Points for Discussion

So, as we know, the Colts loss in Superbowl 44 has been handled quite differenly by each and every one of us; Some have blamed the defense, some have blamed coaching, others have blamed special teams and a few individuals had the stupidity to blame Peyton Manning.  There have been Trolls on this site, there have been posts about people bitching at one another and there have been posts about Polian's head rollin'.  Some of us look to next year in anticipation while some of us continue to dwell on what could have been.  Some of us wanted to be 19-0, some us were more than happy with 17-2.  A few have started discussing draft needs and free agency, while other discussed the 11 "Real Colts Fans" at the airport...I am here to try and set everything straight.

1)  This is a sports blog, not a place to take shots at one another; disagreements, arguments and differing opinions are okay, but really, lets try to focus on football and only football here.

2)  I guess the phrase "You don't know what you have until its gone" is quite applicable here - A few people want Polian to be forced to resign, but let's look back at Colts life before Polian.  Are you serious?  He helped build a team that has had a shot at a championship for multiple consecutive years now.  The Colts lack of playoff success isn't this mans fault - the only thing he can control is what he has the ability to control.  He is not responsible for a missed field goal, a dropped pass, an errand pass or the defense getting lit up in the Superbowl.  Our team won 23 straight games and more games this decade than anyone else, so obviously this guy is doing something right with putting the pieces together.

3)  The Superbowl - Fact of the matter is the Saints wanted it more and played with a "live hard die hard" mentality and for them, it paid off.  Yes, we could have done a couple of things differently; not getting away from the run, punt instead of the 50+ yard field goal to give the Saints ideal field position and letting the best QB throw it at the end of the 1st half to do what he does best; score with the 2 minute offense.  But let's look at it from a different perspective for a second - no one, except ourselves expected us to be here before the season started and during the beginning of the season; Coaching changes, issues with re-signing Mudd and Moore, Gonzo goes down, Hagler goes down, Jackson goes down, Vinateri goes down and Sanders goes down.  Hayden misses ample time and 2 rookie CB's are expected to fill in...everything seemed to be stacked against us, and although a win would have been beautiful, we just lost an extremely close game to the other #1 seed and there is absolutely no shame in that given everything.

4)  We do have some changes that need to be made before the 2010 season.  We need more depth at a lot of positions and we do need to improve the special teams play.  But again, who better than to do this than Polian?  We will make the appropriate changes, additions and deletions and be back stronger than ever.

5)  The "undefeated" season - there is no telling what the right or wrong move was here.  Only the man upstairs knows what could have been, so enough with this already.  No one knows if we would have endured more injuries or if trying to kick ass would have changed the outcome of the big game....there is no way of telling this.  Polian and management are going to do what they want, and although we have the right to disagree with them and voice our concern, ultimately, every teams goal is to get to and win the Superbowl, and by God, we were so close to doing that.  This is a useless arguement at this point as there is really no way in telling what the right or wrong move was.

6)  The airport situation - I guess people in Indy don't like losing, but going or not going to the airport does not validate your "fanhood".  This is a ludacris assumption to make....we spend hard earned money to go to games, purchase merchandise and travel (yes I flew in from Boston multiple times for Colts games) to support this team.  People spent thousands to get to Miami...this in itself is enough to support the team whether they win or lose.  The number of ass kickings I've almost taken in Boston for wearing Colts gear is more than enough :)

7)  This is a brotherhood and sisterhood here - we all have one thing in common and that is our Indianapolis Colts...attacking each other is not the right thing to do.  I know people are frustrated that we came up short, but lets talk about next year and step away from personal attacks.  Really, being an internet tough guy/girl is one of the lamest and most immature things you can do. 

8)  And finally, to BBS and the rest of the crew, thank you for doing such a great job with this blog this past year.  This is my first year participating in a blog and it has been an extremely pleasant experience...and to those who continued to post such great comments, opinions and information, lets keep that kind of stuff coming!

Best to all.

Z.Pain