How do we look on paper

[theanarchist]

After things have settled down a bit it's nice to talk about how we look on paper now. Of course paper doesn't count for sqaut in the NFL or any other sport you have to play. But I'm just looking at how these new players compare to what we had before they came along:

 

1) Cherilus- should be an upgrade from Winston and Linkenbach. I read that Cherilus had a really good year last year but previous seasons were somewhat disappointing and there are concerns with his knees. Overall the potential is for a significant upgrade at RT.

 

2) Erik Walden- the most controversial signee due to his contract numbers and his supposed lack of production. Personally I like the signing because it allows us to use Mathis as the Rush LB and that was a big upgrade. Walden is more of a run stopper and that was what the FO was looking to improve.

 

3) Toler- On paper it looks like it could be a slight upgrade. Both Toler and Powers have injury issues. Toler appears to be the better fit for the scheme if he can stay healthy. I'd say right now its a wash with a potential for better production than Powers.

 

4) Landry- Pro Bowl caliber player who brings big play potential. Huge upgrade from Zbi and Lefedge.

 

5) Jean-Francios- rotational player on a great defense is SF. Should be a nice piece to the defensive line and I would say a slight upgrade to what we had last year.

 

6) Sidbury- probably a ST player with potential to rotate in at OLB. Has special speed for his size and could be a real find. Potential unknown at this time.

 

7) Abrayo- Rotation NT that should bring average skills to a position that will have some competition for the starting role.

 

8) Hasselbeck- Brings experince to the backup role. Stanton overall may have more potential because he's younger and he hasn't had a lot of snaps and could be a nice QB if he gets the reps. hasselbeck is on the downhill slide and in the end it's probably a wash between those two.

 

9) Thomas- looks like a real nice find for a position of need. Should be a  fairly significant upgrade over the revolving doors we've had a G the past couple of  years.

 

Overall I'd say we upgraded moterately to significantly on paper. I know we spent a lot of money but the areas where most of the money was spent, offensive line and defensive secondary, were huge needs and overall I like what we've done.

[BlueCollarColts]

I would say Toler is a sizable upgrade, Powers was not a very good corner in the man to man scheme, Greg Toler obviously likes that scheme, no doubt in my mind Toler in man to man is a decent sized upgrade over Powers, and a big upgrade over Vaughn, who played most of the year there, and IMO playing along side one of the top corners in the NFL in Vontae Davis will only help him

[bahhummbug]

I think we did great iam not complaining

[HtownColt]

Just have to take our injury bug immunization and we should be fine.

[PrincetonTiger]

The Colts did great

[BlueCollarColts]

Erik Walden > Freeney (I say this because we can move Mathis to Freeneys spot and he is better than Freeney)

Greg Toler >> Jerraud Powers/Vaughn (we play man to man, Powers doesn't fit it)

Ricky Jean-Francois > Matthews, Moala, or whoever played there

LaRon Landry >>>>>>>>>> Zbikowski/Lefeged

Aubrayo Franklin/Chapman >> Tavaso (probably butchered name)

Gosder Cherilus >>> Jeff Linckenbach

Donald Thomas >> Mike McGlynn

 

so on paper we have improved quite a bit, but this is only on paper

[California Colt]

http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/nfl/42824/59/pre-draft-nfl-lineup-rankings

 

on paper i think this is a fair assesment of where we stand. give Luck a WR weapon and we improve this a bit more. i respect Silvas writing and he does a ton or analysis and research so this is not a BR type article. good stuff here.

[USAFHoosier]

On paper we are far ahead of last year.  After the draft it has to transfer on the field.  Hopefully the Oline can gel quick.

[theanarchist]

On paper we are far ahead of last year.  After the draft it has to transfer on the field.  Hopefully the Oline can gel quick.

 

I think the O-line is where we still have some pieces to add....I like Cherilus and Thomas and the potential of Ijalana but that is a unit that really really needed to be upgraded

[Smonroe]

Erik Walden > Freeney (I say this because we can move Mathis to Freeneys spot and he is better than Freeney)

Greg Toler >> Jerraud Powers/Vaughn (we play man to man, Powers doesn't fit it)

Ricky Jean-Francois > Matthews, Moala, or whoever played there

LaRon Landry >>>>>>>>>> Zbikowski/Lefeged

Aubrayo Franklin/Chapman >> Tavaso (probably butchered name)

Gosder Cherilus >>> Jeff Linckenbach

Donald Thomas >> Mike McGlynn

 

so on paper we have improved quite a bit, but this is only on paper

 

I'm not saying you're wrong, I want you to be right.  But I think we need to slow our roll on saying some of the new guys are automatically upgrades.  Especially Walden over Freeney.  I fully understand you're reasoning, but we're saying that Mathis is better than Freeney given the opportunity - remains to be seen. 

 

I don't think there will be much debate about Landry and Cherilus (if he plays like he did last year), but I want to see Toler, Walden, and a few of the others actually play a game before I'll agree they're better than what we had.

[NewEra]

Championship! ;)

[Colts_Fan12]

Thomas>>>>>>McGlynn

McGlynn is horrible

[MikeVander]

The way the NFL works is that improving in one position, or area, can improve all other areas. Stopping the run will allow us to be in more 3 and long situations and get more sacks.. The fact that the Colts improved in a lot of positions on the defensive side will feed itself, and I think the improvement will be quite noticeable against both the pass and run. 

[21isSuperman]

Just have to take our injury bug immunization and we should be fine.

 

 

On paper we are far ahead of last year.  After the draft it has to transfer on the field.  Hopefully the Oline can gel quick.

These two say it all.  The key is staying healthy (which, of course, isn't something that can be controlled).  As for the team now, we are far better on paper.  But, as we all know, it does not matter how good you look on paper.  It's all about how you work on the field.

