Level of Concern

[Dtman513]

How concerned should we, as fans, be about the upcoming season for the Colts? Our #1 draft pick hasn't read the playbook yet, our former #1 picks the past two seasons (Brown, and Hughes) haven't lived up to the billing and Hughes was recently arrested. The organization had no time to work out Manning's contract or make adjustments in free agency. Plus, Manning hasn't thrown a ball since the season ended due to neck surgery.....Should we be concerned with the way things have been this off season? More importantly, how will it impact the upcoming season?

[Coltssouth]

I am not really that concerned. This is a team with a lot of veteran players. Sure the rookies will have a few "break-in" problems but I think the majority of players on the team have played together long enough to help them through the learning process.

I'm looking to play the superbowl in our home stadium and winning it. :FBcheesy:

[everybodysgotone]

How concerned should we, as fans, be about the upcoming season for the Colts? Our #1 draft pick hasn't read the playbook yet, our former #1 picks the past two seasons (Brown, and Hughes) haven't lived up to the billing and Hughes was recently arrested. The organization had no time to work out Manning's contract or make adjustments in free agency. Plus, Manning hasn't thrown a ball since the season ended due to neck surgery.....Should we be concerned with the way things have been this off season? More importantly, how will it impact the upcoming season?

1. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts Castonzo has the playbook. Don't worry. That's what all those "player initiated practices" were about.

2. Hughes has been stuck behind two allpro DEs....don't worry he'll rotate in more this year and I believe his time to start will come in 2012.

3. Donald Brown is in a make/break year, and I'll give him a nod because......what else can ya do. He ain't goin' nowhere. I like his chances because of the new line, RB coach, addition of Delone Carter, and healthy return of other offensive starters.

4. Never worry about Manning's prep work. Be concerned about his contract though, because if he wants more than the front loaded 35M first year paycheck on his old 100M deal he's gonna be an anvil around the team's neck and I'm not so sure letting him walk to the highest bidder would be a bad thing. One guy can't do it all. We'll see if he places more value on loyalty and winning or simply maxing out his paycheck.

[IndyJayman]

I think it will be tough for all teams the first 4-5 weeks.

[jskinnz]

How concerned should we, as fans, be about the upcoming season for the Colts? Our #1 draft pick hasn't read the playbook yet, our former #1 picks the past two seasons (Brown, and Hughes) haven't lived up to the billing and Hughes was recently arrested. The organization had no time to work out Manning's contract or make adjustments in free agency. Plus, Manning hasn't thrown a ball since the season ended due to neck surgery.....Should we be concerned with the way things have been this off season? More importantly, how will it impact the upcoming season?

Aren't most of your concerns the same that all teams are facing?

i think it is comical to think Castonzo has not read the playbook.

Hughes' arrest means next to nothing.

[Nadine]

Yeah! @everybodysgotone is giving away donuts again!

I am not concerned because many teams are worse off than we are.

But I do think things may be a bit ugly

[everybodysgotone]

Yeah! @everybodysgotone is giving away donuts again!

I am not concerned because many teams are worse off than we are.

But I do think things may be a bit ugly

Refresh my memory, Maureen....it's KKs over DDs if I lose, correct??

[21isSuperman]

1. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts Castonzo has the playbook. Don't worry. That's what all those "player initiated practices" were about.

2. Hughes has been stuck behind two allpro DEs....don't worry he'll rotate in more this year and I believe his time to start will come in 2012.

3. Donald Brown is in a make/break year, and I'll give him a nod because......what else can ya do. He ain't goin' nowhere. I like his chances because of the new line, RB coach, addition of Delone Carter, and healthy return of other offensive starters.

4. Never worry about Manning's prep work. Be concerned about his contract though, because if he wants more than the front loaded 35M first year paycheck on his old 100M deal he's gonna be an anvil around the team's neck and I'm not so sure letting him walk to the highest bidder would be a bad thing. One guy can't do it all. We'll see if he places more value on loyalty and winning or simply maxing out his paycheck.

This post summarizes it all nicely. As far as I know, Manning has been throwing, he just didn't throw at the Manning Passing Academy. One thing I disagree with though is that I don't think there is much chance of letting Peyton walk.

[Rich Cannon]

I think it will be tough for all teams the first 4-5 weeks.

yea giving us a little room for error, all teams will def suffer a little bit from this, especially teams like the Titans, Jags teams who arent very good on Offense

[Wyld1]

I believe, like others have pointed out, that Costanzo has recieved some tutoring in the player lead practices with a play book probably handed to him and possibly some film(video)?

PM will start to worry me if he doesn't participate at all in the last week of training camp.

[braveheartcolt]

Not worried one little bit. We'll come out flying.......

[a06cc]

We'll be fine because of our defense. Manning may not be ready for training camp as the new is going around today. Our defense is going to have a great year I can fill it. Offense will be fine and a test of the offensive line. If Curtis has to play and has the time he needs I think we'll be fine on offense. We now have a set of great weapons on the d-line. Looking forward to seeing Drake Nevis and Jerry Hughes play. No need to worry here! Go Colts!

