Sad news: The Indianapolis Colts have just dismissed one of their best talents, who…
A few years back, while attending an Indianapolis Colts practice in advance of a Monday night football game, Jon Gruden and Ron Jaworski noticed something odd: the backup quarterbacks weren’t getting any practice time. Tom Moore, the longtime offensive coordinator for Indianapolis and the man behind the Colts offense, was questioned by Gruden about why Peyton Manning was the only quarterback in practice.
Moore yelled, “Guys, if 18 [Manning] goes down, we’re fucked.” “And we don’t have sex practice.”
Indy, not much has changed: the Colts are still doomed in the absence of a star signal-caller at center. There’s still no timeline for Andrew Luck’s return from his throwing shoulder surgery, which was done so long ago that Obama was still president. With Luck seemingly out of the picture for the Colts’ season opener, Scott Tolzien—who has a career record of two touchdowns and seven interceptions—will probably lead Indianapolis through the first few games of the season.
Although there have been 123 million reasons over the course of five years why Indianapolis shouldn’t force Luck to start the season before he’s ready, fans and fantasy football owners may clamor for his return. Remember that Robert Griffin III, the player selected immediately after Luck, risked his career by declaring he was “all in for Week 1.” Jim Irsay, the owner of the Colts, has made it apparent that while making decisions regarding Luck’s shoulder, he is considering the Colts football team for the next ten years. So be it if September football in 2017 is the price.
“It’s hard to overstate how much time I’ve spent telling Andrew that he needs to make this choice with the team, the supporters, his teammates, etc. in mind. Not simply your competitive spirit,” Irsay remarked.
It is even more surprising that new general manager Chris Ballard chose not to sign a seasoned backup quarterback in the offseason, given the ownership’s stance. Irsay stated that the team’s attempt to sign an unidentified quarterback who was in his mid-to-late 30s did not work out. When Luck was sidelined in October of 2015, veteran Matt Hasselbeck took over as the starting quarterback, and the team went 5-3. Rather than obtaining a comparable insurance policy for this season, the team has remained loyal to Tolzien, who is currently competing with former undrafted free agent Stephen Morris for the starting position. It will be an upstream battle to beat any NFL team if Tolzien is unable to defeat other undrafted free-agent quarterbacks. It appears that the Colts defense will start seven new players this season, which should strengthen the group but may also necessitate some preseason tweaking.
The good news is that the Colts host three of the worst teams in the league—the 49ers, Browns, and Rams—during the first five weeks of the season. They also play in Seattle and Arizona, which is bad news. It’s possible that they will face the Jaguars on October 22 for the title of Worst Team in Football if they lose those simple games.
