Anyone Else Think We Can Come Out of the AFC?

[COLTSFAN12to13]

New England looks weak. Cincinnati is alright, although Dalton always seems to slow down in the playoffs. I think Denver is our only real competetion. 

 

I think we will get to the AFC Conference Game. 

 

Thoughts? 

[CroatianColtsFan21]

Yes.

[sfergson727]

Anything is possible....

[Narcosys]

It's possible. Not as impressed with this team as I was last year. But it's only 3 games so it really means nothing. Our competitors well be new England as always, broncos, Bengals, Chargers, and Ravens.

What I think is amazing is that the Browns are only 2 field goals away from being 3-0. They are up and coming.

[sfergson727]

We'll know more after we face some real competition again.

[Valpo2004]

Possibly. . . A lot of football between now and then and so so much depends on who gets injured.  

[cm43sports]

I'm not in love with our chances if we have to travel to Cincy or New England. Cincy beat us last time like we stole something and very rarely am I confident in any team beating the Patriots at Foxborough (with the Ravens being an exception). I think we can beat the Broncos at Mile High and I like our chances against anyone at home.

[Valpo2004]

It's possible. Not as impressed with this team as I was last year. But it's only 3 games so it really means nothing. Our competitors well be new England as always, broncos, Bengals, Chargers, and Ravens.

What I think is amazing is that the Browns are only 2 field goals away from being 3-0. They are up and coming.

 

And that without Gordon.  If Hoyer can keep them in there, getting Gordon back they might be able to make a late season push.

 

They had a lot of good players though, they just needed some solid QB play.  Hoyer isn't going to light up the stadium but it looks like he can give them some decent play at the QB position.

[BlueShoe]

New England looks weak. Cincinnati is alright, although Dalton always seems to slow down in the playoffs. I think Denver is our only real competetion. 

 

I think we will get to the AFC Conference Game. 

 

Thoughts? 

 

I believe there is a chance that after starting 0-2, we run the table. 

 

If we win a few tough games along the way, then it is possible. 

[NewColtsFan]

Is it possible?     Yes.

 

But is it likely?     No, I don't think so.

[ColtStronger]

IF we play up to expectations, our biggest competitors are Denver and Cincinnati.  I think Cincinatti's division is difficult so we will have a better record in the end if we can win the head to head matchup next month.  Ravens are solid, but I think Cincy is just a little better.  New England has been playing subpar, but don't count that's going to continue the rest of the season.  San Diego can make things interesting but I see them in the category as the Bengals.  I think The Colts could have the #2 seed and have a date with destiny (Peyton) in the AFC Championship game if everything plays out right.

[backshoulderfade]

Cincy are more than alright in my book. Pats will pick up as the season goes on.

[The Old Crow]

The Bengals are very good. The Patriots will be a factor, and look out for the Chargers. The Ravens are improved, but injuries are mounting up. I think Denver will obviously be a factor, but I don't think they are as strong as the last two years. They are getting old, and the window is closing. I don't believe in Pittsburgh at all. The Colts will win the South easily, so yes, they definately have a chance. It's wide open again.

[The Fish]

It's not about what the other teams are doing, it's about what the Colts do. At this time, no, I don't see it. 

Honestly, if the Colts didn't destroy the Bags yesterday, this place would be in a full on meltdown, and people would be wanting to trade Luck, fire everyone and become Seahawk fans. 

[Narcosys]

And that without Gordon. If Hoyer can keep them in there, getting Gordon back they might be able to make a late season push.

They had a lot of good players though, they just needed some solid QB play. Hoyer isn't going to light up the stadium but it looks like he can give them some decent play at the QB position.

Ya i think I called for them to be a 7-9 or 6-10 team and get last but we're going to be a team that was better than their record. That win against the Saints helped them big and Def should have pulled off the Steelers game.

[Bluefire4]

Bengals and Chargers are really impressing me this season.

[Track Guy]

It's funny how quickly the tune of the forum changes after a blow out win compared to the 2 tough loses.

