With the NFL regular season set to kick off in less than two weeks, the Indianapolis Colts might have a problem. The NFL season was delayed with the lockout between the players and the owners but the Colts season could be delayed without their future Hall of Fame QB Peyton Manning. This off-season Manning underwent surgery to repair a nerve in his neck.

The surgically repaired neck was said to take about 6-8 weeks to heal, well in time for the regular season, but at this time it’s not healed and coming up on three months! As you can see this isn’t an ordinary Peyton Manning type scenario where it doesn’t matter what the injury, you know Peyton would be ready for week one of the regular season.

This injury is different because it’s the neck and with this he can’t be 80 or 85%, he must be 100% to play. The neck is in the process of nerve regeneration and with Manning’s eight weeks past due it’s no telling when the neck will be fully healed.

What makes this story even more intriguing is the signing of formally retired QB Kerry Collins. The Colts signed him Wednesday August 24, which leads you to believe that the Colts are starting to have doubts about their star quarterback being back in time for week one. Kerry Collins brings a lot to the table that the backup QBs currently on the Colts roster don’t have.

The accomplished Veteran brings leadership as well as experience. Another thing he brings that Curtis Painter and Dan Orlosky don’t have…is a win. A combined zero career win for the Colts backup QB duo compared to Kerry Collins who brought a team to the Super Bowl.

Also Kerry Collins played for the Tennessee Titans last year, so he knows the division well and week one the Colts face off against division rival the Houston Texans. So in a lot of ways this move makes sense. The negative of this signing is that he’ll have less than two weeks to prepare to start week one and learn the offense of the Colts. We’ll also see if this move sits well with the Colts locker room that has trust in the QBs who are already in place.

What’s on the line for Peyton Manning? Just his active streak of a whooping 208 consecutive starts since his rookie season. Nine years in a row the Colts have one double digit games with Manning at the helm but the longer he’s out, the slimmer those chances of winning at least 10 games get.

Manning is currently on the PUP (Physically Unable to Perform) list but there is still optimism that he very well could be ready for week one. After all it is the former Super Bowl Champion Peyton Manning. My guess is, he’ll be starting under center and he keeps the streak alive.

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