For some reason I found myself listening to Dumb and Dumber, er uh, I mean, Mike and Mike this morning on my way to work. I generally don't listen to those guys because after listening to Mike Golic stumble over his own words and make circular arguments for more than five minutes, I tend to get a little nauseated and that's never a good thing while you're driving. Nevertheless, one of their guests this morning was former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy. They did their normal Q&A session, however there was a one question in particular that caught my ear. Mike Greenburg, maybe it was Golic I don't remember, asked coach how he thought the Colts would rebound from the apparent apocalypse they survived and produce on the field come next Saturday. Now Tony Dungy is a very smart man, I don't think anyone here would debate that. There are a plethora of analogies he could have pulled out of his hat to use as an answer to this question. So it's ever-intriguing, almost puzzling, that he chose to answer it thusly:
"The fallout may actually help them," Dungy said on ESPN Radio of the way the Colts will react to the criticism. "It may be kind of a Spygate thing where everybody says, 'Hey, they're ripping our boss, they're ripping our owner, they're ripping our coach. We need to go out and play and show people this was the right decision.'"
Hold the fackin phone! Did Tony Dungy say what I think he said? Yes Colts fans, Big D did indeed just say he thinks the Colts will react similiarly to how the Patriots reacted post-Spygate. But wait a minute, is it really all the shocking that he used this event as an example? Let's be honest, Mike Florio was absolutely correct when he said that the Pats came out guns blazing in that game against the Chargers, humiliating them on national television while simultaneously giving the whole world a massive middle finger for their efforts.
The question that should be running through your head right now is whether this is a good or a bad thing. Meaning, does what Tony Dungy said mean that the Colts are going to use the world against us mentality that the Patriots are so famous for, which is nothing more than a figment of their imagination, or will the come out of the gate super motivated and ready to kick the snot out of anyone who is in their path?
Personally, I hope it's the latter.
One of my biggest beefs with the Colts over the past few years is not whether they rest their starters, or how they handle injuries, or any of that stuff. While I'm the last person in the world who would claim that the Colts are mentally weak, you have to admit sometimes that they seem to be expressing a bit of nonchalance in the opening quarters of certain games. The thing I always thought they lacked during the Dungy era was that killer instinct. The Patriots have it. They've always had it. As much as I detest any and everything New England Patriots, that's one thing I've always admired about them; no matter the circumstances, they've got one thing on their mind and that's winning. Obviously we learned a couple years ago it was more of a win at all costs mentality, but you get the point.
For the sake of every Colts fan's psyche, I certainly hope they show up next Saturday with a chip on their shoulder. They've been told they're great all season and have had little to no adversity to deal with throughout the season. Perhaps this little bit of adversity will light a fire under their butts and propel them to win another championship. How they perform in the wake of this controversy, I think, will determine just what type of team this Indianapolis Colts team really is. If it's the Indianapolis Colts team we all think it is, then you should have nothing but good feelings for what the future holds.