Larry Brown Sports

Ray Lewis announced prior to the Baltimore Ravens’ playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts last weekend that he would be retiring, so most people enjoyed seeing him do his trademark dance one last time. One person who didn’t find it too amusing, though, was Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne.

Wayne found it disrespectful that Lewis did his typical pregame dance, and then came out to play in the victory formation where he did another celebratory dance following the Ravens’ last kneel down.

“I saw it as disrespectful,” Wayne said, via WNDE’s Jake Query. “They’d already had a tribute every quarter.”

We agree with Wayne. Doing the dance before the game is one thing, but it wasn’t at all sportsmanlike for Lewis to join the offense for the kneel down and then break out the dance another time. If Lewis is anything like the high-character guy he’s led us to believe he is, he should apologize for his actions.

How close was Reggie Wayne to leaving Indianapolis for one of the Colts’ biggest AFC rivals? Very close, apparently.

In a journal entry posted on his website Wednesday, Wayne says he had four finalists and got down to three, then two.

“And you Colts fans don’t wanna know who other team was. I’ll let you figure that one out. Ha!,” Wayne wrote.

The Boston Globe confirmed that the other finalist was the Patriots.

The money Indy was offering Wayne was probably too good to turn down — three years for $17.5 million, including $7.5 mil guaranteed — and the Patriots likely were not offering as much. But it’s interesting that New England was pursuing Wayne given that he’s 33 and his skills may be declining. Apparently the Colts weren’t the only ones who still think he has some talent left.

With Peyton Manning and Reggie Wayne now both on the market, there has been some talk of the duo shopping themselves as a package deal. Peyton probably won’t limit his options to teams that have interest in signing Reggie, but Wayne may do his best to follow Manning wherever he goes. In fact, it sounds like the former Colts receiver is already crossing his fingers that both can join the Dolphins.

“I can see it, and I’m definitely not opposed to it,” Wayne told WQAM’s The Michael Irvin Show Wednesday when asked about teaming up with Manning in Miami. “He’s a great worker. I consider myself a great worker, and when you put great workers together good things happen. Me being in his trail to Miami, I would definitely love it! I’m totally available. My phone is working…I’m ready for anything that comes! I definitely see that in the mix.”

While the free agent frenzy will certainly get crazier before things settle, the Dolphins are a definite front-runner to land Manning. His decision will likely take a while, but the stars are aligned for Peyton to end up in Miami next season — even if Dwyane Wade and LeBron James weren’t doing their best to recruit him. One thing that could prevent the Dolphins from landing Manning is if he believes they are more than a quarterback away from being a contender. At this point in his career, Peyton will almost certainly limit his suitors to those who can contend for a title.

As for Wayne, his best bet is to make sure Manning has him in his future plans. If a team thinks they can land Peyton and Peyton tells that team he wants Reggie to come along for the ride, Reggie will be there.

Reggie Wayne is 33 years old and a free agent. The Colts don’t seem interested in bringing him back considering his skills are declining and the organization is rebuilding. What’s surprising is that he’s interested in playing for their AFC rival.

Former Patriots linebacker Willie McGinnest says he and Wayne had a conversation about the receiver joining New England.

“It came up in the conversation would he ever want to play for the Patriots,” McGinest said. “He smiled and said, ‘Who wouldn’t want to play there?’

I guess chalk that up to disliking your rival but respecting them too. Maybe Wayne wants to go to New England to stick it to Indy for not showing interest in him. Or maybe he just sees how consistently successful the Pats are and he wants to be a part of it. I bet it’s a little bit of both.

Helmet knock to Pro Football Talk

Five-time Pro Bowl receiver, including this season, Reggie Wayne caught just one pass for one yard in the Colts’ 17-16 Wild Card loss to the Jets on Saturday, and he’s not happy about it. The worst part is that he caught every ball thrown his way. That’s right, Wayne — who was second in the NFL this season with 111 receptions and third in receiving yards with 1355 — was targeted just one time.

“I shouldn’t have even suited up,” Wayne told The Indianapolis Star. “I should have watched the game like everybody else. I was irrelevant.” The fact that Wayne even said anything speaks to the magnitude of the issue. It’s out of character for him — or anyone else on that team, to vent any frustration publicly — especially when it could be perceived as being aimed at quarterback Peyton Manning. Manning’s performance has been questioned this season, but not from inside the organization.

An obvious reason why Wayne saw only one ball is because he was being covered by fellow-Pro Bowler, Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis, but that’s a ridiculous excuse. Wayne is too good and the game was too big for him to be targeted once. In contrast, Blair White and Jacob Tamme had eight catches each. I get the idea that Revis’ focus on Wayne opened up the field for those two, along with Pierre Garcon, but again, that’s an excuse.

When you’ve got a weapon like Wayne, you have to find a way to get him the ball. You move him around, run screens, whatever it takes.  He’s going to get open. Instead, Manning essentially ignored one of the game’s premier receivers and the Colts’ season ended as a result. Wayne has every right to be frustrated and I bet Manning looks his way a little more next time. At least he should.

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Michael Conroy

The NFL off-season has been accompanied by some pretty strange story lines when it comes to Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne.  Last year, Wayne showed up to training camp riding in a dump truck sporting construction gear — signaling that the Colts were beginning their construction of the road to the Super Bowl.  I guess it worked in a way, as the Colts did indeed reach the Super Bowl.  However, as we all remember, Peyton choked on the final drive of the game and Drew Brees went on to continue being the man long after the Super Bowl had ended.

The news surrounding Wayne this off-season is not exactly light-hearted and humorous like it was a year ago.  The receiver missed the start of OTAs because he is busy trying to get back the $95,000 that his ex-girlfriend allegedly spent using his debit and credit cards without authorization.

The woman, Natasha McKenzie, told radio station WXIN-59 that Wayne knew all about the money she was spending and gave her the information so she could do it.  That story has since changed with detectives saying McKenzie admitted to using the card without authorization when she was interviewed.  Authorities searched her home yesterday and seized three TV sets and some other electronic equipment, so obviously she did something wrong.  If the story that she told the radio station were indeed true, one can only hope that Reggie broke it off with her.  She’d be a bit silly to break up with a guy who lets her use his credit cards for anything she wants to the tune of almost $100,000, don’t you think?

Sources:
Reggie Wayne Missed OTAs Because His Ex Stole His Credit Card [Deadspin]
Reggie Wayne’s credit card allegedly tapped for $95K by woman [USA Today]
Photo Credit: AP

The first time I saw a team use the hard hats as a marketing tool was a few years ago when the then Devil Rays were bought by new owners. The new owners changed the logo, nickname, manager, and scouting and turned the team into ALCS champs. While I can’t give Colts receiver Reggie Wayne too much credit for originality, I will give him points for positive attitude and spirit. In a crazy entrance to Colts training camp, Wayne arrived on a dump truck wearing a hard hat and construction gear. Oh yeah, he also called Peyton Manning the janitor. Check it out:

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