Favourable Schedule through 2015?

[TKnight24]

So, the 2015 schedule looks like this for the Colts...

Home - Houston, Jacksonville, Tennessee, New England, NY Jets, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, Denver

Away - Houston, Jacksonville, Tennessee, Buffalo, Miami, Atlanta, Carolina, Pittsburgh

Due to us having the benefit of playing a very weak NFC South. Does anyone think we'll finally push into a 12 win season?

No such thing as "favourable" with this team when talking outside the AFC South

[colts_100nascar17fan]

10-6 as of now. 7 wins at home, 3 wins on road.

[Coltsman1788]

Colts have lots of work to do this offseason.  Too early to tell. But if I had to guess right now though I'd predict another 11-5 season.

[JPFolks]

No such thing as "favourable" with this team when talking outside the AFC South

I think you're right and I don't expect more than a split at best with Houston this year if they can find anything at QB.  I think the NFC South will be tough to beat, stocked full of good new players from mid round or better draft picks and the AFC East is going to be the toughest division in the NFL next season where I'd be shocked if we won more than 2 games and that might be optimistic.  This is Lucks second go round with this division and the first time we got spanked by the division if I remember right and Buffalo may be the toughest out of the non NE teams and I believe that was our win against that division last time.  IF we hadn't ripped up the NFC North that year we'd have been sitting out the playoffs.  

[braveheartcolt]

Atlanta has one of the highest powered offenses in the entire NFL (Matt Ryan is right near the top of the best of the non-elite QB's and they have tremendous WRs) -- they are a few players away from being a very good football team. Carolina got very hot late this year and they are also a few players away from being a very good football team. NO has cap issues, but they have a great coach, a great QB and are always going to be dangerous with those 2. Tampa Bay is the only team in the NFC South I don't see being very competitive next year, although they've got some very good young talented weapons on offense if they can just get a QB to help out.

Buffalo was a good team last year. Rex might make their defense very scary, they've got the potential. New England is going to be tough as always. Miami was a pretty good team last year and they seem to have been improving since they have decided to stick with Tannehill as their QB. NYJ is a team I don't see being very good, but who knows.

Denver is going to be good, and will be tough to face in Denver if Peyton is healthy. And Pittsburgh is a very good team.

The Texans and Titans are continuing to improve and it will be tough to go 2-0 against both of them, especially if either team gets a QB. Jacksonville we should beat twice.

Here's how I see it:

Jacksonville - 2 wins

Titans - 1 or 2 wins

Texans - 1 or 2 wins

Tampa Bay - win

NYJ - win

That is 6 wins we should definitely have. Everything else is a crap shoot. If we go .500 we finish 10-6 and should be in a good spot to win the AFC South again.

We, like the majority of the teams we play, are depending on the offseason and health next season (we are a few players away from being an excellent team, and likewise just a couple injuries away from being in trouble).

I see no reason why we shouldn't win the AFC South and have a shot at the super bowl next season, but it is way too pre-mature to start writing anything in stone.

10-6 is rather pessimistic. Isn't it way too premature to be thinking so?

[ColtsFanMikeC]

10-6 is rather pessimistic. Isn't it way too premature to be thinking so?

 

I think it's way to premature to be thinking anything about next year's record.  The salary cap in the NFL has been quite effective in creating parity throughout the league.  We've got a QB that is either elite or right on the borderline of being elite. As long as we have a healthy Luck, we'll be able to contend for the playoffs for sure.  We still need to add a few pieces around him to really push from being a playoff lock with a shot at the super bowl to being a very serious contender for the title (i.e., moving from underdog to favorite). 

 

I was not necessarily predicting 10-6.  I'm saying we should definitely win at least 6 games, and everything else is a crap shoot (shoot, if we lost Luck in week 4 of preseason, winning 6 games might be a stretch).  Too much needs to happen (e.g., draft, free agent signing, training camp injuries, pre-season/regular season injuries, etc. etc..) before we can get a better picture to make any sort of accurate prediction on our record.  Three teams on our schedule (NYJ, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville) are too far away in the building process to be good teams next year, regardless of what they do this offseason.  Houston and Tennessee are both just a good QB away from being threatening teams to being very good teams.  Every other team on our schedule was a good or very good team in the NFL last year, so until we see how free agency and the draft goes we won't know how much these teams have improved or declined (including us) and most of the good/very good teams are only 1 or 2 injuries away from being a bad team (e.g., New England loses Brady they go from elite to OK, New Orleans loses Brees and they go from good to bad, Carolina loses Newton they go from good to bad, Pitt loses Big Ben they go from good to bad, etc. etc..).

 

The reason I posted that last post is to highlight the fact that we don't have a 'favourable schedule', as the initial post and title of this thread indicated.  We have 4 games against teams that (barring miracle) will be bad next year (Jacksonville x2, Tampa Bay, NYJ).  Every other team we play had good or elite teams this past season, and just about every one of them is the addition of one or 2 players away from moving becoming much better or the subtraction of one or 2 players away from not being so good.  

