The Indianapolis (Crickets)

There’s a famous song that goes “don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got till it’s gone.” If you asked the Miami Dolphins whether or not they would go back and spend more money surrounding Dan Marino with an abundance of talent, what do you think they would say? Well I can tell you they probably wouldn’t answer because they are too busy working on a drug to reverse the aging process so they can get Marino back.


If you look back over the history of the NFL, the difference between teams that fall short of a championship and the ones that win multiple times boils down to a few critical moves by the GM and owner. Marino was a phenomenal quarterback but never really had the team around him to win a championship. A team that is excellent at recognizing these types of opportunities is the Green Bay Packers. When Brett Favre was entering his prime, the Packers went out and signed Reggie White to push the defense over the top. More recently, they realized that a young team needed a bit of a boost, so they went out and signed Charles Woodson, which took a little longer to payoff but nevertheless did last year.  The Cowboys adding Deion Sanders is another example of a move that secured a dynasty.  Sometimes no matter how hard a team tries, the stars just don’t align (Bills of the early 90’s) but there should be a special place in football hell for the GM’s that squander once in a generation talents to return a higher profit.

Enter the Indianapolis Colts. The news out of Indy today was that they signed Kerry Collins just incase Peyton Manning isn’t ready to go for week 1. I have the Colts making the playoffs on the assumption that Manning plays, but how many games do you see the Colts winning with Collins at the helm? 5? 6? All of a sudden Colts fans everywhere are realizing just how average their entire team is. Don’t get me wrong, Peyton could probably join the Carolina Panthers and take them to the playoffs, so the drop off should be expected. However, there’s a big difference between getting to the playoffs and winning Super Bowls. Just ask Dan Marino.

Trivia Question, what major asset have the Colts acquired through free agency since winning the Super Bowl? (Crickets). The answer is no one. Imagine for a second that instead of the Eagles, it was the Colts who made all of the big acquisitions this year. At the very least you’d think a good free agent receiver could be lured to Indy given the fact they’d be playing with Manning.  (Crickets).

Sure, a counterpoint could be made by saying that the Steelers rarely sign free agents and build through the draft, like the Colts do. However, they have a different formula for success and also don’t have anyone on their roster like Manning. Instead, the Steelers build a complete team that doesn’t rely on one guy whereas the Colts could legitimately change their name to the Indianapolis Mannings.

Peyton has about 3 years left to be in contention for a Super Bowl. The reason I say that is because he will need to be carry the team to the big game and even though I expect him to be a top 5 QB in 3 years, he won’t have that ability anymore.

Unfortunately, I don’t think the Colts are going to get the message. Peyton had the most clout this offseason because he was a free agent and the best the Colts could do were Tommie Harris and Ernie Sims. It could be worse Colts fans. At least you got to experience the joy of winning a Super Bowl with Peyton. Unfortunately those memories will have to last a lifetime.