With the shots fired over the bow by Peyton Manning in his interview with Bob Kravitz the other day, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay has come out publicly with his response to Manning.
On a day when the talk in Indianapolis should have been about the introduction of new head coach Chuck Pagano, Irsay instead drew attention to his prodigal quarterback calling him a politician and that his feelings should have been kept in-house.
“I don’t think it’s in the best interest to paint the horseshoe in a negative light, I really don’t,” Irsay said to the media. “The horseshoe always comes first, and I think one thing he’s always known, because he’s been around it so long, is that, you know, you keep it in the family. If you’ve got a problem, you talk to each other. It’s not about campaigning or anything like that.”
This is just another indication that Peyton’s time as an Indianapolis Colt is coming to an end which is leaving only one question – would he be traded or cut?
When asked about having Manning on the roster, Pagano referred to his tenure in Baltimore.
“I just came from a great organization and just spent some time with one of the greatest leaders to ever play this game (Ray Lewis),” Pagano said. “And there’s one of those leaders right here and those are the types of individuals and people that you have to surround yourself with.”
Sound familiar? It should. These are the same sentiments shared by recently departed General Manager Bill Polian.
“Peyton Manning is all about the team winning games,” Polian said. “And so, if any addition to the roster, whomever it might be, was going to help the team win football games, Peyton Manning would be 100 percent behind it. That’s what he is. He’s the ultimate team player.”
In Irsay’s mind, however, this is just part of the problem. Manning’s complaining about everyone walking around on eggshells was thought to be the fault of the owner. But Irsay had a different view.
“He’s a politician. I mean look at, when it comes to being competitive, let’s just say on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, we’re both 11s, ok? So there’s been plenty of eggshells scattered around this building by him with his competitive desire to win.”
Reading between the lines, three things have become clear this week: 1) Irsay and Manning are clearly at odds; 2) Irsay believes that Manning is trying to make himself look better on the way out by taking potshots at his former team; 3) Polian’s dismissal was due to his support of Manning (if you believe his most recent comments).
Where to from here? It doesn’t really matter. There looks to be irreparable damage done to the relationship between Manning and Irsay and as such the odds of Peyton Manning playing on another team in 2012 are as close to 100% as they will ever be without the Colts making a move.
The only question left is – when will Peyton be gone and where to?
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