I know I haven't written anything in awhile, and I just couldn't bring myself to write about a "noodle arm" or "nerve re-generation." I have been wanting to look at the cap implications of this mess since it started so I think I'll take this chance.

Much has been made about the cap consequences of the Colts having both Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck on the same roster. Many have called it cap suicide. I have heard a number of ideas about what the Colts should do with all the cap room that cutting Manning would afford them. It begs the question; How much cap room would that actually give us?

Let's take a look at the contract Manning signed before this season started. It was a 5 year deal worth a total of $90 million. It broke down this way:

$20M Signing Bonus (due at the time of signing)

$3M Roster Bonus for 2011 (due for being on the roster as of June 1, 2011)

$28M Team Option Bonus (due March 8, 2012 to engage last 4 years of contract)

$39M Salary over 5 years

I'll break down what that means after the jump.

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It seems the heat, specifically in the Twittersphere, that Bob Kravitz was taking after calling Peyton Manning's right arm a "noodle", was just a little too much for the Indy Star journalist.

On Friday, Kravitz did his best to clarify the comment, stating that he "misspoke":

"I do that sometimes on radio, especially when I haven't had my coffee. I was trying to be funny, flippant, basically saying you don't spend 35 million bucks on a quarterback with a noodle arm. In my head, I was thinking, 'He used to have a laser rocket arm, now it's closer to a noodle arm.' "

I can understand a harmless mistake and we've all had our fair share of bonehead comments. However, I think it's rather surprising that a respected journalist could use such a descriptive term (everyone knows what a friggin' "noodle arm" is...) only to later claim that he was basically messing around. Under these circumstances, that's not exactly a harmless mistake. We are kind of talking about a man's career here. So when you write in a town that currently has a ginormous media magnifying glass hovering above it, you really should try to practice some self-restraint and avoid such "funny" comments. Especially if they aren't, you know, totally accurate...

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Yes, the Manning face.

Before there was Tebowing or Bradying, there was Manning face. No, this is not the face Peyton Manning makes while having sex. At least, we hope it isn't. It's the face Peyton makes when he's really, really, REALLY pissed off after a Colts loss.

Well, it turns out, a very gifted, enterprising, and obviously unemployed artist named David Rappoccio has taken the Manning face and placed it onto every single NFL team logo.

Every. Single. One.

The results are nothing less than pure genius.Here are my personal five six favorite, but you can view all of them at Dave's Art Locker. Special thanks to Deadspin for letting us know of this lovely Friday treat.

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The influence of Tony Dungy's coaching tree is still not lost in Indianapolis. Though Jim Caldwell was sent packing last month, the Colts did retain former Dungy assistant Clyde Christensen, demoting him from offensive coordinator to quarterbacks coach. However, Christensen isn't the only former Dungy coach that will work in Indy next season.

According to Alex Marvez of FOX Sports, Chuck Pagano has tapped Charlie Williams as his new receivers coach. Williams was part of Dungy's original staff in Tampa Bay back in 1996, when Herm Edwards, Rod Marinelli, and Lovie Smith were also assistants under Dungy.

Williams' connection to Pagano is through Butch Davis, the former head head coach for the Cleveland Browns, U. of Miami Hurricanes, and North Carolina Tar Heels. Interestingly, Davis' coaching tree has been blossoming of late. Pagano worked with Davis in Miami and Cleveland, and newly hired Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano also worked with Davis at Miami. In fact, Schiano recently hired Davis to be a 'Senior Defensive Assistant' with the Bucs.

Kind of funny how it all comes full circle.

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I apologize for not getting the results out after the Conference Championship games, as we were busy with Peyton Manning news and the Super Bowl, and we're now finally starting to wind down before ramping up the draft coverage. Either way, I've got the final standings for the Playoff Fantasy Football Challenge.

First off I'll recognize the winner of the Championship round, which was BurbsST, who had 166 points in the two games, and impressive day. For the Super Bowl, the winner was oo9ers, who had 96 points, thanks to three different guys scoring over 20 points for him/her. And our overall winner is BurbsST, who finished with 773 points, a number way, way higher than a year ago, when the winner had just 525 points. It was a much higher scoring playoff season this year, which makes it a little more fun. The total actually beat the best possible team last year, which was only 756.

The best two players ended up on only 55 combined teams, as Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning had the most points with 101 points, and Hakeem Nicks, who was only on 12 teams, had 94. Tom Brady came in a respectable third.

After the jump you'll see the best possible team and full standings. You can see your individual team here (in alphabetical order). Again, if you see a mistake, please let me know. Thanks again to everyone for playing!

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The man who once pulled the strings in Indy for over a decade is now providing us with some encouraging words regarding the return of Peyton Manning.

In a sit down with ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, Polian spoke on his own experiences of watching Manning throw from back in late December [emphasis mine]:

"It’s marked [improvement] from where he was back in September," Polian said regarding Peyton’s arm strength in December, when Polian last observed Manning. "He threw it accurately, he threw it with a good, tight spiral, and he threw it with velocity. Generally, he looked like a pretty confident quarterback out there."

We've heard that Peyton basically has a "noodle arm" and we've heard that he's been on the cusp of retirement for quite some time. Manning has practically killed off any retirement reports, along with his agent. Now? We're getting more and more good news about his ability to be, well, Peyton Manning again.

If Manning was making this kind of progress back in late December, it's hard not to be optimistic about his eventual return. In fact, Manning's confidence in his progression might have added some fuel to re-fire the "I'm cleared" media circus that was propelled into the spotlight during the week of Indy's Super Bowl.

As for Polian, he also believes that Manning is on path to show everyone that he will overcome "another obstacle" and return at a "high level".

And it turns out that Polian isn't the only one who is confident about Manning's ability to successfully return.

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