Bill Polian: The Man, The Myth, The Legend
October 13, 2009 – 10:45 am by timgunterBill Polian is the President and General Manager of the Indianapolis Colts. His illustrious career started in Buffalo as he was the architect of the Bills going to 4 straight Super Bowls. He then built the expansion Carolina Panthers where they went to the NFC Championship game in their second season of existence. That led to his current job with the Colts.
His mantra is to build through the draft and that is exactly what he has done in Indianapolis. In his first year on the job, he chose not to re-sign Jim Harbaugh as they had the #1 overall pick in the 1998 NDL Draft. There were 2 highly regarded quarterbacks in the draft, Ryan Leaf and Peyton Manning. Leaf was rated higher than Manning coming out of the combine, but Polian thought that there was something about Manning that he couldn’t pass up. Man was he right about that one. As we all know, Leaf was probably the biggest bust in NFL history. In addition to drafting Peyton, he has also drafted Pro Bowlers in: Bob Sanders, Reggie Wayne, and Dwight Freeney. There is a reason that Polian has won the NFL Executive of the Year Award an unprecedented 5 times.
Bill Polian joined 1070 the Fan in Indianapolis to talk about what he saw on tape in Sunday’s game against the Titans, whether the emergence of Collie and Garcon has surprised him, the wide receivers coach Clyde Christensen and how he has taught these guys to get open, the Colts defense playing great so far this season, and whether the defensive front is getting better each week.
On what he saw on tape in Sunday’s game against the Titans:
“As you know the tape never lies. We played very well offensively. They played us rather conservatively and we took what they gave us. We protected very well against a ferocious rush group and then made a lot of plays in the passing game that were there to make. They relied on the fact that their rush group could overpower our front and by in large they did not. With the zone coverage they were using we were able to get guys open and make plays so it worked out ok.”
On whether the emergence of Collie and Garcon has surprised him:
“No not really. We thought that both would be contributing players. It was obvious that Garcon in the offseason workouts had grown up and was ready to step on stage and do a pretty good job. Collie is a little bit of a work in progress. He gets better every week. He was on a Mormon mission. He had a two-year Mormon mission even though he is older chronologically he hasn’t played as much football as lets say as Garcon has. We thought he would be a work in progress but he continues to get better every week and he is a very feisty guy. Both of them are good blockers. That is a change from what we have had in the past and both are good run after-the-catch guys as Collie evidenced after the touchdown run after his reception. They bring a little bit of a different dimension than we are used to having and it has worked out pretty well.”
On the wide receivers coach, Clyde Christensen, and how he has taught these guys to get open:
“Clyde really is a good coach. He gets the absolute maximum out of them. They buy into it. They run good routes. That is a must in our offense because many times you are facing man-to-man coverage or doubles and you got to run good routes even if you are the backside receiver because Peyton will come to you. So everybody on every route has to go all out all the time and that takes some learning especially for young players who are used to coasting as they are on the backside of a route many times. The downfield blocking and the run after the catch has been a real present. Clyde concentrated heavily in trying to develop that and they have done a good job of accepting it and working on it.”
On the Colts defense playing great so far this season:
“They believe what the coaches are telling them. They believe they are physical. They believe that they can whip people at the line of scrimmage. They believe if they fly around and all 11 guys make it to the ball they make plays. That is exactly what is happening and we keep getting better and better every week on defense albeit the fact that we are missing 3 starters in the secondary and 2 of them are Pro Bowlers. The fact is that was the best running team in the league that we played last night. We essentially held them under 75 yards. The yardage they got at the end was all garbage yards which Vince Young and Lendale White. The rest of it when the game was on the line we controlled it pretty well which is a great credit to our guys and our coaching staff. You are exactly they right. They buy in and they realize that if they do what they were asked to do they are going to make plays.”
On whether the defensive front is getting better each week:
“Oh yeah absolutely. They get better every week. Keyunta Dawson had a great game last night. That is an outside bouncing running team and when the big guys shut off the inside lanes you know that Johnson is going to bounce it and Keyunta did a terrific job at holding off that bounce which is hard to do because he is a fast guy. They are working together at getting better. The big guys are playing better every week. As long as we keep that up we will be a pretty good football team.”
Bill Polian on 1070 the Fan in Indy with Dan Dakich
Tags: AFC North, Bill Polian, Bill Polian is one the best GM's in the NFL, Collie, Garcon, Indianapolic Colts, Jim Caldwell, NFL, NFL architect, NFL GM, Peyton Manning, Ryan Leaf
