I’m glad the fans at the game got a show. That’s what they want and paid for. But that isn’t what I was talking about. Also there were a lot of empty seats out there. This is a small market team. They need a face for the franchise and a guy that gives them a shot year in and year out. Ultimately this game doesn’t help us at all except to cement Hines as our return man.

Now imagine if we had won that game and didn’t get that pick. How different would things be today? They almost did the same thing in 1998 and it was just a few plays I believe that got us the Manning pick. That would have been a colossal blunder. If the team had gotten Leaf instead of Manning, the Colts might not be in Indy today. Normally I wouldn’t care that much if it was a few spots. But these two wins may be the difference between nearly ten spots. From a bottom of the top ten to maybe picking in the late teens early twenties.

Nope. This season has just been a season of "not quite enough." I never thought the players/locker room quit on Reich. Any Colts fan that's watched us the past 5ish weeks and thought the team had quit on Reich are clueless.

We started 5-2 by winning a ton of close games. Some of those 5 wins could've/should've very easily been losses.

And then we went through the 1-6 stretch. Now that stretch of games featured some 2+ score games, both in our favor and not in our favor. Regardless, there were some losses in that stretch that probably should've been wins.

It is what it is. After Luck announced his retirement, I think a lot of us felt like this was a 6-10 to 8-8 team. Reich is a damn good coach with potential to be elite and the offensive line is damn near elite. The defense has potential but also still has gaping holes. And our skill, combined, are below average at best. We clearly need upgrades at QB, WR, and TE.

Anyway, 7-9 or 8-8 isn't a surprise. It just sucks because it means no playoffs and, like, the 15th-ish pick.

o


My post was in regard to the fans' lukewarm reaction to the game today, compared with that of their more enthusiastic reaction in recent years during bad/dubious times. You opined that their sub-par/lukewarm enthusiasm today had to do with their acknowledgement of Brissett being an average-at-best quarterback, and that that did not bode helpful for the future.


The problem with not having a franchise QB is the future doesn’t look promising. I think the fanbase has concluded Brisset just isn’t good enough, and that is a death-knell for a teams outlook, fanbase enthusiasm, marketing, etc.


I countered that their reactions in the past had little to do with whether or not they were thinking in terms of future draft picks, as evidenced by their raucous enthusiasm to their late-season mini-rally.winning streak in the 2011 season, which almost took us out of the Andrew Luck sweepstakes ........ so, if they were cheering rabidly for a 1-13 team in a home game which almost took them out of the Andrew Luck draft pick by winning it, I find that to be a stark contrast to a not particularly enthusiastic crowd watching the game win a game handily when their record was 6-8.


The points that you are making about what would have happened if the Colts had lost out on 2 of their most important draft picks in the history of the franchise and that their winning this game could make a significant difference in their 2020 draft position are valid, but they don't belie what I was saying in the first place about the contrasting reactions of the Lucas Oil Stadium crowd to teams that are not/were not playoff-bound.


o

Were you at any of these games?

o


No, but I have eyes and ears. I've seen the Jets in person and on TV, and my perception of the crowd/fan reaction was not much different from one setting compared to the other.


I made a very direct and simple observation. I don't know why you are contesting/complicating it. If you think that the LOS crowd has become more astute since 2011, fine. They may be, and that would at least partially explain why they were cheering rabidly for a team that was potentially playing itself out of the Andrew Luck sweepstakes, and not particularly enthusiastic about today's win over the Panthers. I found it to be contrasting, whatever the reasons.


o

Chill out, I’m just having a conversation. Maybe those 2011 fans wanted to keep Manning. Certainly a segment of the fan base wanted to keep him no matter the prognosis.

I can’t tell the difference from TV myself. I saw lots of people cheering when they scored. The RCA dome was a small and a small crowd could make that place loud. I saw final fours there with a quarter of the crowd and it was loud. Saw opposing fan bases come in and make noise with few people. I think the new stadium kills sound, that big open space in the middle sound just floats in there and dies. Your viewpoint is so controlled with a broadcast I don’t really trust it. Could be as simple as a mic sensitivity turned down accidentally.

o


Yeah, I wanted to keep Manning also.

