Gregg Doyel

gregg.doyel@indystar.com

Sitting in low lighting, with classical music playing softly over the recessed speakers in his office, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay raises his voice and slams his fist just once. No, not when he wondered aloud why the Colts keep getting blown out by the Patriots. Or when he discussed the big-money veterans the Colts are likely to release this offseason. Or when he brought up what he called “the false things reported” about the Ryan Grigson-Chuck Pagano rift.

Talking from behind his desk, with six television screens turned to sports channels – muted, so he can hear his classical music – Irsay gets fired up one time. The topic: battered quarterback Andrew Luck and an offensive line that didn’t, if I’m hearing Irsay correctly, display the same pride that previous Colts linemen showed when protecting Peyton Manning.

“We want some leadership,” Irsay says, speaking softly at first, as he does for most of our 18 minutes together Friday evening. “When (offensive line coach from 1998-2009) Howard Mudd was here and it was Jeff Saturday and Tarik Glenn (on the line), the mantra was, ‘No one touches 18! His jersey doesn’t get a spot of dirt on it!’ ”

Here, Irsay lifts his voice and pounds the desk as he refers to the quarterback on those Colts teams, Manning. Now his voice returns to normal. I can hear an oboe as Irsay continues.

“I mean, it was the pride of the building,” he says. “I can’t tell you the way those offensive linemen carried that pride. We have to get back to that.”

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In a few minutes Irsay doubles down on his Luck comments from last offseason, when he mused that the Colts should win multiple Super Bowls with that quarterback. He’s a collector, you know. Perched behind his desk, in a lit case built into the center of his wall, is Grateful Dead singer Jerry Garcia’s guitar from 1979-89, called “Tiger,” which Irsay bought in 2002 for $957,000. Also in his office is a drum set from The Beatles ($1.75 million). And helmets worn by Colts legends Robert Mathis, Marvin Harrison, Edgerrin James and Eric Dickerson. And a special case of game-worn helmets by franchise quarterbacks Manning, Luck and Johnny Unitas.

Irsay’s collection has one Super Bowl trophy, from 2006. He wants more. Soon.

“You know I’m demanding with my expectations, and I know the weight of having Andrew Luck,” Irsay was telling me. “We want to get to the promised land, and I’m not shy about saying ‘more than once.’ We’d like to win two world championships when Andrew’s with us over these next 12 to 14 years.”

Unlike a year ago, Irsay now is ready to say why he is shooting so high. He’s talking legacies, and not just for Andrew Luck. He’s talking, if I’m hearing him right, about his own legacy among others.

“If you win one,” Irsay was saying, “that’s great. If you win two, it’s Hall of Fame and everybody’s going. And if you win three, you’re starting to get into Never-Never Land.”

Thirteen owners are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, including Halas and Rooney and Lambeau. Win two Super Bowls here with Andrew Luck – which would be three, total, for Irsay – and, “It’s Hall of Fame, and everybody’s going.”

With Irsay demanding multiple Super Bowls, Grigson spent a fortune last offseason on aging veterans, turning the Colts into one of the NFL’s oldest teams – and making mistakes Irsay says will be rectified soon when some of those veterans are released. Irsay wouldn’t name names, but it’s an easy guess: receiver Andre Johnson and outside linebacker Trent Cole.

Johnson, 34, caught 41 passes this season. Releasing him before June 1 would cost the Colts $2.5 million in dead money, but would offer a cap savings of $11 million over the next two seasons.

Cole, 33, had three sacks. Releasing him before June 1 would cost $1 million in dead money but save $6.125 million on the cap in 2016.

“I anticipate we will have some players back that maybe have a year left,” he says, and here I’m thinking of running back Frank Gore (967 yards rushing at age 32) and defensive lineman Kendall Langford (career-high seven sacks at age 29), “and then some (older players) it will be time to move on from.”

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As in, eating contracts?

“Potentially, yes,” Irsay yes, “but I will say this: We don’t have any five-year contracts. There’s a couple that if you had to make a move, you’d have to eat a little money, but not bad.”

Irsay still believes in Grigson, see. Believes in him more than you can imagine. The rebuilding project from 2011 – when Vice Chairman Bill Polian had constructed a team Irsay says was “all in with a lot of old guys” – to 2012 was more difficult than outsiders understand.

“I know Ryan was Executive of the Year in 2012,” Irsay says, “but I don’t think anyone knows how incredible a year it was.”

Which brings us to that stunning news conference earlier this week, when Irsay announced he was bringing back his coach and general manager, a move that shocked the local and national football media – but was not, according to Irsay, all that unexpected to himself.

“I came to work that morning believing there was a strong likelihood that Ryan and Chuck would continue on,” Irsay tells me.

“The media missed that one,” I say, chuckling.

Irsay doesn’t laugh with me.

“I know,” he says. “When I got to New York (for NFL meetings on Tuesday) after we got things settled Monday night, I had more than one owner say to me, ‘If you’d have let one of those guys go, they were on our list of people to bring in as candidates.’ Others see and admire the body of work that’s been done here.”

Irsay’s biggest beef with that body of work? The blowouts. Six times since 2012, the Colts have lost by more than 30 points. Several crushing defeats were to the Patriots, including losses of 42-20 and 45-7, causing this Irsay lamentation.

“It’s not that we lost – it’s how we lost,” he says. “It really concerned me. Believe me, I was saying, ‘Why can’t we be like the Ravens and play the Patriots in Foxborough and play them that tight? Why do we get blown out?’ Sometimes you don’t know.”

Our conversation ends on Andrew Luck, who will enter 2016 in the final year of his rookie contract – unless he and the Colts come to terms on an extension that in all likelihood will make him the highest-paid player in NFL history, possibly the league’s first $200 million man. Irsay says a contract extension this summer, which would allow both sides to avoid the franchise tag, “is the goal.”

“If we don’t get an agreement,” Irsay says, “we still have time. And he is going to be signed. There’s a reasonably good chance we can come to that agreement this offseason. He will be here, trust me. Andrew and I have talked – we talked after the end of the season – and he couldn’t be more excited.”

Time is up. The interview is over. Irsay rises from his chair and says goodbye. The sun is down and the room is growing dark, but I can hear violins.

Find Star columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atwww.facebook.com/gregg.doyel