They really haven't been erratic. They've been a top-5, even top-3 unit. For a stretch they were arguably #1.

HOU was their roughest game... I'm wondering when Raimann got his concussion... but it wasn't a catastrophe like people make it out.

Will Fries was grading tip-top for guards, so obviously they take a step back without him. Goncalves vs. the Vikings will be a no-shit welcome to the NFL. We'll see how he does. Flacco gets blitzed way more than AR.

And you think the Colt's are going to run the table ? The Vikings will put the Colt's away by half time.

That's a great way to lose value and confirm to the entire NFL that you're an ineptly run franchise that has no idea how to develop a QB. At that point, you might as well fire the whole front office and turn this franchise into a Haslam like 3 ring circus, with coaches, GMs and QBs being replaced on a near annual basis.

Sure, we'll be the essentially 1%'ers here, yeah because this franchise has all the hallmarks of being the trend breakers who do something largely unheard of before-- USING ONE OF THE MOST UNPREPARED QB's OF ALL TIME WHO REMAINS THE YOUNGEST QB IN THE LEAGUE...

Sure, sure, I have confidence in this group to pull off that accomplishment...

At this point I wouldn't have confidence in the likes of Irsay, Ballard, and Steichen to be able to do a load of laundry without shrinking all the clothes (I think Ballard has already demonstrated he is incapable of this)...

Hey, at least were not the Jests, Browns or Panthers. Those franchises are true train wrecks.

o


The Jets just beat the Texans, and the Browns just beat the Ravens ...... the only team in the AFC that is nearly beyond reproach for the 2024 season so far is the Chiefs.

o

And you think that right now the Colt's aren't ?

Middle of the pack. More teams with worse records than there are teams with better records. Not bad for a train wreck.

By train wrecks, I mean year after year after year of false optimism and poor management decisions.

But it makes it pretty good once the team becomes good. Just ask a Lions fan.

o


(vs. VIKINGS, 11/03)


The Colts blew a golden opportunity to pick up a full game on the Texans, who had lost to the Jets.

The Vikings continually tried to hand the game to the Colts, and the Colts continually said, "No thank you" each and every time ...... it wasn't so much that the Vikings were good, but more so that the Vikings were mediocre and the Colts were bad.



As Yogi Berra once said, it's getting late early in the 2024 season for the Indianapolis Colts.

o

Exactly C & O, two games in a row, practically handed to the Colts and they cannot sustain drives. I think it is mostly the QB play that is killing us, maybe coaching is contributing to it as well. I hope soon you can add a 4th Colts QB to your Signature!

Archibald Charles Manning !!!!!

Poor kid with his name; so glad he has incredible NFL heritage to draw on! :)

o


Arch Manning ...... a Colts Rookie QB in 2027 ???


http://www.coltfreaks.com/forum/show...highlight=Arch

o

Apparently we are not in win now mode, since Ballard sat on his hands and made no moves during the trade deadline.

You sir are mistaken= we like our guys. When you like your guys, and when you score at the electric rate that Chris Ballard's constructed team scores, no need to add dude's that you don't like.

I don't get the angst about not making a trade for a guy to get us over the top, when so many say we have a shit roster. Which is it? Are we a player away from the SB, or has Ballard put together a shit roster? If it is a shit roster, why would we add a player who would just make us slightly more of a mid team?

o


This logic reminds me of when somebody critiqued a baseball player (Matt Wieters.)

They said that Matt Wieters was overrated, and that he was at best a league-average catcher ...... and that we ought to trade him for a 1st-round draft pick.

Say what ??? ) :eek:

If Matt Wieters was indeed overrated and a league-average catcher at best, what GM in their right mind would give up a 1st-round draft pick for him in a trade ??? Apparently, the presumption was that the Baltimore Orioles' GM was the only GM in all of baseball who was aware of Wieters' mediocrity, and that the other 29 MLB GM's were all deaf, dumb, and blind with no access to the Internet for statistics and player analysis.

o

Grigson would have given up a 1st rounder for him.

Grigson would've given up 3 1st rounders for him.

Maybe I haven't explained myself well. Either shit or get off the pot! We have no idea of the direction of this franchise, because Ballard continues to sit on the fence.

WTF are we trying to do. Are we trying to make the playoffs? Are we trying to win the division? Are we developing a young nucleus for the future? Are we selling off assets to rebuild for a new future?

It seems to me that we are doing none of those things...and if we are they aren't being communicated...and we are not doing any of them well. We are just languishing in mediocrity and giving the fans nothing to hope for.

Ballard has not committed to a single strategy for making this team a serious contender, either now or in the future.

Most of us are perplexed about the direction, because we were told AR was a project that needed to play to develop, and then they pulled the plug. The problem is that we do not know who made the decision. Shane might have done it to save his job, but that seems unlikely, as Ballard and Irsay would have to be on board with it. Ballard might have done it, but that seems even less likely, as his success rises or falls with the success of AR. That leaves Irsay, who we know to be a wild card. Not Jerry Jones level, but a wild card.

After seeing what O Connell said to AR after the game I absolutely believe this was 100% Irsays call

o


(1 WEEK LATER)


Jared Goff threw 5 INT's, and the Lions trailed the Texans by a score of 23-7 at halftime ...... and then they came storming back to score 19 unanswered points to beat the Texans by a score of 26-23. ) :eek:


Unfortunately, the Colts also lost to the Bills, keeping them 2 and-a-half games behind the Texans in the AFC South division.

o

o


(NOVEMBER 17th)


The Colts beat the Jets.

