What realisticly are our expectations for the upcoming season?

[krunk]

Depends on what we do in FA and the draft.   With all the money we have , if used properly we can really solidify some spots.   Have a good to great draft and I could see maybe a Denver Broncos like turn around.   This assumes Luck is healthy.   I can see about 10-6

[NannyMcafee]

I have no expectations whatsoever 

[jshipp23]

33 minutes ago, krunk said:

Depends on what we do in FA and the draft.   With all the money we have , if used properly we can really solidify some spots.   Have a good to great draft and I could see maybe a Denver Broncos like turn around.   This assumes Luck is healthy.   I can see about 10-6

How do you think we do with Brissett as starter? I can see 10-6 with good free agency and draft..We easily could have been 8-8 last year with better coaching..

[George Peterson]

14 hours ago, our_dbs_rock said:

 

No, mostly sarcasm. 

 

But I do expect a high draft pick next year.  I think this year will be a true rebuilding year.  A new offense, a new defense, a lot more roster turnover, etc.  I could be wrong and would be happy to be wrong, but I have low expectations.

This is going to be unpopular, I know that, but I'm just gonna say this.  Take it for what it's worth.

 

If you don't think the Colts are going to be highly competitive next year even with Luck, then it may be time to reposition the franchise around a new quarterback and focus Luck's appearances around showcasing him for potential buyers.

 

I don't see that overwhelming strength on offense, defense, special teams, the run the pass, run D, pass D, nowhere.  You have no assets on your roster and nothing to leverage to generate any except money, and your cap situation is decent but not spectacular. 

 

To my outsider's perspective the Colts are honestly below average in every facet of the game.  Luck was hiding it to a certain extent but that's part of how he got hurt, the weakness on offense put too much pressure on the poor guy and he got exposed.  I really doubt that going back to a situation where Luck granted you the luxury of being able to pretend you had an offense is possible or even smart without a serious restructuring.  You've already run him into the ground once.  Doing it again would be grounds for the league seizing Luck from your franchise for his own safety in a just world, similar to a CPS raid in an abusive home situation.

 

Bottom line, you guys have Luck and rather little else, and now you may not actually have Luck.  By the time you could draft some guys to fill the holes and they've learned the game and fully come into their own, Luck's going to be 30, 31, 32 and with an injury history.  Unless Ballard manages to pull a miracle out of the aether, you're looking at the distinct possibility of wasting the remainder of Luck's prime even if he is healthy.  

 

That doesn't honestly mean I think the Colts can't be competitive, but spending Luck's prime on 9-7, 10-6 one and done seasons would be a tragedy IMO.  I think the Colts need a thorough rebuild rather than a rush job, and if you try to do a half-rebuild, you're going to wind up like an elevator stuck between the floors, constantly drafting between 12 and 18 and not making any noise in the playoffs, similar to the situation the Ravens and Titans are in recently where they're not really relevant, but they're too good to break up, and so they just mark time and waste their top talent.  That's not where you want to go as a Franchise IMHO.  I

 

[George Peterson]

23 minutes ago, jshipp23 said:

How do you think we do with Brissett as starter? I can see 10-6 with good free agency and draft..We easily could have been 8-8 last year with better coaching..

With Brissett as the starter I think the team is 7-9 next year, assuming reasonable but not outstanding success in the draft and FA. 

 

If they can get a breakthrough or two defensively that could go higher, I'm predicating this on the idea that some of the 4th quarter collapses were based as much on the weakness and lack of talent of the defense as the ineptitude of the coaching staff.   I think Brissett can take a team to the playoffs in the right conditions, but the Colts roster is badly depleted right now, not sure he could do it here next year.

[Fluke_33]

15 minutes ago, George Peterson said:

This is going to be unpopular, I know that, but I'm just gonna say this.  Take it for what it's worth.

 

If you don't think the Colts are going to be highly competitive next year even with Luck, then it may be time to reposition the franchise around a new quarterback and focus Luck's appearances around showcasing him for potential buyers.

 

I don't see that overwhelming strength on offense, defense, special teams, the run the pass, run D, pass D, nowhere.  You have no assets on your roster and nothing to leverage to generate any except money, and your cap situation is decent but not spectacular. 

 

To my outsider's perspective the Colts are honestly below average in every facet of the game.  Luck was hiding it to a certain extent but that's part of how he got hurt, the weakness on offense put too much pressure on the poor guy and he got exposed.  I really doubt that going back to a situation where Luck granted you the luxury of being able to pretend you had an offense is possible or even smart without a serious restructuring.  You've already run him into the ground once.  Doing it again would be grounds for the league seizing Luck from your franchise for his own safety in a just world, similar to a CPS raid in an abusive home situation.

 

Bottom line, you guys have Luck and rather little else, and now you may not actually have Luck.  By the time you could draft some guys to fill the holes and they've learned the game and fully come into their own, Luck's going to be 30, 31, 32 and with an injury history.  Unless Ballard manages to pull a miracle out of the aether, you're looking at the distinct possibility of wasting the remainder of Luck's prime even if he is healthy.  

 

That doesn't honestly mean I think the Colts can't be competitive, but spending Luck's prime on 9-7, 10-6 one and done seasons would be a tragedy IMO.  I think the Colts need a thorough rebuild rather than a rush job, and if you try to do a half-rebuild, you're going to wind up like an elevator stuck between the floors, constantly drafting between 12 and 18 and not making any noise in the playoffs, similar to the situation the Ravens and Titans are in recently where they're not really relevant, but they're too good to break up, and so they just mark time and waste their top talent.  That's not where you want to go as a Franchise IMHO.  I

 

No.  I really believe he would add 6 wins to this team last year.   I’m excited for what the new offense will bring.  

 

I know I’m a homer but I think luck is going to prove his value this year.  Pre injury he did some amazing things.  

[jshipp23]

7 minutes ago, George Peterson said:

With Brissett as the starter I think the team is 7-9 next year, assuming reasonable but not outstanding success in the draft and FA. 

 

If they can get a breakthrough or two defensively that could go higher, I'm predicating this on the idea that some of the 4th quarter collapses were based as much on the weakness and lack of talent of the defense as the ineptitude of the coaching staff.   I think Brissett can take a team to the playoffs in the right conditions, but the Colts roster is badly depleted right now, not sure he could do it here next year.

Well I'm in the minority, but I see a lot of talent in Brissett..He is young and has all the tools to be very good...With good coaching and development I see a high ceiling...Top 10 qb potential in a few years..This new scheme will help everyone..The scheme we were using was terrible considering our deficiencies in the offensive line..A lot of that had to do with injuries , Brissett not being familiar with playbook, and lack of weapons..

[George Peterson]

3 minutes ago, Fluke_33 said:

No.  I really believe he would add 6 wins to this team last year.   I’m excited for what the new offense will bring.  

 

I know I’m a homer but I think luck is going to prove his value this year.  Pre injury he did some amazing things.  

Adding 6 wins is plausible considering the number of times the Colts collapsed in the 4th quarter.

 

However 9-7 isn't even enough to make the playoffs every year.  And if you're trying to use Luck as a fig leaf to cover the franchise's problems instead of doing what I really hope Ballard's able to accomplish and fixing these problems, you're just going to get him hurt again.

[krunk]

41 minutes ago, jshipp23 said:

How do you think we do with Brissett as starter? I can see 10-6 with good free agency and draft..We easily could have been 8-8 last year with better coaching..

I'm not sure with Brissett. Probably 6-10 or 8-8.

Depends on how far he has developed from Year 1.

I think he's talented but needs major work with blitz recognition

and just getting rid of the football on time.

[George Peterson]

5 minutes ago, jshipp23 said:

Well I'm in the minority, but I see a lot of talent in Brissett..He is young and has all the tools to be very good...With good coaching and development I see a high ceiling...Top 10 qb potential in a few years..This new scheme will help everyone..The scheme we were using was terrible considering our defincies in the offensive line..A lot of that had to do with injuries , Brissett not being familiar with playbook, and lack of weapons..

I look at Brissett and I see a lot of similarities to Dak Prescott or Joe Flacco.  You can win with that guy, but you have to baby him a little bit, get him all the toys he needs, have success with secondary acquisitions and build a strong roster around him.  He can win, but he can't drag a franchise away from obscurity by the scruff of its neck like Luck could when he was healthy.  you have to get a lot of other things right to give a guy like that a chance to win.

 

Brissett in particular is a guy within that teir of quarterbacks that has a lot of good things going for him.  He's not prone to panic, he's poised, fundamentally sound, and he tends to make good, smart decisions with the football.  But he's not a premium talent and he's not going to save the general manager if he makes a dog's dinner of the rest of the roster the way Grigson did.  The swing between Brissett in his prime and a healthy Luck in his prime is about 2-4 games in the regular season and one more postseason win IMHO, if you think this team is 9-7 with Luck, it's 5-11 to 7-9 with Brissett.

[crazycolt1]

31 minutes ago, George Peterson said:

This is going to be unpopular, I know that, but I'm just gonna say this.  Take it for what it's worth.

