Most Indianapolis Colts fans have heard by now the controversy-causing words this week of former New England Patriots CB Rodney Harrison.

Harrison, who played 15 NFL seasons before announcing his retirement Wednesday, was on a conference call shortly afterward with former Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy. The pair was being introduced as the newest members of the broadcast team for NBC’s Football Night in America. On the call, the topic turned to Colts quarterback Peyton Manning’s recent comments expressing frustration over uncertainty on the Indianapolis coaching staff. Said Harrison:

This is something I’ve discussed with Coach Dungy and I think it’s what really gives Tom Brady the edge over Peyton Manning in terms of leadership, because he’s a guy that if this went on in New England, he wouldn’t come out publicly and he wouldn’t make a big fuss about it. I think as a leader on a team, you being Peyton Manning, a [future] Hall of Famer, you need to keep it in house. You have so many guys looking up to you and once they see the panic on your part, then all of a sudden they start getting nervous. I have a lot of respect for Peyton Manning but this is a guy at times that needs to control his emotions and not allow these things that should stay in house, get outside of those walls.

Dungy said he didn’t think Manning was panicked and Harrison replied:

But as a player your job is to play football; you can’t control some of the political aspects of what’s going on and I know Peyton is frustrated, but you have to understand this is OTAs, not even mini camp yet so there is no sense of panic yet, it’s still early. These things can be worked out. I mean he has been running this offense for 11 years, it’s not like it’s new to him. It just disappointed me being that it’s so early in the off-season that he would come out publicly and say these things. For him to publicly come out and publicly get upset like that I just thought it was a sense of panic.

Two thoughts here:

One is that this is the difference between someone with insight and someone with an observation, and too often broadcasters — particularly new ones — don’t know or care about the difference. Two is that maybe Harrison wanted to say something controversial to establish himself as a pertinent voice, the reality was there was a big difference between how Manning’s words sounded than how they read last week. If all you did was read Manning’s comments, you could see how Harrison might interpret them that way, but most people who listened to Manning speak almost had to have heard more short-term frustration and annoyance than panic.

I’ll again say what I said last week and that’s that I can’t shake this idea that all of this talk is much ado about very about very little. I can’t see Tom Moore and Howard Mudd — the two most uncertain coached around the staff — not coaching in a big-time role next season, and once that happens, you figure Manning’s annoyance will fade to memory.

Should Manning necessarily have said what he said? Perhaps not. Would the Colts have preferred he not said what he said? That probably goes without saying, but in the big picture, the truest thing Harrison said was that it’s still early and these things can be worked out.

This, obviously, was a predictable occurrence when NBC hired Harrison. He’s a controversial, outspoken guy who for a while at least will make for good TV. For him to pass on a chance to stir it up with the Colts would have been out of character. And Harrison’s words undoubtedly will be rehashed when the Colts and Patriots play on NBC on November 15, and must-see TV.

But beyond on occasional television rehash, I’d still be surprised if this issue carries much past the offseason.