Colts raise AFC Finalist banner.

[pmedic920]

IMHO, nothing wrong with a "Conference Campion" banner.

this "finalist" stuff is pure silliness.

 

[themunn]

I don't think it's any worse than a divisional championship banner in all honesty.

NFC West Champs? Well done we beat 3 other teams and matched the achievement of 7 others in the league this year.

I'm not a fan of the whole banner thing anyway

 

[Popeyejones]

I don't think it's any worse than a divisional championship banner in all honesty.

NFC West Champs? Well done we beat 3 other teams and matched the achievement of 7 others in the league this year.

This. Absolutely.

If there's not an issue with the Panthers going 7-8-1 and getting bounced in their first playoff game and putting up a "Division Champion" banner, I really struggle to see how the Colts putting up a banner for goiing 11-5 and making it to the AFCCG is a problem.

Also noteworthy is that the Colts DID WIN their division last year, and rather than putting that up on a banner they put up one for the bigger achievement.

Much ado about nothing, and just another case of the Internet being a stupid rage factory, IMO.

 

[IndyHawk]

If you guys haven't picked up on it this is an obvious dig at the patriots, the colts FO/Owner is saying "Hey we lost to a cheating team and should have been in the superbowl, but we can't say it publicly so lets hang this asterisk in our stadium so people remember."

It's kind of funny actually.

That explanation doesn't make sense when you consider that they did the same thing in 1995 and 2003.



In 1995, the Colts finished 2nd in the AFC East (hence no Division Champions banner) and lost in the AFC Championship Game to the Steelers. Jim Harbaugh threw up a last second hail mary that was dropped in the end zone.

In 2003, Colts again lost the conference championship, this time to the Patriots.

I wonder if they lost in the Super Bowl whether they put up a separate "Super Bowl Finalist" banner. The whole idea is pretty ridiculous when you think about it. It sounds more like commemorating a loss than celebrating having made it to the conference championship game.

Funny you bring up that hail mary play..To this day many believe that was caught.To bad there was not HD TV to really see what happened .Oh well..I agree Finalist banner is silly.

It was close but I thought it definitely bounced off the turf:
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-videos/0a ... -Hail-Mary

I watched that ugly footage 5 times and still do not see the ball hitting turf.I see it landing on the player who is on the ground,this player grabs it off his chest.A Pitt player dives across him late and hits the WR arm .The WR still held the ball and was already down to begin with when recovered the ball off his own chest before that Pitt guy did anything..TD!!!As I said -wish it was in HD with todays replay tech.

 

[Maulbert]

It was close but I thought it definitely bounced off the turf:
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-videos/0a ... -Hail-Mary

I watched that ugly footage 5 times and still do not see the ball hitting turf.I see it landing on the player who is on the ground,this player grabs it off his chest.A Pitt player dives across him late and hits the WR arm .The WR still held the ball and was already down to begin with when recovered the ball off his own chest before that Pitt guy did anything..TD!!!As I said -wish it was in HD with todays replay tech.

I posted this earlier, but everyone just seemed to ignore this clip of the same play, but It's pretty clear the ball hit the ground.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/indianapo.../Top-5-Hail-Mary-Plays-1995-Colts-vs-Steelers

 

[hawknation2015]

It was close but I thought it definitely bounced off the turf:
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-videos/0a ... -Hail-Mary

I watched that ugly footage 5 times and still do not see the ball hitting turf.I see it landing on the player who is on the ground,this player grabs it off his chest.A Pitt player dives across him late and hits the WR arm .The WR still held the ball and was already down to begin with when recovered the ball off his own chest before that Pitt guy did anything..TD!!!As I said -wish it was in HD with todays replay tech.

I posted this earlier, but everyone just seemed to ignore this clip of the same play, but It's pretty clear the ball hit the ground.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/indianapo.../Top-5-Hail-Mary-Plays-1995-Colts-vs-Steelers

Thank you! Those angles leave NO DOUBT that the tip of the ball bounced off the turf. The referee happened to be in perfect position to see this.

 

[hawknation2015]

I don't think it's any worse than a divisional championship banner in all honesty.

NFC West Champs? Well done we beat 3 other teams and matched the achievement of 7 others in the league this year.

I'm not a fan of the whole banner thing anyway

Yet, the Colts were not even one of those EIGHT division winners. And they still think that season was "banner worthy"? WTF.

Those banners do not commemorate wins; they commemorate losses, including a 45-7 beat down.

I would throw up in my mouth a little bit if I saw the Seahawks erecting a "Conference Finalist" banner, commemorating our disappointing loss to the Raiders in '84, or "Super Bowl Finalist" banners for losing XL and XLIX.

 

[ctrcat]

I don't think it's any worse than a divisional championship banner in all honesty.

NFC West Champs? Well done we beat 3 other teams and matched the achievement of 7 others in the league this year.

This. Absolutely.

If there's not an issue with the Panthers going 7-8-1 and getting bounced in their first playoff game and putting up a "Division Champion" banner, I really struggle to see how the Colts putting up a banner for goiing 11-5 and making it to the AFCCG is a problem.

