Peter King IS VERY HAPPY. Between high-fiving himself* over his good fortune (Brett Favre's a Jet?!? Woo-hoo!), he also had time to cover other developing NFL stories. Chief among them: how long will Colts' quarterback Peyton Manning really be out? Initial reports had his knee surgery keeping him on the sidelines during the preseason but returning for Week 1 of the regular season. FanHouse's medical staff was skeptical, and King, forever the optimist, hints that Manning might not be ready for the Bears on Sept. 7.
Manning had the infected bursa sac near his left knee removed July 14, and he hasn't practiced in the five weeks since. It is one of the cloudiest injuries in sports. I am writing about it because I think there's a chance -- oh, maybe a 30, 35 percent chance if I had to guess -- that the removal of the infected bursa sac could prevent Manning from playing in the Colts' opening game...Colts center Jeff Saturday told King it would "take a broken leg to keep him out," which indicates he'll be playing. But if it could result in long-term damage, it might be Jim Sorgi in three weeks.
If there's ever a good time for Manning to rest up, that could be it; nobody is expecting much from Chicago this year, and they have yet to decide on which quarterback will lead them to five wins.
After that, though, the schedule becomes noticeably more difficult -- the Viking in Week 2 and the Jaguars after that. So Manning will need to make sure he's all healed up by then. Or they could have Matt Cassel situation on their hands.
* not a euphemism
