Is the window closed?

Salary was undoubtedly a part of it, but they had more than enough room to keep Faulk. Most people believe that Polian simply thought Faulk was used up, and it's pretty obvious that he should have gotten a lot more than just a second round pick.

Not really. Marshall Faulk was a more talented running back than Edgerrin James, and he had already been putting up monster numbers in Indianapolis.

A number of draft sites had James rated higher than Williams, even the dreaded Mel Kiper. The main reason Polian went with James is that the Colts were concerned about Ricky Williams' ability to contribute in the passing game, which was a valid concern. As for Addai, he has been good, but he wasn't an unknown quantity either.

Go back and look at what people were writing at the start of the playoffs last season. None of the major national sources were picking Indy to win it all because they were clearly not the best team. They had the worst run defense in the history of the NFL, and they had the easiest possible road to the championship. Kansas City was no threat, the Ravens were extremely flawed offensively, they got to play an injury-depleted New England squad at home instead of the Chargers at San Diego, Tom Brady had the first late game meltdown of his career, and they faced one of the worst NFC champions in recent history. They got lucky. You could argue that they were unlucky in '05 when they might have been the best team in the NFL, but last year they were lucky to make the Super Bowl.

 

He was strong. We weren't consistently moving the ball in some situations, but he was making plays. Generally, when the offense was off, it was off, and he wasn't making stupid risks overall, so that's a plus as well. If he could've done that over a season, and added in a more consistent offensive push around him as they got comfortable with the O, that would've been very nice. Didn't happen, and I don't know if he'd have been able to keep it up. An 8-1 td/int ratio isn't realistic long term. But I believe he'd have gotten yardage numbers up a bit.

 

Colts did have two guaranteed wins vs the Texans for a few years and when Tenn was bad, they were bad. That division is good now but it wasn't always, while ours is down now but was pretty strong for a while.

 

I'm not sold on this argument. I'm trying to think about it rationally, and I don't have the answer. I think that I have more confidence in Vinny, which might be a result of him being the flavor of the week. What I do know is that I have far more confidence in Vinny than I do Jake (although i cringe everytime that Vinny runs a play for fear of osteoporosis (sp?) catching up with him after getting hit). Hes calm and composed and plays within his 43 year old body.

Its probably due to lack of knowing the full playbook, but it doesn't seem that in Vinny's packages that he has to make reads. It seems like Davidson gives him a sure-fire option which is a quick hit, three step drop. Basically, take three a three step drop and your #1 option should be open in the flats, on a short slant or a hitch/out route. Why does Carr not get this package , or Jake for that matter? Granted it worked beautifully on one drive and with all of the fan momentum/players jacked up, but it worked beautifully. It brings up the question of why don't we utilize this more often, and send Carter or Smitty over the top to keep them honest once in awhile.

Finally, having Vinny really makes you think of what our team would be like if we had a QB on the level of a McNabb, Palmer or even a Schaub, much less a Brady/Peyton/Favre type. Being able to make those quick slant type throws and having such a strong arm and maturity of knowing what to do is very relaxing.

 

Uh-oh....now you've done it.

 

Naw, that's fine. He made a reasonable argument, I just disagree.

 

I don't mean you.

 

I disagree about reads. Sure, with a 3-step, the read is simple, but he was converting on 5-steps as well. Also, he's reading, as was Jake. Carr is certainly scanning the field, but he's doing a lot of dumpoffs.
I don't think the solution is to make our QBs read less. More combo routes, if it's Carr, since he seems to cut off parts of the field.

 

How did Carr get drafted so high? He has not shown anything to warrant that since he has been here. He was playing much better than this early last year in Houston. It might be better if he were to just sling it and force it sometimes. He seems to be very tenative and jittery. He has a good arm run some deep routes and let him sling it. Smith will win more of those than he loses.

 

Draft rule #2 - never take a QB in round 1