The Colts don’t seem to care much about finishing 16-0, but they are focused on earning the top seed in the AFC.
They can accomplish their primary goal this Sunday.
The NFL has confirmed that the Colts will earn homefield advantage with a win against the Broncos in Week Fourteen. Indianapolis would be at least three games ahead of San Diego and Cincinnati with three to play, while holding all tiebreakers.
The Colts can also wrest a piece of history away from their rivals in New England.
A win against Denver would also set the regular season win streak record at 22, passing the Patriots streak from 2006-2008.
Plenty is on the line for the Colts this week, yet they could become a victim of their own success. A win would guarantee the Colts don’t play another meaningful game for 34 days. The Divisional Round of the playoffs kicks off January 16th.
Whether you land on the Florio side of the momentum argument or the Polian side, surely the Colts can’t take it easy for that long.
With the Jaguars and the Jets on the schedule, the final AFC playoff spot could be determined by how much the Colts try to win. For the second time in three years.
Albert Einstein said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.
For those that hate the Colts, like myself…the best thing we can hope for is a Colts victory on Sunday to lock up home field advantage so that the Colts will rest their starters for the remaining three games and lose all their momentum going into the playoffs. Haven’t we seen this before?
Hayward, your Colts hatred fascinates me..they’re such a relatively likable, professional and uncontroversial organization. But, hey, whatever floats your proverbial boat. Personally, I’d rather save up my venom for people/teams that actually warrant it, and certainly don’t waste my time posting about it endlessly all over the Internet!
Florio, I usually defend you and seem to appreciate your work more than most, but I’m starting to wonder if you’re contractually obligated to reiterate your “Colts shouldn’t rest their starters” argument at least twice a day, EVERY day. I happen to agree with you, but your stance has been made beyond clear by now…please stop repeating it!
But the Colts are so lucky and paying off the refs, so really it won’t matter either way. Right?
Seriously though, as a Colts fan, I hope they don’t rest like they have been. This team is strong enough to win the SB; I think they need to keep playing.
As a Charger fan, I want to see them beat Denver, sit their stars and get complacent heading into the playoffs.
Just ask the ’96-’97 Broncos and the ’97-’98 Broncos which philosophy works better.
Or the ’04-’05 Steelers and the ’05-’06 Steelers.
Or the ’05-’06 Colts and the ’06-’07 Colts.
I don’t know how Polian can even try to make this argument. No, you don’t want to play a meaningless game and get your players injured. But if you just take them off, you lose momentum. There’s no denying it.
Perhaps this is better than winning home-field later in the season. The Colts can split up the rest they give out. Sit some players in Week 15, sit some others in 16, and play them all in week 17. Then make them practice hard during the bye week and (hopefully for them) come out strong in the playoffs.
I agree with…. Hayward Giablommi? Man, I got side tracked. The Colts looked great yesterday and had thier first complete game in over a month. But I agree, if you have someone hurt, pulled muscle, something not severe I would sit them out and tell them to rest. I think Wayne has had a groin problem off and on, that would be something I would agree with resting him the last 2 games or 1. Just an example. But if your healthy the old saying goes you play the games to win them. If my roster is healthy why would I sit them? This clearly doesn’t work unless your guys are nicked up. They get a week off to begin with, with the bye. Who was the idiot that said we should rest our players by week 14 to give them a month off? Who started this nonsense. Rest players who aren’t injured.
“Hayward, your Colts hatred fascinates me..they’re such a relatively likable, professional and uncontroversial organization.”
^^^^^
@ racf617
I’m a Patriots fan. Hopefully that answers your question.
I agree. I hope that they don’t rest the guys. Three weeks off, plus a bye, is not doing anyone any good. Unless they took the three weeks like the first three games of the preseason, resting a lot early and slowly ramping up the playing time, then get some hard practice in the bye week. I’m tired of locking everything up early, resting, and getting bounced. I would rather get bounced because someone got hurt than to pussyfoot around and get bounced because the coaches were trying to outsmart themselves.
Albert Einstein said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.
For those that hate the Colts, like myself…the best thing we can hope for is a Colts victory on Sunday to lock up home field advantage so that the Colts will rest their starters for the remaining three games and lose all their momentum going into the playoffs. Haven’t we seen this before?
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I’m with you buddy. As an Indiana resident who is not a fan of thus said franchise, it’s amazing to see the transformation of the fans who were Colts “fans” into Colts “fans.”
I’ll give the Steelers fans credit. They’re nuts/crazy about their team no matter how bad or good they are.
who dat?!?
yup, Manning has to rest up that arm so he can throw those playoff picks……SOP.
Although, it would be cool to see the Colts get pulverized in the SB by New Orleans…….
Like Brady and the Pats did golongboyee? Havent heard from you in a while. Must be cause the Colts are busy winning why your Pats are busy losing.
As a jags fan, I sure would like to see Jim Sorgi on the 17th, lol.
Living in Indiana, I believe it’s the ignorance of the fans(most anyways) and the arrogance of their QB that makes them almost impossible to like. Most Colts fans in this part of the state are also Cub fans. Get it? Well, if ya don’t, it means most of them are in it more for the “social” experience than they are for the actually game itself.
