Have you even watched a football game in the past ten years?

Manning was surrounded by Pro Bowl talent and had a defense that was pretty damn good.

ragujar says:
Wow this team looks atrocious without him. A team that wins 12 games every year loses to the Browns at home because 1 guy is out?
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They were 10-6 last year, genius.

WITH Manning.

bobbinski1229 says:
I still don’t understand how Tom Brady was voted the number one player in that top 100 of 2011…. Nobody in the NFL matters more for their team then Manning… Didn’t the Pat’s go 11-5 when Brady was out for the season?
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So Manning is more important than Brady because his GM is too stupid to have a decent back-up on the bench?

Really?

Brady was voted #1 in 2011 because he makes every other QB look ridiculous. His performances in ’07, ’10, and ’11 are, in hindsight, going to make Peyton Manning, great as he was, look like Trent Dilfer.

AND he has more than one ring.

The worst case scenario would be going 7-9, not making the playoffs, and getting a mid to low pick in the draft.

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Finally someone else who sees it my way! it’s one thing if they didn’t have a rookie wage scale but now that they to a really bad season will be what’s best long term for the colts!

This just goes to show that you shouldn’t let one player dictate the future of the franchise. Peyton refused to come out of games, even in blowouts, to give the backups some valuable game snaps. He tried to break Farve’s consecutive game streak to the detriment of the team. Now Indy will be saddled with guaranteed money from this huge contract signed during which Peyton KNEW he was hurt.

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It’s only fitting that Manning tried to break Favre’s streak to the detriment of his team – Favre set the record the same way.

You’re both right. I stand corrected. That’s what I get for going off memory. The Colts are still cursed though – thanks to Polian.

Thanks for correcting me – we all need a little humility on occasion.

The Steelers beat the Jets that year to advance to the Super Bowl – the Colts never made it that far that year – sorry. Please look it up.

Looks like he did look it up already – you’re wrong. The Colts made it to the SB in their almost-undefeated year, after losing to the Jets in week 16 and beating them in the AFC champsionship game.

It was just last season that the Steelers beat the Jets to get into the SB, and the Colts were 10-6.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Indianapolis_Colts_season

That’s the problem, he’s a “columnist”. Never played or coached a down in the NFL. He’s a fan who works for the paper.

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You just descibred 99% of the sportswriters/casters in America, moron.

By the way,with all the ridiculous signings being thrown around in Indy these days (can you believe Polian never planned for THIS????), here’s one that I haven’t heard mentioned yet ……

Jim Sorgi.

Dude carried Manning’s clipboard for what, six years? Learned the offense well over that time, even played some “live”downs with it…. and he’s a FREE AGENT!!!!

Yeah, he dinged up a shoulder, but would you rather have a guy with a tweaked shoulder who knows this offense, or a cement-footed 82 year old Kerry Collins who won’t catch up until November, if ever?

Gotta be a better “bridge” than Painter, no?

Bill Walsh had a philosophy that it was better to trade players a year or two early than to try to trade players a year too late. Jerry Rice and Joe Montana found that out. No player should be bigger than the team as Indy is finding out the hard way. Polian should have done what’s best for the Colts, not Peyton Manning.

The Colts have a serviceable, ho-hum level of ability in most aspects of the game (including coaching). Every aspect of their team is taken to another level by a transcendant QB like Manning. Looking back at the Colts in about 10 years will reveal that they were basically the same team all along, with one shining stretch of life created by one exceptional player.

These Colts should have 3 SB rings by now. It’s inexcusable that the franchise hasn’t been able to surround Manning with better talent. There are ways around having a low draft position every season; look at the likes of New England, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans. You can make it work, but the Colts management has either simply been inadequate before the task, or have been trying to get by on the cheap.

Either way, the bill is coming due for the team, and they can’t make up for years of failing to supplement Manning with any acquisitions now. Favre can’t solve it. Collins can’t solve it. Only the best QB in the NFL can make this team elite, and he’s on the sideline.

Good thing Indy plays the Chiefs this year – they won’t be the worst in the league.

A) David Garrad

B) Daunte Culpepper

The Steelers beat the Jets that year to advance to the Super Bowl – the Colts never made it that far that year – sorry. Please look it up.

The guy’s a genius!

Brett Favre — tanned, fit, and ready for action!

Go -0 -16.
Fire all the coaches
Draft Andrew Luck.
Built a team around Andrew Luck.
Not Peyton Manning .

That’s the problem, he’s a “columnist”. Never played or coached a down in the NFL. He’s a fan who works for the paper.

Yeah, it sucks that they tanked the perfect season, but I wouldn’t have wanted the starters on the field the next week in the driving snow in Buffalo anyway. And they made it to the Super Bowl, so you can’t say the move backfired.

The Colt’s coaches and players decide the officials are against them, so they quit.