The end of the Peyton Manning Era?

[Senator Palmer]

My problems with the Jags is that they don't have any real identity on either side of the ball. MJD, pretty solid running attack... what else? Stroud and Henderson, the cornerstones of that defense are shipped out one by one. They hire Gregg Williams to put some bite in that defense, then don't let him fully implement his scheme. Williams leaves, then out of the blue, they make the decision to go to the 3-4... then they switch in the middle of the season back to a 4-3. Now they've just extended their DC Mel Tucker who's background was running the 3-4 when he was with Crennel in Cleveland. I just have no idea what they are trying to do.

They have always played the Colts tough, then when the chips were down to make that move, they lay an egg against a team that they should handle, keeping the window open for the Colts, who handle their non-division business. And it's not just the past few years, it's been that way for the entire Jack Del Rio era. They've had better looking teams than the one's they've got now, the 12-4 team with Stroud and Henderson, comes to mind. They had a more defined direction then and still didn't get it done. This year, they were a mirage, in my opinion. I'm going to remain a skeptic on their ability to close out the Colts until I see it.

I won't even talk about the Texans. Talk about the tease of all teases.

[elgreazy1]

I had posted this on the Colts thread but felt it is relevant here:

http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_r...tract-proposal

Can Colts faithful please explain to me why the organization feels the need to make Manning the highest paid player in the NFL, again? Hasn't Manning made more than enough money with his contract and countless endorsements to not have to sign such a steep contract, especially at the age of 35?

I understand, Manning IS the franchise and is the main reason the Colts are in playoff contention year in and year out, and that he is invaluable to the organization. But after seeing the team come up short time and time again, wouldn't management see fit to give Manning an above fair contract in order to provide him with more talent? Seems that a couple million extra under the cap could facilitate some quality players, thus also making the team not so dependent on one player?

[ProfessaPackMan]

The phrase "______ looked human more than ever" is slowly becoming one of the most overused phrases in sports.

Anyway, as long as #18 is still on that roster, the Colts will always be a threat to make the playoffs at least and once they get there, it's anything goes. But at the sametime, they can't keep putting fill-ins at the Skill Positions and expect to go deep in the playoffs because that won't be the case.

The only thing I ask for them to do: part ways with that injured bum Bob Sanders. Time for his always crippled *** to go.

[Senator Palmer]

Quote: Originally Posted by elgreazy1

Can Colts faithful please explain to me why the organization feels the need to make Manning the highest paid player in the NFL, again?

I'm going to throw my speculation hat on here for a moment. I could be completely off base here.

I think it's about one-upsmanship between the Colts and Patriots. I dare say that the Colts front office for many years saw the Patriots as their only real competition, and specifically designed their team to beat them. A few years ago, when the Colts were criticized for pulling the starters instead of going for 16-0, saying it wasn't part of the larger plan, note how they made a point to get to 13-0 which gave them the record for most regular season wins in a row at 21, besting the Pats by one.

Manning's contract might be as simple as Polian being able to say, we have the highest paid player in the history of the NFL. It sounds petty, but money is a way to keep score also.

To the point about cap space -- I wouldn't make too much of it. The raw numbers are about headlines. I remember last time Peyton signed a huge contract, he re-negotiated the next season to give some of the money back when it came to extend a few guys. I think Freeney was one of them. Just my .02

[kingkilla56]

Revis must be sleeping or something lol. This should be good.

I said it once and I'll say it again. The Colts better be preparing for life after Peyton instead of making him the highest paid player in the league.

On wether his era is over or not....it depends on the defense.

[dsallupinyaarea]

Quote: Originally Posted by kingkilla56

Revis must be sleeping or something lol. This should be good. I said it once and I'll say it again. The Colts better be preparing for life after Peyton instead of making him the highest paid player in the league. On wether his era is over or not....it depends on the defense.

lol I was just thinking this thread is going to make revis spontaneously combust.