I’m 27, and I can’t remember many too many Colts fans from when I was growing up. It was mostly Bear fans. Hell, I’ve had many “true blue(generic is isn’t it?)” Colts fans who are older than me, and still can’t tell you who Steve Emtman and Quinten Coryatt are. That’s like me not knowing who Todd Marinovich is. Actually it’s probably worse.
And now people are all like “you need to support the home team”. Well, I support every team in Indiana except the Colts. I don’t like Purdue at all, but if they’re in a bowl game or go deep in the tourney, I want to see them win. But because I don’t support the trendy pick of Indiana fans at the moment, I’m considered a traitor. Last I checked, I was here before the Colts were.
Please, the Florio side vs the Polian side? Was Florio a GM before? What the hell does Florio know about running a football team? (and no, Gay Man does not count as GM).
Indianaraidersfan, Go Raiders. If any fan base in the world should not judge another fan base, it is the Raiders. There isn’t a fan base in the world with a lower IQ or more convicted felons than Raider fans.
indianaraidersfan are there any MLB teams in Indiana? No, so they pick the next closest team: the Cubs. They have one of the best minor league stadiums and they support that team a lot more than most minor league teams are supported. Im sensing some sour grapes towards Colts fans since you apparently like the Raiders.
bian8. i have to correct one thing before that raiders guy has a field day with us. i’m a cubs fan in indiana. they are not the closest team. the white sox are. in my experience, our local cubs fans do like the team for the social atmosphere. it’s not like they’ve given me a postseason win to cheer since bartman.
but we’re missing obvious issue with indianaraidersfan’s comments. how can you compare the fans of a perrenial loser, with the fans of a perrenial winner? we choose our teams for all kind of reasons. social setting, location, history, etc. i’m not gonna jump on a new colts fan for not knowing quinten coryatt. as long as you come to the games and enjoy yourself, and make it a better experience, you’re welcome anytime.
i have a much bigger issue with new fans who don’t know who current players are, or who are conducting conference calls during a game. i don’t need my fans to be encyclopedia’s for the colts organization. but have some working knowledge of football, show up, and support the team. for any reason.
You all are welcome to think whatever you want. That and $4 will get you a cup of Starbucks…
But none of you want to play the Colts at LOS and that’s exactly what you get to do.
2nd ring coming up.
No sour grapes here. Was saying the same thing about Colt fans when the Raiders were competing in the playoffs while the Colts were losing in their first game in the playoffs every year. Granted that was a while ago, but still. So, try again on that one. And your comment about the low IQ and convicted felons is based primarily on the image of the team. Isn’t it?
The Colts couldn’t consistently sell-out one of the smallest stadiums in the NFL, despite winning seasons and division titles, until they actually won a Playoff game in the Manning era. Just wait til the time comes that they aren’t winning all of the time and Lucas oil will be a ghost town(stadium). If the weather isn’t fair, the people aren’t there.
and bian8 totally missed the point about the Cubs. It doesn’t matter where they are at, it’s the mentality of the fanbase that I was comparing. Besides, the Cubs are on the North side of Chicago and the Sox are on the southside. So, who is the next closest team to Indiana? hmmm…
@pubobby2004
granted we may see things from two different points of view, I can at least respect where you are coming from, since you can actually read a comment and come at me based on something from my comment.
Even if the Sox are closer i still see no good argument in your statements. The Colts came in the 80′s so of course its going to take some time before they have a loyal fan base. Do you think the Steelers had that many fans when they started? They had to win a couple superbowls before they had that big of a fan base
We are on the verge of letting the once beloved Pacers leave the state even though there are almost no holdovers from the “brawl” team. And this is primarily a basketball state. Reggie Miller retires, and then so do most Pacer fans.
Do you really think that the Colts franchise, which really has no appeal other than the fact that it has been a dominant regular season team for a decade, can maintain a large fanbase after the Manning era is over?
That being said. I had a friend of a friend at my house a couple weeks ago. He’s a Colts fan from Indiana, he now lives in Boston, and the reasons he was giving for hating Patriots fans sounded very familiar to my reasons for disliking most Colts fans. So I guess you get it anywhere.
I’m not going to apologize for being a Colts fan and yes, I’m going to “live it up” while they are good. I’ve been a fan since 1984. I’ve suffered through 1-15, 2-14, 3-13 etc. and guys like Gary Hogeboom, Dwayne Bouza, “toast” Daniels, Rod Dowhower and the list goes on and on… Perhaps alot of new Colts fans are bandwagon jumpers, but then, that is HOW TEAMS GET FANS. They get them when they are GOOD. Look at Steeler fan, the majority of them became fans in the 1970′s (when they were a dynasty) not prior to that when they stunk year in, year out. I don’t try to spread venom here about “hating a team” because in pro sports, players move around, heck, the 06 Colts that won the Superbowl had a couple of ex-Patriots on the team! Now that being said, Patriot “FAN” often seems to forget the past like a 46-10 drubbing in the Superbowl and their own 1, 2 and 3 win seasons. They seem to have lost “PERSPECTIVE” with their recent success. (though its been over 5 years since they last won the big game) I certainly have not lost perspective and realize that this “DECADE” of winning will one day end, but I will still be and always be a COLTS FAN and I am positive that a majority of the new Colts fans, including young Colts fans today will still be fans too. In the end, if you “HATE” a particular sports team you simply need to GET A LIFE.