No the team was pretty much all Peyton Manning. Everyone knew that, without him, no one put in the extra work to be competitive. And the Colts did a lot to repair the damage to move on, nope, that's why half the coaches and that team lost their jobs because their will to be a competitive team was lost the day it was announced that Manning wouldn't play that season.
Its just funny how you Colts fans assume the Seahawks would have been good in 2012. You Colts fans know nothing about the make-up of our team, only citing what little the media coverage talking heads gave us.
And that's all you have... Luck isn't the only reason you guys went 2-11 from 11-5, period. The Colts coaching staff and FO found cheap, solid options with better players at replacement level. But you guys still held onto your core of stellar veteran talent namely Reggie Wayne and the always underrated Robert Mathis. A player I wanted on the Seahawks so badly before he re-signed with the Colts. Antoine Bethea. Adam Vinerteri. Dwight Freeney. Antonio Johnson. Most those players are household names. You also kept a lot of your higher picks over the years as well.
Grabbing serviceable players in the draft like Canstanzo and Angerer in 2011. Hitting big on most of your 2012 draft with Luck, Fleener, Allen, Ballard, Hilton and winning a jackpot with Jerell Freeman, who is quietly has become one the best MLBs in the game after 1 year.
Not to mention you guys picked up a lot a cheaper veterans that are solid players that were high pick cast offs from other teams as teams tried to shed some cap:
Donnie Avery, Corry Redding, Samson Satele, Winston Justice, Matt McGlynn, Darius Butler, Trai Essex, Vontae Davis, Mewlewde Moore, Tony Hills, Justin King, and Tom Zbowski.
That 12 players the Colts signed or traded for that had 4 or more years of experience. Not a bad rag-tag group that would become a team behind Pagano's illness.
Quit acting like the Colts came out of nowhere, and that Luck is the only reason why they are winning games, they got a good group and had the right mixture of veteran talent going all out to earn a pay check and a right mixture of younger players trying to prove they belong in the league.
And quit acting like the 2011 Seahawks were vastly superior team to the Colts. The only reason the Seahawks were remotely competitive was because the young players who took over as injury replacement refused to drop dead. Tarvaris Jackson refused to give up, even with a Pec injury slowing him down.
The 2011 Seahawks weren't good but they were tough and they competed. 2011 Colts laid down , it had nothing to do with the Coaching, their team laid down because they knew they sucked without Manning and there was no use in trying. That's why they flopped it per say.