Luck on fast track to fame
INDIANA POLIS Sure, Andrew Luck has a great arm. Can beat defenses with his feet, too.
What makes Luck great — and will put him in the same category as Indianapolis Colts predecessor Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers sooner rather than later — is his adaptability.
Lock up his No. 1 receiver, and he’ll find someone else. Sideline the Colts starting running back, and he’ll feed whoever is behind him. Ask him to play behind an offensive line that has seen more changes than a model at a fashion show, and he’ll shrug it off.
So long as there’s someone who can hike him the ball and someone he can get it to, Luck is all good.
“Every win is a definite team effort. But you’ve got a guy under center who can make plays, can make something out of nothing, takes what the defense gives him, and he just kind of manages the
game the way you need him to,” offensive tackle Anthony Castonzo said.
“We’re very happy to have him back there.”
Granted, the Cincinnati Bengals imploded in the second half of the Colts’ 26-10 victory in an AFC wild-card game Sunday.
But that had as much to do with Luck as their own ineptitude.
Even with starting running back Trent Richardson sidelined after an illness forced him to miss practice and with the Colts starting their 11th combination on the offensive line, Indianapolis was the better team Sunday. But as has been the case at other times this season, the Colts struggled in the red zone.
Indianapolis reached the Cincinnati 17-yard line or beyond three times in the first half, only to settle for a pair of field goals and a touchdown. Clinging to a 13-10 lead early in the third, Luck was flushed out of the pocket.
Bengals defensive end Carlos Dunlap was nipping at Luck’s ankle, causing him to pitch forward. But as he was falling, Luck spotted Donte Moncrief downfield and let fly.
Never mind that Cincinnati safety George Iloka was blanketing Moncrief. Or that the rookie is not the first, second or even third option in the Colts offense. Luck saw an opening and took it. “That one magical play to Moncrief was Andrew at his finest,” Colts coach Chuck Pagano said. “He was a maestro back there.”
Moncrief made the 36-yard catch at the very edge of the upper corner of the end zone for his fourth touchdown of the season, the Colts had an insurmountable lead, and Luck had one more clip for his growing highlight reel.
“That changed the whole game for us because all we did (from there) was pin our ears back and just go,” Colts defensive end Ricky Jean Francois said. “Anytime we give this guy good field position on that field, we need to sit back and eat some popcorn.
“It won’t be shocking because we know he’ll do it, but it’ll just be a nice show to see.”
The victory was Luck’s second in the playoffs, evening his postseason record at 2-2 in his third season. Most quarterbacks would happily take those kind of numbers at this early stage in their careers.
But Luck isn’t most quarterbacks.
Until he takes the Colts to the Super Bowl, or at least the AFC Championship Game, Luck will always be in the shadow of You Know Who.
And, wouldn’t you know it, the Colts will have to beat Manning and the Denver Broncos next Sunday to reach their first AFC title game since Manning was writing the record books in Indianapolis.
“Having a guy that’s big and strong like Andrew and can create — moving forward, looking at next week, he’s going to have to do the same thing,” Pagano said. “He’s going to have to create some plays. He’s going to have to move around and get some first downs with his legs and those type of things.”
He’ll also have to adapt, because that’s what the great NFL quarterbacks do. And as Sunday’s game showed, Luck is well on his way to being one of them.