RSS
Home
Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian on standard of excellence and return of DE Dwight Freeney
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Indianapolis Colts WR Reggie Wayne (Darron Cummings/AP Photo)
Indy Football Report Editor John Oehser examines what Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian had to say Monday evening in the wake of a 34-17 victory over the Seattle Seahawks (PART ONE OF TWO/PART TWO HERE). . .
Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian saw things a bit differently than most when it came to a double-digit victory over the Seattle Seahawks this past Sunday.
OK, he saw things a lot differently than most.
Because while most observers saw a 34-17 victory over the Seahawks as a second consecutive dominant victory -- and one that established the Colts as one of the early-season top teams in the NFL -- Polian saw it differently. A lot differently.
"It was very interesting," Polian said Monday on his weekly radio show that airs on 97.1 Hank FM in Indianapolis. "I've often said we in this building and people essentially in the media and outside live in parallel universes. I was less than thrilled when I went home Sunday night. When we had our meeting (Monday) morning after viewing the film, that sentiment was echoed by virtually everyone. We have a standard of performance here, and the standard of performance is high. We've often told the players it's important to meet the standard of performance win or lose. If you meet the standard of performance more than likely you're going to win over 85 percent of the time.
"For about three quarters Sunday we met the standard of performance – albeit grudgingly on offense. Then, it all went to the dogs in the fourth quarter. We played maybe the worst fourth quarter in all three phases this season. We weren't happy about that. Nobody was. I'm sure the players heard that Monday afternoon. The good thing about it is we didn't meet our standard of performance, but we played well enough to win. You get the 'W' and you move on and you try to make sure that next week you meet the standard of performance."
Polian also on Monday discussed:
* The continued early-season development of the offensive line: "I think it helps to have continuity. It's probably in an area that we wished had performed a little bit better in terms of overall production over the four games. There is room to improve, but it is getting better. It was better Sunday – it was not consistent, but it was better Sunday in pass protection than it has been in a while. You can see the picture starting to come together. The run game still has a ways to go, but (Senior Offensive Line Coach) Howard (Mudd) is working on that. I know it will improve. The one thing about football is teams never stay the same. They either get better or they get worse. We have been getting better. The offensive line has been getting better over time. That curve is up and as long as they all stay healthy, it sort of accentuates that growth and accentuates that improvement. Hopefully, it will stay that way. As long as we can stay fairly healthy and stay consistent and become more consistent than we've been, particularly in the running game, then we're going to be a better football team. We're going to get better as the season goes on and we'll have a better chance to meet our standard of performance each week."
* His biggest weakness as a talent evaluator: "If you wanted to boil it down and say on a scale of 1-to-10 what might be below seven, it probably would be offensive line, but I've learned so much working with Howard and Tom Bresnahan and Jim Ringo over the years that if that's not a strength it's certainly not a weakness at this point. I know what to look for and recognize. But that's probably not the most natural area. It's hard to take one look at an offensive lineman and say, 'Yes, he can play,' or, 'No, he can't play' where the gentlemen I mentioned who are all great offensive line coaches can do that. At most other positions I can take one look and say, 'Yeah, he can play,' or, 'No, he can't play.' Then it takes me a little longer to figure out where you would put him in the draft or whether you'd want him on your team. There's lots of other work to be done, but that first yes or no I can pretty much do with every other position other than offensive line.
* A timetable for the return of Colt S Bob Sanders: "He's continuing to work out and he's doing well. I think the graph is up. I don't want to put any timeframe on it, because I don't have any way of knowing a) that that's appropriate and and b) anything I say will appear in 30 seconds on the crawl on your television set. I don't want to do that, either. We're encouraged in terms of what we see. We think he's on schedule and moving forward at a pretty rapid and expected clip."
* On DE Dwight Freeney's return from a quadriceps injury without missing a game: :"I was and I wasn't (surpsied). There's no question in my mind that it takes an extraordinary person to do what he did. But as I said last week, I asked him as we were leaving the stadium in Arizona, 'How are you feeling?' He said, 'I'm going to make it. I can walk OK. It's not sore.' He spent the entire week going through a series of all kinds of treatments and exercises and what have you to get ready. No one works as hard to keep his body in tip-top shape as Dwight does. So, I wasn't surprised that he made it, but it was a superhuman effort. No question about it."
*** COFFEE WITH THE COLTS: INDY FOOTBALL REPORT EDITOR JOHN OEHSER'S NEXT-DAY LOOK AT COLTS-SEAHAWKS HERE.
*** COLTS QB PEYTON MANNING CALLS 4-0 RECORD A GOOD START: INDY FOOTBALL REPORT EDITOR JOHN OEHSER'S GAME STORY. HERE
*** COLTS QB PEYTON MANNING ON THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF FORMER COLTS RB EDGERRIN JAMES HERE
*** WR PIERRE GARCON AMONG FIVE KEY EARLY-SEASON DEVELOPMENTS FOR 3-0 INDIANAPOLIS COLTS HERE ***
*** WHAT DO THE COLTS HAVE TO DO TO WIN THE AFC SOUTH? READ IFR EDITOR JOHN OEHSER'S FIVE KEYS HERE
DWIGHT FREENEY NEWS
* Colts quiet on status of DE Dwight Freeney
* DE Dwight Freeney out 2-to-3 weeks
* Freeney not ready to accept 2-to-3 week diagnosis
* Freeney plays against Seahawks
* Manning calls Freeney return inspiring.
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
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
