Can the Colts make the playoffs @ 8-8?

[Superman]

2 minutes ago, I Love C said:

Colts line has dropped from -2 to -1 with 75% of the money on Indy. That's what is called "reverse line movement."  With the money that lopsided on one side the line should move in the Colts favor to -3, -3.5, -4, but went the other way. That's not a good sign at all for a Colts win. Trust me on that. 

 

Vegas doesn't determine who wins. The line is meant to reduce their risk, no matter the outcome. 

[BullsColtsFan1]

On 11/29/2016 at 11:08 AM, runthepost said:

Dolphins Chiefs Broncos will be the teams at the wildcard seeds. Dolphins are red hot. Chiefs can shut down our O and move the ball on us and the Broncos can shut down the O. Which team would you feel comfortable with

Colts have to make it first and it's an uphill battle.  If they do, I would rather then play the Dolphins or Broncos.  I think they can handle the Broncos at home.  The Chiefs are a bad match up.  Also, the Chiefs could still win the division and the Raiders could be that #4 wild card and that's a scary team too. 

[SilentHill]

On 11/28/2016 at 1:59 PM, NewColtsFan said:

 

The two years the NY Giants won the Super Bowl,  their regular season record was 9-7.

 

I don't remember if they were the division winner or if they were a wild card.      But I do remember 9-7.     Twice.

 

Sometimes it pays to get hot at the right time........

 

 

Those teams had defenses that carried the offense and then the offense got hot.

 

We don't have that level of defense. The colts have a very good passing attack, but that just isn't enough to get past the bad defense and lack of running game.

[bababooey]

16 minutes ago, SilentHill said:

 

Those teams had defenses that carried the offense and then the offense got hot.

 

We don't have that level of defense. The colts have a very good passing attack, but that just isn't enough to get past the bad defense and lack of running game.

Are you going to the game tonight?

[SilentHill]

Just now, bababooey said:

Are you going to the game tonight?

 

nah it's too cold for that nonsense, lol.

[bababooey]

Just now, SilentHill said:

 

nah it's too cold for that nonsense, lol.

cheapest resale ticket in Metlife history tonight. I will not be attending either.

[chad72]

42 minutes ago, SilentHill said:

 

Those teams had defenses that carried the offense and then the offense got hot.

 

We don't have that level of defense. The colts have a very good passing attack, but that just isn't enough to get past the bad defense and lack of running game.

 

Yep.

 

It was 10-6 as a #5 seed in 2007, a road wild card team all the way. In 2011, 9-7 won the division, so the Giants had a home wild card game vs the Falcons as a #4 seed.

 

In both playoff runs, their D got timely turnovers and did not give up more than 20 points in ANY of those 8 games. That includes QBs like Romo, Favre, Brady in 2007, and Matt Ryan, Rodgers, Alex Smith (who was rolling as a 49er then) and Brady in 2011. I do not see that happening with our D, period.

 

Unless Luck goes on a Joe Flacco like run, I do not see it happening. Even then, Flacco's D in the 2012 season playoffs got timely stops albeit giving up 14 to Colts, 21 to Broncos (14 more came from ST returns), 13 to Patriots, and 29 to 49ers with an intentional safety in the SB, they pretty much did not give up more than 21 in the AFC. Robert Mathis saying he is retiring is not going to get sympathy flags or non-flags like Ray Lewis' team.

[NewColtsFan]

9 hours ago, SilentHill said:

 

Those teams had defenses that carried the offense and then the offense got hot.

 

We don't have that level of defense. The colts have a very good passing attack, but that just isn't enough to get past the bad defense and lack of running game.

 

I wasn't suggesting the Colts could make a deep run at the Super Bowl.     Only that you can get there with a 9-7 regular season record.

 

I agree,  we don't have the defense or the running game.

 

But we can still win the division and make the playoffs,  and in the strange year,   I'll take that.

 

[GoColts8818]

They could but they will need the Texans and Titans to finish 8-8 too.

[King Colt]

The Colts may earn an invitation the dance but their date has warts and smells wrong. I read the AFC South described as "putrid" recently and that is not far from the truth. If they go there can't be too man that actually believe they will go far.

