Quick Hits: Scott Milanovich Talks Colts Coaching Staff with 'So Many Talented Guys'
The Indianapolis Colts have had a unique offseason in terms of new faces inside the coaching staff.
They added six new coaches after several of their own were hired off to new roles with other teams.
One of those new faces is quarterbacks coach Scott Milanovich, who gets the task of teaming up with head coach Frank Reich, offensive coordinator Marcus Brady, and senior offensive assistant Press Taylor in getting the most out of the Colts' quarterback room.
Milanovich spoke to reporters recently for the first time since joining the Colts' staff.
Here are the quick hits.
It was a little bit of everything that went wrong for Carson Wentz in 2020: Milanovich will be working directly with new Colts quarterback Carson Wentz, who they acquired through trade with the Philadelphia Eagles this offseason. Wentz is coming off of the worst season of his career.
Well, I mean there are a lot of factors, really. You get into protection, you get into technique, you get into the injuries that they had – speaking obviously in 2020. The four years prior to that, things were just different for him in terms of all those things I just mentioned. He was probably a little technically better and they were probably a little better in all the positions as well.
Milanovich has previous experience with Brady, who has been with the Colts since 2018: Milanovich and Brady spent several years together up north in the Canadian Football League in a coach-player and coach-coach relationship, and are now reunited in Indianapolis.
Marcus played for us. First, I coached Marcus when I was under Coach (Marc) Trestman. He was our backup quarterback. He started some games, our starter got hurt. He’s really a brilliant guy, just thinks through everything, very competitive in terms of just hates to lose, hates to be wrong (laughing). He’s going to do everything he can to not let that happen.
When he first became a coach, I think his first two years we won the Grey Cup. It went pretty well for him from the start. I like the way he thinks of quarterback play because I spent so much time with him, and I think we think similarly about what it takes. I just had no doubt that first of all he’s a worker. Number two, he’s really bright. Number three, he played the position and I knew personality wise he’d be a fit for NFL talent.
The Colts' coaching staff is uniquely large (but also quite experienced) for what Milanovich has previously worked with: Milanovich has worked in NFL Europe, the CFL, and NFL as a coach since 2003, but this Colts coaching staff is different.
I don’t know if I’ve ever worked with a staff that is this large. When I was coaching in Canada, I always had a – never consciously, but I always seemed to hire a lot of former quarterbacks so I’m assuming some of that is kind of what naturally happened here with Frank. It’s just a great staff.
I haven’t had a chance to spend a ton of time with the defensive staff, but from an offensive perspective, you have so many talented guys. I mean Mike Groh, Press, Scottie Montgomery who’s been a head coach, Klayton (Adams) and (Chris) Strausser. It’s just a really well built, solid staff with guys that have come from different places that have different opinions that see things maybe a little differently and that’s a good thing. Where you can figure out what works the best and get to the bottom of it quickly.
Milanovich has a lot to learn about Wentz, but having Reich and Taylor around will be a great help: Wentz may be new to Milanovich, but Reich and Taylor have a combined seven years of working with Wentz.
Honestly, I think that will be a work in progress as I get to know him. From other than what I see on film, just working with him – what is he like in individual? What concepts does he like? What throws does he like? What drops? All those things will take me a little bit of time that hopefully Frank and Press have an idea on now, but I don’t really have a straight-up answer for that until I get to know the player a little bit better...
Like I just said, I have a learning process still to do with the player but Frank will certainly have less of one. I’m sure he already knows things he doesn’t like and if there is something he doesn’t like, it probably just won’t be in the playbook. Those are things that can sometimes take weeks or half a season, which I’d be surprised if it took that in our instance because of that history.
Does Milanovich seem like a good hire for the Colts, and can he get the most out of Wentz? Drop your thoughts below in the comment section!
