Magnificent Seven X: On Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning's start and life after DT Ed Johnson

Indianapolis Colts DE Dwight Freeney (Michael Conroy/AP Photo)

Each week on Examiner.com, Indy Football Report  Editor John Oehser offers seven thoughts on all things Indianapolis Colts. Without further delay, the Magnificent Seven for the sixth week of the 2009 regular season, in which the Colts will have a weekend off after somewhat turbulent bye week . . .

7) He's hot, hot, hot . . . This is no news -- not this year and not ever, really. But QB Peyton Manning's starting the season hot. Very hot. We won't burrow too deep into statistics, mainly because statistics don't quite tell Manning's story. Yes, he's leading the NFL in passer rating yards passing and touchdowns passing, and yes, he has thrown for more than 300 yards in each of the first five games of the season. He's also completing nearly 75 percent of his passes and leading the NFL in yards per attempt. It's that last combination that's noteworthy. He's not only making smart decisions, he's playing the position the way it is meant to be played -- looking downfield, making opportunistic throws and rarely checking down because he couldn't read a play and find a receiver open downfield. Realistically, there may not be too much more that hasn't been said about Manning's start. He's a rare player at the peak of his career, and this season is really an extension of last season, when he finished with a stunningly effective nine-game stretch that Colts President Bill Polian believed compared with any stretch of quarterbacking in NFL history. Here's a tip: watch this season from Manning, savor it, DVR it if you can and don't delete it, because there may not be another quarterback such as Manning at this perfect stage of prodction at this point in his career for a long, long time. He is not only at the peak of his powers -- a perfect mix of ability and experience -- he also has been in the same offensive system for 12 years and he's with a team that has designed the offense around him. His comfort level is at at an all-time high and he's playing behind a center with whom he has played for more than a decade (Jeff Saturday)and two Pro Bowl level receivers -- WR Reggie Wayne and TE Dallas Clark -- also in their primes. Who knows how long Manning can remain at this level? Who knows? He can play quality quarterback for a long time, but at some point, there must be a decline. Or something has to change enough around him to diminish the effectivness. The good news for Colts fans -- and fans of quarterbacking -- is that hasn't happened yet, and what's going on behind center in Indianapolis right now is historic.

6) Pro Bowl-bound. Sure, it's early, but we're at the bye week in Indy, so why not talk Pro Bowl? Here's my list of candidates. There may be more.

* Manning.

* Dallas Clark, TE.

* Reggie Wayne, WR.

* Robert Mathis, DE.

* Dwight Freeney, DE.

5) He's still got it. Believe it or not, there was talk in the blogosphere shortly before the season that maybe Colts President Bill Polian had lost it when it came to the NFL Draft. Silly, silly blogosphere. Here's the Colts' rookie class this season:

* First round: Donald Brown, RB.

* Second round: Fili Moala, DT.

* Third round: Jerraud Powers, CB.

* Fourth round: Austin Collie, WR.

* Fourth round: Terrance Taylor, DT.

* Sixth round: Curtis Painter, QB.

* Seventh round: Pat McAfee, P.

* Seventh round: Jaimie Thomas, OG.

Moala has yet to play, and Taylor was released shortly before the season, but does any team in the NFL have more rookies playing key roles? Brown has emerged as a big-play threat running or receiving, Collie has scored three times in the last two weeks and looks like a big-time player for the long-term and Powers has the look of a long-term starter in the same vein as S Antoine Bethea, a sixth-round selection in 2006 who played effectively immediately. And McAfee, as Polian said before the season, has solidified the kicking game -- not to mention he has kicked off as well or better than any Colts kicker in a decade. If a team gets three or four key contributors from every draft it will contend every season. Five weeks in, the Colts are already guaranteed of that from this year's class, and there's a real chance this could be Polian's best draft in 12 years with the team. For a guy who picked Manning, RB Edgerrin James, Wayne, DE Dwight Freeney, Clark and S Bob Sanders in a six-year period, that's a feat.

4) Missing Ed? We covered this pretty heavily this week with the release of DT Ed Johnson, but the question does remain: Just how much will the Colts miss Johnson? While the first instinct was that there was no way they couldn't miss him, if the release was indeed performance-based -- or if Johnson just wasn't giving enough effort -- then it's possible they won't. While it's indeed strange that he was playing well enough to start one week and then not well enough to be on the team the next, the bigger truth remains that Polian's not in the business of randomly weakening the Colts' roster. If the Colts hadn't seen something about Johnson that was weakening the team, there's no way they make the move. There was certainly a vibe among some players Wednesday that they were surprised the franchise would make such a move considering how well the defense is playing, but to hear Colts Head Coach Jim Caldwell say it, the production wasn't there. Stay tuned.

