GREGG DOYEL

Doyel: Colts QB coach replacement will answer two big questions

Gregg Doyel
gregg.doyel@indystar.com
Andrew Luck and Clyde Christensen, quarterback coach, before their Dec. 20 game. Christensen, a Colts assistant since 2002, is the only quarterbacks coach Luck has had since entering the NFL in 2012.

Clyde Christensen is gone to Miami, and it’s all about Andrew Luck. Christensen had been in the organization longer than just about anyone but owner Jim Irsay, and he’s gone, and it’s all about Andrew. Christensen worked for Tony Dungy, Jim Caldwell and Chuck Pagano, and he coached Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne and T.Y. Hilton and Matt Hasselbeck and ….

Andrew, Andrew, Andrew, Andrew, Andrew.

That’s all that matters as it relates to the news late Saturday that Christensen, a Colts assistant since 2002 and the only quarterbacks coach Luck has had since entering the NFL in 2012, is joining new Dolphins coach Adam Gase’s staff in Miami as offensive coordinator.

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(Well, so does this: Peyton Manning basically has provided the Dolphins with their top two coaches. Gase, 37, has been seen as a rising star since Manning put up crazy numbers when Gase was his offensive coordinator in Denver. Christensen is highly regarded as well, in large part because he worked as an offensive assistant for a decade with Manning and then four years with Luck.)

(Speaking of which …)

It’s all about Luck, here, today. Well mostly. Also there’s this: Whom will Pagano pick to replace Christensen? Will Pagano even make the choice? In the old days you’d suspect general manager Ryan Grigson would be the driving force behind this hire, as he was the driving force behind the hire of Pep Hamilton as offensive coordinator in 2013 — though Pagano absolutely signed off on the hire of Hamilton once it was clear his choice, Rob Chudzinski, was off to Cleveland as the Browns’ head coach.

But the old days ended during that news conference stunner of Jan. 4, when Irsay said he was keeping Pagano as coach and Grigson as general manager — and that Pagano was the driving force behind that tandem sticking together.

So this hire, the replacement of Christensen, is probably going to be Chuck’s choice, just as the elevation of Chudzinski to offensive coordinator was Chuck’s choice, and just as the hiring last week of new defensive coordinator Ted Monachino — Pagano’s linebackers coach in Baltimore in 2010-11 —– was Chuck’s choice. Grigson signed off on those moves, but Pagano got what he wanted.

Expect Pagano to get what he wants in this hire, but already I’ve spent too many words on Pagano and Grigson and Chudzinski and even Christensen, when the story today is Andrew Luck and what this news means for him.

It means a chance at improvement. Significant, franchise-propelling improvement. Maybe not instantaneously — these things take time — but significant, franchise-propelling improvement nonetheless for a young quarterback who is, yes, still young.

Luck is 26, about to enter his prime. He’s not there yet, not age-wise or on the field. He can get better, and nobody knows that more than Luck. The rate of “bonehead plays” he charmingly laments has risen each of the past two seasons. His interception percentage rate — how often does he throw a pick? — was a very good 1.9 percent in 2013, a mediocre 2.6 percent in 2014 and an alarming 4.1 percent last season. Don’t blame the injuries, either. His interception percentage was actually worse before he suffered his first (of two) major injuries of 2015: 6.0 percent in the first three games of the season.

Is that Clyde Christensen’s fault? No, of course not. Luck’s the guy with the ball in his hands. He’s the one throwing interceptions. But in four years under one quarterbacks coach he has played mostly his way, and while his way is prolific and entertaining and (by the way) successful — he is 35-20 as a starter — it comes with risks that are too often of the unnecessary variety.

It’s possible Luck will never change, that he always will try to take 20 yards when the defense wants to give him eight. Brett Favre was that way. Brett Favre won a Super Bowl.

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The safer route, the higher percentage route, is to make like Tom Brady and Russell Wilson and throw the ball shorter, safer distances. Less reward, but less risk. And while yards come and go, turnovers lose games.

What wins games? Quarterbacks win them. Look at the playoffs, the teams playing this weekend. Look at the quarterbacks. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers have won a combined nine MVP’s. Cam Newton will win it this season. Ben Roethlisberger has won two Super Bowls, Russell Wilson one. Alex Smith and Carson Palmer are former No. 1 overall picks.

So while we already know the NFL is a quarterback-driven league, we’re about to learn a few things. One, who wields the power in this Colts franchise as it moves forward from 8-8?

Two, is Andrew Luck capable of changing, getting even better than he was in 2014, when he stopped nibbling at superstardom and took his first big bite?

The Colts’ next quarterbacks coach will determine the answer to both questions, and I think we know the answer to the first. It’s the second question — how Luck answers it — that will determine whether this franchise can return to AFC South dominance and extend it to the rest of the AFC.

And beyond.

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atwww.facebook.com/gregg.doyel.