 

If you don't think the Colts are going to be highly competitive next year even with Luck, then it may be time to reposition the franchise around a new quarterback and focus Luck's appearances around showcasing him for potential buyers.

 

I don't see that overwhelming strength on offense, defense, special teams, the run the pass, run D, pass D, nowhere.  You have no assets on your roster and nothing to leverage to generate any except money, and your cap situation is decent but not spectacular. 

 

To my outsider's perspective the Colts are honestly below average in every facet of the game.  Luck was hiding it to a certain extent but that's part of how he got hurt, the weakness on offense put too much pressure on the poor guy and he got exposed.  I really doubt that going back to a situation where Luck granted you the luxury of being able to pretend you had an offense is possible or even smart without a serious restructuring.  You've already run him into the ground once.  Doing it again would be grounds for the league seizing Luck from your franchise for his own safety in a just world, similar to a CPS raid in an abusive home situation.

 

Bottom line, you guys have Luck and rather little else, and now you may not actually have Luck.  By the time you could draft some guys to fill the holes and they've learned the game and fully come into their own, Luck's going to be 30, 31, 32 and with an injury history.  Unless Ballard manages to pull a miracle out of the aether, you're looking at the distinct possibility of wasting the remainder of Luck's prime even if he is healthy.  

 

That doesn't honestly mean I think the Colts can't be competitive, but spending Luck's prime on 9-7, 10-6 one and done seasons would be a tragedy IMO.  I think the Colts need a thorough rebuild rather than a rush job, and if you try to do a half-rebuild, you're going to wind up like an elevator stuck between the floors, constantly drafting between 12 and 18 and not making any noise in the playoffs, similar to the situation the Ravens and Titans are in recently where they're not really relevant, but they're too good to break up, and so they just mark time and waste their top talent.  That's not where you want to go as a Franchise IMHO.  I

 

You are right. It is unpopular just like 90% of everything you bring to this forum.

Saying the league should step in and seize Luck is trolling at it's finest.

[jshipp23]

2 minutes ago, George Peterson said:

I look at Brissett and I see a lot of similarities to Dak Prescott or Joe Flacco.  You can win with that guy, but you have to baby him a little bit, get him all the toys he needs, have success with secondary acquisitions and build a strong roster around him.  He can win, but he can't drag a franchise away from obscurity by the scruff of its neck like Luck could when he was healthy.  you have to get a lot of other things right to give a guy like that a chance to win.

 

Brissett in particular is a guy within that teir of quarterbacks that has a lot of good things going for him.  He's not prone to panic, he's poised, fundamentally sound, and he tends to make good, smart decisions with the football.  But he's not a premium talent and he's not going to save the general manager if he makes a dog's dinner of the rest of the roster the way Grigson did.

Believe me I want Luck to comeback and be that elite guy for next 8 years..I am not gonna get my hopes up though..He might be done ,or never the same, or get hurt again..We have more talent than people think though and Brissett may not be great , but he is no scrub by any means..We will add a bunch of talent this offseason to go with competent coaching and will be contending for playoffs even without Luck..Now if Luck is back and knocks rust off quick we can contend year 1 with Reich..

[George Peterson]

There isn't a football team in history that has absolutely no talent at all, except possibly recent interations of the Cleveland Browns.  But Ballard's got his work cut out for him if he's going to put the Colts in the playoffs, and he's going to need at least a little bit of good fortune no matter what he accomplishes.

 

I just think it'd be a pity if the legacy if a great talent like Luck is to go the way of guys like Phillip Rivers who could never put himself in a position to accomplish anything, frequently through no fault of his own,

[lance_m8]

20 hours ago, Superman said:

 

To the bolded, I wish that were true, but it's not. Thanks for the credit though.

 

In all seriousness, I feel like the Colts have struggled due to poor coaching and lack of execution over the last two seasons, more than anything else. Obviously Luck's injury basically ended any chance of the team making the playoffs last year, but still, they choked away a handful of games with an inability to finish. What I'm trying to say is that, despite the flaws on the roster and the dozens of critical injuries, I think the Colts could/should have won more than 12 combined games the last two seasons.

 

I don't necessarily have W/L expectations going into 2018, especially without knowing what the roster will look like, but I do expect the team to be disciplined, to gameplan better, to call better games on both sides of the ball, to tackle better on defense, to give up far fewer big plays, not allow as many sacks/hits/pressures, and to be an ascending team in general, rather than the stuck in the mud / descending team they've been lately.

