ColtsSpeak: Dan Cole

The latest ColtsSpeak conversation is with longtime Indianapolis Colts season ticketholder and proud tailgate host Dan Cole, 59, of Madison, Ind., as he shares his takes in a question-and-answer chat with AllColts.com editor Phillip B. Wilson. Cole’s dogs are named “Cap,” after “Captain Comeback” Jim Harbaugh, and “Goose,” after former Colts defensive tackle Tony Siragusa.
ColtsSpeak: Dan Cole
ColtsSpeak: Dan Cole /

The latest ColtsSpeak conversation is with longtime Indianapolis Colts season ticket holder and proud tailgate host Dan Cole, 59, of Madison, Ind., who shares his takes in a question-and-answer chat with AllColts.com editor Phillip B. Wilson. Cole’s dogs are named “Cap,” after “Captain Comeback” Jim Harbaugh, and “Goose,” after former Colts defensive tackle Tony Siragusa.

PhilB: How long have you been a Colts fan?

Dan: Since I was a kid. I know who Raymond Berry is. (Laughs.)

PhilB: What’s your take on where the team is right now and what it’s done in the offseason?

Dan: Good question to start with. I like where we are. You see all the experts on social media saying we have this much cap room, we should get this guy or that guy. I think slow-and-steady, build it through the draft is the (GM Chris) Ballard way and I think that should be the Colt way. Some people forget that here in a couple of years, we’re going to have some kids who have some major paydays if we choose to keep ‘em. So, yeah, you’ve got to leave yourself that latitude with cap money. Yeah, you may have it now, but where you going to be in two or three years when (Quenton) Nelson and kids like that reach the time for their first real contract?

PhilB: T.Y. Hilton and Ryan Kelly are entering contract years this year.

Dan: Ryan, you definitely have to sign. T.Y., I don’t know. Injury bug has really gotten him. My friend ’T-Bone’ (Tim Bear) and I have argued about him for years. I’ve never thought T.Y. was a No. 1, I’ve always thought he was a great No. 2. But he kind of got thrown into the No. 1 spot when Reggie (Wayne) retired. Good receiver, but I think age and injuries are catching up with him. I don’t know that I give him a deal after this year.

PhilB: He’s going to want big money. I’m on the fence, too, and that’s probably going to get me smacked around when I write about it at some point, saying what he does this year and whether he can stay healthy will largely determine whether he gets a big payday or not.

Dan: If you load it up with incentives, I can see that. I’ve always been a big proponent of incentive-based contracts.

PhilB: What do you think about quarterback?

Dan: (Chuckles.) I think that’s our first pick. I think somebody slides down to the second round that Ballard likes. I’ll give (Philip Rivers) this, Rivers didn’t have a line in front of him last year. He already knows 75 percent of the offense. But if Ballard holds to his word, it better be a competition for the No. 1 spot. If you look at Jacoby (Brissett) over the first seven games and then the last nine, he got hurt and correct me if I’m wrong the last five or six games we had about 1,100 yards of offense on IR or on the bench hurt. You can’t overcome that. That’s where the NFL gets you, because you can’t have depth at every position. I’m not opposed to Jacoby Brissett. Hell, Bill Belichick drafted him. There’s got to be something there. I just think the guy needs another chance and we could address it in the draft. I think (owner Jim) Irsay wants a Super Bowl now and Ballard has convinced him that this is the way to go with Rivers.

PhilB: How do you feel about Rivers?

Dan: We’ll see. He didn’t have an offensive line in front of him last year, I will give him that. The Chargers had a terrible offensive line. We have arguably the best or a top-five offensive line in the league. He’s not mobile, but he’s a good pocket passer, and if our receivers can get open, we had some kids get hurt late in the year that could have been impact receivers. Face it, it’s not Zach Pascal. But we had some guys who got hurt that didn’t finish the year, that if they can stay healthy I think Rivers will have plenty of targets. How’s that for avoiding the question? (Laughs.)

