Add Archie Manning to the growing list of people who say Peyton Manning is steadily improving in his recovery from neck surgery.
The father of the Colts (for now) quarterback said on Friday that he watched Peyton work out and saw no reason to believe his son won’t be ready to play quarterback in the 2012 NFL season.
“What I’ve seen, he certainly looks fine as far as throwing and velocity on the ball,” Archie said, via the Indianapolis Star. “I did see him a couple of weeks ago; he was in New Orleans. I saw him throw and he looked like Peyton. He hasn’t had any setbacks throwing. He’s been throwing for two months and has four or five [months] to go before the season starts.”
Every recent report about Peyton’s rehabilitation has been positive, saying that he is throwing well and on his way to being ready to go, and that the only question is which team he will go to. Archie’s comments are consistent with that.
Of course, Peyton has only allowed a carefully selected group of people see him throw. The positive comments about his arm strength may say more about the people making those comments than they say about Peyton. But those comments are all we have to go on now, and those comments all suggest that he’s going to be ready to play this season.