INDIANAPOLIS — Andrew Luck is happy about everything right now.
He’s happy to be playing football again. He’s elated to be feeling healthy. He’s even happy about the new turf at Lucas Oil Stadium, because, in his words, “the fake grass is actually green.”
On Monday, he was sort of happy to get hit hard by Baltimore’s Terrell Suggs.
Wait, what?
That thought drew laughs at his postgame news conference and a bit of a look from one of his protectors on the offensive line.
“I told Anthony (Castonzo) on the sidelines that it was sort of fun to get hit by Suggs right there,” Luck said. “He gave me like a death stare.”
The sack Luck is referring to took place a few minutes into the second quarter, when he was looking for the home run-ball downfield.
He held onto the ball for a long time. He identified the blitz and he didn’t care. He wanted the big play, so he knew he was at risk for getting hit. It was a risk the offense was willing to take.
They took it, and nothing came open. Suggs drilled Luck from the blindside, driving him into the ground in a very similar way to the play that originally hurt Luck’s shoulder.
It was a defining moment for the Indianapolis quarterback.
“I landed on my right elbow, sort of reminiscent to how I injured my shoulder a couple of years ago,” Luck said. “I didn’t feel anything. I didn’t give it a second thought. That’s actually a big deal for me, being able to sort of lose that thought cycle, if you will.”
That Luck might be past that mental block, that he’s been hit hard and got up and stayed in the game, are huge positives for the Colts.
Unfortunately, that’s about all you can say that’s positive about Monday’s preseason home opener, a 20-19 loss to the Ravens.
Colts fans look like they are ready for football. Downtown was packed and the announced attendance was over 60,000.
So far, though, the Colts offense doesn’t look like it is ready.
It’s somewhat understandable. This was only the second time Luck has played in a game in what feels like forever. They were without starting wide receiver T.Y. Hilton and left tackle Castonzo.
The starters played well into the second quarter, and the quarterback and his offense didn’t accomplish much of anything.
The problems that have plagued the Colts recently — outside of Luck’s health — don’t appear to have been fixed. The offensive line allowed a lot of pressure to get to Luck on Monday. The run game was nonexistent until backups came into the game, running seven times for 11 yards in the first quarter.
That’s a testament to the passing game not being in sync and the offensive line struggling.
Luck finished 6 of 13 for 50 yards. He took two sacks for 19 yards lost and was intercepted once while throwing on the run, amassing a paltry QB rating of 24.5.
The Colts went three and out on their first drive, recovered a fumble on the punt, only to run three plays again and end up with Luck being picked off.
The QB looked good last week in his return from injury. He was fairly sharp, finishing 6 of 9 for 64 yards in limited action. But if the Colts don’t find a way to protect him better and don’t find more weapons around him on offense, it’s going to be a long season for the Indy offense.
“The protection at times was not great,” coach Frank Reich said after Monday’s game. “We just didn’t find a rhythm for him. I felt maybe there was one or two throws that weren’t his best throws. But overall, usually it’s not as a bad as you think or as good as you think.”
There were some positives for the Colts on Monday. The Ravens tried to blast out of the gates with a deep bomb, which the Colts’ Matthias Farley deftly defended deep in the secondary.
For as mediocre (at best) that the Colts’ offense was, the Ravens actually were worse through the first quarter, which saw both first-team offenses play the entire 15 minutes.
The Colts defense held Baltimore’s offense to 40 yards in the first quarter. The Ravens ran for 13 yards on five carries. Quarterback Joe Flacco didn’t throw an incomplete pass after the first play of the game but had to settle for short passes in a 5-for-6 start for 36 yards.
Linebacker Darius Leonard, in particular, was a bright spot on the Colts defense. The rookie was all over the field in the first quarter and change, amassing six solo tackles, double what anybody else had in the first half. He finished his day with seven total tackles.
It helped, too, that the second unit was playing against a very-much-struggling Lamar Jackson, the rookie out of Louisville. The Colts defense was able to get pressure on the very mobile Jackson multiple times, an encouraging sign for some of the players who could figure into the Colts’ pass-rush rotation.
The Indianapolis offense, simply put, was lacking. It wasn’t good enough. Fans hope that having Luck back will provide a spark to the Colts.
So far, it hasn’t.
There’s still time. Indianapolis hosts San Francisco on Saturday before finishing the preseason next Thursday against Cincinnati.
Here’s hoping the offensive line especially can figure things out before then. Without a running game and without solid pass protection, it will be a brutal season for the QB and his offense.
Without a healthy and in sync Luck, though, the Colts won’t be going anywhere this season.
With division rivals Jacksonville, Houston and Tennessee all trending upward in recent years, the return of Luck needs to mean a return of relevance for the Colts.
Despite the struggles, the quarterback’s happy-go-lucky demeanor isn’t changing. He’s excited for a new season and sees a bright future ahead for his team.
“I looked around today and realized man, there are certainly some really solid veteran pieces, but we’re a young team,” Luck said. “For us, just being out there and doing it, messing up and learning from it, going out there again and doing it a little better, I’m very, very encouraged.”
His attitude is certainly contagious, but what Colts fans care about is simple — will it lead to wins?
We’re a few weeks away from finding out.