NFL 2011 Thread

[SkyDog112046]

The Colts signed Kerry Collins. This seems to confirm that Manning isn't going to be 100% in 2 weeks. If Collins gets the bulk of the work in the next preseason game while Manning hasn't even practiced then it looks like Collins in week 1.

I forget...did KC play last year?

He's not a bad fill-in if he has anything left.

The fact remains that the Colts entire offense is built around Manning. Without Manning, they are in serious trouble. Really serious trouble.

Collins played all of 2008, about half of 2009, and 10 games last year. He has had injury issues that would be expected for a guy taking hits for 15 years. He certainly can play if he is healthy and knows the system, but he had recently retired so who knows if he is in game shape and then there is the matter of learning Indy's offense.

You are right about them being built around Manning. That whole system starts and ends with him - his reads, his calls, his timing. Not only the offense but the defensive philosophy too. They don't beat people up, they play a speed game and wait for the opponent to get run down while Manning puts up points. If other teams can get away with playing smash mouth knowing that they can win a bunch of 10-7 and 14-10 games then Indy is screwed.

[ParaDime77]

The Colts seriously should have broomed every QB in camp the past 2 years ago not named Peyton. Those jerks couldn't QB a damn high school team. I like the Collins move, he's been a very solid pro since he quit Vodka.

[poizond13]

Well definitely rough news today for any Colts fan. The reality is I don't think anyone knows whether Peyton will be able to play week 1. There is a ton of uncertainty and I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't panicking just a little bit. I still think Peyton will be back week 1 but that's far from certain.

Signing Collins was a good move because I wouldn't be able to handle seeing Painter or Orlovsky start. Collins is a seasoned vet who will at least be able to run a dumbed-down version of our offense and do so competently, if need be. Looking forward to seeing how he plays this Friday against GB.

[Garbageman]

I still think Peyton will be back week 1 but that's far from certain.

Yeah, but you think Bert Miracles' hair is real too.

Without Manning, they lose the intangible people like he, Farve, Elway, and such bring where you always know their team can (and often miraculously does) come back. Without him (or without him 100%) an opponent will take chances on defense they might not normally take.

I think whoever they have at QB will be spending a lot of time week one with their back on the turf admiring the workmanship of Reliant Stadium's retractable roof.

[Crazy Levi]

Well definitely rough news today for any Colts fan. The reality is I don't think anyone knows whether Peyton will be able to play week 1. There is a ton of uncertainty and I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't panicking just a little bit. I still think Peyton will be back week 1 but that's far from certain.

Signing Collins was a good move because I wouldn't be able to handle seeing Painter or Orlovsky start. Collins is a seasoned vet who will at least be able to run a dumbed-down version of our offense and do so competently, if need be. Looking forward to seeing how he plays this Friday against GB.

You don't realize how helpless this offense will be without Manning.

A "dumbed down" offense won't cut it.

They will lose every game Collins starts.

[demolition23]

Peyton WILL be back for game 1, don't you worry about that, retards. Mr. Irsay likes to stir the pot on Twitter, but everyone within the Colts organization is confident that Peyton will be ready to start the season against the Texans.

Well definitely rough news today for any Colts fan. The reality is I don't think anyone knows whether Peyton will be able to play week 1. There is a ton of uncertainty

You're not just my favourite football analyst, you're my favourite poster too!

[SkyDog112046]

Well definitely rough news today for any Colts fan. The reality is I don't think anyone knows whether Peyton will be able to play week 1. There is a ton of uncertainty and I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't panicking just a little bit. I still think Peyton will be back week 1 but that's far from certain.

Signing Collins was a good move because I wouldn't be able to handle seeing Painter or Orlovsky start. Collins is a seasoned vet who will at least be able to run a dumbed-down version of our offense and do so competently, if need be. Looking forward to seeing how he plays this Friday against GB.

You don't realize how helpless this offense will be without Manning.

A "dumbed down" offense won't cut it.

They will lose every game Collins starts.

Collins only has 2 weeks to learn plays and practice them to get the timing down with his receivers. This was a pass heavy offense, so the other 10 players are going to have to adjust as well. They are going to be playing sand lot football the next few weeks and not much more than that when the season starts. Between Collins and a rusty Manning with their schedule they could very well start 1-4.

[cantstopthemusic]

Signing Collins was a good move because I wouldn't be able to handle seeing Painter or Orlovsky start. Collins is a seasoned vet who will at least be able to run a dumbed-down version of our offense and do so competently, if need be. Looking forward to seeing how he plays this Friday against GB.

Collins spent most of 2010 running for his life, getting sacked - and throwing incompletions, you mongoloid dumbshit!

"Dumbed-down" version.

