Former Baltimore Colts running back Tom Matte couldn?t be happier to see quarterback Peyton Manning finally get to the Super Bowl after so many years of playoff frustration. If only he didn?t play for the Indianapolis Colts …
That seems to be the opinion shared by some of the retired Baltimore Colts after Indianapolis defeated the New England Patriots, 38-34, in Sunday?s AFC championship game. The win marks the Colts franchise?s first trip to the Super Bowl in 36 years, harking back to the days when the team resided in Charm City. The Colts will meet Chicago in Super Bowl XLI on Feb. 4.
Matte earned a ring playing on that last Colts championship team, which defeated the Dallas Cowboys, 16-13, in Super Bowl V on Jim O?Brien?s 32-yard field goal. Coincidentally, that game and this year?s game will both be playedin Miami.
“I?m so happy for Peyton Manning,” Matte said. “It couldn?t have happened to a nicer guy, and there should be more people like him the NFL. If only he wasn?t wearing my uniform in Indianapolis. It?s just hard to get past the animosity I have toward the Irsay family. But it?s important to move past that because we have the Ravens now, and they are a great franchise.”
Former Baltimore Colts safety Rick Volk, who also played on the Super Bowl V team, said he has nothing against any of the current Indianapolis players. But don?t tell Volk he played for the same franchise.
“I played for the Baltimore Colts,” Volk said. “But I?m sure they are going to replay Super Bowl V a lot between now and the game, and that?s exciting. I just hope they don?t replay Super Bowl III too often ? when we lost to the Jets.”
Following the Colts? Jan. 13 playoff victory over the Ravens this season, Manning sympathized with Baltimore fans.
“I understand what these fans might go through because of all of the rumors about New Orleans leaving,” Manning said. “I grew up a diehard Saints fan, and if the New Orleans Saints were ever to leave New Orleans, I would feel the same way, but I wouldn?t hold it against the players. I would hold it against the owner, and the owner that moved this team is no longer living and his son is our owner now. … I never knew the previous owner, and everything I?ve read about him and hear about him, I don?t think I probably would have liked him very much. But his son, our current owner, I do like.”
