Prisco is not sold on us at all
 

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/2...bowl-champion/

Picks us to go 5-11. Three of the wins are one point victories at home. Of course, he is picking the Faguars instead of the usual Fags to go to the SB from the ACF, so he's probably a moron.

He got his start as a Jaguars beat writer, so of course he's going to be all over them. I think the league has forgotten about Andrew Luck, but I don't think it will take him much time to jog their memories.

He also has the Browns going 5-11. The 0-16 browns will somehow win 5 games more than last year, while we will only win one additional game with an improved OL and Andrew Luck. Meh.

I'm not sold on Prisco.

With the unknowns on the D side of the ball, 5-11 looks good

Maybe with Jacoby Brissett at QB.

He predicts a bunch of close games that the Colts will mostly lose. It could happen, but I don't think a 5-11 team would be in every game. About the only blowout he sees is against the Raiders. If you're going to be edgy with your prediction at least go big with the schtick and have the Pats winning 45-17 or something bold like the Jags winning 38-10.

So Andrew Luck, who has a career 26-11 record in games decided by 7 points or fewer, is suddenly going to go 5-8 in games decided by 7 points or fewer? GMAFB.

He hasn't played in over a year. It's not the same team, not the same O or D. Give you a break? It's a toss up if all the planets line up in order

I'd take the 2018 roster over the 2012 roster, and that team managed to win 11 games, mostly on the strength of late game heroics by Andrew Luck.

how many players PROJECTED to start on the offense will have played the last season with the Colts?

Offense
QB
WR
TE (1)
RG
RT
total of 5 out of 11

D
RE
RT
LT
All of the LB's
2 of the 4 DBs
total of 8 of 11 on D

No problem! LOLOLOL

I want the to win every game, but I'm not crazy. Ok a little crazy but not that crazy

Good post. Send it to Prisco

Both lines better, Luck back with no Pagano. 11-5 more likely

Prisco used to be pretty complimentary of the Colts during the Manning era. He's not a hater like some of the espn douches.

Either way it doesn't matter what someone writes and predicts. We'll see the results on the field and they can write their stories afterward about those results.

Every team is even in July and August.

Every team's fan base looks at their team with rose colored glasses imagining about their regular season victories.

That being said, if Luck is even a pale shadow of his 2016 self (and for the record, I think he is going to ROCK), with the improved offensive systems, defensive system, coaching decisions, O-Line and D-Line, I think we will be much closer to 10 wins than 5 wins in 2018.

Minimum of 8 wins, maximum of 12 wins, IMO.

Walk Worthy,

That's about the way I see it as well. This defense could be bad enough to cost the team a few games, but this idea that Luck is going to come out and start slow is just nonsense to me. If anything, I'd expect the opposite. You have a competitor like Andrew Luck, who possesses the talent to be one of the best QBs in NFL history, who has been forced to sit, wait, and study for over a year now. He has to be chomping at the bit to get out there and perform. I'd be far more surprised at early struggles than I would at a career year (to this point).

9-7

I need to see if Andrew still has his fastball. If he doesn't, how many of his old throws will he no longer be able to make? If that's the case, can he make adjustments to offset it?

Too many unanswered questions to be so confident.

That's going to be more of a product of core and leg strength than anything, especially core strength, and I doubt he's let his training on those aspects slip. Having the shoulder healthy just allows him to access that power, which I doubt ever left.

Is the DL better? I'm not convinced of that at all.

Also Prisco has always been garbage. Even when he liked the Colts and picked them a lot it was for the wrong reasons.

I can both hope that you’re correct and know that you’re 100% guessing.

Well Vegas has the over/under at 6.5.

Maybe they still thought your one true love was still coaching. lol

Holder put analysis behind my tempered expectations for Luck early in 2018:

https://www.indystar.com/story/sport...ury/825679002/

You're right in that I can't know what his training regimen has been for core and leg strengthening, nor how it varied prior to and during the injury, prior to and after the surgery, and in the long recovery period he's had in the offseason. Throwing a football, however, is a biomechanical motion, and has been analyzed as such. Throwing power comes from core strength. Drew Brees had a much worse labrum tear than Luck had, and he came back better than ever thanks to his focus on strengthening his core, which allowed him to make the throws he didn't have the arm for before the injury.

