OK, now I’m truly convinced. Andrew Luck is not the second coming of Peyton Manning, he’s the reincarnation of Harry Houdini.
Luck brought the Indianapolis Colts all the way back in the fourth quarter Sunday night for the tenth time in two years, finding T.Y. Hilton for the game-winner in an improbable 27-24 win in front of a stunned Texan crowd at Houston’s Reliant Stadium.
After all these comebacks, the question now for Colts’ fans is not if Luck does it each week, but when. Luck did it last night in the face of a brutal Texan pass rush (J.J. Watt was draped over him most of the first half), receivers dropping balls, and without Reggie Wayne, the soul of the Colts and his primary target. Number 12 still ran off the field smiling in victory after Texan kicker Randy Bullock’s 55-yarder sailed wide left as the clock ran out.
There were other intangibles in this game other than Wayne’s injury. Houston head coach Gary Kubiak going down on the sidelines at halftime and being carted off the field on a stretcher did not help the Texans, both from a morale and play-calling standpoint. The Indianapolis patchwork offensive line was a stopgap measure that couldn’t stop anyone in the first half. Again, as in seemingly every game this season. there was no Colt running game to speak of, though Donald Brown did have a few bursts here and there. 69 yards on the ground does not often equate to a formula for a win.
Nevertheless, the raw fact remains – somehow, in some manner, with a depleted squad, having really an off night, Luck led the Colts back from 21 points down with 5 seconds left in the third quarter, and the Colts are now in complete control of the AFC South.
Indianapolis fans are the most spoiled watchers of quarterback play in the NFL. For 14 years they watched Manning’s #18 wave, stomp, genuflect, point and pass his ways to remarkable wins. Now they get the treat of watching a guy for the next 14 years who is Manning’s equal in the comeback department. Moreover, Luck’s doing it with an inferior supporting cast – yet week after week, he makes the deficits disappear in gut-check time.
How?
A raw combination of sheer athletic talent; the best brain in football outside of the metropolitan Denver area; an innate, inherited, you-can’t-teach-this sense of the pocket, when to bail out and when to look to his fourth read and the ability to get him the ball; and, maybe most importantly, the mystical aura that follows top NFL quarterbacks who make these weekly brushes with oblivion child’s play in a man’s game. If he was chained and dropped in a sealed water vat Houdini-style I’d still expect him to hit Coby Fleener on a slant in the fourth quarter.
The 2012 NFL draft will be forever debated as Luck vs. Washington’s Robert Griffin III in who got the better quarterback. There is no downside for either the Colts or Redskins; both Luck and RGIII are going to be stars in the league for a long time. But what Andrew Luck has proven in his 25 game NFL career is the stuff that only quarterbacks as Unitas, Starr, Namath, Elway, Favre and his predecessor in a horseshoe helmet, Manning, possess – the intensity, bravura and talent to will a team to a level they don’t know they can achieve at game’s end.
In the postgame press conference Luck, per his fashion, praised the team and their effort, yet said nothing about his game. He’s undoubtedly irritated with himself after an 18 for 40 for 245 yards night. The three touchdown passes to Hilton were probably routine in his mind.
There was nothing routine in the outcome. Then again, magicians make the impossible seem routine. Colt fans now expect the magic of escape from #12 on a weekly basis, and he rarely disappoints.
Harry Houdini himself would be proud.
Thanks for Reading. You can follow me, @jbjatty, on twitter, and follow the site @lastwordonsport while you are at it. Please take a moment to like our Facebook Page.
Interested in writing for LastWordOnSports? If so, check out our “Join Our Team” page to find out how.
Football fans…check out our two partnered NFL podcasts – Thursday Night Tailgate Radio and Overtime Ireland. Both shows bring you interesting commentary, critical analysis and fantastic guests including former and current NFL players, coaches and personalities.
Main Photo Credit: Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports
