Eras ending?

Many are wondering when Peyton Manning will step back onto the field following his off-season neck surgery. The procedure Manning underwent, thought to be serious, is actually a fairly common surgery for taller men who have sustained minor compacting in the neck that limits the head's turn radius. However, the procedure does take time to heal and, for many, that time is longer than the few weeks Manning will have to heal in order to play in the preseason or even the season opener in Houston.

Obviously, the idea of starting the 2011 campaign against a solid Houston team with a healthy Matt Schaub without Peyton is not an appealing option. However, it will be interesting to see whether Indianapolis will chose to risk early season losses at the hands of the Texans, Steelers, and possibly Buccaneers in Tampa within the first four weeks of their season. Most would agree that the Colt's week 2 match up versus the Browns in Indianapolis is the teams sole hope of a victory during that stretch with backup Curtis Painter at the helm. With most fans wondering if Peyton Manning's streak of 277 consecutive starts will end in week 1 this season, they really should be more concerned with Manning's date of return and whether or not their team is still in playoff contention at that point. God forbid, Manning returns and then sustains what is known to NFL trainers as a "healing injury," the typically consistent Manning could miss upwards of half of the season.


With a fairly abysmal 2010 effort behind him, can Donovan McNabb prove to the league that the rest of his career isn't behind him as well? The Vikings sure hope so! After shipping Tavaris Jackson to Seattle and losing their bidding war with the same for the services of play-maker Sidney Rice, the Vikes were coming up short on offensive firepower. Of course, the running game in Minnesota is not the concern. Any team with Steve Hutchinson and Adrian Peterson will need to be respected on the ground. However, it will be interesting to see whether or not the formerly mobile McNabb can produce a pass efficiency that will assist the already stout running attack. If not, defenses will be able to better predict the frequency of running attempts and possibly neutralize it.

Donovan will earn either a short career or a longer one based on this season. If he shows to be too far past his prime, the team will move on before season's end to Christian Ponder, the rookie draft pick who is waiting in the wings. If I am a Vikings fan, I am hoping for a McNabb revival. Ponder has left much to be desired this preseason.


In an almost carbon-copied scenario, Matt Hasselbeck moved on from the Seahawks and was replaced by Donovan's predecessor, Tavaris Jackson. Now with the Tennessee Titans, Hasselbeck will play the mentor role with the Titan's new rookie draftee Jake Locker from the University of Washington. Locker, who is a stronger prospect than the Viking's Christian Ponder, is probably more of a fan favorite already to start. This places Hasselbeck, who has not completed a full 16 game season in four years, under a bit more pressure than McNabb.

Jake Locker could literally be dropped in at any time if the injury-prone Hasselbeck goes down. The odds are, we will see Matt drop to injury before Donovan, although those odds are not long odds either way. Both situations are realistically week-by-week in my book. It will be interesting to see which veteran loses his job to the new rookie first, or if either of them will.