| Anthony Holds. 25th August, 2008 - 10:25 pm
 The Indianapolis Colts continue what has been, up to this point, an unsettled and unsettling preseason by taking fans to a new low Sunday night... but by Monday afternoon hope was already creeping back into the picture.
Debriefing Sunday's Colts-Bills preseason game in depth is something I won't even bother with here. In the third preseason contest, seen traditionally by most NFL teams as a dress rehearsal of sorts, fans were treated to a surprise starter at QB in Jared Lorenzen, inciting a collective "What the...?!?" from the ranks of Colts' fans around the country who had been expecting Jim Sorgi (scratched with a "gimpy knee", as team officials described it)... and it got worse from there. The defense was unsatisfactory. Dallas Clark dropped a couple balls. Lorenzen looked bad. Quinn Gray, starting the second half, looked worse, throwing four interceptions and completely undoing any good that came of the one highlight play of the game -- his third quarter 94-yard touchdown pass to reserve wide receiver Devin Aromashodu. And... as a sort of bitter cherry on top of an already rancid sundae, Jeff Saturday, the heart and soul of the offensive line, went down with a knee injury in the third quarter. The Colts are awaiting an MRI to determine the extent of that. That about sums it all up.
All of that is much easier to swallow, though, after the news the Indianapolis Star released Monday afternoon: Tony Dungy has stated that Peyton Manning is returning to practice on Tuesday for the first time since his surgery on July 14. This development couldn't come at a better time for Colts' fans, who have been subjected to an increasingly worrisome preseason, punctuated by last night's baptismal debacle at Lucas Oil Stadium. Anyone looking for reassuring signs over the last month from the Colts has been left with a bit of a pit in his stomach. Injuries, uncertainty, and unimpressive play have been the rule. There's been the one major feel good story up to now in the healthy return of Marvin Harrison. There have also been a few happy subplots, like the long awaited returns of Bob Sanders and Dwight Freeney, and encouraging preseason play from draft picks like running back Mike Hart and wide receiver Pierre Garcon.
But if ever you doubted that the fate of these Colts is inextricably tied to the health and welfare of Peyton Manning, you're not doubting it anymore. You could almost smell the uncertainty and the sneaking negativity surrounding his absence over the last few weeks. It's now been six weeks since his surgery to remove an infected bursa sac (the same problem exactly, according to Harrison, that plagued him last year). The four to six week timetable given when we found out that Manning had had the surgery has now officially expired. And while it now appears that Manning may be on schedule after all, the rumor mill has been at full churn recently, with one particular blogger claiming that Peyton, in fact, secretly had a second surgery after there was unsatisfactory progress following the first. If we were to believe this person, his sources seemed very concerned that Peyton would miss some significant time. And let's face it, in the AFC South, with the Jaguars, Titans, and much improved Texans nipping at the Colts' heels, any regular season time would be significant.
Add the sudden uncertainty surrounding Saturday to Irsay's assertion early last week that it would be "close" with Peyton's return for the opener, and that now Sorgi apparently has a "gimpy knee", and Colt Nation was just starting to throw up a little in its collective mouth. The idea of Lorenzen or Gray taking the first regular season snap (possibly from a rookie like Mike Pollak or Jamey Richard) in two weeks was suddenly at least remotely plausible. Not so much now.
Without a doubt, much remains to be seen. The Star reported that there was almost no chance of Manning playing in this week's Thursday pre-season wrapup against the Bengals at The Luke. That makes complete sense. But who knows how the knee will respond to a return to action? How many reps will Peyton be able to handle at first? The next week will tell. If he's had a solid week under his belt by September 3 and has had no major setbacks, things will look great. If he's limited, it's difficult to say. But at least not having Peyton in the first game while he fine tunes everything to appear in Week 2 would be far preferable to the idea of him still walking around in khakis on the sideline.
All in all, this news has to come as great comfort to the average Colts' fan. Last year's Harrison saga made conspiracy theorists of us all when it came to the organization's penchant for injury report subterfuge. Has it made sense for them to be mum about Peyton's situation? I guess so. But has it raised the stress levels of Colts' fans everywhere that the story seemed to be unfolding similarly to that of Harrison's injury last year? You bet.
In the end, all fans can do is have faith that Peyton Manning is one of the hardest working players in the history of the sport. If he can practice fully, it won't be long before he'll be chomping at the bit for game action. You have to believe that the only person this missed time has bothered more than any team official or fan is Peyton himself. He's been religiously rehabbing; he's been walking for a while and putting weight on the leg; and now he's going to practice. At this point, the prospects of a 161st straight regular season start for Manning look about 100% better than they did even a few hours ago. And that's about all a Colts' fan could ask for right now. |
