So do you feel better about the Colt's divisional chances now?

[JPFolks]

After watching the complete annihilation of the Texans tonight by the Patriots, and realizing that with a win this week at worst we'll be 1 game behind in our division after a 0-2 start, I wonder if anyone is feeling a little better about at least winning our division.  Sure, it's not anything to be too excited about, as we look like the same old AFC South, but it was the first chance I had to see this supposed Juggernaut Houston offense and as bad as we have played the Patriots, I don't believe we ever got whooped that badly, shut out by a 3rd team rookie QB making his first start with 4 days notice.  

 

Of course, for the pessimists out there, there's plenty to talk about as well, such as New England winning their 5th Super Bowl with Tom Brady which sure looks more likely than not at this time.  They are simply better coached (and drafted) than anyone else.  They had their second best player Gronk only playing a handful of plays and several other key starters out in addition to Brady and currently have the best record in Football.  The NFC looks down this year (I mean, Seattle, Arizona, Green Bay, Carolina all look worse than last year and the Viking lost their starting QB AND their HOF Running Back but still might be the best team in the NFC. Cincy and Pittsburgh in the AFC looked discombobulated at times, but I expect both to fight it out for a first round bye in the end but New England sure looks like a huge favorite and even something like losing their starting (or in their case their first 2 QB's) didn't seem to phase them at all.  

 

Yeah, I know, it's only week 2.... but New England had to put everyone on alert in the league that an angry Brady coming back against Cleveland is just going to be hoping on an already rollin' train.  If we can win the next 5 games (all should be winnable) we may be able to compete with everyone once we get our guys back each week over that stretch and be ready for a much tougher final 9 games.  San Diego may be the toughest game in that stretch and historically we play awful against them, but I feel much better seeing Houston humiliated and their confidence sunk.   

 

What do you guys think? 

[zibby43]

High-quality (not to mention very reasonable) post.

 

I agree that there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic.  I'm anxious to see how the Colts' defense performs once it becomes fully healthy.  Anderson, Davis, Green and Geathers will make the defense a much better tackling one.   P. Robinson is still an unknown quantity at this point.  I have a feeling that Farley will make an impact on defense, albeit in a reserve role, by the end of the season.  The arrow is pointing up on that kid and it speaks volumes that he was retained over Guy. 

 

Still worried about the pass rush and our LBs in coverage.

 

It seems that a lot of teams in the league are going smaller, faster, and more athletic on defense (something the Colts used to be in the Polian, 4-3, Tampa 2 days), whereas the Colts are stuck with bigger, heavier, and less athletic personnel (a line of thinking that has already fallen out of favor in the NFL with the league becoming one dominated by elite WRs and pass-catching RBs).

 

Size is great on the DL, and Anderson is plenty athletic, but the LBs are slow and lumbering.  And we are still desperately lacking explosive pass rushers that can play with burst and good lean.

 

Finally . . . I'm sold on Will Fuller.  But I'm not sold on Brock Osweiler. 

[2006Coltsbestever]

If we beat the Chargers I will feel pretty good about things. Our Division is better but nobody is a powerhouse and we can beat all 3 teams because we have the better QB. 9-7 at this point could win it. Even 8-8 actually.

[ColtsBTM12]

When I first looked at our schedule when it was released, I quickly thought to myself that we needed to get off to a fast start (5-2 or better) within the first 7 games because they are all winnable and like you said the final 9 are much tougher. These next few games will be huge and I truly believe they will define our season. Even with the division up for grabs, if we don't get hot right now I just don't see us making the playoffs because things get much tougher past week 7. We can't afford to be 3-4 or worse going into a stretch of games that includes KC, GB, Pit, NY, and Minn.

[HungarianColtsFan]

1 hour ago, JPFolks said:

After watching the complete annihilation of the Texans tonight by the Patriots, and realizing that with a win this week at worst we'll be 1 game behind in our division after a 0-2 start, I wonder if anyone is feeling a little better about at least winning our division.  Sure, it's not anything to be too excited about, as we look like the same old AFC South, but it was the first chance I had to see this supposed Juggernaut Houston offense and as bad as we have played the Patriots, I don't believe we ever got whooped that badly, shut out by a 3rd team rookie QB making his first start with 4 days notice.  

