Published: July 24, 2008 11:32 pm         

The show must go on: Colts prepare for training camp without injured Manning

TERRE HAUTE — One of Peyton Manning’s streaks ended Thursday.

No, not the prestigious one in which he’s started 160 consecutive regular-season games at quarterback for the National Football League’s Indianapolis Colts.

Manning hopes that streak will extend to 161 on Sept. 7 when the Colts play the Chicago Bears inside soon-to-be-open Lucas Oil Stadium.

But Manning, who underwent surgery to repair an infected bursa sac in his left knee July 14, did miss “Arrival Day” for the start of the Colts’ preseason training camp. In the previous nine years that camp has taken place at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Manning showed up on the same day as the other Indy players.

Not this year.

Speaking to reporters through a teleconference from Indianapolis, Manning said he hopes to be at camp “soon,” although a definite timetable for his return has not been set.

“I’m disappointed I can’t be there,” he said. “I’ve never missed a practice or a meeting or an organized team activity in my whole career. And I’m so very disappointed I can’t be there with all the guys on the first day of training camp. But as the cliché goes, ‘following doctor’s orders.’ But I’m in a positive frame of mind.

“Obviously, I hope to be up there as soon as the doctors sort of release me and tell me I can get up there. But I’m just kind of taking it day-to-day and hoping to get better. Like I said, that’s my goal to get up there as soon as I possibly can.”

Colts officials have said they expect Manning will be sufficiently healed to start the Sept. 7 season opener.

But don’t expect him to be on the Cook Stadium practice field for the next few weeks.

“I have my leg constantly compressed and elevated,” he explained. “I’m still on IV antibiotics and still trying to keep the risk of infection from returning as long as possible. We feel at this point the infection has resolved itself, but to be up there around 150 guys is probably not the smartest thing at this point. So obviously, once we feel like this infection is totally out of the woods and maybe not as susceptible to it returning, then maybe they feel like it would be safe for me to return.

“That was certainly my goal last Monday when we had the surgery done, that I would be able to still be able to report to training camp on time. But we’re sort of being cautious about it. Like I said, once I get cleared, hopefully I can get up there. I will still be inactive, but I would just as soon be inactive in Terre Haute, at training camp. But at this point, we’re just trying to be smart about it.”

That leaves fifth-year quarterback Jim Sorgi, who has appeared in 14 regular-season games but never started, in charge of the Colts’ first-team offense — for now.

Because of that, Sorgi received more than the normal amount of media attention when he walked up to his residence hall Thursday.

“It’s nice to get attention,” he said, glancing at all the microphones and recorders in front of him. “It’s bad that it had to come from one of my friends getting hurt. But he’s an iron man. He’ll bounce back.”

Other teammates admitted that camp will feel different without No. 18 taking most of the snaps.

“It’ll be weird,” offensive lineman Charlie Johnson predicted. “Every time I’ve been with the first unit, it’s been Peyton [at quarterback].”

“It’ll be interesting,” veteran placekicker Adam Vinatieri acknowledged. “You know, Sorgi’s been here a long time [since 2004]. He knows the system real well. He needs to get ready to go and be prepared.

“I don’t think Peyton needs four or five preseason games to be ready [for the regular season] anyway. He’s pretty good.”

“It’ll be a little strange,” starting middle linebacker Gary Brackett noted. “Obviously, it’s the first time he’s ever missed any time. But the show must go on.”

“I can play quarterback if needed,” Pro Bowl wide receiver Reggie Wayne offered, drawing chuckles from the throng of reporters.

Looking ahead to Manning’s camp debut, whenever that may occur, teammates don’t think he will need several weeks to regain his usual chemistry with Wayne, Marvin Harrison and the rest of the Colts’ high-powered offense.

“As long as his arm’s good, we’ll be all right,” Wayne insisted. “You’ve got me going on my eighth year [with the Colts] and you’ve got Marvin, who’s been playing forever. Dallas [Clark] has been around for a while. As far as his main targets, it shouldn’t take too long. Hopefully, he just gets back to 100 percent and don’t rush it. We’ll be here waitin’.”

“Two days,” Pro Bowl center Jeff Saturday estimated. “I’ll give it two days. It may not even take 48 hours. I would say by the second practice [with Manning at quarterback], we’ll be full tilt. If you knew how many balls he threw in the off-season, how many routes are run, how much offense has been run leading up to this … It may even be in Day 1, but definitely by Day 2.”

Clark, the team’s starting tight end, agreed with Saturday’s response.

“That’s about right,” Clark said. “The first day [with Manning back] obviously will be a little touch-and-go with different things … the same thing with anyone. It’ll take a couple days for us to all get in sync.”

Meanwhile, the Colts will carry on — without Manning for the moment — and conduct their first two practices today at 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. (special teams only).

Harrison, who missed a good portion of last season with a knee injury, has been cleared to practice for the start of camp.

Even though Harrison sat out 11 games last year and Manning is sitting out the start of training camp this year, Wayne said fans should not worry about them regaining their pass-and-catch timing before the regular season starts.

“It shouldn’t be too much [time],” Wayne said. “Those guys, it seems like they do things in their sleep. I think it’ll probably be more time getting me [in perfect rhythm with Manning] than it’ll be with Marvin. Hopefully, we can get them both out there and ready to go and have a successful Colts season.”

A smattering of loyal fans stood near the driveway that led to the Colts’ residence hall to try to get autographs from players and coaches Thursday, even though there were no public team activities on the Rose-Hulman campus.

Terre Haute resident Ashley Faull, a 23-year-old mother of two girls, said she didn’t get any autographs while she patiently waited. But she still enjoyed seeing the players return for another training camp.

“I’m out here to have fun, to meet the players, to interact,” said Faull, who’s been following the Colts for five or six years. “I’m a big Colts fan.”



Tribune-Star sports correspondent Tom James contributed to this report.