Yeah, we are 0-12 but there is still time.

by BobInBlue on Dec 5, 2011 8:41 PM EST

Yeah, your favorite team Indianapolis Colts haven't won a game this year excluding a preseason game. Yeah, technically our starting QB is 4th string ( Manning, Collins, Painter all got higher reps). Players like Ijalana, Melvin, Eric Foster, Brackett, and recently our #1 CB Powers went out for the season. The fact that our passing leader is Curtis Painter gives me nightmares at night and more for some that Donald Brown WILL BE our leading rusher for 2 years back-to-back. Our defense has managed to worse every week and people who shouldn't play ( Lacey) gets the time while others ( KT) are inactive game-day. The 2 biggest blow to us is the fact that our "little brother" the Texans have built a promising team for years to come via draft and Free Agency and a man named Caldwell. But, this franchise is not in a terrible situation our team has young people who can develop and/or people who have talent and are young. We have options to immediately strike back from a possible 0-16 team to a 8-8 team or better depending on Manning status. This off-season changes will be FORCED to happen maybe it is a HC firing and/or FA frenzy. This team will not take 4-7years to rebuild back to a playoff team whether Luck is on our side or not. Preparing for the future is just as important as winning right now. For the last few games whether blowout or a crushing defeat let's celebrate for being Colts Fans.

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.

Tweet Comment 9 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Go all in with one QB.

Whether it be Manning, Luck, RGIII, or Barkley. Obviously Manning is the best and gives us the most wins next year, but I like the idea of moving period. New QB, new HC, new DC, and new OC.

I’m ready for the next era in Colts football. Those charged with making those critical decisions are probably to chicken shit to really move on.

by mlc2656 on Dec 5, 2011 10:16 PM EST via mobile reply actions

all 0-12 means is that we're not going 5-11

i’m having my lunchtime kool-aid

Being in politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game and dumb enough to think it's important. -- Eugene J. McCarthy

by zherebyonki on Dec 6, 2011 11:55 AM EST reply actions

Reply to Go All In

I too would like to go all in. Enough of making the playoffs and exiting early.

This season, as difficult as it has been for all of us who love the Colts, can be a major turning point if our ownership and front office can make the correct decisions soon. We have (or should have) learned the following:
1. We have learned how bad our defense truly is. We need major help in the seconday. We need a stud defensive tackle. We need personnel and coaching which will get us away from the 10 yard cushion and off the field. Our chances of winning a Super Bowl with such a defense are nonexistent, even with a healthy Manning.
2. Our coaching has to improve for the Colts to be an elite team again. There is no way a decent coaching staff goes 0-12 with the players we have. I expected a 5-11 record. I now would be happy if we go 1-15.
3. We need to get out of the salary situation we have been in for several years now, one in which a few star players consume so much of the salary cap that it is very very difficult to have reasonable depth and support players. We are so dependent on a few key players that an untimely injury (like Freeney’s ankle before the Super Bowl) can weaken our team drastically.
4. We need vast improvement in our special teams. I dread seeing the other team return the kickoff, even if it is 8 yards deep in the end zone. The same with punts. Wouldn’t it be nice to have an advantage with special teams once in a while?
5. We could use some quality depth on the O-line, as well as another qualty starter or two.
6. Curtis Painter is not the answer. Jerry Hughes needs to go.

Peyton Manning will be 36 soon. Does he even want to play for the Colts again and risk injury trying to carry a weak team to the Superbowl? Can he even play at that high level again? Can the Colts afford to surround Peyton with the players needed to return to the SB? Can the Colts rebuild fast enough to build a SB caliber team with an effective Manning as the QB?

In my opinion, letting Manning go and drafting Luck gives us the best chance at winning another SB. We need cap room to keep key players and sign decent free agents. We may have to let Reggie Wayne walk if he demands too high a salary. Gary Brackett may no longer warrant his salary. Keep Manning only if he can accept a greatly reduced salary (not likely).

I look forward to next season and those to follow. I hope that Jim Irsay is up to making the tough decisions to get yhe Colts back to an elite team.

by SLE on Dec 6, 2011 1:30 PM EST reply actions

I agree on some things but this is my view..

It seems I am the only person who is thinking on doing the craziest franchise move.
1. Keep Hughes we have nobody else and if he cannot be traded he gets 1 year to steop up better than redrafting a de.
2. This is BOLD AND MAY APPEAR INSANE but trade Manning AND #1 pick. Honestly, Luck may be elite but the best team wins championship. Matt Barkley and Luck are both possible franchise QB heck Newton was said to be bad yet is team will develop nicely. Drafting Luck kind of repeats the Manning era again if he turns out elite or it will take years before we can revamp both offense and defense for the next few years. It sets up a net where we can always get top talwnt without a terrible record. Although contracts may clog up team down the line if it does work.
3. Resign Garcon let Wayne walk and send money on a young WR with potential or possibly trading for one if we do #2.
4. Draft Saturday and Diems replacement now or free agency.
5. I forgot that FB we used but keep him and use more 2 TE sets
6. Draft clark replacement keep clark on a 2 year deal for cheap or let go.
7. Addai has to be released sign a pass blocking rb i mean addai is injury prone
8. The most obvious and get dominant cbs powers is a #2 guy maybe thomas becomes a #3 cb

{ ZuKeO}

by BobInBlue on Dec 6, 2011 5:08 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

Bold AND insane

You’re right, it’s bold … and insane.

