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.
Unlike previous shows, where Bill Polian seems content to torture his listeners with generic platitudes and useless jargon about how the winless Colts just need to 'get back to fundamentals,' this week's Bill Polian Show was actually informative.
We already posted the news, via Polian on his show last night, that the Colts plan to bring back Peyton Manning late in the year so that he can practice with the team, not necessarily play in a real game. It's for this reason that they have kept him on the active roster. Should they need to I.R. Peyton, he would not be able to practice with the team this year.
We also got some interesting info on the future of the Colts Tampa-2 defense along with Bill's surprisingly honest perspective on why the Colts are the worst team in football. Here are the highlights from last night's show:
- Polian said he is frustrated and angry that the team is so bad. However, in a very un-Jedi way, he said that anger can lead to positive things.
- Despite being in last place, Bill Polian said the Colts talent and the quality of the head coach are not 'at the bottom of the barrel.'
- Polian praised Jim Caldwell several times during last night's show. He even channeled former president George W. Bush circa 2005 by saying Jim Caldwell was 'doing a heckuva job.'
- For Polian, the loss to the Titans was a 'microcosm of the season.' However, he felt the running game was good and the passing game was 'decent.'
- Polian said the Colts DTs played well and did not 'wallow around' like they did against Saints two weeks ago.
- Polian said the losing now, and the reasons this team is losing, can be traced back to the playoff loss to the Jets last season. He also called out kick returner Joe Lefeged, though not by name.
- Polian took shoots at someone (a reporter, I think) who wrote recently 'you don't get credit for playing hard.' Polian also dedicated some time to say that media draft experts 'have no standing' with him.
- Polian thinks his team's front seven 'can play with anyone.' [Side Note: Bill wasn't saying this after the team's 62-7 loss to the Saints two weeks ago]
- When asked by a caller about Curtis Painter, Polian answered that the Colts 'have no complaints at all' with him.
- The subject of the draft came up on the show, and Polian decided to dedicate a portion to making a bunch of generalizations about the old Manning v. Leaf debates in 1998. He then went into a tirade about how media draft experts suck. 'Those people, in my eyes, have no standing,' Polian also said the Colts made the final decision to draft Manning roughly two weeks before the 1998 NFL Draft.
- As previously reported, Polian said the Colts are keeping Manning on active roster in case he can PRACTICE at end of year. They almost IRed him last week after Seth Olsen broke his hand.
- A caller asked about the Tampa-2 defense and if it no longer works in today's NFL. Polian answered that the Tampa-2 should get the opponent's offense off field on 3rd and 6 or greater '75% of the time.' Colts are no where near that percentage.
- Polian stated he is 'open' to changing defense away from Tampa-2 after this season based on the Colts current personnel.
- Polian: Many of the Colts young CBs are breaking down and not making plays because of bad technique. Re-iterated from last week that he is 'baffled' by the play of the corners.
Hope you enjoyed this week's recap. Remember, Stampede Blue does a live tweet event every Monday during The Bill Polian Show. Follow us at @stampedeblue on Twitter.