The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT Nov. 19, 2011

What started out as an ordinary week for most NFL teams has gone from bad to worse in most cases.

Injuries, some more devastating than others, hit some playoff contenders and a few pretenders just as the season hit the midway point.

PROBABLY THE biggest injury of the season happened before a single snap was taken by the Indianapolis Colts.

With a neck injury slowing Peyton Manning, the Colts expected to have their quarterback by at least the start of the regular season.

Didn’t happen.

And now with a mix of Kerry Collins and Curtis Painter, they also may not win a game this season — that is unless Manning makes a miraculous recovery in the next two weeks.

It might be impossible to imagine, but if they were picking the Most Valuable Player for the NFL this season, why not Manning?

Could the Colts have made the playoffs with Manning this year — probably.

He has more power over the offense than the head coach, apparent by the lack of wins this year.

Meanwhile last Sunday, Houston lost its starting quarterback when Matt Schaub fractured his foot in a game against Tampa Bay.

The Texans appeared to be on the way to their first playoff appearance in franchise history, but now will rely on Matt Leinart to get them over the top.

JUST AS the Seattle Seahawks were beginning to implement a scheme that former Idaho football coach Tom Cable has been trying to teach, two of the five players counted on to lead the rebuilding of the offensive line are out for the season.

First-round pick James Carpenter and second rounder John Moffit tore up their knees just two days apart, Moffit going out early in the Seahawks’ win over Baltimore last Sunday.

Carpenter was injured in a Wednesday practice and will also miss the remainder of the season.

Snake-bitten isn’t quite how I’d describe the group, but when each member of the line has been injured, either missing preseason or postseason games, there’s got to be more than something in the water.

A few years ago, the Seahawks built the Virginia Mason Athletic Center, where the team made its headquarters and home during training camp and throughout the year.

In that time, the team has been hit with more injuries than I can count.

As I try to recall in the team’s six-year run to become NFC West champions, there weren’t too many severe injuries when they traveled to Eastern Washington University for a month for training camp.

The way that the season has gone, chances are Seattle wasn’t going to make the playoffs to start with.

Now, with injuries mounting, that slim chance just went to long shot.

They might not have “sucked for Luck” like most anticipated.

But they could wind up being “bad for Barkley.”

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected].