Denver caught their rainbow

[YDFL Commish]

Bill Polian absolutely had the Colts in position to win championships almost every year he was in Indy.

The 2005 and 2007 teams were undoubtedly the best Colts teams of that era.

The 2005 team got undone by several factors. resting players, Tony Dungy's tragic loss of his son, the Nick Harper incident etc. etc. Not to mention the Colts refusal to give Edge the ball until the opening drive of the 2nd half, where he shredded the Steelers defense on that drive and again disappeared from the game plan after that. Gotta throw in the total choke job by Vandy as well.

The 2007 team entered the SD playoff game without Mathis or Freeney due to injury. Also, I don't recall if it was the 2007 or 2008 playoff game vs the Chargers, Gonzales and Harrison went out with injuries. Remember that team lead the undefeated Pats 20 -10 with 9 minutes to go in the game during the regular season. We gave the Giants the secret sauce to defeat the Pats.

The 2003 and 2004 defeats to the Pats were well deserved and any of us could point to team building being an issue then and be right.

Gotta believe that BP saw how Brady was doing more with less and trusted that PM could do the same, which he largely did until the playoffs where the defense just could not hold up their end of the bargain.