Colts Gab

Colts head coach Tony Dungy moved on to phase two of his life on Monday, calling it quits after a Hall of Fame NFL coaching career.  After a 31-year NFL career, Dungy has decided it was time to move on and get set for the second part of his life, one that will involve doing what he enjoys most – ministering to others.  “We just felt this was the right time,” Dungy said. “Don’t shed any tears for me. I got to live a dream most people don’t get to live.”

The 53-year-old Dungy told team owner Jim Irsay of the decision to retire on Sunday, and then talked to his staff and some of his players and told them that he would no longer be their coach.  Instead, he will give way to Jim Caldwell, another man that will come right in and make a seamless transition from NFL assistant head coach of the Colts to being the head man on the sideline.

“I think I’ve got a responsibility to be home a little bit more, be available to my family a little bit more and do some things to help make our country better,” Dungy said. “I don’t know what that is right now, but we’ll see.”  Dungy set league records for most consecutive playoff seasons (10) and consecutive 12-win seasons (six), and leaves with the highest average of regular-season victories of any coach in league history (10.7).

“I knew this day would come some time, it always does in life,” Irsay said, tearing up. “It’s been an incredible journey, and as an owner, I think, you dream of having the kind of relationship with a head coach that I’ve had with Tony.”  Dungy finished his six-year tenure in Tampa and his seven-year stint in Indy as the career leader in victories for both franchises, finishing with an overall record of 148-79.

The future of Colts head coach Tony Dungy is expected to come within the next 24 hours according to ESPN.  The Colts coach said that he was going to take some time once the season ended to make a decision on if he would or would not come back to coach the team next year, and apparently that decision has been reached.

If Dungy does not come back, the teams associate head coach, Jim Calwell, will be the teams next head coach.  That was decided upon before last season began when many felt that Dungy would hang it up.  Dungy and the Colts season ended last weekend with a playoff loss to the Chargers.

Dungy has been a head coach since he took over the Tampa Bay Bucs back in 1996, and coached there for six seasons before being fired.  The Colts snatched him up right away, and he’s been with them since the 2002 season, and has led them to a 85-28 record, 7-6 in the postseason.  He has led the Colts to the playoffs each season as head coach, and the team won the Super Bowl, beating the Bears three seasons ago in Super Bowl XLI.

From: NFL Network

Every December for the past half-dozen years or so, Colts coach Tony Dungy has contemplated retiring and once the season ended, he took some time off and, ultimately, decided to return. Now, Dungy has the same thought process. If the season were to end today, he likely would walk away from the game but the season might not end for a while for Indianapolis which clinched the No. 5 seed with Thursday night’s 31-24 victory over Jacksonville and Dungy knows a big decision awaits.

“I really enjoy coaching,” Dungy said. “I love our team. This year has been a challenge and been so much fun. We’ve got great guys to coach. I have some other things that eventually I’m going to want to do. I’m enjoying being away from the game more and more. My wife and I will sit down at the end of the year after it’s all over and assess everything, where we’re going and make a decision. Fortunately, I don’t have to make it quick and I’m going to take that time.”

From: Tribune.com

Colts head coach Tony Dungy is still mulling over how much playing time his starters and key personnel will see against the Tennessee Titans in the regular-season finale. With an 11-4 record, Indianapolis will take an eight-game winning streak and the No. 5 seed in the AFC playoffs into next week’s matchup with the Titans.

“I don’t know exactly yet, but I don’t think we’ll scale back too much [in practice next week]. The one thing we will do is we’ll protect the guys that are a little bit banged up. So the guys that are iffy [injury-wise] probably won’t play. But we definitely want to win [the Titans game],” he said. “We’d like to get to 12 [victories]. We’d like to not have our division teams think they can beat us. In that regard, it will be a big game. So we’ll see how it goes as the week progresses. But we’d like to play to win and get ourselves ready for the following week [wild-card weekend].”

Needing a win in the worst of ways Sunday night against the Pats, the Colts may get a lift with the possible return of last year’s defensive player of the year Bob Sanders and leading rusher Joseph Addai. “I expect that they will all be out there (Wednesday), and if all goes well, I expect them to play Sunday,” coach Tony Dungy said before practice today.

Corner Kelvin Hayden also practiced today, and also could play on Sunday as well. Pro Bowl WR Reggie Wayne and CB Marlin Jackson both sat out the session with knee injuries, but both should play on Sunday night vs New England.

Dungy said today that he wants to see how Sanders, Addai and Hayden each responds when they return to the team complex Thursday morning, and even then the Colts may limit their playing time.

The Colts seemed frustrated, yet still confident following Monday night’s 31-21 loss to the still undefeated Tennessee Titans. The Colts had a lead, stopped the Titans run in the first half, yet were unable to do enough to win. One has to wonder, is it just not this teams year?

“We played with energy and emotion, played very hard … but when the game got to the point you had to win it, we didn’t play well enough,” Tony Dungy said today. “We didn’t really stop them in the second half defensively, and we didn’t convert offensively. They outplayed us down the stretch where it was crunch time, and that was disappointing. We’ll have to go back and go to work just fundamentally playing well and making those things happen in crucial situations.”

The issues seem to be many for this Colts squad, from the sub-par play of QB Peyton Manning, to the never ending list of injuries that the team seems to be suffering from. If they are going to make a run at the playoffs at this point, they simply have to play more consistent.

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Monday night may very well be a changing of the guard in the AFC South, as the undefeated Tennessee Titans play host to the 3-3 Indianapolis Colts at LP Field. With a win the Colts will be a whopping four games back of the Titans with nine to play. If the Colts can upset the Titans, they will be back in striking distance of Tennessee, down two games for the division lead.

The Titans are 6-0 for a reason. They have pounded teams into submission all season, and really have played just two close games, opening day vs the Jags and three weeks ago in Baltimore. They are putting up 154.5 yards per game on the ground, and will once again look to Chris Johnson and LenDale White to punish the Colts run defense.

Kerry Collins has played well enough to keep Vince Young on the sidelines since week two. He has thrown for 863 yards and three TD’s with three picks. He hasn’t had to have many big games so far, and right now his role is not to make any critical mistakes that will put the Titans in a position to lose. So far, he’s done the job.

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In the world of the NFL, your not much if you can’t stay on the field. That may becoming the case more and more with Colts all-world safety Bob Sanders, who is out yet again. Sanders already is dealing with a sprained right ankle that will keep him out for awhile, and now Friday had his knee scoped.

Make no mistake, when healthy, Sanders is one of, if not the best safety in the league. The issue with him basically starts and ends with the fact he can’t stay on the field. He played in just six games during his rookie season in 2004 and four games in 2006. In odd-numbered years, Sanders has started 14 and 15 games, respectively.

What happens next with Sanders is anyones guess. The Colts are already a team in big trouble due to the fact they can’t stop the run (again) and for some reason can’t win a game in their new stadium. Now without Sanders, the window for them to try and get coach Tony Dungy back to the big dance may very well be closed.