AFC South Indianapolis Colts
Finished 2004 season 12-4, 1st place in the AFC South
Key returning starters:
Peyton Manning – QB
Edgerrin James – RB
Marvin Harrison – WR
Reggie Wayne – WR
Brandon Stokley - WR
Biggest question from the Colts camp is, can they get over the hump and beat the Patriots? With the core of their prolific offense returning, Peyton Manning and company are setting their eyes on the Super Bowl. How will the Colts defense perform?
2004 Stats:
Ranked 2nd overall in offense, #2 ranked in AFC
Ranked 29th overall in defense, #14 ranked in AFC
Your thoughts on the Indianapolis Colts this upcoming 2005 season...strengths/weaknesses and your prediction on where they will finish in the division.
posted by Steve at 7:35 AM
6 Comments:
This season, the Jags may challenge the Colts for the division. Last year the Jags won 9 games, with two losses coming from Houston. They split the two gaames with the Colts. Jags have a better "D" than Indy so this division could be a good race. The Colts have a fabulous offense and should win 11-12 games barring injuries. They play the NFC West this year which should result in 4 wins.
The Colts are tough... Offensively, and unfortunately that is about it. It's going to be very interesting to see if Manning can duplicate the season he had last year. The Colts have been haunted by the Patriots for several years now and this might be the year they get over the hump but they will 1st need to get past the up and coming Jaguars. The Colts defense will probably end up in the button 5 again this season while the offence clicks. It was good to see Edge James return to the team, that takes a lot of pressure of Manning having such a dynamic running back to take the load off. The receiver corp is still intact with Marvin Harrison leading the way, look for Reggie Wayne to be the man this year and really showcase his talents and put up a double digit TD mark. I say the Colts will edge out the Jags and end up 12-4.
glaring stat: 29th in D. THAT is why this team will not win a superbowl. Even the superhot Rams had a better D than these guys. Payton Manning is the New Millennium Dan Marino, a stat buster who's gonna walk ringless.
---OTG---
Lot of interesting points - as long as the Colts defense is crap, that team will not go anywhere. Teams who have won the Super Bowl in the past few years all have had a a decent defense at least. I won't say the Rams defense was solid, but they sure as hell weren't 29th in the league.
As far as this season is concerned - the question boils around how the offense performs which affects the way the defense performs.
If the Colts can come out and score 32 points/game as they did last season and not struggle offensively, they have an opportunity to reach the Super Bowl. Here's why...as long as the Colts are blowing the other team out, their defense plays better. The closer the game, the more exposed their defense becomes.
You have a group of players defensively, including one Pro-Bowl type player Dwight Freeney - if this defense as a group can become a top 20 defense I'll say the Colts have a good chance of winning the Super Bowl - can that happen though?
To be seen...but from the experience last year with these players, I look for the Colts to win the division again this season, probably even have the best record in the AFC and have home field - but they lose in the AFC Championship game because their defense just can't stop another explosive offense.
Actually, the 2001 Rams had a great defense, they were 3rd in the NFL in yards allowed and only allowed 17.1 points per game, so they were much more balanced than this version of Indy. I think the Colts are capable of winning the 34-27 shootouts , so the weak D may not hinder them from another run at the Superbowl. The AFC is much tougher to predict than the NFC because they are only a few teams that can be discounted as playoff contenders.
Here is my loyalty to my team DB4L!! Can we cover the guy from the "U"! We will pressure faggiemanning our defensive presence will be felt for revenge see ya in the playoffs from D-town!!!!!
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