The frustration that has been spawned by the decision of the Colts not to pursue a perfect record could have a specific consequence that previously has been overlooked.
With postseason awards coming, the folks who vote on such matters might be influenced, consciously or otherwise, by the Colts’ decision not to try to win all of their games, and by the lame explanations given by the team after all hell broke loose.
This dynamic could arise in several ways. Jim Caldwell likely cost himself serious consideration for coach of the year, strengthening the candidacies of men like Norv Turner and Marvin Lewis.
And while the decision to yank Peyton Manning from the Week 16 game between the Colts and the Jets likely confirms Peyton’s value to the team, some of the 50 Associated Press voters who’ll decide the MVP award might now opt to lean toward Vikings quarterback Brett Favre, Titans running back Chris Johnson, or Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers.
Then there’s the offensive player of the year award, which likely was destined to land with Johnson (who set the single-season yards from scrimmage record and rushed for more than 2,000 yards) and Saints quarterback Drew Brees (who now owns the mark for the highest single-season completion percentage). But Peyton might have squandered his shot at getting a few courtesy votes.
And Bill Polian possibly can forget about being named the Sporting News executive of the year.
Then again, the Colts probably will say that they don’t care about postseason awards. Just like they don’t care about going undefeated — but unlike their attitude toward, say, Manning’s streak of consecutive starts and Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark catching 100 passes each.
Ugh….still talking about this. When do the playoffs start????
Peyton looked pretty valuable once they put that backup in – Colts looked like a terrible team when he’s not out there.
FLORIO QUIT HAITN. ALL YOU DO IS TALK SMACK ABOUT THE COLTS. SSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH. SUPER BOWL BABY. NICE HAIR CUT BY THE WAY. IM SURE HE LIKES IT.
Colts care about:
Individual Statistics
Individual Records
Regular season win streak
Most regular season wins in a decade
Avoiding Injuries in Meaningless Games
Colts don’t care about:
Individual regular season awards
Going undefeated
Avoiding Injuries in Meaningless Games
They seem to suffer from bi-polar disorder.
This has been obvious for quite awhile in Indy…
Anyone watching one of their Sunday Night games earlier this year when (I believe it was) Andrea Kremer asked Peyton Manning if he was throwing late in the game to keep his 300 yard passing game streak going…saw Peyton practically blow an internal fuse to the question as his face got all distorted and red (faced) while saying something to the effect of “naw Andrea, of course that’s not why”.
Despite Florio’s incessant obsession with the Colts “peculiar” situation, Peyton Manning remains the frontrunner for the MVP and there is absolutely no reason why Rookie Head Coach Jim Caldwell shouldn’t be among a small selection of coaches for the Coach of the Year.
As a Rookie Coach, I’d give the nod to Caldwell for a remarkable 14 win season after replacing Dungy, losing Harrison, and with Sanders going down. I would also include Rex Ryan, Marv Lewis, Brad Childress, and Sean Payton.
And for those keeping tabs, the Colts record right now is 0-0, just like all the other Playoff Teams. But don’t tell Florio, he needs to milk this for another dozen articles or so.
The players shouldn’t be held accountable for decisions made beyond their control.
And while he stands on the sidelines not looking like he even knows where he is and had this team handed to him on a silver platter, I think we all know that Caldwell was told what to do. Not going for 16-0 was not his decision. He would never admit it out loud, but you know that dude loved starting his coaching career with ZERO losses for as long as he could.
That’s absurd! Peyton Manning wanted to be out on the field as much as the rest of the world wanted him out there (especially against the Jets). The players have already been punished for Polian’s decision.
“Jim Caldwell likely cost himself serious consideration for coach of the year, strengthening the candidacies of men like Norv Turner and Marvin Lewis.”
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Mike, you don’t REALLY believe that Caldwell made that decision, do you?
I think we all know Polian made the decision, even though he said it was made by Caldwell.
“the folks who vote on such matters might be…”
Let’s see, roll out bed, run a comb through my head and speculate on something with bothering to make any inquiries, check. PFT is on the job.
Anyone who even considers Marv Lewis for coach of the year has been taking some serious psychedelics. We get an unbelievable amount of penalties every single week, always play down to our competition STILL. Also, did you watch the game last night? c’mon, man.
CHRIS JOHNSON IS NOT THE MVP…PLAYERS ON 8-8 TEAMS DON’T AND SHOULDN’T WIN THE AWARD…THIS ISN’T MLB.
Peyton is clearly the MVP…just because Favre beat up a Giants team that quit yesterday and he poured on some stats (including a SCUMMY late TD pass when they were up big), that doesn’t trump the Vikings stumble down the stretch.
Can Rodgers at least get a sniff at MVP?? More yards passing, more total TDs, was 1st or 2nd in rushing yards by a QB…he had ONE LESS WIN THAN FARVE.
The Burt bias lives on.
@insomniac: it’s called bi-polian disorder
@XLI; unfortunetly Caldwell did not coach this season, Polian did. He is just a poster boy.
As far as beating this story to death. It is a story, because Polian needs to be accountable. For some reason the NFL has been turning the other way when Polian does something or anything. It maybe something little to some of you, but it is about all around accountability. If this is the story that makes him accountable, so be it.
PFT has been the best thing that has happened to the NFL, for only one reason, and that is that bullies like Polian MAYBE held accountable at one point for their actions.
