2012 COLTS- Once in 90 Year Phenomenon!

[poizond13]

The National Football League sprang to life in 1920, and the NFL Films archives are stuffed with one remarkable, can-you-believe-it highlight after another.

As he stood outside the Lucas Oil Stadium locker room late Sunday afternoon -- it still was in full celebratory mode -- owner Jim Irsay insisted his Indianapolis Colts had just concluded a regular season like few before it. If ever.

"What can you say? Unbelievable, guys. Unbelievable," he said. "Ninety-plus years in this league (and) this year goes down as one of the most incredible years this league has seen.

"I'm not exaggerating. I know it for a fact."

Let's do a quick recap.

>> 2-14 in 2011.

>> Massive roster and front-office overhaul in the offseason.

>> Out with Peyton Manning, in with Andrew Luck.

>> Coach Chuck Pagano's bout with leukemia and offensive coordinator Bruce Arians not only keep the team on course, but steering it to a 9-3 record in Pagano's absence.

>> 11-5 record, a No. 5 seed in the AFC playoffs and a trip to Baltimore -- that only adds to this season's Hollywood script -- for a first-round game next Sunday (1 p.m., CBS).

Irsay was adamant regarding the uniqueness of it all as his players enjoyed Sunday's 28-16 win over the Houston Texans.

"To get 11 wins and to see the injuries we've had, to see Chuck's illness, to see the whole transition," he said. "It's just been incredible. Ninety-plus years, I'm telling you.

"If Ryan (Grigson, general manager) doesn't get Executive of the Year, then it's just a joke. He came in and took over a 2-14 team with no cap room and even with the injuries, finding guys off the streets . . . I see no one more deserving."

Irsay paused. Then started again.

"And to see Chuck here healthy, what a blessing," he said.

The Colts have their leader back.

"Our head general," Reggie Wayne said.

They have momentum, having closed the season with wins in five of their last six games and nine of their last 11.

And they have a destination. For some reason, going back to Baltimore seems so very appropriate. And so very appealing to the Cinderella Colts.

The Ravens rested many front-line players and fell at Cincinnati Sunday 23-17. They head into the postseason as the AFC North champs and the No. 4 seed, but with a noticeable limp. The Ravens lost four of their last five. Earlier this month, coach John Harbaugh fired offensive coordinator Cam Cameron and replaced him with former Colts coach Jim Caldwell.

"We're ready to go anywhere," Irsay said.

But again, Baltimore just adds to the story the Colts are authoring.

First, there's the obvious. The Colts called Baltimore home until 1984.

Then there are the obvious connections. Pagano was an assistant on Harbaugh's staff from 2008-11, the final season as defensive coordinator.

"That's probably another emotional game for coach Pagano, going back to Baltimore, seeing some old faces," Wayne said.

End Cory Redding and safety Tom Zbikowski, who missed Sunday's game with injuries, were brought in by Pagano and Grigson during the offseason from Baltimore to help with the transition.

There undoubtedly will be story after story this week of the Colts' return to their old stomping grounds, and of Pagano's return.

But the novelty of the former surely has worn off. It will mark the Colts' eighth game in the town they used to call home.

The Colts have won eight of the past nine meetings with the Ravens and are 9-3 overall, including 2-0 in the playoffs. They're 4-3 in Baltimore, and who can forget the 15-6 AFC divisional playoff game in 2006 that was a steppingstone to the win over the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI?

"It doesn't matter to us," Dwight Freeney said. "We'll play on the parking lot against whoever. We just wanted to get in the dance, which we are."

Redding spent the past two years in Baltimore. He left behind teammates, friends forever.

"Lot of people in the (Ravens) organization I hold dear in my heart," Redding said. "Good people over there.

"But it's going to be good to be on that field competing against them. Fun to see them, say hello. But at the end of the day, we've got to go there and compete. That's what it's all about."

Pagano knows his way around Baltimore, knows what they're all about.

"Obviously some familiarity there," he said. "We had four great years there as a family. Top-notch organization, really good football club. It'll be a great challenge."

Rookie quarterback Andrew Luck will look to his coach for any Baltimore tidbits that might come in handy.

"Coach Pagano knows more about them than I do, so lean on him," Luck said. "I know the Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis, so it'll be interesting. But I've heard it's a tough and hard place to play."

Perhaps another chapter in an incredibly unlikely story.

"Just standing here today, incredible," Irsay said. "It's a dream, It's like I'm dreaming."

[poizond13]

[dtmfs]

Miami had a better turnaround in 08', Sorry, From 1-15 to a division title, only difference is they didn't exploit someones health problems and their QB didn't lead the league in INT's. imagine that P13 talking out of his ass again.

