The "Colts play in the AFC South" excuse [Merge]

[IcyRhythms]

FOR YEARS we've all seen this. Some may agree with it and some don't. I'm in the don't camp. Stop pretending as if any of you know what it takes to win in the NFL. Every player in the NFL is the best in the world at what they do. There are far more players that never make it to the NFL than those lucky handful that do. Do I know what it takes to win in the NFL? No, but I've heard coach after coach and player after player say(as long as I can remember and have been watching football)how hard it is to win every week. It doesn't matter the team. We see it all the time. The best thing about football is the level of competition. The better team doesn't always win because the opposing team had a better gameplan that day and was able to execute. These are professional players on the best platform and stage they can play on, the NFL. I know many of us like to think(and I've been guilty of this myself)that a lot of the division games and other "average/below average" teams are a locked win, but that's never the case. I know that every week the coaching staff busts their butts to make sure they have a gameplan for everything about to come their way, offensively or defensively. 

 

"The Colts play in the AFC South that's easy wins every year" herp derp

 

It's not getting old. It IS old.

[RollerColt]

The Texans are missing just a few offensive pieces, and who knows how Ryan Mallet will fare. He could come out slinging or fizzle. And I never underestimate the Texans defense, they play us tough each and every game.

 

It was only one game, but what a first game for Marcus Mariota. With more experience and hard work, the Titans can be competing in our division, possibly as soon as this year.

 

And the Jags have always given us fits in the past. I agree, the mantra about playing in a weak division is old. It's the NFL, no division is weak and I still believe in the phrase "any given Sunday".

[IcyRhythms]

The Texans are missing just a few offensive pieces, and who knows how Ryan Mallet will fare. He could come out slinging or fizzle. And I never underestimate the Texans defense, they play us tough each and every game.

 

It was only one game, but what a first game for Marcus Mariota. With more experience and hard work, the Titans can be competing in our division, possibly as soon as this year.

 

And the Jags have always given us fits in the past. I agree, the mantra about playing in a weak division is old. It's the NFL, no division is weak and I still believe in the phrase "any given Sunday".

 

I agree. The Texans defense can get it done, especially with Watt leading them. I've felt for a long time the Texans are an elite QB away from being not only a problem for us, but the rest of the league. Add a couple more(as you mentioned)offensive pieces and the AFC South becomes really interesting.

[#12.]

Excuse? Most of us are thankful for it.

[aaron11]

the afc south is either the worst or second worst division.  the bucs and redskins look like the worst teams overall right now though.  

 

yeah the patriot fans use that as ammo to give us a hard time but the bottom line is that IT DOES NOT MATTER.  win the division and you are in.  let the haters hate i guess

[Dustin]

Colts are 17-14 outside the division and give up almost twice as many point outside the division. The Colts clearly benefit from weak competition more than any team in the league.  

[IcyRhythms]

Excuse? Most of us are thankful for it.

 

That's fine, but don't try and pretend as if it's not a difficult task to beat each and every team we play week in and week out. There are no easy games in the NFL

[Vinatieri4]

I do think we are an elite team, however I think we do benefit from the weak division as well. I mean there is the whole "Any given Sunday" motto, but overall its just a fact that outside of the Colts, the AFC south has been a losing division. It's not Indy's fault that our division is terrible, I would much rather play the Jags Titans and Texans twice a year than the Steelers, Bengals and Ravens. 

[IcyRhythms]

Colts are 17-14 outside the division and give up almost twice as many point outside the division. The Colts clearly benefit from weak competition more than any team in the league.  

 

I don't really buy into that. The numbers(while factual)don't always tell the complete story. A lot of losses, for the Colts or otherwise, can be determined by one or two mistakes. Again, there is no weak competition. That is a fallacy made up by those that don't seem to understand that every game played is against other professional NFL players. I'm not saying we don't need to correct some things on all sides of the ball to beat some of the more "elite" teams at home or on the road. I'm simply pointing out that there is no weak competition. Hell, the Browns gave us problems last year if I remember correctly. Many were expecting Luck and co to have a field day in that game. 

