Ron Meeks has resigned as Indy’s Defensive Coordinator. Sorry for posting this many, many hours after the story broke, but DZ is on vacation at the beach. Why is this an excuse? Simple. Our parents are visiting with him in Argentina. And since I work for the family business I’m doing their jobs as well as mine this week. </whining>
Here is a brief Q & A consisting purely of my own opinions and conjecture. In other words most of these answers will prove to be dead wrong.
Why did Caldwell make this move? Ron Meeks was Tony Dungy’s man. My guess is Caldwell wants a chance to start fresh with a staff he was comfortable with. This might be a similar situation to Russ Purnell’s dismissal. Remember that Dungy is loyal to a fault (if that’s possible). With Tony gone Polian and Caldwell saw a chance to get rid of the team’s weaker links before moving forward.
Did Meeks deserve to be forced out? I don’t know the inner-workings of the Colts so I can only judge Meeks on the defense’s on-field performance. In 2006, the Defense keyed a Super Bowl run. In 2007 their potential was greatly limited by Dwight Freeney’s injury. 2008 had its own problems. Tyjuan Hagler was supposed to be a starter. So was Ed Johnson and Quinn Pitcock. Marlin Jackson and Gary Brackett sustained huge injuries. As a result they were poor against the run for a long stretch during the season. But they played better as the schedule softened and finished the year as a top-10 scoring defense. They held the second best scoring offense to 17 points in regulation in the playoffs. If they can beef up the DT position one would expect another solid season from the Defense in 2009.
Who will be the new D-Coordinator? My gut says the Colts will hire from within. But honestly I dont know. Meeks’ resignation caught me by surprise so I can’t really predict what will happen next.
What does this mean for Ron Meeks? I think Meeks will find work rather quickly, maybe even as a D-coordinator. He actually has a pretty sexy record to point to, especially when you consider how little the Colts have spent on defense. Indy did pay to keep Freeney and Sanders, but no defense in the league has gotten more out of its players, pound for pound. The number of lower-round and undrafted players on the roster speaks for itself.
What does this mean for the Colts? Hell, I don’t know. Let’s wait to see Caldwell installs as the new DC before getting too excited.
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