[Carlos Danger]

I like the moves that we made... I'm no contract expert, but I feel as though we added more players than even many of us on the forum thought we might... and the quality appears to be there, in my view.

 

I'm still in the "trust Grigs's eye for talent" camp when it comes to the guys with question marks... I think that the jury is still out on how well we scout defensive talent, though. Injury concerns with some of the guys are a bit disconcerting.

 

We can't rely on the same things that helped us get to 11 wins last year... It was absolutely necessary that we upgrade the run defense and the offensive line... The guys that we picked up on defense should greatly improve our run defense... Toler, Landry, Jean Francois, and Walden all basically specialize in run-stuffing.

 

We grabbed two significant upgrades to the O-line, which was not hard because our line was absolutely horrendous last season. The switch to more West Coast principles on offense should have the ball out much sooner as well... That is going to be huge for our efficiency on offense.

 

Andrew Luck is going to improve over the offseason. The speed of the game will be night and day compared to his rookie season... Having a great (and prepared) quarterback (with a full offseason) will help overcome some early season problems with O-line cohesion and offensive scheme change.Come mid-season the Colts should be hitting their stride with many second year players (think TEs) on offense showing improvement over last year...

 

It will be difficult to get 11 wins next season (its never easy in any season), but there is no doubt in my mind that we are going to field a more complete team that can win in a variety of ways... Now... as long as we can stay away from injury (hope we aren't jinxing ourselves ) we should compete for the division... If all else fails, we can just rely on 12's ridiculous clutch rating... 

[drew22087]

I was reading the FA moves on NFL.com and it said that Powers went to Arizona.  I havnt seen any news of it or anything...not even anyone on the forums mentioning it.  Does any one know of this?

[Superman]

I'm not saying you're wrong, I want you to be right.  But I think we need to slow our roll on saying some of the new guys are automatically upgrades.  Especially Walden over Freeney.  I fully understand you're reasoning, but we're saying that Mathis is better than Freeney given the opportunity - remains to be seen. 

 

I don't think there will be much debate about Landry and Cherilus (if he plays like he did last year), but I want to see Toler, Walden, and a few of the others actually play a game before I'll agree they're better than what we had.

 

Mathis played plenty of Rush backer last season, and was better and more productive than Freeney was. I think it's a given that we're better at Rush backer. And then we have more of the platoon that the Sam backer position usually has, with Walden and a couple other guys holding that position down. Maybe we're not better at Sam, but I think we're easily better at Rush.

[Smonroe]

Mathis played plenty of Rush backer last season, and was better and more productive than Freeney was. I think it's a given that we're better at Rush backer. And then we have more of the platoon that the Sam backer position usually has, with Walden and a couple other guys holding that position down. Maybe we're not better at Sam, but I think we're easily better at Rush.

 

Could be, and I hope so.  On paper it looks good, but we won't really know until it's on the field.  I was dubious with the Manusky hire, but now I think it was a pretty good move.  He did a lot with little last year.

 

As far as Mathis, it's going to be interesting to see when he goes against the LT without them having to worry about DF.  I'm psyched.

[Superman]

Could be, and I hope so.  On paper it looks good, but we won't really know until it's on the field.  I was dubious with the Manusky hire, but now I think it was a pretty good move.  He did a lot with little last year.

 

As far as Mathis, it's going to be interesting to see when he goes against the LT without them having to worry about DF.  I'm psyched.

 

Manusky gets an INC grade from me. He didn't have the ideal personnel, and Pagano was out most of the year. The defensive numbers were awful -- we gave up too many yards, we weren't strong on third down, we were bad against the run, we didn't get sacks or turnovers -- but the circumstances were far from ideal.

 

The good thing about any 3-4 defense, and especially Pagano's hybrid, is that your Rush linebacker doesn't have to line up opposite the left tackle. Offenses very rarely, if ever, move the left tackle around. But the defense can send the pass rush from whichever side they want. Mathis can line up on either side as the Rush backer. We can blitz from either side, or both sides. And Mathis came from the right side plenty last year. I'm not too worried about his ability to pressure the quarterback without Freeney. It would be great if Hughes turns into a big factor, but we would be well served to add another pass rusher. And while size isn't everything, it would make me very happy to see us acquire one of those 6'3", 250 pound inside linebackers.

[shakedownstreet]

are we printing this on cheap copy paper or a nice heavy weight matte finish?

[jbaron04]

I think on paper we are not champs native afc south , but a better than last yr and we played the super bowl champs better than anyone in the playoffs , but we are all forgetting the biggest question mark pep Hamilton cause u saw Ben with out Arians steelers out the playoffs so pep is what i I'm most worried about because we are no gonna be aggressive team on offense I don't think

[jbaron04]

Mathis played plenty of Rush backer last season, and was better and more productive than Freeney was. I think it's a given that we're better at Rush backer. And then we have more of the platoon that the Sam backer position usually has, with Walden and a couple other guys holding that position down. Maybe we're not better at Sam, but I think we're easily better at Rush.

We need so guys on the rolb and lolb that can bull rush and have power the reason we give up some of are big plays are because Mathis and freeney both like to use speed and quickness to beat you but if the oline got thier hands on them Mathis don't have the power to shed and still get to the qb

[ÅÐØNϧ 1]

are we printing this on cheap copy paper or a nice heavy weight matte finish?

 

 

I have a small supply - Cheap can ya write small ?

 

Its not the paper that concerns me its what goes into the paper in this case we have a crop is it gold ??  Or will it go up in smoke ?  I'm a firm believer that the Colts got better on & off paper IMO ..

[pacolt]

Paper don't play but we are much improved.

[ruksak]

How do we look on paper?

 

 

 

 

check out that shot-put throwing motion.....EPIC!!!!