In moving on from Manning, Irsay says he chose championships over stats

[TheArtofManning]

We should praise Irsays for dumping Manning. Because we got one heck of a QB and role model any team would dream about. thank you Mr. Irsays for firing Peyton, we appreciate it.

In a nutshell, this was Irsay's problem. He's got a huge ego, and was resentful of how popular Manning was (not now) in Indianapolis. Irsay would have been more comfortable with a Michael Vick (dog issues...) or a Big Ben (women issues), than the squeaky clean poster child that is Peyton.

[Manning4life]

Time to be misunderstood. The whole issue could have been avoided if he'd just kept his mouth shut.

Jim Irsay: I meant we should have put a better team around Peyton.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/10/16/jim-irsay-i-meant-we-should-have-put-a-better-team-around-peyton/

[STL]

That isn't quite true.

If you view top 10 defense on yardage, they had a top 10 defense twice.(2002,2007) Ranked 29th 3 times or more often than top 10.

If you view top 10 defense on points allowed, they had a top 10 defense 5 times(2002,2005,2007,2008,2009). Ranked 20th or below just as many times.

From my eye ball test, Tom Brady always had an easier day facing the Colts D, than Manning did facing the Patriots.

Looking at yards and points doesn't tell the whole story. First, there were fewer drives in Colts games over 2002-10 than there were for any other team. The Colts O was good at moving the ball and eating up clock, and the other teams ran a lot to shorten the game. Fewer drives = fewer points and yards the D gives up, about 30 pts and 500 yards per season from 2002-10. By itself, that's enough to make an average D look very good or a very bad D look average.

Second, the Colts D was built on an effective speed rush. As long as the O could build a lead, they could force teams to play pass-heavy coming from behind, which allowed the Colts D to play to their strength. The Colts O often built a big early lead, so this masked the defensive shortcomings. Against good teams that could keep it close through 2 quarters, the story was different.

Looking at the Football Outsiders d stats, which takes these things into consideration, a very different story emerges. From 2002-10, the Colts had one excellent defensive year in 2007. They were 3rd overall, with a pass ranking of 2nd and a run ranking of 7th. That was the year of the Pats juggernaut. Even though NWE didn't end up winning and Indy and NWE didn't meet in the playoffs, there was no way anyone was going to win in Foxboro in the postseason. Every other year besides 2008, they were below average to well below avg overall and were well below average against the run specifically

Interesting stat: playoff head-to-head, teams with below average run D vs. above average run D.

Elite QBs (Manning, Brady, and Brees-Rodgers hasn't been in this situation) fare okay, going about .500. Every other team with a below avg run D vs. teams with an above avg run D have gone 3-20 in the playoffs from 2002-10. If you can't control the clock in tight games with a run D advantage, it's almost impossible to win the in postseason without an elite QB. Even with an elite QB, those clubs generally aren't any better than an average postseason team.

[NorCaliBronco]

Just watched NFL Insiders on ESPN and Bill Polian looked and sounded pissed at Irsay. If attention is what Irsay wanted for this game, well I got to say he's got it.

[GoManning]

His PR guy can't even stop him from tweeting.

Attention whore much.

[STL]

Time to be misunderstood. The whole issue could have been avoided if he'd just kept his mouth shut.

Jim Irsay: I meant we should have put a better team around Peyton.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...around-peyton/

Anyone who listened to the interview would have understood what Irsay meant. He came out and said we lost because our defense and special teams play was inconsistent. People are reading into this way too much. Anyone who thinks Manning is going to try "super duper extra special hard" because some people misinterpreted a comment as a perceived slight is deluding themselves.

You think it's any coincidence Polian and Dungy have come out and said, "He shouldn't have said that."? Of course not, because they're the two that Irsay is criticizing--especially Polian. And they know it. If the public is going to interpret that as Irsay blaming Manning, then a creep like Polian is going to run with that to deflect it from himself.

[Broncoholic JS]

Tarkenton defends Manning too!!

[allthings18]

Looking at yards and points doesn't tell the whole story. First, there were fewer drives in Colts games over 2002-10 than there were for any other team. The Colts O was good at moving the ball and eating up clock, and the other teams ran a lot to shorten the game. Fewer drives = fewer points and yards the D gives up, about 30 pts and 500 yards per season from 2002-10. By itself, that's enough to make an average D look very good or a very bad D look average.

Second, the Colts D was built on an effective speed rush. As long as the O could build a lead, they could force teams to play pass-heavy coming from behind, which allowed the Colts D to play to their strength. The Colts O often built a big early lead, so this masked the defensive shortcomings. Against good teams that could keep it close through 2 quarters, the story was different.

Looking at the Football Outsiders d stats, which takes these things into consideration, a very different story emerges. From 2002-10, the Colts had one excellent defensive year in 2007. They were 3rd overall, with a pass ranking of 2nd and a run ranking of 7th. That was the year of the Pats juggernaut. Even though NWE didn't end up winning and Indy and NWE didn't meet in the playoffs, there was no way anyone was going to win in Foxboro in the postseason. Every other year besides 2008, they were below average to well below avg overall and were well below average against the run specifically

Interesting stat: playoff head-to-head, teams with below average run D vs. above average run D.

Elite QBs (Manning, Brady, and Brees-Rodgers hasn't been in this situation) fare okay, going about .500. Every other team with a below avg run D vs. teams with an above avg run D have gone 3-20 in the playoffs from 2002-10. If you can't control the clock in tight games with a run D advantage, it's almost impossible to win the in postseason without an elite QB. Even with an elite QB, those clubs generally aren't any better than an average postseason team.

The poster I quoted, didn't quantify what he/she meant by top 10 defense so I provided data on the two most generally used rankings.

I typically stick to my own eyes rather than rankings like that because it's possible for a team to improve, yet be ranked lower, so that can help throw those out the window.

[GoManning]

Todd Helton blasts Colts’ Jim Irsay for being classless idiot to Peyton Manning

“I hope he steps on their neck and doesn’t let up. That’s what I hope for, especially after that idiot, whatever you call him, spouting off his mouth,” Helton said Wednesday during The Press Box

“Yeah, I have a real problem with that. I think he should shut his mouth personally. It’s getting me a little riled up,” said Helton

“I think the guy, (Irsay) just wants to be famous, so he gets one little shot for somebody to know what his name is. To me, that’s just classless,” Helton said. “I hope Peyton goes back and steps on their throat.”

http://blogs.denverpost.com/kiszla/2013/10/16/todd-helton-to-colts-owner-jim-irsay-youre-classless-and-an-idiot/1568/

[GoManning]

Not sure if this was posted.

Manning's Wed press

Video http://www.denverbroncos.com/multime...9-0d9609c9047e

http://www.denverbroncos.com/news-and-blogs/article-1/Manning-on-Emotions-Leading-to-Sunday/9727f0d1-8936-4dbf-82fd-30db27682feb

[GoManning]

This is pretty catchy.