Drama, drama, drama. On Sunday, the Indianapolis Colts will honor Peyton Manning as the team faces off against the Denver Broncos. Owner Jim Irsay has planned a ceremony to pay tribute to the quarterback that won the franchise their lone Super Bowl. However, the week leading up to this supposed honor Irsay is opening his mouth a little too wide and saying a few things he might regret.
In an interview with USA Today, Irsay said he wanted team achievements and not individual ones. The Colts won one Super Bowl during the Manning era, while making the playoffs 11 times. Meanwhile, Manning racked up some MVP awards while breaking several records. He built his reputation as one of the NFL's best quarterbacks to play the game but that was not good enough for Irsay, leading to the departure of Manning.
"We've changed our model a little bit, because we wanted more than one of these," Irsay said. "[Tom] Brady never had consistent numbers, but he has three of these. Pittsburgh had two, the Giants had two, Baltimore had two and we had one. That leaves you frustrated. You make the playoffs 11 times, and you're out in the first round seven out of 11 times. You love to have the Star Wars numbers from Peyton and Marvin [Harrison] and Reggie [Wayne]. Mostly, you love this."
That is a nice thing to say right before putting on a ceremony to honor the quarterback that got Irsay the one Super Bowl ring he has. While Manning has stayed quiet over the whole issue, Denver head coach John Fox is calling Irsay's comments on his quarterback very inappropriate.
"I saw the comments [from Irsay] and to be honest with you I thought it was a bit of a cheap shot," Fox said, via SiriusXM NFL Radio. "To me, in my opinion, they were disappointing and inappropriate. I mean, Peyton would never say anything. He's too classy to do that. But they sounded a little ungrateful and unappreciative to me for a guy that has set a standard, won a Super Bowl, won division titles, won four MVP awards. I'd be thankful with that one Super Bowl ring because there's a lot of people that don't have one."
Both coaches certainly have a point in this, but the timing is terrible. Couldn't this little feud have waited until after the game? Now, Manning has some nice bulletin board material to add extra motivation. With the season he is having, that could be dangerous.
Of course, former Manning/Colts coach Tony Dungy had to weigh in on the feud. The former coach of the four-time MVP expressed his disappointment in how Irsay is choosing to make the upcoming matchup personal. If anything, this will make the Sunday matchup even more interesting.