This week, NFL fans learned that the Pro Football Hall of Fame voting process is a crock. Unfortunately, Indianapolis Colts fans likely learned that one former executive helps make that process meaningless. Now, that same exec has doubled down on his silliness.
After Bill Belichick was not inducted into the Hall of Fame this week during his first chance of eligibility, reports surfaced that one of the people responsible for turning Belichick away was Bill Polian, a former GM for the Buffalo Bills as well as the Colts. Supposedly, some voters, of whom Polian is one, thought Belichick needed to wait a year.
This was extra punishment for his involvement in cheating scandals, including Deflategate, in which the Patriots used less-than-fully-inflated footballs against the Colts in the 2014 AFC Championship game. This allowed quarterback Tom Brady to better grip the ball, which allowed him to throw the ball more cleanly and accurately.
Former Indianapolis Colts general manager Bill Polian looks even more foolish with latest Bill Belichick news
To be sure, Bill Belichick deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, even with a legacy that is somewhat dimmed because of the scandals. If he deserves to be in, then he deserves to be in during his first year of eligibility.
After the reports surfaced that Polian said that he did, indeed, vote for Belichick and the former GM wasn't at fault for the coach not being inducted, he slightly switched his direction of discourse in an even more embarrassing fashion.
Bill Polian, according to ESPN, stated he couldn't be sure "with 100 percent certainty" that he voted to induct Belichick. What?
This is unbelievable. A person knows whether they voted for someone or not. It isn't as if a voter is checking the boxes on hundreds of people. There might only be one or two people a voter thinks should be inducted in any given year.
In fact, Polian's reported admission only makes him look more guilty that he didn't vote for Belichick. Sure,y the former general manager knows this. What's worse is that he doesn't seem aware that his lack of voting for Bill Belichick only makes the two teams he worked for, the Colts and the Bills, look like they still have sour grapes about the Patriots' success.
Maybe Bill Polian does hold a grudge. His Indianapolis Colts teams kept getting beaten by Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots on a consistent basis. Instead of being immature about the Pro Football Hall of Fame voting process in relation to Belichick, maybe Polian should have just built better Indy teams to beat the Pats.