It's probably fair to say the Indianapolis Colts found themselves in a bind -- albeit it a pleasant one -- back in the spring of 2012. Even though they were coming off a horrid season -- which resulted in them having the overall #1 draft pick -- they still had Peyton Manning. You know, the chicken-neck Omaha guy.
But some hotshot QB out of Stanford named Andrew Luck was there for the taking. If the Colts didn't take him, or at least find a way to trade down for a slew of other quality picks -- Luck would be quickly snapped up elsewhere. So what to do?
Even back then, the Colts considered Manning as being on the back side of his bell curve. And you can't take a QB #1 overall just so he can sit on the bench behind an old pro. The number one draft pick is supposed to play. Immediately. So something had to give. Luck was indeed picked by the Colts and Manning wound up in Denver. A tough call, but was it the right one?
Maybe. Over the first three years of their NFL careers as instant starting QBs, Manning and Luck have/had similar stats. Over 13,000 yards passing. Lots of touchdowns, but a lot of interceptions as well. Neither was, is, or will ever be a particularly mobile quarterback. In other words, foot speed and elusiveness are not high on their lists of assets. Put yet another way, they only run when they have no other choice, and are likely less fleet of foot than many of their offensive linemen, let alone the defenders.
Manning has gone on to break most of the all-time passing records, and likely would own them all if he hadn't been forced to miss a season due to a neck injury. He may garner them yet. Further, he's been to Super Bowls, though somewhat surprisingly has emerged triumphant in only one. Good grief, even his dopey brother Eli and the confounding NY Giants have won two. Go figure. How they bested an undefeated Patriots team a few years back at the Big Dance was a miracle of biblical proportions. Those clowns not only made it to the Super Bowl but knocked off Bellichick/Brady and Company? REALLY?
Thing is, like Manning, who was the #1 overall pick way back in 1998, Luck continues to enjoy the positive spin the media casts on him. As one of their adopted darlings, they want him to not only succeed, but rise to greatness. Nothing wrong with that and perhaps he will someday.
But for all his supposed upsides (see cerebral, rifle arm, nice guy, etc,) Andrew Luck has his shortcomings as well. The man is a turnover waiting to happen. Forty eight interceptions in a little over three years, including five already this year after two games? Thirty fumbles in fifty games?
That's a bunch -- on both fronts. These are not pretty stats.
But consider Luck as compared to one of his peers. One Matthew Stafford of the Detroit Lions. The Georgia Peach has thrown for a ton of yards as well. Yet while Luck has yet to win a Super Bowl, his playoff record is 3-2. Stafford's been in the league for 4 more years but has yet to win a single playoff game, and his chances don't look good this year either.
So how to tell whether the Colts were wise in shipping Peyton to take on the soft-spoken brainiac from Palo Alto? Good question. Luck got blown out of the playoffs last year by the Patriots in the Deflategate game. The year before, Manning got tsunamied out of the Super Bowl by the Seattle Seahawks.
You know what will eventually tell the story?
If and when Andrew Luck starts whoring himself for money he doesn't need by doing moronic commercials, then the Colts QB situation will have come full circle indeed.
I really, REALLY, don't want to see Andrew Luck "cutting that meat". Or doing pizza ads with "Papa" while pretending to speak Chinese. Or comparing himself to a variety of retarded clones to benefit a satellite TV outfit. Mercifully, the Buick ads went away a while back. Even the hangers-on like Willy Shatner and Sammy Jack find a way to do credit card commercials, but maybe they need the money. Manning never did. Hawking a phone company as Groucho, or chanting "D-CAF" pushing a sports drink? C'mon man. I know it's a tall order, but have a little self-dignity here and there.
And if I ever see Andrew Luck emerging from an amniotic sack shaped like a football, only to pop out fully grown to peddle another dopey product for money HE doesn't need, I'll never watch another Colts game again.
Fumbles and picks are one thing, but totally throwing class out the window as a shill is quite another.....
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