The Andrew Luck situation in Indianapolis has been messy all season, and it culminated with the quarterback being placed on IR last week.
There was never any timetable given for Luck’s return to the Colts following shoulder surgery in January. However, the Colts, and especially owner Jim Irsay, insisted the QB would be back early in the season. That didn’t happen. Luck returned to practice in midseason, suffered pain and a setback, and then the team placed him on IR.
Irsay was said to be furious about how the situation shook out.
On Monday, WTHR’s Bob Kravitz wrote a column in which he suggested Irsay will upset his quarterback with multiple comments questioning Luck’s ability to return from injury.
While appearing on “The Dan Patrick Show” Monday, former Colts coach Tony Dungy said during a commercial cut-in that Irsay had said “it’s inside his head now,” regarding Luck. Dungy says that was said be Irsay about six weeks ago when he was in town for Peyton Manning’s jersey retirement ceremony.
Sure enough, those words are similar to the tune Irsay’s been singing for a few months.
Kravitz pointed out that Irsay made a similar remark on Aug. 13 as well as on TV during the Colts’ final preseason game later that month. In both instances, he noted that football is a mental game and it’s about being comfortable mentally to return from an injury like Luck’s.
“You have to be able to deal with this, not only physically but mentally,” Irsay said during the final preseason game, via WTHR. “I have no doubt that Andrew, the person that he is, he’s going to come out of this thing not just how he was but a better quarterback. ‘When’ is the question. That timetable is more on the football gods and Andrew’s gut feeling on how he’s feeling.”
Considering Luck eventually returned to practice and then suffered setbacks that have definitely knocked him out for the season, maybe there was a good reason for him to have some hesitation.
Making controversial statements about his quarterbacks is nothing new for Irsay, as he also did the same with Peyton Manning.