 

I believe we've got a shot, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it with our defense. If I were to draw up a current AFC power rankings snapshot it would look like this:

 

1. Denver

2. San Diego

3. Cincinnati

4. Indianapolis 

5. New England

 

Of course a lot can change between September and January. I see our squad winning the AFC South with a record of 10-6. The offense is close to being absolutely monstrous, but our lack of a run game is holding us back from being quite that. It's just simply really strong, thanks mostly to #12 and a plethora of good (but no great, at the moment) weapons. The defense is really missing Rob Mathis though. We have a pretty solid D-line, especially when Arthur Jones is back, and a pretty solid pair of corners if the stay. The play at safety leaves plenty to be desired and that lack of a pass rushing OLB is a big void that looks like it could be this teams undoing when it comes to making it out of the AFC. But I still wouldn't rule that out entirely, as even unlikely teams can go on a playoff run if the timing is right.

[NewEra]

anything is possible but our goal should be winning the division first.

[HeSoColt]

This is funny to see this thread.

 

Last Monday... the thread that we all saw... "Fire Pep, Pagano, Grigs, Trent...", "Luck is overrated"... etc.. etc...

 

After beating the worst team in football, we can now come out of the AFC.

 

Relax folks... it is week 3.

[ColtsFanMikeC]

New England looks weak. Cincinnati is alright, although Dalton always seems to slow down in the playoffs. I think Denver is our only real competetion. 

 

I think we will get to the AFC Conference Game. 

 

Thoughts? 

 

Cincy is a very good team, they have a top 5 (IMO, top 3) WR in the game in AJ Green, they have a decent set up RBs, a very good OL, and a very, very good D (like maybe the best in the league good).  Denver is Denver, although I think we match up well against them.  Our O  should be much better if we face them again and our D will hopefully have adjusted a bit better to life without Mathis.  The key to beating Denver is to play them in crappy weather or to be able to hit Peyton consistently without sending major blitz packages.  Baltimore has looked tough in the last 2 games, and you can never count NE out with Brady in the mix.  San Diego's legitimate and I think KC will come around again.

 

 

 

It's possible. Not as impressed with this team as I was last year. But it's only 3 games so it really means nothing. Our competitors well be new England as always, broncos, Bengals, Chargers, and Ravens.

What I think is amazing is that the Browns are only 2 field goals away from being 3-0. They are up and coming.

 

The Browns are a decent team, the whole AFC North is actually pretty strong, IMO, so I don't think the Browns will emerge from there.

It's funny how quickly the tune of the forum changes after a blow out win compared to the 2 tough loses.

 

I believe we've got a shot, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it with our defense. If I were to draw up a current AFC power rankings snapshot it would look like this:

 

1. Denver

2. San Diego

3. Cincinnati

4. Indianapolis 

5. New England

 

Of course a lot can change between September and January. I see our squad winning the AFC South with a record of 10-6. The offense is close to being absolutely monstrous, but our lack of a run game is holding us back from being quite that. It's just simply really strong, thanks mostly to #12 and a plethora of good (but no great, at the moment) weapons. The defense is really missing Rob Mathis though. We have a pretty solid D-line, especially when Arthur Jones is back, and a pretty solid pair of corners if the stay. The play at safety leaves plenty to be desired and that lack of a pass rushing OLB is a big void that looks like it could be this teams undoing when it comes to making it out of the AFC. But I still wouldn't rule that out entirely, as even unlikely teams can go on a playoff run if the timing is right.

 

I think I'd have to put Cincy at top the list, and maybe move Baltimore ahead of NE for the 5 spot.  It is kind of odd though, since I think Denver and SD are better teams than NE but I tend to think our team matches up worse against NE.  The key to beating Denver, SD, and NE though (IMO) is rushing the passer.  If we can continue to improve, we should have a good shot against any of them.

 

Our 95 points scored are most in the AFC (15 more than Cincy, 20 more than Denver) and that makes me confident that our offense can put points up.  However, our 78 points allowed is 3rd worst in the AFC.  It is hard to say if that means anything at this point, as Philly and Denver have 2 of the most potent offenses in the league and Jax scored some points against basically our backups.

 

Anyway, if we stay healthy and develop a pass-rush, I think we have a shot to compete without a doubt.

