[Is it an indictment on the Colts that......]

In terms of Peyton only getting to 2 Super Bowls with the Colts, keep in mind the following.  Manning came here in 1998.  The Colts became elite in 2003.  From there, it goes like this in the postseason:

2003: Lost to the Super Bowl winner (NE) 

2004: Lost to the Super Bowl winner (NE)

2005: Lost to the Super Bowl winner (Pit)

2006: Won the Super Bowl

2007, 2008: Lost to San Diego (who did not go to the Super Bowl)

2009: Lost the Super Bowl

2010: Lost to the Jets (who did not go to the Super Bowl)

 

In terms of not getting to the Super Bowl, it was really only the 2005 and 2007 seasons where we should have done better.

[Is it an indictment on the Colts that......]

The Colts front office showed they still don't get it when they drafted a WR (Dorsett) in the first round last year.  Even if they thought Dorsett was the best overall pick at the time, it doesn't matter.  Need to pick OL and DL for every single pick and hope that the round 1 and 2 picks are good, and that a later round pick surprises.

[The Case for Peyton (vs. Brady)]

Kenny,

   11 of the 15 games were in regular season (7 at NE, 4 at Ind).  4 were in playoffs (2 at NE, 2 at Ind).

 

I don't know how the schedule makers decide who gets the home game when they play each other.

 

Denver will play NE next year again since they both won their divisions this year.  I'm not sure there is a way to know where that game will be prior to the schedule coming out.  It's easy to know which 16 games will be on any team's schedule next year, but I've never figured out how to know which games will be at home and which games will be away.

[The Case for Peyton (vs. Brady)]

Yehoodi - in my analysis, I didn't analyze the defense other than mention that the Patriots had an extremely good defense back when NE really started the rivalry (2003 and 2004).  My guess would be that the Patriots had a better defense than the Colts in MOST seasons dating back to 2001.  I suppose though that you would counter that by saying the Colts had the better offense though.  

 

In the end, my post was to make the point that Brady's 10-5 is not all it's cracked up to be.  That home field advantage is huge, as I think is evidenced by the facts in the post.  15 games head to head, and only 5 won by the visiting team.  

 

In the end, they are both great QBs, and this rivalry has been pretty unbelievable.  Both Colts and Patriots fans have been rewarded with an amazing amount of joy (and heartbreak).    

[The Case for Peyton (vs. Brady)]

We always hear about how Brady is better than Manning going head to head.  Well, I think that is all misguided.  Let's look at some facts:

 

(1) Head to head in playoffs: Manning 2, Brady 2

Home games for Manning: 2;  Home games for Brady: 2

 

(2) Head to head in AFC Championship Games: Manning 2, Brady 1

Home games for Manning:2;  Home games for Brady: 1

 

See the pattern - home team wins.  Now, let's see how that plays out overall.

(3) Head to head overall: Brady 10, Manning 5

 

In the 15 match-ups between Manning and Brady. Brady has played at home 9 times.  Since the home team always seems to have the edge, Brady should be 9-6 against Manning.  Brady is 1 game better than that at 10-5,

 

Now, the first 2 Manning-Brady matchups were in 2001.  The Colts were a bad team in 2001 (finished 6-10).  So, the real rivalry began when both teams were good, which was in 2003.  So, if you take out the 2001 season, Brady would hold an 8-5 record.  And, how about that.  Of those 13 games, Brady had 8 at home.

 

So, going from 2003 forward, Brady should be 8-5 against Manning and he is exactly that (no better, no worse).  

 

In effect, Manning and Brady are even.  

 

Now, if you want to throw in the fact that Brady had some incredible defenses back in the 2003 time frame, the argument could be made then that Manning comes out on top.

 

If you are wondering how many of those 13 games were won by the road team, here they are:

2003: At Ind: NE 38, Colts 34

2005: At NE: Colts 40, NE 21

2006: At NE: Colts 27, NE 20

2007: At Ind: NE 24, Colts 20

[Colts fans outside Indy]

I started rooting for Colts as a kid when they were in Baltimore as I grew up there.  When they moved to Indy, there was no reason to stop.  Same team, same uniform, same everything.  Much different than other teams that have switched cities and name/uniform/... (e.g. Cleveland Browns to Baltimore Ravens).  Most people here don't like the Colts, but I'm glad to see above that there are others like me (and not just my brother).

[Andrew Luck can't win the big one. Face the facts!]

Luck led us to 5 touchdowns in the second half in the KC playoff game.  He's gonna be just fine.  He'll learn not to throw bad interceptions and we will roll for 10 years!!!!!!!!!!!

[I'm calling it now. Trent will]

Same old, same old for Trent Richardson.  Let's forgo the drama of whether he will turn into a better player next year and just get rid of him now.

[Just my thoughts]

Wouldn't it be nice if we had a first round pick next year.  Oh yeah - we got Trent Richardson instead :-(

[Players Who Never Panned Out..]

To the guy above that said Marlin Jackson: 

Marlin Jackson made one of the biggest interceptions in Colts history, sealing the Colts AFC Championship game win against the Patriots.  He could have never played a down after that and would still have never been a Bust just for that 1 key play,

[The curious case of Trent Richardson]

For those of us that did not follow Trent Richardson in his college days, here is what we know:

He was the #3 pick in the draft, so we know he was really good in college.  He averaged 3.5 yds per carry with the Browns - nothing special.  With the Colts, his yds per carry is even lower.  He is very slow out of the backfield.  He is pretty good in the open field if he catches a screen pass.  He is pretty good on 3rd and 1.  He almost never has a big run.  What bothers me the most is that when he pass blocks, it seems like on multiple occasions, he is just standing in no-man's land when the rush is on.

 

In the end, we gave up a first round pick for a mediocre NFL running back.  The good news is that since we won against KC, at best, our pick will only be a #25 in the draft (since we will be one of the last 8 teams standing).  At this point, Grigson has 2 options: (1) Stick with Richardson and hope he pans out, or (2) Try to trade him in the offseason, hoping that some other team out there still thinks he has great potential.  Maybe we could get a 2nd or 3rd round pick for him.

[Its Like Losing Friends]

Hmm - so if the Colts did not end up with the top pick, would any of this have happened? Irsay signed Manning to a 5 yr deal just a year and a half ago. He knew that there was a salary cap. So, if we didn't get the top draft pick and Manning came back, would we have still cut all of these players. We were 14-0 just 2 years ago and in the Super Bowl. I don't believe talent drops off that quickly.

Also, just because you have draft picks and young players does not make you a winning team. We will need to have incredible draft picks like Polian did in order to build a great team. Remember that in the Manning era, we had these first round draft picks: Marvin Harrison, Tarik Glenn, Edgerrin James, Reggie Wayne, Dwight Freeney, Bob Sanders, Dallas Clark, Joseph Addai. So, sure we can rebuild with Luck, but we're going to need great draft picks to avoid being Cleveland and Detroit (remember Detroit was bad for many, many years prior to last year). We just got rid of Polian, so our new GM/scouts better be very good.

If we lose Freeney, as great as Mathis is, Mathis' effectiveness drops without Freeney on the other side. And, then our defense goes from bad to really bad. I'm excited to watch Luck, but with a receving corps of Collie, Blair White, Jacob Tamme, cmon, that is a joke compared to Wayne, Garcon, Collie, and Clark.