Looking Ahead to Next Season: Colts and Titans
by MonkeyBusiness on Dec 7, 2008 7:57 PM EST
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PrintWith the Titans clinching of an AFC South championship thanks to a win over the moribund Browns, I thought I'd take a look and see how the two teams' schedules will look for next season. The AFC South draws the AFC East and the NFC West next season.
Colts
Home: TEN, HOU, JAX, NE, NYJ, SF, SEA, SD
Away: TEN, HOU, JAX, BUF, MIA, ARI, STL, BAL
Titans
Home: IND, HOU, JAX, BUF, MIA, ARI, STL, DEN
Away: IND, HOU, JAX, NE, NYJ, SF, SEA, PIT
The Colts definitely have a more favorable schedule. They get the Patriots, Jets, and San Diego at home, and may only face real road challenges in Buffalo (depending on the timing), Arizona, and Baltimore. However, Baltimore has a tendency to be up one year and down another. This year seems to be an up year and the Colts always play best against them, so that might be more lopsided than predicted. Also, the jury is still out on Arizona, who could be worse than advertised next season.
The Titans draw away games at New England, New York, and Pittsburgh, and take long trips to San Francisco and Seattle.
The Colts will play likely Divisional champs TEN, NYJ, and ARI. However, it's very easy to predict that NE and SD could regain their Divisional crowns next season.
The Titans will play likely Divisional champs ARI, DEN, NYJ, and PIT. However, they draw the Colts twice and NE.
My Predictions: Colts go 13-3 with an AFC South championship. Titans go 10-6 and barely miss the playoffs.
My Reason: This season has shown that the Colts are a tough, resiliant organization, and similar to 2007 I predict the Colts will come back with a vengeance and start destroying teams, especially divisional rivals, again. Injured players will get healthy, another stellar draft class will offer their services, and the Colts will continue to just win. It's hard to predict which games the Colts will lose; the AFC South is not an easy division, but we draw our hardest games at home. Still, in bad weather it's possible to knock us around.
The Titans are due for a big regression. Prior to stomping on the head of Andre Gurode, no one had heard of Albert Haynesworth. Now he's an unstoppable defensive force, who is once again in a contract year. The Titans will be faced with the unenviable position of giving him a big money long term contract, which will kill his work ethic and desire to play like a man possessed, or lose his services and let him go elsewhere. Moreover, they have a real problem at quarterback. Kerry Collins is no spring chicken, but Vince Young has not shown the maturity or ability to lead a franchise yet. In a best case scenario, Collins stays around another year or two as a starter and mentor to VY before retiring, and the Titans are forced to give him a starter-level contract or franchise him for two years. Worst case scenario: Collins goes elsewhere, Vince Young gets cut, and the Titans hope to replicate the success of Atlanta and Baltimore with Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco.
So, what's everyone's thoughts?
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors.
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a few things I have to go after
Not overly dependent on QB situation
You are aware of how the Titans did under Vince Young right? You are right that any half decent QB could run the Titans O, but the Titans clearly only have one of those and he is 37 and a free agent after the season and I wouldn’t trust the FO that spent a top 5 pick on VY to be able to find a half decent QB.
Salary cap issues will force start to force some tough personnel decisions
Just because the Titans weren’t able to contend without damning themselves to salary cap hell doesn’t mean the Colts can’t do it. They are able to make this run under the cap because they can replace all but a small core of the team. With the exception of about 10 guys everyone else can and will be (if they become expensive) replaced.
Peyton’s play will taper off as he ages.
True, but you timeframe is off. Peyton is 32, your QB is 36 and having one of his best years ever. Favre is a solid QB at 39. Dan Marino (the only other QB ever to put up Peyton/Brady numbers) played until he was 38. Peyton has half a decade at a high level up easily.
Shonn Greene for Heisman
Big Ten's leading Rusher
144 yards per game
6.2 yards per carry
08 TDs per game > 06 GPA
I based my regression of the Titans on their performance over the last several years, and applied the same methodology to the Colts. The Colts are a surprisingly young team. Manning has taken significantly less punishment over his career than most QBs, and has stated his desire to play for 18 seasons. This is his 11th season, which means he would retire after the 2015-2016 NFL season barring catastrophic injury. Moreover, the best way to keep a team in contention is to develop internally. The Colts’ front office are undisputed masters of the draft, and constantly keep this team in contention. That virtually all the Colts players have never played a game for any other franchise is remarkable.
The problem with your analysis is that you undervalue the QB and WR positions. You can’t run the ball all of the time. You have to pass eventually. Kerry Collins runs the Titans offense well because it’s simple. It’s a ball control offense. Nothing flashy. If he were quarterbacking the Colts, they’d be looking ahead to next season right now. He’s perfect for what the Titans are doing now, but it’s almost guaranteed he’ll be elsewhere next season.
Also, you’re undervaluing Haynesworth. He’s a beast when he’s motivated. He consumes two and sometimes three offensive linemen. Prior to 2006, the Titans barely got a whiff of Manning. Oddly enough, that’s when Haynesworth began to really play. Without that presence in the middle, the Titans pass rush is mediocre at best.
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I think their big regression starts with a loss loss to the Colts in a few weeks.
and continues when they lose the first playoff game. And, soon, they’ll soon revert to being joke material once more.
F*** THE TITANS THEY ARE OVERRATED!
You will see in a couple of weeks! And also in the Playoffs you won’t win a game! LMAO Kerry Collins almost as BAD as Vince Young ALMOST!! LMAO the Titans!
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