Peyton Manning's Injury Has Tony Dungy Thinking Colts Don't Make Playoffs

The Indianapolis Colts are going through a difficult time right now as the team is coming to the realization that QB Peyton Manning likely won't be available for the first game of the season on Sunday against the Houston Texans due to a neck injury.

I remember right around the time of the NFL draft, ESPN's Mel Kiper and Trent Dilfer saying that the Colts would be one of the worst teams in the NFL without Manning. That very well may be the case and one person who thinks they suffer dramatically this season if Manning isn't available is former Colts coach Tony Dungy.

When asked directly if the Colts would make the playoffs this season, Dungy said:

I would say no because I would be concerned about Peyton Manning. Just the fact that he may miss one game tells me that this is fairly serious.

He qualified it by saying he doesn't know whether Manning will be healthy but it's pretty clear that no one player is more valuable to a team than Manning is to the Colts.