Jeff Saturday still upset about 2009

[bap1331]

I bet you a dollar to a donut Hank Baskett received death threats. 

I wouldn't doubt that at all. We have real crazy people out there and it was the SB. I was mad that we lost but people that do that type of stuff are just crazy! That's a bit overboard but stuff like that does happen. I definitely think he isn't a favorite here in Indianapolis.

Well people have to think about the probability of catching a bouncing football. It can go any direction. If it was a kick return, that would've been different. There's no excuse for those drops.

[jskinnz]

14 hours ago, Superman said:

 

My thing is, just play to win. This idea that a perfect season is no big deal is crazy to me, and that's what Polian's decision was based on. 19-0 would have been special, and it was worth taking a shot at it, IMO. 

 

Oh, I agree completely.  That was an awful decision.  I was at that game and the negative energy in the building after they pulled the 1's was amazing.  I think it has been continually compounded by Polian's refusal to admit it could have been handled differently.  

 

I heard him earlier this season on NFL radio talking about it again.  He said that their decision to play the 1's the next week in Buffalo had to do with them trying to get stats accumulated for future HoF consideration.  Said it was based on something that had happened in Buffalo where they felt they might have cost Thurman Thomas HoF chances by resting at the end of a season.  That explanation seemed less than genuine to me.  Dallas Clark was / is never going to the HoF.

 

Which is to say nothing about the history that comes with a team who achieves that perfect season.  The game is built on history and to abort the chance of his boggles my mind to this day.

[Gramz]

Jeff is not the only one.

[antipatriot]

I still believe we would have won the SB and had a perfect record of course that year if they had kept going and not rested players.  I think that one action took something away from the team emotionally and it carried over for the rest of the games we played that season.  It still pains me to think about that I was so so mad at the the time.

[jskinnz]

17 hours ago, Superman said:

 

2 hours ago, antipatriot said:

I still believe we would have won the SB and had a perfect record of course that year if they had kept going and not rested players.  I think that one action took something away from the team emotionally and it carried over for the rest of the games we played that season.  It still pains me to think about that I was so so mad at the the time.

 

Yeah, that one does not pass the smell test.  

 

So they were so emotionally wrecked that they won two convincing playoff games in the aftermath?  

 

Probably Baskett recovers the insides kick if they go for the perfect season, right?

 

Our Garcon was likely thinking about the Jets game 6 weeks earlier when he dropped that 3rd down pass, right?

 

Our Manning was so trashed from the decision that he threw the pick to Porter?  Coincidentally that was the same play that Reggie's grief from the Jets game hit forcing him to stop his route on the fateful pick 6.

[throwing BBZ]

On 12/17/2015 at 4:41 PM, chad72 said:

Yeah, that 2009 Colts team was living on the edge, figuring ways to win so many close games and to me, it was not the perfect season but the "mojo" and the "edge" that the team played with that was lost that day.

 

We lucked into the Ravens and Jets, both one dimensional teams in the playoffs, so we got to the SB, IMO, because we struggled vs balanced teams in the Patriots and then eventually the Saints.

 

Still, it didn't help us keep Freeney healthy, not going for the perfect season. It made less sense to go for Clark's 100 receptions in the Bills game in game 16 along the same lines. Oh well, that is an opportunity we will never get back again.

 

 

 More stupid Bull....
 Worried about injuries.
 The same dumb ___ stuff. We had a half dozen guys really banged up going INTO that game
 and they really didn`t need to be playing.
 Those guys needed to be pulled and Manning would have been at higher risk.
 A tough decision, but the right one. Get over it, Winning the SB is the GOAL!
 Oh ya, Reggie dogs a route and Manning gets Pic Sixed, and the Colts lose the SB !

[21isSuperman]

23 hours ago, jskinnz said:

 

Yeah, plenty of flaws with this plan - like what if the other team does not let you get so far out in front?  In the Jet game that got everyone so bothered, the Colts had the lead at the half.  NY returned the 2nd half kick for a TD to take the lead.  The Colts' # 1's went back out at this point and scored again.  That is when Painter & co were brought in.

That's true.  I'm not sure how the Colts approached it, if they told the players during the week or if they just pulled them out in the middle of the game without the players having any previous knowledge.  If it's the latter, then you're correct.  But if the players know they aren't going to play beyond 5 mins into the 3rd quarter, perhaps their preparation changes and they're more aggressive during the week/first half of the game so they can build a comfortable lead.