 

If -- IF -- Luck is healthy, and Ballard does good/great work on the roster, and Reich fixes the offense, I see this as a 10+ win team. That's a lot of "ifs," of course.

As I see right now my opinion is this staff wont allow those late game mistakes happen week after week we easily could've been 6-10 or 7-9 this year off coaching alone even better if our players showed up in the 2nd half of games if we went by the score at halftime we prob were like 11-5 

[ReMeDy]

Problem is we have no clue if Luck is playing. I think he will, in which case, I legit believe we'll make the playoffs with a 10-6 record, but lose in the 1st round. If we don't have Luck, or if he's partially out, then I say it's a 6-10 record.

 

What throws a wrench in the whole thing is Jacksonville is super tough and optimistic, Houston will be healthy again, and we're playing New England this year (at their stadium).

[Fluke_33]

2 hours ago, George Peterson said:

Adding 6 wins is plausible considering the number of times the Colts collapsed in the 4th quarter.

 

However 9-7 isn't even enough to make the playoffs every year.  And if you're trying to use Luck as a fig leaf to cover the franchise's problems instead of doing what I really hope Ballard's able to accomplish and fixing these problems, you're just going to get him hurt again.

I can see your point but i'm relying on Ballard to fix the issues and build the team with Luck.  Yes, if they have him they will be drafting later and it will be more difficult to build that way but New England has been picking at the end of each round and has been competitive doing so.  I think Ballard is up to the task and you have to keep your proven players like Luck.

[Peterk2011]

The difference between a good team and a bad team in the NFL is often smaller than we would think. Look at the Jaguars, the Rams, etc. They were amongst the worst in 2016, and were playoff teams in 2017, the Jags almost getting to the Superbowl.

 

So, anything can happen. With some luck - including Luck(!) - the Colts can go a long way in 2018. But with some bad luck, and a few bad decisions it can also be another down year. We will see.

 

Whatever happens, the most important task is to figure out our QB situation. I like Brissett, but he is not a franchise QB. He is a fine backup, but no more. Maybe it's too harsh to say he never will be - altough I do think he never will -, but it doesn't matter. It is black and white for me. If you have the 1/3, and you don't have a healthy franchise QB, you draft one. I'd love to see Chubb, Fitzpatrick, Barkley, whoever in horseshoe jersey. IF we have our QB in place. But if not, I don't care. Make sure you have your franchise QB first, and then you can move forward.

 

(I have my faith in Luck though. He wil be back and will be better than ever with Reich.)

[Mr.NotSoCreative]

Last years team was just so dang close in a lot of games, even with Brissett,  with key injuries and some young contributers everywhere. The Colts just seem to be snakebitten with injuries every year. The level of coaching will definitly make a difference. All in all, a wild card birth would be a huge accomplishment. So ill go with 9-7.

[Coltfreak]

For everyone throwing out wins and losses.    How can anyone even guess without knowing the schedule?

without knowing how FA turns out or the draft by is or either team

 

i will say this.   I expect the team to be prepared.  The offense to play to the strengths of its players.   Do everything possible to protect the franchise and put him in position to win with the plays players and scheme that actually suits Andrews strengths 

 

I expect the defense to be fast and tenacious    

 

I dont one think Frank will make the bone headed plays timeouts and adjustments or lack of adjustments that we have had the last few years 

 

I do not expect to see the offense take their foot off the throttle hoping the other team can't beat us

 

I expect to not have to start a thread that calls for Frank to be fired 

 

I expect to be excited about Colts football again

 

Hell I may even buy season tickets again

[ColtsSouljah]

There are way too many variables at this point. Is Luck healthy? Do we do well in free agency? Do our draft picks contribute this season? if yes to all, I completely think 12 wins would be within reach. Otherwise, we're probably looking at anything from 5-9 wins.

[ColtStrong]

I say 11-5 if Luck is healthy. 

[ÅÐØNϧ 1]

With a healthy Andrew Luck I expect great things & I also expect the new coachs to do a much better job of coaching Pagano was not smart enough & his teams did'nt play a full 60 mins a few players on both sides of the ball added with better coaching we can expect a winning season IMO 9-7 or 10-6 Believe in the Blue .

[Patrick Miller]

I expect Brissett to lead this team to a 6-10 record. Hope I'm wrong and Luck comes back..... Combined with a masterful draft and free agency aquisitions.... Leading us to a 11 or 12 win season.

[Coltfreak]

On 2/14/2018 at 10:35 PM, ColtStrong said:

I say 11-5 if Luck is healthy. 

Who are the wins against and who are the losses?

