PATRIOTSFANINPA

I know we all HATE Bill Polian who is a disgrace and the feces of the NFL in our eyes but just looking back on his decisions on who to draft since he joined the Colts in 1997 is pretty smart concidering any moves he would have made the other way could have made the Colts a perrenial 2-14 team every year,He just made the right moves when they counted in the draft.

Picking Peyton Manning over Ryan Leaf
Picking Edgerrin James over Ricky 'The Doobie' Williams
Picking Reggie Wayne over the more highly regarded Freddie Mitchell and Andre Davis

Those moves gave the Colts the reason why they have been contenders ever since.

Like I said we all wish Polian the worst but you gotta admit hes very good when it comes to drafting players - How would the Colts have been today with Ryan Leaf as QB - Ricky at RB (probably would have been gone there by now as well) and Freddie Mitchell as the 2nd WR? - Probably not very good,maybe concidered pathetic today and vying for a top draft pick every year for the past decade.

TeamPats

Bregrudginly I agree 100%. Plus we give them a lot of grief on how they sign everyone but they let James go and moved on seamlessly. Now I'd imagine they may let Freeney go as well, when is Sanders a Free Agent? I wouldn't mind him pulling a reverse Vinatieri

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In front of his team after a 28-10 loss to the Packers in 2002, Belichick said: "We have a lot of smart guys in this room, but on the football field we play like a bunch of f------- morons. If you are one of the players flinching at the harshness of these words, you might as well begin packing. There is no way you are going to last as a New England Patriot."

NEPatriot

A very good post. Indeed, he has put together a very, very good team. That said, he is one of the only people in the NFL that I really dislike.

MDD

Except with Manning, he was the consensus #1 and Leaf was the consensus #2. it wasn't a situation where people debated 1 versus 2.

Picking James over Williams was just lucky IMO. Williams showed little if any signs of being insane prior to being drafted.

We'll see how good his team is when it becomes the next Tennessee Titans (prolonged period of cap hell).

jcdavey

polian stated just the other day that freeney isn't going anywhere

wdkantro2

I don't think you can count the James over Williams one because frankly, Williams was the better back until his difficulties. Unless Polian predicted Ricky would become a pothead 6 years into his career, then I don't really count that one.

The other two are tossups that he made the right choice on. I am playing devils advocate, but whose to say Mitchell or Davis wouldn't have lived up the hype if they had Manning throwing to him and Marvin across from him?


He has made some good picks, but I think to be a good GM, it means you handle every aspect of the team well, and looking at their cap situation, he sure as hell does NOT handle that part of it well.

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workhorse

I disagree. Ricky had one really, really good year. Outside of when Edge was hurt he rushed for more than 10 TDs 4 out of 5 years. Ricky did that once. Just take a glance at their numbers again.

RayClay

I have to disagree. I lived in Austin during Williams college career and I loved his drive on the football field but he had some off field incidents which indicated emotional problems.

I don't know that Polian knew this, but i bet he did. I have to agree with the premise of this thread that Polian is an astute football man.

Williams wasn't just a pot head, he has mental or emotional problems.

As far as their cap situation goes, I have to say he's done all right.

The key is consistency and he's given Manning the tools on offense while hiring a defensive coach and patching the parts where there aren't big play guys, (pass rushers, Bob Sanders).

The key is they have been competitive every year, though not in the playoffs. They have a personality and build that way.

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g-fresh

This is a silly thing to say, Edge (and any Indy RB) was always the second concern when trying to defend the Indy offense. Williams never had anything close to the team around him that Edge had in Indy, it was usually more like Williams was the offense and he had to carry his team season after season.

I would go so far to say that if Ricky had been able to play at a normal level in Indy instead of getting beaten and burned out carrying the ball so much he would still be playing today at a high (hur hur) level.

Kdo5

Screw Polian. I hate him, hate him, hate him, hate him. I dont care how successfull he has been. That old mean demon!