Today the Indianapolis Colts took on the St. Louis Rams in their first pre-season game of the year. Andrew Luck, the number one overall pick in this year’s draft, also had his debut as a Colt today. To say his first time out was a success would be a slight understatement.
Luck started early, I’m talking first play of the Colts’ possession early, as he threw a short dump off pass to running back Donald Brown who took it 63 yards to the end zone. The crowd rose to their feet and roared. Luck wasn’t the only Colts’ quarterback to have thrown a touchdown pass in his first play with the team, does the name Peyton Manning ring a bell? Yes that’s right Manning also threw a touchdown in his first play as a Colt. Does this mean that Luck is on his way to being the next Peyton Manning? It’s far too early to tell, but it’s certainly not a bad start.
Luck went on to throw one more touchdown in his debut. This one was an impressive 23 yard td pass to wide receiver Austin Collie. This combination could become deadly if Collie can stay healthy, as he has had concussion issues quite frequently throughout his young career. Luck finished the game completing 10 of 16 passes for 188 yards and 2 touchdowns. Now you might not think those are that flashy of numbers, but he was only on the field for 4 series.
Andrew almost connected with Offensive lineman Joe Reitz on a touchdown pass near the goaline, but threw the ball just high of Reitz’s fingertips. This is what Luck had to say about the play in a press conference following today’s game.
“I feel terrible about that (pass) to Joe (Reitz),” Luck said, following with a bit of a chuckle “I told him I owe him about 20 steak dinners. Any time a lineman gets a chance to catch a touchdown, he deserves it, and I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain. I apologized to him. If the situation ever presents itself again, hopefully I’ll put it right in his belly. Or at least give him a chance to catch it.”
The rookie quarterback’s passing ability wasn’t the only thing that caught my eye today. Luck’s ability to sense pressure and avoid being sacked was tremendous. The pocket may have collapsed a couple times today, but it didn’t seem to phase Luck at all as he would spin out of the pocket for either a gain or just to throw the ball away. Either way, Andrew Luck’s pocket awareness was very impressive.
The Colts went on to win the game 38-3.
Yes this was only a pre-season game, but a good performance is a good performance. Having only had a few practices with these guys I’d say Luck had the offense looking pretty fluid, even marching down the field with no-huddle at times. It’s early, but the future looks bright in Indy.
The next opportunity you’ll be able to see Luck and the Colts in action will be Aug. 19th in their pre-season match-up against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The game will be aired on NBC at 8pm ET.
