Early Offensive and Defensive Rankinqs

[DS3]

I think our offense will suprise people so i look for us to rank...

Passing offense:4,000+ (we will probaly find ourselves trailing alot)

rushing offense: 1,500+

Total Offense: 5500+

Now Defense... while i think it will be better but... i think slightly

Rush Defense:this can go both ways so. 1700-2000+

Pass Defense:teams will have leads on us and run so...3,400+

Total Defense:around...5,100-5,400+

Thoughts.?

[Gavin]

I think our offense will suprise people so i look for us to rank...

Passing offense:4,000+ (we will probaly find ourselves trailing alot)

rushing offense: 1,500+

Total Offense: 5500+

Now Defense... while i think it will be better but... i think slightly

Rush Defense:this can go both ways so. 1700-2000+

Pass Defense:teams will have leads on us and run so...3,400+

Total Defense:around...5,100-5,400+

Thoughts.?

My thoughts are that sound like a whole lot of yards given up and I seriously dont think we will run for 1500+ yards

[El Poonerator]

My thoughts are that sound like a whole lot of yards given up and I seriously dont think we will run for 1500+ yards

Agree. Unless one of our Rbs has some sort of break out year, which hasn't happened yet. Matt Forte would make a good addition ;-)

[bahhummbug]

I think we will have over 1500 yards in rushing,Brown 800-1000,Carter 350-450,Luck300-400,Ballard400-?

[Smonroe]

I think we will have over 1500 yards in rushing,Brown 800-1000,Carter 350-450,Luck300-400,Ballard400-?

Probably, we had more than that last year. That's still less than a 100 yds/game, which isn't very impressive.

Passing yards is a pretty good guess too. The numbers translate to an average season, which is not bad considering.

[schwamm]

Probably, we had more than that last year. That's still less than a 100 yds/game, which isn't very impressive.

Passing yards is a pretty good guess too. The numbers translate to an average season, which is not bad considering.

So I keep hearing that only 1 QB in the history of the league (Newton) has broken 4K yards passing in their rookie year, and we're suggesting that it would be "an average season" for Luck to repeat the feat? I'd be pleased if he ends up in the 3,000 to 3,500 range, especially considering the youth and inexperience of a lot of the line and receiving core.

[Smonroe]

So I keep hearing that only 1 QB in the history of the league (Newton) has broken 4K yards passing in their rookie year, and we're suggesting that it would be "an average season" for Luck to repeat the feat? I'd be pleased if he ends up in the 3,000 to 3,500 range, especially considering the youth and inexperience of a lot of the line and receiving core.

You're correct, I wasn't very clear. 1500 yards rushing is an average season. Last year I think around 3600 yards passing was about average.

If Luck throws for anything over 3500 it would be a great season, statistically. Might mean a really bad season for the Colts if most of those yards are because we're behind all the time.

[jwilli69]

I sure hope Luck doesn't run for 300+ yards, that will not bode well for our receiving group, our oline and possibly the poise in the pocket for Luck. I think Luck can reach the 3500 mark on this team becuase I do think our offense will be a decent offense. The big question will be all year, how will this defense do in the switchover from the tampa 2 into the attack/aggressive mode of a Pagano type defense. I think this team will show much improvement in the run stopping but have trouble in the middle of the field in the throwing department. Our LB's are the weakness of the team because of the switch.

[bahhummbug]

Luck running for 300 could also be a big plus in red zone.Also 3500 is not a crazy number in pass happy leagues 250 yds a game is 4k.

[betheafan41]

I sure hope Luck doesn't run for 300+ yards, that will not bode well for our receiving group, our oline and possibly the poise in the pocket for Luck. I think Luck can reach the 3500 mark on this team becuase I do think our offense will be a decent offense. The big question will be all year, how will this defense do in the switchover from the tampa 2 into the attack/aggressive mode of a Pagano type defense. I think this team will show much improvement in the run stopping but have trouble in the middle of the field in the throwing department. Our LB's are the weakness of the team because of the switch.

to be honest i think the defense will be fine. if they get off the 7 or 8 yard cushion the DB's give the WR's and play them at the line then the secondary will be better then last year. everyone questions how freeney and mathis will handle the transition from DE to OLB but in reality their still playing the DE position but standing up. to me thats more of an advantage to those two because their already up while the oline is in a 2 point or 3 point stance. with their speed and athleticism they should be able to blow by the tackles. and they have the speed to cover a TE if needed. the only position im not sold on with the defense is opposite of powers at the CB 2 position. Thomas and Rucker havnt proved to be reliable. all of this is just my opinion though.

