Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian: On WR Pierre Garcon, TV commentators and an '09 surprise

Indianapolis Colts WR Pierre Garcon (AP Photo)

Indy Football Report Editor John Oehser examines what Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian had to say on his weekly radio show the Monday after a 31-10 victory over the Arizona Cardinals this past Sunday . . . (SECOND OF TWO PARTS: PART ONE. HERE)

From the beginning, Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian said wide receiver Pierre Garcon had enormous potential. Obviously. Otherwise, Polian wouldn't have drafted him in the sixth round of the 2008 NFL Draft from Mount Union.

Then came this past offseason . . .

When Polian, now in his 12th season as the Colts' president, saw Garcon when the team returned to its Westide Indianapolis training facility for the start of the offseason conditioning in early spring, he was struck by what he saw.

And he figured that potential had a very real chance to turn into production.

And it had a chance to do so sooner, not later.

"When I saw him in the first workouts of the offseason program (this past offseason) and I saw how much he had grown up in terms of physical growth, I was astounded," Polian said Monday on his weekly radio show on Hank FM 97.1 in Indianapolis.

"It has turned out to be translatable to the game field. He's a man now, not a boy coming out of college, and he's able to make plays out there with both his strength and his speed. The graph is all up for him."

Garcon, after playing sparingly last season as a rookie, has emerged as one of the rising stars of the Colts' offense, starting the past two games and catching a crucial touchdown in each game. His 48-yard catch-and-run with a quick screen pass from QB Peyton Manning provided the game-winning points in a 27-23 victory over Miami on September 21.

Then, this past Sunday, Garcon again showed his deep speed, catching a 53-yard touchdown pass from Manning that broke open a 31-10 victory over Arizona.

"You would think most people would recognize that the speed that he ran at his workout is the correct speed," Polian said. "Somehow or another, those things tend to get lost in translation, I think. He is so big that he can fool you to a certain extent in that most people don't expect him to be that fast. He does run fast and most importantly he has a burst at the end of his route, which is rare among receivers and certainly rare among big receivers. "

"That burst, which is what (former Colts wide receiver) Marvin (Harrison) had, allows you to get big plays. Because as the ball is out there and the defensive back and you are step for step if you can just get that one and a half steps at the end of the route and have good enough hands to control the ball – which he does – then you're going to get a lot of big plays."

A look at some other topics coveredby Polian Monday:

* On Colts Head Coach Jim Caldwell preparing the team last week for a second prime-time road game in six days: "He did a phenomenal job monitoring the practices and getting them (the players) back and putting them in a position where they really had their legs. We could see that on Friday. Boy, they were bouncing around with a lot of zip. Our guys paid attention and made use of the time for mental preparation. We did a good job. I'm sure he's going to stay to that schedule this week. It's going to be hard to change as long as we keep winning and that's a good incentive."

* On the Colts' defense, which forced three turnovers and had four sacks against Arizona Sunday: "We did a great job. We ball-hawked. We tackled exceptionally well. Obviously, we took over the line of scrimmage with the pass rush and that (Arizona) is a team that by and large is not going to try to help the (offensive) tackles. They paid a price for it, obviously. But that's their scheme. That's what they do and they do it well. We were able to take care of that pretty well."

* On the Colts' physical conditioning against Arizona: "On Sunday night, we had to rush the passer . . . That's very, very tiring, because you're both running and you're running into a 300-pound wall and in some cases, a 350-pound wall. It is very tiring, but our guys were terrific. They were in great shape and I thought they kept up the effort throughout and got better as the play went along."

