As the Colts prepare to attempt to match their 2011 win total with a game against the team that won 15 regular-season games last season, their interim head coach has a message for all fans of the team.
“We cannot allow the Cheeseheads to come in here and take over,” Bruce Arians said Thursday, via Mike Chappell of the Indianapolis Star.
“Having been against the Packers, I know how their fans travel,” Arians said. “No way can they come into Lucas Oil this week and take over our stadium.”
It wouldn’t be the first time it happened. Arians mentioned a 1999 home playoff game -- the first of Peyton Manning’s career -- during which a vocal contingent of Titans fans forced the Colts to use a silent count.
There’s a fine line between encouraging fans to be louder than the fans of the visiting team and urging fans to take steps to quiet the fans of the visiting team. In the latter case, one thing could lead to another very quickly, and oversized foam wedge of cheese could end up getting stuffed in a place where oversized foam wedges of cheese aren’t supposed to go.
Really, what should Colts fans do if Packers fans are being loud when the Colts are on offense? Politely ask the Colts fans to please be quiet? Fold their arms and give them a dirty look?
Efforts by fans to get opposing fans to pipe down can quickly become the kind of stuff that the NFL doesn’t want to see happen in NFL stadiums. But that’s essentially what Arians’ request could trigger.