Indianapolis Colts LB Clint Session (55) gollowing Sunday interception
(Jose Yau/AP Photo)
There are those who believe the Indianapolis Colts could risk losing momentum if they opt to rest players in the coming weeks.
Colts President Bill Polian isn't among them.
Polian, while emphasizing that it's too early to be considering the issue, said during his weekly radio show Monday that he doesn't believe in late-season momentum, and that he doesn't believe a team that rest players with playoff seeding clinched risks players getting “rusty.”
“The idea that you somehow lose momentum or that you get rusty has no basis in fact, none whatsoever,” Polian said Monday on his weekly radio show on 97.1 Hank FM in Indianapolis.
“It's just a theory and it is great to be spoken about and written about, but the facts say otherwise.”
Polian as evidence cited the 1999 season.
The Colts that season won the AFC East title and entered a game at Buffalo in the final game of the regular season with chance at the AFC's No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the postseason. To get it, the Colts needed to beat Buffalo and have Jacksonville lose at home against Cincinnati.
The Colts' plan was to play starters until Jacksonville secured the victory.
“Lo and behold, for the first quarter and a half, the score [of the Jacksonville game] was close,” Polian said. “So, we left our starters in the game and [linebacker] Cornelius Bennett – who spent only one year with us, but who was the lynchpin of our defense at a time when our defense was nowhere near as good as it is today – went down with a knee injury from a chop block. It finished him for the playoffs.
“We came in against the Tennessee Titans [in an AFC Divisional Playoff game] here, lost in a tight ballgame where our defense gave up a 60-yard-plus run to Eddie George to lose the ballgame, and they went on to play in the Super Bowl and we went home.
“That's a fact and I can recite all of the facts surrounding that situation because I've never forgotten it. It never has left my mind. That is the price you pay for playing players in meaningless games.”
The Colts clinched their playoff seeding before the regular-season finale in 2004 (one game remaining), 2005 (three games), 2007 (one game) and 2008 (one game), losing their first playoff game each of the final three of those seasons. They lost to Pittsburgh in a 2005 Divisional Playoff and to San Diego in a 2007 Divisional Playoff. They lost to San Diego in a wild-card game last season.
They won the Super Bowl following a 2006 regular-season in which they clinched the No. 3 AFC seed with a home victory over Miami.
Still, Polian said he doesn't believe that players get rusty by not playing meaningless games late in the season.
“We can also address the rust situation by practice,” Polian said. “You don't get rust missing a half of a ballgame or three quarters of a ballgame. That doesn't happen. That is pure fantasy. That's just conjecture. There is nothing to it.
“I don't believe in momentum. I don't believe there is any such thing as momentum and I heard from [former Colts Head Coach] Tony Dungy [Monday] that he has heard from other people around the league that there were a couple of instances where players who were forced to play at the end of a season when everything had been clinched felt that they were out of gas when they got into the playoffs.”
Polian said the decision on whether or not to play players comes down to several factors.
“When you deal with fact and you take away conjecture and you take away conventional wisdom or whatever you want to call it, you end up with the following questions,” Polian said. “No. 1, will the player benefit by playing in the game? If he is injured, tired or nursing an injury to the point where it would be hurtful for him to play in the game, you absolutely do not play him. Under no circumstances does that take place. Whether it was last year or two years ago, I can't remember which, we had 12 players in the last ballgame who fit that category. They could not play and it was not in their best interest to play because of injury. That's question one. Any player who fits that category, if the game is meaningless – if it has no meaning in the standings; and I hope we get there by the way we're not there by a long shot – but if we get there, any player who is in that category will not play.
“From there on in, it's a coaching decision and it's a question of whether or not the coach feels that he gains more by sitting a player or not.”
Polian on Monday also discussed:
*Sunday's slow start against Houston: “They were beating us to the punch because of their scheme on the line of scrimmage – their offense versus our defense. And our offensive line was being beaten to the punch by their defensive line. Once we rectified that situation, which we did, it became a different football game.
*The potential return of CB Kelvin Hayden this week: “We'll get him out in practice this week. We anticipate that he will practice and we'll see how he does. We'll ramp him up as the week goes on. We'll see how he does. I can't say right now for sure he's a go, but we're at least optimistic.”