It isn't a perfect comparison, but the data for baseball pitchers recovering from labrum injuries proves that throwing velocity is not purely a function of core strength.

Look, I want to believe that Luck will be fine. Hell, I traded for him in a fantasy league on the hope that he'll be back. But I'm not changing my prediction of 7 or 8 wins until I see it from him. Luckily, we'll have a chance to see him throw in a game in just a few weeks.

A pitcher's mechanics are entirely different than a quarterback's mechanics. But yes, you're right, throwing power isn't purely a function of core strength (no biomechanical motion which activates as many muscles as throwing a football will be solely reliant on one group of muscles to generate power), but the bulk of the power in a throw comes from the core and the legs. Honestly, I'd be a lot more worried about his accuracy than I would about his power. That may suffer early on.

The dline is better? How?

Something else to consider and sort of lost in the toilet bowl of last year. I can't recall all the stats but I do recall articles talking about how the Colts of last year set a record for leads lost in the second half, and even more pronounced, 4th quarter leads, that were lost in just insane decisions and a lack of horses to finish the deal.

To me that says that despite Pags being a terrible coach, despite playing with a guy thrown to the wolves at QB, despite a completely ridiculous O-line shuffle, despite an absurdly pathetic pass rush and a non-existent LB corps, this team actually did show some fight last year.

We have Luck back, we unquestionably have a better Oline, and presumably we have a game breaker at RB this year that we have not had. Put a real coach on top of that; not saying playoffs but also not saying dumpster fire either. I think we are probably looking at a 50/50 year, maybe 9-7 and if Luck is flirting with who he was pre-injury late in the year I could see a push to 10-6.

[QUOTE=omahacolt;72336]The dline is better? How?[/QUOTE

You’re right. Got a little carried away there. In reality I have zero idea of how this defense will pan out. But I got hope.

We have a game breaker at RB? I think RB is a complete unknown at this point. There is some talent there, but we don't know how that will pan out at the NFL level.

We also lost some good d-linemen. Hopefully we don't regress there.

I hope we are all surprised at how good this team ends up being, but it's just a ton of unknowns at this point.

Good post Jesus

Jesus Christ, you make a lot of sense.








Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Does that make me a troll?

Perhaps if you live under a bridge ? :cool:

Sure there is a lot of unknown at the RB spot but one thing we also know is we have one of the fastest players in the NFL at that spot now in Hines which is not something we have been able to say, shit I don't know if we've been able to say that ever and unbelievably we might actually have a line capable of getting him and Mack space to operate. Love Frank Gore, dude was a great player and a cornerstone in a period of dread, but he didn't pose a threat that had to be adjusted for.

Yeah Dline especially interior is a concern and I don't see a giant LB upgrade to cover for it either...

We had one of the fastest players in Phillip Dorsett previously as well.

The line upgrade should be huge for these young RB's. I hope the o-line can get healthy and stay healthy. They need the time together. I can't wait to see Nelson leaving a path of destruction in his wake.

I agree we have a lot of unknowns but also have to consider we don't know a lot about many of the players under the previous coaching staff. We know that many players were probably not being used according to their skill sets. I'm pretty confident that the previous staff not only did not know how to evaluate the talent they sure as hell didn't use half the players the right way.

I'm much more confident in the new coaching staff. Hopeful that not only can they do more with less since we may have less. Also believe that they are better at evaluation of the players and will use all of them according to their strengths. For the top talent on the team this also makes a world of difference from previous season.

So even if the record shows that we were not a very good team by seasons end. I truly believe what we see from a competitive aspect we will all be pleased and excited for the future of our team.

Big difference between a fast RB and a fast WR. A fast WR who can't catch or get separation is useless, except for trading for a backup QB. All a fast RB needs to be able to do is hold onto the ball and have good vision.

If that's all a fast RB needed, then so many of them wouldn't fail. There are a lot of fast RB's that don't make it. Awareness, blitz pickups, learning the playbook, balance, power, all of that is needed with that speed. The young RB's on this team may have what it takes, but we don't know that yet, so we can't assume it until they perform on game day.

Yeah, I oversimplified it a bit, but RB is not the same as WR when it comes to speed. Lack of top flight speed does not affect WRs, if they can make separation and catches. All they need is NFL average speed to find success. You can scheme for a speedy RB.