Comments on: Polian thinks he was fired for not having a better backup plan at quarterback

By: circlecity185

circlecity185 — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:00:34 +0000

philyeagles5 says:
Jan 4, 2012 5:31 PM
you were fired because the Colts were exposed for who they really are.

Really??? This coming from an eagles fan. Lets try to buy a championship. How did that work out philyeagles5.
Now you are stuck with con-Vick, just good enough to get his money, not good enough to win anything.

Good luck. Colts will be back as superbowl contenders before the eagles.

By: blushu

blushu — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 01:40:07 +0000

1historian :

irsay accuses polian of nepotism?

that is RICH. irsay got HIS gig purely out of competence I suppose.
_________________________

There is a huge difference between inheritance and nepotism.

By: popolover

popolover — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:12:20 +0000

Maybe senility has hit you Bill. Have you not read ANYTHING about yourself in the last 3 weeks????
Why don’t you call up ALL the X Colts employees that were downsized, laidoff, retired, moved on, ect because of your reign of terror? Start with Zunk and go down the list.
Your short temper, thinking rules don’t apply to you such as: pumping in noise, hitting other teams employees, verbally abusing colts employees, yelling at the hot dog person at the gas station down the road, yelling break his leg about the opoposing team…… that is jsut what the public knows or should I continue. To me you ruined you HOF career these past years, in BEHAVIOR alone. That is not the conduct of any HOFer. People all over Indy want to tell their run ins with you since you are gone, and it is only day 3!!!!!
Your family deserves nothing more….. I don’t care where you go, as long as you are out of Indy, But I promise I will be haunting you wherever you go.

By: rufhausen

rufhausen — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:12:22 +0000

It’s simple:
People will put up with a-holes when the team is winning, but it gets old fast when the team is losing (i.e., Bob Knight).

By: theravens1

theravens1 — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:45:59 +0000

He was fired because he didn’t have a good plan for the entire balance of the team. Injuries happen, but when someone (Payton) is so superior at his position than all other players, if he goes down so goes the team. If, the team had more balance, and had better players, and lost a qb they could bring in another qb and win. The other players were not good enough to step up and win.

So the reason wasn’t that he lost his job because he didn’t have a good qb back up plan, it was because he never upgraded the rest of the team, and relied soley on one guy for the success of the entire team. And, once Payton went down – it showed.

By: indywilson40

indywilson40 — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:29:51 +0000

Go Coats!!!!!!!

By: gmen1987

gmen1987 — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:14:41 +0000

napgamer says:
Jan 4, 2012 6:27 PM
It’s easy to see why he was fired. He had one good draft pick in all his years in indy. Not even one good draft class just one good pick. Jeez if that one pick hadn’t of been one of the best QB’s ever he would have been gone along time ago.
Throw in trying to make his son an heir apparent and as an owner I would not trust hime.

===================================
Goobs,

What do you call Edgarin James, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark who were 1st round draft picks by Polian? Busts?

By: Herb

Herb — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:36:33 +0000

No one is stating the obvious: the organization was so far up its own 4ss that it allowed Tony Dungy to hand-pick a successor who has NOOOOOOO business being an NFL head coach.

By: patpatriotagain

patpatriotagain — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 07:51:48 +0000

most overrated position in football: backup QB. nobody is winning with their backup, unless you get extremely lucky like the packers with Flynn or The Pats did with Cassell.
Does anyone think that Houston will win w/o Shaub, or Saints could win w/o Brees?

There’s a new NFL motto, learn it well:
QB’s win championships

By: broncobillie

broncobillie — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:16:49 +0000

If Bill Polian kept on working as he did earlier he might still have a job. Handing over his work to his son and not making sure his son delivered = good cause for firing. The lack of backup QB just exposed that for all to see.

Kudos to Irsay for pulling the trigger.

By: tashkalucy

tashkalucy — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:59:27 +0000

It seems to me that there were a number of reasons he was fired, and one being at the top of the list was him making his kid an NFL GM.

Was Robert Irsey going to put a billion dollar operation in the hands of a kid that was even more immature and inept then Phil Savage?

By: yevrag3535

yevrag3535 — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:46:46 +0000

No, really? Geeze you really fooled me on that one.

