Stampede Blue
When telling the story of the NFL, there are many chapters and footnotes one must remember to encapsulate what this sport and league is all about. The Colts in their lengthy history have no shortage of these to tell.
They can range wildly in tone and emotions. From a heartwarming story of players rallying behind a coach stricken with leukemia to make miraculous comeback victories to the playoffs.
To the tragic cautionary tale of a quarterback not given enough support around him and medically retiring early in a career thought to be destined for greatness. The Colts truly can encapsulate the full human experience of watching football and its vast spectrum of emotions that come with game we love.
The 2025 Colts season might just embody the emotional highs and lows alongside the pure unpredictability this game brings. One day you can be 8-2, atop of the AFC and pushing for a 1 seed. You have a Running Back in the rarified air of MVP consideration in the modern era. An All Pro Corner is joining your revamped secondary in a massive midseason blockbuster trade. Your new veteran Free Agent Quarterback is in the midst of a career that can earn him a hefty paycheck with two healthy legs underneath him. The sun is shining, the leaves are pretty autumn hues, and somewhere the late Jim Irsay is smiling.
Then a month later you are 8-5, and outside of the playoff picture. Your Running Back has potentially been passed in Offensive Player of the Year consideration. That All Pro Corner is week to week with a calf injury, and his fellow star Corner has suffered his 3rd Concussion of the season. Your star Defensive Tackle has been missing for the last month and needed stem cell surgery and treatment with a neck injury.
And that possible franchise QB on his way to a hefty payday? He was dealing with a fractured fibula on one leg before tearing his Achilles in the other leg on a non contact play. His top backup can’t suit up in his stead due to a freak pregame accident involving a pole breaking and hitting his face while he was using a resistance band, requiring orbital bone surgery near his eye. The backup’s backup comes in for his first meaningful NFL action and is now week to week with knee soreness, leaving his status up in the air.
You would be justified in feeling a lot of emotions after the whiplash of this past month. Anger. Sadness. Frustration. Hopelessness even. You’ve started looking toward the 2026 Draft for some hope, but the same emotions bubble up to the surface again when you remember the Colts don’t have their 1st Round Pick in 2026 and 2027 thanks to the in hindsight ill-timed all-in trade.
And then, one notification changes everything.
Phillip Rivers. Uncle Grandpa Phil. The sidearmed slinger of the ball who once terrorized the prime Peyton Manning era Colts in the playoffs and briefly went to...
