OT: How Are You Doing With The Shut Down?

[Boltnut]

How did I miss that game? Looks fun. WWII amateur historian.

Lots of fun! But block out a weekend...

[Xenos]

Also been catching up on Peter King's FMIA during this time. Reading about the behind the scene stuff is almost as exciting as the draft. Sometimes more so depending on how exciting or disappointing our draft turns out lol.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...ia-peter-king/

Chris Ballard, general manager
Working from his home basement in Westfield, Ind.
“They’ll make a 30 For 30 on this draft one day.”

Ballard does not have a soundproof basement. When he’s watching tape of prospects there, he can hear the rhythm of the house, and of his wife and five kids (ages 10 to 17) and three dogs living life, and of baseballs pounding into gloves in the backyard. One recent afternoon three weeks before the NFL draft, with the weight of a franchise on his shoulders, Ballard took an hour to play catch with his baseball-loving sons—Cole, 15, and Cash, 12—in the backyard. “It’s the most time consecutively I’ve ever been home at this time of year,” Ballard said. “And to be with my boys, or to see my daughters Summer and Reign playing soccer out front, has been so good. I mean, really, really good.” Colts GM Chris Ballard, working at home and with his family at dinner. (NBC Sports/Courtesy of the Colts)

As for the job, much of the draft board work was done in February, when Colts scouts met for 17 days to dissect the prospects. Now it’s fine-tuning time, with info the coaches and scouts have learned through follow-up calls and virtual visits with players. Ballard hosts scouting meetings several times a week by video conference. Last Thursday, from 1-2:30 p.m., 19 scouts and coaches met via Zoom to discuss defensive tackles, with Ballard and assistant GM Ed Dodds hosting. Each scout and relevant coach sent in comments on the players to Ballard and Dodds, and the debating began. It’s helped that, on Zoom, Ballard can pull up a few plays that everyone can see. “We had some pretty intense discussions about two guys,” Ballard said Friday. “We dug into the character of a couple guys and moved them down. It wasn’t all that hard, compared to being in the same room. We ended up moving seven guys either up or down in that meeting.”

Ballard had to spend two half-days last week with his staff trying to figure where they might draft if the league allows a number of decision-makers on each team to gather in one spot outside the club’s facility. Otherwise, his days are mostly the same, give or take a backyard baseball break: up at 6:15 a.m., shower, downstairs to begin tape-watching or virtual meetings, lunch around noon, more tape, Peloton for 45 minutes at 5, dinner with the family (“a lot of talk about what’s going on in the world”), back downstairs for more tape by 7:15 “until I can’t watch anymore.” He might catch up on the news for a few minutes, or watch some of the “Lonesome Dove” series. He’s in bed between 10:30 and 11.

“We’ll be prepared for anything on draft weekend, and we’ll have our work done,” Ballard said. “All 32 teams will play by the same rules, so that’s fine with us.”

[Hadl2Alworth]

Also been catching up on Peter King's FMIA during this time. Reading about the behind the scene stuff is almost as exciting as the draft. Sometimes more so depending on how exciting or disappointing our draft turns out lol.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/04/06/nfl-draft-combined-telecast-colts-fmia-peter-king/

Thank you for posting that. Makes me happier!