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Manny Lawson?

OllyDawes

By OllyDawes
in Colts Football

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Pancake Block Walk On

Pancake Block

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I doubt they get a 2nd rounder straight up for Freeney, but maybe, if packaged with our 3rd, we could get another late 1st/early second. Maybe. I'd be all in for that!

I'm hoping Freeney can lose a few pounds (he had to put on a few to stand up to run in old defense) and make the transition to OLB. Not encouraged that Freeney can be traded with his salary cap hit.
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Gavin Walk On

Gavin

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Hard to deal with long term contracts, most wins in a decade, hard to deal with long term contracts, most wins in a decade

I think the trade off was pretty fair.

Not to those of us that had to suffer through watching a defense being run over, around, embarrassing tackling
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schwamm Walk On

schwamm

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Never said he wasn't good at his job. He did a good job but I believe he n the Orginization got complacent and failed to adapt and make necessary changes to push us over the top

That is exactly what I think is faulty in your thinking. Do you really imagine its as simple as "adapting" and/or making a few "necessary changes"?

Not to those of us that had to suffer through watching a defense being run over, around, embarrassing tackling

Who do you imagine is on the opposite side of your arguement? Anyone who has been a Colts fan for longer than a couple months had to watch the same defense.

For those who are now shifting their griping from "stupid to cut Manning" to "we should have won more SBs":

I would have been thrilled if we could have had more, but the reality is it isn't as easy as you imagine.

1. This is the salary cap era. Has been since 1994. That means the Colts have had opportunities to compete with the big market teams in ways they couldn't before the cap was imposed. However, the cap and the draft order system are designed to keep any team from staying at the top for long, even the small market ones.

To way over-simplify... the NFL intentionally forces teams to decide between balance and keeping star players. Keep Manning, and you get less balance. Also want to keep Freeney? Clark? Sanders? (Place name of favorite Colt of recent years here)? Sorry, that is less balance for you.

BP was a master of treading that particular razor's edge, and we've enjoyed the unprecedented success. Unfortunately, it didn't translate into as much post season success as we would have liked. That wasn't necessarily because the other team was more balanced, though. The nature of the NFL playoffs isn't about which team is better, or which team ought to win... it is about who is better on that day.

2. Only 5 teams have won more SBs than the Colts in the 18 years since the salary cap was instituted [Patriots (3-3); Steelers (2-2); Giants and Packers (2-1); and Broncos (2-0)] The Colts and Rams have both gone to 2 SBs, and both won one and lost one. Only 4 other teams managed to win a SB in the salary cap era [saints, Bucs, Ravens and 49ers] and only 9 other teams even made it to the big game (only to lose) [Cardinals, Bears, Seahawks, Eagles, Panthers, Raiders, Titans, Falcons, Chargers]

For those with an abacus handy, that leaves 12 teams on the outside looking in. More than a 3rd of the league hasn't sniffed the SB in 18 years.

As much as I dislike both teams, what the Patriots and Steelers have managed to do in this salary cap era is pretty amazing, and I understand we wish our team was in that eschelon. Truth is we were easily the best team in football and probably should have won the SB the year Dungy'd son died, but that isn't how it works. Life sometimes gets in the way.

I don't agree with the "yeah, all the success was great, but not worth a darn because the team didn't bring home more hardware" stuff. As a long time season ticket holder, I've been ecstatic that I've been able to witness such prolonged success (especially against the backdrop of the extended embarassment that was the Colts before the mid '90's). I think we should recognise just how spoiled we've been to enter so many seasons with more than reasonable expectations at making the playoffs and competing for championships. That is WAY more than most teams can do in most years.

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Superman Ring of Honor

Superman

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That is exactly what I think is faulty in your thinking. Do you really imagine its as simple as "adapting" and/or making a few "necessary changes"?

Who do you imagine is on the opposite side of your arguement? Anyone who has been a Colts fan for longer than a couple months had to watch the same defense.

For those who are now shifting their griping from "stupid to cut Manning" to "we should have won more SBs":

I would have been thrilled if we could have had more, but the reality is it isn't as easy as you imagine.

1. This is the salary cap era. Has been since 1994. That means the Colts have had opportunities to compete with the big market teams in ways they couldn't before the cap was imposed. However, the cap and the draft order system are designed to keep any team from staying at the top for long, even the small market ones.

