by RichieB16 » Fri Jul 21, 2006 6:48 pm
I just see a lot of parrell between the way that the Dolphins and the Colts run their offenses. They both have large immoblie excellent QBs, very powerful offenses, and pretty good defenses. Everyone is making a big deal about the "Colts needing a better defense" but thats not true. They were #2 in points allowed last season-so, only 1 team allowed fewer points (Chicago Bears).
The only thing the Colts had that the Dolphins didn't was a running game.
I personally don't see Peyton Manning ever having a Super Bowl ring. I think that Carolina might be the only team in the NFC right now that could beat them in the Super Bowl-but like you said, they won't be in the Super Bowl anytime soon.
The reason for that has nothing to do with how the game has evolved over the last 20 years or anything like that-but conference strength. In 1984, the NFC was a power house when compared to the AFC. If you think the AFC is strong now, you should have seen the NFC in the 1980s. To put this into perspective, the NFC champion won every Super Bowl from 1984-1996 (Super Bowl XIX-XXXI). Since then, the AFC has taken 7 of the last 9.
On top of that, there was only one AFC Champion to win the Super Bowl from 1981-1996 (that was the 1983 LA Raiders in Super Bowl XVIII). My point is, the AFC was like college football for the better part of 2 decades. This is why teams that were missing things (Miami without a running game, Denver without a running game or defense) went to so many Super Bowls-thats also why they never won one.
The current Colts team, especially the 2005 team with Edjerrin James was a better team than many of these AFC teams from back then and is one of the best teams in the NFL today. But, with the AFC being so dominant in the last 9 years-they have had to compete with that and for some reason they do poorly in the playoffs. Manning has proven he can't win consistantly in the post season in the AFC, and that, I believe, will be his fate.
