20
2010
Brewhouse Bias – Those Damn Colts
An article by scottysbrewhouse
You have probably heard people say before, “I always took __________ for granted, until it was taken away from me.” This goes for many things in life: loved ones, our health, a broken limb… a Colts team of the decade.
OK, sure, I started kind of morose with this blog and am spinning it in a direction of sport. But, I just find it disheartening when so many Colts fans can continue to complain about “the perfect season,” and not appreciate what is right in front of their eyes. When will they appreciate the “terrible,” “failed,” “slap in the fan’s face” season of 14 – 2? In 5 – 8 years when Peyton Manning has hung up his cleats in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and we are rebuilding with a new QB and a record of 2 – 14.
I guess it is human nature to always want more, be better and do better. And, that is OK – as long as you take time to appreciate today. We have the best quarterback to ever play the game in our city. Recognize.
Even after all the naysayers shouted, “they will be rusty, their timing will be off, they have rested players before and failed,” yet, the Colts pounded the Baltimore Ravens 20 – 3. The first article I read in the USA Today on Monday morning was titled, “As Colts advance, thoughts of what could have been linger.”
I believe the saying is “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” And, unfortunately, I think that’s what we will continue to hear about this team. If (when) we win the Super Bowl, they will shout from their bell towers, “See, you could have had a perfect season and won the Super Bowl.” (of course that takes the assumption that an Anquan Boldin-esque or Wes Welker-esque injury wouldn’t have occurred in the Buffalo blizzard game) And, if we lose a playoff game or the Super Bowl, the “glass half empty” crowd will shout, “see, if we would have kept our momentum going, this wouldn’t have happened.” (although, beating Baltimore might help squash that argument)
We have the NFL Commissioner now getting involved in this situation. We have individual players continuing to play for records, stats and contract bonuses. And, we have the precarious situation of fans vs. ownership/business. I think the kettle has been stirred into a controversial frenzy.
Where do I sit on this matter? I am a fan. I am a season ticket holder. I have been for many, many years. I would have loved to see perfection. HOWEVER, I am a fan. I am not the owner. I understand this sport is a business and I believe this is where most people forget it is entertainment to most of the masses; but, it is dollars and common sense to the owner. The owner doesn’t make any more money having a perfect season and a Super Bowl title. In fact, he/she just has more risk on very expensive assets (players). Sure, there is the rest ‘em, get rusty phenomenon that we have seen and experienced. But, I take the position that an owner with millions and millions of dollars invested in a sport, with many, many more resources and knowledge than you or I, is making the best, educated decision for his team. And, I will always support that.
I hear people say, “Well, you never remember what year anyone won a Super Bowl; but, you always remember the ’72 Dolphins because of the perfect season. So, why not put ourselves in that historical position?” I would counter with, “You are correct, we typically don’t remember the years; but, we remember how many Super Bowls a team has won!”
So, now that we have that first playoff win after our starters have had 3 weeks of rest, maybe the chants of “history repeating” will go away. Or, maybe they won’t. The one thing we can agree on as fans, we are all allowed to have differing opinions.
“Peyton can never win the ‘big one.” Then he did.
“You can’t win after resting your players for 3 weeks.” Then we did.
“Your defense is 32nd in the league in stopping the run.” Baltimore RB’s have not scored a TD on the Colts in 7 games. Did you read that correctly?
Any given Sunday. And, that’s why they play the games. Stats are for Dungeons and Dragons nerds. How about we let the players decide who wins and loses the game?
And, as we countdown the days to an ironic Sunday, playing a team that we essentially let into the playoffs, it is put up or shut up time. I believe it is payback time. I think Lucas Oil Stadium will be happy to welcome the rookie Mark Sanchez back to town, this time you will be seeing our starters for 4 quarters. Go Horse.
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Go Colts!!!
**psst** watch it with the nerd thing (don't spook them), they are fun, I am quite curious about them, and I need them around to fix my tech stuff thingamabobs.
"Colts have more wins in the last decade then any other team in any decade"
Yes the undefeated season would have been nice but be careful to get greedy. Ask Trump how that went with the USFL
There is a whole lot going on in the post, some of which I agree with and some of which I don't. I do agree with you on the perfect season. Ask the 2007 Patriots if they would have rather had things play out like they did or sat most of their starters in the regular season finally against the Giants (who ironically enough beat them in the Super Bowl) and won the Super Bowl. I doubt there is a single man in the organization that doesn't wish they would have done things differently. With that being said, I have no problem with what the Colts did against the Bills in week 17, that game didn't affect anyone but the Bills and Colts. If Peyton would have gotten hurt and missed the playoffs then Caldwell would still be the villain for letting him play, some people you just can't please.