[Smonroe]

I sure hope Luck doesn't run for 300+ yards, that will not bode well for our receiving group, our oline and possibly the poise in the pocket for Luck. I think Luck can reach the 3500 mark on this team becuase I do think our offense will be a decent offense. The big question will be all year, how will this defense do in the switchover from the tampa 2 into the attack/aggressive mode of a Pagano type defense. I think this team will show much improvement in the run stopping but have trouble in the middle of the field in the throwing department. Our LB's are the weakness of the team because of the switch.

I agree that our LBs will be adapting to a new style, but our CBs are definitely the weakness on this team.

But I really shouldn't say that either until we see how they're being used in the new schemes.

I really hope you're right about stopping the run though. I'm almost looking forward to seeing the new D as much as the new O. Can't Wait!

[FireJimCaldwell]

I think our offense will suprise people so i look for us to rank...

Passing offense:4,000+ (we will probaly find ourselves trailing alot)

rushing offense: 1,500+

Total Offense: 5500+

Now Defense... while i think it will be better but... i think slightly

Rush Defense:this can go both ways so. 1700-2000+

Pass Defense:teams will have leads on us and run so...3,400+

Total Defense:around...5,100-5,400+

Thoughts.?

To put your minimums in perspective on last years NFL rankings.

Offensively

Your 1500 rushing yards would be ranked 29th and lower than last seasons 1594.

Your 4000 passing yards would be ranked 11th and a lot better than last seasons embarrassing 2995.

Your 5500 total offense would be ranked or 343.75 would be ranked 15th and better than last years 285.5.

Defensively

Your 3400 yards passing allowed would be ranked 11th , which is slightly better than the 15th ranked passing d last season.

Your 1700-2000 range would be ranked from 11th to 22nd which either is an improvement over last years 29th ranking.

Your 5100-5400 gives you a 318.8-337.5 range. Which would rank from 8th to 13th, a remarkable improvement over last years 25th ranking @ 370.9 per game.

[jwilli69]

I agree that our LBs will be adapting to a new style, but our CBs are definitely the weakness on this team.

But I really shouldn't say that either until we see how they're being used in the new schemes.

I really hope you're right about stopping the run though. I'm almost looking forward to seeing the new D as much as the new O. Can't Wait!

I won't say our cb's are great but I do feel like in any scheme that is more unpredictble than our team was last year and an ability to hold up at the point of attack from the DT spot, I do believe that many avg cb's can be better. That is whay I say I feel the lb's are our weak spot because I am not sure how the team can cover the flaw in lb's not being used to dropping into coverage and even the ones we did have doing it last year, they were weak at doing that too last year. I do think it will be more of an advantage to our cb's this year with changing up what we do and when we do it as compared to last year when every down and every team, the other team knew they had at minimum a 5 yard cushion and easy completion. The deeper throws were the problems for the other team, not the short stuff. The short middle, the screens and the slants have me concerned. I think the defense can handle all else. Who knows, with the movement that Pagano used in Baltimore, perhaps that gets some tipped balls for int or incompletions more this year. Can't wait to see the new make up of the team either way and if they do win more than 8 games, it is way over my expectations too.win/win

[braveheartcolt]

I won't say our cb's are great but I do feel like in any scheme that is more unpredictble than our team was last year and an ability to hold up at the point of attack from the DT spot, I do believe that many avg cb's can be better. That is whay I say I feel the lb's are our weak spot because I am not sure how the team can cover the flaw in lb's not being used to dropping into coverage and even the ones we did have doing it last year, they were weak at doing that too last year. I do think it will be more of an advantage to our cb's this year with changing up what we do and when we do it as compared to last year when every down and every team, the other team knew they had at minimum a 5 yard cushion and easy completion. The deeper throws were the problems for the other team, not the short stuff. The short middle, the screens and the slants have me concerned. I think the defense can handle all else. Who knows, with the movement that Pagano used in Baltimore, perhaps that gets some tipped balls for int or incompletions more this year. Can't wait to see the new make up of the team either way and if they do win more than 8 games, it is way over my expectations too.win/win

If you are suggesting better schemes / coaching can improve our pathetic Corner play, why can't better schemes and coaching improve our Line Backer's play? Let's face it, raw talent wise, our LB's are far better than our CB's....

[SLILLINGTON10]

aren't cb the weakness of every team? is a pass happy league meaning cb get burned often. what team has a set of great corners? maybe the jets and eagles? and look how they did.

[Smitto]

I am telling you ppl will be surprised, the defense got drastically bigger from LBs to tackles and also had a minor upgrade with zibowski..... the oline looks stronger than well EVER, even when tarik Glenn was in his prime.. the line is much younger and stouter when it comes to run blocking.... not to mention a whole lot of two TE sets? The colts will pass 1500+ yes that's a guarantee.

[Smitto]

If you are suggesting better schemes / coaching can improve our pathetic Corner play, why can't better schemes and coaching improve our Line Backer's play? Let's face it, raw talent wise, our LB's are far better than our CB's....

You don't know that, Chris Tucker and Kevin Thomas are both really good cover corners............. but its hard to notice that when they're playing cover 2 zones almost all the time..... ask nhamdi for the eagles how he feels about playing that....

Now that there will be more man coverage ppl will be saying they are the better corners... even better than powers

[braveheartcolt]

You don't know that, Chris Tucker and Kevin Thomas are both really good cover corners............. but its hard to notice that when they're playing cover 2 zones almost all the time..... ask nhamdi for the eagles how he feels about playing that....

Now that there will be more man coverage ppl will be saying they are the better corners... even better than powers

OK, based on what we have witnessed so far, our LB's seem to have more talent. But I accept that with better schemes they could and probably will improve. But the same story, why can't our LB's get better also, if we have a more talented coach?

[Smonroe]

You don't know that, Chris Tucker and Kevin Thomas are both really good cover corners............. but its hard to notice that when they're playing cover 2 zones almost all the time..... ask nhamdi for the eagles how he feels about playing that....

Now that there will be more man coverage ppl will be saying they are the better corners... even better than powers

I really hope you're correct. It's like the chicken and the egg - were our CBs playing so far off the WR's because of the scheme. Or was the scheme put in place because of the lack of talent (or faith) of the CBs?

[Rblake]

Offense

3700 yds passing

1750 yds rushing

Defense

245 yds/gm passing

135 yds/gm rushing

[Rblake]

You don't know that, Chris Tucker and Kevin Thomas are both really good cover corners............. but its hard to notice that when they're playing cover 2 zones almost all the time..... ask nhamdi for the eagles how he feels about playing that....

Now that there will be more man coverage ppl will be saying they are the better corners... even better than powers

I certainly hope so, we need drastically improved CB play. I've not yet been made aware of their superb ability, so until I see it, I'll remain in my state of panic. With that pressure D, don't the Eagles generally play a Cover 1 or Cover 0?

[Smitto]

I really hope you're correct. It's like the chicken and the egg - were our CBs playing so far off the WR's because of the scheme. Or was the scheme put in place because of the lack of talent (or faith) of the CBs?

If I were you I would question the ppl making the decisions.... starting Lacey over tryon? Two safety system? Keeping affairs in while brown was clearly progressing? Starting Thomas then pulling him?.... the colts previous staff sucked at evaluating or had their hands tied... it was statistically shown that the colts were better in man than zone yet they kept playing zone.

I think now those corners like rucker and Thomas are gonna shine because they know how to cover.

[Smitto]

I certainly hope so, we need drastically improved CB play. I've not yet been made aware of their superb ability, so until I see it, I'll remain in my state of panic. With that pressure D, don't the Eagles generally play a Cover 1 or Cover 0?

Rucker and Thomas were known in college to be good cover corners, but I'm not sure what scheme they play but all the times I have seen nhamdi get beat was in zone coverage

[Smitto]

OK, based on what we have witnessed so far, our LB's seem to have more talent. But I accept that with better schemes they could and probably will improve. But the same story, why can't our LB's get better also, if we have a more talented coach?

There's no doubt the LBs will improve especially freeney but given the lack of faith from and unproven skills from the corners I think they'll show the most improvement. Not to mention chuck was a secondary coach so he'll teach them a few things.

[jwilli69]

OK, based on what we have witnessed so far, our LB's seem to have more talent. But I accept that with better schemes they could and probably will improve. But the same story, why can't our LB's get better also, if we have a more talented coach?

I won't say that the lb's can't do well due to a scheme but when you have 2 outside lb's that have not dropped into coverage for an entire pro career and I am not even sure if they dropped in college, Freeney didn't. That is a big liability. Then you have the 2 inner LB's who are small, real small for the 3-4 system and have not shown they were ones who excelled at pass coverage. The cb's on the other were coverage coners in college so they have played the scheme before and were thought to be fairly good at it too.

I say the LB's are the weak link because of these facts. The cb's were asked to play off 10 yards, that is asking for failure IMO and they looked real bad because of the high completions. Now it is quite possible that teams get behind our cb's under the new scheme and they look bad there too. If the coaches can figure out a good scheme to use Freeney and Mathis and they can adapt to it well, then the LB core could look good. I think the cb's stand the better chance to come out looking good here though.

[number28]

Luck is not passing for over 4000 yards. Won't happen in his rookie year.

I don't see us rushing for that many yards either? Do you forget how lame or RB's are? and our O-line is unproven.

I think the D will be better than what you said it will be. D will need to step up in every game and I think will play better than what they are on paper.

