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Well, hooray for Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning.  Two of the really good guys in sports finally have their title shot.  And I couldn’t possibly want to throw up any more.  Don’t get me wrong; I like and respect both Dungy and Manning, but the Colts reached a Boston Red Sox level (especially in the media) of pity as far as the whole “Oh the poor Colts” angle goes about a year ago.  Nobody deserves championships, you know.  They have to be earned, and lots of great coaches and players have had brilliant careers and never earned a ring.  By the same token, lots of mediocre coaches and mediocre players have ridden the coattails of great performers to earn a championship ring.  Super Bowl titles should not be the only defining factor in evaluating a coach or player’s career.  But now, thanks to a sieve-like Patriots defense and a relentless Colts offense, we all get two weeks of heartwarming stories about Manning finally clearing the New England hurdle…plus around a thousand stories about the friendship between Tony Dungy and the equally classy Lovie Smith…plus another thousand stories about the success of the coaches on Dungy’s Tampa staff and the soon-to-be legendary ‘Tampa Two’ defense.  So just gag me now…

On a serious note…It is a great illustration of how a positive continuity can bring success.  A great deal of credit must be given to the Colts management.  A key member of the management team is Bill Polian, who not coincidentally was instrumental in building the Buffalo Bills teams that came oh-so-close to being a dynasty in their own right in the late 80’s and early 90’s.  Polian also helped the Carolina Panthers hit the ground running when they came into the league before moving on to Indy.  So don’t forget Polian when making a list of guys who deserve a Super Bowl ring.  He and owner Jim Irsay have constantly tweaked the roster, but ever since they brought Tony Dungy in, they have not wavered from their focus, a focus built on the considerable talents of Manning and Marvin Harrison on offense, and the collection of speed on defense.  The Colts have also managed to keep a very underrated (and underappreciated) offensive line together under the tutelage of Howard Mudd, and Tom Moore has been there every step of the way as Manning has become an on-the-field version of his offensive coordinator.  The entire organization has done a tremendous job of holding its core together in the salary cap era, despite the fact that there have been calculated casualties suffered (most notably Edgerrin James).  But they have done an outstanding job in the draft, always mining great young talent, whether it be Reggie Wayne, Joseph Addai, Bob Sanders, Dwight Freeney, or Marlin Jackson.  And, the occasional savvy free agent signing hasn’t hurt, either…see Vinatieri, Adam.

As the next two weeks focus on Dungy and his close friend across the field, you can expect that Dungy will finally begin to receive credit for being a football genius in his own right.  Dungy has long had to endure the criticisms that he is too nice to win championships (you remember Mr. Vander-choke, don’t you?), but the fact of the matter is that Dungy has a toughness few men possess.  A standout quarterback at Minnesota, Dungy had to deal with the typical position change that almost every black quarterback had to deal with when coming into the NFL.  He was a solid contributor with the Steelers for a couple of seasons during the Steel Curtain days, even leading the club in interceptions as a safety in 1978, and he recovered a fumble in the Steelers’ Super Bowl XIII victory.  For all of his contributions, he was traded twice in a year, and he was cut at his last stop by the New York Giants…a move that led to his career in coaching.  Dungy spent fifteen years as a defensive backs coach and a defensive coordinator before he finally got his chance as a head coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Dungy took the Bucs from a laughingstock to the cusp of the Super Bowl, right before he got tossed over the side…because Tampa needed somebody tougher…

Few could have been tougher, or better said, stronger, than Dungy was last year when his son James committed suicide.  Dungy handled the situation with his typical grace, even in the face of Indianapolis’ frustrating playoff loss to Pittsburgh.  Dungy appears to be one of those rare characters with great character, a man who doesn’t ask…why me?…at least not publicly.  Not when the team he built from the ground up won the Super Bowl without him, not when his Colts suffered one playoff setback after another, and not when he lost his oldest child.  That is why you can root for Tony Dungy, even if we get one too many stories about the Tampa Two and his old coaching staff (another former member of the staff, Mike Tomlin is expected to replace Bill Cowher in Pittsburgh).  Dungy is a true champion, and the fact that he and Lovie Smith have become the first African-American coaches to reach a Super Bowl cannot be applauded enough.

But you do realize that this means another thirty Peyton Manning commercials, don’t you?

In other quarterback news, my proposed Michael Vick deal to Oakland can’t happen.  CBS’ Charley Casserly notes that the salary cap ramifications would be to severe for the Falcons to part with Vick, either by cutting or trading him.  Sorry, Mr. Davis.  I guess you’ll just have to groom one of those young quarterback prospects…if you can ever hire a coach.  Casserly also dropped this bit of knowledge concerning the Raiders…Lane Kiffin (son of Tampa defensive guru, Monte Kiffin…see I told you the Tampa coaching staff story would never die), part of the Sarkisian-Kiffin offensive wonder twins at USC who appeared to be Steve Sarkisian’s choice as offensive coordinator if Sarkisian took the Raiders job, is supposed to interview again with Oaktown to see if HE might be a fit as the Raiders new head man.  Very interesting…And finally, I suppose the Falcons can feel better about their Mr. Vick.  It seems he has been exonerated in the “hey man…is that marijuana in your secret water bottle compartment” case.  And that is certainly a relief.  I guess those were just special marijuana-flavored Altoids he was hiding in the SECRET COMPARTMENT IN HIS WATER BOTTLE!!!  But at least now you know what to get for that friend who has everything…his very own superspy water canteen….thanks, Mike

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 21st, 2007 at 11:32 pm and is filed under The Daily Verdict. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.