Are we contenders?

[riftastic28]

I feel we are ..  Our defense is soft but with a good draft and free agency I think we could make a run . The offense put up 20+ every week . I even think are secondary is good we just didn't have a pass rush ... we need a D line and line backers . The O line looked alot better towards the end of the season . Decent running game and wide outs  we could make a push . I think afc championship wouldn't be far fetched . What do you guys think 

[Imrryr]

I agree

[Lawrence Owen]

No.

Offensively, yes. top 10 and can put up points on anyone.

Defensively...there is as much meat as a skeleton.  We need to rebuild 1/2 the starters on defense. 

 

[Smonroe]

As long as we have 12, we're contenders.  

[DalTXColtsFan]

Just now, Smonroe said:

As long as we have 12, we're contenders.  

Pretty much this, but don't leave out 13 either.  And if 21 can regain his 2013 form somehow that's bonus.

 

Add a stud runstuffer, a stud passrusher and a solid #2 corner to this team and you have a team that when fully healthy can compete with any other NFL team on a given day.

[a06cc]

I'm going to say absolutely not. We got swept by Houston last season.

[Flash7]

9 minutes ago, Smonroe said:

As long as we have 12, we're contenders.  

I would love to believe this, but Drew Brees and the Saints have shown lately that you can have a great QB and a potent offense, but Without defense, you're not a contender. The Colts just fielded one of the worst defenses in recent Colts history.

[NewColtsFan]

 

We COULD be a contender....    but currently we are not.

 

Simply saying a good draft and a good free agency and we're back in business is just too simplistic.

 

Getting one of those right is hard enough and you're hoping for both.   

 

IF and I'm stressing the word IF,  we get both right,  then we could be good enough to win the division.    But making the playoffs is different than making a good run in the playoffs.      And we're more likely to be two years away from making a deep run in the playoffs.      

 

Our defense is terrible.    Making it good enough to go far in the playoffs will not likely get done in one off-season.

 

It COULD,   but it's not likely.

 

Patience is going to be key.    Both for the franchise and the fan base.     So far the fan base has not done a good job of being patient.     Will be interesting to see how they react in 2017.......

 

[Clem-Dog]

I couldn't agree more with the premise of this thread.  Considering our offense is elite we definitely have a better chance to rebound than other middling teams.  All Ballard has to do really is to turn our horrible defense into an average unit, and, voila, we'd be contenders. 

[Yoshinator]

I think the majority are optimistic about the new year and possibly have had too much to drink on Valentine's day lol. We have an outside chance to win the division, and that's it. We are nowhere near a contender. Our offense is still figuring things out and is inconsistent. We need a WR to step up other than Hilton, we need a TE to emerge as a leader, and we need our O-Line to have a starting 5 we can count on. The defense is just terrible. It's needs to be stripped from the bone and almost started over. Basically have a bunch of starters who should be backups, and the guys who could be starters like Henry Anderson and Clayton Geathers are iffy. 8-8 and a transition year IMO.

[2006Coltsbestever]

Let me see after the Draft and Free Agency. Anything is possible if the Falcons can go to the SB.

[jbaron04]

Currently we are pretender's beat a team we not suppose to then lose to one we are suppose to beat 

[2006Coltsbestever]

1 minute ago, jbaron04 said:

Currently we are pretender's beat a team we not suppose to then lose to one we are suppose to beat 

Falcons did it for years so did the Panthers. We beat the Falcons with Matt Hasselbeck at QB in Atlanta in 2015.

[Yoshinator]

1 minute ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Let me see after the Draft and Free Agency. Anything is possible if the Falcons can go to the SB.

The Falcons Offense was more consistent then ours and struck fast and hard. The other difference between them and us is despite how bad their defense was, they had an excellent pass rush. It'll take the best case scenario of hitting on FA and the draft in that area alone just to match them from last year. After that, we'll have to miraculously beat the Steelers and Pats, something Luck and Pagano have yet to do. Or just avoid them in the playoffs completely.

[a06cc]

There's more to the story than just our defense. Disregard stats and rewatch our games. We'd start out slow thus putting our defense on the field way too much. Those 10th in the league stats happened when we were down trying to play catch-up.

[Yoshinator]

Just now, a06cc said:

There's more to the story than just our defense. Disregard stats and rewatch our games. We'd start out slow thus putting our defense on the field way too much. Those 10th in the league stats happened when we were down trying to play catch-up.

Bingo, we looked like the 2013 Redskins with RGIII last year in that regard, it was infuriating to watch. If we actually scored in the 1st half, we were inconsistent in the 2nd half. Never played a full game of football.

