Manning willing to do anything to get back on the field

In his first 13 years in the NFL, Peyton Manning never missed a start and had only one big injury, bursa sac surgery on his left knee. This offseason has been adventurous, gruesome and challenging for the face of the National Football League.

First, the NFL season is over and the doors to team facilities are locked. That means the very studious Manning can’t work on his game mentally and meet with his doctors and therapists that have been loyal to him.

During the lockout, Peyton led offseason workouts with teammates at a local university and high school. In one of these workouts, he reportedly injured his neck and nerves ultimately affecting where we are today.

Through rest and therapy, Peyton tried to avoid his second neck operation in a year. He finally came to a conclusion that surgery was necessary so he proceeded on May 23rd. Initial reports said surgery went well and he would be out for 8 to 10 weeks, probably missing a week or two of training camp.

Manning wasn’t comfortable and wasn’t progressing as he thought.  A new report came out Sunday about his desire to get healthy.

First reported by Jay Glazer of FoxSports.com, Peyton took a private jet to Europe for special stem cell therapy. The type of therapy is performed by some here in the U.S. according to a source, but he ultimately felt like it was a better situation overseas.

So stem cell therapy didn’t relieve the pain and stress on his neck and nerves that a week into training camp, Peyton had his third surgery in 19 months. That’s never good.

The Colts without Manning is one of the biggest losses in sports history. Nobody means more to their team than No. 18 and the Colts are clearly feeling the loss.

I still believe he will be able to return for a couple more years of healthy football. Some are worried that he would compromise his long-term health by stepping back onto the field. Peyton is smart and would never risk his health, even for the game he loves so much.

With all the resources in the world, not even Peyton Manning could get healthy for this season. He’s tried just about everything and even done procedures that will speed up recovery but hurt in the short-term. That’s Manning putting the team first.

Fans are hurting because No. 18 isn’t on the field…but you can be damn sure these nagging injuries are just killing Mr. Perfectionist.

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