[BullsColtsFan1]

Question.  What happens if the Colts beat the Texans, lose to both Minnesota and Oakland and beat Jax and finish at 8-8.  Tenn loses to Denver and KC and beats Hou and Jax to finish 8-8.  Houston loses to Indy and Tenn and beats Cinci and Jax and finishes 8-8?  Who would own the tie breaker?  I know the Colts own the tie breaker on Tenn, but what about Houston? 

[krunk]

7 hours ago, King Colt said:

The Colts may earn an invitation the dance but their date has warts and smells wrong. I read the AFC South described as "putrid" recently and that is not far from the truth. If they go there can't be too man that actually believe they will go far.

Whatever hater.

[krunk]

3 minutes ago, BullsColtsFan1 said:

Question.  What happens if the Colts beat the Texans, lose to both Minnesota and Oakland and beat Jax and finish at 8-8.  Tenn loses to Denver and KC and beats Hou and Jax to finish 8-8.  Houston loses to Indy and Tenn and beats Cinci and Jax and finishes 8-8?  Who would own the tie breaker?  I know the Colts own the tie breaker on Tenn, but what about Houston? 

We are worried about Houston.  That's it.

[BullsColtsFan1]

1 minute ago, krunk said:

We are worried about Houston.  That's it.

Chuck is that you? lol.  I know they are worried about Houston but I was just asking hypothetically. 

[#12.]

It's funny in this AFC South.  If the Colts lose this weekend, the season is all but over, but if they win and Tenn. loses to Denver, they would have a chance to essentially clinch the following week.

 

 

[DalTXColtsFan]

grunch

 

The question is irrelevant.  If the Colts can't beat Houston and Jacksonville with the playoffs on the line do you WANT them in the playoffs to get humiliated by whatever #5 seed comes to our house?  And if they can't take at least one off of Minnesota or Oakland, same question - what confidence are you possibly going to have against any playoff-calibre team that comes to the house?

 

I will feel good about the colts' first-round chances if they beat Hou, Jax and Minn and they're at least competitive against Oakland.  If they somehow lose to Minnesota and then miraculously rebound to beat Oakland in Oakland, then as long as they take care of business against Jacksonville I'll feel good about their first-round chances.

[coltsfeva]

12 hours ago, NewColtsFan said:

 

I wasn't suggesting the Colts could make a deep run at the Super Bowl.     Only that you can get there with a 9-7 regular season record.

 

I agree,  we don't have the defense or the running game.

 

But we can still win the division and make the playoffs,  and in the strange year,   I'll take that.

 

If the D can get Geathers, Robinson and Mathis back, they could start playing better. Even the pass rush could improve if the secondary starts to gel. As far as the running game, they just need to be able to run it enough to open up the play-action passes. The o line is starting to show signs of improvement. We shall see....

[tikyle]

1 hour ago, #12. said:

It's funny in this AFC South.  If the Colts lose this weekend, the season is all but over, but if they win and Tenn. loses to Denver, they would have a chance to essentially clinch the following week.

 

 

How?  Texans are 3-0 in the division.  Even if we beat them they will be 3-1.  The division record will be the tie breaker.  The Colts are 2-2 in the division and would be 3-2 with a win over HOU.  The Colts still need JAX or TEN to beat HOU to not have them hold the tie breaker.  There is a lot more football to be played.  But honestly, who really WANTS to win this division?

[krunk]

Sooner or later some of you will get to the point where you understand this team belongs in the ring with just about any team.  We might be missing some parts here or there, but when these boys put their minds to something and they are serious they can put up numbers. There's enough here with sound game plans and great execution on both sides of the football to make some noise.   If we maintain some of what we saw last night effort, execution and game plan wise we'll make some noise I promise.  Don't let these "Poor Colts" fans on here fool you about what's possible.

