2010 Indianapolis Colts

[Eric_the_Red]

I don't follow the Colts (Bungles fan) but I heard someone say that some of the special teams problems were because their special teams players had to go play defense (or offense) because of the injuries, so they had to sign guys off the street to help with the special teams. It was kind of a ripple effect caused by the injuries. How true is that?

Absolutely. With so many injuries, especially to the defense, some of the linebackers and safeties that normally play special teams had to start or saw an increase in their playing time. The Colts were forced to bring in a lot of practice squad guys, rookies, unsigned free agents and anyone else with a pulse.

It has been determined that the Colts will pick 22nd in the draft, their lowest pick since since 2002 when they drafted Dwight Freeney 11th overall. In 2003 the Colts picked 23rd and landed Dallas Clark. Needless to say, I'd be thrilled if they were to land a player as good as either of those two.

[HoosierRedsFan]

Agree with those who think Caldwell is in over his head. Some are great assistants but lack the skills to be generals.

I love Dungy as a person and all that he did but in truth he is the most overrated or underachieving coach in modern times. The talent he had at Tampa and he couldn't coach them to the SB....and with the Colts he had the best team in the league at least 4 times and won the SB once. Caldwell seems of the same mold.

True, injuries are part of the downfall of the team this year, but lack of coaching, scheme, and adjustments were huge. When Caldwell was hired, the coaching staff realigned, coach Moore wasn't to call the plays any longer I anticipated a great change in play calling and style of play. I was completley in error. Same old tired system. If I know what's coming most of the time, it's not hard to think the opposition doesn't have an idea.


Bottom line is the Colts should have at least 3 rings. This was not a SB winning year with the injuries but it was a win at home against a one-dimensional Jets team year. Polian, Dungy, and now Dungy-lite continue to oversell and underacheive. Bill will say in his next column....."great credit to the Jets for forcing our super-intelligent coach into a time-out with 29 seconds left and the clock running. Great strategy by our coaching staff"

[kaldaniels]

I love Dungy as a person and all that he did but in truth he is the most overrated or underachieving coach in modern times. The talent he had at Tampa and he couldn't coach them to the SB....and with the Colts he had the best team in the league at least 4 times and won the SB once. Caldwell seems of the same mold.

Caldwell may seem like a dunce, but after listening to all the knashing of teeth about injuries by Colts fans...how far did you expect him to go? I'd say winning the division and going one and out is exactly where I'd expect this team to end up. They didn't overacheive nor did they underacheive...they just....acheived.

[Razor Shines]

Saying someone should have had x number of rings is silly. Once you get a couple rounds deep into the playoffs its pretty random, lucky bounces and good players win the games as my soccer coach used to say. I don't think a coach other than Dungy wins any more sbs.

Bellichick may be a good enough coach to make a difference but you can hardly blame dungy for not being as good as him....no one else is either.

I think dungy is a much better coach than caldwell. I don't think he sits on the ball before the half. Dungy's first instinct may have been to do that but I think he's smart enough to let peyton talk him into going for a score.

[bucksfan2]

Agree with those who think Caldwell is in over his head. Some are great assistants but lack the skills to be generals.

I love Dungy as a person and all that he did but in truth he is the most overrated or underachieving coach in modern times. The talent he had at Tampa and he couldn't coach them to the SB....and with the Colts he had the best team in the league at least 4 times and won the SB once. Caldwell seems of the same mold.

Couldn't agree more with this statement. I never thought that Dungy was a good coach. IMO as a head coach he underachieved with one of the great QB's of all time. His holier than thou persona on TV now has started to annoy me. The whole Rex Ryan thing this off season was blown way out of proportion. He was a good coach that seemed to get out coached in the bigger moments.

True, injuries are part of the downfall of the team this year, but lack of coaching, scheme, and adjustments were huge. When Caldwell was hired, the coaching staff realigned, coach Moore wasn't to call the plays any longer I anticipated a great change in play calling and style of play. I was completley in error. Same old tired system. If I know what's coming most of the time, it's not hard to think the opposition doesn't have an idea.

Injuries happen. They happen to every team in football. I don't agree with they way they were constantly brought up this season and used as crutch by the Colts. As for Caldwell I think he was handpicked by Dungy because they had the same philosophy and similar personalities. Im not so sure that a change in style wouldn't have done the Colts good.

Bottom line is the Colts should have at least 3 rings. This was not a SB winning year with the injuries but it was a win at home against a one-dimensional Jets team year. Polian, Dungy, and now Dungy-lite continue to oversell and underacheive. Bill will say in his next column....."great credit to the Jets for forcing our super-intelligent coach into a time-out with 29 seconds left and the clock running. Great strategy by our coaching staff"

The Colts sure had the talent to have won more than one Super Bowl. For a handful of years they were the best team in football only to get beaten by the better coached football teams. I would also throw Manning as one of those guys to underachieve. He will go down as one of the great QB's in NFL history but to me he will always be a guy who left a handful of big games on the table.

