Bill Polian Now Backtracking From 'Collins Will Start' Position

Ah, yes. Once again, Bill Polian is out on his front porch yelling at the dirty kids messing up his lawn.

Yesterday, Mike Chappell of the Indianapolis Star quoted Bill Polian, who told Chappell that Kerry Collins would start Week One if Peyton Manning could not play.

Vice chairman Bill Polian said Collins, not incumbent backup Curtis Painter, will start against the Texans if Manning's ongoing rehabilitation from May 23 neck surgery spills into the regular season.

"All he has to do is get physically ready," Polian said. "There's no offense he can't master in 48 hours from a conceptual standpoint."

Last night, after Curtis Painter tossed two pretty good touchdowns in a preseason game against the Packers, Polian started backtracking from his earlier declaration by claiming he never said Collins would be the starter. From Brittany Diehl:

Polian also clarified the reports which say Collins will start week 1 if Manning cant "I didn't say he was going to start that was inferred"

Polian went on to say "Jim Caldwell will make that decision, I said he was a quick study and he (Collins) would learn the offense quickly."

We noted yesterday that it did seem odd that the team's semi-retired 'vice chairman' was making declarations as to who was and wasn't starting Week One. And yes, I'm going to trust the always excellent reporting of Mike Chappell. Polian likely did tell Chappell that Collins was starting, but when word got out the Polian was announcing starters, ole Captain Sour Puss went into his usually bag of tricks by making the sorry claim he didn't say what he said.

Sure, Bill. Whatever.

It's obvious to everyone that Collins will start Week One if Peyton cannot go. As we've said since this signing become public knowledge, Bill Polian is not paying Collins $4 million this year to back-up Curtis friggin Painter. While Painter had a very strong second quarter last night against the Packers, he was terrible in the first quarter. At the start of the third quarter, he fumbled in Colts territory resulting in the Pack recovering and, eventually, kicking a FG. Caldwell yanked Painter after the fumble. Dan Orlovsky played the rest of the game and, once again, looked better than Painter.

The Colts know what they have in Painter, and they clearly don't have faith in him. If I'm misreading the tea leaves, and they do have faith in Painter, then the people in charge of the Colts are idiots. It is literally that simple.

Sometime later today, if I'm not swimming in my apartment as a result of Hurricane Irene, I'll try and get confirmation from Chappell on the Polian quote. Until then, I'm much more inclined to believe Chap than Polian when it comes to quotes.