Nix or Polian ?

[Hapless Bills Fan]

Do you see the discrepancy of your own logic ? You correctly state that this team depended more on one player than probably any other team in the league. Putting all your eggs in one basket is not a strategy that teams or businesses do these days. The responsibility of team building was on Polian so he has to take the fall for it. I do not entirely absolve the Colts ownership either because they would have been too dumb to not see this roster deficiencies.

 

This.

 

In the NFL, it's far too easy for a player to get hurt for "we don't need no stinkin' defense, we don't need no stinkin' run game, we don't need no stinkin' backup QB, we've got Enduromagic Man!" to be a tenable team-building strategy.

 

I agree with SJBF that the quality of the Colts appeared to decline as Polian handed off more duties to his son.

Edited May 18, 2012 by Hopeful

[Fan in Chicago]

I see no discrepancy! Polian is brilliant in my view, he set the team up to get that #1 overall pick now that Manning was injured an on his way out.

 

4 trips to the SB with one of the historically worst franchises in the NFL....In TWO seasons he builds an expansion team from nothing into a team that goes to the NFC championship game....Takes the Colts to 12+ years of division wins, 2 SB appearances and one SB win.

 

 

And yet, most of you would rather have a man that has never had a single winning season as a GM. Like I said, that Buffalo Bills fans eternal optimism...never lose it

 

Now you are just being ridiculous. Assuming what you say is possible (it isn;t because Polian didn't 'set the Colts up'), here is what you are saying - If Polian comes in tomorrow, he should set up the Bills for failure so they can have a shot at Barkley. Then he would hope Barkley turns out to be the next PManning. Doing this will make you happy with his job as a GM ? He certainly turned around that franchise as he did the Bills. But he could have ruled the NFL with PManning as QB and a better defense.

 

4 trips - but one victory only with arguably the best QB to ever play his position. Whereas a marginally lesser talent, Brady, has three rings. BenR has two. Because their overall roster was superior to the Colts's roster. Brady went down and the Pats* still had a winning record with Cassel.

[thewildrabbit]

Now you are just being ridiculous. Assuming what you say is possible (it isn;t because Polian didn't 'set the Colts up'), here is what you are saying - If Polian comes in tomorrow, he should set up the Bills for failure so they can have a shot at Barkley. Then he would hope Barkley turns out to be the next PManning. Doing this will make you happy with his job as a GM ? He certainly turned around that franchise as he did the Bills. But he could have ruled the NFL with PManning as QB and a better defense.

 

4 trips - but one victory only with arguably the best QB to ever play his position. Whereas a marginally lesser talent, Brady, has three rings. BenR has two. Because their overall roster was superior to the Colts's roster. Brady went down and the Pats* still had a winning record with Cassel.

Hey, you are entitled to your opinion and I'm entitled to mine. Polian is a brilliant GM / president in my view whether you care to believe it or not. IDC!

 

 

Andrew Luck was rated as the best QB to enter the draft since John Elway, and that was in 2010. He chose to stay in school another year, and enter this years draft. Don't you find it odd that the Colts have had ( your words) arguably the best QB ever to play the position for the last 14 years and now suddenly find themselves in position to draft the next John Elway with the #1 pick overall!

 

Polian didn't setup that offense or defense. Tom Moore setup the offense and retired in 2010, and taught Manning to call his own plays. The Colts didn't need an OC while Manning was the QB, and its a big reason why the offense was so bad in 2011. Tony Dungy setup that Tampa two defense that is notoriously bad at stopping the run and trying to stop teams when they don't have a lead. But with Manning at QB the Colts usually had the lead.

 

Put yourself in his shoes (GM / Pres) at the start of 2011, You know Manning has a career threatening neck injury and probably won't be playing in 2011. So, whats your incentive to bring in a top free agent QB before the season starts... to do what, hit 8-8? Wouldn't it be wiser to sit on your hands and then finally at the end of preseason to bring in an older Veteran QB you know won't be able to assimilate that offense without Tom Moore there. So your team would be in position to draft Andrew Luck! If there was ever a case for the brain trust of an org to have the team tank to get a better pick, I think you could say this was it! This might be another reason as to why Polian was fired, the Colts owner could have even suspected this, or could have been asked some strong questions by some NFL people, who knows.