[Dustin]

Again, there is no weak competition

 

Ehh, yeah there is. There are inherently teams that are weaker than other teams. If you're comparing the Jaguars to some middle school team in Alaska, then yes the Jaguars aren't weak. If you compare the Jaguars to any other team in the NFL, then they are by comparison, a clearly weak team. In any competition, there are weak opponents (unless there's only like 6 contestants)

[IcyRhythms]

Ehh, yeah there is. There are inherently teams that are weaker than other teams. If you're comparing the Jaguars to some middle school team in Alaska, then yes the Jaguars aren't weak. If you compare the Jaguars to any other team in the NFL, then they are by comparison, a clearly weak team. 

 

The Jags actually have a considerable amount of talent. Those coaching that team can't seem to figure out what to do with that talent. Good coaches figure that out.

[Dustin]

The Jags actually have a considerable amount of talent. Those coaching that team can't seem to figure out what to do with that talent. Good coaches figure that out.

 

The Jags were just an example, you can just substitute whichever team you think is bad and it still holds true. 

[IcyRhythms]

The Jags were just an example, you can just substitute whichever team you think is bad and it still holds true. 

 

None of them are bad. That's my point lol

[DalTXColtsFan]

OP, save your fingers the typing.  I tried to lift the veil of ignorance from everybody's eyes regarding this ridiculous "Colts play in the AFC South" thing with tons of facts but people ultimately believe what they want to believe.

 

http://forums.colts.com/topic/34224-can-we-please-squash-the-weak-division-ignorance/

 

 

[Surge89]

None of them are bad. That's my point lol

 

Lol the defeatist mentality.

 

Yes there are bad teams in the NFL and sometimes they perform better than their talent.  But it is quite easy to tell which teams have mediocre talent in comparison to other teams.  The AFC south has been full of mediocre talent outside 3 or 4 players and usually 2 or 3 of said players are on the Colts.  The value of going to the playoffs in our division is no where near the value of literally any other team.  That is why we don't change things because the Win column covers up glaring weakness.  It's been this way since the Manning years

[Vance]

I watched the Tennessee game, I was really impressed with Mariota, with that said it was the Bucs...I can see him as a Russell Wilson-type QB, high football IQ who can move around and not make too many mistakes.

 

If Mallet gets his chance again (which I hope he does) all he has to do is not LOSE the game for us (which Hoyer did). He's got too much raw talent, you'd think he could become at least a serviceable QB a la Alex Smith.

 

I think Bortles is much better than Gabbert, but what is ceiling is who knows at this point.

 

I was shocked to see you guys down 24-0 yesterday. A little relieved, too...

[Dustin]

None of them are bad. That's my point lol

 

If you compare them to the local Y flag-football team then no, there aren't. If you compare them to their peers, then yes there are. 

[spartancolt]

The AFC south is not the worst division. No one in the NFC south had a winning record AFC south had 2.

[dgambill]

I watched the Tennessee game, I was really impressed with Mariota, with that said it was the Bucs...I can see him as a Russell Wilson-type QB, high football IQ who can move around and not make too many mistakes.

 

If Mallet gets his chance again (which I hope he does) all he has to do is not LOSE the game for us (which Hoyer did). He's got too much raw talent, you'd think he could become at least a serviceable QB a la Alex Smith.

 

I think Bortles is much better than Gabbert, but what is ceiling is who knows at this point.

 

I was shocked to see you guys down 24-0 yesterday. A little relieved, too...

Yeah...you would think a team that got HUMILIATED in the playoffs last year by NE and the team that brought on the biggest witch hunt in NFL history (not all of it was the Colts fault the league screwed up most of it) would want to come out this year and punch some people in the mouth (metophorically) and show people that they aren't soft...that no matter the conditions...no matter the situation there is nothing that is going to get in their way of having a successful 2015 campaign. Instead we came out and fed into the same narrative about us..weak division..not good outside the division...play poorly in bad conditions...get out-physicalled by bigger/stronger teams. I was hoping to buck that last week but clearly we still have work to do. Not much has changed in the AFC South...and if you get better qb play you will be right there contesting us by the end of the year. 

[dgambill]

Besides 2012 when was the last time our division got two teams in the playoffs? I don't know but I doubt it happened very often...maybe the year Tennessee went to the SB and Peyton and Mcnair split the MVP. I would imagine if you subtracted the division winner every year and looked at the AFC South vs all teams outside the division it wouldn't look very good (comparable to other divisions). Buffalo is a really good team. They have qb questions and I imagine Taylor played about as good as he is ever going to yesterday. If he can play consistant football this year that team outside of him is a playoff caliber team for sure. I feel bad we lost but thats a quality team. What I find confusing though is next week when NE goes in there....their coaches will find the weak spots and exploit it...put pressure on Taylor and make him make tougher plays..and likely win. Is NE that much more talented than us...I don't think so...but they are that much better coached/prepared imo.

