Posted by Josh Katzowitz

Peyton Manning gave a surprise interview to the local press Thursday, and the conclusion to draw from the briefing is that the progress with his neck seems a little stagnated. Which obviously isn’t highly positive. And considering his neck still hasn’t fused, progress is going slowly for the Colts MVP (this year and every year, apparently).

"Not a whole lot to report,” he told reporters, including the Indianapolis Star. “Still waiting for the fusion to take place. That takes place, they thought, between two and three months. Still going slow with that.

“I still have some of the same issues I had before the fusion as far as the nerves and the regeneration. Still dealing with that, the idea being that this surgery gave me the most stability for the nerves to regenerate. That’s still a process there.”

Manning said there really isn’t a timeline to his recovery. Instead, it’s more like a series of checkpoints, the next of which occurs Dec. 1. That’s when he’ll be three months out of surgery, and doctors can determine his strength and conditioning. But for now, he can’t predict where he’ll be and when he’ll be there.

He does know this: he’d like to practice sometime this season.

“Well, the thing about it is the fact that I am on the active roster, if I were in a position, if I were cleared to practice and if I were at a strength level, conditioning level checkpoint that I were cleared, it’s the greatest venue to go out and see where you are on the practice field as opposed to having to grab a receiver off to the side and go out before walk-through or before practice,” he said. “If I was cleared and able to do that, it would be nice to be able to do that, to go out and participate in a team practice where everything is right there with you, even though you probably couldn’t do everything. So, that’s a hope and a wish.”

But as far as playing this year? You’ve got to think there’s absolutely no chance of it happening.

Manning’s sense of humor, though, is still there. You might recall that CBS/Showtime analyst Phil Simms said recently that Andrew Luck didn’t have an NFL arm. Naturally, reporters asked Manning about that, since the Colts, assuming they have the No. 1 draft pick next year, could take him as Manning’s eventual replacement.

“Yeah, I don’t talk to Phil. Phil doesn’t talk to me,” Manning said. “He did text me after that, saying ‘Hey, sorry to drag your name into this.’ I wrote back, ‘Phil I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ He said, ‘Well on my show, Inside the NFL, I made this statement.’ I said, ‘Phil, I hate to break it to you, but I don’t watch your show, along with a lot of other people that I don’t think watch that show.’ Giving himself a little more credit than probably was merited.”

Ouch.

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