The boo birds were out in force Sunday, raining down for the first time this season on the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas
Oil Stadium. And according to almost every national media outlet, the home team deserved it.
Hard telling
what’s going through the minds of Colts coaches and administrators playing marionette master during the New York Jets
game, but from the paying customers’ and casual observers’ view, it looked for all the world like the Colts threw
the game. Yes, threw the game.
Colts President Bill Polian and Coach Jim Caldwell are smart guys. You can’t
tell me they couldn’t have predicted what was going to happen when they benched all-world quarterback Peyton Manning
and replaced him with a deer in the headlights. Really, you can’t blame Curtis Painter for what happened. The results
were predictable.
The only upside to the Colts’ loss to the anemic New York Jets is that Manning’s
class was on display once again for all the world to see. Instead of throwing Caldwell and Polian to the wolves waiting at
the post-game press conference, Manning again played the part of a good soldier. Someone might want to send Brett Favre the
tape.
Other than that, I see many, many downsides to this loss. Let’s start with the obvious.
If
you know Manning and Colts owner Jim Irsay at least a little, you know they are both students of the game with a great knowledge
of the history of this game and a healthy dose of respect for the men who forged this league on the field, from the sidelines
and through team ownership.
In other words, they understand well the historical significance of a perfect season.
That breeze you felt was a rare opportunity to make history whizzing by. It was strong enough to turn the three inches of
snow that fell outside Lucas Oil Stadium Sunday into a blizzard.
That shot at history will pain Polian just as
much, but since it’s his philosophy to rest players at all costs, his pain won’t be felt until much later. He’s
much too busy preparing a defense for his and Caldwell’s decision to feel that pain now. But in time, it will sting
as much as those Super Bowl losses in Buffalo. Yes, as much as wide right.
Because here’s the deal. If the
Colts lose in the playoffs, the pundits will say the momentum began to fade from the Colts run during the Jets game. And that’s
enough to make even a very confident man wonder about his decisions.
The prospect of going into the playoffs on
a two-game slide isn’t appealing to anyone. But since the Colts’ brass is committed to resting players, that’s
exactly what they’re facing.
The Colts brass like to talk about looking at the big picture, so let’s
do that.
Let’s start with Peyton Manning’s place in the history of this game. Former Chicago Bears
Coach Mike Ditka said Walter Payton never would have come out of the game in a similar situation. But wait, Manning is a good
soldier. Is that all the historians will say about him? This isn't just about Manning. Did you read the body language
of the Colts' other 52 players on the sideline Sunday? It looked like the sort of posture that could carry over. But I'm
no psychologist.
Remember, this is a team game and all that matters is winning the Super Bowl, right?
A Super Bowl triumph could make this loss really sting Colts players and faithful followers in the long-run.
A decade or two from now when the cheering has long ended and the Colts are left alone with their thoughts and feelings,
there’s this to ponder if the team wins the Super Bowl.
What might have been? If the team had the courage
to go for perfection, oh what might have been? Let’s say the Colts manage to beat the lowly Buffalo Bills next week,
rip through the playoffs; nail the Bengals and Chargers and beat the NFC champ and win the Super Bowl.
There won’t
be a person affiliated with the team that in time won’t ask, what might have been had the Colts had the courage to seek
what no team has ever achieved: 19-0.
Instead, the pressure is off. There will be no questions this week
about who will play and how long. The target on the Colts’ collective back is now much smaller.
Sunday,
the Colts chose a familiar route. One they’ve traveled before.
Safe, yes.
Smart? We’ll
see.
Cowardly? Well that might be just a bit strong.
Just a bit.
Stay tuned. Next,
I’ll explore the business opportunities lost with this loss to the Jets. And there were many. To read more about that,
click here.
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What a rip-off.They'll never sell me another ticket.
Chargers are going to get 'em again.
I'm a Browns fan and the Colts laid down against the Titans back in '07 and my team missed the playoffs cauz they wanted to "rest" the best players.. I hope whoever plays the Colts in the playoffs, kicks their a**
Caldwell is as much out of his league as Painter was yesterday. If this is the way this team feels about potential perfection and not doing their best each and every Sunday, then I may opt out of even caring. It hurts too much to see what was accomplished and what could have been accomplished flushed down the the toilet in one game.
Way to embarass the team, the players and the city of Indianapolis, Caldwell. Hope you're proud. Your demeanor on the sideline just sums it up. You are the deer in the headlights!
But I saw at least 5 Jets players laying on the field after plays, and each time thought that could be Adai, Collie, Wayne, Freeney or God forbid Peyton. What would we be talking about today if Peyton had endured a career ending injury in a game that does not matter?
If the Colts played all their starters all the way through and we lose the Superbowl, the naysayers will say we did not rest them. If we rest them and lose, the naysayers will say we should have played them. If we went 18-1, the naysayers will say we should have learned from the Pats. Heck, I have heard some who said we should not have clinched homefield at all saying we should have fought to the last game.
All in all, we are all experts in our own mind. But there is only one guy who took a train wreck in the late 90's and turned it into the winningest team of any decade. How many times have the "experts" questioned Polians decisions? Peyton over Leaf? Trade Faulk? Edgerin over Ricky William? Who the hell had ever heard of Collie? Wayne? Garcon? etc....? I am willing to give Polian the benefit of the doubt.