[bayone]

This post summarizes it all nicely. As far as I know, Manning has been throwing, he just didn't throw at the Manning Passing Academy. One thing I disagree with though is that I don't think there is much chance of letting Peyton walk.

Peyton threw before the surgery and only very lightly since as is awaiting rehab & clearance by Colt PT's he is familar with, read that in many places\

My Main ??? is @ everybodysgotone, on 19 July 2011 - 07:38 PM, said:

1. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts ,

HOWEVER _ he keeps us guessing as to the type of doughnuts

[everybodysgotone]

Peyton threw before the surgery and only very lightly since as is awaiting rehab & clearance by Colt PT's he is familar with, read that in many places\

My Main ??? is @ everybodysgotone, on 19 July 2011 - 07:38 PM, said:

1. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts ,

HOWEVER _ he keeps us guessing as to the type of doughnuts

Well....Maureen likes Krispy Kreme, I think. But if I'm puttin' up the $$ & I like the DDs better..chocolate on chocolate works. If I loose will shell out the value of a dozen!

[21isSuperman]

Well....Maureen likes Krispy Kreme, I think. But if I'm puttin' up the $$ & I like the DDs better..chocolate on chocolate works. If I loose will shell out the value of a dozen!

[wercolts]

Not concerned at all. Win or lose Colts football is always entertaining and a good value for my entertainment $. As far as winning week in and week out and being a contender to win it all, this club has plenty of veteren leadership, plenty of top talent at key positions and Peyton Manning.

[Thewholefnshow28]

I'm not to worried. We are a veteran team and this lockout are going to hurt the young teams and teams with new coaches/systems.

I bet you anything that the one day the lockout was lifted Castonzo got the playbook then or it was passed onto him.

I am not to worried about Hughes because this is only his second year. He is learning behind two all pro guys. Now if he cannot sniff the field this year then it might be time to worry.

I am worried a bit about Brown. I have not been impressed with him at all since he was drafted. He has shown flashes, but not consistent at all.

If I was a fan of a young team or a team with a new system/coach then I would be very worried.

[BOTT]

We'll be fine because of our defense. Manning may not be ready for training camp as the new is going around today. Our defense is going to have a great year I can fill it. Offense will be fine and a test of the offensive line. If Curtis has to play and has the time he needs I think we'll be fine on offense. We now have a set of great weapons on the d-line. Looking forward to seeing Drake Nevis and Jerry Hughes play. No need to worry here! Go Colts!

the colts will be fine because of their defense??? i'm not sure what to say at the statement.

[BOTT]

Well....Maureen likes Krispy Kreme, I think. But if I'm puttin' up the $$ & I like the DDs better..chocolate on chocolate works. If I loose will shell out the value of a dozen!

wow u guys need to expand your doughnut horizon. krispy kreme is an insult to doughnuts and DD isn't much better than your typical supermarket.

[everybodysgotone]

wow u guys need to expand your doughnut horizon. krispy kreme is an insult to doughnuts and DD isn't much better than your typical supermarket.

Tell ya what....if I lose I'll spring for a doz of yer favorite mom/pop local shop's best. We've got a number of places like that here and they're awesome.

[Nadine]

Just stopping by for my virtual doughnut with my coffee. Sounds like you know about an EVEN BETTER doughnut!

wow u guys need to expand your doughnut horizon. krispy kreme is an insult to doughnuts and DD isn't much better than your typical supermarket.

[21isSuperman]

wow u guys need to expand your doughnut horizon. krispy kreme is an insult to doughnuts and DD isn't much better than your typical supermarket.

What kind of donuts do you eat? They must be some wicked donuts, I wanna try em

[John Waylon]

I'm more concerned about any potential training camp time Peyton may have to miss as opposed to anything else. The last time that happened (2008, with the bursa sac) we could kind of afford it. Our O-line was decent, and we had receivers he could work with in his sleep.

Now we are trying to re-tool our line, and we have newer, younger receivers that he needs every second of practice with that he can get. He's already missed a significant amount of practice with those guys with the lack of team sponsored OTA's, and if he isn't able to start practicing until week 1 again this offseason, we may start slow again the way we did in 2008, and we may not be able to afford that this season.

[BOTT]

What kind of donuts do you eat? They must be some wicked donuts, I wanna try em

just a local place called mary lou's. a good mom&pop doughnut place is heavenly......

[Turftoe]

I'm more concerned about any potential training camp time Peyton may have to miss as opposed to anything else. The last time that happened (2008, with the bursa sac) we could kind of afford it. Our O-line was decent, and we had receivers he could work with in his sleep.

Now we are trying to re-tool our line, and we have newer, younger receivers that he needs every second of practice with that he can get. He's already missed a significant amount of practice with those guys with the lack of team sponsored OTA's, and if he isn't able to start practicing until week 1 again this offseason, we may start slow again the way we did in 2008, and we may not be able to afford that this season.

