Bill Polian Needs to shut his mouth

For this past decade, Bill Polian has been the one of the best GMs in the NFL. He has consistently built a contender in Indianapolis and has reloaded the weapons for one Peyton Manning in order for him to be successful. This recruitment of talent lead the Colts to have the most wins in the regular season ever in a decade over the 49ers in the 90s and 80sand the Dallas Cowboys in the 70s. Of those three previous teams, only the 49ers of the 90s had only one title. Now you can add the ’00 Colts. The Colts are 1-1 in Superbowls this past decade but for the amount of expectations, 1-1 is a little disappointing. The Colts have been outplayed by the Patriots, Steelers, and Chargers in playoff situations. Many of those games have been in the RCA Dome or Lucas Oil Stadium. The main reason for having these expectations is because of their All Pro QB Peyton Manning, who had been widely considered before Superbowl XLIV as being The Greatest of All Time. So when you lose the Superbowl to a franchise in the New Orleans Saints that not only is in its first Superbowl but has the 25th ranked defense, it was considered that Peyton Manning would lay waste to the Saints in route to is 2nd Lombardi Trophy. Obviously, that didn’t happen as Manning threw a game clinching Pick 6 to CB Tracy Porter to make the score 31-17 with 3 minutes left in the game. On his final drive Pierre Garcon saved Manning the embarrassment of throwing a second interception in the endzone by drawing a PI call on himself. Clearly Manning didn’t have his best game in SB44 but Bill Polian seems to believe that the Offensive line and special teams are the biggest reasons why the Colts lost the Superbowl. If Bill Polian truly believes this, he really needs to reassess what actually transpired in the game.
Lets start with the Offensive line. This is an O-Line anchored by Jeff Saturday who Peyton Manning is very comfortable and familiar with for the past decade. Saturday and the rest of the unit in SB44 didn’t even allow a sack. To my memory, I only saw Manning get hit three or four times through 60 minutes. They also opened up rushing lanes to let Joseph Addai and Donald Brown to rush for 95 yards that game, most of those rushing yards came in the 1st half. A unit that doesn’t allow a sack and allows for the RBs to rush for 95 yds don’t deserve the majority of blame for a loss. Now onto the special teams. I understand Matt Stover missed a long field goal but it was hardly a chip shot for a kicker to convert. The onsides kick was a shock to everyone watching and playing. The Colts were lucky to even have an opportunity to recover that kick. Now once the Saints get the ball. It’s the defense’s responsibility to play good football and stop the Saint’s Offense which they couldn’t do for the entire second half. The Defense had a big reason as to why the Colts lost, the wide receivers had a hand in the loss, and so did Peyton Manning. Most importantly, the Saints were the reason why the Colts lost. 82% passing and 2 TDs by Drew Brees is the reason why the Colts lost. The Saints shined brighter on February 7th. They were the better team and Bill Polian needs to be quiet, take the loss like a man, and not whine about two units that had the least to do with the Colts losing. Be classy and prepare for next season Bill.