Making the playoffs

[Chucklez]

2 minutes ago, Sevenfeet said:

 

If you had to point to a problem with the Titans defense, everyone would point to the cornerbacks. Yes they are playing better but we don't have any shutdown corners in the bunch. But the reason they are doing better outside of just experience is that the front 7 is playing out of their minds and getting to the quarterback rushing often just four without a lot of blitzing which gives us more defenders in the secondary. Jeffrey Simmons, whom we drafted #19 in 2019 still recovering from ACL surgery and only played in the second half of that season is turning into the monster we'd all hoped. Harold Landry whom we drafted in 2018 is having a career year and leads the team in sacks. Autry is providing all kinds of pressure and sacks and in the last three games, Simmons + Autry lead the league in pressures + sacks.

 

We need to get the offense back into shape. Taylor Lewan suited up yesterday but didn't play left tackle at all which was not a good look having a guy we got off the street to go against the vaunted Rams defense.  We'll need it for the Saints next week which seems to be doing ok despite losing Jameis Winston for the season.

Don't mention Autry on this forum lol, people will lose their minds and start another 50 threads about how we shouldnt have let him go.... TO THE TITANS of all teams.

[Chucklez]

5 minutes ago, ClaytonColt said:

All true but we've also got to remember that our 4 wins have come against teams with a combined record of something like 8-24 I believe. Only the Jets don't currently sit at the bottom of their division and that's only because the Dolphins are propping them up! By this time next week we will unbelievably have played all 4 of the worst teams in the AFC, our schedule might be leading us to be more positive than we should be.

 

If we can eventually beat a decent team then I think I'll have more hope but I just can't be too optimistic about us while we only beat bad teams and are chasing down so many teams with a winning record. 

 

Talk of the play offs to me seems very similar to the talk of how difficult it would be to cut the squad down to 53 players. It's looking at it through blue tinted glasses. There's nothing wrong with that as a fan but the logical side of me thinks its too much to hope. 

Whilst true, we have shown that we could beat the good teams.... We played the Rams incredibly close.

We outplayed the Ravens for 3 quarters, but just fell apart in the 4th for reasons unknown. 

We played the Titans toe to toe (current number 1 seed in the AFC).

In our losses to the Rams, Ravens and the Titans in the 2nd game, we lost 3, 6 and 3.... This team isnt a bad team and but for 3 plays in the entire season going our way, this could be a 7-2 team. We are capable. Thats where the hope is coming from for me.

[John Hammonds]

I am in agreement.  In order to make the playoffs at all, we need to beat two good teams.  Not just play well against them.  BEAT them.  And even then, we're gonna need help from teams in front of us.

 

I'm hoping the Bills and the Raiders.  I doubt we'll beat the Cardinals, the way they are playing this year.

[ClaytonColt]

6 minutes ago, Chucklez said:

Whilst true, we have shown that we could beat the good teams.... We played the Rams incredibly close.

We outplayed the Ravens for 3 quarters, but just fell apart in the 4th for reasons unknown. 

We played the Titans toe to toe (current number 1 seed in the AFC).

In our losses to the Rams, Ravens and the Titans in the 2nd game, we lost 3, 6 and 3.... This team isnt a bad team and but for 3 plays in the entire season going our way, this could be a 7-2 team. We are capable. Thats where the hope is coming from for me.

I don't think we're massively far away in our outlook but 'playing close' and 'beating' are a million miles apart to me.

 

You don't have to get destroyed to be a bad team - much less a mediocre one - you just need to make bad plays when it matters. At the moment that's what we do. We have to get over that hump to give me more positivity but I respect your hopeful outlook on it.

[FRW]

I've been saying for a while that TN is a good team. I expect to see them in the SB. They don't have a glaring weakness, and have a smart, aggressive coaching staff. Vrabel has brought that Patriots swagger "We expect to win every game" mentality with him to Nashville and has hired assistants with the same attitude. The team plays hard and seldom beats themselves. Talent wise we're not that far apart. The difference is in the coaching and character of the team. They expect to win, we hope to win. We talk a good game, they let their play do the talking. TN has a great young coach. If they have a similarly solid FO they could become a southern version of the old Patriots, which does not bode well for us.  Unless, maybe we could get a more natural alignment by moving Miami to the AFC South, Baltimore to the East and us to the North. It makes more sense for us to be in a conference with Cleveland, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh than Houston and Jacksonville. 

