Recently signed Freeman and Lindley each threw one first-half touchdown pass, and a third-quarter defensive score gave Indy all the scoring it needed to beat Tennessee 30-24.
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If Pagano was nervous about his job security before, the expectations will be even higher for the Colts heading into next season when it comes to returning to the postseason. After finishing the season 8-8, Owner Jim Irsay announced Pagano will stay on into 2020.
Irsay did better than that. That means the pair will be working together through the 2019 season.
Financial details were not immediately available.
“Chuck’s the guy that can get us to the mountaintop”, Grigson said. These our guys. These guys are ready. “Like I said, there’s been a lot reported, a lot written”, Irsay said.
“My goal was to go and play well enough to win, try to play turnover free”, Freeman said. “But I had to be sure”.
The stunning announcement turned conventional wisdom upside down. Despite the team’s struggles, Pagano never lost the respect of his players.
That’s the big upset from the NFL’s Pink-Slip Monday, when Pagano was expected to walk the plank and ignite another round of speculation that would include whether Nick Saban or maybe Sean Payton would inherit franchise quarterback Andrew Luck as the next Indianapolis Colts coach.
Pagano, who missed most of that first 2012 season due to his fight with leukemia, was highly emotional about this particular second chance. With a record of 8-8, the Indianapolis Colts find themselves out of the field and in the spectators’ post for the rest of the football season.
“It’s a great great day”. I’m guessing that process also accounted for the work that needs to be done on the personnel side to better protect the franchise quarterback. “We hadn’t won a playoff game in the first four years of our old era”.
There certainly has been plenty to celebrate. Pagano and Grigson must find a shared vision on how to shore the weak spots that contributed to this season’s 8-8 record.
Indianapolis was also blown out by Jacksonville, 51-16, and failed to lock up the AFC South down the stretch despite the opportunity being there for them to claim the division title.
But now he’s locked in for four more years.
But this season was the toughest season yet.
“It’s obviously disappointing. But at the end of the year, there are 31 teams disappointed”.
Things didn’t always go smoothly inside the building, either.
The decision to keep both Pagano AND Grigson is the interesting one because the two have had trouble co-existing in Indy. Only one opinion really matters, though, and Irsay hasn’t dropped any hints about which way he’s leaning.
Eventually Irsay came to the conclusion he didn’t need a shakeup or a big-name hire.
Irsay went so far as to compare the last four seasons with the first four years of the Peyton Manning and Bill Polian era.
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“I think he’s a good coach he trains them well and everything”, fan Gabriel Shaw said. “That’s life”, Grigson said.
