A few brief thoughts on NFL Week 9*

(*In which the adaptable Blob feature, The NFL In So Many Words, will be devoted solely to the goings-on in Indy yesterday. And of which critics have said "Is Irsay crazy, er, crazi-er?" ... and also, "What a slap in the face to black coaches!" ... and also, "I once coached my kid's PAL football team. Does this mean I could be an NFL head coach, too?"):

1. "Is Irsay crazy, er, crazi-er?"

2. Maybe. Possibly. Fifty-fifty, shading toward sixty-forty. But firing Frank Reich yesterday -- which you, your neighbor down the street and everyone else in America knew was coming  -- and hiring Jeff Saturday, a trusted and revered ex-Colt, as an interim head coach (i.e.: placeholder)?

Probably not the standard by which to judge.

"Interim," after all, means "interim." It means, "I'm just keeping the seat warm for the real head coach, who will be named at some future time." 

It might also mean "We surrender with eight games to play," considering Saturday's utter lack of coaching experience above the high school level. Who knows?

3. "Are you suggesting the Colts are tanking the season?"

4. Maybe. Possibly. Fifty-fifty, shading toward sixty-forty.

5. "Might Irsay also have hired a trusted and revered ex-Colt as a fresh set of eyes to evaluate the talent on this roster?"

6. Maybe. Possibly. In which case, if I were GM Chris Ballard, I'd be thinking it might be time to start sending out resumes.

7. "What about that slap-in-the-face-to-black-coaches business? Isn't traveling several light years outside the box to hire some rando white guy pretty much the ultimate slap in the face?"

8. Maybe. Possibly. But if you're gonna to go there with this franchise, I'm just going to laugh at you. 

This is the franchise, remember, that hired the first black head coach ever to win a Super Bowl (Tony Dungy). It's the franchise that elevated another black coach (Jim Caldwell) to replace him.

Back-to-back black head coaches?

Tell me the last time any other NFL franchise had that.

Take your time. I'll wait.

9. "Could Jeff Saturday be exactly what this franchise needs? Could his inexperience actually be an advantage, as Irsay suggested yesterday? Are we completely nuts for even halfway buying that?"

10. Yes.