[Mr.Debonair]

Wow 17-14 outside our division. That's concerning

[ReMeDy]

I'm of the believe the AFC South is the weakest division in the NFL. Various power polls have consistently placed our divisional opponents in the bottom 10 for quite some time. It hasn't always been like that, and perhaps with the new influx of young QB's, things will change, but for now, yes, it's a valid excuse.

Many teams can claim they have a bad opponent in their division, but we're one of the few who have been able to claim we have not one, not two, but potentially three bad opponents, although the Texans have definitely been on the upside, so I'll downgrade it to two.

[The Fish]

It wouldn't matter if the Colts didn't have the "soft" label, which I find more annoying than any AFC south talk, sometimes because I don't like who's saying it and even worse when after games like yesterday it appears true. 

 

The great 80's and 90's 9ers teams played in a NFC west that was always lousy during the 9ers romp and we saw how that worked out. I'd say other teams and fan bases would be happy to have 6 games in division that they by design should win. 

[VaAllDay757]

The nfc south is the worse division by far you can be 7-9 and still win the division so I don't see how afc south is the worse houston has stepped it up and titans will be a threat in a couple of years

[Coffeedrinker]

Last year two of the top three picks in the draft were made from AFC South teams.  yes, they were bad and yes, that helped the Colts.

[Coltsman1788]

Colts are 17-14 outside the division and give up almost twice as many point outside the division. The Colts clearly benefit from weak competition more than any team in the league.  

I think if the Colts played in the AFC East they would be in danger of not making the playoffs or having to sweat it out for a wild card spot. Playing in the AFC South helps our chances of making the playoffs but doesn't do much to prepare us to compete against the physical teams we are likely to face in the post season.  Ultimately, the hope is some of the other teams in our division can step up their game and provide a stiffer challenge so that the Colts can be more battled tested by the time the playoffs roll around.  I expect that New England will benefit from how tough the AFC East is this year by the time the playoffs get here.   

[ReMeDy]

Continuing to impress! Look at those points against! The bigger the better.

[azcolt]

9-7 and we are champs for sure

[JH8788]

9-7 and we are champs for sure

If we're an AFC/SB heavyweight like we believe we are, then 9-7 won't cut it. 12-15 wins will. Santa Clara is our destination & it's best if the road to the SB in the AFC has to go through Lucas Oil Stadium.

[Jules]

I love them.

 

They are precious.

[Jules]

Oh wait nevermind, we sucked week 1 too.........

 

But, we still have week 2 hope!!!!!!!!

[Coltsman1788]

AFC Soft Champs is not anything to bang our chests about. It just punches our ticket to get punched in the mouth by the Pats or Steelers come playoff time.

[RockThatBlue]

I thought the texans were gonna win the AFC south

[2006Coltsbestever]

AFC Soft Champs is not anything to bang our chests about. It just punches our ticket to get punched in the mouth by the Pats or Steelers come playoff time.

I understand we play in a weak Division but so has the Pats forever until this season and the NFC South is worse. The team that wins that Division could be 8-8 or 9-7. We did beat the Broncos in MileHigh last season in the Divisional Round as well so that proves we were legit.

[Synthetic]

The AFC South has been the weakest division in the NFL since the realignment. 

 

 

Colts had it made 10 years ago beating up cupcakes, will have it made for the next 10 years too. 

[Bluefire4]

So much for the Texans top 5 defense Quizboy. Can't even beat a team with no WRs.

[2006Coltsbestever]

I thought the texans were gonna win the AFC south

Yeah I know. Until they get a QB I don't care how Great JJ is, they aren't doing anything. Mariota came back down to earth also today.

[Bravo]

It's week 2.

But yes the AFC South isn't the best!

[MacDee1975]

Yeah I know. Until they get a QB I don't care how Great JJ is, they aren't doing anything. Mariota came back down to earth also today.

They need a hell of alot more than a QB

[shakedownstreet]

I thought the texans were gonna win the AFC south

 

lol... watt?