ColtsSpeak: Zachary LaFavers

PhilB: We’re a few days away from the Colts reporting to the facility for training camp, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind today when asked about the Colts?

Zachary: My biggest concern, it’s been at the forefront of my mind since we signed quarterback Philip Rivers, is what’s going to happen. Two seasons ago, Philip Rivers came off his best statistical year as a quarterback for the Chargers at 37 years of age. This last season, he came off his worst statistical year as a quarterback. Coming back with (Colts head coach) Frank Reich and working together with him, we saw probably the best years of Philip Rivers as a quarterback when Frank Reich was his quarterback coach and eventual offensive coordinator, back in the Chargers days with LaDainian Tomlinson, Antonio Gates, and Norv Turner as head coach. I’m really excited to see what Philip Rivers can do and to actually see how he handles this roster. We haven’t really seen the team together yet on camera. Usually, we can get a glimpse of how the team is going to behave out there on the field for training camp by now. We’ve seen how the leaders have kind of stepped up. I’m really interested to see how Philip Rivers handles this roster, and if he can kind of influence this roster the way Jacoby Brissett did. I think what gave Brissett a tremendous amount of success was the attention he had with the roster and all the veterans. Being the young quarterback he is, he had more influence than Andrew Luck did on that roster, just because of the amount respect he garnered from some of these guys, the rookies all the way to the veterans. That’s probably one of the most important things I want to see going into training camp. If we don’t have a quarterback who can handle the roster and can get the respect from the roster, which I don’t think Philip Rivers will have a problem doing that, but it’s just how quickly can we do that and how quickly can we get back into the groove of things and be an actual Super Bowl contender, for which I think we are if everything goes as it’s supposed to.

PhilB: I could be wrong on this, but in today’s game, I don’t think you can win the Super Bowl without a really good quarterback. San Francisco almost did it last year, but a great quarterback gives you the best chance. I know Colts fans are probably 50-50 on Rivers. The fans I’ve talked to, most are hopeful. Some have trouble liking him, but he’s definitely one of the hot buttons for the offseason, wouldn’t you say?

Zachary: It’s a matter of I think everybody is still in shock from Andrew Luck’s retirement. Andrew Luck left so abruptly, so suddenly, people are still processing it. Nothing against Jacoby Brissett, had he know faced the injury he faced in Week 7, we were on track to be one of the hottest teams in the AFC. We came off a win before entering the bye week with a win against Kansas City in Kansas City. It was sort of a revenge game from the previous year, losing to them in the playoffs. We were one of the hottest teams and I think Jacoby Brissett did a great job. I got a chance to see him a couple of times. Probably the most memorable game was Denver, when he escaped that sack in the end zone and chucked a 27-yard pass to T.Y. Hilton. It was one of those things where I said, ‘OK, this guy is legit. He’s not just your average quarterback. He’s a guy who can move around in the pocket, he’s a guy who can throw it deep when necessary, he’s not too nervous. He’s not the type of guy like (Chicago Bears quarterback) Mitch Trubisky, who just slings it around. I think Brissett is very controlled in his throwing, I think he’s very smart in his progression. Hopefully, maybe Philip Rivers just spends a year with us, and we make a deep run in the playoffs, we have a great season and accomplish a lot of things, and hopefully, we get to the Super Bowl and potentially win it. I hope we have a good season with Philip Rivers. If he spends just one season with us, I won’t be too heartbroken about it. I would appreciate whatever success he allowed us to have as a team. I think every year, everybody hopes to have the best chance to win and most success they can have as a franchise. If we have a 12-4 season, I’ll count that as a win, Super Bowl or no Super Bowl. Hopefully, Jacoby Brissett learned a few things, being under a veteran quarterback, having a whole year to kind of rehab that knee and get that knee to 100 percent, and them come back to a starting role. Or maybe we’ll look to the draft or (rookie) Jacob Eason. A lot of things can happen. I’m excited about this year because we’re going to see a team without a quarterback who was like Peyton Manning. It’s something we haven’t seen in decades. We’re going to see a brand-new team we haven’t seen in decades in the Colts this year.

PhilB: What other offseason moves jumped out at you, maybe the DeForest Buckner trade or the NFL draft?