I was rooting for the Colts in those late-season 2011 games for 2 reasons ........ one was that we still had Manning, and I would have been fine if we had continued the course with him. He was in the twilight of his career, but he was still very much in his prime, as evidenced by his incredible 2012 season with a brand new team with brand new players in Denver.

The other reason why I was rooting for the Colts in those games is that it is literally impossible for me to root against them, regardless of the situation. One time in my life, I actually tried to root against the Colts because I had an ulterior reason ........ that experiment lasted all of about 5 minutes. I called my brother on the phone and told him about the situation, and he told me that because I have been rooting for the Colts for so long, it was counterintuitive for me to root against them, regardless of whatever the secondary reasons may be.

o

Matt Conti‏ @ColtsConti

Indianapolis did not commit a penalty against Carolina. It marked the first time the #Colts did not have a penalty dating back to December 26, 1999 at Cleveland. :cool:

https://twitter.com/ColtsConti/statu...84142370435073

o


What a great season that was (up until the upset loss to the Titans in the divisional playoff game.)

A 13-3 record, a division title, and a portent of things to come ......... the sun was going to rise in the East, set in the West, and Peyton Manning as going to find a way to lead the Colts a minimum of 10 wins and a playoff berth, regardless of how good or bad the team that surrounded him was. From 1999 though 2010, that result (10 or more wins and a playoff berth) occurred 11 out of 12 times, with 2001 being lone exception/anomaly.

o

How did the Panthers win 5 games?

How did we lose 8?

o


3 of those 5 wins came against AFC South opponents (the Texans, the Titans, and the Jaguars) ........ subsequently, I have no inclination to question how and why they won the games that they did this season.

o

Good coaching.

Because the team is not good.

Easy, we're as good as we are bad.

Thus, our 7-9 or 8-8 season.

Appreciate the fan chat. I was once asked if I could sit down while we were on defense at a patsy game. Fans? I miss the wave and the eventual unevenness between the upper and lower level.

This is the stupid, lazy answer!

1. Brisset isn’t a starter. The guy would be 3rd string on some NFL teams.

2. Depleted WR Corp with a QB that isn’t a starter.

3. Very young defense. I believe we were starting more rookies than any team.


The fact this team has won as many games as it has with Brisset and a depleted receiving Corp is actually amazing. With a Luck or Manning at QB you would have a hard time finding a game we lose this year. Maybe the Saints.

Brisset at QB is 5-6 losses for this team no matter how you cut it.

We upgrade our QB we are back in the mix.

This post made me re-live the AV missed kicks, the untimely INTs of JB, the WR drops, etc. Thanks for those awful memories being dredged up again.

Brissett is just awful. He seems to be regressing, especially his accuracy. Which is compounded by the fact that he makes every throw at 900 miles per hour.

The story of the Colts future will depend on whether the team is smart enough to realize that they MUST upgrade the quarterback position or whether they foolish enough to stick with Jacoby.

The league got better tape on Brissett and figured out better how to exploit his weaknesses, and he failed to adapt. That's why the Colts were at one point 5-2 and are now 7-8.

We didn't play the panthers every game.

This is a good bit on Reich too. Week 5 we were able to beat the chiefs by running the ball and playing keep away from the opposing offense. This worked, but stopped being a long term solution when our receivers started dropping.

Teams knew that the combination of Brissett's weaknesses and our inexperienced receivers allowed them to just play the run and dare us to pass. As soon as they took away the run game, the wheels fell off.

What I didnt see this year is an effective screen game to take advantage of Wlikins. 2018 was Pag's last year, and we were screaming for it then. We should be making better use of our athletic OL to open up the short pass / screen game outside to negate the dearth of receiving talent and the skills of Brissett.

There was a stat I cant find where we run the ball on 90% of our 2nd and long snaps. Not scouting ourselves is a mistake the Pags regime made over and over and over.

Reich is supposedly big into analytics so if they aren't self analyzing then they are morons

I had that happen to me once. The person looked like they had to be dropped into their seat with a crane.

I don't think anythign was stopping the Saints that day. Some games are just like that. Team does everything right, like us yesterday.

They KNEW the Colts couldn't get to Brees with the pass rush of just 4. So they played to their strength and the Colts weakness.