For the majority of this past offseason, the narrative surrounding Andrew Luck and his long-injured shoulder was that the Colts quarterback was close to returning to his superstar form—even though the benchmark for the full recovery began when he threw a football in late July. However, Frank Reich showed that there is still room for improvement on Luck’s end. In the final play of the game against the Eagles, Luck was pulled in favor of Jacoby Brissett to throw the last-second Hail Mary.
For what it’s worth, Luck has been slowly beginning to look like a competent quarterback. He finally got over the hump last week with his first win since Jan. 1, 2017 against Washington, and he threw for over 300 yards and two touchdowns in a loss against the Bengals the week before. But even with all of that, this game should be a cause for concern. Luck had an early stat line completing 10-for-16 passes for 35 yards, and he wasn’t even trusted to take the game-winning shot down field. Credit to Brissett for almost completing the throw, but the substitution wasn’t a move that involved strategic thinking. Instead, it means one of two things from the Colts: 1) Andrew Luck is still hurt or 2) the Colts are being overly cautious with their franchise quarterback and now the whole league knows it. Either way it was certainly a lose-lose.