From Mort's Chat (9/8/05)

[crlesh]

Colt's D is coming on strong. The secondary is still the question mark but they are agressive and they seem to create turnovers. No longer will Peyton have to throw 4 touchdowns just to keep pace with the opposition. The Colts D will be one of the top 10 this year.

[That Guy]

Originally Posted by crlesh

Colt's D is coming on strong. The secondary is still the question mark but they are agressive and they seem to create turnovers. No longer will Peyton have to throw 4 touchdowns just to keep pace with the opposition. The Colts D will be one of the top 10 this year.

I'd bet HEAVILY against the colts breaking the top 15... they've got a couple good players on their Dline now, but they doesn't get them close to top 10.

[jdlea]

I don't see a top 10 defense for the Colts either. However, with Dungy at the helm anything could happen. I think that addition of Cory Simon will be huge, but I just can't see that D ever catching up to the offense. I don't buy into the whole Simon making them a favorite for the Super Bowl either. I never like pass oriented, all offense teams to go to the Super Bowl, that's just me. A few bad days and next thing you know they're outdoors in January. I also don't like Peyton in big games. He's a great regular season QB, but he hasn't won big games since he was in college. Never beat Florida, if I remember, I was pretty young then. Now his Florida is New England.

I don't have a whole lot of faith in the Colts, myself, but I do wish you luck on your bet. I hope, for your sake, that I'm wrong. The Colts are one of my favorite AFC teams and wouldn't mind seeing them in the SB.

[BrudLee]

Here's the thing about the Colts Defense: at some point, we have to realize that Tony Dungy isn't going to suddenly work up some magic on them. He inherited a bad defense four years ago. Now, after four years of personnel moves, drafts, and detailed work, they just "kinda suck", rather than suck outright.

He's like the anti-Billick. Billick came in with an offensive pedigree, and wins with defense. Dungy does the opposite. A lot of it is personnel. Dungy has Manning - and if you have an Uzi, you don't fill it with BB's. So you get top receivers. Billick has Ray-Ray. When you have a MLB that talented, you have to make sure he's in the position to make plays - so you surround him with other good players.

Decisions like that make it harder to pick up talent on the other side of the ball. First, you've got less money. Second, a team gets an identity. The Ravens are a defensive team, so when a stellar offensive talent gets the opportunity to play there (I'm looking your way, Owens), he runs like a scalded cat, because he feels he'll not get his due.

Simon likely wouldn't have chosen the Colts if he had a real free agency period to decide. He would have received better offers from more teams, and would be on a team that would feature his abilities more (and for more money). Given his abbreviated tour of free agency, he took his best available option to win - he joined a team that has won double digits the last three years.

[That Guy]

wow, nice post.