any means necessary. If I have to step on toes to do that, then that’s what I have to do. We as leaders on this team, we have to step up. We have to hold each position group accountable to be better and hopefully we on Sunday show that.”

© Robert Scheer/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK

C Ryan Kelly

On his reaction to hearing about Reich's firing.

“It was hard. Obviously, the first time I met him was downtown at an event and I thought he was an awesome guy. Still do. He’s just a man of faith and he’s helped me a lot with the challenges that I’ve had with our family and you’re just sad to see him go because he’s a great guy. Unfortunately, this is the first time it’s happened to me during the year. So, that’s a new one for me. So, just wish him the best of luck and love the guy to death.”

On his first impressions of Saturday:

“Thought he was great. Obviously that’s a tough position to be in and he knows some of the linemen, but outside of that, don’t really know anybody on the team. So, to come in and I guess the question is, what would you say? I think obviously, he’s earned the respect that everybody’s given him. He did it the right way in this league for a long time. So, that was kind of the message. We’re going to go out there, we’re going to win, do things the right way. Give you guys everything I have to hopefully be successful out there on Sunday and to play for this Horseshoe and play the right way. I thought he did a great job and looking forward to it.”

On whether he gathered that Saturday understood the odd situation and that he'd have to earn the team's trust:

“Yeah. He addressed it in the right way. He didn’t just come in and automatically demand respect and everybody know who he is and his message. He did it the right way and that comes obviously with the territory of being in this league this long and time. You can easily smell out (expletive) when you smell it. He did a great job and obviously having an O-line background, it’s awesome to have him up there and you know, his message was obviously to empower the coaches and inspire all of us to go out there and play and he did a great job of that.”

On if the firing puts a chip on the team's shoulder for the remainder of the season:

“Of course. No one thinks we can do anything. It’s a head coach who hadn’t been here previous to that. New offensive coordinator, all the cards stacked against you right, but we know what we have in the locker room and go out there and prove to each other that no one’s quitting on this team. Ultimately you’re playing for your name and playing for the Horseshoe and to finish the right way.”

Quenton Nelson took Frank Reich's firing very hard.

"Love him as a coach and person, and appreciate everything he’s done the Colts and my success. A lot of that is because of him ... I feel like there’s times this seasons I let down coach Frank, and contributed to his firing."

— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) November 9, 2022

[Bob Self/Florida Times-Union]

DC Gus Bradley

On what he remembers about being in a similar situation last year with the Las Vegas Raiders when Jon Gruden was fired as head coach and Rich Bisaccia was named the interim, and how the staff held things together:

“I think that every year there’s a team – each team in the league goes through challenging times. Three or four a year and the team that handles those crisis-type situations the best are usually effective. When you go through challenging times and tough times during the season, it kind of hardens you and you want to be a hardened team by the time you’re in November when you really kind of have to lean on that. Sometimes those challenging times harden you and I think looking back at the Raiders, I think that’s what took place. It kind of hardened the team, all the adversity that they went through. They were a talented team and they just came together. It was almost like, ‘Hey, you’re down by seven.’ ‘That’s nothing like what we’ve gone through. Let’s keep going.’ Our team here has the same mentality. There’s been some challenging times that this team has experienced and it has hardened them. It has hardened them. So, it's a hardened team that your hope is, you just go play consistently on all sides of the ball, special teams included. Then, you take those experiences and hopefully you build that mindset to when situations like this occur, that you overcome them.”

On if he thought he'd be offered the interim role and what his reaction was to hearing it would be Saturday.

“No, I didn’t think that. I think it’s just because Frank means a great deal to me. In the short time we’ve been together, very grateful for him. He taught me multiple things in a short period of time. Not only leadership but just the discussions we had offensively and defensively. We have grown because of our discussions. So, I think when it took place, your heart was heavy because of that. Not really, ‘Now what’s going to take place?’ I think it all kind of stung us for a day or so. Then it was Jeff Saturday. Jeff didn’t do anything wrong. He’s coming into a situation where he’s excited and I think then after kind of going through it, then it became, you know what? We’re excited for him. He’s coming in here and he’s going to have some new ideas and new ways of doing things and you’re kind of excited to see that part of it and see how it changes and how we adjust to it. Your emotions go more in that phase than thinking about, should I have been it? I don’t know. Just like we talked about last week, you just keep going. Our focus is on trying to make sure everything we do, we help our players get better. Sometimes it’s not just scheme. Sometimes it’s just battling through a situation like this.”

On why he didn't think he'd be offered the interim role:

“Well, I can say last year, the same type of situation occurred. At the Raiders, they decided to go with Rich Bisaccia. The cool thing about that was, Rich is a leader of men, he was great, but the advantage of that was he was the special teams coach. So he knew offensively, defensively, he knew every player and they knew how he was going to be in the room. So, there was no transition. It wasn’t like, ‘Hey, the offensive players know him but the defensive players don’t. How is he going to be? I have to build a relationship with them guy.’ Well, they already had one. He was the special teams coordinator. That part of it was always – that was probably an asset in that situation. Well, this year we chose to go with Jeff Saturday, who’s a guy that’s coming in, that really no one has in-depth knowledge about what he is. Because of his involvement with the organization, he’s been around and a lot of guys do know him. Know him for what’s brought to Indianapolis, what he’s brought to the Colts, how he was as a player. So, I feel like the players really have a good understanding of who he is and what he’s all about, and his mindset. It’s not like someone they don’t know or never heard of. He’s been a big, important part of this organization. So that part, they’re hanging their hats on. He came into the team meeting, I give him credit. That’s a tough situation – to come into a team meeting and address the team and Jeff loves Frank. Here some players are wondering what’s going on and in my personal opinion, I thought he was outstanding. It wasn’t a lengthy meeting. It was to the point but you could feel his enthusiasm, you could feel his strength and I thought he did a great job with it. I think the players drew to him immediately.”

