Colts’ Owner Jim Irsay Blasts Manning For Comments
Added on Jan 26, 2012 by Jack Thurman in
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The rift between Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts appears to be growing. At a press conference to introduce the Colts’ new head coach Chuck Pagano team owner Jim Irsay blasted Manning for going public with his comments about the state of the team in the wake of its post season house cleaning.
Irsay called Manning a ‘politician’ and said that the good of the team should come first:
“I don’t think it’s in the best interest to paint the horseshoe in a negative light, I really don’. 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.”
Irsay continued to suggest that Manning’s competitive desire had as much to do with the house cleaning as anything else:
“I have so much affection and appreciation for Peyton. I mean we’re family. We always will be and we are. 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.”
Despite the current rancor between Manning and the Colts, Irsay insists that any decision about the quarterback’s future in Indy will be based on his health and nothing else:
“I think fans already understand that. This isn’t an ankle, it isn’t a shoulder. Often times the NFL is criticized for putting someone out there at risk, and I’m not going to doing that. I think he and I just need to see where his health is because this isn’t about money or anything else. It’s about his life and his long-term health.”
The Colts have a big decision to make in the near future–whether to pick up a $28 million option on Manning for 2012 or let him become an unrestricted free agent. They also have to decide whether they’ll draft Stanford’s Andrew Luck whom most NFL observers consider the ‘quarterback of the future’.
