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.

Last night was the first episode of the 2011 season's 'The Bill Polian Show,' and for the first time I used Twitter to update people live on what Bill Polian was chatting with Bob Lamey about following the Colts Week 1 embarrassment at the hands of the Texans. The decision to 'live tweet' the show was so well received that the Indianapolis Star, who was unable to get the show's feed on their Internet radio (because it's blocked), followed my updates all night.

In general, the topics of discussion were rather bland, but some interesting nuggets did come out of Polian's mouth, including the announcement that the time is now to search for Peyton Manning's replacement.

Here are the highlights from the show:

• Bill said he heard from Peyton Manning two days ago, and that he is 'fine.' Also said Peyton will be back in weight room 'after some period of time.'
• Bill laughed as he said it seemed he had to turn around every five minutes to stave off rumors regarding Peyton's health. One 'rumor' he specifically addressed was the notion that Peyton did not have a physical around the time he signed his contract. Polian said Peyton did have a physical before signing his contract, contradicting a report from PFT saying he did not. I've contacted Mike Florio and he said the report is fact, not rumor. So, either Bill lied on the radio last night, or Florio's source is incorrect.

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What some of us saw as inevitable, and what most people see as a business decision, Colts Safety, and 2007 Defensive Player of the Year Bob Sanders has been released by the Colts today.  From Jim Irsay's Twitter:

We have released Bob Sanders today. We thank Bob 4 all his incredible contributions from his Sup Bowl pic 2 def player of year honors.

Sanders didn't make it past quarter 2 in 2010 after tearing a bicep, the same injury but different arm that sidelined him for the latter part of 2009.  In 7 seasons, he only played in 48 games, and only 9 games the past 3 seasons.  The year he won Defensive Player of the Year, he played in 15, showing just what he could be if he could just stay healthy.

It's a sad day as my #21 jersey will now be retired.  My favorite memory, while not talked about much, was the 3rd down defense against Troy Brown in the 2006 AFC title game.  Tom Brady can point all he wants about Brown running the wrong route, but Sanders knew exactly where the ball was going the whole time, and would have knocked down that pass no matter where Brown was.

UPDATE: From CBS Rapid Reports and the Indy Star:

Bob Sanders on being released: “I want to thank Mr. [Jim] Irsay for the opportunity to play with the Colts. I appreciate all he and the organization did for me throughout my career, and I always will consider myself a Colt. I want to thank the fans also for their great support. They played a big part in making my seven years with the team very rewarding."

Look, I've met Ryan Diem and he is a super nice guy. He'll go to the mat for anyone on his team. In my humble opinion, he is one of the most unsung Colts players ever; in the same way Dominic Rhodes, Hunter Smith, and Terence Wilkins are unsung.

But last year, Ryan Diem was simply dreadful as a right tackle for this Colts football team. That opinion was shared by many, including NFL site Pro Football Focus:

Moving On Up: TE Jacob Tamme (-2.2 to +4.5)

Truth be told everyone else on the Colts team that played well this year either played well last year or didn’t play on the team last year. So we kind of have no alternative but Tamme. After barely playing last year, Tamme was forced into the starting role because of an injury to Dallas Clark. He became a reliable target for Peyton Manning, catching 7 or more balls in his 11 games. Tamme finished with our fourth best receiving grade for tight ends.

Had a Bad Year: RT Ryan Diem (+9.4 to -25.1)

Not many players regressed as much as Diem did this season. The right tackle had an up and down 2009, and this year there was a lot more down. He allowed 12 more pressures in two less games, and was consistently grading a bit below average in run blocking. This year wasn’t pretty for the Colts, and Diem was one of the reasons why.

Give This Guy More Snaps: LB Kavell Conner (+2.7 in 316 snaps)

Pretty much everyone who deserved to see more snaps in 2010 got their chance because of all the injuries the Colts suffered. Conner was pushed into the starting role late into the season to play in the base defense and performed nicely against the run, including a very strong game against the Titans. Linebacker isn’t a strong point for the Colts, so Conner deserves a shot to keep his starting job.

Not surprised to see Tamme and Conner valued so highly in PFF's system. I'm also not shocked that Diem went from +9.4 in 2009 to -25.1. Upgrading both tackle positions has to be the no. 1 roster priority of this club, aside from re-signing Peyton Manning.

I cannot stress this enough (because we stressed it repeatedly during the draft last year): If the Colts do not upgrade their o-line in a big way, there is simply no reason to watch them in 2011. They'll be one-and done again, if they are lucky.

And with a hopefully re-signed 35-year-old Peyton Manning, one-and-done is simply not acceptable.

Colts Owner Jim Irsay tweeted this morning that C Jeff Saturday will be making his fifth Pro Bowl appearance, to be played Sunday evening in Honolulu. 

Congrats to JEFF SATURDAY, named 2 the Pro Bowl roster this a.m---his 5th time on the squad!

With the Steelers winning on Sunday, their center Maurkice Pouncey will not be making the trip to the 50th state.  Pouncey was actually injured during Sunday's game, so Saturday was going to be named to the roster regardless of the outcome.

