‘That’s bulls***’: Jim Irsay responds to Colts tanking rumors after Jeff Saturday hire

The Indianapolis Colts saw some sweeping changes take place within the organization after their Week 9 loss, as owner Jim Irsay replaced head coach Frank Reich with interim boss Jeff Saturday. It was a decision that caught the entire NFL by surprise, leading to some speculation that the Colts could be ready to throw in the towel on the 2022 season. In response to those claims, via Bob Kravitz of The Athletic, Irsay vehemently denied any sort of tanking taking place in Indy.

“That’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard, that we’re tanking,” Irsay said of the Colts. “That’s bulls—. We’re in this thing; 9-7-1 get us in, no question about it. … We’re not tanking the season. Whoever says these things, that we’re not playing Matt because (of an effort to tank), that’s all bulls—. That’s not true. … We’re going to do what it takes to win. I don’t know who people think we are, they don’t know us. We don’t tank in Indianapolis.”

The Colts are currently 3-5-1 after their latest loss against the New England Patriots, a 26-3 defeat. Irsay seems to think that the team is still primed for a playoff run, optimistically (possibly too much so) that the Colts can finish the year 9-7-1 and squeak into the playoffs, all under the eye of Jeff Saturday.

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Tanking, however, is not an option for the Colts. Despite the team pledging its faith to Sam Ehlinger as the starting quarterback for the rest of the season, they may be getting cold feet just two games into the experiment.

Regardless of how things play out the rest of the way, Irsay put his foot down and boldly declared the Colts will not be tanking, despite entering Week 10 with a rookie head coach who has no experience beyond the high school level, and no offensive coordinator.