Go Inside The Colts' First Virtual Team Meeting Of The Season

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"Become the best at getting better."


The Colts in 2019 started off hot, defeating the Denver Broncos, 15-13, to enter Week 9 at 5-2 and atop the AFC South Division standings.


But by Dec. 29, the team had ended its season with a 38-20 road loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, capping off a 2-7 finish to the year that resulted in a disappointing 7-9 final record.


But the Colts never hung their heads; never gave up. And while the team's "get one percent better every day" and "1-0 mentality" mantras never went away, a new charge was created.


"We said when we introduced this phrase, at least I felt like we had something; this is a phrase that we can hang our hats on, that can carry over into this year, and that was this: 'Become the best at getting better,'" Reich told the team. "So that's kind of the same way to say, 'One percent, 1-0.' Not that we're losing that — we still got that — but just another way to say that, 'Become the best at getting better.' That's the toughness. And during this time, men, we've gotta be tough. It's gotta be on display. It's gotta be self-motivation. You gotta want it."


This new phrase also plays into an increase in healthy "friction" that Reich and Ballard have said they wanted to see out of their players in 2020.


"One thing about our locker room, and I talked with our locker room a lot about this the other day, we have good guys. We really do. And that's an emphasis for us. Guys that'll fight, fight for each other, play for each other," Ballard said Jan. 2 in his end-of-season press conference. "Look, the team runs it. It does. They run it. Coaches, we're going to give you direction, we're going to give you where you need to go, but the locker room, we're going to go as they go. And there's got to be a little more friction within it and pure accountability, and they have to be willing to challenge each other. They do, to an extent. They practice hard, but there's got to be a little bit more challenging aspect to each other, that when things aren't going right, when things aren't getting done the right way, they've got to be able to challenge each other to do it the right way."


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