Perfect No Longer
The Colts bid for a perfect season ended on Sunday against the NY Jets. Upper management and Jim Caldwell, the head coach, decided to pull the starters early in the third quarter while leading 15-10. To me this goes against everything we are taught and have learned in sports. You want to win the game and be considered great. You have very few chances to maximize greatness and the Colts chose to set that aside to protect their players. I understand that you want your players healthy for the playoffs but their is only one team that has gone undefeated through a season in the NFL, the '72 Dolphins. The protecting their player adage is weak when you talk about the Dolphins, they stayed undefeated with their backup qb Earl Morrow. If you have great depth then worrying about inuring your players should not be an issue. Granted that no one on the roster can replace Peyton Manning but you can't play sports let alone football in fear. The way a player gets hurt most of the time is when he isn't concentrating fully. I'm pretty sure the Colts players were engaged and ready to go. The decision was taken out of their hands and that is too bad.
The Colts offense is predicated on rhythm and the Colts won't have a meaningful game for almost a month. The way the organization could have kept their team sharp is by going for the undefeated record. Bill Polian, who is the team's GM, is still haunted by his days in Buffalo. Cornelius Bennett was lost for the season in one the team's last game before the playoffs. Polian believes if they would have sat their starters that they might have won that Super Bowl. I do commend the Colts players for saying all the rights things. They all have said they would have liked to have finished the game. Now if the Colts don't make it to the Super Bowl, people will jump all over the fact they lost this game and it messed up their timing. But if they win the Super Bowl no will remember who beat them in the regular season. I am with a former head coach when it comes to why you play the game. Go ahead Herm tell us why....
The Colts bid for a perfect season ended on Sunday against the NY Jets. Upper management and Jim Caldwell, the head coach, decided to pull the starters early in the third quarter while leading 15-10. To me this goes against everything we are taught and have learned in sports. You want to win the game and be considered great. You have very few chances to maximize greatness and the Colts chose to set that aside to protect their players. I understand that you want your players healthy for the playoffs but their is only one team that has gone undefeated through a season in the NFL, the '72 Dolphins. The protecting their player adage is weak when you talk about the Dolphins, they stayed undefeated with their backup qb Earl Morrow. If you have great depth then worrying about inuring your players should not be an issue. Granted that no one on the roster can replace Peyton Manning but you can't play sports let alone football in fear. The way a player gets hurt most of the time is when he isn't concentrating fully. I'm pretty sure the Colts players were engaged and ready to go. The decision was taken out of their hands and that is too bad.
The Colts offense is predicated on rhythm and the Colts won't have a meaningful game for almost a month. The way the organization could have kept their team sharp is by going for the undefeated record. Bill Polian, who is the team's GM, is still haunted by his days in Buffalo. Cornelius Bennett was lost for the season in one the team's last game before the playoffs. Polian believes if they would have sat their starters that they might have won that Super Bowl. I do commend the Colts players for saying all the rights things. They all have said they would have liked to have finished the game. Now if the Colts don't make it to the Super Bowl, people will jump all over the fact they lost this game and it messed up their timing. But if they win the Super Bowl no will remember who beat them in the regular season. I am with a former head coach when it comes to why you play the game. Go ahead Herm tell us why....
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