[DalTXColtsFan]

44 minutes ago, krunk said:

Sooner or later some of you will get to the point where you understand this team belongs in the ring with just about any team.  We might be missing some parts here or there, but when these boys put their minds to something and they are serious they can put up numbers. There's enough here with sound game plans and great execution on both sides of the football to make some noise.   If we maintain some of what we saw last night effort, execution and game plan wise we'll make some noise I promise.  Don't let these "Poor Colts" fans on here fool you about what's possible.

I agree with you, and the time is now.  It's time for the Colts to PROVE it.  If they lose to Houston all of their potential means nothing.  If they lose to both Minnesota and Oakland all of their potential means nothing.  If they lose to Jacksonville, even if they enter that week 9-6, their potential means nothing.

[krunk]

1 hour ago, DalTXColtsFan said:

I agree with you, and the time is now.  It's time for the Colts to PROVE it.  If they lose to Houston all of their potential means nothing.  If they lose to both Minnesota and Oakland all of their potential means nothing.  If they lose to Jacksonville, even if they enter that week 9-6, their potential means nothing.

Our major core problem has been "Us" for the better part of the season.  The stupid and silly stuff we've done to get in our own way.  Dropped balls, missed tackles, missed assignments, penalties, turnovers etc.  All of which are controllable. If you eliminate the above things and rise to a high level in those areas you give your self a very good chance to compete with the QB and Offensive personnel we have.  If the D tackles and execute their coverages and run fits properly and limits the penalties they will come to look better than what they are.  It's possible to strive to be elite in these areas or very good even when you don't have the best personnel.  Combined team effort to be very good to elite in all the areas I outlined results in a team than can go places.

[King Colt]

6 hours ago, krunk said:

Whatever hater.

"hater" ? Realist. Raiders, beat the Raiders?!  Bet you check on that game.

Dowell Jackson suspended for four games

[Superman]

5 hours ago, krunk said:

Our major core problem has been "Us" for the better part of the season.  The stupid and silly stuff we've done to get in our own way.  Dropped balls, missed tackles, missed assignments, penalties, turnovers etc.  All of which are controllable. If you eliminate the above things and rise to a high level in those areas you give your self a very good chance to compete with the QB and Offensive personnel we have.  If the D tackles and execute their coverages and run fits properly and limits the penalties they will come to look better than what they are.  It's possible to strive to be elite in these areas or very good even when you don't have the best personnel.  Combined team effort to be very good to elite in all the areas I outlined results in a team than can go places.

 

If they had performed to optimal levels all season long, they'd probably be 10-2, right? That's all great.

 

Problem is teams don't play at optimal levels all season long. If our QB has an off day, we don't win. If we miss a handful of tackles or drop a couple of balls, we don't win. If the coach mismanages one timeout, we don't win. The Colts aren't good enough to make critical mistakes and still win games.

 

That's to say nothing of whether they're good enough to beat other good teams, even when the Colts are at their best. They haven't done that so far this year, but judging from what they have done against good teams like Denver and KC, it's unlikely that the Colts are good enough.

 

Now we all know teams get hot. "Why not us?" I'm with it, but realistically speaking, the Colts aren't as good as KC, Denver, Oakland, NE... Now if they play a great game, coach a great game, get some bounces, yeah, "why not us?" But I'm not putting any money on it, to say the least. Roster-wise, the Colts are inferior. Coaching-wise, inferior. Record-wise, inferior (and Tuna says you are what your record says you are...) 

 

The Colts get a chance to show they can rise above weak and/or troubled teams in 3 of the next 4 games with Houston and Jacksonville in Indy, and at the Vikings (lost 6 of 7). And they get a chance to show they can hang with the big dogs in Oakland (I'll be at that game, btw). We'll see if they can meet the challenge. 

[coltsfanatic24]

9-7 will win the division. If we make the playoffs I would rather play the Broncos at home. The Chiefs are a bad match up. 

[krunk]

1 hour ago, Superman said:

 

If they had performed to optimal levels all season long, they'd probably be 10-2, right? That's all great.

 

Problem is teams don't play at optimal levels all season long. If our QB has an off day, we don't win. If we miss a handful of tackles or drop a couple of balls, we don't win. If the coach mismanages one timeout, we don't win. The Colts aren't good enough to make critical mistakes and still win games.

