OT: Why isn't Bill Polian being criticized?

[shmessy]

The Colts are a T-E-A-M and came into this season with 11 double-digit-win seasons in 12 years, which matches up quite favorably with the Patriots and pretty much every other team in NFL history short of the 49ers. Eventually, dynasties crumble. Unfortunately, what was more likely a blip on the radar than a permanent crumbling, may have netted the Colts the player they needed to get right back to winning in double digits for another decade+.

Yes.

The Colts ARE a T-E-A-M.

An 0-10 T-E-A-M.

What an awesome organization!

 

[shmessy]

Assuming that he'll take a bit more of a hands on approach this offseason, Polian will likely get that team heading back in the right direction, and drafting first in every round will be one way to help with that. His career shows that to be what he does.

This gets funnier with each new post of yours!

'Look, Ma, no hands!!!! I'll get the Colts heading back in the right direction with a hands-off approach!!!!!!'

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

The main issue isn't why Polian largely has escaped criticism in his team-building and player acquisition roles, but that the Colts organization as a whole is escaping criticism for blatantly THROWING football games with suspicious errors, phantom injuries, lack of effort, and coaching so bad it appears to be that way on purpose.

If it were Brady with the injury and New England TANKING GAMES to earn a draft pick, Goodell would have his minions on site. They would be interviewing any released players, talking about preserving the integrity of the game, and ESPN would have a 24-hour screen trailer giving updates on the emerging Patriots game-throwing scandal.

But it is Indy, so no one cares.

 

[Deus Irae]

This gets funnier with each new post of yours!

'Look, Ma, no hands!!!! I'll get the Colts heading back in the right direction with a hands-off approach!!!!!!'

I'm not sure what you find so amusing, since it's been Chris Polian who's been running more of the hands-on part of the show in recent times, and he supposedly has complete control this year, but as long as it works for you, you have fun with it.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Whether Polian should be criticized is a judgement call.

Is it fair to Colts fans and others in the NFL that he's trying to tank a season to pick up the next franchise QB for the next 15 years? The NFL might complain but Colts fans might be thanking Polian.

Aside from that it's always been clear that Polian has invested heavily in his QB and WRs and NOT in quality depth like Belichick tries to. Polian has done a good job in his drafts as well.

That gamble hasn't been a bad one - the Colts are perennial contenders, though I'd submit that the lack of depth is why they're lucky to have one Super Bowl ring in his and Manning's tenure.

 

[patfanken]

The Jests, that would be ugly.

I don't think the Jets would be interested in Manning, though this is the kind of deal that Tannenbaum would do.. For at least the near future, the Jets are tied to Sanchez....and that's a good thing for Pats fans. Besides, even though the Jets aren't right up against the Cap, they wouldn't have enough room to fit Manning. Plus they need that cap space and draft picks to fill a bunch of holes they ALREADY have at WR, OL, LBs and TE.

No, reflex, the Jets won't be in the Manning mix. Manning will want to go with a team that is in position to at least compete for a crown. The Redskins and Dolphins look to be teams that could fit that bill. So could the Jags.

 

[BaltimorePatsFan]

Matt Barkley is better than Andrew Luck.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

It's the first time his team has missed the playoffs in 10 years. As much as I hate the guy I don't really see the big deal here. If the team continues it's downward spiral a few years and he leaves them in a complete mess then maybe

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

I think it is a very big deal that there is reasonable suspicion as to whether an NFL team may actually be throwing games. Given the high profile and enormous popularity of the NFL, that this has gone largely unnoticed is somewhat shocking

 

[patfanken]

Well Patty, that is what you are going to see. There isn't going to be any miracle changes to the Colts, even if Manning returns fully healthy. Its not going to make guys like Wayne and Freeney any younger, and its not going to replace Mathis on any of several other positions that the Colts are subpar in. Its also NOT going to improve their coaching. No the Colts are going into a 2-3 sleep.....at least. Fortunately the improving Dolphins and Bills will be around to keep the hate going, and we still will have the Steelers Ravens and Raiders to hate as well.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Well Patty, that is what you are going to see. There isn't going to be any miracle changes to the Colts, even if Manning returns fully healthy. Its not going to make guys like Wayne and Freeney any younger, and its not going to replace Mathis on any of several other positions that the Colts are subpar in. Its also NOT going to improve their coaching. No the Colts are going into a 2-3 sleep.....at least. Fortunately the improving Dolphins and Bills will be around to keep the hate going, and we still will have the Steelers Ravens and Raiders to hate as well.

You can't be sure, the situation does look bad for them but things looked really bad for us when Bledsoe went down too. In today's NFL, no matter how bad you are you're always a solid draft and a good offseason away from competing again. Polian has been well above average in the past with drafting. And the AFCS is far from a fiercely competitive division. Aside from a couple strong seasons by TENN nobody else ever did much more than pose as a mild wild card threat, though Houston looks promising.

 

[mosi]

The main issue isn't why Polian largely has escaped criticism in his team-building and player acquisition roles, but that the Colts organization as a whole is escaping criticism for blatantly THROWING football games with suspicious errors, phantom injuries, lack of effort, and coaching so bad it appears to be that way on purpose.