[Smitto]

Luck is not passing for over 4000 yards. Won't happen in his rookie year.

I don't see us rushing for that many yards either? Do you forget how lame or RB's are? and our O-line is unproven.

I think the D will be better than what you said it will be. D will need to step up in every game and I think will play better than what they are on paper.

You do realize the colts rushed for 1400+ yds last year right? N that was with an even worse line than this year..... all the current starters are proven especially justice who was one of the best before his injury.

Painter had 1500+ passing yds n he didn't even play or stay on the field a whole lot so its very possible for luck to do that.

[braveheartcolt]

I won't say that the lb's can't do well due to a scheme but when you have 2 outside lb's that have not dropped into coverage for an entire pro career and I am not even sure if they dropped in college, Freeney didn't. That is a big liability. Then you have the 2 inner LB's who are small, real small for the 3-4 system and have not shown they were ones who excelled at pass coverage. The cb's on the other were coverage coners in college so they have played the scheme before and were thought to be fairly good at it too.

I say the LB's are the weak link because of these facts. The cb's were asked to play off 10 yards, that is asking for failure IMO and they looked real bad because of the high completions. Now it is quite possible that teams get behind our cb's under the new scheme and they look bad there too. If the coaches can figure out a good scheme to use Freeney and Mathis and they can adapt to it well, then the LB core could look good. I think the cb's stand the better chance to come out looking good here though.

You are wrapping all your arguments in supposition. I hope you are correct. I'll stick with what I've seen, however...

[jwilli69]

You are wrapping all your arguments in supposition. I hope you are correct. I'll stick with what I've seen, however...

I am and so are you. My feelings are the cb's are better than the lb's and are easier to make them look better in a scheme. You feel like the lb's are more talented than the cb's. How are the lb's on this team any more talented than the cb's on this team? BTW, we are all having arguments that include supposition (big word for a sports fan) because nobody knows what this team will look like or what kinda scheme they will employ until they hit the field to work on it. Were all guessing and the players we have on the defense right now are all equal and nobody is a superstar.

[braveheartcolt]

I am and so are you. My feelings are the cb's are better than the lb's and are easier to make them look better in a scheme. You feel like the lb's are more talented than the cb's. How are the lb's on this team any more talented than the cb's on this team? BTW, we are all having arguments that include supposition (big word for a sports fan) because nobody knows what this team will look like or what kinda scheme they will employ until they hit the field to work on it. Were all guessing and the players we have on the defense right now are all equal and nobody is a superstar.

No. I'm basing my views on what we saw last year, you are basing yours on what yo THINK the CB's will be like under a new scheme etc. But what we think is irrelevant until we see what happens next season.

[jwilli69]

No. I'm basing my views on what we saw last year, you are basing yours on what yo THINK the CB's will be like under a new scheme etc. But what we think is irrelevant until we see what happens next season.

You are basing it on a system we will not be running so at this point, your guessing on how much more superior the group of lb's will be. BTW, we didn't see anything really great from our lb'ing corp either, especially in the passing game. Angerer showed promise but inconsistant. So yep, I am projecting what they will be like in a new system they are going to be. It is a internet message board, thats what we do here.

[braveheartcolt]

You are basing it on a system we will not be running so at this point, your guessing on how much more superior the group of lb's will be. BTW, we didn't see anything really great from our lb'ing corp either, especially in the passing game. Angerer showed promise but inconsistant. So yep, I am projecting what they will be like in a new system they are going to be. It is a internet message board, thats what we do here.

And I have no faith in the CB's. They were pathetic. Even Powers was average.

[jwilli69]

And I have no faith in the CB's. They were pathetic. Even Powers was average.

I don't disagree with you much as Powers struggled as well and shined better than the others in a crappy backfield. I have hopes, that in a new system, those cb's who looked suspect, will look better in a new scheme. We both gonna see in about 5 months, lets hope each others view is correct cause I would like to see a defense to be gameplanned against and feel a legit chance that our defense can stop another offense this year.

[weslo1812]

to be honest i think the defense will be fine. if they get off the 7 or 8 yard cushion the DB's give the WR's and play them at the line then the secondary will be better then last year. everyone questions how freeney and mathis will handle the transition from DE to OLB but in reality their still playing the DE position but standing up. to me thats more of an advantage to those two because their already up while the oline is in a 2 point or 3 point stance. with their speed and athleticism they should be able to blow by the tackles. and they have the speed to cover a TE if needed. the only position im not sold on with the defense is opposite of powers at the CB 2 position. Thomas and Rucker havnt proved to be reliable. all of this is just my opinion though.

Definatley agree Betheafan. Especially with the point about Freeny and Mathis. Plus we will have DE that will be taking the OT on so that will help them even more.

[Warhorse]

3.2K + 1300.