Chuck Pagano: Andrew Luck Won’t Practice This Week
By Andrew Ites
Colts fans haven’t received any good news regarding their franchise quarterback Andrew Luck since his offseason shoulder surgery, and Chuck Pagano’s announcement on Wednesday adds to the negativity.
Before Indianapolis’ Week 1 trip, an Andrew Luck optimist would’ve thought that Week 4’s matchup with the Seattle Seahawks would be a reasonable time for him to return to the playing field.
However, Luck‘s return date continues to be pushed back as head coach Chuck Pagano revealed that Luck would not practice at all this week.
Andrew Luck won't practice this week, per Chuck Pagano.
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) September 20, 2017
All but rules him out for next Sunday's game at Seattle.
Luck had already been ruled out for this week’s home game against the 0-2 Browns. This announcement from Pagano likely means that Luck will be on the sideline for next week’s game against Seattle because it has been reported that Luck will need multiple weeks of practice for him to return to game action.
Earlier this week Pagano was asked whether he doubted that Luck would return at all this season, and he replied with an emphatic “no”. It’s beginning to look like that is the most likely scenario, and it may be the smartest move for the organization.
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The Colts could possibly go 2-14 or 3-13 with Luck out for the year, and that would give them a top-3 draft pick.
With this year’s draft class being dubbed “the year of the quarterback”, the Colts could receive a king’s ransom to move down from that high draft pick. This would give new general manager Chris Ballard more ammunition to make moves toward rebuilding this roster around a healthy Andrew Luck.
Since 2007, only 10.8% of teams that have started 0-2 ended up making the playoffs, so it would probably be wise to look toward next year and sit Andrew Luck for the rest of this season.