Fa

[Surge89]

Couple of points if I may

Lackof NFL Talent would be number 1

I don't think this is true at all I believe we have plenty of good NFL talent on this team. But on the Defensive side they are not being utilized, and actually I would be willing to give Caldwell a pass this year if he scraps Coyer and finds a coordinator that is willing to modify scheme to talent and actually learn to trust his players and let them learn by play. It really upsets me that we have first Powers who I see as a very promising young player that I think would get WORLDS better if he was actually allowed to play more bump n run or man, yes he would get beat every once in a while but guess what... HE WOULD MAKE PLAYS TOO. Also I'm very tired of seeing Bethea who was once our best roaming coverage safety in the Box every single PLAY....ugh

@MAC: You have had the most intelligent, well thought-out posts in this thread. I apologize that no one has been able to accept reason, and compare it to their own. Instead, you are being flamed, criticized, and screamed at by people who just can't be reasoned with.

The Patriots still had the remnants of their Super Bowl team in 2008. After that, most of the players left or retired, and they have yet to win a playoff game since, even with Brady.

How do you explain that?

The Colts playoff record has been better than the Patriots since 2006. How do you explain that?

We've beaten them into the ground in the head-to-head since then too. How do you explain that?

Yes, we are bad this year. But the youth we injected into the team (Castonzo, Ijalana, and Nevis) all suffered extensive injuries. That can't be predicted, and it happens to every team. They were all playing well, however, and will likely improve. Delone Carter has also been a tremendous bright spot.

I notice that no one seems to mention how improved our running game is. We have shuffled new linemen all year, and have been without Addai for a stretch, yet we're getting 4.4 yards per carry without Peyton to draw attention away from them. That says something about coaching, and personnel acquisitions/draft picks. They have addressed the run game. It's not an overnight process. No team fixes a weakness overnight; they try to hide them until they can be fixed.

There's also no replacement for Peyton Manning. The offense was built around him, and it was successful. It's easy to say, "we should have built a well-rounded system instead," but then it may not have had as much success.

I agree with most of what you are saying, but I do want to emphasize something... Garbage time has a huge influence this year on running the ball. Knowing that I believe we can't use this year as a measure of our run game being improved or not, also the coaching you are talking about for the run game is only one or 2 people who should have any involvement. It doesn't account for the coaching or lack thereof on the Defensive Backs, or Defensive Line side or the complete lack of trust in our players.... I have never seen a team be so passive and so afraid of their players performing so bad that the Defense goes automatically into a shell and literally just gives up. As if their best chance to stop them is in the red zone instead of actually playing defense and making them go 3 n out.

[MAC]

This is an opinionated board. Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion. Just because you think you're being logical doesn't necessarily mean you are. There are vaild arguments to either side and no one on here is right. It is arrogant for you to think that just because you say something it's logical.

I apologize, I didn't mean to come off that way. Believe me, I don't think that my opinion is more important than anyone else's. You and Jaric were having a perfectly civil and reasonable conversation with me, which is exactly what I seek on this board.

Please understand that it was more of a general comment reflecting the outlandish hatred and bitterness prevalent on this site in recent weeks. It has felt like an series of surreal conversations in which attempting to refute someones' hateful position often results in the hatred being redirected quite unpleasantly. It's rude, disrespectful, and tiring. I stopped coming here for a week or so because I was utterly sick of it - but I had no business writing that in this thread.

[Patagonia Chris]

MAC is by far the most intelligent Colts fan I have ever came across in my 10+ years as a season ticket holder. On any forum, this or ESPN, I have been constantly frustrated with the lack of intelligence amongst most fans about football. Let's face it most of you became fans when the Pacers were in decline and the Colts were on the rise in the early 2000's. Most of you weren't on the bandwagon yet when the team went 1-15 in 97 to get Manning. What I don't understand is that how you throw stones at Bill Polian!?!? This is a man who has built 6 teams that have played in SB's. I'm willing to bet that Polian is a lot better at his job than you people are at yours. Building a team through overpriced free agents isn't how you win and if you think it is compare the win totals of the Raiders and Redskins to that of the Colts and Patriots over the last decade. Look at some of the players the Colts have let walk..Edgerrin James, Mike Peterson, Cato June, Mike Vanderjagt, Marlin Jackson, Marcus Washington, Dominic Rhodes, Brandon Stokely and Ben Utecht and look at their careers after they left Colts..Now look at the players who have been big FA signings over the past few years, Haynesworth (Skins), DeAngelo Hall (Raiders), Adalus Thomas (Patriots), Ahman Green (Texans), Jevon Kearse (Eagles), TJ Houshmanzaeh (Seahawks) compare their numbers with previous teams to the numbers after their contracts and see if the production matches the pay day. Signing free agents to high priced contracts isn't how you win in the NFL, you find players who can compete in your scheme and you sign them for a reasonable price and you hope they stay healthy!

[dn4192]

MAC is by far the most intelligent Colts fan I have ever came across in my 10+ years as a season ticket holder. On any forum, this or ESPN, I have been constantly frustrated with the lack of intelligence amongst most fans about football. Let's face it most of you became fans when the Pacers were in decline and the Colts were on the rise in the early 2000's. Most of you weren't on the bandwagon yet when the team went 1-15 in 97 to get Manning. What I don't understand is that how you throw stones at Bill Polian!?!? This is a man who has built 6 teams that have played in SB's. I'm willing to bet that Polian is a lot better at his job than you people are at yours. Building a team through overpriced free agents isn't how you win and if you think it is compare the win totals of the Raiders and Redskins to that of the Colts and Patriots over the last decade. Look at some of the players the Colts have let walk..Edgerrin James, Mike Peterson, Cato June, Mike Vanderjagt, Marlin Jackson, Marcus Washington, Dominic Rhodes, Brandon Stokely and Ben Utecht and look at their careers after they left Colts..Now look at the players who have been big FA signings over the past few years, Haynesworth (Skins), DeAngelo Hall (Raiders), Adalus Thomas (Patriots), Ahman Green (Texans), Jevon Kearse (Eagles), TJ Houshmanzaeh (Seahawks) compare their numbers with previous teams to the numbers after their contracts and see if the production matches the pay day. Signing free agents to high priced contracts isn't how you win in the NFL, you find players who can compete in your scheme and you sign them for a reasonable price and you hope they stay healthy!

Its simple I think, people here in Indy have gotten spoiled over the past decade, we are not use to losing and well they sure are not going to blame the players (has there been even 1 thread calling out the players?) so then it falls on the GM and Coach. Add to that the issue that Bill isn't Mr. Socialable and Coach Caldwell isn't a screamer yeller and well fans have to be upset at someone...when in fact there is really no one to be upset with, we are just having a bad season.

[Patagonia Chris]

Its simple I think, people here in Indy have gotten spoiled over the past decade, we are not use to losing and well they sure are not going to blame the players (has there been even 1 thread calling out the players?) so then it falls on the GM and Coach. Add to that the issue that Bill isn't Mr. Socialable and Coach Caldwell isn't a screamer yeller and well fans have to be upset at someone...when in fact there is really no one to be upset with, we are just having a bad season.

That's a very good point, with the exception of McAfee, Brown and Garcon not a lot of players have really stepped their game up this season