 

Of course, for the pessimists out there, there's plenty to talk about as well, such as New England winning their 5th Super Bowl with Tom Brady which sure looks more likely than not at this time.  They are simply better coached (and drafted) than anyone else.  They had their second best player Gronk only playing a handful of plays and several other key starters out in addition to Brady and currently have the best record in Football.  The NFC looks down this year (I mean, Seattle, Arizona, Green Bay, Carolina all look worse than last year and the Viking lost their starting QB AND their HOF Running Back but still might be the best team in the NFC. Cincy and Pittsburgh in the AFC looked discombobulated at times, but I expect both to fight it out for a first round bye in the end but New England sure looks like a huge favorite and even something like losing their starting (or in their case their first 2 QB's) didn't seem to phase them at all.  

 

Yeah, I know, it's only week 2.... but New England had to put everyone on alert in the league that an angry Brady coming back against Cleveland is just going to be hoping on an already rollin' train.  If we can win the next 5 games (all should be winnable) we may be able to compete with everyone once we get our guys back each week over that stretch and be ready for a much tougher final 9 games.  San Diego may be the toughest game in that stretch and historically we play awful against them, but I feel much better seeing Houston humiliated and their confidence sunk.   

 

What do you guys think? 

 

 

IMO Texans were a way over hyped prior to regular season. Now it has turned out they are nothing special. I think AFCS is still at our hands, but we need to shape up and show up on both sides of the ball. I do believe we have a good chance for winning our division. 

[JPFolks]

Just now, HungarianColtsFan said:

 

 

IMO Texans were a way over hyped prior to regular season. Now it has turned out they are nothing special. I think AFCS is still at our hands, but we need to shape up and show up on both sides of the ball. I do believe we have a good chance for winning our division. 

We've loved our visits to Hungary!  Are you in Budapest? 

 

And I agree.. the biggest overhype was Jacksonville... we need to take them out in London and send them to 0-4.  

[HungarianColtsFan]

Just now, JPFolks said:

We've loved our visits to Hungary!  Are you in Budapest? 

 

And I agree.. the biggest overhype was Jacksonville... we need to take them out in London and send them to 0-4.  

 

No, I'm living 120 miles south to Budapest, but we may move there (or to the suburban area) because of work reasons. Glad that you had a great time here!!

 

I didn't get that hype over those teams. 1 season without Luck and experts are writing us off. Unfortunately I can't manage to see the game in London, however it was in my plans. Still on my bucket list. 

 

 

[superrep1967]

3 hours ago, JPFolks said:

After watching the complete annihilation of the Texans tonight by the Patriots, and realizing that with a win this week at worst we'll be 1 game behind in our division after a 0-2 start, I wonder if anyone is feeling a little better about at least winning our division.  Sure, it's not anything to be too excited about, as we look like the same old AFC South, but it was the first chance I had to see this supposed Juggernaut Houston offense and as bad as we have played the Patriots, I don't believe we ever got whooped that badly, shut out by a 3rd team rookie QB making his first start with 4 days notice.  

 

Of course, for the pessimists out there, there's plenty to talk about as well, such as New England winning their 5th Super Bowl with Tom Brady which sure looks more likely than not at this time.  They are simply better coached (and drafted) than anyone else.  They had their second best player Gronk only playing a handful of plays and several other key starters out in addition to Brady and currently have the best record in Football.  The NFC looks down this year (I mean, Seattle, Arizona, Green Bay, Carolina all look worse than last year and the Viking lost their starting QB AND their HOF Running Back but still might be the best team in the NFC. Cincy and Pittsburgh in the AFC looked discombobulated at times, but I expect both to fight it out for a first round bye in the end but New England sure looks like a huge favorite and even something like losing their starting (or in their case their first 2 QB's) didn't seem to phase them at all.  

 

Yeah, I know, it's only week 2.... but New England had to put everyone on alert in the league that an angry Brady coming back against Cleveland is just going to be hoping on an already rollin' train.  If we can win the next 5 games (all should be winnable) we may be able to compete with everyone once we get our guys back each week over that stretch and be ready for a much tougher final 9 games.  San Diego may be the toughest game in that stretch and historically we play awful against them, but I feel much better seeing Houston humiliated and their confidence sunk.   

 

What do you guys think? 

We just got to win a game first. 

