You don't win the Super Bowl by winning free agency.

[tfunky14]

You don't win the Super Bowl by winning free agency.

Enough said for Colts fans that the team is not spending money...

[John Waylon]

zzz

[shakedownstreet]

that's very very true

a team like the colts wins the super bowl by having good rookies and developed 2nd & 3rd year players

we have the star talent in place, it always come down to the young ones

[SilentHill]

I don't think anyone here will disgree that the Colts Offense is on point.

Where is the star talent on defense? If you call having one of the leagues WORST run defenses star talent I'd love to hear who you'd consider a bad player.

[Rich Cannon]

zzz

is always appreciated lol

[John Waylon]

You also don't win the Super Bowl by fielding a sub-par defense.

[cmgww]

Exactly. Green Bay hasn't been making a ton of news in FA, why? B/c they are a lot like the Colts. They build through the draft, re-sign their own, and rarely pull in big $$ FAs. Woodson is the last one I can think of...I expect this uproar is b/c this is something we as fans have never seen before, free agency condensed into a few weeks.

If the free agency winners won the SB every year, heck the Redskins would have won 10 by now, and the Cowboys the rest! The Colts are trying to hang on to the good guys they have b/c of the cap, and you all want them to go out and get these big name guys? Not gonna happen. I'd love to see one or two, but the $$ isn't there. Case in point, JAX just paid BIG money to Session, who is a good but not great LB...No way the Colts were going to match that. Let JAX overpay for another one of our cast-offs again (all due respect, Clint). Where's that gotten them? Nowhere except beating us a few times in the past few years. OOOH, the Jets might have the best defense ever if they sign Asomugah!! Let's not forget they have a decent at best QB, and will lose one of their top WRs, don't really have a great RB option (for a "ground and pound" style team).....Oh the Patriots! They might as well be crowned now! They got an overweight, lazy, criminal with a bad attitude to plug up the middle. it will take him until game 6 just to get into shape. Ocho Cinco is a decent signing, but who knows how he will fit in? His antics may be fun and cute and all that, but BB won't put up with much...and how long until OC isn't getting his share of passes b/c they all go to Welker underneath, that he starts to complain (he's not above that)

My point is this. Sure, we as fans would love to have some big name guys. Oh, wait, what's that? WE DO. Mathis, Freeney, Bethea, Wayne, Collie, Clark, MANNING...and some solid lesser known guys: Powers, Tryon, Angerer, Moala, Tamme, White...

Not to mention a draft class that was graded highly by a lot of publications. Let's see what those guys can do once up to speed.

Now losing Addai, would be bad. He's very underrated, and we need him to pick up the blitz (which he excels at)...THAT is one deal that needs to be done, ASAP. GD Donald doesn't cut it as a pass protector, and other than one game last year has shown me nothing to prove he can be starting RB.

[IndyTrav]

A Colts FA thread, I'm sure this will be filled with Redskins references, o wait.....

Nobody's asking for the Colts to sign the top dog every year, and the posters who continually bring up the Redskins are laughable at best. But this 'building thru the draft' cliche being thrown around is so over used, and over implied. You have a 52 man roster, and roughly 8 draft picks a year, you do the math, now tell me how important it is for proper FA management. To continually give Polian undying gratitude bc he drafted Peyton in 98, Edge in 99 and Freeney 02 is getting out of control. He's clearly botched nearly every draft from 05 till now, and he continues to ride the Manning over Leaf wave. The Indy media is so scared of offending the precious Colts that they don't help in holding the FO accountable, and we as fans are to busy drooling to do it, so now you have an aging team, being pointed aimlessly to the future, being captained by the son of a GM.

[nick9323]

You don't win super bowls is correct but you also don't win super bowls by not doing anything! They need to sign free agents that make sense, acquire difference makers via trades and develop their own young players.

[John Waylon]

You don't win super bowls is correct but you also don't win super bowls by not doing anything! They need to sign free agents that make sense, acquire difference makers via trades and develop their own young players.

