A lot has been made about the Colts taking out their franchise quarterback out for the last Hail Mary at the end of the game. But is it that big of a deal?
On the last play of the game against the Eagles, Frank Reich made a decision. He made the call to take Andrew Luck out of the game and put in Jacoby Brissett for the final heave. This was a Hail Mary and was the Colts’ last chance to win the game.
To many, this seemed curious. Why take out your franchise quarterback to put in a backup when the game is on the line? Shouldn’t Luck be able to throw the ball that far? Is there something wrong with his arm strength? Is his shoulder still not healed?
All of these questions and more were fired away after the game. Some people chose not to believe Reich when he said it was just simply that Brissett has a stronger arm and they wanted to make sure that the ball go to the end zone.
Even Luck himself said that it’s no secret Brissett’s arm is stronger than his. He had no issue with it and understood the decision. But should Colts fans be concerned about the lack of deep balls and how that might correlate with a lack of arm strength?
Yes and no. The reason the Colts haven’t thrown the ball deep much is because of the lack of protection from the offensive line with a bunch of backups in. But there is concern that the Colts don’t adjust protections to try to allow more time for deep shots to be taken.
In the end, this is a non-story. Brissett has one of the strongest arms in the league, and needed to throw that ball 60+ yards in the air. It was a smart call, but hopefully something the Colts don’t need to do again.