[poizond13]

[poizond13]

[Facedown]

From "The COLTS Road BACK To the Super Bowl Starts NOW!" to "11-5, #5 seed."
Not surprisingly, this is a big deal for an organization that has barely been there before.

[killeverything]

I'm gonna laugh my ass off when Luck takes a page from the "greatest of all time" Peyton Manning playbook, and gets his ass handed to him in the playoffs.

How's that "we won once" workin' out for ya?

[SkyDog112046]

It's because the Colts purposely tanked games last season after Manning went down. There is no reason that team shouldn't have won 5 or 6 games except they the owner had them throw games in order to draft Luck. The NFL's version of the Black Sox.

[WhiteHouseSubsAC]

One of the most incredible instances of cheating the league has ever seen.

[Facedown]

Let's do a quick recap.

Sure.
1. You're a troll and everybody here knows it.
2. Colts cheated.

[poizond13]

It's because the Colts purposely tanked games last season after Manning went down. There is no reason that team shouldn't have won 5 or 6 games except they the owner had them throw games in order to draft Luck. The NFL's version of the Black Sox.

The Patriots are PROVEN cheaters. FACT. Luckily, your OPINION of the Colts cheating means shit, since nobody outside this board shares that opinion.

Stick to lifting weights, fat ass.

[Facedown]

your OPINION of the Colts cheating means shit, since nobody outside this board shares that opinion.

Your OPINION that nobody outside of this board believes the COLTS! cheated (Suck For Luck) is FALSE. Please provide proof that nobody outside this board believes that.
You can't.
I won't wait.
Troll.

[Crazy Levi]

So I just bought my tickets to see the Redskins play next weekend in the playoffs, at home!

Gregg, will you be watching the Colts at Lucas Oil this weekend?

Why not?

[SkyDog112046]

So I just bought my tickets to see the Redskins play next weekend in the playoffs, at home!

Gregg, will you be watching the Colts at Lucas Oil this weekend?

Why not?

The Colts will be home. Not this weekend, the following weekend. Watching Denver, Baltimore, New England, and Cincy play in the divisional games.

[WhiteHouseSubsAC]

It's because the Colts purposely tanked games last season after Manning went down. There is no reason that team shouldn't have won 5 or 6 games except they the owner had them throw games in order to draft Luck. The NFL's version of the Black Sox.

The Patriots are PROVEN cheaters. FACT. Luckily, your OPINION of the Colts cheating means shit, since nobody outside this board shares that opinion.
.

The colts DID tank the 2011 season. A colts website even says so, citing other journalists who believe the same!

http://www.stampedeblue.com/2011/12/12/ ... g-the-2011

I think they're doing it.

Bob Kravitz thinks they're doing it.

Mike Florio thinks they're doing it.

Howard Bryant thinks they're doing it.

And now, you can chalk the Baltimore Sun's Mike Preston up as yet another person who thinks the Colts front office is intentionally tanking the season to move up in the draft order.

The Colts are terrible. They are pathetic and one of the worst teams in NFL history, including some of those from Cincinnati. Upon further review, the league needs to watch film of the Colts to determine if they are playing this poorly just to obtain Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck as the No. 1 overall pick.

Preston also seems to be flinging bird dung at the Colts meme that, despite being 0-13, the team hasn't quit.


The Colts quit because they no longer have any heart.

The Ravens receivers made it look like a seven-on-seven passing drill and they had to be laughing about all those 10- to 12-yard comeback routs. Indianapolis was so bad that even when they went to nickel or dime coverage, they often forgot to cover running back Ray Rice.

How can you not cover the other team's top offensive star?

Folks, it's Week 14 and this team still doesn't have a win. Of course the players have quit. Some of them, at least. That's understandable, to a degree. This is a demoralized, talent-less roster crafted and managed by incompetent personnel executives who have no business working in the jobs they currently hold. The players know this. They aren't dumb. They aren't blind. They know why the team stinks, and that the people truly in charge at West 56th Street are clueless.

Consider this: as frustrated as you and I are with Bill Polian's idiotic ramblings about 'little things' needing to be fixed, imagine how the players feel when they hear it! They have to listen to that guy say such nonsense every. single. day.

After a season of finger-pointing, excuse-making, and general front office incompetence, the players would not be human friggin beings if, at some point, they let up. As we've said from the very beginning, while the players do bare some of the responsibility for this historically terrible season, the people who carry a majority of the 'who f*cked up?' burden are the Polians and their front office.

The more this team loses, and the more allegations surface that Bill and his son Chris are tanking the 2011 season, the more glaringly obvious it should be to owner Jim Irsay that he needs to cut ties with these bozos if he wants to remain credible, as an owner, in the eyes of fans and the media.