[throwing BBZ]

Much more likely 2-4 in our division next season.

[a06cc]

11 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

I think the majority are optimistic about the new year and possibly have had too much to drink on Valentine's day lol. We have an outside chance to win the division, and that's it. We are nowhere near a contender. Our offense is still figuring things out and is inconsistent. We need a WR to step up other than Hilton, we need a TE to emerge as a leader, and we need our O-Line to have a starting 5 we can count on. The defense is just terrible. It's needs to be stripped from the bone and almost started over. Basically have a bunch of starters who should be backups, and the guys who could be starters like Henry Anderson and Clayton Geathers are iffy. 8-8 and a transition year IMO.

Bingo! We have a leader the guy just needs to stay healthy. DA is not respected here or paid closely attention too. Thus the poking of the eyes of Talib. Von Miller couldn't get to Luck because of Allen. So that's way the situation came about. Allen is our muscle guy, he gets in the minds of our players.

[riftastic28]

Are defense this year was terrible . Yet we finished 8-8 .500 . With the worse defense in the league . If the defense was some what decent I think we would of gone 10-6 easy . You can't argue you that . 

[2006Coltsbestever]

1 minute ago, riftastic28 said:

Are defense this year was terrible . Yet we finished 8-8 .500 . With the worse defense in the league . If the defense was some what decent I think we would of gone 10-6 easy . You can't argue you that . 

I had us going 10-6 but didnt realize our Defense would be that bad. If it improves at all we can win 9 or 10 games. Nobody in our Division is world beaters and we have the best QB in the Division.

[Yoshinator]

2 minutes ago, riftastic28 said:

Are defense this year was terrible . Yet we finished 8-8 .500 . With the worse defense in the league . If the defense was some what decent I think we would of gone 10-6 easy . You can't argue you that . 

Probably, Luck is good enough to get 8 wins by himself, despite poor coaching and a poor team around him. He is still human and can't do it all though. The fact is, our defense isn't better, so we aren't a 10-6 team. It regressed from screwing up the 2013 draft and not drafting defense in the 2012-2014 drafts. You can't just say if our defense is better. It hasn't been top tier for over 20 years. There's no guarantee it'll be a big improvement after the draft unless the picks hit. You are dealing in hypotheticals and that's a bad way to debate or have a conversation.

[throwing BBZ]

11 minutes ago, riftastic28 said:

Are defense this year was terrible . Yet we finished 8-8 .500 . With the worse defense in the league . If the defense was some what decent I think we would of gone 10-6 easy . You can't argue you that . 

 

Well, we were very fortunate not to finish 6-10 so...
 And i expect all 3 of our division rivals to be better.

[2006Coltsbestever]

Just now, throwing BBZ said:

 

Well, we were very fortunate not to finish 6-10 so...

So is Houston, they could've easily been 6-10. They could've lost both games to us and lost to the Jags and Bengals which they were real lucky to win those games. You can say that about any team.

[Bluefire4]

Too early for this topic. Let's come back to it after the draft.

[2006Coltsbestever]

Just now, Bluefire4 said:

Too early for this topic. Let's come back to it after the draft.

I agree.

[gacoop1]

We could be contenders if we play the Browns ten times.  That's a reach because the Browns will surpass the Colts in talent with all their first round draft picks this year.  So, contenders I'll give them in the year 2020.

[Yoshinator]

Just now, 2006Coltsbestever said:

So is Houston, they could've easily been 6-10. They could've lost both games to us and lost to the Jags and Bengals which they were real lucky to win those games. You can say that about any team.

Well, the Texans are getting J.J. Watt back next year. Add him to the no1 defense, and that's a recipe for disaster in h2h games vs them. It's sink or swim for us. Titans have 6 draft picks in the top 75, Jags have a new coach and another high pick, could easily take someone like Fournette, which would be a disaster, and the Texans always seem to draft well. We have to have a solid draft, and have less room for error than the other teams due to a poor overall team and less picks.

[Tsarquise]

29 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Let me see after the Draft and Free Agency. Anything is possible if the Falcons can go to the SB.

The Panthers too.

[2006Coltsbestever]

2 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Well, the Texans are getting J.J. Watt back next year. Add him to the no1 defense, and that's a recipe for disaster in h2h games vs them. It's sink or swim for us. Titans have 6 draft picks in the top 75, Jags have a new coach and another high pick, could easily take someone like Fournette, which would be a disaster, and the Texans always seem to draft well. We have to have a solid draft, and have less room for error than the other teams due to a poor overall team and less picks.