[superrep1967]

2 hours ago, HungarianColtsFan said:

 

No, I'm living 120 miles south to Budapest, but we may move there (or to the suburban area) because of work reasons. Glad that you had a great time here!!

 

I didn't get that hype over those teams. 1 season without Luck and experts are writing us off. Unfortunately I can't manage to see the game in London, however it was in my plans. Still on my bucket list. 

 

 

So I guess you can get Colts games there right? Can you watch on your TV or just internet?

[superrep1967]

2 hours ago, JPFolks said:

We've loved our visits to Hungary!  Are you in Budapest? 

 

And I agree.. the biggest overhype was Jacksonville... we need to take them out in London and send them to 0-4.  

I was never worried about Jacksonville believe me. 

[HungarianColtsFan]

13 minutes ago, superrep1967 said:

So I guess you can get Colts games there right? Can you watch on your TV or just internet?

 

Cca. 80 NFL games are televized each season (1 MNF, 1 SNF, TNF and sometimes 1 from 1:00PM games plus the whole PO and obviously the SB), so if a Colts' game is televised, I'm happy. Besides that I can watch Colts on Internet.

 

[SilentHill]

IT felt weird rooting for the Patriots, but it was well worth it, we needed that win last night, and we need the win on Sunday, part 1 of 2 completed, if we win Sunday i'll feel so much better about this season.

[GoDeep]

2 hours ago, HungarianColtsFan said:

 

No, I'm living 120 miles south to Budapest, but we may move there (or to the suburban area) because of work reasons. Glad that you had a great time here!!

 

I didn't get that hype over those teams. 1 season without Luck and experts are writing us off. Unfortunately I can't manage to see the game in London, however it was in my plans. Still on my bucket list. 

 

 

I spent some time in Budapest...almost 20 years ago.  LOVED IT!

[GoDeep]

Wow...Osweiler is trash.  The Texans spent a gajillion dollars on a back up QB...LOL!

[HungarianColtsFan]

2 minutes ago, GoDeep said:

I spent some time in Budapest...almost 20 years ago.  LOVED IT!

 

I'm obviously biased, but Hungary is a great place, and Budapest has developed a lot in past few years.

[HungarianColtsFan]

1 minute ago, GoDeep said:

Wow...Osweiler is trash.  The Texans spent a gajillion dollars on a back up QB...LOL!

 

And all the talking heads said that Texans are set now. They have an elite D, all they needed is a QB, what they have now. 

[GoDeep]

Just now, HungarianColtsFan said:

 

And all the talking heads said that Texans are set now. They have an elite D, all they needed is a QB, what they have now. 

Same old Texans.  Should have stuck with or reacquired Fitz.  Good D-line though.  Still gotta produce against the 3rd string QB.  The AFCS just became interesting again! 

[JColts72]

The same as beginning of the season, not the greatest, hope for at least a Wild Card, but that may be a stretch of go 0 and 3. Really need to win next 3 games.

[HungarianColtsFan]

Just now, GoDeep said:

Same old Texans.  Should have stuck with or reacquired Fitz.  Good D-line though.  Still gotta produce against the 3rd string QB.  The AFCS just became interesting again! 

 

I think AFCS is wide open, and division winner isn't as obvious as many thought. If our D gets healthy and makes plays we may grab it again.

[Bravo]

Sometimes I feel like we worry about other teams in the division too much. We shouldn't hope for the other teams to be bad just so the Colts can win. We should worry about the Colts getting better and actually winning a game. The rest of the division doesn't matter if the Colts continue to get out coached and out played every game. I usually try and be positive but the Colts have shown nothing that says they can squeeze into the playoffs or win the division. 

 

If the Colts played the Patriots instead of the Texans the result would have been the exact same, maybe worse. The Texans actually have a defense.

 

Thanks to good coaching though, the Patriots had a great game plan going into the game and it was obvious that they had the advantage.

 

I do however agree that once everyone one the defense is healthy for the Colts, (If that's even possible at this point) then the Colts could possibly turn things around. They have to prove it first. 

[Defjamz26]

We aren't really ones to be laughing at people getting destroyed by the Patriots. Regardless of who was playing QB. We know too well what the Texans went through.

