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After becoming the joke of the NFL world for hiring ESPN analyst and former Pro Bowl Colts center Jeff Saturday — who had no previous collegiate or professional coaching experience — as their new head coach, owner Jim Irsay is taking up a defiant tone.
Speaking to The Athletic on Tuesday following Saturday’s introductory press conference on Monday, the 63-year-old Irsay scoffed at the idea that the 3-5-1 Colts — who became the second team in the NFL to fire their coach this season when they canned Frank Reich — are tanking and called the suggestion “bulls**t.”
Jim Irsay lashes out at the suggestion that the Indianapolis Colts are tanking following the hiring of Jeff Saturday as the team’s head coach
“That’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard, that we’re tanking. That’s bulls**t. We’re in this thing; 9-7-1 get us in, no question about it. . . . We’re not tanking the season,” Irsay told The Atheltic.
“Whoever says these things, that we’re not playing [quarterback] Matt [Ryan] because [of an effort to tank], that’s all bullshit. That’s not true. . . We’re going to do what it takes to win. I don’t know who people think we are, they don’t know us. We don’t tank in Indianapolis.”
Despite the Colts’ 3-5-1 record, they only trail the AFC South division-leading Tenessee Titans — who are struggling to put up points due to their lack of explosiveness in the passing game — by two games with eight weeks left in the 2022 season. Unfortunately for Saturday and the Colts, though, they’ve already played their two games against the Titans earlier this season and lost both.
Saturday’s first game as the Indianapolis Colts head coach will come this Sunday when they travel to Las Vegas to take on Derek Carr, Davante Adams, and the 2-6 Raiders.
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