The Texans play the Dak Prescott-less Cowboys on Monday Night Football.

o

o


Cue the sarcastic jokes ...... "Yeah, the Colts can shock the world and lose to the Lions by more than 50 points ...... yuk yuk."


I believe that the Colts can shock the world, and beat the Lions ...... or at least shock the North American countries that pay attention to the NFL.




Can the Colts Shock the World Against the Lions ???

(By Kurt Breidenstein)

https://www.thebluestable.com/previe...nst-the-lions/

o

Steichen will chase points early, as he always does. If it pays off and we can somehow get a bunch over turnovers, then anything is possible.

o


Were there this many enthusiastic Lions fans at Lucas Oil Stadium in 2016, the last time that they came to Indianapolis ???



https://x.com/CameronWolfe/status/18...76551598007%2F



Regardless, all that the Colts can do is lick their wounds, heal their hurt pride, and win their last 5 games of the season to vault themselves into a playoff berth.

o

o


Levis Throws 2 TD Passes to Help Titans Outlast Texans 32-27

(Associated Press)

https://www.espn.com/nfl/recap/_/gameId/401671858

o

o


(DECEMBER 1st)


The Colts barely beat the Patriots.

The Texans barely beat the Jaguars ...... even though they cheap-shotted l Trevor Lawrence l out of the game in the 2nd quarter ...... l Mac Jones l led the Jaguars to two 4th-quarter TD's, but the Jaguars still came up on the short end of a 23-20 finale.

o

o


The Browns beat the Ravens.

The Browns beat the Steelers.

Now, Colts fans are hoping that the Browns beat the Broncos.



Colts With Eyes on Browns vs Broncos Monday Night Matchup

(Paul Brett)

https://coltswire.usatoday.com/2024/...night-matchup/

o

o


She states that .......


While some might point to a team like the Chiefs narrowly beating bad teams every week, the Colts are not the Chiefs.


A) l Nobody is claiming that the Colts are the Chiefs.

B) l The fact is that the Chiefs ARE narrowly beating numerous bad teams this season ...... so the Colts not being the Chiefs has nothing to do with the fact that the Chiefs are an excellent team that is barely beating numerous bad teams ...... which means that the Chiefs' struggles with numerous bad teams is not necessarily irrelevant to the fact that a middling team like the Colts is also struggling to barely beat bad teams.


I'm not claiming that the Colts are necessarily a playoff team, but her reasoning is rather specious.



The Colts Show Why They Have No Business Making the Playoffs Despite Win Over Patriots

(By Leigh Oleszczak)

https://horseshoeheroes.com/colts-sh...s-01je20baja3b

o

o


(5 WEEKS LATER)



Don’t Sleep on This Path, Too: As AFC South Champions


When the Colts lost in Week 8 to the Houston Texans, it might've seemed like their shot at winning the AFC South had evaporated. And while the odds the Colts win their division for the first time in a decade may be slim, they're not zero.

The Texans, at 8-5, have an effective three-game lead over the 6-7 Colts by virtue of winning both games of the season series. Meaning: The Colts would win the AFC South if they go 4-0 and the Texans go 1-3 down the stretch; the Colts would also be division champions if they go 3-1 and the Texans go 0-4. The flip side is all the Texans have to do is win two of their final four games to clinch the division regardless of what the Colts do.

Certainly, a lot would need to break the Colts' way to win the AFC South. But the Texans, who've lost three of their last five games, do not have an easy remaining schedule after their Week 14 bye (with dates included for a reason in here):


Week 15 ll. Dec. 15 lllll vs. llllt Miami Dolphins llllllll. (5-7)

Week 16 ll. Dec. 21 llll, @ llll.) Kansas City Chiefs llt (11-1)

Week 17 ll. Dec. 25 llll, vs. llllt Baltimore Ravens llll. (8-5)

Week 18 llt Jan. 4th lllll @ lllllll Tennessee Titansllll,) (3-10)


Arguably, Houston's toughest 2-game stretch of the season will come in a four-day span at Kansas City and then home against Baltimore on Christmas day. The Texans, too, might be without linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair for one of both of those games after he was handed a three-game suspension by the NFL on Tuesday (Al-Shaair is appealing) for his hit on Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence and the melees that followed.

Also, Hall of Fame football scribe John McClain recently noted on HoustonTexans.com how the Jaguars' collapse in 2023 – from 8-3 to out of the playoffs – concluded in Week 18 on the road against the Titans, who at that point were on a three-game losing streak but won, 28-20, to knock Jacksonville out of the playoffs.

The reality check here is The Athletic's odds give the Texans a 96 percent chance to win the AFC South. The Colts' most likely path to the playoffs still is through beating Denver, then having the Broncos lose one more time down the stretch. But the cement is not dry on the AFC South just yet.


J.J. Stankevitz l (Colts.com Writer)



https://www.colts.com/news/afc-playo...houston-texans

o

Dolphins are capable of beating them, and Tennessee already did.

o


We were very fortunate to have played the Dolphins when Tua Tagovailoa was injured ...... they are a completely different team without him.

o

Trevor Lawrence out for season is what I am seeing....and DeMeco actually blamed Trevor for the hit! Looks like DeMeco Ryans is a perfect fit for the dirty ass Texans!

o


The Colts’ Week 18 Opponent, the Jaguars, Place QB Trevor Lawrence on IR

(By Paul Bretl)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl...ir/ar-AA1vhG6F

o

o


(DECEMBER 15th)



The Texans beat the Dolphins.

The Colts lost to the Broncos.


The Texans are the champions of the AFC South.

o