How the colts can become a contender again

[Footballlax31]

After not meeting anyone's expections last year, I wanted to think of some things that need to happen if the colts want to come contenders again.

 

1) consistency across the o line

 

Andrew Luck has been hit the more than any other QB in the last 4 years. We all saw the affects of that last year. We have the left side of the line all set. If we can get two other players that can hold there own on the left, lucks going to have a clean jesery. With Philbin being the coach should help and we got solid depth so if someone does get hurt it wont be as bad.

 

2) Redesign/change offense

 

Not drastrically,  just to protect luck and get it out of his hands faster. I see Peyton and Brady get it out in 2 seconds or less. This eliminates pressure for the o line and can get the ball to are speedy WR's. Chud can add some drag/slant routes and let our WR's do the rest. Than we can take shots deep when they are least expecting it.

 

3) Stop the run

 

Our run defense has greatly improved since  LeGarrette Blount ran all over us. I think our Dline is good enough now with Langford Anderson Perry Jones Ridgeway McGill to have a solid rotation up guys during the course of the game. If we can completely take away the Run we can let Davis and the secondary do its job.

 

4) improve the running back position

 

Frank Gore did good last year with the o line front of him. This year we need to rotate him out more though. I believe Josh Ferguson is going to play a big part in that as a scat back and a option for Luck on third down. Turbin can take some carries to spell gore. This will help our offense not be so one dimensional as it has been in past years.

 

Any other things you think need to happen to get back to being a contender?

[SilentHill]

1. Play 2016 Season

 

They are already contenders, IMHO having a QB like Luck makes any team a contender. A QB that can take the entire team on his back and win a game. I'd consider the Browns a contender if they had Luck.

[Footballlax31]

10 minutes ago, SilentHill said:

1. Play 2016 Season

 

They are already contenders, IMHO having a QB like Luck makes any team a contender. A QB that can take the entire team on his back and win a game. I'd consider the Browns a contender if they had Luck.

I dont think you can win the superbowl with Andrew Luck and 21 other guys. He means a lot to the colts but if he was on the browns he would look average at best imo and 9-7.

[SilentHill]

Just now, Footballlax31 said:

I dont think you can win the superbowl with Andrew Luck and 21 other guys. He means a lot to the colts but if he was on the browns he would look average at best imo and 9-7.

 

Agree to disagree.

[Footballlax31]

Just now, SilentHill said:

 

Agree to disagree.

What do you think the browns record would be with andrew luck. Just curious.They have Corey Coleman, but no other real weapons imo. 

[SilentHill]

Just now, Footballlax31 said:

What do you think the browns record would be with andrew luck. Just curious.They have Corey Coleman, but no other real weapons imo. 

11-5 at worst,

[Ollonesomeme]

32 minutes ago, SilentHill said:

11-5 at worst,

Wow. I am concerned that he won't get to eight wins with the Colts this year.

[ÅÐØNϧ 1]

1 hour ago, Footballlax31 said:

After not meeting anyone's expections last year, I wanted to think of some things that need to happen if the colts want to come contenders again.

 

1) consistency across the o line

 

Andrew Luck has been hit the more than any other QB in the last 4 years. We all saw the affects of that last year. We have the left side of the line all set. If we can get two other players that can hold there own on the left, lucks going to have a clean jesery. With Philbin being the coach should help and we got solid depth so if someone does get hurt it wont be as bad.

 

2) Redesign/change offense

 

Not drastrically,  just to protect luck and get it out of his hands faster. I see Peyton and Brady get it out in 2 seconds or less. This eliminates pressure for the o line and can get the ball to are speedy WR's. Chud can add some drag/slant routes and let our WR's do the rest. Than we can take shots deep when they are least expecting it.

 

3) Stop the run

 

Our run defense has greatly improved since  LeGarrette Blount ran all over us. I think our Dline is good enough now with Langford Anderson Perry Jones Ridgeway McGill to have a solid rotation up guys during the course of the game. If we can completely take away the Run we can let Davis and the secondary do its job.

 

4) improve the running back position

 

Frank Gore did good last year with the o line front of him. This year we need to rotate him out more though. I believe Josh Ferguson is going to play a big part in that as a scat back and a option for Luck on third down. Turbin can take some carries to spell gore. This will help our offense not be so one dimensional as it has been in past years.

 

Any other things you think need to happen to get back to being a contender?