By: bittersportspills

bittersportspills — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:38:02 +0000

“I’ve always told the staff that our approach should be to hope for the best but plan for the worst, and I didn’t do an adequate enough job of planning for the circumstances we were in”

Ya think?

Don’t you think you might want to plan on filling the most important position on your football team, when your starter can’t throw a football?

By: reggiebush25

reggiebush25 — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:20:50 +0000

Don’t bring in Angelo, he didn’t know he had Tony Montana (Sam Hurd) in his locker room.

By: cardmagnet

cardmagnet — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:02:05 +0000

The Colts now have Andrew Luck as a backup plan…sounds like a good plan to me. Poor Polian.

By: dougydougdoug

dougydougdoug — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 03:45:55 +0000

Actually, he DID have a backup plan. It was to lose every game this year, then draft Luck for next year. You silly people! Long term plan.

By: dietrich43

dietrich43 — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 03:44:50 +0000

Polian let a few players take up most of the team’s cap room. If they had a more balanced roster, instead of having so many millions tied up in Manning, Freeney, and Wayne, they would ahve been more competitive this year.

What team doesn’t invest some effort into having a backup QB ready to start and win some games? Admitting that you didn’t have a plan for the backup at your most important position is idiotic.

By: thefiesty1

thefiesty1 — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 02:43:24 +0000

They could of had Romo if they’d just asked.

By: texansfan2011

texansfan2011 — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 02:36:25 +0000

edukator4 says:
Jan 4, 2012 7:19 PM
texans fan up there, the texans had their qb for better part of the season. without schaub you lost to carolina, tennessee and indy(and the refs). without schaub the texans dont make the playoffs but are 500 or 7-9. in reality though the two are not comparable because indy lost more than a qb, it lost its offensive coordinator too

///////////////////////////////////////////////

Point proven by you alone, one person down and out you take away two people. The last time I checked football was a team sport, not a one man show. So the Colts are just a one man team by your accords, we lose our Super Star, let’s just pack it in and QUIT………….

By: j0esixpack

j0esixpack — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 02:29:32 +0000

He had a backup plan – it was to have the team tank games to draft Peyton’s backup once Manning suffered a career threatening injury.

Mission accomplished with Luck and a likely Franchise QB for the next 15 years instead of possibly none from Peyton.

It’s a wise move for the Colts long term – but a PR nightmare for the entire league – thus, fire Polian and make the team appear upset to have the rights to draft Luck.

By: hardheadcountryboy

hardheadcountryboy — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:58:37 +0000

Ha ha – he first got the NaPolian tag on Buffalo……I remember hearing a couple of radio guys talking about it at the time and about what a general douchenozzle he was….I still think Ralph, Buddy, or Russ should call him… maybe come back as a personnel consultant or something…

By: jamiebuf12

jamiebuf12 — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:41:00 +0000

bill please come back home to buffalo and fix this mess:-) i will say sorry for ralph wilson upfront………..go bills in 2012:-)

By: swinbun

swinbun — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:09:44 +0000

1historian……..please remind me again the last time the Patriots have won a playoff game???? Ya

Funny thing is, the Patriots have turned into the Colts of the early to mid 2000′s. All offense and no defense…..Soft…….the same things Pats fans used to rub in the faces of Colts fans. LOL

By: backindasaddle

backindasaddle — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:04:29 +0000

I wonder if maybe he got fired for complacency. The Colts have been on cruise control ever since they got Peyton. Peyton has been the key to all the success. All the other players are basically interchangable parts and even when they had horrible defenses or bad special teams it didn’t really matter so much….13 wins every year. Maybe Bill got a bit “Fat & Happy”. I was going to say “Fat & Happy & Arrogant”…. but the arrogance has always been there. Maybe Napolian figured he could kick back a bit, let Peyton Manning continue winning regardless of the other pieces, let his kid take more control, not really put the effort in anymore and ended up doing things like having that joke Caldwell as your HC and failing to get a decent backup for Manning. Maybe Irsay saw this, maybe Irsay also saw that others in the organization weren’t all that pleased with concept of nepotism. Maybe Irsay was tired of his controlling, manipulative and arrogant ways. Maybe he said to himself….’I'm not gonna put up with that if Bill’s not even gonna put forth the sort of effort he used to before.’ I think it was time for a change. Too much success breeds complacency. Irsay made the right decision at the right time. The franchise is at a huge crossroads and the right choices need to be made now for the right reasons.

