I am sure someone here will accuse me of "name dropping" after reading this, but while at the Super Bowl's Media Day I was near Jeff Saturday when he broke away from the typical, droning player script and voiced his personal displeasure with how Bill Polian and Colts management handled the whole Week Sixteen fiasco. His comments were very much the talk of the town the next day:
"The truth is, (the decision) had nothing to do with us (players)," Saturday said. "There was nothing we could do about it. I can tell you every player wanted to play, every player tried to play, but that wasn't what our front office and our coach decided."
Again, all throughout Super Bowl week, players and coaches stuck to the "United We Stand" stupidity that did its best to drown out any semblance of dissent on the subject. However, Jeff Saturday has always been his own man, and he has always been the kind of guy who will say what he thinks regardless of how the bosses want it said. It's one of the reasons why so many people like Jeff. He doesn't try to bullsh*t you or placate you with mindless "The Past is Prologue" speak.
The break from the script at the Super Bowl suggested an undercurrent of rebellion from Jeff that has, once again, resurfaced.
After the Super Bowl, Bill Polian called out his team's offensive line as a reason why the Colts lost to the Saints 31-17. This finger-pointing by Polian at the o-line was made despite the fact that Peyton Manning was not sacked in the Super Bowl, was hit only three times, and the running game average over 5 yards a carry. Specifically, he seemed to harp on Indy's inability to gain one yard on third down just before halftime, forcing the team to punt and thus giving the Saints a chance to kick a FG before halftime.
In a recent WTHR interview, Saturday was asked about Polian's comments following Super Bowl 44, and in true Jeff fashion, he spoke his mind:
"I don't agree," Saturday said. "I looked at the film, I've watched it and, yeah, obviously he has his right to his opinion and he's gonna say it. I went back and looked at it, I looked at the numbers again. We rushed the ball for well over five yards a carry. We didn't give up any sacks. Peyton got hit maybe a couple times."
In the interview, Jeff seemed to say that Polian's comments were made in the heat of the moment, and were not grounded in those pesky little things we all call "facts." He also pretty much stated that Polian should not have made the comments public, suggesting instead that he should tell the o-line face-to-face what they needed to do better, not air his frustrations out in the public.
When you consider that Peyton was not hit with the "remember me" shots that Gregg Williams vowed his defense would make, attacking the o-line after a game which saw the Colts defense allow Drew Brees to complete 86% of his passes seemed a bit silly on Polian's part. When Polian made the comments, I stated that I sort of agreed with him. However, at the time, I was as pissed and frustrated as Polian was. However, when you go back and really look at the game, publicly blaming the offensive line is a bit much.
Crazy, unaccountable bloggers like me are the kinds of people who are allowed to make wild, fact-less generalizations about games and players. It's the only perk of the job! The president of the Colts though... yeah, he's kind of supposed to measure his words and not say stupid sh*t in the heat of the moment. He's supposed to be above the "wild, fact-less generalization" dirty, smelly, lives-in-his-momma's-basement bloggers like me are on.
This is the second time in a month where Jeff Saturday has publicly stated Bill Polian is wrong about an important subject pertaining to the Colts. Unlike Polian's recent public events, Saturday has spoken with class on these subjects. Watch the video and you will see how Saturday very politely tells Polian to stop acting like a ass in the press.
This latest jousting match between Saturday and Polian continues to reinforce the notion that Bill Polian needs to stop. talking. to. the. press. Get Tom Telesco, Chris Polian, or somebody else up to the podium after games. Cancel the Bill Polian Show and get the Colts president out of the friggin spotlight before his mouth does any more harm. Every time he opens his yap, he seems to piss off more fans, media, and now veteran players.
Again, I don't know how many more times I can state this, but I love Bill Polian as a personnel man. He is a GOD when it comes to building great teams. He is also a schmuck when it comes to public relations. He says heated, emotional, irrational things at very inopportune times and has pretty obvious contempt for anyone who dares challenge him, including the fans. This is not the kind of person who should be speaking publicly about the team.