We developed Jerry Hughes last year by...... Hiding him or whatever it was we did with him...

Well, I hope we did....

[tfunky14]

Whats Green Bay/Pittsburgh doing ? Enough said

[HONESTABE]

You don't win super bowls is correct but you also don't win super bowls by not doing anything! They need to sign free agents that make sense, acquire difference makers via trades and develop their own young players.

You may have a point here, but you alao can't expect #18 to continue being whodini in the 4th quarter. Teams acquire free agents to get better today not 3-4 years later. There were players available that could have made an immediate impact.

[John Waylon]

Whats Green Bay/Pittsburgh doing ? Enough said

They made it to the Super Bowl with their rosters last year.

We had to sneak into the playoffs.

Quite a difference, TBH.

[cfan1881]

Yea some will say you don't win the superbowl by signing FA's! This is a dbl sided statment by far,we need vet's in places that will hurt us! The main place in down field we have young undersized folks. I see what the colts do year in and year out build with in. This year that statement should be false look at three teams that give us threat in the playoff's. (NE,NYJ and HOU) We will have to face OC in the post (Besides the once a year thing) and with out a CB,DB,SS,FS then toast! I hope not but it is what it is. Then NYJ going having two shut down corners and a decent Safety,This is be tough. Then HOU twice this year we will have to worry. Now the only thing on our side is the DEF switch this will pay off in two years but will not next year. Look at that the history of teams switching DEF systems. But the Off is a forse that almost matches us except better running game. All I say really is GO COLTS AND JIM,MANNING AND THE REST OF THE STAFF ON SIDE LINE/FIELD Get ready for some football!

[Hal]

You don't win the Super Bowl by doing one thing. Free Agency is a potential boon and it's not necessary to build a Super Bowl team but it certainly has the potential to help.

[wanabecoach]

I too agree with Free Agency doesn't win Super Bowls. No ONE thing does, it takes a bunch of littler factors coming together and hitting on the right cylinder to make a run at the Lombardi. Examples..Not just one solid draft, but two or three years of solid drafting.(Look to late round picks and the percent of players that we still have that we drafted 3 and 4 years ago. Indy is in the top ten of that catagory.) It takes the right coaches...ONE coach can't be everywhere on the field at once. Jim has brought in "his guys" which provided more change to the O-line, Offensive Cordinator, than in quite sometime. You also need more than ONE leader on the team..there again that leader can't be everywhere at once. And last everyone needs to do their own indivual job..(remember that being a hot topic last year when we were near the end of the season and we HAD to win games?) This team is capable of winning a super bowl, people get waaay to uptight about us not making a free agent moves. I don't know of a free agent that I would even like to have...there isn't anyone that makes me excited.

[bluebombers87]

A Colts FA thread, I'm sure this will be filled with Redskins references, o wait.....

Nobody's asking for the Colts to sign the top dog every year, and the posters who continually bring up the Redskins are laughable at best. But this 'building thru the draft' cliche being thrown around is so over used, and over implied. You have a 52 man roster, and roughly 8 draft picks a year, you do the math, now tell me how important it is for proper FA management. To continually give Polian undying gratitude bc he drafted Peyton in 98, Edge in 99 and Freeney 02 is getting out of control. He's clearly botched nearly every draft from 05 till now, and he continues to ride the Manning over Leaf wave. The Indy media is so scared of offending the precious Colts that they don't help in holding the FO accountable, and we as fans are to busy drooling to do it, so now you have an aging team, being pointed aimlessly to the future, being captained by the son of a GM.

Where to start.

First off, its not just the draft the Colts build through, you also have to factor in UDFA which is a goldmine for someone who knows what they're looking for (Polian). And to state he hasn't done anything since '05 is simply being ignorant of the facts. While some might argue the quality of players, it's not "clearly" obvious as you put it. In fact Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie are prime examples of Polian finding the gems. Throw in Bullitt, Powers, Session and you have a plethora of solid to good players found by the Colts FO.

