FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- We're doing a big piece on Colts offensive coordinator Tom Moore for Friday's paper.
I've been around NFL coaches since the late 80s, and I've never met one with less of an ego than Tom Moore.
The 71-year-old Owatanna native hates to talk about or promote himself in any way, shape or form. That's one reason he's been a career-long assistant since he took his first job as an Iowa graduate assistant in 1961.
He was the guy who helped recruit Tony Dungy to the University of Minnesota back in the 1970s. Dungy called his own plays as quarterback, while Moore was the offensive coordinator.
Moore left the Gophers, joined the Steelers in 1977 and has been in the NFL ever since. He won two Super Bowls with the Steelers and would win his second with the Colts if they beat the Saints on Sunday.
While Moore deflects all credit and accepts any blame, don't assume that he isn't a vital part of the Colts' success since joining them in 1998, Manning's rookie year.
We'll save most of the Moore story for tomorrow's paper. But I will share a Manning quote here that helps explain the best quarterback-coach bond in the NFL.
Asked about the freedom he has to change the plays Moore suggests, Manning said, "He tells me before the game, ‘Hey if you see something out there, you call it. You change it, and I have your back. That puts a lot of confidence in you as a quarterback. Some coaches tell their quarterbacks, ‘Hey you can change the play, but it better work.’ That is not confidence, that is a threat."