Before we slit our wrists and swear to never attend/watch another Colts game, lets all remember, we ar 14-1. The road to the Superbowl rolls through Indy and we have a good chance to return to Miami to win another Superbowl.
I have to disagree with Anthony, a Superbowl win will make everyone forget how we got there, a loss no matter how we got there will bring out the second guessers.
Who in the heck started this resting bull anyway? You are right about Peyton needing to play another series. But I still say, why would a "supposed" coach start a third string q/b in a game against the best defense when that games is a must win for them? Since Caldwell threw Painter under the bus, perhaps he (Caldwell) deserves the next bus ride out of town. Good riddance!
Dufus.......
Play to freakin' win. Whatever happened to that "play 60 minutes of football" stuff? Looked to me as if the Colts played about 38; I didn't really want to see a preseason game at the end of December.
"Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while; you don't do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
"There is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game, and that's first place. I have finished second twice in my time at Green Bay, and I don't ever want to finish second again. There is a second place bowl game, but it is a game for losers played by losers. It is and always has been an American zeal to be first in anything we do, and to win, and to win, and to win.
"Every time a football player goes to ply his trade he's got to play from the ground up - from the soles of his feet right up to his head. Every inch of him has to play. Some guys play with their heads. That's O.K. You've got to be smart to be number one in any business. But more importantly, you've got to play with your heart, with every fiber of your body. If you're lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he's never going to come off the field second.
"Running a football team is no different than running any other kind of organization - an army, a political party or a business. The principles are the same. The object is to win - to beat the other guy. Maybe that sounds hard or cruel. I don't think it is.
"It is a reality of life that men are competitive and the most competitive games draw the most competitive men. That's why they are there - to compete. To know the rules and objectives when they get in the game. The object is to win fairly, squarely, by the rules - but to win.
"And in truth, I've never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn't appreciate the grind, the discipline. There is something in good men that really yearns for discipline and the harsh reality of head to head combat.
"I don't say these things because I believe in the 'brute' nature of man or that men must be brutalized to be combative. I believe in God, and I believe in human decency. But I firmly believe that any man's finest hour - his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear - is that moment when he has to work his heart out in a good cause and he's exhausted on the field of battle - victorious."
--Vince Lombardi
Peyton Manning makes the Colts who they are. Not Polian, not Caldwell, not Dungy, not anyone else. It is Peyton Manning. Bottom line. And I hate hearing, "What if he would have been injured." Peyton hasn't been injured his entire career.
I really want to hear a good reason why we are sitting our players. Until then, Polian and Caldwell, you are idiots!!
The Colts have won a ton of games this decade, true. It will be a shame if they can only muster one Super Bowl out of it. The Patriots will still be seen as the team of the decade. I hate to say that because I can't stand them, but it is true.
Polian gets so much credit, but he still only has one Super Bowl to his credit. He has done very well, but his teams have generally come up short. The Vince Lombardi quote was so appropriate and Polian should take it to heart.
The real shame will be if arguably the best quarterback in the league's history only ends up with one Super Bowl win because the team's management is full of prima donnas.
Caldwell has tarnished his image forever in this city, even if they do win a super bowl this year. I say get a coach with the courage to play the game. Caldwell is living of rep of the team built by Dungy. I think we see what he will do when he has to make a real decision on his own. Cower, hide, play not to lose. My prediction? Colts lose in the 2nd round this year.
This is Polian's baby. Caldwell may be a rookie head coach but he is just following his boss' directive and this isn't Polian's first rodeo. Peyton wanted to be in the game that much was obvious...but what kind of leadership would it show if he were to ignore his coaches orders? You don't want to undermine the head coach with the amount of young players on the team.
1) We absolutely chose to lose to the Jets, and we'll do the exact same thing this Sunday to the Buffalo Bills. And we'll be as healthy as possible heading into the playoffs when we'll take the first week off and then lose either the first round game or, for sure, the second round game, because we'll have essentially taken a couple of weeks off and let the rust get to us. Do I have to remind anyone how rusty Peyton was at the start of the '08 season? Right, I know; that's not going to happen again.
The other point is that, while it was great for Curtis Painter to get a chance to play Sunday, what the hell do we think we did for his confidence going forward putting him in to QB a team when we've got the ball at the 10-yard line against the NFL's best defense? If we wanted to absolutely ruin the kid, we couldn't have picked a better way to do it than what Caldwell and Polian did. Stupid, absolutely stupid.
We chose to lose the chance to make history. And it would only have taken a few more series to nail it down. Absolutely cowardly and stupid.
The NFL should institute a rule that if a team lays down the way the Colts did, they pay back everyone who bought a ticket to attend the game. It certainly wasn't worth my $100+ per ticket to watch that crap in the 2nd half.
People talk about rust, Peyton and crew were pretty rusty in the Jets game.
If they win the Super Bowl, as Schoettle's column points out, it will forever be remembered as a "what if" situation.
If they DON'T win the Super Bowl, the decision to rest the starters will be seen as pointless.
Either way, the better decision was to play the starters and strive for history.
If, as the Colts brass proclaims, a perfect season was never one of their goals, then I say their goals were set too low to begin with. Shame on them.