http://101sports.com/category/hbalzer-blogs/20120127/Are-Manning's-Days-Numbered-in-Indianapolis/
Are Manning's Days Numbered in Indianapolis?
By: Howard Balzer
Published: January 27, 2012 @ 3:13am
As the Patriots and Giants descend on Indianapolis in preparation for Super Bowl 46, there is a significant side story obviously developing with the team that calls Indianapolis home.
The changes in the Colts have been stunning as the team did a freefall from consistent years of excellence to a 2-14 record all centered around the neck injury that kept quarterback Peyton Manning on the sideline all season.
The way the season unfolded apparently created an epiphany in the mind of owner Jim Irsay, who first shocked the NFL world with the firing of Bill Polian and his son Chris, hired Ryan Grigson as general manager, fired coach Jim Caldwell and replaced him with Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano.
The sweeping changes have created the belief that Manning will be the next to go, and even though Irsay insists the decision will be made depending on the quarterback's health, a certain amount of reading between the lines appears to indicate that health could be the team's convenient way of separating itself from a franchise icon.
At the press conference to introduce Pagano, Irsay hinted at that when he was asked who will decide if Manning returns to the Colts. He said, "I think ultimately the relationship you always have with doctors is that some players can pass some teams' physicals some players do not, there's a number of varieties that go into whether a player passes. It happens with the draft all the time. Guys take guys off the draft board because their doctors won't pass them. Other guys will take them and take the risk. At this point it will always be involved with a mixed consultation with the medical people and that sort of thing."
The addition of Pagano came after Manning's strong comments about the state of the franchise.
Before the season, Manning voiced his displeasure with the lockout because he hadn't been able to get treatment from the strength coaches and thought that had contributed to his continuing medical problems. It turns out he had been working out at the team facility recently with strength and conditioning coach Jon Torine when news came that Torine had been fired.
The next day, they saw each other after Torine had cleaned out his office. Said Manning, "It was tough. Very emotional."
He added, "I'm not in a very good place (practice facility) for healing, let's say that. It's not a real good environment down there right now, to say the least. Everybody's walking around on eggshells. I don't recognize our building right now. There's such complete and total change.
"One of the things about football is, it's a relationship business. Sometimes guys get fired, it goes across the ticker, 'Jim Caldwell got fired' and that's that. But when it's every day in a relationship business ... with Bill (Polian), with Marvin (Harrison), Edge (James), guys who retire, get cut, traded or fired, it's just really hard. I don't think I have an emotion for it.
"The new (management) team doesn't have a relationship with these guys like I do, and I know a lot of players feel that way about them (fired coaches), too.
"I mean, it's 20 degrees, it's snowing, the building is absolutely empty except when you see coaches cleaning out their offices. I guess it's the reality of the football world, just not something I've had to deal with very often. But I'm in there every day, so I have to sit there and see it. Everybody's being evaluated and I'm no different. It's not the best environment.
"I just want to pay tribute to all those guys. It's unfortunate because so many of them have been such a big part of so many big wins here, and this is so ... sudden. Their keys didn't work the next day. There's no other way to do it? I don't know. That's hard to see, all these people leaving.
"And I may be behind them. Who knows?"
Then, there are Irsay's words, talking about the additions of Grigson and Pagano. He said, "When this process began and I saw at the end of the year where there would be restructuring at the very top, this is something that I didn't dictate to, it dictated to me. When I saw a vision of restructuring the franchise, rebuilding the franchise, whether it was through injury, salary-cap aspects or aging players, different visions, my goal was to get an outstanding team, and at this point led by Ryan (Grigson) and Chuck (Pagano), that would take us into the future.
"I wanted it to be an authentic group of two men that would define us going forward. I didn't want to have a retread process, and I didn't want to play an old song from another era from another franchise. I wanted to bring in what I thought was going to give us the best chance to go forward."
Irsay sounded as if he was taking a shot at Manning when he referred to him as "a politician" and said, "There have been plenty of egg shells around this building scattered by him with his competitive desires to win ... I don't think it's in the good interest to paint the horseshoe in a negative light; I really don't. He's such a big part of that and everything else. The horseshoe always comes first. I think that one thing that he's always known, because he's been around it for so long, is you keep it in the family. If you've got a problem you talk to each other, it's not about campaigning or anything like that."
Manning had said, when asked if he wants to play for the Colts after all the changes, "I don't want to get into some kind of fan campaign with the owner, but I think it's well documented that I want to play in the same place my whole career. It's been a privilege to play here. I love the fans, the city, the transformation of the fans, how our place has become the toughest stadium to play in, the fact our fans wear more jerseys to games than anybody else. It's been fun to be a part of that.
"But I understand how it works. I understand tough decisions have to be made. There's personal and there's business and that's where we've got to separate the two. I've seen other guys leave places and it was personal. I've invested too much into this city for that to happen. We live here, we've given lots of time and money to the community and our church, and that's never going to change Nothing changes that.
"Whatever happens, happens. I can't give you a prediction because Jim and I will sit down at some point and he'll get a feel for where I am and I'll get a sense of what direction he wants to go. Right now, I have no idea."
