RUMOR: COLTS made decision to drop Manning weeks ago..

[MoLewisrocks]

Sad if true. Big fan of watching Manning play, and nothing is better than Colts Patriots games. Seeing him in a Dolphins jersey or something won't be nearly as cool... if he ever plays again. Hope he does.

I thought back in early September when he hadn't practiced there was a real possibility he would never make it back. I think that is now a more likely scenario. He's a competitor and he may decide not to quit given the uncertain nature of his predicament (nerve regeneration that can take two months to two years or never occur). I could see him taking a sabatical as an analyst while he continues to work on his own with the goal still making a comeback for 2-3 more seasons after 2012. But it will get less likely to happen over that time span. Brady knew in February 2009 he was good to go and come back at least as good if not potentially better (given his drive for perfection) than ever. He lost a season, but not a year. Manning has been out a whole year now unable to work on anything but rehab stuff, and he still doesn't know if he can come back at any level. I think by the time he figures out he can, if that time even comes, he may have been gone too long and have resigned himself to moving on.

He's not there yet, but by the time camps open, whether he says it or not if he isn't ready he won't be back. It is sad to see the great ones go out with a whimper and too soon, but he's had quite a run and since the twins arrived I think he's gained some perspective. Football still matters to him, but it's not all that matters anymore.

 

[NinjaZX6R]

Looks like he might retire.

 

[cavtroop]

Looks like he might retire.

personally, with fused neck vertebrae, I think he'd be STUPID to come back. Dude has a beautiful wife, a beautiful pair of twins, and all the money in the world already. Live life man, football isn't worth being paralyzed.

 

[SeymourTrophies]

The day I heard that Peyton sought stem cell therapy, I suspected his career was over.

 

[Ivan]

Again, I wish you were the Colts GM, because this decision would set them back 10 years. No NFL team would pass up on Luck for a speculative 3-4 years with a 35 year old that can't even throw the football after half a year of rehab. You are drastically overrating the possibility of Luck not being a star and drastically underrating the possibility of Manning never playing in the NFL again or being a shell of himself.

I never said anything about Luck not being a star, I said that there is a difference between a top prospect and a first ballot HOF player. And you are assuming that not taking Luck means not picking a QB to groom for the future, and believe it or not he isn't the only QB in the draft.

You said to reverse the roles and make the decision, so i did and i looked at everything Brady has done for the Patriots and as long as he was medically cleared to play and wanted to finish his career here i would trade the pick and use the players to make the team better while grooming a replacement for him. I'm not Bill Belichik and I am sentimental and believe the greatest players should be shown the greatest respect. That doesn't mean playing them when they aren't good enough but it does mean treating them right. If Manning is cleared to play then I believe he can be as good as he always has been, and i won't believe otherwise until I see it on the field.


And FTR, it is a good thing I'm not the GM, because I definitely would let my heart get in the way of making the right decisions all the time. I would hate to be the guy who asks that much of people and then cuts them loose, that would really suck.

 

[patsfaninpa]

Sad day for the NFL if he's finished. If the Pats weren't playing, I usually watched the Colts game. Hoping they'd lose of course. But, he was a treat to watch. True professional. Stayed out of trouble. No trash talk. Even though he did a lot of commercials. Most of em were pretty funny.