 

That's to say nothing of whether they're good enough to beat other good teams, even when the Colts are at their best. They haven't done that so far this year, but judging from what they have done against good teams like Denver and KC, it's unlikely that the Colts are good enough.

 

Now we all know teams get hot. "Why not us?" I'm with it, but realistically speaking, the Colts aren't as good as KC, Denver, Oakland, NE... Now if they play a great game, coach a great game, get some bounces, yeah, "why not us?" But I'm not putting any money on it, to say the least. Roster-wise, the Colts are inferior. Coaching-wise, inferior. Record-wise, inferior (and Tuna says you are what your record says you are...) 

 

The Colts get a chance to show they can rise above weak and/or troubled teams in 3 of the next 4 games with Houston and Jacksonville in Indy, and at the Vikings (lost 6 of 7). And they get a chance to show they can hang with the big dogs in Oakland (I'll be at that game, btw). We'll see if they can meet the challenge. 

You've been pointing to the inferior for the entire season yet we've been in every game. No you wont have optimal performance all year, but if you are better at the little things you will come out better than your opponent more times than not even with a flawed roster. At least enough to be better than a 6 win team. The purpose of my post was to say a team can play better than their make up if they focus more on being excellent at the details. The Colts have shown for most of the season that mediocrity is more likely than excellence I get it. However the playoffs is 3 games and we've seen more than one Colt team fine tune their weak areas right on time for the run. Am I talking Super Bowl for this team?? At this point no I am not. What I am saying is its totally possible for this team to play really well details wise for 2-3 games. There's enough talent on this team to do so. Like you say we will see over the next couple weeks. If they tighten things up I expect good things will happen. If not then you have to live with the inevitable.

 

 

[Bluefire4]

We're not winning the division at 8-8. Texans schedule is too easy after this game. We can beat the Texans this Sunday and still lose the division if we don't take care of either the Raiders or Vikings.

[krunk]

2 hours ago, Superman said:

 

If they had performed to optimal levels all season long, they'd probably be 10-2, right? That's all great.

 

Problem is teams don't play at optimal levels all season long. If our QB has an off day, we don't win. If we miss a handful of tackles or drop a couple of balls, we don't win. If the coach mismanages one timeout, we don't win. The Colts aren't good enough to make critical mistakes and still win games.

 

That's to say nothing of whether they're good enough to beat other good teams, even when the Colts are at their best. They haven't done that so far this year, but judging from what they have done against good teams like Denver and KC, it's unlikely that the Colts are good enough.

 

Now we all know teams get hot. "Why not us?" I'm with it, but realistically speaking, the Colts aren't as good as KC, Denver, Oakland, NE... Now if they play a great game, coach a great game, get some bounces, yeah, "why not us?" But I'm not putting any money on it, to say the least. Roster-wise, the Colts are inferior. Coaching-wise, inferior. Record-wise, inferior (and Tuna says you are what your record says you are...) 

 

The Colts get a chance to show they can rise above weak and/or troubled teams in 3 of the next 4 games with Houston and Jacksonville in Indy, and at the Vikings (lost 6 of 7). And they get a chance to show they can hang with the big dogs in Oakland (I'll be at that game, btw). We'll see if they can meet the challenge. 

Denver has an inferior offense. They've even lost their running game. They are not even the same team as they were earlier this season. As of right now they've got a pretty decent chance to be on the outside looking in with a 4 game schedule consisting of Tenn, KC, New England and Oakland. If we played them again there's not even the threat of the run, and on defense we would be healthy at all the spots we were not in the first match up so I dont think they'd move the football on as many drives as the previous match up. I dont fear them. Oakland I give respect to on Offense only. Their defense is bad on the ground and through the air. Buffalo just ran for like 200 yards on them. Kansas City is pretty solid. I dont think Luck and crew are as intimidated of New England anymore. There is a maturity you can pick up in Luck. Personally I think our offense is better than New Englands defense in more than one place. We are not near as sloppy as we once were.

[krunk]

That Oakland defense could barely keep Houston from marching up and down the field, and Buffalo left shoe prints on their backsides rushing 6-7 yards a pop. Oakland is like the Atlanta Falcons of the AFC. I've seen us against Atlanta and that was a W with Hasslebeck at QB. I'm not fully buying Oakland. I like David Carr but the rest dont scare me. All the rest of you can but they haven't sold me yet. Dont think they'd have an easy time getting Luck off the field. Heck they struggled with Brock and Tyrod.

[AZColt11]

17 minutes ago, krunk said:

That Oakland defense could barely keep Houston from marching up and down the field, and Buffalo left shoe prints on their backsides rushing 6-7 yards a pop. Oakland is like the Atlanta Falcons of the AFC. I've seen us against Atlanta and that was a W with Hasslebeck at QB. I'm not fully buying Oakland. I like David Carr but the rest dont scare me. All the rest of you can but they haven't sold me yet. Dont think they'd have an easy time getting Luck off the field. Heck they struggled with Brock and Tyrod.

Well, there is an old saying, you are what your record says you are, and they are 10-2 and currently the #1 seed in the AFC.  I would agree, they have won a lot of close games, so that does give you reason to pause on this team, but they ARE winning them so that's a plus too.  In contrast, the Colts SHOULD be 9-3 but they couldn't close out Detroit, Jax, or Houston, so that is a concern there.  I think the Colts can give them a game, but I'm not sure if the chips are on the table if they can close the deal on a non-AFC south contender.  At least they haven't so far this year.

[krunk]

1 hour ago, AZColt11 said:

Well, there is an old saying, you are what your record says you are, and they are 10-2 and currently the #1 seed in the AFC.  I would agree, they have won a lot of close games, so that does give you reason to pause on this team, but they ARE winning them so that's a plus too.  In contrast, the Colts SHOULD be 9-3 but they couldn't close out Detroit, Jax, or Houston, so that is a concern there.  I think the Colts can give them a game, but I'm not sure if the chips are on the table if they can close the deal on a non-AFC south contender.  At least they haven't so far this year.

Doesnt change the fact that there's an opportunity to win there. I dont even think its mountain sized. Oakland squeaked out wins against Tennessee and Houston. They probably should have lost to both teams. And guess what? Tennessees defense is terrible. Houston got completely hosed on two different calls that were humongous. Oakland has shown me nothing versus AFC South opponents. Colts with Luck at QB are starting to close these games out if you haven't noticed. And its been against some pretty good fronts so i dont want to hear about no Khalil Mack and Bruce Irvin. We've done that for 3 straight games in a row. The Colts are a better team than both Tenn and Houston. I dont expect Indy to get smashed in that game. Its winnable. Indy has a little bit more experience with December football. We wont be intimidated by them. Oakland has a good record but I've seen enough glaring weaknesses to know we've got a good shot.

[krunk]

That Oakland game to me is no different than a couple years ago when we played Kansas City at Arrowhead stadium in the playoffs. Kansas City had the red hot offense with Trent Greene and Priest Holmes. Very good offensive line and 2 Wrs Eddie Kennison and that other guy they had plus Tony Gonzales and Dante Hall. They had a bad defense just like Oakland. Everybody said that team would smash us. That Colt team was kind of like this one is. Good offensive personnel and average to mediocre on defense. Peyton, EJ, Reggie and company went in there straight putting up points on the Chiefs sorry defense. The Chiefs put up points on ours too but the D did enough to make sure we won. I dont even think this team is as inferior on D as that team was. I clearly remember during the regular season Brett Favre lighting that Colt Defense on fire in the RCA dome. He must have thrown for 450-500 yards that game.

[krunk]

I didn't realize the Raiders only have 21 sacks this year and that's with Khalil Mack and Bruce Irvin.    That's worse than the Colts and we supposedly have no pass rushers.   Almost every single stat I've looked at on their defense is worse than the colts.  They are giving up 4.9 yards per carry against the run and 140 yards per game. They've given up slightly more yards per game through the air than the colts and I don't even believe at any point this year they were ravaged with injuries like we were.  They are in same general vicinity as the Colts defense in points given up.  I don't see much about that unit that is any better than the Colts.  In several areas they are worse than the Colts.  They are the highest penalized team in the league by a long shot.

