Jim Irsay Strikes Again

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay is an idiot. 

Irsay is getting to the point where is mostly known as a loudmouth.  When he is not tweeting way more than an owner of a professional sports team should, he is verbalizing his opinions through different channels of media.  I used to be believe that he just wanted attention.  I believed that he wanted as much celebrity status as the world-class athletes that he employs, or his buddy Rob Lowe.  After looking over his recent comments about Peyton Manning, in the week leading up to Manning’s return to Indy no less, we can all see that he is just a moron. 

Irsay’s exact comment was,

"(Tom) Brady never had consistent numbers, but he has three of these (championship rings," Irsay told USA Today. "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 (referring to his Super Bowl ring)."

In breaking down what Irsay said sentence by sentence, let’s start with him saying that Tom Brady never had consistent numbers.  For the last decade or so, Brady has been one of the top two quarterbacks in the league, along with Manning.  His numbers are fairly consistent with Peyton’s.  Irsay then goes on to imply that with a quarterback other than Manning, he would have advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs more often and won more Super Bowls. 

This is the most ridiculous statement Irsay has ever made, the main reason being that the Colts would have never been to the playoffs those 11 times without Peyton Manning.  Irsay could believe that with a different quarterback, a few breaks could have gone a different way.  I suppose that they could have, but the more likely scenario is that they find a significantly less amount of success. 

Manning is one of the best quarterbacks to ever play in the NFL.  In my amateur opinion, he is the greatest of all time.  He put fans in the seats and made his owner in Indianapolis a lot of money.  That nice new stadium the Colts play in and even hosted a Super Bowl in, was able to be built because of the success orchestrated by Manning.  Peyton meant so much to the Colts organization.  He handled his release with the utmost class and always had his former team’s best interest at heart. 

Fortunately Manning’s new coach, John Fox, had his back. 

Fox is absolutely correct.  These comments by Irsay are stupid.  When speaking of Manning he should be nothing but grateful of the time he employed his former quarterback.  Before Manning got there, the Colts were a terrible team, the year Manning was injured before his eventual release, the Colts were also a terrible team.  The reason that the Colts are now finding success is that they have a quarterback who will one day be at Peyton’s level and is already very close.  A quarterback that Manning himself spoke highly of to the organization. 

Both the Colts and Peyton Manning are in good situations right now.  Manning is running the NFL’s best offense and could possibly lead them to a Super Bowl victory this year.  Irsay’s Colts are a team on the rise and one day, Andrew Luck may get his owner another ring.  For now, both the Colts and the Broncos have benefitted from Mannings talents and let’s leave it at that.