Bill Polian just concluded his weekly radio show, and, just as he always does, Bill stuck his big fat foot in his big fat mouth. Despite an 0-13 season that has the Colts defense (which Polian has repeatedly praised) ranked dead last in points allowed (30 ppg) and an offense ranked 29th in scoring at 14 ppg, one of the few bright spots has been punter Pat McAfee. The Colts are No. 6 in punting, averaging 46.4 yards per punt (39.1 net).
Yet, despite McAfee playing well, Polian decided to use the pulpit of his show to take a shot at his punter.
Early on, when asked about what needs to improve with his 0-13 team, Polian singled out McAfee and said:
Pat McAfee needs to take the next step. He needs to become a better directional and strategic punter.
Again, just to place this in the right context, McAfee is having a good year as a punter. The Colts are 0-13, and flirting with 0-16. The offense and defense are terrible. Yet, Polian takes time on his weekly show to call Pat out for no reason whatsoever and criticize him for not being very good at directional punting.
Of course, the moment Polian said this, and the second I tweetscribed it, everyone and their mother fired the tweet off to McAfee, who has an active Twitter account. Apparently, Pat heard Polian's critique on the radio. After the jump, Pat responds:
Here's Pat:
Heard what boss said on his show..Respect his opinion..Best hangtime in league and top 10 in punts out of bounds..Can always get better.
Bill Polian also said, and this is a direct quote, that it is his 'fervent hope that Jim Caldwell is not fired.'
So, yeah. Bill said lots of stupid stuff tonight. We'll have it all summarized and posted later this evening. For now, just sit back and marvel at how much of an ass he is singling out his punter when the rest of the team is pretty much cow manure.
Site note: Pat McAfee and I have no love for each other. Like, none. But, he has been playing well this year, and Polian singling him out like this just further illustrates just how clueless Polian is.