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Colts have “busy” week during otherwise typical, ho-hum offseason

Although the off-season has been a typical snoozer for the Colts, we have had a few notable things happen this week. As I mentioned in my last post, Rocky Boiman will bolt for Philadelphia. Not a huge, huge loss…but I think Colts fans will say they liked the guy and his awesome flame-red hair.

The Steelers are talking to Anthony “Booger” McFarland, or at least they were. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, McFarland had a little pow-wow with the Steelers and walked away “ecstatic.” But will this actually amount to anything? The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the team is no longer actively pursuing Booger after re-signing one of their own unrestricted free agent defensive linemen.

 It is interesting to note that McFarland played under Steelers coach Mike Tomlin while both were at Tampa Bay. This is intriguing to this Colts fan because the defensive tackle previously played for Tony Dungy in Tampa before the two were reunited in Indy. The thing with Pittsburgh seems very familiar.

One of the Colts’ most significant free agent moves this off-season has absolutely nothing to do with someone who will make a tackle or catch a football. Owner Jim Irsay threw a little something-something at President Bill Polian. I think His Excellency will be with the Colts until 2011.

Although I wonder what in the world Polian is thinking at times, he always comes out looking like a genius when it comes to personnel. Moves that were head-scratching (the Great Linebacker Exodus involving talented players like Mike Peterson, Marcus Washington, David Thornton, and Cato June; the trade that sent Marshall Faulk to St. Louis so the Colts could draft some guy named Edgerrin James; letting Edge go via free agency to draft some kid named Joseph Addai; drafting Reggie Wayne when the perception was that the Colts needed a defensive player, etc.) have turned out spectacularly.

Polian will never be known for his pleasant and warm personality, that’s for sure. He’s stubborn, comes off as a know-it-all, and considers everyone who’s not himself to be stupid when it comes to football. He guards Colts secrets with a Stalinist level of paranoia. He’s also got a Napoleon complex (make that a “NaPolian” complex), but you won’t find a better personnel or football man. One of the best parts of the Colts off-season is when training camp hits, and all of the sudden some undrafted, free agent rookie looks like he’s ready to step into the starting lineup. It happens every year.

What also happens every year when it comes to Polian is that I roll my eyes over the Colts’ latest move (like continually trading down on draft day), and then watch it work out just fine. You’d think by now, I’d stop being so cynical. But I know something’s going to happen on draft day that’s going to look like a stupid move. Months later, it will turn out just fine. I suppose the day that I stop wondering what Polian is thinking is the day that something goes critically wrong. Case in point: I thought the Corey Simon thing was a brilliant move. I think we know how that turned out in the end.

The Indianapolis Star had a fantastic interview with Jim Irsay earlier this week. I found this particular part interesting concerning Marvin Harrison and his Marvelously Mysterious Knee:

“I’m not a doctor. It really comes down to their expertise. But the type of problems he’s had, there’s just no reason (for him not to fully recover). There’s no reason both knees can’t be sound. The one knee (left) that had the cartilage problem, that’s pretty much sound and ready to go. The other knee is coming along and there’s no reason he can’t be ready.”

Oh, both knees. And all this time, I thought it was just his left knee. Fantastic, Jimmy, fan-freaking-tastic.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 28th, 2008 at 1:53 pm and is filed under Anthony McFarland, Jim Irsay, Bill Polian, Pittsburgh Steelers, Colts, Marvin Harrison, Free agents. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.