The Wall Street Journal's Kevin Clark has a delightful examination of the unexpectedly pleasant trash talk of that nice young quarterback in Indianapolis. If you sack Andrew Luck, he's gonna compliment you on it.
Luck has become famous for congratulating—sincerely and enthusiastically—any player to hit him hard. Any sack is met with a hearty congratulations, such as "great job" or "what a hit!" He yells it after hard hits that don't result in sacks, too. It is, players say, just about the weirdest thing any quarterback does in the NFL.
When New England pass rusher Rob Ninkovich pulverized Luck last month in a Patriots' 42-20 win, he got the customary congratulations. As Ninkovich tells it, he found himself paralyzed with confusion by the well-wishes, so he blurted out "Thanks for...uh...accepting that hit?" before running back to the huddle.
Honestly, it sounds infuriating. Here's what Luck sounded like in Week 5 against the Ravens.
Sure enough, opponents are disconcerted—and discouraged—by the praise.
"You know if you hear a quarterback get mad, you are in his head," [Eagles DB Nolan] Carroll said. "With Luck, you thought you hurt the guy, you hear 'good job' and you just say 'aw, man.'"
Andrew Luck has dorked his way back around to being cool.