And you stating that the Colts FO are never criticize or hold the FO accountable? What about the decision to rest? Bob Kravitz, the voice of Indy sports has repeatedly criticized the Colts FO on all kinds of issues.

[indy1888]

You don't win the Super Bowl by winning free agency.

Enough said for Colts fans that the team is not spending money...

You typically don't win the superbowl by adding nobody and losing people off a team that wasn't good enough to win the superbowl in the first place. Enough said for the Colts can do no wrong club.

[bluebombers87]

We developed Jerry Hughes last year by...... Hiding him or whatever it was we did with him...

Well, I hope we did....

I don't know about you but I personally don't want to see a whole lot of a rookie playing in place of two rockstars in a position that is crucial to our gameplan. Not to mention DE is notoriously difficult to transition to (NCAA to NFL).

[John Waylon]

You typically don't win the superbowl by adding nobody and losing people off a team that wasn't good enough to win the superbowl in the first place. Enough said for the Colts can do no wrong club.

Oh, be prepared to be called a greedy fan by that club...

[doogansquest]

A Colts FA thread, I'm sure this will be filled with Redskins references, o wait.....

Nobody's asking for the Colts to sign the top dog every year, and the posters who continually bring up the Redskins are laughable at best. But this 'building thru the draft' cliche being thrown around is so over used, and over implied. You have a 52 man roster, and roughly 8 draft picks a year, you do the math, now tell me how important it is for proper FA management. To continually give Polian undying gratitude bc he drafted Peyton in 98, Edge in 99 and Freeney 02 is getting out of control. He's clearly botched nearly every draft from 05 till now, and he continues to ride the Manning over Leaf wave. The Indy media is so scared of offending the precious Colts that they don't help in holding the FO accountable, and we as fans are to busy drooling to do it, so now you have an aging team, being pointed aimlessly to the future, being captained by the son of a GM.

Wow. This post is soooo bad, but I'll stick to the part I've highlighted.

UDFA's are basically considered a part of the Draft pool, and no one hits that stable as well as Polian. The Packers, Steelers, Patriots, and Saints hit those areas as well, as young, overlooked players will often develop into solid contributors. Big-splash Free Agents may just end up costing a ton of money, but amounting to nothing.

The Patriots, Redskins, Raiders, Cowboys, Jets, Dolphins, Eagles, and Bears are examples of teams making relatively large Free Agency bids in the last 5 or 6 years. With the exception of the Jets, none of the teams on that list are exactly contending for championships every year. Yes, I'm including the Patriots in that list, because they've been to 1 Super Bowl in 6 seasons, which they lost, to a team that was BUILT ALMOST ENTIRELY THROUGH THE DRAFT. The Jets have made two consecutive AFC Championships, but they lost them both. Eventually, the weight of those sexy Free Agent signings will bog the team down, and there will be no depth or youth because it's all being spent on big name splashes.

The Steelers, Saints, Colts, Packers, and Giants are among the teams that almost exclusively build via the Draft. They are perennial contenders and are far better suited to long-term success than the teams listed in the previous group. They can win now, but will still have a chance in the future if they fall short because they have a lot of young talent, key position vets, and don't have to enter panic mode every time the off-season rolls around. These 5 teams have also appeared in more Super Bowls in the last 6 years than the 8 teams listed above.

Furthermore, once the Manning contract is worked out, I highly doubt there will be enough cap space (no matter how much of a home-town discount everyone thinks he's capable of)to sign a big name anyway.

[doogansquest]

You typically don't win the superbowl by adding nobody and losing people off a team that wasn't good enough to win the superbowl in the first place. Enough said for the Colts can do no wrong club.

We didn't have one of the most injured teams in history, or anything.....

"Blah blah, injuries are a part of the game...." That's true. No teams can pull it off when they are pulling guys off of the street to play, however, and there is no example in history of it ever happening. Big name free agents wouldn't have prevented that.

"Blah blah, the Packers were heavily injured too...." That's true. They also still had their key receivers, key offensive linemen, and key defensive players. The guys we lost were almost all of our key contributors. Oh yeah, and our O-line was awful. We went ahead and made the logical decision to draft two stud linemen, however, instead of overpaying for aged veteran linemen with egos too large to conform to the system.