 

I will say I'm not sold on Osweiler though. So far he's thrown an INT every game. If our DBs are healthy then we can go 2-0 against them for sure. I'm more worried about the Titans tbh because that tandem of Murray and Henry is legit. But let's not count Houston out though. They avenged their playoff loss to the Chiefs by returning the favor.

[HungarianColtsFan]

10 minutes ago, Defjamz26 said:

We aren't really ones to be laughing at people getting destroyed by the Patriots. Regardless of who was playing QB. We know too well what the Texans went through.

 

I will say I'm not sold on Osweiler though. So far he's thrown an INT every game. If our DBs are healthy then we can go 2-0 against them for sure. I'm more worried about the Titans tbh because that tandem of Murray and Henry is legit. But let's not count Houston out though. They avenged their playoff loss to the Chiefs by returning the favor.

 

We're not laughing at them. They just received such hype...some (in fact quite a lot) people here (I mean in Hungary) thought here they'll beat the Pats. Now we saw that they aren't that good.

[krunk]

Houston is a good football team. They just ran into a team that has a long history of knowing how to win games under a variety of circumstance. Thought their game plan was bad and so was their execution of it. You wont ever beat that team New England playing sloppy football. Too many turnovers.

 

One thing I've noted with Osweiler is he has to have a pretty clean pocket to be real effective. Doesnt do that well working under duress or if you get him on the move.

[deedub75]

It doesn't make me feel better that the Patriots dismantled the Texans.  That's pretty much what they do to almost every team.  That doesn't mean that the Texans are a bad team either.  It only helps the Colts because the Texans didn't go 3-0.  

[TDewar1987]

To be honest, I think Jacksonville has a better chance than Houston does. Yeah, Houston has a good defense, but after last nights performance by Osweiler, the big question mark I had on him in the off season just got bigger. The Colts just gotta get healthy on defense, which they should have some of their starters back for Sunday's game, and they will be right back on track. If only a few things went different during the Broncos and Lions games, we would be sitting at 2-0 right now not worrying about our division lol.

[CoachLite]

Our chances? Sorry, no. Houston is similar to the Colts in this regard: They were out-coached. Conservative, risk averse play-calling isn't a successful strategy against a better strategist. It is a vote of "no confidence" against their own team, and the team (Texans) started to believe it (just like the Colts).

[jskinnz]

It was a bit odd to be hoping for a Pats win in order to give the Colts' a better chance at the division.  But for me to truly feel better about their chances they just need to get a W on Sunday.  I think they will.

 

 

[1959Colts]

First we got to win a game.

[myic90]

No it doesn't make me feel better at all. 

 

I felt sick and frustrated watching the patriots be so damn good. Now THAT was a well-coached team. 

 

I will say this: These 2-3 games by them in my eyes have dropped Brady 1 spot in the GOAT QB ranking in my eyes. Belichick has risen to the best coach of all time spot imo. He's clearly what makes the patriots great.

 

I fear for our division. It's going to come down to Texans and Colts but as a division we are still the worst. We better beat the chargers.

[Jim H.]

In the midst of watching some of last night's game, I realized it's not the Patriots I despise...it's Brady.

[krunk]

All I'm worried about right now is beating San Diego.  I'm not worried about Houston. Colts are a lot more mentally tough than them.  We can play with and beat pretty much anybody with our starters back in place.  It's very early in the season so we can make a good run of this.  Defense wise we just need to continue to shore up the tackling.  We made a lot of good strides from week one to week two in that regard and I expect it to get better and better now that our talent is returning.  Should also be able to tighten up the coverage and from that hopefully we can get home a little more often with the blitz/passrush. 

 

Overall I'm expecting quite a bit of improvement from the D.  I have faith in Monachino and believe he's a really good teacher.   Offensively speaking I see running plays that are blocked good enough for the back to gain yardage, but we are not gaining enough yardage.  Need to continue to emphasize improvement in the run game and that will make us a complete offense.  From there I think the sky is the limit.  I do believe we can make a run of this.  Got to take care of Sunday though!  That's the first priority......

[MacDee1975]

Doesn't really matter.  Whomever wins this sorry division is still nowhere near the conference elite and will get smashed in the playoffs anyways.

 

I also have no clue why anyone thinks anything other than Rivers carving up this garbage secondary will happen this weekend, either.

[MacDee1975]

2 hours ago, GoDeep said:

Wow...Osweiler is trash.  The Texans spent a gajillion dollars on a back up QB...LOL!

