A recent item from Bob Kravitz of WTHR.com, about which we previously posted a blurb, suggests that Colts owner Jim Irsay may have a problem with franchise quarterback Andrew Luck over things that Irsay has been saying. The latest example, however, of something Irsay said was not accurately relayed by Kravitz.
Kravitz wrote that former Colts coach Tony Dungy, while appearing on The Dan Patrick Show, said this about Luck’s lingering shoulder problems: “I don’t know what’s going on there. Jim Irsay made a comment to me about six weeks ago, ‘It’s inside his head now.’”
However, Dungy did not say “to me.” Dungy was instead referring to something Irsay had said publicly in the past. Kravitz nevertheless characterized it as something Irsay said to Dungy when Dungy was in Indianapolis for the dedication of Peyton Manning’s statue.
“I never had a conversation with Jim Irsay,” Dungy told PFT. “I never said I had a conversation with Jim Irsay.”
WTHR.com has since changed the story to omit “to me” and to mention in a correction that the prior version of the item incorrectly said Dungy claimed he had a conversation with Irsay.
Put simply, Dungy was characterizing to Dan Patrick things that Irsay had said publicly, not sharing publicly the contents of a private communication. Dungy didn’t do that, because there was no private conversation to share.
None of this changes the fact that Irsay has said publicly some things that suggest he believes Luck’s problems are as much or more mental than physical. But to the extent that Dungy’s comments were the catalyst for an item that focuses on the dynamic, the truth is that the evidence has been out there, for a while, and that Dungy wasn’t violating any confidences in saying what he said about Irsay’s comments.