If it were Brady with the injury and New England TANKING GAMES to earn a draft pick, Goodell would have his minions on site. They would be interviewing any released players, talking about preserving the integrity of the game, and ESPN would have a 24-hour screen trailer giving updates on the emerging Patriots game-throwing scandal.

But it is Indy, so no one cares.

Yup. They are blatantly loosing games to get the first pick in the draft. The NFL is becoming a joke.

 

[jmt57]

The way I see it, if (and I'm not saying they are, just if) the Colts are indeed tanking, so what; let them.

First of all there is no guarantee that Luck is going to be a great NFL player, and there is certainly no guarantee that he will turn the franchise around.

Losing breeds a losing attitude in the locker room, and that cannot be turned on and off like a light switch. And losing affects the fan base too; ticket sales are bound to drop, and with less than anticipated revenues budgets - including the budgets for player salaries, coaches salaries, and scouting - could be cut.

Indianapolis has never been much of a player in the free agent market, and a team coming off an 0-16 or 1-15 record in a relatively small city is not going to help recruit free agents. That means the Colts are going to have to outbid other teams for available players - something they've never done, except for players already on their roster - in order to sign them.

If they do try to get better quickly, then after over paying for a few players they'll be bumping up against their budget, and have to fill out the roster with less talented players making rookie minimum salaries.

If they don't look to improve through free agency then hat means they'll have to rebuild slowly through the draft, but as we have seen the last few years they haven't been drafting very well because apparently many of the scouts and personnel people that were there when they were the NFL model on how to succeed in the draft are now gone.

Colts Daily Links: Luck backlash, Chris Polian's inheritance, NFL history | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.com

So as far as I'm concerned, let them tank if that's what they want to do. Besides, I'd rather the Colts have the top pick than a team in the division that the Pats face twice a year: the Miami Dolphins.

 

[YearbookCurfew]

It seems like the Colts aren't even trying to win. They had a pretty good D last year. Where did they go this year?? I know for a fact that Manning didn't play O line or DE.

 

[zipster9]

Yup. They are blatantly loosing games to get the first pick in the draft. The NFL is becoming a joke.

They'd probably praise Polian, next year after Colts select Luck as their next decade QB...

 

[ausbacker]

Matt Barkley is better than Andrew Luck.

No he is not. Barkley has considerably more talent surrounding him than Luck dreams he could have.

 

[BaltimorePatsFan]

No he is not. Barkley has considerably more talent surrounding him than Luck dreams he could have.

Clearly you haven't watched USC football since Carroll took off.

Stanford has the 24th ranked defense in the country. USC's is 53rd, so Barkley's had to carry his team much more than Luck has.
Stanford has a 1,000 yard rusher. USC doesn't.
Sure Barkley has Robert Woods, but Luck also has guys like Coby Fleener, who is one of the best tight ends in the country, and they both have future first round left tackles protecting them in Kalil and Martin.

Overall USC probably still has more talent, but more talent than Luck could dream of? That's just laughable. This isn't 2004 anymore and USC isn't heads and shoulders above anyone in the Pac-10. They lost 4 games last season, which would've never happened 4 years ago even with John David Booty starting.

I get it, you dislike USC and Barkley, but don't let the facts get in the way.

 

[jcdavey]

I said it after I watched the Colts/Bengals game where the Colts purposely gave the game back to the Bengals with the intentional Garcon fumble where he literally help the ball up in the air before going down to purposely allow two Bengals to take the ball from him and score.

The Colts have been told to tank football games by the one and only Mr. Polian. And again, I mean this when I say it, the Colts and Polian and their tanking policies this season should be looked at by Goodell. This farce of a football team has hurt the integrity of this league and all of their game film should be looked at, I am serious.

They threw football games to the rights to Luck and I would love for Goodell to step in and take this pick away based on the things Polian has had his football team purposely do to get Andrew Luck, "by design".

You can't say the same thing about the Dolphins, when both winless teams were going neck and neck for Luck, Sporano has his team playing hard, they weren't rolling over like Indy. I have so much respect for that now, when they just as easily could have tanked just like the Colts. The Colts will try to win one of these remaining games, just to make things look good just as long as they know that that win wouldn't jeapardize their rights to Luck.

That team and Bill Polian make me sick !

i wonder why more people didn't talk about that? they talked more about miami oddly going for 2 vs denver, than they did about this play which was even weirder, given the time left in the game (over two minutes)

 

[jcdavey]

and barkley isn't as good as luck

that's crazy talk

but i can see luck being a bust, too much hype

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

The Colts were considered one of the class organizations during this decade and competed for Team of the decade. Bill was considered a draft guru and painted as an antithesis of Belichick. {Good vs Evil}.... Well apparently Belichick believed in team concept with a next man up mentality while Polian prefers the one man show while tanking for draft picks.

While there might be local criticism of Polian, the national media will largely not because the Colts are on their favored list. Whether you are on the favored or unfavored list goes a long way in determining what kind of stories get written/spoken about you.