Also noteworthy is that the Colts DID WIN their division last year, and rather than putting that up on a banner they put up one for the bigger achievement.

Much ado about nothing, and just another case of the Internet being a stupid rage factory, IMO.

The Panthers weren't bounced in their first playoff game. They were in 2013 after having a first round bye (a de facto playoff win IMO), but won an actual playoff game in January.

 

[themunn]

I don't think it's any worse than a divisional championship banner in all honesty.

NFC West Champs? Well done we beat 3 other teams and matched the achievement of 7 others in the league this year.

I'm not a fan of the whole banner thing anyway

Yet, the Colts were not even one of those EIGHT division winners. And they still think that season was "banner worthy"? WTF.

Those banners do not commemorate wins; they commemorate losses, including a 45-7 beat down.

I would throw up in my mouth a little bit if I saw the Seahawks erecting a "Conference Finalist" banner, commemorating our disappointing loss to the Raiders in '84, or "Super Bowl Finalist" banners for losing XL and XLIX.

What about an "NFC West Champs 2004" banner.
Hey yeah we're the champs of the division! But the Rams beat us twice in the regular season then bumped us off in our first playoff game!
Truly an impressive feat worthy of a banner in the rafters

 

[hawknation2015]

I don't think it's any worse than a divisional championship banner in all honesty.

NFC West Champs? Well done we beat 3 other teams and matched the achievement of 7 others in the league this year.

I'm not a fan of the whole banner thing anyway

Yet, the Colts were not even one of those EIGHT division winners. And they still think that season was "banner worthy"? WTF.

Those banners do not commemorate wins; they commemorate losses, including a 45-7 beat down.

I would throw up in my mouth a little bit if I saw the Seahawks erecting a "Conference Finalist" banner, commemorating our disappointing loss to the Raiders in '84, or "Super Bowl Finalist" banners for losing XL and XLIX.

What about an "NFC West Champs 2004" banner.
Hey yeah we're the champs of the division! But the Rams beat us twice in the regular season then bumped us off in our first playoff game!
Truly an impressive feat worthy of a banner in the rafters

At least it commemorates actually winning something, i.e. a division title. Now if the Rams put up a "Division Finalist" banner, that would be truly pathetic because they would be celebrating LOSING the division title.

As Pete Carroll says, every year the goal is to win the division. After that, you move to stage two, which is the playoffs. I see nothing wrong with commemorating actual victories: division titles, conference championships, and Super Bowl wins.

 

[themunn]

I don't think it's any worse than a divisional championship banner in all honesty.

NFC West Champs? Well done we beat 3 other teams and matched the achievement of 7 others in the league this year.

I'm not a fan of the whole banner thing anyway

Yet, the Colts were not even one of those EIGHT division winners. And they still think that season was "banner worthy"? WTF.

Those banners do not commemorate wins; they commemorate losses, including a 45-7 beat down.

I would throw up in my mouth a little bit if I saw the Seahawks erecting a "Conference Finalist" banner, commemorating our disappointing loss to the Raiders in '84, or "Super Bowl Finalist" banners for losing XL and XLIX.

What about an "NFC West Champs 2004" banner.
Hey yeah we're the champs of the division! But the Rams beat us twice in the regular season then bumped us off in our first playoff game!
Truly an impressive feat worthy of a banner in the rafters

At least it commemorates actually winning something, i.e. a division title. Now if the Rams put up a "Division Finalist" banner, that would be truly pathetic because they would be celebrating LOSING the division title.

As Pete Carroll says, every year the goal is to win the division. After that, you move to stage two, which is the playoffs. I see nothing wrong with commemorating actual victories: division titles, conference championships, and Super Bowl wins.

The Colts won two playoff games. You're saying winning your division but losing your first playoff game is worthy of a banner but winning 2 playoff games isn't (regardless of whether or not you won your division)?

 

[hawknation2015]

Yet, the Colts were not even one of those EIGHT division winners. And they still think that season was "banner worthy"? WTF.

Those banners do not commemorate wins; they commemorate losses, including a 45-7 beat down.

I would throw up in my mouth a little bit if I saw the Seahawks erecting a "Conference Finalist" banner, commemorating our disappointing loss to the Raiders in '84, or "Super Bowl Finalist" banners for losing XL and XLIX.

What about an "NFC West Champs 2004" banner.
Hey yeah we're the champs of the division! But the Rams beat us twice in the regular season then bumped us off in our first playoff game!
Truly an impressive feat worthy of a banner in the rafters

At least it commemorates actually winning something, i.e. a division title. Now if the Rams put up a "Division Finalist" banner, that would be truly pathetic because they would be celebrating LOSING the division title.

As Pete Carroll says, every year the goal is to win the division. After that, you move to stage two, which is the playoffs. I see nothing wrong with commemorating actual victories: division titles, conference championships, and Super Bowl wins.

The Colts won two playoff games. You're saying winning your division but losing your first playoff game is worthy of a banner but winning 2 playoff games isn't (regardless of whether or not you won your division)?

