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Colts to induct Bill Polian to ROH during Jan 1 game vs Jags


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http://www.wthr.com/story/32263490/colts-to-induct-bill-polian-into-ring-of-honor

Colts to induct Bill Polian into Ring of Honor


Hall of Fame executive Bill Polian will become the 13th member of the Indianapolis Colts' Ring of Honor during a Jan. 1 game against Jacksonville.
    
He was the architect of the most successful era in the franchise's history in Indianapolis. After joining the team following the 1997 season, he drafted Peyton Manning with the No. 1 overall pick over Ryan Leaf and two-time NFL rushing champ Edgerrin James instead of Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams with Indy's first-round pick in 1999.
    
Indy responded with 10 more wins in 1999 than 1998, the largest one-season turnaround in league history. The Colts missed the playoffs just twice after that and his teams won two AFC titles and the Super Bowl following the 2006 season.
    
Polian spent 14 of his 32 seasons in the NFL with Indianapolis. He won NFL Executive of the Year six times, including twice with the Colts. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015.

"He was one of the most innovative personalities to ever grace our sport, and his passion for the game was and still is unmatched. I will always be grateful to Bill for his contributions to the Colts, and to the NFL," said Colts owner Jim Irsay.

The current Ring of Honor includes Robert Irsay (1996), Bill Brooks (1998), Ted Marchibroda (2000), Chris Hinton (2001), Jim Harbaugh (2005), Colts Nation (2007), Tony Dungy (2010), Marvin Harrison (2011), Edgerrin James (2012), Eric Dickerson (2013), Marshall Faulk (2013) and Jeff Saturday (2015).

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I'm relatively happy with where the org is going rn, but will always miss the days of Peyton throwing Tds to Marvin, Edge carving up defenses every Sunday, Reggie making unbelievable catches, Mathis and Freeney coming off the edge, and Sanders hitting everything that moved. That was such a great time to be a colts fan, and polian was the genius behind it all.

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Well deserved. Very happy for him and his family. He joins a very select few whom have made great things happen in Indy :) Made sure to get his autograph after the game when Marv jammed his shoulder(caught Marv and his family leaving after the game also, but he didn't stop due to the sling on his arm). 

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19 minutes ago, 21isSuperman said:

Interesting choice for when they do it.  Does it possibly have something to do with having his son in attendance, as Chris is still an exec with the Jags?

 

Likely so. Could be also one of those "try to pick a guaranteed win" kind of selections.

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7 hours ago, 21isSuperman said:

Interesting choice for when they do it.  Does it possibly have something to do with having his son in attendance, as Chris is still an exec with the Jags?

 

Yes I believe that's why they did it its similar to when the Hornets retired Dell Curry's jersey vs the Warriors so Steph could be there

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1 minute ago, shakedownstreet said:

had polian taken leaf over manning, he'd be parking cars at the rca dome right now

Isn't that the truth LOL. Man what a blunder that would've been. I wonder why Bob Sanders isn't in the ring of honor? I have been pitching for that for years. He won DPOY in 2007 and was the main reason our Defense played Great in the 2006 SB win.

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48 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Isn't that the truth LOL. Man what a blunder that would've been. I wonder why Bob Sanders isn't in the ring of honor? I have been pitching for that for years. He won DPOY in 2007 and was the main reason our Defense played Great in the 2006 SB win.

Sanders was great but I don't think his greatness was long enough to be considered for the ROH, IMO.

 

Additionally Rob Morris coming in at SSLB was another big reason the defense improved so much for the playoff run and SB.

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1 hour ago, Coffeedrinker said:

Sanders was great but I don't think his greatness was long enough to be considered for the ROH, IMO.

 

Additionally Rob Morris coming in at SSLB was another big reason the defense improved so much for the playoff run and SB.

Picking up Booger mid season was huge too. That gave us a huge a NT as well.

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3 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Picking up Booger mid season was huge too. That gave us a huge a NT as well.

Yeah, people always said Polian didn't do anything to improve the DTs but he did more things, especially more things that were out of character for him, to improve the DTs, he just had terrible luck with it.  Corey simon, Boogre McFarland, signing free agents every year, drafting players.  

 

Everyone was excited, Pitcock had shown a lot the previous year and most were expecting him to be a starter, then he decides to retire because he was addicted to video games.  Simon, played well for one season, Booger was a great signing but then got injured and I don't think took the field again.  Montae Reagor was a good signing but then he couldn't play in denver because of a warrant out for his arrest.  Polian was cursed at the DT position.

