Indianapolis Colts LB Clint Session (Phil Coale/AP Photo)
There is a school of thought the unbeaten Indianapolis Colts should play starters extensively Sunday because other teams' playoff fates depend upon it.
Colts President Bill Polian said that hardly could be less true.
Polian, speaking on his weekly radio show Monday, said while the Colts' opponent this week, the New York Jets, still have playoff hopes – and while the playoff fates of other teams could eventually rely on the outcome of the game – such issues are not the Colts' issues.
“Whatever our opponents' concerns are, are their concerns,” Polian said on his weekly radio show on 97.1 Hank FM in Indianapolis. “They're not our concerns. We're concerned with our own ballclub. That's our only concern throughout the year and that's all it has to be.
“We've earned the right to be in the position we're in and that's all there is to it. Simple as that.”
The Colts two weeks ago clinched the AFC's No. 1 seed, and despite being the lone remaining unbeaten team, Colts Head Coach Jim Caldwell said Monday the team has not yet decided how long starters will play Sunday.
The Colts drew the ire of Cleveland Browns fans two years ago when they opted to not play many starters extensively in a loss to Tennessee in the regular-season finale.
The Titans' victory put them in the playoffs and eliminated the Browns.
Polian on Monday also addressed:
*Personal goals as a reason for playing players late in the season with playoff seeding clinched: Very, very peripherally. Most of what was achievable we achieved Thursday night. (Tight end) Dallas (Clark), you would hope he would get the three yards (receiving) somewhere along the line. The 11 catches to 100 is probably pretty tough to get to. It has been a phenomenal year for Dallas no matter how you slice it, but I don't think there's anything else out there that would be of any great consequence.
*Roster management late in the season: “Everyone is focused on the playoffs. This is a situation where in terms of structure and what we do on the personnel side we're thinking ahead, which is not something we normally do, but that this forces you to do, obviously. We're going to deal with that and we'll deal with it accordingly, but in terms of structuring the roster, the only thing that changes this week and next week as opposed to a normal game week is we try to structure on Wednesday so that we pretty much know what the roster is going to look like on Sunday. Now, every week there are almost always game-time decisions. This week will probably be a bit more flux because there isn't that pressure on Wednesday to know exactly who's going to play. You can work practice and still get people reps. You've probably got a little later in the week to decide before we rule anybody in our out. But other than that, it's business as usual.”
*When backup QB Curtis Painter would be told he would be playing: “You'd tell him no later than Friday. (Colts Head Coach) Jim (Caldwell) might give him a heads up and say, 'Be ready,' but he's the backup quarterback now, so he has to be ready anyway. It's not like he's No. 3. Jim Sorgi's down. Curtis has to be ready, period.”
*On Colts opponents having run more than 70 plays seven times this season: “That's part of the problem having an offense such as we do that scores pretty quickly. As a result, the defense is on the field for a longer period of time. We sort of built that into the roster management part of it, but again on a short week (last week) – and that's not a short week; that's an invisible week: two days preparation and three days rest --it's very hard to get them fresh enough to where they can do anything but gut it out. And gut it out they did.”
*On a potential Colts-Saints Super Bowl: “I have not studied New Orleans on tape. I did watch the game the other night against Dallas. We were impressed with them when we played them in the preseason a couple of years ago. You could see they were developing the nucleus of what was going to be a very good team. We have to worry about first things first and probably the principal reason we are where we are today and having this discussion about who to play and who to rest and so on and so forth is because we have focused only on the upcoming game. Throughout the entire season and throughout the entire 23-game winning streak, we have focused on the upcoming opponent and shut out everything else. That is the only way to succeed in this league. All of the other things are fine. They're great to talk about. They're great to write about. They're great to ruminate upon, but in the end, for the people who are doing the playing and the coaching and structuring the roster and putting the team on the field, it's absolutely paramount to concentrate only on the next opponent. I take my hat off to New Orleans. Obviously, they're having a great year, but we need to be worried only about the New York Jets.
Reviewing Colts President Bill Polian's weekly radio show . . .
* Part One: WR Anthony Gonzalez likely will be game-time decision this week. Here.
* Part Two: Polian: You want to win every time you take the field. Here.
* Part Three: Polian: "16-0 is not a goal." Here.
* Part Four: Polian: "Whatever our opponents' concerns are, are their concerns." Here.
Reviewing Colts President Bill Polian's weekly radio show . . .
* Part One: WR Anthony Gonzalez likely will be game-time decision this week. Here.
* Part Two: Polian: You want to win every time you take the field. Here.
* Part Three: Polian: "16-0 is not a goal." Here.
* Part Four: Polian: "Whatever our opponents' concerns are, are their concerns." Here.
COLTS COVERAGE.
CALDWELL VAGUE ON PLAYING TIME VERSUS JETS. HERE
COFFEE WITH THE COLTS: NEXT-DAY LOOK AT COLTS-JAGUARS. HERE
COLTS BEAT JAGUARS, 35-31: HERE
MAGNIFICENT SEVEN: DEBUNKING A MYTH ABOUT HOW THE COLTS MIGHT APPROACH THE REST OF THE SEASON. HERE.
QUOTING THE COLTS. HERE.
MANNING ON PLAYING STARTERS THURSDAY: "THAT'S WHAT WE WANTED TO HEAR." HERE
DOES PEYTON MANNING GET TOO MUCH RESPECT? HERE
POLIANS' CONTRACTS EXTENDED. HERE
COLTS FANS OWE RB JOSEPH ADDAI AN APOLOGY. HERE
*** CATCH UP WITH ALL THINGS COLTS ON INDY FOOTBALL REPORT. HERE
*** READ JOHN OEHSER'S INDIANA PACERS COVERAGE. HERE.
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