INDIANAPOLIS – For all the things that are still up in the air, Peyton Manning is certain he isn’t ready to retire.

“I have no plans on doing that,” he said Tuesday.

Manning finds himself in a kind of limbo. The Super Bowl is being played in his town at the end of a season in which he didn’t play. An iron man for 13 seasons, he’s struggling to recover from three neck surgeries over 19 months. A four-time MVP, he’s one of the game’s most recognizable faces. Yet it’s his shadow and the question of whether Manning will ever play again that looms over the season’s biggest game.

“My plan hasn’t changed,” he told reporters at a hotel after Media Day at Lucas Oil Stadium featuring the Giants and Patriots. “I’m on track with what the doctors have told me to do, and I’m doing that. I’m rehabbing hard.”

All the attention focused on his condition is misplaced, Manning said earlier in a taped interview with ESPN. “I really don’t think it will be as the week goes on.”

A damaged nerve that caused weakness in his throwing arm prompted Manning to have surgery on his neck in May. He underwent his third and most invasive operation in September. Doctors fused two vertebrae together, a procedure that forced him to miss the Colts’ 2-14 season.

There has been rampant speculation about his recovery, the potential risks of a return, whether the Colts will pay Manning a $28 million roster bonus in early March to prevent him from becoming a free agent or whether the soon-to-be 36-year-old might quit playing.

Shortly after about 7,000 fans watched more than 1,000 reporters spend two hours interviewing Patriots and Giants, Manning delivered the third part of Media Day with an impromptu appearance in front of a small group of reporters.

“I’m working hard, I had a really good session today,” Manning said after throwing to several teammates. “I continue to make progress and work hard. The doctors are encouraged and that’s encouraging to me.”

Manning smiled throughout the 10-minute interview and looked happier and more vibrant than he has in months.

“Peyton has had an unbelievable career. Since I’ve been watching football, I haven’t seen anybody play at a higher level than he has,” Giants quarterback and Peyton’s brother Eli Manning said. “It has always been my goal to get to his level of football, to get to his level of play.”

Also on Tuesday, the Colts hired Harold Goodwin as offensive line coach, confirmed the hiring of Bruce Arians as their offensive coordinator and fired tight ends coach Ricky Thomas and assistant offensive line coach Ron Prince.