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2 minutes ago, Coffeedrinker said:

Yeah, people always said Polian didn't do anything to improve the DTs but he did more things, especially more things that were out of character for him, to improve the DTs, he just had terrible luck with it.  Corey simon, Boogre McFarland, signing free agents every year, drafting players.  

 

Everyone was excited, Pitcock had shown a lot the previous year and most were expecting him to be a starter, then he decides to retire because he was addicted to video games.  Simon, played well for one season, Booger was a great signing but then got injured and I don't think took the field again.  Montae Reagor was a good signing but then he couldn't play in denver because of a warrant out for his arrest.  Polian was cursed at the DT position.

When we picked up Simon I was excited. I thought he would dominate with Freeney and Mathis on the Ends. It didn't pan out but I don't fault Polian for trying on that move. Booger worked out nicely for the 1 year. We needed that to help against the run.

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19 hours ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

When we picked up Simon I was excited. I thought he would dominate with Freeney and Mathis on the Ends. It didn't pan out but I don't fault Polian for trying on that move. Booger worked out nicely for the 1 year. We needed that to help against the run.

 

that 2005 defense with simon in the middle was he best we ever saw during the manning era. he just didn't work out long term

 

2005 colts was the most complete colts team i have ever seen

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1 hour ago, shakedownstreet said:

 

that 2005 defense with simon in the middle was he best we ever saw during the manning era. he just didn't work out long term

 

2005 colts was the most complete colts team i have ever seen

That was when talk really exploded about Manning not being able to win in the playoffs.  That was one of the best overall in the history of the NFL and then they get bounced 1st round of the playoffs.  I still firmly believe the Colts would have gone all the way if it wasn't for Dungy's tragedy.  I credit Dungy with trying to get back to work so quickly but there is no way his head was in practices or the game.

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3 hours ago, FL Colts Fan said:

I truly support Polian's induction. We can only hope Grigson turns a 180 and becomes as successful as Polian.

He don't have to make any turns. Grigson's record in his first four years with the Colts is quite a bit better than Polians was. I am not saying Grigson is going to be the same league as Polian but Grigson hasn't been as bad as you are suggesting. His first three seasons were a lot better than Polians even after cleaning up the cap mess that Polian left. Polians 4 th year record was 6-10 with Manning playing the whole season.

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7 hours ago, shakedownstreet said:

 

that 2005 defense with simon in the middle was he best we ever saw during the manning era. he just didn't work out long term

 

2005 colts was the most complete colts team i have ever seen

I think talent wise it was our best team I agree. Picking up Vinny and getting rid of Vander was huge though. Vinny was money in the 2006 Playoffs. He won the game against the Ravens basically.

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6 hours ago, Coffeedrinker said:

That was when talk really exploded about Manning not being able to win in the playoffs.  That was one of the best overall in the history of the NFL and then they get bounced 1st round of the playoffs.  I still firmly believe the Colts would have gone all the way if it wasn't for Dungy's tragedy.  I credit Dungy with trying to get back to work so quickly but there is no way his head was in practices or the game.

Yeah that loss was worse than the Saints loss because we were at home and definitely had the better team. We just choked. It wasn't so much Peyton, our O.Line was horrible that game.

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On 6/21/2016 at 3:36 AM, Gavin said:

Well deserved...I do wonder why it took 5 years to do it though. Its not unusual for that to happen but I'm curious as to why it took as long as it did. The man is 73

 

While there is no five year wait period, such as for players and coaches, to induct a contributor, the delay could possibly be because of a backlog. Only one contributor a year can be selected. All Contributor finalists are selected annually by five members, on a rotational basis, of a nine-member subcommittee of the Selection Committee .

 

But for 2015, the HOF rules board approved a temporary measure allowing for two Contributor finalists in years one, three and five, over the next five years. That move allowed for both Bill Polian and Ron Wolf to be selected in 2015. Only one contributor candidate (Edward DeBartolo, Jr.) was selected for 2016.  In 2017 and 2019, 2 contributors can be selected.  Then the temporary measure is ended.