Zachary: Oh my goodness, that was the biggest one. DeForest Buckner is one of those guys you can’t classify him as a power rusher on the inside, but you definitely can’t count him out as a speed rusher on the inside. He’s one of those guys who is so versatile. The way we saw him in San Francisco, the 49ers ran a 4-3 scheme. With (Colts defensive coordinator) Matt Eberflus, as smart as he is and as creative as he is on defense, I love the 4-3. I missed the Tony Dungy days. I dreaded seeing our defense go into a 3-4 hybrid. I was so disappointed when in the first couple of years (head coach) Chuck Pagano took over, we saw a decline in productivity from Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis, partly due to age, but I still think if we were in a 4-3 system with Freeney and Mathis, we definitely would have had more success on the line of scrimmage getting to the quarterback and having a better pass rush than those first four years with Chuck Pagano. It’s definitely something that’s going to bring back some youth and some energy to our defensive line, something we haven’t seen in a very long time. Having Justin Houston come back, DeForest Buckner on the line, having Kemoko Turay move up now that Jabaal Sheard has stepped aside. I always thought we needed a J.J. Watt. With DeForest Buckner, I think we got one.

PhilB: What did you think about the draft?

Zachary: Next to the Ravens, we had one of the most successful drafts. You could consider taking out the first round, which technically our first-round pick was DeForest Buckner, I’ll take that. That’s not a bad first-rounder right there. If you look at the draft and how we utilized our second-round picks, all together it made up a successful draft but also reinforced my idea that (general manager) Chris Ballard, in Ballard we trust. Chris Ballard is one of the greatest GMs the Colts have ever had, since Bill Polian of course. Give Chris Ballard a couple of more years. Look back and see what he did in Kansas City. Technically, he built that team. All the players that are there, Travis Kelce, Eric Berry, all the players who were high-powered players, Chris Ballard brought in. He built the roster, then he stepped aside and moved over here to Indianapolis. He didn’t get to take credit for the Chiefs’ Super Bowl win (last postseason), but I definitely give that Super Bowl win to ownership and (head coach) Andy Reid, but Chris Ballard has got to get some credit there, for as long as he was there and as long as he built that team, that’s partly because of him. I just hope we can Chris Ballard enough time and enough freedom to do what he wishes with this roster and make a Super Bowl-caliber team that could potentially be one of the AFC powerhouses for years to come. It’s definitely ours for the taking. Tom Brady moved over to Tampa Bay. The Patriots are a big question mark with Cam Newton. The AFC is up for grabs now. We’ve got to battle with the Bills. I still think we’ve got to battle with the Texans with (quarterback) Deshaun Watson. And of course, we’ve got to battle with the Chiefs. It’s ours to lose, as far as our division, and it’s up for grabs when you look at the entire conference.

PhilB: I believe in Ballard as well. He’s been very impressive. And unlike Polian, he’s great to deal with. He doesn’t get defensive when you ask him questions and he tries to be as transparent as possible. I like that about him. You’ve talked about what you think the team could do this season. How worried are you about this season in general, if the NFL can pull it off?

Zachary: I watch a lot of (retired Colts punter) Pat McAfee’s show and get a lot of my information, a lot of the news and analysis from his show and the experts he brings in, who are there talking to owners and talking with commissioner Roger Goodell and getting up-to-date information on what the NFL and NFLPA are talking about. When we talk about the regular season, our biggest hope is that we don’t just have a plan to get the regular season going but that we have a sufficient plan which prevents players from contracting Coronavirus, and then seeing them not be able to play for a week or two weeks or three weeks for as long as they are quarantined or recovering. The biggest thing, I think we’ve seen that the MLB and NHL have shown us there are enough tests, you can commit to testing at that level. I don’t think that’s the biggest problem. The biggest problem is player safety, and how are we going to create what the NBA has created, which is considered a bubble, of not allowing their players to leave that bubble and not let anything considered a foreign agent come into that bubble that could potentially contaminate it. I think the NBA has done a great job. The way they have their system set up, it still can be a profitable business. I think the NFL wants that to happen without jeopardizing player safety and also adding to what is already a worsening global pandemic and public safety hazard. The biggest concern for me is whether I’ll be able to go see a game. If I don’t get to go see a game and I can still watch all 17 weeks on TV, I’m totally fine with that, if that’s something we have to give up just for this season. I held off on buying my season tickets and I held off on buying any tickets, just because there was a big question mark there. I didn’t want to go invest in the season and come to find out I can’t use any of my tickets. Of course, they would reimburse me or give me some for the next season. But looking at the here and now, I really want to see what Philip Rivers can do in person. If it’s something we have to give up, stadium access, or even half-capacity access, I’m totally willing to do that. I think player safety is paramount. If we can maintain the player safety, I think we can maintain a positive outcome and a complete season. It’s about getting through the whole season and that comes down to players as safe as possible playing this sport.”

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