Horseshoe Huddle

Returning to the Upper Quartile: Jim Irsay’s Year in Review

Around this time last year, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay was in a completely different state of mind, grabbing the attention of the sports world.

Drake Wally

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Since 1997, Jim Irsay has been the owner and CEO of the Indianapolis Colts. Before him would be his father, Robert Irsay, who many say ruled with an iron fist. However, Jim wouldn’t adopt the same mindset as his father before him when it came to running an NFL operation.

Over the last 27 years of running the Colts, Irsay has seen great success with QBs like Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck. He’s also recorded two Super Bowl trips, one championship (2006), and countless wins, playoff runs, and divisional titles.

However, once Luck retired abruptly in 2019, it started a whirlwind of QB rotations and uncertainty for the Colts franchise that would last four years. While Irsay handled the craziness well for a while, it all came to a head on November 7th, 2022 when the Colts were falling apart and had just sustained a tough loss against the New England Patriots to fall to 3-5-1.

What followed was a move that nobody saw coming from Irsay. He would fire a head coach mid-season for the first time as an NFL owner.

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After four and a half seasons of coaching Indy, Frank Reich was relieved of his duties. However, it didn’t take long for Irsay to hire a replacement. The shock came when it was revealed to be former Colts center and Ring of Honor member Jeff Saturday.

What may have been more shocking and newsworthy was the insanity of the press conference to announce the hiring of Saturday.

Some of the memorable quotes from Irsay include: 

“We’re the fourth-winningest franchise in the league since 2000. That means in the upper quartile of winners, we’re in the top quartile of that upper quartile.”

“We don’t build rockets to go to Mars. It’s a very simple job we do here.”

“I don’t know how to make sausage, I don’t know what goes into sausage…I do know how to build a football team.”

He would also compare general manager Chris Ballard to NBA great Michael Jordan in reference to Ballard returning to form in 2023, further adding to the wild night in Indianapolis.

While Saturday wouldn’t finish well for 2022 (1-7) as the leader of the team and would be replaced with current coach Shane Steichen, it ended up leading to the team being able to select a potential franchise QB in the 2023 NFL Draft with the No.4 selection.

This culminated in the picking of Florida QB and freak athlete field general Anthony Richardson.

While Richardson would show moments of truly incredible potential as the QB for the Colts, he would fall victim to an AC joint sprain in his right shoulder, which would derail his 2023 season before it could pick up much steam.

Now, heading into their Week 10 matchup against the Patriots almost exactly one year later, the Colts have veteran Gardner Minshew leading Steichen’s offense and a 4-5 record. While the record may be sub-.500, it’s a better team than last year and the Colts could still sneak into the postseason if they can right the ship now, as they have a soft schedule to finish 2023’s regular season.

Outlook

Needless to say, Irsay is far happier now than a year ago. There have been necessary pieces, both roster-wise and coaching, that have been moved away and added to the Colts that have helped construct a new era of football for Irsay’s team.

With the future looking bright and the QB-head coach combo of Richardson and Steichen showing serious promise, Irsay is in better spirits than ever.

If you don’t think it’s true, just see Irsay’s reaction after defeating the Reich-led Carolina Panthers 27-13 in Week 9.

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Drake Wally
DRAKE WALLY

Drake Wally covers the Indianapolis Colts at Horseshoe Huddle and co-hosts the Horseshoe Huddle Podcast.  

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