Larry Bird offers his thoughts on Colts-Patriots rivalry

[Bill B.]

To further prove my point I gathered the following information. From 2002 to 2008 the combined won lost record for all the teams in the AFC East is 237-211 for a winning percentage of .529. The won lost record for the Titans, Texans, and Jaguars for the same period is 159-177 for a winning percentage of .473. The Colts definitely had to compete with weaker teams when they moved out of the AFC East. I remember when they had a stretch of something like 20 games in a row that they lost to the Pats.

 

[Kontradiction]

I've heard you say this once or twice. Would you care to elaborate more? I looked up Jim & Jimmy Johnson, and can't find a point where he was anywhere I associate with Dungy.

And in the AFC South vs East discussions. Since '02, the South has 6 wild-card appearances, the East has 3. Also, since '03, the South has had eight 12 win teams(5 Ind, 2 Ten, 1 Jax). The East has had three (Pats all 3 times) In '07, the Texans were 8-8, 1-5 in the division, 7-3 vs the rest of the NFL. Child please.

Yeah. It was actually on here not too long ago, complete with links...

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...son-admits-same-spying-pats-did-old-news.html

EDIT: If you have time to Google (I do not, am at work) you can find all sorts of information on it. Howard Mudd was one of the people that first introduced Johnson to the procedure. Thing is, you won't hear too much about that since the Colts are the babyfaces of the NFL and the Pats are a lot more hated.

 

[Bill B.]

I've heard you say this once or twice. Would you care to elaborate more? I looked up Jim & Jimmy Johnson, and can't find a point where he was anywhere I associate with Dungy.

And in the AFC South vs East discussions. Since '02, the South has 6 wild-card appearances, the East has 3. Also, since '03, the South has had eight 12 win teams(5 Ind, 2 Ten, 1 Jax). The East has had three (Pats all 3 times) In '07, the Texans were 8-8, 1-5 in the division, 7-3 vs the rest of the NFL. Child please.

The Truth About Spygate: Punishing Success and Promoting Parity | Bleacher Report

Dungy and Johnson were both on Schottenheimers staff in KC. Cut and past this link and read about a third of the way down. Also the AFC East had a winning percentage of .529. The Colts opponents in the South had a winning percentage of .473. The Colts benefitted from moving out of the East.

 

[falloutboy14]

Also the AFC East had a winning percentage of .529. The Colts opponents in the South had a winning percentage of .473. The Colts benefitted from moving out of the East.

If I understand this correct, the argument here is that, if the Pats/Colts swapped divisions, who would do better? In which case it'd be an argument of Ten/Hou/Jax vs Jets/Buf/Mia. I think you'd lose that argument. And the east benefited just as much from the Colts leaving. Since '02, the Colts have 6-1 vs the Jets/Mia/Buf, with the only loss being in '02, & 3-3 with the Pats(tie breaker happens in 90 minutes). So I think we'd have been fine in that division. In a way, it's a shame the Colts left. While this is certainly a rivalry of the decade, think about the bad blood there would be if we had two of these a year, and fighting for the division crown.

For the KC Chiefs bit, this if the first I've heard of this. Was it between the '06 & '07 seasons where Goodell wrote the, 'No more spying' memo? And before that there was really no rule?

 

[Patspsycho]

If I understand this correct, the argument here is that, if the Pats/Colts swapped divisions, who would do better? In which case it'd be an argument of Ten/Hou/Jax vs Jets/Buf/Mia. I think you'd lose that argument. And the east benefited just as much from the Colts leaving. Since '02, the Colts have 6-1 vs the Jets/Mia/Buf, with the only loss being in '02, & 3-3 with the Pats(tie breaker happens in 90 minutes). So I think we'd have been fine in that division. In a way, it's a shame the Colts left. While this is certainly a rivalry of the decade, think about the bad blood there would be if we had two of these a year, and fighting for the division crown.

For the KC Chiefs bit, this if the first I've heard of this. Was it between the '06 & '07 seasons where Goodell wrote the, 'No more spying' memo? And before that there was really no rule?

Prior to the '07 season. They'd decided it was time to cut down on it for once and all because it'd become rampant.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Good Read... I was thinking the other day that the Colts/Pats comparisons, as well as the Manning/Brady comparisons really come down to a Bird/Magic type comparisons.

Two great teams, two great players, both have their strong suits, both among the greatest teams and players in the history of the game.

After that, if people want to argue over the nuances, that's fine... but it's nitpicking.

The Patriots and Brady have more rings ultimately so I'd count that in their favor... the breakdown of statistics also favors Brady and the Patriots (helpfully provided by IndyStar much to their chagrin no doubt!)

Manning vs. Brady | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star

But I still think SB Rings are much more important than any of these stats that favor Brady and the Patriots.

 

[jmt57]

If I understand this correct, the argument here is that, if the Pats/Colts swapped divisions, who would do better? In which case it'd be an argument of Ten/Hou/Jax vs Jets/Buf/Mia. I think you'd lose that argument.

I went back and looked, and over that period of time there have only been two seasons in which the AFC South had a better record than the AFC East. Overall the records are pretty close though because of one season in which the AFC South as a whole was much better than the AFC East. Bottom line is that there's not much of a difference between the two divisions over that period of time. The best case I could make would be that switching divisions would make no significant difference at all. For every argument you could make that the AFC South has been better I could easily come up with another one to show that the AFC East has been better.

 

[Audible18]

Best thing for the Colts. Moving out of the AFC East. Manning couldn't have padded his stats against weak teams like the Jags, Texans, and Titans if he was still in the East and had to play the Pats, Jets and Dolphins twice a year. I don't understand why they moved the Colts, though. Miami is in more South that Indianapolis, so technically it should have been the Dolphins that went to the South.

I think it was the rule that stated that no two teams from the same state can belong in the same division so they picked us to be the in the south.
Anywho, when we were in the east, we didn't have a Peyton Manning...Dan Marino ruled it then. The last great QB we had when we were in the east was Bert Jones and that was before electricity:singing: