The NFL season has arrived in the midst of complete bedlam at Indianapolis, with news the Peyton Manning could be looking at a season on the sideline, following a delayed recovery from neck surgery back in May.
Former Tennessee Titans veteran Kerry Collins, is set to become the first quarterback to start at Indianapolis since Jim Harbaugh back in 1997, alas, ending Manning’s streak of 208 regular season games.
For all those entangled in this Manning fairytale, his third trip under the knife in 19 months will serve as a reality check. It does appear the very best of Manning is now merely history.
To say that Manning is responsible for the better part of the Colts’ achievements would be unjust to his teammates, but the correlation between his own successes and in turn, that of the team’s is no coincidence.
When Manning is on song, Indianapolis rarely falters. For the first time in over a decade, we get the chance to see what happens when the binding piece to the Indianapolis puzzle, is momentarily removed.
The Colts now, must focus on weaning Kerry Collins off the Titans’ run centred playbook. Ignoring the sceptics for one moment, I believe, much can derive from a season minus Indiana’s favourite son.
Kerry Collins is not one to shy away from adversity; in fact, he’s made a living out of it.
Smeared by various off-field incidents, Collins battled constant criticism from the media and fans during his time at no less than five different franchises.
So, on arriving in Indianapolis – in doing so, coming out of a short stint as a retiree – it was no surprise that Kerry Collins would be burdened by the belittling comments of Colts’ fans and media alike.
Opinion aside, Collins is only one of two quarterbacks still playing, to have thrown for more than 40,000 yards, the other being his now teammate, Manning.
In fact, the similarities between the two are not only restricted to statistics; their styles and approach to the game are very much alike.
Both Collins and Manning are perceived as textbook quarterbacks, in the way that both like to stay in the pocket and work under a more conventional playbook. Where the two are different lies in the product itself.
Collins plays with a high element of risk which has all but removed any consistency from his game. Peyton, on the other hand, works with precision, and you match that with a bullet-like arm and you have got yourself a superstar.
Evidently, Manning is a more polished quarterback, however, depending on which Kerry Collins shows up, the Colts may yet have some hope going into this season.
The biggest issue that the Colts face is keeping their throw-heavy playbook intact.
At Tennessee, Collins had one of the game’s great running backs in Chris Johnson standing behind him, happy to take a chunk of the workload. Joseph Addai is no dud, but then again, he is no Chris Johnson.
The expectation would be that Collins can complete 70% of the workload, preventing the opposition from getting accustomed to a constant run game.
Regardless of Manning’s status, Collins will still have complete access to the Colt’s repertoire; big names including Wayne, Garcon, Collie and Clark are sure to offer Collins an outlet when it comes to the throwing option.
I’m not underplaying the significance of Manning’s absence; it may well have dampened the Indianapolis Colts chance of winning another Superbowl.
However, adversity goes hand in hand with opportunity, and that’s exactly what the Colts have, a great opportunity to prove they are not simply a one-man outfit.
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