 

 

Every team is a contender & the cream will ride to the top & IMHO that will be MY COLTS & the bandwagon will be full half way into the season with those prized orange 18 jerseys replaced with Colts Blue 12's welcome back boys & girls Denver still sucks ..

[ColtsFanMikeC]

1 hour ago, Footballlax31 said:

I dont think you can win the superbowl with Andrew Luck and 21 other guys. He means a lot to the colts but if he was on the browns he would look average at best imo and 9-7.

 

Winning a Super Bowl takes a full team effort (we have seen that with both Peyton and Luck -- getting to the playoffs is one thing, making the step to win a Super Bowl is different).  So, I believe you are right -- winning a Super Bowl takes a team, not just a QB.

 

However, SilentHill said he thinks a team with a QB like Luck is automatically a contender.  This is also true.  Peyton is arguably (IMO, it's not an argument) the best QB of all time.  He took his team to the playoffs very consistently, thereby making us a contender (we made it to the dance) -- we only won one SB with Peyton because we rarely had a full team around him -- that doesn't mean we weren't contenders -- by winning the division and making the playoffs, we had to be considered contenders.  Before finding out Peyton was going to have to miss a full season, we were almost guaranteed locks to win the division, and many were predicting 13+ wins and a Super Bowl appearance--- he goes down and boom, we go 2-14 and are the laughing stock of the league, showing how bad our team actually was without Peyton.

 

Luck is similar -- you can't tell me our team got that much better between our 2-14 season and the 11-5 season -- if you actually look at our final roster, it is pretty sad to see how little talent we had on that team.  Luck put that team on his back many times and led us to a division championship -- he did so multiple times the next 2 seasons as well.  With a QB like Luck, we are automatically a contender -- he can win games with his will and his skill, even when he doesn't have a great supporting cast -- there are not many QBs in the league who can do that and who have done it as consistently as Luck.

[Jules]

1 hour ago, Ollonesomeme said:

Wow. I am concerned that he won't get to eight wins with the Colts this year.

 

Yeah same here, I am not going to get my hopes up this year for the Colts right now. I will take any record at times really just as long as Luck can return healthy and stay healthy all year and look promising for years to come.

 

The record will work itself out somehow......but we have no real future if we can't keep Andrew healthy.

[Smonroe]

Three 11-5 seasons with a healthy Luck and decent, certainly not great, teams around him.

 

2015 Took the SB loser to OT and beat the SB winner while injured last year.  Even without him, the team misses the playoffs thanks to a fumble and a QB who couldn't throw more than ten yards.  

 

Yeah, I'd say we're contenders already.   

[TheRustonRifle#7]

2 hours ago, Footballlax31 said:

I dont think you can win the superbowl with Andrew Luck and 21 other guys. He means a lot to the colts but if he was on the browns he would look average at best imo and 9-7.

So does that mean that the Colts are a good team? Your analogy is flawed at best...

[Footballlax31]

4 minutes ago, TheRustonRifle#7 said:

So does that mean that the Colts are a good team? Your analogy is flawed at best...

I might have screw up what i said. They are better than the browns that is for sure. I was saying that luck is good, but he is wont have the same stats as he would if he played for the browns. Just like if he played for seattle or cincy he would have better stats than he does now cause they have a better overall team imo. 

[Jules]

Depends on the rest of the AFC South though as well. If they all improve, then the Colts will have no choice but to improve or they WILL fall behind. Then in the general AFC you have the Patriots and Steelers we have had atrocious fortune against who most will call the biggest contenders the conference currently has with Manning gone. And a few will pop up in the AFC that we don't see coming. 

 

My biggest worry this year and concern though by far is Andrew Luck's health. I will probably be a little worried every game.

[Smonroe]

26 minutes ago, Footballlax31 said:

I might have screw up what i said. They are better than the browns that is for sure. I was saying that luck is good, but he is wont have the same stats as he would if he played for the browns. Just like if he played for seattle or cincy he would have better stats than he does now cause they have a better overall team imo. 

 

Most people would say the Browns had a better O Line than the Colts the last four seasons.  They weren't as bad as their records.

 

Andrew behind that line throwing to Gordon? Yeah, I'd say they would have done okay.  

[CR91]

As clique as this sounds, it starts in the trenches. If the dline can control the run game, then our secondary will allow our pass rush extra time to get after the QB. If the oline gives luck a clean pocket for once in his career, good luck because a non clean pocket andrew luck is already a top 5 QB

[jameszeigler834]

3 hours ago, TheRustonRifle#7 said:

So does that mean that the Colts are a good team? Your analogy is flawed at best...