The lack of timing and cohesion when Manning missed time in 2008 (and early losses such as to the Bears) effectively cost us the season. This team is built around PM and thus has never attempted to employ a quality backup. If Peyton takes 3 or 4 games to get on track, we could be done before the bye. Here's to hoping the reports of him not being close are overblown, but with the history of the Colts not exactly coming clean on injury info I am concerned.

Lets face it, the biggest thing stopping the Colts has been injuries. At least Bob S. isn't around to disappoint again....

[Superman]

The lack of timing and cohesion when Manning missed time in 2008 (and early losses such as to the Bears) effectively cost us the season. This team is built around PM and thus has never attempted to employ a quality backup. If Peyton takes 3 or 4 games to get on track, we could be done before the bye. Here's to hoping the reports of him not being close are overblown, but with the history of the Colts not exactly coming clean on injury info I am concerned.

Lets face it, the biggest thing stopping the Colts has been injuries. At least Bob S. isn't around to disappoint again....

The lack of rushing offense and rushing defense is what hurt us in 2008, not timing and cohesion. Sure, those slowed us down at the beginning of the season, but we finished with nine straight wins, including beating some pretty good teams. Timing and cohesion wasn't the deal breaker.

[John Waylon]

The lack of rushing offense and rushing defense is what hurt us in 2008, not timing and cohesion. Sure, those slowed us down at the beginning of the season, but we finished with nine straight wins, including beating some pretty good teams. Timing and cohesion wasn't the deal breaker.

But they potentially could be this season with younger receivers, and O-line that could easily be worse than the one we had that year, and a defense that could be equally as bad.

[IndyTrav]

I think the time for this was about 2 years ago. I've been concerned for awhile, and it's continues to build slowly, we made some recent moves in the draft that I enjoy, but IMO this franchises 'wait and see' mentality and lack of aggression in many FO aspects, has this train slowing to a halt.

[Superman]

But they potentially could be this season with younger receivers, and O-line that could easily be worse than the one we had that year, and a defense that could be equally as bad.

Receivers are younger, but most have extensive experience with the quarterback. I can't imagine the line being worse than it was in 2008 (which was the first year we really had season-long issues, mostly due to losing Jake Scott in free agency and Ryan Lilja being hurt all year, plus Saturday being hurt to begin the season). It's possible, but I would think our line is on the way up, not down. The defense is unpredictable at this point, so I don't have to much to say there, but that has nothing to do with Manning being ready for training camp.

Ideally, he'd be ready to go on day one, but I'm not worried about him missing a couple of weeks.

[John Waylon]

Receivers are younger, but most have extensive experience with the quarterback. I can't imagine the line being worse than it was in 2008 (which was the first year we really had season-long issues, mostly due to losing Jake Scott in free agency and Ryan Lilja being hurt all year, plus Saturday being hurt to begin the season). It's possible, but I would think our line is on the way up, not down. The defense is unpredictable at this point, so I don't have to much to say there, but that has nothing to do with Manning being ready for training camp.

Ideally, he'd be ready to go on day one, but I'm not worried about him missing a couple of weeks.

With rookies missing all they have at this point due to the lockout, I'd expect Diem and Johnson to be starting in their spots, and who knows what's going on at guard? They may put linkenbach back in there for all we know...

Point being: no matter what we do with our O-line personnel-wise this season it's still most likely going to be a sub-standard line, and could, god help us, be worse than it was last year... It's only going to help them the longer they can play in front of Peyton because lets face it: he's going to be harder and expect more from them than the rest of the coaching staff.

[Superman]

With rookies missing all they have at this point due to the lockout, I'd expect Diem and Johnson to be starting in their spots, and who knows what's going on at guard? They may put linkenbach back in there for all we know...

Point being: no matter what we do with our O-line personnel-wise this season it's still most likely going to be a sub-standard line, and could, god help us, be worse than it was last year... It's only going to help them the longer they can play in front of Peyton because lets face it: he's going to be harder and expect more from them than the rest of the coaching staff.

No telling what the line looks like, personnel-wise or performance-wise, to start the season, but I'd say two things: 1) You can bet dollars to doughnuts that The Linkenbacle is a thing of the past, as Polian about said as much last year; 2) the line played better toward the end of the year as the staff settled on a rotation and guys got regular time, and even Pollak, who everyone loves to bang on, played much better than anyone acknowledges; so I would expect the line to play better next year than they did for most of last year, just by virtue of guys being settled at their spots. But this is not a known entity, by any stretch of the imagination. I just can't imagine them being worse than they were in 2008. Not trying to be rosy, but they were really bad with two and sometimes three rookies on the line at a time.

[BOTT]

I think the time for this was about 2 years ago. I've been concerned for awhile, and it's continues to build slowly, we made some recent moves in the draft that I enjoy, but IMO this franchises 'wait and see' mentality and lack of aggression in many FO aspects, has this train slowing to a halt.

agree 10000000000% inexcusable for the colts to wait until manning is 35 to make changes. the oline has been mediocre for a few year now and the dt position has been a weak point forever. don't even get me started on the special teams......

[BOTT]

Tell ya what....if I lose I'll spring for a doz of yer favorite mom/pop local shop's best. We've got a number of places like that here and they're awesome.

no i def think he has a playbook