Polian scheme

[Fx Stryker]

You're saying that Manning would've won 10 games or more with the Colts this year, yet do not give credit to Luck for doing just that. Secondly, with Manning on the team, we could not afford some of the players that we were able to sign. Therefore, he would not be playing for a team that resembles the 2012 Colts, and therefore, you do not know that he would've won 10+games.

 

Who did we sign last year, that actually cost a chunk of change, that truly helped us do anything? Satele?

[GoColts8818]

Who did we sign last year, that actually cost a chunk of change, that truly helped us do anything? Satele?

We re-signed Reggie Wayne he's the big one that I have seen reported that we would have had a hard time keeping had Peyton been retained.  I also doubt we would have been able to bring in Cory Redding.

 

At this point it's all coulda, woulda, shoulda, and is just one giant what if game that we will probably never know the real answers to. 

[Fx Stryker]

We re-signed Reggie Wayne he's the big one that I have seen reported that we would have had a hard time keeping had Peyton been retained.  I also doubt we would have been able to bring in Cory Redding.

 

At this point it's all coulda, woulda, shoulda, and is just one giant what if game that we will probably never know the real answers to. 

 

True very true.

 

Freeney's contract could have been worked on. Releasing Peyton only truly gave us the option to experiment with him as an OLB for $14M.

 

But it is all coulda, woulda, shoulda...

[GoColts8818]

True very true.

 

Freeney's contract could have been worked on. Releasing Peyton only truly gave us the option to experiment with him as an OLB for $14M.

 

But it is all coulda, woulda, shoulda...

Yep they might have very well released Freeney to make it work.  It would have been a very different world that would probably would have involved a lot of complex steps and it probably wouldn't have been as simple as keep Peyton Manning and do nothing else. 

[lollygagger8]

Oh, and don't forget....Na'Polian is the one who dismantled our O-Line after the Super Bowl Loss to New Orleans because he blamed the loss on the O-Line. Ei yi yi.

[BrentMc11]

Oh, and don't forget....Na'Polian is the one who dismantled our O-Line after the Super Bowl Loss to New Orleans because he blamed the loss on the O-Line. Ei yi yi.

 

UH.......UH....UH......How's that workin' for ya?  Tell Chris I said hello William! 

[Superman]

True very true.

 

Freeney's contract could have been worked on. Releasing Peyton only truly gave us the option to experiment with him as an OLB for $14M.

 

But it is all coulda, woulda, shoulda...

 

We also kept Mathis. Signed Cory Redding.

[unitaswestand]

Bill Polian is one of the great talent evaluators of all time.  I think he gets a bad rap lately.  Sure, his last few drafts weren't great.  But we don't know how much of that was Chris Polian.   But take a look at the last 4-5 drafts for the Patriots.  With all their picks, look how many misses they have had.  And Belichick supposed to be good at that.

 

I don't think it has to be Polian or Grigson. I look at them more like Manning and Luck.  We went from one great talent guy to potentially another!

[crazycolt1]

How many did he get to? SEVEN!!!   :dancing:

No doubt that Polian was good at finding good talent but he was very poor at running a team as far as the cap is concerned.  His back loading contracts put the Colts in cap purgatory. The Colts were so lucky to have Luck fall into their laps after the Painter and Collins fiasco.  Even after years of getting beat in the early rounds of the playoffs Polian did very little in improving the Colts over time. Just re mount on Mannings back and expect him to carry the load.  Not only did Manning carry the Colts on his back he also carried Polian as well. Mannings ability over came a less than average defense and special teams play for years.  In my opinion Polian contributed to Manning not winning more championships than one due to the fact of his arrogance and narrow mind set not to help Manning by putting a better total team together. 

