2023 Colts Season Prediction Thread
 

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12 - 4 - 1

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My 12-4-1 is wedged in between "good season" and "excellent season", so I am going to go with my blue-covered sunglasses and go with "excellent season" on my vote in the poll.

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I went mediocre, but think it will be on the high end. If Jagoffs falter, we could win the division with 9 wins.

7-10

6 wins is my guess. pretty easy schedule

I say 4 maybe 5 wins. Will be very reminiscent of Peyton's first year where we start out terrible, begin to improve ~week 6/7, then begin playing halfway decent towards the end of the season. Our last 3 games are at least on paper against other bad teams, so maybe we make a little run at the end of the season.

Good season 11 wins

Colts have the benefit of the unknown offensively and I think it will be to their benefit early in the season which will allow them to play off of that thru out the year

QB threatens the entire field and an offensive coach that simplifies the game

Still a lot of solid players on this team

Stopping the run should still be a strong suit and running the ball as well

Expectations are low which is also in their favor

And then next year we draft a kid named Harrison....sounds familiar!

13 wins. Go big or go home!!!!

4. We will have trouble passing and stopping the pass.

Wasn't Harrison the year before Peyton?

My brain tells me 6. My gut tells me 10+. As long as I've watched them, they typically bounce back the next year. It happened with Peyton, it happened with Luck.

It's our "luck" because while we could absolutely use additional top 10 or top 5 picks, it seems like we only see that once or twice a decade, if that. Jax, Tennessee, and Houston seem to just hang out there.

I voted with my gut. If Richardson can extend drives, and we can actually put points on the board, I think this team looks a lot different.

Yes. Marvin Harrison Jr. is more Calvin Johnson than his old man, which fits with Richardson being a far more athletic specimen than Peyton Manning

Two years. Bill Tobin drafted Harrison in '96.

Right, Glenn was 97, yes?

Correct. Polian's first year.

I agree with Mr Session. I really am fascinated by how we will evaluate AR's play. He isn't your normal QB, his completion percentage may not be that high but he leads (at least in preseason against back ups) this team to scores. To me that is how I think he should be evaluated-by how much the offense scores.

Imma thinking 6-9 wins but Imma also thinkin Chameensheep in my delusional dreams. :D

I don't think the Jags will falter. Wildcard maybe?

I am thinking 4-5 wins.

- Richardson will have some "oh my goodness" great plays and "cover your eyes" bad plays every game. He will win us one or two games this year on his shoulders and lose up 2-3 games because of rookie mistakes. It happens.

- Our O-Line is not up to speed. Fries should never have a starting spot and if ANY of the other four get injured, their backups are not worthy. AR will be running for his life a lot this year.

- Run game without the threat of JT will stumble. I don't dislike any of the guys we will have running the rock but they will end up being easily stopped.

I think we will win just enough to be outside the top 4-6 drafting and miss out on MHJ unless we want to move up. I think he will be drafted top 4.

Same on all fronts. For those that for some reason still believe Ballard should have a job- take a look at the Oline. Fries starting is pretty bad, the lack of depth from this guy that does nothing but bellow about the building in the trenches and having quality depth- that dude is a fucking joke man, a fucking joke!

Yeah, I'm starting to wonder if he should be replaced. I like Ballard...I want to like him anyway...but it's his seventh year now and we've won basically nothing. New QB probably bought him at least two more years though.

If this iteration of the Colts does not work out you have to think about replacing him. I think that is at least 2-3 years away if it happens, will take that long to determine if AR is the answer. At some point you need to put a winning team on the field.

Most of Ballards time with the Colts he dealt with the on again off again drama of Andrew Luck.

I give him more time to build the O line and find anyone (including anyone one this site) who can catch a pass and run faster than me (anyone who is upright).

It's getting close to 50/50 now. Luck was 17, 18, and he quit in 19. Ballard has had 20, 21, 22, and now 23. So I agree and I sympathize, but at some point you have to have success. We also had the covid season(s) sprinkled in there so, yeah, bad timing of things for Ballard.

He should have a chance with AR. Next year they get work on the O line and RB

His tenure has been odd. Luck retired just as the team looked ready to compete for a SB, so the idea was to get a veteran QB to fill in and make a run. None of those guys worked out, except Rivers, and then he retired. After the next two QBs were a disaster, the window was nearly closed, so they went rookie and will try to build the rest around him, hoping he develops quickly, and the core doesn’t age too quickly.

If Ballard hit on AR the window is like 10-12 years

I'm sure if AR doesn't work out or if Ballard's unable to field a decent team around him then Ballard will be gone.

Hopefully AR hits and that motivates Ballard to start filling needs in the offseason via FA and not rely solely on the draft.

Gotta remember this is a new offense with a new coach who probably values different skill sets in his skill positions than Reich did. These guys might not all fit what he would like in a system. Would Reich have wanted a Josh Downs? So I think the offense will be transforming in the next couple of years.