* On television commentators: "The talent level is so close in the National Football League that it's very hard to be dominant for a long period of time. Unfortunately, there is a premise. When I listen to games, I'm astounded by it myself when I listen to the commentary. There is a premise that goes, 'Well, if you don't win the game 35-0, if you don't shut the opponent completely down – to use the buzzword these days, 'dominate' them – then somehow something's wrong. If the game turns out to be an entertaining game, the pundits and the announcers will forgive you because it's entertaining and they get wrapped up in that. But if it isn't, God help the people who didn't perform well, because something is terribly, tragically wrong. That frequently is not the case. As (Penn State University football coach) Joe Paterno is fond of saying, 'You're never as good as you look when you win and never as bad as you look when you lose.' It's our job to get the players to focus on what they need to improve, but at the same time recognizing that there's another opponent out there. He's looking to knock you're head off and there will be times when he does it. Sometimes, I have to laugh when I watch a game and have the sound on in the background. The momentum will swing back and forth and one team is going to get killed one play and the next play, they're on their way to the Super Bowl. The game is 60 minutes long and there are a lot of ups and downs. It's just that often times, people don't recognize the way the game plays itself out."

* On his biggest surprise of the 2009 NFL season: "It's too early first of all to tell anything. Probably the (New York) Jets would be the one most people didn't see coming. But they have done a good job. They have bought into the defense. They have some talent on defense. (Quarterback Mark) Sanchez is doing a good job. It's important to remember that with every rookie quarterback, particularly in the division, rookie quarterbacks are like rookie pitchers, 'The first time around, they're terrific, but the next time around, everybody gets a book on them. You learn how to adjust to them and the things they do. It doesn't go as smoothly the second time around.' That was true of Peyton. I'm sure it will be true of Sanchez. He's going to have his ups and downs. He's a good player and clearly a very charismatic one, but just like (Joe) Flacco did last year (for Baltimore) and just like Matt Ryan did last year (for Atlanta), he'll have his ups and downs. But they're the team, I guess, most everybody didn't see coming. I must admit I'm in that category as well. You always think it's very difficult to win with a rookie quarterback, but they're doing a great job of it."

* On how holding is called: "There's an old saw that says you can call holding every play in the National Football League. Like most of those bromides, it's not really true. Holding is only called, generally speaking, if it affects the outcome of the play, meaning it's at the point of attack or a rusher who has a legitimate shot to sack the quarterback or hurry the quarterback is impeded. Part of the difficulty in calling it for officials – to give the devil his due – is that it happens at very high speed and in the case of (Colts defensive ends) Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeney both they are often or in fact always shorter than the guys blocking them. You get lots of hand-to-helmet and hand-to-face mask contact, which turns out to be an advantage for the offense that goes uncalled because the official says, 'Well, they're small guys. They're ducking under them. And if they make contact on the mask, etc., it's no foul.' We've gotten used to seeing that. We don't worry about it too much. There is a point of emphasis this year – which by the way was called Sunday night on one occasion. It's called 'Beating the Feet of the Tackle.' If he's beyond the tackle and the tackle has not stayed even with him and the tackle reaches out and hooks him or corrals him in any anyway, it's to be called a foul. It's not being called as often as perhaps some would like, including myself, but I recognize the officials are human, too, and that these things happen in the winking of an eye. By and large, they get the egregious ones, and if they do that, I'm OK. But you have to get the egregious ones. You can't get one and miss two and say, 'Well, I had a good night.' And it doesn't matter how many flags you throw, if the penalty is there, it ought to be called. Those are generally the comments I would have if there were a bunch of them missed. That was not the case Sunday night, but there have been some times when it has been."

*** IFR EDITOR JOHN OEHSER'S COLTS-CARDINALS GAME STORY HERE

*** COFFEE WITH THE COLTS: IFR EDITOR JOHN OEHSER'S NEXT MORNING LOOK AT COLTS-CARDINALS HERE

*** PREVIEWING COLTS-ARIZONA CARDINALS. HERE

*** PEYTON MANNING'S TOP 10 COMEBACK VICTORIES HERE.

*** HIS TOP 10 UNDERRATED MOMENTS HERE

*** WHAT DO THE COLTS HAVE TO DO TO WIN THE AFC SOUTH? READ IFR EDITOR JOHN OEHSER'S FIVE KEYS HERE

*** COLTS HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL SAYS MORE TO LATE-GAME COMEBACKS THAN JUST QB PEYTON MANNING HERE

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