PhilB: That was good. (Chuckle.) You think they go quarterback first in the draft? Ballard has got to address wide receiver, right?

Dan: You have to address wide receiver and you also have to address the defensive secondary a little bit. We’re a little bit edgy there out on the edges. I think that was the whole impetus behind signing Rivers. Draft a quarterback and bring him up one or two years in the system, Rivers gives you two good years theoretically and then the kid is ready to take the reigns.

PhilB: That secondary, you only signed cornerback Xavier Rhodes to a one-year deal, same with the Cleveland Browns guy, T.J. Carrie, who was added for depth. If Rhodes doesn’t play better and isn’t Pro Bowl Rhodes, you took a swing at him but you still need a corner.

Dan: You signed two Band-Aids, that if they stick you pay ‘em, and if they don’t you’re only out one year.

PhilB: Therein lies the Catch-22, you still have to address quarterback. Unless Rivers sets the world on fire, but even then, how can you roll the dice and hope he does and you don’t take a quarterback now, you’re looking at quarterback no matter what in the next draft.

Dan: I think QB is the most important pick in this draft for us. It’s a quarterback-rich draft. A couple of kids may slide down to that second round, maybe even the third round. I don’t know that I would roll the dice and wait that long. I just think somebody is going to slip through the cracks in that first round. And the way they are doing the draft this year, they’re not going to have war rooms, that’s going to be interesting to watch, the draft itself. Everybody is going to be in separate rooms. What if your Wifi goes out? What if you’re Ballard’s right hand and all of a sudden your Wifi goes out? The one guy you want to get picked, and you can’t get ahold of him? Then it sets in Ballard’s lap by himself, so to speak.

PhilB: How concerned are you about whether this season starts on time?

Dan: (Laughs.) Oh, you don’t have to ask me that question. (Laughs.) Oh, God, no. I couldn’t go without my football. At least this happened in the spring. It’s speculative. A shortened preseason is what they all want anyway. You have to give them a little bit of camp time. You knock your preseason down from four games to two and you delay the start for maybe a week. You’ve still got that gap week between conference finals and the Super Bowl, so that gives you that extra week where you can push it there, shorten preseason and you can still get your 16-game schedule done. We don’t go to a 17-game schedule until the season after this.

PhilB: True.

Dan: No, we have to have football. (Chuckles.) I don’t watch baseball. I don’t watch basketball. The other night, I was sitting here and I found on YouTube the AFC Championship Game from the XLI Super Bowl season. I sat there and watched it snap for snap, got excited. It’s funny, we have a friend who calls it ‘Th Hug,’ because at the end of the broadcast they showed Tim (Bear) and I jumping up and down hugging. To this day, my friend calls it ‘The Hug’ game.

PhilB: I’ve known you for more than two decades and learned that Colts games are about more than just the games for you.

Dan: We lease that little tailgate lot down there. I’ve made more than one suggestion that we should still have a tailgate on what would be opening day because we’ve already paid for the parking. That way we can hang with our friends. You know me well enough, it’s more about the family aspect. You and I go back to ’96. I started in ’95. And we’re not exclusive in that regard. I’ll give a little credit to The Blue Crew, they’re a family, they do things together in the offseason, they make road trips. Our group, we’re probably going to take 100 people to Las Vegas this year. I wanted to go to Houston, I need Houston, but majority rules.

PhilB: Houston? Five stadiums you haven’t been to?

Dan: Yes, Houston, Miami, Baltimore, Minnesota and Arizona.

PhilB: So we’ll close this by saying you won’t fret over the NFL season?

Dan: Nope, nope, there will be football.

(If you’re a diehard Colts fan and want to share ColtsSpeak opinions, send an email to phillipbwilson24@yahoo.com. The response has been overwhelming, so your name will be added to a growing list.)


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Phillip B. Wilson
PHILLIP B. WILSON

AllColts Publisher/Editor