Facts and information about the Indianapolis Colts

• The Baltimore Colts were part of the All-American Football Conference, a rival league of the NFL, and after it disbanded following the 1949 season the Colts became one of three teams (along with the San Francisco 49ers and the Cleveland Browns) from the AAFC to join the NFL. That team folded later and when football was reintroduced to Baltimore years later, the new team was christened the Colts as well.

• In 1970 the Baltimore Colts became one of three NFL teams to join the incoming AFL teams in the newly formed American Football Conference. The Colts were paid $3 million dollars for volunteering to change conferences.

• The Colts moved from Baltimore, where they were fan favorites, to Indianapolis in 1984.

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  In 2007, Peyton Manning became the first quarterback to beat all 31 other teams in the league during his career when the Colts defeated the Panthers in week eight of the season.

• Former Colts quarterback Bert Jones left Louisiana State University as their career passing leader even though he only started 15 games for the Tigers.

• Colts quarterback Peyton Manning won back-to-back NFL MVP Awards in 2003 (sharing the award with Titans quarterback Steve McNair) and 2004.

• Kicker Adam Vinatieri is the first kicker to play in five Super Bowls (and also win four).

• Bert Jones is one of only three quarterbacks to achieve a passer rating of over 100 in the entire decade of the 1970s (the others being Dallas’ Roger Staubach and Oakland’s Kenny Stabler).

• Colts quarterback Bert Jones won the Most Valuable Player Award in 1976.

• In the twelve years proceeding the 1968 season, Colts quarterback Earl Morrall had played for four different teams and never as the starter. Near the beginning of the year, future hall-of-famer Johnny Unitas went down due to injury and Morrall had to step in to fill his shoes. Morral would go on to win the MVP for the year and help the Colts reach the Super Bowl.

• Longtime starting quarterback Bert Jones played his final season (1982) with the Los Angeles Rams, starting four games before forced to retire due to a neck injury.

• Bert Jones could throw the ball 95 yards in the air.

• Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri got his start in professional football with the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe.

• When Colts quarterback Art Schlichter was suspended indefinitely by the NFL in 1983, he was the first player to be suspended because of gambling since 1963 (Paul Hornung & Alex Karras).

• Former Colts running back Marshall Faulk is a distant cousin of Patriots running back Kevin Faulk.

• In 1990, at the age of 39 and having been retired for 8 seasons, Bert Jones participated in the NFL QB Challenge. Jones won the retirement division and went on to compete with the starting quarterbacks of the time. He placed third in the regular competition.

• Hall-of-Fame Quarterback/Kicker George Blanda played 27 seasons in the NFL, one of those (1959) he spent as a member of the Baltimore Colts.

• Peyton Manning’s younger brother Eli and father Archie Manning also played Quarterback in the NFL.

• When longtime Baltimore Colts head coach Weeb Ewbank was the backfield coach at Brown University during the 1940s, one of the young quarterbacks he coached would grow up to be a successful quarterback himself, his name is Joe Paterno.

• Hall-of-Fame Tight End John Mackey played his final season for the San Diego Chargers after playing nine years for the Baltimore Colts.

• As of 2007, the only Colts player to play for the team since moving from Baltimore and make the Hall-of-Fame is Eric Dickerson.

• Indianapolis Head Coach Tony Dungy, along with his friend Lovie Smith the Head Coach of the Chicago Bears, became the first two African American Head Coaches to take their teams to the Super Bowl. Dungy then became the first African American Head Coach to win the Super Bowl.

• In 1988, when Colts Running Back Eric Dickerson rushed for 1,659 yards, he became the first Colt to lead the NFL in rushing since Alan Ameche in 1955.

• The Colts won back-to-back NFL Championships in 1958 and 1959, both times beating the New York Giants.

• The Colts were the first NFL team to have cheerleaders.

• The Colts were the victims of Joe Namath’s New York Jets in Super Bowl III when he guaranteed victory.

• Weeb Ewbank coached the Colts to their back-to-back NFL Championships in 1958 and 1959, coincidentally he also coached the New York Jets when they defeated the Colts in Super Bowl III.

• In 1972, Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom traded the entire Colts franchise to Robert Irsay for his Los Angeles Rams franchise. Players, equipment, and everything stayed in their own cities – just the ownership changed.

• Quarterback Bert Jones won the 1976 Most Valuable Player Award.

• In 1981 the Colts set a modern record for fewest punts returned in a season with 12.

• The Colts played their final game in Baltimore against the Houston Oilers in 1983.

• Ted Marchibroda served two stints as Head Coach of the Colts, the first during the 1970’s while the team was still in Baltimore and the second instance in the early 1990’s in Indianapolis.

• In 2001, Colts Running Back Dominick Rhodes became the first undrafted player to rush for 1,000 yards in his rookie season.

• The Colts are the first team ever to begin consecutive seasons with 9-0 records.

• Super Bowl XLI, with the Colts defeating the Bears, was the first Super Bowl played in the rain.

• Tony Dungy, by winning Super Bowl XLI, became only the third person to have won a Super Bowl as both a player and a coach (the other two are Mike Ditka and Tom Flores).

• The Colts have two former coaches in the Hall-of-Fame (Weeb Ewbank and Don Shula).

• No Colt, Baltimore or Indianapolis, has ever won the Defensive Player of the Year Award.

• All three of the Colts Super Bowl appearances have been in Miami.

• With winning Super Bowl XLI, the Colts finally have a Super Bowl trophy. The first trophy, for winning Super Bowl V, was kept by owner Carroll Rosenbloom when he traded the Colts franchise for the Rams franchise. The Colts were given a replacement Super Bowl V trophy but were forced to leave that in Baltimore as a result of the legal proceeding following their middle-of-the-night move to Indianapolis.

• In former Running Back Marshall Faulk’s second game in college he ran for 386 yards and scored 44 points in a San Diego State University victory.

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