Healthy Luck intends to prove 2015 a fluke
QB has NFL’s biggest contract and new outlook
ANDERSON, Ind. — Andrew Luck arrived at training camp Tuesday with a healthy body, a new contract and a different perspective.
The Indianapolis Colts are betting it will make him a better quarterback.
Less than a month after signing a six-year, $140 million contract, Luck and his teammates come to Anderson University on a mission to show that the 2015 8-8 finish was an aberration.
“Maybe there’s a little more motivation, not just because I’m coming off the injury but because of not really playing as well as you’d like,” Luck said.
For Luck, things couldn’t have gone much worse last season. One of the league’s bright, young stars missed nine games with an assortment of injuries, including a lacerated kidney that forced him to watch the final seven games from the sideline.
When Luck did play, he wasn’t himself. While the backups were a solid 6-3, Luck went a dismal 2-5 as a starter and finished with the lowest completion percentage since his rookie season. His 12 interceptions had him on pace to shatter his previous career high (18) from 2012. After the season, everyone had a suggestion —— throw shorter passes, throw it away, embrace using the sideline or a baseball slide.
But part of what makes Luck good is his ability to turn nothing into something, a trait the Colts don’t want to reel in. So they’ve worked with Luck on making better decisions.
Luck, meanwhile, spent the offseason getting healthy, re-evaluating his game and his offseason routine, and figuring out how to correct the flaws opponents exposed last season.
“I’ve never seen him more motivated to have a great season in terms of taking care of himself and just working out,” team owner Jim Irsay said last month. “If you can talk about redoubling your efforts, that fire is in his eye in a special way.”
At a June minicamp practice at Lucas Oil Stadium, fans roared when Luck slid to a stop in a non-contact drill.
Coach Chuck Pagano believes Luck has regained the confidence in his right arm, which also was hurt last season, and in the new offense installed by new coordinator Rob Chudzinski. Luck is playing in his third offensive system in five years.
Tuesday, Luck proclaimed himself 100 percent healthy, a change from April when he was still working toward that goal.
Teammates sense Luck is a louder voice in the meeting room and huddle.
“He has been more vocal,” left tackle Anthony Castonzo said. “In the past, he’s always kind of been ‘OK, here’s what we need you to do.’ Now, it’s more like, ‘This is where you need to be.’”
Fans will get a glimpse of the new-look Luck when the Colts open practice today.
Plenty has changed since Indianapolis previously took the field at Anderson University, a Division III school near Indianapolis.
Offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton was fired and replaced by Chudzinski. Backup quarterback Matt Hasselbeck retired. Two of Luck’s college teammates, Coby Fleener and Griff Whalen, both left the Colts in free agency.
And Luck enters this season as the highest-paid player in league history.
To protect that investment, general manager Ryan Grigson used his firstround draft pick on center Ryan Kelly and spent three of his next seven selections on offensive linemen, too.
He really didn’t have a choice. Luck has taken more hits (375) than any other quarterback since entering the league in 2012.
Grigson is hoping Kelly will stabilize the middle of the line as Luck and the center develop the kind of bond Jeff Saturday and Peyton Manning previously had.
But for Luck, this season is about a lot more than putting up better numbers. Luck wants to demonstrate how much he has grown since his previous game, a 27-24 victory Nov. 8 against eventual Super Bowl champion Denver.