 

Bottom line, I think it's possible to get the win, but also keep your guys generally healthy.  As you said, though, it's impossible to be able to script it like that perfectly.

21 hours ago, Superman said:

 

My thing is, just play to win. This idea that a perfect season is no big deal is crazy to me, and that's what Polian's decision was based on. 19-0 would have been special, and it was worth taking a shot at it, IMO. 

Just to play Devil's Advocate, there's no guarantee we go 19-0 if we play out the regular season.  It remains possible that we go 16-0, have someone important get injured in win 15 or 16, then lose in divisional round because of that injury.  Instead, Polian would rather go 14-2 and keep the guys healthy so we have a better shot of making the Super Bowl.  If we did aim for 16-0 and had a torn ACL befall Wayne or Garcon in week 17, we probably wouldn't have made the Super Bowl and wouldn't have had a shot at 19-0.  Not saying I agree with it, but just trying to explain what I think Polian's thinking is.

[bababooey]

On December 17, 2015 at 6:12 PM, peytonmanning18 said:

 

I agree with your point about the Ravens and Jets.  If the Jets don't win in San Diego and we play SD instead, they probably would have wiped the floor with us.

Us beating the jets have them the opportunity to "win and in" against the bengals. The jets might not have even made the playoffs let alone the AFCCG if we beat them 

[chad72]

4 hours ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

 

 More stupid Bull....
 Worried about injuries.
 The same dumb ___ stuff. We had a half dozen guys really banged up going INTO that game
 and they really didn`t need to be playing.
 Those guys needed to be pulled and Manning would have been at higher risk.
 A tough decision, but the right one. Get over it, Winning the SB is the GOAL!
 Oh ya, Reggie dogs a route and Manning gets Pic Sixed, and the Colts lose the SB !

 

The thing is I don't think fans were in favor of playing injured guys anyways. What ifs ruled the decision to sit out starters, whether it was 2005 or 2009. I know for a certainty the Panther are sitting out players that are banged up, just like Jonathan Stewart, their starting RB. So, I am sure we could have won with only the starters that were healthy enough to play.

 

Bill Polian had something happen in 1999 that he did not want to happen again. In that last regular season game that was meaningless, I think it was Cornelius Bennett that was lost. That made Polian gun shy ever since then. Our run D suffered and Eddie George of the Titans ran all over us in the 1999 playoff game. That was one of the pivotal reasons Bill Polian was gun shy since then in playing starters but to me, it was an overreaction since then from Polian that cost us the 2005 playoffs following going 13-1, and cost us the perfect season in 2009.

 

I also think Bill Polian overpaid starters due to which he never had quality depth behind them, we all knew that fact as the years after 2007 unfolded. So, it gave more credibility in his own mind for sitting starters once AFC seedings were clinched but for the wrong reasons, to cover the roster shortcomings that were his own doing.

[jjcolts]

On 12/18/2015 at 7:51 AM, chad72 said:

 

I hope Hank Baskett feels that way.

 

that name boils my blood like no other...

 

Worst than Nick Harper. 

[jjcolts]

I vividly remember the full on war on this board during this time  ...

[antipatriot]

On 12/19/2015 at 10:32 AM, jskinnz said:

 

Yeah, that one does not pass the smell test.  

 

So they were so emotionally wrecked that they won two convincing playoff games in the aftermath?  

 

Probably Baskett recovers the insides kick if they go for the perfect season, right?

 

Our Garcon was likely thinking about the Jets game 6 weeks earlier when he dropped that 3rd down pass, right?

 

Our Manning was so trashed from the decision that he threw the pick to Porter?  Coincidentally that was the same play that Reggie's grief from the Jets game hit forcing him to stop his route on the fateful pick 6.

You can downplay that all you want but they would have had more of a winning edge mentally.  We disagree and I think your arguments are valid but as soon as I saw that happen I told my friends we would not win the SB.  Worst decision ever by a team.   As for Baskett well.....Hank

[tikyle]

Meh.

 

The goal is to make the Superbowl and win it.  Colts achieved half of that.  Getting to the SB 18-0 or 16-2 doesn't make much difference if you lose.  If they had WON the SB then as a player I'd really think "What if....."

[Hi-Tek]

I remember I got chastised on this very board for saying what a stupid thing it was for them to do and how it would deflate the players and they would lose confidence. You saw how they came out in the SB--a completely different team.