IRSAY SHOULD HAVE JUST KEPT MOUTH SHUT ABOUT MANNING
Peyton Manning’s return to Indianapolis is more than just another high-profile, Sunday night football game. It’s Great vs. Ingrate. It’s one of the top 10 quarterbacks in history against an owner, Jim Irsay, who felt compelled to marginalize Manning’s achievements during his 14 years with the Colts.
Unfortunately, this stuff happens more than you think.
“When I first heard the comments, it was one of those things that made me shake my head,” former Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner said.
First, the background: Irsay made his comments to USA Today, in a piece where the Colts owner was mostly respectful of Manning. Then he said this:
“We’ve changed our model a little bit because we wanted more than one of these. (Tom) Brady never had consistent numbers, but he has three of these. Pitts-
burgh had two, the Giants had two, Baltimore had two and we had one. That leaves you frustrated.”
Frustrated? Surely, fans in Arizona, Minnesota, Cleveland, and San Diego would be tickled with just one ring.
Manning also helped the Colts get a new stadium, which allowed Indianapolis to actually host the Super Bowl. Along with ticket and merchandise sales, it’s easy to see how Manning’s contributions made Irsay a very rich man, far exceeding a single piece of jewelry.
“You the make the playoffs 11 times, and you’re out in the first round seven out of the 11 times. You love to have the ‘Star Wars’ numbers from Peyton and Marvin (Harrison) and Reggie (Wayne). Mostly, you love this (ring),” Irsay lamented.
Factually, it’s not that Irsay was wrong. Manning’s playoff numbers don’t reflect the magnitude of his career. He has not always performed well in the postseason. But the comments smack of ego and delusion, as if the organization deserved equal credit.
The NFL is a league built on great quarterbacks. Too often that simple fact gets lost in the picture.
Just ask Warner, who led the Cardinals to their only Super Bowl appearance. After that historic season, the franchise balked at paying him what he wanted, forcing Warner to make a freeagent visit to San Francisco. On the way back from that interview, Warner received a phone call from someone in the organization, asking if he would make an appearance at a team function on his way home.
Former head coach Ken Whisenhunt was not immune. He wanted it known that his staff and his system helped Warner recover the magic from his early years in St. Louis, that it wasn’t just the workings of a Hall of Fame quarterback.
In the four years that have passed, we have seen just how much an impact quarterback means to an organization. And that’s why Warner’s popularity only grows with his absence.
Even now, Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians is struggling with some of the same principles. He calls his own plays and he believes in an offensive philosophy based on throwing the ball downfield. He required that Larry Fitzgerald learn three different wide-receiver positions in order to make him less predictable.
Now, the head coach must reconcile a system that doesn’t mesh with an immobile quarterback and a bad offensive line. And, clearly, he must reassess what he’s doing with Fitzgerald, who is both injured and uncomfortable.
“I think right now, he’s fighting through some things,” Warner said. “There’s an uncomfortable level that he has on the inside. When I played with him, that was one thing I noticed. We tried to move him inside, motion him inside, and I could just tell he was always a little uncomfortable with it. He hasn’t done it enough, he wasn’t sure what he was seeing, and it’s a little faster on the inside.”
The enduring lesson? Smart head coaches are not married to a system. They work around their players.
Meanwhile, good owners understand when they’re blessed to have a franchise quarterback in their midst. They don’t confuse luck with intelligence. They say thank you, and stay out of the way.
It’s a lesson that Irsay learned a little too late. And while Manning stayed above the fray, his reaction is expected to come tonight, when the Broncos take the field in Indianapolis.