A Family Affair For Mannings

When the Colts resumed practice after Saturday's preseason loss at Seattle, their audience included the father of rookie quarterback Peyton Manning.

Archie's presence drew ample attention, but he made it clear his appearance at one of his son's practices was about as rare as snow in August.

"During his four years at Tennessee, I saw one practice," Archie said. "Now I've seen one here and it will probably be my last one.

"He's got good coaches here and he gets good advice. He doesn't need anything from me."

Archie said he decided to visit his son at training camp because he couldn't watch the Seahawks game and won't have the opportunity to attend any of the Colts' three remaining preseason games. The former Ole Miss and New Orleans standout quarterback has been a radio analyst with the Saints' flagship station for 12 years.

That tenure will end with this preseason so Archie can more closely follow the pro career of Peyton and the high school exploits of younger son Eli, who is a highly sought senior quarterback in New Orleans.

Archie said he saw a television replay of Peyton's first NFL pass (a TD to Marvin Harrison) that he thought was exciting. But he refused to critique his son's debut.

"I think he feels like he's doing all right," Archie said. "At least he's not calling home much. I know him pretty well. He'd probably be calling home more if things weren't going good.

"We visited some (Sunday) and he wasn't real happy with how the game went. But he's not always easily pleased, especially when they lose. But I reminded him it's not a sprint, it's a marathon."

Warren out

Backup running back Lamont Warren could miss the rest of preseason after suffering a severely sprained right ankle at Seattle.

Medical tests revealed no structural damage, but coach Jim Mora categorized Warren's injury as a "rotation-type high sprain."

"It's something that tends to last a little longer than normal. He could be out three weeks, four weeks, maybe longer. Hopefully it will be the minimum."

Compounding the situation at running back was an undisclosed injury to Abu Wilson during Monday's work. It is not considered serious.

Nothing special

Two days after the fact, Mora hadn't softened his stance on the play of the Colts' special teams at Seattle.

"Our kickoff return was pitiful and our punt return wasn't good at all," he said. "We had a very poor performance by our kicking teams.

"I think offensively and defensively we tried hard, but in the kicking game there were times we didn't even try hard."

The Seahawks averaged 25.5 yards on four kickoff returns while Joey Galloway returned a punt 74 yards for a touchdown.