The Andrew Luck watch continues. He took his scheduled day off from practice, and reporters are speculating about his timetable for a return.
Andrew Luck practiced for the first time of the 2017 season on Wednesday, but he did not practice at all on Thursday. This is not one of his many setbacks during his recovery from offseason shoulder surgery as Thursday’s day off was part of his original comeback plan.
Luck had 10 months of rust to shake off on Wednesday as he was a limited participant in practice. Multiple Colts beat reporters noted that Scott Tolzien had more zip on his passes than Luck, which is to be expected at this point of his recovery.
The Indianapolis Star’s Stephen Holder speculates that a Week 6 return on Monday Night Football against the Titans is a long shot.
The Colts have avoided putting a “timetable” on Luck‘s return during the entirety of his recovery, and they continue to do so now that Luck has started practicing again.
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Head coach Chuck Pagano says they’ve got every activity scripted for Luck as they continue to be extremely cautious with his workload.
If Week 6 is indeed too early for Luck to get back on the playing field, Week 7’s game against the Jaguars would be the soonest possible date for his return.
The Colts are one-point favorites this weekend, and would likely be underdogs against the division-rival Titans who are also facing some injury trouble at quarterback.
If Indianapolis can go 1-1 over the next two weeks, they could stay in contention in a division without a clear leader at the moment, and give Luck a shot at leading them to the playoffs.