I saw a stat that if the Colts win out (highly unlikely), we still only have a 57% chance of making the playoffs in the 6th wildcard spot.

First six games we had one win, two close ones and three piles of shit. Next six games we have 5 wins and 1 pile of shit. Hard not to be optimistic.

I sure would love to beat the Texans though.


http://www.playoffstatus.com/nfl/coltswhatif.html

In many ways, I think missing the playoffs is a fine thing for this season.

- A 7-9 / 8 - 8 / 9 - 7 record shows a good improvement over last year's 4 win season. There are A LOT of NFL teams that change coaches/GMs after a poor season and do not improve. We did.

- No one throught our defense was ready for prime time. They are actually ahead of where I thought they would be. Lots of reps for young players and when we add more talent this off-season, they might be ready for prime time next year.

- Season points out some flaws to our offense. 1st year HC / play caller, weakness at WR, potential weakness at RB, depth at TE and OL. Massive improvement in the O-line overall but it will allow Ballard to focus on how to improve personnel for the offense.

- The team will be hungry for a playoff spot. Just missing out will wet the fire of the younger players to do better next year.



The team is a much different team now than in weeks 1 - 6. We have identified strengths of the team (O-Line, TE, QB, spots on the defense, TE starters) and weaknesses (rest of the defense, WR, TE depth).

Even after a pretty darn ugly loss, I am still hopeful that we can do well for the rest of the season and have a great off-season and be ready to take back the division in 2019.

Walk Worthy,

Missing the playoffs with a 7-9 win season is certainly not the end of the world

I can live with a 10-20 draft pick and building for next season. Still lots of cap money. Maybe Ballard can pull another trade back. I would even consider seeing how good Luck has been playing seeing what you can get in a Brissett trade.

There's still a lot of positives. That was a really fine defensive performance on Sunday. Overall, there's a very clear picture forming of how this team is set up for the next several years. Now it's up to Ballard to augment this core (both draft and UFA) and the coaching staff to keep developing the pieces and putting them in positions to succeed.

Dude. That “performance” was against the heretofore 0-8 Cody Kessler who was missing the one decent player they have on offense.

Allowing that team to score 6 points is not a fine defensive performance.

I agree. Next year however, these almost wins need to be wins. The "no show up games" need to be show up & be prepared games. Coaches & players have the benefit of a learning curve this year. Next year they get no such free pass. A lot of work to do this offseason. Time to go to work.

Would 3 points have been acceptable, or were you holding the defense to a shutout-or-nothing benchmark?

3 points would have been acceptable, 0 would have been fine.

Ok, now that is just kind of ridiculous. The fail was on the offense, I don't care what team you are playing against if you lose 6-0 that is on the offense. In the offense friendly modern NFL if you hold them under 20 and lose it is on the Offense.

You’re just being sour. Holding any NFL offense to 6 points is doing a good job.