Colts coach: Andrew Luck can't play QB like he's a linebacker
After making 51 consecutive starts, Andrew Luck missed the first game of his NFL career during Week 4 of the 2015 season.
By
Ryan Wilson
•
2 min read
After making 51 consecutive starts, Andrew Luck missed the first game of his NFL career during Week 4 of the 2015 season. He'd go onto miss eight more (including the final two months of the season) due to a shoulder injury, a lacerated kidney and a torn abdominal muscle.
Not surprisingly, the Colts floundered, finishing 8-8 and missing the playoffs for the first time since Luck arrived in 2012 (the team had gone 11-5 in each of Luck's first three seasons). The takeaway: Keeping Luck healthy is paramount. Part of that lies with general manager Ryan Grigson assembling a serviceable offensive line, part of that is on coach Chuck Pagano scheming to protect Luck, and a lot of it is on Luck changing the way he plays.
"Get him healthy, keep him healthy, keep him protected, keep him upright,” Pagano told NFL Network of his to-do list heading into 2016, via PFT. “He plays the position like a linebacker, with a linebacker’s mentality. He can’t do that all the time. We love how he can extend plays, but he’s got to be smart and know it’s OK to slide. You don’t have to take some of those hits.”
If this sounds familiar, it should; Pagano said pretty much the same thing last November, days after Luck led the Colts to a win over the Broncos but suffered the aforementioned lacerated kidney after taking this huge hit:
"We're going to talk every day until [Luck] figures it out and we figure it out as a team," Pagano said at the time. "He knows full well that he can't do that. He can't put himself and this team in jeopardy. You love the grit, and you love the toughness and all that stuff. But playing the position like a linebacker? You can't."
To his credit, Luck knows he has to change.
"There’s a time and a place for taking a hit; I’m not going to apologize in that sense, because sometimes it’s appropriate," the quarterback said two weeks the Broncos game. "But sliding is something I need to improve on, but we’ve talked about that before. It’s no secret.”
Also no secret: Luck is the key to Indy's success. It explains why the Colts could use their first-round pick to bolster the offensive line. In fact, five of the CBSSports.com mock drafts have the team taking a center or tackle.