I have to see how the Draft goes first and what we do in Free Agency. What the Texans, Titans, and Jags do as well before I can really I give an honest opinion but none of them have a QB like ours that I do know.

[riftastic28]

13 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Probably, Luck is good enough to get 8 wins by himself, despite poor coaching and a poor team around him. He is still human and can't do it all though. The fact is, our defense isn't better, so we aren't a 10-6 team. It regressed from screwing up the 2013 draft and not drafting defense in the 2012-2014 drafts. You can't just say if our defense is better. It hasn't been top tier for over 20 years. There's no guarantee it'll be a big improvement after the draft unless the picks hit. You are dealing in hypotheticals and that's a bad way to debate or have a conversation.

I have to disagree . We can only get better that's how bad we are on defense . Although I think the Secondary isn't as bad as we think . 

[riftastic28]

I really like this Ballard guy just look at what he did with the cheifs . If we comes anywhere close to the cheifs defense I say superbowl. Luck is a top 5 QB 

[Yoshinator]

3 minutes ago, riftastic28 said:

I have to disagree . We can only get better that's how bad we are on defense . Although I think the Secondary isn't as bad as we think . 

Actually we can stay the same and draft busts on defense. The years with Peyton Manning we had bad defenses consistently and it cost us in the playoffs. Just cause it can only get better doesn't mean it well. You have to hit on the players, whether it be FA or the draft, and in the last 20 years, we've had a poor track record of it. The secondary has potential and a leader in Vontae, but the safeties will be inexperienced without Adams, and the nonexistent pass rush makes life difficult for them.

[Yoshinator]

3 minutes ago, riftastic28 said:

I really like this Ballard guy just look at what he did with the cheifs . If we comes anywhere close to the cheifs defense I say superbowl. Luck is a top 5 QB 

That's the hope, that he'll be able to do with the Colts what he did with the Chiefs. We'll have Luck instead of Alex Smith. It still takes time to build a team from scraps though, so a SB won't happen soon, especially with the Pats and Steelers still on top. I can see winning the division this year, but I don't see beating the Steelers or Pats. It'll be a game of hot Potato, trying to dodge them in the playoffs, should we make it there.

[jbaron04]

58 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Falcons did it for years so did the Panthers. We beat the Falcons with Matt Hasselbeck at QB in Atlanta in 2015.

What do that have to do with colts, falcons gonna be back to there 10-6 or 9-7 selves, panthers fell apart after one good season 

[a06cc]

This surgery of Luck also plays a factor this coming season. Timing is always key.  A few things come to mind about this team for me.

1. Luck getting rid of the ball 1 second faster. 

2. WR's not getting jammed at the beginning of their routes. Also lack of routes ran in our playbook. (Thus the firing)

3. Playing with a lead!

4. A running game

5. Keep the defense off the field.

Colts have never been known for a defense and I'll never expect it. That's how this team is built. Balance has always been with this team. It's get a lead and rush the passer to play with the lead. 

 

[NewColtsFan]

26 minutes ago, riftastic28 said:

I really like this Ballard guy just look at what he did with the cheifs . If we comes anywhere close to the cheifs defense I say superbowl. Luck is a top 5 QB 

 

Let's be clear,  Ballard was NOT the GM at Kansas City.      John Dorsey was.

 

Ballard was in personnel and was Dorsey's top guy,  but it's not clear exactly what he did with KC.     He's as new to being a GM as Ryan Grigson was 5 years ago.

 

I like the Ballard too....    I just don't want to get too carried away until we see what he does......

 

[LockeDown]

Theoretically, Ballard could go pass rusher and , go all offense with every other pick.  Stud RB, FA linemen, etc...(hypothetical)...and we could score more points than our opponents every game, get an occasional sack, and get in the playoffs and lose.  Not smart but that could happen.  Maybe win a playoff game ala KC game.  T

 

[tvturner]

Yes

[MTC]

A team needs an above average or better defense - the Colts don't have that. I would say no.

[Steamboat_Shaun]

I think the OL takes a big leap forward next year, and the defense will get better, because it literally can't get any worse, and the schedule is soft. Those 3 factors alone would likely make the Colts front runners in the South, but still not Super Bowl contenders.

 

All signs are pointing to the Pats being elite again, along with Pittsburgh and Oakland. Even if the defense is better, it won't be improved enough to hold it's own in a road playoff game against any of those 3 teams. And that's what it'll take, because even if they win the South, it's unlikely they'll have a better record than that trio. That would pretty much mean that they're the 1 seed, and I don't see that happening.