Bleacher Report Blame Irsay for Mishandling Manning Situation
Stumbled across this article on Bleacher.
It sort of speaks to how I feel. While I had some frustrations with Polian, his ability to run a tight-lipped-ship and avoid media craziness was reknown. We didn't have to suffer thru nonsense like Desean Jackson and Ochocinco. While I appreciate Jim Irsay tweeting inside information, it's sometimes over the top. "Family Disputes" should not be done via Twitter. And while it might have been a good time to "start over" the franchise, the way it was done was excessive and unrelenting.
Could this turn out okay - sure it could. We could be in a good situation regarding QB and Defense and stuff by the start of the season. But if it turns out badly, there will be only one person to blame: Irsay. Of course that's why he's paid the big bucks.
The report goes on to quote SI's Don Banks and Don's opinion that Irsay has handled this in a messy way.
I certainly hope there's some way to bring back a healthy Peyton, but that requires a) Peyton to be healthy and b) some way to do this under the CAP rules.
If Peyton is not here, one other thing will be different. Peyton made is possible for us to make it to the playoffs every year. All that changed was the seeding. So, in other words, the regular season almost didn't matter. Would they win this game or lose this one or? Didn't matter because in the end we wanted to get to the end of the year and see the playoffs. It was often boring to wait out the season as the Colts racked up 10 wins, 11,12,13... Boring in a good way. We were spoiled.
This year was the opposite. Hoping for ANY win. Celebrating Donald Brown's 40 yard run on the Titans. Cheering for Dan Orlovsky (maybe). Good times, sort of.
Next year may be back to watching each game cautiously and wondering "will we win this one?".
Which is better? You tell me.
Here's the article:
As far as your question about which is better: I asked myself that often. Growing up a Colt fan I remember crying when Dave Casper caught that damn TD in OT to knock out of playoffs. Little did I know that was last playoff fun until the Harbaugh run in 95. I do remember being so excited and living on every week the year of the Dickerson trade too. I will say the annual playoff losses with Peyton hurt much, much more than the years of figuring out what draft pick we would have. But, I still never took any week for granted. Always wanting home field advantage. I did not worry that the Colts would miss playoffs and that anything was possible once you got in. Peyton definitely has given me the most pride in being a Colt fan. But also the most heartache. Wouldn't trade any of it at all. Good or bad, Luck or Peyton, Im a Colts fan and love the NFL.
Read Banks' article on SI and found it horribly one-sided. Irsay has certainly handled the situation poorly ( he would have been better off to keep his mouth shut), but Manning (in my eyes) carries more blame for constantly stirring the pot. And I can't really blame Manning for doing so -- it's smart business -- but it's frustrating because it thrusts the business side front-and-center, and we fans don't particularly like dealing with that. We'd much rather have it worked out quickly and quietly and simply root for the team.
Manning is better, no doubt.
Problem is, even if he was healthy and would still be on the team for another 4 years, it won't last forever.
But my opinion is that a total rebuild as Irsay appears to be leaning seems to be a great overreaction to one bad season out of 13...
@BMS I don't think the rebuild is an overreaction to one badf season. i think it's a more level-headed look at where the team is right now. We're hard up against the salary cap, and a good chunk of our elite players are getting older and have expiring contracts either now, or in the next year or two.
It's a choice -- stay with the old guys and go for one last Super Bowl run, or start to dismantle and rebuild the franchise. Irsay and co. appear to be opting for the latter, and I can't say that I fault them. We've got enough issues that throwing a lot of money at the vets we have won't solve, and trying to win with them will only delay the inevitable rebuilding process. It will certainly be hard to deal with as a fan, but now is the right time to rebuild.
@Neven@BMS There is no arguing that the team is getting older. They have a lot of young players but quite frankly not very good ones. However do not buy into the BS that this is a team without talent that would have only one 8 games with Manning this year and would still not be good next year WITH Manning. If Manning plays for the Colts next year I would lay good money on the Colts making to the PLayoffs with the same people they have now. People just can not wrap there mind around how much Manning means to this team.
I gotta figure out how to include my name on these posting. Help, oh writers of Colt Authority. It's not obvious when I'm saving the article.
@buymymonkey Under the Meta Data and Publishing tab on the right it has a spot for "Author Alias." :)
@Kyle Rodriguez Cool - thanks Kyle. And if you have any suggestions on my writing/posts, please do tell. Including "don't post, please".
@buymymonkey No problem. Keep it up. Even when I disagree with what you say, you say it in an intelligent way.