Yes, because winning our division is the goal of the regular season. In fact, this has been Carroll's sole goal during every regular season, dating back to his days at USC when his goal was to win their conference title. In Carroll's words, he never talks to his teams about winning a Super Bowl or National Championship as a goal because that CANNOT be accomplished during the regular season. Thus, the goal every year is to "win the NFC West," thereby securing at least one home game in the playoffs. I have no problem with having a title banner that vindicates our sole goal of the regular season.

The goal of the playoffs is to make it to the Super Bowl and win.

Now getting back on topic, the Colts banner reads "AFC Finalist," which commemorates having LOST their conference title game and, thus, their failure to make it to the Super Bowl. Having individual banners for each playoff victory would be superfluous, but at least it would be celebrating victories, rather than defeats, and therefore would be less pathetic than calling yourself a "Finalist."

 

[themunn]

The goal of the regular season is to be the 1st seed, but if you are the 6th seed you still consider it a successful regular season, otherwise it must suck to be the 2010 packers, 07 giants, 05 Steelers, 00 ravens etc, teams who all failed to win the regular season.

Putting up a division championship banner is something literally a quarter of the league is entitled to do every year.

Well done you're in the top 25%! Or how about in 2010 when we won our division, but 16 other teams won more games and a further 2 matched the achievement of winning 7.

All that banner says is "hell yeah there were 3 teams even worse than us in 2010!"

 

[hawknation2015]

The goal of the regular season is to be the 1st seed, but if you are the 6th seed you still consider it a successful regular season, otherwise it must suck to be the 2010 packers, 07 giants, 05 Steelers, 00 ravens etc, teams who all failed to win the regular season.

Putting up a division championship banner is something literally a quarter of the league is entitled to do every year.

Well done you're in the top 25%! Or how about in 2010 when we won our division, but 16 other teams won more games and a further 2 matched the achievement of winning 7.

All that banner says is "hell yeah there were 3 teams even worse than us in 2010!"

Getting the 1st seed is big, but the main goal every year is to win the NFC West. Carroll and the players repeat that this is their #1 goal every season. Why is it their #1 goal? Because it is the one regular season objective most within their control. They can't control what their own schedule might be, or the schedule of any other team in the league, but they can control the two games apiece against each division opponent.

If winning the NFC West title isn't important to you, because you have to share the distinction with 25% of the teams, then there is probably nothing that can be said to change that opinion. Extending your logic, maybe universities shouldn't award their top graduates with cum laude honors either, since they too have to share the distinction.

Anyway, it is irrelevant concerning the "AFC Finalist" banners. By using the "Finalist" label, the Colts are choosing to commemorate their losses, not wins, in three conference title games. Believing that division title banners are of trivial importance does not make the celebration of loses with "Finalist" banners any less pathetic.

 

[Ambrose83]

I dont get the issue with the Div champs banner, that is every teams goal during the season.... next is winning the conference then the SB...... all of those titles MEAN something... hence the banner.... some of you guys need to get off of here and go have some fun for F&^% sake. The negativity is kinda pathetic.

 

[Seahawkfan80]

I dont get the issue with the Div champs banner, that is every teams goal during the season.... next is winning the conference then the SB...... all of those titles MEAN something... hence the banner.... some of you guys need to get off of here and go have some fun for F&^% sake. The negativity is kinda pathetic.

I think it is all a matter of perspective. Some think it is negative where some think it is a positive. Champions is a positive where runner up is somewhat negative. Runner up is somewhat high school too as I saw some Runner ups on some boards this weekend on the way home. They in high school dont get the division championship to go to the Super Bowl of high school. Runner up is all there is. So, all in all it is just semantics and how one perceives the best vision for themselves. I prefer championships over runner up as it is an accomplishment.

Agree that maybe we need to unplug...but it is colder and nicer inside where it is not over a hunnert degrees out thare.

Go Hawks.

 

[peppersjap]

This is no different than all our fans who wanted another parade this year to celebrate our loss in the Super Bowl. Getting there is a great achievement but if you lose you should never celebrate in any way!

 

[Seahawkfan80]

This is no different than all our fans who wanted another parade this year to celebrate our loss in the Super Bowl. Getting there is a great achievement but if you lose you should never celebrate in any way!

Minor disagreement here....I think you should celebrate the NFC championship win but in private or at a local establishment with friends. :thirishdrinkers:

 

[rideaducati]

I don't think it's any worse than a divisional championship banner in all honesty.

NFC West Champs? Well done we beat 3 other teams and matched the achievement of 7 others in the league this year.

This. Absolutely.

If there's not an issue with the Panthers going 7-8-1 and getting bounced in their first playoff game and putting up a "Division Champion" banner, I really struggle to see how the Colts putting up a banner for goiing 11-5 and making it to the AFCCG is a problem.

Also noteworthy is that the Colts DID WIN their division last year, and rather than putting that up on a banner they put up one for the bigger achievement.

Much ado about nothing, and just another case of the Internet being a stupid rage factory, IMO.

That 7-8-1 Panthers team actually beat the 11-5 Cardinals team in the first round.