No the colts are not a good team but they are not the worst either and with the changes to the offensive line I have hop the Offense will be a lot better than it was a year ago now the defense is still something that needs work top priority next offseason and if we do to that what we did to the o-line this offseason then most likely not this year but next year I could see this team contending for the superbowl.

[Dark Superman]

I really like the direction this team is headed. They're rebuilding the offensive line. I like what we have the defensive front. Add another pass-rusher and MLB and the defense can be something to talk about. No reason why the Colts can't win the south this year.

[2006Coltsbestever]

I still stick with my 10-6 prediction. A healthy Andrew Luck can pretty much get any team at least 9 wins even the real bad one's, look what he did his Rookie Season with the Roster we had. Keeping Andrew healthy is the most important thing for the future in reality though. If he comes out in Week 1 and doesn't look timid after his injuries then that is a great sign. After the first 4 or 5 weeks we will know what kind of team we actually have. I am tired of the 0-2 starts. I would love to see 4-1 at worse through 5 weeks.

[rock8591]

28 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

I still stick with my 10-6 prediction. A healthy Andrew Luck can pretty much get any team at least 9 wins even the real bad one's, look what he did his Rookie Season with the Roster we had. Keeping Andrew healthy is the most important thing for the future in reality though. If he comes out in Week 1 and doesn't look timid after his injuries then that is a great sign. After the first 4 or 5 weeks we will know what kind of team we actually have. I am tired of the 0-2 starts. I would love to see 4-1 at worse through 5 weeks.

 

Exactly. 2012, we probably had the worst roster in all-time sports, arguably worse than 2011.

 

e.g. Fili Moala, Antonio Johnson, Moise Fokou, Tom Zbikowski as starters. None of them even 3rd string worthy, if even that.

[2006Coltsbestever]

16 minutes ago, rock8591 said:

 

Exactly. 2012, we probably had the worst roster in all-time sports, arguably worse than 2011.

 

e.g. Fili Moala, Antonio Johnson, Moise Fokou, Tom Zbikowski as starters. None of them even 3rd string worthy, if even that.

Yep. Still went 11-5. Andrew had Reggie Wayne and a TY Hilton that played Good luckily his Rookie Season and that was about it. Glad TY panned out and is still a Good player. On Defense we had Mathis and Davis that stood out and other than that not much unless I am forgetting someone. SPteams we had Vinny and Pat but 80% of that Roster was garbage.

[krunk]

1 hour ago, rock8591 said:

 

Exactly. 2012, we probably had the worst roster in all-time sports, arguably worse than 2011.

 

e.g. Fili Moala, Antonio Johnson, Moise Fokou, Tom Zbikowski as starters. None of them even 3rd string worthy, if even that.

I got a kick out of this post because I was sitting here watching the 2012 AFC Wildcard game we played versus the Ravens and I was thinking the same exact thing! We were terrible at almost every position on Defense save Vontae. You talk about a band of misfits! The offense was respectable at the skill positions, but we had even worse O line talent at that time than we had last year. The cupboard was really bare.

[krunk]

Pat Angerer, Joe Lefeged, Cassius Vaughn, Moises Fakou, Mookie Johnson and Zibikowski all on the field at the same time. Now that was trash unit, but somehow we won games......

[krunk]

Vick Ballard was pretty good in that game.

[TheRustonRifle#7]

11 hours ago, jameszeigler834 said:

No the colts are not a good team but they are not the worst either and with the changes to the offensive line I have hop the Offense will be a lot better than it was a year ago now the defense is still something that needs work top priority next offseason and if we do to that what we did to the o-line this offseason then most likely not this year but next year I could see this team contending for the superbowl.

I think you missed my point? Which of course was based on what the OP said then later clarified, lol! Anyway, Happy 4th James.

[TheRustonRifle#7]

15 hours ago, Footballlax31 said:

I might have screw up what i said. They are better than the browns that is for sure. I was saying that luck is good, but he is wont have the same stats as he would if he played for the browns. Just like if he played for seattle or cincy he would have better stats than he does now cause they have a better overall team imo. 

NP, I always screw up what I say, lol!  Happy 4th.

[Chucklez]

15 hours ago, Smonroe said:

 

Most people would say the Browns had a better O Line than the Colts the last four seasons.  They weren't as bad as their records.