Phillip Rivers and Peyton Manning both sat after 1 qtr yesterday. Why would Rivers still be in the running for MVP then? Meanwhile, Wes Welker is glad he finished his season strong by playing in a meaningless game. What does any of this matter anyway? We know which 40 year old QB that all sports writers and announcers have Favregasms over is going to win the MVP. There should be one team next year with only Brett Favre and Tim Tebow coached by John Madden. Collinsworth could be the fluffer.
As far as awards go. It ends up being a team thing at the end, so if it cost the players their deserved award…. that is life. Polian may think about his decisions next year…..
The ONLY award Polian cares about it HOF. That is what he wants, at anyone elses expense.
Florio is an idiot.
“some of the 50 Associated Press voters who’ll decide the MVP award “MIGHT” now opt to lean toward Vikings quarterback Brett Favre, Titans running back Chris Johnson, or Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers.”
Any other reports on what the 50 Associated Press Voter “MIGHT” do?
They MIGHT flip a coin to decide the MVP,
They MIGHT throw darts at a poster to decide,
They MIGHT brush their teeth with peanut butter tomorrow…
Who reports on what people “MIGHT” do without actually talking to people and doing some form of research??? You’re reporting on something that just popped into your head as if that has any merit whatsover. Isn’t this like rule #1 of what not to do in journalism???
Doesn’t the injuries to Wes Welker and Boldin make the Colts decision to rest their guys make a little more sense now???
the colts are a joke. Attempting something that has only happened 1 time in all of NFL history isn’t important, but keeping starters in to get individual records is ok.
Not sure why the Colts needed all this rest, anyway–they have a much easier half of the playoff draw compared to the Chargers. The three best AFC teams besides the Colts are all on the other side of the bracket.
# pft rocks says: January 4, 2010 11:11 AM
@insomniac: it’s called bi-polian disorder
@XLI; unfortunetly Caldwell did not coach this season, Polian did. He is just a poster boy.
As far as beating this story to death. It is a story, because Polian needs to be accountable. For some reason the NFL has been turning the other way when Polian does something or anything. It maybe something little to some of you, but it is about all around accountability. If this is the story that makes him accountable, so be it.
PFT has been the best thing that has happened to the NFL, for only one reason, and that is that bullies like Polian MAYBE held accountable at one point for their actions.
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because Polian needs to be accountable.
Accountable for what, resting players, something all teams with a winning record at playoff time have done.
Or are you talking about the so called rule change that he was supposed to have made happen which is not true. What is true is he brought to focus a rule that was already in the rule book but wasn’t being enforced.
Or maybe this is because you;re a Pats fan and the truth just isn’t what you want to hear.
If the voters paid any attention, they’d realize that Payton deserves the award. The past 2 weeks made it pretty obvious that the Colts are a .500 team without Manning, and the best in the league with him. The Colts did absolutely nothing without him.
People who want to say Payton deserves the MVP because the team looks bad without him in, then you might as well as give the MVP to Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Joeseph Addia, Freeny, and all the other starters that came out the same time payton did. It wasn’t like it was the full Colts team minus Payton, it was a Colts team minus all of their many star players and contributers.
Let the AFC and NFC play only conference teams for season (15 games). Then rank them within each conf. and setup brackets that put AFC teams against NFC teams. The seeding would keep the best playing each other in a progressive fashion. March Mdness would be an example.
I’m no Colts fan, but by taking care of business during the first 14 weeks (14 wins I do believe), they EARNED the right to play whoever they saw fit. It gave the rest of the roster some valuable PT, and it’s not like those guys were out there purposely laying an egg. Enough of this non-story already. LEt it be, and get ready for the playoffs. Colts will be well-rested and ready to roll. I’d be shocked if anyone but the Colts or SD makes it to the SB.
The thing is, things like perfect seasons don’t matter.
Winning the superbowl matters.
If the colts don’t win the superbowl, THEN you can dish out all the criticism. Until then, most of us are sick of hearing how much you guys are disappointed in the Colts.
MOVE ON
Previously I would have wanted them to win the whole tihng but oh how I hope they lose their first playoff game.
Wussies shouldn’t prosper.
Unless it was the field, Wes Welker could’ve been injured in practice the same way. It was a non-contact injury. The fact of the matter is, anyone can likely get hurt at any time. Tom Brady had his knee blown out in the 1st quarter of the season opener. Carson Palmer had his blown out in the 1st Quarter of a playoff game. No one knows when it will happen.
The Colts biggest problem is how inconsistent they are with playing/not playing. All out vs Jacksonville. Part of the way into the 3rd Quarter vs New York. Long enough to set ultimately meaningless milestones vs Buffalo.
Sit them for all 3 games if you are really, truly worried about injury. You’re not clairvoyant enough to know which snap is the one that a player gets injured during.
Can all you football fanatics spell PEYTON correctly instead of Payton??? Seems he’s been in the news enough to realize this.
Coach Caldwell was it you or polian making all the decisions this season? “Well, whenever bill told me what to do with this team he also told me that it was me who was making the decision. So bill said it was me. Does that answer your question?”
To all the deserving Colt players who won’t be getting any awards this year, blame it on polian. He is universally hated by all the media. He says that all media are scummy, slimeballs, never to be trusted, so to pay him back they are going to take it out on the Colt players.
I prefer the spelling “Seyton”, but it is Peyton.
Fan of football:
Good point. I’m a colts fan and i do think peyton manning deserves m.v.p, but peyton isn’t the only guy that rode the pine. I guess our entire second string minus a few starters aren’t as good as the jets and bills starters…yawn…manning for m.v.p..colts super bowl champions!1!1!1!