Not saying you let Ballard go if things don't work out this year. I think anyone who isn't wearing blue colored glasses knows that we won't be good this year.

But if we get to 2-3 seasons down the road and either AR is a bust or Ballard is unable to build a good team around him then Ballard needs to go. I really have my doubts Ballard will be able to put a good team around AR considering he's been in charge since '17 and as ChoppedWood and Omaha pointed out on another thread we have a serious lack of talent pretty much across the board.

Ballard is here for a couple years. He’s tied to AR and Steichen unless the team just complete collapses and we go winless or something.

We don’t lack talent. Just a lot of it is either not on the field or has been mitigated due to poor QB play. Healthy Leonard, Buckner, JT, Nelson are all pros. The defense was very good last year, until they couldn’t prop up the offense anymore. But they are a solid unit and have become much better since Ballard got here. That unit was awful when he got here. I think the oline will return to form with solid tackle play. I’ve said for four years, the LT is the lynchpin of the line, the oline goes as LT goes. I expect the oline to bounce back this year. They have been in the top ten most of the time Ballard has been here, you don’t achieve that with no talent.

I think Pittman is seriously underrated. Yeah yeah the number one bs, he’s a 1000 yard receiver and been in the top 20 WRs in stats with bottom tier QB play. Hes been consistently in the top ten of releasing against pressman coverage (the toughest for WRs to deal with), averages better separation than Stephon Diggs, Terry Maclaurin and DJ Moore. Is he top ten in the NFL? No. But he is certainly top 30. Absolutely. And I think he would do even better with consistent play at QB.

So yeah, I disagree on the talent notion. But whatever. I’m tired of pointing shit out. Some people hate Ballard. I see it on social media every day. MF’ers don’t even know him talking about his personality like they’re his neighbors. And the 1070 radio guys have it out for him, listened to them two summers in a row talk out of their ass and be total hypocrites. I don’t care. I do think if Luck hadn’t retired this would have been an AFC championship team easily. Luck with JTs year that was wasted on Wentz?!? That team would have been crazy good. Most GMs don’t survive losing a franchise QB.

But yeah, if this team doesn’t win in a couple years, he’s gone. That’s how it goes. AR probably too. Then it’s time to start over again.

We have a few really good players. So does pretty much every team in the league. I think you're kidding yourself though if you don't think that from an overall roster standpoint that we're one of the least talented rosters in the league.

Also, I don't hate Ballard. He's certainly better than his predecessor. I do believe he's not as good as some of you guys on here think he is, and I do hate that he just assumes that he'll find someone in the draft to fill gaping holes in the roster or in some cases just blatantly ignores them.

To back that up here are some lack of results from Ballard:

WRs - I agree MPJ is a good WR and that when/if he gets better QB play his numbers will be much better, but he's the only good WR Ballard has managed to bring in. Let that sink in. In 7 years Ballard has added 1 good player to one of the most critical positions in the league. That's Grigson level of futility. Maybe Pierce or Downs ends up making that 2 good WRs (I have more faith in Downs than Pierce), but adding 2 good players to a critical position group in 7 years is still really shitty.

Pass Rush - Despite spending god knows how many draft picks, FA dollars, and trade capital on DL in the last 7 years we still don't have a decent, consistent pass rush. Big failure on Ballard's part.

OL - Agree that as the LT goes, so does the OL. But who's fault is it that we didn't have a capable LT last year? It's also Ballard's fault that we let a good starting ROG walk last year and replaced him with someone completely incapable of playing the position. And since Ballard ignored the IOL in the offseason we have a guy more suited as a backup starting w/ absolutely no depth at IOL.

CBs - Maybe (at least hopefully) things will work out w/ some of the young guys down the line, but this year is going to be a shit show.

Anyway, not saying we need to get rid of him now. But if in 2-3 years we're not winning then Ballard needs to be gone, as you agree with.

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Next time, just shut up and watch the games.

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The Colts’ Season Comes Down to One Game vs. The Texans

(By Stephen Holder)

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...game-vs-texans

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Stiil happy as hell regardless that we can have a winning season regardless. A shot at the playoffs? Priceless in my world. :D

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The Colts beat the Ravens, and the Ravens are the best team in the AFC ...... don't make fun of yourself just yet.

We got Ju Ju, we got Zaire, we got Kenny Moore, and we got Pittman, Taylor and Moss ...... we even have a Rain-man, reminding us of a 1988 movie.

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Reward my belief with a W!

I knew they'd have a good year!

They were victims of poor coaching and very poor quarterback play last year. The team was solid enough, but those two factors were too much to overcome. With those two factors improved, it is easy to see a winning season.

This is what I said before the season. It will take ten wins, but the Jags may falter.