PIVOTAL DECISIONS AWAIT NFL TEAMS UNDER CENTRE
Andrew Luck will play in his first football game since New Year’s Day 2017 on Thursday night.
Luck will start for the Indianapolis Colts at Seattle in one of 16 Week 2 NFL pre-season games. For him, it will end a disconsolate stretch of 585 days, during which many, including Luck, wondered if he’d ever play another down of competitive football.
But the 28-year-old finally seems to have fully recovered from the throwing-shoulder surgery he underwent in January 2017 and the lingering pain that prevented him from fully practising last year, let alone suiting up for a game.
Luck’s return is just one of numerous intriguing quarterback stories worth closely watching as the pre-season schedule plays out this month.
Here’s what we know about how much the big-name passers, new and old, will likely play in this week’s games:
Indianapolis Colts: The last pass Luck threw in an NFL game gave Indianapolis a victory against Jacksonville with four seconds left in the 2016 season finale on Jan. 1, 2017. It was a one-yard touchdown to Jack Doyle.
Indy announced Wednesday that Luck will start against the Seahawks. He has impressed throughout training camp so far, despite barely throwing footballs — even lightly, let alone with power — for much of the previous 18 months.
Is he excited for this contest, even if it’s just a pre-season opener? You bet.
“I am sure I will be very nervous as well,” Luck told reporters this week. “There were one or two moments where I wondered am I ever going to be able to do this again?
“We have sort of been on these four-day blocks, as you guys know. It’s sort of fun to sit at the end of a four-day block or three-day block and say, ‘Wow, not only look what I got better at, but look how much better I feel.’ ”
Cleveland Browns: Head coach Hue Jackson continues to insist veteran Tyrod Taylor — acquired in an off-season trade with Buffalo — will be the starting QB in Week 1 come September and that No. 1 overall draft pick Baker Mayfield will observe from the sideline.
Jackson said Tuesday that Taylor will start the pre-season opener Thursday night at the New York Giants.
“Baker is going to play and then we will make a decision around the fourth quarter on who else (might come in).”
So Mayfield “probably” will play for two quarters, Jackson said, “then we will see where it goes from there.” Veteran Drew Stanton and undrafted rookie Brogan Roback are Cleveland’s other QBs.
Houston Texans: Deshaun Watson sparkled as a rookie before blowing out his right ACL in practice in early November. In Texans’ training camp practices in West Virginia, Watson seems to be fully recovered. Will he start or play at all in Houston’s pre-season opener Thursday night at Kansas City?
“I don’t know, we’ll see,” Texans head coach Bill O’Brien said. “We’ll make a decision prior to the game.”
Is it less likely or more likely that Watson takes the field at some point versus the Chiefs?
“I’d say more likely,” O’Brien said.
Watson didn’t seem to mind one way or another, saying, “Honestly, to me, if it happens, it happens. It’s not a big deal.”
Brandon Weeden, Joe Webb and Stephen Morris are battling to back up Watson.
Kansas City Chiefs: The Chiefs already have announced who will start Thursday’s game against the Texans and for how long he’ll play. It’s Patrick Mahomes, of course. He’s last year’s No. 10 overall draft pick whom head coach Andy Reid has anointed the starter and the reason why the Chiefs dealt veteran Alex Smith to Washington early in the off-season. Mahomes is scheduled to play the entire first quarter Thursday.
Buffalo Bills: Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane haven’t announced who will start Thursday night against the visiting Carolina Panthers nor how game reps might be allocated among A.J. McCarron, Nathan Peterman and rookie Josh Allen. It would not be unreasonable to expect McCarron to play the first quarter, Peterman the second and Allen much or all of the second half.
Philadelphia Eagles: Carson Wentz is not expected to play Thursday night against visiting Pittsburgh as he continues his deliberately careful comeback from a left ACL tear suffered in December. His heroic replacement, Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles, might not play as well against the Steelers as he has missed recent practices with a sore neck muscle. Nate Sudfeld fans can rejoice. The former Indiana University standout — an undrafted free agent a year ago — continues to impress Eagles coaches as a third-stringer. He might play much of the game.