Peyton Manning Hopes to Play in Week One ... but No Guarantees

The big news yesterday was that Peyton Manning attended the Colts practice ... only he didn't practice. I'm not sure that's really newsworthy. A dude -- albeit a two-time MVP -- went and watched his team's practice. Wow.

Today, however, we hear from Peyton's mouth for the first time that he may not be ready to start in the opener.

As for being ready for the Colts' nationally-televised opener against the Bears, Manning offered optimism, not a guarantee.

"That is my goal, to be ready for that first game . . . it has been my goal all along," he said in his first interaction with the media since a July 24 conference call. "Hopefully it continues to progress up until that point."

Manning was unable to predict when he might be cleared to practice. He also didn't know how much practice time he would need to get up to speed for the Bears game.

This comes on the heels of speculation and differing reports from Monday. It's nice to actually hear the real story from Manning himself as he emerged from hiding.

This may set up an interesting catch-22 for the Colts.
-They are opening a brand new stadium -- which from all first-hand accounts I've heard is amazing -- and wouldn't really want to open with a loss to the Kyle Orton-led Bears. If Jim Sorgi is forced to start at QB against the Bears takeaway and TD-hungry defense, though, that's a realistic possibility.

-On the other hand, you can't rush Manning back to return a week early and jeopardize a setback against such a hard-hitting defense. A Brian Urlacher hit in the wrong place on Peyton's knee would ruin the Colts' season ... and they might be able to beat the Bears without Manning anyway. After all, they did get Dwight Freeney and Bob Sanders back to practice this week, as they had previously hoped.

What to do?

I think it's too early to say, because the smart money is on Manning being ready to go for week one, rendering this entire discussion moot.