#HorseBytes: Paging Pagano

For the third consecutive week, the Colts organization announced breaking news: the hiring of a new head coach. The chosen one is Chuck Pagano, the former defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Raves, who just missed the Super Bowl after losing the AFC Championship last week to the New England Patriots. In this edition of #HorseBytes, I’ll relay the series of events leading up to the hire, as well as the reactions to the hiring, via the tweets of #ColtsNation.

The week began with a surprising announcement from DE Robert Mathis. Two weeks ago, Mathis, originally voted a first alternate to this year’s Pro Bowl in Honolulu, was named a starter for the fourth year in a row after New England’s Andre Carter was placed on IR. But Mathis has decided to bypass the all-star event. His reasoning? His fiancé has given birth to twin boys, and he’s elected to stay home with his new family. I applaud the decision, but others were not so accepting. Mathis took to Twitter to respond to the negative reactions.
Mathis is going to be a great father.

On Tuesday, Bob Kravitz, columnist for the Indy Star, released a revealing interview with Peyton Manning. During their discussion, Peyton talked at length about several issues, including the deterioration of the Colts coaching staff, Rob Lowe’s announcement of his “retirement,” and who ultimately will decide his future as a Colt: owner Jim Irsay.  Peyton even went as far as to call the Indianapolis training facility “not a good place for healing” and say he “may be behind” all the fired staff departing Indianapolis (a horrifying thought). Kravitz tweeted some additional comments regarding No.18 and the interview after its publication.

Meanwhile, the Colts continued to interview candidates for their head coaching vacancy. The original list included Saints OC Pete Carmichael, 49ers special teams coach Brad Seely, and former Vikings HC Brad Childress. That list began to grow, however, to include Jim Tressel, the Colts’ game-day consultant and former head coach at Ohio State, and Ravens defensive coordinatorChuck Pagano. Upon hearing the news of Pagano’s candidacy, Robert Mathis got excited.

Read the rest of the week’s Tweets after the jump …

Did Irsay listen to Mathis? On Wednesday, he announced the big news…and media sources around the league shared it.

Pagano is the Colts’ newest head coach; the rebuilding era has officially arrived in Indianapolis. Gary Brackett responded positively to the news.

So another major question has been answered, but still many more remain. Will the likes of Mathis and Brackett be retained long enough to be able to experience Pagano’s coaching firsthand? How will Pagano change the Colts’ defensive scheme? Who will be the offensive coordinator? And…What does this all mean for Peyton Manning? This is an offseason for the ages in Indianapolis. Through all the change, it’ll be hard for players, staff, and fans alike to separate emotions from the nature of NFL football.

So stay tuned, #ColtsNation! For more Colts-related tweets, retweeting, and Naptown’s Finest postings, you can always follow me @catierae08.