What must the Colts do to have a successful season?

[mattceinicram]

Anything less than a Super Bowl appearance a failure?

Setting the bar a little high are we?

 

We would all LOVE to see the Colts in the Super Bowl, but lets try to stay somewhat realistic here.

I definitely feel people are misreading my original post

[BOTT]

Win more playoff games than the other guys

[gacker65]

I believe Werner could be that 10-15 sack guy if the Colts would start him over Walden. He got 2.5 sacks in only around half of a season while he was injured and maybe playing half the defensive snaps in the other 8 games. Werner can be a beast if Pagano has faith in him.

Werner is a Robert type player not a Walden type (pass rusher not run stopper, IMO)

[weslo1812]

This team is not good enough to win a super bowl. If you are telling yourself that you are being delusional, I admire your support of this team but you are not seeing it objectively. What would make this season a success as far as I am concerned is another divisional win and a trip to the playoffs. That is what this team is capable of and what I feel it can achieve. This is not a tier 1 team and not even close to the best team in the AFC and certainly not one of the best teams in the NFL. It is a good team and a team that can and should make it to the playoffs. I think as a fan base we should consider getting to the playoffs a success. Anything more than that is exceeding expectations and we should be happy.

Did we not beat San Fran, Den, Sea all last year?!?! Plus we had what 16 guys on IR. 5 of those on offense and one being our best tight end and the other our go to reciever and Lucks security blanket. Yeah you have to overcome injuries and move on but when you have as many as we did, it has an impact I don't care what anyone says. We still found a way to compete though and play tough. Yeah we have our deficiencies and things we need to fix but what team doesn't? And most of the teams we lost were not a Joke. Aka Cincy and Arizona. So for you to say we were not one of the better teams is a Joke. We proved we can beat the best when we play like were capable. We beat the two teams which played in the Superbowl!!! We can definatley compete with any team and we proved it by those wins. You can give me the "Lucky" excuse all you want. That's just another excuse for you to be pessimistic. And its simply not true!!! It was a matter of consistency and injuries that really hurt us. And how do you know for a fact we are not good enough to win a superbowl??? The season hasn't even started! Give the team a chance to at least least show what its capable of during the season. I believe you need to lighten up and look at things in perspective. You being a little to objective here I think. Looking at thing with a glass half empty instead of a glass half full. But to each his own.

[jamesie jr]

Despite the end product of playoffs I'd say since Luck we have had 2 successful seasons. 11-5 isn't too bad in my books.

 

But to have a more successful season i'd say a better O-Line for an improved run game would help out a bunch.

[Stephen]

sign costa lol

[Narcosys]

Win games?

[GoDeep]

Play "up" for whole games...Don't get in a 17 point hole and rely on #12's heroics all the time.

 

Run the ball effectively.

 

Get to opposing QBs consistantly.

 

Devlop Da'Rick into a beast.

[Steamboat_Shaun]

I'd like the playcalling to be more consistent on the offensive side of the ball, attacking the opposing team's weaknesses, whether it be through the air or on the ground. I think Pep found his groove late last season, and I hope for that to be the norm come week 1.

 

On the defensive side, I hope we are healthy enough and have the right pieces in place to dial up some more exotic formations against the pass, and stop the run a little more consistently. I saw our D have great games last year, but a lot of duds in between those outings. This is the 3rd year in the 3-4, so I expect to see some improvement, especially with the $$$ we have invested.

[IcyRhythms]

Take the leash off the QB. Luck is versatile QB. He can beat you in the pocket, outside the pocket, and with his feet. I feel no longer having Brown is a bit of a letdown. You could tell that guy was running for his job at times. Brown had a few nice explosive runs that got the rhythm going at key moments. I saw a player that wanted to stay a Colt, but clearly I was wrong.

 

I think those saying things like "I love the Colts, but to expect anything more than winning the division and more than than one playoff game is unrealistic" aren't being very hopeful.

 

I'm sure a lot of others fans have felt that way and were shocked to see their team that "clearly wasn't the best team(even in their own division)in the AFC or the NFC win the Superbowl. It's not always about the best talent and best coaching. Some teams are much better than their record and talent shows. It's just that every team we watch can't find that good balance. That's the great thing about football. The most talented team/or team that you feel should win every game they play doesn't always win. 

 

How many gave the Ravens much a chance last year?

 

Luck needs better protection, a solid(doesn't have to be great)run game, and if we can get a bit better defensively I think we can make a decent run. I'm a realist. I know we're far from the best team in the league. I just won't crap on my team. We're still very much in rebuild mode.

[NewEra]

Win more games

[Briggs32]

Woah there, no way we can get a guy who can put up 20 sacks in addition to Mathis' ~20

Jeremiah Attaochu or Marcus Smith.

[Nobody]

Jeremiah Attaochu or Marcus Smith.

are both college players.. You aren't suggesting they'd put up 20 plus Mathis getting 20 now..