To way over-simplify... the NFL intentionally forces teams to decide between balance and keeping star players. Keep Manning, and you get less balance. Also want to keep Freeney? Clark? Sanders? (Place name of favorite Colt of recent years here)? Sorry, that is less balance for you.

BP was a master of treading that particular razor's edge, and we've enjoyed the unprecedented success. Unfortunately, it didn't translate into as much post season success as we would have liked. That wasn't necessarily because the other team was more balanced, though. The nature of the NFL playoffs isn't about which team is better, or which team ought to win... it is about who is better on that day.

2. Only 5 teams have won more SBs than the Colts in the 18 years since the salary cap was instituted [Patriots (3-3); Steelers (2-2); Giants and Packers (2-1); and Broncos (2-0)] The Colts and Rams have both gone to 2 SBs, and both won one and lost one. Only 4 other teams managed to win a SB in the salary cap era [saints, Bucs, Ravens and 49ers] and only 9 other teams even made it to the big game (only to lose) [Cardinals, Bears, Seahawks, Eagles, Panthers, Raiders, Titans, Falcons, Chargers]

For those with an abacus handy, that leaves 12 teams on the outside looking in. More than a 3rd of the league hasn't sniffed the SB in 18 years.

As much as I dislike both teams, what the Patriots and Steelers have managed to do in this salary cap era is pretty amazing, and I understand we wish our team was in that eschelon. Truth is we were easily the best team in football and probably should have won the SB the year Dungy'd son died, but that isn't how it works. Life sometimes gets in the way.

I don't agree with the "yeah, all the success was great, but not worth a darn because the team didn't bring home more hardware" stuff. As a long time season ticket holder, I've been ecstatic that I've been able to witness such prolonged success (especially against the backdrop of the extended embarassment that was the Colts before the mid '90's). I think we should recognise just how spoiled we've been to enter so many seasons with more than reasonable expectations at making the playoffs and competing for championships. That is WAY more than most teams can do in most years.

Applause_meter_1.jpg

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schwamm Walk On

schwamm

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Ordinarily the case, but it really didn't seem like it last season. It seemed like the defensive scheme was an edict from Polian more than a coach's decision.

Or maybe it had more to do with personnel... As in same reason the whole team got blown up this year?

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Superman Ring of Honor

Superman

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Or maybe it had more to do with personnel... As in same reason the whole team got blown up this year?

I don't think the personnel, as bad as it was, merits the stupid scheme we were using on defense last year. Especially not when you take the results into consideration.

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schwamm Walk On

schwamm

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I don't think the personnel, as bad as it was, merits the stupid scheme we were using on defense last year. Especially not when you take the results into consideration.

Fair enough, but why would the team have changed schemes after the decade of success they had with them? Hindsight is 20/20, remember.

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Superman Ring of Honor

Superman

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Fair enough, but why would the team have changed schemes after the decade of success they had with them? Hindsight is 20/20, remember.

Because of how dreadful the results were last season. Looking at the stats alone, it was statistically unwise to ever punt against us. We gave up 62 points (62 POINTS!!!!) to the Saints. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to decide that something wasn't working. We got burned on three consecutive drives against the Patriots, by the same player. We can't make an adjustment to stop letting him work so easily?

As a matter of fact, the team did make a change when they fired Larry Coyer. It's not that they didn't see that something needed to be done. Everyone saw it early on. They waited too long, and even when they did fire Coyer, it was more of a "he doesn't want to play Cover 2 every single down like we want him to" kind of a move than a "the defense sucks and someone's got to be held accountable" kind of move.

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GwinnettColt Practice Squad

GwinnettColt

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Coaches determine the scheme, not the GM

If that would be the case then you would be correct in saying "coaches." Plural, which makes me think that Polian had more involvement than a lot of GM's, except for Jerry Jones. It's not an absolute that we are going to a 3-4, but recent signings say it's likely. New GM...new scheme...hmm.

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jvan1973 Ring of Honor

jvan1973

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If that would be the case then you would be correct in saying "coaches." Plural, which makes me think that Polian had more involvement than a lot of GM's, except for Jerry Jones. It's not an absolute that we are going to a 3-4, but recent signings say it's likely. New GM...new scheme...hmm.

New Coach.. If Polian would have been fired when Dungy was still the coach, he would have still run a cover 2

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