 

Andrew behind that line throwing to Gordon? Yeah, I'd say they would have done okay.  

Gordon wont play another down of football for the rest of his career.... book it.

[krunk]

Another thing I noticed in that 2012 playofff game. Baltimores secondary really didn't have much talent. And that was a unit that went to the Superbowl. All they really had was Cary Williams and Graham at the Corners. Along with an old Ed Reed who was pretty much at the end of his career at that point although still a relatively good player . And they had Dwan Landry/Bernard Pollard at the other safety. Not really a scary unit to be honest. As much as some of the people on this forum talk about the cupboard seeming to be bare in our defensive backfield. I think we will turn out to be better in the secondary than that Ravens team. The strength of that Ravens team was in the front 7. Particularly with the pass rushers Kruger and Suggs. I noted Ngata, McPhee and Arthur Jones on the DL. They had Ray Lewis in final year of his career and Donnell Ellerbee inside. If we can get some of our injured players back i think our team this year is built like that team even though we don't appear to be as strong at the edges. I like what we have with Langford, Parry, Arthur Jones, Hassan Ridgeway, Henry Anderson, TY Mcgill. I think we could end up better at the ILB position with some of the guys we have. I'm really interested to see if we hang on to Dqwell Jackson or not. There's enough young talent on this team to where we would be fine without him. Dont take this as me not liking him because I do.

[RockThatBlue]

22 hours ago, Ollonesomeme said:

Wow. I am concerned that he won't get to eight wins with the Colts this year.

Hopefully you are joking.

[rock8591]

15 hours ago, krunk said:

I got a kick out of this post because I was sitting here watching the 2012 AFC Wildcard game we played versus the Ravens and I was thinking the same exact thing! We were terrible at almost every position on Defense save Vontae. You talk about a band of misfits! The offense was respectable at the skill positions, but we had even worse O line talent at that time than we had last year. The cupboard was really bare.

 

I also forgot about the TURRIBLE o-line.

 

Linkenbach, Satele, McGlynn, Justice.

[Ollonesomeme]

3 hours ago, RockThatBlue said:

Hopefully you are joking.

No, I am not joking. The AFC South is vastly improved and the Colts have trouble being more than .500 outside if the division so it the go 4-2 or 3-3 in the division, getting more than eight wins could ba a problem. Lots of new faces to work in and I could see a slow start.

[RockThatBlue]

15 minutes ago, Ollonesomeme said:

No, I am not joking. The AFC South is vastly improved and the Colts have trouble being more than .500 outside if the division so it the go 4-2 or 3-3 in the division, getting more than eight wins could ba a problem. Lots of new faces to work in and I could see a slow start.

You dont know if the afc south is vastly improved. On paper its better but on paper means jack crap. Last year the same people talking up the jags were calling us super bowl contenders. Why don't we wait and see what happens before we crown the division?

[jameszeigler834]

11 hours ago, TheRustonRifle#7 said:

I think you missed my point? Which of course was based on what the OP said then later clarified, lol! Anyway, Happy 4th James.

Happy 4th to you too.

[JColts72]

By getting rid of Chuck and Ryan.

[JColts72]

Just now, JColts72 said:

By getting rid of Chuck and Grigs.

 

[BloodyChamp]

I know it's summer and that these brainstorm threads come with the territory but I don't know if all of the radical redos that everybody is talking about are the answer. It really is as simple as Luck. If he doesn't lacerate any internal organs, you've already contended. That comeback against TN has been forgotten because of the luck (no pun intended) that they went on to have. That was an epic comeback and the Broncos game was right up there with it. He injured himself winning both of those games. I don't know what the hypothetical Browns scenario previously mentioned brings to the table to shoot down Luck's value to Indy. 9-7 a winning season is and better than the Colts last year lol! 

 

Going to crazy with the playbook will land you where it landed the 49ers when Mike Singletary decided he was going to run the spread right in the middle of that season lol! 

 

I also realize contention isn't the goal. This is Indy, not Green Bay. Luck's guys are underrated. While underrated doesn't always cut it, it's just to early to abandon ship imo.

[gacker65]

On 7/3/2016 at 3:12 PM, Footballlax31 said:

After not meeting anyone's expections last year, I wanted to think of some things that need to happen if the colts want to come contenders again.

