If you were wondering why you saw Al Michaels and a multi-colored peacock doing backflips in the streets on Tuesday, we have your answer.
The Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts will meet on "Sunday Night Football" in five days. That matchup got even more enticing now that Broncos coach John Fox has criticized Colts owner Jim Irsay over recent comments about Peyton Manning.
"I saw the comments, and to be honest with you I thought it was a bit of a cheap shot," Fox said Tuesday on SiriusXM NFL Radio (via DenverBroncos.com). "To me, in my opinion, they were disappointing and inappropriate. Peyton would never say anything, he's too classy to do that, but they sounded a little ungrateful and unappreciative to me, for a guy that's set a standard, won a Super Bowl, won division titles, won four MVP awards.
"I'd be thankful of that one Super Bowl ring, because a lot of people don't have one."
Irsay told USA Today that the Colts "changed (their) model a little bit" because they wanted more than the one ring the franchise won during Manning's 14-year run in Indy.
"You make the playoffs 11 times, and you're out in the first round seven out of 11 times," Irsay said. "You love to have the 'Star Wars' numbers from Peyton and Marvin (Harrison) and Reggie (Wayne). Mostly, you love this," Irsay said, flashing his Super Bowl ring.
Irsay's words certainly appear to have been twisted here. The owner spoke glowingly of Manning's legacy in Indianapolis in a conversation with NFL Media's Albert Breer last week. It's possible (actually likely) that Irsay's idea of changing the "model" was less about Manning and more about the organizational direction (Goodbye Bill Polian, hello Ryan Grigson).
Whatever his intentions, Irsay ticked Fox off, which makes this a story. Expect an Irsay tweet sometime around 4 a.m.
The latest "Around The League Podcast" recapped every Week 6 game.