Who is more important to Indy Manning or Polian?

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

My sense is that while both are essential to making Indy the team they are (and we will see after the playoffs how good this team is- they have more potential than any team I have seen since the 1985 Bears, but potential merely means you haven't done anything yet like win an SB or even appear in one) that Polian is way more important to this team getting where they are.

 

Don't get me wrong Manning is a great QB. He is better than I have seen than any other QB at various aspects of the game and is easily the best QB I have ever seen that never appeared in an SB (as far as total career goes, Marino is the best passer I have ever seen who never won an SB and kelly is the best QB i haveever seen who never won one. Their accomplishments with their teams simply puts them in a different league for comparison that Manning has achieved).

 

I'm not arguing at all that Manning has fatal flaws, I'm just arguing that since it is simply a fact that he has never even appeared in the SB despite the fact he is such a great QB, this only shows how much of a TEAM game this is and points to why Polian is so central to this team.

 

It really is amazing that he has been able to massage the salary cap and build a team which has:

 

1. One of the best D HC minds in football that has allowed them to compensate spending so much of their cap room on builiding an O which gives Manning the tools to apply his great skills.

 

2. Done a great job acquiring ST players, back-ups for injuries and negotiating contracts that allow for success with such a huge cap imbalance.

 

3. Signed and held onto the quirky Vanderjagt who like most kicker his head is in a different place but he is simply money as a kicker.

 

4. Has signed and held onto Harrison and James who really have allowed Manning to be more than he can be using his great skills.

 

5. Drafted well and got key players like Freeney to allow this D to become a force.

 

A lot of it rests on Mannings shoulders now and his play will make the difference. If they win it all (particularly if they go undefeated which i judged as uimpossible but that was before they beat the Bengals and Pitts so now it is improbable but certainly possible. If they win it all I think it will be credible to talk about Manning as one of the best QBs ever (though even this will be merely talk justified by possibility until it becomes a reality that he leads his team to multiple wins if you legitimately want to deem him best ever.

 

However, Polian has GM'ed a team to a SB appearnace and laid the groundwork for the Bills appearances 4 years in a row (Butler gets the lionshare of the GM credit for their final appearances byt Polian deseerves some credit for laying the base he used). If he builds this team into one that wins it all, it seems clear to me that while Manning cannot be successful without the work Polian has done, already Polian has been successful without Manning.

 

The key to buiding this team into a potential winner (I would not even call them a special winner of note until they make it to the conference finals again) IMHO was the work Polian has done to allow this team to win and Manning to flourish with his great play.

[Orton's Arm]

I voted for Polian, the guy who chose Manning over Ryan Leaf. Polian's also the one who built that offensive line, successfully filled those offensive skill positions, put in some good players on defense, and built a great coaching staff.

 

Take away Manning and put in an average QB like Mark Brunell, and Indy would still have a pretty good team. Take away Polian and put in a lousy GM, and you'd have, um, the 2005 Bills.