And the saga continues …

Last weekend, Woody Paige of the Denver Post reported that he had two sources who both told him that Peyton Manning would announce his retirement later this week. Before Monday hit, though, they had revised and then re-revised the report, taking out the key “two source” comment before ultimately putting it back in.

Does that mean anything? Probably not. But maybe it means that Paige or the Post weren’t feeling so hot about the report after the Broncos V.P. of of Public Relations, Patrick Smyth, quickly and strongly denied its accuracy, stating that Manning had made no such decision.

And maybe they were right to do so, as NFL Network’s James Palmer reported Monday afternoon that Manning will not announce his retirement this week.

Again, does this mean much? If Manning does in fact retire, whether that’s this week or the next, then not really. As long as his $19 million salary is of the books by the time Elway needs to start signing free agents, then all is well and good.

But … there’s always the other option. There’s always the chance that Manning just can’t give it up, deciding to cleat-up one more time. And in that scenario, this delay could be our first clue. If Manning was so confident about a decision, why wouldn’t he just come out and say it?

Of course, there are plenty of other factors that go into such a decision — who to tell, how to do it, what to do next — but the longer this drags out, the more likely a return seems to be.

Let’s just hope this doesn’t turn into Favre Watch 2.0.