Saturday will join Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dwight Freeney, and Robert Mathis in Hawaii.  Antoine Bethea is also a first alternate to go, as Titans S Michael Griffin has already been named to the team.

We've already posted two pretty substantial transcribed segments from Colts president Bill Polian's interview with 1070 The Fan radio personality John Michael Vincent (JMV) yesterday. In this article, we cover the rest of the interview highlights.

Once again, I cannot say enough positive things about how JMV handled this interview. He did not sugar coat questions or shy away from difficult issues. If more 1070 radio people conducted interviews like this (yeah, I'm talking to you Dan Dakich), the station would provide a better overall service to its listeners.

Bravo JMV!

Regarding Polian, let me say right off the bat that many of the team president's statements are going to flat piss you off if you are expecting any kind of accountability for the 2010 season. According to Bill, he is happy with the defense, thinks Jim Caldwell has 'done terrifically' as the Colts coach, doesn't understand the criticism regarding the timeout, thinks Peyton Manning's reaction to the timeout is 'immaterial,' and doesn't care what fans think or say.

Yep, a fun interview if you like listening to someone tell you nothing is wrong as the water rises above your ankles on a sinking ship.

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When asked by 1070 The Fan's John Michael Vincent yesterday during a truly excellent interview run by Vincent, Bill Polian all but dismissed Peyton Manning's televised reaction to Jim Caldwell's puzzling timeout with less than thirty seconds left in last week's playoff loss to the New York Jets.

Watch Peyton's reaction here:

When asked about what he thought of Peyton's reaction to Caldwell's timeout, Polian said:

I didn’t see it, and it doesn’t matter to me. That’s just... that’s immaterial. That has nothing to do with anything.

When Vincent pressed Polian further on the Manning reaction, Polian repeated:

I didn’t see it, and even if I had, I wouldn’t focus on it.

We wonder if, when he sits down at the negotiating table with Bill Polian to discuss his contract, Peyton will provide Bill with more' immaterial' criticism not just of Jim Caldwell, but of Polian's own choice of words when discussing the value of Peyton's opinion.

If you missed yesterday's interview with Colts president Bill Polian, conducted by local Indianapolis radio personality John Michael Vincent (JMV), you missed a doozy.

While no fireworks were on display, JMV did a nice job getting truly relevant information out of Polian. We're still in the process of absorbing the entire 30 minutes of the interview, but one thing we took out of the first few minutes was that Bill Polian is shifting more responsibility to his son Chris, who is the team's General Manager. Some have taken this as a sign that the old redhead is taking a step back, and that is this step one in a 'long goodbye' between Bill Polian and the Colts.

Of course, Bill himself refutes this:

My focus is going to turn towards labor. Much more in depth in terms of developing a strategy for the way forward with a new labor agreement, whenever that comes. In terms of football, as strongly as ever, with personnel and maybe even expanding that a little bit, getting away from day-to-day administration, which Chris is going to take over. Salary cap management, which Chris is going to take over. Which will give me more time to get into strategy and football.

We plan to post more bytes from this interview, but from this section I took this: According to Bill Polian, whoever was doing 'personnel' decisions the last few years was not Bill Polian. Thus, he is now giving all the boring, tedious, time-consuming garbage tasks to his son, Chris, allowing Bill more time to focus more on personnel.

Considering the last three first round draft picks for the Colts have been busts (Tony Ugoh, Donald Brown, Jerry Hughes), Bill saying he is going to pay more attention to personnel suggests that someone up high (aka, Jim Irsay) is not happy with how personnel is being handled.

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Many of you have asked me, in emails and in the comments, what do YOU think the Colts should do in 2011? After spending much of 2010 being critical of Bill Polian, Jim Caldwell, and the Colts organization in general, it seems only fair that if one is critical that one should have some general sense as to what the solutions should be to the many problems facing the Colts.

Thus, some of you asking, 'OK smart guy, what would YOU do to fix this?'

Fair question. The answer I have for you right now is: I don't know.

Now, before you attack me for not having any clue, let me further explain that the reason I don't know is that none of us has any idea what kind of NFL we will have in 2011. I certainly have an idea of how the Colts should fix themselves using the same free agency-revenue sharing model the NFL utilized for the last 15 years or so. And I'll be honest in saying that, if that model were retained in 2011, the solution would involve purging the Polians from the front office, firing Jim Caldwell, and replacing all of them with fresh faces that can, hopefully, get Peyton one more ring before he rides off into the sunset.

I don't say this because I have some sort of personal hatred against Bill Polian. Just because I am critical of his decisions does not mean I hate the man. But, the reason I don't think he should continue in his capacity as president of the Colts that, in my opinion, he hasn't been very good at his job over the last four years.

But, this article isn't about why Polian should be fired. If anything, it's about how Polian and Caldwell won't be fired and the very legitimate reasons why they will be retained in 2011.

Put simply, we have no idea what kind of league we are going to have next year. With such an uncertain future ahead of us, why make it even more chaotic by dumping the team president, the personnel department, and the coaching staff?

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