By the way, the Saints weren't good enough to win it in 2008. Then they lost players and won it all in 2009. They gained players and lost to a 7-9 team in the playoffs in 2010, so your "enough said" comment just looks downright foolish. The team was good enough to win the Super Bowl, but 31 other teams are trying to do the same. Only one can win it.

[doogansquest]

You typically don't win the superbowl by adding nobody and losing people off a team that wasn't good enough to win the superbowl in the first place. Enough said for the Colts can do no wrong club.

We didn't have one of the most injured teams in history, or anything.....

"Blah blah, injuries are a part of the game...." That's true. No teams can pull it off when they are pulling guys off of the street to play, however, and there is no example in history of it ever happening. Big name free agents wouldn't have prevented that.

"Blah blah, the Packers were heavily injured too...." That's true. They also still had their key receivers, key offensive linemen, and key defensive players. The guys we lost were almost all of our key contributors. Oh yeah, and our O-line was awful. We went ahead and made the logical decision to draft two stud linemen, however, instead of overpaying for aged veteran linemen with egos too large to conform to the system.

By the way, the Saints weren't good enough to win it in 2008. Then they lost players and won it all in 2009. They gained players and lost to a 7-9 team in the playoffs in 2010, so your "enough said" comment just looks downright foolish. The team was good enough to win the Super Bowl, but 31 other teams are trying to do the same. Only one can win it.

[SilentHill]

Where to start.

First off, its not just the draft the Colts build through, you also have to factor in UDFA which is a goldmine for someone who knows what they're looking for (Polian). And to state he hasn't done anything since '05 is simply being ignorant of the facts. While some might argue the quality of players, it's not "clearly" obvious as you put it. In fact Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie are prime examples of Polian finding the gems. Throw in Bullitt, Powers, Session and you have a plethora of solid to good players found by the Colts FO.

And you stating that the Colts FO are never criticize or hold the FO accountable? What about the decision to rest? Bob Kravitz, the voice of Indy sports has repeatedly criticized the Colts FO on all kinds of issues.

Are you so sure that these guys are really gems or does peyton make them into gems.

[Balzer40]

Every year people, every freakin year. I hear this very same argument from both sides. Those who think we should sign every FA out there, and those who think Bill Polian and company are the second coming of the great almighty himself. The fact that this argument does take place every year should tell you something. It's not working the way its being done. If it were, there would be no reason for the conversation in the 1st place.

The Colts simply can not continue to sit back every offseason and let other teams get better and not do anything at all to improve the weak area's. It's no secret that the DT posistion is awful at best(unless you're completely blind, or can't see thru the rose colored glasses good enough to see the truth). Im not one that thinks the Colts should go crazy signing average FA's just to get their name in the headlines, but I do think they should go after 2 or 3 FA's that could make an immediate impact, espesially on defense.

I think they could get this done by releasing certain players on the team. I for one would let go Deim, Hayden, Foster, and a couple of other guys that really wouldn't make a lot of room on the salary cap, but every little bit would help.

[IndyTrav]

Colts 'quality' draft picks from 05 to now:

1. Hayden, 05, 2nd rd

2. Bethea 06, 6th rd

3. Garçon 08' 6th rd

4. Collie 09, 4th rd

5. Powers 09, 3rd rd

The only special one I see on this list is Bethea, everyone else is simply a marginal NFL starter. Please tell me again how our FO has succeeded these past several years. BC they get marginal production out of late round draft picks? That's success? I'm not asking for every draft to land a marquee player at every position. But Polian has botched these last few years. Period. In 2005 the core of this team was manning/marv/Freeney/Wayne..... In 2011 it's manning/Freeney/Wayne.......

[IndyTrav]

Wow. This post is soooo bad, but I'll stick to the part I've highlighted.

UDFA's are basically considered a part of the Draft pool, and no one hits that stable as well as Polian.