First, you can’t trade Manning. His contract is structured so that the $28M bonus kicks in before you can trade players in the off-season. You only have two choices: let him walk, or pay him a ton of money. Both choices carry risk.

Second, drafting Luck doesn’t mean a repeat of the Manning era (not that that would be the worst outcome! I’d take another 10-12 great years and a Super Bowl win!). The key fallacy here is this: Manning was never the cause of the team’s problems. Did we pay a ton of money to Manning? Yes. Lord knows, he was never a bargain. He got No. 1 draft pick money and two record-setting contract extensions. He was never cheap.

And he was worth every penny.

The issues the Colts had were never Manning’s fault. True, his big contracts took away our margin for error. But Manning was, and always has been, worth it. We won a Super Bowl, played in another, and had one of the greatest decades an NFL franchise has ever seen. ALong the way, he won a record 4 MVP awards. He was ALWAYS worth the money.

The problems were the people we paid that weren’t worth the money. Some of those contracts you can’t blame the team for (Bob Sanders, for example — when he was healthy, he earned every dime. The team took a calculated gamble on his big-money extension and lost); others were simply overpaid (Kelvin Hayden, Gary Brackett, even as far back as Chad Bratzke — all good players who weren’t worth the salary they were paid).

Trust me when I say this — figuring out how to build a team around a great QB is the type of problem most NFL teams would kill to have. We’ve been spoiled to have that for 13 years — if Luck was to cause the same problem, I promise you I could learn to live with it =)

by Chris S. on Dec 8, 2011 4:20 AM EST up reply actions

Revised idea...

Chances are BP or CP,until they are fired will do what the Colts have done for the majority of the last decade. Get a good QB and fail to put talent around him. Taking Luck may be a repeat which is nice but I want our team to win multiple times in a decade not regular season games that are inferior to rings. I fully am aware we won’t trade PM and Luck just stating it could be another idea. The best thing to do would be to release him then without the cap hit if we want to be in a win later mode otherwise we fail to win in the next 2 years ( Colts idiocally retain Caldwell for next year) and go from there.

{ ZuKeO}

by BobInBlue on Dec 8, 2011 6:13 AM EST via mobile up reply actions

Let Reggie WALK!

I pointed this out in several blog responses before the trading deadline and after. If the Front Office knew and I am certain that they were sure by week SIX that we were going to look this bad, We should have Traded Reggie to a Team that needed him, We could have gotten something out of him, if it was a 2nd and a 6th round pick oh freakin well at least we get something. If we let him walk during free agency because he wants to much money and we are going to take a hit on the Salary Cap (Which Reggie will Demand more money) then why did we keep him around? I love Reggie but I’m sorry the FO should have made the decision to trade for him rather then give him a huge contract this offseason or Franchise him and we still will have no room to get some Free Agents during the offseason.

by rk4112 on Dec 6, 2011 2:26 PM EST reply actions

Offers weren't worth it

We didn’t trade Reggie because the offers weren’t worth it. There are two main reasons for that:

Teams won’t usually pay much for a guy in the last year of his contract. If Reggie had a year or two left on his deal, his value would have been higher. But no team is gonna give up a 2nd round pick for a guy who’s 33 and in the last year of his deal. They know he’s gonna walk or want a ton of money to stay, so why would they trade a pick they could use to replace him?

The NFL trade deadline is too early. Few trades happen in-season, because teams have to trade by Week 6. At that point, almost no team is out of it, so they tend to want more for their players. And teams that are in the hunt don’t want to overpay; they still have hope they can find a suitable replacement in-house.

Football has less in-season trades for a number of reasons, not the least of which being the importance of training camp to get acclimated to a team’s system. It’s harder for an NFL player to absorb that information and make an impact for his new team than it is in other sports, which is why you see mid-season trades frequently in the NBA and MLB, but comparatively few in the NFL. Players are more valuable, and priced more appropriately, in the offseason, when a team know they’ll have a full training ccamp to get the new guy up to speed and comfortable with his teammates.

There is movement afoot to review the trade deadline — Goodell has mentioned re-thinking it this off-season. If they move it to week 10 or so, I think you’ll see trades pick up. But Week 6 is just to early to fold the tent on a year — I’m sure the Colts knew they weren’t going to the playoffs, but they had hope to win a few games (and still do), and keeping Reggie to try and make that happen was probably worth the 4th round pick we would have gotten for trading him — especially when you consider we could get a compensatory pick for him if he leaves in free agency.

by Chris S. on Dec 8, 2011 4:40 AM EST up reply actions

Reply to I Agree on Some Things...

You said “This is BOLD AND MAY APPEAR INSANE but trade Manning AND #1 pick. Drafting Luck kind of repeats the Manning era again if he turns out elite or it will take years before we can revamp both offense and defense”.

You have a good point.. If we draft Luck and he is an excellent QB (like Manning was) in his 1st or 2nd season, we may repeat the Manning era. We may win a lot of regular season games and few, if any, championships. Championships are won by teams that are multi-dimensional.

The Colts have done this before the Manning era with Johnny U. He also had a spectacular career, but just one SB win.

Years ago the philosophy was to build your defensive and offensive lines first. Then worry about adding the skill players. That is hard to do now because of free agency, but the principle of building the foundation first still applies.

I see merit in your idea. Build a team that is solid and multi-dimensional instead of getting a few superstars first and filling in the other spots with subpar players.

by SLE on Dec 7, 2011 4:17 PM EST reply actions