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CLICK HERE to Register for a free account and login for a smoother ad-free experience. It's easy, and only takes a few moments.Haha yeah, I hear ya. It would be interesting if they had it like the NBA, where the team with the better record gets HFA regardless of seeding.
The Colts have been winning games they have no business winning, similar to the SB champion Patriots teams. When you have a championship season, you need to catch some breaks. The Colts have caught plenty (while dealing with some injuries of their own, mind you) while the Patriots just can't catch a break. It's miraculous that we haven't heard of a Pats player being put on IR this week so far (knock on wood).
Not only have the Colts turned into the Patriots but we've turned into the Colts, we look soft lately and make bonehead mistakes at crucial moments that we never used to make, Cassel is being crippled by drops, muffs and fumbles not to mention sloppy penalties.
I don't understand how anyone can believe BIll Belichick hasn't had some effect on the league and schooled a few teams on how to approach their draft,their season,and their game-planning.More importantly I don't get how anyone can bury their heads in the sand and not acknowledge that the Colts among others,have tried to adopt BB/Pioli's approach and have succeeded to some degree. Not all have been successful at it but the Colts have been obvious imitators these last few years and it's made them better. I remember when all their marbles rested in the lap of one player and I remember when that philosophy worked in our favor everytime.
I would say that is a fairer comparison. I don't see the Colts as the tough and smart team (the Colts are highly penalized and have made their fair share of mental mistakes this year) the Pats were in the early decade. But I see the Pats as the soft team that can get manhandled by a tough team like Pittsburgh yesterday.
I don't agree. The Colts are still the Colts. From the Colts' and Miguel's salary cap pages, the Colts top 3 guys represent 42.1% of the cap (vs. 25% for NE), their top 6 take up 53.8% (vs. 34.6%), their top 10 take up 71% (vs. 42.4% for NE). The Colts have 18 guys with cap #s of $1M or higher, vs. 33 for NE.
Except other than really the 2001 season there were few if any games the Pats won they had no business winning. Most good teams pull out one or two wins in a season that they probably could have lost barring one or two plays. I would say the Pats had two games in 2003 that were similiar to the Colts this year (where they were losing for most of the game and then pulled it out at the end). I would say Denver was that way and so was the Dolphins overtime win.
Sometimes, it is better to be lucky than good and that certainly was the case on the Patriots game-winning scoring drive in overtime. On first-and-10 from the Patriots 46-yard line, quarterback Tom Brady, who struggled throughout, rolled to his right and connected with wideout David Patten on the sideline for 13 yards, but Patten fumbled when he was hammered on the play by Buffalo’s Keion Carpenter. Buffalo rookie cornerback Nate Clements scooped up the loose ball for what seemed like a critical turnover.
But the play was reviewed in two areas. First, referee Mike Carey checked the validity of the call on the field, which had it as a catch, fumble and Buffalo recovery. He ruled it was indeed a catch and a legitimate fumble, but then ruled that Patten’s legs were in contact with the ball while his head rested out of bounds. By rule, the ball is dead and out of bounds meaning the Patriots retained possession.
“I don’t know exactly what the ruling was,” Belichick said. “We were just focused on getting our plays in. We were ready to go either way, offense or defense.”
Antowain Smith vs. Bills One play later, however, running back Antowain Smith turned nothing into something when he ran left into a pile only to bounce it out and reverse field to the right where he took off for a 38-yard gain to the Bills 3. That run set up Adam Vinatieri for his fourth field goal, this one from 23 yards, as the Patriots escaped with a 12-9 win.
This comparison would be vindicated if it was Tom Brady not Matt Cassel and depth players leading the Patriots. Although I see merit in the post, you can't compare oranges and apples.
The Colts, if memory serves correct hadn't sustained an injury run like we have this season. Mind you I cant think of to many teams that would get to 7-5 alone after what the Patriots have gone through this season.
If it was a close to near on full strength team, then I would tend to agree with the argument, however as I see it, nothing could be further from the truth.
Colts players on IR
Coe, Michael
Dawson, Clifton
Graham, Nick
Hart, Mike
Jackson, Marlin
Rushing, T.J.
Santi, Tom
No one they've really missed, except maybe Jackson.
It dawned on me yesterday as I watched the Colts win another game they really "shouldn't have won" -- making something five for the season -- that what I was watching was old school New England Patriots football.
The team isn't amassing a ton of yards or points, but you know what? They score TDs in the red zone.
The team occasionally gives up yards and I doubt ranks highly in many defensive categories. But you know what? They have one of (if not THE) best red zone Ds in the league, rarely giving up TDs.
So as I watched that game thinking the Browns "should have won", I realized they had the ball inside the ten twice, maybe three times, and came away with FGs. And that's not luck. That's the Colts being a good team that knows how to win games.
And I couldn't help thinking it all looked a bit too familiar ...
PS
With much disgust, I'll be putting down some $$ on whatever the latest Colts Super Bowl odds are ...
Huh? Sorry I detest the Colts, but I can be objective, and I see a team winning the way the 03/04 Pats won games. And those were the teams that also won SBs. With the AFC wide open, the Colts get a home WC game, and then I think they can easily win two on the road, esp. if round 2 is @NYJ or @PIT. They are much better than either of those teams.
And it's not a matter of this month, it's the whole season. Even when they struggled early with injuries, they found ways to win.