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Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning officially left the Colts in 2012, but league-wide events of 2011 may have contributed significantly to the departure.

During the lockout, the NFL strongly urged teams to have little if no contact with players. This kept the Colts from knowing much about Manning’s health, causing them to ultimately dog-paddle with Kerry Collins, Dan Orlovsky, and Curtis Painter — and then to sink to a 2-14 record that earned the right to draft Andrew Luck and delivered pink slips to coach Jim Caldwell and G.M. Bill Polian.

In the new book from Gary Myers chronciling the rivalry between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, Polian says that the team was “barraged” by lawyers to not talk to Manning or any other players when Manning’s situation was up in the air.

“Only the bare minimum,” Polian told Myers, “because the constant refrain was, ‘Don’t talk to him, don’t talk to him, don’t talk to him.”

As a result, the Colts didn’t realize that Manning needed a spinal fusion until after they’d signed him to a new contract following the end of the lockout. And they passed on players like Andy Dalton and Colin Kaepernick in the draft because they believed Manning would be fine following neck surgery in May.

“The thing I second-guess is, we took [Anthony] Castonzo and not either Andy Dalton or Colin Kaepernick,” Polian told Myers. “We might still be there, had we done that. Because if you go 7-9 or 8-8 with one of those guys, even 6-10, you probably survive. . . . [W]e didn’t know Peyton wasn’t going to play, believe me. We were as much in the dark as any group has ever been. It was absolutely the perfect storm.”

Pressed regarding whether efforts to get information from Peyton or Archie Manning could have avoided this “perfect storm,” the tempestuous Polian thundered, banging his hand on the table to make his point to Myers.

“I can’t tell you how strongly it was emphasized to all of us: do not talk to him; you will jeopardize the lockout. It will be a court case, the union will run to court, the lockout will be over, you will ruin the National Football League.”

Polian’s comments to Myers could be the result of revisionist history. Prior to the 2011 draft, the Colts worked out Dalton and Kaepernick. Also, Polian acknowledged before the draft that the end of Peyton’s career was approaching, making the position an “issue” that Polian wouldn’t rule out addressing in the draft.

Instead, the Colts did nothing to beef up the position in 2011, helping them secure their next Peyton Manning in 2012.

While Polian would have kept Manning and Andrew Luck (in the same way the Packers kept Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers), owner Jim Irsay strongly believed the Colts had to cut Peyton due to salary-cap constraints of having the high-priced Manning and the No. 1 overall pick at the same position.

“There is no way you can construct a f–king football team with what was left,” Irsay told Myers. “Absolutely, positively, no way. It was a Rubik’s Cube that couldn’t be solved.”

So on Sunday night, when Manning and Caldwell (now the second-year Lions coach) reunite, they can attribute their effort to solve each other’s teams at least in part to the league’s determination to secure a more favorable business arrangement with Manning and all other players four years ago. Or to Polian’s ultimate refusal to use a low first-round pick on Dalton or Kaepernick. Or both.