[Superman]

No doubt that Polian was good at finding good talent but he was very poor at running a team as far as the cap is concerned.  His back loading contracts put the Colts in cap purgatory. The Colts were so lucky to have Luck fall into their laps after the Painter and Collins fiasco.  Even after years of getting beat in the early rounds of the playoffs Polian did very little in improving the Colts over time. Just re mount on Mannings back and expect him to carry the load.  Not only did Manning carry the Colts on his back he also carried Polian as well. Mannings ability over came a less than average defense and special teams play for years.  In my opinion Polian contributed to Manning not winning more championships than one due to the fact of his arrogance and narrow mind set not to help Manning by putting a better total team together. 

 

Backloading doesn't put a team in cap purgatory. It's overpaying for your own free agents, especially when they wind up not living up to their contracts. Clark fell off, Addai shouldn't have been resigned, Brackett fell off, Hayden never performed (and that was a stupid position to spend so much money on, given our defensive system), Lilja got hurt, Sanders stayed hurt...

 

And on top of that, the Colts recent drafting wasn't very good, so the replacements weren't on the roster. But the contract structures weren't the problem.

 

Grigson and Pagano decided to stick it out with Freeney last year, but they could have alleviated a lot of cap pain by trading him for whatever they could, or releasing him. An extra $14m in cap space last year would have made us players for top level offensive linemen. We could have signed a tackle and a guard, or a lineman and a pass rusher. That's really the only decision they made that I didn't agree with last offseason.

[Buck Showalter]

I still hold a grudge against Polian for "throwing" the perfect season...lol...

 

I think Polians ego got the better of him and around the 2006/2007 draft he really just seemed to go for the "unorthodox" draft pick on purpose... thats how it seemed at least...

lots of high draft picks were head scrathchers & several positions of desperate need were hardly ever addressed, i.e. - how many years were fans clamoring for a DT... (and what happened the year he brought in a halfway decent F.A. DT???)

anyways, while Polian built a great team, he had some bad drafts & at times his "control" of the team may have hindered the franchise...

anyways, hindsights 20/20

Glad Grigs is running the show now...

[Superman]

I still hold a grudge against Polian for "throwing" the perfect season...lol...

 

I think Polians ego got the better of him and around the 2006/2007 draft he really just seemed to go for the "unorthodox" draft pick on purpose... thats how it seemed at least...

lots of high draft picks were head scrathchers & several positions of desperate need were hardly ever addressed, i.e. - how many years were fans clamoring for a DT... (and what happened the year he brought in a halfway decent F.A. DT???)

anyways, while Polian built a great team, he had some bad drafts & at times his "control" of the team may have hindered the franchise...

anyways, hindsights 20/20

Glad Grigs is running the show now...

 

Polian had lots of faults, and he does deserve some blame for the roster deficiencies over the years. The Decision of 2009 is unforgivable, and worse was his media relations in the aftermath. But I do think he gets a little bit more criticism than he ought to.

[GoColts8818]

Polian had lots of faults, and he does deserve some blame for the roster deficiencies over the years. The Decision of 2009 is unforgivable, and worse was his media relations in the aftermath. But I do think he gets a little bit more criticism than he ought to.

Personally I think the decision to trade a first for Ugoh and then having a bad draft the next year was a lot more unforgivable than 2009.  Other than a horrible PR nightmare that didn't do any kind of long term damage to the team despite what people remember about it.  Those bad draft picks hurt the team a lot more than the call to rest the starters in 2009.  With that said what you said at the end is very true.  If you listen to what some say about Polian you would think he did nothing good here when in reality he built the Colts from pretty much NFL laughing stock to NFL powerhouse.  I agree though he shares in the blame for the team coming apart towards the end it was his poor draft classes towards the end and bad contracts to certain players really hurt them. 

[Buck Showalter]

Polian had lots of faults, and he does deserve some blame for the roster deficiencies over the years. The Decision of 2009 is unforgivable, and worse was his media relations in the aftermath. But I do think he gets a little bit more criticism than he ought to.

True,

Guess his attitude just started getting off-putting too...

What first seemed like decisive, self assured, self confidence, sorta turned into cynical, I know better than you, arrogance...

Or maybe I'm just still mad about the Jets game... LOL...

I still remember the In Polian We Trust days deep down... LOL