Something tells me he does have an idea, one that he's hoping doesn't come true.
Are Manning's Days Numbered in Indianapolis?
By: Howard Balzer
Published: January 27, 2012 @ 3:13am
As the Patriots and Giants descend on Indianapolis in preparation for Super Bowl 46, there is a significant side story obviously developing with the team that calls Indianapolis home.
The changes in the Colts have been stunning as the team did a freefall from consistent years of excellence to a 2-14 record all centered around the neck injury that kept quarterback Peyton Manning on the sideline all season.
The way the season unfolded apparently created an epiphany in the mind of owner Jim Irsay, who first shocked the NFL world with the firing of Bill Polian and his son Chris, hired Ryan Grigson as general manager, fired coach Jim Caldwell and replaced him with Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano.
The sweeping changes have created the belief that Manning will be the next to go, and even though Irsay insists the decision will be made depending on the quarterback's health, a certain amount of reading between the lines appears to indicate that health could be the team's convenient way of separating itself from a franchise icon.
At the press conference to introduce Pagano, Irsay hinted at that when he was asked who will decide if Manning returns to the Colts. He said, "I think ultimately the relationship you always have with doctors is that some players can pass some teams' physicals some players do not, there's a number of varieties that go into whether a player passes. It happens with the draft all the time. Guys take guys off the draft board because their doctors won't pass them. Other guys will take them and take the risk. At this point it will always be involved with a mixed consultation with the medical people and that sort of thing."
The addition of Pagano came after Manning's strong comments about the state of the franchise.
Before the season, Manning voiced his displeasure with the lockout because he hadn't been able to get treatment from the strength coaches and thought that had contributed to his continuing medical problems. It turns out he had been working out at the team facility recently with strength and conditioning coach Jon Torine when news came that Torine had been fired.
The next day, they saw each other after Torine had cleaned out his office. Said Manning, "It was tough. Very emotional."
He added, "I'm not in a very good place (practice facility) for healing, let's say that. It's not a real good environment down there right now, to say the least. Everybody's walking around on eggshells. I don't recognize our building right now. There's such complete and total change.
"One of the things about football is, it's a relationship business. Sometimes guys get fired, it goes across the ticker, 'Jim Caldwell got fired' and that's that. But when it's every day in a relationship business ... with Bill (Polian), with Marvin (Harrison), Edge (James), guys who retire, get cut, traded or fired, it's just really hard. I don't think I have an emotion for it.
"The new (management) team doesn't have a relationship with these guys like I do, and I know a lot of players feel that way about them (fired coaches), too.
"I mean, it's 20 degrees, it's snowing, the building is absolutely empty except when you see coaches cleaning out their offices. I guess it's the reality of the football world, just not something I've had to deal with very often. But I'm in there every day, so I have to sit there and see it. Everybody's being evaluated and I'm no different. It's not the best environment.
"I just want to pay tribute to all those guys. It's unfortunate because so many of them have been such a big part of so many big wins here, and this is so ... sudden. Their keys didn't work the next day. There's no other way to do it? I don't know. That's hard to see, all these people leaving.
"And I may be behind them. Who knows?"
Then, there are Irsay's words, talking about the additions of Grigson and Pagano. He said, "When this process began and I saw at the end of the year where there would be restructuring at the very top, this is something that I didn't dictate to, it dictated to me. When I saw a vision of restructuring the franchise, rebuilding the franchise, whether it was through injury, salary-cap aspects or aging players, different visions, my goal was to get an outstanding team, and at this point led by Ryan (Grigson) and Chuck (Pagano), that would take us into the future.
"I wanted it to be an authentic group of two men that would define us going forward. I didn't want to have a retread process, and I didn't want to play an old song from another era from another franchise. I wanted to bring in what I thought was going to give us the best chance to go forward."
Irsay sounded as if he was taking a shot at Manning when he referred to him as "a politician" and said, "There have been plenty of egg shells around this building scattered by him with his competitive desires to win ... I don't think it's in the good interest to paint the horseshoe in a negative light; I really don't. He's such a big part of that and everything else. The horseshoe always comes first. I think that one thing that he's always known, because he's been around it for so long, is you keep it in the family. If you've got a problem you talk to each other, it's not about campaigning or anything like that."
Manning had said, when asked if he wants to play for the Colts after all the changes, "I don't want to get into some kind of fan campaign with the owner, but I think it's well documented that I want to play in the same place my whole career. It's been a privilege to play here. I love the fans, the city, the transformation of the fans, how our place has become the toughest stadium to play in, the fact our fans wear more jerseys to games than anybody else. It's been fun to be a part of that.
"But I understand how it works. I understand tough decisions have to be made. There's personal and there's business and that's where we've got to separate the two. I've seen other guys leave places and it was personal. I've invested too much into this city for that to happen. We live here, we've given lots of time and money to the community and our church, and that's never going to change Nothing changes that.
"Whatever happens, happens. I can't give you a prediction because Jim and I will sit down at some point and he'll get a feel for where I am and I'll get a sense of what direction he wants to go. Right now, I have no idea."
Something tells me he does have an idea, one that he's hoping doesn't come true.