Seriously though, his best days are behind him but I don't think he's close to done. He doesn't take a lot of big hits so he should be fine for another 2-4 years. He at most has 1 SB run in him but if I were betting I would say his career ends with 1 ring.

[z Revis]

Quote: Originally Posted by kingkilla56

Revis must be sleeping or something lol. This should be good.

I'm here. Just been busy today.

Quote: Originally Posted by Senator Palmer

I'm going to throw my speculation hat on here for a moment. I could be completely off base here. I think it's about one-upsmanship between the Colts and Patriots. I dare say that the Colts front office for many years saw the Patriots as their only real competition, and specifically designed their team to beat them. A few years ago, when the Colts were criticized for pulling the starters instead of going for 16-0, saying it wasn't part of the larger plan, note how they made a point to get to 13-0 which gave them the record for most regular season wins in a row at 21, besting the Pats by one. Manning's contract might be as simple as Polian being able to say, we have the highest paid player in the history of the NFL. It sounds petty, but money is a way to keep score also. To the point about cap space -- I wouldn't make too much of it. The raw numbers are about headlines. I remember last time Peyton signed a huge contract, he re-negotiated the next season to give some of the money back when it came to extend a few guys. I think Freeney was one of them. Just my .02

That's sort of my take, especially the last paragraph. I'm sure he'll re-negotiate. I do think they'll give him a ridiculous contract at first though. Not sure if it's to one up Brady & the Pats, could be, but I do think there's some pride involved.. just to say "hey we have the highest paid player in the league". I do know that Polian, or maybe it was Irsay, used Brady's contract as an example or "standard" as he put it for the amount of money Peyton should receive. Obviously Manning's contract should be on par with Brady's. But in the end I'm sure Manning will re-negotiate.



Anyway, statistically speaking Peyton's numbers were on par or better than his last two MVP seasons. The difference is the Colts weren't a 12 or 14 win team. 18 players on IR not even including players such as Kelvin Hayden and Clint Session who weren't on IR, but missed the latter portion of the season including the Playoffs had a lot to do with that.

To say it's the end is a stretch. Next year very well could be a Super Bowl year for the Colts if all goes well. They obviously need to resign some of their players who are FA's. I'd also like to see us improve the O-line AND D-line via draft or free agency(specifically a guard and/or tackle and DT). Those are the two biggest problems IMO. The line can't run block for anything and had trouble pass protecting as well. I shouldn't even have to mention the D-line. We NEED a run stuffer in there. The biggest upside for the Colts next year is their depth. Could be one of the deepest teams in the league. A lot of young guys got valuable playing time and Playoff experience due to injuries.

The future is the real concern for me. I'm not that worried about next year, or even the year after. It's the years after that, when Peyton gets into his late 30's that's troublesome. The core of this team is aging and they're only going to age with Peyton. Saturday is the only real "old" player. Everyone else is still 30, 31, etc. But they'll start slowing down eventually and that's when Polian is going to have to make some moves to keep this team competitive in Peyton's latter years. Peyton can't carry this team forever. He's going to need Elway-type help when he starts declining if he wants to win a Super Bowl in those years. We're gonna have to start drafting some players in preparation to replace players such as Wayne, Clark, Freeney(maybe Jerry Hughes will pan out for us), Saturday and even build through free agency a little more and get some "win now" type of players.

If I had to lean one way or the other, I'd say Peyton doesn't win another Super Bowl. For no other reason than the fact that I don't know what the future holds for this team or what moves we'll make. I will say one thing that is for certain: If we don't improve the run game and run defense, Peyton has no chance of winning another.

[TexasBorn1]

His play hasn't gotten any worse. Still sharp as ever, the 2010 Colts are probably one of the worst teams Peyton played on. He is the biggest reason they were in the post-season and the biggest reason they played the Jets to the last minute in the Wildcard.


This Colts team can make a run if they stay healthy and build a better defense