Number of Colts draft picks:

05-10

06-7

07-9

08-9

09-8

8.6 draft picks a year.

UDFA- undrafted.....not hard.....

Doogan please do me a favor and list some of these UDFA who have come to Indy and really made a name for themselves.

[dirtysouthcolt]

You cant win it with a team full of rookies and 2-3 year players either. Colts offense needs thunder in the backfield not lightning. We need a physical punishing back to help Manning on 3rd and short. Another slashing rookie won't help; get a veteran RB and let him help the young backs. I like Cedric Benson to move the pile on 3rd and short. The defense needs to stay healthy and have a more outspoken leader on the field, and that isnt in the draft its in free agency with a solid proven veteran leader.

[Coffeedrinker]

Are you so sure that these guys are really gems or does peyton make them into gems.

It works both ways. As great as Manning is he cannot make untalented players look good. He can make average players (Garcon, White) good, good players (Tamme) very good, very good players (Clark, Gonzo) great and great players (Wayne, Harrison, Collie) superstars. But last year was proof that without talent around Manning can and will struggle at times.

[indy1888]

We didn't have one of the most injured teams in history, or anything.....

"Blah blah, injuries are a part of the game...." That's true. No teams can pull it off when they are pulling guys off of the street to play, however, and there is no example in history of it ever happening. Big name free agents wouldn't have prevented that.

"Blah blah, the Packers were heavily injured too...." That's true. They also still had their key receivers, key offensive linemen, and key defensive players. The guys we lost were almost all of our key contributors. Oh yeah, and our O-line was awful. We went ahead and made the logical decision to draft two stud linemen, however, instead of overpaying for aged veteran linemen with egos too large to conform to the system.

By the way, the Saints weren't good enough to win it in 2008. Then they lost players and won it all in 2009. They gained players and lost to a 7-9 team in the playoffs in 2010, so your "enough said" comment just looks downright foolish. The team was good enough to win the Super Bowl, but 31 other teams are trying to do the same. Only one can win it.

Whats foolish is your dismissal of the Packers injury situation last year. They absolutely were just as banged up as we were. Stop with the excuses. The bottom line is the Packers have drafted better then the Colts. You want to build through the draft? Fine, start drafting better. You can't miss on guys like Ugoh or Brown and Hughes and expect not to have problems. Either use free agency to fix the problems or start drafting better. Simple.

What players did the Saints lose between 2008 and 2009? I know of one key addition though in Darren Sharper.

Simple logic says, if you lose key individuals off a team that wasn't good enough to win it all to begin with, and you don't replace them with equal or better talent, your chance of success is not great. Especially when teams that are better then you are presently in the process of getting better. I don't see how this is hard to comprehend here. Use injuries as an excuse all you want.

[tfunky14]

Every year people, every freakin year. I hear this very same argument from both sides. Those who think we should sign every FA out there, and those who think Bill Polian and company are the second coming of the great almighty himself. The fact that this argument does take place every year should tell you something. It's not working the way its being done. If it were, there would be no reason for the conversation in the 1st place.

The Colts simply can not continue to sit back every offseason and let other teams get better and not do anything at all to improve the weak area's. It's no secret that the DT posistion is awful at best(unless you're completely blind, or can't see thru the rose colored glasses good enough to see the truth). Im not one that thinks the Colts should go crazy signing average FA's just to get their name in the headlines, but I do think they should go after 2 or 3 FA's that could make an immediate impact, espesially on defense.

I think they could get this done by releasing certain players on the team. I for one would let go Deim, Hayden, Foster, and a couple of other guys that really wouldn't make a lot of room on the salary cap, but every little bit would help.

I don't think the Polin or the Colts will sit back. I just think the top 10 free agents are too expensive, not worth the money. Once Peyton get his deal (which should be soon) the Colts will look to add some depth and maybe a starter along the way that wont break the bank. A big body on the DL and someone to spell Addai. Other than that the Colts are set. Colts won 11 games last year with half the team out with injuries, no need for a fire sale of new players. Green Bay/Pittsburg/Baltimore/Philly are not making big splashes signing players because like the Colts thier team is pretty much set for the 2011 season.