[KillDevilHill]

There's so many sick players on the colts offence that they could still have a chance at making the playoffs if they were any other team. It's just its fucking peyton manning, the guy RUNS that offence. He gets a lot of flack and may not be the best QB in the NFL, let alone all time. But no player is more important to their team than peyton, its why he gets the MVP's and, and why the colts are fucked without him.

[bane]

Without Manning, the Colts are fucked. It really is a testament go how good that guy really is. A lot of NFL teams could function relatively well without their starting QB ( NE comes to mind), but Indy is gonna be shit if Manning can't come back. Collins is servicable, but Manning IS Indyball. How weird would it be if Peyton missed a big chunk of the season and they ended up winning the Luck sweepstakes where he could understudy under THAT guy? I don't think that'll happen. I think Manning'll be back and they'll be playing like same old Colts somewhere about week 6, which would be enough to give them something close to a 500 record give or take a game or two, but it'd be a weird twist if it worked out that way.

[demolition23]

Without Manning, the Colts are fucked. It really is a testament go how good that guy really is. A lot of NFL teams could function relatively well without their starting QB ( NE comes to mind), but Indy is gonna be shit if Manning can't come back. Collins is servicable, but Manning IS Indyball. How weird would it be if Peyton missed a big chunk of the season and they ended up winning the Luck sweepstakes where he could understudy under THAT guy? I don't think that'll happen. I think Manning'll be back and they'll be playing like same old Colts somewhere about week 6, which would be enough to give them something close to a 500 record give or take a game or two, but it'd be a weird twist if it worked out that way.

Manning is great, but you're crazy if you think Indy with Collins would "win the Luck sweepstakes".

[NeverSurrender]

Without Manning, the Colts are fucked. It really is a testament go how good that guy really is. A lot of NFL teams could function relatively well without their starting QB ( NE comes to mind), but Indy is gonna be shit if Manning can't come back. Collins is servicable, but Manning IS Indyball. How weird would it be if Peyton missed a big chunk of the season and they ended up winning the Luck sweepstakes where he could understudy under THAT guy? I don't think that'll happen. I think Manning'll be back and they'll be playing like same old Colts somewhere about week 6, which would be enough to give them something close to a 500 record give or take a game or two, but it'd be a weird twist if it worked out that way.

Manning is great, but you're crazy if you think Indy with Collins would "win the Luck sweepstakes".

He's also crazy because he thinks NE is just fine without Brady? Dude they missed the playoffs the one year he got hurt.

[SkyDog112046]

Without Manning, the Colts are fucked. It really is a testament go how good that guy really is. A lot of NFL teams could function relatively well without their starting QB ( NE comes to mind), but Indy is gonna be shit if Manning can't come back. Collins is servicable, but Manning IS Indyball. How weird would it be if Peyton missed a big chunk of the season and they ended up winning the Luck sweepstakes where he could understudy under THAT guy? I don't think that'll happen. I think Manning'll be back and they'll be playing like same old Colts somewhere about week 6, which would be enough to give them something close to a 500 record give or take a game or two, but it'd be a weird twist if it worked out that way.

They are too good on both sides of the ball to lose the 14-15 games it would take to get Luck. Even if they had to go with Collins all year they would win 7-8-9 games I think they would start of something like 1-4 or 2-3 and then go somewhere around 7-4 once he got the hang of the offense. Collins is good enough that if he had an entire training camp he could get them to 10-11 wins. No way they lose more than 9 or 10 games, max.

[Tymaster]

Without Manning, the Colts are fucked. It really is a testament go how good that guy really is. A lot of NFL teams could function relatively well without their starting QB ( NE comes to mind), but Indy is gonna be shit if Manning can't come back. Collins is servicable, but Manning IS Indyball. How weird would it be if Peyton missed a big chunk of the season and they ended up winning the Luck sweepstakes where he could understudy under THAT guy? I don't think that'll happen. I think Manning'll be back and they'll be playing like same old Colts somewhere about week 6, which would be enough to give them something close to a 500 record give or take a game or two, but it'd be a weird twist if it worked out that way.

Manning is great, but you're crazy if you think Indy with Collins would "win the Luck sweepstakes".

He's also crazy because he thinks NE is just fine without Brady? Dude they missed the playoffs the one year he got hurt.

You conveniently left out the fact that the Patriots won 11 games with Matt Cassel in 2008 becoming the first 11 win AFC team since 1990 to miss the playoffs.