 

To make up for the potential additional contributor finalist, the senior committee can only select one candidate in those years 1, 3, and 5 instead of 2 of the measure to keep the maximum total lof nominees at eight

 

Each teams city has a voting rep at the HOF.  For Indy the rep is

 

  Mike Chappell, RTV6 - ABC Affiliate Indianapolis

.

Congrats to Bill on the ROH.

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1 hour ago, ColtsBlueFL said:

 

While there is no five year wait period, such as for players and coaches, to induct a contributor, the delay could possibly be because of a backlog. Only one contributor a year can be selected. All Contributor finalists are selected annually by five members, on a rotational basis, of a nine-member subcommittee of the Selection Committee .

 

But for 2015, the HOF rules board approved a temporary measure allowing for two Contributor finalists in years one, three and five, over the next five years. That move allowed for both Bill Polian and Ron Wolf to be selected in 2015. Only one contributor candidate (Edward DeBartolo, Jr.) was selected for 2016.  In 2017 and 2019, 2 contributors can be selected.  Then the temporary measure is ended.

 

To make up for the potential additional contributor finalist, the senior committee can only select one candidate in those years 1, 3, and 5 instead of 2 of the measure to keep the maximum total lof nominees at eight

 

Each teams city has a voting rep at the HOF.  For Indy the rep is

 

  Mike Chappell, RTV6 - ABC Affiliate Indianapolis

.

Congrats to Bill on the ROH.

Does that have anything to do with the Colts ROH? I am under the understanding that Jim Irsay desides who gets on the Colts ROH being he is the owner.

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20 minutes ago, crazycolt1 said:

Does that have anything to do with the Colts ROH? I am under the understanding that Jim Irsay desides who gets on the Colts ROH being he is the owner.

 

I kind of think it does, because players are the typical ring of honor candidates. So unless you're a HOF'er as a coach or contributor, it's just not as likely, IMHO.  And it took special rules for Bill to get HOF in 2015 (or it could have been an even longer wait) which paves the way for other honors {IE: Ring of Honor}.  But maybe it didn't have anything to do with it at all.  I just have a gut feel it just might have.

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Did a bit of checking of a couple teams out of curiosity.

 

Cowboys Ring of Honor

Tom Landry   HOF 1990  ROH 1993  Head Coach
Tex Schramm  HOF 1993  ROH 2003  General Manager

 

Broncos Ring of Fame

Pat Bowlen  - (late former) Owner
Gerard Phipps - Former Owner

otherwise all players


Bears

When the new Soldier Field opened in 2003, the Bears unveiled what they call their ring of honor as panels inside the concourses honoring the 25 Bears players and 1 General Manager that are enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. If that GM is Jim Finks, he is also in the NFL HOF


Seattle Seahawks have a Radio announcer and  former HC Chuck Knox (always in NFL HOF discussions/voting) in their Ring of Honor, but suprisingly, not their Fans (12) like Irsay did to Colts Nation!!

 

Falcons have no non-player representatives in their ROH

 

49'ers moved theirs into the Team HOF museum. Some don't even (IE: Lions for one) have an official an ROH as such.

 

While not a direct correlation, I see the NFL HOF status (candidate or in) as being a contributing factor in many of these.

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3 hours ago, ColtsBlueFL said:

 

I kind of think it does, because players are the typical ring of honor candidates. So unless you're a HOF'er as a coach or contributor, it's just not as likely, IMHO.  And it took special rules for Bill to get HOF in 2015 (or it could have been an even longer wait) which paves the way for other honors {IE: Ring of Honor}.  But maybe it didn't have anything to do with it at all.  I just have a gut feel it just might have.

Bill Brooks is not in the NFL HOF but he is on the Colts ROH. I really don't think a teams ROH has anything to do with the NFL HOF.

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22 hours ago, FL Colts Fan said:

I truly support Polian's induction. We can only hope Grigson turns a 180 and becomes as successful as Polian.

So far he's on the right track. Both got to draft great QBs with the 1st overall pick. But Polian churned out Wayne, Mathis, Freeney, James, etc... Grigson's biggest hit outside of Luck has been Hilton who is on pace to break Harrison's records. He needs to find those game wreckers on defense though and find that bell cow back. But in terms of record and playoff performances, he's way ahead of where Polian was year 5.

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22 hours ago, FL Colts Fan said:

I truly support Polian's induction. We can only hope Grigson turns a 180 and becomes as successful as Polian.

