The Indianapolis Colts received a lot of criticism for hiring Jeff Saturday as interim head coach, but when the dust settled on Sunday, Saturday is 1-0.
Former Colts teammate Pat McAfee took that opportunity to rip off everyone who called Jim Irsay’s hiring on Saturday a terrible decision, including Cleveland Browns legend Joe Thomas.
Thomas ripped up rent on Saturday prior to the team’s victory over the Las Vegas Raiders, saying it was the “most egregious thing I can ever remember” in the NFL. During his last “Pat McAfee Show,” McAfee said he has great respect for the future Hall of Famer, but believes he is a “puppet”.
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Indianapolis Colts interim head coach Jeff Saturday greets Nikola Kalinic before an NFL football game against the Las Vegas Raiders in Las Vegas, Sunday, November 13, 2022.
(AP Photo/David Becker)
“I don’t think Joe Thomas is a bad guy. I think he’s a puppet. I don’t think he’s a bad guy,” McAfee said in a lengthy diatribe. “I think he felt obligated to speak up because someone told him how disrespectful they felt, instead of looking at it from a realistic point of view. This is an interim head coaching role. The Indianapolis Colts have disappointed everyone on earth, including their fan base literally since the jump this season when they tied the damn Houston Texans in Houston this season, and the Houston Texans are the Houston Texans.
McAfee also pulled up footage from his 2020 show when he had Thomas as a guest. Thomas told the crew he wanted to put his name in the hat for the next Browns head coach, and like Saturday, he had no coaching experience.
EX-BROWN JOE THOMAS ABOUT JEFF SATURDAY HIRING: ‘GREATEST THAT I CAN EVER REMEMBER HAPPENING’ IN NFL
Why did Joe Thomas think at that point two years ago, three years ago that he had any right to [head coach]McAfee wondered. “Is it because he’s the best player they’ve had? Is it because they spent years and years and years in that building with sales and saw what could be good and saw what they were bad at? Is it because he knew football quite well? Is it because he thought he knew the NFL pretty well?
“Did Joe Thomas tell us on January 3, 2020 that he would put his name in the hat to become the next Cleveland Browns head coach because he was the only one who cared enough about the Browns to turn them around and have a good program? Or did he say that because he wanted to spit in the face of every coach who has had to work and grind and sleep on benches before he got a chance to be one of only 32 NFL head coaches So he’s being disrespectful or he thought that he could do something no one else could do with the Cleveland Browns.”
Indianapolis Colts interim coach Jeff Saturday speaks at a press conference at the NFL football team practice facility on Monday, November 7, 2022 in Indianapolis.
(AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
McAfee went on to say that Saturday’s 13 years with the Colts and the fact that he understood everything that was still going on in the building made him someone Irsay could trust.
He also ripped Hall of Fame coach Bill Cowher, who also questioned Saturday’s rent.
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“But Bill Cowher, shut up,” McAfee said. “He said, ‘Why didn’t John Fox get the job? Why didn’t Gus Bradley get the job?’ It’s their first year in the building and to be honest the team has been stinking ever since they got there.
“I just think the backlash was absurd. I think the win was huge.”
In fact, McAfee believes that this Saturday appointment, which does not guarantee him as head coach next year given interim status, could actually help the minority coaching percentage problem the NFL is currently facing.
Indianapolis Colts interim coach Jeff Saturday speaks while owner Jim Irsay listens during a press conference at the NFL football team’s practice facility on Monday, November 7, 2022 in Indianapolis.
(AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
“I believe this will help with minority coaching rates in the NFL as former players are quickly tracked to more important positions, instead of having to wait and do the nonsense you should be doing when you are 22, 23, 24, 25 years old old,” McAfee said. Instead, they are in their 30s because they had a very productive NFL football career. Jeff Saturday could not have been hired to become the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts at age 34 because Jeff Saturday played for the Indianapolis Colts. “
The Colts beat the Raiders to get back on track with their fourth win of the season, bringing their overall record to 4-5-1. It was a late touchdown pass from Matt Ryan, who was back under center after being benched by then-head coach Frank Reich for Sam Ehlinger, who found Parris Campbell for a 35-yard score that would be the game-winner.
Pat McAfee speaks during his show on Media Row for the Super Bowl LVI at the Los Angeles Convention Center on February 10, 2022 in Los Angeles, California
(Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
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The Indianapolis defense stopped the Raiders on their last attempt to score, when Derek Carr threw an incomplete pass to Davante Adams in fourth and seventh with just 52 seconds left in Colts territory.