 

We should emerge from the AFC South then there are a lot of factors come playoff time, a huge one being team health of all playoff teams, and another regarding locations of games and weather conditions.  I like our team as we have a balanced offense and should be able to put points on the board regardless of weather conditions or stadium noise.  Our D looked very good for the most part yesterday, but that was against the Jags.  We didn't look as good in weeks 1 and 2 -- those are 2 of the best offenses in the league though, so not looking good against them and looking very good against Jax can probably be cancelled out at this point. Key to beating these better teams is we gotta get pressure on the QB like we were able to do against the Jags (if we sack Peyton 4 times, that is gonna do wonders for our chances to win).

[B~Town]

If we play to our potential anything is possible the sky is the limit but I would like to see a few quality wins before we even talk about winning the AFC . It's a long season a lot of things can happen between now and the playoffs I want to believe we will be in the fight but it's to early to really say .

[Smonroe]

The teams playing in September (including ours) won't be the same teams playing in December.  Injuries will change each team.

 

I'd like to think our O line will get better as they work together more.  I'm still not sure what to make of our S positions, I don't see how it improves.

 

And we all know we're going to have to manufacture the pass rush, which puts more pressure on the DBs.

 

Possible/Probable/Likely - throw a dart at this point.

[BlueCollarColts]

I have said for a while we can come out of the AFC, and i am sticking by it. 

[Stephen]

The Bengals look like the best team in the afc

[shakedownstreet]

all the predictions i brilliantly make come true, so i predict they will continue to do so

[swflacoltsfans]

New England looks weak. Cincinnati is alright, although Dalton always seems to slow down in the playoffs. I think Denver is our only real competetion. 

 

I think we will get to the AFC Conference Game. 

 

Thoughts? 

We don't have a pass rush and without pressure we are going to get picked apart. Brady will make us look foolish.

[pacolts56]

If the youngsters on the O-line stay healthy and our runblocking and run game gels as the season progresses then we can beat anyone.

[ProblChld32]

Yep i dont see why not

[Coltsman1788]

Don't sleep on the Chargers.  Everyone says Luck is next in line after Manning and Brady hangs em up but Philip Rivers might have something to say about that.

 

In my opinion, Colts aren't ready to rep the AFC this year.  But they still have 13 games to show me otherwise.

[Coltsman1788]

It's funny how quickly the tune of the forum changes after a blow out win compared to the 2 tough loses.

 

I believe we've got a shot, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it with our defense. If I were to draw up a current AFC power rankings snapshot it would look like this:

 

1. Denver

2. San Diego

3. Cincinnati

4. Indianapolis 

5. New England

 

Of course a lot can change between September and January. I see our squad winning the AFC South with a record of 10-6. The offense is close to being absolutely monstrous, but our lack of a run game is holding us back from being quite that. It's just simply really strong, thanks mostly to #12 and a plethora of good (but no great, at the moment) weapons. The defense is really missing Rob Mathis though. We have a pretty solid D-line, especially when Arthur Jones is back, and a pretty solid pair of corners if the stay. The play at safety leaves plenty to be desired and that lack of a pass rushing OLB is a big void that looks like it could be this teams undoing when it comes to making it out of the AFC. But I still wouldn't rule that out entirely, as even unlikely teams can go on a playoff run if the timing is right.

Can't put Indy above New England until proven otherwise.  I would have Indy about 5th or 6th in the AFC, might even put the Ravens in front of them as of right now. 

[Dark Superman]

I honestly think next year with a solid draft, good free agency and a break from injuries we will dominate the AFC.

[krunk]

As long as we don't have any major injury issues I feel pretty good about this team as long we improve with the pass rush, and remain productive with the running game.

 

I agree with the competition being Denver, New England, Cincinatti and San Diego.  But I believe you also have to look at the dark horses in Baltimore and Pittsburgh.  It's going to be interesting for sure.

 

I believe we can come out with a W against any of them, but there's some match up issues against Cincinatti that I don't like. However I did feel we could beat them coming away from that game last year.  Game didn't really get out of reach until after that bogus call they gave them on the Green Ellis touchdown on the goal line.  Our D line is much better this year, we didn't have Toler and Davis was nicked up, plus we have way more weapons on offense this year. Also the O line is blocking a lot better.

[peytonmanning18]

If we win the division and get the 3 or 4 seed and end up hosting Pittsburgh or San Diego or someone like that we'll lose in the wildcard round.