[oldunclemark]

10 hours ago, Bluefire4 said:

We're not winning the division at 8-8. Texans schedule is too easy after this game. We can beat the Texans this Sunday and still lose the division if we don't take care of either the Raiders or Vikings.

Texans have lost 3 in a row.......they play at Tennessee...

...all we need is for them to lose 8

[oldunclemark]

23 hours ago, BullsColtsFan1 said:

Question.  What happens if the Colts beat the Texans, lose to both Minnesota and Oakland and beat Jax and finish at 8-8.  Tenn loses to Denver and KC and beats Hou and Jax to finish 8-8.  Houston loses to Indy and Tenn and beats Cinci and Jax and finishes 8-8?  Who would own the tie breaker?  I know the Colts own the tie breaker on Tenn, but what about Houston? 

I don't know...

I know we eliminate Tennessee because of a 2-0 record head-to-head..(Titans have to get to 9-7 to have a chance) but the Houston (8-8) vs. Colts (8-8) tiebreaker match under the exact scenario you offer......its not clear who wins

we would both be 4-2 in division play

[oldunclemark]

21 hours ago, tikyle said:

How?  Texans are 3-0 in the division.  Even if we beat them they will be 3-1.  The division record will be the tie breaker.  The Colts are 2-2 in the division and would be 3-2 with a win over HOU.  The Colts still need JAX or TEN to beat HOU to not have them hold the tie breaker.  There is a lot more football to be played.  But honestly, who really WANTS to win this division?

we do..

...you want a playoff berth and a home playoff game....every year

[bababooey]

12 hours ago, Superman said:

 

If they had performed to optimal levels all season long, they'd probably be 10-2, right? That's all great.

 

 

Don't even need to be optimal. In four late losses all they needed was either one score, one first down, or one stop. If those were successful then people would be talking about us the way they are talking about the Lions right now.

[oldunclemark]

9 hours ago, krunk said:

That Oakland defense could barely keep Houston from marching up and down the field, and Buffalo left shoe prints on their backsides rushing 6-7 yards a pop. Oakland is like the Atlanta Falcons of the AFC. I've seen us against Atlanta and that was a W with Hasslebeck at QB. I'm not fully buying Oakland. I like David Carr but the rest dont scare me. All the rest of you can but they haven't sold me yet. Dont think they'd have an easy time getting Luck off the field. Heck they struggled with Brock and Tyrod.

when I watch the Raiders, they give up so many yards....

Buffalo had them buried last week ..

 

I would be OK with Oakland at Indy in the first round of the playoffs.

But I reserve the right to change my mind after we play them in 2 weeks

[krunk]

3 minutes ago, oldunclemark said:

when I watch the Raiders, they give up so many yards....

Buffalo had them buried last week ..

 

I would be OK with Oakland at Indy in the first round of the playoffs.

But I reserve the right to change my mind after we play them in 2 weeks

I wasn't impressed when I saw them play Houston.  And now I'm really not impressed after looking over the numbers.  That defense is worse than the Colts in a number of areas.   They don't even really pressure the passer and they have pass rushers. Luck should have no problems going up and down the field on them.  21 Sacks on the year total is bad.  And at the same time they are giving up 4.9 yards per carry.

[krunk]

5 minutes ago, oldunclemark said:

when I watch the Raiders, they give up so many yards....

Buffalo had them buried last week ..

 

I would be OK with Oakland at Indy in the first round of the playoffs.

But I reserve the right to change my mind after we play them in 2 weeks

I have to go back and watch that game to see how in hades they let Oakland come back to win that one.

[Bluefire4]

3 hours ago, oldunclemark said:

Texans have lost 3 in a row.......they play at Tennessee...

...all we need is for them to lose 8

I think our only hope is the Bengals to be honest. The Titans will be out of it by week 17 and won't play with enough effort against the Texans without something being on the line.