 

He's not trash, but he certainly isn't good.  There's a reason that a championship organization was willing to let him walk.

 

Many of us pointed out that Hoyer was a superior qb to Osweiller last year, and that they would be worse off at this position this year.  Which they are.

[Catloaf]

1 hour ago, HungarianColtsFan said:

 

We're not laughing at them. They just received such hype...some (in fact quite a lot) people here (I mean in Hungary) thought here they'll beat the Pats. Now we saw that they aren't that good.

Sadly we were the pinnacle of overhype last season, and got decimated by the Jags and the Saints (which I won't ever forget because I went to that game and had to then drive four hours back to Chicago to work the next morning).  Lots of people were laughing at us (Colts) too

[MacDee1975]

6 hours ago, JPFolks said:

After watching the complete annihilation of the Texans tonight by the Patriots, and realizing that with a win this week at worst we'll be 1 game behind in our division after a 0-2 start, I wonder if anyone is feeling a little better about at least winning our division.  Sure, it's not anything to be too excited about, as we look like the same old AFC South, but it was the first chance I had to see this supposed Juggernaut Houston offense and as bad as we have played the Patriots, I don't believe we ever got whooped that badly, shut out by a 3rd team rookie QB making his first start with 4 days notice.  

 

Of course, for the pessimists out there, there's plenty to talk about as well, such as New England winning their 5th Super Bowl with Tom Brady which sure looks more likely than not at this time.  They are simply better coached (and drafted) than anyone else.  They had their second best player Gronk only playing a handful of plays and several other key starters out in addition to Brady and currently have the best record in Football.  The NFC looks down this year (I mean, Seattle, Arizona, Green Bay, Carolina all look worse than last year and the Viking lost their starting QB AND their HOF Running Back but still might be the best team in the NFC. Cincy and Pittsburgh in the AFC looked discombobulated at times, but I expect both to fight it out for a first round bye in the end but New England sure looks like a huge favorite and even something like losing their starting (or in their case their first 2 QB's) didn't seem to phase them at all.  

 

Yeah, I know, it's only week 2.... but New England had to put everyone on alert in the league that an angry Brady coming back against Cleveland is just going to be hoping on an already rollin' train.  If we can win the next 5 games (all should be winnable) we may be able to compete with everyone once we get our guys back each week over that stretch and be ready for a much tougher final 9 games.  San Diego may be the toughest game in that stretch and historically we play awful against them, but I feel much better seeing Houston humiliated and their confidence sunk.   

 

What do you guys think? 

 

Who said this?  The only position of strength for them on offense is possibly WR, and this was known before the season began.  Brock Osweiller at QB?  Lamar Miller at RB?  Ryan Griffin at TE?  lol....those are hardly the players that a juggernaut offense would be made of.  Couple that with their below average OL.

 

Their offense has scored 3 TD's in 12 quarters.  It's about as bad as I expected it to be.

[Gavin]

Beat San Diego and get better than they did last week then Ill be happy. Have to improve each and every week

[BullsColtsFan1]

I think if the Colts get some of their defensive play makers back that they have a real good chance of turning this season around.  It starts Sunday VS the Chargers, they have to win that one.  It seems like the Chargers always have the Colts number.  I also don't feel better about the Colts chances strictly because the Texans laid an egg last night against a good Pats team.  The Colts have laid eggs before too(last year vs Jax, 2013 vs St. Louis and Arizona), it happens.  Houston still has a very good defense and plenty of play makers on offense, the question mark is the QB.   I don't think the Titans are going to an easy out either. 

[Gramz]

26 minutes ago, Jim H. said:

In the midst of watching some of last night's game, I realized it's not the Patriots I despise...it's Brady.

   because he's gotten too much credit..??  Or is there another reason?  

 

btw, I'm right there with you.

[Gramz]

Watching last night's game doesn't change my opinion of the Colts and their chances.  Unlike alot of others here, I had not, and have not given up on our team. 

 

  It did however reaffirm my opinion that Osweiller is overrated, and  Houston made a big mistake paying him the big $$$$$$

[chad72]

We need the shot-in-the-arm win vs SD, period.

 

I don't think many 0-3 teams have made the playoffs. 0-2 teams however have made the playoffs and some even won the SB.