[bane]

Without Manning, the Colts are fucked. It really is a testament go how good that guy really is. A lot of NFL teams could function relatively well without their starting QB ( NE comes to mind), but Indy is gonna be shit if Manning can't come back. Collins is servicable, but Manning IS Indyball. How weird would it be if Peyton missed a big chunk of the season and they ended up winning the Luck sweepstakes where he could understudy under THAT guy? I don't think that'll happen. I think Manning'll be back and they'll be playing like same old Colts somewhere about week 6, which would be enough to give them something close to a 500 record give or take a game or two, but it'd be a weird twist if it worked out that way.

They are too good on both sides of the ball to lose the 14-15 games it would take to get Luck. Even if they had to go with Collins all year they would win 7-8-9 games I think they would start of something like 1-4 or 2-3 and then go somewhere around 7-4 once he got the hang of the offense. Collins is good enough that if he had an entire training camp he could get them to 10-11 wins. No way they lose more than 9 or 10 games, max.

I think they're at best 6-10 without Manning. They've got a pretty difficult schedule. I don't think they'll be nearly bad enough to get to Luck though. I just said it would be really bizarre if they were.

[bane]

He's also crazy because he thinks NE is just fine without Brady? Dude they missed the playoffs the one year he got hurt.

You conveniently left out the fact that the Patriots won 11 games with Matt Cassel in 2008 becoming the first 11 win AFC team since 1990 to miss the playoffs.

This. "Function relatively well" is not the same thing as "just fine". I wasn't knocking Brady, but 11 wins is 11 wins. Indy has no chance of duplicating that feat without #18. I know they were really banged up, but they only got 10 with him last year.

[Tymaster]

He's also crazy because he thinks NE is just fine without Brady? Dude they missed the playoffs the one year he got hurt.

You conveniently left out the fact that the Patriots won 11 games with Matt Cassel in 2008 becoming the first 11 win AFC team since 1990 to miss the playoffs.

This. "Function relatively well" is not the same thing as "just fine". I wasn't knocking Brady, but 11 wins is 11 wins. Indy has no chance of duplicating that feat without #18. I know they were really banged up, but they only got 10 with him last year.

Absolutely. The Colts are Peyton Manning with a bunch of role players built around him. The Pats are an awesome team at every position with Tom Brady driving the Cadillac. Not a knock on Brady, but they are very much like the 49ers when they had Montana, Young, and Bono. Any one of the three QB's could drive the Caddy. Fact.

[SkyDog112046]

He's also crazy because he thinks NE is just fine without Brady? Dude they missed the playoffs the one year he got hurt.

You conveniently left out the fact that the Patriots won 11 games with Matt Cassel in 2008 becoming the first 11 win AFC team since 1990 to miss the playoffs.

This. "Function relatively well" is not the same thing as "just fine". I wasn't knocking Brady, but 11 wins is 11 wins. Indy has no chance of duplicating that feat without #18. I know they were really banged up, but they only got 10 with him last year.

The Patriots did win 11 games in '08 without Brady, however that same exact team won 16 games the year before so they had a 5 game drop off without him. Cassel turned out to be a decent QB, but he's a couple groups removed from the elite guys.

Indy won 10 games last year with Manning but they were seriously banged up and Manning wasn't right all season. This year they should be healthier and they made some free agent pickups. Being without a healthy and game-ready Manning for any length of time is going to hurt, but Collins can get them 7-9 wins. They shouldn't be a playoff team because they are going to have a real slow start trying to get Collins up to speed but even a mediocre QB who had the benefit of a full training camp could get that team to 6 or 7 wins.

I think what will happen is that Collins starts the first 3 or 4 games and then Manning comes back.

[bane]

What free agent pickups? They pretty much stood pat as far as I can tell. They'll be better due to just getting healthy, yeah, but they didn't exactly reload for this year. Using your own math, you've got them winning 12 to 14 games with a healthy Manning. Looking at that schedule, I don't see it. I think the ceiling is more like 10 or 11. I also think the drop off from Manning to Collins is a whole lot more than it was with Brady/Cassel.

[SkyDog112046]

What free agent pickups? They pretty much stood pat as far as I can tell. They'll be better due to just getting healthy, yeah, but they didn't exactly reload for this year. Using your own math, you've got them winning 12 to 14 games with a healthy Manning. Looking at that schedule, I don't see it. I think the ceiling is more like 10 or 11. I also think the drop off from Manning to Collins is a whole lot more than it was with Brady/Cassel.

Indy picked up a couple of OL & DL guys, something they usually stay away from. I think with a healthy Manning and roster they would have been an 11-12 win team. Manning was off last year and that's part of the reason they weren't that great.

I'm certainly no Indy fan and I'd love to see them lose 8 or 10 games, but not because of an injury to Manning. I would just like to see them play like shit. One of the great joys of the season is seeing "Peyton Manning face" and then watching as he proceeds to throw the coaching staff and the other 52 players under the bus.