I say: Congratulations Mr. Irsay! We’re all very proud of you. You had the stones to do the right thing, at the right time, for the right reasons, and not allow that domineering, dictatorial little general lead you around by the nose now that it’s time for these important decisions to be made.

By: ravensfan4life52

ravensfan4life52 — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:03:54 +0000

No only winning one Super Bowl with one of the greatests QB’s to ever step on the field due to your inability to draft a defense, a running back, and a offensive line is why you got fired. Oh and because you’re an idiot and don’t know what you’re doing.

By: hardheadcountryboy

hardheadcountryboy — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:47:22 +0000

Polian was fired in Buffalo for feuding with treasurer Jeff Lippmann….he knew at the start of the season he was leaving… the deal with Ralph was if they won the Super Bowl it would be a resignation – anything else would be a firing….having said that Ralph should call him….ya his recent drafts in Indy sucked (think he was not totally in charge of that) but no team ever again will appear in 4 consecutive Super Bowls…..that should be his legacy but due to his own ego it won’t be…..

By: 1historian

1historian — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:45:44 +0000

Pats’ Fan here:

There were 53 players on the Pats’ roster for Super Bowl 42.

47 of the players on that roster 4 seasons ago have been replaced – 88.6 %. The team has won 50 of the 66 games it has played since then – 75.6%.

When Brady went down in the 1st game of the 2008 season his replacement stepped right in and the Pats went 11-5. Yes Cassell was a system quarterback – what is the problem? (none)

Brady’s primary backup is Hoyer – 3 years on the sidelines watching #12 and now he’s ready. After him is that dude they got in the 3rd round from Arkansas whose name I forget and who previously played at Michigan.

8 players invited to the Pro Bowl. 2nd year TE had the greatest season for a TE in league history.

Last season they lost 2 games in a row for the 1st time in about 6 seasons.

Yeah I know the D sucks but 13 wins is 13 wins. Buffalo ran up 21 points on them and then – NADA. 49-21.

I know you haters out there are having fits but even YOU must admit that Belichik is at his most dangerous when he is forced to improvise.

SB XLVI: (NE)P – (GB)P

NE – XXXV GB XXXI

Their latest win streak started the week after they released Haynesworth.

By: 1historian

1historian — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:42:57 +0000

Pats’ Fan here:

There were 53 players on the Pats’ roster for Super Bowl 42.

47 of the players on that roster 4 seasons ago have been replaced – 88.6 %. The team has won 50 of the 66 games it has played since then – 75.6%.

When Brady went down in the 1st game of the 2008 season his replacement stepped right in and the Pats went 11-5. Yes Cassell was a system quarterback – what is the problem? (none)

8 players invited to the Pro Bowl. 2nd year TE had the greatest season for a TE in league history.

Last season they lost 2 games in a row for the 1st time in about 6 seasons.

Yeah I know the D sucks but 13 wins is 13 wins. Buffalo ran up 21 points on them and then – NADA. 49-21.

I know you haters out there are having fits but even YOU must admit that Belichik is

Their latest win streak started the week after they released Haynesworth.

By: commandercornpone

commandercornpone — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:36:44 +0000

his irascibility was the real reason. maybe the poor drafting and tying to peyton (only good pick… no… but close…) hurt.

the poor record was a cover story. now, collins was a ok-to-good qb for a long time. but he had retired and it was pretty obvious he just came back for the money this season.

inference from article is that polian knowingly tanked the season. have always thought caldwell was just a sock puppet.

when did the colts know manning wouldnt be back for the season… before the season they obviously passed on vince young (agreed, good move), mcnabb (another good move), kolb (maybe a good move), bulger (perhaps a good move).

after the season started they passed on delhomme and garcia (poor move), mccown (yes, another poor move), clemens (yes, poor move), palmer (yes, a poor move), garrard (good move), orton (poor move).

failing additional move, even good ones… they should have started orlovsky sooner.

By: 1historian

1historian — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:22:02 +0000

irsay accuses polian of nepotism?

that is RICH. irsay got HIS gig purely out of competence I suppose.