[IndyD4U]

Sign a quality center and we're there!

[King Colt]

Protect the QB, the very expensive QB. Have the Colts mgt. forgotten Painter?

[James]

If healthy this Colts team are top 5 team in the NFL. We have proven that.

 

However, to win it all we have to play defense like we did against the Niners and Broncos every game! It's all about consistency from now on. Offense I'm not worried about all at. Luck has a plethora of weapons and the running game should improve too. Can't wait to see the three-headed monster.

[Briggs32]

are both college players.. You aren't suggesting they'd put up 20 plus Mathis getting 20 now..

 

No, but I think they could help greatly.  Both look like capable pass rusher in a 3-4.

[mintor]

 center , pass rusher , fs  and good rg. 

[thedude]

I think all our main goal this year is for our guys to win a super bowl,

A season can be a success without winning the Super Bowl.

[backshoulderfade]

We should be aiming for a SB. I think we can be the best team in the AFC.

[Coltsman1788]

The stakes are raised this year.  Colts must win their division and advance to the AFC Championship game.  Win or lose...that would be better than last year.  What I want to see is a yearly progression from one year to the next in order for me to consider their season a success. 

[mattceinicram]

A season can be a success without winning the Super Bowl.

Of course, that's why I'm asking what you guys think we must accomplish to be a success.

[NewEra]

I think the addition of Jones is going to be huge. Him alone will help improve our rush. In Paganos system it's not all about lining up and rushing the passer with our de's or olbers. It's about being able to bring the blitz or rush from different spots. I think we are just missing a good NT to pair with Chapman.

[oldunclemark]

I think all our main goal this year is for our guys to win a super bowl, but obviously only one team gets to achieve that.  In your opinion, what must we accomplish for us to say this season is a success?  Do we need to win the division again?  Advance farther in the playoffs to the AFC championship round?  Get a first round bye?  I know we don't really know quite the state of our team yet until free agency and the draft is done, but I'd like to know your thoughts and expectations on this.

Go 11-5 again

[Warhawk]

I think we're a contender.

 

I'd like upgrades at center and free safety, but that's only two positions really.  How many teams are really set at every position less than a week into free agency?  I think it's an unrealistically high bar to say that if your starters aren't set top-to-bottom 5 months before the season starts, you don't have a shot at the Super Bowl.  If that was the case, nobody would win the Super Bowl.

 

If you look at what our projected depth chart is right now, the only guys I would be uncomfortable with starting the season would be Howell at FS, Costa or Holmes at C, and MAYBE Toler at CB because he's injury prone.  I think our starting front 7 on defense is very good, with the caveat that a solid pass rusher would be nice, but the hope is that either Werner starts producing in that respect, or Adongo develops into a good situational rusher, or both.  Davis is great.  I like Toler when he's healthy.  Butler is a good nickel corner.  Landry is fine, and would be better if we can pair him with another good safety.  On offense, our receivers, TEs, and RBs are all set with good depth, and our QB is obviously very good.  Our tackles are very good.  I'm fine with Thomas and Thornton starting at guard, though we need depth there.

 

That's really not a lot of question marks in the grand scheme of things.  I mean, compare with most of the years Manning was here.  After Glenn retired, LT was always some kind of question mark, and that's an important position.  We constantly were shuffling through mediocre players at OLB.  Raheem Brock was probably our most reliable DT.  SS was always an issue because of Sanders' injury problems.  And aside from that roughly year-and-a-half where Marlin Jackson and Kelvin Hayden were healthy and a phenomenal duo, the entire CB position was always a really big question mark for us.  And, frankly, our guards were occasionally shaky as well, it's just that Manning and Saturday were good at covering up O-line deficiencies.

[Defjamz26]

Defense needs to figure out what the hell it wants to be. I think the whole Hybrid front thing is really just a charade to say that we really don't know what we're doing defensively, and we still don't have all the personnel we need for this 3-4. The defense is such a mixed bag, especially at OLB at NT. It looks like we just throw out all of our players in different schemes seeing what sticks. That would explain why the defense was up and down the whole season. 

 

Consistency and identity is what we need.

[Tark The Shark]

A successful season in my mind is a AFC Championship appearance. Don't necessarily need to win the game, just be there, and i will consider it a successful season.

 

Things that we need to do to make that happen: Need to stay healthy on both sides of the ball. The O-line needs to do better in pass and run blocking. Trent needs to develop some confidence and not pitter-patter behind the O-line. WRs need to hang onto the ball more, there were a lot of dropped passes, especially from DHB but he is no longer on the team so I digress.

 

Defensively, obviously do better rushing the QB, Mathis shouldn't be our only guy who can rush the passer effectively. I would like to see Werner out there instead of Walden on passing downs. DB play is HUGE, just ask the Seahawks, so Vontae, Toler, Butler, Landry, Howell/Brown/draftee will have to play better and make smart moves in coverage.