With the Indianapolis Colts at 0-8 and seemingly mired in a lost season, team owner Jim Irsay has taken to Twitter to instill confidence and hope in the Colts' downtrodden fan base.
Much of what he writes can be boiled down to simple statements of inspiration, but Irsay offered Colts fans something more tangible Tuesday morning when he hinted at a possible 2011 return for injured quarterback Peyton Manning.
"8 weeks til xmas,less than 100 days til Super Bowl...Peyton's healing well,maybe he'll take a snap b4 the ball falls in NYC,New Year's eve!" Irsay wrote.
Considering that any mention of Manning's status constitutes as breaking news in Indianapolis, Irsay later qualified his previous tweet.
"No one's gonna rush Peyton back until he's 100 per cent healthy...but we'd love 2 c him play in 2011 if he's completely back n ready 2 go," Irsay said.
Colts Vice Chairman Bill Polian said Monday he'd like to see Manning practice this year and plans to keep the Hall of Fame-bound quarterback on the active roster in order to give him that opportunity.
Manning underwent his third neck surgery in 19 months the week before the start of the regular season and has not practiced with the team this year.