Manning Hid Second Surgery

Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback Peyton Manning didn’t disclose a surgical procedure performed on his knee just four weeks before this year’s season-opener, saying he didn’t want to give his opponents a competitive advantage.

The NFL’s top quarterback required two surgeries during the off-season – not just the one which was widely-reported – to fix his knee, but the second surgery wasn’t revealed until yesterday:

The reason I just didn’t really confirm or deny it the first time was I just didn’t really want the Bears to know they were playing against a guy that was four weeks off of surgery. I know if I was playing against a corner that was four weeks off of surgery, I would definitely test out how good that surgery was in a game. So I just didn’t think it was fair to reveal that information.

Indianapolis started the season 1-2, causing many analysts to wonder if something was wrong with Manning, who consistently puts up astronomical passing numbers but seemed to be struggling with his timing in the first three games of the season.

The Colts have moved to 3-2, however, after back-to-back wins over Houston and Baltimore the last two weeks. Against the Ravens on Sunday, Manning earned AFC player of the week honors after tossing three touchdown passes.

Still, news of Manning’s secret surgery shocked our founding editor, who has been a Colts fan for 21 years.

“He should have told me,” said Sic Willie. “After all, I sleep in his football jerseys and have shed many a man tear for him. I just don’t understand it. The leaves on our trust tree have fallen, and now I must rake them up, put them in a bag, take that bag all the way down to the street and then turn to face the cold of the coming winter alone.”

Hmmmm … yeah.

Anyway, some NFL observers attribute Manning’s failure to disclose the second surgery to the fact that Sic looks an awful lot like Chicago Bears’ quarterback Kyle Orton, who was Manning’s opponent back in week one.

Either that or the fact that Sic is a deranged Manning stalker with a disturbing man-crush.

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