Doyel: We saw a smarter Andrew Luck on Saturday
INDIANAPOLIS – Andrew Luck is getting older, and I’m not talking about the bald spot. Although for a moment, let’s talk about that bald spot. It’s spreading ravenously, last year’s silver dollar becoming a saucer now. From the highest seat in Lucas Oil Stadium, the top row of the press box – only thing above us: the roof – Luck’s pale scalp is evident to the naked eye. Looks like No. 12 is worn by Friar Tuck.
Here’s something else you can see from the press box, no binoculars necessary: Andrew Luck, one year removed from a 2015 season gutted by two injuries, is learning how to play smarter. Safer. He’s not an old quarterback, not yet – although that hair! – but he just might become one.
One quarter of one preseason game isn’t a definitive sample size, but it’s all we have to go on. And what we saw on Saturday night in the Indianapolis Colts’ 19-18 loss to the Baltimore Ravens was an Andrew Luck willing to do what he has to do to stay on the field for 16 games.
Even if that means making decisions straight out of Quarterbacking 101.
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Luck has never believed in elementary football. He’s into the advanced calculus of dangerous throws, accepting the high risk because he wants the biggest possible reward. It’s why he has thrown so many touchdowns (101 in 55 career games), and it’s why he has thrown too many interceptions (55 for his career, including 12 in seven games last season).
But the Luck we saw on Saturday, this guy was different. He wasn’t performing calculus or even algebra. This was arithmetic-level quarterbacking, careful and conservative. Boring? No, not boring. Perfection is not boring, and Luck was a perfect 8 of 8 for 71 yards.
Granted, Luck was doing it against a Ravens defense that didn’t play its top two sack guys, Elvis Dumervil and Terrell Suggs. “Werewolves,” Luck calls pass-rushers of that ilk, but Dumervil and Suggs wouldn’t have gotten to Luck on Saturday night. Not with him slinging silver bullets in the form of short passes to the first open receiver he found.
Luck’s first pass of the game: One-step drop, horizontal toss to Phillip Dorsett, one of the fastest players in the NFL. Dorsett gained 6 easy yards.
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Second pass: 15-yard laser to Dorsett.
Third pass: Short and over the middle to Donte Moncrief, who juked Ravens cornerback Jerraud Powers near the sideline to gain 9 yards and a first down.
And so it went for Luck, who was choosing the simplest possible pass and doing so easily near the line of scrimmage, even with defense-stretching T.Y. Hilton sidelined with a minor hamstring issue.
"I truly believe," Luck said afterward, "get the ball in the playmakers' hands in space, and you've got a great chance."
And Colts coach Chuck Pagano believes that mindset will limit the hits on his quarterback.
"Working really hard on that internal clock of his," Pagano said, referring to the amount of time an NFL quarterback can hold onto the ball before getting smashed. "He's not turning down a profit ... go ahead and take that check down (pass to a running back for easy yardage)."
It will take a village to keep Luck healthy, and the Colts on Saturday showed how they’ll try to do that. Tight end Dwayne Allen, whom the Colts re-signed this offseason instead of Coby Fleener because of Allen’s Pro Bowl-caliber blocking ability, stayed close to Luck on most plays. When the Ravens covered well downfield, Allen would turn around and give Luck a safety valve. And twice Luck took it, hitting Allen for gains of 3 and 5 yards.
Running back Robert Turbin also stayed close to Luck, chipping Ravens outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith before leaking out of the backfield for a 7-yard gain. Notice how short all of these passes are? Luck averaged 8.7 yards per completion Saturday night, well below his career average of 12.1.
And it wasn’t just the way Luck threw the ball. It was the way he ran it, too, and you may recall his recklessness in that regard. Luck was scrambling last season against Denver when he tried to juke Broncos linebacker Danny Trevathan. The juke failed. Trevathan crushed him, causing a lacerated kidney that sidelined Luck for the final seven games.
Luck wasn’t juking Saturday night. Twice he fled a collapsing pocket and slid safely to the turf, drawing one of the biggest ovations of the night when he gained 9 yards on second-and-8 and then slid as Powers charged into the vicinity.
"Get his ass on the ground," Pagano said approvingly.
Later, on third-and-goal from the 9, Luck left the pocket, coasted past the line of scrimmage and slid 6 yards short of the end zone rather than make a hero move toward the end zone.
“Every year you go back and say, ‘Where can I get better?’ Luck said. “And obviously I needed to get better at making sure I’m in the game, so I’ll try and make sure I’m sliding at the right times.”
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Getting smarter, this guy. Even when he’s doing something you might call stupid. It was his final play Saturday night, the first play of the second quarter, when he couldn’t find an open receiver and considered running when he spotted his tight end, Allen, open in front of him. Luck shoveled the ball ahead, like an option pitch, for a 5-yard gain before Allen fumbled the ball away.
That play – shuffle pass? – was a little bit of the old Luck. And let’s not forget: Some of his improvisational gambles have paid off over the years. The guy with the most famous bald spot in the NFL doesn’t need to sheer off all his creativity.
Just taper it. Thin it out some. Take a little bit, um, off the top.
Find Star columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atwww.facebook.com/gregg.doyel.