Denver Broncos Coach Rips Colts Owner For Taking A 'Cheap Shot' At Peyton Manning

But 20 months later, some odd comments from Colts Owner Jim Irsay have led to a war of words with Manning's new coach John Fox.

In an interview with USA Today, Irsay implied that Manning's tenure with the Colts was disappointing because they only won one Super Bowl.

He made it seem like Manning only got stats, and wasn't a winner like Tom Brady.

From USA Today:

"We've changed our model a little bit, because we wanted more than one of these," Irsay says, flicking up his right hand to show his Super Bowl XLI championship ring.

"(Tom) Brady never had consistent numbers, but he has three of these," Irsay adds. "Pittsburgh had two, the Giants had two, Baltimore had two and we had one. That leaves you frustrated.

"You make the playoffs 11 times, and you're out in the first round seven out of 11 times. You love to have the Star Wars numbers from Peyton and Marvin (Harrison) and Reggie (Wayne). Mostly, you love this."

Then Irsay flicks up his right hand again.

In an interview with Sirius XM, Fox struck back at Irsay for the comments, calling them "inappropriate."

He also said Peyton is too classy to ever respond himself:

"I saw the comments, and to be honest with you I thought it was a bit of a cheap shot. To me, in my opinion, they were disappointing and inappropriate. Peyton would never say anything, he's too classy to do that, but they sounded a little ungrateful and unappreciative to me, for a guy that's set a standard, won a Super Bowl, won division titles, won four MVP awards. I'd be thankful of that one Super Bowl ring, because a lot of people don't have one."

The Broncos play the Colts this week in Indianapolis. Both teams have benefitted greatly from the Manning situation, all things considered.