The Last Decade - Why Did Our Historical Run Happen?

[chad72]

What was it that made the historical run of 7 years of 12 regular season wins happen for the Colts? Was it the arrival of Dungy and the maturation of Peyton both happening at the same time? Or was it the pieces being built around Peyton coming together at the same time?

Discuss as to what made this historical run happen, and what lessons can be learned from those that can be applied to this decade.

Can it be made to happen again? Or do too many things have to go right for it to happen again in the same fashion?

[schwamm]

IMHO...

1. Owner prepared to hand the reins to a talented GM

Irsay seems willing, but where Polian was a known entity when hired, Grigson is not

2. GM with league best talent evaluation skills and a mastery of CAP navigation

I have high hopes, based on Grigson's bio, but he has no real experience, so we will need to see how he fares

3. Coach with an excellent game plan and the ability to control and lead the team

Again, I have high hopes for Pagano, but Dungy had more proven credibility when he came to Indy

4. QB with smarts, endurance, mad skills, and the ability to take an OK team to incredible heights

Luck has similar credentials to what Manning had coming out of college, so... high hopes...

5. Adequate talent across the board, especially in the trenches

The team has considerable work to do here...

6. Willingness to cut bait when players' costs exceed their value

We shall see...

7. Create sense of stability and constancy, even amid considerable player turnover

After all the recent upheaval, it'll take some doing to create stability

At this point, I can only hope the magic can be brought back to Indy. Unfortunately, there are just too many things that have to meet or exceed expectations to expect anything resembling the kind of run we just experienced.

[Mameluc]

it was the perfect storm: Dungy, Irsay willing to give everything to pollian, PM and Pollian on his prime.

the thing that they should learn is that it became obvious you need a solid allaround team not just pass rushers and WR along a great QB.

[schwamm]

it was the perfect storm: Dungy, Irsay willing to give everything to pollian, PM and Pollian on his prime.

the thing that they should learn is that it became obvious you need a solid allaround team not just pass rushers and WR along a great QB.

I don't think anyone misunderstood that in the Colts FO in recent years. Unfortunately, it is easy to have a more balanced team when your QB is on his rookie contract. Once he proves himself as a franchise QB, and gets that next contract, finances force things out of balance, and everything gets even worse when the QB proves himself to be among the best ever. I'm all for balance, but I'll also say I hope Luck puts us in exactly the same awkward situation in 15 years.

[coltsfanfw]

Three Words for Decade of Success: "We Had Manning"

[KyFan18]

Um...it was the guy your owner just ran out of town.

[buccolts]

IMHO...

1. Owner prepared to hand the reins to a talented GM

Irsay seems willing, but where Polian was a known entity when hired, Grigson is not

2. GM with league best talent evaluation skills and a mastery of CAP navigation

I have high hopes, based on Grigson's bio, but he has no real experience, so we will need to see how he fares

3. Coach with an excellent game plan and the ability to control and lead the team

Again, I have high hopes for Pagano, but Dungy had more proven credibility when he came to Indy

4. QB with smarts, endurance, mad skills, and the ability to take an OK team to incredible heights

Luck has similar credentials to what Manning had coming out of college, so... high hopes...

5. Adequate talent across the board, especially in the trenches

The team has considerable work to do here...

6. Willingness to cut bait when players' costs exceed their value

We shall see...

7. Create sense of stability and constancy, even amid considerable player turnover

After all the recent upheaval, it'll take some doing to create stability

At this point, I can only hope the magic can be brought back to Indy. Unfortunately, there are just too many things that have to meet or exceed expectations to expect anything resembling the kind of run we just experienced.

I agree wholeheartedly.

Going forward, I could deal with a bit less 4 for a better 5, and I always want a lot of 7.

That, and doing it 'the right way'(with integrity).

[FanFromtheWasteland]

Um...it was the guy your owner just ran out of town.