[Razor Shines]

[redsfanmia]

Couldn't agree more with this statement. I never thought that Dungy was a good coach. IMO as a head coach he underachieved with one of the great QB's of all time. His holier than thou persona on TV now has started to annoy me. The whole Rex Ryan thing this off season was blown way out of proportion. He was a good coach that seemed to get out coached in the bigger moments.

Check out Dungy's record then decide if he is a "good coach". I do agree about the persona but to call Tony Dungy not even a "good coach" is laughable.

[Eric_the_Red]

Exactly.

John Elway started his career 7-8 in playoff games, and we know how that ended up.

Favre is 13-11 in playoff games, a number Manning could easily reach.

Dan Marino retired at 8-10. What a choke artist.

And Walter Payton was only 4-5 in the playoffs. I guess he isn't one of the best RB of all time.

Nothing is sillier to me than a individual's W-L record in a team sport.

[Eric_the_Red]

And Tony Dungy's character is not a "persona" or an act, IMO. Not sure why some are annoyed when a person with high integrity and character is celebrated for that fact. It is an all too rare occurrence, IMO.

[kaldaniels]

And it played out just like that -- with one unforeseen problem. With 62 seconds left and at the Jet 32, Manning had a third-and-six. He rolled right and picked out Blair White (the wrong guy, I thought), who was closely covered just beyond the first-down marker. Manning threw it anyway. The Jets had two timeouts left. A perfect throw would have converted the first down and allowed the Colts to run the clock down to the single digits and call their final timeout so Vinatieri could do what he was famous for -- make a winning kick in one of the biggest games of the year. But just like everything in this Indianapolis season, the throw was a little off. A little low. White tried to scoop it in, but it hit the ground. Incomplete.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...#ixzz1AfhL9x42

Agree/Disagree?

The Colts would not have gotten where they did without Manning, but his performance was good, not great yesterday.

Cue the kaldaniels hates Peyton Manning and Peter King is an idiot remarks.

[Eric_the_Red]

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...#ixzz1AfhL9x42

Agree/Disagree?

The Colts would not have gotten where they did without Manning, but his performance was good, not great yesterday.

Cue the kaldaniels hates Peyton Manning and Peter King is an idiot remarks.

I guess. On the play discussed, what were Manning's other options? His turning into a diva, #1 WR who was being blanketed by Revis? A backup TE that had a very drops already?

I would have liked to have seen them try another quick slant to Garcon, but they went to that well a few times already in the game.

Bottom line: with Manning the Colts won the division. Without him this team is drafting in Bills/Bengals territory.

[RedsBaron]

And Tony Dungy's character is not a "persona" or an act, IMO. Not sure why some are annoyed when a person with high integrity and character is celebrated for that fact. It is an all too rare occurrence, IMO.

Amen.

[Razor Shines]

I guess. On the play discussed, what were Manning's other options? His turning into a diva, #1 WR who was being blanketed by Revis? A backup TE that had a very drops already?

I would have liked to have seen them try another quick slant to Garcon, but they went to that well a few times already in the game.

Bottom line: with Manning the Colts won the division. Without him this team is drafting in Bills/Bengals territory.

Yeah. A banged up O line that's not very good anyway. No running game. 3rd and 4th stringers all over the offense. Manning played pretty well yesterday.

He threw a catchable but not perfect ball to White. That one pass didn't really define the type of game he had. Against that D he knew what kind of game it was going to be and didn't force the issue.

Also, I'd bet my house he wanted to go for a score before the half.

[HoosierRedsFan]

Caldwell may seem like a dunce, but after listening to all the knashing of teeth about injuries by Colts fans...how far did you expect him to go? I'd say winning the division and going one and out is exactly where I'd expect this team to end up. They didn't overacheive nor did they underacheive...they just....acheived.

I expected them to win at home. I expected Caldwell try to put points on the board at the end of the first half instead on just running out the clock. I didn't however expect Caldwell to take a timeout when he did at the end of the game and help the Jets out. Was that too much to expect?

[HoosierRedsFan]

Check out Dungy's record then decide if he is a "good coach". I do agree about the persona but to call Tony Dungy not even a "good coach" is laughable.

Good Coach yes but not great. He's been to the playoffs nine times and had six 1 and dones. I understand things happen and you can't win them all but six 1 and dones seems excessive


Regular Season:

Wins 169 Loses 69 Winning % .668

Playoffs:

Wins 9 Loses 10 Winning % .474