[indy1888]

I don't think the Polin or the Colts will sit back. I just think the top 10 free agents are too expensive, not worth the money. Once Peyton get his deal (which should be soon) the Colts will look to add some depth and maybe a starter along the way that wont break the bank. A big body on the DL and someone to spell Addai. Other than that the Colts are set. Colts won 11 games last year with half the team out with injuries, no need for a fire sale of new players. Green Bay/Pittsburg/Baltimore/Philly are not making big splashes signing players because like the Colts thier team is pretty much set for the 2011 season.

Addai might not even be on this team. Same with Charlie Johnson. Already lost Session. Could be 3 starters lost or more by the time it's done.

The Colts won 10 games last year not 11, and yes they had a lot of injuries. However, they looked pretty awful at times earlier in the season when they were healthy. At Jags and at Houston in particular.

[Stillen]

You may not win Super Bowls by winning free agency, but you also don't win Super Bowls by doing nothing. Winning the free agency and getting some decent free agents are completely different things, you still need to sign players that can potentially make your team that much better and have you going towards the right direction.

[Balzer40]

There are a lot of Colt fans that are just enamored with the teams past success. I know, I know. They still won the division last yr., and went to the playoffs, but the truth is they still fell below expectations for the umteenth time over the yrs.. We all know what the main problem has been for all this time, but as usual, Polian has refused to address the issues. The run defense and the running game has been the Colts downfall for all but maybe 2 or 3 yrs. since Polians arrival.

Yes, he has drafted players and signed other teams castoffs to try and patch up these area's and it simply has not worked. Money is always a huge problem with the team, but that has to fall back on Polian as well. It is my opinion that Polian has signed some of our own players to bad contracts over the yrs. that haven't been worth the money they make(Deim,Hayden,Sanders,and I know many would argue but Brackett isn't worth the money he makes either). I think what drives me crazy the most is Polians insistance that they should be able to get by with lesser talented DT's, but every single yr. he gets proven wrong and does nothing to fix it.

[Rich Cannon]

You may not win Super Bowls by winning free agency, but you also don't win Super Bowls by doing nothing. Winning the free agency and getting some decent free agents are completely different things, you still need to sign players that can potentially make your team that much better and have you going towards the right direction.

ONLY IF OUR STAFF TOOK WHAT YOU SAID AND RAN WITH IT...BUT AS USUAL WE SIT BACK AND EXPECT FILL INS TO GET THE JOB DONE WHEN THEY HAVENT FOR THE LAST 10 YEARS

our run defense will continue to suffer when you expect Pressley (Injury prone player who has proved he can bounce from team to team), Nevis (a rookie), "an improving Moala" (As peolpe like to say) Etc. , to sustain a good run defense. Its just not going to happen

[Superman]

Whats foolish is your dismissal of the Packers injury situation last year. They absolutely were just as banged up as we were. Stop with the excuses. The bottom line is the Packers have drafted better then the Colts. You want to build through the draft? Fine, start drafting better. You can't miss on guys like Ugoh or Brown and Hughes and expect not to have problems. Either use free agency to fix the problems or start drafting better. Simple.

What players did the Saints lose between 2008 and 2009? I know of one key addition though in Darren Sharper.

Simple logic says, if you lose key individuals off a team that wasn't good enough to win it all to begin with, and you don't replace them with equal or better talent, your chance of success is not great. Especially when teams that are better then you are presently in the process of getting better. I don't see how this is hard to comprehend here. Use injuries as an excuse all you want.

That's a legitimate criticism. But the point is that you don't have to be a big player in free agency in order to be a winning team.

I'm on record as saying that I'd like to see more flexibility from the front office. I'd like to see us be the team that decides one day to trade a future 5th rounder for a guy who could be a difference maker on our team. I'd like to see us sign a safety or a linebacker who could improve our defense, or an offensive lineman who could improve our run game (I'm not concerned about the line at this point; I think we improved last year, and drafted a couple of guys who should be pretty good).

