Jim Irsay confirmed that Jim Caldwell will be the Colts next head coach. It's only a matter of when. This comes as no surprise to any of us. Caldwell withdrawing himself for consideration for other jobs was a clear sign that the Colts had made some kind of commitment to him.
Again our official position is: who knows? Jim Caldwell seems to be as good a choice as anyone. He's bright. He knows the players. He promotes stability in a system designed around doing things the 'Colts way'. I don't look at any of the 'high profile' coaches and say, "WE HAVE TO HAVE HIM!" in the same way I did when Tony Dungy became available. Seriously, who else could the Colts bring in? Marty? God forbid. Brian Billick? Lord, have mercy. Cowher? For a team whose only question each year is "Can we win in January", he wouldn't be that great a choice. His teams were famous for flameouts in January. So without any other sure things available, we'll go on the record as endorsing Caldwell. If he's good enough for Polian and Peyton, he's good enough for us.
Speaking of that, I think it's actually a product of good coaching to lose playoff games. In the playoffs, talent often wins out (except in 2001 when the Patriots were only team I've ever seen to be visibly worse than all three teams they beat-and no Patsrule, that's not a slam. It's a fact, and a compliment). A great coach can squeeze extra wins out of a team that didn't deserve them, but come playoff time, the best teams win out. This year's Colts were a banged up mess in a lot of ways, but Dungy kept everyone from noticing. In the end, they got beat by a good team becuase they couldn't physically generate a pass rush with the talent they had on the field. It wasn't a 'coaching' loss. It was the natural result of the club they fielded. Even Bill Belichick only won with an inferior team once. In 05 and 06, his Pats teams were clearly not the best clubs in football, and he didn't win it all. The Colts need a coach that can keep the coaching staff together (they are the ones training all the young players), not make any glaring mistakes of time management or replay control, keep the team on an even keel, and let Manning run things on offense. Do that, and with the roster they have coming back, they'll be among the favorites to bring home the title again next year.
Friday, January 18, 2008
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8 comments:
Well said re: Caldwell. Not entirely sold on his college resume W/L record, but he's pretty much an unknown to the public, other than the fact that he has been an integral and valued part of the Colts organization for years. Polian and Irsay know him better than I do, so I'll rubber stamp their call. For now.
We can see the beneficial aspects of continuity in coaching every time we watch the Colts--Mudd, Huey, Teerlink, and most of all Tom Moore. And really, two HCs over the last 10 years. No time to do the math, but has any team, including the current Pats, had a better W/L record for 9 straight years than the Colts? Maybe, but not by much. We missed the playoffs once in that span. So if Caldwell = continuity, then great.
Yeah, I see no reason to change directions or philosphy at this point. Therefore, Caldwell is the only real choice.
Well there IS Jim Mora Jr.
Just joking, but man, would that be funny. Not in a good way. No, not at all.
I won't bother with links, but Tom Curran and CHFF both have pretty reasoned "SD Can pull it off" articles today. Smelling salts, please. Thanks. They probably have contractual obligations to write one column that doesn't totally suck-up to the Pats per year.
Any rate, both conveniently ignore the fact that Rivers is likely out with a partially torn ACL. Gives him plenty of time to mouth off to the Pats fans, who, I hope, come armed with snow-balls.
I love the people who after hearing this jumped up and down yelling "Rooney Rule, Rooney Rule, they can't do that, Rooney Rule, those Colts aren't classy their breaking the rules."
Way to know what you are talking about. Even if you don't know the Rooney rule doesn't apply to promotion within an organization (I didn't but it makes a lot of sense). It's still obvious that the rule doesn't apply, because Caldwell is a minority coaching candidate, he is pretty clearly a black man. Maybe some people out there should do some research before tossing accusations.
Did people really complain? I never heard that. The official rule is that the mere hiring of a minority satisfies the Rooney rule. We certainly didn't get any complaints around here...
Not from anywhere real credible, but it was out there.
Who is dumber and less reliable than Mike Florio at PFT? Most of the people that comment on his site/e-mail him.
Ah, the Rooney Rule. Another reason to admire the Rooneys. If they hadn't been so dominant in my youth (and beaten the Colts in every playoff game they had together) I might have been a Pittsburgh fan.
Would be too weird, being a fan of a team because of the ownership. How on earth could I explain that to my fellow Yankee fans?!?! (who all pretty much hate Steinie as much as non-fans) Glad we have Irsay, is all I can say. I truly pity my brother and nephew who are Raider fans--at least they acknowledge the fatal flaw there and are just waiting for the grim reaper to deliver their team.
Okay, so... is it nest season yet? More importantly, do we play SD in '08? I can't wait for a rematch, either in-season of post-season.
In 2008 we play the AFC South x2, plus NE, SD, and the AFC North. We also play the NFC North.
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