 

Again, one bad season after 12 years of winning the division and playoffs, 2 SP appearances and one SB win shouldn't in itself be grounds for a complete housecleaning. But like others have stated, perhaps the owner didn't like Polian's son as the GM

 

http://www.sbnation....n-manning-colts

 

 

 

Lastly, I find it facetious that a Bills fan is comparing Manning to Big Ben or Tom Brady, and inferring that Manning should have won more SB's because he is arguably the better player but played on inferior teams. You can try and diminish what Polian has accomplished by making comparisons to other teams that have won more super bowls. You can try...

 

 

Get a grip will ya, Nix has yet to even field a team with a winning record. So far Marv Levy and Dick Jauron as GM's have better overall records at 7-9, which is downright pathetic.

Edited May 18, 2012 by Fear the Beard

[hondo in seattle]

Bill Polian is 69. Only 3 years younger than Nix. Neither of these guys is going to be an NFL GM 10 years from now.

The question would be if we would rather have Chris Polian or Doug Whaley as the 'GM of the future'.

 

I'll take Whaley over Chris.

 

If Ralph wanted to hire a Polian to replace Littman, I'd sign up for righting that wrong.

 

This is right on.

 

Nix and Polian are both getting old and so their successors are important.

 

Polian in Indy was unofficially partially retired and had already begun handing over the reins to his far less capable son.

 

If the choice is as it seems to be - Nix/Whaley versus Polian/Polian - I have to go with Nix/Whaley.

[Best Player Available]

This is right on.

 

Nix and Polian are both getting old and so their successors are important.

 

Polian in Indy was unofficially partially retired and had already begun handing over the reins to his far less capable son.

 

If the choice is as it seems to be - Nix/Whaley versus Polian/Polian - I have to go with Nix/Whaley.

Just out of curiosity you know for fact that BP's son is "far less capable". Based on what exactly? Some douchebag writer in Indiana?

'cause I'll tell you Isray never said it.When you clean house you clean house. BTW the dumbass kid wasn't unemployed for long.Unlike some current Bills coaches were.

 

You guys crack me up. Now I am a fan of Nix but the BP bashing around here is pathetic. I'm still waiting for Nix to have his first winning season EVER as a GM, along with his starting QB.

 

GO BILLS!!!!

[Rico]

Just out of curiosity you know for fact that BP's son is "far less capable". Based on what exactly? Some douchebag writer in Indiana?

'cause I'll tell you Isray never said it.When you clean house you clean house. BTW the dumbass kid wasn't unemployed for long.Unlike some current Bills coaches were.

 

You guys crack me up. Now I am a fan of Nix but the BP bashing around here is pathetic. I'm still waiting for Nix to have his first winning season EVER as a GM, along with his starting QB.

 

GO BILLS!!!!

Indeed.

 

Also, Polian was in a very tough situation in Indy. On the one hand, he had an all-time great regular season QB who basically built and energized the fanbase. Unfortunately, the same QB was a notorious choke artist in the playoffs who consistently came up short in the biggest games. Quite the dilemma... do you move said QB away for a ransom in draft picks (and lose most of the fans), or do you try to build around him and hope that one year you just may get lucky? He chose the 2nd route, and sure enough they had a miracle playoff run & he bought the franchise a championship. Once that happened, there was no turning back, he had to keep building the team around the QB. Only a matter of time, sooner or later the seemingly indestructible QB got hurt, the team had a bad year, and the nitwit owner overreacted. Bottom line, Polian did a magnificent job in Indy considering the circumstances, I give him an A+.

[MarkyMannn]

I think a lot of folks are confusing two very different questions here.

 

The question from the OP and the article was along the lines of "Which would you rather have now, from this point forward?"

 

Not "Who has had the better career with the Bills/as an NFL GM?"

 

For those jumping at Polian, you're talking about starting over again with the FO and team. A whole new rebuild.

 

No problem. Polian!