Carlie Irsay-Gordon has been deeply involved in the Indianapolis Colts’ operations, particularly since her father’s passing. In fact, she’s been seen on the sidelines each week wearing a headset, just like the coaches. That may leave some fans wondering what she’s been doing.
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Irsay-Gordon hasn’t been calling or suggesting plays or anything of that sort. Instead, she’s been analyzing how the coaches communicate with each other and how they call plays. For her, it’s been a learning experience, but also an opportunity to confirm that the people working for her know what they’re doing.
Irsay-Gordon explained this in an interview during the early portion of the NFL season.
“I need to learn more about this,” Irsay-Gordon told the media. “I need to be able to say, ‘Is this person full of BS? Do they even know what they’re talking about?’ And I think one of the things that being on the headset has really helped me learn is to the question earlier. It’s such a complex organism, a football team, and how it operates.”
Indeed it is, Carlie. An NFL roster is made up of 53 players, not including practice squad players. Beyond that, most teams employ around 15 assistant coaches in addition to the head coach. All in all, it’s a lot of personalities to manage.
While learning more about how coaches talk and call plays, Irsay-Gordon has learned that bad plays usually occur because of bad play calls.
“On gameday, you can say, ‘Oh, that person ran that route wrong.’ When you learn to find out someone tagged the wrong wide receiver. It wasn’t really the player’s fault; it was the person that called it,” she outlined.
It’s a great point that most NFL fans fail to consider. When a defensive player picks off the ball, the blame immediately shifts to the quarterback or the wide receiver. Rarely do coaches receive criticism during live broadcast analysis for their play-calling, which is a bit strange when you think about it.
All in all, being on the headset has been a great learning tool for Irsay-Gordon, and she recommends that every team owner try it out.
“It’s been very valuable, because it also lets us know where do we need to make tweaks? What resources do we need? What do we need to fix? So much of it comes down to just how we operate and how things work,” Irsay-Gordon continued.
“The headsets, I would suggest it for anyone else that has to pay coaches and GMs millions and millions of dollars. It helps you make a less expensive mistake potentially.”
There’s one reason that the Colts are 7-1, and that’s new Colts owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon.
It’s extremely rare to see an owner care this much about their team.
The sideline queen ❤️ pic.twitter.com/XQi7WlfNfs
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) October 28, 2025
In an ideal world, every owner would be doing what Irsay-Gordon is: looking how to constantly improve their team and if they need any sharpening on the edges. But for the most part, NFL owners are mostly concerned about profit over winning. So, she’s probably going to be alone in this endeavor for the time being.
Imagine seeing Jerry Jones on the sideline of a Dallas Cowboys game with a headset on? Aside from it being a hilarious sight, many would question why a man who makes questionable decisions off the field is being given more power on it. That’s why Irsay-Gordon’s situation is unique.
Coming into the season, the Colts were a massive question mark. Daniel Jones was looking to bounce back, Jonathan Taylor was somewhat forgotten about, and Shane Steichen was on the hot seat. This is most likely why Irsay-Gordon felt the need to get on the headset. But now, at 7-1, it seems like her presence has motivated the coaching staff to bring their A game weekly when it comes to play-calling.
