Polian Speaks, Week 1 (I): Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian on WR Anthony Gonzalez, more

Indianapolis Colts rookie RB Donald Brown (AP Photo)

Indy Football Report Editor John Oehser takes a look at the comments Monday night of Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian on his weekly radio show (first of two parts; Part two HERE) . . .

In the wake of an injury to wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez, Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian said the team may sign a veteran wide receiver.

But Polian emphasized this:

That receiver won't be the player many might think.

In the wake of Gonzalez's injury, which is being reported by many media outlets to be a 2-to-6 week injury, Polian -- in his 12th season as Colts President -- said the team will consider signing a veteran wide receiver. He said that's particularly true if Gonzalez's injury is expected to keep him out four or more weeks.

But Polian said Harrison, who made eight Pro Bowls from 1999-2006 and is the Colts' all-time leader in every major receiving category, is no longer right for the Colts.

"We'll talk about that tonight and tomorrow," Polian said on his weekly radio show on 97.1 Hank FM Monday. "I don't think the salary cap is of any consequence with any of the veteran receivers that are out there. They're not going to command a lot of money. One thing we don't do is pay attention to names. Just because a guy has been a good player and has a good name means nothing. We'll sit down with our pro personnel folks – (Vice President of Football Operations )Chris (Polian) and (Pro Scout) Kevin Rogers and others – and we'll go through who we think the best veteran wide receiver might be, the guy who best fits our system, the guy who can do the most for us. If we choose to bring one in, that's the guy we'll bring in.

"Now, that's predicated largely on how long Gonzo may be out. If he's gone for four weeks or more, then the likelihood is we will make a change. If he's gone for four weeks or less, there would probably not be the sense of urgency to make a change that might otherwise exist.

"He's not a tremendously fast healer, so that may enter into the equation."

The Colts released Harrison this past offseason after 13 seasons. He has drawn little interest around the NFL and remains unsigned.

"He has not had any training camp and it really is counterproductive to try to bring a player in who has not had any training camp and not had any offseason," Polian said ."hat's especially true of someone Marvin's age. You're probably inviting injury upon injury. If we were going to add someone, it would be someone who has been in training camp and possibly is a little younger than Marvin."

Polian said Gonzalez has some sprained knee ligaments and that the injury isn't season-ending.

MORE FROM POLIAN ON:

* The running game: "We recognized what some of the problems in the running game were. Those are hard to see even from the press level during the ballgame. Essentially, they're somewhat systemic. When you play an opening game, particularly against a coordinator you have not worked against before, you really don't have a game plan, because they don't show you very much in the preseason. It's pretty clear they were preparing a long time for preparing a long time for this ball game, as they should. They threw some things at us that made things tough for us offensively, which we can correct and we can handle with no difficulty at all. But if you haven't prepared for them you don't have the antidote exactly handy at the time. We did a better job in the second half."

* A late-game failure to convert 3rd- and 4th-and 1: :It's something we need to improve. We needed to end the game in that situation. The fact that we converted some short yardage previously doesn't negate the fact that we needed to end the game in that situation. . . . It's a question largely of getting movement on the line of scrimmage, of getting it blocked properly, making sure the back enters with a full head of steam. I will say this: Donald (Brown) ran really hard. I thought he had made it from where I was seated. Then, on the tape I thought he had made it, but from ground level (Colts Head Coach) Jim (Caldwell) said he wasn't so sure. That may have been the look the referee had. I'll tell you this: We didn't get a lot of push. As a result, there were were a lot of people screening the linesman out. I thought Donald was going to come out of the back end to be very truthful with you, but the nose tackle came crashing down. If it was short, it was short by less than it was marked, but so what? The bottom line is you have to come out the back end and you have to convert that, so that's something we have to be better at."

*RBs Donald Brown and Joseph Addai: "They both had some runs that were very good that show you what they're capable of, and then we had some that weren't so good – mainly, because we didn't get them blocked up as well as we should have – or, in some cases, it probably should have gone in a different direction. By and large, we'll be fine with that. We'll get it corrected. There's no need to worry about it. The gratifying thing, the thing that's exciting, is we won in the kicking game and we won on defense. We won pretty decisively on defense against a really good opponent that has banged us around quite a bit in years past."

* First-year defensive coordinator Larry Coyer: "He called a magnificent game. We have a lot in the package and and he used what we had at the right time at the right place in the right fashion. . . .He called a heck of a game. He adjusted very quickly to what they were doing, which is essentially the screen-draw game, which they haven't shown us a heck of a lot before. They had been a power-running team, basically, and a boot team. They had the lead draw with Jones-Drew in nickel situations, but not nearly as many or as varied screens as they showed. Larry got that adjusted right away and really did a great job. We'll get better defensively."

* The players adapting to Coyer's defense: "They're sold on the system. They like what they're doing. It's new. It's exciting. It gives them new things to do. It gives them more chances to make plays. It gives them more opportunity to take advantage of their strength and the opponent's weakness, so it gives us another weapon. And Larry deploys it so strategically well. He really does a good job with that. That's not to be overlooked. You can have all the blitzes in the world, and they can be the best-designed blitzes in the world. If you don't call them at the right time against the right formations, they're useless. You get some coordinators who get off the bus blitzing and they don't care. They're grab-bagging all over the place."

* Defensive tackle Antonio "Mookie" Johnson: "Mookie really stood out. He was really something. . . . Mookie was out of this world. If he can keep that up and we have Ed (Johnson) to bring back this coming week and be able to get him into the rotation – we'll be in good shape. It tells us that what we saw (in the preseason) against Philadelphia – another big-offensive line, power-running team – was not a mirage. We stopped Philadelphia cold and we did that pretty much (Sunday). Anytime you hold (Jaguars running back Maurice) Jones-Drew under 100 yards, you're doing a heck of a job. . . . For him to run the way he did, to bust up that screen at the end of the game, was absolutely incredible. That kind of effort is infectious and Larry Coyer in our meeting Monday morning talked about what a great effort our guys had made. He felt the effort that they showed was the difference in the ballgame."

*** READ COFFEE WITH THE COLTS, Indy Football Report Editor John Oehser's next-morning look at Colts-Jaguars, HERE. ***

*** COLTS REGULAR-SEASON PRIMER, VOL. 1: READ INDY FOOTBALL REPORT EDITOR JOHN OEHSER'S PREVIEW OF JAGUARS-COLTS HERE.

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

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