Reviewing Colts President Bill Polian's weekly radio show . . .
* Part One: Late-season rust and momentum "pure fantasy." Here.
* Part Two: QB Peyton Manning at high a level as ever. Here.
* Part Three: No problem with Dungy's Colts analysis on NBC. Here.
* Part Four: Victory over Houston Sunday showed team's professionalism. Here.
WANT TO BE THE FIRST TO KNOW ABOUT THE COLTS? SUBSCRIBE TO JOHN OEHSER'S EXAMINER STORIES ABOVE
DOES PEYTON MANNING GET TOO MUCH RESPECT? HERE
MANNING: TOO EARLY TO TALK PLAYOFFS. HERE
POLIANS' CONTRACTS EXTENDED. HERE
REVIEWING BILL POLIAN'S WEEKLY RADIO SHOW
Bill Polian’s Weekly Radio Show | Part One | “Peaking not an issue for us”
Bill Polian’s Weekly Radio Show | Part Two | Media and team in parallel worlds
Bill Polian’s Weekly Radio Show | Part Three | RB Joseph Addai having “terrific year”
Bill Polian’s Weekly Radio Show | Part Four | Victory over Ravens “courageous performance”
COLTS FANS OWE RB JOSEPH ADDAI AN APOLOGY. HERE
*** CATCH UP WITH ALL THINGS COLTS ON INDY FOOTBALL REPORT. HERE
COLTS 2009 MIDSEASON REPORT: PART ONE. HERE.
COLTS 2009 MIDSEASON REPORT: PART TWO. HERE.
*** READ JOHN OEHSER'S INDIANA PACERS COVERAGE. HERE.
MAGNIFICENT SEVENS: WEEKLY COLTS THOUGHTS . . .
Magnificent Seven I: Seven training camp thoughts and observations
Magnificent Seven II: On the Colts' defensive tackle position and WR Reggie Wayne
Magnificent Seven III: On the Colts' running backs and offensive line
Magnificent Seven IV: On the Colts' offense, OG Ryan Lilja and WR Anthony Gonzalez
Magnificent Seven V: On S Melvin Bullitt and QB Peyton Manning
Magnificent Seven VI: On RB Donald Brown and the start of the season . . . at last
Magnificent Seven VII: On WR Reggie Wayne, the OL and blitzing
Magnificent Seven VIII: On WR Reggie Wayne, QB Peyton Manning and DE Dwight Freeney
Magnificent Seven IX: On DE Robert Mathis, S Bob Sanders and DE Dwight Freeney
Magnificent Seven X: On QB Peyton Manning's start and life without DT Ed Johnson
Magnificent Seven XI: On RB rotation, DE Dwight Freeney and S Bob Sanders
Magnificent Seven XII: On WR Reggie Wayne, TE Dallas Clark and running game
Magnificent Seven XIII: On offensive balance and resting QB Peyton Manning
Magnificent Seven XIV (Part One): On DE Dwight Freeney
Magnificent Seven XIV (Part Two): On TE Dallas Clark
Comments
Alright I've got ot say the "parts" in your stories lately make it very tough to read. I subscribe to the Indy Football Report in an RSS reader. To fully read this post I had to:
1. Click 'read more' from the RSS feed
2. Click 'read more' on the IFR page
3. Read Part One, then click through to Part Two
4. Read Part Two, then click through to Part Three
5. Read Part Three, then click through to Part Four
6. Read Part Four
It's just really bad web design and organization to force a reader who WANTS to follow your work to go through *SIX* steps to fully read a post.
Don't want to come off as overly negative, I really do enjoy your work. But you are making me work too hard to actually read it. On the internet, where everything is near-instant, that's a death sentence.
Appreciate the feedback. Not being a professional web designer, I'm constantly trying to figure the best way to logically, clearly present the content to make it easier for the reader. I'll take this into consideration and try to figure a way to make it easier.
What a frustrating week to be a Colt's fan! So close to history, (trumping the '72 Dolphins)only to have it all pulled out from under us by Polian. I agree with Bruschi and many others. In my thirty plus years as a coach, athletic director and a college football player, I've never seen such a lack of courage in the face of a challenge.It's taken the heart out of the players and fans. Polian's arrogant and dismissive comments towards the fans reveal an egomaniac and a jerk.
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