Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck expects to play in Week 17 against the Tennessee Titans if he’s cleared by his doctors, even if there’s nothing to actually play for:
Andrew Luck reiterates if he's cleared, regardless of whether Week 17 matters, that he will play next week vs. Tennessee.
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) December 22, 2015
In the 7th week of his recovery from a lacerated kidney that had an initial 4-6 week timetable, Luck has been practicing with the team over the past two weeks. However, he has not yet been cleared to play by his doctors.
Nevertheless, he’s still clearly eager to get back on the football field regardless of whether it’ll be in the team’s season finale that could soon become essentially a meaningless game:
Luck was asked why he'd wanted to play with nothing on the line in Week 17: "Football, man. Plus there will be something on the line."
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) December 22, 2015
However, whether the Colts coaching staff and upper management feel the same way regarding Luck still coming back this season with no real reason to remains to be seen:
Pagano: Decision to play Luck if nothing's on the line vs. Titans won't be made until that time comes.
— Mike Chappell (@mchappell51) December 22, 2015
The team’s powers that be may not want to risk the health of their franchise player any further and rather look towards next season’s success.
Either way, it’s positive news that Luck is clearly making serious progress in his recovery and should be cleared relatively soon. Of course, the bad news is that it may not matter, at least not for this season anyways.