 

1) consistency across the o line

 

Andrew Luck has been hit the more than any other QB in the last 4 years. We all saw the affects of that last year. We have the left side of the line all set. If we can get two other players that can hold there own on the left, lucks going to have a clean jesery. With Philbin being the coach should help and we got solid depth so if someone does get hurt it wont be as bad.

 

2) Redesign/change offense

 

Not drastrically,  just to protect luck and get it out of his hands faster. I see Peyton and Brady get it out in 2 seconds or less. This eliminates pressure for the o line and can get the ball to are speedy WR's. Chud can add some drag/slant routes and let our WR's do the rest. Than we can take shots deep when they are least expecting it.

 

3) Stop the run

 

Our run defense has greatly improved since  LeGarrette Blount ran all over us. I think our Dline is good enough now with Langford Anderson Perry Jones Ridgeway McGill to have a solid rotation up guys during the course of the game. If we can completely take away the Run we can let Davis and the secondary do its job.

 

4) improve the running back position

 

Frank Gore did good last year with the o line front of him. This year we need to rotate him out more though. I believe Josh Ferguson is going to play a big part in that as a scat back and a option for Luck on third down. Turbin can take some carries to spell gore. This will help our offense not be so one dimensional as it has been in past years.

 

Any other things you think need to happen to get back to being a contender?

First, we need consistency a cross the whole team.  IMO, our O-line wasn't as bad as some on here think.  I do agree that we needed another Center.  Part of the problem with our Offense, was lack of WRs getting open on short/ intermediate routes and Luck over/ under throwing them when they were.  Luck needs to clean up his throwing game and Receivers need to run crisp routes.  Otherwise, all the O-line in the world won't help are Offense.

 

I do agree with your comments about play calling.  We need a balance between pas and run.  Our OC and DC needs to quit getting out of game plan when game is close (see New England game last year).

 

Our D-line did a great job against the run.  Our MLBs hurt us.  Before any one says that DQ had all these tackles. go back and watch all that he left on the field.  DQ and Freeman overran as many plays as they made tackles.  A few less overruns and the run Defense is great.

 

I believe that our RBs will do well if. the OC stays with the running game rather than abandoning it.

[SilentHill]

On 7/3/2016 at 4:32 PM, Ollonesomeme said:

Wow. I am concerned that he won't get to eight wins with the Colts this year.

 

Well, I'm here to tell you not to fret, because we will have 8 wins by week 10.

[Footballlax31]

12 hours ago, SilentHill said:

 

Well, I'm here to tell you not to fret, because we will have 8 wins by week 10.

Green bay is the one big hurdle.chiefs Lions, bear, texans are the only others i can see giving us fits. I dont see why we could be atleast 7-3 to 10-0 record with our schedule.

 

[ColtsBlueFL]

On 7/3/2016 at 3:12 PM, Footballlax31 said:

After not meeting anyone's expections last year, I wanted to think of some things that need to happen if the colts want to come contenders again.

 

1) consistency across the o line

 

Andrew Luck has been hit the more than any other QB in the last 4 years. We all saw the affects of that last year. We have the left side of the line all set. If we can get two other players that can hold there own on the left, lucks going to have a clean jesery. With Philbin being the coach should help and we got solid depth so if someone does get hurt it wont be as bad.

 

2) Redesign/change offense

 

Not drastrically,  just to protect luck and get it out of his hands faster. I see Peyton and Brady get it out in 2 seconds or less. This eliminates pressure for the o line and can get the ball to are speedy WR's. Chud can add some drag/slant routes and let our WR's do the rest. Than we can take shots deep when they are least expecting it.

 

3) Stop the run

 

Our run defense has greatly improved since  LeGarrette Blount ran all over us. I think our Dline is good enough now with Langford Anderson Perry Jones Ridgeway McGill to have a solid rotation up guys during the course of the game. If we can completely take away the Run we can let Davis and the secondary do its job.

 

4) improve the running back position

 

Frank Gore did good last year with the o line front of him. This year we need to rotate him out more though. I believe Josh Ferguson is going to play a big part in that as a scat back and a option for Luck on third down. Turbin can take some carries to spell gore. This will help our offense not be so one dimensional as it has been in past years.

 

Any other things you think need to happen to get back to being a contender?

 

Defense-

Drastically reduce the number of Big Plays the defense gives up. Make them use more plays (and chances to fumble/ throw interception etc...) and burn clock

 

Offense-

Reduce turnovers, and sustain drives long enough to rest the defense, and preferably score doing so.