[Superman]

24 minutes ago, Chucklez said:

Whilst true, we have shown that we could beat the good teams....

 

We've shown we can play them close. Actually beating them has not happened. And that's an important distinction, because most games between capable teams come down to a few critical plays.

 

If we had finished against the Titans and the Ravens, we'd be tied with the Titans for the best record in the AFC. Instead, we're sub .500, looking up at 11 other teams. 

[IinD]

Here's to hoping, but I can't lie and say I trust this defense to not have an off game for the next 2 months.

 

That's with the offense not skipping a beat either.

 

We dug our own hole this season and it's going to be very tough to get out of.

 

Better off just watching and waiting and not getting to caught up with the playoff stuff just yet.

[GRUMPY OLD MAN]

playoffs!!!! ha ha ha dreaming!!!!

[Myles]

50 minutes ago, ClaytonColt said:

I don't think we're massively far away in our outlook but 'playing close' and 'beating' are a million miles apart to me.

 

You don't have to get destroyed to be a bad team - much less a mediocre one - you just need to make bad plays when it matters. At the moment that's what we do. We have to get over that hump to give me more positivity but I respect your hopeful outlook on it.

It is mostly a coaching issue that the Colts have.  Reich costs us games we could have won with his silly play calls.  

[Nickster]

1 hour ago, Chucklez said:

Whilst true, we have shown that we could beat the good teams.... We played the Rams incredibly close.

We outplayed the Ravens for 3 quarters, but just fell apart in the 4th for reasons unknown. 

We played the Titans toe to toe (current number 1 seed in the AFC).

In our losses to the Rams, Ravens and the Titans in the 2nd game, we lost 3, 6 and 3.... This team isnt a bad team and but for 3 plays in the entire season going our way, this could be a 7-2 team. We are capable. Thats where the hope is coming from for me.

Well we've shown we can compete with good teams, but not that we can beat good teams because we haven't beaten any.  I get what you are saying, but some times the two don't correlate.  

 

The Lions also showed they could compete with good teams .  Led LAR until the 4th Q and still had a chance until really late.  Lost by a combined 120 yds worth of last second FGs to Balt and Minn.  

[Zoltan]

Best we can hope is, making the playoffs like the 2011 Giants and hopefully make a run. Which is highly unlikely.

[C_Lew]

If the Colts can go 6-2 over these final 8, I’d wager that they make the playoffs. Every team in the AFCN and AFCW has a monster schedule remaining, in which they pretty much all play each other. If the Colts go 6-2, with those 2 losses coming against TB and Arizona, they’re probably a lock for the playoffs. 
 

The season is over if the Colts fail to get those 6 wins, though. 5-3 or worse won’t cut it unless we get incredibly lucky. 

[Sevenfeet]

5 hours ago, Chucklez said:

Don't mention Autry on this forum lol, people will lose their minds and start another 50 threads about how we shouldnt have let him go.... TO THE TITANS of all teams.

 

Oops! Forgot that little detail!

[Dingus McGirt]

[CanuckColtsFan]

5 hours ago, Chucklez said:

Whilst true, we have shown that we could beat the good teams.... We played the Rams incredibly close.

We outplayed the Ravens for 3 quarters, but just fell apart in the 4th for reasons unknown. 

We played the Titans toe to toe (current number 1 seed in the AFC).

In our losses to the Rams, Ravens and the Titans in the 2nd game, we lost 3, 6 and 3.... This team isnt a bad team and but for 3 plays in the entire season going our way, this could be a 7-2 team. We are capable. Thats where the hope is coming from for me.

I like your take

[Stephen]

6 hours ago, Nickster said:

Well we've shown we can compete with good teams, but not that we can beat good teams because we haven't beaten any.  I get what you are saying, but some times the two don't correlate.  

 

The Lions also showed they could compete with good teams .  Led LAR until the 4th Q and still had a chance until really late.  Lost by a combined 120 yds worth of last second FGs to Balt and Minn.  

True but I feel we are close. The season is half done. The new season begins now. We must beat the teams we should beat jags and Texans while proving we can beat super bowl contenders bills bucs Cardinals. Hopefully we don't look past jags