Recap Of The Bill Polian Show: Week 13, 2011

After Bill Polian's meltdown on the radio following the Colts now-infamous handling of the Week Sixteen game against the New York Jets in 2009, the Colts have blocked the call-in radio program named 'The Bill Polian Show' from Internet listeners. This show features Colts vice chairman Bill Polian, and it allows regular Colts fans to call-in and ask him questions which he, frequently, gets annoyed answering. It is the only Colts content that is not streamed live on the net. Thus, because Colts fans outside the Indianapolis area cannot listen in on the show, we provide highlights from the program, which often include Bill Polian saying things he later claims he did not say. However, since the Colts and Mr. Polian do not provide fans or media with recordings of the show, you'll just have to take our word that what we write below is indeed what Mr. Polian actually said. Hope you enjoy.

Stampede Blue live-tweets the highlights while the show is happening.You can follow Stampede Blue on Twitter at @stampedeblue.

First off, apologies for there being no recap last week. The news of the Colts firing Larry Coyer early Tuesday morning interrupted our regularly scheduled transcribing. Pro Football Talk did a kinda-sorta recap last week using my tweets as their source material, but I just didn't get a chance to complete the job because not long after the news of Coyer getting fired hit the Internets, the BBS household came down with a cold. Both of us are just now getting over our ailments, and I've been catching up on all the news Matt, Stew, David, and Eric have been sending me.

For this week's recap, I'll just say that this show was about as boring as any one the Colts vice chairman has done this year. Last week's was VERY informative, especially since we now know it was prologue to the front office essentially blaming all the woes regarding the defense on former-coordinator Larry Coyer (and not, say, on the crappy talent this front office has drafted since Chris Polian became the team's general manager).

In this week's show, Bill continued to hit home the #BlameCoyer meme. He also tried to backtrack from his Manning-Luck comments, and he even expressed regret that the Colts did not re-sign Tim Jennings after the 2009 season.

• The show started off with host Bob Lamey saying that 'with a break here and there' Colts could have won the game. I guess Bob forget that the game was 31-3 in the fourth quarter at one point.
• Bill Polian repeatedly stated that the gameplan by the Colts offensive and defensive coordinators was 'great.' He singled out interim-defensive coordinator Mike Murphy, heaping all kinds of praise on him. Again, just FYI for everyone, the game was 31-3 in the fourth quarter.
  
• Polian offered a ton of praise to Jerod Mayo of the Patriots.

• Polian praised Dan Orlovsky's play and said the Colts were 'undermanned.'
• 'You can't say enough good things about the plan the coaches made.' - Bill Polian
• Polian offered no updated on the injury status of linebacker Pat Angerer, but noted that it wasn't good.
• Polian stated that the Patriots game could have been on the level of the New Orleans Saints game (a 62-7 loss, one of the worst in NFL history) all over again if not for gameplan by the Colts coordinators.
• According to Polian, the reason Tom Brady destroyed the Colts on Sunday was because they couldn't get any inside rush. The reason they couldn't get this rush (again, this from Polian's mouth) was because Drake Nevis and Eric Foster were injured. I guess this means Polian is backing off his earlier statements regarding Fili Moala and how awesome of a pass rusher he's supposed to be.
• After the coordinator change, Polian said the defense is now 'back to what we used to be.'
• In answering a caller, Polian said the Colts tried to re-sign left tackle Charlie Johnson, but the contract the Vikings offered him was too big for the Colts to match.
• Polian praised former-Colts corner Tim Jennings. He said the Colts were worried about Jennings back in 2009 'from a medical statement.' Polian said that letting Jennings go is 'one I'd like back.' Interesting note: Jennings played throughout the entire 2009 season, and I don't recall him being on the injury report that year.
• When asked by a caller about Peyton Manning restructuring his contract, Polian said that is a possibility.
• When asked about the draft, Polian now said he can't speak about underclassmen who have not, as yet, declared for the NFL Draft. FYI: He spoke rather openly about Andrew Luck last week.
• Polian said five things determine who the Colts will draft: 1) Area scouting report, 2) medical report, 3) mental acuity report, 4) psychological report, 5) background check.
• Peyton Manning's rehab is going in 'the right direction,' Polian said.
• Polian tried to backtrack a bit from his 'of course you can have Andrew Luck and Peyton Manning on the same roster' next year comments that he made last week. He's now saying that under the salary cap both players could coexist on the Colts.
• Polian said he doesn't know if Colts will take a QB in draft.
• A caller asked if the Colts could move to a 3-4 defense. Polian said no. The team does not have 'bulky people' to play the nose tackle position.
• A caller suggested that Peyton did not need surgery on his neck to recover from his nerve issue. Polian interrupted the caller and said that was false. Caller also suggested that, based on decision-making from the coaches, the Colts had 'given up.' Caller cited a 3rd and 14 run call. Polian said that runs up the middle on 3rd and 14 were part of the gameplan. Polian then called that gameplan 'successful.'

Thanks to all those who followed along last night. You can follow along too @stampedeblue.