 

It is way too premature to be predicting anything about next year's record, IMO.  The only thing we can say for sure, IMO, is that we've got to improve, stay healthy, and come to play week in and week out. At this point, if I'm forced to predict anything, I'd much rather err on the side of caution than be hyped up about going 16-0, 15-1, 14-2 or 13-3. 

[OhioColtsGirl]

I really believe that the NFC South is going to be much improved next year. The Falcons picking up Dan Quinn as head coach is a great signing and should definitely improve that awful defense of theirs. They already have a really good offense, too. Then when it comes to the AFC East, I don't see Miami and Buffalo as complete slouches either. That Buffalo D is for real. They just need a QB... Just like the Texans. I wouldn't consider this a favorable schedule. But we still will win the AFC South.

[RockThatBlue]

I really believe that the NFC South is going to be much improved next year. The Falcons picking up Dan Quinn as head coach is a great signing and should definitely improve that awful defense of theirs. They already have a really good offense, too. Then when it comes to the AFC East, I don't see Miami and Buffalo as complete slouches either. That Buffalo D is for real. They just need a QB... Just like the Texans. I wouldn't consider this a favorable schedule. But we still will win the AFC South.

That's right ;)

[mintor]

So, the 2015 schedule looks like this for the Colts...

 

Home - Houston, Jacksonville, Tennessee, New England, NY Jets, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, Denver

 

Away - Houston, Jacksonville, Tennessee, Buffalo, Miami, Atlanta, Carolina, Pittsburgh

 

Due to us having the benefit of playing a very weak NFC South. Does anyone think we'll finally push into a 12 win season? 

could  have max 6 losses, min of  4

[mintor]

We've proven we can beat Denver, Manning isn't getting any younger. New Orleans are currently $30,000,000 over the salary cap, so it'll be difficult for them to strengthen! 

 

Agree though, Pitt and NE will probably be losses. 

 beat Denver manning was his injury - a fact.  NE  Brady - fact  we are 4-0 loss  , chance against Pitt  60/40 , Atlanta   say 60/40 . New Orleans had a off year be hard. 

[GoColts8818]

beat Denver manning was his injury - a fact.  NE  Brady - fact  we are 4-0 loss  , chance against Pitt  60/40 , Atlanta   say 60/40 . New Orleans had a off year be hard. 

so if the only reason the Colts beat the Broncos is Manning's injury explain the win over him in 2013. Fact is the Broncos have been a very good match up for the Colts because they play into the strength of the Colts defense which is to try to throw on the Colts corners to the point which the Colts have won five of the six halves played against them over the past three years. I feel much better about the Broncos game than I do the Steelers game.

[NYCfan]

I see at least five candidates for "Prime Time" games on that schedule.

 

New England (OMG, the mediots will go nuts over hyping the "Sequel to Deflategate")

Houston.  One of the games for sure.

Denver.  If Manning's still lacing 'em up, this will always be hyped as a "showdown" between Luck and Peyton.

NO or Atlanta: these are two teams that are going to be hungry with a capital starving next season.  Great inter-Conference showdowns.

[BrownianMotion]

How did we get NE back to back home games, shouldnt we be @NE this year?

It's ok. We don't mind playing in Indy.

[Synthetic]

I disagree completely.

 

You have no idea if the NFC South will be that pathetic again next season.

 

People thought this going into 2011 when the NFC West division winner was 7-9, and sure enough that year they had a team go 13-3 the next season. 

 

The NFC South was actually very close to having someone finish with an even record. If the Saints would have just won one of those 4 games they choked vs Atlanta, SF, Cleveland, or Detroit (all games were won 3 points or under) there would have been an 8-8 team from that division and possibly 9-7. 

 

I don't expect the NFC South to be that weak next year. The Falcons made a good hire at coach, and even though Carolina is bad, they did play the second half of the season really well, and as we know, the Saints had 4 nail biter games they could have easily won if they didn't blow it in the end with defense playing bad and/or offense turning the ball over. 

 

Lucky for the Colts, you play in the real sorriest division of the NFL when your only competition was Vince Young's Titans one year, and then Houston who had a good team for 2 seasons. Nothing to worry about. Easy 6 wins from the division, then they should be able to win 4 or 5 more from the non-divisional games. 

[Narcosys]

It's ok. We don't mind playing in Indy.

A bit late there. Already explained

[bronchos33]

If we strengthen in FA and the draft a 13-3 season is very possible. We would need to get a couple DB's to stop Drew Bress and Big Ben though

[SouthernCal]

If we strengthen in FA and the draft a 13-3 season is very possible. We would need to get a couple DB's to stop Drew Bress and Big Ben though

Pass rushing + run defense