Don’t look now, but Andrew Luck has the Indianapolis Colts in the thick of the AFC playoff hunt.
His team currently stands at 6-5 after a hard-fought 27-24 win over the Miami Dolphins in Week 12. It puts them one spot behind the Baltimore Ravens for the sixth and final postseason spot out of the AFC.
A hallmark of the win was Luck putting the team on his shoulders down the stretch. The Colts trailed the Dolphins 24-14 early in the fourth quarter after a 14-yard scamper into the end zone by running back Kenyan Drake. Their four-game winning streak which vaulted them to .500 after a 1-4 start seemed in danger of coming to an end.
That’s when Luck jumped in and saved the day. He helped the Colts score on each of their last three possessions of the game. His pinpoint pass to tight end Eric Ebron helped knot things up. And after the defense forced a punt, Luck piloted the two-minute offense down the field to set up a game-winning field goal from Adam Vinatieri as time expired.
Andrew Luck Proving He’s an Upper-Echelon NFL Quarterback
Among the more robust indicators of high-level quarterback play is one’s ability to rescue his team from impending defeat. And over the course of his career, Luck has proven his quality in that regard. Sunday’s victory over Miami was the 16th fourth-quarter comeback of his career. Since 2010, only six active quarterbacks boast more.
Sunday’s win extends Indy’s winning streak to five games. Even before that started, Luck embarked on an impressive streak of his own that still stands. Against the Dolphins, Luck threw at least three touchdown passes for the eighth consecutive game. It ties him with Peyton Manning for the second-longest such run in NFL history, a feat Manning also accomplished with the Colts back in 2004.
And he’s close to joining some even more elite company. Should he finish with three touchdown tosses next week, he’ll come into Indy’s Week 14 clash against their division rival Houston Texans with a chance to tie Tom Brady for the longest stretch of consecutive games with three or more touchdown passes in league history.
Luck’s resurgence seems to clear up the uncertainty over the shoulder injury which caused him to miss all of last season. It’s pretty apparent at this point that he’s operating at 100 percent. As a result, Colts fans have to be breathing a sigh of relief. Their franchise quarterback is back to being exactly that.
A competent supporting cast is also playing a role in Luck’s return to prominence. Of particular interest is the offensive line. That unit was consistently the poorest on the team a few years ago. And in many respects, it helped contribute to Luck’s injury issues. That’s far from the case now and general manager Chris Ballard deserves a ton of credit for aggressively rectifying the situation via the last few drafts.
First came center Ryan Kelly who the team took out of Alabama in 2016. This past off-season, the team welcomed two new arrivals when they drafted Quenton Nelson in the first round and Braden Smith one round later. The trio is part of a line that’s among the most improved in the league. It shows in the fact that all Colts offensive linemen with at least 300 snaps this year are ranked no worse than 35th at their particular position by Pro Football Focus.
Perhaps the biggest beneficiary of Luck getting his groove back from a skill position standpoint is Ebron. The fifth-year pro was the most highly touted tight end of the 2014 draft, going 10th overall to the Detroit Lions. But he never quite caught on there. In his four seasons catching passes from Matthew Stafford, he managed just 11 touchdown grabs. With his two against the Dolphins on Sunday, he’s already equaled that total this year. It also leads the league among tight ends.
It all underscores the notion that things are slowly but surely coming together in Indy. Luck boasts an astute offensive mind in first-year head coach Frank Reich. Last year, as offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles, he helped the team win its first-ever Super Bowl. Now, he’s unleashing a special quarterbacking talent in the midst of a career revival.
The last time Indy won five straight in a season was 2014. They made it all the way to the AFC title game back then. Whether or not the Colts can make a run like that in 2018 remains to be seen. But one thing is certain. The future is bright as this talented signal-caller continues to send a message to the rest of the league that he’s an elite-level NFL quarterback.