On what he knows about Frazier:

“Parks has been very good. It’s funny because we have some young defensive coaches on our staff, Mike Mitchell and Cato June. Mike Mitchell came up to me during training camp and said, ‘Wow, is Parks impressive. Some day if I ever get a head coaching job, Gus, I’m going to hire Parks Frazier.’ It was kind of like that kind of a comment. I’ve had multiple talks with Parks about two-minute or situations and he’s just very sharp, very sharp. A really, really good handle on offense and defense. We have constant conversations about that, how he sees it. I’m excited for Parks, I really am. I think he’s going to have his opportunity and he’ll grow in the position. He’s really sharp, he understands the game and now it’s just his first opportunity.”

On how things have been difficult on the offensive staff recently:

“Yeah but it’s a good offensive staff. There’s a lot of strengths. Scottie Montgomery, he’s been a head coach and he provides great strength – Reggie Wayne. So, those guys have already – you kind of rally in situations like that and guys pick up the extra duties. I’m not with them on a day-to-day basis, we’re kind of in our own room game planning and things. I would imagine knowing all their personalities, they all just pick it up and they go. Limited egos, I do know that about the personalities on offense. So, it doesn’t surprise me that they’ve all just kind of rolled up their sleeves and done extra and are getting it done.”

© Matt Kryger/IndyStar

OPC Parks Frazier

On it being a busy week:

“Been a busy week. Yeah, it has been. Haven’t seen sunlight – this window right here aside from practices, the first time I’ve seen sunlight. But that’s what we sign up for. It’s been a busy week. Obviously, a tough week in a lot of ways, mixed emotions. You guys know how I feel about Frank Reich, about Marcus Brady. We’ve been through a lot of things in the last couple weeks, but on the flipside, an opportunity has been presented that I’m ready to take by the horns and go with. Like I said, mixed emotions but I’m ready for the opportunity.”

On why he thinks Saturday picked him as the play-caller:

“I can’t really get into all that. I just know how I prepared. I know where my mindset is. I know that we have a staff that I love and appreciate. These guys have stepped up to the plate and they’re already helping me so much. We have so many guys with such good experience. I think a lot of it was those guys have roles. Me stepping into this role allows everybody else to keep their same roles and a lot of those processes stay in place, which I think is a big part of it. For me, I’m confident in my abilities. I’m never going to say that I have all the answers because I don’t think anybody has all the answers and this is what I told the guys, ‘I’m going to work my tail off though to find them.’ That’s all that I can do, is say I’m going to give you my best. That’s what I bring to the table.”

On how many times he's thought before about calling a game:

“Yeah, I think being brought up in football – the mentality of football players is next man up, right? So, when you’re playing the game you constantly go through and think ‘I’ve got to be ready to go even though it’s not my time.’ I think in coaching that’s kind of been my approach. Whatever role I was in – when I was Frank’s assistant, I was taking the approach to the job as if, ‘If I’m a head coach, what would I do?’ When I’m the assistant quarterbacks coach I’m watching Marcus and I’m watching Scott (Milanovich), ‘What would I do if I was in this position?’ Now, having worked closely with the play-caller obviously the last couple years – really, everything that I do I’m saying, ‘How do I want to do it?’ I think that’s a part of growth. I think when you take the approach of doing that, then I think that you’re learning. Obviously, you don’t get that experience of doing it, but when you take the approach of ‘How would I do it,’ and you put yourself in that position, it gives you the ability to be ready.”

On never calling plays before:

“Not in a game. We’ve had walk-thrus that I’ve been able to call, split-field walk-thrus. I’ve gotten the opportunity to call some stuff in practice before. But obviously, nothing like a game, but excited for the opportunity.”

On how he will (or will not) be aggressive compared to Reich:

“Aggressive, but in my own way. Aggressive can look a lot of different ways, right? You can run the ball and be aggressive in your own way. I don’t want to get into any details obviously competitively, but I’m still an aggressive thinker in the way that I think. I think that on the attack is our mission as an offense and that doesn’t change. But that can look different in a lot of different ways.”

On getting Ehlinger confident with this being his third coordinator in as many weeks:

“I think that you play to his strengths and then you do things to try and help him. Again, don’t want to go into all of the details for the reasons that I’ve spoken to before. I think you just try and get him in rhythm early. You want to try and get him in rhythm, get him confidence early. That way he can get into the game, get a feel for the game and as you get into that flow, now you’re in your subconscious thought. You’re not thinking about what’s going on. You’re just kind of feeling it and really executing. That’s what we want to find our identity in, is execution.”

On any conversations he's had with Reich since being named play-caller:

“Yeah. We’ve texted. We have not talked yet. My head has been down – you guys know the hours that I’ve put in and this week has been up there with some of the most. Back to the old in a lot of ways, which is great. I embrace that. At the end of the day, we have a job to do and that’s what we’re going to do. We have texted. He’s been extremely supportive as he always has been. I look up to him in so many ways as you guys know. He’s a mentor, a friend, and always will be. We’ve texted. He’s given me his support, given me a couple pointers on things that as a first-time play-caller, emotions that you might feel, things to remember – things like that. We have texted but I have not talked on the phone with him.”

The Colts face the Las Vegas Raiders on the road at Allegiant Stadium this Sunday at 4:05pm ET.

---

Follow Jake on Twitter and Facebook @JakeArthurNFL. Follow Horseshoe Huddle on Facebook and Twitter.