[Alex22]

No less than 11-5 if Luck is healthy. The team was in position to win more games than the record indicates last season. This is a playoff team and will only get better after the draft and free agency. 

[jshipp23]

10 minutes ago, Alex22 said:

No less than 11-5 if Luck is healthy. The team was in position to win more games than the record indicates last season. This is a playoff team and will only get better after the draft and free agency. 

This is a playoff team with Brissett with good draft and free agency..If Luck comes back great, if not turn the page and roll with Brissett, we might have the next Air McNair sitting there anyways..

[Gigc]

if Luck is healthy again, we get back over 500 and push for a wild card. 

I think there's going to be another year of wholesale changes; especially now they've decided they want to go back to a speed-based 4-3 defense

[ManningGM]

Gotta love when fans from other franchises keep talking about how Luck should be "seized" from us. Um, no.....you can f**k right off. You aren't getting our franchise QB.

[Peterk2011]

9 hours ago, Coltfreak said:

Who are the wins against and who are the losses?

 

We don't know, but it doesn't really matter. There will be teams who will be better than we think, and there will be teams who will be worse than we predict. It usually equals out. 

 

The reason why I think that - even with the healthy Luck - 11-5, 12-4 is a bit too optimistic is because our division is not bad any more. If the Jags continue playing at their 2017 level, and Deshaun Watson will play like he played before his injury, this division will be tough, very tough. (On the other hand, I think Watson will not be THAT good, and the Jags defense won't be as good as they were in 2017.)

[lollygagger8]

With this coaching staff playing to the player's strengths, we have to be better than last year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I mean......right? 

[King Colt]

The truth about the coming season is hidden in the Vatican and will never be revealed.

[aaron11]

On 2/14/2018 at 3:39 PM, George Peterson said:

This is going to be unpopular, I know that, but I'm just gonna say this.  Take it for what it's worth.

 

If you don't think the Colts are going to be highly competitive next year even with Luck, then it may be time to reposition the franchise around a new quarterback and focus Luck's appearances around showcasing him for potential buyers.

 

I don't see that overwhelming strength on offense, defense, special teams, the run the pass, run D, pass D, nowhere.  You have no assets on your roster and nothing to leverage to generate any except money, and your cap situation is decent but not spectacular. 

 

To my outsider's perspective the Colts are honestly below average in every facet of the game.  Luck was hiding it to a certain extent but that's part of how he got hurt, the weakness on offense put too much pressure on the poor guy and he got exposed.  I really doubt that going back to a situation where Luck granted you the luxury of being able to pretend you had an offense is possible or even smart without a serious restructuring.  You've already run him into the ground once.  Doing it again would be grounds for the league seizing Luck from your franchise for his own safety in a just world, similar to a CPS raid in an abusive home situation.

 

Bottom line, you guys have Luck and rather little else, and now you may not actually have Luck.  By the time you could draft some guys to fill the holes and they've learned the game and fully come into their own, Luck's going to be 30, 31, 32 and with an injury history.  Unless Ballard manages to pull a miracle out of the aether, you're looking at the distinct possibility of wasting the remainder of Luck's prime even if he is healthy.  

 

That doesn't honestly mean I think the Colts can't be competitive, but spending Luck's prime on 9-7, 10-6 one and done seasons would be a tragedy IMO.  I think the Colts need a thorough rebuild rather than a rush job, and if you try to do a half-rebuild, you're going to wind up like an elevator stuck between the floors, constantly drafting between 12 and 18 and not making any noise in the playoffs, similar to the situation the Ravens and Titans are in recently where they're not really relevant, but they're too good to break up, and so they just mark time and waste their top talent.  That's not where you want to go as a Franchise IMHO.  I

 

a couple of issues with this

 

first, teams are not lining up to trade the farm for an injured QB.  he wont be ready until after the draft, so what will teams have to trade for him then?  no way they would trade him for future picks.  future picks can devalue a lot if that team has a good season with luck 

 

also we do have assets.  80 million in cap space second only to the browns, and more importantly the third overall pick, plus high picks in every round.  we can build around luck with those assets, hes still just 28 years old too.

 

this offseason will make or break ballard imo.  if luck doesnt come back we will be picking high next year, we will get our next QB then 

[horseshoecrabs]

6 hours ago, King Colt said:

The truth about the coming season is hidden in the Vatican and will never be revealed.

It's buried on  "Oak Island"

[Bravo]

6-8 wins.

 

Playoffs would be a bonus.

[coltsfanatic24]

If Luck stays healthy I think 9-7 is a realistic goal.