3) First-loss watch. One of the biggest myths of the last decade has been somehow that the NFL was a league of parity. Nothing could be further from the truth. Teams during the last decade have run off mind-numbing winning streaks on a routine basis -- the 2004 Steelers and Patriots won 15 and 14 games, respectively; the 2005 Colts started 13-0; and, the 2007 Patriots went 16-0. The Colts have had so many winning streaks since 2003 it's easy to lose track, but they now have won 14 consecutive games, which breaks the franchise record they set way back in . . . 2005? Such winning streaks only happen this often when there are a bunch of bad teams, and this season, there are more bad teams than normal. Thus, the question: When do the Colts lose their first game? Likely not before New England in mid-November. Will the Colts go undefeated? Almost certainly not, but don't forget: Before the season, the first five games of the season -- with three prime-time road games against 2008 playoff teams -- was supposed to be the tough part of the schedule.

2) No worry. The question has been raised more than once in recent week: With WRs Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie playing so well, what happens when WR Anthony Gonzalez returns? Manning has been pointed on the issue that the Colts very much need Gonzalez, who was starting outside until sustaining a knee injury in Week 1. Manning said ater the Colts' Week 4 victory over the Seahawks that while Collie and Garcon were productive, they were still young players and therefore there were still a lot of situations that just didn't come natural. That's not to say Collie and Garcon won't play a role, but Gonzalez will certainly move back into the rotation upon his return. The intriguing thing is where. My first thought would be to leave Garcon and Wayne on the outside and have Gonzalez start at the slot position for which he originally was drafted, but the guess is Gonzalez will start opposite Wayne, with Garcon and Collie working in some packages we haven't yet seen. And, as Caldwell said this week, the Colts under Senior Offensive Coordinator Tom Moore historically have been pretty good at using good players.

1) Secondary issue. Throughout the offseason, the thought here was the Colts had a chance to be one of the NFL's best secondaries. One reason was it appeared to be one of the deepest. As it turns out, the group is even deeper than originally thought. S Antoine Bethea is playing at or near a Pro Bowl level, but S Bob Sanders, CB Kelvin Hayden and CB Marlin Jackson -- the three players originally thought to be the starters with Bethea -- have started a total of two games. Those were by Hayden in Weeks 1 and 2. Melvin Bullitt has started five games in place of Sanders, and rookie Jerraud Powers has started four games at corner in what may be a permanent situation. Jackson, the starter in 2006 and 2007, played nickel in the first four games of the season while recovering from a knee injury that cost him the second half of last season. Jackson missed last week's game with a knee injury and with he and Hayden both out, Powers and rookie CB Jacob Lacey started with veteran TIm Jennings at nickel and the Colts still stifled Tennessee. Hayden is expected to return after the bye week, but if the first five games have shown anything it's that this group can withstand a lot and still play at an elite level.

ED JOHNSON COVERAGE

* Ed Johnson release performance-based, Colts Head Coach Jim Caldwell says. Here.

* Ed Johnson officially waived. Here.

* The ramifications of releasing Ed Johnson. Here.

* Ed Johnson reportedly released. Here.

* Release of Ed Johnson made for long, confusing day. Here.

*** A REVIEW OF COLTS PRESIDENT BILL POLIAN'S WEEKLY RADIO SHOW POST-COLTS/TITANS. PART ONE. HERE.

*** A REVIEW OF COLTS PRESIDENT BILL POLIAN'S WEEKLY RADIO SHOW POST-COLTS-TITANS. PART ONE. HERE.

*** READ COFFEE WITH THE COLTS: INDY FOOBALL REPORT EDITOR JOHN OEHSER'S NEXT-MORNING LOOK AT COLTS-TITANS. HERE. 

*** PRE-GAME PRIMER. INDY FOOTBALL REPORT EDITOR JOHN OEHSER PREVIEWS TITANS-COLTS. HERE.

*** THE TOP FIVE SEASONS OF COLTS QB PEYTON MANNING. HERE

*** WR PIERRE GARCON AMONG FIVE KEY EARLY-SEASON DEVELOPMENTS FOR 3-0 INDIANAPOLIS COLTS HERE *** 

MAGNIFICENT SEVENS: WEEKLY COLTS THOUGHTS . . .

Magnificent Seven I: Seven training camp thoughts and observations

Magnificent Seven II: On the Colts' defensive tackle position and WR Reggie Wayne

Magnificent Seven III: On the Colts' running backs and offensive line

Magnificent Seven IV: On the Colts' offense, OG Ryan Lilja and WR Anthony Gonzalez

Magnificent Seven V: On S Melvin Bullitt and QB Peyton Manning

Magnificent Seven VI: On RB Donald Brown and the start of the season . . . at last

Magnificent Seven VII: On WR Reggie Wayne, the OL and blitzing

Magnificent Seven VIII: On WR Reggie Wayne, QB Peyton Manning and DE Dwight Freeney 

Magnificent Seven IX: On DE Robert Mathis, S Bob Sanders and DE Dwight Freeney