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The Indianapolis Colts have their new coach for the rest of the 2022 NFL season. The Colts announced on November 7 that ESPN analyst Jeff Saturday will serve as interim head coach for the Colts the rest of the season.
The fallout from that decision will continue to occur over the next couple days and even weeks. But one thing is clear — it’s going to be awkward with Saturday turning from analyst to head coach in such a small span.
As recently as October 30, Saturday ripped the Las Vegas Raiders for badly they looked against the New Orleans Saints.
The Raiders will be the first opponent Saturday faces as an NFL head coach.
Colts Make ‘Stunning Move’ to Hire Saturday as Interim Head Coach
As if firing a head coach in the middle of the season doesn’t make enough headlines, the Colts made history with naming Saturday as Frank Reich’s successor.
Not only does Saturday not have any previous NFL coaching experienced, he’s never coached a down at the college level either. The highest level of football he has coached at is high school from 2017-20.
With the hire, Saturday became the NFL head coach with no previous professional or college coaching experience since Norm Van Brocklin in 1961.
The Colts fired offensive coordinator Marcus Brady on November 1, and Reich was the team’s play caller. There aren’t any coaches left on Indianapolis’ staff who have experience building an offense at the professional level.
Just a week ago, Saturday was more concerned with who to insert into his fantasy lineup rather than designing plays for Sam Ehlinger and the Colts offense.
Jeff Saturday’s Role With Colts During Final Months of 2022 Season
Apparently previous coaching experience or the ability to fix the problems the Colts offense experiencing wasn’t a high priority for Colts owner Jim Irsay.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that as much as a new head coach, Saturday will be a consultant to help Irsay learn what’s going on within his organization.
“There’s so much going on here with the Colts, and it’s not just who’s going to fix this offense,” Rapoport said. “You watch them against the Patriots, hard to imagine anyone fixing anything that is happening on the field this year.
“There’s also the thought of owner Jim Irsay needing to know what is going on with his organization. The fact that he is very close with Jeff Saturday, the fact that Saturday clearly does not mind speaking his mind and telling Irsay what is going on inside his building, he’s going to have that added advantage now of having an outsider like Saturday come in, take a look at his building, deal with the players, deal with the coaches, deal with the personnel staff and take a hard look at things and report back to Irsay and say ‘Here’s what’s really going on’
“If nothing else, this could be a productive several months for the Indianapolis Colts.”
Rapoport added that the team will “presumably” try to win the rest of their games, but he also said that it’s going to be difficult for a team without an offensive coordinator or play caller who is also starting a quarterback with two career starts.
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