Luck’s leg injury creates opening in AFC South

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The popular pick to win the AFC South all offseason has been Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts. The ever-changing diagnosis for his strained left calf and ankle is dredging up bad memories of 2017, when his recovery from shoulder surgery kept him out all season.

And dampened the soaring expectations for a team coming off its first playoff berth in four seasons.

Colts general manager Chris Ballard insists this is not 2017 all over again.

“When I came in the door, one of the things we talked about was building a team and it wasn’t all going to be about one guy,” Ballard said. “I understand the importance of Andrew Luck. Look, he’s a top-five quarterback in the league, but we have another guy we like. So we’ll treat it and we’ll move forward and we’ll deal with whatever we have to deal with going forward.”

Ballard has backup Jacoby Brissett and bulked up his roster. But Luck is the fourtime Pro Bowler and 2018 Comeback Player of the Year who makes Indianapolis a top bet not only in the AFC South but to win the conference. Questions over whether Luck will be ready Sept. 8 against the Los Angeles Chargers opens the door wide open in the only division in the NFL featuring three teams with winning records in 2018.

Defending AFC South champ Houston has Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins along with J.J. Watt back healthy and in his prime. The Titans lost their playoff spot to the Colts in the regular-season finale with Marcus Mariota out, and they protected themselves by upgrading their backup spot. Even Jacksonville has high hopes with Nick Foles now at quarterback; the Jags are coming off a miserable 5-11 season after playing in the AFC championship game in 2017.