Down Years Will Come. When You Have an Elite QB, Even Down Years Aren't So Bad.

[Success]

The Colts could have easily won that Saints SB, also.  That onside kick turned the whole game. That's part of the game, but a pretty unlucky break for the Colts that the return team couldn't handle that kick.

 

It's a somewhat similar situation.  The Colts had to deal w/ the massive obstacle New England presented.  We have the Chiefs & Bengals.

 

[90sBills]

1 hour ago, SoCal Deek said:

Exactly! I guarantee that Beane has studied NFL history, and has looked closely at what the Colts (and others) did once they got their franchise quarterback.
 

It’s also interesting to note that during the build up to their championship season the Colts had just lost two playoff games in a row to the Patriots before beating them in the third rematch. It all sounds VERY familiar! 
 

I cannot recall what the Colts did to finally beat their playoff nemesis. What missing piece did they add in 2006? Maybe somebody on here knows. 

They changed coach in the middle of all that. Dungy came on starting the 02-03 season. What finally got them over the hump was Peyton Manning matured and started playing better when he faced BB’s defense. When he finally slayed that dragon they won the superbowl. It was also the 5th year of the Dungy/Peyton era. Throughout NFL history no coach/qb combo has ever won their 1st superbowl outside of this 5 year window. This past season was McD/Allen’s 5th season together. Maybe that’s the parallel you can glean from that Colts team. 😂 

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

19 minutes ago, SoCal Deek said:

Did you look at my historical summary of the Colts run under Manning? It’s amazingly similar to the current Bills. They swooned one time in that run (maybe two) but ‘down’ years? Not really. 

my main take was on comparing Dungy to McD. if that was what you were doing in the post I quoted? as for comparing Manning/JA I see he had a couple down years (compared to JA's 1 so far) his rookie season (3-13) and again his 3rd (6-10) season. won the SB in his 8th (12-4) season. 13 seasons with the colts and making the playoffs in 11 of them while coming away with one SB win. not too shabby.

 

now enter JA. rookie season 6-10. then 4 straight playoff appearances. similar? to a point but honestly I believe the chances as long as JA is under center, they have a chance every year to make the playoffs. no need to put the cart before the horse though and let it play out. so, he could have the same or better success than Manning and the colts but personally I wont try to think that far ahead and take it a season at a time. thing is, if he were able to raise the lombardi, would only one be enough in his career? I'd take one and be happy with it but of course there are those who would want more. then Manning went off to denver for 4 seasons, making the playoffs each year and managed to get to the dance twice. losing the SB in his second season and winning it all his last season.

 

I'm hoping JA remains a Bill his whole career and doesn't go off like Manning to another club and win one?

 

at this point, again, I can't really compare too much to Manning and the colts as it all still has to play out yet but I can see how you can compare them early in their careers. 

 

time will tell.

 

[SoCal Deek]

1 hour ago, 90sBills said:

They changed coach in the middle of all that. Dungy came on starting the 02-03 season. What finally got them over the hump was Peyton Manning matured and started playing better when he faced BB’s defense. When he finally slayed that dragon they won the superbowl. It was also the 5th year of the Dungy/Peyton era. Throughout NFL history no coach/qb combo has ever won their 1st superbowl outside of this 5 year window. This past season was McD/Allen’s 5th season together. Maybe that’s the parallel you can glean from that Colts team. 😂 

Thanks

The two teams are obviously not the same but they’re eerily similar. The original OP was based on how we as fans should think of the Bills. Not being a Colts fan I’m not sure I can say how they felt when they kept getting to a point only to lose to the Patriots year after year…but they did finally get over that hurdle, and they didn’t do it by tearing the team apart and starting over. 
 

One thing the Colts had was their infamous triplets of Manning, Harrison, and James at RB. I’m praying the Bills can find a running game to pair with Allen and Diggs.

 

Go Bills

[Chicken Boo]

There was a thread about the 2004 QB draft class.  Successful as his career was, I do not want the Bills in the SD/Phillip Rivers category.  

[90sBills]

1 hour ago, Chicken Boo said:

There was a thread about the 2004 QB draft class.  Successful as his career was, I do not want the Bills in the SD/Phillip Rivers category.  

Unfortunately this will be the narrative until Allen breaks through. The good news is he’s young and there are plenty of time left for a change to more creative coaching. 

[The Frankish Reich]

6 hours ago, SoCal Deek said:

Did you look at my historical summary of the Colts run under Manning? It’s amazingly similar to the current Bills. They swooned one time in that run (maybe two) but ‘down’ years? Not really. 

Agreed. And that’s kind of my point in my long post. I started off thinking, “surely there’s an example out there of a great QB (HOF level) who got stuck on such poorly run teams that he produced a long streak of uncompetitive seasons.” That’s simply not the case in the modern NFL. Rosters churn like never before. Coaches get hired and fired. And the great ones lead their team back to the upper tier routinely. In fact they do it all the time. And then those great QBs go to new teams when they’re old. And guess what? Those new teams get good. Brett Favre: twice (Jets, Vikes. I know they both ended badly, but the teams were better with them than they were before them). Joe Montana. Peyton. Kurt Warner. Even Warren Moon. Other than Russell Wilson, you’ve gotta go back to the 70s to find notable late-career Great QB/New Team failures, but those were essentially basket cases like Namath and Unitas.  (This is why I am not joining the chorus of “Aaron Rodgers; Bring It On! posters we seem to have now.)

[SoCal Deek]

2 hours ago, The Frankish Reich said:

Agreed. And that’s kind of my point in my long post. I started off thinking, “surely there’s an example out there of a great QB (HOF level) who got stuck on such poorly run teams that he produced a long streak of uncompetitive seasons.” That’s simply not the case in the modern NFL. Rosters churn like never before. Coaches get hired and fired. And the great ones lead their team back to the upper tier routinely. In fact they do it all the time. And then those great QBs go to new teams when they’re old. And guess what? Those new teams get good. Brett Favre: twice (Jets, Vikes. I know they both ended badly, but the teams were better with them than they were before them). Joe Montana. Peyton. Kurt Warner. Even Warren Moon. Other than Russell Wilson, you’ve gotta go back to the 70s to find notable late-career Great QB/New Team failures, but those were essentially basket cases like Namath and Unitas.  (This is why I am not joining the chorus of “Aaron Rodgers; Bring It On! posters we seem to have now.)

The Colts were the best parallel I could find. I honestly can’t recall what if anything changed to get them past and over the Patriots with Brady back then…but you have to admit this looks an awful lot like the present Bills and the Chiefs with Mahomes. Maybe nothing changed. Maybe Manning just finally broke through. I hope Josh is talking with Peyton over this summer.