Who was living on his past glory and being bailed out by his best pick that happened 14 years ago

[unitas-we-stand]

as much hurt this has all been losing manning and the end of the manning era alot of people are looking to the negatives instead of the positives. 14 years ago the colts were in a real bad slump and we had 1st draft pick and got a rookie named peyton manning who was considered the best college ball player of his time. now 14 years later we are in the same spot and also looking at another really good college player andrew luck. hes got really big shoes to fill but lets give him a shot

[betheafan41]

I think the same success can happen if they build around luck, but i think it can be better if they equal out the team. put a strong D together to go with a strong offense. that was the issue and it showed last year. the defense is falling apart very slowly. its why i say it wont be until 2013 or 2014 before the colts see the playoffs again, its going to take a couple drafts to fill in those holes. they need to give freeney a new contract but on a team friendly contract and explain to freeney they want him to be a colt for the rest of his career but at the same time try to add extra pieces to help out both the offense and defense to get them back to the promise land. i feel polian was only putting a team together to fit what manning does on the field and not what could happen if manning was out for a year, and we saw the destruction this past season.

we already know more then likely Wayne is gone with Manning right? and garcon is pretty much gone too right? Garcon turned down a contract at 7 million a year maybe ailttle more, Colston is looking for a cnotract around 7 million a year, i say the colts sign him to put on the other side of collie, draft another WR to throw in the slot position. Sign finnegen to play CB and zybikowski to take over for bullett, bullett isnt going to stay healthy he is following the same path as bob sanders, starting out good then hitting the IR. plus zybikowski is a good return guy also so could help ST's. try to sign curtis lofton but that may be far fetched because he will want a big deal.

[Tark The Shark]

A combination of a HOF GM, Coach, and QB

[schwamm]

Who was living on his past glory and being bailed out by his best pick that happened 14 years ago

I think he meant Peyton, not BP

[FanFromtheWasteland]

I think he meant Peyton, not BP

oops my bad. Sorry

[BOTT]

A combination of a HOF GM, Coach, and QB

dungy is not a hof coach....not even close. i would argue the coach and gm held back the hof qb.

[OldManP]

A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse

[manningstheman]

Um...it was the guy your owner just ran out of town.

That is most of it, but it was also that we had a GM and coaching staff that was humble enought to allow Peyton to get what he wanted. He ran practices, he got the offensive help he wanted, he controlled the play calling ( for the most part). They were all smart enough to know that Peyton was special and to let him take over.

That is what got us the success. But, that was also the down fall. Its the whole yin yang thing, right. For a small market franchise, if you want to win this is what the out come usually ends up being.

[BleedingBlue]

Because we didn't cut Peyton Manning.

[manningstheman]

I think the same success can happen if they build around luck, but i think it can be better if they equal out the team. put a strong D together to go with a strong offense. that was the issue and it showed last year. the defense is falling apart very slowly. its why i say it wont be until 2013 or 2014 before the colts see the playoffs again, its going to take a couple drafts to fill in those holes. they need to give freeney a new contract but on a team friendly contract and explain to freeney they want him to be a colt for the rest of his career but at the same time try to add extra pieces to help out both the offense and defense to get them back to the promise land. i feel polian was only putting a team together to fit what manning does on the field and not what could happen if manning was out for a year, and we saw the destruction this past season.

we already know more then likely Wayne is gone with Manning right? and garcon is pretty much gone too right? Garcon turned down a contract at 7 million a year maybe ailttle more, Colston is looking for a cnotract around 7 million a year, i say the colts sign him to put on the other side of collie, draft another WR to throw in the slot position. Sign finnegen to play CB and zybikowski to take over for bullett, bullett isnt going to stay healthy he is following the same path as bob sanders, starting out good then hitting the IR. plus zybikowski is a good return guy also so could help ST's. try to sign curtis lofton but that may be far fetched because he will want a big deal.

The problem I see in all of this is that it might take 4 or 5 years of rebuilding to be a playoff team again. Luck might have good numbers, but the team is going to be depleated, and it takes most rookies a few years to develop in the NFL. I just dont know if Luck will stick around after his rookie contract if the Colts arent winning. Peyton might not have either, dont get me wrong. But, they had a solid base of players when he came in. Luck wont. Even Irsay was saying that at the Press Conf. ( he never said Luck by name)