But I think we absolutely nailed the draft this year. I didn't like the 2010 draft, but I'm giving Hughes the benefit of the doubt, I really like Conner and Angerer, and I think Kevin Thomas has the tools to be a good corner. I think we got good talent out of the 2009 draft (Collie, Powers, McAfee), but we could have done better with the first rounder.

Either way, it's a tremendous credit to the Packers that they were able to have success last season, despite all their injuries. But that's just not normal. It's absurd to pretend that a team who loses one fourth of their roster to IR, plus several more players over the course of the season who missed time, isn't going to struggle. And even with those troubles, it took Manning having the worst three weeks of his career for us to lose out on the top seed in the AFC. The idea that because we *only* won ten games last year means that we need to add players all over the place isn't true. Assuming health, we have two needs: safety and defensive tackle. I'm not sold on Bullitt, but he'll do. And we have Fili Moala who played very well last season, plus Drake Nevis who we added this year. Again, we could be better, and I hope we do something to get better. But even if we don't, we're not some also-ran team that can't win.

There's just such a doomsday attitude among fans, just because you want to see the front office make a sexy move to make you feel better. I don't think we need a sexy move. I think we need to stay healthy, not call dumb timeouts, and keep developing our young guys, and we'll be in good shape.

[Mouthfire]

Whats foolish is your dismissal of the Packers injury situation last year. They absolutely were just as banged up as we were. Stop with the excuses. The bottom line is the Packers have drafted better then the Colts. You want to build through the draft? Fine, start drafting better. You can't miss on guys like Ugoh or Brown and Hughes and expect not to have problems. Either use free agency to fix the problems or start drafting better. Simple.

What players did the Saints lose between 2008 and 2009? I know of one key addition though in Darren Sharper.

Simple logic says, if you lose key individuals off a team that wasn't good enough to win it all to begin with, and you don't replace them with equal or better talent, your chance of success is not great. Especially when teams that are better then you are presently in the process of getting better. I don't see how this is hard to comprehend here. Use injuries as an excuse all you want.

That's fine and good, but not very realistic....

http://www.colts.com/forums/index.php?/topic/377-why-the-colts-should-avoid-free-agency-like-the-plague/

If the Colts FO is smart (and they are) they'll mostly stay away from free agency. It's essentially the surest way to make your team non-competitive for years and years.

[basketballsteve]

For the Colts free agency is about shooting for 100% accuracy resigning only free agents who are going to contribute greatly. The Colts missed badly on Hayden and it really hurt them. The Colts will always lose some good players to free agency (Jake Scott, David Thornton, Mike Peterson, Session will also be very good somewhere else). But when the Colts do decide to keep someone (Saturday, Clark, Freeny, Brackett, etc.) they have to play light out for all or most of their new/big contract. Don't forget the Colts have made many good calls in letting Edge go, Cato June, Jason David. All in all, I think they have done a good job but they have some important decisions to make right now. Joe must stay.

[Mouthfire]

For the Colts free agency is about shooting for 100% accuracy resigning only free agents who are going to contribute greatly. The Colts missed badly on Hayden and it really hurt them. The Colts will always lose some good players to free agency (Jake Scott, David Thornton, Mike Peterson, Session will also be very good somewhere else). But when the Colts do decide to keep someone (Saturday, Clark, Freeny, Brackett, etc.) they have to play light out for all or most of their new/big contract. Don't forget the Colts have made many good calls in letting Edge go, Cato June, Jason David. All in all, I think they have done a good job but they have some important decisions to make right now. Joe must stay.

I would also count letting Session go as a good decision. With the LBs we have right now, I don't it will hurt us that much, but that high price tag for a slightly above average LBer is really going to bite the Jags in the butt in the future.

[jcdavey]

You don't win the Super Bowl by winning free agency.

Enough said for Colts fans that the team is not spending money...

exactly

this is why i expect chemistry to kick the eagles * in 2011