Peyton Manning: Why Report Clearing Him to Play Doesn't Refute Earlier Reports

Peyton Manning has been cleared to "resume his NFL career," a report that is supposed to refute some earlier claims that he might not be healing enough to make it back as a starting quarterback in the NFL.

The problem is that this new information about Manning's ability to resume his career doesn't actually refute the original reports about his nerve regeneration issues.

This is essentially a PR move by Manning's camp. 

Manning desperately wants to play again. There is no way in hell he wants his career to end with a playoff loss to Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets. He is one of the most competitive men on the face of God's green earth, and he must be inwardly trembling at the opportunity to prove he can still be the same player he was before, if not better.

Michael Cole's column exposed an aspect of Manning's recovery that many of us may not have been aware of, and this new report actually backs up what Cole reported rather than refutes it. This is what Cole reported:

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The vertebrae in his neck that were fused have healed as expected and Manning began throwing in December. But he hasn’t shown improvement in velocity on his passes, and the two sources fear he likely never will again.

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What Manning's doctors did in releasing Manning to continue his career is simply to say that Manning's spinal fusion was structurally sound. He is in no danger of injuring himself, and he can now pursue aggressive rehabilitation to try and get strength back into his throwing arm.

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It's not a safety issue; it's a performance issue...However, the source said Manning still cannot pinpoint a date when his performance will reach an acceptable level to him. The source alluded that it might take to the one-year anniversary of Manning's May 23, 2011, surgery on a bulging disk in his neck.

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So, it would seem as if both sides are actually saying the same thing. Nobody knows if or when Manning could get full strength into his arm. Both sources in Cole's investigation have said that Manning, "hit a plateau in his rehabilitation in terms of getting stronger."

Additionally, a doctor who has not seen Manning but has a background in spinal surgery said this:

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If you’re getting consistent improvement, then that’s OK. Even if it’s going from lifting 10 pounds to 15 pounds to 20 pounds over a stretch of weeks, that’s fine. If you hit a plateau, that’s a problem. … Now, I say that, but I also tell patients who have been through it that it can take up to a year to find out exactly how much strength you’re going to get back.

Right now, Peyton is at about six months. He should have a much better idea by July or August just how far he’s going to get … even then, that’s only a part of it. You can tell about 80 percent of how the nerves and the muscles are healing by rehab. What you really have to see is how his arm holds up when he starts to throw. Does he have the same velocity on the 15-yard out? Can he throw the 60-yard pass? Can he throw for 30 minutes before his arm gets tired? Can he throw for an hour? It’s a very complicated process.

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I don't see how anything Manning's doctors said actually contradicts the earlier reports besides the fact that we now know his fusion has achieved "firm fixation."

Jim Irsay must be frustrated by all of this, and I don't blame him for wanting to wait until after the Super Bowl to ultimately sit down with Manning and make a decision regarding the future of his star quarterback.

My wife used to say that Brett Favre was going to have to get carted off the field before he finally called it quits. Nowadays, she's saying the same thing about Manning. 

In the end, I don't see contradictory reports. All I see is a man who is doing everything he can to get back into the game that he loves. 

For what it's worth, I'm not a Manning hater. I would love to see him make a complete recovery and take the Colts back to the Super Bowl. He deserves to go out on top.

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