NFL Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts Congratulated by President Bush (2007)
http://thefilmarchive.org/
April 23,
2007
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional
American football team based in
Indianapolis. They are members of the
South Division of the
American Football Conference (
AFC) in the
National Football League (
NFL). The club was officially founded in
Baltimore, Maryland in
1953, but can trace its history to the
Dayton Triangles, a founding member of the NFL that was originally created in 1913. After a series of changes, it assumed the name
Baltimore Colts, replacing a previous team of that name that folded in
1950.
Playing at
Baltimore's
Memorial Stadium, the Colts became the first NFL team to have cheerleaders. The team then relocated to
Indianapolis in 1984, first playing at the
Hoosier Dome, which was then renamed the
RCA Dome, before moving to
Lucas Oil Stadium in 2008.
The Colts have won three
NFL championships and two
Super Bowls (three
NFL Championships in
1958,
1959,
1968; Super Bowl V in
1971 and
Super Bowl XLI in
2006.
Jim Irsay began to shape the Colts one year after assuming control from his father by firing
Coach Lindy Infante and hiring
Bill Polian to run the organization. Polian in turn hired
Jim E. Mora to coach the team and drafted
University of Tennessee Volunteers quarterback
Peyton Manning, the son of
New Orleans Saints legend
Archie Manning, with the first pick in the
1998 NFL Draft
Peyton Manning has played for the Colts and won them a
Super Bowl in the 2006 season, also picking up the
Super Bowl MVP award.
Besides winning an
MVP in a Super Bowl,
Manning has also won four other MVP's.
During the
2011 off-season, Peyton Manning became the focus of controversy because of his advancing age (35 in March) and surgery for a herniated neck disc.
The league was faced with a lockout in March--July that prevented Manning from using team training facilities to help recover, and as the preseason began he was left on the
PUP list.
After missing the preseason, Manning was ruled out for the Colts' opener game in
Houston.
Things took a turn for the disastrous when he underwent yet another neck operation on
September 7 that ensured he would miss at least 6--8 weeks of play.
Taking over as starter was 15-year veteran
Kerry Collins, who had been signed to the team after dissatisfaction with backup QBs
Curtis Painter and
Dan Orlovsky. Heading down to Houston for
Week 1, the Colts were completely lost without Manning and the
Houston Texans buried them 34-7.
Opening at home against the
Cleveland Browns, what would normally be an easy win turned into a 27-14 loss as Indianapolis again proved unable to accomplish anything with Kerry Collins under center. In Week 3, they hosted the
Pittsburgh Steelers on
SNF.
Despite all predictions of a one-sided route, the Colts defense battled
Pittsburgh hard the whole game until the latter finally edged them in OT. With Kerry Collins benched in favor of Curtis Painter, the team traveled to
Tampa Bay Buccaners for a
MNF match. Despite a valiant effort by
Painter and the defense, Indianapolis lost 24-17 to remain winless at 0-4. DT
Eric Foster and OT
Ben Ijalana were lost to season-ending injuries during the game. The Colts' fall into the abyss continued as they lost to
Cincinnati Bengals 27-17. The next game saw them play
New Orleans in what had been expected to be a rematch of
Super Bowl XLIV, but instead the latter decided to set a franchise record on the backs of the hapless Colts squad and crushed them 62-7 with five TDs, only the third 62-7 game in
NFL history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianapolis_Colts