Recap Of The Bill Polian Show: Week 3, 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.

The Colts are 0-3 and their season is spiraling down the toilet. Yet, if you were'nt an out-of-market fan and listened to Colts vice chairman Bill Polian on his radio show tonight this evening, he sounded pretty upbeat! The highlights of the show featured Bill Polian talking about Peyton Manning's health, the status of Kerry Collins, and how Pat Angerer played 'out of this world' Sunday night.

Oh, and Bill also took some shots at 'people who recite mantras,' because, you know, Bill likes to insult random, nameless people for no reason whatsoever.

Here are the highlights:

• Polian said the Colts did 'tremendous amount of good things' against Steelers. He singled out play of front seven and the linebackers in particular. Pat Angerer played 'out of this world,' earning 20 tackles. 20 tackles is the NFL is 'unheard of,' said Polian.
• When talking about the run defense, Polian took at shot at 'people who like to recite mantras,' referring to the old 'run the ball-stop the run' cliche. Never mind that teams who can run the ball and stop the run often kill the Colts in the playoffs pretty much every year. Bill wanted to use last night's game as an example of how the Colts ran the ball and stopped the run, but lost.
• Polian said there were too many dropped passes last night. The WRs and QBs need 'better timing.'

• Polian praised the play of Joseph Addai and Delone Carter, especially in blitz pick-up. Said he didn't know how Addai managed to pick-up Troy Polamalu on one play in, I believe, the first quarter.
  
• Polian said Donald Brown is a good player, and will get more touches as season progresses. FYI everyone, Brown was relegated to scout team duty this week. He did not play against Steelers.
• Polian gushed over Drake Nevis. Called him 'a keeper.'
  
• Polian said the sack-fumble on Curtis Painter in the fourth quarter was not Painter's fault. I've watched play. It's a seven-step drop and the play is designed to get the ball out quick. Painter held it. Sure, Anthony Castonzo didn't contain James Harrison. But, few (if any) LTs can hold off that guy for long. Ball has to come out quicker. Castonzo is not blameless, but neither is Painter.
  
• Polian said Collins felt better tonight than he did last night. However, his current status is 'uncertain.'
• Bob Lamey asked Polian to address the comments Jim Irsay made earlier today about Peyton's health. Lamey stated that Irsay was misquoted (in reality, he wasn't). Poian answered by saying Peyton is not in 'rehabilitation mode.' He is in 'recovery mode.' 'Nothing has changed' regarding Peyton and his injury status.
• Polian went on to say 'I have chosen not to speculate' regarding when Peyton will return. I kind of took this as a bit of a shot at Jim Irsay since he was the only one speculating on Peyton's health yesterday. Irsay's quote was, 'I don't see him coming back this year.' No one else other than him was really speculating. People were just reporting what Irsay had said in front of a bunch of rich, fat cat donors.
• Polian: Doctors say there is 'no magic potion' that will make Manning neck nerve regenerate.
• Polian said Dallas Clark did a good job blocking most of the night. This was in response to a caller asking why Clark was blocking Harrison one-on-one, without help, on running downs.
• In an odd exchange regarding the play of the special teams, Polian answered a caller by saying that because margin of error is small for this Colts team, it's not a good idea to 'gamble' on special teams. When you have the better team, there's no reason to gamble. Just do what you do.
• When asked if punter Pat McAfee would be the back-up QB if Collins were out and Painter started next week, Polian said no. Colts would have 'someone else' play the back-up spot, suggesting the team would sign another QB.
• Polian said Tampa Bay quarterback Josh Freeman looks like Jim Plunkett. The Bucs defense is a mirror of Colts defense.
  

Hope you enjoyed this write-up. We try and do it every week considering that, you know, the Colts seem to hate their out-of-market fans by not broadcasting this lovely show on the Internets. Thanks for reading.