[bane]

I think they lost more than they gained in free agency. That team tends to promote from within, so maybe they've got a back up plan that they feel good about, but I wouldn't call it a known commodity.

[cantstopthemusic]

Collins is good enough that if he had an entire training camp he could get them to 10-11 wins.

You're high as a kite.

Not a chance in hell.

[poizond13]

What free agent pickups? They pretty much stood pat as far as I can tell. They'll be better due to just getting healthy, yeah, but they didn't exactly reload for this year. Using your own math, you've got them winning 12 to 14 games with a healthy Manning. Looking at that schedule, I don't see it. I think the ceiling is more like 10 or 11. I also think the drop off from Manning to Collins is a whole lot more than it was with Brady/Cassel.

The Colts are a 13-14 win team this year if Peyton gets healthy. If not, I still see them winning 9-10 games. People don't realize the amount of talent we have on both sides of the ball. Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Austin Collie, Joe Addai, Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis, Antoine Bethea, Jerraud Powers, Gary Brackett, Jeff Saturday are all top flight players. Maybe people forget that we had SEVEN pro bowlers two years ago and four last year. All of those players are still on the roster. On top of that we won 10 games last year with half of our roster on IR.

We have gotten even better this year through the draft and a couple key free agent signings in the last few weeks. Our offensive and defensive lines are significantly improved. We've got a first round stud LT that is going to protect Peyton Manning for the rest of his career. Our run game and defense should be significantly better.

Those who are underrating us don't know what they're talking about. We might start out slow, but at the end of the year we'll be a ten win team, minimum. Mark my words. I still believe that the Colts are Super Bowl bound and we will win it all in our own stadium.

[bane]

I think the Colts will win 10, maybe 11 games with Peyton. They won't win 8 without him.

[Garbageman]

I still believe that the Colts are Super Bowl bound and we will win it all in our own stadium.

It seems like only yesterday Jerry Jones was saying something similar...

Collins will be doubly screwed when he starts since every team in his division knows his tendencies from 5 years as a Titan. Throw in how much time he spent at practice opposite the Titan defense.

[Blizzard of Cos]

Love Belichik:

On when he made the decision to leave Haynesworth, Vereen, and Dowling back in Foxboro:

“We make the decision on all the players when we know, when we feel like we can make the right decision. Whenever that is, that’s when we make it.”

[bigbuttskinner]

Maybe people forget that we had SEVEN pro bowlers two years ago and four last year. All of those players are still on the roster. On top of that we won 10 games last year with half of our roster on IR.

Who doesn't get that the Pro Bowl is a popularity contest? It's a sham and it doesn't matter how many people get selected, it's garbage and meaningless. Secondly, don't even start with that injury shit. The Packers had many more players than the Colts on IR and we know what they did. I guess we really know who has depth and who doesn't. It's even more apparent now that Polian & Co. were caught with their pants down now that Manning might not be able to go.

[bane]

I know it's just preseason, but Houston looks GOOD. Fuck Indy. Peyton or not, as long as nobody integral goes down, they're gonna kick the AFC South's ass. I really hope Peyton shows up ready to go so the P13's of the world can't blame his injury for the beatdown Houston is going to give them. That team will win the division and scare the fuck out of everybody else in the conference. I've never really jumped on board with a team this early before, but I'm feeling supremely confident this year. The Texans are going to wreak some havok.

[johnk5150]

I know it's just preseason, but Houston looks GOOD. Fuck Indy. Peyton or not, as long as nobody integral goes down, they're gonna kick the AFC South's ass. I really hope Peyton shows up ready to go so the P13's of the world can't blame his injury for the beatdown Houston is going to give them. That team will win the division and scare the fuck out of everybody else in the conference. I've never really jumped on board with a team this early before, but I'm feeling supremely confident this year. The Texans are going to wreak some havok.

I'm not falling for the jump on the Texans bandwagon thing again this season.

The bears won't win five games.

[SkyDog112046]

I know it's just preseason, but Houston looks GOOD. Fuck Indy. Peyton or not, as long as nobody integral goes down, they're gonna kick the AFC South's ass. I really hope Peyton shows up ready to go so the P13's of the world can't blame his injury for the beatdown Houston is going to give them. That team will win the division and scare the fuck out of everybody else in the conference. I've never really jumped on board with a team this early before, but I'm feeling supremely confident this year. The Texans are going to wreak some havok.

I think that Houston will win the South. TN had a coaching change and is dealing with a major contract issue. Indy will not start the season with a healthy Manning and could be 1-4 to start. Jax isn't an elite team but they can grind out wins. But Houston still needs to prove they can win games in November and December - they've gone 7-12 during those months the past 2 seasons. If that defense can just be average that offense should win enough games to finally win the division.