INDIANAPOLIS –With his tie a little loose and emotions still running high, Ryan Grigson was speaking straight from the heart.
Grigson had just witnessed one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history and could not be prouder of the team he assembled.
"After three hours, I don't know what happened," Grigson told Colts postgame radio on Saturday night.
"All I know is that we kept fighting. We kept fighting and we are a team of fighters. Guys that want to overcome and believe in their heart every second out there, no matter what is going on. That's a credit to our head coach because that's how he's wired. That's how this team is wired. We don't stop until the last tick is off the clock and we showed it again. It's a team of destiny."
Since taking over as Colts general manager in January of 2012, Grigson has talked about how he loves finding hidden gems on the backend of a 53-man roster.
This year though, Grigson has had to deal with injuries at every part of the Colts roster and the 73 players that have played a snap for the horseshoe this year are the most in the NFL.
One of the steady forces throughout Grigson's tenure with the Colts is the poise of quarterback Andrew Luck.
As a former offensive lineman, Grigson compares Luck's demeanor to that of a guy in the trenches and that was on full display in the Saturday's defining play.
"He's got some unbelievable plays in his game now," Grigson said of Luck. "The play at the goal line he just showed amazing amount of grit, toughness, tenacity to just punch it in after picking up that fumble."
A total of 17 Colts have been placed on injured reserve this year and on Saturday, numerous players who were not with the team at the start of training camp made significant contributions.
Over the past two years the Colts have used 141 players, which is the second most in the NFL.
Despite such a number, here the Colts are back in the playoffs and this time moving on to the Divisional Round for the first time since the 2009 campaign.
At times on Saturday things looked bleak, but thanks to the work of Grigson, the entire Colts personnel department and head coach Chuck Pagano, the ship was steered through the rockiest of waters.
"We kept believing and that's the bottom line," Grigson said after the 45-44 comeback.
"The foundation here is built on rock. There was a serious storm out there and our head coach navigated us through a nasty of a storm as I've ever seen in sports and that just shows you what this team is made of. Period."