So far he's on the right track. Both got to draft great QBs with the 1st overall pick. But Polian churned out Wayne, Mathis, Freeney, James, etc... Grigson's biggest hit outside of Luck has been Hilton who is on pace to break Harrison's records. He needs to find those game wreckers on defense though and find that bell cow back. But in terms of record and playoff performances, he's way ahead of where Polian was year 5.

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22 hours ago, FL Colts Fan said:

I truly support Polian's induction. We can only hope Grigson turns a 180 and becomes as successful as Polian.

So far he's on the right track. Both got to draft great QBs with the 1st overall pick. But Polian churned out Wayne, Mathis, Freeney, James, etc... Grigson's biggest hit outside of Luck has been Hilton who is on pace to break Harrison's records. He needs to find those game wreckers on defense though and find that bell cow back. But in terms of record and playoff performances, he's way ahead of where Polian was year 5.

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10 hours ago, crazycolt1 said:

Bill Brooks is not in the NFL HOF but he is on the Colts ROH. I really don't think a teams ROH has anything to do with the NFL HOF.

 

Players that were of exceptional contribution to a team yes {especially Indy in its early years away from Baltimore) .  Find a GM/ VP or other non player in a ROH/ROF that is not in the HOF or HOF eligible... on any team including Colts... in a ROH / ROF.  Few and far between... if there are any.

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2 hours ago, ColtsBlueFL said:

 

Players that were of exceptional contribution to a team yes {especially Indy in its early years away from Baltimore) .  Find a GM/ VP or other non player in a ROH/ROF that is not in the HOF or HOF eligible... on any team including Colts... in a ROH / ROF.  Few and far between... if there are any.

That is not what I said. I said a teams ROH has nothing to do with the NFL's HOF. It is an individual teams choice to put whom ever the owners wants to. They really have nothing to do with each other. If Jim Irsay wanted to put Jeff George on the Colts ROH it would be done. I know that is not going to happen but it is up to the owner. Jim Harbaugh is not close to being a NFL HOFer but he is on the Colts ROH. Ted Marchibroda is not in the NFL HOF either.

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On 6/26/2016 at 2:08 AM, crazycolt1 said:

That is not what I said. I said a teams ROH has nothing to do with the NFL's HOF. It is an individual teams choice to put whom ever the owners wants to. They really have nothing to do with each other. If Jim Irsay wanted to put Jeff George on the Colts ROH it would be done. I know that is not going to happen but it is up to the owner. Jim Harbaugh is not close to being a NFL HOFer but he is on the Colts ROH. Ted Marchibroda is not in the NFL HOF either.

 

Nothing to disagree with, but regarding thje bolded part- yes that is correct in a strict sense.  However, in a broad sense, no, they do seem as though they are connected in some way in practice judging by results.  I had not found a case of a GM/VP {non ownwer} that made a ROH or ROF before they made the HOF first. {maybe the NY Giants?} So that was my point about Polian. He's just another on that list, and though Irsay could have placed Polian on the ROH before hand, he did not.  And I explained why I think that is so.  Nothing more.

 

But Marchiboda point is valid, so really does beg the original question posed, why so long to put Polian there?

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I am really not sure but I think crazy is right. I don't think the HOFame has anything to do with ROHonor. Irsay can put anyone he wants in as can any owner when it come to ROHonor = I think?? I am happy Bill Brooks and Jim Harbaugh are in it. They are 2 of my favorite Indianapolis Colts. I truly believe Bob Sanders should be in it as well. I know Bob didn't have a long career but he was every bit as important to our franchise as Brooks and Harbaugh was. He won DPOY in 2007 being the only Indianapolis Colts player in history to do so and he was the main reason why we won the SB in 2006 other than Peyton.

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15 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

I am really not sure but I think crazy is right. I don't think the HOFame has anything to do with ROHonor. Irsay can put anyone he wants in as can any owner when it come to ROHonor = I think?? I am happy Bill Brooks and Jim Harbaugh are in it. They are 2 of my favorite Indianapolis Colts. I truly believe Bob Sanders should be in it as well. I know Bob didn't have a long career but he was every bit as important to our franchise as Brooks and Harbaugh was. He won DPOY in 2007 being the only Indianapolis Colts player in history to do so and he was the main reason why we won the SB in 2006 other than Peyton.

The run game was what really won that game between Rhodes and Addai. 40 rush attempts between them for 191 yards and a TD and then the Kelvin Hayden return for a TD

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