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 …

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As if there weren’t enough skepticism surrounding Colts’ quarterback Peyton Manning, actor Rob Lowe tweeted late Wednesday evening that the great No. 18 had decided to hang up his jersey for good after missing all of the 2011 season with a neck injury. Of course, this sent Twitter and #ColtsNation into a frenzy that left millions of twits looking for answers. In this special edition of #HorseBytes, I’ll take you through the madness that was the “tweet heard `round the Horseshoe.”

So here’s the infamous tweet: straight to the point and straight through Colts’ fans hearts. Needless to say, chaos ensued. Apparently unaware of the mass feedback he would receive, Lowe sent out a second tweet meant to calm the concerned.

So, Lowe traced back a couple steps, putting a twist on his initial “report” and labeling it instead as a rumor. But Twitterverse still wanted answers, and ESPN Senior NFL Analyst Chris Mortensen was the first to cite evidence that Lowe was reporting false information. His source? Archie Manning, Peyton’s dad.


Jason La Canfora, another NFL reporter, also spoke to a credible Manning source who refuted the report: Peyton’s agent, Tom Condon.

Lastly, Colts owner Jim Irsay set the record straight.

Hallelujah! The day is saved. But why would Lowe tweet something that wasn’t true? Jacob Tamme had an idea.

Rob Lowe is part of the main cast of the NBC television show, “Parks and Recreation.” The show is rumored not to be doing well. Was Lowe’s tweet really just an underhanded way to draw attention to himself and his show?

Maybe. Lowe also could have tweeted to draw attention to his newly released book. Just a day after his Manning tweet, Lowe had this great news to share:

Oh, and did I happen to mention that Lowe had a scheduled appearance on the Ellen Degeneres show the very morning after his Manning tweet?!

As you can see, the odds definitely aren’t stacked in Lowe’s favor on this one. For now, Peyton Manning is safe and sound in Colts uniform. Looks like this report is a phony. Case closed.

Thanks, Mr. Irsay.

Until next week, #ColtsNation! Don’t forget, for more Colts commentary, retweets, and Naptown’s Finest postings, you can follow me on Twitter @catierae08.

Randy Moss could be exactly what the Indianapolis Colts need

According to Michael Lombardi of NFL.com, the Minnesota Vikings have recently released wide receiver Randy Moss. In last night’s press conference, Moss should a lot of hatred towards the media. Overall, the conference was very controversial, as he kept saying so many positive things about the New England Patriots, as if he wanted to return to the team. Lombardi told NFL Network that Brad Childress told the whole the team that Moss was going to be waived before telling his star receiver.

Moss was recently acquired by the Vikes for a third-round draft pick a little less than a month ago. This comes as a huge disappointment to me that the Vikings would do this. Moss was doing pretty good already and it wasn’t his fault the Vikings were losing. The Vikings have now wasted a ton of money and a third-round draft-pick. Now they sit at 2-5, set for something worse.

According to Lombardi, the Indianapolis Colts could pick him up on the waiver wire. The Colts seemed to be interested after the injury to Dallas Clark and that Austin Collie will be out for a few weeks. Now the Colts can have a deep threat they haven’t had for a long time since Marvin Harrison, who was also a possession receiver. Jason La Canfora tells NFL Network that the Colts are an intriguing possibility.

For the Colts, I say go for it. They missed out on a chance of getting him the first time when he was available, but ended up on the Patriots. Then they had a chance of going for Terrell Owens, but failed. Now Owens has been doing pretty good thus far with the Cincinnati Bengals. The Colts could really use him and can have five solid receivers with them. This would give Indiana huge advantage.

Another reason Indiana should go for Moss so they can win games. Peyton Manning has never had a true deep threat like Moss is. Moss can have his motivation boosted up by being on a team like the Colts. With Moss, Reggie Wayne, Collie, and Pierre Garcon in, this could also definitely help the running game as the defense will be very distracted. Along with that, the Colts are standing in third place in the AFC South. Using Moss could help them get past in the division.

The Colts have to go for Randy Moss. Moss will be placed on the waiver wire in a few hours or so. Any team has 24 hours to acquire him.

Please, Indianapolis, go for him.

You won’t regret it.