At some point, Colts owner Jim Irsay’s head may explode.
Or, at a minimum, his Twitter page.
Less than six weeks after Irsay cut Peyton Manning in lieu of paying him another $28 million, Manning looks like the guy who played well enough to earn a contract that called for that $28 million payment.
Receiver Eric Decker continues to believe Manning is good to go. “Everyone’s obviously going to get better from this point to September, but I’m not his doctor, so I don’t know how to speak on his health, but catching balls form him, it looks like there’s nothing wrong to me,” Decker said Monday, via comments distributed by the team. “He’s throwing great balls; he’s getting the work in just like we’re getting the work in and knocking some rust off. I see no issues at this point.”
Regardless of his arm strength, Peyton Manning continues to be Peyton Manning. “He’s a natural-born leader,” Decker said. “In the weight room, he’s the guy taking command of running from station to station. On the field, he’s doing drill-work, getting us lined up and having us do things for a particular reason. There are no wasted movements, no wasted time, and that’s a great thing to have in a leader like him.”
Meanwhile, Peyton said all the right things (but nothing remarkable or worth cutting and pasting) when meeting with the media, and he sounds like a guy who is focused on picking up where he left off in 2010, when he had one of the best statistical seasons of his career.
Apart from the words, look at his face. He knows where this is heading, assuming the neck cooperates.
Nearly forty years ago, Robert Irsay exiled John Unitas to San Diego for the final year of his career. The good news for Robert Irsay was the Unitas did nothing for the Chargers. For Jim Irsay, it looks like Peyton is going to do a lot more than nothing for the Broncos.