Sports Radio Interviews

Bill Polian: “We were fortunate to come out on top, but in the end your defense always has to make plays for you to win.”

When Peyton Manning and Tom Brady face off against one another you can bet on watching a great game and Sunday was no exception. The Colts and Patriots played one of the most exciting games that I have seen in a long time. It was a failed fourth down conversion by the Patriots on their own 28-yard line that allowed the Colts to win the game. Contrary to many, I was not surprised by Belichick going for it. This is something that the Patriots have done for a while. It was going for it on their own 28-yard line that caught me by surprise. If they convert, Belichick is a god. If they don’t he is an idiot and people will second guess him from here on out. This is just a precursor of what is to come as these teams will likely face off against one another in the AFC Championship game.

Colts President Bill Polian joined 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis to talk about the defense stepping up and playing big against the Patriots, whether he was surprised that Bill Belichick went for it on fourth down, the offense having to execute after stopping the Patriots on fourth down, and whether the defensive adjustment in the second half was to bring the corners down and press the receivers.

On the defense stepping up and playing big against the Patriots:

“Yeah that is exactly right.  The defense really from about the beginning of the second half on played really, really well and really made a lot of plays on their own that were really athletic plays and hustle plays.  You can’t say enough about our corners.  They are young but grew up in a hurry and they made a lot of great plays and of course Melvin Bullitt made the play to win the game.  Our defense really did a nice job throughout.  We got burned on some big plays which if we had to do over again we would probably scheme a little differently.  In the end it is two great quarterbacks throwing the ball as well as it could be thrown and two great teams with two great schemes.  We were fortunate to come out on top but in the end your defense always has to make plays for you to win.”

Whether he was surprised that Bill Belichick went for it on fourth down:

“No and they have a high percentage of doing that.  We had to be prepared for three things.  This is a great credit to our defense.  The call is what it is.  They make it, it is their call.  We had nothing to do with it.  Our defense had to be prepared for three things.  Number one,  an attempt to quick snap us and quarterback sneak which is what they most often do.  Secondly, an attempt to pull us offside and get the first down that way with a hard count which they have done in the past.  Third, a pass, some sort of pick play that will get the two yards and we kept out poise.  The third alternative quite honestly was the one that we least expected except that we had seen the pattern before and worked on it but we kept out pose and we executed and that is to our credit.  The call is what it is, but in the end we still had to execute to make the stop.  I am really proud for our guys in doing that because it was a tough situation.  It was a lot that they had to think about.”

On the offense having to execute after stopping the Patriots on fourth down:

“Yeah absolutely we had to execute in that situation.  We got a great run from Joseph Addai.  We got a great route from Reggie, which by the way was that same route that was intercepted earlier.  That very same route against that very same coverage except they got on the same page and got a big completion and then of course a great run by Joseph to get us down to the 1 and then we had a missed block on the running play which shades of 2004, I guess, or ’03, whenever that was.  And then of course Reggie makes a great move and then an incredible catch to win the game.  And we got the Lucas leap there which we probably need to work on.  I can’t say enough wither about Peyton.  There were a lot of throws that he had to make that were under duress where he had to slide in the pocket or he had people around him or guys were coming free and knocking him down and he did a heck of a job hanging in there and making throws.  They did a great job with their coverage.  It was shades of 2003.  They had a coverage plan where they were going to cover our guys and they wee going to double people.  They were going to give us though looks to read and hope that there front would get to us.  But in large that was a Mexican standoff.  We did a heck of a job in terms of delivering the ball.”

Whether the defensive adjustment in the second half was to bring the corners down and press the receivers:

“We didn’t change it really.  We went into a little bit different coverage pattern but first of all, on the first touchdown pass to him it was Tampa 2 and Gary, if he had been an inch taller, probably would have knocked that down.  So that is a phenomenal throw by Brady and a great catch and run by Moss.  Our safety might have been a bit wide.  Randy Moss is the guy that is going to beat you for the homerun so he may have been a bit wide.  I will have to wait and talk to the coaches about that, but it looked like that on the tape.  Nevertheless, it was a phenomenal throw by Brady.  The second one in really just beyond a phenomenal throw because Antwan had him covered.  He was running step for step with him.  Unless that ball is perfectly thrown it is going to be an incompletion or maybe an interception.  So you can’t fault anyone on that play.  It is one of those situations, I was talking to my staff this morning, and a lot is made these days with decisions made by league office people and marketing campaigns.  I don’t mean local marketing campaigns.  Our marketing department does a phenomenal job and it is in sync with what we want to achieve as a football team.  League-wide commercials, all of this stuff, lots of business school jargon.  People tune in to watch great players make great plays and that is what they saw last night.  They saw great players making great plays.  In those two instances, with those two touchdowns, Tom Brady made the play and Randy Moss made the play and we didn’t and we didn’t miss it by much but the bottom line is they are great players we made those plays.  We have great players and they made our plays.  As you sad right at the outset, it always comes down to defense and with these two teams it always comes down to the end.”

Bill Polian, Colts Prez on 1070 the Fan with Dan Dakich

Tags: Bill Polian, Colts defense steps it up, fourth down conversion, Indianaplois Colts, New England Patriots, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady