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What They're Saying: AFC South Rival Colts Fall 41-0
The Colts fell to the Jets 41-0 to open Wild Card Weekend Saturday at the Meadowlands. Here's what sportswriters are saying about the Titans' AFC South rival in the aftermath of Saturday's loss.
''It's one thing to lose a playoff game. It's another to get laughed out of the building. If (Owner Jim) Irsay could watch what we all watched Saturday, and conclude that nothing dramatic needs to happen, he doesn't care as much about winning titles as he says he does.
He has changed coaches, going with Jim Mora for four years, then grudgingly, very grudgingly choosing team president Bill Polian over Mora in a power struggle that got uglier as time went on.
Now, where does he look?
He looks at the man who has been given five years to build a team that was supposed to start competing for championships by now. He looks at the guy whose abrasive style has turned the West 56th Street complex into a place of fear and loathing. Polian is going into the final year of his contract. There is no way, none, Irsay can think about extending that contract.
''With the way the Colts played here on Saturday in a devastating 41-0 loss to the New York Jets, it seems Manning could labor a long time and put up mind-boggling numbers, but eventually exit the game the same way (Miami Quarterback Dan) Marino did.
With zero Super Bowl rings in the safe deposit box.
There are no guarantees, though, that things will be significantly better in 2003 for an Indianapolis team that made some progress under coach Tony Dungy but still underachieved in the eyes of most pundits. And, thus, there are no assurances for Manning that the next campaign will end differently than his first five league seasons
''The blame for what happened here lies in one, foul-smelling place: with the players.
The Colts are not this bad. That's what makes what happened here so disrespectful.
The expansion Houston Texans showed up and fought valiantly for 16 games, knowing full well they probably were going to get their butts beaten.
But at least they showed up.
The Colts had a legitimate chance to win. Moreover, they had a legitimate reason to win. And they couldn't show up for one momentous game.
''The quarterback who performed like a nervous rookie was Peyton Manning, who completed only 14 of 31 passes for 137 yards and was intercepted twice. In an attempt to overcome the roar from the crowd of 78,524, he made an incredible number of adjustments at the line, hurriedly walking back and forth while shouting calls to his linemen and receivers, stepping back to communicate with Edgerrin James and his other backs, and gesticulating with his arms and hands.
Given that most of the plays went nowhere, Manning, now 0-3 in the postseason, came off looking awkward, desperate and hopelessly puzzled.
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