Celebrating their fantastic seasons, the Colts had two players win awards at last night’s NFL Award show. Two more came up just short.
Andrew Luck was the favorite for NFL Comeback Player of the Year. He had an amazing season, throwing for 39 touchdowns and almost 4600 yards. He ended up winning the award by a landslide, beating J.J. Watt and Adrian Peterson for the award.
Winning the award just shows how much grit and determination Luck had this season. He went from not playing at all last season, maybe not ever again, to dominating the league. Now that he has done that for a year, he will only be better for the rest of his career.
Luck was not the only Colt to take home an award. Darius Leonard won Defensive Rookie of the Year as well. Leonard led the league in tackles by a whopping 19 while missing a game due to injury. This caps off one of the great rookie seasons in Colts history.
Leonard won this award and was selected to be first team All-Pro. But he didn’t make the Pro Bowl. If that doesn’t tell you that something is wrong with the Pro Bowl selection system, then I don’t know what does. Leonard should have been there.
Frank Reich came up short in his bid for Coach of the Year. That award was won by Matt Nagy of Chicago. He came in a distant third behind Nagy and Chargers coach Anthony Lynn. That was somewhat surprising, as Reich turned a terrible team around to make the playoffs.
Quenton Nelson also came up short in his bid to win Offensive Rookie of the Year. He was never going to win the award because he doesn’t play a skill position, but he did receive two votes for the award. That’s a testament to how well he played this season.
With all of the awards done and the Super Bowl being today, it is officially time to look past 2018 and on to 2019. The Colts should be better than ever during that season too.