I do, however, have a HUGE problem with what they did in week 16 against the Jets. Yes I know they had home field wrapped up but that game didn't just affect the Colts and Jets, it implications for 6 other teams that were all in the playoff hunt. That fact that they basically threw that game and laid down for the Jets was a giant middle finger to the other teams fighting for a playoff spot and to the integrity of the entire playoff system. Everyone in that organization should be ashamed of what they did. It showed a total lack of class and lack of any respect for others around the NFL and I am hoping and praying that the Jets can somehow pull off a miracle and end the Colts season. To me, that is a perfectly ironic punishment for giving the bird to the entire NFL just a few weeks ago.
And as far as Peyton being the greatest to ever play his position, what are you smoking? Someday when its all said and done and he decides to hang up his cleats he just might be, but for now, he isn't even in the top 5 all time. My reason is simple, playoff success. Regular season stats are one thing, but when you are talking about the all time greats, Montana, Elway, Bradshaw, Aikman, Brady (that's right, Brady is ahead of Manning right now) you think Super Bowls and playoff success in general. Those guys I listed are just from the past 30 years, there are a dozen more that I could reel off if you want to go back further. Marino held every passing record there was before Favre broke them and no one really considered him the greatest ever or even top 5, and why? The playoffs, he couldn't get it done when it counted. Peyton does has one Super Bowl win but there are a lot of great QBs out there with more wins and appearances. If he keeps putting up numbers like he has been and can get another Super Bowl win or 2 then I will personally admit to you that he is the greatest ever, but until then, he's not yet even in the conversation.
Firstly, like I told my buddy (a Steeler fan) when he was crying about the Colts resting starters for the good of their team's success (which is their right, not any kind of "middle finger" to the league or playoff system) – you shouldn't have to worry about another team's win/loss record if your own team didn't get beat by the Brown's, the Raiders and Kansas City. (enter your own team's losses there)
Secondly, a great QB, or even the "best ever" isn't measured by playoff success, Super Bowl wins, or any 1 component of just post season play. It is an amalgamation of all these factors. How about 4 time MVP? If you took Peyton Manning off the Colts, their record would not have been 14 – 2. When you took Brady off the Patriots last year, wow, Matt Castle was still able to rattle off 11 wins. That says something about the QB in Peyton Manning. Not just in the playoffs. His entire career. And, not just stats… comeback victories, 2 minute marches and just plain W's.
Does it? Because I'm pretty sure there's 52 other guys also affecting the outcome of the team's season.
Don't confuse absolute value with relative value. Let's say I've got $100 in my wallet and you've got $15 in yours. Now, let's say I take a $20 bill out of mine and you take a $10 bill out of yours. I still have 80% of what I had before, while you only have 33% of what you had – that $10 bill was the majority of what you had! But it still isn't worth more absolutely than my $20 bill.
Since the MVP is generally an award of relative value, it makes sense that Peyton wins it. And I'm not saying I think Brady is a better QB. But this argument as to *why* he's not always bugs me.
Ok, I agree with a lot of what Ryan said, but in my eyes it is more that just playoffs. Regular season play matters. Records matter. Playoff appearances matter. Championships won matter.
The comment about Marino is true. Nobody will put Marino on the top of the list because he doesn't have the rings to back up his regular season accomplishments, and before Favre broke all of Marino's records he had a ton of accomplishments.
I don't care how many records Manning has, which aren't nearly what Favre has, Until he wins a couple more championships I wouldn't put him top 5 all time. And you can hypothesize all you want that without Manning the Colts would be nothing, but you can't actually say that with a rookie QB in the playoffs this year, a backup winning with New England and for Pete's sake Kyle Orton taking the bears to the Superbowl in 2006. Anything is possible.
As for the big middle finger that is flying around. It is really being waved at the fans that spent a ton of money to watch some of the leagues best players make history. Instead they got to see a bunch of no talent ass clowns blow what was about to be their perfect season.
Adam
Actually, that was the Sex Cannon™, Rex Grossman.
@WhoDey,
You are right it was Sexy Rexy. Which makes the point even more true as he is a worse QB than Orton.